Deja View: Disastrous Designs

If you looked at the tale end of my most recent post, then you know I had the glorious opportunity not long ago to see two of my top ten favorite movies on the big screen: The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974.) I thoroughly enjoyed watching them this way (in the case of Poseidon, it was my first time seeing it in a theater.) In fact, I'm still not over Inferno and over the last couple of evenings have been re-immersing myself in all the extras to be found on the Blu-ray. (If you've ever met me - or even if you haven't! - you know that I am totally obsessed with Faye Dunaway in said movie and can hardly believe how much of her footage was cut from the release print, thankfully saved in blurry, cropped form for the 4-hour network TV premiere in 1980.) 

My partner-in-crime for this foray into disaster on the big screen was longtime pal Joe, who did me one better than most anyone I know by once portraying Belle Rosen in "Poseidon! An Upside Down Musical" and bringing down the house with his shenanigans. Note "Nonnie" in the background with a stuffed figure meant to be her brother Teddy...!

Anyway, today, we're going to take a gander at a couple of the set design features of these two classic disaster epics and point out why they might seem familiar to loyal 20th Century Fox moviegoers. 

The extraordinary set for the S.S. Poseidon ballroom was symmetrically designed so that it could be used both before and after the stirring capsizing of the luxury liner. It just needed some materials to be reversed or relocated to the opposing point of the film stage. As you glance at the photo above, do take notice of the gilded panels in the back-left near the Christmas tree.  

Sprinkled throughout the dining salon are various large, gold panels depicting any manner of old-world activity from hunting to harvesting and the offering of said revenue to the gods, be it vegetation, fowl or who knows what else.

Though the ship is the S.S. Poseidon and so far as I know that was a GREEK god, the various etched panels are not!

Though it really only stands out after one closely inspects the artwork, these panels seem less self-contained than a designer might intend and appear more as if they are culled from a different far more elaborate overall scheme. Perhaps one like this...

Here we find one of the elaborate rooms to be found in the palace of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra! You may be aware of the 1963 movie which bore her name? 

I'm hard-pressed (and, in truth, don't exactly have the time) to match up specific bits of these pieces of wall art from film to film, but they were definitely recycled from Cleopatra to Poseidon.  

What I believe was done is that the Poseidon production designers wisely chose portions from the massive montage of etchings that were either just beyond camera range or otherwise less featured than some of the examples seen here. 

With that said, there's no mistaking the presence of the huge gent seen to the right of the door in back, with his bow drawn.  

He and the opposing figure were used for the Poseidon ballroom, but switched sides so that they were oriented to face one another rather than have their backs to each other. 

Once the overturning was complete, these panels were flipped the other way so that they'd be part of the upside-down effect. 

This is, of course, where the water eventually began pouring into the ballroom, drowning everyone who didn't climb upstairs with Gene Hackman's bombastic reverend. 

Thus, regardless of their initial design, they suddenly became topsy-turvy water-bearers to the hapless victims of the capsizing!

By the way, on the subject of deja "view," raise your hand if you knew that the attractive brunette seen here in-between The Rosens is Elizabeth Rogers a close friend and frequent cast member in Irwin Allen projects. She also happens to be (albeit with a totally different look) ----

-- one of the ten ladies selected at random to be rescued by helicopter in The Towering Inferno (1974.) 'Course, that doesn't exactly go according to plan. So the same ten ladies, along with two additions, are supposed to then be the only ones able to descend in the disabled scenic elevator. So conceivably she would be among them. 

However, the elevator takes off and, inexplicably, Rogers is left in the Promenade Room and now is primed to be the first woman to escape the fire with that method! (See her standing at the far left of this grouping.) 

Paul Newman asks who is the first to go and she raises her hand...

...then proceeds to make a whole spectacle out of being placed in the chair and lowered to presumed safety. See? Ya shoulda stayed with the elevator! LOL

For this exercise, Rogers received billing in the credits as "Lady in Buoy" at a time when not everyone in a movie got their name on screen! Rogers is but one of many people who appeared in both films. Some of the staff at The Glass Tower were crew members of the S.S Poseidon and there are many crossover party guests as well. 

But back to the subject at hand, which is set pieces being recycled, not people! Take this gargantuan tiered planter situated in the corner of the Promenade Room near the windows. It's HUGE and we're only seeing a small part of it. (The set was built eleven feet off the ground so that cameras could aim upwards towards the skyscraper's inhabitants and also so that water could drain off without collecting - and potentially drowning someone! - during the big finale.)

