Month: April 2020

Nathalie, Agent Secret (1959)

NATHALIE, AGENT SECRET (1959)
aka Atomic Agent
Article 4372 by Dave Sindelar
Date:11-20-2013
Directed by Henri Decoin
Featuring Martine Carol, Felix Marten, Dario Moreno
Country: France / Italy
What it is: Spy story

A model turned adventuress finds herself involved with spies who are after an atomic motor.

Here’s another title that I saved from my “ones that got away” list, and like many of the others, I was only able to come by it without English subtitles or dubbing. This one is extremely talky, so much so that I found it nearly impossible to make out the plot; I’m not even sure whether the spies are trying to get the plans for the atomic motor or whether they already have them. One thing I can say is that for a movie that IMDB classifies as an action thriller, there’s not much in the way of action or thrills. If it’s not an outright comedy (which is what it feels like), it’s certainly not to be taken very seriously. In fact, the key word in the plot description would be “model”; the movie seems more interesting in the revealing and sexy costumes the main character wears during the movie. It reminds me a little bit of Jesus Franco’s TWO UNDERCOVER ANGELS which I’ve seen recently, albeit with much less interest in de Sade; I couldn’t help but note the presence of Franco favorite Howard Vernon here. Well, whatever the merits of this movie, I can say this much; the atomic motor which provides the fantastic content is seen sputtering away in the first scene of the movie, and then is not seen in action again, so as far as the fantastic content goes, it’s probably pure Gizmo Maguffin.

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Hammersmith is Out (1972)

HAMMERSMITH IS OUT (1972)
Article 4371 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-19-2013
Directed by Peter Ustinov
Featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Peter Ustinov
Country: USA
What it is: Darkly comic allegory

An aide in an insane asylum is promised power and riches by an inmate. He springs the inmate, and the riches start rolling in… but the inmate’s methods of acquiring them are highly questionable…

Richard Burton must have loved the Faust story, only five years after having done DR. FAUSTUS, here he is again in another variation on it. The big difference is the switching of roles; he played the Faust character in the earlier movie, and here he is playing Mephistopheles. Granted, the movie is no straight telling of the story; it is, in fact, downright strange, and it is one of those movies that I would imagine would alienate quite a few people. I found it rather engrossing, myself, partially because the movie is full of interesting lines of dialogue and partially because it’s one of those movies where Burton turns on the quiet intensity, and that’s when I like him best. Peter Ustinov does a weird turn as the Doctor of the asylum; allegorically, he is God in this one. Elizabeth Taylor’s performance is not bad, but I will admit to being put off a bit by it; it’s not the type of role I would imagine her playing. Beau Bridges is effective as the crass bumpkin who becomes Hammersmith’s pawn.

The fantastic content is a little more difficult to pin down, and it may not qualify. Despite the fact that the Faust story has plenty of fantastic content, that’s not explicit in this symbolic take on it. There’s the theme of madness here, and Hammersmith may be looked on as a serial killer, though the fact that he only kills to accomplish his chosen ends rather than as a psychological compulsion makes that less likely. Actually, the most telling clue that the fantastic content may be real is a single line from Burton’s character in which he describes human beings in a way that implies that he himself is not one of them. At any rate, this might be an interesting choice to watch if you’re into quirky, dark allegory.

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Nebelmorder (1964)

NEBELMORDER (1964)
aka The Fog Murderer
Article 4370 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-18-2013
Directed by Eugen York
Featuring Hansjorg Felmy, Ingmar Zeisberg, Elke Arendt
Country: West Germany
What it is: Krimi

A serial killer who attacks victims in the woods on foggy nights is on the loose. Police attempt to track him down.

Even when they’re dubbed into English, krimis can be a little difficult to follow, so I didn’t expect to have a lot of luck following this one, which is in German without subtitles. Still, this doesn’t look like your usual krimi; it’s more youth-oriented, less stylish, and seems to be more straightforward than usual. Furthermore, it seems to be from another company than the usual run of krimis. It is also, unfortunately, very talky, and therefore very difficult to follow; I will have to reserve judgment on this one. However, I suspect that this one could prove to be pretty good if I could follow it; there seems to be an interesting plot element involving insects, and even with not being able to understand the language, there’s a climactic interrogation sequence that looks fairly gripping. There’s only a few moody scenes for the horror content, though; most of the movie involves students talking to each other or police investigating. I suspect this one would prove to be fairly decent.

