Month: February 2019

Day of the Nightmare (1965)

DAY OF THE NIGHTMARE (1965)
Article 3363 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-16-2010
Posting Date: 10-29-2010
Directed by John A. Bushelman
Featuring John Ireland, Beverly Bain, Cliff Fields
Country: USA
What it is: Psycho-killer, sleazy style

A tortured artist is under suspicion for the murder of a model. Meanwhile, his wife is being terrorized by a strange woman in sunglasses.

The second I saw the woman in the sunglasses, I pretty much knew the general arc of the story, and nothing the movie did from that moment on surprised me. In place of coming up with an interesting variant to a familiar story, the movie fills itself with sleaze (lots of topless women), plays up the artist’s sexual hangups (among other things, he’s into sadism and voyeurism; he pays women to make out in front of him while he breaks down in tears from shame and guilt) caused by having witnessed his mother making love to a man other than her husband. Some plot descriptions of this one talk about a woman coming back from the dead, though I didn’t see notice anything to support that story line, but then, the movie is just muddled enough that maybe it just failed to clearly establish that the woman in the sunglasses was supposed to be dead. Unless you’re into sleaze or find the sexual hang-ups fascinating (I find them silly and overdone here), there will be little to hold your interest.

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Eugenie… The Story of Her Journey into Perversion (1970)

EUGENIE… THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION (1970)
aka Eugenie
Article 3362 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-15-2010
Posting Date: 10-28-2010
Directed by Jesus Franco
Featuring Maria Rohm, Marie Liljedahl, Jack Taylor
Country: Spain / West Germany
What it is: Jess Franco movie

A businessman is seduced into letting his daughter spend a weekend with a libertine brother and sister on an island. Their designs on her are certainly not innocent…

Look at the title. Now look at the director. Know that the movie is based on a book by the Marquis de Sade. Quite frankly, this told me a lot about the movie already, and it’s pretty much what I expected. The biggest question I had going in was whether this was going to turn out to be Franco in top form or Franco on automatic. It’s the former; it’s definitely one of Franco’s better movies, and he shows a real commitment to it; from what I hear, it’s the movie of his Franco says he hates the least. Granted, it’s an acquired taste, and since I don’t share his fascination with de Sade, my use for it is very limited. But that doesn’t mean the movie lacks a point and a purpose. The horror content becomes clearer near the end, as it involves human sacrifice; the movie is also somewhat ambiguous as to whether it’s really happening or all a dream. At any rate, like it or not, it does appear to be one of Franco’s touchstones.

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Arrriva Dorellik (1967)

ARRRIVA DORELLIK (1967)
aka Dorellik, How to Kill 400 Duponts
Article 3361 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-13-2010
Posting Date: 10-27-2010
Directed by Steno
Featuring Johnny Dorelli, Margaret Lee, Terry-Thomas
Country: Italy
What it is: Supervillain spoof

Arch-criminal Dorellik undertakes a job to murder all but one heir to a vast fortune; unfortunately, this requires him to kill almost everyone in Paris with the last name of Dupont. A commissioner from Scotland Yard is called in to help in the investigation.

The idea of a spoof of the supervillain genre is a good one. I also like the thrust of the plot here; Dorellik has to kill more than 1000 people if he hopes to get paid, and the best moments in this movie involve the schemes he hatches to do away with them. Nevertheless, the movie is a disappointment; rather than trying to emulate the style of a supervillain movie, it takes on your basic comic style, and much of the movie lapses into uninspired slapstick. As a result, the movie isn’t really that funny, and even when the idea is good, the execution is often lacking. The fantastic content is also extremely light; there are comic bits involving Dorellik magically vanishing while standing between two trees, and there are a few other unreal comic touches, but at heart I don’t think this movie really qualifies. My favorite moment is the first murder, which Dorellik pulls off with one phone call and one well-placed phrase. And yes, the title does actually have three Rs in a row in it.

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Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969)

CAN HEIRONYMUS MERKIN EVER FORGET MERCY HUMPPE AND FIND TRUE HAPPINESS? (1969)
Article 3360 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-13-2010
Posting Date: 10-26-2010
Directed by Anthony Newley
Featuring Anthony Newley, Joan Collins, Alexander Newley
Country: UK
What it is: Art film, vanity project style

Heironymus Merkin, feeling the onset of old age, makes a movie that tells the true story of his life to that point.

