Ask 411 Movies for 12.14.09: As Usual It’s Christmas and We’re All Scrooged!

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 12.14.2009

Saved by the Bell, movies with the most Oscar winners, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, Matinee, Boris Karloff, Chi McBride, Grande Illusion and Thank You Mask Man

From YouTube this week we have another great trilogy of Coors Light Commercials. This time from Mike Ditka. I once dressed as Ditka for Halloween, but I looked more like Roy from "Wings." Ditka and I are also Pitt alumni. Go Panthers! Win the Meinke Car Care Bowl!



We got a bunch of people making their picks for Captain America in the comments last week. Surprisingly, John Cena seemed to be a top choice. Really? I say that's maybe a hair better than Channing Tatum. Right look, poor acting skills, but I honestly think Cena has more potential than Tatum.

Q: Hello old friend, it's been a while, but seeing a question on Saved By The Bell is as good a time as any for me to chime in. I've been keeping up on the column, and am glad to see you still doing well with it.

The "special" the person last week mentioned was the episode of the College Years that you mentioned where the gang was attempting to get home for Thanksgiving, not Christmas. It was a special episode that included appearances from Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding, marking the only time anyone from the original show guest starred on the College Years), Jonathan Brandis (at the time on NBC's Seaquest), Brian Austin Green (at the time dating Tiffani Amber Theissen), Jennay Von Oy from Blossom, and several others. There was also a two part episode of The New Class where Ryan Parker (the character in the Zack role amidst the new kids) left the Christmas lights plugged in at The Max and caused a fire there. Mario Lopez made a guest appearance as AC Slater in that episode. I hope that clears up everything regarding Saved By The Bell holiday episode questions.
-Zack Malibu

A: Thanks for the clarification. It's good to hear from you. Just for you, an interview with Mark-Paul Gosselaar looking back on "Saved by the Bell."



Q: Leonard,

I saw a trailer for the upcoming movie Nine in a theater the other day and noticed that it has a lot of Oscar Award winners in its cast. I counted six - Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Sophia Loren. An impressive list indeed. What are the films that have had the most Academy Award winners in its cast?
Thanks,
-Fast Eddie

A: I would guess you mean those who appeared together after their Oscar wins. Kenneth's Branagh's Hamlet from 1996 featured Julie Christie, Judi Dench, Charlton Heston, Jack Lemmon, John Gielgud and John Mills. Also, Richard Attenborough is an Oscar winner for directing and producing Gandhi. Co-stars Robin Williams and Kate Winslet would win Oscars after the movie. The movie also features Oscar nominees Branagh, Gerard Depardieu, Rosemary Harris and frequent Oscar host Billy Crystal.

A Bridge Too Far from 1977 featured seven Oscar winners or future winners with Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Maxmillian Schell and Robert Redford, who won for directing Ordinary People.

How the West Was Won from 1962 boasts seven Oscar winners and 10 other nominees. The winners were Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Walter Brennan, Karl Malden and Spencer Tracy. The nominees were Agnes Moorehead, Lee J. Cobb, Carroll Baker, Carolyn Jones, Robert Preston, Richard Widmark, Thelma Ritter, Debbie Reynolds, Russ Tamblyn and Raymond Massey.

Q: In the spirit of the season (And after reading the Top 5 Christmas Specials column comments) on Cartoon Network a few years ago they had an animated version of the old Rankin-Bass Life & Adventures of Santa Claus but I haven't seen it since...any info?
-Guest 7029

A: "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" is a 1902 book by L. Frank Baum, author of the Oz series. Rankin-Bass adapted the book as a Christmas special in stop-motion style in 1985. Michael Young Productions made a direct to video version in 2000 featuring Robby Benson as the voice of Nicholas with Jim Cummings voicing the oldest version of Santa seen. I just don't think it proved popular enough for repeat viewings. Dixie Carter voices Necile and Hal Holbrook Ak. There are some minor differences between the two specials and the original novel.

A new animated feature is being worked on by Hyde Park Entertainment for release next year and would follow not only the formative years of Santa, but a background battle of good versus evil.



Q: Great column as usual. Some questions.

1. Any word on the John Goodman movie Matinee getting (re)released on DVD? I can't find it for less than like $40 on amazon. I love the movie and anything kind of based on William Castle rocks.

2. Why was Boris Karloff called "Karloff" in several of his movies in the early 30s? I understand why he was listed as "?" in Frankenstein but I can't find why he was just know as Karloff in some movies. Was it to add mystery & menace?

3. I remember a sitcom based on Snow White in the late 80s or early 90s. I think it was on ABC and some guy woke up the princess, named "Snow," from a deep sleep. I'm sure it was terrible but I can't remember very much about it. Do you have any info on it?
-Nate

A: Matinee from 1993 stars John Goodman as a William Castle type filmmaker who made B-movies, but spiced them up with gimmicks to bring crowds in. The movie is set during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Goodman's Lawrence Woosley is doing an exclusive engagement of his movie "Mant!" in Key West, Fla. Some of the townsfolk are shown as the movie builds to the screening and then the screening itself. I've seen bootleg editions of the movie at conventions that also include all of the "Mant!" sections edited together into it's own short film. Director Joe Dante cast many sci-fi actors from the 1950's for his film within the film, including my old buddy Kevin McCarthy. The movie was put out on legitimate DVD in July 1998 and there doesn't appear to be any plans for a re-release.

There was great conjecture as to who would play the Frankenstein Monster in the 1931 film, especially after Bela Lugosi dropped out of the role. In fact until release of the movie many thought he was still playing the Monster. Since Boris Karloff was not a well known name, even though he had appeared in countless films, the use of the "?" credit was designed to keep the mystery of who was playing the monster secretive and a selling point, although the real fear would be that viewing audiences would be nonplussed at having Karloff in the part. It was also a throwback to the play in which the Monster was listed as "?" in the program.

