Month: November 2017

Faustina (1957)

FAUSTINA (1957)
Article 2311 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-24-2007
Posting Date: 12-10-2007
Directed by Jose Luis Saenz de Heredia
Featuring Maria Felix, Juan de Landa, Jose Isbert

Mephistopheles gets an old woman to sell her soul to the devil, and then tries to foil her plans for power, but finds himself outwitted by her at every turn.

I had to get this plot description from other sources than the movie itself. it’s a Mexican comedy/drama/fantasy modeled somewhat off the Faust story, and that’s about all I really got out of it. It is in unsubtitled Spanish, and it’s one of those movies where you really have to understand the dialog to follow the story. Nonetheless, there are a few sequences that can be appreciated; I like the scenes in hell, which look like a corporate office only with flames burning everywhere, and the devils swat flies and light cigars with their tails. There’s an obviously comic sequence where the somewhat inept Mephistopheles accidentally turns his client into a baby in his attempt to restore her youth, and there’s a scene with a car caught on the railroad tracks. Outside of that, I’m afraid this one is largely impenetrable unless you know Spanish. Its rating of 5.3 on IMDB seems to indicate that it is not a particularly good movie, and I must admit that I got that impression from what I did see. Still, it’s another one I can cross off my list.

 

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The Haunted House of Horror (1969)

THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR (1969)
aka Horror House
Article 2310 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-23-2007
Posting Date: 12-9-2007
Directed by Michael Armstrong
Featuring Frankie Avalon, Jill Haworth, Dennis Price

Teenagers decide to take their party to a deserted mansion that is supposed to be haunted. It’s all fun and games until someone gets brutally murdered. The teens decide to cover up the murder for fear that one of them will be suspected.

This movie doesn’t have much of a reputation, it has a weak rating at IMDB, and I remember not caring much for it when I saw it years ago on my local Creature Feature. Oddly enough, I liked it much better this time around. In particular, I found I like the ambiance. It manages to give a very good sense of the time and place; the music and the set design feel quite authentic. It also pays more attention to character than is usual for this sort of fare, and the mystery as to who did the killing (one of the teens? the older man who is stalking the woman? a real ghost?) is quite good. I do think the kids make a real foolish decision to cover up the murder, though the movie does a good job of showing the decay of trust that occurs between the teens as a result. The plot does have some weaknesses; I don’t know why the stalker is so concerned about the lost lighter, nor does the movie ever clarify the extent to which one character (a woman who left the party before the murder occurred) is in on the cover-up; though she does not appear to be so, at least one scene implies that she must be. Weaknesses aside, though, it did manage to hold my attention throughout, and that’s always a plus for a movie.

 

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Hercules, Samson and Ulysses (1963)

HERCULES, SAMSON AND ULYSSES (1963)
ka Ercole sfida Sansone
Article 2309 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-22-2007
Posting Date: 12-8-2007
Directed by Pietro Francisci
Featuring Kirk Morris, Richard Lloyd, Liana Orfei

Hercules, Ulysses and other Greeks set out to do battle with a sea monster, but end up caught in a storm and find themselves stranded in Judea. There Hercules is mistaken for Samson, who is wanted by the Philistines. In order to save his friends from execution, he must track down and capture Samson by himself.

Among the many sword-and-sandal movies that came from Italy in the late fifties and early sixties, there are a few that stand out. If you see Pietro Francisci’s name as the director and writer, you’re probably seeing one of them. He made three movies featuring Hercules, and they are of a piece, with certain continuing characters (Ulysses,Iole, Aesculapius) and fairly coherent plots. There are plenty of campy laughs here, and quite a few of them are intentional; I love the moment where Hercules breaks up a fight aboard the raft by tossing two of the fighters off the raft into the water, and then approaches the third, who bows to the inevitable and throws himself in the water. It also takes the trouble to come up with logical reasons for the characters to meet; rather than just having Samson appear out of nowhere, this one takes the trouble of getting Hercules into Judea, where his encounter with Samson (and Delilah, for that matter) makes sense. Extra care was also taken with this one in adapting it for American audiences; MGM took some care to make sure that the dubbing was top notch, and that the music was excellent as well. The battle between Samson and Hercules in some old ruins is one of the greatest fight scenes in any sword-and-sandal movie; it’s both exciting and hilarious. Kirk Morris does a fine job as Hercules, as does Richard Lloyd as Samson. Oddly enough, one of the alternate titles is ERCOLE, SANSONE E MACISTE; there is really no Maciste character in it at all (and Ulysses is more a thinking man than a fighting man, so he can’t be Maciste). This is definitely one of the high points of the sword-and-sandal genre.

