In the middle 1980s/ Way down on Level 31 …
Before MST3K we had The Texas 27 Film Vault! Before Joel and Mike we had Randy and Richard! Balladeer’s Blog continues its nod to this forgotten cult show’s FORTIETH Anniversary year, since it debuted Saturday February 9th, 1985.
ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Saturday April 12th, 1986 from 10:30pm to 1:00am.
Broadcast throughout Texas & Oklahoma and hosted as always by our Film Vault Technicians First Class Randy and Richard.
SERIAL: Radar Men from the Moon was the current serial being shown. This episode of The Texas 27 Film Vault featured Chapter Nine titled Battle in the Stratosphere. During the 12-week run of this serial one of the behind-the-scenes crew (no one remembers who at this point) would dress as Commando Cody, the hero of the serial, and occasionally interact with Randy and Richard during the comedy sketches.
FILM VAULT LORE: This was supposedly the favorite episode of the Film Vault Corp’s effects man Joe Riley, which is why he used the title The Hypnotic Eye for his post-T27FV television show, episodes of which are online.
SKETCHES : This episode aired when Randy still “outranked” Richard in the Film Vault Corps and so their relationship often had the “Main Character and Abused Second Banana” vibe like with Zacherle and My Dear, or Dr. Morgus and Chopsley or Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank. (F-Troop fans might describe it as a “Sgt O’Rourke and Cpl Agarn vibe.”)
The Host Segments therefore featured Richard being subjected to the type of mutilation the hypnotized victims in The Hypnotic Eye were inflicting on themselves. Joe Riley’s special effect of Richard’s hair being set on fire was as intentionally laughable as the effect in the movie itself.
THE MOVIE: The Hypnotic Eye is one of the most beloved bad movies of the 1960s. Its hilariously campy trailer (HERE), its sinister Eurotrash villain and its Ed Wood-style police work all make it a true anti-classic. Jacques Bergerac, one-time husband of Ginger Rogers and a man whose accent makes him as hard to understand as Bela Lugosi and Arnold Schwarzeneggar, played Desmond, the magician who uses the title object to augment his hypnotic abilities to an enormous degree. Continue reading
GADGETMAN 
CAT-GIRL 
Alice Guy-Blache (1873-1968) was a French film pioneer and was also the first woman to direct movies. Alice worked for the Gaumont Film Company and from 1896 to 1906 was Gaumont’s Head of Production. 
PIERRETTE’S ESCAPADES (1900) – A woman changes from a pink dress to a green dancing outfit. She proceeds to dance alone and soon finds the stock clown character Pierrot dancing with her. The clown tries kissing her but is rebuffed. Next, the stock character Harlequin dances with her, impresses her and the two share a kiss as the 2-minute production comes to a close. Some frames were hand-tinted. 
ESMERALDA (1905) – The oldest known movie version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Alice had been shepherding Gaumont’s movies away from mere visual spectacle and on to narrative filmmaking. 
SCREAMBOOK (1984) – Ever see a feature length horror film written, produced and directed by a 13-year-old? And with nearly all the roles – of all ages – played by fellow teenagers? Obviously, I’ll be grading this flick on a curve in this review. 
Another current events roundup from 
CAPTAIN MORS IMPRISONED – Far above the ocean, Kapitan Mors commands his Luftschiff (Air Ship) on its latest voyage along with its part European and part Indian crew. A carrier pigeon brings our masked hero a distress call from Miss Else Martens. She is in the clutches of a tinpot dictator who wants to force her into a marriage. 
BRACKEN’S WORLD (1969-1970) – This one-hour drama has the dubious distinction of being the series that replaced Star Trek on NBC’s Fall Schedule for the 1969 into 1970 season. The program was set at fictional Century Studios in Hollywood and presented dramas about life in the film industry. Dorothy Kingsley created and produced the show and wrote several episodes. 
The episodes were sometimes self-contained with assorted guest stars at the center of each week’s backstabbing and maneuvering, but most revolved around a regular cast portraying figures who worked at or were under contract to Century Studios. 
101. FADE IN – Brandoesque Tom Hudson tries to make his mark as an actor, Paulette Douglas is reluctant to do a nude scene in her first film, but her ambitious show-business mother (Jeanne Cooper) insists she do it. Producer Kevin Grant’s marriage is in trouble over his use of the casting couch. Tony Curtis, Omar Sharif and Raquel Welch make brief appearances as themselves to sell the supposed “star power” of Century Studios. 
THE STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE: A STORY OF THE YEAR 2236 (1900) – Written by Robert W Cole. I left out the first half of the title for the headline, since The Struggle For Empire sounds like a mundane history book. In reality this novel was a very, very early example of the Space Opera sub-genre. 
Initially the Earth colonized and inhabited the planets and certain moons of our own solar system all the way out to Neptune. (Pluto was not discovered until 1930.) In a quaint quasi-Steam-Punk way, all of those planets and moons have Earth-like atmospheres and conditions. 
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