characterization photos on Flickr

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Italian postcard. Ed. Vettori, Bologna. S.I.F.

Enzo Biliotti, born Lorenzo Biliotti (Livorno, June 28, 1887 - Bologna, November 19, 1976), was an Italian actor.

Son of Francesco Biliotti and soprano Ines De Frate, Biliotti began his theatrical career as a brilliant actor in the Carini-Gentili Company (1918-1921) to later join that of Gemma Bolognesi. He was also part of that of Virgilio Talli (1922-1924), then of the Piccola Canobbiana of Milan in the 1924-1925 season and then of that of the Teatro d'Arte in Rome in 1925-1926, to be one of Alda Borelli's companions in the 1926. Dina Galli wanted him with her for the entire 1927-1928 season, then he moved to the Dora Migliari-Menichell companyi in 1928-1929 and in a revue company directed by Paolo Reni (1929-1930). Guido Salvini hired him for a large-scale production, entrusting him with the character of Fouché in Campo di Maggio (1930) by Giovacchino Forzano, a character he resumed when Forzano himself made the film version of it in 1935. In 1931 he was part of the large cast of Za Bum n. 3 and in 1938 he was with Tumiati-Bagni-Scelzo, where he distinguished himself in a beautiful edition of Manzoni's Adelchi. Also in 1938 he played Federico in As you like it by William Shakespeare, directed by Jacques Copeau, with Massimo Pianforini, Sandro Ruffini, Guido Gatti, Fernando Farese, Nerio Bernardi, Umberto Melnati, Giuseppe Pierozzi, Franco Scandurra, Checco Rissone, Nella Bonora , Letizia Bonini and Zoe Incrocci at the Boboli Gardens in Florence. Finally in 1946 he was with the company of Lilia Silvi.

In the cinema he was always employed in character or secondary roles. After his debut in 1916 in Cura da baci by Emilio Graziani-Walter, he acted in three more silent films, all directed by Mario Bonnard. He impersonated e.g. Fra Cristoforo in Bonnard's 1922 adaptation of I promessi sposi. Bonnard would later on also directed him in La gerla di papà Martin (1940), while Biliotti would act again in another adaptation of I promessi sposi (Mario Camerini, 1941), now as Antonio Ferrer. His first sound film was Villafranca (Giovacchino Forzano, 1933), where he superbly interpreted Napoleon III, which he wittily re-proposed in La contessa Castiglione (1942) by Flavio Calzavara. Biliotti specialized in masterfully designing kings, emperors, nobles and fathers of high lineage. Among his tastiest characterizations is that of the Viceroy in Un'avventura di Salvator Rosa/ An Adventure by Salvator Rosa (1939) by Alessandro Blasetti (1939) and King Philip IV in Don Cesare di Bazan (1942) by Riccardo Freda, in addition to the aforementioned French emperor. Married to Lia Di Lorenzo, at the end of the fifties he retired to the Casa di Riposo Lyda Borelli for retired actors in Bologna.

Source: IMDB, Italian Wikipedia

Signboard, Walt Disney, Three Little Pigs, Big Bad Wolf by photolibrarian

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Three Little Pigs

Directed by Burt Gillett

Produced by Walt Disney

Voices by Pinto Colvig

Billy Bletcher

Mary Moder

Dorothy Compton

Music by Carl W. Stalling

Frank Churchill

Animation by Fred Moore

Art Babbitt

Jack King

Dick Lundy

Norm Ferguson[1]

Studio Walt Disney Productions

Distributed by United Artists

Release date(s) May 27, 1933

Color process Technicolor

Running time 8 min

Country United States

Language English

Preceded by Father Noah's Ark

Followed by Old King Cole

Three Little Pigs is an animated short film released on May 27, 1933 by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Burt Gillett. Based on a fairy tale of the same name, the Silly Symphony won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The short cost $22,000 and grossed $250,000.[2] In 1994, it was voted #11 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. In 2007, Three Little Pigs was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Practical Pig, Fiddler Pig and Fifer Pig are three brothers who build their own houses with bricks, sticks and straw respectively. All three of them play a different kind of musical instrument – Fifer Pig "toots his flute, doesn't give a hoot and plays around all day," Fiddler Pig "with a hey diddle diddle, plays on his fiddle and dances all kinds of jigs" and Practical Pig is initially seen as working without rest. Fifer and Fiddler build their straw and stick houses with much ease and have fun all day. Practical, on the other hand, "has no chance to sing and dance for work and play don't mix," focusing on building his strong brick house, but his two brothers poke fun at him. An angry Practical warns them "You can play and laugh and fiddle. Don't think you can make me sore. I'll be safe and you'll be sorry when the Wolf comes through your door!" Fifer and Fiddler ignore him and continue to play, singing the now famous song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".

As they are singing, the Big Bad Wolf really comes by, at which point Fifer and Fiddler reveal they are in fact very afraid of the wolf. Fifer and Fiddler each retreat to their respective houses; the Wolf first blows Fifer's house down (except for the roof) with little resistance. Fifer manages to escape and hides at Fiddler's house. The wolf pretends to give up and go home, but returns disguised as an innocent sheep. The pigs see through the disguise ("Not by the hair of our chinny-chin-chin! You can't fool us with that old sheep skin!"), whereupon the Wolf blows Fiddler's house down (except for the door). The two pigs manage to escape and hide at Practical's house, who willingly gives his brothers refuge; in Practical's house, it is revealed that his musical instrument is the piano. The Wolf arrives disguised as a Jewish peddler/Fuller Brush man to trick the pigs into letting him in, but fails. The Wolf then tries to blow down the strong brick house (losing his clothing in the process), but is unable, all while a confident Practical plays melodramatic piano music. Finally, he attempts to enter the house through the chimney, but smart Practical Pig takes off the lid of a boiling pot filled with water (to which he adds turpentine) under the chimney, and the Wolf falls right into it. Shrieking in pain, the Wolf runs away frantically, while the pigs sing "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" again. Practical then plays a trick by knocking on his piano, causing his brothers to think the Wolf has returned and hide under Practical's bed.

