The Forge Archives

In short: I'm currently organizing a little MLwM review/promotion here in Helsinki, and was thinking about arranging a movie night. It's somewhat of a tradition with Helsinki university students to gather for viewings of movies with a common theme, and My Life with Master would fit the bill excellently, especially as it'd draw people who maybe aren't as interested in the game itself.

So, any movie recommendations? We're looking for new or old movies that feature distinct master-minion social relationships. Clearly old black-and-white horror movies are one possibility (which ones?), but I'd like to have something in color too, to give it more variety. People here have probably already found the best MLwM movies, so let's hear it.

Young Frankenstein? I can't stand Gene Wilder but some people like it.

The Comedy of Terrors is a good bet. It has Vincent Price and Peter Lorre as undertakers. They need to drum up business and they only have one coffin.

Price forces his minion Lorre to help him, whilst Lorre tries to escape the horror by making advances to Price's wife.

It's a hoot!

Almost anything with Price in it should count as long as he has at least one sidekick.

Edward Scisorhands has appropriate elements (too bad the master dies too early). Lots of Tim Burton's work fits well - see the current Batman thread. Nightmare Before Christmas? Burton seems to be the master of making MLWM minions. Lots of good LTH's there.

I suppose mentioning the Frankenstien movies would be too obvious? Vampire movies, as well, of course (I've been waiting to see minions as vampire spawn).

I've often stated that I think that the Island of Dr. Moreau is perfect. Some people don't like the Brando version, so you could use the one from the fifties (scared me quite a bit as a kid).

Less typical, but still thematically appropriate (working off the "going outside the village post":
The end of Apocalypse Now. Excallibur? Rocky Horror. Moby Dick. The Godfather (or lots of other mob films). The Paper Chase. Willy Wonka. The Magnificent Seven (Chris as Master). Phantom of the Opera. Weekend at Bernie's.

Mike

Its not enough for the movie to just have a master subordinate relationship in it.  The relationship has to be dysfunctional and largely oppressive.

An obvious non horror flick that fits this bill is Wallstreet.

But even better in this vein would be M.J. Fox's For Love or Money.
Seriously.  Wonderfully dysfunctional Master/Minon relationships there and great use of connections.

But I think Eero was going more for the B-horror genre in terms of theme.

Definitely, the early Dracula and Frankenstein movies.  Renfield is a classic minion; I'm particularly thinking of the 1930's Dracula staring Bela Lugosi.  And the Frankenstein with Boris Karloff as the monster has the classic villagers with torches and pitchforks scene.

Most vampire movies--Andy Warhol's Dracula would be a change of pace.  

I've not seen any of the Hellraiser movies, but from what I know of the first one, I'm guessing it would qualify as well.

I agree with Mike's choice of Island of Dr. Moreau, and I would choose the 1930's version with Brando.

Here's some others that I can think of off the top of my head:
Hitchcock's Psycho
Bava's Lisa and the Devil
The Omen

Julie

I would go the Universal classic monster movies route: Dracula (Lugosi), Frankenstein (Karloff), The Wolfman (Lon Chaney, Jr), The Mummy (Karloff, again), The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein. I'd also do The Werewolf of London, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the adaptation of The Most Dangerous Game with Joel McCrea & Fay Wray, & (if you can find it) The Vampire Bat with Fay Wray. Oh, & Young Frankenstein, which I think is one of the funniest movies of all time. Not all of these are exactly My Life With Master in set-up or structure, but they are all chock-full of the right atmosphere: decaying castles, cobwebs, fog, & creepy occultists or scientists.

Oh, & I'll second Mike's Tim Burton nomination (but I'm a huge Burton fan). I'd recommend: The Nightmare Before Christmas & Sleepy Hollow. His two Batman movies (especially Batman Returns) & Edward Scissorhands could work, too.

Hey, what about Reanimator?

Here's a couple more that don't fall into the typical MLwM setting:  Hitchcock's Rebecca, with the dead Rebecca de Winter as the master (I like the idea of Mrs. Danvers as a minion), and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (the child catcher who can smell children makes another wonderful minion).

Julie

Thanks for all the suggestions; although I've seen many of these one time or another, it's good to see the old titles lined up like this. I wouldn't have remembered the names so easily. Likewise with the newer movies.

I'd probably prefer one relatively new color movie which features obvious MLwM elements, one other movie on the topic and some three or four of the old black and white ones (the movie nights get quite long ccasionally). Variety is the key here, as that is the way to draw attention to the similarities: when there is no Frankenstein or monster in the movie, the viewer notices easier how the relationships nevertheless resemble the horror ones. Thus I'd like for one of the movies to be conventional in color and spot-on in the social scene.

But anyway, thanks again for the ideas. I'll have to start looking for a date and a projector.

QuoteVariety is the key here, as that is the way to draw attention to the similarities: when there is no Frankenstein or monster in the movie, the viewer notices easier how the relationships nevertheless resemble the horror ones. Thus I'd like for one of the movies to be conventional in color and spot-on in the social scene.

I would definitely check out then either Wall Street or For Love or Money then.  No where near horror.  Completely conventional modern social situations.  Definite Master using techniques like Sincerity and Desperation to get literal Minions to do his bidding even when (especially when) it makes things worse for them.

Of the two, I'd go with For Love or Money unless you absolutely can't stand Michael J Fox. * The Master / Minion moments in it are more frequent, more obvious, and more central to the plot of the movie.  Plus there are 2 minions who often are forced to hurt each other and lots of obvious Connections where additional Love is gathered.  You could almost annotate the script with MLwM mechanics.  Both involve clear end games where the Minion "kills" (metaphorically) the Master, and both have different endgame results for the minions.  In Wall Street the Minion gets the "killed by the townsfolk" (metaphorically speaking) result, and in FLoM they are happily reintegrated with Society...(or, a darker interpretation...Fox becomes a new Master).

* It is a quintessential 1980s movie, with all the pros and cons that entails.

What about Grima Wormtongue and Saruman? How's that for recent. He even makes Love overtures to Aowyn.

A movie I haven't seen for a game I haven't yet played: "The Servant" (1963) with Dirk Bogarde and James Fox. According the Maltin Film guide, an insidious story of moral degradation as corrupt manservant Bogarde becomes master of employer Fox; superb study of brooding decadence.

Sounds like it's more about the psychology of the 'Master'-Minion relationship than the horror/action/romance trappings of a MLwM game.

Steve.

Mommy Dearest? Joan Crawford as the master?

The setup for individual episodes of the TV show The Apprentice is sort of MLwM-like. Too bad the winner won't get to murder Donald Trump at the end, but that's what fantasy is for.

I recommend 'Secretary.'  It's an indie film with James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhal about a secretary working for a dominant boss and the relationship they develop.  Very out there.  Very appropriate for what seems to be the theme of MLwM.