Month: January 2019

Voodoo in Harlem (1938)

VOODOO IN HARLEM (1938)
Cartoon
Article 3194 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-6-2010
Posting Date: 5-6-2010
Directed by Rudy Zamora
Featuring Walter Lantz
Country: USA
What it is: Musical cartoon

During a stormy night, an inkwell is tipped over, leaving a big black blot on a piece of paper. Out of the blot emerge several black natives, who sing “Voodoo in Harlem”.

I found this cartoon on a set of banned cartoons – those cartoons which can’t be shown on television anymore because of the racial stereotypes they perpetrated. In this cartoon, it is the black caricatures that consign this cartoon to its current state. There are some great cartoons out there that can’t be shown for similar reasons; however, this one is fairly forgettable. Outside of a beginning and end that feature some live action footage (a cartoonist drawing a character and then a cleaning lady cleaning up afterwards), there’s little novelty to this one. It primarily consists of animated characters singing and dancing to the title song, and though the song isn’t bad, it doesn’t really make for an interesting cartoon. It doesn’t even try for comedy, but maybe that’s just as well, given that the comedy would probably have resorted to jokes involving watermelons and dice. And, unless the characters arising out of the inkwell count, no voodoo is in use during the cartoon.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Atragon (1963)

ATRAGON (1963)
aka Kaitei gunkan
Article 3193 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-16-2010
Posting Date: 5-12-2010
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Featuring Tadao Takashima, Yoko Fujiyama, Yu Fujiki
Country: Japan
What it is: Invaders from an undersea kingdom, Japanese style

The underwater empire of Mu threatens to take over the world with their superior technology. The only hope for the world is a missing Japanese captain who has designed the ultimate fighting machine, a flying submarine known as Atragon.

I think this popped up on TV when I was a kid, and I watched it expecting a monster movie; I soon switched it off in frustration, and even had I stayed with it, I would have been disappointed by Manda, who is more reminiscent of Reptilicus than any of the great Japanese monsters. However, as an adult, I can admire it for what it really is; I consider it the best of the various Japanese invasion movies of that period, as I find it more interesting and enjoyable than either BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE or THE MYSTERIANS. Not that I don’t see some problems with the story. The residents of Mu show real shortsightedness in their attempts to keep Atragon from being used against them, as their every action seems destined to encourage that the machine be used, such as calling the attention of the Japanese government to its existence in the first place. However, the scenes of destruction are colorful and well done, and I enjoy various touches. I like the scene where the humans taken prisoner by the Mu empire are brought in during an impressively staged ritual dance, and I like the way that Kenji Sahara really underplays his role; given that the common acting mode in Japanese movies seems to be rather strident, underplaying is always a striking touch in their movies. I originally started watching this in the English-dubbed version on my disc, but the dubbed acting was so weak I eventually switched to the Japanese version with English subtitles, which I liked a lot better. Jun Tazaki’s role of Captain Jinguji was originally to have been played by the great Toshiro Mifune, but a prior commitment kept him out of the production. That’s a real pity; I would really liked to have seen him in one of these Japanese science fiction movies.

1 CommentLeave a comment

The Block Signal (1926)

THE BLOCK SIGNAL (1926)
Article 3192 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-15-2010
Posting Date: 5-11-2010
Directed by Frank O’Connor
Featuring Ralph Lewis, Jean Arthur, Hugh Allan
Country: USA
What it is: Railroad drama

An engineer whose eyesight is beginning to suffer depends on his fireman to tell him the color of the signals. An ambitious fireman, hoping to open up a position for himself, deceives the engineer about the color of the block signals, and the result is a two-train collision. The engineer loses his job and the fireman takes his position. Can the ex-engineer be vindicated?

You’ll have to get through half of this movie before the fantastic content starts to manifest itself; the second half of the movie revolves around the ex-engineer’s attempt to invent and test a new type of brake that can be used to prevent train accidents, an element which pushes the movie into the realm of science fiction. The overall story is entertaining enough, though it is a bit clumsy and rather contrived. Fortunately, the heroes are likable enough that you hope they come out all right, and some of the train footage is quite exciting. Overall, not a bad little movie.

