The plot: After the death of his brother, Larry Talbot returns to his family's estate somewhere in England (film historian/author Tom Weaver says on the DVD audio commentary that the locale in the script was Wales), reconciles with his slightly distant father Sir John (Claude Rains) and begins pursuing local antique shop clerk Gwen (Evelyn Ankers), only to run afoul of gypsy fotune teller Bela (Bela Lugosi in a brief but effective extended cameo).  Bitten by Bela while he was a wolf, Larry tries to convince people of his awful situation, only to be met with suspicion and ridcule.  Then the full moon returns...

A solid script by screenwriter/science fiction author Curt Siodmak (Donovan's Brain) and powerful performances by the skilled cast (with okay supporting turns by Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles and Warren William, and a great one by Maria Ouspenskaya as Bela's all-knowing mother, Maleva) overcome average direction by George Waggner,  whose idea of setting the mood is cranking up the fog machine.  The film's undercurrent of impending horror and tragedy is effectively conveyed by the script and acting;  you can't help but feel sorry for Larry as he tries and fails to get anybody (aside from Maleva) to help him.  Moreover, thanks to the cast, you also feel sorry for the other characters, who refuse to consider the obvious.  In the end, Larry's plight affects not only him, but by the movie's downbeat finale, everybody else.   

Much has been written over the decades about the classic "Wolf Man" make-up (devised by Chaney and Universal's Jack Pierce), and I can't add anything to that documentation. (Although I do wonder why Larry, as the Wolf Man, always wears the same clothes, even though he's in different clothing before and after his tranformations.)*   It's still an amazingly effective, ferocious-looking  piece of work.  Chaney himself does a great job of acting, in and out of the wolf make-up, showing the torment and anguish Larry goes through in the film.   

Universal's two-disc Legacy Collection DVD set of The Wolf Man is a great package.  Disc One features the original film, digitally restored, and it's 1943 sequel Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (a guilty pleasure of yours truly), plus the aforementioned audio commentary by Tom Weaver (who has a LOT of cool facts about the making of the film), while Disc Two has the 1935 film Werewolf of London (okay, despite a plot turn concerning the title creature's appearance that's telegraphed way in advance), with Henry Hull and Warner Oland, and 1946's She-Wolf of London, with June Lockhart, that's a horror movie for people who don't like horror movies.  Trailers and a entertaining documentary, "Monster by Moonlight" (wait'll you hear what writer Siodmak intended the Wolf Man character to be a metaphor of), round out the package. 

*(Another quibble:  When Bela the gypsy turns into a werewolf, he's an actual wolf, running around on all fours. Yet when Larry turns into a wolf, he's a human-shaped biped..) 

During her stay in the past, Dana, and the reader, see firsthand the brutal, demeaning and horrible treatment of blacks in the pre-Civil War era.  Slaves are bred like cattle and sold off, refused education, beaten, mutilated, lynched, raped, overworked, and generally looked upon as subhuman by their white owners.  The whites exhibit sadistic hatred for blacks and find every opportunity to manifest their twisted and sick attitudes toward their slaves, regardless of age or sex.  This isn't the rosy romantic "fun" picture (carefree slaves happily singing away while doing their chores) painted in Gone With The Wind or that Mel Gibson movie The Patriot. The average slave's experience, Butler tells us, was one filled with fear and danger, where the slightest act could result in pain and/or death.  The slaves themselves were demeaned and terrorized constantly.  Dana herself discovers this (much too close for comfort) in the course of her adventures. 

Dana's (non-romantic) attachment to young Rufus (who somehow is able to "summon" Dana from her own time) is the core relationship in Kindred.  Their relationship propels the book's events and provides motivation for Dana (and Kevin, who also makes a trip to the past) and the actions she takes.  In the process, she and Rufus are transformed (Rufus, who becomes more and more corrupt as the book unfolds, not so positively) from passive observers to proactive participants due to their experiences.  By the end of the book, Dana, like other Americans of African (and other ethnic) descent, has been profoundly touched (and scarred) by the brutalizing shadow of slavery.

Me, I was riverted to Butler's outstanding narrative.  Her use of historical background and believable characterzation and storytelling (based on scraps of dialogue alone, we tumble onto Rufus' true nature before Dana does) is well handled.  I felt compassion, anger and outrage while reading this book.  But the novel's coda as expressed in the epilogue brings home the point of this story, which I won't spoil by revealing it here.    

All I can add is read the book.  (Find it here.)  Kindred is not a "happy" work but it is a profound and ultimately moving saga that will stay with you long after reading.   

Though space travel and technology have significantly advanced by the time Nova takes place, Delany depicts a kind of stagnant society that hasn't progressed since the 20th century.  Works of music (The Mamas and The Papas!), literature and art from that century and before are constantly referenced by the characters.  It's only through their cyborg implants, which allows individuals to interface with machines, that members of this society can feel any pride in their work and be part of the society.  (Nova makes a good case for being the first "cyberpunk" science fiction novel.) Prince Red, due to the loss of one arm, is denied this entry into the world around him and accordingly acts out of psychotic frustration (as well as just plain evil).  Other characters, such as Von Ray's former shipmate Dan, overdo their ability to interface (read the book to see how) and also suffer significantly. 

