(I haven't looked, but somebody else surely must have done a similar play on my summary title. I apologize in advance for stealing his or her thunder.)
What a tremendous movie! And how different in tone from the first made for TV movie. This is the true pilot for the series, incorporating a comedic undertone and the full blown banter between Kolchak and Vincenzo. Still, it creates chilling scenes, too, especially the finale, with the descent into old underground Seattle. BTW, another motif that will play often in the series is revealed in the scenes with Wilma Krankhamer (what a name!!!). While Carl will laugh at and ridicule people like Wilma throughout, at their moment of being most vulnerable (in this case, where Charisma Beauty is killed), he will often express sympathy and compassion. Thus Carl never appears "mean" or hard hearted. It lifts his character and makes him noble, I think.
Meanwhile, the dialog is quite special, from the staccato delivery of Carl's hardboiled narrative, with its wit and humor, to the constant play on words and phrases. Good stuff. And the casting is simply overwhelming. Kolchak enters the creepy old environs of underground Seattle and the first person to pop out of the shadows is . . . Grandpa Munster! Need advice on ghouls, warlocks, alchemists and the like, what better expert than Oz' Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton as the so aptly named Professor Crabwell! And, in a carryover effect from the first movie, John Carradine's Llewellyn Crossbinder operates as the most sinister and unsympathetic figure in the movie, just like Kent Smith's D.A. Tom Paine in The Night Stalker. In comparison, even Richard Anderson's Strangler emerges with a bit of sympathy at the end, a semi-tragic figure of sorts. And, yes, every time I run across Wally Cox, I realize how much I miss his performances.
What a tremendous movie! And how different in tone from the first made for TV movie. This is the true pilot for the series, incorporating a comedic undertone and the full blown banter between Kolchak and Vincenzo. Still, it creates chilling scenes, too, especially the finale, with the descent into old underground Seattle. BTW, another motif that will play often in the series is revealed in the scenes with Wilma Krankhamer (what a name!!!). While Carl will laugh at and ridicule people like Wilma throughout, at their moment of being most vulnerable (in this case, where Charisma Beauty is killed), he will often express sympathy and compassion. Thus Carl never appears "mean" or hard hearted. It lifts his character and makes him noble, I think.
Meanwhile, the dialog is quite special, from the staccato delivery of Carl's hardboiled narrative, with its wit and humor, to the constant play on words and phrases. Good stuff. And the casting is simply overwhelming. Kolchak enters the creepy old environs of underground Seattle and the first person to pop out of the shadows is . . . Grandpa Munster! Need advice on ghouls, warlocks, alchemists and the like, what better expert than Oz' Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton as the so aptly named Professor Crabwell! And, in a carryover effect from the first movie, John Carradine's Llewellyn Crossbinder operates as the most sinister and unsympathetic figure in the movie, just like Kent Smith's D.A. Tom Paine in The Night Stalker. In comparison, even Richard Anderson's Strangler emerges with a bit of sympathy at the end, a semi-tragic figure of sorts. And, yes, every time I run across Wally Cox, I realize how much I miss his performances.