1 CommentLeave a comment

Dracula vs Frankenstein (1970)

DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN (1970)
aka Los monstruos del terror, Assignment Terror
Article 3191 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-14-2010
Posting Date: 5-10-2010
Directed by Tulio Demicheli, Hugo Fregonese and Eberhard Meichsner
Featuring Paul Naschy, Michael Rennie, Karin Dor
Country: Spain / West Germany / Italy
What it is: Naschy monster mash

Aliens from outer space possess the dead bodies of humans and seek to take over the planet Earth by the revival of the classic monsters: Dracula, Valdemar the werewolf, Pha-ho-tep the mummy, and the Farancksalen monster.

I know of three movies from the early seventies that have this same title, or at least one that’s really close, the other two being from Al Adamson and Jess Franco. This one was Michael Rennie’s last film, and he does about as good a job as anyone could have with the role of the head of the aliens. Most of the movie seems to be concerned with the aliens puttering around the world collecting monsters interspersed with scenes of police investigating the various killings. The invasion never really gets off the ground because there’s just too much infighting between the aliens and the monsters. The thing I found the most interesting about the movie is the way it references a whole slew of other movies, especially the various Universal classics and any number of mad scientist movies, most obviously HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Still, the title is a cheat; not only does Dracula never take on Frankenstein or his monster, there isn’t even a Frankenstein in it; the monster is called the Farancksalen monster, a name substitution that is as clumsy as it sounds. The script is a bit of a muddle; at times, Valdemar seems to be helping the aliens, but fighting them at other times, and since he barely speaks, we don’t know what’s going through his mind. This is far from the best of the Valdemar the werewolf series, but I have to admit I liked it a little better this time than when I first saw it.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Invasion of the Zombies (1962)

THE INVASION OF THE ZOMBIES (1962)
aka Santo contra los zombies
Article 3190 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-12-2010
Posting Date: 5-9-2010
Directed by Benito Alazraki
Featuring Santo, Armando Silvestre, Jaime Fernandez
Country: Mexico
What it is: Mexican wrestler vs the undead

A professor vanishes after having written a book about his studies in Haiti. Meanwhile, there are reports of crimes being committed by unstoppable creatures whose fingerprints match those of dead criminals. Can Santo, the Silver Mask, solve these mysteries?

You know that the bad guys in a movie are really evil when one of their plots is to send out zombies to kidnap children from a local orphanage with the intent of using them as experimental subjects. You also know that no good-hearted Mexican wrestler is going to let them get away with that atrocity. This Santo movie is heavy on the wrestling scenes, especially towards the beginning; it’s a good ten minutes into the movie before you even get a hint of the plot starting up. This is a fun but standard entry in the Santo oeuvre, though it may be the closest he’s come to being unmasked during a movie; you actually get to see the bottom half of his face at one point. Amazingly enough, my copy had subtitles so I could easily follow the plot, though this one wouldn’t have proven a difficult challenge if it hadn’t had them. I’ve also noticed one standard scene; the bad guys try to get Santo by setting him up in a rigged wrestling match; in this case, they kill a wrestler and turn him into a zombie for the match.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Yeti – il gigante del 20. secolo (1977)

YETI – IL GIGANTE DEL 20. SECOLO (1977)
aka Yeti: The Giant of the 20th Century
Article 3189 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-8-2010
Posting Date: 5-8-2010
Directed by Gianfranco Parolini
Featuring Antonella Interlenghi, Mimmo Craig, Jim Sullivan
Country: Italy
What it is: Italian attempt at KING KONG

A giant yeti is discovered entombed in a block of ice.

The worst Yeti movie? Not as long as prints of THE SNOW CREATURE can still be found. At least this one is endearingly goofy; some of the sillier scenes involve the Yeti combing the hair of the human woman he loves with the bones of a giant fish, his playing with an elevator like a yoyo, his strangulation of a man with his toes, his being framed for the murder of a scientist while suffering from pneumonia, and his revival scene, which for some reason requires that he be encased in his own private phone booth and suspended in the air by a helicopter. For such a big guy he seems pretty good at sneaking up on people, and at least it doesn’t slavishly follow the plot of its model, KING KONG. The movie’s most annoying element is its overbearing sentimentality, especially those involving a mute boy and his dog. The ending makes you wonder if they were planning a sequel.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Daikaiju Baran (1958)

DAIKAIJU BARAN (1958)
Article 3188 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-7-2010
Posting Date: 5-7-2010
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Featuring Kozo Nomura, Ayumi Sonoda, Fumio Matsuo
Country: Japan
What it is: Japanese giant monster epic

Two students hunting for a rare butterfly disappear mysteriously, and a second expedition to investigate the cause discovers they were killed by a giant monster living in a nearby lake. An attempt to destroy the monster backfires when they discover that the monster is nearly indestructible, and it goes on a rampage.

