DEATH BY INVITATION (1971)
Article #971 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-11-2003
Posting Date: 4-9-2004
Directed by Ken Friedman
Featuring Shelby Leverington, Aaron Phillips, Norman Paige

Many years ago, a man was responsible for the execution of a witch. Years later, a woman is killing off a family of descendants from that man.

This movie has a fairly common horror plotline, and if it did nothing more than rehash that plot, it would be of little interest. However, it does try for something more; my problem is I’m not quite sure what it’s trying to do. It appears to be delving into some sexual themes in the story; before the first murder, the woman tells her victim this long extended story about a tribe led by women which connects the dots between sexual domination, sadomasochism, and cannibalism, and though it’s effective in some ways, the story goes on way too long, and when she starts to retell the story at a later point in the plot, you’re very glad that she gets interrupted. However, other elements in the movie just don’t mesh well with anything else; it’s all directed in a rather static, arty style; some of the scenes seem to be comic in nature (especially a pointless sequence in which a man visits an office building and is given horribly confusing directions on how to get to the office of the man he’s visiting), and it’s full of meaningless conversations and awkward pauses. We also have a stupid policeman to contend with, and we get to hear the least relevant graveside biblical readings I’ve ever encountered. It’s also hampered by an extremely low budget, which is particularly problematic during the opening sequence which takes place in a period setting that never looks convincing.

No, there’s no doubt this movie is trying something different, but until I know what it is that it’s trying to do, I’ll have to file it under a big question mark.

DESTINATION INNER SPACE (1966)
Article #970 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-10-2003
Posting Date: 4-8-2004
Directed by Francis D. Lyon
Featuring Scott Brady, Sheree North, Gary Merrill

Inhabitants of an underwater sea lab are threatened by an extraterrestrial aquatic menace.

You know, I have to admit to having liked the title to this one; because I wasn’t sure what “Inner Space” meant or why we’d want to go there, I though I’d find a movie that would explain what it was and take us there would be at least a little interesting. Unfortunately, it turned out that “Inner Space” was merely an enticing term for the ocean depths, and what we have here can be summed up as simply a cross between THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD), THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE and THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. This in itself isn’t a bad idea, but everything about this one is hackneyed and uninspired; you’ve seen these conflicts a thousand times before, the monster suit is fairly lame, and there isn’t a single real surprise to be found during the length of the movie. And though it doesn’t appear to be a TV-Movie, between the connect-the-dots storytelling and the perpetual edge-of-your-seat soundtrack, it sure feels like one. It’s not awful, but it never rises above the merely competent, and my primary feeling at the end of this one is that I hope everyone got their paychecks for this.

DANTE’S INFERNO (1935)
Article #964 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-4-2003
Posting Date: 4-2-2004
Directed by Harry Lachman
Featuring Spencer Tracy, Claire Trevor, Henry B. Walthall

A carnival worker uses his huckster skills to hit the big time, but his thoughtlessness causes tragedy in the lives of those around him.

Dante’s “Inferno” (the poem, not the movie) is the first of the three books that make up “The Divine Comedy”; it largely consists of Virgil giving Dante a tour of hell so he can see the various punishments doled out to evildoers from throughout history. Whatever its merits as a poem, it really doesn’t tell much in the way of a story, and consequently I didn’t really go into this movie expecting any sort of faithful translation of the poem, and I was right. DANTE’S INFERNO (the movie, not the poem) is basically a modern-day drama about a man who keeps cutting the Gordian knot (i.e. taking the moral shortcut) in order to make it to the top; since his first step is in promoting a carnival attraction illustrating moments in the Dante poem, the title does bear some relevance to the story. Amazingly enough, at least one part of the movie does end up in hell; a six-minute montage more than half-way through the movie gives the viewer a vision of hell, and it makes for the highlight of the movie and gives it its most special moment. This is a good thing, since despite the fact that it’s well acted all around and has high production values (particularly during the spectacular final twenty minutes of the movie), the story itself is fairly predictable. Nonetheless, horror fans may well want to tune in for the hell sequence; it really is quite amazing.

THE DEVIL’S FOOT (1921)
Article #936 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-7-2003
Posting Date: 3-5-2004
Directed by Maurice Elvey
Featuring Eille Norwood, Hubert Willis, Harvey Braban

Sherlock Holmes finds four dead people seated around a table, and investigates.

The Walt Lee guide describes this one as being borderline horror, but other than the rather bizarre circumstances of the death, I find very little that would qualify this as horror. I’ve read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories at one time or another, but that doesn’t mean I can remember them, so I don’t remember precisely what the devil’s foot is, and unless I missed something in my copy of the movie, there’s no explanation there. It’s a good story, though, and this short adaptation of it works well enough, with Ellie Norwood makes a fairly decent Holmes. Horror fans, however, will find little here to catch their attention.

P.S. I’ve recently been informed that the devil’s foot is the name of the plant that plays a role in the cause of the deaths.

A DOG, A MOUSE AND A SPUTNIK (1958)
(a.k.a. SPUTNIK / A PIED, A CHEVAL ET EN SPOUTNIK)
Article #934 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-5-2003
Posting Date: 3-3-2004
Directed by Jean Dreville
Featuring Noel-Noel, Denise Grey, Mischa Auer
When a dog and a mouse descend from a Sputnik and land in France, they are found by a man suffering from loss of memory who thinks the dog is an old pet. When the government shows up to claim the dog, he vows not to give him up.

I really don’t have much to say about this one; it’s a French comedy with a topical theme, and the last part of the movie involves men being sent up into space, so it qualifies as science fiction. It’s mildly amusing throughout, though it never really becomes anything more than that. My favorite moment is probably when the Frenchman is taken on a tour of Russia and consistently sticks his foot in his mouth when talking with his guide.

