Hey folks, Harry here with a first of a slew of new TRIBECA reviews... I'm not all envious of not getting to see this first one, but any chance to see the original glorious Vincent Price / Andre De Toth HOUSE OF WAX in 3-D! When I was a kid, they were still re-releasing that film in theaters in a wide format. DAMN THEM FOR CEASING THAT! ARGH! Here ya go!
The ride of your life starts once again in Tribeca in Eli's Killer Crane.
It's been two days and the fun is just getting started. On this soaked night, two films elude on the radar that show personal film recollections of a living legend and a legendary classic horror film.
(all films 1.33:1)
COWBOY JACK CLEMENT'S HOME MOVIES OR SHAKESPEARE WAS A GEORGE JONES FAN
A few years ago, directors Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon set out to do a documentary about Sun Records and came across an individual named Captain Jack Clement. Jack used to work for Sun and cut records and write songs for the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. But there was a lot more to Jack than that. The list of his accomplishments reads like an encyclopedia and a lot of what he did (and what he tried to do) was being filmed. Through the combination of his home movies as well as a few conversations with William Shakespeare along with a lot in between, Cowboy Jack's life is a good time that never shows any signs of ending.
This viewer shares in the same philosophy of Cowboy Jack of loving fun and not letting anything get in the way of the great times and seeing this film was not only a breathe of fresh air but in an already packed festival of good films, it's nice to see a great short and sweet feature that covers many projects in Jack's life, many that have never been finished, but what's the use when anyone has a great thing going and loving life and living it the most positive way?
What's also good is to see the friends in his life look so playful around him when the camera is rolling especially Johnny Cash. I've never seen anyone get out of a car as uniquely as he did in this film which serves up a nice clip overture and every once in a while having room for a random laugh. It's an irresistable thing when any program/concert/film (especially this one) starts with the song "Brazil" and it still sounds as fresh as when the viewer has heard it for the first time.
Through it all it shows that a life without fun isn't much of a life at all but as long as there is a lot of fun there, what's there not to love. Cowboy Jack Clement's Home Movies (Or Shakespeare Was A George Jones Fan) is a great little gem that everyone should take note of during and after the Tribeca festival for it guarantees a most entertaining look at a very entertaining and fun individual.
and before I enter the classic House of Wax...
Preceding Cowboy Jack was a short film "Cell Stories" done by cinematographer Ed Lachman.
Five people tell some amazing stories about some chance encounter that happens to them under two minutes. What links all five people is one simple tool: A cell phone. Through ten minutes Lachman shoots this piece on six cell phones capturing images, stories and dialogue put together very nicely in a ten minute package. All the stories everyone can relate to and all of them have a bout with the cell phone. If anyone gets a chance to see this, they will be in for a treat and a half done very well by Lachman, who appears at the very end of the piece.
HOUSE OF WAX (3-D)
Before the spectacle of Cinemascope and Cinerama there was a process that filled the seats to the brim called 3-D which attempted to show a film within a three dimensional range complete with special glasses to see the full effect. Without them, the images on the screen give an unfocused look similar to a human being opening their eyes through water.
In 1953 Andre De Toth got together a cast that included Vincent Price and a then unknown actor named Charles Buchinsky. That same actor would later change his name to a more effective less ethnic sounding name: Charles Bronson. Their presence lent themselves to a tale about Prof. Henry Jarrod (Price), a sculptor who lent his passion to his own wax museum covering many events in history from the Lincoln assassination to Joan of Arc.
This property seems to be in the right hands of investors until Jarrod's partner sabotages the plan in the form of a fire. This destroyed all the hard work Jarrod had put himself into as well as destroyed Jarrod himself resulting in an explosion of the museum. But some time after, a mysterious silent scarred individual preys on others and their fate lies in a pool full of wax.
The 3-D effects are the best when viewed in the front rows where some can be fully taken advantage of but being this is a film from 1953, anything from a fallen body to a paddle ball man (wonderfully spoofed in the trailer of Albert Brooks' Real Life) will take full advantage of these effects and the look of them are a good piece of that time but in today's effects come off fair but fun.
This is a film that's not all about artistic merit but about going to the movies and seeing a movie for the fun of it and that best describes today's effect of the 3-D House of Wax. It's not the greatest story and it's not the scariest, but so what?
Any chance to see Vincent Price do what he does best is a great chance indeed. His Henry Jarrod is a tragic individual but goes to no end to show his love of creating figures in wax even if drastic measures are called for. Charles Buchinsky(Bronson)'s Igor is a deaf mute with large arms and an obedience to his master in his creations. Both of which add to the fun of some amusing moments by some of the minor characters and a classic horror film that is fun to watch even on a big screen. The House of Wax is intriguing to enter and fun to soak in the 3-D effects throughout and remains a great guilty pleasure.
And to all that have come in Eli's path, thank you for your company
Onto another show where my trusty Burt CANNOT get hurt!!
EliCross
