Month: August 2018

Dead Ringer (1964)

DEAD RINGER (1964)
Article 2837 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-13-2009
Posting Date: 5-20-2009
Directed by Paul Henreid
Featuring Bette Davis, Karl Malden, Peter Lawford
Country: USA

Angered by the revelations she discovers at her twin sister’s husband’s funeral, a woman decides to kill her sister and take her place. She rapidly finds out that this will not be an easy task…

If I were using my own judgment as to whether a movie was genre or not rather than the judgment of my various sources for my hunt lists, I would not be covering this movie. Though the “good and evil” twins concept has been used in horror before (see Karloff’s THE BLACK ROOM, for example), it isn’t by nature necessarily a horror theme. Furthermore, the “good and evil” theme doesn’t really apply here; it is the supposedly “good” twin that commits the murder and substitutes herself for the “evil” twin, a reverse of what happened in the previously mentioned Karloff movie. Furthermore, the previous movie had a curse and a secret room that added some other touches of horror that this movie does not have. I suspect that if this movie is horror at all, it’s more in its ad campaign; I see a lot of images of Bette Davis juxtaposed with that of a skull, and that’s more horror than anything in the movie. I suspect this was done as a result of the success of the previous year’s WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?

That being said, I found myself initially disappointed by Bette Davis’s performance in this movie; during the first half of the movie, she comes off as somewhat awkward and uncomfortable, even in scenes where it’s not appropriate. This is especially true of the scenes where she appears as both of her roles together; I suspect that Davis didn’t really feel at ease with the concept, and these scenes especially feel unnatural. However, once Davis has to worry about playing only one of the characters, she’s extremely good; any awkwardness feels natural and entirely understandable, and I love the way she plays the scene where she figures out she can’t imitate her sister’s handwriting and comes up with a drastic solution to the problem. The movie also features a number of familiar faces in other roles; Karl Malden does a good job as a police Sergeant loved by one of the sisters, Peter Lawford is fine as the other sister’s lover, and Estelle Winwood is excellent in a small role as the dominatingly religious Dona Anna. George Macready is always a welcome face, but he’s really stuck in an unmemorable role. The performer I’ll probably most remember, though, is Cyril Delavanti as the butler; he’s one of those character actors with an instantly recognizable face, and he takes part in what for me is the most memorable scene of the movie, in which the beleaguered impostor sister discovers she has one real friend in the household.

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The Premonition (1976)

THE PREMONITION (1976)
Article 2836 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-12-2009
Posting Date: 5-19-2009
Directed by Robert Allen Schnitzer
Featuring Sharon Farrell, Edward Bell, Danielle Brisebois
Country: USA

The natural mother of a girl given up for adoption plots to kidnap the daughter from her new parents. Helping her is a carnival clown with a psychotic streak. Unbeknownst to her, however, the child’s adoptive mother has psychic powers…

At the time of this writing, this movie is sitting with a 2.1 rating on IMDB, which leads me to believe that the movie is held in very low esteem. The movie does have some real problems, and, if I wanted to, I could just bring those up and quickly dispense with the film. However, I can’t quite do that; there’s something unique and engaging about the basic story here. And some of the condemnations that could be thrown at this film I can’t quite swallow. First of all, horror fans will be mightily disappointed by this one, because it really isn’t a horror film; despite the fact that it has several people who could be described as not sane (one of which who is homicidal), it’s much more of a drama about psychic powers, and is best watched without any of the expectations you would have for a horror film. Also, the plot relies on what seems to be at first glance some outrageous coincidences; however, if you are willing to buy one of the central premises of the film (that a woman’s spirit has returned from the dead and is influencing the lives of the people in the movie), then it is possible to see the coincidences as manifestations of the dead woman’s power.

However, other problems aren’t disposed of that easily. The movie’s physical-world-vs-metaphysical-world theme is clumsy and distracting. Certain scenes misfire badly. There’s something a little shrill about the movie as a whole (especially the mother’s psychic visions), despite the fact that it makes effective use of subtlety here and there. The biggest problem, though, is that the character of the adoptive mother is unconvincing; we’re supposed to feel for her and be caught up in her suffering and pain, but she often comes across as mentally unbalanced, and seems no saner than either the real mother or the psychotic clown. As a result, I found it very hard to warm up to her, and that feeling is necessary for the movie to have its emotional impact.

In short, the movie is badly flawed, though I still think it’s much better than a 2.1 rating would suggest. Still, it’s easy to see how some people might hate the movie, so use your own judgment. If you do give it a try, I suggest one thing; set aside your usual horror expectations.

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Adventures of Sir Galahad (1949)

ADVENTURES OF SIR GALAHAD (1949)
Serial
Article 2835 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-10-2009
Posting Date: 5-18-2009
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
Featuring George Reeves, Nelson Leigh, William Fawcett
Country: USA

When the sword Excalibur is stolen under the nose of Galahad (who seeks to become a knight of the round table), he must recover the sword to prove both his worth and his innocence.

