25th September 1928: American comic actor Buster Keaton (1895 – 1966) wearing a baseball strip and boots. (Photo by John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images)
Well, this is fun! In 2020, Simon Abrams and I – who go way back as friends and colleagues – met up for a video-chat about Milton Moses Ginsberg’s forgotten monster-movie-political-satire, Werewolf of Washington. We did this for Metrograph, which not only sponsored the restoration of this lost gem but also gave it a nice New York run. Finally this 1970s-era Washington satire got its moment in the sun. Richard Brody wrote about it for The New Yorker. Unless you really knew what you were looking for, for years this film was considered “lost”. I came across it in what I now refer to as my Dean Stockwell Year. I wrote about it way back in 2006, 2007. Milton Moses Ginsberg reached out to thank me via email. It meant a lot! And so years later, Werewolf of Washington experienced a resurgence, and Simon and I were tapped to lead a conversation about it for Metrograph. (If it hadn’t been 2020, we would have done it in person at a live screening.) Even better, Milton Moses Ginsberg was still around to enjoy all of this, to give interviews about this lost film. Sadly, Ginsberg died last year. Simon and I discovered our shared love of Werewolf of Washington at Ebertfest, back in 2013 or 2014. I can’t remember how it came up, but we were sitting at lunch, we discovered the shared love, and then had such a blast talking about it. No one had seen this damn thing so it was such a relief to discuss it! And so it made so gratifying so many years later for Simon and I to be tapped to discuss the film for Metrograph.
ALL OF THIS IS TO SAY: Kino is bringing out a 2k restoration of the original theatrical version, and the Simon-Sheila conversation is going to be included in the special features!
Fans of monster movies won’t want to miss this one. Fans of satire also won’t want to miss it. Simon and I cover the various issues surrounding the film, issues which sank the film’s chances at the box office. The timing was all wrong for it. But now the timing is right. The satire of it is so sharp and it isn’t anchored to its specific moment. It’s timeless. Plus: Dean Stockwell is so good in it. Pre-order it here!
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