Month: November 2018

The Great Race (1965)

THE GREAT RACE (1965)
Article 2983 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-9-2009
Posting Date: 10-14-2009
Directed by Blake Edwards
Featuring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood
Country: USA

At the turn of the century, a noted daredevil decides to hold a great automobile race from New York to Paris. However, his arch-rival, the nefarious Professor Fate, seeks to win the race by the foulest means possible.

I was a little surprised to see this childhood favorite of mine enter my hunt list, as I didn’t feel it fell within the bounds of the genres that I was covering, but it looks as if some of Professor Fate’s inventions do push the movie into marginal science fiction. I loved this one as a kid; in fact, I remember seeking out SOME LIKE IT HOT because it featured the same stars, though I ended up being very disappointed by that one (at that time, I must add). Still, knowing that this movie fell into that dubious category of “sixties epic comedies” made me dread a little watching it again as an adult. No, it’s not quite as much fun as I remember it; the laughs seem more than a little obvious nowadays, and, having seen the range of Jack Lemmon’s acting over the years, I have to admit that seeing him as such a stereotyped villain as Professor Fate left me feeling a little embarrassed. Yet, I think the movie more or less holds up, at least partially because the movie keeps itself focused and refuses to succumb to the excesses of, say, IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD. And it’s got a good cast, which includes, along with those listed above, Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn, George Macready, Larry Storch, Vivian Vance and Arthur O’Connell. Of course, it’s too long, and it’s really tempting to suggest they should have cut the whole “Prisoner of Zenda” sequence that dominates the second half of the movie. But I don’t have the heart, because on this viewing, truth to tell, I found it my favorite part of the movie; not only does it feature one of the funniest pie fights I’ve ever seen and perhaps the most memorable screen role for Ross Martin, but it also has the best comic performance in the movie – by Jack Lemmon, here stealing the movie from everyone (including himself) in a second role as the crown prince of Potsdorf. And the movie does have a nice sense of old time cinema and mellerdrammers, and even features a “follow the bouncing ball” sing-along. Still, for a movie that dedicates itself to Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy, I can’t help but wish the movie did a little better job at tapping into the comic genius of those two greats than it does. Still, I’m glad it held up for me.

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Godzilla vs Gigan (1972)

GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972)
aka Chikyu kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan, Godzilla on Monster Island
Article 2982 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-7-2009
Posting Date: 10-13-2009
Directed by Jun Fukuda
Featuring Hiroshi Ishikawa, Yuriko Hishimi, Minoru Takashima
Country: Japan

A monster designer goes to work for a theme park, but his bosses turn out to have an agenda; they’re space aliens who plan to take over the earth with the help of two monsters, King Ghidorah and Gigan. Fortunately, Godzilla and Angilus are there to save the day…

If I were to choose the weakest of the Godzilla movies, this one would be close to the top of the list. Back when I covered DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, I expressed disappointment that they basically recycled the space aliens theme from MONSTER ZERO. This would turn out to be the most tired theme of the series, and here it is again, with the aliens being cockroaches in human form. The script is muddled and ridiculous, the special effects are at their nadir (the early shots of Gigan and Ghidorah are particularly bad, looking like they were no more than immobile toys), the English dubbing is extremely poor, and the movie is full of stock footage from earlier and better entries from the series. This is also the movie that made the mistake of giving Godzilla and Angilus human dialogue during a couple of the scenes, a poor idea even if they had anything of interest to say, which they don’t (incidentally, I have a collection of trailers from the Japanese editions of the movies, and it looks like in that version, they had dialogue balloons, which is certainly a more amusing idea). Much as I love the Godzilla movies, I find this one hard to sit through, though its follow-up, GODZILLA VS MEGALON, is just as bad. I consider this movie the nadir of the series.

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All the Colors of the Dark (1972)

ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK (1972)
aka Demons of the Dead, Tutti i colori del buio
Article 2981 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-6-2009
Posting Date: 10-11-2009
Directed by Sergio Martino
Featuring George Hilton, Edwige Fenech, Ivan Rassimov
Country: Italy / Spain

After she loses her child in a car accident, a woman finds herself being stalked by a blue-eyed man. Is it just her imagination brought on by the trauma, or is she in real danger? Will a psychiatrist be able to help her, or will taking part in a ritual with a Satanic cult help her?

