Labyrinth (1986)

Where everything seems possible and nothing is what it seems...
David Bowie stars in the 1986 childrens Fantasy Musical; Labyrinth.

Plot Synopsis;
Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly) was a teenager with a large imagination and love for fantasy stories, so much so that she enacted her favorite storybook, the Labyrinth, whenever she could. She happened to have been pretending that she was the heroine in her story while wandering in the park near her house when the clock on the near by city hall building struck, informing her it was 7pm. She realized she was an hour late and needed to get home to watch her baby stepbrother, Toby (Toby Froud). After arguing with her stepmother about her tardiness and feeling ignored by her father, Sarah was left alone with her fussy infant brother. Angered that her stepmother had given her brother one of her favorite teddy bears, a tattered toy called Lancelot, Sarah shouted into the air for someone to take her away from 'this awful place.' To get Toby to stop crying, she told him the story of how the Goblin King was in love with the girl who was 'forced to stay at home with the baby' and that he had 'given her certain powers.' But Sarah in no way believed this story could be real.

In anger that the child wouldn't stop crying, Sarah did call for the goblins to take her brother. They took Toby away and Jareth (David Bowie), the King of the Goblins, gave her an option; she could take her dreams or spend 13 hours in his kingdom, an ever-changing maze called the Labyrinth. If she was able to get to the castle at the center within the specified time, her brother would be spared from becoming a goblin. Sarah was resolved to save her brother and the king left her to do her task.

She immediately met an ancient looking dwarf with a feisty attitude who shows her how to enter the Labyrinth. His name was Hoggle (voice Brian Henson) and he told her not to take anything for granted in this place; she didn't seem to find him very helpful and basically told him to leave. However, eventually she got herself stuck in an oubliette, and the one sent by the Goblin King to 'rescue' her was Hoggle.

But Hoggle was beginning to like Sarah and against the orders he was given to send her back to the beginning of the Labyrinth, having her start all over again, he makes the choice to help her get to the center and reach her brother. This does not bode well with Jareth, who at Sarah's haughty attitude took three hours of her time away and threatened to send Hoggle to the most horrible place known in the Labyrinth, a stinky land of slimy mud called the Bog of Eternal Stench, for his betrayal. Then Jareth turned to Sarah and asked her how she was enjoying his Labyrinth. When she flippantly said it was a 'piece of cake,' the king sent a machine covered in spinning knives after her and Hoggle, then disappeared. They were able to escape, yet Hoggle got scared by the sound of a howling creature and said he was a friend to no one but himself, leaving Sarah to fend for herself.



Sarah forced herself not to be afraid, remembering she was told 'things aren't always what they seem in this place.' She found Ludo, a furry giant beast and a gentle creature despite his massive size, who became her friend when she saved him from being tortured by a bunch of goblins. But she became separated from Ludo too and found herself in a strange forest where she met the Firies, creatures that were able to dismember themselves and take off their heads. They tried to take off her head, which of course didn't work, but they didn't stop trying to mutilate her, so she threw their heads away. Hoggle came to her rescue, but she didn't know that the Goblin King had threatened him that if she ever kissed him, he would immediately be sent to the Bog. As soon as her lips touched the dwarf's bald head, the stones beneath them shook and they fell to the Bog. Thankfully they didn't fall in to the muck. They found Ludo here and met Sir Didymus, a fox knight with a sheepdog as his steed, who decided to aid Sarah in her quest for her brother. As the castle was not much further, there was hardly anything left to prevent her from reaching Toby in time.

Except one thing. The Goblin King had forced something on Hoggle; he was to give Sarah a peach that would make her forget about Toby. And Sarah was hungry, which left Hoggle no choice but to give the fruit to her. Handing it to her, he left in shame of having to obey the king.

By eating the peach, Sarah found herself in a dream, in a ballroom full of masked faces. She wore a beautiful silver gown and the Goblin King held tightly to her in a dance, but she knew there was something she had to do so she left his arms and broke free of the crystal ball he had placed her in.

She awoke in a junkyard, peach in hand, but she still couldn't remember what she was supposed to be doing. A goblin woman with a collection of knickknacks on her back led her to a room; her bedroom. Sarah ran to her bed and flopped down on it, burying her face in the pillow. It had all been just a terrible dream. But it wasn't a dream, for as soon as she opened her bedroom door, the goblin woman came in and tried to get her to begin a collection of knickknacks from her room for herself. One of the items happened to be her book of the Labyrinth and she was immediately reminded that she needed to save Toby. Her friends had followed her to the junkyard when she had been trapped in the crystal and pulled her to safety. They quickly hurried to the nearby castle, for she had less than an hour left.

