CORRIDOR OF MIRRORS (1948)
Article #1349 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-23-2004
Posting Date: 4-22-2005
Directed by Terence Young
Featuring Eric Portman, Edana Romney, Joan Maude

A woman remembers her tragic romance with an artist who lives in the past.

Fantastic content: Before the story is through, both reincarnation and madness enter into the mix.

For me, the high point in the movie comes about ten minutes in; a woman leaves her husband and children for a trip to London to meet her lover in Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, and it turns out her lover is one of the exhibits. This discovery was intriguing enough that I found myself forgiving the somewhat pretentious, arty style that led up to that moment. The story itself that follows is actually quite good, but it’s the style of the direction that drives me up the wall; there is too much self-consciously subtle dialogue, too many contrived camera angles, and too many “poetically evocative” scenes that only serve to distract me and distance me from the action. I’d forgive it all if it helped me to warm up to the central characters; as it is, Eric Portman comes out all right because he manages to deliver his lines with enough conviction to win me over, but Edana Romney just comes across as shallow and pretentious. I ended up disliking her character intensely; unfortunately, I think we’re supposed to like her. Things loosen up a little in the last half hour, but once the story was over, I was left with the feeling that it would have all worked better with a more straightforward style; I don’t think it warranted the arty approach it was given. The director would later go on to direct some of the James Bond films, and the movie features one of the earliest appearances of Christopher Lee.

CASTLE IN THE AIR (1952)
Article #1348 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-22-2004
Posting Date: 4-21-2005
Directed by Henry Cass
Featuring David Tomlinson, Helen Cherry, Margaret Rutherford

An impoverished Scottish Earl has his hands full trying to fend off creditors while simultaneously discouraging a socialist coal board representative from requisitioning his castle while encouraging a rich American widow to buy the castle.

Fantastic content: The castle is also haunted by a ghost named Ermyntrude, who takes an occasional role in the proceedings.

I found this British comedy consistently enjoyable. It’s energetic, well-paced and peopled with all sorts of eccentric characters. Among the latter are a butler who refuses to allow himself to be fired, a dotty old woman who is convinced that the Earl is the true and rightful king of Scotland (Margaret Rutherford, of course), and the harried coal board representative, who is forced to stay in the coldest room of the castle, must pay for every little service, and is left holding the fish when the constable arrives. There are more accents than you can shake your stick at, but that just adds more color to the proceedings. All in all, a delightful comedy, though for those interested in the fantastic content, the ghost largely exists to contribute to the occasional gag.

CHANGE OF MIND (1969)
Article #1342 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-16-2004
Posting Date: 4-15-2005
Directed by Robert Stevens
Featuring Raymond St. Jacques, Susan Oliver, Janet MacLachlan

A white man has his brain transplanted into the body of a black man, and then must adjust to the changes this makes in his life.

This is one of those premises that could easily go in a very obvious direction, and I went into the movie hoping that it would do more than just go in that direction. Fortunately, the movie is somewhat more sophisticated than that. It doesn’t just exploit the issues of racism; it tries to look at it from a variety of different angles, and also explores other issues on the side, such as the way that simply being in another person’s body can be an interesting experience. The acting is very good throughout, and it was nice to see Leslie Nielsen in one of his earlier roles that didn’t use him merely as a familiar face. I’m less impressed with the direction, but at least it dispenses with the shaky hand-held camera scenes after the first fifteen minutes. The movie never really becomes compelling (it’s a bit too muted for that), but it does remain interesting.

THE CURSE OF THE AZTEC MUMMY (1957)
(a.k.a. LA MALDICION DE LA MOMIA AZTECA)
Article #1323 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-28-2004
Posting Date: 3-27-2005
Directed by Rafael Portillo
Featuring Luis Aceves Castaneda, Crox Alvarado, Rosa Arenas

The evil Dr. Krupp escapes from the police and plots to once again get hold of the Aztec necklace and breastplate, despite warnings that this will arouse the wrath of the Aztec Mummy.

It feels a little silly to be comparing this movie with its immediate sequel, THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY; as both movies are largely cut from the same cloth, it’s like comparing one Pringle’s potato chip to another. Nevertheless, I think this movie is markedly better than its sequel. I can actually sit through this one straight without my interest flagging, whereas ROBOT is tough going in that department. I think one of the things this movie does right is that it doesn’t start out with twenty minutes of footage from the previous movies of the series; it does manage to fit in five minutes in the middle of the movie, but that’s still an improvement. It also adds a new character to the mix, a masked crime fighter known as the Angel, though there is a reason this character doesn’t appear in the sequel as such, but I won’t give that away. Finally, I think the big difference between the two movies is that this one actually has enough plot to fill the whole movie, where ROBOT does not. Consequently, things rarely grind to a halt as they constantly do in the latter movie; in fact, the only padding in the movie is that five minutes of footage it took from THE AZTEC MUMMY (we don’t really need to see the sacrifice sequence). This movie also gives us a lot more of Dr. Krupp, whose evil dialogue is pretty amusing. Now if only I could see the first movie of the series, which is inexplicably unavailable except in the bastardized Jerry Warren version THE ATTACK OF THE MAYAN MUMMY, which is not an adequate substitute.

