My MST3K Movie Collection

Tags

Amazing Transparent Man, Anthony Cardoza, b movies, Bela Lugosi, Bert I Gordon, Beverly Garland, Biker Movie, Bride of the Monster, Catalina Caper, Chick Chandler, Coleman Francis, Commando Cody, Don Sullivan, Ed Wood, Foreign, Gamera, Gamera vs. Guiron, Giant Gila Monster, Giant Monsters, Godzilla, Gyaos, Japan, Jerry Warren, Joel Hodgson, John Agar, John Ashley, Kaiju, King Dinosaur, Larry Buchanan, Lee Van Cleef, Lost Continent, Mad Monster, mst3k, MST3K Shorts, Satellite of Love (Mystery Science Theater 3000), SOL, Unriffed

One day a man decides to start watching the movies on MST3K unriffed.  A little over a year and a half later, he ends up with (possibly) as complete a collection as is currently available.

The hanging pictures represent the digital copies owned.

Season 00

Season 01

Season 02

Season 03

Season 04

Season 05

Season 06

Season 07 and Movie

 

Season 08

Season 09

Season 10

And the shorts

The bots aren’t happy about this!

The following are the 2 movies and 10 shorts I have been unable to locate on DVD/VHS/digital

307Short: ALPHABET ANTICS  (1951, Castle Films)

311Short: The Sports Parade: SNOW THRILLS (1945, Warner Brothers, Silent 16mm version found)

315Short: CATCHING TROUBLE (1936, Grantland Rice Sportlight/Paramount Pictures)

320Short: POSTURE PALS (1952, Avis Films)

413Short: GENERAL HOSPITAL PT 1

415Short: GENERAL HOSPITAL PT 2

417Short: GENERAL HOSPITAL PT 3 (Possibly a 1963-1964 episode)

421Short: CIRCUS ON ICE (1954 Associated Screen Studios)

612-The Starfighters 1964

621Short: MONEY TALKS! (1951, American Bankers Association, Film Counselors Inc, International Movie Producers’ Service)

621Short: PROGRESS ISLAND, U.S.A. (1973, Fucci/Stone Productions Inc.)

1009-Hamlet 1960 German TV, 1962 US release (Audio only German language CD found)

A big big thank you to my wife for taking these pictures!  She is a pretty talented person, visit her photo blog and quilling blog to see her work.

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Short 205-The Phantom Creeps Chapter 2: Death Stalks the Highway

Tags

Bela Lugosi, Dorothy Arnold, Phantom Creeps, Serial, Universal Serials

I rewatched Chapter 1, just to remind myself of the story so far. It is amazing all the writers crammed in the story. You have the new element, robots, invisibility, suspended animation spiders, car crashes and government planes going down. This could be the maddest mad scientist Bela ever played.

Between the credits, the recap scroll and the repeated footage, it is 3:15 before we get to new footage. Nice refresher, and at 20 minutes, there is still plenty of action to come.

So Dr. Zorka’s beard is like Clark Kent’s glasses?

The foreign agents and the language school adds another layer of confusion to the plot.

Another villain who should have killed the cop. Good thing cop 2 didn’t believe the one knocked out. These guys are bad at their job. Zorka gets by. Plucky girl reporter gets by. They should be kicked out of serial copdom.

One thing I don’t get: are the spiders real spiders or mechanical ones? From my present perspective, they look mechanical, but in 1939, who knows?

“The driver is gone or he’s hiding,” love that line.

Watchability: 3 of 5. Very entertaining, all over the place. The throw it at the wall plot demands attention.

Missing the riffs: 3 of 5. This is a great serial to riff, they just keep amping up the goofy.

Short 203-The Phantom Creeps Chapter 1: The Menacing Power

Tags

b movies, Bela Lugosi, Dorothy Arnold, mst3k, Phantom Creeps, Serials, Universal Serials

1939 Universal serial. Nice to see Bela get top billing. Being a baseball history geek in my non-MST3K time, I’m interested to watch Dorothy Arnold. Dorothy was married to Joe DiMaggio from 1939 to 1944, though the last two years were generally spent apart. DiMaggio was a possessive asshole. It was not a happy marriage for Dorothy.

I intend to do the Creeps two ways: the full serial and then the condensed movie released in the 1950s. This was off the tracks in Chapter 3, I can’t imagine how crazy it truly gets.

Better robot than the one that fought the Aztec Mummy. Overbig, but it does at least have fearsome face.

Building robots, trying to kill his wife, weird suspended animation stuff, exploding spiderthings, in under 5 minutes! This man IS evil.

And the invisibility trick, that just puts it over the top. This serial has said all bets are off!

There was a lot going on in that chapter!

Watchability: 3 of 5.  Already over the top, where can it go?

Missing the Riffs: 3 of 5.  Wild enough to mostly keep me engaged.

