Month: November 2014

The Amphibian Man (1962)

THE AMPHIBIAN MAN (1962)
(a.k.a. CHELOVEK-AMFIBIYA)
Article #150 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-13-2001
Posting date: 12-27-2001

A boy who has been transformed by his scientist-father to live underwater meets and falls in love with a woman. He runs into problems when he leaves his water environment to track her down.

This movie links up nicely with two other movies this week, being a Russian film (like AELITA, QUEEN OF MARS) and another half-man, half animal-elsewhere-on-the-evolutionary-scale movie (like THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE; incidentally, we have another one of these coming up shortly). It’s half a love story and half a fish-out-of-water story (and no, I didn’t have to strain to come up with that phrase). I’ve seen the movie only once at this point of time, and I enjoyed it well enough, but I prefer to reserve my judgment at this poiint, as I believe it needs a second viewing for me to really decide; at this point, I think the characters are quite well-developed and multi-dimensional, but I’m less impressed by the story as a whole, but that could easily change with another viewing. Though the dubbing has no doubt interfered with the movie’s impact, the movie does feel more-or-less intact. It’s also nice to see a Russian science fiction movie from this period that wasn’t pillaged for footage.

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The Alligator People (1959)

THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE (1959)
Article #149 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-12-2001
Posting date: 12-26-2001

When a woman’s husband leaves her during their honeymoon after he receives a mysterious cable, she tracks him down to a plantation. There she encounters a doctor performing unorthodox experiments with alligators.

I have a bit of fondness for this flawed little SF movie, perhaps because of some little touches here and there that I like. The presence of the always-welcome Beverly Garland is definitely one of the plusses, and I also like George Macready, who, though he usually plays villains, here gives the doctor a slightly sympathetic edge; he really is trying to take responsibility for the mistakes he’s made. I’m less taken with Lon Chaney Jr.’s performance in this one; his hook-handed, I-hate-gators cajun is fairly one-dimensional as written, and he plays it way too broadly for my taste. I also feel very uneasy about the psychological viewpoint expressed in this film that repressed memories contribute to living normal, happy lives; I wonder what mental health experts would say about that theory.

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Aelita, Queen of Mars (1924)

AELITA, QUEEN OF MARS (1924)
Article #148 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-11-2001
Posting date: 12-25-2001 (MERRY CHRISTMAS)

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS MUSING & RAMBLING

No other movie means Christmas quite as much to me as that silent Russian epic, AELITA, QUEEN OF MARS. There’s nothing like a movie that purports to be a science fiction epic but actually spends two-thirds of its running time dealing with the trials and tribulations of a post-revolutionary married couple engaged in the rebuilding of Moscow while dealing with an unsavory boarder who not only contributes to tension in their marriage but steals sugar from his comrades to make me feel the warm glow of the Chirstmas Season. And when the protaganist disguises himself as his bearded but missing best friend to help build a rocket to go to Mars, doesn’t he remind you of that jolly old St. Nick? Watching our hero then lead the oppressed proletariat on Mars on a workers’ revolution, and then following this up with an ending that is guaranteed to leave smudges on your TV screen when you toss the patented DS Rubber Brick at it is bound to make you want to go out in the street and sing Christmas Carols until your voice goes out or you die…

Okay, I admit it; I don’t gear this column towards the holidays.

Seriously, folks, I was disappointed to find out that this movie was a lot more of a soap opera than the full-blooded SF epic that it promises. And even though it was still possible to make good films while being hamstringed by the necessity of adding Soviet propaganda to the proceedings (after all, look at the films of Eisenstein), the final trip-to-Mars sequence largely consists of nothing but that propaganda, making it less satisfying than the soap opera portion of the film (which actually, for what it was, wasn’t too bad). The sets and costumes during the Mars sequence are impressive, and I did find some of the comic relief in the movie quite amusing; nonetheless, I think anyone interested in viewing this film under the belief that they’re going to see a science fiction epic should be warned ahead of time about the exact nature of the film. Consider yourself warned.

And a Merry Christmas to you all!

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Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF (1949)
Article #147 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-10-2001
Posting date: 12-24-2001

The bellboy becomes the prime suspect in a murder when he was heard threatening the victim shortly before the murder took place.

SPOILER

All right, let’s take care of the obvious fact first; Boris Karloff is not the killer (and I hope I haven’t ruined the movie for anyone). He’s that most mundane of characters for horror stars to take in comedies; the red herring. In fact, that is one of the problems with Abbott and Costello’s follow-up to their meeting with Frankenstein (actually, they don’t do that either; another inaccurate title); unlike that movie, which was a real horror movie on top of being a horror comedy, this one is nothing more than a by-the-numbers horror mystery comedy. Karloff does figure into my favorite scene, in which he tries unsuccessfully to hypnotize Lou Costello into committing suicide. Other than that, far too much of the comedy revolves around disappearing dead bodies, a trick that gets pretty tiresome before it’s all through. However, the scenes in the caverns towards the end of the movie are certainly beautiful to look at.

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X The Unknown (1957)

X THE UNKNOWN (1957)
Article #146 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-9-2001
Posting date: 12-23-2001

A bizarre radioactive creature from the earth’s core breaks through the crust and begins killing people in England. An eccentric scientist is called in to help battle the menace.

This wonderful British thriller was modeled by screenwriter Jimmy Sangster on the Quatermass stories, and I don’t think he could have chosen a better model. It’s strengths are like those of the Quatermass series; there is a strong sense of character throughout, and a sense that the fantastic events are very real indeed comes through. Excellent acting work from Dean Jagger and Leo McKern helps the story along. This is definitely one of the feathers in Hammer’s cap.

