Month: October 2016

Goliath and the Barbarians (1959)

GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS (1959)
(a.k.a. IL TERRORE DEI BARBARI)
Article #1454 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-8-2005
Posting Date: 8-5-2005
Directed by Carlo Campogalliani
Featuring Steve Reeves, Chelo Alonso, Bruce Cabot

A man named Emiliano (aka Goliath) takes revenge on rampaging barbarians who kill his father.

There are three things I don’t think I’ll ever see the end of as part of this series of write-ups; old dark house movies, Jesse Franco movies and Sword and Sandal movies. Actually, I don’t mind the ones on the ends (it’s the middle one that bothers me), and as far as Sword and Sandal movies go, this one is not too bad. No, it’s not the Biblical Goliath; after all, this takes place in 568 A.D., a fact that is established both visually and verbally, and this was quite a ways from Biblical times. No, he’s just a man so strong that he’s called Goliath (and if you’ve seen enough of these Sword and Sandals, you should be familiar with how often voice-overs at the beginnings of these movies have to establish that the titular hero is NOT the famed one of legend, but just a really strong man who earned the name). Actually, he’s referred to as THE Goliath, but I’m not going to debate as to whether he’s properly “Goliath” or “The Goliath” (I’ve already done that with Batman).

At any rate, “Goliath” is played by Steve Reeves, and the whole movie looks more expensive than others of its ilk, but that’s probably due to the fact that it was made before they really started churning them out. During the first part of the movie, he makes his raids on the barbarians while wearing a monstrous mask, which (along with his massive strength) gives the movie some of its fantastic content. The characters are given a bit more dimension than usual, and the dance scenes actually seem tied to the story, as the main dancer is also the leading actress. Still, it’s hard to find a decent print of this one; mine is so faded that it looks like black and white most of the time. It’s not too bad, though it’s not quite up to the level of Reeves’ Hercules movies.

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Francis Joins the WACS (1954)

FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS (1954)
Article #1453 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-7-2005
Posting Date: 8-4-2005
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Featuring Donold O’Connor, Julie Adams, Chill Wills

Peter Stirling is called back into the armed forces, but is accidentally assigned to the WACS (which, if I’m not mistaken, stands for Women’s Army Corp). There he encounters Francis the talking mule once more, and enlists his help to get him out of his predicament.

Welcome back to the series that asks the cinematic question—just how many movies can you watch about a loquacious mule before the joke starts wearing thin? Actually, I though I answered that question when I reviewed FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES, which merely repeated the obvious gags from the first movie. This was the fifth in the series and marks a return to the military setting. Of course, the twist is that he’s now in the women’s corp, and though this gimmick doesn’t necessarily raise the level of the humor, it does provide a bit of variety from the endless “I can’t believe that mule is talking” gags. Still, it does borrow quite a bit from the first film; not only is Zasu Pitts back in the same role, but we have a reiteration of the basket-weaving gag, only with finger-painting this time. Nonetheless, the movie does have at least one clever trick up its sleeve; by casting Chill Wills as a General as well as having him voice Francis, a new set of gags is set up revolving around the similarity of their voices. And fans of fifties starlets (especially of science fiction movies of the time) will be pleased to find that the movie also includes Julie Adams, Mamie Van Doren, Allison Hayes and Mara Corday, a circumstance which is quite likely to go a long ways towards alleviating the silliness of the movie. The most memorable gag involves Donold O’Connor’s inability to tell if one of the WACS is standing at attention or at ease.

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The Doll (1962)

THE DOLL (1962)
(a.k.a. VAXDOCKAN)
Article #1452 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-6-2005
Posting Date: 8-3-2005
Directed by Arne Mattson
Featuring Per Oscarsson, Gio Petre, Tor Isedal

A lonely night watchman uses an attempted burglary as an excuse to procure a mannequin who becomes the focus of his fantasies.

