Month: May 2016

The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)

THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN (1968)
Article #1238 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-4-2004
Posting Date: 1-1-2005
Directed by Michael Anderson
Featuring Anthony Quinn, Laurence Olivier, Oskar Werner

A Russian priest who was imprisoned in Siberia for twenty years is released to the Vatican. He then wins the election to become the next Pope.

First of all, let’s get the fantastic elements out of the way; the movie takes place in the near future where atomic war is brewing as a result of widespread starvation in China; this places the movie into that somewhat marginal category of political science fiction. This serves as a backdrop to what is essentially a drama, but I can understand the necessity of using this type of backdrop; if you’re going to create a fictional story about a personage as important as the Pope, you most likely are going to want to paint the story on a big canvas rather than on a postage stamp.

As to the movie itself, it has some fine moments and some great performances; I’m particularly taken with the work of Anthony Quinn, Oskar Werner and Leo McKern here. It deals with some interesting themes, such as the fact that in some ways being a Pope makes our lead character as much of a prisoner as he was in Siberia. I also like the subplot revolving around Oskar Werner, a terminally ill friar who wants to get his books published before his death, but is turned down by the Vatican committee because of the questionable theological ideas they contain. Unfortunately, the movie also has some major problems; at two hours and forty minutes, it is far too long. It is also too slow, gets bogged down in one totally unnecessary subplot (the one about the philandering reporter), and despite the fact that the movie really tries its best to effectively set up its final moments, when they finally come, I found it impossible to believe. I think it also may have tried too much. At any rate, it has made me a little curious about Morris L. West’s novel, and I’m curious as to whether it fleshes out certain things about which the movie merely hints. Despite its moments, this one is really for the very patient.

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Screaming Mimi (1958)

SCREAMING MIMI (1958)
Article #1237 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-3-2004
Posting Date: 12-31-2004
Directed by Gerd Oswald
Featuring Anita Ekberg, Philip Carey, Gypsy Rose Lee

A woman who became mentally unhinged after an attack by a psychotic becomes the target of a psychiatrist’s obsessions.

This psychological film noir with horror underpinnings was based on a novel by Fredric Brown. It has a fascinating story to tell, and there are some good performances here, particularly from Harry Townes as the psychiatrist. There’s also some good music from jazz xylophonist Red Yost Norvo, and a good vocal number from Gypsy Rose Lee, who also gives a relaxed, charming performance in the movie. It could have been a real winner, but it falls a bit short, and I suspect that the reason for this is the presence of Anita Ekberg.

In some ways, she was very appropriate for the role; she’s such a stunningly attractive woman it’s easy seeing how men might become obsessed with her.  Furthermore, she does lend to that air of sex that hangs over the movie.  Unfortunately, she’s not much of an actress, and her role requires someone with much greater thespic and musical talents.  Despite the fact that she appears to have had the benefit of a lot of coaching, she never really comes across as a real character.  And though she’s very easy on the eyes during her dance scenes, every time I look at her face, the only emotion I can see is that she’s really trying hard to remember her moves.  It’s movies like this that really could benefit from a thoughtful and careful remake.

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The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930)

THE RETURN OF DR. FU MANCHU (1930)
Article #1236 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-2-2004
Posting Date: 12-30-2004
Directed by Rowland V. Lee
Featuring Warner Oland, O.P. Heggie, Jean Arthur

Dr. Fu Manchu fakes his own death in order to have another chance on avenging himself against Dr. Petrie.

The three movies in Warner Oland’s Fu Manchu series are quite entertaining, but reportedly they have precious little to do with Fu Manchu as presented in the Sax Rohmer novels. I haven’t read any of these, so I can’t make a comparison, but I do know that in comparison with some of the other Fus I’ve seen (notably, Boris Karloff’s in THE MASK OF FU MANCHU), Warner Oland’s is positively cuddly and benign, while still proving to be a resourceful villain. This is the second in the series, and is a direct sequel to THE MYSTERIOUS DR. FU MANCHU, with all the surviving main characters back with the original actors in their respective roles. Unfortunately, that also means that the character of Sylvester is back, which means we have more scenes of his annoyingly prissy cowardice (and he doesn’t even have the marmalade line to redeem him this time). Still, this one may well be the most enjoyable of this series.

