Sword of Omens

Today I went to the military show at the Headcorn Aerodrome. It was a fun day, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. Whilst there there was a stall selling all different knives and swords. I was pottering round when I saw a blade from childhood (well repeats in the 90s, but still my childhood). It was the Sword of Omens from the Rankin/ Bass t.v. series Thundercats. I bought for £65 and here it is.

Say, that would make a good Perfect Movie!

Aw well.

SWORD OF OMENS! GIVE ME SIGHT BEYOND SIGHT!

FAVOURITE FILMS 9- Alien (1979)

DIRECTED BY: Ridley Scott
WRITTEN BY: Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett
RELEASED: 1979

I'm sure it is no surprise to anyone that Alien is one of my favourite movies. The haunted house in space was written by Dan O'Bannon with the help of his friend Ronald Shusett. The writing  was postponed whilst O'Bannon went to work on Alejandro Jodorowsky's failed Dune adaptation in 1975. The screenwriters were stuck though. How does the Alien get on board the galactic mining rig? That was when Shusett came up with the idea that the Alien "screws" one of the crew and impregnates him. It was the birth (no pun) of one the scariest sci-fi moments of all time. If Jaws (1975) made everyone scared to go back into the water, then Alien made the audience shit-spooked of the dinner table. The scene with John "best actor ever" Hurt writhing in pain across the table, as the chestburster... bursts out of his chest, is the film's most famous scene and was hilariously parodied in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs (1987). 

I love the film. The gothic cathedral design of the Nostromo, the design of the creature (courtesy of H. R. Giger), Jerry Goldsmith's score and by god those opening titles! If you haven't seen it by now, then where the Martin Van Buren have you been! Go see it and watch the trailer too. 

My poster contains parts that stand out in my mind. 

• We have warrant officer Ellen Ripley (which introduced us to Sigourney Weaver), in the spacesuit.
• I placed MU/TH/UR, the ship's computer amongst the stars, because that's what it always reminded me off.
• We had to have the title and the most memorable tag-line of all time: In space no one can hear you scream. True story, when we did Space in Physics (circa Year 9), our teacher brought up this awesome quote and some know-it-all at the back complained that it was too cheesy. What an idiot!
• I had to include the egg from the poster, different to the one in the film, with the green glow emitting from it. 
• I also added the Alien. Where? Oh it's in there. Like in the film, the creature is hidden in the shadows.

I suppose I should talk about the other films.

Aliens (1986) I love. Its as good as the first one, buuuuuut I like the first film just a little more. I like the fact that Cameron didn't make a carbon copy of the first film. It' s an action film with some real scary moments, especially the scene where Ripley and Newt are locked in the Facehugger room. The reason it isn't on the list is because it didn't seem right putting two films of the same franchise on it. Let's say this spot goes to both. It should have stopped here.

Alien 3 (1992) was a decent film. I don't remember it being dreadful (they saved the best till last). However it did ruin the evolution of the Alien. It shouldn't be that it takes after whatever animal it impregnates. There was no indication of this in any of the other films. However, I liked the cinematography and idea of the prison planet. It managed to create an atmosphere similar to the original film. I never liked the Newt/ Hicks death, but -sigh- it's too late now. 

Alien Resurrection (1997) was awful, a truly terrible movie that just killed the the idea of any other good Alien films. It turned what was once a serious franchise into a comic book movie. I can't talk about it now- one day though!

Alien VS Predator (2004)... Oh go SO to hell!

FAVOURITE FILMS 10- Metropolis (1927)

DIRECTED BY: Fritz Lang
WRITTEN BY: Thea Von Harbou
RELEASED: 1927

Metropolis was the brainchild of Fritz Lang and his (then) wife, Thea Von Harbou. The film was released in 1927 and has become a must- see in science fiction. 

