Month: May 2018

La notte dei dannati (1971)

LA NOTTE DEI DANNATI (1971)
aka Night of the Damned
Article 2590 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-8-2008
Posting Date: 9-15-2008
Directed by Filippo Walter Ratti
Featuring Pierre Brice, Mario Carra, Daniela D’Agostino
Country: Italy

A journalist who specializes in unsolved mysteries visits an ailing friend who is actually under the spell of a 200 year old witch.

At heart, I believe it’s patently unfair to make critical judgments about a movie that you’ve only seen in a language you don’t understand. Nevertheless, since I’m writing up every movie on my list, I’ve got to put something down, and I always try to point out when I’m watching something under these circumstances. Therefore, since I’m seeing this one in unsubtitled Italian, you can take it with a grain of salt when I say that I suspect the movie is a bore. I could be wrong; if the dialogue is sparkling and fascinating, this might be a really enjoyable movie. Seen in this state where I can barely comprehend what’s going on (I borrowed heavily from comments on IMDB to get a plot description together), I can’t appreciate it on that level, and, despite the fact that there’s a few moody scenes, a fair amount of nudity, a witch that likes leaving scratch marks on women’s breasts, and other odd touches, my primary impression is that this movie is somewhat static and talks your ears off. Also, Patrizia Viotti (who plays the female journalist) has one of the lousiest screams I’ve ever heard in a movie, and we get treated to it far too often. Still, until I get to see it in a form where I can really understand it, this is only speculation – except for the bit about the scream.

 

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New York Ripper (1982)

NEW YORK RIPPER (1982)
aka Los Squartatore di New York
Article 2589 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-7-2008
Posting Date: 9-14-2008
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Featuring Jack Hedley, Almanta Suska, Howard Ross
Country: Italy

A vicious serial killer is loose in New York. A policeman teams up with a psychoanalyst to catch him. Their main clue is that the killer talks like a duck when he’s killing.

There are landmark moments in my progress through this whole series of movies I’m covering, and this is one of them. This is not to say that it’s the first Lucio Fulci movie I’ve seen, but it’s the first one I’ve seen in which he’s in his full-throttle gore mode. There is something of a split in critical views of Fulci’s work; some find his movies fascinating and stylistically rich, others find them sickeningly repellant. There’s no doubt about it – the gory violence in this movie is intense and nasty; in fact, it shows up most of the slasher flicks of the era for the cartoons which they (in one sense) are. The violence is so nasty that it allows the movie to get away with its bizarrest touch; having the killer talk like a duck would be laughable if the killings weren’t so stomach-churning. I’m less impressed with the cliched plot (with the killer taunting a cop, a comic relief doctor performing the autopsies, the cop hooking up with a younger man to help solve the murders, etc.), and I guessed who the killer was long before anyone in the movie does. I also don’t find the movie particularly interesting in a stylistic sense, and the attempts at pathos near the end of the movie feel forced and ineffectual. This pretty much leaves the gore and the nastiness as the primary appeal, and these will certainly not be to everyone’s taste. Me, I recognize the power of what he’s doing, but I’m not sure the nastiness ever really becomes more than just that. Still, I’ll have other opportunities to deal with it, I’m sure.

 

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The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970)

THE MIND OF MR. SOAMES (1970)
Article 2588 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-6-2008
Posting Date: 9-13-2008
Directed by Alan Cooke
Featuring Terence Stamp, Robert Vaughn, Nigel Davenport
Country: UK

A man who has been in a coma since birth is revived after a successful operation on his brain. However, the revived man has the mind of a baby. Two doctors try to raise him, but they differ sharply in their beliefs and methods. The revived man eventually escapes from the institute where he’s being held, but he isn’t ready to deal with the real world…

