November cult movies on TCM

Two from Ray Harryhausen, including the rarely seen cowboys & dinosaur flick The Valley of Gwangi:

Harryhausen needed to dress his miniature replica to match the real location–and then light it to correspond. The intensity of the lights was such that they damaged the rubber models–obliging the animator to make rubber replicas to use in place of the real ones, during the laborious process of lighting. Yes, that’s right, even miniature dinosaurs and toy skeletons had stand-ins, just like the stars.

Every movement of these miniatures was miniscule, and methodical. The work was so maddeningly intricate, even so much as a telephone call could derail him. On some projects, the level of complexity permitted him to record just 14 frames in an entire day’s work. That’s barely half a second, in case you were wondering.

Others include The Cars That Ate Paris (1974), She (1965), Speedway (1968) which “combines the exciting worlds of auto racing and tax evasion”:

This is the film with the infamous “love trap trailer” – a secret den of iniquity where Elvis seduces his prey with wild animal recordings, fake radio announcements, and a remote-controlled clock. Don’t ask us how it works. We only know it’s a lethal combination.

One highlight? The rarely seen Chuck Jones 1970 animated production of The Phantom Tollbooth.