Reaction and legacy

The movie was phenomenally successful with audiences of the day, so much that theaters ran the cartoon for months after its debut, to great financial response.[3] A number of theaters added hand-drawn "beards" to the movie posters for the cartoon as a way of indicating how long its theatrical run lasted.[citation needed] The cartoon is still considered to be the most successful animated short ever made,[4] and remained on top of animation until Disney was able to boost Mickey's popularity further by making him a top merchandise icon by the end of 1934.[5]

Animator Chuck Jones said, "That was the first time that anybody ever brought characters to life [in an animated cartoon]. They were three characters who looked alike and acted differently". (Other animation historians, particularly admirers of Winsor McCay, would dispute the word "first," but Jones was not referring to personality as such but to characterization through posture and movement.) Fifer and Fiddler Pig are frivolous and care-free; Practical Pig is cautious and earnest. The reason for why the film's story and characters were so well developed was that Disney had already realized the success of animated films depended upon telling emotionally gripping stories that would grab the audience and not let go.[6][7] This realization led to an important innovation around the time Pigs was in development: a "story department," separate from the animators, with storyboard artists who would be dedicated to working on a "story development" phase of the production pipeline.[8]

The moderate, but not blockbuster, success of the further "Three Pigs" cartoons was seen as a factor in Walt Disney's decision not to rest on his laurels, but instead to continue to move forward with risk-taking projects, such as the multiplane camera and the first feature-length animated movie. Disney's slogan, often repeated over the years, was "you can't top pigs with pigs."[9]

Song

The original song composed by Frank Churchill for the cartoon, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", was a best-selling single, mirroring the people's resolve against the "big bad wolf" of The Great Depression; the song actually became something of an anthem of the Great Depression.[10] When the Nazis began expanding the boundaries of Germany in the years preceding World War II, the song was used to represent the complacency of the Western world in allowing Adolf Hitler to make considerable acquisitions of territory without going to war, and was notably used in Disney animations for the Canadian war effort.

The song was further used as the inspiration for the title of the 1963 play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Content editing

One sequence in the cartoon which depicted the Big Bad Wolf as a stereotypical Jewish peddler was re-animated when the short was reissued to theaters in 1948, to portray the villainous Wolf as a Fuller Brush Man, albeit one with a Yiddish accent. A nose, glasses and beard disguise also remained. Airings on American television have edited this further by using the Fuller Brush Man footage and redubbing the Wolf's voice so that he does not sound stereotypically Jewish. When the film was released on home video, the scene was further edited: the topical 'Fuller Brush Man' line "I'm the Fuller Brush Man...I'm giving a free sample!" was changed to the incongruous "I'm the Fuller Brush Man – I'm working my way through college" for this and all subsequent home video releases.

Home video

In the United States, the short was first released on VHS, Betamax and Laserdisc in 1984 as part of its "Cartoon Classics" Home Video series. It came out on VHS in the UK in spring 1996 as part of the Disney Storybook Favourites series. It made its DVD debut on December 4, 2001, included in the Silly Symphonies Vol. 1 set of the Walt Disney Treasures line, with the PAL release retaining the Jewish peddler animation. It was later included in Walt Disney's Timeless Tales, Vol. 1, released August 16, 2005 (featuring the edited version in the US Silly Symphonies set), which also featured The Pied Piper (1933), The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934), The Tortoise and the Hare (1935) and The Prince and the Pauper (1990). In those other countries to whom the original 1933 cartoon was first released with original soundtracks in both English and other foreign languages, the uncensored images — with original 1933 soundtracks in both English and other foreign languages — are still issued by the Disney corporation in home-release videos.

Star Trek,The Original Series "The Menagerie" by Morbius19

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Star Trek- The Menagerie , “Return to Talos IV”

youtu.be/v5XBfgPy43A?t=2s The full feature.

The Menagerie Review: February 8, 2014 by neoethereal

As the only two-part episode in The Original Series, “The Menagerie” also cleverly serves as a re-telling of the very first Star Trek story ever filmed, “The Cage.” This week on The Uncommon Geek, I examine all of these episodes in full detail, highlighting their connections to other aspects of the Trek mythos. As well, I take a look at the ground broken by Gene Roddenberry concerning the nature of reality, decades before movies like “The Matrix” challenged the perception of our everyday world.

Equipped with little more than a shoestring budget and massive constraints on time with which to work, Gene Roddenberry and his Star Trek production team had to get extremely creative in order to make the show work. Nowhere, in my opinion, is that more evident than here in “The Menagerie,” an entry that served the purpose of buying the production team time to properly finish subsequent episodes, and as well, afforded Gene Roddenberry a unique opportunity to re-tell the story he had wanted to get on the air all along, “The Cage.”

This episode begins with the Enterprise having been called out of its way, to Starbase 11. Confusion arises when the starbase’s commanding officer, Commodore Mendez, reveals to Captain Kirk that the base never sent any message to the Enterprise. Spock claims to have received that message, which puts Kirk into the difficult position of whether to trust the starbase computers, or the word of his first officer and friend.

It turns out that Captain Christopher Pike, the former commander of the Enterprise, who was recently crippled and disfigured in a terrible accident, is on Starbase 11, and suspicion arises that perhaps he relayed a message to Spock. When Kirk finally gets to see Pike, however, he realizes that it would have been impossible for Spock’s former commanding officer to have done this, for Pike is now wheelchair bound, and his communication with others is limited to electronic beeps that fill in for “yes” and “no.

