Serial Review: The Green Hornet (13 Episodes; 2 Discs)

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

The Green Hornet
Directed by Ford I. Beebe (d. 1978); Ray Taylor (d. 1952)
Universal Pictures; VCI Entertainment; MVD Visual
258 minutes (appx. 20 min per episode), 1940 / 2023
www.VCIentertainment.com
www.MVDVisual.com

The last serial I reviewed was 1946’s The Monster and the Ape. And now, here we are with an even earlier one, The Green Hornet. No, do not expect Bruce Lee (d. 1973) as Kato, the role on the television series that arguably made him a household name in North America.

Not counting the extras on this Blu-ray, which I will get to later, there are over four hours of the main attraction. In the day, you would have to wait week-by-week to see the entire piece, which would be over 3 months. Now, it is all in one go, and thanks to the new habit of binge-watching entire seasons of shows, this is quite doable (though it will probably take me a few days to get through all of them, and the extras… I have a life…).

Unlike most modern heroes, such as Batman and Spider-Man, both of which came later, the Green Hornet character started out as a radio series in 1936, created by George W. Trendle (d. 1972), transferring into the serial and adapted by Fran Striker (d. 1962), thanks to its esteem. It was popular enough to snag the original radio series, two different film serials in the 1940s, the infamous television show in the 1960s, and a major film in 2011 with Seth Rogan of all people as the title character. The 13 Chapters of this program are listed below. One of the most recognized theatrical serials released, this is naturally in black and white, but it is a crisp, new 2K scan of the original 35mm master.

In this first of two series, the focus is not exclusively on the enemies of the State (i.e., spies) from the War in Europe, but the good old Racketeers and gangsters. Right off the Bat-man, in an unnamed city, we meet rich newspaper heir Britt Reid (Gordon Jones; d. 1963; note that the voice of the Green Hornet is Al Hodge, d. 1979, who played him on the radio and would go on to portray “Captain Video” on television) and his Korean scientific genius sidekick/”valet” Kato (Keye Luke; d. 1991, known as Master “Snatch the pebble…” Po from the “Kung Fu” television series). In the heavy exposition (as it is the first episode), Reid saved Kato’s life in Asia, and he is now working for him in gratitude; in the opening scene, Kato invents a new and faster car motor, which Reid states, “Wait until I release this on the world.” Wait, it was invented by Kato… Oh, yeah, it is the 1940s. Also helping in the house is brogue-speaking ex-cop/reporter/bodyguard Michael (Wade Boteler; d. 1943) who, unlike Alfred the Butler in Batman, is unaware of the Green Hornet’s identity; he is, however, the comic relief.

The other two main “good guys” are the only returning female in the cast, Reid’s feisty secretary, Lenore Case (Anne Nagel, who would star opposite Lon Chaney Jr. in 1941’s Man-Made Monster; d. 1966) and on occasion, the fast-talking reporter at The Sentinel, Jasper Jenks (Phillip Trent, d. 2001). Notably, there are only three other women who appear, all in a single chapter, and all uncredited. Future star Alan Ladd (d. 1964) has a bit part as a novice pilot (also uncredited).

A line that comes up often is “a new Robin Hood” as the incentive for the vigilante. The Green Hornet’s goal is to wipe out corruption between politicians and a variety of other scams, such as construction company who are using kickbacks to use faulty equipment and materials in their building sites, insurance fraud, a car thief ring, and so on over the course of the 13 chapters, though most of the topics are revolved around transportation. The syndicate is run by a mysterious man on the phone.

Like Batman in the early days especially, Greenie is seen by the police establishment as a bad guy, possibly trying to get rid of the syndicate to start his own. Only a loyal employee sees the good side.

The Green Hornet’s car, Black Beauty, is souped up by Kato (who was originally Japanese on the radio show but switched due to the war in the Asian Theater), makes a buzzing sound like a hornet, that I have learned is made by a Theremin. It is supposed to go 200 miles an hour, but as it speeds past the camera (in sped up footage), the sound is flat, without a doppler effect. Even that is not mentioned in the IMDB list of goofs. Strangely, most people get into their vehicles from the passenger side, rarely from the driver’s. The soundtrack that is worth noting is the nearly constant use of Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1900 “Flight of the Bumblebee,” for obvious reasons.

