THE LIVING COFFIN (1959)
aka El grito de la muerte
Article 3409 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-2-2010
Posting Date: 12-14-2010
Directed by Fernando Mendez
Featuring Gaston Santos, Maria Duval, Pedro de Aguillon
Country: Mexico
What it is: Mexican horror western… in Color!

A cowboy and his sidekick visit a ranch which is haunted by the ghost of an aunt.

Let’s see. The last time I encountered a Mexican horror western was when I watched the dreaded SWAMP OF THE LOST MONSTER. That’s warning enough in itself, but the truth be told, this one is much better. There’s actually a bit of spookiness to some of the events here, for one thing. Another plus is that they use the comic relief sparingly (he’s mostly obsessed with sleeping), and he’s actually useful in the final fight. Furthermore, the hero’s horse is also useful; he actually points out some of the clues to solve the mystery, sort of like Scooby-Doo. Wait a minute… did I just give away something there? Maybe so, but I saw it coming early on; after all, SWAMP OF THE LOST MONSTER was also a horror movie of the Scooby-Doo variety. Still, if you just have to watch a Mexican horror western, this one may fill the bill; it’s rather silly, but it’s certainly better than SWAMP OF THE LOST MONSTER.

LA LEGENDE DU FANTOME (1908)
aka Legend of a Ghost
Article 3396 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-20-2010
Posting Date: 12-1-2010
Directed by Segundo de Chomon
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Early epic fantasy

A woman encounters a ghost who sends her on a mission to battle demons.

It looks like we’re going to have a short Chomon-a-thon here; I’ve acquired a collection of shorts from early silent fantasist Segundo de Chomon, and some of them are on my hunt list. I suspect that this one, like many of Melies’s films, came with narration; at least, I found the sequence of events highly confusing in my viewing. In many ways, it doesn’t matter; Chomon uses many of the same techniques that were used by Melies, but he has his own approach, and much of the imagery in this one is very striking indeed; I especially like the scenes where the demons tool around in a demonmobile. Chomon doesn’t seem quite as stagebound as Melies was, and on occasion it looks like he shot some scenes out of doors. It’s beginning to look like Chomon may be the most striking early director of fantastic genre features next to Melies, and I look forward to seeing some more of his work.

LASERBLAST (1978)
Article 3394 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-17-2010
Posting Date: 11-29-2010
Directed by Michael Rae
Featuring Kim Milford, Cheryl Smith, Gianni Russo
Country: USA
What it is: Neglected kid goes wild with alien weapon

When Billy discovers an alien weapon and its necklace power source in the desert, he becomes possessed by the power and goes on a rampage. Both the government and space aliens try to track him down.

At first, this movie doesn’t seem quite as bad as its reputation; the special effects are low budget but fun, the aliens are neat looking, and it has an interesting premise. Unfortunately, the movie is incredibly unfocused; the movie is cluttered with pointless scenes, undeveloped characters, muddled story-telling, and an overabundance of scenes of cars blowing up. It’s almost as if the script was never completed and is missing several key scenes, but was filmed anyway. The movie also fails to generate any suspense, and the main character remains an uninteresting cipher throughout. Ultimately, the movie fails because you never end up caring about what happens. Also, the movie makes poor use of two veteran actors; Roddy McDowall is killed off before he can really do anything, and Keenan Wynn is stuck in a potentially interesting role, but which ultimately isn’t used in any interesting way.

LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1961)
aka L’annee derniere a Marienbad
Article 3366 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-19-2010
Posting Date: 11-1-2010
Directed by Alain Resnais
Featuring Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoeff
Country: France / Italy
What it is: Art film

At a luxurious hotel, a man tries to convince a woman that they met last year (either here or somewhere else), but the woman does not seem to remember.

It’s considered an art film classic by many and reviled by others; I first encountered the title from the Medveds’ book “The 50 Worst Films of All Time”, to give you an example of the latter. It’s easy to see why there is such a variance of opinion; the movie is infuriating because it doesn’t play by the rules that we’re expecting, and if you get caught up in trying to figure out what is “real” or “true”, it could drive you crazy. It’s at least partially about the defectiveness of memory. There’s no doubt it has a fascinating visual quality, and at times it almost feels like a silent film. There are moments of high drama, but they’re fleeting and possibly deceptive. There are moments where what we see and what we hear are not in sync; for example, during a concert we see two violinists and hear an organ. The question becomes – do we believe what we see or what we hear, or does it alternate? And if it alternates, what do we believe when? It’s a fascinating movie in its way. Of course, the fact that I’m covering it means that I must address the nature of its fantastic content. All I can say is this; when a movie is this ambiguous, than the fantastic content could be anything a feverish imagination might conjure up. I do know this much; there are moments where the man speculates if the woman he is speaking with is alive, and we see a scene later on that makes it look as if the woman has been murdered by the man who may be her husband. But in a movie of this nature, that’s no proof of anything. As to whether the movie is a classic or a piece of twaddle, let’s just say that it’s an enigma, and how much you take to it may depend on how much you like enigmas.

LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF (1975)
Article 3282 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-16-2010
Posting Date: 8-9-2010
Directed by Freddie Francis
Featuring Peter Cushing, Ron Moody, Hugh Griffith
Country: UK
What it is: Faux Hammer werewolf tale

A child raised by wolves is captured by a travelling showman for display in his circus. When the boy grows up, he takes on a job at a zoo in Paris, but his wolf upbringing has come with him… especially on the nights of the full moon.

There is such a wealth of Hammer stalwarts in this Tyburn production that it’s no surprise it feels like a Hammer movie, albeit one that feels somewhat anomalous in the mid-seventies. Yes, it feels like a rehash of CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, but that should be no surprise, given that both scripts were written by Anthony Hinds. Still, despite the fact that it’s a rehash of sorts, I really like this movie, at least partially due to the excellent cast. Yes, David Rintoul is no Oliver Reed, but the surrounding characters are all quite interesting, and I think the story has a better flow. It has some interesting touches; my favorite is that the werewolf doesn’t appear to be quite as devoid of reason as werewolves usually are; he can speak, and he does seem to be able to tell his friends from his enemies. The end is particularly touching, as we sense that this is one monster that could have been redeemed. The best thing about the movie, though, is Peter Cushing. For a while, I was wondering if he was only going to serve as narrator as he does during the opening section of the movie, but once he appears, he steals the movie; his police surgeon/coroner character would have made a fine protagonist in a TV or film series; it’s a shame something like that never developed.

LOGAN’S RUN (1976)
Article 3230 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-22-2010
Posting Date: 6-18-2010
Directed by Michael Anderson
Featuring Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter
Country: USA
What it is: Dystopian science fiction

In the future, humanity lives in domed cities isolated from the rest of the world. People are only allowed to live to the age of 30, when they are “reborn” through a process known as “carousel”. Those who try to evade “carousel” are known as “runners”, and a group of men known as sandmen have the job of chasing down runners and terminating them. One sandman is chosen for a special mission; some runners have escaped to a place known as Sanctuary, and he must find the place. But what will he really find…?

It’s certainly one of the more ambitious science fiction movies of the seventies, and at its best, it does tap into a real sense of wonder; the opening “carousel” sequences are particularly interesting. Overall, however, I didn’t find the movie particularly satisfying. One problem is that the movie as a whole never builds a sense of tension and urgency; we seem to saunter from one scene to the next, and this leaves the movie feeling a bit aimless. The ending of the movie also feels contrived and convenient, which certainly adds to my lack of satisfaction. There is a nice sense of fun at moments, though; I like the scenes in the overgrown Washington D.C. settings, and Peter Ustinov seems to be having a lot of fun as an old man, so much so I found myself wondering if much of his dialogue was ad-libbed. Overall, it seems more of a triumph of production design over script, and I would like to read the original novel some time to see just what has been changed.

THE LAST DINOSAUR (1977)
Article 3229 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-21-2010
Posting Date: 6-17-2010
Directed by Alexander Grasshoff and Tsugonobu Kotani
Featuring Richard Boone, Joan Van Ark, Steven Keats
Country: Japan / USA
What it is: Dinosaur movie

A big game hunter forms an expedition to explore a hidden area in the Arctic regions that is said to harbor dinosaurs. Though he claims he’s doing it for the sake of science, the question remains – is he actually going there to hunt it?

What we have here is a cross between THE LOST WORLD and “Moby Dick”. Like KING KONG ESCAPES, it’s a Japanese/American co-production with Rankin/Bass and a Japanese film company, in this case Tsuburaya Productions. The dinosaurs are, like most Japanese monsters, men in suits, and are acceptable enough (to these eyes, anyway). I like the movie, but wish I liked it more. It starts out looking fairly interesting; Richard Boone’s performance is odd enough that it caught my attention, and Joan Van Ark looks at first like she’s going to be a fairly feisty female addition to the expedition. However, once they get to this lost world, they become less interesting, especially Van Ark as she quickly becomes the typical screaming female in distress. The movie is hoodwinked by a weak script that often belabors cliches, leaves the potentially interesting character of Bunta undeveloped, and makes the character of the employee who first spotted the dinosaur an unlikable, abrasive man. Furthermore, the score doesn’t know when it should leave well enough alone and constantly tries to underline moments that would be best left in silence. Still, when it does work (which is sporadically), it is entertaining enough. I saw the complete version which runs about 11 minutes longer than the version that was released to TV in this country; I suspect that the footage that was cut involves the expedition’s encounter with a tribe of caveman. This one is a real mixed bag.