While Kirk and Mendez wrestle over the truth, Spock executes a daring and clever plan to hijack the Enterprise, taking Captain Pike with him. It goes to show just how dangerous an opponent someone as smart and calculating as Spock can be when he puts his mind to it. Spock sets the Enterprise on a locked course for Talos IV, a planet which the ship visited on a past mission under Christopher Pike, and a planet that invites the death penalty upon any Starfleet officer who goes there

The secret file on Talos IV, and the article of General Order 7

I personally find the idea of a death penalty being associated with Talos IV to be somewhat dubious; although there is a very good reason why Starfleet wants the existence of the Talosians kept secret, I find it hard to believe that if the Federation is capable of having a death penalty, that it only applies to one law. It may just be a grand bluff, and indeed, there is some evidence to that effect later in the episode. Regardless, breaking General Order 7 is a serious offense, and Spock is if nothing else, putting his career and livelihood on the line.

Kirk, of course, isn’t going to sit by while his ship is abducted. He and Mendez make a daring attempt to chase the Enterprise in the Shuttlecraft Picasso, knowing full well that while they would never catch up, they would appear on the Enterprise sensors. Kirk gambles his life on the fact that his friend Spock would not leave him to die in the void of space, as the shuttle runs out of fuel. Kirk’s illogical gambit causes Spock’s plan to unravel, and he surrenders himself to custody, pleading guilty to every charge leveled against him. However, Spock has locked the Enterprise into a course for Talos IV that cannot be broken, which will potentially extend the death sentence that is on himself, to Kirk as well.

The court martial that proceeds against Spock is highly unusual; as mentioned, Spock pleads guilty without defense, but through some legal technicality, manages to arrange for the court to hear out his evidence as to why he went through with his illegal actions. Given that Kirk is presiding over the hearing, and that the crew has little else to do but wait until they reach Talos IV, I get the lenience, but I am not sure what real court would remain in session to examine evidence for someone who just admitted their guilt. Or admittedly, maybe I just don’t know enough about legal proceedings.

Spock’s evidence, as it turns out, is a transmission from Talos IV, beamed directly to the Enterprise, which details the vessel’s first trip there under the command of Captain Pike. Of course, this transmission is the original Star Trek pilot, “The Cage,” and from this point on, “The Menagerie” consists almost entirely of footage from that episode.

Aside from some really goofy tech dialogue, and incomplete characterizations, “The Cage” holds up surprisingly well. We get to see that Jeffrey Hunter’s Captain Pike is a darker, colder man than James Kirk; he is someone whose decisions and responsibilities as a commander are weighing on him heavily, and he is nearing the point of considering resignation. Pike’s first officer is only referred to as Number One (played by Majel Barrett), who is an amazing example of a strong female role for 1960’s television, but unfortunately her character had to be discarded by Roddenberry when the studio forced him to choose between keeping his strong, logical female, or his alien Spock. Roddenberry ended up giving Spock Number One’s cold, emotionless, logical persona, and thus the Spock we know and love was born.

It really is a shame that NBC put so much pressure on Roddenberry to alter his concept of women in the 23rd Century; aside from Number One, the other female crew members of the Cage-era Enterprise also seem to be on equal footing with the men, and there isn’t a mini-skirt in sight. Of course, this reviewer by no means, from an aesthetic point view, objects to how the women of the Enterprise look in said mini-skirts, but cheekiness and my own red-blooded male impulses aside, the female officers in Starfleet should have been offered the same, more professional uniform as the males. Unfortunately we would have to wait until The Motion Picture to see more fairness in the way men and women are presented in Star Trek.

When Enterprise finds evidence of human survivors on Talos IV, from a doomed expedition many years ago, Pike, Spock, and an away team beam down to investigate. What at first seems like a wonderful discovery of lost, homesick men, turns out to be just an elaborate, life like illusion created by the Talosians. Pike is abducted when he is lured in by the only true human survivor from the crash, Vina, whom he is extremely attracted to.

Pike is subjected to a variety of illusions crafted by the Talosians, in order to foster cooperation, as well as to strengthen his attraction toward Vina. Vina is presented to Pike in a variety of forms; as a damsel in distress on Rigel VII, as a wife in the countryside on Earth, and as a primal, animalistic Orion slave woman, all in an attempt to make him submit to his situation.

However, Pike is every bit as stubborn as Captain Kirk, and certainly has a darker, more furious edge to him. When he discovers that primitive, base human emotions such as hatred, and anger, block out the Talosian’s illusions and their telepathic abilities, he mines that weakness long enough to take one of them captive. Once the illusion is broken, the Enterprise crew find out that their attempts to break Pike out from his underground cage with phaser fire were actually working, but all along they weren’t able to see it.

The Talosians had, thousands of centuries ago, devastated their planet and their civilization with war. They retreated underground, where their telepathic abilities flourished, but their physical bodies and their technology atrophied. They had apparently been testing various species for many years, looking for a suitable slave race to use for rebuilding their world, but none had shown as much promise as humanity.

However, when the away team threatens to kill themselves with an overloaded phaser, and as well when the Talosians finish screening the Enterprise‘s records, they realize that humans would rather die than be enslaved, and would be too violent to keep in captivity. With of course, the sad exception of Vina, who in reality is too badly disfigured to live a normal life outside of Talos IV.

(I once heard a suggestion that Vina could be repaired using the transporter. I don’t think 23rd century transporters were sophisticated enough for that, plus, there wouldn’t be an original, unaltered version of her pattern to reference.)

The ending of “The Cage” leads us to the final moments of “The Menagerie,” where it is revealed that not only have the Talosians been transmitting a signal to the Enterprise, but even Commodore Mendez himself has been one of their illusions all along!