If this movie is more or less an autobiographical account of Anthony Newley’s life up to that point (I haven’t read any extensive biographies about him, but IMDB’s mini-biography matches up somewhat to the some of the story points here), then he at least should be given credit for not painting himself as better than he really was; his character comes across as a selfish jerk whose main redeeming point is that he’s aware that he’s a selfish jerk. And at least he didn’t call his movie ONE (as in reference to Fellini calling his film 8 1/2), as this was his first directorial effort. In fact, the script name-drops Fellini as well as Bergman. He casts his own children to play his children, and his own wife at the time (Joan Collins) as his wife; apparently, Collins has said that the movie contributed to the decline of her marriage to Newley, and if the movie paints any sort of real portrait of him, you can see why. Still, when it comes to art films, I’ll opt for anything by Fellini or Bergman over this one; despite the autobiographical bent of it all, it seems somewhat superficial and lacking in depth. I doubt that rewatching the movie would unlock anything more than I got the first time. As it was, I mostly found myself waiting for the various appearances of George Jessel (as the Presence) so I could hear his next joke. The fantastic content here is the usual trappings of a movie of this sort; Newley visualizes himself as a puppet and as an automaton with a mouth and a wind-up key, most of the action takes place inexplicably on a beach, and near the end there’s a fairy-tale sequence involving an enchanted donkey. The movie got an X rating initially, partially for the nudity and partially for a story line involving the main character’s involvement with an underage girl. I don’t really hate the movie (quite frankly, I found the distancing techniques kept me from attaching to it in any emotional way), but I think there’s less here than meets the eye.

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Highlander (1986)

HIGHLANDER (1986)
Article 3359 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-11-2010
Posting Date: 10-25-2010
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Featuring Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown
Country: USA / UK
What it is: Action fantasy

An immortal (who can only die by decapitation) from the Scottish highlands must face off with an ancient foe for the Prize, a gift that will be bestowed on the last surviving immortal.

The opening music features a song by Queen at its most bombastically overbearing (and, as a fan, I need to point out that I don’t think the group’s music is always that way) and the opening scene is a wrestling match. These two items pretty much set up the type of movie that follows; a subtlety-deficient over-the-top action fantasy with lots of sword-wielding violence, warrior philosophy, and mystical/religious overtones. I’m not surprised that the plot and the concept seem a little threadbare, or that the main villain becomes more and more cartoonish as the movie proceeds; after all, the movie’s primary reason for existence is the action sequences, and the reason to make the characters immortals is so they can really make mincemeat of each other and come back for more. It’s no surprise that the emotional component of the story (the relationship between male immortals and female mortals) is lost in the mix. In the final analysis, I’d say the movie is a success; it does what it sets out to do; whether you like it depends on if you like what it sets out to do. Hint: If you like the opening Queen song and the wrestling scene, this movie will suit you just fine.

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Dracula and Son (1976)

DRACULA AND SON (1976)
aka Dracula pere et fils
Article 3358 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-11-2010
Posting Date: 10-24-2010
Directed by Edouard Molinaro
Featuring Christopher Lee, Bernard Menez, Marie-Helene Breillat
Country: France
What it is: Vampire comedy

When revolution drives them away from their castle in Transylvania, Dracula and his son escape to Paris and London respectively.

First of all, I think it’s important to specify that I saw the 79 minute English dubbed version of this movie. This is an important detail, because reportedly this version made mincemeat of the original French version of the film, and even if you didn’t know that from the outset, you’d be able to tell; there’s a lot of annoying narration, there’s an enormous amount of dubbed talking going on when none of the characters appear to be moving their mouths, many of the jokes seem geared to Americans (such as the fact that the son is dubbed with a Don Adams impersonation), and the repeated sequence that purports to be a scene of a movie being shot is obviously the same footage again and again, probably taken out of context from another part of the movie. Especially disappointing is the fact that Christopher Lee was dubbed by someone else; Lee claims he dubbed his own voice, but it looks like they didn’t use his dub, probably because of the heavy doctoring of the script that no doubt occurred. This version is a very silly movie, with weird self-referential jokes (the father becomes famous because he looks like Christopher Lee) and endless celebrity impersonations. Reportedly, the original version had some political themes, but little of that seems left. It’s sporadically amusing but mostly dumb. I may have to find a subtitled copy of the original movie to judge it fairly, so for now, it’s best to realize that my comments here refer only to the English language version.