THE LAUREL-HARDY MURDER CASE (1930)
Short
Article 3160 by Dave Sindelar
viewing Date: 2-7-2010
Posting Date: 4-9-2010
Directed by James Parrott
Featuring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Frank Austin
Country: USA
What is is: Comic “old dark house” story

When a rich old man by the name of Laurel dies, Ollie convinces Stan they can make it to easy street by having Stan pose as the heir. They arrive at the spooky old mansion of the deceased to discover that, instead of attending a reading of the will, they are under suspicion of murder. Furthermore, the real murderer wants them out of the way…

The title implies that this will be a parody of a Philo Vance movie, but it’s really that old friend, the “old dark house” movie. It’s not even really a parody; most of the movies of this ilk were half-comedies already. It does strip the mystery aspect from the story and emphasizes the comedy. Nevertheless, this isn’t really the duo at their best; too much of the short is concerned with the side characters, and once again there is an overreliance on “Oh, I’m scared!” type of humor. Still, there are moments; one of my favorites has Ollie threatening to walk out on Stan that illustrates one of the great things about the characters; you never really know what Stan is going to say or do next. For horror fans, though, it does have some nice atmosphere, and the butler is definitely a great comically creepy character.

THE LITTLE ARK (1972)
Article 3116 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-7-2009
Posting Date: 2-23-2010
Directed by James B. Clark
Featuring Genevieve Ambas, Philip Frame, Max Croiset
Country: USA
What it is: Children’s adventure film

Two adopted children in Holland are trapped in the steeple of a church with their pets after a storm causes the dikes to break. They manage to board a boat that drifts close to the steeple, and they go in search of their father.

At one point in this movie, a captain tells the children a story about a woman who is transformed into a mermaid, and the story is shown via animation. This constitutes the sole fantastic content of the movie, so it’s pretty marginal from that standpoint. As for the movie itself, I find it easy to believe it does have some impact, especially if you saw it when you were a kid. As an adult, I find its power somewhat compromised by the problems. It’s obviously based on a novel, and there are moments where you see the movie struggling and not quite succeeding in bringing certain aspects of the story to life. Nor was I particularly impressed by the performances of the two children; though they go through some very real (and even a bit shocking) adventures, they themselves never quite feel real. It occasionally belabors some of the heartstring-tugging, which isn’t necessary; the story itself is moving without that extra pushing. It was an independent film with mostly unknown Dutch and English actors; the only familiar name to me was Theodore Bikel, who does quite well. The theme song was nominated for an Oscar, but if you’re like me, you’ll get awfully tired of it before the movie is over.

LIFE, LIBERTY AND PURSUIT ON THE PLANET OF THE APES (1981)
TV-Movie
Article 3111 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-3-2009
Posting Date: 2-19-2010
Directed by Arnold Laven and Alf Kjellin
Featuring Roddy McDowall, Ron Harper, James Naughton
Country: USA
What it is: TV episodes edited into feature

In the first half, Virdon is shot and will die unless he is smuggled into a hospital for treatment. In the second, Burke is captured and subjected to brainwashing techniques, so Galen and Virdon must rescue him.

I still think the title in this particular entry of the series of TV-Movies culled from the “Planet of the Apes” TV series is awful, but it appears to be culled from a couple of the better episodes of the series. Now, to be honest, I actually haven’t seen the TV-Movie version, as I’ve not been able to find it, but since I know the two episodes that were used, and I’ve seen some of the other TV-Movies, I’ve been able to recreate the experience, as, other than some changes to the credit sequences, virtually no real editing was done. There is a certain art to picking which episodes to put together, and this one does a decent job of picking two episodes that were different enough from each other to seem distinct, while still having some common touches; in both, one of the humans is out of the action, scientific experiments are undertaken, and both revolve around ancient books (one on human anatomy, the other on brainwashing). Both episodes are pretty good, though the second one, which feature Beverly Garland, gets the edge.

Still, the episodes do display some of the problems that plagued the series; the dialogue is often clunky, the themes a little too obvious, and the two humans were never developed as distinct characters (you could reverse the roles of the characters in any episode without changing anything more than the references to the character names, and I don’t think anyone would notice). The non-development of the human character turns the series by default into the adventures of Galen, who displays oodles of character. I also grew to appreciate the skill of Mark Lenard’s performance as Urko the gorilla; he has great presence and imbues his character with a subtle but distinct sense of humor, and I found myself looking forward to his scenes.