Month: April 2015

Cat-Women of the Moon (1953)

CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON (1953)
Article #510 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-7-2002
Posting date: 12-31-2002

Astronauts land on the moon to find a race of hostile cat-women.

This is one of those movies that is supposed to be so bad it’s fun to watch; I only wish it were. As it is, many of the enjoyable bad movies have a certain amount of inspiration that makes them quite watchable; this one seems so totally uninspired that one wonders why they bothered. It’s supposed to be in 3-D, but it seems as if barely a third of the movie was actually shot that way. The dialogue is horrible, but not due to misguided inspiration; rather, it feels like it was trotted off by someone who was more interested in paying the rent that week than in making any sort of statement. What can you say about a movie that can’t even work up the energy to actually shoot its action-filled ending rather than having it all happen offstage? Maybe they didn’t want to bother changing the camera set-ups or going through that tedious process of editing the scenes together. Whatever the reason, this movie is just dull and dreary, and is probably the worst of the all-female-civilizations-in-outer-space movies (an admittedly rather pallid lot).

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The Cat People (1942)

THE CAT PEOPLE (1942)
Article #509 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-6-2002
Posting date: 12-30-2002

A woman believes that she is under a curse that will cause her to turn into a panther and kill her husband.

I would have to say that, with the possible exception of James Whale, Val Lewton remains the horror movie maker whose work I have most consistently enjoyed throughout the years. With the sole exception of GHOST SHIP, I have watched all of his horror movies repeatedly over the years (and the only reason GHOST SHIP remained an exception was that I never got a chance to see it until recently). This does not mean that I love each of his films equally; it’s merely to say that all of his work bears repeated viewings.

Sadly, CAT PEOPLE remains a bit of a problem for me. Though it is exquisitely and superbly crafted, full of brilliant and memorable moments, and in many ways a better movie than ISLE OF THE DEAD, THE LEOPARD MAN, THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE or THE SEVENTH VICTIM, if I were given the choice on any given day I would probably opt for any of those last four. It’s difficult for me to say why this is; while I’m watching the movie, I’m in constant admiration of the skill and craft that went into it. I just never quite move past the stage of admiration; the movie remains somewhat distant and never really comes to life for me. This may be a very personal thing; movies rely on images, and people react to images in very distinct and individual ways; a resonant image for one person may leave another one cold. Sadly, this movie does not resonate with me (despite the fact that there are details in my life that would lead you to think that it would be resonant indeed).

So this movie remains one of those that has always eluded me somewhat. Maybe someday it will not; it’s a movie that could very well hit home if seen at just the right time and in the right frame of mind. I hope that day comes.

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Carnival of Souls (1962)

CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962)
Article #508 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-4-2002
Posting date: 12-28-2002

A woman who miraculously survives an automobile accident finds herself haunted by a spectral figure.

The occasional sloppy voice dubbing is the biggest clue here that the budget was fairly low on this eerie little cult classic; it is so exquisitely directed throughout, though, that it is no surprise to discover that the people involved in this project had plenty of film experience, even if this was their first stab at a feature. They worked for Centron, which specialized in industrial and educational shorts. One of the versions of this movie had an opening sequence with Herk Harvey talking a little about the movie, and though I don’t remember the exact quote, it appears he was trying to make a movie that crossed Cocteau and Bergman; it was obviously an ambitious movie, and it succeeds beautifully; the sequences where the heroine loses aural touch with the world and becomes invisible to all around are as frighteningly unsettling as can be. This is one of my favorites, and one I’m capable of watching again and again; it is one of the saddest, most moving, and most beautiful horror movies ever made.

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A Bucket of Blood (1959)

A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959)
Article #507 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-3-2002
Posting date: 12-27-2002

A simple-minded busboy with artistic ambitions is praised for his talent when he makes a statue of a cat which was in reality a cat he accidentally killed and covered with clay. This leads him on the road to murder in order to fulfill his artistic ambitions.

I had heard about this movie for years before I had ever seen it, and, being a great fan of the similar LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, I was extremely eager to see it. I was initially disappointed because the movie didn’t seem as funny as LITTLE SHOP, but then I wasn’t prepared for the fact that though the movies do share the same essential story, the one was a wild farce while this one was darkly satiric. I have a much greater appreciation for the movie now; it’s definitely a triumph for Charles B. Griffith (it’s one of his best scripts) and for Dick Miller, giving perhaps the best performance of his career. Roger Corman gives the movie solid direction, but it’s Griffith’s wonderful dialogue that captures the attention, particularly the pretentious beatnik poetry that Walter Paisley ends up taking to heart, mistaking its metaphor for literalness and seeing the messages as condoning his murderous activity. The characters are so well drawn, and the script unfolds so smoothly that I find myself drawn into the story. It makes a great companion piece to LITTLE SHOP, if for no other reason that it gives a complete course in how to take a story and reinvent it in radically different ways.

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The Smiling Ghost (1941)

THE SMILING GHOST (1941)
Article #506 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-2-2002
Posting date: 12-26-2002

A down-on-his-luck college graduate is offered a thousand dollars if he’s willing to pose as a young woman’s fiance for one month. What he doesn’t know is that the woman has already had three fiances who have died under mysterious circumstances.

This minor but enjoyable horror comedy came as a pleasant surprise; by taking itself a little more seriously than many other horror comedies do, it ends up avoiding some of the desperation that comes across in them. A strong cast helps; Wayne Morris is the graduate, Alexis Smith is the woman, and Brenda Marshall is a reporter looking into the story. Also some fine work from Willie Best, Alan Hale Sr., David Bruce and Charles Halton, who has my favorite character; that of a wacky uncle who collects shrunken heads and wants to add Willie Best to his collection. There are some definite plot holes here, but the generally high level of acting keeps things from being too ridiculous.

