Month: February 2017

Sins of the Fleshapoids (1965)

SINS OF THE FLESHAPOIDS (1965)
Article #1729 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-8-2005
Posting Date: 5-7-2006
Directed by Mike Kuchar
Featuring Bob Cowan, Donna Kerness, George Kuchar

In the far future, humans are served by robots with fleshlike skin called fleshapoids. What they do not know is that during a long post-apocalyptic period when the fleshapoids were left on their own, they began to develop emotions.

I have yet to see a film by John Waters, but I have heard enough about him that when I discovered that he was heavily influenced by this film, I considered myself warned. Furthermore, the cover of the DVD made the movie look like something along the lines of a Kenneth Anger movie. Is it any wonder that I went into this movie expecting a barrage of trashy artiness?

Yet, to my amazement, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the movie. Sure, it’s arty, but it’s arty in the sense of being enormously creative and innovative on a miniscule budget; it’s the sort of thing I expect from people who are really enjoying the art of moviemaking. Furthermore, it’s not self-indulgent; it has a story to tell, and it tells it well and with a surprising amount of wit. It’s virtually a silent movie; when the onscreen characters speak, it’s through comic-book-style balloons, and the soundtrack is full of bizarre music and narration. Yes, it has acres of flesh (if no explicit nudity) and has a strong erotic edge to it, but it isn’t exploitation. Imagine, if you will, a humorous cross between DAUGHTER OF HORROR, INAUGURATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME and THE CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS, and you might get an idea of what this is like. If you’re allergic to underground cinema, you’ll probably have no use for it, but I found myself both intrigued and entertained.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Sigfrido (1957)

SIGFRIDO (1957)
(a.k.a. THE DRAGON’S BLOOD)
Article #1728 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-7-2005
Posting Date: 5-6-2006
Directed by Geicomo Gentilomo
Featuring Sebastian Fischer, Ilaria Occhini, Rolf Tasna

A young man forges a magic sword with which he does battle with a ferocious dragon. He then bathes in the blood of the dragon, rendering him invincible. He then gets hold of a magic net that makes him invisible. He uses these powers to win the woman he loves, but not without making enemies.

Some movies are so difficult to find that when I do finally get my hands on a copy of one, I find it hard to complain too loudly about aspects of the print that disappoint me. The fact that the print is in unsubtitled Italian is the sort of problem I’ve come to expect with rare foreign films. My print is also badly panned-and-scanned; it’s one of those movies where you spend a lot of time watching two profiles on either end of the screen talking to each other. Nonetheless, I’m just grateful to have had a chance to catch this one.

Of course, the movie being in Italian makes it difficult for me to give any sort of meaningful criticism of the film, since I can’t say that I entirely understand what’s going on. However, the fact that it largely follows the same plot as Fritz Lang’s SIEGFRIED helps, and I know enough of the basic story to follow it up to a point. It’s only after Siegfried’s wedding that the plot really becomes talky and I lose track of the characters’ allegiances and motivations. Nevertheless, on a visual level, the movie is a bit of a mixed bag. Some scenes are very well staged; I like the action sequences in particular, and the Dragon (an uncredited creation of Carlo Rambaldi, if my sources are correct) is a lot of fun. Other scenes seem a little puny for an epic story (they could have used a few more extras in some of the scenes), and there are times where I almost wanted to laugh; in particular, Sigfrido’s fluffy costume near the beginning of the movie struck me as rather silly, and I would have preferred my hero to look more rugged than pretty. Nonetheless, this is an entertaining version of the story, and I hope to catch it some time with the proper subtitles and at the proper aspect ratio.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Bandits of Corsica (1953)

THE BANDITS OF CORSICA (1953)
(a.k.a. THE RETURN OF THE CORSICAN BROTHERS)
Article #1727 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-6-2005
Posting Date: 5-5-2006
Directed by Ray Nazarro
Featuring Richard Greene, Paula Raymond, Raymond Burr

The Count Franchi discovers that his brother (who has a psychic link to him that makes him feel all his pleasure and pain) is still alive. He enlists his help to defeat a a dictatorial usurper named Jonatto.

I’ve covered the 1941 version of THE CORSICAN BROTHERS already as part of this series, and the fantastic content remains the same; the psychic link between the two brothers is the fantasy element. I don’t know whether this movie is a sequel to a specific movie version of the story or to the original Dumas novel, but I don’t really get the impression it does much more than reiterate the themes of the original story. Still, I found it entertaining enough; Richard Greene does a good job in a dual role, and it’s always fun to see Raymond Burr and Lee Van Cleef as the villains. The movie also features Nestor Paiva and Clayton Moore.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Mysterious Island (1961)

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961)
Article #1726 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-5-2005
Posting Date: 5-4-2006
Directed by Cy Endfield
Featuring Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood, Michael Callan

Several Union soldiers escape from a Confederate prison camp in a balloon. They are swept out to sea by a storm and land on a deserted island populated by strange vegetation and giant creatures.

