HANSEL AND GRETEL (1954)
Article #1705 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-14-2005
Posting Date: 4-13-2006
Directed by Michael Myerberg and John Paul
Featuring the voices of Anna Russell, Mildred Dunnock, Frank Rogier

Two children are sent out into the woods to gather strawberries. They get lost, and find themselves threatened by a witch who means to eat them.

It’s opera time, again. However, this one is based on a familiar children’s story, and it contains spoken passages as well, so following the story is a snap. It is also animated with electronic puppets, so it should be of interest to animation and puppetry fans as well.

Nonetheless, I am a little disappointed with this one. Though it’s obviously a labor of love, it lacks somewhat that sense of magic that really brings this sort of thing to life. Part of the problem is the design of Hansel and Gretel; their mouths, though articulated, are locked in a perpetual smile, which somewhat destroys the illusion of danger. The movement of the puppets also doesn’t quite sync up with the music to the extent that would make this one a real delight; in this respect, it falls far short of FANTASIA, a movie which is mentioned in comparison on the back of the DVD package for this one. It has some nice moments, and I do applaud the effort, but I did find myself getting bored frequently, especially since there really isn’t much of a story, and the movie doesn’t quite have the necessary charm to fill in during the dead spots. Still, the witch has some fascinating facial movements, and a short “making of” extra on the DVD shows how this was done. Interesting, but not quite satisfying overall.

HORROR HOTEL (1960)
(a.k.a. CITY OF THE DEAD)
Article #1701 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-10-2005
Posting Date: 4-9-2006
Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey
Featuring Patricia Jessel, Dennis Lotis, Christopher Lee

A young woman goes to a small town to do some research on witchcraft for a paper, but discovers that witchcraft hasn’t exactly died…

You want atmosphere? You got atmosphere! There’s more rolling ground fog in any one of several scenes here than you will find in five or six viewings of THE WOLF MAN. All the evil people let you know how evil they are from square one, and all the scared ones are REALLY scared. Actually, in my opinion, there’s too much atmosphere; I’d gladly trade some of it for something in the way of some good story twists or a couple of surprise revelations; as it is, the only thing that surprised me was that after the opening “burn-the-witch” sequence was that the plot didn’t go in the direction of having the burned witch take revenge on the offspring of those that killed her. Still, I may be protesting too much here; though I find the story predictable, individual scenes are quite good, the acting is fine, and it does work itself up to a delicious ending that really lingers in the memory. Oddly enough, I thought the plot structure seemed a little similar to that of PSYCHO in that the first half of the movie leads up to an investigation by a relative in the second half of the movie. Director John Llewellyn Moxey would go on to direct any number of TV movies during the seventies, and writer/executive producer Milton Subotsky would later join forces with Max Rosenberg (who does some uncredited production work on this one as well) to produce several anthology horror movies for Amicus.

HORROR EXPRESS (1973)
Article #1700 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-9-2005
Posting Date: 4-8-2006
Directed by Eugenio Martin
Featuring Chrisopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza

A fossil of an ape-man discovered in Manchuria is being shipped across Siberia in a crate on a train. Concern rises when strange deaths begin occurring in the vicinity of the crate.

I really like the use of the train in this movie. The very image of this monstrous metal machine barreling forward through the wilderness along with the thundering sound of the locomotive and the blast of the horn is enough to put you on edge. It’s a very appropriate image to go with the movie, as the story itself is very well-paced, moves forward with an inexorable speed, and is never dull. It’s also peopled with interesting characters (especially the monk played by Alberto de Mendoza whose obsession with the creature is distinctly unhealthy), and features fine performances from Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. There are a few problems; the movie can’t really decide if the threat is supernatural or extraterrestrial (if the latter, why all the stuff about the cross?), it’s not consistent in how possession affects people physically, and the performance by Telly Savalas (who only appears during the last twenty minutes of the movie) is more strange than effective. Still, it looks wonderful, and the sets and exteriors (purchased cheaply after they were built for NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRIA) give the movie a real sense of atmosphere. It’s definitely worth catching.

HERCULES AND THE TYRANTS OF BABYLON (1964)
(a.k.a. ERCOLE CONTRO I TIRANNI DI BABILONIA)
Article #1699 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-8-2005
Posting Date: 4-7-2006
Directed by Domenico Paolella
Featuring Peter Lupus, Helga Line, Mario Petri

Hercules rescues slaves from the clutches of the tyrants of Babylon.

His name is Rock Stevens in the credits, but we all know him from “Mission Impossible” as Peter Lupus. So why do they call him Rock Stevens? Maybe it’s because of all the rocks he throws in his first scene in the movie. Nevertheless, members of his fan club should recognize him, especially when he attacks villains with his club which he fans in the air. All right, someone should be lynched for those puns, but the presence of Lupus does give this movie a novelty value it might not have otherwise; for the first half of this movie, it’s the usual compendium of sword-and-sandal cliches, with an overly large amount of political intrigue and (surprisingly) not a single dance scene. Things pick up a bit in the second half, with an effective moment when someone tries to assassinate Hercules with a spiked club, and the scene in which Hercules destroys Babylon with the help of a giant chained wheel (it really can’t be described) is worth catching. Other than that, it’s pretty standard fare of this sort.

