CITY BENEATH THE SEA (1971)
Article #764 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-18-2003
Posting Date: 9-15-2003
Directed by Irwin Allen
Featuring Stuart Whitman, Robert Wagner, Rosemary Forsyth

A former builder of an undersea city takes over administration of the area to face an impending crisis.

This is the first time I’ve touched on Irwin Allen since covering the very atypical THE ANIMAL WORLD; this TV-movie pilot for an unsold series is much more along the lines of what I’d expect. Many people who saw it when they were children loved it, and actually I can see why; the movie is chock-full of science fiction eye-candy and always has something happening; if you popped into it in the middle of the movie, you’d probably see something interesting going on. Unfortunately, it has problems. The movie relies on the recognition factor of seeing celebrities in cameo roles rather than fleshing out its important characters; all the ones who would have been regulars on the series are about as one-dimensional as possible. The character conflicts are hackneyed, cliched and uninspired, and are resolved in the most obvious ways possible. The movie has some of the most badly-written exposition I’ve ever heard. And finally, the whole movie feels silly, contrived and scientifically suspect. Of course, none of this would matter to a youngster dazzled by the eye candy and thrilled by the action; nor would it matter to an adult with fond memories of the movie. Nonetheless, without any real interesting characters, it’s easy to see why this pilot was never sold.

THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US (1956)
Article #762 by Dave Sindelar
Date Viewed: 4-16-2003
Date Posted: 9-13-2003
Directed by John Sherwood
Featuring Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason, Leigh Snowden

The creature is captured by a rich scientist who transforms him into an air-breather.

You know, I really can’t help but admire this movie in some ways; it really tries to take a different direction than the other movies of the series, there’s more meat in the philosophical discussions than you might expect, and the conversion of the creature from a water animal to a land one puts the creature in a position that what he really wants (to return to the water) will kill him, which is an interesting idea to play with. Unfortunately, it’s hampered by a few drawbacks. The direction is pretty uninspired throughout; though John Sherwood had a long career as a second unit director, this was one of only three movies he actually helmed. Also, as much as I like Jeff Morrow, he’s playing a fairly difficult character here, and I feel (IMHO) that it remained somewhat out of his range as an actor. But the most disappointing part of the movie is watching the sleek, lithe, classically designed Creature transformed into the slow-moving, lumbering and bulky land-walker; it’s a little like seeing Fred Astaire transformed into Tor Johnson, and though I like Tor, I wouldn’t pay to see him dance with Ginger Rogers. There are certain pleasures here, and it is an interesting movie to think about after it’s all finished, but it’s one movie that really could have been a lot better.

THE CLUTCHING HAND (1936)
(a.k.a. THE AMAZING EXPLOITS OF THE CLUTCHING HAND)
(Serial)
Article #722 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-7-2003
Posting Date: 8-4-2003
Directed by Albert Herman
Featuring Jack Mulhall, Rex Lease, Mae Busch

An archfiend known as the Clutching Hand is after a gold formula.

This creaky, confusing serial may well give you a headache trying to sort out the characters and the plot; I started to get lost halfway through the first episode, and that’s not a good sign. I spent the first eight or nine episodes in a confused haze, though things cleared up a little during a sequence aboard a boat, which has one hilarious fight scene involving several crewmen being denied shore leave, and for a while I was able to grab a thread of the plot, but it didn’t last long. That’s the problem when you have too many characters, none of which have been sharply delineated from the others, all with conflicting loyalties and dressed in similar three-piece suits. After a while it all reduces itself to large groups of people flailing at each other with their fists. Actually, the ending is pretty good, but it’s a long, bumpy ride there. If anything, I’ve come out of this one with an appreciation for the relative straightforwardness of the Columbia serials I’ve seen. The word for this one is inco-hokey-herent.

