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Mr. Scoutmaster (1953)

 
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 1:29 pm    Post subject: Mr. Scoutmaster (1953) Reply with quote



"Mr. Scoutmaster" was released in September 2, 1953 and was based upon the 1952 novel Be Prepared by Rice E. Cochran.

Clifton Webb is Robert Jordan who is the host of the discussion TV show Spectrum.

Spectrum is a classy show; intellectual and dealing with compelling and topical issues.

However, it appeals mainly to a middle aged audience and not the younger demographics that the advertisers seeks.

Jordan's show may be canceled if the ratings don't change soon.

To that end, the aloof and superior acting Jordan determines that his best method to comprehend the younger generation is to become a scoutmaster.

Having no interest at all in the kids individually, except for gaining an understanding to their natures for the benefit of his TV show, the snobbish and undemonstrative Jordan undertakes the task of becoming a scoutmaster.

Along the way Jordan learns a great deal more about kids then he planned, as well as himself.

I just watched this one yesterday and always find it a fun.

Clifton Webb is at his best at playing arrogant characters that are quite full of themselves. He might come off as an unlikable person, but the fun is seeing him brought down a peg or two and gain some humility as well as humanity from his experiences.

It is all played for laughs but also has its dramatic moments.

The story also has some scenes that'll tug at your heart.

George ''Foghorn" Winslow plays scout Mike Marshal who has a deadpan expression mixed with a raspy voice that is unusual for a boy his age and makes Mike a compelling character.

Jordan and Marshall begin at odds with one another but eventually come to care for each other in time.

Laughs and poignant moments mix well together in this fun outing.


Last edited by Pow on Mon Dec 06, 2021 11:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I'm disappointed by the fact that I still can't even find a TRAILER to post for this movie, much less the full film! Sad

But IMDB does have one interesting item about the movie.
________________________________

Mister Scoutmaster Director Henry Levin and and young cast member Jimmy Hawkins were re-united in 1980 when Mr. Hawkins turned to Producing.

Jimmy hired Mr. Levin to direct the NBC MOW 'Scout's Honor' starring Gary Coleman. It was loosely based on Mister Scoutmaster.

Mr. Levin died on the set while directing the final scene of 'Scout's Honor'. Mr. Hawkins gathered the cast and crew together the next morning to finish directing the production. Mr. Coleman dedicated the movie in honor of Mr. Levin.

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Nov 10, 2022 2:53 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The working title for this film was "Be Prepared" which was the title of the book by Rice E. Cochran (Keith Monroe) that the movie was based upon.

Billy Gray (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Father Knows Best) had been cast in the role of "Ace," but due to a foot injury he was replaced by Orley Lindgren.

George Bergstrom served as technical adviser.

The great Dane in the film was listed by the studio publicity as "Baron." He was also listed as "Count" according to the studio press book credits.

Author Keith Monroe was a founding member of Troop 2 in Santa Monica in December of 1945 and would remain with it until 1987.

Keith wrote for Scouting Magazine which was for adult leaders of the Boy Scouts.

Keith would also pen Boy Scout merit badge instruction pamphlets and fiction for Boys' Life Magazine.

Interestingly, two of his series for Boys' Life Magazine were of the sci~fi genre.

Keith, as Dale Colombo, wrote a series about Scouts in space. On the spaceship Magellan, we meet Scouts born in interstellar space during a decades-long journey from Earth.

The Magellan is seeking habitable planets for humanity.

Keith, with his father Don Monroe, wrote the Time Machine series for Boys' Life which premiered in December of 1959 with the story "The Day We Explored The Future."

The series was a framework for teaching lessons in history, and the consequences that can come with time travel.

The stories were collected in two books: Mutiny in the Time Machine and Time Machine to the Rescue.

The Polaris Patrol characters in the series were: Bob Tucker who was the patrol leader and sometimes narrator.

Ellsworth "Brains" Baynes who was a brilliant bookworm who operates the time machine.

