Month: October 2016

Countdown (1968)

COUNTDOWN (1968)
Article #1464 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-18-2005
Posting Date: 8-15-2005
Directed by Robert Altman
Featuring James Caan, Joanna Cook Moore, Robert Duvall

For political reasons, the leading candidate for the job of the American astronaut to make the first moon landing is replaced by a man with no military connections, who must then take a crash course in learning the ropes for his trip to the moon.

Robert Altman is one of those directors I more admire and respect than actually like, and though I really like some of his more bizarre efforts (BREWSTER MCCLOUD and 3 WOMEN come to mind), some of his masterpieces leave me cold (I’ve seen MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER twice, and it still does nothing for me). This one was made a couple of years before he would hit it big with MASH, and I consider it a mixed bag. It’s very well acted and I find that Altman is particularly strong at handling scenes with several people, but it’s so low-key that I find my attention wandering quite a bit of the time. I also don’t care much for the musical soundtrack; it’s conventionally melodramatic, and often I felt that it was trying too hard to add suspense and excitement to scenes that would have been better handled in silence or with a more subtle soundtrack. The movie does have its moments though. I’d seen this one before, and the one moment that embedded itself into my memory is so beautifully and simply done that I’ll probably never forget it. I won’t give it away since it occurs near the end of the movie, but I will say that it has to do with the reflection of a red light. The executive producer for the movie was William Conrad, who I most remember for playing Frank Cannon on the TV series “Cannon”, though he’s also well known for being the voice of Matt Dillon on the radio version of “Gunsmoke”, and doing narration for various Jay Ward productions.

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Charly (1968)

CHARLY (1968)
Article #1463 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-17-2005
Posting Date: 8-14-2005
Directed by Ralph Nelson
Featuring Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala

A mentally challenged man is given an operation to increase his intelligence, and he begins to see the world with new eyes.

When I was in junior high, I read the novel “Flowers for Algernon” as part of a literature class. A few years later, I took up reading science fiction, and consistently found and enjoyed the short story version in any one of several SF anthologies. I then appeared as Dr. Strauss in a production of the stage version of the story. Throughout the years, I grew to love this story, and I have strong feelings about it to this day.

However, this screen version of the story does not partake of this affection. In fact, had I reviewed the movie after my first viewing some years ago, I would have expressed a virulent hatred for it. I have seen the movie twice since then, and though my hatred has cooled quite a bit, I still consider this version of the story a misfire.

It’s certainly not the fault of Cliff Robertson, who gives a truly worthy performance as Charly Gordon. My problem is that the direction is wildly inconsistent. In my opinion, the primary concern for anyone handling this story is to make sure that viewers connect with and relate to Charly Gordon on an emotional level; the focus should be on intimacy. Unfortunately, the movie was made during the height of the psychedelic era, and it engages in arty experimental techniques, including an embarassing montage sequence and some bad use of split-screen. It also woefully mishandles certain scenes. In particular, the scene where Charly attempts to seduce his teacher is a travesty; it plays like a horror movie (with Charly Gordon as the monster). Instead of getting us to try to understand him, the scene seems to want us to hate him. This is so diametrically opposed to the feeling of the book (which is told via entries in a journal written by Charly) that it almost destroys the movie for me. And the scene in which Charly confronts a group of scientists and barks out cynical sound bites to their questions also hits all the wrong chords with me.

Still, not every scene is like that, and when the movie focuses in on Charly and lets us know him and experience his feelings, it works best. And it does manage to move us at times. But the movie’s batting average in this regard is very weak in comparison with the literary versions of the story. There are a couple of TV versions of the tale that I haven’t seen, so maybe one of those is definitive. If not, this is one story that would merit a new cinematic version.

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Chandu on the Magic Island (1935)

CHANDU ON THE MAGIC ISLAND (1935)
Article #1462 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-16-2005
Posting Date: 8-13-2005
Directed by Ray Taylor
Featuring Bela Lugosi, Maria Alba, Murdock MacQuarrie

Chandu must save Princess Nadji from a cult which intends to put her soul in the body of their goddess.