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS (1937)
Article #1322 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-27-2004
Posting Date: 3-26-2005
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Featuring Warner Oland, Katherine DeMille, Pauline Moore

Charlie Chan’s investigation of the theft of a robot pilot device (that allows planes to be guided by remote control) takes him to Berlin during the Olympic games.

Yes, it’s that old science fiction mainstay, the radio controlled airplane, that serves as the fantastic content of this entry in the Charlie Chan series. It’s also one of the best of the series, with plot developments that never stop coming, a fast moving story, and even a certain amount of emotional resonance when Chan’s son is kidnapped. The movie is also full of familiar faces; Katherine DeMille appeared with Boris Karloff in THE BLACK ROOM, Allan Lane became a well-known western star and eventually provided the voice for Mr. Ed, C. Henry Gordon appeared in several Charlie Chan adventures, and has a distinctive moustache, and Minerva Urecal has a memorable cameo as a matron of a girl’s dormitory. John Carradine was also to have been on hand, but his scenes were deleted. The movie also makes excellent use of Olympic stock footage; it is very well incorporated into the action.

CABIN IN THE SKY (1943)
Article #1315 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-20-2004
Posting Date: 3-19-2005
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Featuring Ethel Waters, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Lena Horne

When Little Joe is shot after engaging in a crooked dice game, the prayers of his wife save his soul from the devil. However, he has only six months to live, and must reform his life if he hopes to go to heaven.

This all-black musical would make a good companion piece to GREEN PASTURES, another all-black movie about spiritual matters; both movies featured Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Oscar Polk, and Rex Ingram. The latter played ‘De Lawd’ in GREEN PASTURES; here he jumps the fence to play a character from the other side, a devil named Lucifer Jr. whose idea men include Louis Armstrong, Willie Best and Mantan Moreland. This was Vincente Minnelli’s first directorial credit, and the music plays a big role here, with Ethel Waters and Lena Horne doing much of the singing; they even perform the same number at one point, ‘Honey in the Honeycomb’. Even Eddie Anderson gets into the singing and dancing, and though he does a fun little job with the latter, I’m not really keen on hearing any more of his warbling. Duke Ellington and his band perform at one point, but the real cameo was a special appearance by the tornado from THE WIZARD OF OZ! Still, if you did pair it up with GREEN PASTURES, I’m afraid it would have to be the second feature; it’s done well enough, but it just doesn’t achieve the same heights of inspiration. As you might expect, there’s some stereotypes floating around as well (particularly with the gambling angle), but the likable performances and music pull it through.

CHOSEN SURVIVORS (1974)
Article #1252 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-18-2004
Posting Date: 1-15-2005
Directed by Rafael Portillo and Sutton Roley
Featuring Jackie Cooper, Alex Cord, Richard Jaeckel

A group of people are placed in an underground complex to survive the onset of thermonuclear war, but find that the complex has been invaded by bloodthirsty vampire bats.

Question and answer time, folks!

Q: Why does this seventies science fiction movie shy away from dealing with the human conflicts and situations of people dealing with a crisis situation and turn into a movie about killer bats?
A: Because it’s easier to make a killer bat movie than one about human conflicts.

Q: If it’s really a killer bat movie, why the elaborate apocalyptic science-fiction setup?
A: So they can also have a trendy science fiction movie with which to make depressingly bleak comments about humanity, thus giving the movie greater commercial appeal to those who aren’t into killer bat movies.

Q: With the survival of the human race at stake, why does the government populate this compound largely with emotionally fragile people who crack up easily?
A: Because it’s easier for the killer bats to frighten them.

Q: Why do they drug the people before placing them in the compound?
A: To make them more emotionally fragile so they’ll be even more scared by the bats.

Q: Why do they include an annoying paranoid rich man who drinks too much and attempts to rape one of the women?
A: To demonstrate the dim view they take of humanity.

Q: Why is the paranoid annoying rich man who drinks too much and tries to rape one of the women the one who most accurately assesses the true nature of the situation?
A: Because I think he’s supposed to be the hero. Isn’t that depressing?

Q: Why does the soundtrack mostly consist of electronic pulses and blaring dissonant horns?
A: To annoy us.

Q: Why are the residents greeted every morning by the recording of the upbeat woman who constantly reminds them how well they’re cooperating with each other?
A: See the answer to the above question.

Q: Why does everybody yell at each other?
A.: Because, in some circles, this is considered good acting.

Q: Why did I watch this?
A: Because it was on the list.

Q: Is it better than NIGHTWING!
A: Yes. I had to say something good about it.

CURSE OF THE CANNIBAL CONFEDERATES (1982)
(a.k.a. THE CURSE OF THE SCREAMING DEAD)
Article #1169 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-27-2004
Posting Date: 10-24-2004
Directed by Tony Malanowski
Featuring Steve Sandkuhler, Christopher Gummer, Rebecca Bach

When a group of hunters and their girlfriends desecrate the burial ground of confederate soldiers tortured and killed by union soldiers, the soldiers rise up to wreak vengeance.

