Mad Monster Party is a 1967 stop-motion animated musical comedy film produced by Rankin/Bass Productions for Embassy Pictures. The film stars the voices of Boris Karloff, Allen Swift, Gale Garnett and Phyllis Diller. It tells the story of a mad scientist who achieves the secret of total destruction. He summons all the monsters to his island home to show it off, while planning to retire as the head of the "Worldwide Organization of Monsters".
The film was created using Rankin/Bass's "Animagic" stop-motion animation process, supervised by Tadahito Mochinaga at MOM Productions in Tokyo, Japan. The process involved photographing figurines a frame at a time, then re-positioning them, exposing another frame, and so forth.
Although less well known than Rankin/Bass's holiday specials, it has become a cult film. The film is a camp homage to the classic monster movies of the 1930s-1940s. It was one of Karloff's final projects, and his last film in connection to Frankenstein.
Contents
Plot
Scientist Baron Boris von Frankenstein achieves his ultimate ambition, the secret of total destruction. Having perfected and tested the formula, he sends out messenger bats carrying invitations to summon all monsters to the Isle of Evil in the Caribbean Sea. The Baron intends to inform them of his discovery and also to reveal his imminent retirement as head of the Worldwide Organization of Monsters.
Besides his Monster (sometimes referred to as "Fang") and the Monster's more intelligent mate who reside on the Isle of Evil with Boris, the invitees include Count Dracula, the Mummy, Quasimodo (referred to as "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame"), the Werewolf, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon (referred to as simply "The Creature").
Frankenstein's beautiful assistant Francesca confirms that all invitations have been delivered and inquires about one of the addressees, a Felix Flanken. Frankenstein explains that Felix is his nephew and successor in the monster business. This displeases Francesca, who covets the role for herself. She asks why there was no invitation for "It". Boris replies that "It" was not invited since "It" can be a crushing bore, explaining that "It" even crushed the island's wild boars in his bare hands the last time "It" was invited.
Felix Flanken is a drug store pharmacist somewhere in the United States. Incompetent and asthmatic but good-natured, he is a constant burden on the drug store's greedy owner Mr. Kronkite. A mailman arrives with Felix's invitation and he joyously accepts. He boards a freighter headed for the Isle alongside the other monsters. The ship's crew are wary of the unusual passengers.
Frankenstein has his zombie butler Yetch, Chef Mafia Machiavelli, and the zombie bellhops make preparations for the upcoming party while having some zombies patrol the Isle to ensure that "It" does not arrive uninvited. The monsters begin to arrive on the freighter that Felix is also traveling on. During dinner, Frankenstein shows them the formula which he will demonstrate the next day while naming his successor. Francesca secretly meets with Dracula to inform him about Felix, promising to share Frankenstein's secrets when she becomes the successor if Dracula were to get rid of Felix. When they catch the Monster's Mate eavesdropping, she and Francesca begin to cat-fight while the other monsters have an all out food fight.
Cast
Boris Karloff as Baron Boris von Frankenstein, a mad scientist who resides on the Isle of Evil
Alan Swift as:
Felix Flanken, the nephew of Boris
Count Dracula, a vampire who is invited to the Isle of Evil by Boris
Frankenstein's Monster "Fang", a simulacrum creation of Boris who mostly makes sounds
The Werewolf, an unnamed werewolf who is invited to the Isle of Evil by Boris
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, a hunchbacked figure who is invited to the Isle of Evil by Boris
The Invisible Man, an unseen man in a fez, sunglasses, and housecoat who is invited to the Isle of Evil by Boris
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a scientist invited to the Isle of Evil by Boris who keeps his transformation serum in his special cane
"It", a giant ape-like monster with a chimpanzee-like head, gorilla-like body, and human-shaped feet who is a knock-off of King Kong.
Yetch, the zombie butler of Boris
A Skeleton
Mafia Machiavelli, Boris's cook who prepares the meals for Boris' event and is assisted by a zombie kitchen staff
Mr. Kronkite, a pharmacy proprietor who Felix works for
The Freighter Captain
Crew
Directed by Jules Bass
Produced by Arthur Rankin Jr.
Executive producer – Joseph E. Levine
Associate producer – Larry Roemer
Screenplay by Len Korobkin, Harvey Kurtzman
Story by Arthur Rankin Jr.
Music and lyrics by Maury Laws, Jules Bass
Characters designed by Jack Davis
Continuity design – Don Duga
"Animagic" technician – Tad Mochinaga
Assistant director – Kizo Nagashima
Choreography by "Killer Joe" Piro
Music composed and scored by Maury Laws
Sound engineers – Eric Tomlinson, Peter Page, Stephen Frohock
Production
The film was created using Rankin/Bass's "Animagic" stop-motion animation process, supervised by Tadahito Mochinaga at MOM Productions in Tokyo, Japan. 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 RKO Pictures' King Kong, Art Clokey's Gumby and Davey and Goliath, and many other films, commercials and television specials.
Classic monster films were enjoying a resurgence in popularity in the late 1960s, along with more comedy-centered examples, 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. Rumors that Forrest J. Ackerman had a hand in the script have 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. 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 his claims 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.
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. Swift also performs impersonations when voicing his characters, such as James Stewart when voicing Felix, Sydney Greenstreet as the Invisible Man and Charles Laughton as the Freighter Captain.
Mad Monster Party? was one of several family-friendly projects Karloff lent his voice to in his final years (including the 1966 television 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 three decades earlier.
Music
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 the mono RCA recording on CD. Waxworks Records released it on vinyl on October 12, 2016.
Reception
The film holds a 67% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on nine reviews. Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote that "this party should make everybody chuckle".
Home media
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 Sony Pictures Television (which now holds the television rights) eventually 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. The 2023 Blu-ray release from Umbrella Entertainment saw the film being released in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 for the first time since its original theatrical release.
Other Media
Comic book
Dell Movie Classic: Mad Monster Party (September 1967)
TV film
Rankin/Bass produced a related TV special called Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters from The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie series, which aired on September 23, 1972. This Halloween special featured many of the same monster characters. Bob McFadden did his imitation of Karloff when voicing Baron Henry von Frankenstein (who resembles Baron Boris von Frankenstein). The animation for the special is provided by Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production with supervision by Steve Nakagawa, who was also known for his work with Iwao Takamoto at Hanna-Barbera Studios.