The Wrong Trousers (no 36)

(UK 1993 31m) DVD2

Pick up a penguin

p  Christopher Moll  d  Nick Park  w  Nick Park, Bob Baker  ed  Helen Garrard  m  Julian Nott  art  Yvonne Fox

VOICES BY:-  Peter Sallis (Wallace),

Wallace the inventor with a passion for Wensleydale cheese always reminded me of the Beano’s Calamity James without hair and, like that comic creation, he has an infinitely more street-smart pet (substitute Gromit the dog for Alexander the lemming).  For any one of a number of reasons Wallace and Gromit became a national institution in the nineties, a source of endless pleasure for young and old and the source of instant fame for its modest creator with a taste for outrageous bow-ties, Nick Park.  Much was made of the incredibly pain-staking animation methods used and they are certainly as close to being a polar opposite to the CGI world of Pixar as could be offered.  But these films are more than mere animated shorts, they are classic comedies.  Period.  They belong with the best of Keaton, Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy.  And though A Grand Day Out and, particularly, A Close Shave are rightly feted, for me The Wrong Trousers is Aardman’s greatest film. 

            The film begins with Gromit pending the rising from bed of his owner, Wallace, and anxiously awaiting his birthday presents.  Eventually he is presented with a new dog collar (which he hates) and some leftover NASA space trousers to take him for walkies and leave Wallace to eat his cheese and invent his crackpot devices.  At the same time, money is running a little thin and Wallace is forced to take in a lodger, in the form of a suspicious looking penguin, who proceeds to take over Gromit’s room and force the poor old dog out into the kennel and, eventually, complete with yellow raincoat and trademark knotted spotted hankie, to leave home.  However, the penguin has sinister plans for Wallace, using his trousers to rob the local museum of a priceless diamond. 

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Spotlight on Halloween; review of ‘Son of Frankenstein’ as posted on Darkness into Light

31 Days To Halloween Countdown…Continues with a review of the 1939 film “Son of Frankenstein” by Sam Juliano, from “Wonders in the Dark.”

[Editor’s Note: I want to take this time to express my sincerest thanks to Sam Juliano, for sharing his review of the 1939 film “Son of Frankenstein” and in order to visit Sam Juliano, his writers Allan Fish, Joel Bocko and all his readers from over there at Wonders just follow the link here… Wonders in the Dark …
…Addendum: Since Today Is Halloween I asked Sam Juliano , If It Would Be All right With Him If I Shared His Review of the “Son of Frankenstein”…starring Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff With His Readers…And Maybe We Can Get Sam Juliano, To List His Top Ten All Time Favorite Horror Films (That is if he was stranded on a desert island what top 10 not, 11 or 12, but 10 films would he take with him…Well, Wonders in the Dark readers, the gauntlet has been thrown down now it’s up to you to let Sam Juliano, Allan Fish and the readers, here at Wonders in the Dark… know what your favorite top 10 horror films of all time are too this…Halloween! Thanks,

Universal’s Son of Frankenstein, released in 1939, was the final in the series to feature Boris Karloff as the Monster. Produced after a successful re-release of the original Frankenstein and Dracula as a double-bill the year before, the studio decided to bring out a second sequel with a replacement for James Whale, ,who fell into disfavor in the late 30’s. Rowland V. Lee, who had nowhere near Whales’ taste or sensibilities, but who was surely an excellent ‘imitator’ was versed in the Germanic school of filmmaking, which in the worst sense is plodding and theatrical.
Lee downplays physical action in the film, has the monster make a very late entrance, and runs the film to 99 minutes, the longest of any in the series. Karloff was reported to be very disappointed with his role, as it was less substantial than the ones in the first two Frankenstein entries, and he bowed out, even after the film racked up remarkable box office numbers, that convinced Universal to continued with monster movies for the next 20 years.

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