Once the film broke big and Karloff became known the idea was still to keep him a mysterious and macabre figure by billing him as simply "Karloff" or "Karloff the Uncanny," while also hiding his past career and trying to present him as this ‘fresh' and ‘new' talent.

Your television series is "The Charmings" that ran for a season and a half on ABC in 1987 to 1988. Taking place after the story everyone knows of Snow White, the Wicked Queen cast a spell that put Snow White, Prince Charming, their two children, one dwarf and the queen herself asleep for 1,000 years. They awoke in 1987 and tried to adapt to modern life. Paul Winfield was the best known of the cast as the Magic Mirror. Prince Charming was Christopher Rich, who went on to be Reba's ex-husband on "Reba."



Q: In response to The Great Capt. Smooth's question, Joey did once kiss a girl on the show, and then say in a high-pitched voice "Aye-chi-wow-wow!" The girl called him on it, and he said something to the effect of "Well, I thought about saying (*bad Jesse impersonation*) 'Have mercyyyyyy!', but if felt more like an Aye-chi-wow-wow!"

Leonard, here's an obscure movie for you, and I'm sorry I can't be more specific. It's an escape-from-prison movie, black and white, from before 1980, and not from America (it's either British or French, but could easily be from another European country). The main interesting thing about the movie is that it features no background music, and it was shown in Dr. Joe Sokalski's 1st year film class at McMaster University of fall 2005 (if any of your readers took that course, I was the TA who screened that movie that week, and I can't for the life of me remember what it was called). The escape route was using bedsheets and coat hangers to go through a grate in the one prisoner's room, and then shimmying over the courtyard to the exterior wall, and they did a dry run twice before actually trying to escape, but I don't know how much that's going to add because that happens in a lot of prison movies.

I've checked imdb for "escape-from-prison" movies, but nothing looks right. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
-Vince

A: The movie that first came to mind for me and one I saw in a film class myself was Grande Illusion from 1937. It's a French film directed by Jean Renoir and the dialogue is a mix of English, French and German It's set during World War I in an old castle converted to a prisoner of war camp. Erich Von Stroheim plays the head of the prison, who was injured in the war, and treats officers with the respect he thinks they deserve. He becomes friendly with Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay in a great performance) who sacrifices himself so the enlisted men can escape. Among them is Lt. Marechal (Jean Gabin) and Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) who escape to the German countryside and get aide from Elsa (Dita Parlo) before escaping to Switzerland. It's not just a commentary on war, but also class and social status as how these ideals are kept even in a POW camp.



While we're here, a famous clip from "The Dick Cavett Show" with Orson Welles where he tells an amusing war story and namedrops "Grande Illusion."



Q: What's wrong with you? NYPD Blue is Mike Post best work.

I hope Uncle Leo will be in the CYE season finale.

Did Chi McBride get fat since he was in Narc?
-Propaghandi

A: I like the back beat, but it's not "Hunter." Disagree with me on that and I will fight you.



Do you mean fatter? Chi McBride has always been kind of portly. Robust might be as low as I would go. McBride, 48, is a native of Chicago. That's where Chi comes from, his real first name is Kenneth. He attended a Seven Day Adventist school and graduated when he was 16. He studied music and sang in many gospel groups before moving to Atlanta to become an AT&T billing clerk in 1986.

Shortly after, he recorded the parody song "He's the Champ" about the marriage of Mike Tyson and Robin Givens and joined the group Covert. From there he moved to Los Angeles and got many bit parts in television. His break out came has Heavy Gene the janitor on "The John Larroquette Show." He was also the lead character in the short lived "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" and starred in "Boston Public," "The Nine" and "Pushing Daisies." His movies include Mercury Rising, Undercover Brother, Let's Go to Prison, Brothers Solomon, I Robot, The Terminal, Narc, Gone in Sixty Seconds, the Freighteners and Waiting. He'll return to TV with "The Human Target" this spring.



Q: Quickie question I'm not sure you've answered before. There was an animated cartoon done by Lenny Bruce called "Thank You Masked Man" which was a Lone Ranger parody. I can't imagine where it'd have been viewed or how it came to be made. Did someone take a routine of his and make the cartoon or did Bruce write the routine for the cartoon?
-Krunchy

A: "Thank You, Mask Man" was a standup routine by Lenny Bruce. In it, a town gets mad at the Lone Ranger always riding off without taking any thank you's or gifts. Eventually he does and finds that he likes being thanked. As a present he asks for Tonto the Indian in order to have sex with him, just to see how it is. He also asks for a horse. The animation was done in 1968 with Bruce apparently giving his permission for the film before his death in 1966. It was produced by John Magnuson and directed by Jeff Hale. It was supposed to debut before the premier of Z, but was pulled. Magnuson said that one of the financial backers of Z had a wife that hated Bruce and threatened to yank her husband's backing. Likewise, Magnuson claimed that a member of the Academy Awards committee hated Bruce and prevented the film from being shown to the nomination committee for Oscar consideration.



I've still got some questions to get to and movies to watch, but I had a long week. Not only am I still doing that play I mentioned, but my stepfather went into the hospital with possibly a stroke. My hope is that I can catch up before the end of the year when life settles down. Thanks for understanding, I say in advance with fingers crossed.

Don't die.

"You think grown-ups have it all figured out? That's just a hustle, kid. Grown-ups are making it up as they go along, just like you. You remember that, and you'll do fine."