Rodney Carver who was an impetuous Tenderfoot.

Kai Beezee Tentroy who was recruited from Troy in 4,000 A.D.

Dion who was recruited from ancient Sparta.

George Winslow (George Karl Wentzlaff, May 3, 1946~June 13, 2015) who charmingly played Mike Marshall in this movie also has a science fiction credit to his name.

"The Rocket Man" from April of 1954 and released by 20th Century Fox.

The plot had George come across a mysterious figure dressed in a space suit. George comes into possession of a fantastic ray gun which compels people to tell the truth among other functions.

George uses his new found discovery to prevent the foreclosure of his orphanage, and to help a young couple (Anne Francis & John Agar) to fall in love.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Eager to see this great movie again after enjoying it on NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies back in October 1962, I ordered it today from Fox Cinema Classics! Very Happy

Guys, I really love having a well-stocked library of DVDs which I can pick from whenever I'm in the mood for a specific movie. Some folks feel that this a huge waste of money when there are now so many downloads and streaming movies available!

I completely disagree. Sad

When I'm in the mood for a specific movie — or even a certain KIND of movie — I love being able to pull survey my DVD rakes, pull out one that catches my eye, take it out of the box, stick it into my LG Blu-ray player, and decide whether to watch the movie itself or the special features first! Very Happy

Sadly, those streaming movies and downloads don't provide this kind of delightful and very personal experience. Sad

And frankly folks . . . life is too short for a guy to die with money in the bank which he could have spent on the pleasures of owning a large DVD library! Cool

Just to make my point, here's a very small sample of what I truly love owning. Trust me . . . there's lots move where these came from.
Wink








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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 5:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An excellent & extensive collection of movies you have there, Bud.

The Rocketeer jumped out at me as that is one of my favorites too. I was very disappointed that it did not perform well enough at the box office when it first was released.

Disney had planned for it to become a franchise with further sequels. As long as the quality remained and they wrote great stories, this would have been a wonderful series of films.

The Shadow was also another period piece superhero movie that I found very entertaining. Although it wasn't a Disney movie I always envisioned that producing a Rocketeer meets the Shadow film could have been very exciting.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 19, 2021 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

POW wrote:
The Rocketeer jumped out at me as that is one of my favorites too. I was very disappointed that it did not perform well enough at the box office when it first was released.

Disney had planned for it to become a franchise with further sequels.

So many wonderful, family-friendly movies have been denied the appreciation they deserved by the fickle public.

Back in 2001 I shared The Rocketeer with my late mother, just to spend a little quality time with her. She watched it without making any comments, so I didn't know what she thought of it. But a few days later we started watching The Colossus of New York together — one of the sci-fi movies my family saw at the Roosevelt Drive-In in the 1950s.

A few minutes into the movie she made a critical remark about it, and I urged her to give it a chance. Her reply was, "Well, it's got to be better than that silly thing about the man with the rocket pack."

I turned off The Colossus of New York. We watched CNN instead. Sad

Ironically, my mother was an avid reader, and she devoured books on a regular basis, including novels by Arthur C. Clark.

Oh well, there's no accounting for taste . . . Rolling Eyes

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My folks certainly tolerated my love of science fiction movies and television, Bud, even though neither one of them had any interest in the genre at all.

My dad was a fan of westerns & detective & war films & TV shows. Must be where my love from westerns came from.

Mom watched what dad watched. On her own she enjoyed family shows like The Waltons, sitcoms like Everybody Loves Raymond, Hallmark TV movies.

In addition to the sci~fi & western movies and TV shows, I also enjoy espionage genre, Disney films, comedies, family oriented fare, historical & bio stuff, classic book adaptations, fantasy & horror genres (older not the newer stuff), superheroes, and documentaries.

I recall my folks taking me to the 50s Journey to the Center of the Earth when it came out. Looking back I realize now they did that for me, and not due to any interest on their part. So, I've come to appreciate their doing that for me.

