So What Have You Watched Lately?
Last week, I found an inexpensive DVD of this relic from childhood while shopping for Halloween candy at K-Mart. It was an impulse buy, and it was worth the 10 bucks just for the memories.
This is a stop motion animated, movie-length depiction of a monsters convention held at the castle of Baron Von Frankenstein (voiced by none other than Boris Karloff). The castle's usual occupants include the Frankenstein creature and his smarter and sarcastic mate (Phyllis Diller), Yetch (Allen Swift) a flunky whose voice sounds like Peter Lorre's, and the doc's seductive assistant Francesca (pop singer Gale Garnett, of "We'll Sing In The Sunshine" fame).
The monsters who attend the convention include Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Creature From the Black Lagoon, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, among others. Some conventioners are unhappy that Frankenstein intends to leave "the monster business" -- including "the secret of total destruction" -- to his kind-hearted human nephew Felix (Swift), and they plot against him. Occasionally we get a break from the action when a character launches into a musical number, such as the Bride's love song to the creature, "You're Different" (yup, Phyllis Diller SINGS. Talk about horrifying!)
Actually, the jazzy musical numbers by Maury Laws are one of the 94-minute film's better features. The animation and sets are impressive, and the voices well-done, particularly by Swift, who plays several characters, and whose celebrity voice impressions here include a dead-on James Stewart as well as Lorre.The whole "party" was created by the production team of Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, who also brought us "Frosty The Snowman" and "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer." This was their attempt to do something a little more ambitious and sophisticated, and while some of the one-liners get a little risque for a kiddie flick, its one glaring flaw is that the frequent jokes just aren't very funny. I remember laughing my way through this in the theater as a kid in 1967, but the humor just doesn't hold up. It's mostly punning of the Forrest J. Ackerman variety, and almost all of it falls flat. (Forrie was rumored to have had some involvement with the script, but he actually didn't. If he had, it probably would have been a lot funnier.)
It's still a kick to see it all again, though. "Mad Monster Party" cashed in on the popularity of "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family," and while it doesn't work as well as either of those, it's still a cheerful way of revisiting a simpler time for a jaded old horror fan like myself.
So what have you watched lately?
