| Mad Monster Party | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster byFrank Frazetta | |
| Directed by | Jules Bass[1] |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by | Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| Produced by | Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Tadahito Mochinaga |
| Music by |
|
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Embassy Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Countries | United States[3] Japan |
| Language | English |
Mad Monster Party is a 1967stop-motionanimatedmusicalcomedy film produced byRankin/Bass Productions forEmbassy Pictures.[4] The film stars the voices ofBoris Karloff,Allen Swift,Gale Garnett andPhyllis Diller.[5] It tells the story of amad scientist who achieves the secret of total destruction. He summons all the monsters to his island home to show it off, while planning to retire as the head of the "Worldwide Organization of Monsters".
The film was created using Rankin/Bass's "Animagic"stop-motion animation process, supervised byTadahito Mochinaga at MOM Productions inTokyo, Japan. The process involved photographingfigurines a frame at a time, then re-positioning them, exposing another frame, and so forth.[6]
Although less well known than Rankin/Bass's holiday specials, it has become acult film.[7] The film is acamphomage to theclassic monster movies of the 1930s-1940s. It was one of Karloff's final projects, and his last film in connection toFrankenstein.
ScientistBaron Boris von Frankenstein achieves his ultimate ambition, the secret of total destruction. Having perfected and tested the formula, he sends out messengerbats carrying invitations to summon all monsters to the Isle of Evil in theCaribbean Sea. The Baron intends to inform them of his discovery and also to reveal his imminent retirement as head of the Worldwide Organization of Monsters.
Besideshis Monster (sometimes referred to as "Fang") and theMonster's more intelligent mate who reside on the Isle of Evil with Boris, the invitees includeCount Dracula, theMummy,Quasimodo (referred to as "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame"), theWerewolf,The Invisible Man,Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and theCreature from the Black Lagoon (referred to as simply "The Creature").
Frankenstein's beautiful assistant Francesca confirms that all invitations have been delivered and inquires about one of the addressees, a Felix Flanken. Frankenstein explains that Felix is his nephew and successor in the monster business. This displeases Francesca, who covets the role for herself. She asks why there was no invitation for "It". Boris replies that "It" was not invited since "It" can be a crushing bore, explaining that "It" even crushed the island'swild boars in his bare hands the last time "It" was invited.
Felix Flanken is a drug store pharmacist somewhere in the United States. Incompetent and asthmatic but good-natured, he is a constant burden on the drug store's greedy owner Mr. Kronkite. A mailman arrives with Felix's invitation and he joyously accepts. He boards a freighter headed for the Isle alongside the other monsters. The ship's crew are wary of the unusual passengers.
Frankenstein has his zombie butler Yetch, Chef Mafia Machiavelli, and the zombie bellhops and servants make preparations for the upcoming party while patrolling the Isle to ensure that "It" does not arrive uninvited. The monsters begin to arrive on the freighter that Felix is also traveling on. During dinner, Frankenstein shows them the formula which he will demonstrate the next day while naming his successor. Francesca secretly meets with Dracula to inform him about Felix, promising to share Frankenstein's secrets when she becomes the successor if Dracula were to get rid of Felix. When they catch the Monster's Mate eavesdropping, she and Francesca begin to cat-fight while the other monsters have an all out food fight.
Felix arrives to the island and is greeted by his uncle and Francesca, who takes Felix on a tour of the island where the Mummy, Werewolf and Dracula plan to attack. While the human Felix proves to be unsuitably kind-hearted, the monsters nonetheless plot to eliminate him and gain control of the secret formula, but Felix continually accidentally foils their attempts.
Later, Frankenstein tells Felix about his retirement, making his nephew leader of all the monsters in the world. Felix naturally feels reluctant to take the job. Over time, Francesca develops feelings for Felix after he obliviously saves her on multiple occasions. As Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Monster's Mate descend upon Francesca, she sends out a letter (via messenger bat) to an unknown recipient.
When the monsters corner Felix upon capturing Francesca, they are frightened at the arrival of "It" (a giant gorilla and knock-off ofKing Kong) who proceeds to rampage since he was not invited. "It" snatches up the monsters and Francesca (on whom "It" develops a crush).
Felix rushes to tell his uncle what happened and is instructed to head to the boat. Frankenstein leads the zombies in rescuing Francesca from "It" using biplanes. Boris convinces "It" to let Francesca go and to take him instead. "It" complies. Felix and Francesca manage to escape the island in the boat as Frankenstein and the remainder of the monsters remain in "It"'s clutches. Displeased that the monsters tried to steal the secret for themselves and attempted to kill Felix as well as having to put up with "It", Frankenstein sacrifices himself by dropping the vial of the formula, destroying the Isle of Evil and everything on it.