I’ve always preferred Ray Harryhausen’s color movies from the late fifties and early sixties to his black and white movies from the fifites. This was because I found that in his earlier films, my interest level went way down when the Harryhausen creations weren’t on the rampage, and I never had these problems with his later color films. Still, there’s another factor involved, and that was that my local Creature Feature never showed any Harryhausen movies, and the only ones that popped up in my regular viewing elsewhere were his color movies on prime time. As a result, I just don’t quite have the same nostalgic fondness for EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS or IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA that I do for JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, FIRST MEN IN THE MOON, and this one.

If anything, this is the one I remember best from my childhood. Four of the scenes have stayed with me for years; the battle with the giant crab, the somewhat humorous encounter with the giant chicken (my favorite scene), two of the castaways being sealed up in a honeycomb by a giant bee (which was pretty merciful if you consider just what other thing a giant bee could have done to them), and the scene where Captain Nemo rises out of the sea in his shell-shaped diving gear. This was my real first encounter with the character of Nemo, and, despite James Mason’s excellent portrayal of the character in 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, I retain a strong fondness for Herbert Lom in the role. The movie actually sticks a little closer to the book than it might have; outside of the addition of the giant beasties (which is more of a touch I’d expect from H.G. Wells than Jules Verne) and the addition of two women to the plot, it retains the basic story of the Verne novel. I was glad to see that it still held my interest even when the monsters aren’t on the loose; in particular, I like the exciting escape sequence in the balloon at the beginning of the movie. There are a few problems; in particular, I don’t see any woman from nineteenth century England feeling quite at ease with a skirt of as short a length as the one worn by Beth Rogan in the second half of this movie (and it certainly doesn’t look like it or her visible panties were made with goat skin). Still, this will always be a welcome favorite, and I could watch that chicken sequence a hundred times and not get tired of it.

1 CommentLeave a comment

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1971)
Article #1725 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-4-2005
Posting Date: 5-3-2006
Directed by Gordon Hessler
Featuring Jason Robards, Herbert Lom, Christine Kaufmann

A masked madman is killing members of a theatre troupe situated in the Rue Morgue.

I believe I once complained about the liberties that the 1932 movie THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE took with the original Poe story. Well, compared to this one, that earlier version was downright faithful. This one jettisons Dupin and the Orangutan altogether, and though it could be argued that the actor in the hairy costume qualifies as the latter role, to me it just looks like they decided to recycle the mask from TROG. For the most part, the movie seems content to recycle THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA – scarred masked guy terrorizes members of an acting troupe. There are some other elements. One woman is having dreams about a man falling to his death and of being chased by a man with an axe, but these dream sequencecs are more silly than scary. There’s also a sinister dwarf, and as far as I’m concerned, the presence of Michael Dunn in the role is the best thing about the movie. Herbert Lom (who had already played the Phantom of the Opera in the Hammer version of the movie) is on hand as the masked villain, and it was entertaining to see one-time Bond villain Adolfo Celi as a detective on the case. All in all, I found the movie dull, unfocused and confusing, yet oddly predicatable nonetheless; certainly the revelation about who was responsible for the scarring of the villain was no surprise.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Mummy (1959)

THE MUMMY (1959)
Article #1724 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-3-2005
Posting Date: 5-2-2006
Directed by Terence Fisher
Featuring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux

When an archaelogical expedition opens the cursed tomb of Ananka, the head of the expedition goes mad. Years later, the leaders of the expedition are being killed off by a mummy.

One of the problems I have with mummy movies is that most of them have little more to do than to repeat the same storyline line (with slight variations) again and again. That’s what this one does; on the basis of plot alone, there isn’t anything here that wasn’t done in the Universal Kharis the mummy series years ago. There are more ways to judge a movie than on plot alone, though, and I think this movie has some definite pluses. First of all, both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee give strong performances; Cushing gives a lot of dimension to his role, and Lee manages a fine job with a role that really only gives him his eyes and body language to work with. In particular, I love his expression when he first meets Cushing’s wife, who resembles the princess Ananka. Also, the attack scenes are much more intelligently and effectively staged. Lee’s mummy isn’t really that much faster than that of Universal’s mummy, but he doesn’t waste a second. In particular, I like the way that he takes full advantage of the shock and surprise that his second victim undergoes at his appearance to move in for the kill before the victim can gather his wits to run. It’s touches like this that make the movie work as well as it does.

On IMDB, this movie about Kharis rates higher than any of the ones in the Universal series. Though I am more of a Universal fan than a Hammer fan, I find myself agreeing with this evaluation.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)

THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS (1959)
Article #1723 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-2-2005
Posting Date: 5-1-2006
Directed by Irvin Berwick
Featuring Les Tremayne, Foreest Lewis, John Harmon

A lighthouse keeper knows the secret behind a series of grisly deaths that occur in the vicinity of his lighthouse.