It is also revealed that Spock’s only intention was to take Captain Pike to Talos IV, so that the crippled starship commander could live out the rest of his life as a healthy, happy man with Vina. Even Kirk seems to relent that it is better to live with an illusion of health and happiness, than a reality of living as a useless vegetable. That Commodore Mendez was an illusion, and that Starfleet sends a signal to the Enterprise, apparently excusing their violation of Talos space, seems to let Spock off the hook. Perhaps too easily in fact; despite acting out of nothing but loyalty to his former Captain, and despite that the way he enacted his plan was done in such a manner as to put the blame only on himself, Spock seems to get out of his predicament with apparently no trouble at all. We can make a guess that perhaps this incident is why he doesn’t receive a promotion or command of his own until years later, but there is nothing spoken on-screen to that effect.

We are also left to ponder about how much of the incident was real at all. Since the Talosians can apparently project their powers through subspace, one wonders just how long they conspired with Spock, and also, how much we see of Mendez was real or an illusion. My guess is that the Mendez we see at the base was real, and what goes onto the shuttle with Kirk was the illusion, but unfortunately, again, there is little to back that up. What we do know for sure is that the Talosian’s powers are not to be trifled with, and it is truly for wise for Starfleet to give them a wide berth.

Despite some problems with logic and consistency, “The Menagerie” is an entertaining, fascinating episode that shows original series Trek at some of its most interestingly cerebral. Gene Roddenberry’s first pilot examines the nature of reality decades before The Matrix did, and asks the questions: What is real? How does one define their purpose, their reality? Is our reality just relative, defined only by experience? Is there a such thing as an absolute reality, or only what our senses perceive, or for that matter what they think they perceive? This is smart, ahead of its time writing for the 1960s.

Through the tragedies that befell both Vina and Pike, we must also question the quality of human life, and the value we place on it. Is it worth staying alive if you can’t function? If your brain is sound but your body is broken, can you still truly live? Speaking for myself, I certainly would despise the existence that Captain Pike is forced to endure in his wheelchair. I’d rather be dead than live that way. I’m not sure how I would react exactly to being forced to live in an illusion, but it is certainly preferable to a reality of uselessness and immobility. Besides, is our everyday life not just an elaborate series of deceptions spun before our very eyes; maybe not as powerful as a trick of telepathy played by an alien race, but an illusion nonetheless?

For even provoking these thoughts, and much more, “The Cage,” and by extension, “The Menagerie,” are what I consider among the best of Star Trek’s purely cerebral stories about human nature. It is imaginative, thoughtful, and quite engaging.

Flash Gordon's Trip To Mars 1938 by Morbius19

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The bullet car used by the clay people is the same one used in the scenes on Saturn in Buck Rogers.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ2HUfD0QSw&feature=share&amp...

Universal, 15 Chapters, 1938. Starring Larry “Buster” Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Frank Shannon, Beatrice Roberts, Richard Alexander, Donald Kerr, C. Montague Shaw, Wheeler Oakman.

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars picks up almost exactly where Flash Gordon left off, with our courageous trio of interplanetary adventurers–Flash Gordon (Larry “Buster” Crabbe), Dale Arden (Jean Rogers), and Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon)–returning to Earth from the planet Mongo. They are greeted to a royal welcome, since their voyage has saved the Earth from being destroyed by the late Emperor Ming of Mongo. Zarkov, however, attempts to curb the Earthlings’ ebullience by cautioning them that the defeat and death of Ming does not mean that their planet is free from other threats of extraterrestrial invasion. As usual, Zarkov is correct; shortly after his warning speech, the Martian Queen Azura (Beatrice Roberts) begins an operation designed to siphon off the “nitron” (aka nitrogen) in the Earth’s atmosphere. Azura’s primary goal is to create nitron-powered weapons with which to wage a war against her mortal foes, the Clay People of Mars. She’s indifferent to the devastating effect that it will have on the Earth, while her chief adviser and military consultant regards the destruction of Earth as the main attraction of the plan. That adviser is none other than Ming (Charles Middleton), still very much alive and longing for revenge on Flash and Zarkov for toppling him from his throne and driving him into exile on Mars.

As the Earth begins to experience catastrophic floods and storms, due to the effects of Azura’s “Nitron Lamp,” Zarkov, Flash, and Dale launch another interplanetary trip to discover the cause of the catastrophes, which Zarkov has determined are due to a beam that emanates from outer space. They discover an unexpected stowaway aboard after takeoff–reporter “Happy” Hapgood (Donald Kerr), who had set out to track down Zarkov and get his opinion of the world-wide disasters. Not long after arriving on Mars, our quartet of Earth adventurers find themselves embroiled in the war between Azura and the Clay People. The latter are one-time rivals of the Queen, who have been transformed into living clay by Azura’s magical powers and banished to underground caverns from whence they carry on a guerilla war against Azura’s forces. The Clay People’s king enlists the aid of Flash and his party, as both of them want to stop Azura’s nitron-collecting plans, and, with additional aid from Prince Barin (Richard Alexander)–who arrives on Mars to try to convince the Martians to expel Ming–Flash and his party pit themselves against Azura’s magic, Ming’s machinations, Ming’s savage allies the Forest People, and many other hazards, in their quest to save the Earth.

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars is fully as good as the first Flash Gordon serial, although its strengths are in slightly different areas. While Trip to Mars doesn’t measure up to Flash Gordon when it comes to colorful characters and fantastic monsters, its focused plotline surpasses the episodic story of the earlier serial. In Flash Gordon, the protagonists merely responded to the perpetual perils that were hurled at them by Ming, King Vultan, and King Kala, while Ming’s own plans for destroying the Earth were largely abandoned after the first chapter in favor of his attempts to marry Dale and destroy Flash. In Trip to Mars, Flash, Dale, and Zarkov initiate events instead of just coping with them, and Ming’s new grand design drives the plot far more strongly than his earlier one, giving the good guys a clear-cut objective (the destruction of the Nitron Lamp) beyond simple escape from Mongo.

