Month: September 2017

The Sweet Sound of Death (1965)

THE SWEET SOUND OF DEATH (1965)
aka LA LLAMADA
Article 2172 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-25-2007
Posting Date: 7-24-2007
Directed by Javier Seto
Featuring Tota Alba, Emilio Guitierrez Caba, Dyanik Zurakowska

Two lovers make a vow that should one of them die, they will return to help the other one. The man then has a vision that the woman dies in an airplane crash. Then the woman reappears to him, very much alive. Or is she…?

Given the above plot description, you probably know the answer to the question already. And had this movie done nothing more than regurgitated a fairly obvious plot , I’d probably recommend that you not bother with this one. However, the movie does two things that make it worth viewing. First of all, the performances of the two leads (Dyanik Zurakowska and Emilio Gutierrez Caba) are extremely good; even though they’re being dubbed, their body language and playful encounters really make their relationship seem convincing, and you end up really caring about them and what happens to them. Secondly, the movie does have a few other tricks up its sleeve in the story department, so there are some surprises along the way. I really like certain scenes here; there’s a scene where the man learns the truth at the airport, and I like how the movie handles the reactions of those he’s dealing with to his reaction; it’s the opposite of what usually happens in cases like this. I also like the man’s encounter with his lover’s family, and the way his doctor friend reacts to the various situations. This is one I found truly enjoyable and interesting.

 

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Portrait in Terror (1965)

PORTRAIT IN TERROR (1965)
Article 2171 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-24-2007
Posting Date: 7-23-2007
Directed by Rado Novakovic
Featuring Patrick Magee, William Campbell, Anna Pavane

The theft of a valuable Titian painting ends in murder, and the police investigate. Meanwhile, the murderer discovers that the painting is a forgery, and he believes that his accomplice knows the whereabouts of the real painting.

This rather obscure movie is generally known among horror fans as the source for some of the footage in BLOOD BATH, aka TRACK OF THE VAMPIRE. As a result, this movie is misclassified as horror, when it is only marginally so; outside of the fact that one character goes mad and that a body is disposed of in a rather horrific way, this is really just a crime movie at heart. Furthermore, only snippets of the footage were used in BLOOD BATH, hardly any of the original plot footage remains, but several of the background, establishing shots and mood moments appear in both movies. The fact that only one actor gets credit in both movies (William Campbell) should clue you in. Though this movie has a fairly low rating at IMDB, it’s actually better than that, though it does suffer from confusing exposition and a final twist that you should see coming a mile away. The movie may actually remind you a little more of DEMENTIA 13, though once again there’s very little similarity in the way of plot; not only does this movie share two of its stars, but the disposal of one body is quite similar to one in that movie. All in all, it’s so-so, but I think it’s best not to go in expecting a horror movie.

 

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The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962)

THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT (1962)
Article 2170 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-23-2007
Posting Date: 7-22-2007
Directed by Edward Bernds
Featuring The Three Stooges, Carol Christensen, Edson Stroll

When the Three Stooges are on the verge of having their animated TV show axed, they hook up with a scientist who can save their show with a machine designed to create a new type of animation. In return, they help him to demonstrate his new machine that can run on land, in the sea, in the air or in outer space. They also help him to defeat invading martians.

The Three Stooges honed their talents with shorts; by the time they finally graduated to features, they were past their prime and had lost both Curly and Shemp. Yet, considering these handicaps, there features were pretty decent. They don’t really spend much of the time in orbit, but there are some good gags here; I like the “old dark house” parody of the early scenes in particular. It’s positively surreal at times, especially with some of the bits surrounding the new type of animation, which, for some reason, requires that they dress up like refugees from a rock group from PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE and do the twist (the “new animation process” looks suspiciously like rotoscoping). Still, despite the presence of the Stooges, my favorite work in this movie comes from two other sources. One is Emil Sitka, who is simply delightful as the scientist. The second is Edwin H. Bryant, the editor, who does a bangup job of maintaining comic momentum with the creative use of stock footage; for once, it’s highly amusing to see scenes lifted from other sources (especially from EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS). The martians, with their big square heads, look like bizarre variations of the Universal Frankenstein monster. All in all, this one is fun and actually quite bizarre at times, especially during the sequence in which the head martian is convinced that it would be better to destroy the Earth rather than invade it.