In the aforementioned finale, Jack Collins (as the mayor of San Francisco) has tied himself to a post near the planter, but the force of the water coming towards him quickly knocks him from his position. 

Soon he, having already signaled a possible heart issue, finds himself being washed over to the edge of the pit which is holding the planter. 

And he's hurled into the abyss, presumably drowned. (We're not expressly shown this, but William Holden seems to indicate that he was lost and he's never shown again.) This towering plant holder was not dripping with water for the first time, however... 

It can be spied here in 20th Century Fox's 1969 release Hello, Dolly! There, it was part of the eye-popping Harmonia Gardens restaurant set. (In fact, there wasn't just one. There was a set of them.) 

Thus, the "planter" which wound up serving as Mr. Collins' watery memorial headstone had once been a fountain in the vast splendor of a movie released five years prior. 

Who'da thunk that this hefty background piece (understandably being overshadowed by La Streisand during the title number!) would one day find itself on the 135th floor of the world's tallest building!? 

To bring this post fully around 360 degrees, the windows seen behind Dolly and the waitstaff in the prior pic are the same ones used to form the skylight-style fixtures on the "ceiling" of the Poseidon ballroom, one of which was the recipient of the legendary fall by Ernie Orsatti! And with that I'll say goodbye till next time. 

Poseidon Quickies: Captain Underpants!

Well, it's been a rather eventful couple of weeks, good and bad. Thus, I haven't been as active with the blog as I might like. I had a birthday on the 19th (which is always a signal that this site is older, too. We're now entering its 16th year!) So there was plenty going on socially, believe it or not. Then came the Labor Day holiday with an array of things to keep me occupied. But we all know... I typically dabble in Poseidon's Underworld during downtime at work! Thing was, I suddenly developed a system issue here in which I couldn't properly manage any pdfs or jpgs! I could create pics, but couldn't move them or even delete them. Consider for a moment the stress I felt knowing that my desktop had all sorts of photos on it of the sort I tend to gather for this blog...! LOL I finally, finally got this situation rectified late yesterday (and still have my job, too.) This was meant to be a very brief post that ought to have gone up long ago, but was delayed due to this technical issue. And, no, it is NOT about the character depicted above-right. Ha ha! You'll see soon enough what the title refers to. 

I think you're all aware that I am often on the lookout for semi-obscure, unusual fare to feature here. And I love vintage TV-movies. And I also like watching movies which take place at circuses because often there are men in tights flouncing around! Well... The tights department was quite a let-down when I happened upon When the Circus Came to Town (1981), but it wound up having other virtues. (I found this on Tubi, and a nice print of it can be viewed free-with-occasional-ads right here.) 

The movie kicks off with a graveside funeral in Savannah, Georgia.

There we meet lonely spinster Elizabeth Montgomery, who is burying her father who'd been ill for some time while she served as his caregiver. Before that, she'd served as her mother's caregiver as well. So right about now, she's ready for a change.

Right on cue comes the Duke Royal Circus, parading through town. Christopher Plummer (who you'll remember forever as Captain Von Trapp of 1965's The Sound of Music.) His parade and Montgomery's funeral procession cross paths and suddenly she feels she might have found what she's looking for in order to stir the pot of her utterly stagnant life.

She manages to track Plummer down and arrives at his trailer looking for a job. Any job. And we aren't sure what, if anything, he has on behind that cardboard box. 

 

Giving his boots a shine, and looking over this plain, dour woman, he is far from impressed. 

There are two potential openings he might be able to offer, reluctantly. (Since she doesn't want to perform in front of a crowd, the options become fewer by the second!)

Plummer, clearly unworried about appearing in his tighty-whities in front of Montgomery, emerges from behind the box and heads over to a clothing rack. 

See? This is the Captain Underpants I'm talking about. Ha ha! Plummer was about 52 at the time of filming and still had a trim build. 

I can honestly say that the last thing I expected to see when I pulled up this movie, was Captain Von Trapp in some skimpy underpants. 

Back in 1969, Plummer had shown off a lot of skin in The Royal Hunt of the Sun. 

As an Incan emperor, he was compelled to shave his chest completely for the part (opposite Robert Shaw as Pizarro.) 

Fun as it was to see him almost in the altogether, he also was compelled to speak only in unusual bird-like chirps, which definitely turned down the sex appeal. 

