A Merry Marvel Christmas!

 

The Bloody Pit #119 - THE GOLDEN ARROW (1962)

For years John Hudson and I have used this podcast at cover the films of Antonio Margheriti. These shows have ranged from westerns to gothic horror to military action to science fiction and goofy Disney styled comedies. This time we tackle an Arabian Nights kind of tale the director made in 1962 and for Mr. Hudson it will be his last in the series. Not that he is leaving the podcast! Nope. He’ll be sticking around to cover a variety of different kinds of movies in his inimitable fashion. But The Bloody Pit will continue to cover Margheriti movies with a new co-host taking over and this episode is the hand-off! Adrian Smith will assume the position of fellow explorer of the long career of the director with this being a branching of his blog focused on the subject called Blogeriti. So, in this show I first talk with Hudson about our subject and then I do the same with Adrian. It may make for a long episode but we still don’t completely cover the plot dense madness of the film in question! So much happens in this thing. 

Between the three of us we discuss the cast and crew of THE GOLDEN ARROW (1962) with a few funny stories about the production. We look over star Tab Hunter’s career and make fun of his casting in this very Arabian tale. Aren’t all Sultans blonde? We marvel at the beauty of the Warner Blu-Ray and wish for more of Margheriti’s color films from the same period to be given similar treatment. The complicated story the film tells is only partially dissected because it is packed with so many odd details and strange characters. Of course, that is part of what makes the film so fun! The special effects come under examination with the usual excellent miniatures complimenting the flying carpets and magical arrows. There are many sideroads taken as we talk with the strangest being our digression into American sitcom titles. Sorry about that – it couldn’t be avoided. And what IS the plural of genie? 

If you’ve anything to comment about in this episode please write us at thebloodypit@gmail.com or drop into the show’s FaceBook page. Thank you for listening and, if you can, let others know about what we do here.

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Starring Sonya Devereaux - Comic Book Fun!

Fans of the kinds of films I talk about on this blog or in The Bloody Pit podcast should love this incredibly fun comic book series. Sonya is the 306th best actress in Hollywood and stars in a long string of B-movie straight to DVD exploitations films. Sure, they're bad but that doesn't mean they aren't entertaining! I mean, how can you go wrong with a film OR a comic book with the title SPIDER-SHARK VS. SNAKE-BEAR? Or VAMPIRE ACADEMY 4? I'd fish those DVDs out of the bargain bin any day of the week knowing they would be great (in their own low budget way). And so are these comic books. Great, that is. 

 I have to admit that I came to this fun series because I am familiar with the work of writer Todd Livingston who also co-wrote some of the best Universal Monster inspired comic books of the past decades. If you've not read The Black Forest or The Wicked West (spaghetti western crossed with Euro-Horror!) you have been missing out. Todd has an excellent sense of the absurd and a good eye for solid collaborators. This top-notch work and just adds to his long career of fun comic books that need to be on more people's shelves. 

 So jump on board with Sonya now and then grab Todd's past work. You'll find some truly great reading and a good time in every case! 

Heavy Metal #300

A few months ago, I saw an ad about the 300th issue of Heavy Metal coming out in 2020 and I realized I wanted to read it. It has been decades since I regularly read the magazine but in my younger days I loved pouring over each story and soaking in the strange worlds on those pages. The art was incredible and so different from tale to tale that it was like getting a new horror/science fiction anthology book to read every issue. Ideas seemed to bubble up from the pages and linger in the air for days afterward changing my sense of the world around me. Superhero comic books didn’t do this kind of thing to me. Comics as mind altering drug? Interesting.

 

I’m happy to say that Heavy Metal #300 more than met my expectations and has encouraged me to continue reading future issues and perhaps even subscribe. I went slowly through the 80 or so pages over a couple of days to give each story a chance to stand on its own. Of course, I liked some more than others but that it one of the joys of such a magazine – nothing is too long and there is always something new a few pages away. I was glad to see both a text short story and a new graphic tale of Taarna who I first encountered in the legendary Heavy Metal animated film from 1981. Nice! And having a newly translated Moebius tale and a continuing Richard Corben serial in the issue made it seem like a perfect welcoming home party in graphic art form. 

 

If like me you haven’t flipped through Heavy Metal in a long time, I suggest giving the venerable publication a chance again. It might not have the same hallucinatory effect as it did when you were younger but it is still a great read! 

 

Vintage Superman Merchandise

Vintage Batman Merchandise

I've been doing some online Christmas shopping and this is what I end up finding. Madness! 

Vintage Monster Movie Poster Art

I'm in a classic monster movie mood!