Why do I like it? Because of the scope. This is an epic film, a cast of thousands, terrific sets and a story of class division, an evil scientist and not to mention one of the greatest robots ever designed. I'm also a slave to art deco futures. I love reading old Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers comics and seeing the designs of futuristic cities, as if the 1933 World's Fair continued. The Special effects were amazing for its day, combining miniatures, stop motion and inventing the Schüfftan process, I'll explain:

A mirror is a placed at a 45 degree angle, between the camera and the actors on set. The set is only partly built. The mirror is only reflective on the top half and this reflects a scale model/ matte painting of the rest of the set. The result is what you finally see on screen.

As you can see the design didn't change much. The only difference is the robot, where originally I had those awesome charging beams, replaced in the final with the pentagram and wires. This takes up less room.

My poster includes things that stand out to me, Evil Maria's wild dance, Rotwang the mad scientist, the ten hour clock, the MOLOCH dream, the best title screen in cinema and the Robot, with that odd Pentagram (upside-down) behind.

Separating the elements by colour was an interesting idea. The seductive Evil Maria is a cool blue to represent the night life popular in 1920s Germany. The Robot is gold because the classic Poster (plus it was the visual inspiration for C-3PO). The clock is a steel blue found in industrial settings. Rotwang, the mad scientist, is green indicating a venomous quality to him. Finally Freder is red, for his noble attitude, and wealth. I feel the background had to be black to make it stand out. I'm not really sure if I cracked Freder and Rotwang, but I think you know who they are. My favourite is the dancing Maria. As soon as I started drawing her I thought "Hmmm... She's got to be blue!". It's a black and white film so I can do what I want. 
That title really f****ing p**sed me off, especially  in the colouring.

The Green Knight

In the anonymous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the knight of the Round Table, Sir Gawain (Arthur's nephew) must face his destiny against the Green Knight. 


One Christmas in the court of Camelot, the spectral sight of the Green Knight storms into the great hall, amidst a feast. He challenges any Knight to chop of his head and in one year allow the same to happen to him. It is but the young voice of Sir Gawain who accepts the challenge, chopping off the head of the Green Knight, who merely places his back. A year later Sir Gawain goes on a perilous journey of hunger, chills and temptation to repay his debt.


The Green Knight is such an interesting creation and this is how I imagine him. I, along with many artists, imagine him as a wild man, perhaps due to his perculiar colour. His beard represents something natural like a tree, willow or a bush, like his fur coat. The pattern on his coat was inspired by William Morris and other pre-Raphaelite artists, since the 19th Century saw the return of the Arthurian Legends.

PERFECT MOVIE: Batman in the 1940s

So once again we travel back to the Golden Age of Cinema. Today we deal with the classics as we delve into the gangster ridden streets of Gotham, this is Batman made in the 1940s!

THE CAST


This is going to be fun, looking through all those Universal Horror Stars.


BATMAN/ BRUCE WAYNE: Let's start with the big one. One of the most iconic characters ever. The man who plays billionaire Bruce Wayne and his night time alias Batman, would have to appear sophisticated with a hint of darkness. I'm going to go with Joseph Cotten whose credits go to The Third Man (1949), Citizen Kane (1941) and my favourite Hitchcock film (and Hitchcock's) Shadow of a Doubt (1943. The man has played the "hero" in a few films, often hardboiled, and a villain in Shadow of a Doubt, and Batman is known as the Dark Knight.

ALFRED PENNYWORTH: We're going to totally screw up time here, (it's alright I've done it before!) because Batman's faithful butler wasn't introduced until after Dick Grayson came onto the scene and then he was a bumbling amateur Detective. However we're going to go with the modern interpretation of Alfred, the father like figure for Bruce growing up. This is because it suits those Film-Noir qualities we want for this film. Batman is forever on the edge of darkness and he needs someone to pull him into the light. Therefore we need the Alfred of today. Now who is going to play someone like that. I'm going to choose Alec Guinness, a man who was probably younger than Alfred is supposed to be, but always had the comedic touch that Alfred possesses. 

JIM GORDON: Jim Gordon is another important character, being the figure that prevents the masked crime fighter from being incarcerated. Jim Gordon is an honest cop and the man who gives Batman his information, for this we are going to cast Edward Van Sloan as Commissioner Gordon, who played Professor Van Helsing in Dracula (1931) and Dr Waldman in Frankenstein the same year. He was often the wise old man.

