This review originally appeared in September, 2004. I thought I'd run it again because after reading this article, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed the movie. I highly recommend you click on the link and check out the article.I grew up during the 1940s and 1950s. The world was a different place then. One way it was different, at least in Mexia, Texas, is that on Saturday afternoon all the kids I knew, and plenty of others besides, went to the double feature at the Palace Theater. The Palace, in spite of the name, was a pretty ratty place, but that didn't matter to its clientele. For about a dime, we got to see two cowboy movies (Johnny Mack Brown, Charles Starrett, Rex Allen, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Allan Rocky Lane, Whip Wilson, Lash LaRue, Monte Hale, Tex Ritter, and you know all the rest). We also got a cartoon, previews of coming attractions, and a serial. Probably my favorite part of the whole afternoon was the serial. Why? I don't really know. I do know that my earliest movie memory is going to the Palace with my grandfather. I have no idea what the movie was, but the serial was The Phantom. At the end of the chapter we saw, The Phantom was sinking into a bed of quicksand. I remembered that scene vividly for well over 50 years, and finally, a few years ago when The Phantom was released on DVD, I got to see how he escaped.
So what does all this have to do with anything? Well, yesterday I went to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. And I loved it. It was the next best thing to being six years old, back at the Palace Theater. I just sat there with a silly grin on my face for the entire running time and enjoyed the heck out of it.
Yesterday I posted a link to Roger Ebert's review of the movie and recommended it highly, especially the second paragraph. After I posted that, I read James Reasoner's blog, where he comments on a book by Milton Lesser. I highly commend James's comments to you because he echoes Ebert's remarks. And like both of them, I have no problem overlooking the ridiculous plotting and the pseudo-science of something like Sky Captain or Secret of the Black Planet. Those things aren't the point. Having a good time is the point, and at Sky Captain I certainly did that.
10 comments:
Just saw the 2nd half of this on TV a week or three ago. Love this film!
I'll watch anything with Gwyneth Paltrow in it.
I guess it's me then, but this did not do it for me in any way.
But then, I was too young for serials.
Jeff
We used to scream when the chapter ended on a cliffhanger and we had to wait a whole week to learn if our hero or heroine escaped. Yes, today they may seem silly, and we know they're going to escape, but as young kids at the movie houses back then we had no idea. I recently watched PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO, starring Wichita Falls native Phyllis Coates, and laughed at the scenes with the giant "claw" monster. But as a kid when I originally saw it at the Gem Theater in Wichita Falls, it scared me to death. I have about 100 serials in my collection today, and I admit to watching them over and over.
I love the old serials, too, corny though they may be. I don't have 100, but I have all my favorites.
I liked it better than RAIDERS, but not quite as much as THE ROCKETEER or THE SHADOW, among arguably similar films of similar vintage. Hey, ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE and BATMAN, even if not CLIFFHANGERS, would give one a sense of serials even with a post-1940s childhood...and I certainly saw a few 1930s/40s serials in my 1970s childhood.
Bill, I read that recent article about SKY CAPTAIN, too, and was thinking it might be time to watch it again. Todd, I liked THE ROCKETEER a lot and THE SHADOW, too, although it got enough stuff wrong that it doesn't hold up as well for me as some. I love RAIDERS, though, and still did the last time I saw it.
I watched Sky Captain when it came out and greatly enjoyed it. Loved the whole look, and the corniness was good as well. It was a loving corniness, showing appreciation for the genre. I've watched it several times and still crack up when they show the hologram of Olivier and someone asks "is it safe?"
Is this the one where the actors were filmed in front of a green screen and the backgrounds added later?
Yep, it's the one.
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