Greetings Scared Silly fans! As I mentioned in my previous post, the West Orange Classic Film Festival is back on again! In the past I’ve spoken there about vintage Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello films, but this year is a little different. This year we have a cohesive them and it is “Fabulous Fables & Magical Myths.”
Now, we were still able to throw some Abbott & Costello in there due to Bob Furmanek’s 3D Film Archives’ stunning 4k restoration of JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, and man, did that go over great! Bob had his “Abbott & Costello in Hollywood” co-author, Ron Palumbo with him and both Jack Theakston (visuals) and Ray Faiola (sound) from his film restoration team. I got to introduce the quartet and a splendid time was had by all.
Since then, the festival has enjoyed further enthusiastic crowds at screenings of YELLOW SUBMARINE and Jean Cocteau’s live-action BEAUTY & THE BEAST, both with wonderful guest-speakers.
This Sunday, it’s my turn to speak again, and it’s a little bit of a departure for me. After all, I’m usually the “classic comedy guy” at these screenings. But this time I’ll be speaking at a screening of THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD, the spectacular fantasy-adventure featuring magnificent stop-motion animation by the legendary Ray Harryhausen.
In retrospect, this isn’t too much of a departure for me as I am a little bit of an animation historian and animation script-writer, too, and this film in addition to being a rousing romp is absolutely most noteworthy for its beyond-imaginative animated creations.
Likewise, my forays into both writing and editing comic books as well being a comics historian fit the same milieu. After all, comics are as filled with daring heroes and hideous creatures as mythology and fantasy literature! So unlike my favorite superhero, Plastic Man perhaps this isn’t such a stretch after all!
...but seriously, it does promise to be a wonderfully fun time and if you can make it out at all, I’d love to see you there. We’ll be raffling off autographed copies of my "Vincent Price" and "Archie’s Weird Mysteries" books, too, to help support the festival. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll win the books!
It all happens this Sunday, February 5th at 2PM, at the AMC Dine-In Theater at the Essex Green Shopping Center in West Orange, NJ. Tickets are only available on Eventbrite, so click here to order yours before they’re gone!
In the meantime, please enjoy this exciting featurette that was produced to help promote the film when it was originally released. It will definitely raise your interest in the wonders of Ray Harryhausen’s “Dynamation!”
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