Gremlins have long been a favorite creature of Hollywood, and we’re not talking Mogwai here. British Royal Air Force folklore about a beastie that tears planes apart in midair flew across the Atlantic, starting with Roald Dahl’s first kids book, 1943’s
The Gremlins, which almost became a Disney animated feature. They remained an ideal subject for cartoons, starting with Warner Bros.’ “Falling Hare,” featuring Bugs Bunny going toe-to-paw with the diabolical sabotage of the gremlins. They weren’t always so adversarial: 1944’s “Russian Rhapsody” pretty much gave the story away with its original title, “Gremlins From the Kremlin,” as Soviet pixies take a swing at “Der Feuhrer’s Face.” Postwar, William Shatner went face-to-face with a destructive creature in “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” when he stared out of the window into