This movie is an excellent combination of science fiction drama, character study and tense thriller. It’s anchored by an excellent performance by Terence Stamp in the title role, and also features top-notch performances from Robert Vaughn (this is the finest performance I’ve seen him give) and Nigel Davenport. Though the characters are specific “types”, they never become stereotypes; Nigel Davenport’s somewhat cold and overly disciplined Dr. Maitland could have easily been a cliche, but he remains a very real person. The movie underplays and uses subtlety, and we grow very attached to all of the characters. This is especially powerful when Mr. Soames gets loose in the real world; we feel both how he feels as well as the feelings of those he meets, and this gives rise to a lot of tension. The scene in which Mr. Soames ends up sharing a train car with a very scared young woman who doesn’t understand the man she’s dealing with is one of the tensest scenes I’ve encountered in a long while. Many people feel unhappy with the ending which neither offers easy answers nor resolves all the issues, but I found the final actions of the doctors’ assistant in the ambulance to give me the satisfaction I desire. Personally, I like it a lot better and and find it more honest than the somewhat similar CHARLY.

 

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Nur Tote Zeugen Schweigen (1962)

NUR TOTE ZEUGEN SCHWEIGEN (1962)
aka Hypnosis, Dummy of Death, Ipnosi
Article 2587 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-5-2008
Posting Date: 9-12-2008
Directed by Eugenio Martin
Featuring Gotz George, Heinz Drache, Jean Sorel
Country: Italy/Spain/West Germany

A thief is framed for the murder of a famed hypnotist/ventriloquist. The thief attempts to elude arrest while hatching a plan to trap the real murderer. The police investigate. Oddest of all, the ventriloquist’s dummy has mysteriously vanished…

In some ways, this odd little thriller is rather intriguing. Going into it, a quick survey of the alternate titles led me to believe we were going to have another ventriloquist-and-his-dummy/alter-ego movie, but such is not the case. The plot takes a number of interesting turns and twists, and certain scenes are rather striking; I like the one where the thief saves the life of the policeman chasing him and then immediately knocks him out. The subplot of the dummy, combined with the fact that IMDB classifies this movie as science fiction had me prepared for some fascinating revelations at the end. Unfortunately, as it turns out, IMDB’s classification of the movie is unexplainable; though there may be some science fiction elements very early in the plot (the hypnotist’s act features doctors and x-rays), they are minor and unimportant to the story, and the final revelations turn out to be very disappointing. In short, this is one of those movies in which the ride is much more interesting than the final destination.

 

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The Love War (1970)

THE LOVE WAR (1970)
TV-Movie
Article 2586 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-4-2008
Posting Date: 9-11-2008
Directed by George McCowan
Featuring Lloyd Bridges, Angie Dickinson, Harry Basch
Country: USA

Two alien races vie for possession of the Earth by sending down three agents each to play a deadly cat-and-mouse game to destroy each other; the winning team’s race gets possession of the Earth. One of the aliens on Earth meets and falls in love with an Earth woman.

Based on its 7.2 rating on IMDB, it’s obvious that that this TV-Movie had a great impact on a number of people in its time; most of the user comments are from people who remember it from many years ago but haven’t seen it since. Perhaps I might have felt that way seeing it back then. Watching it now, though, I mostly feel it’s a good premise poorly handled; the script is overly talky and never makes the premise convincing, the direction is uninspired, dreary and lacking in suspense and, though the fate of the Earth is at stake, I never really get the sense that what is happening is all that important. It does have a good twist in the last twenty minutes, but it leads to a downer ending that just makes it all seem drearier. What I found the least convincing is that the humans in the movie don’t seem to notice that we have people running around with loudly beeping trackers and zapping each other with loud ray guns; you’d think this sort of thing would catch someone’s attention. And one clever idea (that the aliens can spot each other by wearing special glasses to see their real selves) starts out well, but eventually becomes tiresome as we, the viewers, aren’t allowed to see through them until the very end of the movie, and the revelation at that point is thoroughly disappointing. This might work better for someone who has a strong affection for TV-Movies in general, but I’m not one of them.

 

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Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby (1976)

LOOK WHAT’S HAPPENED TO ROSEMARY’S BABY (1976)
TV-Movie
Article 2585 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-3-2008
Posting Date: 9-10-2008
Directed by Sam O’Steen
Featuring Stephen McHattie, Patty Duke, Broderick Crawford
Country: USA

Rosemary’s Baby (Andrew/Adrian) has a split personality. The devil worshipers dispose of Rosemary and attempt to make the child live up to their expectations. Complications arise.