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Feast of Flesh (1967)

FEAST OF FLESH (1967)
aka Placer sangriento
Article 4369 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-17-2013
Directed by Emilio Vieyra
Featuring Alberto Candeau, Eduardo Munoz, Ricardo Bauleo
Country: Argentina
What it is: Exploitation horror

A masked fiend controls women with a combination of heroin and weird music; when they overdose, he leaves their dead bodies behind with hypos sticking out of their chests. Police investigate.

There are some points of interest to this one. The murderer is genuinely creepy, and the exploitation elements are pretty daring for its time, especially when you consider the movie was made two years before it was released. The cheap, sleazy style works well with these elements of the movie; unfortunately, it works far less well with the police investigation scenes which make up most of the movie. As a result, there’s a lot of dull stretches in the movie, and sorting out the characters becomes a tiresome chore. Even with that, I quickly picked out the identity of the murderer. I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie has a bit of a cult following (especially among exploitation fans), but I suspect it’s a fairly small one.

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Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (1967)

FANTOMAS VS. SCOTLAND YARD (1967)
aka Fantomas contre Scotland Yard
Article 4368 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-16-2013
Directed by Andre Hunebelle
Featuring Jean Marais, Louis de Funes, Mylene Demongeot
Country: France / Italy
What it is: Supervillain comedy

Fantamos embarks on a new scheme by which he extorts the rich with a “tax” which they must pay for the right to remain alive. The victims attempt to defeat him by setting a trap for him at a Scottish castle by bringing in his enemies, Juve and Fandor.

This is the last of the three Fantomas movies from the mid-sixties. I remember being blindsided by the first one, since I wasn’t expecting a comedy. I enjoyed the second one more, since I knew what to expect at that point. I’m afraid the disappointment returns with this one, at least partially because this movie blindsided me as well; the first half of this movie is, for all intents and purposes, an “old dark house” movie, with Juve staying in a haunted mansion and becoming the person who keeps finding dead bodies that disappear when he tries to tell anybody else. I will fess up to being fond of “old dark house” movies, but, to my mind, this is a real step down for the characters in question; it’s like trying to imagine James Bond or Superman appearing in one. The humor feels broader, sillier and more desperate as well. The movie does have its moments, I suppose, but I felt less inclined to enjoy them; that’s because the realization came roaring back to me how much I prefer Fantomas and Juve in a much more serious context and as real matches for each other. I will admit, though, that this series does leave behind one intriguing mystery; is Fantomas really a blue-skinned monster of some sort or does he wear masks under his masks? The movies never answer this question.

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Enter the Dragon (1973)

ENTER THE DRAGON (1973)
Article 4367 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-15-2013
Directed by Robert Clouse
Featuring Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly
Country: Hong Kong / USA
What it is: Martial arts mayhem

A martial arts master of the Shaolin temple is recruited to go to a tournament being hosted by crime lord in the hopes that he will find evidence for his arrest.

I’ve covered a handful of martial arts movies for my project, but this is the first one that actually stars Bruce Lee, the master of the form. In fact, this one seems to be considered the quintessential Bruce Lee movie, and it certainly illustrates the intensity, athleticism and charisma of the man; in his martial arts movies, he was a man whose presence electrified the screen. The story itself is nothing special; it’s basically something of a James Bond movie with Bond replaced by a martial arts master. It’s Lee’s intensity and the stylish sequences directed by Robert Clouse that sell the movie, with the sequence in a hall of mirrors easily being the most memorable in the movie. Certainly, it’s the best produced of the movies of this genre I’ve covered, and the fact that it is an American co-production means that it avoids the dubbing issues which make many of the other movies of this form seem so cheesy.

However, there is an issue here as to whether the movie really qualifies as falling within the genres I’m covering. It’s listed in the Lentz film credit books, which have a number of entries that are questionable. Despite certain similarities to the James Bond movies, it lacks the gadgetry that nudges them into science fiction, and even classifying it as a marginal fantasy is a real stretch. At this point, I’d have to say that from a fantastic genre standpoint, this one is a false alarm.

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Dracula (1968)

DRACULA (1968)
Episode of “Mystery and Imagination”
Article 4366 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-14-2013
Directed by Patrick Dromgoole
Featuring Denholm Elliott, Bernard Archard, Susan George
Country: UK
What it is: Adaptation of the Stoker novel

A mysterious count from abroad may be a vampire on the loose in London.