If there’s anything this movie made me realize, it’s that I really loathe movies in which a troubled woman spends practically the whole movie on the verge of a nervous breakdown because she is being continually terrorized. This is especially true when the movie never bothers to establish her as a real three-dimensional character; she’s just someone to be terrorized, and that’s all the movie is interested in doing. I know these movies are supposed to be really scary, but I don’t end up scared – I end up annoyed, and the fact that this Italian giallo is chock-full of bizarre stylistic touches, surreal dream sequences, and “is it real or a dream” themes doesn’t alleviate my annoyance; if anything, it just makes me aware that the director is pulling the manipulative strings. Granted, movies are a manipulative medium, but the best movies are ones that make you want to be manipulated, and this one doesn’t do that for me. At least the ending is good, though it really doesn’t hold up to close inspection when considering the movie as a whole. Nevertheless, I do feel the need to point out that my reaction to this movie may be based on a personal quirk. If you don’t share that quirk, and are fond of giallos, this one may be for you; it is supposed to be one of Sergio Martino’s better movies. Use your own discretion on this one.

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Frozen Scream (1975)

FROZEN SCREAM (1975)
Article 2980 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-5-2009
Posting Date: 10-11-2009
Directed by Frank Roach
Featuring Renee Harmon, Lynne Kocol, Wolf Muser
Country: USA

Doctors are working on a process for immortality that involves lowering the body temperature and injecting them with a fluid that increases the healing process. Unfortunately, the subjects turn into soulless zombies who occasionally go wild.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie of such startling ineptitude. First of all, there’s the acting – yes, I know some of the characters are soulless zombies, but that’s no reason for almost everyone in the cast to act that way, and two of the more energetic performances are from the “soulless zombies”. Then there’s the direction and editing; the story makes no sense, the scenes seem edited at random, and the voiceover narration that’s supposed to clear things up comes up at all the wrong moments and mostly concentrates on the least relevant plot issue – the narrator’s love life. Lil Stanhope may be attractive, but she has one of the thickest accents I’ve ever heard and it’s compounded by lack of articulation. And could someone please explain to me why the rock group that performs “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Rock Around the Clock” see fit to change the lyrics? They’re not fooling anybody. Throw in some bad gore effects, horrible dialogue and incompetently staged fight scenes, and you know you’ve got a candidate for one of the worst films of all time. Only one thing works; I got one honest intentional laugh out of a wino’s comment upon being assaulted by a zombie.

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Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 (1981)
Article 2979 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-4-2009
Posting Date: 10-10-2009
Directed by Steve Miner
Featuring Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King
Country: USA

Camp counselors arrive at the camp across from the now-closed Camp Crystal Lake, the site of a series of murders from five years ago. Legend has it that the supposedly drowned son of the murderess from five years ago is still alive and stalking victims. It’s considered just a legend… until people begin showing up murdered.

I see the slasher film as basically a cross between one of the old “Old Dark House” stories (in which people in an old dark house are knocked off one by one by a murderer) minus the mystery elements and the old dark house, crossed with the homicidal psychopath trend that started with PSYCHO, minus the psychological underpinnings for the murders. In a way, they’re stripped-down bare-bones horror movies; they’re out to deliver the scares and the blood, and everything else is just window dressing. I suspect that the reason this series lasted as long as it did was because it more or less delivered on the expectations of those who came to see them. Though as a movie, it’s not very good, it’s markedly better than a lot of other slasher movies I’ve seen, and maybe that’s the best way to look at it. This is the movie in which Jason takes over the killing, though it’s still before he wore his trademark mask, so we get lots of shots of his boots. For the record, I don’t think this one is as good as the original, but since I’m not a particular fan of this subgenre, that may not mean anything to those who are fans. I do find myself wondering just how many more of these I’m going to see, though.

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Frankenstein ’80 (1972)

FRANKENSTEIN ’80 (1972)
Article 2978 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-3-2009
Posting Date: 10-9-2009
Directed by Mario Mancini
Featuring John Richardson, Gordon Mitchell, Renato Romano
Country: Italy

Someone is killing, raping and mutilating people in the vicinity. Meanwhile, a doctor’s serum intended to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs is stolen. Could these crimes both have something to do with Dr. Frankenstein and his experiments in a secret lab?