This monster movie has a bit of a following, and I can see why. For one thing, it is unusually gruesome for a movie of its time, especially with the severed heads that pop up on occasion. Second of all, I remember thinking that the monster looked rather cool in the stills I saw of the movie. Unfortunately, it’s a lot cooler in photographs than it is in action, where its turgid, clumsy movement works against it and its hodgepodge design (it was thrown together from various bits and pieces of monsters from several Universal films) becomes rather apparent. The script is terrible as well; there’s no explanation for what the monster ate before the lighthouse keeper began feeding it, for one thing. It’s also loaded with clumsy, uninteresting conversations, and it’s quite dull when the monster isn’t involved. Still, I always enjoy the easy charm of Don Sullivan and the wonderful voice of Les Tremayne. On an interesting note of trivia, director Irvin Berwick was a child prodigy on the piano.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Adventures of Sinbad (1962)

ADVENTURES OF SINBAD (1962)
(a.k.a. ARABIAN NAITO: SHINDOBADDO NO BOKEN)
Article #1722 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-1-2005
Posting Date: 4-30-2006
Directed by Taiji Yabushita and Masao Kuroda
Featuring the voices of Hideo Kinoshita, Jumpei Takiguchi, Mahito Tsujimura
(*Note – I found no credits for the actors in the English language version,
which is the one I saw.)

A young man named Sinbad comes by a map to a fabulous treasure and stows away aboard a ship to seek it out. On the way, he has many fabulous adventures.

This animated feature from Japan is a bit of a mixed bag. The story itself is a bit too predictable; the plot involves a handsome young sailing man, a restless princess, a short, fat and simple sultan with a passion for toys, and an evil grand vizier, and I could say the same for several other Arabian Nights movies as well. The dubbing is also fairly indifferent, and is downright bad during some of the songs; the one about the magic guitar is truly awful in the English version. Still, there’s a real charm to this movie; it sustains a mood of whimsy without falling into slapstick, and even through some of the wooden dubbing, the characters maintain a certain appeal that shines through. In fact, I would like to have seen more of the baby whale whom the sailors save from an attacking swordfish at one point. The climax of the movie is definitely the highlight, and it involves the Hero, his boy companion, the princess, the villainous vizier, his army of henchmen, a giant bird, an evil bat, a treasure-filled meteor, a bird-shaped stone idol, and an assortment of bizarre flying jellyfish-like creatures. All in all, I found myself quite satisfied by the movie.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Johnny the Giant Killer (1950)

JOHNNY THE GIANT KILLER (1950)
(a.k.a. JEANNO L’INTREPIDE)
Article #1721 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-30-2005
Posting Date: 4-29-2006
Directed by Jean Image and Charles Frank
No voice credits

A young boy sets out with a bunch of friends to defeat an evil giant, but they are all trapped and reduced to a tiny size.

Uh-oh, here’s another one where my original review seems to have vanished; I may have to make it a point to start saving copies of these to another place as well just to be on the safe side. Still, this one made enough of an impression on me that it still lingers in my memory. It’s a truly strange animated feature; the first half of the movie is incredibly surreal, with the improbable traps in the giant’s castle being a distinct highlight. The second half of the movie largely deals with Johnny’s encounter with a civilization of bees, whom he must win over if he has any hope of getting their help to save his friends still trapped in the castle. The animation is utterly unlike anything you might see in a Disney film, and I have to admit that I found this one to be rather intriguing.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964)
Article #1720 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-29-2005
Posting Date: 4-28-2006
Directed by Roger Corman
Featuring Vincent Price, Hazel Court, Jane Asher

When a devastating plague engulfs the land, the tyrannical Prince Prospero isolates himself along with his guests in his castle, where he engages in debauchery and Satanic rituals.

For those of you wondering what an art film from Roger Corman would be like, this should fill the bill. Quite frankly, I think it’s a stunning achievement; the sets are beautiful, the use of color is astounding, and there’s quite a bit of meditation on good, evil, life, death, and the numbing effect that a steady stream of cruelty can have on the eyes of the observers. I think, though, that one of the things I like best about this movie is that Corman doesn’t just repeat scenes and concepts from previous movies in the Poe series; Vincent Price has no dead wives to mourn, we see no pictures of relatives, and he ends the movie with a haunting and lyrical sequence with a procession of hooded figures rather than the usual conflagration (which he got out of the way at the beginning of the movie instead). Fine performances abound, particularly from Price and Hazel Court, who plans to become the bride of Satan by surviving her own sacrifice. Patrick Magee is also good as a cruel man who suffers the wrath of a dwarf, a plot sequence taken from Poe’s story “Hop-Toad”, a good choice to incorporate into this one. Still, it’s the beautiful wash of colors that really brings this movie to life. For my money, this is the best of Corman’s Poe movies.

0 CommentsLeave a comment