While Trip to Mars has no characters to rival Flash Gordon’s King Vultan and no bizarre beasts like the Orangopoid or the Fire Dragon, it still has excellent other-worldly atmosphere. The sets are not as varied and intricate as in the first serial, but still surpass the backdrops of almost any other chapterplay. Especially striking are Ming’s “powerhouse,” with its laboratory equipment and its disintegration room, Azura’s massive palace with its unique architectural design (particularly the futuristic pocket doors), the Clay People’s eerie caves, and the wonderfully-designed realm of the Forest People, with its twisted trees, climbing vines, hidden tunnels amid tree roots, and treehouse-like observation platforms.

In addition to the big sets, there are dozens of other major and minor props and special effects that make Trips to Mars memorably atmospheric; there’s the the Martians’ flying capes, the Martian televiewer screens (which are cleverly incorporated into the recap sequences at the beginning of each chapter), the Clay People’s vapor-healing chamber, and the bridge of light that connects Azura’s rocket tower to the rest of her palace and is powered by a simple switch like any Earthling lamp (the scene where Flash and Zarkov are first forced to cross the unsafe-looking thing is quite funny), to name but a few. I also appreciate the fact that Azura’s spaceship squadrons–her “stratosleds”–are designed differently than any of the ships in the first Flash Gordon serial; one would expect the aerial fleets of differing planets to differ in appearance. Another neat touch of internal consistency is the use of three completely different forms of salute by the three principal Martian races–Queen Azura’s subjects, the Clay People, and the Forest People.

The serial’s screenplay maintains good continuity with the previous Flash outing, despite being the work of a completely different team of writers–Ray Trampe, Norman S. Hall, Wyndham Gittens, and Herbert Dalmas. The new writing team avoids any of the clunky lines that occasionally crept into Flash Gordon’s dialogue exchanges; they also, despite having to resort to a few flashbacks to the first serial for padding purposes, manage to make their plot fit its fifteen-chapter length quite nicely. The major plot thread of the heroes’ attempts to destroy Ming and Azura’s Nitron Lamp is skillfully interwoven with several subplots–the Clay People’s efforts to regain their natural shape, the attempts by both Flash and Ming to get hold of the Black Sapphire of Kalu (a talisman that can neutralize Azura’s magic), and Ming’s plot to undermine Azura and seize the Martian throne.

Trip to Mars’ script wisely spreads its plot developments over the course of the serial, instead of introducing all its ideas in the first chapter and letting them tread water until the final one: the Clay People aren’t introduced till the second chapter or the Forest People until the sixth, while Prince Barin first arrives in Chapter Seven. The Nitron Lamp is destroyed in Chapter Nine and rebuilt over the course of the following chapters until it must be destroyed again at the climax, and one of the principal villains is killed off in Chapter Thirteen.

The cliffhangers aren’t quite as varied as in the first Flash serial, due to the lack of the various monsters that frequently attacked Flash for chapter-ending purposes in the earlier outing. However, writers still manage to avoid excessive repetition; for instance, while there are three chapter endings involving stratosled crashes, each one is set up differently–the first has Flash crashing a stratosled into another stratosled to stop it from bombing Dale and Happy, the second has a stratosled crashing on top of Flash and Zarkov, and the third has Flash and the pilots of a ’sled grapping for the controls as it soars towards yet another crash. There’s also an excellent cliffhanger in which Flash, Dale, Happy, and Zarkov are surrounded by an ever-narrowing ring of fire in the Forest People’s kingdom, and a memorably unusual one that has a hypnotized Dale stabbing an unsuspecting Flash in the back.

Though Trip to Mars has no swordfights or wrestling matches corresponding to those in Flash Gordon, it still features a nice variety of action scenes–including stratosled dogfights, fights among the vines and treetops of the Forest Kingdom, and chases through Azura’s big palace; the palace sequence in Chapter Five, which has the nimble Flash vaulting through windows to avoid the guards, is a particular standout. Directors Ford Beebe (a Universal serial veteran) and Robert Hill (a talented director who rarely escaped from low-budget independent serials and B-films) do a fine job of orchestrating these action scenes, assisted by stuntmen Eddie Parker (doubling Buster Crabbe), George DeNormand, Tom Steele, Bud Wolfe, and Jerry Frank. All of the aforementioned stuntmen, except Parker, also pop up in minor acting roles.

The performances in Trip to Mars are all first-rate; the returning actors from the first serial are all just as good as they were in Flash Gordon, while the new major players fit in smoothly. Buster Crabbe’s Flash is just as tough, chipper, athletic, and likable as in the first serial–and a good deal more wise and resourceful than before, improvising strategy and coming up with plans in tough situations instead of just trying to batter his way out. Frank Shannon’s Zarkov, as consequence of Flash’s new-found intelligence, has a reduced part, not guiding the good guys’ actions as he did in the first serial; he still functions as the scientific brains of the group, though, and is still as intense, serious, and sincere as before.

Jean Rogers, with her long blonde hair bobbed and dyed brown to better match the comic-strip version of Dale Arden (she’s also dressed in less arresting fashion), isn’t as stunning as in Flash Gordon, but is still a warm, welcome, and lovely presence. Her part here is smaller than in the first serial, though, since Ming is not romantically interested in her this time out (Ming, though no gentleman, evidently prefers blondes). Richard Alexander’s Prince Barin is a lot more self-assured when it comes to delivering dialogue this time around (helped, no doubt, by the absence of any overly high-flown lines), while his convincingly royal bearing and his commanding size are as effective as before.