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Adventures of Captain Africa, Mighty Jungle Avenger (1955)

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN AFRICA, MIGHTY JUNGLE AVENGER (1955)
Serial
Article 3357 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-10-2010
Posting Date: 10-23-2010
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
Featuring John Hart, Rick Vallin, Ben Welden
Country: USA
What it is: Bargain basement serial thrills

Captain Africa, Mighty Jungle Avenger, helps a deposed caliph regain his throne.

This serial was originally intended to be a sequel to Columbia’s THE PHANTOM, but after they completed it they discovered that their option to make a sequel to the previous serial had expired. Therefore, they brought back some of the actors and reshot some of the scenes to make it look like a different hero, one Captain Africa, was doing the heroics. To me, the serial looks like it was cobbled together mostly from footage of other serials (especially THE PHANTOM), with the new actors standing around and looking at things and having conversations. The plot feels like it was barely thrown together, and everyone seems detached from the action. To my mind, this is one lousy serial with virtually nothing to redeem it, yet I find it sitting on IMDB with a 7.2 rating. Now, I know that serials like this are only rated by people who love serials to begin with, but there are far worthier serials out there to defend. The fantastic content: Captain Africa magically appears and disappears in front of the jungle tribes (explained in THE PHANTOM but not here) and Captain Africa consults a crystal ball on occasion.

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Herbie Rides Again (1974)

HERBIE RIDES AGAIN (1974)
Article 3356 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-9-2010
Posting Date: 10-22-2010
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Featuring Helen Hayes, Ken Berry, Stefanie Powers
Country: USA
What it is: Shopping cart movie sequel

Herbie the Love Bug is now in the possession of a kindly old woman who lives in a firehouse. However, the evil Alonzo Hawk wants to tear down the lady’s home so he can build an office building on the spot. Can Herbie save the day?

No, the sequel isn’t up to the level of the original; the story is much less interesting and is less solidly constructed, and many of the gags are obvious. Still, given that the Disney shopping cart movies were really starting to show their strain by this time, it does have its moments. First of all, I like the presence of both Helen Hayes and John McIntire here; as the feisty old woman and her cattleman beau, they add a real low-key charm to the proceedings that offsets the more blatant slapstick. It’s also nice to see Keenan Wynn reprise his role from the flubber movies. And some of the scenes get extremely wild; the scene where Herbie chases Alonzo Hawk around his office full of soap suds is rather freaky, and Alonzo Hawk’s nightmare (which involves fanged monster Herbies and borrows from KING KONG) is the highlight of the movie. Herbie would appear in two more sequels.

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Alraune (1930)

ALRAUNE (1930)
Article 3355 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-7-2010
Posting Date: 10-21-2010
Directed by Richard Oswald
Featuring Brigitte Helm, Albert Bassermann, Harald Paulsen
Country: Germany
What it is: Artificial life story

A woman who was the result of an experiment in artificial insemination grows up to be amoral.

The above plot description is based on my various other encounters with the story; my copy of this one is in German with Danish subtitles, and I wouldn’t have been able to make heads or tales out of it had I not been familiar with the basic story. This was Brigitte Helm’s second stab at the title role; she had played it in the 1928 version with Paul Wegener. The story seems to diverge from that one, so I couldn’t rely on the earlier version to work out some of the plot points, though the user comment on IMDB claims that this version is closest to the original novel. There are some striking visual moments. There is a wonderfully edited speeding car sequence, and there are times when Brigitte Helm’s body language can speak volumes. Nevertheless, my lack of understanding of the plot intricacies make it impossible for me to give any meaningful evaluation of this one.

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Goldfinger (1964)

GOLDFINGER (1964)
Article 3354 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-6-2010
Posting Date: 10-20-2010
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Featuring Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Frobe
Country: UK
What it is: James Bond movie

James Bond is assigned to investigate a clever gold smuggler, but uncovers a plan to destroy the economy of the United States that would also make the smuggler the richest man on Earth.

Though FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is my choice for the best of the Bonds, it’s also the one that feels least typical for the series. This one is quintessential; it’s smoothly directed, exciting, full of fun moments, and features not only one of the best villains in the series (Gert Frobe’s performance is exceptional) but also one of the most memorable minions with Oddjob and his decapitating hat. As usual, the fantastic content is the assortment of gadgetry that is on display here. I’ve seen this one a couple of other times, and I notice how well it holds up to repeated viewings; there are a lot of interesting things happening out on the edges, especially when Bond visits with Q.

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