Short 603S-The Selling Wizard

Tags

ice cream freezer, MST3K Shorts, Odd Helpers, Philadelphia Pint, Satellite of Love (Mystery Science Theater 3000), Season 8

Unlike “Once Upon a Honeymoon” this ad makes it clear what it is selling and to whom.

Apparently all ice cream was generic back then.  I suppose in 1954, freezers in the home weren’t as spacious as we have now.

We take these big freezers for granted, they had to come from sometime.  Heck, I was at the store today, and the display hasn’t changed that much in 60 years.

Gentlemen, you must all be distracted the pretty girl.  Why, it is amazing the film got made with a pretty girl involved.  Frozen smile for frozen food.

I don’t get why the freezers are set up at an angle.  I never worked in a grocery, so there must be a reason.  Or is it just to show off the interior more?  No, because it is done with closed ones too.

The diagram of how the freezer works looks just like the diagrams in my old science books.

What is a Philadelphia Pint?  The internet doesn’t help me much with that question.  If it was just a pint, they would call it a pint.

Who knew A-B made something other than beer.

Short 110S-Radar Men From the Moon, Chapter 9: Battle in the Stratosphere

Tags

Commando Cody, mst3k, MST3K Shorts, Republic Serials, Superheroes

So, I know all you want to know is what happens after the film breaks.  Here you go:

Cody and Company leave the moon with very little drama.  No just kidding, as they take off, Joan dutifully goes for coffee.  The captured Moon Man (who Cody sternly sent to his room) attacks Joan and Ted, still in the rocket man suit, with a stick or something.  Big tussle as the pilot is knocked down before the ship leaves the moon orbit.  Bravely, with Cody rolling around with the moon man, the pilot flies the ship on his knees.  The moon man grabs a gun and while wrestling with Cody, the moon man is shot.  The body is tossed into space as the crew sets for Earth.  Joan never does get the coffee.

Meanwhile, Retik calls Krog and his two stupid thugs.  Retik informs Krog and the stupid thugs of Cody’s impending return to Earth, and orders Cody’s Rocket Ship to be shot down.  Retik threatens the crew that failure may mean death.

Cody pretends to do math to figure out a landing.  Our thugs and Krog, coincidently, do the same math, and Graber and Daly show up with the death ray.  The thugs fire and miss as the ship tries to land.

Cody, armed with only a pistol, jumps out of the ship to take on the death ray.  The ship is running low on fuel.  The thugs hit Cody, but he is able to fall safely, just as the ship has to turn and land, nearly out of fuel.

Cody steps out of the bushes and sneaks around to shoot at Graber and Daly.  Gun fight ensues, and the thugs actually use the death ray on Cody.  The crooks, needing to get rid of Cody before shooting the ship, shoot the cliff above Cody, causing an avalanche!

And then we are set up for Chapter 10!

Bonus Cody Coverage to follow!

Watchability: 3 of 5.  If only to find out what happened.

Missing the Riffs: 4 of 5.  The SOL crew was just so over Cody.

Short 109SB-Radar Men From the Moon, Chapter 8: The Enemy Planet

Tags

b movies, Commando Cody, mst3k, MST3K Shorts, Republic Serials, Stock Footage, Superheroes, TV Stars

Hey, a new character!

It doesn’t seem like there are that many people deserving a credit.

Graber and Daly, what mugs.

You would think a doomsday weapon would be more moveable.  Again, if these thugs could do the ‘right’ thing and just kill Cody, we could be done with this story chapters ago.

Remember when going to the moon, wait, I think I used that joke before.  Again, why the serials had to disappear.  Too repetitive.  The launch scene in this chapter is one of the better effect sequences in the serial.

Wouldn’t rockets from Earth be super easy to detect?  It wasn’t like there were daily shuttles or anything like that.

Yep, very lucky break the one single moon man we see knows everything you need to know Cody.  I know coincidence is the driving force behind most “kid” fiction, but this pushes even beyond that level of believability.

Is shooting a door holding dangerous materials really all that wise?

The recycled tank from Undersea Kingdom!  It never gets its due for multiple MST3K appearances.

So, knowing the budgets, I bet this is footage of the tank chasing itself.

Busted airline?  Attacking Tank?  An amateur in Cody’s helmet?  How will this turn out?

Watchability: 3 of 5.  Not bad, this chapter had a change in formula, made it seem fresher.  Well-paced and decent action.  One of the best chapters so far.

Missing the Riffs: 4 of 5.  The riffing was definitely getting weaker by this point in the serial.

Short 109SA-Radar Men From the Moon, Chapter 7: Camouflaged Destruction

Tags

Commando Cody, MST3K Shorts, Repbulic Serials, Satellite of Love (Mystery Science Theater 3000), Stock Footage, Superheroes

I can see why the Serials were never seen through to the end on MST3K.  Not only is there the same formula to every f’ing episode, but trying to get 12 episodes worth of credit jokes is a task too Herculean for the SOL crew.