Charles Middleton’s Ming is even more entertainingly sinister here than he was in Flash Gordon, getting a good deal more screen time and given a more devilish appearance by a notably forked beard. Though still given opportunities to break into tyrannical and bloodthirsty rages (particularly in his insane rant in the final chapter), Middleton spends much of the serial displaying duplicity and sly subtlety instead, since his Ming must pretend to friendship with Azura even while plotting against her. Middleton carries off this slightly more multi-faceted version of Ming masterfully, winning a few laughs with his crafty cynicism while remaining thoroughly sinister and hateful.

Beatrice Roberts does a fine job as Queen Azura, eschewing the sneering, aggressive demeanor of other serial villainesses for a regal, dignified manner (with a wryly humorous undercurrent) that contrasts interestingly with her often cruel behavior. Her Azura comes off as selfish and ruthless, but not an abusive tyrant like Ming. Donald Kerr as reporter Happy Hapgood, the other principal new character, is as controversial among fans as most other serial comedy-relief characters are. Speaking for myself, though, I found him quite likable and entertaining; he provides an amusingly commonplace point-of-view towards the fantastic world of Mars and is never obtrusive, gratingly stupid, or obnoxious. Additionally, his character is allowed to be quite heroic and helpful when the chips are down, a far cry from one-dimensional cowardly “comic” pests like Sonny Ray in Perils of Pauline or Lee Ford in SOS Coast Guard.

Wheeler Oakman is very good as Tarnak, Ming’s wily lab assistant and co-conspirator against Azura. C. Montague Shaw, concealed under heavy makeup for most of the serial, conveys an impressive air of ruined dignity as the King of the Clay People and manages to seem both sinister and sympathetic at different times. Usual hero Kane Richmond brings appropriate depth of characterization to his key role as a Martian pilot, who proves instrumental in helping Flash overthrow Ming in the later chapters. Anthony Warde has a small part as Toran, king of the Forest People, but extracts as much snarling nastiness as possible from the role. Future director Thomas Carr is his second-in-command, Kenne Duncan is the officer in charge of Azura’s airdrome, Lane Chandler and Jack Mulhall both appear as pilots of her Death Squadron, and Warner Richmond has a small role as one of Ming’s palace cohorts.

Hooper Atchley and James Blaine pop up as self-important Earth scientists, propounding ingenious and inaccurate theories as to the causes of the damage brought about by the Nitron Lamp, while Edwin Stanley is the general presiding over a council comprised of these two and additional savants. Louis Merrill (a radio actor who played character roles in several feature films) has a brief but memorable turn as the blunt and slightly uncouth Dr. Metz, who alone among the scientists has the humility to admit that Zarkov is the only one capable of unravelling the riddle of the disasters. Merrill’s characterization is so vivid that one wishes the actor had taken a larger part in this chapterplay or in other serials.

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars is a nearly ideal sequel, in that it manages to preserve the basic strengths of its predecessor while deviating from it in some areas and improving on it in others. It’s also a nearly ideal serial, independent of its relation to the earlier Flash Gordon; it balances good acting, atmosphere, action, and plotting in such fine style that it would still be a notable achievement if it were the sole entry in the Flash Gordon series.

Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov return from their former space adventures only to find that their enemy, Ming the Merciless of planet Mongo, has a new weapon: a deadly ray that crosses space to wreak havoc on earth. Earth's only hope is for our heroes to take off again and stop the ray at its source on Mars, where they (and a stowaway) familiar to sci-fi serial fans as Happy Hapgood the space traveling reporter). Must battle Ming's ally, Queen Azura, who turns her enemies into lumpish clay people.With the aid of the Clay People and Prince Barin, Flash and his friends are triumphant in destroying the ray and putting an end to the scheme of Ming the Merciless. Can they survive 15 chapters of deadly perils? Find out next week...

The Deadly Ray From Mars was an edited version of the 1938 Universal serial "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" that was released to TV in a syndication package in 1966.

Mars Attacks the World was the feature version of the 1938 serial titled Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars. aka "Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars" - USA (TV title)

Mars Attacks the World is the feature compilation version of the serial Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, while Rocket Ship is the the feature compilation of the serial Flash Gordon.

Jean Rogers as Dale Arden

Charles Middelton as Emperor Ming

Frank Shannon as Dr. Zarkov

Beatrice Roberts as Queen Azura

Richard Alexander as Prince Barin

Montague Shaw as The Clay King

Donald Kerr as Happy Hapgood the space traveling reporter.

The title of this serial was originally going to be "Flash Gordon and the Witch Queen of Mongo." It was changed so that Universal could save money by shooting the outdoor scenes on the back lot and not have to build costly sets, and by reusing the set for Emperor Ming's palace.

In the stock footage from Flash Gordon, shown in this film, as Flash is telling The Clay People about his previous encounter with Emperor Ming, Ming is bald and Dale Arden has blond hair. In this sequel, Ming has "pasted on" hair and Dale is a brunette. It has been reported that Jean Rogers (Dale Arden) had many other film roles pending at that time (1938) which had called for her to portray a brunette.

King Features Syndicate released the 3 Flash Gordon serials as well as "Buck Rogers," Red Barry", "Ace Drummond" and other comic strip cliffhangers to US TV in 1951. Because the television show Flash Gordon, starring Steve Holland as Flash, was in syndication in late 1953, the three Universal Pictures Flash Gordon theatrical serials were retitled for TV broadcast. Flash Gordon became "Space Soldiers", Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars became "Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars", and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe became "Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe". To this day both the 3 original "Flash Gordon" serial titles and the 3 "Space Soldiers" titles are used.

Chapter Titles:

1. New Worlds To Conquer

2. The Living Dead

3. Queen of Magic

4. Ancient Enemies

5. The Boomerang

6. Treemen of Mars

7. Prisoner of Monga

8. Black Sapphire of Kalu

9. Symbol of Death

10. Incense of Forgetfulness

11. Human Bait

12. Ming the Merciless

13. Miracle of Magic

14. Beasts at Bay

15. An Eyes For An Eye

Flint-knapped spearpoint 3 by James St. John

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Flint-knapped spearpoint (modern replica).