THE HIDDEN HAND (1942)
Article #1692 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-1-2005
Posting Date: 3-31-2006
Directed by Benjamin Stoloff
Featuring Craig Stevens, Elisabeth Fraser, Julie Bishop

A rich woman decides to fake her own death so she can have the joy of watching the heirs bicker over her fortune. Towards that end, she brings in her brother to help her, who has just escaped from an insane asylum.

Did I say yesterday that the Old Dark House genre had run out of steam in the forties? I take it all back; this one is a hoot! At least part of the reason I really enjoyed this one was the crisp pace. Another was that it largely jettisoned the mystery angle; we pretty much know who the two homicidal loonies are, and the fun is watching how they go about their dirty deeds. It also helps that one of them (the insane brother) is played by none other than that perennial undertaker, Milton Parsons, and he makes for one of the most gleefully over-the-top psychos I’ve ever seen; it’s easily the best role I’ve seen of his. The movie also contains one of the funniest booby traps I’ve ever seen (the one involving the ship’s wheel), and it comes up with the cleverest murder frame-up I’ve witnessed in a movie. In fact, the only thing this movie really shares with THE GIRL WHO DARED is the presence of Willie Best as (once again) a comic-relief chauffeur, and even here the difference is remarkable. Whereas TGWD merely tried to mine laughs from him by having him be scared at everything, this one actually bothers to give him specific comic bits and situations that provide a real context for his actions, and he rises to the challenge and gives one of his best comic performances as well. For Old Dark House movie fans, this one is irresistible.

HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON (1970)
(a.k.a. IL ROSSE SEGNO DELLA FOLLIA)
Article #1688 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-28-2005
Posting Date: 3-27-2006
Directed by Mario Bava
Featuring Stephen Forsyth, Dagmar Lassander, Laura Betti

A madman kills prospective brides with a hatchet.

Despite the silliness of the title, I went into this movie with strong expectations, largely because it was directed by Mario Bava, who I always find interesting (I consider the Dr. Goldfoot movie he directed a fluke). I was a little disappointed by the first half; it’s not badly done by any means, but the concept of a serial killer on the loose with strange fetishes (he kills only with a hatchet, and every murder involves a bridal outfit) is hardly a novel concept, and having the a modeling agency involved made me suspect that I might be seeing a recycling of BLOOD AND BLACK LACE. Still, Bava handles this movie from a totally different angle from that one; rather than being a mystery which emphasized the gory murders (as that one did), this one is more of an exploration of the mind of the killer himself – we meet the killer early on, and the movie makes him the center of attention. However, the second half of the movie has the most interesting developments. It becomes in part a ghost story, but with a fascinating switch on an old cliche; when one of his victims returns to haunt him, rather than having the ghost appear to only him without anyone else being able to see her (a standard cliche), the reverse is done – everyone can see the ghost but him, a ploy that is extremely effective given the plot at the time. I also like the fact that the killer is committing these murders because he’s trying to piece together a puzzle, and towards the end you discover what he means by this. These elements make the movie more interesting than it might otherwise be, and they make up for the ordinary first half. The movie also features a clip from BLACK SABBATH.

HIGHLY DANGEROUS (1950)
Article #1640 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-10-2005
Posting Date: 2-7-2006
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Featuring Margaret Lockwood, Dane Clark, Marius Goring

A female entomologist agrees to visit a foreign country to do some spying; specifically, to investigate reports of a plot to use germ warfare and to bring back insects slated to be used as carriers.

Genre-wise, the germ warfare element nudges the movie towards science fiction, but it’s only a nudge. There may be another fantastic element as well, but I can’t quite nail it down. And therein lies the problem I had with this movie. Though it has an interesting and somewhat offbeat plot and has a good pace, I didn’t enjoy the movie as well as I could have. The reason is that the movie has a flaw that I can only describe as “free-floating vagueness”. It’s hard to explain what I mean by this, but throughout the movie, I kept having the sense that certain elements weren’t clearly explained and certain scenes don’t quite make sense. The other fantastic element I mentioned above is a prime example; in an early scene in the movie, the woman listens to an action / adventure show on the radio, and it momentarily makes her increase the acceleration of her car. Then, later, when she is given a drug to make her tell truth, she starts to act as if she’s either a character in that radio show, or somehow involved with those characters. If I’m not explaining this well, it’s because I myself am very vague on just what is going on here. Is it a form of self-hypnosis? Split personality? Something else altogether? I don’t know whether I missed a subtle explanation somewhere in the script, or whether the script itself (or the acting, direction or editing for that matter) is at fault. It might even be that my copy of the movie (which is short by a few minutes of the running time and shows signs of having a few scenes lopped off) may simply be at fault. Whatever the cause, this vague sense of not quite knowing what’s going on permeated my whole experience of viewing the movie, and though it didn’t exactly ruin the movie, it did mute my enjoyment of it quite a bit. In some ways, it was like having an itch I needed to scratch but couldn’t reach. All in all, a strange viewing experience for me.

