GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN (1958)
Article #550 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 9-16-2002
Posting date: 2-9-2003

Archaelogists discover the revived body of a gigantic Spanish conquistador.

Though none of Richard Cunha’s adventures in moviemaking could really be described as having transcended their pulp origins, this was perhaps his most serious work; it is less given to the campy silliness of either SHE DEMONS or FRANKENSTEIN’S DAUGHTER. Unfortunately, it lacks the energy of either of those two films, so that the first two-thirds of the movie is a somewhat tedious slog, lacking really interesting characters, sharp dialogue or interesting plot developments; I found the only thing I could latch onto was Morris Ankrum’s familiar face. Things do pick up once the giant manifests himself, though, and the movie ends up making some quite surprisingly excellent use of locations; in particular, the last two scenes (one in and near an abandoned mill during a snow flurry and the other on a bridge over a waterfall) are memorable indeed in this regard. Incidentally, the man who plays the character of Charlie Brown (not the Charles Schulz character) is Gary Crutcher, who would later go on to write the script for the William Grefe movie STANLEY.

THE GHOST SHIP (1943)
Article #549 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 9-15-2002
Posting date: 2-8-2003

The third mate of the Altair discovers that the captain is a homicidal maniac.

In Val Lewton’s attempt to transform the horror projects he was given, he often found himself straying quite far from the horror genre. This was perhaps the farthest away he got; the title has little to do with a story except insofar it is used in a somewhat forced metaphor that pops up in a somewhat unnecessary subplot. And the story only really ventures into horror territory with the character of the homicidal captain, but he is nothing like the type of madmen that inhabit horror movies. Which is not to say that there aren’t some scary scenes; the gripping sequence with the loose swinging anchor is about as scary as many horror scenes. And though the story as such drags a bit at times, it is solid and interesting. It also helps that the movie has its share of great scenes; the aforementioned swinging anchor scene, a sequence in which a man is buried alive under anchor chain and a knife fight that is much bloodier than you’d expect from a movie from this era. Plus it gives the often forgotten character actor Skelton Knaggs the best role of his career as the dumb (as in voiceless) crewman who serves as our narrator. Not one of Lewton’s best, but worth catching.

GHOST CATCHERS (1944)
Article #490 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 7-18-2002
Posting date: 12-11-2002

Two nightclub entertainers come to the aid of two southern belles who find themselves staying in a haunted house.

Years ago I remember watching a documentary on the history of movies. In the section about comedies, they took a few minutes to talk about some of the lesser known comedy teams, including one that was thought of as second-rate Abbott and Costello wannabes, so much so that they made the comparison a gag in the clip they showed. I didn’t remember the names of the duo, but as this is my first full-length encounter with Olsen and Johnson, I suspect that these may be the ones I saw way back then. (NOTE: I have since had a confirmation that these indeed were the comedians in that clip.)

So how are they? On the down side, they really don’t have strongly delineated characters (which I think actually does make a difference in a comedy team; compare the Marxes with the Ritzes some time to see what I mean), and the percentage of really good individual gags is probably pretty low, but neither characters or individual gags seem to be the point here. Their strong point was an escalating frenzy of absurdity combined with a certain high energy presentation, and instead of the movie becoming hard to watch, it becomes hard to tear your eyes away, because you find it hard to believe what you’re seeing. And they do mention Abbott and Costello; they offer a comic critique on that duo’s HOLD THAT GHOST (which gives away the end of that movie and incidentally, hints at the ending of this one) that seems to be flaunting the idea that this movie was inspired by that one (compare the titles). This kind of gag takes a certain kind of chutzpah that I find delicious.

So what can I say? Despite the fact that there’s a tad too much music added to the mix, the movie won me over. Considering the movie is sitting with an 8.2 rating on IMDB at the moment, I know I’m not the only one. All in all, this one was one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had in a long while.

THE GREAT GABBO (1929)
Article #464 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-22-2002
Posting date: 11-15-2002

A ventriloquist splits with his assistant in the early days of their act, and then each becomes successful independently, and then they meet each other again.

It sounds more like a soap opera than a horror movie, doesn’t it? That’s because it is; despite the fact that Erich Von Stroheim (as Gabbo) talks to his dummy Otto as if he were real, and that madness plays a certain role in the proceedings, it is only horror in the slightest of ways. There also isn’t much of a plot, and it’s stretched out over an hour and a half with lots of musical numbers tossed in, some of which are scarier than anything else in the movie (particularly one involving the dancers dressed up as flies in a giant web). Stroheim is always fun to watch, as usual, being just as unlikeable as you’d expect him to be. Most of the best scenes are at the end, but there is a lovely sequence in the middle where he holds a kindly conversation with his dresser (in German with no subtitles), and then turns mean again at the drop of a hat. Still, this may be a long, hard road unless you’re partial to big Hollywood musical numbers.

GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE (1933)
Article #463 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-21-2002
Posting date: 11-14-2002

When a newly elected and irresponsible president gets into an automobile accident and is near death, he is transformed by the angel Gabriel into a man dedicated to solving the problems of the world.

