For horror fanatics like myself,and most of you out there,when Rankin/Bass comes up in conversation,animated classics like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer","Frosty the Snowman",or "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" aren't first to come to mind.Instead,we instantly think of tonight's fantastic stop motion entry.At a time in the sixties when classic monsters were enjoying a renewed popularity,the duo produced this ani-masterpiece with a screenplay by Mad Magazine's own Jack Kurtzman,based on characters created by master artist and Comic Book Hall of Fame inductee,Jack Davis,who drew for E.C. Comics,Mad,and developed the characters for the animated King Kong television series,during his enormously prolific career.Voices for the puppets were provided by iconic horror legend Boris Karloff,Gale "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" Garnett,Allen Swift,and the always amazing Phyllis Diller(!),pretty much as herself.The film boasts of a lively and fun soundtrack,with the tremendous title track sung by American jazz legend Ethel Ennis.Served up with Kurtzman's usual dark brand of humor,the film is geared more towards adults than kids,with a lot of the inside jokes sailing right over youngsters' heads as they remained glued to the amazing puppetry within.Rumor had it that Famous Monsters of Filmland maven,Forrest J. Ackerman had a hand in the blatantly Forry-esque dialogue,but this has been denied on many occasions.Party? has gone down in history as an absolute classic that remains as fresh today as it was upon release.In fact,it's hard not to see the influence this film had on director Tim Burton's body of work,Vincent,A Nightmare Before Christmas,and Corpse Bride,in particular.I had this review lined up back in the early days of the Wop in 2007,but got sidetracked somehow,never getting around to it until here and now.
The Baron(Boris Karloff)discovers the formula for Hai Karate cologne.
Baron von Frankenstein(Karloff),after creating a vial of total destruction(which would later materialize as the films of Uwe Boll) in his laboratory,decides to step down and retire from the horror business,leaving his position at the head of the creepy coalition to his nerdy nephew,the four-eyed Felix Flanken(Swift),who works as a common soda jerk at the pharmacy.The Baron,with the help of his grovelling assistant,Yetch(Swift),sends out invitations to all the monsters for a party at his secluded island digs that will put an exclamation point on his illustriously eerie career.His sultry lab assistant,Francesca(Garnett),plans to do in the Baron's nephew when he arrives and take over herself,if she can keep Yetch from fawning over her.Methodically,the cast of creatures arrive for the party:The Monster and his Mate(Diller),Count Dracula,the Mummy,The Creature from the Black Lagoon,the Werewolf,Dr.Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde,the Invisible Man and finally young Felix,who's nearsightedness and allergies hinder him from the reality that he's among a myriad of monsters!
Francesca(Gale Garnett)has some doll-icious bobblers,eh,Baron?
As the party begins,the guests are served approrpiately appalling hors d'oevres by stereotypically Italian Chef Mafia Machiavelli(har-har-har),and treated to a musical serenade by Little Tibia and the Fibias(Dyke and the Blazers),a skeletal rock group with Beatles wigs.The Monster's Mate sings "You're Different"(my personal theme song),complete with "Bleeeccccch"s and "Yeeeeeeccccch"s to her patchwork partner,before cutting rug with the Mummy as the band dedicates their song "Do The Mummy" to the wrapped-up chap.When the monsters get wind of the Baron's stepping down,Count Dracula organizes the gruesome group into a lynch mob,chasing Felix into the surrounding wooded swamp.Francesca finds herself falling in love with the Baron's nephew,and helps him to escape.Just when the ghastly gaggle of ghouls have the duo surrounded,"It" shows up as an uninvited party crasher,scooping all the guests up into his primate paws,and when the Baron's team of ghouls-in-biplanes prove ineffectual against the monstrous monkey,he kamikazes into "It" with his vial of total destruction,obliterating himself and all the monsters,and blowing up his island retreat in the process as his nephew and assistant row away to safety.Francesca reveals that she is a robot,created by Frankenstein in his lab,and Felix returns the volley,revealing that he was,also.
Bleeeeccch!The Monster's Mate(Phyllis Diller)ponders her future as center Hollywood Square.
In 1972 Rankin/Bass produced a Halloween special called "Mad,Mad,Mad Monsters",a sort of unoffical sequel to tonight's entry that featured most of the same characters(including an imiation of Boris Karloff who died in 1969),but utilizing cel animation rather than their signature stop motion work,it failed to generate the same interest and has since all but vanished from the radar.Party? looked to suffer the same fate,condemned to late night television screenings until the home video era signalled its rebirth.The 2009 Special Edition DVD is the ultimate to date,loaded with commentaries,a documentary,and other great extra features.In 1998 a CD of the soundtrack finally surfaced for the first time.At the time of this writing,Warner Brothers plans a remake of this classic,possibly done in CGI like so much animation is handled these days.My favorite of all the Rankin/Bass works,I throw it on at least once a year and relive all the ghastly glory.Mad Monster Party? pours an unknown liquid into a test tube,and when mixed with the wopsploitation scale,produces the formula for four wops,the highest possible rating.Highly recommended.
Bearing a striking resemblance to Willis O'Brien's 1933 creation,It has the whole consortium of creeps in its mitts.
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