Mad Monster Party?

Mad Monster Party
Film poster
Directed by	Jules Bass
Written by	Len Korobkin Harvey Kurtzman Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Produced by	Joseph E. Levine Arthur Rankin, Jr. Larry Roemer
Starring	Boris Karloff Allen Swift Gale Garnett Phyllis Diller Ethel Ennis
Cinematography	Tadahito Mochinaga
Music by	Maury Laws
Production company	Rankin/Bass
Distributed by	Embassy Pictures
Release date	March 8, 1967 (1967-03-08)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Mad Monster Party (on-screen title Mad Monster Party?) is a 1967 American animated comedy film produced by Rankin/Bass Productions for Embassy Pictures.

Plot

Baron Boris von Frankenstein (voiced by Boris Karloff) achieves his ultimate ambition, the secret of total destruction. Having achieved this, he sends out messenger bats to summon all monsters to his island in the Caribbean Sea to inform them of this discovery and to inform them that he is retiring as the head of the "Worldwide Organization of Monsters". Besides Frankenstein's Monster and the Monster's more intelligent mate (voiced by Phyllis Diller) who live with Boris, the monsters on the invites include Count Dracula, the Mummy, Quasimodo (referred to as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"), the Werewolf, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon (referred to as the "Creature").

His assistant Francesca (voiced by Gale Garnett) comes to the lab and tells him that all invitations have been delivered and asks about one of the addressees named Felix Flanken (voiced by Allen Swift). Boris explains that Flanken is one of his nephews and his successor in the monster business. This displeases Francesca who covets the role for herself. Francesca also asks why there wasn't an invitation to "It" where Boris states that "It" wasn't invited since "It" can be a bore and that he even crushed the island's wild boars in its hands the last time he was invited.

Frankenstein has his zombie butler Yetch (Swift impersonating Peter Lorre), Chef Mafia Machiavelli, and the zombie servants make preparations for his party. The monsters begin to arrive on the freighter that Felix picks them up. Boris shows Felix the details to his job where he gives him some advice where Felix proves to be incompetent (and unsuitably kind-hearted).

At the party, Boris shows the monsters present the vial containing the secret of total destruction. Upon Francesca informing Dracula about who Boris plans to be his successor, the monsters plot to eliminate Felix and gain control of the secret of total destruction. Over time, Francesca develops feelings for Felix after he unknowingly saves her multiple times. As Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Monster's Mate corner Francesca, she sends out a bat-carried letter to an unknown recipient. When the monsters do have Felix cornered upon capturing Francesca, they are frightened upon the arrival of "It" (a giant gorilla who is a knock-off of King Kong) who goes on a rampage since he wasn't invited. "It" snatches up the monsters and Francesca.

Felix rushes off and tells his uncle about what happened as Felix is instructed to head to the boat. Boris leads the zombies into rescuing Francesca from "It." Boris then has "It" let Francesca go and to take him instead. "It" complies with Boris. Felix and Francesca managed to get off the island as Boris is now in the clutches of "It." Displeased at the fact that the monsters wanted the secret of total destruction for themselves and that they tried to kill Felix, Boris sacrifices his life by dropping the vial containing the secret of total destruction which destroys the island and every monster on it.

The destruction is witnessed offshore by Felix and Francesca. When Francesca admits to Felix that she was a robot creation of Boris von Frankenstein, Felix states that "none of us are perfect" as he keeps repeating the words "are perfect" indicating that he has been a robot creation of his uncle all this time.

Cast

• Boris Karloff as Baron Boris von Frankenstein
• Allen Swift (name in the credits is misspelled as Alan Swift) as Felix Flankin, Yetch, Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Werewolf, Mummy, Quasimodo, Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Chef Mafia Machiavelli, Mr. Kronkite, Freighter Captain, First Mate
• Gale Garnett as Francesca
• Phyllis Diller as the Monster's Mate
• Ethel Ennis sings the opening song/score

Production

The film was created using Rankin/Bass' "Animagic" stop motion animation process. The process involved photographing figurines a frame at a time, then re-positioning them, exposing another frame, and so forth. Known as stop-motion animation, it was the same approach used in Art Clokey's Davey and Goliath and the original King Kong, Gumby, and many other films, commercials and TV specials. Rankin/Bass had created several stop motion productions before this, spurred by their first, the enormously successful 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Classic monster movies were enjoying a resurgence in popularity in the late 1960s along with humorous monsters like The Addams Family and The Munsters. This campy film is a spoof of horror themes, complete with musical numbers and inside jokes.