This serial has enormous novelty value. It stars TV’s first Superman, George Reeves, as the title character, and his performance adds a lot of charm to the proceedings. It’s also nice to see a serial touching upon new territory; King Arthur movies are nothing new, but this is the only serial I know of on the subject. I also like the fact that the magical characters actually use magic; William Fawcett in particular seems to be having a lot of fun with his magical hand gestures. Another advantage is that the Arthurian settings means the serial can’t rely on the tired “bail out” cliffhangers so common to the form; in fact, the movie can only dredge up one of that ilk here. This compensates somewhat for the fact that, despite all the novelty value, it really is just a rehash of common serial elements in different clothing. Also, you may not want to pay too close attention to the story, which is a mess; just try to figure out why Merlin does what he does half of the time. I actually had the most fun trying to see how far the movie would stray from the typical King Arthur legends; you won’t be fooled by the serial’s attempts to try to paint Merlin as a villain (at first), and if you can’t figure out the identity of the black knight long before the serial is over, you don’t know your King Arthur. Still, it would have been fun to see Paul Frees behind the mask; after all, he provides the black knight’s voice.

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Future Cop (1976)

FUTURE COP (1976)
TV-Movie
Article 2834 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-9-2009
Posting Date: 5-17-2009
Directed by Jud Taylor
Featuring Ernest Borgnine, Michael Shannon, John Amos
Country: USA

A street cop is assigned to do rookie duty with a new cop who is actually an android.

This is another one of those TV-Movies intended as a pilot of a series; in fact, this one actually did become a series, but it didn’t last very long. On premise alone, I would have suspected this one to be a stinker, but, oddly enough, I found it quite likable. Sure, it can’t resist the humorous possibilities of a literal-minded android confusing jargon-laced instructions (much as Hymie the robot did in “Get Smart”), but the movie downplays this approach and decides to actually create a bond between the human cop and his android partner. This is a pretty difficult trick to pull off, but when the movie manages to establish that men do indeed bond with machines (with a pinball machine as the catalyst), I bought into it, and the premise didn’t seem quite as silly. Oh, there are problems; when the movie tries too hard to tug at the heartstrings, it falters. I can also see why the series would have failed; it would have been rather difficult to maintain the delicate balance necessary for it to work. Nevertheless, I liked this one a lot more than I thought I would. Borgnine’s performance is a plus, and I like the decision not to make the android indestructible and superhuman. Though I will not be covering the series, I will see a follow-up movie called COPS AND ROBIN at some time in the future.

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La llorona (1960)

LA LLORONA (1960)
aka The Crying Woman
Article 2833 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-8-2009
Posting Date: 5-16-2009
Directed by Rene Cardona
Featuring Maria Elena Marques, Eduardo Fajardo, Luz Maria Aguilar
Country: Mexico

A man and a woman marry and have a child. Unfortunately, this brings on a curse known by the woman’s father; he tells his son-in-law the story of a female ancestor who, when her husband left her for another woman, killed her children. When a nanny shows up to care for the children, she has an uncanny resemblance to the female ancestor…

Once again, I’m doing a little guessing here; my copy of the movie is in unsubtitled Spanish. Still, I think I pretty much got the gist of it, though it required a bit of patience; I was quite a ways into the movie before I was able to pick up the threads of what was going on, and the nanny doesn’t show up until two-thirds of the way through the movie. However, I don’t think this is one of the better Mexican horror movies; in fact, some of the attempts the nanny makes on the life of the child have a comic touch about them that I suspect wasn’t intentional; I don’t feel this was supposed to be a comedy in any way. The story was based on a legend, and was adapted from a play version. My usual source for plot details of some of these Mexican movies, Robert Cotter’s “The Mexican Masked Wrestler and Monster Filmography” didn’t have a plot description, but it has a quote from the pressbook which I suspect would prove to be a translation of the opening narration, and this is rather entertaining in itself.

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Crime Doctor’s Warning (1945)

CRIME DOCTOR’S WARNING (1945)
Article 2832 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-7-2009
Posting Date: 5-15-2009
Directed by William Castle
Featuring Warner Baxter, John Litle, Dusty Anderson
Country: USA

Dr. Ordway is consulted on the murder of a model. He has a patient who suffers blackouts who may be connected to the crime, a possibility that exists when a model he’s been using also ends up murdered.

For the second day in a row, I find myself dealing with artists and models, albeit in a distinctly different genre. And, as it was yesterday, the fantastic content is pretty slight; we have a character with multiple personalities, hypnotism is used at one point, and a wax sculpture turns up. I do like the Crime Doctor series; they’re efficient and solidly told, but ultimately the story here doesn’t quite satisfy, and the ending is a letdown; when you get right down to it, the various story elements don’t really mesh as well as they could. John Abbott shows up as a silhouettist who is one of the suspects, and Eduardo Ciannelli appears as an overly colorful male model who resents the overuse of beautiful women in the trade. Still, for a b-movie, this is quite watchable.