DAMN YANKEES! (1958)
Article #900 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-1-2003
Posting Date: 1-29-2004
Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen
Featuring Tab Hunter, Ray Walston, Gwen Verdon

A fan of the Washington Senators sells his soul to the devil to become a star hitter for the team and win the pennant for them.

I’m not really keen on baseball, nor am I a particular fan of musicals, so I have to admit I didn’t really look forward to this one; certainly, the idea of selling my soul to the devil in order to make my favorite team win holds no resonance for me whatever. As a musical, it’s decent enough; the songs are good, and for the most part they actually do flesh out the narrative and the characters, and the primary exception is so well choreographed and performed that it works just as well. But the story ends up leaving me cold, and I think the reason for this is that Tab Hunter’s performance doesn’t make me really feel anything at all for his character. The other actors fare much better, particularly Verdon and Walston, though if the devil is this ineffectual our immortal souls are in no danger whatsoever. And the ending, where the story bends over backwards to give everyone but the devil a happy ending, feels rushed and is more than a little lame.

DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON (1931)
Article #892 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-24-2003
Posting Date: 1-21-2004
Directed by Lloyd Corrigan
Featuring Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Sessue Hayakawa

An exotic dancer discovers she is the daughter of Fu Manchu, and swears to carry on the family vendetta.

A quick perusal of the title may well lead you to suspect that this will be a yellow peril story, but I was a little surprised that it turned out to be a Fu Manchu movie. It was based on a Sax Rohmer story called “Daughter of Fu Manchu”, and I thought it odd that they would change the title to remove the Fu Manchu name from it. However, there may be reasons for this; there is no Nayland Smith in the story, and most of the detective work is done by an Oriental detective named Ah Kee (Sessue Hayakawa). Also, there isn’t really a whole lot of Fu Manchu (played by Warner Oland), who vanishes from the story at the half-way point. Maybe it was felt that keeping the name Fu Manchu in the title would have left some people feeling cheated. It’s a fairly entertaining movie in its way, though it isn’t anywhere near as memorable as THE MASK OF FU MANCHU with Karloff, but there are some exciting sequences in this one, and some very striking visual moments. My main wish is that my copy of the movie was in better shape.

THE DEAD SPEAK (1935)
(a.k.a. LOS MUERTOS HABLAN)
Article #871 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-3-2003
Posting Date: 12-31-2003
Directed by Bustillo de Cro
Featuring Julian Soler, Amalia de Ilisa, Manuel Noriega

A student experiments with the concept that a corpse’s retina retains the last image it sees before death.

That’s as close as I can get to a decent plot description; I believe the trick of murder victims retaining the image of their murderer has been used in a few movies. This one is from Mexico, and I could only find it in an undubbed unsubtitled Spanish language print, and there’s a lot of talk to this one. In fact, I’m not sure I would have known what this one was about had it not been for plot summaries I have read. I might have guessed that it had touches of science fiction from the elaborate machinery used to take a photograph of a corpse’s eye. Visually, the movie isn’t particularly memorable, and the plot doesn’t seem particularly novel, so unless there’s something really interesting in the subtleties of the dialogue, there’s not a whole lot to recommend here.

DEMONS OF THE MIND (1972)
Article #869 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-1-2003
Posting Date: 12-29-2003
Directed by Peter Sykes
Featuring Patrick Magee, Robert Hardy, Shane Briant

A depraved Baron keeps his children prisoner for fear that they have inherited his own sickness.

Title check: Actually quite appropriate, as the horror is somewhat mental in nature, as well as the fact that the deaths in the area are thought to be the work of demons by the peasantry.

Was this Hammer’s last great movie or is it self-indulgent twaddle? This seems to be a question that arises when this movie is discussed; the movie has its ardent supporters as well as its critics. Visually, it’s intriguing enough, and it’s always fascinating to look at. The story remains obscure for a lot of the movie, though, and you need to keep on your toes and pay attention to key scenes to figure out just what’s going on. Being a Hammer movie from the seventies, there is a lot of blood (the nastiest scene is a suicide sequence that is only seen in obscurely-shot flashback sequences) and an excess of nudity; there is at least one nude sequence that is completely gratuitous. I found it all quite fascinating, but it may be of more interest to fans of art film than to horror fans. Use your judgment on this one.

DEAD EYES OF LONDON (1961)
Article #868 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-31-2003
Posting Date: 12-28-2003
Directed by Alfred Vohrer
Featuring Joachim Fuchsberger, Karin Baal, Dieter Borsche

A series of murders of wealthy men who have taken out recent insurance policies comes under the investigation of Scotland Yard, and a sinister home for the blind comes under suspicion.

Title check: Another nice title, and an exact translation of the German title, DIE TOTEN AUGEN VON LONDON.

This is the first of the Edgar Wallace series of movies from Germany that I’ve seen. This same story was also filmed in the thirties as THE HUMAN MONSTER, with Bela Lugosi, and if you’ve seen and remembered that movie, it will clue you in on a few of the revelations that pop up in this one. The movies are far from identical, however; the plot of this one is much more involved (I have to admit I was left in the dust plotwise at several points). However, the movie is worthwhile enough to merit a second look to figure out certain points of the story, as it is packed with interesting and offbeat characters (the Scotland Yard sergeant who knits, for example) and memorable moments (I love where Judd keeps his cigarettes). The death scenes are very memorable, and it may be a while before you peek through any holes in the walls after seeing this one. Klaus Kinski has a pivotal role as an assistant to Judd. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of these.