If you ever want to see an example of a movie that is a product of its time, this is the one; it was made during the bleakest times of the Great Depression, one of the most desperate times for the American people. The president tackles three problems; widespread unemployment, racketeers, and the repayment of debts abroad, but the methods he uses to accomplish these tasks (he becomes a dictator and runs roughshod over whomever opposes him) is enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies. Apparently, William Randolph Hearst had become a big fan of FDR, and had this picture made as an example of what he the man would do as president; before the accident, the president in the movie is obviously supposed to resemble Hoover; after, he is supposed to resemble FDR. The movie was made while Hoover was president, and Louis B. Mayer (a staunch republican) shelved the film until FDR was elected, and then released it hoping the public would see it as a criticism of FDR. Unfortunately, the president’s actions ended up resembling those of Hitler’s, and once people began to see the results of that administration, the movie was removed from circulation and shelved for years. In its way, it is a priceless document of how desperate the times were; it is probably the only time in American history when a major studio would have made a movie that would have made dictatorship seem holy, inspired and a positive necessity. The gangster sequences, however, are just plain surreal.

GOLD (1934)
Article #460 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-18-2002
Posting date: 11-11-2002

I wish I could give more of a plot description, but beyond the fact that a process is discovered that changes lead into gold, I can’t really say much more of what the movie is about. The problem is that my print is in German, which is not my native language, and though the movie looks very interesting, much of the plot is dependant on dialogue, and I spent much of my time watching this was spent in the dark. I suspect the movie is very good, and even those who don’t understand German should be able to appreciate some great special effects and a high level of excitement that comes into play in the last third of the movie. Brigitte Helm is there in the mix, looking quite fetching, as well. Someday, I’ll have to sit down with someone who understands the language who can help me sort through the story, and then my commentary will be more useful.

Incidentally, some of the special effects footage from this movie was borrowed for the fifties science fiction movie, THE MAGNETIC MONSTER.

THE GREED OF WILLIAM HART (1948)
(a.k.a. HORROR MANIACS)
Article #440 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 5-29-2002
Posting date: 10-22-2002

Two ghoulish men provide corpses for a doctor to use in medical examinations.

If there had been a market for malevolent glee, Tod Slaughter would have cornered it years ago. I find it totally unsurprising that he would have tackled the Burke and Hare story; it seemed a natural for him. There’s not a whole lot to comment on here; it’s Slaughter doing his thing; killing people, spouting mean but witty dialogue, and enjoying the whole thing immensely. There’s also plenty of other interesting and fun roles in this movie; unfortunately, my print ran only 53 minutes, and I know there are longer prints out there. This one will have to go on my upgrade list.

GAMERA VS. GAOS (1967)
Article #426 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 5-15-2002
Posting date: 10-8-2002

A giant vampire-like bat monster arises out of the area near Mount Fuji and terrorizes Japan. Gamera comes to the rescue.

All right, we have this giant flat-headed vampiric bat creature who flies through the air, shoots laser beams, and feeds on human blood. His weaknesses: he can’t stand the sunlight and is unable to turn his head. Therefore, the following plan is used to dispatch him; a vat with a fountain is installed on the top of the building with a rotating roof that is filled with artificial human blood. When the monster is attracted to the vat, he stands on the roof to drink the blood. The roof will then rotate rapidly, rendering the monster dizzy and unable to move until dawn, when the sunlight will dispatch with him. This is considered a more feasible plan than building a giant ultraviolet ray gun. Everyone believes the plan will work and it almost does (this I find hard to believe). The plan was devised by a six-year-old child (this, however, I do believe). Of course, there’s a lot more to the movie than this, but for some reason, my mind comes to a screeching halt at this point; what can you say about a movie that so obviously tosses plausibility to the four winds? You can say it was made for a six-year-old child. Which it was.

And let’s face it; whatever the plan was, you knew it wouldn’t work; with a title like GAMERA VS.GAOS, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know it’s going to end with a knock-down drag-out fight between the titular monsters; heck, a six-year-old kid could figure it out.

Still, I was entertained.

GHOST PATROL (1936)
Article #360 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 3-10-2002
Posting date: 7-27-2002

Tim “big-hat” McCoy is an agent for the Department of Justice hunting down crooks who are using a machine that downs airplanes carrying bonds.

Despite the title, this is not a horror western (unless you’re scared of guys in big hats). There are no ghosts in this movie (and if there were, I wonder if they would also wear really big hats). It is, however, a science fiction western, due to the existence of a machine that can short out the electrical systems of airplanes (and perhaps a secret machine our hero uses to keep his really big hat on his head). It stars Tim “My-hat-is-bigger-than-yours” McCoy. It gets a little tedious about the half-way point, but one of the benefits of watching B-westerns is that they’re over before you know it, so you’ll pull through (and you can always distract yourself by trying to figure out how many beans would fit into Tim McCoy’s big hat).

I’ll give you one guess as to what aspect of this movie made the biggest impression on me.

A GAME OF DEATH (1945)
Article #276 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-17-2001
Posting date: 5-2-2002

A big-game hunter is shipwrecked on a deserted island with a madman who hunts human beings for sport.

This is an unnecessary remake of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. Not only are its best scenes done the same way as that movie, but it also seems to be borrowing actual footage from the original (never a good sign). It’s also not as well acted as the original, though Noble Johnson appears in both this film and the original. Normally, I would expect something better from Robert Wise, but its early enough in his film career that I prefer to chalk it up as a learning experience for him. After all, imitation is one of the methods for learning any craft.