Month: December 2014

The Wasp Woman (1960)

THE WASP WOMAN (1960)

Article #301 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-10-2002
Posting date: 5-27-2002

The head of a cosmetics firm becomes the subject of a youth-restoring serum made from wasp jelly with dire results.

This Filmgroup horror movie, directed by Roger Corman and written by Leo Gordon, takes a long time to get off the ground, and it never really builds up much of a head of steam. Still, it has a fine performance by Susan Cabot as the head of the cosmetics firm and one of the better roles for character actor Michael Mark as the scientist Mr. Zinthrop. I recognize some of the soundtrack from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS in this movie. One question: even though the injections manage to restore Miss Starlin to her beauty, wouldn’t she lose her youthful figure after dining on a meal the size of Bruno Ve Sota? Just asking.

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War of the Worlds (1953)

WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)
Article #300 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-9-2002
Posting date: 5-26-2002

Martians invade the earth in unstoppable war machines.

I remember watching this movie on TV as a kid, and it had an enormous impact on me; I’ve never forgotten the scenes where the landing craft knocks over the farmhouse, the eye sneaks in and spies on the hero and heroine, and the wonderful moment at the end with the martian hand coming out of the downed saucer. Nowadays, I still love the movie, and it is far and away my favorite alien invasion movie. It’s also my favorite George Pal film, and even though religious themes have annoyed me in other movies, in this one I accept them; the only time I feel a little embarrassed by them is on the comment about it taking the same amount of time to destroy the earth as it did to create it. There’s lots of familiar faces (and voices) on hand, with Gene Barry, Les Tremayne, Paul Frees, Sir Cedric Hardwicke (narration), Russ Bender, and (I noticed him for the first time this time round) Paul Birch as the man with the white flag.

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The Veil (1958)

THE VEIL (1958)
Article #299 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-8-2002
Posting date: 5-25-2002

An anthology of stories about people who experience events that pierce the veil of reality.

Stringing episodes of a TV series together to create a movie has never been IMHO a good idea; however, since this TV series was never aired, it was probably the only way that these shows would ever get exposure. The concept works a little better with an anthology series, too, as it adheres to a recognizable and workable cinematic style. Two other anthologies would be created from the series “The Veil,” called JACK THE RIPPER and DESTINATION NIGHTMARE; both are available on DVD, as well as a DVD set of the entire series. All four episodes of this one deal with men who see things that they shouldn’t be able to see; two see events that happen in places far removed from their current location, one sees an event three days before it happens, and several people see a man who actually couldn’t have been there. The show is pretty so-so, but I suspect Boris Karloff, who appears in each of these four episodes in a wide variety of roles, was enjoying himself; it’s strange seeing him as a French rake, but I like even this performance when I put aside my preconceptions about what is the right role for Karloff.

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The Unholy Three (1930)

THE UNHOLY THREE (1930)
Article #298 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-7-2002
Posting date: 5-24-2002

A ventriloquist, a strong man, and a midget combine forces to commit robberies.

If you’ve seen the silent version of this movie, you’ve seen this movie. Granted, there are a few changes; it has sound, to start with. It also motivates the scene with the gorilla a little better. It’s also more efficient; the silent movie is about fifteen minutes longer. But the acting isn’t quite as good; Harry Earles had one of the worst acting voices I’ve ever heard, and even Lon Chaney’s voice is a little off-putting and takes some getting used to; I wonder how far he would have gone in talkies if he had lived. As it is, I prefer the silent version, though it is interesting to compare the two.

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The Undying Monster (1942)

THE UNDYING MONSTER (1942)
Article #297 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-6-2002
Posting date: 5-23-2002

The male sons of the Hammond estate seem to be under a curse that involves their deaths at the hands of an unknown creature.

Basically, this was a low-budget attempt to cash in on THE WOLF MAN, even including its own werewolf poem (about going out on frosty nights). At sixty minutes long, its thirty minutes of a good movie and thirty minutes of a not-so-good movie; fortunately, the good thirty minutes constitute the beginning and end of the movie, both eerie and exciting. The middle of the movie is talky, over-plotted, and appears to be going out of its way to convince you that the ending is going to result in a more mundane explanation for the murders than werewolfery; I’m glad they didn’t opt ultimately for that approach. There’s also a great little scene involving spectrum analysis that’s my favorite in the movie. It requires a bit of patience, but the movie is worth a look.

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20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957)
Article #296 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-5-2002
Posting date: 5-22-2002

A boy sells the ingredients of a cannister that was among the wreckage of a space expedition to Venus. This turns out to be a rapidly-growing Venusian that was brought back for scientific testing.

Though it isn’t a perfect movie by any means, I think this is Harryhausen’s best black-and-white SF effort; Nathan Juran keeps the story moving as usual, so the plot has fewer dead spots than other Harryhausen movies, and the monster is one of his most well-developed in terms of character. In fact, he’s the most sympathetic character in the whole story, as even the heros take too much part in tormenting the creature. I also love the work Harryhausen did on the elephant; so much so that it seems as real and life-like as the scenes where a real elephant is used in place of the animation; being able to pull off this trick is a real accomplishment.