There's so much rich subtext to be found within this novel.  There's the Mouse's use of a "sensory syrynx", which can control emotions; Katin's measured, logical approach to events around him (he's intending to write a book); the crew's use of Tarot cards; and Von Ray's dangerous attraction to Prince's (frankly one-dimensional) sister Ruby. Plus, there's Von Ray's Ahab-like quest, and the overwhelming sense that once the crew gets to it's objective, some kind of major upheaval will occur, all of which sets up an intense, unrelenting tone that percolates throughout the book, building to an exciting and fulfilling climax. 

Despite a lack of empathy for the female characters that appear in the novel, and a tendency for overwrought dialogue, Samuel R. Delany's Nova is essential reading that still packs a punch.  Not bad for a work from the 20th Century!

Octavia E. Butler

In describing the culture and science of the Oankali, Butler creates a fascinating and truly alien culture.  The Oankali genetically engineer their own kind to be able to adapt into any kind of surroundings and, through bio-engineering, are able to create technology (spaceships, etc.) that's actually alive in it's own way.  Butler also focuses on how the alien sexes (there's more than two) are able to procreate (as well as having sex) and what part humans play in this procedure.  Readers will have to leave their own preconceptions at the door when reading this novel.

There's also Lilith's own plight, which in many ways parallels the experience of African Americans.  When we first meet her, she's already been taken from Earth, her home, and finds herself having to adapt to another, more dominant culture.  Significantly, as Lilith grows to accept her surroundings (it's clear she has little choice) and is designated by the Oankali to oversee other humans, she begins to look at herself as a "judas goat".  And the fact that the Oankali "traffic" in human beings (they're a merchant-based race) that they hope to repopulate and replenish the Earth (like a plantation?) with their own genetic stamp can't be overlooked either.

For thought-provoking social commentary and/or a powerfully exciting adventure novel, Dawn (and it's sequels, Adulthood Rites and Imago) should be on any reader's list.  Reserve it online here.

(Note:  It's clear from reading the novel that Butler intended Lilith to be African-American.  What the publishers were thinking by depicting her as Caucasian on the cover of the 1987 hardcover edition of Dawn is beyond me.)

(New book on resumes now available:  Fearless Resumes: The Proven Method For Getting A Great Job Fast by Marky Stein.  Reserve it online here.)

Produced by the team of Charles H. Schneer and special effects/stop-motion animation master Ray Harryhausen (see this previous post), and directed by Desmond Davis from a screenplay by Beverly Cross, Clash revolves around the adventures (taken, with a lot of changes, from the original Greek myth) of Perseus (Harry Hamlin, who later went on to the L.A. Law TV series), the mortal son of Zeus (Lawrence Olivier).  The godess Thetis (Maggie Smith), ticked off at Zeus for his favoring Perseus over her son Calibos (whom Zeus had punished over various trangressions by transforming him into an ugly monster), sets up a series of events in motion that get Perseus involved with the people of the city Joppa and it's princess (and Calibos' former betroved) Andromeda (the luminous Judi Bowker), whom Perseus falls in love with.  With the aid of playwright Ammon (Burgess Meredith), the flying horse Pegasus, and a (frankly annoying) mechanical owl, Bubo, Perseus battles Calibos, the giant two-headed dog creature Dioskios, equally giant scorpions, a snake-like, bow-and-arrow packing Medusa (in the film's most suspenseful sequence), and, in the exciting climax, the legendary Kraken, to prevent the loss of Andromeda's life.  (Thetis, now really angry at this point, forces the people of Joppa to sacrifice Andromeda to the Kraken.)  

Boy, what a great showcase for Harryhausen's animated creations!  My favorites are Medusa and the scorpions, but Harryhausen's effects are much more sophisticated this time, thanks in part to a much larger budget than he'd previously worked with.  For example, the meshing of stop motion animation and actor Neil McCarthy's performance in the close-ups create an actual, believable, nuanced Calibos, resulting in one of Harryhausen's best creatures.  The bigger budget also gives Harryhausen more chances for spectacle; the film starts off with the complete destruction of the cities Acrisius and Argos, which sets up a tone of adventure and wonder for the rest of the film.  And, for a change, most of the animated inserts aren't hampered by grainy photography that bring attention to themselves. 

The cast is good.  Hamlin and Bowker are likable, if a little bland, as leads. And while it's great to see the cailber of such actors as Olivier, Smith, Meredith, Claire Bloom, Susan Fleetwood, Jack Gwillim (as the gods) and Sian Phillips in a film like this, all of these old pros play their parts like they were doing a Shakespeare play (listen to their phrasing), which sometimes sounds "off" (but classy).  Ursula Andress, who had a much-publicized affair with Hamlin at the time, is wasted as Aphrodite, though she looks great!  Cross's screenplay isn't really profound; it's just a loose but fast moving chain of setpieces that takes Perseus from one great stop-motion sequence to the next.  But that's fine.  1981's Clash of the Titans is an exciting adventure from start to finish and here's hoping the remake will be even half as good!