THE HYENA OF LONDON (1964)
(a.k.a. LA JENA DI LONDRA)
Article #1541 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-3-2005
Posting Date: 10-31-2005
Directed by Gino Mangini
Featuring Bernard Price, Diana Martin, Tony Kendall

A killer known as the Hyena of London is executed. A few days later, his coffin is found empty. Soon after that, new murders start being committed in a village near London.

The title of this movie is THE HYENA OF LONDON. The movie opens with the title character’s execution, followed by the discovery that his coffin is empty. Then the movie changes locations. Pretty soon, murders begin happening all over again. Now, if you’re like me, you may not necessarily know the circumstances of the murder, but you can bet good money on one thing at least—that is, that the murders have something to do with the title character. And you’d be right; the movie does get around to establishing that the murders do have something to do with the title character (and the circumstances add a little science fiction to the plot as well as the horror elements). The only trouble is, they make no attempt to establish this connection until about five minutes before the movie ends. In short, this movie’s entire plot can be found in the first five minutes and the last five minutes of the movie.

So, what makes up the rather sizable center of this movie? Two things – incident and obfuscation. By incident, I mean that in order to have a mystery about murders, you have to spend some screen time on the murders themselves—that is incident. And by obfuscation, I mean any extraneous subplots whose sole design is to obscure the plot and fill running time, and ultimately they have nothing to do with the story. You can safely consign the sizable amount of time this movie spends on the amours of the various characters to this category.

Now, I can understand the purpose of this; after all, the movie is at least partially a mystery, and what’s a mystery without a certain amount of red herrings and misdirection? The trouble is, in a good mystery, you never realize that the red herrings and misdirection ARE red herrings and misdirection. In this one, you are keenly aware that the red herrings and misdirection are exactly that, and it makes for a frustrating and unsatisfactory viewing experience. Feel free to pass this one by.

HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI (1965)
Article #1537 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-30-2005
Posting Date: 10-27-2005
Directed by William Asher
Featuring Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Brian Donlevy

Frankie is worried that Dee Dee will be unfaithful to him while he is in the naval reserve on a tropical island. He consults a local witch doctor, who agrees to do two things; he sends an attractive woman to the beach to keep the guys’ eyes off of Dee Dee, and sends out a pelican to keep an eye on Dee Dee.

I’ve had little call to cover any of the Beach Party movies as part of the series (unless DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE, which makes a few references to the series, counts), and this is said to be one of the weaker entries. Based on this one, I’d have to say that the movies seem a little dumb but also rather disarming; there’s something about the spirit in which they are done which makes them painless viewing, and the silly hijinks come naturally (whereas they feel forced in some of the imitators). Then there are also the guest stars to pep things up, and this one features Brian Donlevy (as B.D., which stands for several different things as far as I can tell) and Buster Keaton as Bwana, the Witch Doctor; though the latter role might seem a little embarrassing, it’s still a huge step up for Keaton from stuff like BOOM IN THE MOON). Nonetheless, it’s Mickey Rooney who comes across best among the guest stars; in many ways, this sort of movie wasn’t all that far from the kinds of movies he made with Judy Garland, and he gets right in to the spirit of things. The movie also features the usual antics of Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and his motorcycle gang, a tough guy named North Dakota Pete (played by Len Lesser), the aforementioned scene-stealing pelican, and a memorable cameo appearance from someone playing the Witch Doctor’s daughter (it’s best to let this one catch you by surprise).

HOW I WON THE WAR (1967)
Article #1534 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-27-2005
Posting Date: 10-24-2005
Directed by Richard Lester
Featuring Michael Crawford, John Lennon, Roy Kinnear

An incompetent commander recounts his adventures during World War II, unaware of the fact that his own men secretly wish him dead.

I have to admit to having a little trouble with the movies of Richard Lester. Much of it is cultural, though; his movies are very British, and they’re so fast-moving that unless you have a strong ear for the accents, you may find yourself left in the dust. Combine this with the fact that he works in a very non-realistic mode (the characters spend a lot of time talking to the audience and the action pops back and forth in time), and the result is confusion. Yet this confusion may be a plus in this movie; most war movies do have a certain amount of confusion in them, as war itself can be very confusing when you’re in the midst of it. This anti-war movie has an interesting viewpoint in that the main enemy of the soldiers isn’t so much the enemy but their own leaders, and the movie has a certain amount of impact; the death scenes of each character are powerful. The fantastic content is that after each man dies, he does not leave the company, but stays on as a ghost. It’s a pretty grim comedy, but there are some great one-liners, and it’s fun to see John Lennon in a rare acting role. It’s difficult, but worth a look.

Postscript: Thanks to the responses I received from my original posting of this review (which I have left intact above if for no other reason that I intend to let this mistake go on record), I have since learned that Richard Lester is not British, but American. I will admit to being somewhat surprised by this, but I was largely familiar with him through this movie and his Beatles movies. It just goes to show that there’s always something new to learn.