The acting is completely wooden as is true of nearly all B-films of the period (not just serials), as if doing stage acting, and the dialogue is laughable. However, this is truly fun to watch, and it really is better done than most other serials I have seen. It also mixed footage shot for the series, as well as adding in some historical b-roll (e.g., mining, dam building, etc.), especially in the first chapter. As for the car chases, well it is pretty obvious they play the same footage throughout all the chapters. I am sure this was a wise budgetary decision: remember, the B in B-films could stand for low Budget. These features were not made to make money on their own, but to draw people in with a stream of cliffhangers (a term originated in serials) to see the feature film and its lesser budget companion (e.g., double bill).

It is also fun to check out the tropes of the time, just before gangster films were phasing out for war propaganda and a hint of realism, though one story deals with illegal arms shipments by someone with a slight German accent (Fredrik Vogeding; d. 1942). For example, everyone wears dark suits and ties, fedora hats, and when guns are fired, they are always handguns, with the shooter standing straight up, one foot slightly behind the other, and shooting at waist level. There are numerous fist fights in every episode, and all are unintentionally humorous and cliché. Love this stuff.

Wade Boteler, Anne Nagel, Gordon Jones, Phillip Trent

There are lots of fine, subtle moments, such as the visual of a phone dial spinning melding into another location of a truck tire going ‘round. In another, Chase saying a line and cutting to one of the bad guys saying the same line. It is reasons like this that this serial was so popular.

The extras are on the second disc. They start with Don Blair and Chris Rowe reading from Clifford Weimer’s “I Am…The Green Hornet:’ Chapter Six: The Hornet in Hollywood’” (8 min). This is part of an “autobiography” taken from the perspective of The Hornet, “himself.” It is done with old-radio style vocals discussing the jump from aural to visual. Continuing with the audio aspect are two earlier radio episodes of “The Green Hornet”: “The Parking Lot Racket” (1939) and “The Highway that Graft Wrote” (1940; appx. 30 min each). The last digital extra is a Trivia (e.g., Reid is the grand-nephew of The Lone Ranger) and Photo Gallery. On the physical side is a lengthy booklet written by prolific cultural historian Martin Grams Jr.

Serial title list (disc 1):
Chapter 1: The Tunnel of Terror
Chapter 2: The Thundering Terror
Chapter 3: Flying Coffins
Chapter 4: Pillar of Flame
Chapter 5: The Time Bomb
Chapter 6: Highways of Peril
Chapter 7: Bridge of Disaster
Chapter 8: Dead or Alive
Serial title list (disc 2):
Chapter 9: The Hornet Trapped
Chapter 10: Bullets and Ballots
Chapter 11: Disaster Rides the Rails
Chapter 12: Panic in the Zoo
Chapter 13: Doom of the Underworld

IMDB listing HERE

Review: Lazarus

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Lazarus
Directed by R.L. Scott
Wonder Studios; Overdog Entertainment;
Phoenix Rising Films; Samuel Goldwyn Films
105 minutes, 2021
www.facebook.com/WhoIsLazarus/

Comic book movies are not always based on the standard comic characters. It is a tone, a stylistic choice by the production, that make it a modern comic book film. Don’t get me wrong, there actually is a comic by the Lazarus name, but it is totally not connected to this release, but rather is a sci-fi action coming of age story about a woman.

For this film, the aptly named titular Ray Lazarus (Sean Riggs) is an African-American man who is killed, then comes back to life thanks to a mysterious being called Hellfire (Shane Brolly, who was Kraven in the Underworld franchise), whose powers include strength, the ability to absorb the life force and knowledge of those he whomps, and he cannot be killed; he wears a costume to weed the city of criminals. Wait a minute, didn’t I see that in the comic Spawn? I own the original comic run (first editions), but yeah, the film version (1997) was a bit over the top, while this has more of a The Punisher vibe.

Sean Riggs

The events take place in the sarcastically named Paradise City (I’m pretty sure I saw a low-angle shot of the Empire State Building, but why not?).

The main villain is violent drug kingpin Testament (Adamo Palladino) who had Lazarus killed in the first place. He is yet another one of a legion of Biblically referenced names such as Chapel and, as the Ying to Hellborn’s Yang, there is Epiphany. Why Hellborn is so – err – fired up on Lazarus taking Testament off the streets makes no sense to me, as I would think he would be in favor of “sin.” But there is more afoot as Epiphany (Lyndsey Lantz) is busy working on an equally powerful evil version of Lazarus, because opposites attack. Hey, every superhero film needs an equal match-up for its final act, right? This isn’t meant to be critical, just realistic to the genre. Just think Thanos or Hela (Ragnarok).