 

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Hands of the Ripper (1972)

HANDS OF THE RIPPER (1972)
Article 2308 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-21-2007
Posting Date: 12-7-2007
Directed by Peter Sasdy
Featuring Eric Porter, Angharad Rees, Jane Merrow

After witnessing the murder of her mother by her father, the daughter of Jack the Ripper becomes possessed by his spirit whenever she is put into a trance by glittering lights and then kissed.

This early seventies Hammer film has a lyrical edge that makes it feel quite unlike a Hammer film on occasion; I attribute this to the fact that the score came from Christopher Gunning, who is not one of the regular composers of Hammer scores. The movie is a bit of a mixed bag; the premise itself is interesting, and it is grounded by a strong performance from Eric Porter as a doctor intent on learning about murder by studying the daughter of Jack the Ripper. Unfortunately, the script itself is rather improbable; apparently, the series of events where the daughter becomes possessed rarely happened for years, and then suddenly occurs four or five times in one week. Also, I found it difficult to believe that one character lasts as long as he does and remains as active as he does after having been impaled with a long sword. Still, when it’s working, it’s quite effective, and I thought its strengths outweighed its weaknesses, though I did find it curiously unsatisfying in the final analysis.

 

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Empire of the Ants (1977)

EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977)
Article 2307 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-20-2007
Posting Date: 12-6-2007
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Featuring Joan Collins, Robert Lansing, John David Carson

Several people take a tour of swamp land in the Everglades in the hopes of investing their money, but they only uncover horror when they encounter giant ants.

1977 was a significant year in the history of movies; it was the year STAR WARS changed the whole meaning of movie blockbusters, and the movie industry was changed by it, though not necessarily for the better in the opinions of many people. Somehow, though, I find it comforting that the same year that one came out, this one, an old-fashioned “giant monsters on the loose” flick from none other than Bert I. Gordon, also came out. It’s been quite a while since I covered one of his movies, and seeing his name again (and again and again) in the opening credits made me look forward to the movie a little. Unfortunately, it’s pretty awful, and not near as much fun as his earlier movies. The opening narration was fun in a goofy way, but once we reach the swampland, we get hung up in extended scenes of character development that you know full well will have no impact on the plot. The monster attacks are also annoying; once the people get close enough to the ants that they have to switch to the giant models, the camerawork gets so jerky (probably to cover up how bad the models are) that they’re nearly unwatchable. Furthermore, the movie is screechy; between the screaming women and the screaming ants you’re liable to get a headache. I do kind of like the bizarre twists toward the end of the movie, which seems to come out of nowhere until it finally hooks up to some information brought forward (and emphasized) in the prologue. Still, the best thing about this movie to my mind may be something that only exists in my imagination. To me, the final freeze frame of the movie looks for all the world like a huge question mark, the type that you put after the phrase “THE END” (which, incidentally, does not appear) to indicate that the horror is going to continue. If the last bit was intentional, it was pretty clever. Still, I’m not sure it’s worth going through the whole movie just to see it.

 

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Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972)

DRACULA, PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN (1972)
aka Dracula contra Frankenstein, Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Dracula Against Frankenstein, Dracula vs. Dr. Frankenstein, Screaming Dead, Sleeping Viewer
Article 2306 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-19-2007
Posting Date: 12-5-2007
Directed by Jesus Franco
Featuring Howard Vernon, Dennis Price, Fernando Bilbao

Dracula is dispatched by Dr. Seward, but resurrected by Dr. Frankenstein who wants to create an army of terror.