Flint is the "official" state gemstone of Ohio (actually, there's no such thing as "official" anything). "Flint" is sometimes used as a lithologic term by modern geologists, but it is a synonym for chert. Flint and chert are the same - they are cryptocrystalline, quartzose sedimentary rocks. Rockhounds often assert that flint is high-quality while chert is low-quality. Some geologists assert that "flint" implies a biogenic origin and "chert" implies a chemical origin.

Many cherts do have a chemical origin - chert nodules are moderately common in some limestone units. The nodules form during diagenesis - pre-existing silica components in the carbonate sediments are dissolved, mobilized, and reprecipitated as chert masses. Some cherts do have a biogenic origin - for example, radiolarian cherts (rich in radiolarian microfossils) or spicular cherts (rich in siliceous sponge spicules).

The most famous flint deposit in Ohio is Flint Ridge, in Licking County. At this locality, the Middle Pennsylvanian-aged Vanport Flint is exposed in several places. The geologic literature on the Vanport Flint is relatively sparse, with inaccurate, incomplete descriptions and characterizations. For example, the literature describes the Vanport as a sheet of flint at Flint Ridge - it's actually a meganodule horizon. Other descriptions refer to the chert as the remains of siliceous sponges. In reality, siliceous sponge spicules are quite scarce in Vanport samples.

Gorgo (MGM, 1961). Pressbook Herald (2 Pages, 11" X 16.25") by Morbius19

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Starring Bill Travers, William Sylvester, Vincent Winter, Bruce Seton, Joseph O'Conor, Martin Benson, Barry Keegan, Dervis Ward, Christopher Rhodes, Maurice Kaufman, Basil Dignam, Tommy Duggan, Howard Lang. Directed by Terence Fisher, Eugene Lourie, Wilfred Eades.

A salvage vessle is nearly sunk off the Irish coast by an undersea earthquake. A few nights later, a walking sea monster tangles with the fishing boats and enters the town. The salvage vessel captures Gorgo and takes it to London for display. Gorgo's mother, who is upset and significantly larger follows his trail to London leaving a wake of destruction in her path.

Gorgo 1961

youtu.be/mKjO5GXstVw

Director Eugene Lourié was no stranger to the dynamic world of giant monsters, having helmed THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953) and THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959). In the early 1960s, he went to England to direct his first color film of the sort, this time with actors in suits (alá Godzilla) playing the mammoth creatures, rather than employing stop motion animation. The resulting film, GORGO, was originally issued on DVD twice by VCI (with two different transfers), but it now makes it way to Blu-ray disc with a lovely new HD transfer and a number of extras fans will want to devour.

Days after an underwater eruption near the Irish coastline, fishermen Joe Ryan (Bill Travers, BORN FREE) and Sam Slade (American actor William Sylvester, DEVILS OF DARKNESS) encounter a prehistoric monster that comes ashore to carry out an attack on the locals. Eventually they are able to net the beast and haul it to London to display in a rich businessman's circus, much to the dismay of young Sean (Vincent Winter), an orphan boy sympathetic towards its freedom. What they don't realize is that the creature's mother is ten times bigger and in a desperate search for its child. The angry Mama Gorgo finds its way to the big city, and goes on a rampage of mass destruction before uniting again with the imprisoned offspring.

GORGO is a dazzlingly produced, nifty 77-minute giant monster flick with a huge following due to its successful 1961 MGM theatrical release (it was produced by the veteran American family team of the King Brothers), followed by decades of late night TV airings and the title monster’s mug making the cover of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. The rubber-suited mother-and-offspring monsters look like a cross between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a dragon (complete with wagging ears and glaring red pupils), and the miniature special effects (including the virtual destruction of London) by Oscar winner Tom Howard (THE THIEF OF BAGDAD) are very impressive, especially considering that this was made over 50 years ago. Despite one drawn out stretch of makeshift stock footage and some awkward characterizations, the film still holds up very well as a whole, and the monsters do have more expression than your average Toho equivalent. Aficionados who watch a lot of films of this sort will spot horror movie regulars Nigel Green (THE FACE OF FU MANCHU), Alex Scott (THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES) and Laurence Kauffman (DIE! DIE! MY DARLING), as well as an uncredited Harvey Hall (from all three entries in Hammer’s “Karnstein Trilogy) as a military squadron leader. The cinematography by Freddie Young (YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE) and the score by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (who later composed for Italian sci-fi thrillers such as THE WAR OF THE PLANETS and THE SNOW DEVILS) are exceptional.

VCI had released two prior varying DVDs of GORGO, one framed at 1.66:1 and a second with a tighter 1.85:1 (though the image was somewhat improved). Their new Blu-ray edition blows the old DVD releases out of the water, finally going back to the original elements for the transfer. Presented in 1080p High Definition, the Blu-ray is anamorphic in a fitting 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The restoration results in an extremely clean picture with only minimal grain, and colors are well saturated for the most part. With the film’s use of optical effects (including a number of “blue screen” shots) and the rather unnecessary stock footage, the color timing can sometimes be inconsistent (with occasional heated fleshtones) and there’s a few soft-looking shots, but from the opening block-fonted titles (which really pop out), GORGO has never looked better, and the night-time scenes showcasing the elder monster’s London rampage, really stand out. The English PCM 2.0 audio sounds absolutely fine and is trouble free, and there’s and additional French language track (with optional English subtitles). An isolated music and effects track is also included.

