Month: July 2016

The Genie of Darkness (1962)

THE GENIE OF DARKNESS (1962)
(a.k.a. NOSTRADAMUS, EL GENIO DE LAS TINIEBLAS)
Article #1335 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-9-2004
Posting Date: 4-8-2005
Directed by Federico Curiel, Alberto Mariscal, et al.
Featuring German Robles, Domingo Soler, Julio Alemain

The professor once again pits his wits against the cunning will of the vampire Nostradamus.

Hey, I’ve figured out the gimmick behind naming this vampire after the famed prophet; he keeps predicting the deaths of his victims! All right, I’ll admit that I feel pretty slow in taking so long to come to that revelation, but at least I’m not scratching my head about it anymore.

This is the third of the four Nostradamus the Vampire movies. Each movie was edited out of several episodes of a serial, and as usual, it is best to keep that in mind when watching these movies, because if you take the movie as a single entity, it doesn’t work; it seems bizarrely plotted, incomplete and confusing. It’s only if you take it as part of series that it starts making sense, with some plot threads that run through several episodes. At the same time, each episode makes a certain amount of sense on its own terms, with a story arc that gives it its own sense of unity.

As usual, it’s a bit of a struggle, but I think it’s worth the effort; as a whole, the Nostradamus series has some fun ideas. The dubbing is quite awful, with highly inappropriate voices; Leo the hunchback sounds entirely too much like Goofy, and his mother the witch (whose death scene is the highlight of this movie) has a thick New York accent. Of course, the chances of anyone bothering to put out a decent subtitled copy of the whole serial are highly slim, so you may have to make the best of it.

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Francis Goes to the Races (1951)

FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES (1951)
Article #1334 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-8-2004
Posting Date: 4-7-2005
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Featuring Donald O’Connor, Piper Laurie, Cecil Kellaway

Peter Stirling and Francis the talking mule become involved with horse races and gamblers.

I quite liked the first movie in the series (FRANCIS), but I was only a few minutes into this one before I felt that the bloom was off the rose. What happened? I can think of two main problems. The wartime setting of the first movie set the stakes rather high; the information given to the main character by the talking mule was vital to national security, and so it required that he act on it. Unfortunately, being a member of the military, he was often forced to reveal his sources, and this would get him into the trouble. We ended up feeling for the guy and relating to his frustration. Here, the stakes are significantly lower, and the main character gets into his scrapes not so much through circumstance but more due to his own stupidity, and this isn’t really as satisfying. Furthermore, the movie doesn’t really extend or explore further the comic premise of a talking mule, so most of the scenes are repeats of situations from the earlier movie (Stirling tries to convince someone that Francis can talk, but the mule won’t talk in front of them; two people are with the mule, and when he talks, one person thinks the other person made the comment, etc.). Granted, there’s only so much you can do with the premise of a talking mule, and unless subsequent movies find more to do with the idea, there should be no need for anyone to see more than one movie in the series. Even Cecil Kellaway and Jesse White aren’t given much to do here.

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The Purple Monster Strikes (1945)

THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES (1945)
(Serial)
Article #1333 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-7-2004
Posting Date: 4-6-2005
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and Fred C. Brannon
Featuring Dennis Moore, Linda Stirling, Roy Barcroft

A man from Mars crashes on Earth with the intention of stealing our scientific secrets in order to launch an invasion of our planet.

