MST3K (419)

419 - The Rebel Set (w/ Johnny at the Fair) - I think I was nearly more interested in following the movie than I was the riffing. It really wasn't that bad of a flick. It's not Strangers on a Train, no, but it was an interesting little crime picture. Still, crime films from this era always share a common flaw that ruins their endings. Because of the Hays Code, you already know that the criminals, even the sympathetic ones, will either be dead or arrested before the credits roll. Boring.

Crow: "There's something you don't see everyday, Chauncy." Servo: "What's that, Edgar?" Crow: "Priest beatin' the hell out of a guy in a factory." Solid season four-style riffing once again. I wasn't a fan of the host segments this round, though. The only one to bring a smile to my face was the segment in which the guys describe what they'd do on a four-hour layover in Chicago. Servo's plan was my favorite and was the easy pick, as it did not require sensible shoes.

Finally, the shorts are back! Woo! No more side trips into serial- or soap-land. This was exactly the perfect short to pick for the show. It's one of those goofy looks into the past and that makes you wonder what people were thinking back then. How was showing a kid getting lost in a huge crowd of a quarter-million people supposed to make you feel comfortable going there with your own family? No matter, the situation provided plenty of opportunities for the guys to goof on.

Ah, those rough-and-ready days before the Internet. According to the ACEG, the guys really didn't know who the conductor in this film was. Hence, the final, not particularly funny, host segment in which they argue over which recurring actor played the conductor. With five seconds and the help of the Internet, I can confirm that it was, indeed, not Merritt Stone. He was a policeman in War of the Colossal Beast, Carol's pop in Earth vs the Spider, the preacher in Tormented and the king in The Magic Sword. The conductor, played by Gene Roth, was the sheriff in both Earth vs the Spider and Attack of the Giant Leeches and the lunch stand guy in Tormented. You know, they really don't look anything like each other (Gene on the left, Merritt on the right):

"Then Johnny transmogrifies. He's a shape-shifter and he breaks the fourth seal." (7/10)

film d. Gene Fowler Jr. (1959)
short d. Jack Olsen (1947)
mst d. Trace Beaulieu (12 Dec 1992)