Mad Magazine creator Harvey Kurtzman penned the script (with writer Len Korobkin) and Mad artist Jack Davis designed many of the characters. Davis was a natural for the job, being famous both for his humor work and his monster stories in the pages of EC Comics. It has long been rumored that Forrest J. Ackerman had a hand in the script, but while the dialogue is rife with Famous Monsters of Filmland-like puns, Ackerman's involvement has never been confirmed and his name never appeared in the on-screen credits or in original promotion for the film at the time of its release. In fact, Rankin/Bass historian Rick Goldschmidt, in liner notes accompanying the Anchor Bay DVD release, denied Ackerman was ever involved, at the same time as the DVD packaging promoted Ackerman's name. Goldschmidt repeated this on this in a 2006 blog entry, based on his interviews with Korobkin, who claimed to have written the original screenplay which then was revised by Kurtzman, but never worked with Ackerman.

Although mostly intended as a children's film, the film does feature some of Kurtzman's typically dark humor and a few mildly risqué jokes: Francesca falls over in one scene, and when Felix struggles to lift her she says, "I wanted you to know I'm no easy pick-up." In another scene, a character briefly has his head replaced with a cooked pig's ... and a "kids' picture" ending with a mushroom cloud would have been a bold move at the time.

In addition to the famous monsters seen in the film, Mad Monster Party also features several celebrity likenesses. Karloff and Diller's characters are both designed to look like the actors portraying them, while Baron Frankenstein's lackey, Yetch, is a physical and vocal caricature of Peter Lorre. Allen Swift also does impersonations when voicing his characters like doing his rendition of Jimmy Stewart when voicing Felix Flankin, Claude Rains when voicing the Invisible Man, and Charles Laughton when voicing the Freighter Captain.

Mad Monster Party was one of several child-friendly projects Karloff lent his voice to in his final years (such as the TV adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas). It was his final involvement in a production connected to the Frankenstein mythos that had propelled him to stardom some 36 years earlier.

Prequel

In 1972, Rankin/Bass produced a "prequel of sorts" with the TV special Mad Mad Mad Monsters which aired on September 23, 1972 as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. This Halloween special featured many of the same monster characters. Bob McFadden did his imitation of Boris Karloff when voicing Baron Henry von Frankenstein (who resembles Baron Boris von Frankenstein). Although it presumably was not intended as a direct sequel since many of these monster characters perished at the end of Mad Monster Party. Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters was created using cel animation, rather than stop-motion. While Mad Monster Party still enjoys an ardent cult following, it has fallen into comparative obscurity. Mad Mad Mad Monsters was released on DVD July 12, 2011 from Classic Media.

Home video releases

File:MMP DVD COVER.jpg

2009 Special Edition DVD cover

The film has been available on video for years, first on original distributor Embassy Pictures' home entertainment unit, and then on other independent labels before StudioCanal acquired some rights to the film. Currently, Lionsgate distributes the film on video under license from StudioCanal.

Before Lionsgate's current video release of Mad Monster Party, almost all video releases have been from 16 mm film and were of very poor color quality. The original film negative was water-damaged some years ago, but recently Sony Pictures Television (which now holds the television rights) unearthed an original 35 mm pristine print. This print was digitally remastered, and is the source for the current DVD issue and all subsequent television showings. Anchor Bay released the previous DVD on August 19, 2003, then re-released it on August 23, 2005 with additional features. On September 8, 2009, it was released as a "Special Edition" DVD by Lionsgate. The special features include a documentary including interviews with Rick Goldschmidt, Arthur Rankin, Jr., voice artist Allen Swift, storyboard artist Don Duga, musical director Maury Laws and others. The film was released on Blu-ray on September 4, 2012.

Soundtrack

CD cover

Although the opening credits identify Ethel Ennis as singing the opening theme song and, in the same frame, a soundtrack being available on RCA Victor, a commercially-released soundtrack was never produced in any format. In September 1998, Percepto released a CD of the soundtrack for the film. "The Mummy" is allegedly performed by Dyke and the Blazers. Tracks without performer credits are instrumentals and contain no dialogue.

1. "The Baron"
2. "Mad Monster Party" - Ethel Ennis
3. "Waltz for a Witch"
4. "Cocktails"
5. "The Bash"
6. "You're Different" - The Monster's Mate (Phyllis Diller)
7. "Jungle Madness"
8. "Our Time to Shine" - Francesca (Gale Garnett)
9. "Mad Monster Party"
10. "The Mummy" - Little Tibia and the Fibias
11. "One Step Ahead" - Baron von Frankenstein and Company (Boris Karloff and Company)
12. "The Baron Into Battle/Transylvania, All Hail/Pursuit/Requiem for a Loser"
13. "Never Was a Love Like Mine" - Francesca (Gale Garnett)
14. "Finale"

External links

• Mad Monster Party? at IMDb
• Template:Bcdb title
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Mad Monster Party? at AllMovie
• Mad Monster Party? at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mad Monster Party unofficial site
• Rankin-Bass Mad Monster Party site