Well, I like the presence of the familiar face of Gordon Mitchell here. I also like the name for the monster – Mosaic. As for the rest of the movie, this cheap, bloody, and exploitative update of the Frankenstein story goes a long way towards making FRANKENSTEIN 1970 look really good. Fans of sleazy exploitation might like this one best, though I suspect it might have its attractions for devotees of laughably bad dubbed dialogue or fans of special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi. The rest of us may want to be excused from having to watch this stinker.

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Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (1971)
aka 4 mosche di velluto grigio
Article 2977 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-2-2009
Posting Date: 10-8-2009
Directed by Dario Argento
Featuring Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Jena-Pierre Marielle
Country: Italy / France

A musician corners a stalker in an attempt to find what he wants, but ends up killing him when the man pulls a switchblade. The killing is captured on camera by a masked figure, who proceeds to terrorize the musician with the pictures. The musician seeks to find the identity of the masked figure.

Dario Argento’s movies can be a great deal of fun. This movie is filled with offbeat moments and amusing characters, such as the gay detective who is hoping to break his string of 84 failures by solving the case, the beleaguered mailman, and the encounter at the convention of coffin salesmen. Of course, any movie which features Bud Spencer as a character named God has gone a long ways towards charming me already. I was able to finger the culprit early on, but that didn’t destroy my enjoyment of this one; the stylistic touches add to the fun, Argento knows how to ratchet up the suspense at the right moments, and the confusing moments all eventually do clear themselves up and show their relevance to the story. The dubbing is not great, but it’s acceptable, so much of the humor still comes through. It’s not up to his best work, but I found this one quite entertaining.

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The Boogeyman (1980)

THE BOOGEYMAN (1980)
Article 2976 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-1-2009
Posting Date: 10-7-2009
Directed by Ulli Lommel
Featuring Suzanna Love, Ron James, John Carradine
Country: USA

Two children, a boy and a girl, kill their mother’s lover. As adults, they are plagued by memories of the experience. The girl visits the house where the murder took place, and discovers the lover’s spirit in a mirror. She breaks the mirror and releases the spirit, unleashing a reign of terror.

I’ve not heard good things about Ulli Lommel’s directorial career after TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES, and if this movie is any indication, I’m not surprised. The fact that the story doesn’t make much sense (it’s kind of a hodgepodge of slasher movies and rip-offs of THE OMEN and THE EXORCIST) isn’t necessarily fatal; the fact that the shock moments fall flat combined with the lifeless direction is. It’s pretty bad when the shock moments that are supposed to make you jump don’t even make you blink. It also doesn’t help that the murder scenes are more likely to inspire chortles than chills. John Carradine is on hand, and though he’s got a bigger role here than he did DEMON SEED (aka SATAN’S MISTRESS, not the Julie Christie movie), he’s still so divorced from the action that he might not have even been in the movie. And this is supposed to be one of the better of Lommel’s later horrors; if so, I definitely see some stinkers ahead.

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Midi minuit (1970)

MIDI MINUIT (1970)
Article 2975 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-30-2009
Posting Date: 10-6-2009
Directed by Pierre Philippe
Featuring Sylvie Fennec, Beatrice Arnac, Daniel Emilfork
Country: France

A woman marries into a family of psychopaths, one of whom kills people with a clawed glove.

The above plot description was cobbled together from a couple of different sources, as my print of this movie is in unsubtitled French and I was not able to glean very much on my own. I would have spotted the clawed glove, and I would have figured out it was a horror movie of sorts; some of the characters look very creepy, and I felt a bit of the same way on watching this one as I did with the original THE OLD DARK HOUSE or SPIDER BABY; in fact, the patriarch of the family in this one looks a bit too much like the Sid Haig character in the latter. Odd touches are prevalent, but until I can find a print in English, I’m going to have to reserve any real judgment.

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One Live Ghost (1936)

ONE LIVE GHOST (1936)
Short
Article 2974 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-29-2009
Posting Date: 10-5-2009
Directed by Leslie Goodwins
Featuring Leon Errol, Lucille Ball, Vivien Oakland
Country: USA

When he is neglected and laughed at by his family, a man decides to fake his death and pretend to be his lawyer’s British butler to find out if his family really appreciates him.

It’s nice every once in a while to go back and watch an old short for this series of reviews. The fantastic content doesn’t come into play until the last third of the short in which he decides to impersonate his own ghost. The short was a vehicle for comic actor Leon Errol, but audiences nowadays will probably be more interested in seeing Lucille Ball in an early role. She does well as the family’s maid, though she really isn’t given that much to do. All in all, it’s mildly amusing if minor.

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