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The Nurse’s Secret (1941)

THE NURSE’S SECRET (1941)
Article #1235 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-1-2004
Posting Date: 12-29-2004
Directed by Noel M. Smith
Featuring Lee Patrick, Regis Toomey, Julie Bishop

A nurse agrees to help a police detective to uncover the secrets surrounding the accident / suicide / murder of a man.

I thought at first that it was merely a curious coincidence that I was watching another movie about a nurse right after viewing MISS PINKERTON. When the second scene in this movie opened with an old lady hurting herself after discovering a dead body, the coincidence just seemed somewhat sharper. Then when I discovered that the old lady’s last name was Mitchell, I became convinced that the resemblances between the two movies were more than coincidental, and sure enough, this movie is indeed a remake of MISS PINKERTON. As such, I found it less confusing than the earlier movie; there’s fewer scenes of people just standing around acting suspicious and more scenes of people talking to each other, so you get to know them and their motivations a lot better. The changes to the story also seem better; the old lady doesn’t merely faint; she falls backward down a staircase, which makes the need for the presence of a nurse that much stronger. The dog has also changed from a smallish one to a full-sized Great Dane, and he actually has a role to play in the plot in this one. I’m glad I saw this one, as it helps the story make more sense, but if I had to rewatch one of these, I’d probably go back to MISS PINKERTON, because I like the cast better. It’s just nice to have the details of the story worked out.

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Miss Pinkerton (1932)

MISS PINKERTON (1932)
Article #1234 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-31-2004
Postind Date: 12-28-2004
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Featuring Joan Blondell, George Brent, Ruth Hall

A nurse tired of her routine duties at the hospital is sent out on an assignment of caring for an old woman who fainted when she discovered the dead body of her nephew. She becomes involved in the investigation of the death.

Is the death the result of suicide? Or is it murder faked to look like suicide? Or is it a suicide faked to look like a murder that was faked to look like a suicide? (There’s insurance involved.) Or is it a murder faked to look like a suicide that was being faked to look like a murder being faked as a suicide? Believe it or not, the investigation actually starts digging this deep. Between that and the fact that practically everyone is acting fairly suspicious and also given that we are thrust into the proceedings without really being properly introduced to all the characters involved, you might understand why I found this particular mystery to be somewhat confusing. Still, it is entertaining in its own muddled way, and it does have a black-cloaked figure with a clutching hand to add some horror touches to the proceedings. The ending did leave me feeling vaguely dissatisfied, though. And just for fun, see if you can figure out what Mrs. Mitchell was planning to reveal in her final legal statement.

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King of the Jungle (1933)

KING OF THE JUNGLE (1933)
Article #1233 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-30-2004
Postind Date: 12-27-2004
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and Max Marcin
Featuring Buster Crabbe, Frances Dee, Sidney Toler

A boy who is the only survivor of a plane crash is raised by lions. Years later, he is captured along with the lions and sold to a circus.

This movie starts out as a Tarzan variation, substituting lions for apes, but it comes into its own when the action moves from the jungle into the civilized world. A black-haired Buster Crabbe plays the lion man, who is dubbed with the name of Kaspa (not to be confused with the friendly ghost), and he wears what may be the skimpiest loincloth I’ve ever seen; in fact, the skimpiness of the costume becomes a bit of a running gag once civilization is reached. It’s the animal scenes that steal the movie, though, especially in the grand finale in which the circus catches on fire. Some of the scenes are a great deal of fun; watching Kaspa play-wrestling with one of the lions is a charmer. Some of them are truly exciting; the scene where the elephants escape into the city and start wreaking havoc reminded me of scenes from KING KONG. And some of them are upsetting; there’s a fight between a lion and a bull in the first half of the movie that looks all too real, and one is reminded that animals were not treated as well in the earlier days of cinema as they are now. Still, the movie is quite entertaining, and it has a happy ending. The movie also features Irving Pichel, Douglas Dumbrille, and Sam Baker (Hugo from THE LOST CITY).

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Battle Beneath the Earth (1967)

BATTLE BENEATH THE EARTH (1967)
Article #1232 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-29-2004
Posting Date: 12-26-2004
Directed by Montgomery Tully
Featuring Kerwin Mathews, Vivienne Ventura, Robert Ayres

The military discovers that a Chinese war lord is planning to destroy the United States via an invasion involving a vast network of underground tunnels.