They entered the Goblin City, which surrounded the castle, and soon found goblins attacking them in hordes. But eventually they made it through the chaos to the castle. The throne room was empty and a clock on the wall let Sarah know she had less than 5 minutes left to reach her brother. The only direction Jareth could have taken Toby was up the stairs, and Sarah went it alone, to the concern of her friends.

When she reached the room at the top she had to hold to the wall to keep from getting dizzy. This room had many stairways that led to nowhere and walkways between. There was no up or down and she didn't know which way to go. But the Goblin King made himself known, standing below her and she gasped when she saw him. He easily walked around the ledge to her, even walked straight through her, trying to intimidate her. With an evil grin he threw a crystal and she watched as it bounced across the multiple perspectives of the room, only to land in the hands of her brother, who seemed to be sitting upside down above her. Now that she knew where Toby was, all she had to do was get to him, but that was the whole problem. Toby would crawl somewhere different the second she thought she had neared him, and unlike her, he didn't know he wasn't supposed to be able to defy gravity and crawl on the ceiling. Finally she found him directly below her, sitting on the floor, dangling his feet over the ledge of a door. Toby was right there, twenty feet below her, and she had no way of getting to him. Sarah didn't know how long this had been taking her but knew she hardly had time left. All that she knew was that if she didn't hold Toby in her arms in time, he would never be the same again; she had to save him from becoming a goblin. So with a gulp and wincing her face at the thought of how broken her bones would be once she fell to the ground beside him, she jumped.

But she didn't hit the floor. In fact, as she kept falling, the room was breaking up around her. Finally her feet hit floor and she found the Goblin King slowly walking towards her from out of the shadows. He wore all white, his cape of feathers flowing about him as he neared her. She began to state the lines her story said would defeat him and finalize her brother's safety, but the king stopped her and offered her dreams to her once again; he even offered himself. But her only resolve was to save Toby, so she completed her dialog and found herself back in her home. The defeated Goblin King flew out the window, banished to live in an owl form.

Sarah ran up stairs to ensure that her brother had been returned and found Toby sleeping soundly. She went to her room and began to put away those things that were part of her childhood fantasies, but as she did so, she saw the faces of her friends from the Labyrinth staring at her in her mirror. They told her they would always be around if she needed them, and she told them that every now and again in her life, she would.

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 nominations
Imdb Link - Labyrinth

Ulysses

Ulysses (1954) - Kirk Douglas,Anthony Quinn

A movie adaptation of Homer's second epic, that talks about Ulysses' efforts to return to his home after the end of ten years of war.




According to Homer, Ulysses is king of Ithaca, and father, by his wife, Penelope, of Telemachus...
Homer portrays Ulysses as a man of outstanding wisdom, eloquence, resourcefulness, courage and endurance...
In the Iliad, Ulysses appears as the man best fitted to cope with crises in personal relations among the Greeks and his bravery and skill in fighting were demonstrated repeatedly...
Ulysses wanderings and the recovery of his house and kingdom are the central theme of our film, which also relates how he accomplishes the capture of Troy by means of the wooden horse...
The motion picture, fill in the gaps with flashbacks, describes Ulysses' wanderings between Troy and Ithaca... As a troubled man, Ulysses spends much time at the shore trying to remember his past...
He encounters Polyphemus, the Cyclops, son of Poseidon... He escapes from his cave by getting him drunk and running a ram into his eye...
Shipwrecked, his men gone, his memory lost, he is discovered by a beautiful young princess Nausicca (Rossana Podesta) who immediately falls in love with him... Ulysses defeats the champion wrestler of Phaeacia in a public exhibition, but remains distant trying to recall his past...

 

He then encounters the Sirens whose songs lure sailors to their death... Plugging the ears of his men with wax, he has himself tied to the mast with ropes so that he can hear their call...
Ulysses reaches the island of the enchantress Circe who casts her spell on him... Taking on the appearance of his wife Penelope, she held him captive and turned his crew into swine, but fails to keep him in her company...

After almost l0 years, Ulysses at last arrived in Ithaca, where his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, had been struggling to maintain their authority during his prolonged absence...
Kirk Douglas plays, with sensitivity, Ulysses, "the man of many turns" who had many opportunities of displaying his talent for ruses and deceptions; but at the same time, his courage and loyalty..
The full-figured Silvana Mangano plays a double role: Penelope, the faithful wife and Circe, the sorceress...
Anthony Quinn is the arrogant Antinous, the most persistent of Penelope's suitors, hanging around the palace with a group of vicious noblemen, trying to persuade the lovely queen that Ulysses is dead and that she should choose one of them as her next husband..
With the elements of an Italian epic adventure tale photographed in Technicolor, the film is quite entertaining in its attempts to translate episodes of Homer's Odyssey...