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Artists and Models (1955)

ARTISTS AND MODELS (1955)
Article 2831 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-6-2009
Posting Date: 5-14-2009
Directed by Frank Tashlin
Featuring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Shirley MacLaine
Country: USA

An out-of-work artist finds a job at a comic book agency and uses the dreams of his roommate to help him with story ideas.

This is a so-so Lewis and Martin comedy, but I found myself wondering about just what type of movie it was and did a little musing on the subject. In some ways, it’s like the Bing Crosby / Bob Hope road movies; basically, the Jerry Lewis / Dean Martin comedy team paired a singer with a comedian, both of whom would have separate careers outside of the pairing. However, it lacks the offhand casualness of the Road movies. It’s also reminiscent of old-style musical comedies; like them, the story doesn’t matter (nobody is really taking it very seriously here), and it seems to exist mostly for the musical numbers (some comic, some straight). The comic setpieces are rather cartoonish, which is what I’d expect from Frank Tashlin, who began his career making animated cartoons. There’s also plenty of pulchritude in the movie; there’s a lot of women in the cast showing off as much of their charms as the times could allow. I can see why Lewis and Martin eventually broke up the team; the partnership must have been rather limiting for them both, especially Lewis. As entertainment, it’s passable enough, but, for the record, I only got one real laugh out of the movie, and that was from a comment Lewis made when he meets a mother who visits the publishing office of a comic book and tells the publisher he’s responsible for her child. The movie also features an early performance by Shirley MacLaine, and, given her mystical beliefs, it’s interesting to see her playing a character who embraces astrology and numerology.

Oh, and the fantastic content? It’s pretty marginal; the comic book publishing setting gives us some superhero thrills by proxy, and the plot eventually turns to spies and espionage when one of Lewis’s dreams reveals the first half of a formula for a new rocket fuel. However, these touches remain very minor indeed, and personally, I wouldn’t qualify this movie as belonging to the fantastic genres.

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An Over-Incubated Baby (1901)

AN OVER-INCUBATED BABY (1901)
Article 2830 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-5-2009
Posting Date: 5-13-2009
Directed by Walter R. Booth
Cast unknown
Country: UK

A woman leaves her baby at a new-fangled baby incubator designed to make him grow one year in one hour. However, a clumsy assistant overheats the incubator, and…

It’s a one-joke early trick short. You’ll probably guess half of what happens. As for the other half… well, let’s just say that in some ways, the baby doesn’t grow. And there’s a reason this movie is a short.

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L’inferno (1911)

L’INFERNO (1911)
aka Dante’s Inferno
Article 2829 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-4-2009
Posting Date: 5-12-2009
Directed by Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, Giuseppe de Liguoro
Featuring Salvatore Papa, Arturo Pirovano, Giuseppe de Liguoro
Country: Italy / UK

Dante seeks to make his way to paradise, but must pass through the bowels of hell first. He is given the poet Virgil as his guide.

Dante’s “The Divine Comedy” is considered a classic, but I found it one of the least enjoyable reads in my life. For one thing, a decent translation of an Italian poem into English is a rarity, and most of the historical characters we meet are obscure Italians who were probably very well known in Dante’s time and place, but are totally forgotten nowadays; it’s rather difficult to appreciate their punishments and/or rewards when you have no idea who they are. Still, the idea of a filmed version of the first book (“Inferno”) isn’t a bad idea, as it allows the filmmakers to come up with a number of visions of hell, and this movie takes full advantage of the idea. Therefore, this movie is primarily entertaining on the level of spectacle; we get to see the damned (almost all of them naked or near-naked) suffering the various tortures of the devils of hell. Of course, it’s very much a “Christian” hell; I’m certain Muslims wouldn’t be too happy with the fate of Mohammed in the movie, nor would they tolerate his appearance as a character. I do have to admire the ambition of the effort; it took three years to make, and, unless I’ve forgotten something, this is now the earliest feature-length movie that I’ve covered for this series. One problem I had with my copy, though, is the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream; I don’t mind it in terms of its music, but I don’t think scores for silent pictures should have lyrics, as they distract from the action.

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Scrooge: or, Marley’s Ghost (1901)

SCROOGE: OR MARLEY’S GHOST (1901)
Article 2828 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-3-2009
Posting Date: 5-11-2009
Directed by Walter R. Booth
Cast Unknown

Scrooge is visited by Marley’s Ghost, who tries to change his feelings about Christmas.

Supposedly this early version of the perennial Christmas classic lasted about eleven minutes, which makes it an epic for its day. Only about five minutes still exist in my copy; it cuts off abruptly during the scenes of the Christmas yet to come. Of course, it cuts corners; Marley’s ghost does all of the work, sparing us the need to handle the three other spirits who pop up. On its own terms, it doesn’t make much sense, but I’m pretty sure the makers were counting on the viewer being already familiar with the story. As expected, this bare bones treatment can do little more than hit story highlights, though it does show how movies were starting to get a little more ambitious at the time.

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