When I’m in a good mood, I can admire this movie’s attempt to keep the dialogue to an absolute minimum, as I’m sure it must have been a big help in making it easy to dub for each country. But beyond that, I’m afraid I found very little of interest in this entry from the Jess Franco oeuvre, and the fact that many of the scenes just involve people standing around and saying nothing just makes it that much duller. Howard Vernon has precious little to do as Dracula; in fact, he spends most of the movie with the same expression locked on his face, and he could have easily been replaced by a wax figure for many of the scenes. I did get a bit of a laugh out of Dr. Seward’s attempt to drive a stake through Dracula’s heart with the tiniest hammer I’ve ever seen, but, for the most part, I reacted very little to what I saw going on. And that’s the primary problem I have with Franco as a director; I so rarely have an idea of just what reaction he’s trying to get from me with each scene that I end up having no reaction at all, and I watch his films in a state of glum ennui. At least Al Adamson’s DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN has a bit of life to it.

 

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The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)

THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU (1966)
Article 2305 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-18-2007
Posting Date: 12-4-2007
Directed by Don Sharp
Featuring Christopher Lee, Douglas Wilmer, Heinz Drache

Fu Manchu devises a scheme to bring the world under his power by the use of a long-distance death ray. Towards that end, he kidnaps the daughters of scientists in order to force the scientists to work for him.

This is the sequel to the first of the Christoper Lee Fu Manchu movies. I’ve heard it’s a bit of a disappointment after THE FACE OF FU MANCHU, but I haven’t seen that one in ages. I can compare it to THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU , though, and, though Don Sharp is not really a great director, at least I appreciated his respect for telling a coherent story. Still, the story itself is only middling to begin with, and Christopher Lee does seem to lack that evil spark that really brings the character of Fu Manchu to life; the movie doesn’t even really take advantage of his height to create menace. The footage towards the end of the movie looks very familiar; it looks like THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU copped quite a bit of footage for the beginning of that movie from the end of this one. At this point, I must admit I’m not impressed with the Lee Fu Manchu movies, but I still have to see the first one again.

 

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Ben (1972)

BEN (1972)
Article 2304 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-17-2007
Posting Date: 12-3-2007
Directed by Phil Karlson
Featuring Lee Montgomery, Joseph Campanella, Arthur O’Connell

A child befriends a rat who is the ringleader of a killer pack of rats. He tries to save him from a citywide effort to clear out the rat infestation.

Ten thoughts on BEN

1) Whatever the merits of this movie, you have to admit it’s a fitting follow-up to yesterday’s EYE OF THE CAT . Now if only we could get a dual sequel to both movies, where the cats in the earlier movie take on the rats in this one. For some reason, this reminds me of a scene from Dwain Esper’s MANIAC , which is not a good movie to be hearkening back to this early in the review.

2) This is the sequel to WILLARD. I remember when that movie was in release; it was quite a sensation in its day. Oddly enough, the movie seems somewhat forgotten now, even though a remake was made just a few years ago; I very rarely hear it talked about.

3) Here’s an idea for a movie festival – SEWERFEST – run a whole string of movies that have extensive sewer footage. If you run them in order of quality, you can start out with the likes of THEM and THE THIRD MAN. In that case, this one would be near the bottom snuggling up to INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN .

4) This movie has my all-time favorite newspaper headline, though you have to keep your eyes open to catch it. To quote, “RATS! RATS! RATS!” They don’t even try to make a pun out of it.

5) This movie tries its damnedest to work up some sympathy for the little boy who befriends the rat. Not only is he an outcast picked on by the meaner kids, but he has a bad heart and has to have dangerous operations just to stay alive. Unfortunately, it’s a losing battle; he has a huge playroom all to his own that includes a train set and a marionette theatre with a specially designed light-up display. He also composes some of the most godawful ditties I’ve ever heard. And finally, he’s played by Lee Harcourt Montgomery, who had to be one of the least appealing child actors I’ve ever seen. Oh, how you’ll be wishing the rats would turn on him like they did their previous mentor in WILLARD.

