{"id":3733,"date":"2011-10-28T02:41:17","date_gmt":"2011-10-28T06:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=2512"},"modified":"2011-10-28T02:41:17","modified_gmt":"2011-10-28T06:41:17","slug":"stagecoach-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3733","title":{"rendered":"Stagecoach 2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor's advice: when in doubt about copy art, always run with a hot babe, such as Ann-Margrock, as captured by Norman Rockwell for Stagecoach's stunning 1966 campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s latest DVD release is the 1966 remake of the classic 1939 John Ford western Stagecoach<\/strong>, of which I may have seen decades ago, but only recall the famous horse-jumping stunt where a man jumps from one team of horses to another while the stagecoach is barreling ahead at top speed.<\/p>\n

Knowing Fox\u2019 \u201966 film was a remake, the question that often goes through a reviewer\u2019s head is \u2018Should I see the original?\u2019 and my answer here was fast and flat: NO!<\/p>\n

I felt in this case the lack of prior knowledge was a positive simply because I could watch the film with fresh eyes, no context of its illustrious predecessor, and assess the film based on its merits as a mid-sixties studio western with all the inherent clich\u00e9s typical of the era when a studio was trying to wrangle audiences into cinemas with a familiar property, starring a multi-generational cast picked from classic & current films, and TV.<\/p>\n

The inclusion of TV stars or newcomers emerging from TV onto the big screen isn\u2019t new \u2013 James Dean began his rise to stardom by honing his craft on live teleplays during the Idiot Box\u2019s Golden Years before Rebel Without a Cause<\/strong> (1953) \u2013 but the sixties was a significant decade where TV stars crossed over into films and \/ or were moving between mediums until things professionally clicked \u2013 like David Janssen appearing in several classic shows over his career \u2013 Richard Diamond<\/strong> (1957-1960), The Fugitive<\/strong> (1963-1967) \u2013 and popping up in the odd feature film, such as Albert Zugsmith\u2019s heartwarming family film (ahem\u2026) Dondi<\/strong> (1961), the genuinely good suspense film Warning Shot<\/strong> (1967), and co-starring in the prestigious (but deadly dull) Papal potboiler The Shoes of the Fisherman<\/strong> (1968).<\/p>\n

Stagecoach<\/strong> was packaged no differently than a present day film in order to draw in the broadest possible audience, but it had the big hurdle of standing on its own in spite of the shadow of Ford\u2019s \u201939 film looming close by. Hollywood always reworked classic properties and concepts into \u2018new\u2019 movies, but remaking Stagecoach<\/strong> was akin to a new Wizard of Oz or Gone With the Wind<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 two other films made during that magic year of 1939.<\/p>\n

Hollywood did try and evoke the spirit of its classics now and then \u2013 witness MGM building up the publicity pap for Raintree County<\/strong> (1957) like a new GWTW for a new generation \u2013 but Stagecoach<\/strong> marked a rare decision to remake something a genre\u2019s fans felt was so pure, you just shouldn\u2019t touch it.<\/p>\n

MGM had in fact tried it to some extent with Mutiny on the Bounty<\/strong>, remaking the 1935<\/a> film in 1962 on a massive scale \u2013 and like Stagecoach<\/strong>, it shared one key commonality: they kept the title, which was to some extent a viable commercial brand. It worked for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde<\/strong> in 1931 <\/a>and 1941 <\/a>for MGM, but Stagecoach<\/strong> was part of the 1939 club, which to some extent meant critics, genre fans, John Wayne fans, and John Ford acolytes would watch the film and pass judgments with a specific bias in 1966.<\/p>\n

The film has been hard to come by in the past, so TT\u2019s DVD gives the film a new life in its best incarnation to date, and viewers can judge for themselves whether time has been kind to the efforts of the film\u2019s makers, or whether it still has the power to create an upset. I found it had flaws based in more practical areas of scriptwriting and direction, which are detailed in the review <\/a>[M<\/a>].<\/p>\n

A big plus: it\u2019s a gorgeous transfer from an equally gorgeous print, and as with prior TT DVDs, the film sports an isolated stereo track of Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Sticking with the topic of soundtracks, I erred in thinking Varese expanded CD of Marco Beltrami\u2019s Mimic<\/strong> score came out last week \u2013 it streeted Oct. 10 \u2013 but it was gone and sold out from the label in 1.5 days<\/em>, which doesn\u2019t change my view that 1000 copies was a mistake. Perhaps the recording will make its way to CD again in 5 years\u2026<\/p>\n

Kritzerland just announced a 2-disc set of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang<\/a><\/strong> (1968), which will either be great news for the thousands of adults weaned on the film as kids, or something horrific. I tend to fall onto the childhood fan camp, as when I reviewed the film eons ago I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was more weird & surreal than I remembered, plus the child-catcher was still a terrifying thing to begold, and the script and songs sometimes contained little bits of adult subtext. (I also recall the toy car<\/a> in which one could pull out the auto\u2019s \u2018bat wings\u2019 so it could \u2018fly.\u2019) Yes, the title song is evil, but it could be worse: the film could\u2019ve been scored by ABBA.<\/p>\n

On FSM\u2019s message board are more thorough details of the set\u2019s contents, plus a link to an interview with CD producer Bruce Kimmel<\/a> (whose First Nudie Musical<\/strong> is coming out on Blu-ray<\/a>), and a link to a road tax advert<\/a> that played on British (or Aussie?) TV referencing the film. (\u2018No Exceptions! No Excuses! No Escape\u2019)<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

This past Wednesday a genuinely rare 35mm print of Julian Roffman\u2019s The Mask<\/strong> (1961) was screened at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, featuring an intro by the film\u2019s curators, and a post-screening peek at the actual mask used in Canada\u2019s first horror film + first 3D film + first film to make back its cost in presales prior to release + first film to be distributed internationally by a major American studio.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll have thoughts on the screening, some media bits, and of course a review of Roffman\u2019s film, plus his prior film, The Bloody Brood<\/strong> (1959) about murderous Beatniks, and the first film to star Peter Falk.<\/p>\n

Oh, and those who’ve no idea who Ann-Margrock is, she’s Ann-Margret’s alter-ego in the wonderful world of The Flintstones.<\/strong> Ahem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com <\/strong>( Main Site<\/a> \/ Mobile Site<\/a> )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of Twilight Time’s gorgeous Stagecoach (1966) DVD, plus some editorial blather on remakes, and Kritzerland’s new 2-disc Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) CD set, plus multimedia links.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6,4,5],"tags":[837,79,841,836,823,824,834],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-Yd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}