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World Without End (1957)

WORLD WITHOUT END (1957)
Article #145 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-8-2001
Posting date: 12-22-2001

Astronauts on a trip to Mars hit a time warp and end up 500 years in the future. They return to Earth after a nuclear war, and encounter mutants and a civilized society living underground, whom they help with their 20th century earthman knowledge.

Allied Artists was quite ambitious with this one; just the use of color tells you that. It also has certain novelties; it takes place in the future rather than on another planet, which is certainly unusual. Also, there is a certain variety in the design of the mutants which, though not strictly necessary, shows that there was some creativity being invested in the movie. Unfortunately, the underground society is made up of beautiful women and doddering old men; this scenario is obviously designed to make the virile young twentieth century men become the mates-of-choice of the beautiful women, which seems to me to be less inspired by any sort of logic than it is by the desire to pander to its audience. The smug fifties-style sexism doesn’t help, either; for a woman who is pretending she can’t talk to give herself away when she is accused of being bow-legged is just sexist, but to have this trick engineered by the men betrays the smugness of it all. Ultimately, it feels like a cross between PLANET OF THE APES and FLIGHT TO MARS, with a smidgen of FIRE MAIDENS FROM OUTER SPACE thrown in. If my memory serves me correctly, they fight a cave spider that has popped up in several movies of this ilk.

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Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922)

WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES (1922)
(a.k.a. HAXAN)
Article #144 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-7-2001
Posting date: 12-21-2001

This movie is partially a documentary on witchcraft, and partially a fictional account of a woman accused of witchcraft.

For some reason, I can’t really think of a lot to say about this strange mixture of documentary and fiction, despite the fact that I’d wanted to catch this movie for years due to what was written about it in various books about horror movies. It’s packed full of creative and shocking imagery, and most likely would offend the devout with its portrayal of corrupt clergymen, but considering the subject matter, this is unavoidable. It’s quite fascinating, and the subject matter alone makes it of interest to horror fans, but what I found most striking was when it took the theme into the twentieth century and discussed the nature of hysteria. The director plays the devil, which I find quite amusing. There’s a version narrated by William Burroughs, but that’s not the one I’ve seen; though I suspect it would be interesting to watch, I also suspect it wouldn’t be the way the movie was originally intended to be seen.

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Waxworks (1923)

WAXWORKS (1923)
(a.k.a. DAS WACHSFIGURENKABINETT)
Article #143 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-6-2001
Posting date: 12-20-2001

A wax museum hires a writer to write stories about three of their new wax figures; Harun al Raschid, Ivan the Terrible, and Jack the Ripper.

There’s an impressive cast here; Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, and Emil Jannings play the three wax personages, while director-to-be William Dieterle plays the writer, as well as several characters in the three stories. I think the movie is terribly uneven; the first story about Harun al Raschid is an amusing enough fantasy, and is IMHO the best part of the movie. The second part is about Ivan the Terrible, and though it includes some striking sequences (especially one involving an hourglass), I’ve never been able to follow the storyline, if there is one. And for those who are primarily interested in the Jack the Ripper sequence, be forewarened; the running time is almost up by the time they reach this sequence, and no mistake has been made on the running time. This is my way of saying that the last sequence seems nothing more than a joke with which to end the movie, and not a particularly satisfying one.

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The Walking Dead (1936)

THE WALKING DEAD (1936)
Article #142 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-5-2001
Posting date: 12-19-2001

A scientist brings back to life a man framed for the murder of a judge. The man has returned to life with the knowledge of the men who framed him, and confronts each one of them, resulting in their accidental deaths.

This movie had an enormous impact on me when I saw it as a child, and time has not dampened that impact in the least. Though some people may not care for the religious themes in this movie, I think they are what give the movie its power; it’s one of the only movies I’ve seen dealing with the resurrection of the dead that really cares about what the subject experienced during the time he was dead. Karloff is outstanding in this movie, especially after he is resurrected: I love the lost and confused look that goes over his face after each confrontation, as if he himself doesn’t even know what’s going on. I also noticed this time around that before each confrontation, all the friends and protectors of the one he’s going to meet seem to vanish or have unexpected reasons to not hang around, almost as if outside forces are guiding their actions. The scene where Karloff plays the piano while turning his gaze on each of the men who framed him is a classic. It’s a shame this movie has had no official release on VHS or DVD; I consider it a real classic that seems destined to be forgotten.

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Voodoo Man (1944)

VOODOO MAN (1944)
Article #141 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-4-2001
Posting date: 12-18-2001

A man tries to revive his dead wife by kidnapping women who drive on the road alongside his house (he uses a fake detour sign and ambulatory bushes to trap them), and using voodoo to transfer their life essences into the corpse of his wife.

This is, I believe, the only movie to feature Bela Lugosi, John Carradine AND George Zucco (unless you think George is in RETURN OF THE APE MAN somewhere). It would have been nice if the script had been fashioned to put all three stars to their best use: unfortunately, only Bela gets a good role, and both Carradine (as a blithering idiot) and Zucco (as an evil gas station attendant) are woefully miscast. The goings-on are pretty silly, as you would expect from Monogram. And even though the plots are significantly different, there’s something about the movie that strongly reminds me of THE CORPSE VANISHES; maybe it’s the presence of someone who looks like George Eldredge who played the role of Mike in that movie. At any rate, I wonder what kind of movie they could have made had they tailored a script to fit all three actors rather than wasting two of them.

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