Somehow, Super-Lazarus manages to get a small army together (why, if he is that increasingly powerful and can’t die?) to take on mid-level distributor Poet (Damien T. Raven) and his superior, Testament. Meanwhile, a police detective, Benjamin Poge (Costas Mandylor, who played Mark Hoffman in a few Saw films), who drives a car no real city police officer, even of a higher rank, could ever afford, is inquiring into the high body count. Then there is an assassin from Testament, the amusingly named Endless (Kevin Lukata).

There are essentially five women in minor roles here: first is attractive Nina (Nicki Micheaux) as a drug distributor who is instantly the obvious possible love interest for Lazarus, depending on her questionable loyalties, Testament’s cancer-ridden sister, Priscilla (Christina Wren, that played Carrie Farris in the DC Universe), who is on her deathbed, a tarot card reader who works for Testament, Flora (a cameo by pop singer Mya) who is a psychic/Tarot card reader, the sister of one of Lazarus’s friends, Pogo (Linc Hand) named Winter (cute Kayla Vosburg), and the aforementioned Epiphany. There is more in the female part of the cast, but these are the ones that appear at the top level. Most of the other women are tertiary characters, such as a police officer or, especially, numerous mob groupies who lay around snorting powder in lingerie, lolling on couches. This was definitely (a) written by a man, and (b) written for a teen male audience.

Adamo Palladino, Damien T. Raven

The dialogue is stunningly cliché and clumsy in a comic book tone that over enunciates and spaces out words, and is often bland in a pseudo-philosophical way, even with a Noah’s Flood of F-bombs. One piece of monolog by a gang assassin states, “We are what we are. My path is set. Fate already chosen. You knew this was going to happen. Now they are going to die, and there is nothing to stop it.” There are also numerous plot holes that made me kind of antsy; for example, one person is done away with by the mob, yet they left all their information there for the police to find. And why so many short “P” names, such as Poet, Pogo, and Poge? Also, why would the mob crews in warehouses where drugs are being manufactured not have guns?

Good thing is that this can definitely be classified as an action film. Despite the occasional gun play, most of the fighting is hand-to-hand, be it boxing style or mixed martial arts. It is well choreographed and fun to watch as numerous necks are snapped.

I actually like alternative universe comic stories (i.e., other than MCU or DCU), and while this obviously has a decent budget, it is not a multi-million-dollar extravaganza, and that is good. Despite its issues, and it definitely has some, it holds up. It is also nice to see such a large Black cast, which even Spawn did not employ. Furthermore, having the whole “balance” theme is a nice touch.

The film definitely sets up for a sequel, as promises that are made are indicated at the end (I will not divulge). Personally, I was thinking of a couple of really good, unexpected Yangs to Lazarus’s Ying, as I said, but despite that they chose the obvious route, and I am okay with that. I am looking forward to the next installment, whenever that will be, and I hope they give the female characters a bit more to chew on, story-wise.

Kevin Lukata

For the visuals, the film is well-shot and edited, with cool “swipes” between scenes in an appropriately comic book sort of look. However, as is an issue in too many films, especially independents, Lazarus expresses “darkness” or night through a dark, blue lens. Okay, this is a nice way to make it moody, but it also makes it harder to see what the hell is going on. This is a pet peeve of mine. Not all of us have HD 30” screens, y’know. Despite that (rather than because of it), it’s a pretty enjoyable story, even with the “comic book” reigns on the acting styles, also to purposely give it a mood to fit the dialogue.

While this film is available on DVD and Blu-ray, it can also be seen for free on TubiTv.com; however, note that because it is an exclusive release, they need to pay for it considering the platform is free, so when I viewed it, there were 5 commercials at about 9 minutes, 3 at 31 minutes, 4 at 51 minutes, 4 at 63 minutes, 3 at 76 minutes, and 3 at 90 minutes (and all had right-wing/NRA-sponsoring Coors). That’s 22 ads at about 20 seconds each, or 7.5 minutes. Phew.

