{"id":2350,"date":"2007-02-20T16:55:39","date_gmt":"2007-02-20T23:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2350"},"modified":"2021-01-07T10:36:26","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T17:36:26","slug":"shanks-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2350","title":{"rendered":"Shanks (1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Poster-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-23111\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Poster-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Poster.jpg 493w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA mad scientist (Marcel Marceau) teaches a deaf-mute puppeteer named Malcolm Shanks (also Marceau) how to revive and manipulate the dead.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Deafness<\/li>\n<li>Horror<\/li>\n<li>Mad Doctors and Scientists<\/li>\n<li>Puppets and Ventriloquism<\/li>\n<li>William Castle Films<\/li>\n<li>Zombies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nThis odd curio &#8212; William Castle&#8217;s final directorial effort, and Marcel Marceau&#8217;s lone starring role &#8212; is a disappointment with patches of brilliance. Marceau and his fellow mimes (Tsilla Chelton and Philippe Clay as his manipulative sister- and brother-in-law) aren&#8217;t very good as &#8220;straight&#8221; actors; but once their characters have died and are forced to perform as puppets, they&#8217;re simply wonderful. Unfortunately, the sloppy screenplay is a distraction, with poorly written characters, a weird friendship between Shanks and a young girl (Cindy Eilbacher), and the inexplicable arrival of a motorcycle gang in the final fourth of the film (which does nothing but show off Castle&#8217;s seeming desire to have &#8220;marionettes&#8221; fighting hoodlums). The concept behind <em>Shanks <\/em> is a clever one, but ultimately too limited in narrative scope; the story would have worked better as either a ballet or a short film. Watch for a cameo by Castle as the grocery store owner.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Many cleverly choreographed and performed &#8220;live action&#8221; puppet sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Puppets.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Puppets.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-62080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Puppets.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Puppets-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Puppets-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Puppets-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A truly bizarre &#8212; albeit disappointingly executed &#8212; premise for a horror film<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Horror.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Horror.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-62081\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Horror.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Horror-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Horror-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/Shanks-Horror-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, simply for its historical relevance as Castle&#8217;s last movie and Marceau&#8217;s only leading role in a film.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0072149\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/shanks-1975\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/shanks\/review\/117449\/\">TV Guide Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/74463.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: A mad scientist (Marcel Marceau) teaches a deaf-mute puppeteer named Malcolm Shanks (also Marceau) how to revive and manipulate the dead. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Deafness Horror Mad Doctors and Scientists Puppets and Ventriloquism William Castle Films Zombies Review: This odd curio &#8212; William Castle&#8217;s final directorial effort, and Marcel Marceau&#8217;s lone starring role &#8212; is a disappointment with patches of brilliance. Marceau and his fellow mimes (Tsilla Chelton and Philippe Clay as his manipulative sister- and brother-in-law)&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2350\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2350"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62082,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350\/revisions\/62082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}