quote:

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…our very own Charles Gray [remember him in ‘The Devil Rides Out’] is narrator as he talks to the camera very straight facedly anad recalls the dark stormy night when clean-living Brad Majors [Barry Bostwick] and his innocent fiancee Janet [Susan Sharandon] get a flat tyre and ask for help at a nearby old mansion. The door creaks open and they are ushered in by a mad-cap butler, Riff Raff - played by Richard O’Brien, who also wrote this zany concoction. The great hall door opens to reveal a collection of guests dancing ’The Time Warp’.

Brad and Janet back away only to come face to face with Dr. Frank-N-Furter who is wrapped in a swirling black cloak, this is whipped open, ‘flasher’ fashion, to reveal that the doctor is wearing only frilly panties, girdle, suspender belt and high heels - a far cry indeed from the conventional Dr F as personified by the respectable Peter Cushing. Frank-N-Furter then launches into the song ‘I’m a Sweet Transvestite from Transexual Transilvania’ which continues:

I’ve been making a man
With blond hair and a tan,
So come up to the Lab
And see what’s on the slab…

The muscle bound creation is called Rocky Horror [Peter Hinwood] and soon the decadent Doctor marries him in a bizarre ceremony. This leads to the even more weird finale with Dr F on the stage of his own theatre; its setting resembles the familiar radio mast of the old RKO pictures logo. By now everyone is dressed in black stockings and suspenders as they sing ‘Don’t dream it - be it. Dr F is shot with a ray gun and his creation, Rocky, climbs to the top of the mast with the poor Doc hanging round his neck - as the Kong like lyric continues ‘Whatever Happened to Fay Wray’!

The whole thing is quite outrageous, but if you like the feature, then you will go for this. It is a far cry indeed from the usual bootlace fair and is definitely not suitable for showing to aunt Mary! Good print quality with belting sound.

Bill Davison - Movie Maker September 1980

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Unfortunately, my copy doesn’t have the belting sound that Bill described nor is the print that sharp, it is a little on the dark side as well but that said, it is still watchable and a great teaser for the feature. I would like to have seen more of Meat Loafs excellent ‘Bless my Sole’ routine as he drove round the lab on his motor bike - one of the high spots of the film for me.

A great and unusual film that is probably even more outrageous now than it was when it was first released!

Mike

[ April 18, 2005, 01:24 PM: Message edited by: Mike Peckham ]
 

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Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on March 06, 2005, 08:46 AM:
 
I saw the full feature again just recently and, wow, the music is still great and the plot at times very funny. But, I must correct you about one thing, it's not Bless My Sole that Eddie's singing, it's Bless My Soul

Hot patootie!
 

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Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on March 06, 2005, 09:24 AM:
 
Oops! Thanks Jan!!

Mike
 

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Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on March 06, 2005, 09:41 AM:
 
No problem, you probably just had tapping feet on your mind, that music does make one's feet tap after all
 

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Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on March 06, 2005, 01:40 PM:
 
It's a while since I ran my print but I recall it being a bit soft, but with pretty good sound. When Derann were releasing 20th Century Fox musicals, I suggested it to Derek and he said he would consider it but I didn't hear anything subsequently. It would not have appealed to the same audience but I thought the cult appeal of the film might cause it to sell in reasonable numbers. You could also get a long trailer on Super 8 that's good quality and well worth having. My copy was a Canterbury release but I think it may have also appeared on a trailer reel - maybe one of the Thunderbird reels.

Adrian
 

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Posted by Trevor Adams (Member # 42) on March 14, 2005, 05:28 PM:
 
O'Brian,I think he is an NZer???Surely Tim Curry was the best Dr F ever!
 

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Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on March 14, 2005, 06:54 PM:
 
Trevor,

Last night I went to see the new musical "Monty Python's Spamalot", based on their Holy Grail film. Tim Curry is just great as King Arthur!

Doug
 

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Posted by Jan Bister (Member # 332) on March 14, 2005, 08:19 PM:
 
He certainly is a very good actor with an amazing onscreen presence, even in small roles (such as a butler-or-something-like-that in one of the Home Alone movies, I don't remember exactly - or a jewel thief in a 1997 TV movie taking place on the Titanic). It's a shame he's so overlooked, he never could shake off the image that the Rocky Horror Picture Show gave him. But he delights me everytime I see him in a movie.
 

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on December 16, 2014, 06:27 AM:
 
Just received my copy from Perry's for a tenner
Have to say, original box, great image and very good sound throughout. Its quite well edited too, first time ive seen this cut down so I am well pleased with this one. Makes selling off some of my prized trailers well worth it.
Keep those lists coming
 

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Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on December 16, 2014, 07:50 AM:
 
Tom - I don't suppose yours is low fade is it, or £10 would be an astonishingly low price? I've never seen or heard of a low fade print of this - despite certain Ken releases making it onto Agfa stock - so I'm guessing that the best anyone could hope for is SP.
 

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Posted by Paul Browning (Member # 2715) on December 16, 2014, 09:19 AM:
 
Adrian, Rob at retrovision had one for sale earlier in the year, it went for £50.00 +, from what I remember, he also had a low fade 400ft of close encounters too, also went for good money.
 

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on December 16, 2014, 04:01 PM:
 
i'll pop some pictures here within a few days, the blues and yellows are all there, my guess is that its SP, ive never really looked at my prints to see what they are,generally Paul foster always lists his titles with the stock type so i go by that,
is there something on the leader i can take a look at to find out?
either way i am very pleased with this one, my guess is its not been run many times as there isn't a mark on it and the original clam case, (with the 20th century fox raised logo on the inside left) is in excellent condition with no splices and front leader and tail are all intact.
 

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Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on December 17, 2014, 07:34 AM:
 
I don't think you'll find the stock type on the leader, only the Lab that made the print (mine has Maritz Labs) but it would be between the perforations. Again mine just shows 2S, I haven't shown it for a while but the colour bars on the leader look good. I bought it for £5 at a BFCC many years ago.

I couldn't resist running it after posting the above and the colour still looks excellent, blues are very bright and flesh tones are right. If you can check the print those seems to be the things to look for.

[ December 17, 2014, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: Brian Fretwell ]
 

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on December 17, 2014, 01:11 PM:
 
Well, all cleaned up again to get the last of the dirt off and here is my print,









All in all, one of the best £10's I have ever spent on super 8, Cheers Ian, already waiting for the next list
 

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Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on December 18, 2014, 07:48 PM:
 
Wow - I see what you mean regarding a bargain for £10! Probably the box alone is worth that! It looks very nice - perhaps slightly 'warm' but Ken prints were sometimes like when released. I don't know if you would get such dark blacks with SP, so I think yours could be is Agfa. Brian said his print states 2S, which is a type of Agfa. You can check the sprocket edge to see the markings but they are so small on Super 8 that you'll probably need a magnifying glass.
 

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on December 19, 2014, 07:29 AM:
 
Cheers Adrian, i'll take a look later.
 

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Posted by David Coppola (Member # 4209) on December 19, 2014, 08:37 AM:
 
What scenes were in this digest? I saw this for sale wayyy back in the early 80s and was always curious. I had gotten out of collecting by that time.

Was this one of Ken Films last digests?
 

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