Showing posts with label Scrooge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scrooge. Show all posts

Saturday, December 24, 2016

CHRISTMAS MOVIE CONNECTIONS TO HORROR MOVIES


In an earlier post, I listed how many of our favorite Christmas movies were connected. Since I love to watch horror films at Halloween, I decided to show how many of the Christmas films have a connection to some famous horror films watched at Halloween.

Henry Travers, who played Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life and Horace Bogardus in Bells of St. Mary, also played Dr. Cranley in The Invisible Man.

Lionel Barrymore, who played Old Man Potter in It's a Wonderful Life, was in the Mark of the Vampire and The Devil Doll, which takes place at Christmas time.

Una O'Conner, who played Mrs. Breen in Bells of St. Mary and Norah in Christmas In Connecticut, in most famous for her roles in The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein.

Ernest Thesiger, best known at Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein, Horace Femm in Old Dark House and Laing in The Ghoul, plays the undertaker in the future sequence in the 1951 movie Scrooge.


Edmund Gwenn, who played Kris Kringle in Miracle of 34th Street, was in the horror films The Walking Dead (1936) with Boris Karloff and Them! (1954), which also starred James Whitmore (above with Gwenn), James Arness, Fess Parker and Leonard Nimoy.

Ramsey Mostoller designed the costumes for Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. He designed the costumers for Dark Shadows, as well as the movies House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows.


Jose Elias Moreno, who played Santa Claus in the 1959 Mexican film by the same title, played Dr. Krallman in Night of the Bloody Apes.



Bob Clark, who directed The Christmas Story, also directed Black Christmas and Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things.


And last but not least, Roberts Blossom (that's how he spelled it), who played spooky Old Man Marley in Home Alone, played the Ed Gein-like Ezra Cobb (above) in the 1974 horror classic Deranged. Maybe that is why Kevin was afraid of him.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

SKINFLINT: THE FORGOTTEN CHRISTMAS CAROL

The actual title of this should be "Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol," because that was the title of this forgotten Christmas TV special. It aired in 1979 amid a glut of TV versions "Christmas Carol" that included a one man version by Rich Little on HBO and a Waltons-ish version featuring Henry Winkler as a greedy old man (complete with age make-up).

Skinflint featured Hoyt Axton (pictured above) as a Cyrus Flint, a greedy banker, who runs the town of Flint City, Tennessee. Like Ebaneezer Scrooge, Flint had an abused, underpaid employee with a dying son played by Mel Tillis. His wife is played by Lynn Anderson. Flint has nephew, played by Larry Gatlin, that ask him to a Christmas party. Flint is visited by the ghost of a deceased partner, played by Tom T. Hall. He is visited by three more ghost. The ghost of the past, played by Martha Raye (Who is dressed like Minnie Pearl, which is odd) shows us that Flint's greedy cost him a relationship with a woman, played by Barbara Mandrell.

Also in the cast include Nashville Brass leader Danny Davis, Dotty West and the Statler Brothers. This TV special is not on video. As a matter of fact it was only shown once (that I recall). The actor, who played Mel Tillis and Lynn Anderson's son, posted on another blog that he is wanting to post his copy on You Tube.

   
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