Conclusion: I can’t accept


calling Kino’s extended version a “director’s cut,” as it is la­ beled. Apparently this cut was once longer, and 1 know Losey was angry with the Hakim cut, but as they stand now, the longer cut clarifies little or noth­ ing while omitting and confus­ ing much. That can hardly have been Losey’s intention, since his own cut was much longer still. Losey could not have ap­ proved and must not have known what was missing from the longer cut as we have it now. Maybe this is all a minor point, but I think many viewers will tend, like me, to go directly to the so-called “director’s cut” and try to supplement it with the other, when it really only makes sense the other way around.


Michael Barrett Universal City, TX HOW NOT TO STUFF


________A DVD________ I wanted to let you know I got


MGM’s new “Midnite Movies” DVD of BEACH BLANKET BINGO today and it’s extremely disap­ pointing. The good news is it’s 16:9 enhanced, but that’s all the good news. The print has occa­ sional frame damage and speck­ les here and there, but some scenes are really dark, bordering on dupey. The upside is, I’ve never seen any print that didn’t have scenes looking like that, so it may just be the film. The real problem: it is missing two scenes. The first is the Annette song, “ I’ll Never Change Him” which should be at the top of Chapter 11 on this disc. The other is Eric Von Zipper’s biker dance number. It should come in at 4:49 on Chapter 12 on the disc. The odd thing is, right be­ fore the cut, you can hear Von Zipper saying, “Hey, this dance I


like! Vacate!” over two pasted-in scenes of character dialogue from other cast members. The disc doesn’t come with an insert, so there’s no telling where the chapter stops go to. It’s on the Midnight Movies marquee now, so the packaging is once again different from previous releases. The back plot synopsis cites it as a “prequel to HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI,” which I suppose is true in essence, but looks very odd to this Hodad.


Terry Thome e-mail


HOWLIN WOLF Congratulations to John


Charles on a very well done ar­ ticle on THE BLOB and its cur­ rent DVD incarnation [VW 72:42]. I remember seeing BEWARE THE BLOB on TV but I confess I never heard of BLOBERMOUTH; and after reading John’s article, I guess I have not missed much. THE BLOB remains a classic that everyone loves, almost in spite of itself. Of course, Olin Howlin remains one of the unforgettable characters in the film. Most people think of Steve


McQueen as the only “profes­ sional” actor in the movie, and though the 26 year-old McQueen did convincingly convey the emo­ tions of a 17 year-old smalltown boy waging a one man (one kid?) war against an alien invader, Howlin had faced a few other bizarre creatures too. He was the sourpussed undertaker in THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X (1939) and by now everyone knows he was Jensen, the likable wino who took the sight of giant ants rather matter of factly in THEM! (1954). Howlin’s career began in


1917 in a comedy called INDE­PENDENCE B’GOSH about a farm couple whose lives are turned inside out when they in­ herit a fortune. He appeared as


a pirate opposite Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper in TREA­SURE ISLAND (1934), in the forgotten Busby Berkeley mu­ sical GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937, and he was a cop in SATAN MET A LADY (1936) the 1st re­ make of THE MALTESE FAL­ CON. He appeared opposite such diverse character actors as Oliver Hardy (in ZENOBIA, 1938), Rondo Hatton in CHAD HANNA (1940), and Mickey Rooney (YOUNG TOM EDISON, 1940). His movies had big bud­ gets (GONE WITH THE WIND where he was credited as “Yan­ kee Businessman” ) and small (BLONDIE’S BLESSED EVENT). Sadly, THE BLOB was his final film, as he passed away on 20 September, 1959. Howlin spent his whole career


as one of those “Hey isn’t that what’s-his-name?” character ac­ tors whom people know on sight but cannot remember his name. Let’s face it, Criterion and An­ chor Bay will never release an Olin Howlin box set, but we can always run THEM! and THE BLOB back to back anytime we want, can’t we? Thomas E. Richardson e-mail


MORE BLOB1ANA Loved the article about THE


BLOB on DVD. Did you know the diner in Downingtown where The Blob made its last stand has been restored to exactly the way it looked in the 50’s? Tourists can drop in anytime for burgers and fries with a shake and they can even pick up a copy of THE BLOB on VHS too. The memorable music from


the film turned up in other places besides CURSE OF BIGFOOT. You can hear bits of BLOB music in Andy Milligan’s 1969 movie THE GHASTLY ONES. Even stranger than that,


79

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