Just grabs a gun and shoves it in his pants.  Cody does love his risky behavior.

Cheaper to show a picture of the moon than to step outside and actually film the moon.

Krog looks like he is borrowing Bela’s lab from Bride of the Monster.

Cody is one of those guys who always finds a fight wherever he goes.  He has a very punchable face, I suppose.

The Thugs have no qualms about dropping atomic bombs or blasting troop trains, but won’t finish Cody off when they get the chance?!?

This must be the ‘padding’ episode: lots of flying and driving.  In this light, the Mads making the crew watch two chapters and this dull as dishwater chapter being one of them, is especially cruel.

Ah yes, the tiny little bomb chapter!

Watchability: 1 of 5.  Like I said, this was the ‘padding’ episodes.  Lots of driving/flying footage with music designed to make it seem like something was happening.  The little bomb/laser fight at the end wasn’t enough action for the little kid in me.

Missing the Riffs: 2 of 5.  So it wasn’t the time away.  This is one that the SOL crew helps a lot, even though you could tell they were starting to get tired of the whole thing.

Short 108-Radar Men From the Moon, Chapter 6: Hills of Death

Tags

Commando Cody, Republic Serials, SOL

It has been awhile, I hope I can remember where we left off.  I think Cody was in danger, and there were only seconds to save himself or others.

After a month and a half, he is like a new character.

Thank goodness for recap cards.  I’d be lost without you.  Ah yes, the stolen ambulance gambit.

Why is it hard for me to believe this is 1952?  Is it I just associate Serials with the 30s/40s?  The Atomic Bomb should have been my clue.

And the bomb is just sitting in a cardboard box, under a workbench.  Not very secure.

No building code under fire on that newspaper.

Republic Serials, your use of stock footage is causing me to rethink my movie making abilities.

Hot Beef Sandwich, 40 cents.  Pair that with the undoubtable top shelf booze at Al’s Café, and you got yourself a night.

For thugs, they drive so leisurely, almost like they were begging Ted to jump.

Why does Ted have to hitchhike back, can’t Joan call him a cab?

Cleaning loaded guns?  These are really bad thugs.

A bold plan of surrender.

Watchability: 3 of 5.  Maybe I just missed Cody, but I enjoyed this one.

Missing the Riffs: 3 of 5.  Again, maybe it is just the time away from unriffed movies and shorts, I feel I didn’t need the SOL riffing.

Short 107B-Radar Men From the Moon, Chapter 5: Murder Car

Tags

Cody, Commando Cody, Flight suit, Model car

It always seemed like there were more of the ‘recap’ cards than there actually are.

Decent model crash.

Shouldn’t the flying suit be designed to carry someone, would save some trouble.

The girl sidekick really snaps back after a kidnapping and near death experience-wonder if hitchhiking will prove dangerous.

Poor guy, picks a stranger up with no clue he might be dangerous.

Cody does go for some dangerous gunplay.

Nothing goes right for these goons.  I don’t understand why Krog is so loyal to them.

These goons do have some very fortunate connections.  Makes the various crimes seem like they would be easier.

I don’t know what laws of physics that car disobeyed when going down, but man that didn’t look right.

Yeah, civilians usually are allowed to interrogate witnesses.

The thugs just aren’t consistent, either kill guys or don’t, if you keep changing your mind, you will end up in prison.

Yeah, toy cars just don’t look real when smashing together.

Watchability: 4 of 5.  More action, less talking.

Missing the Riffs: 3 of 5.

Short 107A-Radar Men From the Moon, Chapter 4: Flight To Destruction

Tags

Commando Cody, Robot Monster, SOL

For my Fiftieth unriffed movie viewing, I’m doing something a little different. I’m recreating the whole Episode 107 experience: Chapters 4 and 5 of Commando Cody followed by Robot Monster.

Pretty fancy driving in some cars not built for speed.  Sedans aren’t the best getaway cars.

Nice ditch by Cody.

If they know the traitors are, why doesn’t the army go in?  That would be more disruptive than a guy in a flying suit.

Moon men must not be good with money.

You are betraying a planet, and you worry about parole violations?

Kidnapping, much easier than bank robbery.  Instead of ransoming Cody, why don’t you just kill him?

I should have kept a tally of lab fights.  Cody got it really good in this one.  Gotta respect a hero who can still get his butt kicked, you know he really is taking a risk.

One call gives you so much information.  Cody and pals didn’t need the internet.

She must have concussion issues.

Watchability:  3 of 5.

Missing the Riffs: 2 of 5.  While I’m still enjoying the Serial, I am missing the SOL crew more and more.