“Yellow Peril” movies made a bit of comeback in the late sixties, what with the resurrection of the Fu Manchu series and movies like this one. Though I suspect that this movie aspired to be something more, it really is no more serious than your average James Bond movie, and despite the absence of spies, it plays off like a low-budget variation of one. In fact, the whole movie is pretty silly. The first person to realize the danger behaves so incoherently bizarre that it’s no wonder he was locked up, yet he somehow remains perfectly coherent once someone believes him and he is released. We also have a scene of people setting off an atomic bomb to explode in ten minutes, and then hoping that they can outrun the blast on foot. It’s also been a long time since I’ve seen a movie with so many Caucasians in oriental makeup. Still, despite all the silliness (or maybe even because of it), the movie does manage to be sporadically entertaining; it’s just not to be taken very seriously.

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The Bamboo Saucer (1968)

THE BAMBOO SAUCER (1968)
Article #1231 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-28-2004
Posting Date: 12-25-2004
Directed by Frank Telford
Featuring Dan Duryea, John Ericson, Lois Nettleton

A test pilot becomes a part of a scientific investigative team secretly sent to Red China to look into a report of a flying saucer hidden there. There they encounter a Russian investigative team that is there for the same reason.

Though it’s a fairly minor science fiction epic, I found myself enjoying this one much more than I had anticipated. One of the reasons for this is that it manages to avoid certain cynical expectations of mine. Once the action shifts to Red China, I feared that the movie would spend the rest of its running length as an espionage thriller, with the flying saucer only entering into the picture at the very end, where it is promptly destroyed or where it is discovered that the saucer is not extraterrestrial; in other words, I was thinking it would prove to be a rehash of THE FLYING SAUCER. Such is not the case, I am glad to say. Overall, the movie has a certain likable charm that makes up for any flaws, and it does have a message about international cooperation, though I can’t help but note that it does so by making sure the Americans and the Russians still have a common enemy. The movie also has an unexpectedly fun ending when the scientists finally get the flying saucer off the ground.

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Demon Hunter (1965)

DEMON HUNTER (1965)
(a.k.a. THE LEGEND OF BLOOD MOUNTAIN)
Article #1230 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-27-2004
Posting Date: 12-24-2004
Directed by Massey Cramer
Featuring George Ellis, Marianne Gordon, Erin Fleming

A reporter hopes to get his big break by covering the story of the monster of Blood Mountain.

Our hero’s name is Bestoink Dooley.

He’s fat, incompetent, and looks kind of like Zero Mostel.

He eats cookies and drinks milk in bed while listening to an Easy Listening radio station. We have an extended sequence in this movie where he does this. By the way, I’m fairly sure whoever was responsible for the music on the Easy Listening station was responsible for the rest of the music in the movie as well.

His boss doesn’t want Bestoink in his office because he knocks ashtrays into his lap and steps on his cigars.

Bestoink dreams of having beautiful women give him drinks and hand him cigars. He then dreams his name is in the headlines.

We see lots of scenes of Bestoink walking. We see lots of scenes of Bestoink driving. On the plus side, Bestoink has a cool antique car.

Bestoink interviews a man who wants to talk about the annual cemetery cleaning. It appears that this is the big event of the town.

The legend of Blood Mountain is that when a bloodstain appears on the mountain, the monster is loose. He tears the hearts out of his victims and drinks their blood. Bestoink is too fast for him, though.

My print runs 65 minutes. The actual movie runs 76 minutes. Apparently, the video is missing 11 minutes of footage. Unfortunately, the footage appears to be from the middle of the movie. If they kept the whole interminable beginning of the movie in favor of this eleven minutes in the middle, I can only speculate on how bad it must have been.

I think the movie is a comedy. It’s hard to tell with nary a laugh in sight.

I could go on, but why bother? This one’s a stinker, pure and simple. It’s one of those movies that continues running its footage in blithe ignorance of the fact that absolutely nothing is happening for most of its length. It’s the cinematic equivalent of watching paint dry; it’s as exciting, as emotionally fulfilling, and as interesting to write about.

I lost 65 minutes of my life today.

