A devil worshipper is visited by an old enemy who has sworn revenge on him.

This is definitely the strangest of the classic Universal horror movies of the thirties. The art deco house of Hjalmer Poelzig is even more unsettling than all the gloomy castles that make up the other movies of that era. It’s also the first movie together for Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and both of them have great roles that pit them against each other beautifully; if I’d been casting, I most likely would have reversed their roles, but I’m not so sure it would have worked any better that way than it does now. The plot is a bit muddled, most likely as a result of censorship, but the interplay between the characters is so strong, the dialogue so witty (“Do you hear that, Vitus? The phone is dead. Even the phone is dead!”), and the direction by Edgar Ulmer so strong, that it doesn’t matter. Even the comic relief sequence with the two policemen works in its own offhand way. This is one of my favorites.

A Rhedosaurus is released from the icy polar regions to wreak havoc on the world.

This isn’t the first movie in which Ray Harryhausen worked on the special effects, but it’s the first one where he was in charge, and he does a fine job of showing that he’s learned his lessons well. It’s also an important movie in that it pretty much kicks off the “giant monsters rampaging through modern city” genre that arose in the fifties, and probably influenced the creation of Godzilla as well. I also find it to be one of the more consistent of his black-and-white movies; the surrounding story is somewhat stronger than it would be in EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS or IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, for example. Though it lacks the poetic sadness of “The Foghorn”, the Bradbury story that spawned the movie, it carves out a niche of its own, and works well on its own level. By the way, that’s Lee Van Cleef with the rifle in the final scenes.

A female government agent investigates the disappearance of a scientist named Duran Duran.

All right, so it’s based on a sexy French comic book, which means I really shouldn’t judge it too harshly; it’s nothing more than a funny and sexy action thriller; it’s not supposed to be compared to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. That is all well and good. Unfortunately, as far as the funny parts go, the only laughs I got were at the gags surrounding the broken down machinery in use by the rebel camp in the city. As an action thriller, I found it unconvincing and sluggish; the action scenes move a lot slower than they should, and I never really believe that any of the characters are in danger. This leaves the sex, and I suppose this is the level at which it is the most successful, but even at that, the leering attitude prevalent in the movie gets awfully tiresome, and the “sexy” costumes look contrived and uncomfortable.

Of course, all of this may mean nothing more than that I’m missing the point, and there’s probably some truth to that. The movie, as far as I can tell, is “campy” fun; the problem is, I’m just not into the whole “camp” thing. I leave this movie to those who can appreciate this type of entertainment.

The sets are impressive, though.