Mad Monster Party (CD
Soundtrack + DVD)
CD Sound: B
Music: B DVD Picture: B- Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: B
Though known initially as Videocraft International, a sort
of American stop-motion equivalent to Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Century 21
productions and their Super-Marionettes, the company went on to be known as
Rankin-Bass. Though they are best known
for their Christmas specials, like Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, it
turns out they also produced some feature film projects. Mad Monster Party (1967) may be the
most influential, if not as well known as it should be.
The stop-motion “Animagic” animated film offers Boris
Karloff as Dr. Frankenstein, the fine vocalist Gale Garnett (of “We’ll Sing
In The Sunshine” fame) as Francesca, Phyllis Diller as the Frankenstein
Monster’s Mate, and Allen Swift as the voice of a parade of classic monsters
and nephew of the ready-to-retire doctor.
The soundtrack was issued in 1998 on this CD for the first time ever,
making up for the three decades parents, children and fans tried to hunt down a
supposed RCA vinyl copy that was only struck for producer Bass!
The title song, with Jules Bass’ own lyrics, is performed
by Jazz singer Ethel Ennis in a Shirley Bassey/Goldfinger style that is
amusing. Maury Laws did the score for
the film, running 14 tracks here, including a great moment for Diller singing
on “You’re Different”, Karloff doing spoken word on “One Step Ahead”
without getting credit for inspiring Vincent Price’s “rap” on Michael Jackson’s
ever-obnoxious “Thriller”.
Garnett, still hot at the time, is given two songs: “Our Time To Shine” and “Never Was
A Love Like Mine”. Though the
instrumentals serve the film well and stand out well on their own, the big
winner is “The Mummy”. This is a
hilarious track where a monster rock band plays their tune and ode to the most
famous bandaged character in probably all of pop culture.
Rivaled only by the fascinating animation at the drugstore
in the opening of the film, the Mummy dance sequence is pure animation
brilliance. It is hilarious,
functional, has every joke & observation we will ever have about the
entombed one, and is just entertaining as this stuff can get. The song alone is a hoot, but add the
footage and the joke is complete. What
would Brendan Frazier think?
The music was supposedly mixed for stereo, but neither the
PCM tracks on the CD or Dolby Digital 2.0 on the DVD are stereophonic. Either way, they both sound fine-but-dated,
with the CD offering better fidelity due to less compression. The sound level drops a bit on the DVD when
the songs kick in some very slight, yet noticeable way. This is not severe, but all the tracks show
their age somewhat.
The picture on the DVD is full-screen, and in color,
though not as vibrant as Pathé color processing could be at the time. Animation fans want to see the full frame
shot, but I had to wonder watching if Director Bass was thinking at least 1.66
X1 for the film. Too bad the DVD does
not have that as an anamorphic option.
The extras include nicely illustrated booklets for the CD
and DVD that go beyond the usual. Both
have text written by Rick Goldschmidt, currently the caretaker of Rankin-Bass
and its catalog of intellectual properties.
They offer generous illustrations and stills of the film, plus other
nicely reproduced photos. The DVD also
has the original theatrical trailer, and two sets of still galleries. One set offers production art, while the other
has posters, promo stills, and even a picture of the cover of the CD!
Besides the remarkable animation and puppet work, much
credit must be given to screenplay writers Len Korobkin, Harvey Kurtzman, and
the legendary genre film fan Forrest J. Ackerman for a script that truly loves
the characters and material. Ackerman
created the greatest Sci-Fi/Horror collection ever assembled, launched Famous
Monsters of Filmland magazine, and was naturally a world scholar on the
subject. There are some politically
incorrect moments in the way a Peter Lorre-like character is treated, and much
more disturbing way Francesca allows herself to be hit across the face a few
times by the Jimmy Stewart clone, the Doctor’s Nephew. It seems little moments like this haunt many
Rankin-Bass works, but they have to be acknowledged enough so viewers can make choices
of whether they find this appropriate for their children.
The monsters featured include It (which could be several
characters), Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf/Wolf Man, The Mummy, The
Invisible Man, King Kong, some zombies, that monster Rock band, Dr, Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde. Mad Monster Party has
been imitated in Halloween items often since, and has an influence that will go
on for decades to come, especially now that it is being slowly
rediscovered. Add how legalities (not
because these monsters are too highly paid, but their estates expect said big
bucks), we may never see these characters together again all at once, so the
low-budget gem is now something that the highest-budgeted production could not
afford, ironically. How cool is that?
- Nicholas Sheffo
