THE ARTIST’S DILEMMA (1901)
Article #678 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-22-2003
Posting date: 6-21-2003
Directed by Edwin S. Porter

Yes, this artist has a dilemma, all right; whether to paint the beautiful woman who has emerged from his clock or contend with the evil clown that has also emerged from his clock. Fortunately, the clown is a master painter himself; he does a portrait of the beautiful woman that is so life-like it comes out of the painting. From here on out, complications ensue; at any rate, they ensue as much as this two minute movie will allow them to. All in all, just another exercise in pseudo-Melies trick photography; Melies himself had trouble with evil clowns in THE MAN WITH THE RUBBER HEAD. But then, we all know that clowns are really evil, don’t we?

ALPHAVILLE (1965)
(a.k.a. ALPHAVILLE, A STRANGE ADVENTURE OF LEMMY CAUTION)
Article #677 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-21-2003
Posting date: 6-20-2003

A secret agent infiltrates the planet/city of Alphaville.

It’s French New Wave cinema, a type of movie that has always remained somewhat alien to me. Yes, there’s some fascinating visual moments, but there’s a part of me that just wants to dismiss the whole thing as self-indulgent twaddle. What prevents me from doing so, though, is an element that caught me off guard; the movie has a sense of humor at times, and it actually made me laugh on occasion. Not that the movie is a comedy; it isn’t. But maybe the movie shouldn’t be taken quite as seriously as the camera angles, cinematic tricks and poetry would lead you to believe. There are comic book touches here, as well as hard-boiled detective motifs, 1984-like dystopian visions, and some very nice black and white photography. Eddie Constantine has one of the craggiest faces in existence, and the movie also features familiar faces in Akim Tamiroff and Howard Vernon. I don’t quite understand it myself, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who was averse to this arty sort of thing, nor am I sure that repeated viewing will really prove beneficial to me, but there was just enough here to give me the idea that I might just give it another shot one of these days.

AMONG THE LIVING (1941)
Article #676 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-20-2003
Posting date: 6-19-2003

A businessman discovers that his supposedly dead twin brother is not only alive, but insane.

This thriller is anchored by a great performance in a dual role by Albert Dekker; he does particularly well with Paul, the insane brother, a childlike man who has been isolated from the world for 25 years, and then finds himself loose in it; he is unpredictable, both sympathetic and scary, and he easily steals the movie. It’s no coincidence that the movie is strongest during its first two-thirds, when the focus is very much on the insane brother. The last third of the movie is less so; the focus turns upon a reward for the man’s capture, and a vigilante mob forms to find and possibly execute him; this part of the movie is less convincing, relies a little too much on coincidence, and ultimately disappoints; I get the sense that the writers really didn’t know what to do with the situation they set up. Still, Dekker’s performance makes this definitely worth catching. The movie also features Harry Carey, Susan Hayward (another great performance), and Frances Farmer.

ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP (1917)
Article #644 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-19-2002
Posting date: 5-14-2003

Aladdin is tricked by an evil wizard into retrieving a magic lamp, and is then trapped in the cavern where the treasure is hidden. However, he discovers the lamp is the home of a genie.

Apparently, only four of the eight reels of this work survive; however, the story seems complete and I see no real gaps in the narrative. Apparently, it was part of a series of movies in which most of the main parts were played by children; Aladdin, the sultan’s daughter, her maid, the wizard, and his sidekick are all played by children (the Sultan, Aladdin’s father and the genie are all adults; the genie is played by Elmo Lincoln). They are all good performers, though the villain actually twiddles his moustache, showing it’s all not to be taken too seriously. Also, they show a lot more in the bathing scene than they would have had the performers been adults. The most interesting point in the narrative, though, is when the sultan (an adult, as said before) engages in the most childish behavior to get his daughter to marry the evil wizard. An entertaining oddity, this.

ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN (1950)
(Serial)
Article #628 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-3-2002
Posting date: 4-28-2003

Superman faces the threat of a technological genius named Atom Man, who is, of course, none other than Lex Luthor in disguise.

One advantage of basing a serial on a well-known comic book is that you have an instantly recognizable cast of characters from square one; I have no trouble with confusing characters in this one (a common problem I’ve encountered with serials). Most of the flying effects are done via cartoon animation, which is somewhat jarring, but you get used to it well enough. It’s loaded with cheating cliffhangers, but at least they aren’t just the “man sees the car is going over a cliff and bails out at the last moment” type; in fact, some of them are quite clever. It’s well acted all around, with Kirk Alyn a very appealing Superman, and Lyle Talbot having a fun time as Lex Luthor. I found it very good for a serial from the fifties.

ANOTHER JOB FOR THE UNDERTAKER (1901)
Article #607 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-12-2002
Posting date: 4-8-2003

An immigrant has strange experiences in a hotel room.