Just knowing that this sequel to the classic horror movie was a TV-Movie was enough to really put me on my guard. To its credit, it doesn’t go in the direction I thought it would; given the popularity of THE OMEN earlier in the year, I thought it would merely be a TV-Movie rip-off of that one masquerading as a sequel to the Polanski film (though, truth be told, I suspect that it was the popularity of THE OMEN that drove this one being made at all). Having now seen it, I find myself almost wishing it WOULD have gone that way; instead, it takes us on a confusing, frustrating, and thoroughly unsatisfying ride. The subtlety and focus of the original movie is gone; instead, we have obvious scares combined with muddled plotting. There are moments here where the touches are simply laughable; in particular, the birthday cake with the candles shaped in the form of a pentagram struck me as utterly ludicrous. Of the original cast, only Ruth Gordon returns in her role of Minnie Castavet, but the character that worked so wonderfully in the original is painfully out of place in this mess; it’s no wonder she’s given very little to do. The biggest problem in the movie is the character of Adrian/Andrew; for a character with a dual personality, it’s a shame you don’t get even one well-developed character at all. On a side note, this is the second movie in a row in a which a character is named Peter in clear reference to the apostle of the same name (in this movie, he’s called Peter Simon, which is just that much more blatant). In the final analysis, the movie goes nowhere; it ends where it begins, and the only thing it does is dispose of a couple of characters from the original movie. Also, third-billed Broderick Crawford has about a minute of screen time. The cast also includes Tina Louise, Donna Mills, and in the Sidney Blackmer role, Ray Milland.

 

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1979)

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (1979)
Article 2584 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-2-2008
Posting Date: 9-9-2008
Directed by Bill Melendez
Featuring the voices of Simon Adams, Don Parker, Beth Porter
Country:UK/USA

Four children find that the wardrobe in a spare room is a gate to the world of Narnia. There they help the lion Aslan do battle with the evil white witch.

Given the speculations on the Book or Revelation in yesterday’s THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH and the religious allegory of this movie, it looks like I’m on a bit of Christian kick here. Personally, I prefer my religion this way, as an allegorical fantasy that works quite well whether or not you want to work out the symbolism (though, if you do, it does add another level to the enjoyment of the story). The books that make up C.S. Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia” are recognized fantasy classics, but, alas, outside of having had this book read to me in grade school, I must admit that I haven’t read the series (though a recent purchase of the series should amend that with time). Still, from all reports, this is faithful adaptation of the first novel, and it seems quite respectful; I’m really glad the film-makers resisted the impulse to add cute, treacly songs to the mix. The animation isn’t flashy, but it does manage effective stylistic touches on occasion. The voice acting is uneven (and it appears that different voices were used for the UK release of the movie), but my only real complaint is that the witch does way too much yelling. Still, it’s the story here that matters, and the story is quite enjoyable. The movie is particularly effective in the scenes where the faun makes his attempt to turn the young girl he has found over to the witch, and the scenes that serve as the allegorical equivalent of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ; you’ll know when you reach these scenes.

 

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The Late Great Planet Earth (1979)

THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH (1979)
Article 2583 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-1-2008
Posting Date: 9-8-2008
Directed by Robert Amram and Rolf Forsberg
Featuring Orson Welles, Babetta, Emile Benoit
Country: USA

Orson Welles takes us upon a speculative tour of recent events and how they may fit into the biblical prophecies of Armageddon.

