Egyptian at the Egyptian

One thing nerds make certain is that, while the missing reel concept in Grindhouse is funny, theaters, no matter how dilapidated, did not used to show movies with missing reels. Collectors do end up with prints with missing reels, but you might not think these prints would be screened, but yesterday at the Egyptian the print of Frankenstein Created Woman was missing so much footage that a missing reel could be to blame. Though this was the “UK version of the film”, I highly doubt that there is a cut of it that leaves out the transformation, as featured on most posters for the movie. No scene where Playmate Susan Denberg wears her white tube top appeared on screen. This movie was not edited for content.

Other scenes were chopped or cut short. I suspect damage to this print would be the reason why, though the print looked great when intact. I’m not pissed about this or even annoyed, I just find it fascinating. Frankenstein Created Woman (Terence Fisher 1967) played after the earlier Hammer film, Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964), and what a difference three years makes! Frankenstein makes the Mummy look like, well, an artifact. This Mummy movie suffers from the absence of either Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee. It’s one of the more obscure and forgotten Hammer titles, still not on DVD. The movie is not at all unwatchable, but it could really use a harder edge. The audience reacted most audibly to the affair Jeanne Roland is involved in (cheating on the male lead) rather than the Mummy’s attacks and the villain’s speeches. I think that says it all.

If I’m wrong about the missing reel in Frankenstein, pleased let some nerd come to this blog and correct me.

Corrections:

I did not specify in the last post that the Troll 2 screening was over on the west side at the Nuart.

Also, the night I attended The Devils and Blood on Satan’s Claw screening at the Egyptian I missed a Last American Virgin and Fast Times at Ridgemont High screening at the New Beverly. Members of both casts were supposed to be on hand with Eli Roth moderating a discussion. Does anyone know how this went down?

Read an advance review of The Invasion here – I saw the God-awful preview before Skinwalkers.

Also:

Read Chunklet

Read Gawker – they say they just got back from LA.