This movie was originally made as THE CURSE OF THE SCREAMING DEAD in 1982, then released by Troma five years later as CURSE OF THE CANNIBAL CONFEDERATES. With a title like that, and knowing that it came from Troma, you immediately know how to adjust your expectations. It’s really just a retread of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD at heart. The dialogue is howlingly bad at times, the acting is terrible (it’s one of those movies where the actors try to express great emotion by hanging their mouth open and getting a vacant expression in their eyes), the music is annoyingly bad (especially during the zombie attack scenes), and all the human characters become so unlikeable during the length of the movie that you’ll be quite surprised that the script allowed any of them to survive. The only really gory section of the movie is the zombie-chowing-down scene that largely plays like the one in NOTLD except that a) it’s in color, b) it’s not done as well, and c) it runs on three times as long. Troma fans may be disappointed; there is more nudity and gore in the opening trailers on the tape than in the movie itself. The movie can almost be dismissed entirely as nothing more than a source of snickers. You will notice, however, that I hedged on that last statement. I did so for good reason. There was at least one startlingly good thing about this movie, and that was Mark Redfield’s performance as the Captain Matthew Mahler, the head of the zombie regiment. Despite having no dialogue (or considering the quality of said dialogue, perhaps “because” would be a better word), he manages to add a real sense of poignancy to the movie. After the first attack by the zombies on the hunters (which results in the demise of several of the zombies), he takes a moment to look over the “battlefield”, and for a few seconds I got the sense of a military leader musing on how many good men were lost in the battle. For some reason, I found this moment as touching as it was unexpected, and he manages to convey some of that same feeling in some of his other scenes. It doesn’t redeem the movie as a whole by any means, but it does show that sometimes you can find gems in the most unexpected of places.

CAROLINA CANNONBALL (1955)
Article #1168 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-26-2004
Posting Date: 10-23-2004
Directed by Charles Lamont
Featuring Judy Canova, Andy Clyde, Ross Elliott

When an atomic-powered rocket crashes near the ghost town of Roaring Gulch, the sole residents of the place have run-ins with spies.

This movie opens with stock footage of an atomic explosion, followed by stock footage of the launch of the first nuclear powered submarine. The next thing is the launch of a nuclear powered rocket, which doesn’t take off immediately because the guy pushing the button forgot to plug the cord into the control board. This gag should give you a sense of the level of comedy to be found in this slapstick comedy. Judy Canova was a singer that specialized in yodelling who had been appearing in comedies for twenty years, she plays herself in this movie. The movie also features Sig Rumann, Leon Askin, and Jack Kruschen, Russian spies who try to pass themselves off as Americans (despite their accents) by acting as if they’re not surprised by anything. The title refers to the trolley driven by Canova and her nearly deaf grandpa; the boiler that runs it also serves as a still to provide grandpa’s hooch. Eventually, the boiler blows, and they replace it with the atomic reactor from the rocket, which not only makes the trolley go a lot faster and turns it into a potentially dangerous weapon, it also makes better hooch. There are many running gags about the furniture in the ghost town falling apart. Canova sings some songs as well. That should give you some idea of what this movie is like. It’s better than it could have been, but not by much. Nonetheless, commentary is kind of useless in this case; you either like this kind of lowbrow slapstick or you don’t. You’re on your own.

THE COLD SUN (1956)
Article #1159 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-17-2001
Posting Date: 10-14-2004
Directed by Hollingsworth Morse
Featuring Richard Crane, Sally Mansfield, Robert Lyden

Rocky Jones must deal with two crises; the unnatural cooling of the sun and a plot to prevent a new planet from joining the United Planets.

Once again I find myself in the curious position of defending something which by all rights I should dismiss, but for some reason I don’t quite have the heart to do the latter. After all, the Rocky Jones movies are really only TV episodes strung together to make a movie. The show was cheap and slow-moving, and there really wasn’t much action. This particular set of episodes has at least two very bad things in it; one of the thrilling moments consists of a man trapped in a room in an out-of-control space station where he is in constant danger of being run over by the furniture that is hurtling back and forth across the room (it’s very hard to watch this scene without laughing), and the colorful character of Pinto Vortando, a cowardly space pirate who can’t speak a single sentence without mentioning his own name is so cornily over-acted it’s embarassing.

Yet, for all that, these Rocky Jones “movies” always seem a little better to me than you might think at first. Sure, it’s talky, but if you actually bother to pay attention to the talk, you find that the talk is actually serving the purpose of developing characters and advancing the plot. The potentially annoying Bobby is never as bad as he could have been. Perhaps most significantly, though, I find the plots to actually be somewhat well constructed. I come away from watching the Rocky Jones series with a sense that the writers honestly liked and cared for the world and the characters they created. I think more care went into the story here than (just for example) any of the stories that I saw when I covered yesterday’s “Time Tunnel” movie.

It’s not classic stuff by any means, but when I take the effort to pay attention, I like it. And even Pinto Vortanda has a more complex character than you might have guessed from the above description.