The above description should give you a clue that this movie is both disturbing and sad. I think it clearly qualifies as genre as well, since he begins to imagine that the mannequin can walk and talk. Though there’s some question at first as to whether the mannequin came to life, as the movie progresses, it becomes clear that it is the madness of the night watchman that pushes him on. The movie has several subjects worth pondering, such as the problems which can be caused by pervasive loneliness, the way fear can overrun and take over our lives, and finally that it is much easier to fall into madness than to get back out of it. The movie is hard to watch at times, but quite fascinating, and peopled with some interesting characters, including a scarred landlady who may well have strong feelings about the night watchman, but whose disfigurement leaves her feeling as lonely as he is. This one is definitely worth a peek for anyone interested in the cinema of madness.

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Curse of the Stone Hand (1964)

CURSE OF THE STONE HAND (1964)
Article #1451 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-5-2005
Posting Date: 8-2-2005
Directed by Jerry Warren, Carlos Hugo Christensen and Carlos Schlieper
Featuring Chela Bon, John Carradine, and Carlos Cores

A stone hand exudes a baleful influence over residents of a house and anyone who watches this movie.

For those not familiar with Jerry Warren’s technique in bringing foreign films to an English speaking audience, here’s a quick recap. He takes one or two foreign movies, removes any scene that might require extensive dubbing. When he does dub, it is usually only when characters are turned away from the camera or when they say only a small phrase. To compensate for the fact that in this process he has most likely removed most of the exposition and plot points, he provides occasional narration. If something more is needed, he will write insert scenes with available actors. This scenes are instantly recognizable because a) they are lit and directed in a style completely different from the footage from the foreign movies, and b) the terseness of the kept footage gives way to endless chattering, since he no longer has to worry about syncing up dialogue. This last technique wouldn’t have been as disastrous as it was had Jerry Warren been a decent writer and director; as it is, his characters are so loquacious and given to discursive digressions that these scenes utterly fail to pass any crucial plot information whatsoever, and they are directed so flatly that they are likely to put you to sleep.

This movie is similar in technique to FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF. Like that movie, he combines footage from two different movies (one from Mexico and one from Chile, though I’ve also heard the story that they are both from Chile). Though he tries to tie them together by the use of the stone hand curse, it’s obviously two different movies. The first one is a variation of “The Suicide Club”, and though it’s a bit on the predictable side, at least much of its tension is visual in the first place. As a result, this part of the story is singularly free from Warren’s inserts, and the story is coherent (a word that rarely pops up when speaking of Warren’s oeuvre). The second story is an utter disaster; the cutting has rendered it incomprehensible, the inserts are useless, and after awhile the only thing left for the viewer to follow is the slow passage of time. Many descriptions of this movie say that the hand comes to life and crawls around, but unless my print is missing something, I saw no such footage and no one talks about such a thing happening. I’m not sure exactly what the stone hand has to do with anything in the movie; in fact, I don’t think it appears in any form for the entire second half of the movie. All in all, it’s pretty sad; I suspect that the original films used to make this one weren’t bad at all.

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Blood of the Iron Maiden (1970)

BLOOD OF THE IRON MAIDEN (1970)
(a.k.a. IS THIS TRIP REALLY NECESSARY?)
Article #1450 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-4-2005
Posting Date: 8-1-2005
Directed by Ben Benoit
Featuring Marvin Miller, Peter Duryea, Carole Kane

An actress gets the lead in a movie, not aware that the director specializes in nudies and intends to use drugs on her during the filming.

Let’s start out this one by taking a look at those titles. The first title of this movie, BLOOD OF THE IRON MAIDEN does seem to promise a certain amount of blood and an iron maiden. Yes, the movie does provide both, but there’s only about two seconds of blood and ten seconds of iron maiden. In fact, the blood is caused by a cursed suit of armor rather than the iron maiden, so the title isn’t even accurate. I would say that anyone attracted to the movie by this title would walk away disappointed.