In the 60s they took me to see The Fabulous World of Jules Verne! I loved it. They must have thought, "What the hell kinda movie is this!?!"

But they kindly did it for me.

These days I watch few law enforcement TV shows . . . got burned out on 'em after a life time of watching them.

Still enjoy Blue Bloods with Tom Selleck, but that's about it regarding current police/detective series.

Loved the original Hawaii Five-O; Jack Lord was terrific in that role. The Law & Order shows are incredibly well done. They give you a realistic look into our police & legal system both good & bad. But the L&O shows and their many spin-offs have been around for like 99-years now. I eventually drifted away even though I still think they are excellently produced shows.

Still enjoy reruns of Jack Webb's Dragnet & Adam-12 series on MeTV.

Saint Elsewhere was one of the few medical dramas that was must-see-TV for me. Fantastic series until their whacko Twilight Zone-like series finale.

Never a big fan of lawyer shows even though I watched some of 'em here there along the way.

Anything by Aaron Sorkin is a must check it out for me. The West Wing & The Newsroom were both magnificent television.

Sitcoms I liked a lot: The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Wings, M*A*S*H, Roseann, The Connors.

Favorite sci~fi TV shows: Star Trek; TOS & its spin-offs, The Invaders, The X-Files, Farscape, Babylon 5, The Twilight Zone (more fantasy, I know), The Outer Limits, Seaquest DSV, Battlestar Galactica reboot.

The Irwin Allen series have some nice casts and appealing production values. The scripting sucks and has mostly aged terribly. Not that it was ever sensational back in its day.

Terrible sci~fi shows: Original Battlestar Galactica (or Ponderosa as Harlan Ellison wrote), Buck Rogers, Ellison's The Starlost (terrific concept horribly executed), Man from Atlantis, many, many more.

I'm a fan of the CW/DC Comics superhero TV shows. Doom Patrol & Titans were also well done DC superhero series though neither are on the CW network.

The fall schedule will no doubt give us a tsunami of police shows, courtroom shows, medical shows, and sitcoms. How imaginative & daring of the networks.

Same old tired & worn out programming from them.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 19, 2021 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

God lord, you seem to remember your youthful TV viewing habits better than I do! Shocked

Thanks for sharing the history of your childhood memories. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 8:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're welcome, Bud. Didn't intend for my reminiscence to become so verbose but I just got on a roll.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2022 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just watched this wonderful film again this morning on the FXM Retro Channel.

I did catch some things in the film that don't add up that I never really noticed until now.

I wonder how eight year old Mike Marshall found his way up Mount Sherman in the dark and without a flashlight in order to see Mr. Jordan & the rest of the Boy Scout Troop?

Was he just out of sight following them when they all first hiked up the mountain in the daytime? If so, how come he only revealed himself late that night? Why not earlier in the day, or at least around sunset?

Later on, The Scouts all decide to search for the now missing Jordan. They know where to begin because the police have told them that they found Jordan's car parked at the base of Mt. Sherman.
Mike---once again without a flashlight---hikes up the mountain all alone in the dark. Just where were all the other Scouts? If everyone was sure Jordan was somewhere on the mountain, then all of the Scouts would have been combing it too just as Mike was doing. Jordan went to the Boy Scout base campground, that's where they all should have gone, including the police, along with Mike Marshall.

When Jordan began his search for the missing Mike Marshall, he starts out dressed in his formal business suit and dress shoes. Does that seem wise? Later on, he drops his flashlight in a stream ruining it. Yet he continues on up the mountain and will be there when its dark without a flashlight. Again, not wise.

In an earlier scene at Jordan's home, we see him holding the belt that Mike made for him. As Jordan leaves his house he places the belt down on a table by the front door. In the very next scene we see him talking to the minister at the church while holding the belt in his hands. Did he return for it after he first left his house? The belt does play a crucial part in the rescue scene on the mountain at the end of the film, so it was imperative that Jordan did have it with him.

In spite of my fun nitpicks, this remains a charming family film from 1953.
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