Month: September 2015

The Big Noise (1944)

THE BIG NOISE (1944)
Article #895 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-27-2003
Posting Date: 1-24-2004
Directed by Mal St. Clair
Featuring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Doris Merrick

The boys are hired by an inventor to protect a new bomb.

Even at their worst, Laurel and Hardy were such natural comedians and such likeable characters that they still manage to raise a smile or two, which is more than some comedians do at their best. It’s a good thing, too; this movie may be the weakest thing they’ve ever done. The boys look tired this time out, and some of the gags are forced and obvious (there is a segment involving the boys undressing in a bed aboard a railroad car that goes on forever), and there are occasional stretches where they vanish from the story altogether. Nonetheless, there is still the occasional bright gag that works, the odd comic line that gets a laugh, and the simple joy of watching these two characters. The best gag involves some super earplugs that cut off all sound. The science fiction elements include the bomb itself, as well as several rather eccentric inventions and a remote-control plane. This is certainly not the best place to start with Laurel and Hardy, but it isn’t a total waste of time, either.

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Stairway to Heaven (1946)

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN (1946)
(a.k.a. A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH)
Article #894 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-26-2003
Posting Date: 1-23-2004
Directed by Michael Powell
Featuring David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey

When an RAF pilot bails out of his airplane without a parachute, the angel assigned to deliver his soul to heaven misses him in the fog, and he survives the fall to live another twenty hours. In that time, he falls in love, and when the angel comes to claim him, he demands a hearing of his case.

I’m not really keen on movies about angels; nor am I particularly fond of love stories. However, I am a fan of inspired and brilliant film-making, because a visionary director can do wonders with any subject he chooses. Michael Powell was visionary when he took on the subject of homicidal psychosis in PEEPING TOM; here he is simply breathtaking. Half the movie is in black and white, and the other half of the movie is in color, and it’s startling to see one bleed into the other as it does in several scenes here. Some of the sequences are as surreal as anything from Bunuel, and the movie seems to span decades of movie making; though it was made in 1946, it sometimes feels like an art film from the sixties or the seventies, and at other times it almost feels like a silent movie from the twenties. It’s a masterpiece, and that is a word I use sparingly; in fact, I find it almost impossible to talk about this one without falling over the endless stream of superlatives that would come out of my mouth. I suspect that it will be a long, long time before I see anything that impresses me as much as this one did.

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Sea Raiders (1941)

SEA RAIDERS (1941)
(Serial)
Article #893 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-25-2003
Posting Date: 1-22-2004
Directed by Ford Beebe, John Rawlins
Featuring Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsley

A gang of wharf rats find themselves wanted by the police and chased by a gang of saboteurs known as the Sea Raiders.

The tape package says they’re the East Side Kids; the credits in the serial call them the “Dead End” Kids and the Little Tough Guys. I get around this confusing dilemma by thinking of them in all their various combinations as the Bowery Boys. Whichever name is the correct one, what it comes down to is that though it features Billy Halop and Huntz Hall, there is no Leo Gorcey (for some reason, he didn’t appear in any of the serials). This was before the group settled into comedy, so the boys play it more or less straight. Actually, having them star in a serial wasn’t a bad idea as far as I’m concerned; they were somewhat more interesting than the usual bland hero that serves as the focus for most serials. Otherwise, it’s business as usual, with one really good and unusual cliffhanger involving whaling, a smidgen of science fiction involving a torpedo boat and new types of torpedos, and lots of stock music. As for the latter, I wish they hadn’t chosen a piece as familiar as ‘The Barber of Seville’ for the soundtrack; I can’t hear it without thinking of Bugs Bunny giving Elmer Fudd a haircut. Otherwise, a standard selection of serial thrills.

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Daughter of the Dragon (1931)

DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON (1931)
Article #892 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-24-2003
Posting Date: 1-21-2004
Directed by Lloyd Corrigan
Featuring Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Sessue Hayakawa

An exotic dancer discovers she is the daughter of Fu Manchu, and swears to carry on the family vendetta.