THE COCKEYED MIRACLE (1946)
Article #698 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-11-2003
Posting Date: 7-11-2003
Directed by S. Sylvan Simon
Featuring Frank Morgan, Keenan Wynn, Cecil Kellaway

A man dies and meets his father, who is ready to escort him to heaven. However, he doesn’t want to leave until he helps his family solve some of their problems.

About fifteen minutes into this movie, I became suspicious that I was watching a movie adaptation of a stage play, and sure enough, that’s just what it is. Actually, in some ways, though, that really isn’t a problem here; the cast is talented and do all they can to bring the play to life. The big problem here is the play itself; the script is contrived, repetitive and predictable, and the comedy is strained and tiresome. Ultimately, one of the main problems in the story is that the dead men can only influence the outside world by causing storms, so naturally the plot bends over backwards to set up situations where that is exactly what must be done to solve a problem. Unfortunately, we get an endless series of scenes where the dead characters yell at the living characters in order to get them to do something to no avail, and this gets positively annoying, especially during the last twenty minutes of the movie. The actors do their best; in particular, Gladys Cooper manages to imbue her character with a sense of real strength and depth (fortunately, she doesn’t have to try to contend with the lame dialogue) and Keenan Wynn actually manages to wring some good laughs out of his lines, but ultimately they lose out to a poor storyline. I cannot recommend this movie, but if you do watch it, keep an eye out for Morris Ankrum as a doctor.

CRASH OF MOONS (1954)
Article #690 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 2-3-2003
Posting date: 7-3-2003
Directed by Hollingsworth Morse
Featuring Richard Crane, Sally Mansfield, Scotty Beckett

Rocky Jones tries to save the inhabitants of a planet that is doomed to a collision with one of the moons of a two-moon system, but runs into resistance from the planet’s suspicious empress.

This is the second of the Rocky Jones movies I’ve seen, the first being BEYOND THE MOON. Not much has really changed; the dialogue is pretty lame, the acting so-so, and the special effects fairly primitive. Nonetheless, it gets by well enough, largely because it comports itself with a certain amount of quiet dignity, and actually seeks to tell a fairly elaborate story within its limitations; the sincerity of it all wins me over. And even if the effects are primitive, they are also creative, evocative and fun to look at, and in some ways that may be even more important. This one also features an early performance from John Banner.

COUNTERBLAST (1948)
Article #689 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 2-2-2003
Posting date: 7-2-2003
Directed by Paul L. Stein
Featuring Mervyn Johns, Nova Pilbeam, Karel Stepanek

A Nazi scientist escapes imprisonment, and impersonates an English bacterioligist so he can develop an antidote to a plague virus that he is hoping to use for world conquest.

The science fiction elements present in this story seem slight (the plague virus), but they do drive the story, so this British spy thriller is definitely in the fantastic movie category. It’s a bit on the longish side (it runs 100 minutes), and after the first ten minutes, it settles down into a kind of talky drama that is actually a lot more interesting than it could have been, due to the decent story, the interesting characters, and the solid acting (particularly from Mervyn Johns). Unfortunately, the movie loses its way just when you’re expecting it to take off; the last ten minutes are unfocused and anticlimactic, and the ending is convenient, contrived and unsatisfying. This is a real shame; it could have been a much better movie if only it had ended with a bang. As it is, the lack of a good ending is probably one of the reasons the movie remains somewhat obscure today.

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OPERA (1937)
Article #688 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 2-1-2003
Posting date: 7-1-2003
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Featuring Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, Keye Luke

Charlie Chan investigates a death threat against an opera singer.

Generally, when a horror star appears in a mystery movie, he turns out to be an obvious red herring. I’m not going to say whether Karloff is one or not, but I will say that the movie does take the care not to make him an obvious one. In fact, the movie seems to take quite a bit of care all around; it looks like a lot of work went into the opera sequences, and the characters are a little more fleshed out than they usually are. Karloff’s definitely is, and his presence is definitely a highlight of the movie, as are Warner Oland’s (in the title role, of course) and William Demarest’s, who makes several appearances as a police detective. The presence of Karloff definitely inspired a bit of the horror touches at the beginning of the movie, and there is of course the seemingly obligatory reference to FRANKENSTEIN that seems to pop up in any non-horror movie Karloff made at the time. There is an amusing sequence where Demarest tries to pick out Keye Luke from among a number of knights in shining armor.

