Month: May 2015

The Magic Voyage of Sinbad (1953)

THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1953)
(a.k.a. SADKO)
Article #600 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-5-2002
Posting date: 4-1-2003

An adventurer decides to make a voyage to find the bird of happiness to bring to the town of his birth.

This is the third of the Alexander Ptushko fantasies that I’ve covered here; unfortunately, despite the fact that this one has a certain charm to it and boasts an epic-sized cast, it lacks the robust vigor of THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON or the focused storytelling of THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE; instead, the movie resembles more than anything else THE BLUE BIRD, and though it replaces that story’s childish whimsy with epic grandeur, it remains just as mushy and obvious on the inside. And without a solid story to back it up, all the spectacle becomes little more than a tempest in a teapot, only coming to life in the last fifteen minutes in an underwater sequence that wins out through sheer goofiness. (Did you know that Neptune’s wife is called “Neptuna”?)

I do think it is important, however, to point out at this point that the comments I’ve made are based on the English-dubbed version of the movie, which most probably takes massive liberties with the original film. The only reason the hero of this movie is called Sinbad is that the name is familiar to American audiences; there isn’t a shred of Arabian Nights feel to the movie. I suspect the characters real name is Sadko, but I can’t say for sure. At any rate, I would have to rate this one the least of Ptushko’s fantasies, giving myself the out that I may change my mind if I ever see the original version of the movie.

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Horror of Dracula (1958)

HORROR OF DRACULA (1958)
Article #599 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-4-2002
Posting date: 3-30-2003

Dr. Van Helsing tries to track down and destroy Dracula.

This was the first movie in the Hammer Dracula series, and it’s a fairly succinct and entertaining take on the story. It makes a lovely use of color, as do most Hammer movies, and it features good performances from Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Michael Gough. It’s a little plodding at times, but not as much as some other Hammers I’ve seen, and the comic relief sequences are annoying and a bit unnecessary, but these are minor quibbles. For me, the most interesting thing is noting the way that it more or less hones to the original story while making some very interesting changes to that story; though I do kind of miss not having a Renfield character (they would throw in a similar character in DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS), I found it quite surprising that Jonathan Harker’s purpose in going to Dracula’s castle had nothing to do with real estate.

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Gorilla at Large (1954)

GORILLA AT LARGE (1954)
Article #598 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-3-2002
Posting date: 3-29-2003

Murders are being committed on the grounds of a circus, and there is some suspicion that the murderer may be the fierce gorilla from one of the acts.

That a 3-D murder mystery involving a gorilla (played by George Barrows) which features Cameron Mitchell and Raymond Burr exists really doesn’t surprise me much; what does surprise me is that the cast also includes Anne Bancroft, Lee J. Cobb, and Lee Marvin (as a comic-relief Irish cop). It’s more of a murder mystery than a horror movie, and actually not a bad one; there are several very good suspects, and you’re really not sure who is responsible, and there are enough good twists to keep things lively. Actually, if anything really saves the movie, it is the solid acting throughout to balance out the basic silliness, and Barrows gives one of his better performances as a gorilla in this one. I enjoyed this one much more than I suspected.

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The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935)

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN (1935)
Article #597 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-2-2002
Posting date: 3-28-2003

Tarzan goes to Guatamala to rescue an old friend and ends up fighting criminals trying to steal an idol containing an explosive secret.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was one of the producers of this serial, so this is probably one of the more accurate portrayals of Tarzan as envisioned in the original books. Herman Brix plays Tarzan, and his yell is something else; my wife thought it sounded like Lou Costello screaming in fright while turning inexplicably into Minnie Pearl. Actually, the serial is pretty good; it takes itself somewhat more seriously than some of the others I’ve seen, and there’s a definite savage touch to the violence that makes it a bit more engrossing. Cheating cliffhangers abound, but actually, the action sequences are done well enough that they don’t bother me at all this time around. However, if you get to the last episode, you might be excused for wondering if the story is over in the first five minutes of it. In which case, you’d be right; the last three-quarters of this episode is mostly recycled footage from the first episode. The acting is not particularly good, but you only notice that when the actors are just standing around talking, which isn’t very often; the emphasis is definitely on action.

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The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1967)
Article #596 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-1-2002
Posting date: 3-27-2003

A professor and his assistant encounter vampires in the snowbound wilds of Transylvania.

Roman Polanski is one of those great directors who has spent a lot of his energy on cinema of the fantastic, and I can’t help but be vastly amused that he decided to take on the rather dubious genre of the horror comedy here. He doesn’t even blanche at using slapstick humor throughout, though it’s certainly done with a lot more grace than you would expect from the Three Stooges, for example. It’s not my favorite horror comedy of all time (I can think of a few others that give me a lot more laughs), but it is genuinely amusing, clever, and strikingly beautiful to look at. I find it fascinating in particular that he chose to set the movie during the winter months; the vast fields of snow that serve as a backdrop to the action give the movie a unique ambience that is quite unlike any other vampire movie I know of. He has a lot of fun with certain vampire cliches; not only does this movie have one of the first openly gay vampires, but it also has one of the first Jewish comic relief vampires that I’ve noticed in a movie (and guess what defense against vampires is of little use against them?). I also can’t help but notice how mirrors, usually used to spot the vampires, end up playing a crucial role in helping the vampires to spot the humans at one crucial juncture of the story.