A quick perusal of the title may well lead you to suspect that this will be a yellow peril story, but I was a little surprised that it turned out to be a Fu Manchu movie. It was based on a Sax Rohmer story called “Daughter of Fu Manchu”, and I thought it odd that they would change the title to remove the Fu Manchu name from it. However, there may be reasons for this; there is no Nayland Smith in the story, and most of the detective work is done by an Oriental detective named Ah Kee (Sessue Hayakawa). Also, there isn’t really a whole lot of Fu Manchu (played by Warner Oland), who vanishes from the story at the half-way point. Maybe it was felt that keeping the name Fu Manchu in the title would have left some people feeling cheated. It’s a fairly entertaining movie in its way, though it isn’t anywhere near as memorable as THE MASK OF FU MANCHU with Karloff, but there are some exciting sequences in this one, and some very striking visual moments. My main wish is that my copy of the movie was in better shape.

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Tower of London (1962)

TOWER OF LONDON (1962)
Article #891 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-23-2003
Posting Date: 1-20-2004
Directed by Roger Corman
Featuring Vincent Price, Bruce Gordon, Michael Pate

This movie tells the story of Richard III, and his rise to power.

Richard III seems to be another historical personage whose life story is often presented as horror. Part of it is probably the physical deformities that are attributed to him (hunched back and club foot), and part of it is the brutality of his rise, in which he does away with anyone who stands in his way. This version ups the horror content from the 1939 version of the story by having Richard being haunted by the ghosts of his victims, though these apparitions may merely be a part of Richard’s madness. Vincent Price appeared as Clarence in the original version, where he was drowned in a vat of malmsey; here, he is Richard and gets to do the dunking himself. Price isn’t the only thing borrowed from the 1939 movie; according to the accompanying documentary, the battle scenes at Bosworth are also lifted from that movie, probably for budgetary reasons. This could not have been done had the movie originally been done in color as planned, but a last minute decision was made to make the movie in black and white. Though it’s not entirely successful, the sets look beautiful, and Vincent Price is fun as always.

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Shadows in the Night (1944)

SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT (1944)
Article #890 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-22-2003
Posting Date: 1-19-2004
Directed by Eugene Forde
Featuring Warner Baxter, Nina Foch, George Zucco

A woman consults a psychiatrist to try to figure out if her strange dreams are really dreams; he visits her home and becomes embroiled in a murder mystery.

The Crime Doctor series was based on a popular radio show; there were ten movies made in the series, but this is the first one I’ve seen. Though it’s certainly more of a mystery than any other genre, there are touches of both horror and science fiction in the mix; a bizarre phantom-like figure appears at certain points, and a ‘hypnotic gas’ plays a part in the proceedings. This one is truly satisfying; it’s efficient, fast-moving, well-acted, and some of the events that take place are very mysterious indeed. Not only that, there is enough information to figure out who the culprit is by the time the last reel comes around. And for horror fans, there is always George Zucco to enliven the proceedings. This one is solid b-movie fun.

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The Sorrows of Satan (1926)

THE SORROWS OF SATAN (1926)
Article #889 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-21-2003
Posting Date: 1-18-2004
Directed by D. W. Griffith
Featuring Ricardo Cortez, Adolphe Menjou, Carol Dempster

A down-and-out writer deserts his girlfriend when he comes by great wealth through his association with a suspicious man.

D. W. Griffith was one of the great pioneers of cinema, and his impact on the history of movies can not be overstated. However, by the time he made this movie, his style had become quaint and old-fashioned, and he had lost his independence as a filmmaker. This movie was an enormous flop, and it ended his career with Paramount. It’s easy to see why it failed; this update of the Faust story is obvious, overlong and predictable, and the first half of the movie is about as lively and fast-moving as a funeral march. Things pick up somewhat in the second half, but it’s a bit of slog until then. On the plus side, Adolphe Menjou is well cast as Prince Lucio, and you should have no trouble figuring out who he is. The script also gives the character some odd and interesting characteristics; since every person who resists him will win him an hour at the gates of paradise, he is in the bizarre position of having to hope for failure in his temptations. Nonetheless, these touches come in fairly late in the proceedings. In short, the next time I want to see a Faust tale made in the twenties, I’ll probably opt for the Murnau version.