The other title is IS THIS TRIP REALLY NECESSARY?, and whatever you think of that one, at least it asks a pertinent question. The word “trip” has a double meaning of course, and a good part of the movie does involve drug use. At any rate, let’s cover some of the features of this movie so you can decide if it is really necessary or not.

This movie has –

Ten minutes of leering (the opening scene, in which the director consistently tries to convince auditioning actresses to take off their clothes).

No nudity (despite the fact that the movie opens with ten minutes of the director trying to talk auditioning actresses into taking off their clothes).

Lot’s of subpar psychedelic music by a group known as Weeds End. Never heard of them? You’re not alone (as well as lucky).

John Carradine cribbing lines from both Shakespeare and Groucho Marx.

Low-budget drug trips.

John Carradine trying to bring a woman down from her drugged stupor by using electroshock therapy, brandy, laughing gas, and really strong coffee.

A scene where the director inspires his cameraman by telling him a story about a kamikaze pilot with a bullet in his head. Incidentally, this is the funniest scene in the movie.

The director’s vision of a guru’s dream. This consists of drugged-out actresses in Arabian Nights costumes dancing around a mirror ball.

With this information in hand, I feel I can answer the pertinent question posed by the title. The answer is no.

However, if they changed the title to IS THIS TRIP REALLY DUMB?, that would be another matter entirely…

The fantastic content? Probably a combination of Carradine’s slightly addled scientist character, a haunted suit of armor (so they say), and the psychedelic sequences.

P.S. According to an email I received from Glenn Abenathy, the Carol Kane in this movie is actually a different actress named Carole Kane, so I’ve removed the part of the review that says this is Carol Kane’s debut acting performance. Thanks for the correction, Glenn.

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War of the Satellites (1958)

WAR OF THE SATELLITES (1958)
Article #1449 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-3-2005
Posting Date: 7-31-2005
Directed by Roger Corman
Featuring Richard Devon, Dick Miller, Susan Cabot

An impenetrable barrier erected by hostile aliens continually prevents a scientific project from sending rockets into deep space. The scientific leader of the project comes up with a scheme to get past the barrier, but dies in an auto accident and is replaced by an alien intent on sabotage.

It’s movies like this that make me really appreciate Roger Corman. Had anybody else tried to make an outer space epic like this on an Allied Artists budget, it would have probably been dull and laughable. Corman doesn’t turn it into a classic, but he manages to keep it from being a waste of time, and except for the fact that the middle of the movie sags a little, he keeps the interest level up. He’s helped by a likable and familiar cast; in particular, it’s really a lot of fun seeing Dick Miller in a rare leading role. The special effects are primitive, but not embarrassing, and it’s well acted throughout. All in all, it makes for decent low-budget science fiction adventure.

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Dick Tracy’s G-Men (1939)

DICK TRACY’S G-MEN (1939)
(Serial)
Article #1448 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-2-2005
Posting Date: 7-30-2005
Directed by John English and William Witney
Featuring Ralph Byrd, Irving Pichel, Ted Pearson

Dick Tracy matches wits with a spy named Dr. Zarnoff.

Fantastic content: The opening episode involves a drug that causes the breathing to stop, which helps the criminal survive the gas chamber. There’s also a remote control boat steerer in one of the other episodes.

This is the third of the four Dick Tracy serials. It’s actually pretty good. Irving Pichel makes an interesting villain, the serial avoids most of the hackneyed cliffhangers, and there’s a little curiosity value in seeing Jennifer Jones before she hit it big. Still, I find it hard to get excited about this one. This may be due, of course, to the fact that it followed up DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE, and there aren’t many other serials that would look good next to that one.

One question, though; why is it that when the villain of a serial uses the old automatic smokescreen trick during a car chase, the hero never has the presence of mind to slow down so his vision isn’t impaired and just follow the trail of smoke from a distance? Instead, they always seem to go at full speed and end up getting into a car accident. The answer is simple; in serials, car crashes are more important than common sense.