This lobby card from 1966's Triple Cross (opposite Romy Schneider) shows the level of chest hair he usually possessed. 

By the time of this movie, he had his hair back in place, but trimmed up more than he'd displayed it in 1966. 

Anyway, he proceeds to finish dressing and as the camera zooms in on him zipping up the fly on his jeans, this action also doesn't go unnoticed by the repressed Montgomery!

The vagabond-like, hard-living Plummer really doesn't need this headache, but Montgomery is persistent. 

He takes her on a tour of the circus, trying to see where she might fit in, but she continues to avoid anything showy or daring. In the end, she's hired to clean the cages of the animals!

It still beats her dreary life back home, so she's happy as a clam. However, he takes virtually no interest in her at all. Here, he sports a jaunty hat that recalls one he wore in Music, though this one is even more eye-catching because it has feathers in the brim!

What I love about this The Sound of Music wardrobe test is the care that went into setting a mood. A table of vintage props was set up in silhouette, knowing that Plummer would be wearing this hat in night scenes such as the concert and the convent cemetery! 

Back to our story, Montgomery is tired of going unnoticed and heads into a town for some new clothing and a different hairdo, adding more makeup as well. 

It works! Pretty soon the two of them are taking long walks and conversing on a deeper level. 

His li'l hat is pluming and she is blooming!

Now in the meantime, the acrobatic act in the circus is embroiled in a continuous shouting match. Montgomery, who's now beginning to find her voice, tells the sole female of the act what she thinks. (I didn't say there weren't tights in this film, I just felt they were disappointing...)

See what I mean, Vern? This troupe seems a mite over the hill and out of shape to me. 

In case you didn't recognize her, the female contingent of the acrobatic troupe is played by one Gretchen Wyler. With apologies to her fans, and I'm sure there are some out there, I have always found Wyler to be hammy and unduly self-important. But maybe Glenn Close could play here in something sometime and finally get an Oscar? LOL

Circumstances arise in which Wyler is no longer part of the act and so Mr. Chesthair lands upon the brilliant idea of installing the once-meek Montgomery in her place!

By the time of the next town, the standard arrival parade has one new member in it. Incidentally, I had to chuckle over the guy in the black swimtrunks. He's the mysterious and exotic "Tattooed Man" of the circus...!! I see that much ink nowadays on a typical afternoon at my local water park!

Edging ever so slightly out of her shell, Montgomery is encouraged by her compatriots to smile and wave to the crowds. 

Then the moment comes when her intensive, but brief, rehearsals are put to the test before a live audience. (Are ya getting these hideous depictions of circus costumes?! I'll take Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis in Trapeze, 1956, instead, please!)

Now fully divested of her dishwater dull existence as a caregiver to sickly parents, Montgomery is vibrant, confident and alive. 

And Plummer does take note. 

"You show me your big top and I'll show you mine..."

"This really may be the greatest show on earth...!"

Lovely as it all is, there are decisions to be made. 

Seemingly in line to try everything but sticking her head in a lion's mouth, Montgomery has graduated to being a clown! 

And Plummer has things to deal with, also. He's suffering money issues with the circus and he's also got a long-suffering gal pal (played by Eileen Brennan) who is reaching her limit. So it's not all peanuts and popcorn. 

The End!

::::Additional Info::::

This is rather off topic, but seeing as we're heading into year 16, I thought I'd share. A little over a week ago, a longtime friend of mine texted me to see if I might like to go see The Poseidon Adventure (1972) on the big screen... Uh -- YES! I had never seen the movie which gave this site its title (and, before that, my internet chat room handle) in this manner before. I only had to wait nearly 50 years to finally have this happen...! (I say nearly 50 because I didn't even know about the movie until the mid-1970s.)

A small local network of movie theaters had decided to hold special screenings of many of the 1970s disaster genre's most prized offerings! August was close to being over (dammit!) before I was aware.

 

I took this photo right before the movie began. It was a wondrous experience to see the S.S. Poseidon capsize on a large theater screen. And, though I unfortunately missed many of the other flicks that were brought out for this event, I have the joy this evening of going to see The Towering Inferno (1974) on the same big screen! That one I did see in theaters as a goggle-eyed 6 year-old, but it will be terrific to see it this way again after more than half a century has passed. Just the notion that I'll get to see Faye's gown billowing across a large movie screen has me rattled already! LOL Till next time.