08.10.07
Zeppelins vs. Pterodactyls!
Courtesy of Mike (with the famous airship fetish) comes an immensely entertaining post from John Coulthart’s Feuilleton blog (which is via Boingboing via Jess Nevins via Airminded via The Fortean Times and via Gargoyle’s Landing) about Zeppelins vs. Pterodactyls already — a proposed (but never made) Hammer Films production intended to horn in on the success of British rival Amicus Productions’ rather shabby but popular summer popcorn muncher, The Land That Time Forgot (1975). John’s post includes this obviously very preliminary comp of a demo poster:
In the above piece, there’s a pointer to this YouTube piece that reimagines Zeppelins vs. Pterodactyls as a Republic movie serial from 1936.
That video was created by EvilDayJob, who published it on July 30, 2007. He says:
Actually it’s a mashup I made from old serials and a few feature movies, all public domain.
Dick Tracy (1937)
Ace Drummond (1936)
The Lost World (1925)
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)
Three Musketeers(1933)
The Hurricane Express
Shadow of Chinatown
The Phantom Creeps
Undersea Kingdom (1936)
Thief of Baghdad
Newsreels: Akron Disaster (1933), Giant Dirigible Sets Record (1936), Zeppelin Explodes (1937 Hindenberg)The main theme song is taken from Captain Scarface (1953) which is supposed to be public domain, so I hope the music is too.
See if you can spot John Wayne firing a machine gun from a biplane and later bailing out of a burning ship. Sitting behind him in the biplane is Noah Beery, who played James Garner’s father on Rockford Files.
The song with which Ace Drummond (John “Dusty” King) delights his fellow passengers is “Give Me A Ship and A Song” by Kay Kellogg.
For extra credit, find the two Wilhelm screams, one actor who wasn’t even born until 1939, and explain to me why that kid exclaims “Mammy” as he listens to the song. Was that what Cartman would have exclaimed back in the day instead of “sweet”?
A few other inside jokes:
1. Nat Levine really did produce a string of serials in that era.
2. “Potrzebie” is a Polish word that was repeated in Mad magazine for some reason.
3. The recap title card says they’re attacked by a “Muranian” Flying Wing. Murania is the name of the underground kingdom in The Phantom Empire.
4. “The Fur Pirates” is the third chapter of Dick Tracy (1937).