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London After Midnight (1927) – Stills Recreation

LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (1927) – Stills Restoration
Article #595 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 10-31-2002
Posting date: 3-26-2003

A murder may have been the result of vampires.

This marks the second time I’ve covered a movie that I haven’t actually seen, though unlike THE MIRACLE MAN (1919), at least the still recreation of the movie makes a better substitute than merely the five-minute clip that I used as an excuse for that one. It’s only a partially satisfying experience, but it’s probably as close as we’re going to get to it, and even if it gets a little dull and confusing at spots, I’m very glad it exists. Granted, the confusion that sets in towards the end may be as much a result of the story itself as the fact you’re watching a series of stills; its remake, MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935), gets quite confusing itself before it’s all over. Still, if you’ve watched that movie, you’ll be pretty well prepared for this one, as the story is largely the same. Still, I applaud the effort, and I do admire how well they manage some of the sequences with only stills, particularly a hypnotism sequence that shows how creative editing can bring a scene to life, even if that scene consists of nothing more than a series of stills.

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The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)

THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1959)
Article #594 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 10-30-2002
Posting date: 3-25-2003

Three people discover they may be the only survivors of world destruction.

This movie really tries, and for the first half hour, with much of that time devoted to Harry Belafonte wandering the deserted city of New York, it succeeds. Unfortunately, once he meets Inger Stevens, the movie starts to falter, and from that point onwards I found the movie to be stiff, self-conscious, clumsy, and ultimately and painfully obvious in doling out its messages. It’s a shame; I really wanted to believe these characters were three-dimensional, living beings, but they end up being either symbolic or mouthpieces for the messages. I guess when it comes to movies like this, I’ll probably go back to either FIVE or THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH before I pop this one in again, no matter how breathtaking the scenes in the first thirty minutes are; at least the characters in those movies seemed to have some real personality to them.

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The Indian Tomb Part 2: The Tiger of Bengal (1921)

THE INDIAN TOMB, PART 2: THE TIGER OF BENGAL (1921)
Article #593 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 10-29-2002
Posting date: 3-24-2003

Fritz Lang is one of my all-time favorite directors; Joe May (unless I see several other movies of his that really impress me) is not. Now that I’ve completed the grueling task of watching both halves of this movie, I’m glad I didn’t try it at one shot. The story is good and the sets are quite impressive, but I found Joe May’s direction tedious. He had a passion for long, lingering shots, and there are so many scenes in this movie where the camera just dwells pointlessly on people walking down stairs, people walking towards each other, people reacting to things, etc. that I found myself actually wishing that I’d stumbled instead on a print at the wrong projection speed so these scenes would go by faster. It has a great ending, but there was no reason that this whole thing should have lasted three-and-a-half hours; I only wonder what Lang would have done with it if HE had directed it. He did direct the remake, though; maybe I’ll tackle that one some time.

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The Indian Tomb Part One: The Mission of the Yogi (1921)

THE INDIAN TOMB, PART ONE: THE MISSION OF THE YOGI (1921)
Article #592 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-28-2003
Posting Date: 3-23-2003

An architect is brought to India under mysterious circumstances to build a tomb.

Actually, the book from which I got the listing for this movie refers to both parts as a single movie, but IMDB lists each part as a separate movie, and though it tells one complete story, I’m going to opt for splitting it into two parts, at least partially so I don’t have to watch the whole four-hour stretch at one haul. This is certainly true if the second half is a lot like the first; I found the first half to be painfully slow-moving at times; it takes a good hour before the prince even gets around to showing the architect where the tomb is to be built. One wonders what it would have been like if it actually had been directed by Fritz Lang (who worked on the script with Thea Von Harbou); however, the producer thought the movie would be a big hit, and wanted the credit for himself, so it was directed by Joe May; Fritz Lang would later direct a remake. The story itself is quite interesting once it does get going, but sometimes it cuts back and forth at inconvenient times, particularly during a sequence where the scenes of the lover of the princess fighting for his life against the prince’s forces are intercut with the fiancee wandering around the palace and ending up in a bird-filled garden; I ended up being a little annoyed by this rather arbitrary use of editing. Still, I should see the second half tomorrow, and I am curious as to what is going to happen.

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Wild Wild Planet (1965)

WILD WILD PLANET (1965)
Article #591 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-27-2003
Posting Date: 3-22-2003

A commander investigates a series of disappearances of people, which leads him to a plot to create a perfect race.

You will notice the title, WILD WILD PLANET, is designed to conjure up visions of wild sixties culture, and one would expect something overdone and campy; other than a scene in which the heroes fight with a bunch of women in nighties and black panties, there is very little outrageous enough to warrant your attention here. The special effects are awful, but this wouldn’t be fatal if the story were lively, but alas, a promising premise degenerates into confusion and tedium. The bad dubbing once again doesn’t help matters (does it ever?), but it appears that the movie may be of a little interest except to those who feel garish colors and bizarre costumes make for a great movie; I would prefer a solid story, myself.

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