 

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Return to Oz (1964)

RETURN TO OZ (1964)
Article 2169 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-22-2007
Posting Date: 7-21-2007
Directed by F. R. Craley, Thomas Glynn and Larry Roemer
Featuring the voices of Larry D. Mann, Alfie Scopp, Carl Banas

Dorothy is whisked back to Oz where she must contend with the revived Wicked Witch of the West and help her friends once again regain the prizes they got from the wizard.

One of the problems I had with PINOCCHIO IN OUTER SPACE was its attempt to clone as much of the plot of the original movie version as it could for a sequel; in general, if a sequel can do little more than repeat the original, it seems unnecessary. This one is even worse; Dorothy is whisked to Oz on a tornado, meets the munchkins and Glenda the Good Witch, and embarks on a quest to find her friends and take them to the emerald city to get a heart, a brain, and courage. From the emerald city they are sent to face the witch, etc. etc. Despite the fact that this is an early Rankin/Bass feature, I find it pretty charmless in comparison to their more famous holiday movies, and the extremely limited animation and the bad songs (when was the last time you hummed “I Wanna Go Back”?) really make this one a chore to watch. The most amusing variation it adds to the story is having the witch send flying crocodiles rather than flying monkeys to capture Dorothy. Fortunately, since it was made for TV, it is fairly short.

 

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Heavenly Music (1943)

HEAVENLY MUSIC (1943)
Article 2168 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-21-2007
Posting Date: 7-20-2007
Directed by Josef Berne
Featuring Fred Brady, Mary Elliott, Eric Blore

A pop singer goes to heaven, but in order to be admitted to the Hall of Music, he must prove himself before some of the greatest classical composers from history.

This short is pretty hokey, but it’s also charming and beautiful to look at. It’s also an interesting exploration of musical influence; my favorite moment is when the singer presents his favorite song, only to be chided by Tchaikovsky for having stolen his melody, but then the singer turns the tables on him by demonstrating that Tchaikovsky’s melody was derived from one of Wagner’s, who himself lifted it from Brahms. It’s also good that this was a short; as a full-length feature, it would have gotten old quickly. As it is, it’s just the right length. This won an Oscar for the best two-reel short subject in 1944.

 

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Inferno in Space (1956)

INFERNO IN SPACE (1956)
aka THE MAGNETIC MOON
Article 2167 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-20-2007
Posting Date: 7-19-2007
Directed by Hollingsworth Morse
Featuring Richard Crane, Jimmy Lydon, Sally Mansfield

Explosions on a distant moon send deadly rays hurtling towards earth, and only Space Ranger Rocky Jones can save the planet. Unfortunately, he also has to contend with an escaped exile who carries a vendetta against him and plans to use the crisis to exact revenge.

There’s nothing I like better than a movie (or a set of TV episodes that go together to make up a movie, as the case may be) to kick off with a fascinating mystery, and this one does; this one opens with all items made of wood aboard Rocky Jones’ ship crumbling into dust, and this novel concept drew me in. The science is fairly far-fetched, but it’s also rather fun, and even though the direction is lackluster (like all of the Rocky Jones series), it does manage to generate a bit of suspense. Besides, they throw in Tor Johnson near the end of the movie and he has a fight with Richard Crane (as well as serving as a deus ex machina during the final scenes). They even give him a few lines to say, as well. If this one weren’t so hard to find, I’d suggest it as a good one to start with for those who wanted to try out the series.

 

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House of the Black Death (1965)

HOUSE OF THE BLACK DEATH (1965)
Article 2166 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-19-2007
Posting Date: 7-18-2007
Directed by Harold Daniels, Jerry Warren and Reginald Le Borg
Featuring John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., Andrea King

A white magician is called in to help in a feud between two black magicians, one of which belongs to a family cursed by lycanthropy.

According to an interview with Jerry Warren by Tom Weaver, Warren was given a the job of taking a mishmash of film footage and cobbling together a movie out of it. I assume that in order to do so, he shot a few scenes of his own to flesh things out. According to Warren, it came out bad (and he’s right) but playable enough so that the investors were able to make a little bit of a return (and I suspect he was right here as well). My main observation is, that if Warren did shoot extra footage, then it’s one of the few cases where he did this sort of thing where I haven’t been able to pick out what footage he added, a problem I’ve never had with some of his other edit jobs. I don’t think this was skill on his part, though; I think it had more to do that the original footage was as dead in the water as regular Jerry Warren footage, so it matched. My guess is that Warren added the Katherine Victor scenes (which involve lots of swearing of oaths). At any rate, this incoherent mess of werewolves and witchcraft is pretty bottom of the barrel, though it is enlivened by good performances from Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine, and the occasional effective use of smoke and fog. Beyond that, this is good cure for insomnia.