What we have here is a solid, good (if not great) adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic, and once again, I find myself focusing on the way the movie condenses the events and characters of the novel, which has always been a bit too sprawling to be adapted in its entirety. Since this is a feature-length episode of a TV series, it no doubt had a smaller budget than a theatrical release, so I’m not surprised that almost all of the action takes place in London; the only scene in Transylvania is during a highly stylized flashback. Once again, Lucy’s three suitors are reduced to one, and as usual, that one is Dr. Seward, as that character is the one most necessary for integrating both Renfield and Van Helsing into the plot. As in the Lugosi version of the story, Jonathan Harker and Renfield are combined into a single character; unlike that movie, it chooses to retain Harker and give him some of Renfield’s characteristics. The movie is well acted, if a bit on the dry side; however, it has some stylish moments, and some of the special effects are quite good, especially the disintegration scene near the end of the movie. The performances are quite good, and I like Denholm Elliott’s interesting take on the character. It’s not the best version of the story I’ve seen, but it is better than some of the theatrical versions.

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The Challenge (1982)

THE CHALLENGE (1982)
Article 4365 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-13-2013
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Featuring Scott Glenn, Toshiro Mifune, Donna Kei Benz
Country: USA / Japan
What it is: Modern Samurai movie

A down-on-his-luck boxer takes a job to transfer a sword from the United States to Japan. Once there, he finds himself embroiled in a family blood feud centered around the possession of the sword.

There are some interesting things about this movie. One is in the credits; any movie featuring Toshiro Mifune is worth watching, if for no other reason than it features Toshiro Mifune, who could stand around motionless for a whole movie and still steal every scene. The other is the theme of ancient tradition vs. modern cynicism, a theme which causes the two sides of the feud to use different ages of technology in the battle between them. The presence of John Sayles as one of the writers is also worth noting. Other aspects of the movie are less exciting; I didn’t find Scott Glenn to be a particularly interesting actor, and the fish-out-of-water subtheme is obvious and trite. Nor am I particularly taken by the presence of John Frankenheimer as the director; his work during the sixties was so brilliant that I tend to find his later work to be distressingly ordinary, as it is here. Ultimately, despite the interesting elements, the movie never quite rings true for me, and I end up feeling that it could have been much better than it was. As for the fantastic content, the book that lists it classifies the movie as “sword and sorcery” with the justification that the sword has magical properties. I’ll buy that they have great symbolic power for the central characters (that’s what drives the plot), but if they have magical properties, there’s no manifestation of them here. In short, this movie is a false alarm.

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Dick Barton at Bay (1950)

DICK BARTON AT BAY (1950)
Article 4364 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-12-2013
Directed by Godfrey Grayson
Featuring Don Stannard, Tamara Desni, George Ford
Country: UK
What it is: Spy thriller

A scientist who has invented a death ray that can explode planes from a distance is kidnapped by foreign spies. Can Dick Barton save the scientist and stop the spies?

This was the last of the three Dick Barton movies of the late forties/early fifties. It’s not as good as the previous movie in the series, but it’s still better than the slapdash first movie. The direction is competent (for a low-budget series thriller, that is) but uninspired. The biggest problem here is that the plot is purely routine, and the almost total lack of subtlety in the way it is put forth only serves the underscore its hackneyed nature. The fantastic content is the death ray, and it’s used twice; once in a lab demonstration, and once by the spies in a test of its use; it isn’t quite a Gizmo Maguffin, but it comes close. All in all, there’s nothing special about this one at all; it’s a time-killer at best.

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The Conqueror of Atlantis (1965)

THE CONQUEROR OF ATLANTIS (1965)
aka Il conquistatore di Atlantide
Article 4363 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-11-2013
Directed by Alfonso Brescia
Featuring Kirk Morris, Luciana Gilli, Piero Lulli
Country: Italy / Egypt
What it is: Sword and Sandal

A Greek named Heracles finds himself stranded in a desert where two chieftains are at war with each other; each believes the other side is responsible for raids and robberies. Heracles discovers the true culprits are the residents of the lost land of Atlantis and its army of robot-like warriors.

I was wondering if I was finished with the Italian sword and sandal movies of the sixties, but it looks like there are still a few out there for me to catch. Though our hero is fairly strong, I’m not sure he can really said to have super-strength; however, the existence of Atlantis, the army of robotic warriors, and a few other concepts add to the fantastic content of this one. For a sword and sandal movie, it’s not bad; the dubbing isn’t very good and the story is a bit silly at times, but at least it keeps the action going, and it avoids some of the more obvious types of filler that populate these movies, which is my way of saying that there isn’t a single plot-stopping liturgical dance. I do wonder why the English version opts for the name of Heracles rather than the more famous Hercules variation, but perhaps the use of that more famous name would have raised the expectations of our hero’s strength. Oh, yes, there’s an evil queen, but she doesn’t fall for Heracles and remains a minor plot element; the real villain is the evil scientist. This one is an adequate time-killer for a sword and sandal fan.

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