It’s nice to finally see the Japanese version of this movie; the awful American release, called VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE, threw out most of the original footage and grafted on an extremely dull plot involving the removal of salt from water. Still, though this version is superior, it’s still no great shakes. The plot in this one is coherent, but it’s unoriginal and predictable. It’s biggest problems consist of the fact that the monster itself is rather forgettable; it’s basically just a Godzilla knockoff. The movie also spends far too long on the sequence with the monster in the ocean; it’s just not as much fun watching the head and shoulders of a monster battling a few planes and boats in the middle of an ocean than it is to see him loose in a city. In the end, the monster just doesn’t leave much of an impression. And as for the scenes of him flying (which were excised from the American version), he only really does this during one scene, and outside of letting the monster escape at one point, it has no impact on the story. This is one of the few giant monsters from Toho in this period that did not inspire any sequels, except for its cameo appearance in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Beast of the Yellow Night (1971)

THE BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT (1971)
Article 3187 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-17-2010
Posting Date: 5-13-2010
Directed by Eddie Romero
Featuring John Ashley, Mary Charlotte Wilcox, Leopoldo Salcedo
Country: Philippines / USA
What it is: Cross between the story of Faust and a werewolf movie

A starving man sells his soul to the devil for food. He becomes immortal, but must propagate evil for his master. When he fails, he is transformed into a murderous beast.

I’ve read that John Ashley claims that this was the most cerebral film he made in the Philippines, and I’m willing to buy that; with its philosophical delvings and offbeat characters, it’s something of a horror art film. It’s different enough that I feel a bit inclined to defend it. Sadly, it doesn’t really work, as much of the talk is simply dull, and the main character’s relationship with his wife degenerates into soap opera shtick. The horror often gets pushed on the back-burner as well, and the monster isn’t memorable, nor are his rampages particularly effective. The best scenes and conversations feature Vic Diaz as the devil, but you really don’t see enough of him. And for all the philosophical discussions, the conflict comes down to whether the main character can regain his soul, thus sloughing off his enforced immortality and allowing him to die, and this doesn’t require near the amount of talk we’re given. In the end, the movie is neither fish nor fowl, and is bound to disappoint no matter what the expectations are. In short, it’s a failure, albeit not an uninteresting one.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Spooky Hooky (1936)

SPOOKY HOOKY (1936)
Short
Article 3186 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-5-2010
Posting Date: 5-5-2010
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Featuring Eugene ‘Porky’ Lee, George ‘Spanky’ McFarland, Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer
Country: USA
What it is: Little Rascals short

The Little Rascals hatch a scheme to play hooky so they can go to the circus; however, when they discover that the teacher actually plans to take the kids to the circus, they try to retrieve the forged note they planted to excuse them from class. Unfortunately, the school is locked, and they have to sneak inside during a spooky, rainy night.

Basically, this consists of setting up the above plot, and then Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat and Porky scaring each other or being scared of each other. There’s some scary noises, an owl, people dressed as ghosts, and a skeleton. Of course it’s not scary; it’s too cute. Nonetheless, this is a mildly amusing short.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Spooks (1931)

SPOOKS (1931)
Cartoon
Article 3185 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-4-2010
Posting Date: 5-4-2010
Directed by Ub Iwerks
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Funny skeleton cartoon

Flip the Frog takes refuge from a storm in a scary mansion where his host is a friendly skeleton. However, the skeleton has an ulterior motive; it turns out that Flip is just the right size to fill the box that will complete the skeleton’s skeleton collection.

Of course I feel deja vu; it’s another Ub Iwerks skeleton cartoon like yesterday’s. This one isn’t nearly as musically inclined, though there is a musical section which uses one of the same gags as SKELETON FROLICS; namely, a skeleton dancer breaking into two parts after each twirl. Flip the Frog is largely forgotten nowadays, but I kind of like him, mainly because he has a catchy little title melody. My favorite scene here has the host offering dinner to Flip – a chicken skeleton, which Flip finds inedible but feels he must be a gracious guest.

0 CommentsLeave a comment