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The Brain Eaters (1958)

THE BRAIN EATERS (1958)
Article #505 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-2-2002
Posting date: 12-26-2002

The appearance of a strange metallic object in a ravine near a small town coincides with a strange wave of murders and disappearances.

Bruno VeSota directed this unauthorized adaptation of Robert Heinlein’s “The Puppet Masters”; I’ve not read the book, so I can’t do a real comparison. VeSota adds a certain dark atmosphere to the proceedings, but the story is a mess; I don’t know whether the problem was in the original script, in the editing, or if certain scenes were never filmed, but the movie feels jumpy and unfinished, almost as if they stopped filming before they were complete and just edited what they had together. And if the music sounds too good to have been composed for the film, it wasn’t; it was a classical piece by Shostakovich. There are some good ideas in this movie, but I don’t know if they were original to the script or from the Heinlein novel. And though I couldn’t spot Leonard Nimoy visually, I definitely recognized his voice when he appeared.

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The Body Snatcher (1945)

THE BODY SNATCHER (1945)
Article #504 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-1-2002
Posting date: 12-25-2002

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Okay, enough of the holiday cheer…on to the review.

A cabman supplies bodies for a doctor who teaches medicine to students.

I read somewhere that Val Lewton was less than thrilled to learn he would have to use Boris Karloff in his next movie, as he perceived him as being the standard boogeyman that he was trying to avoid using in his horror films. This was until he actually met and talked to Karloff, and discovered that they were actually on the same wavelength. It was from Lewton that Karloff would receive some of the most complex roles in his career, and THE BODY SNATCHER is their triumph. Gray is a fascinating individual; even though he robs graves and murders to supply his bodies, he has an honest affection for children (the opening scene of him talking with the crippled girl is not the least bit creepy, as his affection for children is obvious and sincere; in real life, Karloff himself loved children) and ends up being the prime force that contributes to the healing of the little girl (even though it involves murder and blackmail). He also has a cat that he loves. Dr. MacFarland, however, is cold and somewhat mean-spirited; you end up liking the cabman much more. In fact, the whole movie is about moral ambiguity; it’s very hard to make easy moral judgments about much of what happens, because so much of it is tied to curing the little girl. Karloff’s performance is magnificent; in Danny Peary’s “Alternate Oscars” book, he claims Karloff should have won an Academy Award for his performance, and I have to agree.

One sad thing about the movie is the presence of Bela Lugosi, once again shuttled off to a minor role as a servant. He does quite well in this small role, and he gets billing above Henry Daniell who plays Dr. MacFarland, but the movie is such a triumph for Karloff that you almost forget Bela is there. And though Karloff would work with Lewton twice more, this would be Lugosi’s sole collaboration with Lewton.

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Shock (1946)

SHOCK (1946)
Article #503 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 7-31-2002
Posting date: 12-24-2002

A woman goes into shock after witnessing a murder. The doctor who is called in to treat her is the murderer she saw.

This is an interesting little movie; though I don’t think it quite lives up to its premise, nonetheless it has a strong beginning (with a great little dream sequence to kick things off) and a strong ending, plus it is blessed by a good performance by Vincent Price before he became a horror star. It’s less of a horror film than a film noir, with a femme fatale nurse dominating the doctor and pushing him into further illegal acts to cover up his crimes. The uses of hypnotism, and the theme of madness, plus the dream sequence, are the elements that add the touches of horror to this movie.

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The Moonstone (1934)

THE MOONSTONE (1934)
Article #502 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 7-30-2002
Posting date: 12-23-2002

A rare and valuable gem is brought from India to be a gift for a young woman. However, the gem is stolen during the night.

The movie opens with the opening of a book entitled “World’s Greatest Mysteries Volume 1”, and the title page opens to “The Moonstone” by Wilkie Collins; by all reports, it is one of the cornerstone mysteries of all time. I’ve never read it, but it might be interesting to do so one day. Somehow, I suspect that when I do, I won’t find this adaptation of the story to have been a satisfactory substitute, but that’s not really fair, as my print of it runs just a little under fifty minutes, and by all reports, the full movie runs sixty-two. That means I’m missing thirteen minutes, and in terms of pacing in a movie this short, thirteen minutes can be crucial. It may explain why I find the last part of this movie perfunctory and rushed; it’s over at just about the time I’m gearing up to get caught up in the mystery. Therefore, I must reserve judgment until I see the full version; this shortened one is just too abbreviated to be much fun, despite the presence of familiar faces such as David Manners, Gustav Von Seyfertitz and Elspeth Dudgeon.

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Hyde Park Corner (1935)

HYDE PARK CORNER (1935)
Article #501 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-29-2002
Posting Date: 12-22-2002

When an eighteenth century gambler dies in a duel with a cheating opponent, he places a curse on the house which was a stake in the game. The curse extends down to the present time, where a murder has been committed on the residence.

At about the halfway point of this movie, I found myself scrambling around trying to find some sort of write-up on it to help me figure out what was going on; in so doing, I couldn’t help but notice that Don Willis described the movie as “unwatchable.” Though I don’t feel the same way, I see what he’s getting at; after spending thirty minutes setting up a distinct situation, the movie then veers off into a subplot concerning a shoplifter (Binnie Hale) who crosses swords with a self-important police constable (Gordon Harker), and this subplot promptly takes over the film. Whether you survive this depends on whether you find the characters amusing, and actually, I found myself highly entertained by them, though it left me wondering what it all had to do with story, and I could see how if you weren’t amused, you might just turn the TV off in disgust. It eventually does drift back to the original story, and even throws in a hint of reincarnation to the ancestral curse mix, but I think ultimately it remains more of a comedy-mystery than a horror film. An oddity, to be sure.

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