THE CURSE OF THE WRAYDONS (1946)
Article #679 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-23-2003
Posting date: 6-22-2003
Directed by Victor M. Gover
Featuring Tod Slaughter, Bruce Seton, Andrew Laurence

When a soldier is taken into custody for starting a duel, he escapes, and then finds out that he is being framed for a series of murders.

The curse is insanity, by the way, which explains why many people end up believing the accusations that our hero is guilty of murder; however, we in the audience know better, because this is a Tod Slaughter movie, and therefore there should be little doubt as to who the real villain is. It’s also about Spring-Heeled Jack, and though I don’t know (pardon the expression) jack about Spring-Heeled Jack, I would have thought that a movie about him would have him as the villain. No, it’s the good guy who has that nickname; Tod Slaughter is called the Chief (though he does have another name, but that would be giving away too much). The movie has a fairly involved plot, and it takes a goodly amount of time setting it up, and there are a lot of static, talky scenes without Tod, but be patient; when Tod comes on, he chews the scenery in his patented style, and the script gives him a fair amount of great lines. It’s all pure melodrama of the type they don’t really make anymore, but at least we have these old ones we can go back to and enjoy.

Still, I can’t help but wish that would get at least one special effect of Spring-Heeled Jack doing his jumping thing, even a cheap one. Alas, it is only talked about.

THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (1941)
Article #660 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-4-2003
Posting Date: 6-3-2003

The parents of two siamese twins (that have been separated surgically) are killed as part of a vendetta. Years later, the brothers plan vengeance for their parents’ death.

This period action piece is based on a book by Dumas, and, despite the above description, has a strong fantasy element; one of the twins is capable of feeling all the emotions and physical feelings of the other. This may seem a mere gimmick at first, but as the story progresses, it ends up playing an pivotal role in the development of one of the twins, and this kind of attention makes the fantasy element important indeed. Both the brothers are played by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and he does a good job with two quite different characters. Akim Tamiroff is on hand as the villain, and he’s having a grand old time of it himself. I found it quite satisfying; fun, exciting, and with a little more meat on its bones than you might expect.

CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT (1942)
(serial)
Article #655 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-30-2002
Posting date: 5-29-2003

Captain Midnight does battle with a supervillain named Ivan Shark over a new invention known as the Range-Finder.

Who is Captain Midnight? He’s the secret hero identity of Captain Albright, and is recognized by his black mask and goggles which obscure his face (and most likely his peripheral vision). Wait! Scratch that word “secret”; as far as I can tell, everyone knows who he is fairly early on in the proceedings here, so I’d hardly call it “secret.” His name strikes fear into the hearts of outlaws! Why? Uh…I’m not sure; his main talent appears to be a willingness to get into fist fights with three or four criminals at the same time—and getting soundly pummelled. On the other hand, he has dogged persistence, and seems to inspire massive waves of stupidity in his foes; they miss every easy opportunity to kill this guy. That’s because Ivan Shark keeps wanting to use his elaborate death rooms to kill him, including one of those trick rooms with steel walls that fills up with water, a rotating fire trap room, and (as God is my witness) a room with a big log and circular saw to cut it in half; I was actually disappointed he never got around to tying him to a railroad track.

Okay, I’m probably making this serial more fun than I found it to be; actually, I thought it was one of the duller ones I’ve seen lately. However, I’m probably in the minority here; it probably appeals to those who like their serials crammed with action but unhampered by troublesome details like an interesting story. Incidentally, the Range-Finder (I’m not entirely sure what it does; maybe it’s used to locate your enemy’s stoves) is the only science fiction element of the script.