Yesterday I posted the good-looking 1-sheet and a couple of lobby cards from this 1936 film. If you missed it, it's HERE. Today, some stills I acquired somewhere along life's freeway - offering a look at Fritz, the kitchen, the office (I see beer bottles but no red leather chair) and one of the plant rooms.
Per IMDB, Fritz was called "Olaf" in the movie, presumably so that John Qualen could do his Swede/Norwegian schtick.
ReplyDeleteArt Scott
This isn't a terrible movie, but it's pretty terrible Nero Wolfe (although Arnold isn't bad if too affable). Lionel Stander as Archie...well, uh...no.
ReplyDeleteThe other Wolfe movie is almost a lost film, I hear -- there's one print in some repository somewhere (I vaguely remember hearing) -- but it's not at all in circulation, on the gray or even black market.
Would love to be wrong about that....
I hadn't realized that League of Frightened Men might be lost. I figured it was just neglected. I hope to have posters for it up next Tuesday, and stills on Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteSomeone named F Gwynplaine MacIntyre, from Minffordd, North Wales, posted a detailed review of the film on IMDB in 2004. He obviously has seen the film, and provides enough detail to indicate that he had seen it recently. Where & how he saw it, he doesn't say. He didn't much like it, but then he says he doesn't much like Nero Wolfe, which makes him an idiot.
ReplyDeleteArt Scott
Dear Mr. F Gwynplaine MacIntyre:
ReplyDeleteOpinions expressed by commenters here on the Almanack do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editor, so please direct all hit men and seconds in the matter of duels according. That said, Pfui to you.
I've seen both of the old NW movies somewhere along the line. One at a Bouchercon, I think. Neither is memorable.
ReplyDeleteI felt that the recent TV series was not bad at all. Timothy Hutton as Archie was really quite good, as was the actor who played Wolfe.
ReplyDeleteI liked that show too. I also liked Lee Horsley in the earlier series (though not William Conrad).
ReplyDeleteRe the A&E Wolfe series, every Wolfe fan I know, self included, had the same reaction to Chaykin's portrayal of Wolfe -- frequent yelling at the screen: "Stop yelling!"
ReplyDeleteArt Scott
MacIntyre, who was a figure of intentional mystery, was dead by the time this exchange took place, having decided to immolate himself in his apartment. Among his hobbies was to review films he likely hadn't seen for IMDb.
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