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12 to the Moon (1960)

12 TO THE MOON (1960)
Article #1447 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-1-2005
Posting Date: 7-29-2005
Directed by David Bradley
Featuring Ken Clark, Michi Kobi, Tom Conway

Twelve people of various nationalities take part in an expedition to the moon.

There are some very nice touches to this movie; I like the international flavor of the cast, it’s certainly not predictable, and it has some very odd moments, particularly one involving experimental cats. You also have no idea which of the characters will survive (or remain active in the plot) and which won’t. This might have made up somewhat for the poor and clumsy character development, the low-budget special effects, and the sometimes silly plot elements; had everything else been acceptable, this movie might have worked.

Unfortunately, the movie is badly marred by its flaws. The pacing is almost nonexistent. It lacks any sense of real drama. Most of the acting is hesitant and stilted, as if the actors didn’t know what was going on or how they were supposed to feel about it. Some of the character conflicts are so painfully and blatantly contrived that you feel embarrassed to watch them trotted out in front of you. And ultimately, the movie lacks any real variety of mood; every scene feels the same as the last one, a problem compounded by the extremely clumsy use of music throughout. All these movies render this one nearly unwatchable, and I think that’s a real shame, because it is trying for something a little different. Director David Bradley would really only have one further movie to his credit, and that one (THE MADMAN OF MANDORAS) would be edited into the infamous THEY SAVED HITLER’S BRAIN.

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The Thief of Bagdad (1961)

THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1961)
(a.k.a. IL LADRO DI BAGDAD)
Article #1446 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-28-2005
Posting Date: 7-28-2005
Directed by Arthur Lubin and Bruno Vailati
Featuring Steve Reeves, Giorgia Moll, Arturo Dominici

A thief falls in love with the daughter of a sultan, and when she falls ill, he vows to recover a blue rose that will return her to health.

Given the fact that the movie was made in the early sixties, stars Steve Reeves, and features a plethora of Italian names in the cast and crew, you have every reason to believe that you’re going to be watching a bona fide Sword and Sandal movie when you go into this one. Indeed, the opening musical chord practically screams out this heritage. Nonetheless, there is something odd going on here. Somewhere along the line, somebody took special care with this one, either in the making of the original movie or in its preparation for American audiences. It simply doesn’t feel like a sword and sandal movie. For one thing, the music seems very well chosen throughout, rather than repetitively rousing. Secondly, there’s a genuine wit at work here; the movie has a strong and effective sense of humor totally unlike anything I’ve seen in these types of movies before, and a scene in which the thief robs several people in the main hall of the palace by disguising himself as a visiting prince and picking pockets while distributing gifts is clever by any standards. In short, this one is charming and a lot of fun. No, it doesn’t hold a candle to the 1940 or 1924 versions of the story, but it holds its own and is quite rewarding on those terms. It’s certainly worlds better than THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN at any rate.

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The Night of the Vampire (1970)

THE NIGHT OF THE VAMPIRE (1970)
(a.k.a. BLOODTHIRSTY DOLL /
YUREIYASHIKI NO KYOFU: CHI O SUU NINGYOO)
Article #1445 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-27-2005
Posting Date: 7-27-2005
Directed by Michio Yamamoto
Featuring Jun Hamamura, Yukiko Kobayashi, Kayo Matsuo

When a boy vanishes after visiting the isolated country home where his girlfriend lived, the boy’s sister and her boyfriend try to track him down.

This was the first of Michio Yamamoto’s three vampire movies, the other two being LAKE OF DRACULA and EVIL OF DRACULA. Though there was a certain amount of curiosity value in seeing the Japanese take on Hammer-style horror, my overall reaction was only lukewarm for these other two movies. That’s not the case with this one; it not only made me jump a couple of times, but I found the backstory to be fascinating, powerful and sad. It’s the only one of the series that really caught my attention and held it. Unfortunately, it also seems to be the hardest one to find, but for those interested in an unusual twist to the vampire story, this one should fill the bill.

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