This is probably the shortest film I’ve done (it runs roughly thirty seconds), though it may be just a clip; however, since its length in feet is roughly sixty percent of that of THE MAN WITH THE RUBBER HEAD, I’ll settle. It’s Edwin S. Porter doing a Melies bit again with a disappearing tumbling bellboy, vanishing luggage, instant clothes changes, and one man’s horrible miscalculation on the nature of the lighting technology in use in the hotel (of which a more detailed explanation would not only explain the title but would also give away the ending). And God forbid you should have me ruin this thirty seconds for you by indulging in spoilers.

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959)
Article #552 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 9-18-2002
Posting date: 2-11-2003

Strange creatures inhabit a southern swamp and begin preying on the local citizenry.

The first half of this movie emphasizes the southern swamplands venue and the characters that inhabit it, focusing on a triangle between an obese grocer, his luscious wife, and his best friend. This half is so reeking with a seedy, sleazy atmosphere that it is engrossing, and it offered Yvette Vickers and Bruno Ve Sota the best roles they ever had. Once this half of the story ends (rather horrifically), the movie starts concentrating on the three dullest characters in the movie; a wildlife ranger, his girlfriend, and her father, and though there are some interesting plot elements, it’s hard to keep awake through these scenes; the best moments in the second half involve the feeding habits of the giant leeches and some startling footage of dead bodies floating up through the water. As for the leeches themselves, I hear they were men in garbage bags, and in close-ups you can kind of tell this; however, they are much more effective half hidden in the water, where they do project a completely inhuman quality about them, and the noises that they make are quite effective. Though it’s no classic, this cheap little feature (executive produced by Roger Corman, produced by his brother Gene, and directed Bernard L. Kowalski) has its good moments.

ALRAUNE (1928)
Article #476 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 7-4-2002
Posting date: 11-27-2002

A scientist creates an artificial person based on the legend of the mandrake. He ends up falling in love with his own creation, but she has no soul.

This is so far the only version I’ve seen of this story, and it does give an idea how edgy some early cinema can be. Though technically Alraune is not the scientist’s daughter, their relationship does indeed give one pause, especially with Brigitte Helm’s sensuous performance. Paul Wegener is also very good as the scientist, and I found myself very surprised by the ending; though Alraune has sworn revenge for the way she was created, I certainly didn’t expect her revenge to take the form it did. Amazingly, everyone is left alive at the end of this one. Another interesting variation on the Frankenstein story.

L’ATLANTIDE (1932)
Article #449 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-7-2002
Posting date: 10-31-2002

A man in the foreign legion discovers the lost civilization of Atlantis in the Sahara desert, and comes under the spell of its queen.

What, we’re back here again? Didn’t we just do this movie some time ago? Yes, and no. During the early years of sound a phenomenon arose whereby certain movies were shot in several versions in different languages; during the silent era, this was not necesary, as merely the title cards needed to be changed. DRACULA (with its alternate Spanish language version) is merely the most famous example; L’ATLANTIDE was shot in three different languages; English, French and German. I’ve already covered the English version (THE MISTRESS OF ATLANTIS); this is the French version, and outside of a few different performers, it is for all practical reasons the same movie; Brigitte Helm appeared in all three, and since her character has very few lines, it wasn’t too much of a problem to have her speak three different languages. Actually, this particular story seems to be giving me a language workout; the 1920 version had Italian title cards, and this French version I have has German subtitles, which makes me suspect that the German version is missing altogether. It’s still a beautiful movie to look at, though I’m sure English-speakers will want to opt for the English language version first to grasp the subtleties of the plot.

ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (1958)
Article #436 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing day: 5-25-2002
Posting day: 10-18-2002

A lonely old doll maker shrinks various people to keep him company.

After several movies about giant people, Bert I. Gordon does a reverse take and makes one about shrinking people, which makes a certain sort of sense. The special effects are pretty standard Bert I. Gordon fare. I just wish the script was better, because it had possibilities; as it is, it falls short of what it could have accomplished. The strong part of this movie is very strong indeed; John Hoyt as the lonely puppeteer-turned-doll-maker gives a great performance, and he is the character you will remember. When I emerged from the movie, it was his history and his life that I really wanted to know more about; as it is, we only get a few hints, and we are given no explanation as to where this guy got the scientific savvy to pull off his shrinking trick. As it is, he is the only full-blooded character in the movie: if they had given June Kenney’s character a more complex relationship with him, they could have come up with a really interesting movie. Plus it wouldn’t have hurt if they had fleshed out the character of Emil (Michael Mark); as it is, he’s just a plot device. Unfortunately, the action sequences not only come far too late in the movie, but are substandard and unnecessary.