Month: June 2015

Kriemhilde’s Revenge (1924)

KRIEMHILDE’S REVENGE (1924)
(a.k.a. DIE NIBELUNGEN: KRIEMHILDS RACHE)
Article #685 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-29-2003
Posting Date: 6-28-2003
Directed by Fritz Lang
Featuring Margarete Schon, Gertrud Arnold, Theodor Loos

Kriemhilde seeks revenge against the man who killed Siegfried.

This is the second half of Frtiz Lang’s DIE NIBELUNGEN, the first half, SIEGFRIED, having already been covered. The fantastic elements are minimal in this one, though the same cannot be said for the first half; the most obvious fantastic element here is a short flashback of the first half in which Siegfried kills a dragon. The story is less episodic and more focused than the first one, as it establishes Kriemhilde’s thirst for revenge from the beginning and never strays from that theme. Like SIEGFRIED, I can spot parts of Wagner’s musical themes on the soundtrack. It’s interesting to see Attila the Hun portrayed as something other than a total villain; here his desire for a son, his love for him, and his eventual loss of him makes him a sympathetic character, certainly moreso than the brutal but almost immortal Hagen Tronje, or Kriemhilde herself, whose obsession becomes her sole reason for existing. Like all of Fritz Lang’s silent films, definitely worth a look.

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Bloody Pit of Horror (1965)

BLOODY PIT OF HORROR (1965)
(a.k.a. IL BOIA SCARLATTO)
Article #684 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-28-2003
Posting Date: 6-27-2003
Directed by Massimo Pupillo
Featuring Mickey Hargitay, Walter Brandi and Moa Tahi

Photographers and beautiful models find themselves terrorized by a sadistic torturer known as The Crimson Executioner.

The basic concept has been done many times before, usually much better. The dubbing is pretty bad, which certainly doesn’t help matters much. There are certain flashes of creativity in the torture sequences, particularly in one that takes place in an unlikely room involving a spider web, a fake spider, and several bow-and-arrow traps; the bizarre thing about this torture is it just doesn’t feel like the type of direct torture that our villain engages in for the rest of the movie. The oddest thing by far is the villain’s motivation for his acts, to wit “to keep his perfect body free from contamination.” Is this the dark side of body-building? The dialogue is so ludicrous, and Mickey Hargitay so deranged (especially in the last half of the movie), that it all becomes entertaining in spite of its unpleasantness.

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It Happened Tomorrow (1944)

IT HAPPENED TOMORROW (1944)
Article #683 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-27-2003
Posting Date: 6-26-2003
Directed by Rene Clair
Featuring Dick Powell, Linda Darnell and Jack Oakie

A reporter begins to receive the daily paper one day early, and tries to take advantage of his knowledge of the future.

This is only the third time I’ve encountered Rene Clair on this cinematic journey, and though I tend not to think of him as a “Great” director, I do think he’s perfect for unpretentious movies that require a light touch to them. Thanks to him, this movie never becomes pretentious or heavy-handed; the closest he comes to an arty shot is an exquisite little moment involving a revolving door, and since it occurs during the only moment in the movie that anyone dies, it works nicely. This comedy makes some nice uses of the central concept, and it’s fun to see Edgar Kennedy as a frustrated cop trying to deal with his uncooperative prisoners. All in all, a light, enjoyable change of pace from my usual fare.

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The Blackbird (1926)

THE BLACKBIRD (1926)
Article #682 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-26-2003
Posting Date: 6-25-2003
Directed by Tod Browning
Featuring Lon Chaney, Owen Moore, Renee Adoree

Two crooks vie for the attentions of a nightclub entertainer; the loser then tries to undermine the winner’s success.

This is another of Tod Browning’s and Lon Chaney’s exercises on the theme of deformity; Chaney’s character has a dual identity: a criminal called the Blackbird and a kindly but hideously deformed philanthropist known as the Bishop. It starts out very well, particularly during an opening scene in which faces from London’s limehouse district flash before us, and the story has some interesting twists to it. In some ways, it is reminiscent of THE UNKNOWN, only with the cards shuffled into a different order. Sadly, I feel it stumbles towards the end; the final twist is brought about by a specific physical occurrence that (for me) fails to be convincing, and unfortunately it is not possible for me to be more clear without engaging in spoilers of the worst kind. Let’s just say I didn’t buy the ending, and all the acting in the world from Lon Chaney (who does give a great performance throughout, as does Owen Moore) never quite makes me buy it.

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Babes in Toyland (1934)

BABES IN TOYLAND (1934)
(a.k.a. MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS)
Article #681 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-25-2003
Posting Date: 6-24-2003
Directed by Gus Meins and Charley Rogers
Featuring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and Charlotte Henry

Ollie Dee and Stannie Dum try to save Little Bo-Peep from having to marry the evil Barnaby.

Arrrghhh! The copy I have on tape is the #*&@%$ colorized version! And the recent DVD release? Also the colorized version! It’s enough to make you tear your own moustache out with frustration!

Still, even colorized, I found it a good antidote to the 1961 version I covered recently; the music has been scaled down quite a bit, and in its place we have the antics of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the most charming, assured, and precise practitioners of slapstick comedy that ever lived. They rarely ventured into the realm of fantastic cinema, so I relish the chance to cover one of their movies. They’re in fine form here, fitting in well with the story-book plot here while stealing the show completely. There’s a good sense of whimsy throughout and a strong energy. Plus, the final sequence in which the boogeymen attack is scarier and more savage then you might expect. And is that John George I see as Barnaby’s minions? Indeed, it is, according to IMDB. I was also sure I spotted Angelo Rossitto as one of the ghostly dwarves that put the romantic leads to sleep, and it probably was; he also played the 2nd little pig. One special effect that puzzled me at first was how they did the mouse that hangs around with the cat and the fiddle; after watching closely, I’m guessing that’s a monkey in a mouse costume.