I’ll admit I’m a happy camper with this one, but that may well be due to the fact that for once I’m watching a serial where the science fiction elements are prominent rather than hovering around the edges. The Purple Monster has a neat trick; he has a gas that can kill humans and allow him to take over their bodies. This concept is introduced in the first episode, but if you miss it, don’t worry; they repeat the footage of having him possess the body of Dr. Craven or of having him leave Dr. Craven’s body in every episode. I’m pretty sure it’s the same footage as well; why does he always stand by the same door when he’s taking his gas? At any rate, it allows the Purple Monster to be both a spy (in the doctor’s form) and to take part in the fist fights that occur regularly (in his purple monster form). Roy Barcroft does a fine job in the title role; he even seems comfortable in that silly costume. Naturally, with such an interesting villain, Serial Rule #1 ( Interesting Hero = Dull Villain; Interesting Villain = Dull Hero) applies, and Dennis Moore does little more than fight and dress snazzily. Linda Stirling plays the female interest, but I thought she was more interesting in PERILS OF THE DARKEST JUNGLE, though I’ll have to admit that the costume may be responsible for that. Despite a certain amount of repetitiveness, this is a good one, with lots of science fiction gadgetry, some excellent cliffhangers, particularly one where the hero is trapped in an alcove with a pay phone between a wall of spikes and a moving wall forcing him into them; his solution to his dilemma is truly memorable.

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Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball (1946)

DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL (1946)
Article #1332 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-6-2004
Posting Date: 4-5-2005
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Featuring Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Lyle Latell

Dick Tracy tries to solve a series of murders that revolve around the theft of some rare diamonds. The killer is a bald ex-convict known as Cueball.

Fantastic aspects: Other than that Cueball strangles people with his hatband (which gives the movie only a slight tinge of horror), there are none. This movie was included in a reference book that had the habit of including all movies from a series in which only a few movies of the series actually had more pronounced fantastic elements.

Before “The Golden Turkey Awards”, the Medveds had put out an earlier book about bad cinema called “The 50 Worst Films of All Time” (this title may be approximate). DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL was one of the movies singled out for this unfortunate award, and though the movie is no classic, it certainly doesn’t rate that low. The main thrust of their argument for its inclusion was the extreme sadism of Cueball. There is a certain amount of truth to this point; the murder scenes are a bit too nasty for what is essentially supposed to be light-hearted fare. Still, I don’t think it sinks the movie completely; in fact, I found the movie quite entertaining.

I’ve seen two of the Dick Tracy movies so far and three of the serials, and quite frankly, I like the movies better. I think it’s because the movies actually tried to get a bit of the flavor of the comic strip into them; the serials just plugged a comic strip character into standard serial plots. The comic strip sense is strong here; there is a jeweler named Jules Sparkle, there is a tavern called The Dripping Dagger (complete with a great little animated neon sign to go with it), and it is run by a character named Filthy Flora who allows criminals to hide out there. Dick Wessel’s Cueball is not the smartest crook on the block (actually, he’s pretty dumb), but his brutality makes him a bit of a threat. Ian Keith has a field day as the pill-popping and florid Vitamin Flintheart, and any movie that gives us the cadaverous Milton Parsons (even as an antique dealer, he can’t escape association with undertaking; he ends up serving a man intent on furnishing his crypt) and the photogenically ugly Skelton Knaggs (talk about an actor who would have been great as an ugly villain in a Dick Tracy movie) can’t be all bad.

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Big Jack (1949)

BIG JACK (1949)
Article #1331 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-5-2004
Posting Date: 4-4-2005
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Featuring Wallace Beery, Richard Conte, Marjorie Main

In the early nineteenth century, the head of a band of outlaws rescues a doctor (who was about to be hanged) to get him to fix a leg injury.

Fantastic aspects: For a good twenty minutes or so I was wondering when the fantastic aspects of the story would manifest themselves. Eventually, you find out why the doctor was being hanged; he procured research subjects via grave-robbing, which nudges the movie a tiny bit into horror territory.

IMDB describes this movie as a western, and I suppose it is to some extent; despite the one horror element, it’s certainly not a horror movie. Still, the “western” shoe doesn’t quite fit to these eyes; it’s more of an historical comedy-drama. Still, however you try to pigeonhole this one, it’s one strange movie, and the fact that it doesn’t even appear to know how strange it is just makes it all the stranger. Richard Conte’s doctor is the hero of the story; the movie is firmly pro-science, and treats his grave-robbing as a necessity to the growth of his medical knowledge and a necessary evil in an unenlightened age. It’s tempting to call Wallace Beery’s Big Jack Horner the villain, but he’s more of an anti-hero. Despite being a robber and a murderer, he’s almost a child in the way he looks at the world (he’s fascinated by the doctor’s desire of making a “window” in the human body), and like a child, he doesn’t handle well not getting what he wants. The main villain of the story is probably the jealous barber / doctor who ends up resenting the intrusion of a new doctor in the community.