Bela Lugosi played the villain in CHANDU THE MAGICIAN, but when the time came to make a serial based on the character (THE RETURN OF CHANDU), he was given the role of Chandu himself. The serial was then edited into two features; the first feature (from the first half of the serial) was also called THE RETURN OF CHANDU, while this was the second one (from the second half). Watching a feature version of half of a serial is hardly an ideal way to enjoy it, especially if you haven’t seen the serial or the other feature version. It should be no surprise that this one is missing a goodly amount of exposition, and that it has that pervasive lack of variety of feature versions of serials. Still, it doesn’t descend into the trap of repetitive non-stop action like so many of them do, probably because this wasn’t an action-oriented serial. It’s creaky as hell, but it does have certain qualities I rarely find in serials; it’s quite atmospheric and has a real sense of fantasy to it. Actually, I find myself looking forward to seeing this serial at some later date, though I suspect that it may prove to be rather static and tiresome over the length of several episodes. Still, I have to say this is one of the better feature-versions-of-serials I’ve seen to date.

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The Amazing Transplant (1970)

THE AMAZING TRANSPLANT (1970)
Article #1461 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-15-2005
Posting Date: 8-12-2005
Directed by Doris Wishman
Featuring Juan Fernandez, Linda Southern, Janet Banzet

When a woman is murdered, an inspector hunts for his nephew, who he believes is responsible for the killing. He sees a pattern of violence and rape develop as he interviews people listed in the suspect’s address book.

Usually I don’t give away the last ten minutes of a movie when I do these write-ups, but I have no problem making an exception in this case. Why? Because a) every other plot description of the movie I’ve read gives it away, and b) this is one of those movies you aren’t watching for the plot anyway. Basically, the movie has the same gimmick as any version of THE HANDS OF ORLAC, only we’re not talking hands. If you want a further hint as to the organ in question, let me just say right here that the movie emphasizes one of two possible uses for that organ, and had that movie emphasized the other use of that organ, it would’ve had a lot of footage involving urinals.

In short, it’s a sex movie. Director Doris Wishman apparently made a lot of these. As for her directorial style, let me just make these observations. 1) You never know where the camera will point next, and 2) if you hear somebody talking, the camera will most likely be pointing at anything but that character’s mouth.

Incidentally, the movie also has a really big moose head.

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Something Weird (1967)

SOMETHING WEIRD (1967)
Article #1460 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-14-2005
Posting Date: 8-11-2005
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
Featuring Tony McCabe, Elizabeth Lee, William Brooker

After he is mutilated by a freak electrical accident, a man develops ESP. He then makes a pact with an ugly witch to be her lover if she helps him recover his looks. He then gets involved in an investigation of a serial killer.

Them as wants to see a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie minus the gore that was his hallmark are hereby directed this way. Maybe he thought he had enough exploitation elements already; this movie has psychic powers, martial arts, ugly witches (who look beautiful to all but their lovers), psychotic killers, LSD drug trips, haunted chapels and killer blankets. The acting is pretty good by Herschell Gordon Lewis standards, which is just my way of saying that it’s godawful but is generally better than the acting in BLOOD FEAST. The movie does live up to its title, though; whatever else you can say about it, the movie is certainly weird. The story itself is better than usual, but it was written by someone other than Lewis. I could pick at this one all day, but why bother? I will make a couple of observations though. One is that when people grow old, their whole bodies age, not just their heads, which is my way of saying that the hag has a surprisingly sturdy and young pair of legs. My other observation is that it’s very hard to make killer inanimate objects very scary, but you could go a long ways to overcoming this difficulty by choosing something other than a blue blanket.

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Cave of the Living Dead (1964)

CAVE OF THE LIVING DEAD (1964)
(a.k.a. DER FLUCH DER GRUNEN AUGEN)
Article #1459 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-13-2005
Posting Date: 8-10-2005
Directed by Akos Rathonyi
Featuring Adrian Hoven, Karin Field, John Kitzmiller

An inspector goes to a small village to investigate reports of strange deaths. He begins to believe they may be the result of a vampire.