This movie actually opens entertainingly enough with a false prophet being chased up Vasquez Rocks and then being stoned. Exactly what this has to do with the rest of the movie, I’m not sure, but I suppose it does illustrate the hazards of trying to predict the future. The movie then engages in about twenty minutes of reenactments of the lives of the prophets before getting down to its real footage; snippets of interviews and lots (and I mean LOTS) of stock footage. It’s all tied together by Orson Welles asking us every few minutes if the events we see in the stock footage might be proof of biblical prophecies come true. Still, whether you buy the premise or not, the movie does give us a good look at the things that were on people’s minds in the late seventies, and though some of the concerns raised are still relevant (terrorists getting hold of nuclear weapons, for instance), others are quite dated (the fearful rise of Transcendental Meditation, for example). Some of it is scary to think about regardless of its status as a sign of Armageddon. But if you love to see stock footage, this is the movie for you. Still, one image sticks in my mind; amid all the stock footage of marching soldiers, atomic bomb explosions, erupting volcanoes, starving people and time-lapse flower photography, there’s about one-half second of none other than Ignatz the Slurpasaur, and, at this moment, any chance of this movie really scaring me went down the tubes. If I ever watch it again, it will probably be to spot Ignatz.

 

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The Fantastic Animation Festival (1977)

THE FANTASTIC ANIMATION FESTIVAL (1977)
Article 2582 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-30-2008
Posting Date: 9-7-2008
Directed by Dean A. Barko and Christopher Padillo
Featuring the voices of Spike Milligan and Paul Frees
Country: USA

Fourteen award-winning animated shorts are presented.

Almost all of these animated shorts feature some fantastic content, ranging anywhere from the border fantasy element of the more abstract cartoons such as “French Windows” or “Cosmic Cartoon” to the more overt fantastic elements of “Nightbird” or “Moonshadow” (a cartoon inspired by both the Cat Stevens song of the same name and the artwork on the album that contains it, “Teaser and the Firecat”). Some of them seem to be parables or message films of a sort; an untitled clay animation piece involves a character who encounters laughter whenever he tries to evolve, and imitation when he succeeds, “Room and Board” involves a baby locked in a room trying to figure out a doorknob while quickly aging into adulthood and into old age, and the eye-popping “Mountain Music” has a definite ecological message. The more famous and familiar works are after the intermission; the ubiquitous “Bambi Meets Godzilla” is pretty hilarious the first couple of times but is now too common to have much impact; “The Mechanical Monsters” (the Dave Fleischer Superman cartoon from the forties) is the only traditional cartoon here, and, though entertaining enough, it is too anomalous in these surroundings. The high point here is at the very end; “Closed Mondays” is a famous clay animation short about a drunk who stumbles into an art gallery and finds the pieces coming to life; it’s still startling, memorable and fascinating even though I’ve seen it several times before. The surreal “Mirror People” gets quite horrific on occasion. All in all, this is an interesting animation compilation, though it does suffer a little from lack of focus.

 

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The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944)

THE GREAT ALASKAN MYSTERY (1944)
Article 2581 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-29-2008
Posting Date: 9-6-2008
Directed by Lewis D. Collins and Ray Taylor
Featuring Milburn Stone, Marjorie Weaver, Edgar Kennedy
Country: USA

A noted scientist is creating a ray that can transport materials across great distances. However, his assistant is a foreign spy who has plans to steal the invention. Fortunately, a war hero is on hand to thwart the villain and his cohorts.

The first couple of episodes of this serial takes place in the snowbound regions of Alaska that the title of this serial promises us, and they’re pretty great, with lots of footage of snow and icebergs. The cliffhangers are also excellent during these first few episodes, even if they mostly consist of stock footage. However, about halfway through the third episode the location converts to some decidedly snowless regions of Alaska never to return, and with the departure of the snow, so does much of the excitement, and the rest of the serial is very ordinary. At least I took some heart that the secret invention here wasn’t some type of death-ray, but even this was short-lived; about halfway through the serial, they discover that the new invention also works as one, and from that moment on, that’s all anyone cares about it. Well, at least there’s some fun to be had with the presence of a number of actors I don’t primarily associate with serials, such as Milburn Stone, Ralph Morgan and Martin Kosleck; the latter makes for a very nice villain indeed. And the comic relief is very strong this time, in large part thanks to the presence of Laurel and Hardy cohort and slow burn expert, Edgar Kennedy, who subtly underplays the humor at every step. So, despite the disappointment brought on by the change of locale, at least a solid cast kept this one afloat.

 

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