Tag Archives: The Ape Man

I Go Ape for Monstrous Monday

Here I am, back to my old tricks of making late blog posts early in the morning.  I had a little computer glitch earlier when my Chromebook started acting funny.  I finally got fed up and went back to my Tablet.  After checking my Facebook On This Day (as a delaying tactic, although I pretended to myself it was for inspiration), I realized I was not up to pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus.  This is one reason I hate to text; it is even worse with my fat finger.  But enough about me, let us get on with the monsters.

No fair pulling hair!

No, this is not me wrestling with my demons.  It is Bela Lugosi in The Ape Man.  It is not a bad flick.  I notice horror movies of this era make copious use of gorillas, although I understand they are in reality gentle creatures.  Hollywood play fast and loose with the facts?  Say it ain’t so!

Yeah, there’s another one!

Now we see my ignorance, because I don’t know the difference between a gorilla and an ape.  I’m thinking ape is the family, as in a gorilla is a certain species of ape.  I know, I could only google these things.

Random picture to denote passage of time.

I resorted to my dictionary, just to be old-fashioned about it.  Sure enough, an ape is any one of a group of such creatures.  The random picture, by the way is the late, great Lionel Barrymore in Devil Doll.  I loves me some Lionel Barrymore.

EEEEEEEEE!

Who could talk about gorillas in Hollywood without mentioning the King?  Kong, that is (see what I did there?).  I guess you could call him the Elvis of Apes, if you wanted to be silly, which of course, I usually do.

And that brings me over 300 words.  Woohoo!  Time for more coffee and the local news.  Once again, thank you for tuning in.

 

Another Glass of Lame?

I was going to put off making my Lame Post Friday post till Saturday morning but decided to pour myself another glass of Sauvignon Blanc and do it now.  What are you shaking your head at (or your finger or your booty) (you know how you are)?  It is only my second glass of wine.  And it is Friday night!

I am kind of sort of watching The Ape Man with Bela Lugosi.  I found a DVD set I had forgotten I had:  The Best of the Worst.  I already watched Manos the Hands of Fate and Track of the Moon Beast, both of which have been featured on Mystery Science Theatre 3000.  Again, kind of, sort of (the me watching part, not the MST3K featuring part).  I have been looking at Facebook or doing puzzles in a puzzle book.  I need a new puzzle book, by the way.

My current viewing pleasure.

This is not the best picture.  Then again, some of the movies are not the best prints.  I love buying these collections for cheap.  Sometimes I get the same movie two or three times, but that is OK with me.  The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, The Terror, and others bear multiple viewings.

For the record, I have not been completely useless tonight.  I finished two articles for Mohawk Valley Living magazine and got them emailed out.  I hope they like at least one of them.

I see I am over 200 words.  Time to stop babbling on and pay more attention to what is happening to Bela.  Happy Friday, everyone!

 

I’m a Monster Before Coffee

I guess late posts are still a thing, because here I am on Tuesday morning, lounged on my couch, pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus on my Tablet.  When I went to bed last night, I had pictured myself sitting at the dining-room-table-top (previously a laptop, as regular readers may recall), ten-finger typing.  I felt too tired for such effort, and my coffeemaker was taking forever.  Now, however, I have had a few sips, so phew! I am a slave to the brew!

“It’s my coffee!” “No, it’s mine!”

It never fails.  I go searching Facebook for an image I have seen many times, and it is not to be found.  I am not adept at these things. I finally went to my Media Library and settled for Bela Lugosi fighting a beast in The Ape Man.  I believe I have seen that movie but cannot remember who wins the tussle.

On the cuter side…

I would like to say this is me after coffee, but no such luck.  I have my cute moments, but…

One of my favorites.

I am not currently drinking out of this mug, but wouldn’t it be cool if I was?   The mug was given to me by my late, much beloved husband, Steve.  We loved The Princess Bride.

And now I am over 200 words.  Score!  Time for another cup of coffee before work.

 

Still a Post Behind, How Monstrous!

So my brilliant plan of getting caught up on Sunday did not work, but at least I did not get any further behind.  Until yesterday, when I felt myself incapable of making even a Monstrous Monday post.  It is so easy for me to talk myself out of things!  Yes, you may judge me if you are so inclined; it will not be any harsher than my judgement on myself.  In any case, I am sitting here prior to five in the morning on Tuesday (I believe my WordPress timestamp is still messed up), trying to do a post, so that when I post again later, I will still be only one post behind.  Surely I am capable of at least a Monstrous Monday post!  And, yes, I am calling you Shirley.  Live with it.

“You’re up? It’s almost my bedtime!”

Since I say, “Live with it,” I throw in a picture of the undead.  Regular readers know of my utter infatuation with Nosferatu.

Emphatically NOT monsters!

Instead of continuing with the monstrous theme (does that make this Non-Sequitur Monday?  How appropriate, since I am actually making the post on Tuesday) (but I digress), I include a picture of the reason why I am so monstrously tired: Morning’s at Seven, the play I am in at Ilion Little Theatre.  We had a matinee on Sunday, so I was able to get to bed at a decent hour.  However, the collective tiredness of the entire rehearsal and performance process is taking its toll.  At least, we’ll go with that explanation.  Maybe I am just terrible at being a daily blogger.  SAY IT AIN’T SO!!!!!