I’ve seen any number of European horror films at this point, and you can usually tell what country they’re from without checking; each country seemed to add its own distinct style to its cinematic output. This one had me scratching my head a pit; it looked a little Italian and a little German, but not so much that I felt comfortable with either guess. It turned out to be a West German/Yugoslavian production. Now, I haven’t seen many Yugoslavian movies, but I get the same feel from some of the footage here that I did from the Yugoslavian footage used in TRACK OF THE VAMPIRE.

In some ways, the movie is very conventional, and in other ways, it’s just strange. Our hero is of the type that feels like he’s be more at home in an Italian spy flick, and some of the music feels the same way. There are the colorful small town villagers to contend with, including an ugly witch, two stupid cops, and a black servant who comes across a little too much like the scared comic blacks from the thirties and forties. There are also some odd touches; for example, when the vampires are on the loose, all the electricity goes out in the town. All in all, the movie comes across as mostly silly, but there are some scary scenes and creepy sequences that are exquisitely moody. There’s a short sequence near the beginning of the movie where we see the shadow of a creature on a wall, followed by a shot of clawed hands raising a window, and then a shot of a shadow hovering over the form of a girl; this sequence is simply breathtaking, and there are a few other moments that are just as nice. It also suffers from horrible dubbing, but that’s no real surprise. It’s a mixed bag, to be sure, but one I think is worth checking out.

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Alien Zone (1978)

ALIEN ZONE (1978)
(a.k.a. THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD)
Article #1458 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-12-2005
Posting Date: 8-9-2005
Directed by Sharron Miller
Featuring John Ericson, Ivor Francis, Charles Aidman

An adulterer finds himself lost in a rainstorm, but is taken in by a mortician who tells him the story of four of his “clients”.

Let’s get that title out of the way. My print of the movie has the title THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD, and it’s appropriate enough for a horror anthology in which the stories of four dead people (five, if you count the linking story) are told. However, whoever named it ALIEN ZONE was merely trying to find some way to tie it in with ALIEN. There are no aliens in this movie, nor is it even a science fiction movie. Don’t go in with the wrong idea.

As for the movie, it’s a low-budget regional stab at an Amicus-style horror anthology. Unfortunately, it pales badly next to its model; it’s chock full of bad acting, poor writing, and misconceived stories. The first story is obvious; a teacher who hates children gets her comeuppance when she finds trespassers in her home. Yes, there’s a twist to this one, but it’s really lame, and all the camera tricks in the world can’t make this one work. The second story (about a cameraman who films himself killing women) is disastrous; the worst thing about this one is not that it plays like a ten-minute version of PEEPING TOM minus that movie’s writing, acting , camerawork, tension, etc., but rather that there is no story. You see the guy being arrested at the beginning of the movie, and then they show footage of the murders. That’s IT! The almost complete lack of context or insight would have rendered this sequence deeply offensive had it been competently acted. As it is, It’s merely the low point of the entire horror anthology form.

The third story is easily the best of the bunch; even though one plot point of this tale of two great detectives facing off with each other is very predictable, it still manages to be passably entertaining and it has some of the better performances of the movie. The last tale is about an insensitive man getting his comeuppance, and given what happens, it would have been better if this particular sequence would have been played for comedy.

That’s pretty much it. The best performance comes from the man playing the mortician in the linking segments, and even he is saddled with a tiresome speech in which he explains how every character in each of the stories he’s told 1) had character flaws, and 2) received his or her comeuppance. I guess the scriptwriter thought we wouldn’t get it if he didn’t include this speech. I’d be insulted if it were worth it.

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Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966)

AGENT FOR H.A.R.M. (1966)
Article #1457 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-11-2005
Posting Date: 8-8-2005
Directed by Gerd Oswald
Featuring Peter Mark Richman, Carl Esmond, Barboura Bouchet

A secret agent investigates a scientist with a secret, and discovers that he is working on an antidote for a flesh-eating virus that is in the hands of a terrorist.

