Month: November 2017

Alice’s Spooky Adventure (1924)

ALICE’S SPOOKY ADVENTURE (1924)
Animated Short
Article 2331 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-13-2007
Posting Date: 12-30-2007
Directed by Walt Disney
Featuring Virginia Davis, Leon Holmes, Spec O’Donnell

A little girl enters a haunted house to retrieve a baseball. When she is knocked out by falling plaster, she dreams she is in a village of ghosts, where she befriends a cat.

In Disney’s pre-Mickey Mouse days, he made a series of shorts that combined live-action with animation; the series, which centered around a spunky little girl, is known as “Alice in Cartoonland”. Though almost all cartoons have some fantastic content (i.e. talking animals), this one is even more firmly in the genre categories because of the ghosts and spooks that abound. Overall, it’s an okay little short. but most of the humor is derived from the actions of an animated cat who is really just a rip-off of Felix; Disney himself would have the same problem once Mickey Mouse became famous, as many cartoons from other companies would then include animated mice that looked quite a bit like Mickey. Some of the animated tricks are pretty neat, though; I like the moment when Alice takes hold of an animated question mark over her head and it turns into a stick. Still, this one is only mildly interesting.

 

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The Reincarnation of Karma (1912)

THE REINCARNATION OF KARMA (1912)
Article 2330 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-12-2007
Posting Date: 12-29-2007
Directed by Van Dyke Brooke
Featuring Rosemary Theby, Courtenay Foote, Lillian Walker

In ancient times, a priest in India finds himself tempted by a woman named Qunitreea. He has her transformed into a snake as a punishment. In modern times, a man and a woman engaged to be married visit the ruins of the temple of the priest, and find a snake which returns to her original form every 100 years. The man sees the transformation, and…

If you’ve read the title of the movie, you should know what one of the final revelations will be. And since the title cards reveal that vengeance is part of the story, you won’t be surprised by how it turns out. All in all, it’s a middlingly entertaining early silent. Rosemary Theby is probably the most memorable character as the temptress; she dances with a certain snaky charm. Nowadays, she’s most remembered for playing W.C. Fields’ wife in his classic short, THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER; she also played a cave woman in ONE MILLION B.C .

 

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Treachery and Greed on the Planet of the Apes (1981)

TREACHERY AND GREED ON THE PLANET OF THE APES (1981)
Article 2329 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-11-2007
Posting Date: 12-28-2007
Directed by Jack Starrett and Ralph Senensky
Featuring Ron Harper, James Naughton, Roddy McDowall

When a human saves Galen’s life from a scorpion sting by riding a horse to get the antidote, he finds himself up for execution because humans are not allowed to ride horses by ape law. Virdon and Burke try to save him. Then, when a tyrannical gorilla becomes the prefect of a small village, Galen, Virdon and Burke launch a plot to have him removed from his office by tricking him into making an assassination attempt on General Urko.

This is the fourth of the TV-Movies culled from the “Planet of the Apes” TV series, and the last I will cover for some time. This one is culled from episodes nine and eleven of the series, “The Horse Race” and “The Tyrant”. Most of the other movies I’ve seen in the series largely left the episodes intact; this one runs twenty minutes shorter than the others, and removes about ten minutes out of each of the two episodes. And, quite frankly, it helps; the stories move at a swift pace which makes them more interesting, even if some of the plot points get muddled or rushed into the story. The episodes seem better plotted and less preachy then some of the others I’ve seen, and that helps. I thought this one was the most enjoyable of the batch I’ve seen so far.

 

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That Lady in Ermine (1948)

THAT LADY IN ERMINE (1948)
Article 2328 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-10-2007
Posting Date: 12-27-2007
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch and Otto Preminger
Featuring Betty Grable, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Cesar Romero

When a castle in Italy is taken by an invading force of Hungarians, the ancestor of the current countess emerges from her painting with a plot to drive the Hungarians away.

I’ve only had the opportunity to see one other of Ernst Lubitsch’s oeuvre for this series; the 1918 silent movie THE EYES OF THE MUMMY . That one was hardly representative of a man who specialized in comedies noted for their light touch (the “Lubitsch touch” of legend); this one is more in line with what you would expect from him. There’s no doubt that there is a light comic touch here; the early scenes are incredibly charming and quite amusing. Yet, as the movie goes on, the charm starts to get stale and the humor begins to fade; I found the last twenty minutes to be quite dull. Still, this may not be Lubitsch’s fault; this was his last film, and he died before it was completed, so Otto Preminger stepped in and directed for the last ten days, and it’s quite possible that it may be his scenes that disappoint; though he could be quite an effective director himself, there’s really no legendary “Preminger touch”. So this one may not really be representative of his oeuvre, either. Out of curiosity, I went to IMDB and did a search on Ernst Lubitsch’s movies sorted by ratings, and this one was, sadly, second from the bottom. The only movie that rated lower? THE EYES OF THE MUMMY . I’d have to say that his high points weren’t genre movies.

Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for Whit Bissell as another fugitive from a painting.

 

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Sybil (1976)

SYBIL (1976)
TV-Movie
Article 2327 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-9-2007
Posting Date: 12-26-2007
Directed by Daniel Petrie
Featuring Joanne Woodward, Sally Field, Brad Davis

A psychiatrist discovers a woman who has multiple personalities, and undertakes the task of helping her to face her demons and to heal.

It’s somehow fitting that we follow up STALK THE WILD CHILD with another TV-Movie about a doctor trying to help someone to fit into the world. I have to admit that I’m always a little apprehensive at the thought of sitting down to a movie which runs over three hours long, but the movie manages to be gripping enough that my attention never flagged. Much of this is due to the outstanding performances by Sally Field and Joanne Woodward, with Field in particular permanently putting to rest memories of “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun” by tackling a role that would be an immense challenge to anyone and pulling it off brilliantly. Technically, the movie lies outside of the fantastic genres, being based on a real-life case of multiple personalities, but madness has always been a part and parcel of horror as does hypnotism, which also plays a part in the proceedings. Furthermore, all the vampires and werewolves we encounter in horror movies are merely rehearsals for the human monsters that we can encounter in the real world, and Sybil’s mother is certainly the stuff of nightmares. There are moments of horror in both the real-life events and the nightmare sequences, the latter of which includes the decapitated head of a cat. Probably the only real false note in the proceedings is the character of the boyfriend who lives in the apartment across the street from Sybil; as it turns out, this character existed only in the movie and not in the real-life story of the title character. The movie also features the recently deceased Charles Lane in a memorable cameo as a doctor. This is truly one of the finest TV-Movies ever made, and one of the rare ones that attempts to give an accurate portrayal of the mental health profession.

 

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Stalk the Wild Child (1976)

STALK THE WILD CHILD (1976)
TV-Movie
Article 2326 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-8-2007
Posting Date: 12-25-2007
Directed by William Hale
Featuring David Janssen, Trish Van Devere, Ben Bottoms

When hunters discover a child who was raised by wild dogs, they bring him to a hospital, where a doctor vows to teach him to speak and bring him back to civilization.

This is one of those movies where I’m just not sure what the nature of the fantastic content is; though it could be argued that having been raised by wild dogs would leave a child’s mental state in something resembling madness, and madness is a common theme of horror movies, this is certainly not a horror movie. It could also be argued that the basic premise is common in several fantasies; consider THE JUNGLE BOOK and the Tarzan stories for starters. Yet this is certainly not a fantasy, either; it’s playing a very different game. Nevertheless, John Stanley included it in his “Creature Features Strike Back Movie Guide”, so here I am reviewing it. Setting aside its fantastic content (or lack thereof), I have to admit I quite enjoyed this movie, largely because the central situation is quite interesting, the acting is good, and it manages to come across for the most part as convincing. The first half of the movie covers the attempt of the child’s surrogate parents to get him to speak; the second half of the movie concentrates more on his adjustment to civilization and his growing disillusionment with those around him. At the end of the movie, he has a choice to make between civilization and the wild, and the movie sets itself up well enough that it could go either way. It fumbles a few of the scenes; in particular, a pivotal scene where the young man watches films of his early youth with a crowd of hecklers hits a false note. Nevertheless, the movie works much more than it doesn’t, and there are some truly wonderful moments; I like, in particular, the scene where he learns the significance of the tinkling bell and the one where he steals the volleyball on the beach. This is definitely one of the more entertaining TV-Movies I’ve seen.

 

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Shock Treatment (1973)

SHOCK TREATMENT (1973)
aka Traitement de choc
Article 2325 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-7-2007
Posting Date: 12-24-2007
Directed by Alain Jessua
Featuring Alain Delon, Annie Girardot, Robert Hirsch

A woman undergoes an innovative age rejuvenation treatment at a secluded clinic. However, she begins to wonder about the treatment that is used when she notices that the foreign workers have a high turnover rate and tend to fall from exhaustion from time to time. She stays to investigate…

There really isn’t a whole lot in the way of surprises in this French thriller; I could quickly list a couple of movies that if I were to mention them by name, you’d have a good idea of what is going on in this movie. It’s also a bit short on thrills; the movie takes a rather laid-back, deliberately paced approach to the story; the movie is nearly half over before you even begin hitting the plot points that hint that something is awry. As a result, though the movie isn’t really bad, I’d have to say it’s a bit on the dull side. Some people may have their attention hooked by the nude sequence on the beach, but that scene doesn’t advance the plot. For the record, the movie dips into both horror and science fiction in its final revelations, and my print was very well dubbed, so that helps matters. Nevertheless, this is a fairly minor genre film.