All in all, I consider this one a black comedy, though once again, the movie remains firmly unaware that it is; it’s dark comic aspects seem the result of innocence rather than cynicism. It is also quite funny at times. My favorite sequence is when Big Jack concludes that the doctor’s desire to escape from his band of outlaws arises out of his loneliness due to a lack of female companionship, and so kidnaps a young woman to keep him company. As he and his own woman (Marjorie Main) listen to the struggle between the surprised doctor and the feisty kidnap victim (who are locked in a cabin together), they muse sentimentally on their own courtship. This would be Wallace Beery’s final movie.

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Samson and Delilah (1949)

SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949)
Article #1330 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-4-2004
Posting Date: 4-3-2005
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Featuring Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, George Sanders

Super-strong Samson does battle with the Philistime oppressors, only to be betrayed by the seductress Delilah.

Hey, it’s a movie that takes place in ancient times about a man with super-strength who fights lions and picks up heavy things and throws them. It sounds like a sword-and-sandal movie, doesn’t it? Well, you’re close; I have no doubt that biblical epics like this one were a big influence on the sword-and-sandal trend. The main difference is that the sword-and-sandal movies were meant to be light-hearted action fare, whereas this one (being based on the Bible) is “serious” fare; no sword-and-sandal flick ever moved this slowly. The acting throughout is good, sometimes excellent; George Sanders and Victor Mature in particular shine. Still, they’re saddled with a script that is as fast-moving as a sleepy turtle and as agile as a three-legged elephant. It’s also repetitive; in case you didn’t know that Samson slew an army with the jawbone of an ass, George Sanders repeats that fact about six times within a two minute period. And how long do you think it would take for Samson to tell Delilah that his strength comes from his hair? Here’s some dialogue to show how long it could have taken.

Delilah: Tell me, Samson, where do you get your strength?

Samson: From my long hair.

Delilah: Oh, I see.

Instead, we get a long speech about the manes of lions and how pathetic sheep look like when they’re shorn. If you’re going to belabor a plot point, at least pick one that isn’t known by everybody at the outset.

Still, the action scenes are definitely highlights; the battle at the wedding feast, the battle with Samson’s captors (you know, the one with the jawbone of an ass), and the final sequence in the temple of Dagon are truly great epic moments. Still, I would have loved to have at least one scene where Samson bends the bars of jail cell. You can’t have everything.

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Dead Man’s Eyes (1944)

DEAD MAN’S EYES (1944)
Article #1329 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-3-2004
Posting Date: 4-2-2005
Directed by Reginald Le Borg
Featuring Lon Chaney Jr., Jean Parker, Acquanetta

When an artist loses his eyesight during a freak accident, the father of the artist’s fiancee agrees to give his own eyes for corneal transplants to help restore his vision. Then the father turns up dead…

Fantastic content: Unless there’s some science fiction content involved in the corneal transplants, the only fantastic element here is that floating head in the crystal ball that introduces most of the “Inner Sanctum” mysteries.

I think this marks the sixth and final movie I’ve covered for the series, and I have to admit to being not too impressed with this one. The script is clumsy, the real murderer is obvious, and Acquanetta, beautiful as she was, should not have been cast in a role that gave her extensive dialogue. On the plus side, some of the performances are fun, particularly from Paul Kelly as the artist’s psychiatrist buddy and Thomas Gomez as the detective on the case. Chaney does only a fair job here, but his part isn’t particularly well written and it’s loaded with cliches. For my money, this was one of the weakest of the series.