At first I was going to lump this one in with those all those low-budget Italian James Bond ripoffs I’ve seen, but then I noticed something. First of all, I noticed the absence of all the dubbing I usually find. Second, the credits seemed singularly short on Italian names. The answer to this was simple; it wasn’t an Italian movie at all, but an American one. In fact, despite the fact that it was given a theatrical release, it was actually a pilot for a TV series. This latter discovery doesn’t surprise me; there was something about the end of this movie that just screamed “Make sure to tune into AGENT FOR H.A.R.M. next week!”

Still, it does feel like one of those Italian rip-offs; it’s very cheesy and slow-moving, and my print was about as faded as those Italian movies usually are by the time I get to watching them. Despite that, I liked it well enough. The basic plot has to do with a virus that eats people up from the inside, and the villains actually use a gun that shoots the virus . Also, it was fun to see Martin Kosleck as the villain of his piece. My favorite moment, though, has to do with the Morgue attendant. Yes, I know that comic morgue attendants are a bit of a cliche, but this guy takes the cake; he treats the corpses like visitors at a hotel, and insists that proper protocol is respected when he shows the corpses to people. At least he doesn’t pull his lunch out of one of the drawers, but I figured they though there would be plenty of opportunities to pull that gag when they made the series.

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The Night of the Following Day (1968)

THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY (1968)
Article #1456 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-10-2005
Posting Date: 8-7-2005
Directed by Hubert Cornfield
Featuring Marlon Brando, Richard Boone, Rita Moreno

The daughter of a millionaire is kidnapped and held for ransom by four people whose plans start to unravel when their own issues get in the way.

Had I missed the last two minutes of this movie, I would have guessed that the only fantastic content to be found here was in the madness of Richard Boone’s character; his sadistic psycho (called Leer) is also one of the most memorable things in the movie, and nudges the movie slightly in the direction of horror. Still, this would have done little more than place the movie in the realm of marginalia. However, the last two minutes of the movie throws in a bizarre plot twist, and though it is open to several interpretations, the possibility that precognition is one of them does open the door to a certain fantastic interpretation of the events. Still, whatever the correct interpretation is, I’m not sure I like the final twist; it comes as a surprise, but it’s been done before. I can think of three movies that pull the same trick, and one of them is truly awful. I wish I could elaborate more, but that would mean giving away the end of the movie. However, if you’ve seen movies like INNER SANCTUM, you’ll know what to expect.

On its own terms, the movie is not bad, but it never really comes to life either. It walks a line between character study and suspense, and though it’s moderately successful in both counts, it never becomes compelling. In fact, the repetitive encounters that the kidnappers have with a law enforcement officer seem more comic than anything else, and I don’t think that was the effect the movie was looking for. At any rate, Brando was not happy with Hubert Cornfield’s direction, and had Richard Boone direct some of the final scenes.

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He Who Gets Slapped (1924)

HE WHO GETS SLAPPED (1924)
Article #1455 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-9-2005
Posting Date: 8-6-2005
Directed by Victor Sjostrom
Featuring Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert

A scientist loses both his discoveries and his wife to a man who then publicly humiliates him. The pain having become unbearable for him, he becomes a clown who makes others laugh by being slapped repeatedly.

Technically, this movie probably doesn’t qualify as fantastic cinema. The elements are very marginal; there is the presence of Lon Chaney, the possibility that he has become mad in his thirst for vengeance, a certain horrific quality to his method of vengeance (it involves a lion), and some surreal metaphorical moments involving a circle of clowns and a globe. That’s about it, and I don’t think it’s near enough to make the movie qualify.

Still, I’m glad this one came up on my list; it’s one of Chaney’s finest movies, and he gives a dazzling performance of a man who can only net laughter from a world that he wants to take him seriously. It’s heartbreaking to see the amount of pain that lies under the things that bring us laughter, and we who know his full story find it impossible to laugh as he publicly replays his humiliation for all to see. This was the first production of the newly formed MGM studios, though it was not the first one released. Chaney would play a clown once again a few years later in LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH, and seeing that that movie is also one of his best, this underscores Chaney’s ability to see the human tragedy inherent in comedy. Victor Sjostrom may have been the best director Chaney ever worked with.

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