 

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Great Insect War (1968)

GREAT INSECT WAR (1968)
aka Konchu daisenso, Genocide
Musing 2324 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-6-2007
Posting Date: 12-23-2007
Directed by Norman Cooper and Kazui Nihonmatsu
Featuring Hiroshi Aoyama, Saburo Aunuma, Happie Barman

Nature goes wild as insects start attacking people.

I have to be vague about the plot description; I’ve only been able to find this movie in unsubtitled Japanese, and, quite frankly, I’m at a loss as to exactly what’s going on in it outside of the killer insects. I can only guess at the other plot elements, but I do speculate that the killer insects were created by man and that there is a military cover-up concerning them. I can also say that the movie is definitely not oriented for juveniles; the plot involves torture and attempted rape, and there is an unpleasant and sleazy air about the proceedings. In fact, I’d go so far to say that the movie is downright nihilistic, a circumstance which made me look for a connection to the Japanese movie it most reminded me of. The director Kazui Nihonmastu wasn’t the connection; his only other credit is for the dorky but harmless THE X FROM OUTER SPACE . However, I found my connection with the writer Susumu Takahisa; this is the writer who also penned the script for GOKE: BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL, a movie whose bleakness is very similar to this one’s. Still, I can’t say more until a dubbed or subtitled copy comes my way.

 

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L’immortelle (1963)

L’IMMORTELLE (1963)
aka The Immortal Woman, Immortal One
Article 2323 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-5-2007
Posting Date: 12-21-2007
Directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet
Featuring Francoise Brion, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Guido Celano

A man staying in Turkey meets a woman, and they have a love affair. She suddenly disappears. He searches for her, but has no luck. But then one day she reappears…

So let’s get the first question out of the way; what’s the fantastic content in this movie? Frankly, I have no idea. The title seems to imply that immortality plays a part in the proceedings, but I didn’t find any such idea in the movie itself. The trouble is that with a movie like this it’s nearly impossible to tell; it’s French avant-garde cinema, and straight answers to questions are as rare as linear storytelling in this medium. Personally, I suspect there’s no real fantastic content, and the movie was included in one of my sources purely because of the implications in the title. On its own terms, I find it hard to judge the movie, because I”m just not into French avant-garde. The first half of the movie is full of the type of dialogue you expect in movies like this, with the most common answer to any question being “I don’t know”. The second half of the movie is mostly filled with flashbacks that are slightly different to what happened when you first saw the scenes. There’s also lots of scenes of people standing still looking at things. This was the first directorial effort from Alain Robbe-Grillet, who may be best known for having written the screenplay for LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD. If this type of movie sounds like thrilling cinema to you, you’re welcome to it.

 

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Child’s Play (1972)

CHILD’S PLAY (1972)
Article 2322 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-4-2007
Posting Date: 12-22-2007
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Featuring James Mason, Robert Preston, Beau Bridges

There has been an alarming increase in violent incidents at a Catholic boy’s school. At the same time, a new gym teacher finds himself caught up in a feud between two of the teachers, one who staunchly takes the side of the boys and the other, a tyrannical Latin teacher.

No, this movie has nothing to do with the Chucky the killer doll movies that came much later. In fact, it could be argued that this movie is not a horror film at all; it’s certainly not a conventional one. Nonetheless, I do think it falls into horror; there is a palpable and unsettling dread at the eruptions of violence that crop up in the movie, and many of the boys seem thoroughly dehumanized. What keeps it up in the air a bit is that the movie is a bit ambiguous as to exactly what type of evil we’re dealing with; there is definitely some evil here, but it may be distinctly human. At any rate, I found this one quite fascinating and compelling, though I do feel it is a bit flawed. It’s at least partially a mystery, and at least one of the mysteries has to do with the degree to which the Latin teacher’s paranoid fantasies are just that. Unfortunately, if your instincts for plotting are in gear, you should figure out that mystery long before the revelations at the end of the movie. The performances are strong from all concerned, but James Mason as the Latin teacher (who can say more about how his character is feeling with body language than many actors could do with pages of dialogue) is the standout. Nevertheless, the movie has a lukewarm reputation, and the movie has the real potential to alienate the viewer. The ambiguities at the end of the movie may also leave the viewer somewhat unsatisfied.

 

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