"Anne Francis Stars In 'Forbidden Planet'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                          I had completely forgotten, darlings, that Robby The Robot gets "And Introducing" status during the opening credits.  Just like Jennifer Jones, in "The Song Of Bernadette."

                                          Robby, and Anne Francis with her outfits, outact everyone else in the film, who are all men.  Walter Pidgeon does his stentorian best to put his stamp on Morbius/Prospero,  (This is a reworking of William Shakespeare's final play, "The Tempest," and it is going to send me back to the text!) but it is Robby and Anne who enliven this film whenever they are on camera.  When not, the film sags.

                                           But the color photography and special effects make up for their absences.  Even in this post-"Star Wars" age, they look lush and artsy, even while now still having a kind of Georges Melies feel to them.  Like his work of over a century ago, there remains an artistic cachet to the technical work in "Forbidden Planet" that holds up still today.  I would guess this might have been MGM's most expensive film since "The Wizard Of Oz."  And the Magnetic Monster was genius; who knew a couple of Disney pros had to be borrowed by Metro to create this creature?  While the story lagged in plot, I had to marvel still at the technical ingenuity.

                                               Not to mention, again, Robby and Anne.  No wonder, years later, we all wanted "Honey West" dolls.  I know I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     The 1956 classic was followed by "Sventoonie's" deconstruction of the 1971 trash classic, "Lady Frankenstein," which even I had never heard of.  I realized why, once I saw it.  This redo of Mary Shelley was an Italian based, English dubbed film, made a Mario Bava wannabe.  The only thing missing was talent.  Was this Jospeh Cotten's last film?  I mean, from "Citizen Kane," to this? Meanwhile, Rosalba Neri, the nowhere actress playing the title role, was clearly a stand-in for Barbara Steele, who had the good sense to turn this crap down!  The colors were cheesy, and the monster looked like a foreshadowing of Freddy Krueger.  Better to have shown the 1958 classic "Frankenstein's Daughter," with Sandra Knight and John Ashely.  Infinitely better.

                                    But we just LOVE Sventoonie, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      And, of course, sweet Blob E. Blob!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!