More on Wolf Man
An addemdum to my earlier post today.
When I was twelve I watched The Wolf Man and thought it was cool and I still think it could be. But now nonsensical items in the movie truly ruin it for me. Didn't these items ruin it for adults back then. Don't they still?
For example, in The Wolf Man, Claude Rains plays Lon Chaney, Jr.'s father. Mr. Rains is 5'6 1/2" with a cultured English accent as befits his status as a noble. He carries an air of refinement. His "son" Lon Chaney is 6'3" and carries himself like a clumsy baffoon. Further, he speaks with an american accent filled with American colloqialisms. Except for being supposedly mentally unhandicapped, Mr. Chaney played The Wolf Man the same way he did Lennie in Of Mice and Men. I just couldn't get over this. Further, in the climax little Claude kills giant Wolf Man Lon with a silver handle cane. Sorry. Not going to happen. Totally ruined the movie. This is where my wife asks, "And this is where the reality breaks down?" My answer is, "YES!" I'll accept a couple of whoopers - men turning into wolves - for the fun of the movie, but not common sense items that could be solved. Possibly this is a variant on believing THE BIG LIE?
My question isn't so much why can't the movie people do better, but why doesn't it seem to drive anyone else nuts. I just can't see blond pixiesque Meg Ryan playing the niece of semetic Einstein. (Isn't she just insulting to Jews?) Or Brad Pitt playing a Greek in Troy. I know Greeks, I work for Greeks, Brad is no Greek.
The worst example is Friends where love lives go on and children are forgotten. The first thing parents usually say when greeting are "Where are the kids?" Never seen that on that show. Often they went unmentioned for episodes. Last week on Monk, Monk's nurse rescued him from a stuck elevator. His first words: "Whose watching your kid?" Took half a second, but those points of realizm really pull the show off.
Demand it more.
When I was twelve I watched The Wolf Man and thought it was cool and I still think it could be. But now nonsensical items in the movie truly ruin it for me. Didn't these items ruin it for adults back then. Don't they still?
For example, in The Wolf Man, Claude Rains plays Lon Chaney, Jr.'s father. Mr. Rains is 5'6 1/2" with a cultured English accent as befits his status as a noble. He carries an air of refinement. His "son" Lon Chaney is 6'3" and carries himself like a clumsy baffoon. Further, he speaks with an american accent filled with American colloqialisms. Except for being supposedly mentally unhandicapped, Mr. Chaney played The Wolf Man the same way he did Lennie in Of Mice and Men. I just couldn't get over this. Further, in the climax little Claude kills giant Wolf Man Lon with a silver handle cane. Sorry. Not going to happen. Totally ruined the movie. This is where my wife asks, "And this is where the reality breaks down?" My answer is, "YES!" I'll accept a couple of whoopers - men turning into wolves - for the fun of the movie, but not common sense items that could be solved. Possibly this is a variant on believing THE BIG LIE?
My question isn't so much why can't the movie people do better, but why doesn't it seem to drive anyone else nuts. I just can't see blond pixiesque Meg Ryan playing the niece of semetic Einstein. (Isn't she just insulting to Jews?) Or Brad Pitt playing a Greek in Troy. I know Greeks, I work for Greeks, Brad is no Greek.
The worst example is Friends where love lives go on and children are forgotten. The first thing parents usually say when greeting are "Where are the kids?" Never seen that on that show. Often they went unmentioned for episodes. Last week on Monk, Monk's nurse rescued him from a stuck elevator. His first words: "Whose watching your kid?" Took half a second, but those points of realizm really pull the show off.
Demand it more.
posted by Howard McEwen, CFA at Wednesday, July 14, 2004
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