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

Cult Movie Classic - Family Musical Fantasy film

Bart has only one enemy in the world: his piano teacher Dr. Terwilliker. Dr. T has a mad plan to force 500 young boys to practice at his magnificent piano 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Bart is the only hope to save these boys from being enslaved. Fantastic sets, screenplay, and even song lyrics were provided by Dr. Seuss. Features the only piano academy ever known to be equipped with cells and surrounded by an electric fence.

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. is a 1953 musical fantasy film. It is best known for being the only feature film ever written by Theodor Seuss Geisel ("Dr. Seuss"), who was responsible for the story, screenplay, and lyrics. It was directed by Roy Rowland. The film was rereleased in 1958 under the title Crazy Music.

The film is almost entirely musical, with either background music or actual musical numbers. Composed by Frederick Hollander (born Friedrich Hollaender) with lyrics by Dr Seuss, the score was nominated for an Academy Award in 1953. Along with standard orchestral instruments, the score also uses a theremin. A soundtrack CD was released by El in Association with Cherry Red Records Ltd (ACMEM126CD). In addition to the film's score the CD includes 11 songs that were not included in the film.
They are listed as follows;

• My Favorite Note (Hans Conried)
• Oh! We Are the Guards (The rollerskating Siamese Twins)
• I Will Not Get Involved Parts 1 and 2 (Peter Lind Hayes)
• Grindstone (Peter Lind Hayes)
• Money (Peter Lind Hayes)
• Terwilliker (Hans Conried and Mary Healy)
• I Will Not Go To Sleep (Hans Conried)
• Many Questions (Mary Healy)
• One Moment Ago (Chorus and Orchestral versions) Stills exist of Hayes and Healy singing this in a duet but the track is lost.

There was also an additional verse to the Elevator Song, which was in the original release of the film, but edited out for the re-release and television runs of the film.

Watch Movie; The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.



Young Bart Collins lives with his widowed mother Heloise. The major blight on Bart's existence is the hated piano lessons he is forced to endure under the tutelage of the autocratic Dr. Terwilliker. Bart feels that his mother has fallen under Terwilliker's sinister influence, and gripes to visiting plumber August Zabladowski, without much result. While grimly hammering away at his lessons, Bart dozes off and enters a fantastical musical dream, in much the same fashion as Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz.

In the dream, Bart is trapped at the surreal Terwilliker Institute, where the piano teacher is now a madman dictator who has locked up all non-piano-playing musicians in a dungeon and constructed a piano so large that it requires Bart and 499 other enslaved boys (the aforementioned 5,000 fingers) in order to play it. Bart's mother has been turned into Terwilliker's hypnotized assistant and bride-to-be, and Bart must dodge the Institute's guards as he scrambles to save both his mother and himself. He tries to recruit Mr. Zabladowski, who has been hired to install all of the Institute's sinks ahead of a vital inspection, but only after much skepticism and foot-dragging is the plumber finally convinced to help. The two of them empty their pockets and construct a noise-sucking contraption which ruins the mega-piano's opening concert. The enslaved boys cheerfully run riot, and the "VERY atomic" noise-sucker explodes in spectacular fashion, bringing Bart out of his dream.

The movie ends on a hopeful note for Bart, when the real-life Mr. Zabladowski finally notices Heloise, and offers to drive her into town in his jeep. Bart escapes from the piano, and triumphantly runs off to play.

Although he had written the original treatment and all the song lyrics, Geisel regarded the finished film as a "debaculous fiasco" and omitted any mention of it in his official biography with Random House. At the film's Hollywood premiere, it was reported that patrons walked out on the film after 15 minutes, and box office receipts were equally disappointing. Nevertheless, the film has gained a cult following over the years, and has been favorably compared to the live-action adaptations of Seuss's works made since his death.
The character of Bart Collins has been adopted in a UK anti-drugs advert. Promoting the service "Talk to Frank" - a drugs advice line. He appears in various locations asking questions such as "what do you use this vase for?" (about a bong), and "how long are you going to feel like that for?" (to a girl clearly on a comedown).

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Mighty Joe Young (1949)

Mighty Joe Young is an RKO Radio Pictures film made in 1949 by the same creative team responsible for King Kong.