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The Gladiator (1938)

THE GLADIATOR (1938)
Article #680 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-24-2003
Posting Date: 6-23-2003
Directed by Edward Sedgwick
Featuring Joe E. Brown, Man Mountain Dean, Jean Travis

A man returning to college is talked into joining the football team, but is nothing but the brunt of jokes until he is given a drug that makes him super strong.

I’ve seen Joe E. Brown in several other movies, and I’ve always liked his rubbery-faced, big-mouthed charm. This is the first of his comedy vehicles that I’ve seen, and sadly, I didn’t think it was all that funny; in fact, the funniest line is given to his boss when he’s told who his replacement will be at the children’s hospital. Nevertheless, even though I was disappointed by the comic aspects of this movie, I still quite liked Brown’s performance. For one thing, he was very good at handling the sentimental side of things, giving them a light, honest touch to keep them from being too sickly sweet while remaining very strongly affecting. He also avoids desperation in his comic bits, and generally avoids mugging, which is actually quite a feat considering how easy it would be for him to engage in it with that face of his. Thus, it’s the warmth and sincerity that make this work.

Incidentally, Man Mountain Dean would be one of the wrestlers who would take on Mighty Joe Young in the movie of the same name; I ended up being somewhat amused that the first reference to him in this movie was a verbal joke concerning him and a monkey.

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The Curse of the Wraydons (1946)

THE CURSE OF THE WRAYDONS (1946)
Article #679 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-23-2003
Posting date: 6-22-2003
Directed by Victor M. Gover
Featuring Tod Slaughter, Bruce Seton, Andrew Laurence

When a soldier is taken into custody for starting a duel, he escapes, and then finds out that he is being framed for a series of murders.

The curse is insanity, by the way, which explains why many people end up believing the accusations that our hero is guilty of murder; however, we in the audience know better, because this is a Tod Slaughter movie, and therefore there should be little doubt as to who the real villain is. It’s also about Spring-Heeled Jack, and though I don’t know (pardon the expression) jack about Spring-Heeled Jack, I would have thought that a movie about him would have him as the villain. No, it’s the good guy who has that nickname; Tod Slaughter is called the Chief (though he does have another name, but that would be giving away too much). The movie has a fairly involved plot, and it takes a goodly amount of time setting it up, and there are a lot of static, talky scenes without Tod, but be patient; when Tod comes on, he chews the scenery in his patented style, and the script gives him a fair amount of great lines. It’s all pure melodrama of the type they don’t really make anymore, but at least we have these old ones we can go back to and enjoy.

Still, I can’t help but wish that would get at least one special effect of Spring-Heeled Jack doing his jumping thing, even a cheap one. Alas, it is only talked about.

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The Artist’s Dilemma (1901)

THE ARTIST’S DILEMMA (1901)
Article #678 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-22-2003
Posting date: 6-21-2003
Directed by Edwin S. Porter

Yes, this artist has a dilemma, all right; whether to paint the beautiful woman who has emerged from his clock or contend with the evil clown that has also emerged from his clock. Fortunately, the clown is a master painter himself; he does a portrait of the beautiful woman that is so life-like it comes out of the painting. From here on out, complications ensue; at any rate, they ensue as much as this two minute movie will allow them to. All in all, just another exercise in pseudo-Melies trick photography; Melies himself had trouble with evil clowns in THE MAN WITH THE RUBBER HEAD. But then, we all know that clowns are really evil, don’t we?

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Alphaville (1965)

ALPHAVILLE (1965)
(a.k.a. ALPHAVILLE, A STRANGE ADVENTURE OF LEMMY CAUTION)
Article #677 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-21-2003
Posting date: 6-20-2003

A secret agent infiltrates the planet/city of Alphaville.

It’s French New Wave cinema, a type of movie that has always remained somewhat alien to me. Yes, there’s some fascinating visual moments, but there’s a part of me that just wants to dismiss the whole thing as self-indulgent twaddle. What prevents me from doing so, though, is an element that caught me off guard; the movie has a sense of humor at times, and it actually made me laugh on occasion. Not that the movie is a comedy; it isn’t. But maybe the movie shouldn’t be taken quite as seriously as the camera angles, cinematic tricks and poetry would lead you to believe. There are comic book touches here, as well as hard-boiled detective motifs, 1984-like dystopian visions, and some very nice black and white photography. Eddie Constantine has one of the craggiest faces in existence, and the movie also features familiar faces in Akim Tamiroff and Howard Vernon. I don’t quite understand it myself, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who was averse to this arty sort of thing, nor am I sure that repeated viewing will really prove beneficial to me, but there was just enough here to give me the idea that I might just give it another shot one of these days.

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Among the Living (1941)

AMONG THE LIVING (1941)
Article #676 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-20-2003
Posting date: 6-19-2003

A businessman discovers that his supposedly dead twin brother is not only alive, but insane.

This thriller is anchored by a great performance in a dual role by Albert Dekker; he does particularly well with Paul, the insane brother, a childlike man who has been isolated from the world for 25 years, and then finds himself loose in it; he is unpredictable, both sympathetic and scary, and he easily steals the movie. It’s no coincidence that the movie is strongest during its first two-thirds, when the focus is very much on the insane brother. The last third of the movie is less so; the focus turns upon a reward for the man’s capture, and a vigilante mob forms to find and possibly execute him; this part of the movie is less convincing, relies a little too much on coincidence, and ultimately disappoints; I get the sense that the writers really didn’t know what to do with the situation they set up. Still, Dekker’s performance makes this definitely worth catching. The movie also features Harry Carey, Susan Hayward (another great performance), and Frances Farmer.

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