I have nothing more to say.

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The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1956)

THE PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES (1956)
Article #1229 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-26-2004
Posting Date: 12-23-2004
Directed by Dan Milner
Featuring Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs, Michael Whalen

A series of murders near the beach are the result of an underwater monster created by radiation.

Title Check: First of all, it’s no phantom. Second, since it can be found just a short ways off of the shore at a fairly shallow depth (and it’s too busy guarding a chunk of uranium to put in much in the way of travel mileage), I don’t know here they get the “10,000 Leagues”, either.

Ten thoughts on this one…

1) The director of this worked in that capacity on one other genre movie. That movie was FROM HELL IT CAME, the killer tree movie. That should give you a little idea what you’re getting into here.

2) Actually, the opening sequence of the monster attack isn’t all that bad; it sets the mood and catches your attention. Of course, it has an advantage that the rest of the movie doesn’t have; nobody’s opened up their mouth to talk yet.

3) This movie has some of the clunkiest dialogue I have ever heard. It’s one of those cases where every line sounds mannered and artificial when actually spoken by a real human being. It takes an especially talented actor to deliver this kind of dialogue with conviction, but I’m afraid none of the cast members have quite that level of expertise.

4) Actually, the monster itself is not bad considering the budget of the movie. It’s certainly not up to the level of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but it’s better than the monsters from either MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR or CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA. It does not however look anything like the sleek otter-like creature used prominently in the advertising.

5) Our hero is a scientist who has written classic books on the effects of radiation on marine biology. He is working on an undercover investigation of the murders. To cover up his identity, he comes up with a fake name. Unfortunately, he tries to pull this trick on a fellow marine biologist, despite the fact that a) his books are rather well known among marine biologists, and b) one of his books has his photograph emblazoned across the cover of it. Conclusion: for a scientist, he’s none too smart.

6) Now, let’s take a look at the secretary. She’s snoopy. In fact, she’s really snoopy. I’d say she was the snoopiest secretary I’ve ever seen in a movie. Not only that, but when she snoops, she usually gets caught. So how does she act when she gets caught snooping? Why, she acts guilty as hell. Despite all this, her employer the professor (who is usually the one who catches her snooping) keeps her on, though he does vaguely threaten her with a spear gun at one point. Conclusion: this professor isn’t one of the brightest stars in the sky himself.

7) Where did the professor get the spear gun? Why, from his handy dandy spear gun wall display in his main office, all of them loaded and ready for use. If I were the secretary, I’d be pretty worried about this; after all, not only does she get vaguely threatened with a spear gun by her boss, she also gets more explicitly threatened with one of the spear guns by the would-be spy. Maybe somebody should lock up those spear guns…

8) Now let’s take a look at that would-be spy. He’s supposed to find out the secrets the professor is hiding so he can sell them to a foreign country. His brilliant plan to acquire these secrets consists of one and only one strategy; to try to convince the secretary to let him into the professor’s locked laboratory. Far be it from me to advise anyone to take up a life of crime, but if this guy had taken up breaking and entering, and learned how to pick a lock, he just might have opened up his options a bit.

9) The investigators first meet the would-be spy when they hear him moving in the bushes while they’re looking at the body of the fisherman. They find him carrying (you guessed it) a spear gun. He claims that he was going to go out diving, though he is neither wearing a diving outfit nor carrying one. They ask him why he’s going diving so late at night during one of the most brightly lit scenes in the whole movie.

When some more bodies are discovered on the beach, the spy shoots a spear at one of the investigators. Up to this point, the spy really hasn’t done anything illegal; the bodies on the beach are the result of monster attacks. So why does this spy insist on trying to kill the investigators, especially with a weapon that is easily traceable (that board in the professor’s office), that he’s been seen carrying, and that leaves behind ammunition large enough to leave fingerprints? My guess is that he’s so incompetent at trying to get the professor’s secrets that he needs to do something to justify his existence. Conclusion: compared to this guy, the professor and the scientist come across as geniuses.

10) At least one person actually dies from a spear attack in this movie. They are shot at from their right side, and the spear ends up sticking squarely in their back. I didn’t know that spearguns shot with that much of a curve.

Conclusion: This is one of those movies where it’s best not to think too hard about what’s going on.

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