The destruction is witnessed by Felix and Francesca offshore. Felix expresses a desire to begin a family with Francesca, who tearfully admits that she is not human, but in fact arobot creation of Frankenstein's. Felix responds that "none of us are perfect", mechanically repeating the last two words, indicating that he is also his uncle's robot creation.
The film was created using Rankin/Bass's "Animagic"stop-motion animation process, supervised byTadahito Mochinaga at MOM Productions inTokyo, Japan. The process involved photographing figurines a frame at a time, then re-positioning them, exposing another frame, and so forth.[8] Known as stop-motion animation, it was the same approach used inRKO Pictures'King Kong,Art Clokey'sGumby andDavey and Goliath, and many other films, commercials and television specials.
Classic monster films were enjoying a resurgence in popularity in the late 1960s, along with more comedy-centered examples,The Addams Family andThe Munsters. This campy film is a spoof of horror themes, complete withmusical numbers andinside jokes.
Mad Magazine creatorHarvey Kurtzman penned the script (with writer Len Korobkin) andMad artistJack Davis designed many of the characters. Rumors thatForrest J. Ackerman had a hand in the script have never been confirmed and his name never appeared in the on-screen credits or in original promotion for the film at the time of its release. Rankin/Bass historian Rick Goldschmidt, in liner notes accompanying the Anchor Bay DVD release, denied Ackerman was ever involved, at the same time as the DVD packaging promoted Ackerman's name. Goldschmidt repeated his claims on this in a 2006 blog entry, based on his interviews with Korobkin, who claimed to have written the original screenplay, which then was revised by Kurtzman, but never worked with Ackerman.[9]
In addition to the famous monsters seen in the film,Mad Monster Party? also features several celebrity likenesses. Karloff and Diller's characters are both designed to look like the actors portraying them, while Baron Frankenstein's lackey, Yetch, is a physical and vocal caricature ofPeter Lorre. Swift also performs impersonations when voicing his characters, such asJames Stewart when voicing Felix,Sydney Greenstreet as the Invisible Man andCharles Laughton as the Freighter Captain.
Mad Monster Party? was one of several family-friendly projects Karloff lent his voice to in his final years (including the1966 television adaptation ofHow the Grinch Stole Christmas!). It was his final involvement in a production connected to the Frankenstein mythos that had propelled him to stardom some three decades earlier.
Although the opening credits identifyEthel Ennis as singing the opening theme song and, in the same frame, a soundtrack being available onRCA Victor, a commercially released soundtrack was never produced in any format.[10] In September 1998, Percepto released the mono RCA recording on CD. Waxworks Records released it on vinyl on October 12, 2016.[11]
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mad Monster Party" | Ethel Ennis | |
| 2. | "You're Different" | Phyllis Diller | |
| 3. | "Our Time to Shine" | Gale Garnett | |
| 4. | "The Mummy" | Dyke and the Blazers | |
| 5. | "One Step Ahead" | Boris Karloff & Chorus | |
| 6. | "Never Was a Love Like Mine" | Gale Garnett |
The film holds a 67% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on nine reviews.[12] Howard Thompson ofThe New York Times wrote that "this party should make everybody chuckle".[2]
The film has been available on video for years, first on original distributorEmbassy Pictures' home entertainment unit, and then on other independent labels beforeStudioCanal acquired some rights to the film. Currently,Lionsgate distributes the film on video under license from StudioCanal.
Before Lionsgate's current video release ofMad Monster Party?, almost all video releases have been from 16 mm film and were of very poor color quality. The original film negative was water-damaged some years ago, butSony Pictures Television (which now holds the television rights) eventually unearthed an original 35 mm pristine print. This print was digitally remastered, and is the source for the current DVD issue and all subsequent television showings. Anchor Bay released the previous DVD on August 19, 2003, then re-released it on August 23, 2005 with additional features. On September 8, 2009, it was released as a "Special Edition" DVD by Lionsgate. The special features include a documentary including interviews with Rick Goldschmidt, Arthur Rankin Jr., voice artist Allen Swift, storyboard artist Don Duga, musical director Maury Laws and others. The film was released onBlu-ray on September 4, 2012. The 2023 Blu-ray release from Umbrella Entertainment saw the film being released in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 for the first time since its original theatrical release.[13]
Rankin/Bass produced a related TV special calledMad, Mad, Mad Monsters fromThe ABC Saturday Superstar Movie series, which aired on September 23, 1972. This Halloween special featured many of the same monster characters.Bob McFadden did his imitation of Karloff when voicing Baron Henry von Frankenstein (who resembles Baron Boris von Frankenstein). The animation for the special is provided byOsamu Tezuka'sMushi Production with supervision by Steve Nakagawa, who was also known for his work withIwao Takamoto atHanna-Barbera Studios.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