 

Review: To Your Last Death

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet

To Your Last Death (aka Malevolent)
Directed by Jason Axinn
Coverage Ink Films
91 minutes, 2020
www.facebook.com/ToYourLastDeath 

 Animation sure has changed since I was a kinder, watching cartoons at 24 hand-drawn frames per second, like Bugs Bunny (my childhood hero, but I digress already…). In the late 1960s, it went down to a clunky 18 frames per second, with cartoons such as “Scooby Doo,” “The Jackson Five” or “The Nanny and the Professor.” Many of these cartoons looked alike due to it’s cel framework (the medium is the message, posited Marshall McLuhan). 

With computer animation, it opened up a whole new world to what was possible, Whether extreme detail or simple line drawings, the field burst open. That is where this film comes in. The animation here looks a bit like a cross between anime (e.g., Akira) and Britain’s 2000AD comic line (they do Judge Dredd). It is minimalist when it comes to movement, but that gives it more of a comic book look, which I really liked. Some of the backgrounds tend to be pretty amazingly detailed here. 

 The storyline is basic, but with some unusual twists that elevate it quite a bit. An evil billionaire arms manufacturer, Cyrus (voice of the Ray Wise), who is a cross between Donald Trump and Lex Luthor, calls his four estranged adult children in for a meeting.

There’s the hero of the story, Miriam (Dani Lennon) who has gone the charity route for peace in diametric philosophy from Cyrus and has had mental issues in the past, Ethan (Damien C. Hass), an aspiring musician into sexual asphyxiation, Kelsey (Florence Hartigan) that has a sad life of a trophy wife to Cyrus’s biggest rival, and Colin (Benjamin Sieman), a mini-version of Cyrus’s business ethics, but is rejected by dear ol’ dad because he’s gay. 

Perhaps inspired by the short story or films, “The Most Dangerous Game,” hired mercenaries – one voiced by Bill Moseley – turn this shindig into a battle royale in a life or death struggle. The implements used sometimes are reminiscent of the later Saw franchise, where the victim is asked to complete a horrendous task, or dum da-da-dummm. 

But there is a whole ‘nother layer added to the story. Some interplanetary gamblers are betting on who will live and who will die. Like the gods in Clash of the Titans (1981), they sit around a table and watch the goings on below. The busty being running the room is the Gamemaster (Morena Baccarin). She can manipulate time and influence the players. It’s kind of like a video game gone gore. 

 Yes, there is a lot of blood and gore in this one (and one bit of nudity), and even for animation, it looks pretty decent. Lots of cool weaponry are used, including an armored glove and a long sword. And don’t get me started with the elevator…

And to give a “Star Trek” opening-like voice over in a nicely done though over emoted cameo is none other than William Shatner, himself. He uses a similar tone as when he “sang” Elton John’s “Rocketman.” 

As for extras, their press release states, “Each Blu-ray purchase will come with a redemption code to over 4 hours of digital extras, including: an audio commentary with director Jason Axinn, a Zoom panel with Axinn, star Dani Lennon and others, an interview with star William Shatner, interviews and behind the scenes with stars Morena Baccarin, Ray Wise, Bill Moseley, Dani Lennon and Florence Hartigan, a behind the scenes reel, comic con panels, an animation demo with lead animator Mohammad Ali Sharifpour, unused artwork and animation, crowdfunding highlights, featurettes on the development of the film, and more.” As what I watched was a screener link, I cannot comment on these, but they sound interesting. 

 I quite liked this film, from the comic book-style animation to the quirkiness of the story, in which time is played with, including a few Groundhog Day repeating moments. The recurrence of history with different choices is a trope that has been used a bit recently, such as Inoperable (2017), but director Axinn makes it feel fresh by not just repeating, but mixing up the storyline (or as Miriam puts it, “They keep changing the goal posts”). 

Because of these time shifts, people are killed and/or they aren’t, or die multiple deaths. And all of them in different means of disposal. The unpredictability is part of what makes this even more intriguing. The whole gameplaying with these super-being gamblers was a nice touch, and luckily, they only interfere with the story on occasion, so it doesn’t break the tension. Of course, the Gamemaster pops in and out frequently throughout to work her malevolent magic, which enhances the story, because it is hard to really predict what’s going to happen next. 

 What I do know is going to possibly happen is that, given the ending, this can be a franchise and the gamblers face new murderous stories to play the game. I am so okay with that.