THE VILLAINS

THE JOKER: The maniacal Clown Prince of Crime was based on German actor Conrad Veidt's role in The Man Who Laughs (1928))(below), so it seems only natural to have him star in this. He would have been near 50, but he was a great actor with a great face. 

CATWOMAN/ SELINA KYLE: The character who every fan wants Batman to be with, but she is just too far into the darkness for him. It is tragic. Every crime film in the 40s had their own Femme Fatale, a character often played by Lana Turner, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, the list goes on. This was the case of a Dame with a past and a hero without a future. So who should play the infamous Cat burglar... I am going to go with Ava Gardner, who often played the Femme Fatale in films such as The Killers (1946).

                                                 

                                             

TWO-FACE/ HARVEY KENT: Yes you read that right. When first introduced, in Detective Comics #66 (1942), the District Attorney  turned Janus faced Gangster was originally called Harvey Kent. Since it is the 1940s we need to have a gangster villain and who better than Gothams' own tragic hero. I had originally wanted Colin  Clive (Dr. Frankenstein) because he could often play men teetering on the edge of madness. However he passed away in 1937, too early for my film. I am going to cast Burt Lancaster, who made his debut alongside Gardner in The Killers. I think he has the face for Harvey D--Kent and its my feature so I can do what I want!

Also we're going to have Rondo "The Creeper" Hatton as a goon, because you can't have a 1940s crime film without The Creeper.

THE BATMOBILE: The Batmobile is as much a character as any other in the Batman mythos. Although only introduced in the 1943 serial (not the comics) we are going to have our own Batmobile. In the films they are usually based on real cars so this is going to be 

a 1947 Cadillac. Hey we've screwed around with time already, what's one more. They of course have to have the giant Bat-head because that's just awesome.

CREW

DIRECTED BY: The Master of light and dark, director of The Third Man (1949), Carrol Reed. You go watch the film and you want him to make a Batman film. The shadows and silhouettes play perfectly with the story and acting. Plus the sewer scene at the end, tell me you don't want Batman chasing down Harry Lime.

THE SCORE: Yeah, I can't believe I have never mentioned this before, but the score of a film is an important element. Imagine The Lord of the Rings without Howard Shore's triumphant theme, or The Good, The Bad and the Ugly without Ennio Morricone's awesome track. Batman needs a good soundtrack for him to zip-line down to (something I missed in Nolan's films). So, who should I hire to write the theme for my Batman film. Well, it would have to be Frank Skinner (no, not that one) and Hans J. Salter. These two wrote the music for the Universal Horror films, including The Wolf Man (1941), which has a score called Desperation, which sounds so much like the Danny Elfman theme for the Tim Burton Batman films. 

So that's it for this week. Batman in the 1940s, we only wish it were real. Next week we're stepping back or/and forth through time and space with...

DUN DUN DA DUN 

DUN DUN DA DUN

DUN DUN DA DUN

DUN DUN DA DUN

DUN DUN DA DUN

DUN DUN DA DUN

DUN DUN DA DUN 

DUN

WEEEEOOOOOOOO

WEE-EEOOOOO

Conquerer Worm

A design on the force mentioned in the Edgar Allen Poem (sorry, couldn't resist). The name first came to my attention after the Hellboy series of the same name. It was also used as the American title for the Vincent Price film Witchfinder General (1968, Michal Reeves), which was named Edgar Allen Poe's Conquerer Worm to cash in on Price's earlier success in Roger Corman's Poe series. It has nothing to do with Poe's work and is a great film on the Salem Witch Trials. You got me talking about Vincent Price.

So the design was influenced by the many creations from the Cthulhu Mythos. Something that was over the top, yet gross, yet fascinating, yet other worldly, yet beautify... well maybe not that far. The mouth was inspired by the Giger Alien, (if you're gonna steal, then steal from the best!) and the body was just me thinking what the Emperor of Worms be like, a wrinkly, grotesque mound body fat. I like the spindly little arms, too unnatural for a normal animal.