Must… fight… desire… to… not… make… blog… post…

Back to monsters.  This is Bela Lugosi as The Ape Man, a movie which I do not think I have watched all the way through, wrestling with an actual ape, or at least what is purported to be an actual ape.  I include it as representative of my struggle against my own worser nature (my computer thinks “worser” is not a word but I get a definition when I google it, and I am certain everybody knows what I mean).  The struggle is real.

Ooh, look, I am over 300 words and have three pictures.  I call that respectable for a Monstrous Monday post.  Sorry it is late.  I shall try to do better, perhaps making a post later that is not a mere Tired Tuesday.  But no promises.

 

Saturday Cinema on Sunday?

Let’s just call this a Wrist to Forehead Sunday and have done with it.  I thought I could find pictures of the cheesy movies we watched last night and do a post on those, but I could only find two.  Also, I do not feel much like making a long-winded post talking about movies.  How about a short post and I can get back to enjoying my Sunday and so can you (or your Monday if you read this tomorrow; I can be flexible).

Our first movie was one I had no luck finding pictures on, The Monster and the Girl (1941), which I DVR’d off TCM recently.  I could do a whole movie write up on that, since I took notes in the TV Journal.  Maybe next week sometime.  As Steven put it, we didn’t love the movie, but we didn’t mind it.  I wanted something more cheesily and reliably entertaining so suggested something from one of our DVD collections, specifically The Atomic Brain (1963).

You would think that is some sort of potion she is about to drink.

That is the rich old hag who is paying a mad scientist to make her young and beautiful again.  It was not easy being a mad scientist in the 1960’s, apparently.

After that we watched the Amazing Transparent Man (1960), merely because it was on the same disc.  It was pretty entertaining, too, although the guy was kind of a jerk, whether you could see him or not.

Look, I found a picture after all!

I could not find a picture as stated earlier, because I thought it was called “The Incredible Transparent Man.”  Silly me!  But I’m too lazy to go back and change the previous paragraph.  Regular readers will not be surprised.

After that we started to watch The Ape Man (1943), with Bela Lugosi, but we went to bed before it was over.  Something to look forward to on another cheesy movie watching night!

Not nearly as suave as he was as Dracula.

 

A Brainless Blog Post on Monstrous Monday

Oh crap, it’s type it in, backspace it out syndrome!  Must… keep… words… on… screen… (you know, like a beleaguered superhero in a comic book) (which I have not read in years; do they still do that?  Crap!  Dating myself!)

OK, so in one paragraph I have established that I am not having a good writing day, and I am feeling old and out of touch.  Is this a good time for a Monstrous Monday or what?

Is it a fight to the death? Or just a pissy hair-pulling match?

We recently watched The Ape Man (1943) but I don’t remember much about it.  It is on our DVD collection of 50 Horror Classics, so I can always watch it again.  Boris Karloff is in it too.

It looks a little cramped, but perhaps he is comfortable.

I don’t remember what mummy movie this shot is from, but he appears to be sleeping peacefully.  I will be sleeping peacefully soon, I hope.  I am TIRED, which could explain the semi-coherent state of today’s post.

He looks like he can’t believe his eyes. I can’t believe his eyes either.

I was going to use the picture of the head from The Brain That Wouldn’t Die  (1962) giving the side eye to her boyfriend, but I wanted a real monster, so I found this fellow from the movie.  Sometime I may write a blog post about just which is the most monstrous: the monster, the head, or the boyfriend.

I should have a brain this big.

I close with the picture I always find appropriate at times like this: The Brain from Planet Arous (1957).  Right now my movie is The Lack of Brain on Planet Cindy.  No matter.  It is Monday, and I have posted.

 

The Blog Seed

I know I had my Lame Post Friday on Wednesday this week, but I really don’t have much in me today except that silly title.  We are watching foolish movies and had made our way to The Bad Seed (1956) when I thought I had better make my blog post before I get too tired.

Those psycho eyes!

Steven always says he would like to watch a version of this where the little girl, Rhoda, really seems like a sweet little girl at the beginning, so you are shocked when she turns out to be a murderer (I didn’t need a spoiler alert for that; everybody knows that’s what The Bad Seed is about).  I wonder if I could get Ilion Little Theatre to let me direct it.  Then I wonder if I could find a kid actor good enough to be Rhoda.  Of course, I have supreme confidence in my own directing abilities to think I could pull it off.  I rather doubt I will have a chance to be disproved in this case.

Earlier today we watched The Ape (1940) with Boris Karloff.  Today (November 23) is Karloff’s birthday.  The movie is part of our DVD collection of 50 Horror Classics.  Karloff gets to use his beautiful voice, but the movie is kind of slow.

The poster is more exciting than the movie.

After that, we went on with the primate theme with The Ape Man (1943) starring Bela Lugosi.   The movie is part of a DVD I gave Steven called The Best of the Worst.  I don’t know if it was the worst movie, but it was certainly a very bad print.  We couldn’t understand most of the dialog.  When I had completely lost track of what was going on, I suggested we take it out and put in another movie, finally settling on The Bad Seed.

We did not watch long enough to see this dramatic scene.

There is no chance I will lose track of this movie, since we have seen it many times.  It is one of our favorites.  Still, what is the point of watching it if one does not actually watch it?  Therefore, I will hit Publish and return to the movie watching portion of my day.  Happy Friday, everyone.