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The Rocking Horse Winner (1950)

THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER (1950)
Article #888 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-20-2003
Posting Date: 1-17-2004
Directed by Anthony Pelissier
Featuring Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies, John Mills

A boy discovers that he can pick the winners of horse races while riding a rocking horse.

I was startled to see that this movie was based on a story by D.H. Lawrence, but that was because I hadn’t correctly taken the measure of this movie before I watched it. To me, the concept sounded like one of those cute whimsical ideas that I’d expect to find in a Disney ‘shopping cart’ movie, where the kid and the rocking horse are kidnapped by comic relief crooks and must be rescued by his befuddled uncle Fred MacMurray. Well, this movie is not only NOT whimsical, it doesn’t even flirt with whimsicality; in fact, the fantasy of the concept verges far closer to horror than anything else, with the demonic face of the rocking horse and the chilling whispers of the house pleading for more money. The end result is unforgettable; this is a powerful and sad movie about a child who tries to take on the responsibilities that his parents have failed to meet, and the price is not cheap. In a sense, the movie hovers somewhere between THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE and THE INNOCENTS, while really being like neither one. Highly recommended.

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Rasputin and the Empress (1932)

RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS (1932)
Article #887 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-19-2003
Posting Date: 1-16-2004
Directed by Richard Boleslawski
Featuring Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore

This is the story of Rasputin’s rise to power and his role in the destruction of Russia.

Rasputin is such a colorful and powerful historical personage that cinematic tellings of his story almost inevitably lend themselves to being included in the horror genre; certainly, the use of hypnotism in this one falls within the realms of horror. Nonetheless, this movie approaches him from a historical standpoint, but it never quite reaches the epic sweep to which it aspires. The first thirty minutes is somewhat confusing, partly because of the welter of character introductions and the difficulty of tackling those Russian names. Surprisingly, it is Lionel who plays Rasputin rather than John, who I think would have been wonderful in the role. As a matter of fact, I also thought Lionel could have been wonderful in the role also, but unfortunately it seems he takes this opportunity to give one of the ripest and hammiest performances of his career; the power of the character becomes diffused and is lost within the distractions and scenery-chewing. It doesn’t destroy the movie, but it prevents it from reaching the dramatic heights that it could have attained. The best scene involves Rasputin forcing the son of the empress to watch a battle between an ant and a fly.

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Miracle in Milan (1951)

MIRACLE IN MILAN (1951)
(a.k.a. MIRACOLO A MILANO)
Article #886 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-18-2003
Posting Date: 1-15-2004
Directed by Vittorio de Sica
Featuring Francesco Golisano, Paolo Stoppa, Emma Gramatica

An orphan has a magical effect on the lives of the homeless people in Milan.

The first scene in this movie has an old lady finding a baby in her cabbage patch. The next scene takes place several years later, when the old lady returns home to her son to find that the milk has boiled over on the stove and left a trail of milk on the floor; rather than cleaning it up, she gleefully sets up toy houses and trees around the spill to make it look like a river running through a village. It was at this point in the proceedings that I knew I was watching something special, and this brilliant, quirky, surreal comic fantasy is truly unique. Though there is a sense of magic in the proceedings, it doesn’t really go into sheer fantasy until the last half hour of the movie, but I think it best to leave that as a surprise to the viewer. What is truly amazing is how the movie remains thoroughly joyful throughout, even when a certain darkness creeps in around the edges, and there are times when you fear the movie will take the dark, sad turn into cynicism; after all, Vittorio de Sica is one of the pioneers of Italian realism, and his THE BICYCLE THIEF is a movie with very little joy in it. Most of all, though, I’m grateful for this movie giving me some of the best laughs I’ve had in months of watching these movies.

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