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Tobor the Great (1954)

TOBOR THE GREAT (1954)
Article #295 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-4-2002
Posting date: 5-21-2002

A scientist creates a robot to replace astronauts in planned explorations of space.

Everybody feels the need to point this out, so why should I be any different; Tobor is robot spelled backwards (and Great is anagram of the word grate, a fact that nobody finds interesting). The movie is currently sitting with a 4.0 rating on IMDB, which is a little unfair; the movie is what it is, and what it is is a children’s movie. Specifically, it’s a movie for boys who love robots. Yes, the dialogue is a bit of the gosh-wow variety (The phrases “Gee whilikers” and “I just gotta see that robot. I just gotta!” do appear), but it’s nowhere near as condescending or simplistic as it could have been. In fact, it may be a shade too nasty; the scene where the bad guys threaten to torture the child with a blowtorch may be a bit much, even though they never actually do so. Sure, it’s indifferently acted and directed, but I always feel the need to cut the movie some slack.

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The Wild Women of Wongo (1958)

THE WILD WOMEN OF WONGO (1958)
Article #294 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-3-2002
Posting date: 5-20-2002

This is one of those movies where a plot description is best. Prepare for SPOILERS.

Right off the bat, Mother Nature (I hope she was well paid for her cameo) tells us about an experiment she tried by creating two tribes of primitive people; one in which all the men are ugly and all the women beautiful (Wongo), and the other that’s just the opposite (Goona). When a Goona man visits the Wongo tribe to enlist their help in fighting the ape men, the women of Wongo notice the difference. The Wongo men notice, and try to kill the Goona warrior, but he escapes unharmed.

Now it turns out that both the Wongo women and the Goona men have rites of passage; the Wongo women have to visit the goddess at the dragon shrine (who expresses herself by magically donning her gator hat and dancing; I am not making this up), and then one of them will be sacrificed to the dragon god (which appears to involve women wrestling gators, though not in either mud or jello). When they are attacked by ape men (who look no more than apes than the men of the Wongo tribe), they defeat them and their bodies are eaten by the gators (by the way, there are several clues here to indicate that this was filmed in Florida).

The death of the ape men having appeased the Dragon god (he prefers ape men to beautiful women; go figure), they return to Wongo to find the men missing, except for one who they find dead. Thinking the men have all been killed by the ape men, they set out for Goona and the good pickings to be had there. The men of Wongo are not dead, though, and when they return to the village, think that the women have been captured by the ape men, and decide also to go to Goona.

Meanwhile, the men of Goona are undergoing their rite of passage, which involves them going out in the jungle without spears and not talking to women, and maybe even doing some skinny-dipping (no gator-wrestling is involved), and then going back to marry one of the ugly Goona women. This makes them easy pickings for the Wongo women, who capture them and take them to the goddess at the shrine, who blesses their marriages. Then the men of Wongo show up with their prospective mates. Can you guess who? I won’t give this part away.

Oh, yes, and there’s a parrot who gives a running commentary on the action. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; talking birds are not funny.

It has one of the worst soundtracks on record; it even pillages the soundtrack of PLAN 9 at one point.

I know. Some of your mouths are watering, while others of you are finding your eyes glazing over. Whichever it is, consider yourself warned.

Watching these things is a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.

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The Transatlantic Tunnel (1935)

THE TRANSATLANTIC TUNNEL (1935)
Article #293 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-2-2002
Posting date: 5-19-2002

An engineer’s dream of building a tunnel to connect England and America takes a high toll on those involved, professionally and personally.

I really enjoyed this impressive science fiction drama, a movie that carefully balances the spectacle with the human drama. I admire the scope of the movie, in that it deals with the events in business, personal, and political terms without losing its sense of focus on the engineer protagonist, played by Richard Dix. It’s a tribute to this movie that I didn’t actually know how it was going to end; whether the tunnel was going to be completed or not remains a question until the very last minutes of the movie. The movie also doesn’t settle for easy moralization; you are merely shown the price that is being paid to accomplish this task, and are left to decide for yourself whether it is worth it or not. Science fiction dramas are rare beasts, and it’s always nice to find one that pulls it off.

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Time Flies (1944)

TIME FLIES (1944)
Article #292 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-1-2002
Posting date: 5-18-2002

Several people go back to Elizabethan times in a time machine. There they meet various personages from that era, including Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, and Sir Walter Raleigh.

This slight British comedy with jazzy musical numbers (which impress the Elizabethans, though not the queen) was never released in this country, but is now available through the miracle of home video. Unless you find Tommy Handley the pinnacle of hilarity, it’s not really worth bothering about, but it is historically important in the history of science fiction cinema, as it may be the earliest movie to feature a time machine. There were earlier stories about time travel, but usually they involved dreams or magic of some sort. It doesn’t make the movie any better, though the costumes are quite elaborate. This one is a matter of taste.

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