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The Final Programme (1973)

THE FINAL PROGRAMME (1973)
(a.k.a. THE LAST DAYS OF MAN ON EARTH)
Article #1328 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-2-2004
Posting Date: 4-1-2005
Directed by Robert Fuest
Featuring Jon Finch, Jenny Runacre, Hugh Griffith

After his father dies, Jerry Cornelius finds himself embroiled in a strange quest in which he helps some scientists acquire a microfilm of his father’s work while he seeks revenge on his drug-addled brother for the enslavement of his sister.

This bizarre movie about the creation of a modern messiah was directed by Robert Fuest, who was responsible for the Dr. Phibes movies. If you’re familiar with those movies, you should be able to spot the visual style without a problem. This was based on the first of several novels written by Michael Moorcock about Jerry Cornelius. I remember having read it years ago, and not understanding a word of it (though I had no problems with the sequels). I understand this movie version better, but whether I really like it is another matter. I’m not sure what it’s really trying to do, but whatever it is, it doesn’t quite succeed. It’s not quite as funny as it could be, it’s not quite as exciting as it should be, the eccentric characters are not quite as compelling as they could be, and the curious ending is not quite as satisfying as it needed to be to make me feel that it was worth wading through the confusing story to reach it. On the plus side, the music is quite good and Fuest definitely has a sense of style; I’m just not sure that’s enough to make me give it another shot. It’s interesting enough to make it worth watching once, though, but somehow it falls short of what it could have been.

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Tiger Fangs (1943)

TIGER FANGS (1943)
Article #1327 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-1-2004
Posting Date: 3-31-2005
Directed by Sam Newfield
Featuring Frank Buck, June Duprez, Duncan Renaldo

Frank Buck, hunter and lion tamer, is called to Asia to investigate a report that tigers have been attacking workers on a rubber plantation. The natives believe the tigers have been possessed by Japanese agents.

You can tell by the way some movies handle their fantastic elements that the final explanation is going to be much more mundane, and this one is no exception. All in all, the true explanation isn’t bad (though it is far-fetched), and it might have made for a decent movie, but this one isn’t it. It’s a little too obvious (if something is endangering the production of America’s wartime industry, and the local doctor has a German accident, who do you think will turn out to be the villain?), and the movie itself is static and dull. It also engages in some typical war era racism; the Japanese are referred to by their derogatory diminutive, and the natives refer to them as “monkey men”. It largely tries to rely on the novelty of the presence of real-life hunter and lion tamer, Frank Buck, (who doesn’t quite have the cinematic appeal of Clyde Beatty, as far as I’m concerned). All in all, it’s dull, talky and plodding. I never thought I’d say this about a jungle movie, but this is one that could have used a little more safari.

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Ghost Chasers (1951)

GHOST CHASERS (1951)
Article #1326 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-31-2004
Posting Date: 3-30-2005
Directed by William Beaudine
Featuring Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Lloyd Corrigan

When the neighbor of Slip’s mother becomes obsessed with reaching her dead son through the help of a phony medium, Slip decides to expose the racket.

Is it just me, or does this Bowery Boys comedy seem a little classier than usual? Maybe it’s just a little bit earlier than most of their movies, or maybe I just got hold of a really good print, but it just seems slicker, more thought out, less frantic and better paced. It has touches I usually don’t expect from a Bowery Boys film; the ghost that appears at one point breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly, there’s a bit more emotional depth to the story (I like the scenes with Slip and the neighbor woman), and among the boys themselves, the emphasis isn’t entirely on Slip and Sach; Billy Benedict as Whitey is given a central role in the proceedings as well. I don’t know if these touches made a whole lot of difference; it’s still a Bowery Boys movie, and Huntz Hall’s mugging and Leo Gorcey’s malaprops are still the primary focus. Still, I just wanted to say that I noticed those little touches. My favorite scene: Louis Dumbrowsky agrees to a seance to speak to his dead uncle (who owed him money when he died) only to have the spirit ask for a loan of a hundred dollars.

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