Daniel Griffith and his Ballyhoo Motion Pictures have furnished a number of new supplements for this Blu-ray (the new transfer of GORGO and its extras are also being released on DVD). First and foremost is the excellent documentary, “The 9th Wonder of the World: The Making of Gorgo” (31:08), written by Griffith, Randall Turnbull and Tom Weaver (with additional material by Paul Mandell), with Turnbull providing the robust narration. With interview participation from Ted Newsom, C. Courtney Joyner, Bob Burns and the film’s second unit camera operator Douglas Adamson (via an audio recording), the documentary tells you just about everything you need to know, including the early careers of Lourié (as a set decorator) and the King Brothers leading up to the making of GORGO, as well as information on the film’s cast, crew and production. There are some actual quotes from Lourié (presented in “dramatic reading” form) and a highlight is the revelation of rare behind-the-scenes 8mm footage of Gorgo’s construction.

The supplements also include a number of motion-animated galleries. These include "Gorgo: The Monster From the Sea Comic" (a glimpse into the covers and pages of a series of GORGO-based comics issued by Charlton in the early 1960s), a Posters and Lobby Cards, Toys and Collectibles (models and action figures based on GORGO), a Pressbook Gallery, Production Notes (original pages from 1959), a Photo Gallery (with some rare behind-the-scenes shots) and the "Star Cine Cosmos 'Fumetto' Comic" (a French comic, using actual black and white photos from the film, shown cover to cover). Although the trailer shown on VCI’s last DVD look battered and pinkish, here the trailer looks great, considerably cleaned up and anamorphic with excellent colors. Lastly, the before and after restoration shows just that, and it’s pretty fascinating to see how dirty and green-tinted some of the elements looked until the extensive work was done

Magnera Human Skull Edit v 2.1 by L.C. Nøttaasen

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Just a small retouch on my original human skull edit.

Skull by Sujit kumar

My original try:

www.flickr.com/photos/magnera/3643710412/in/set-721576162...

B l a c k M a g i c (view large on black)

My second attempt on the skull blend. A bit more pleased about this one.

Skull by Sujit kumar

New version:

www.flickr.com/photos/magnera/3922643845/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick work instructions:

-> Layer1 (bottom layer): Face, sharpen

-> Layer2: Black and white filter, reds way down (-120)

-> Layer3: I copied the eyes from layer1 and used hue/saturation and colorize to make them more blue. Then I used the plastic wrap filter before I blured out the edges of my selection.

-> Layer4: Find a skull. I used blending effect inner shadow at opacity 75%, dist- 0, choke 0, size 213, blend multiply. Created a layermask and painted with a soft brush in multiply blending mode (in the layer mask) over the left side of the picture.

-> Layer 5 (top layer): Mask out with a black brush.

Tweak and enjoy!

Used@

1 storyfix.com/part-5-characterization-–-how-to-make-your...

2 nineslashes.deviantart.com/art/Intermuralis-146772974

3 adonfff.blogspot.com/2010/12/la-vie-ne-tient-qua-un-fil.html

Flint (Vanport Flint, Middle Pennsylvanian; Nethers Flint Quarries, Flint Ridge, Ohio, USA) 255 by James St. John

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Flint from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (cut surface; ~17.3 centimeters across at its widest)

Flint is the "official" state gemstone of Ohio (actually, there's no such thing as "official" anything). "Flint" is sometimes used as a lithologic term by modern geologists, but it is a synonym for chert. Flint and chert are the same - they are cryptocrystalline, quartzose sedimentary rocks. Rockhounds often assert that flint is high-quality while chert is low-quality. Some geologists assert that "flint" implies a biogenic origin and "chert" implies a chemical origin.

Many cherts do have a chemical origin - chert nodules are moderately common in some limestone units. The nodules form during diagenesis - pre-existing silica components in the carbonate sediments are dissolved, mobilized, and reprecipitated as chert masses. Some cherts do have a biogenic origin - for example, radiolarian cherts (rich in radiolarian microfossils) or spicular cherts (rich in siliceous sponge spicules).

The most famous flint deposit in Ohio is Flint Ridge, in Licking County. At this locality, the Middle Pennsylvanian-aged Vanport Flint is exposed in several places. The geologic literature on the Vanport Flint is relatively sparse, with inaccurate, incomplete descriptions and characterizations. For example, the literature describes the Vanport as a sheet of flint at Flint Ridge - it's actually a meganodule horizon. Other descriptions refer to the chert as the remains of siliceous sponges. In reality, siliceous sponge spicules are quite scarce in Vanport samples.

Two graduate student projects during the 2000s, conducted at two different universities, had very different conclusions & interpretations about the origin of the Vanport Flint. A 2003 study concluded that chert at Flint Ridge is biogenic in origin. A 2006 study concluded that the chert is chemical in origin. Some Pennsylvanian-aged cherts in eastern America are inferred to be ultimately derived from quartzose eolian dust on seafloors.

Modern flint knappers value the Vanport Flint for being multicolored and high-quality (= very few impurities). With artificial heating, the flint is more easily knapped into arrowheads, spear points, and other objects. Prehistoric American Indians quarried the Vanport Flint at many specific sites on Flint Ridge. Old Indian flint pits can be examined along hiking trails in Flint Ridge State Park. Many authentic Indian artifacts found in Ohio (arrowheads & spearpoints - "projectile points") are composed of Vanport Flint.

This specimen has some pinstripe banding (see the blackish areas at left & right). Some fractures are present - they have been filled with slightly bluish-gray chalcedony and megaquartz (= visible quartz crystals in a chert / flint).

Stratigraphy: Vanport Flint, Allegheny Group, upper Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Nethers Flint Quarries - flint pits in the woods on the southwestern side of Flint Ridge Road, eastern Flint Ridge, far-western Muskingum County, east-central Ohio, USA (vicinity of 40° 00.137’ North latitude, 82° 11.544’ West longitude)

Flash Gordon's Trip To Mars 1938 by Morbius19

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