 

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Moonshine Mountain (1964)

MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN (1964)
Article 2165 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-18-2007
Posting Date: 7-17-2007
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
Featuring Charles Glore, Gordon Oas-Heim, Bonnie Hinson

A country singer from New York goes to hillbilly country to research and find new songs. He ends up meeting a hillbilly family with a still, and has problems with the local sheriff.

The story is pretty bad, the acting is poor and the sound quality stinks, but if you’ve seen Herschell Gordon Lewis movies before, that shouldn’t surprise you. Still, there’s something likable about his movies and Lewis isn’t without talent. For one thing, he has a nice ear for country music; the tunes in this one (and in 2000 MANIACS) are actually a lot of fun. He also has a sense of humor that occasionally clicks; check out the hilarious beginning and ending credits in hillbilly lingo (my favorite is his own credit, which says “he should know better, but don’t”) and an amusing moment involving sound and a hangover. He also is capable of clever shots on occasion; check out the scene where the sheriff holds a conversation with the country singer’s city girlfriend in her car where we only see the girlfriend as a reflection of her mouth in the rear-view mirror, for example; it happens so smoothly that it feels more like a lucky accident than anything else. All in all, it helps to make his movies fairly watchable. Still, I don’t think this movie is genre; it’s really a comedy/drama with a few light horror elements (an ax killing and the method of body disposal are the most obvious touches). It isn’t near as bloody as Gordon’s horror movies, either. Extremely marginal.

 

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Hercules of the Desert (1964)

HERCULES OF THE DESERT (1964)
aka VALLE DELL’ECO TONANTE
Article 2164 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-17-2007
Posting Date: 7-16-2007
Directed by Tanio Boccia
Featuring Kirk Morris, Helene Chanel, Alberto Farnese

A muscular strongman is summoned forth to help a tribe of nomads lay claim to a land promised to them. However, he has to contend with an evil queen who wants the land for herself.

In contrast to yesterday’s outing, this is definitely standard issue sword-and-sandal adventure. The plot is surprisingly coherent this time, but it’s also the usual one – Hercules (that is, Maciste) is seduced and drugged by an evil queen to keep him from fighting for the oppressed, etc. This movie takes the trouble to explain Hercules’ presence here by having him conjured up by a wise magician to help the people. My print is only in black and white, though the original is in color; this was a bit disappointing for me, especially at the end of the movie where we reach the paradise and, since it’s in black and white, it doesn’t look a whole lot different than the desert. This one is a little on the weak side, and at least one of the reasons is that Kirk Morris is particularly bland here; Hercules is even more one-dimensional than usual. The best moment is near the end, where Hercules does battle with the echo men, a tribe of people who create avalanches by making an incredibly loud racket. This one is fairly run of the mill.

 

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The Giants of Thessaly (1961)

THE GIANTS OF THESSALY (1961)
aka I GIGANTI DELLA TESSAGLIA
Article 2163 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-16-2007
Posting Date: 7-15-2007
Directed by Riccardo Freda
Featuring Roland Carey, Ziva Rodann, Massimo Girotti

Jason and his Argonauts sail to Colchis to find the golden fleece while an evil schemer in Thessaly plans to take his wife away from him.

Just for the record, the giants here are metaphorical; they are giants in the heroic sense, being the perfectly ordinary-sized Jason and his Argonauts. No, this version of the story can’t hold a candle to Harryhausen’s version, but it is somewhat different from the usual sword-and-sandal movie in that it eschews the superstrong hero in favor of more average men, including not only Jason, but Orpheus as well. There are a few nice scenes; I like the battle with the one-eyed monster and Jason’s ascent of the statue, but overall there’s something rather dull about this movie; the characters never really come to life, and there’s too much dull dialogue to slow things down. Still, it looks like a little more care was taken with this one than some of the others I’ve seen; I just wish the results had been a little more interesting.

 

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