6) At one point, the boy entertains Ben the rat with a newly designed rat marionette. If the movie really wanted a moment when it could unleash the rats on the boy, this would have been it.

7) This movie has a wealth of product placement in it, especially during a scene where the rats wreak havoc in the cereal aisle of a grocery store. We see Ben poised right over the “Kelloggs” logo on a box of corn flakes, and we also see the rats ravaging packages of Cheerios, a product of General Mills. I’ve come to the conclusion that the product placement must have been done by Post; let’s face it, would you really want YOUR cereal company to have the image of rat hanging over your logo?

8) There’s a moment here where the rats case a cheese shop for their next hit. Somehow, the utter logic of this moment gave me the biggest laugh in the movie.

9) There’s a running motif here with a policeman breaking his cigarette every time someone tries to light it. If there’s an explanation for this, I’m not sure I care to hear it.

10) .. and finally, my hat is off to a young Michael Jackson; I’ve always had a sneaking affection for his rendition of the theme song to this movie, which he makes sound heartfelt and moving. This impresses me especially now after having seen the movie, because the scene where the boy composes the tune (the worst moment in the movie) makes it sound like the most hideous piece of tripe ever.

By the way, this movie did not spawn another sequel. Somebody came to their senses. And, as a side note, the movie was co-produced by Bing Crosby.

 

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Eye of the Cat (1969)

EYE OF THE CAT (1969)
Article 2303 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-16-2007
Posting Date: 12-2-2007
Directed by David Lowell Rich
Featuring Michael Sarrazin, Gayle Hunnicutt, Eleanor Parker

A woman dying of emphysema has decided to will all her money to her cats unless her favorite nephew decides to move in with her. This prompts the woman’s hairdresser into contacting the nephew and setting up a plot to murder the aunt for her money. Unfortunately, the nephew suffers from a dread fear of cats…

The basic premise of this horror story is rather silly, but it’s far from unworkable, and in the right hands it could be effective enough. Unfortunately, the movie is only occasionally in the right hands. Its worst problem is that it’s largely setting itself up for the big ending, and once you have all the pieces in place for that, you still have a lot of time to fill, and the movie really doesn’t effectively fill it; the first hour of the movie is very slow, wanders off into tangents, and only occasionally holds the interest. The movie really kicks into high gear with an exciting scene in which a wheelchair shorts out, and from here the movie never lets up, though I do feel that the movie ends up giving away one of its main plot twists too early in the proceeding. The movie does a fine job of turning house cats into creatures of terror, and I also like the somewhat odd ending, though I could see how others might be disappointed by it. If the first hour of the movie was good, I’d recommend it; as it is, wise use of the fast forward button improves things immensely.

 

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Devils of Darkness (1965)

DEVILS OF DARKNESS (1965)
Article 2302 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-15-2007
Posting Date: 12-1-2007
Directed by Lance Comfort
Featuring William Sylvester, Hubert Noel, Diane Decker

An Englishman visits a foreign village and encounters some strange deaths. He returns to England in possession of a talisman he found, not knowing that it belongs to a vampire cult. The cult follows him to England and begin their unholy practices there.

William Sylvester is mostly known for playing Dr. Heywood Floyd in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY; I noticed his name in the cast because I had seen the same name only a couple of days ago. As it turns out, he was the lead in BEAST OF MOROCCO , a low-budget and rather dull vampire flick that was made a little more interesting by some interesting themes and an exotic location. This one is more of the same, minus the interesting themes and the exotic location; it’s an uninteresting combination of vampires and Satanists, and the only times the movie comes alive are during a dance scene in the pre-credits sequence and a lab scene in the middle of the movie where all the lab animals start going wild. At least one source of mine considers it one of the first vampire movies to take place in the present, but I’m willing to bet you can find some that predate this movie. At any rate, I find very little to recommend here.

NOTE: On double-checking the source, I noticed for the first time that it said that it was one of the first BRITISH vampire movies to take place in the present.

 

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