Written by Merian C. Cooper (who provided the story) and Ruth Rose (screenplay), and directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, it tells the story of a young woman, 'Jill Young', played by Terry Moore, living on her father's farm in Africa, who ends up bringing the title character — a giant ape — to Hollywood. The movie co-stars Ben Johnson, as 'Gregg', in his first major role.

Willis O'Brien, who created the animation for King Kong, was the supervisor of special effects on this film, although by some accounts the majority of the animation was performed by Ray Harryhausen. The models (constructed by Kong's builder Marcel Delgado) and animation are more sophisticated than Kong's, containing more subtle gestures and even some comedic elements, such as one chase scene where Joe is riding in the back of a speeding truck and he spits at his pursuers. Despite this increased technical sophistication, this film, like Kong, features some serious scale issues, with Joe noticeably changing size between many shots. (The title character is not supposed to be as large as Kong - perhaps 10-12 feet tall.) Harryhausen has attributed these lapses to producer Cooper, who insisted Joe appear larger in some scenes for dramatic effect.

The film has become a minor classic, and has an affectionate following. Special effects artists consider it highly influential, with the elaborate orphanage rescue sequence lauded as one of the great stop-motion sequences in film history. It was remade in 1998 with Charlize Theron playing 'Jill Young'. Another remake that takes place around 1949 is in talks.



Plot;

After being taken from his home in Africa, Joe is an instant hit in the Hollywood nightclub "The Golden Safari" (on opening night he wins a tug-of-war with ten real-life strong men, including ex-boxer Primo Carnera, whom he throws into the audience), but the novelty wears off and he is tired and homesick after seventeen weeks of performing. An ill-conceived skit with Jill as an organ-grinder leaves Joe (and Jill) storming off-stage, and, to make matters worse, three drunks sneak backstage and ply Joe with liquor. Intoxicated, he breaks out of his cage and into the club, his rampage turning lions loose and inflicting massive damage. A court orders him shot.

Jill, Gregg, and O'Hara cook up a plan to get Joe out of the country--but on the way to a ship, they stop to rescue children from a burning orphanage, and Joe redeems himself.

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20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - Disney's Ultimate classic Fantasy Movie of all time. Based on the Novel by Jules Verne
Kirk Douglas, Paul Lukas and Peter Lorre star as shipwrecked survivors taken captive by the mysterious Captain Nemo, brilliantly portrayed by James Mason.
Wavering between genius and madness, Nemo has launched a deadly crusade across the seven seas. But can the captive crew expose his evil plan before he destroys the world?
 This is by far the most literate, the most moving, and the most cinematically sophisticated film Disney has ever made. Those of the reviewers at this (IMDb) site who dismiss it as a kiddie movie, or who sneer at the special effects ("time has not been kind" to this film, one of them says; according to another, "the thrill is gone") seem simply prejudiced, rather like those who automatically deride any film that features Charlton Heston or deals with a biblical theme. It is indeed quite amazing that any special effects filmed in 1954 would continue to stack up so well.
Very simply, Richard Fleischer made a gorgeous adaptation of Jules Verne's famous novel. This is an excellent adventure movie told with quite a lot of humor. Fleischer introduced humor in a few sequences and especially in dialogs. But the movie also includes a sadistic side. This sadistic side is epitomized by the captain Nemo himself. You can describe him as a despotic man who's got a grudge against the earth that made him suffer. Moreover, he regards himself as a sort of governor of the ocean. In this way, Jules Verne's novel introduces a reflection about man and the extension of his power thanks to the machine (the Nautilus).  IMDB Link

Watch the Movie Classic - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1954 film starring Kirk Douglas as Ned Land, James Mason as Captain Nemo, Paul Lukas as Professor Pierre Aronnax, and Peter Lorre as Conseil. It is the first science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, as well as the only Science-fiction film produced by Walt Disney himself. It is also the first feature length Disney film to be distributed by Buena Vista Distribution. The film has become the most well-known adaptation of the book of the same name by Jules Verne.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was filmed at various locations in Bahamas and Jamaica, with the cave scenes filmed beneath what is now the Xtabi hotel on the cliffs of Negril. Some of the location filming sequences were so complex, that they required a technical crew of over 400 people. It presented many challenges and cost-overruns during production. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Unabridged Classics)

Alternative viewing option

In the year 1866, rumors of a sea monster attacking ships in the Pacific Ocean have created apprehension and fear among sailors, disrupting the shipping lanes. Prof. Pierre M. Aronnax and his assistant, Conseil, are on their way to Saigon but get stuck in San Francisco by the halting of ships. The U.S. government invites Aronnax onto an expedition to either prove or disprove the monster's existence. One of their fellow crew is the cocky master harpooner Ned Land.

After months of searching, the monster strikes, ramming the naval frigate. Ned, Aronnax, and Conseil are thrown overboard, and watch in horror as their ship, badly disabled, is unable to rescue them. The three drift into a strange-looking metal vessel, and realize the "monster" is a man-made "submerging boat", that seems to have been deserted. Inside, Aronnax wanders down into the Salon, where he finds a massive viewing window and sees an underwater funeral taking place.

When the submarine crew returns to their ship, they capture the three castaways. The captain introduces himself as Nemo, master of the Nautilus. He returns Ned and Conseil to the deck, while Aronnax, whom he recognizes for his work and research, is allowed to stay. He tempts Aronnax to remain with him, but Aronnax prefers to share his companions' fate. Nemo prepares to submerge Nautilus with the three stowaways on the deck, but at the last moment changes his mind and allows them to stay. After dinner that night, Nemo takes them all on an underwater expedition to gather supplies, but Ned tries to salvage a treasure chest from a sunken wreck, almost getting attacked by a shark.

Later on, Nemo takes Aronnax to the penal colony island of Rura Penthe. Nemo reveals he was once a prisoner there himself, as were many of the crew of the Nautilus. A munitions ship embarks at sunset, whereupon the Nautilus rams it, destroying its munitions cargo and killing the entire crew. When confronted by Aronnax, Nemo claims that his actions have just saved thousands from death in war; he also discloses that this "hated nation" had killed his wife and son in an attempt to force him to reveal his atomic secrets. Meanwhile, Ned discovers the coordinates of Nemo's secret island base, Vulcania, and releases messages in bottles, hoping somebody will find them and free him from captivity.

Off the coast of New Guinea, the Nautilus gets stranded on a reef. Ned is surprised when Nemo freely allows him to go ashore with Conseil, ostensibly to collect specimens. Ned goes off alone inland to explore avenues of escape, until he sees a bunch of human skulls, and a cannibal in a tree. Realizing his danger, Ned runs for his life and rejoins Conseil as they are chased back to the Nautilus. Despite remaining aground, Nemo is unconcerned and the cannibals are repelled from the ship by electrical charges circulated on its hull. Captain Nemo is furious at Ned for not following his orders, and confines him to the submarine's brig as punishment.

A warship approaches, firing and striking the submarine just as it breaks free of the reef. It descends into the depths, where it attracts the attentions of a giant squid. The electric charge fails to repel the monster, so Nemo and his men are forced to surface in order to fight and dislodge the beast. During the battle, Nemo is caught in one of the squid's tentacles; Ned, having escaped from captivity in the struggle, jumps to Nemo's rescue and saves his captor's life. As a result, Nemo has a change of heart; he claims now to want to make peace with the outer world, by sharing his secrets of the sea. However, this is to be short-lived.

As the Nautilus nears Vulcania, Nemo finds the island surrounded by warships, whose marines are converging on his hideout. He goes ashore, setting a time bomb to destroy his discoveries, but when returning to the Nautilus, he is struck in the back by enemy fire and mortally wounded. After navigating the submarine away from Vulcania, Nemo announces he is "taking the Nautilus down for the last time." Loyal to Nemo to the very end, his entire crew declare that they will accompany their captain in death.

Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned are taken forcibly to their cabins. Ned fights back, escapes to the now deserted bridge, and manages to surface the Nautilus, hitting a reef in the process and causing the ship to begin flooding rapidly. In his final moments, Nemo staggers to a viewing window, collapses, and looks at his beloved ocean one last time as he dies.

Aronnax tries to go back and retrieve his journal, which contains an account of the voyage, but the urgency of their escape obliges Ned to knock him unconscious and carry him out. The companions witness Vulcania destroyed in a explosion. The shock from the explosion causes the Nautilus to sink even more quickly, and as it disappears beneath the waves forever, Nemo's last words to Aronnax echo: "There is hope for the future. And when the world is ready for a new and better life, all this will someday come to pass. In God's good time." Aronnax's diary of the voyage is also lost forever, and when Ned apologizes for having hit him, the Professor replies "Perhaps you did mankind a service, Ned".

Kirk Douglas as Ned Land
James Mason as Captain Nemo
Paul Lukas as Professor Pierre Aronnax
Peter Lorre as Conseil
Robert J. Wilke as Nautilus's First Mate
Ted de Corsia as Captain Farragut
Carleton Young as John Howard
J. M. Kerrigan as Billy
Percy Helton as Coach driver
Ted Cooper as Abraham Lincoln's First Mate
Fred Graham as Casey
Wikipedia Link - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

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