MOONWOLF (1959)
aka Zuruck aus dem Weltall, …und immer ruft das Herz
Article 4593 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-30-2014
Directed by Georges Friendland
Featuring Anneli Sauli, Carl Mohner, Helmut Schmid
Country: Finland / West Germany
What it is: Love story

A scientist is reluctant to send his pet dog (which is really a wolf) into outer space as part of an experiment. He tells the story of his relationship with the animal.

IMDB (as well as various other sources) classify this movie as Sci-Fi, and, insofar as the plot involves sending a wolf into outer space, I suppose it is. From a story perspective, however, this event serves as little more than a plot device; its purpose is to put the animal in a certain location so that the scientist finds himself resolving a romantic triangle plot that is the real center of the movie. And, like most romantic triangle plots, this one is pretty mundane, and anyone hoping to see actual shots of the dog in outer space will be sorely disappointed; the action in the movie remains stubbornly earthbound. There’s a certain curiosity value to the fact that most of the movie is set in Lapland and shot in location there, but it’s certainly not enough to save this movie from the doldrums. This one is quite disappointing.

MACABRE (1980)
aka Macabro, Frozen Terror
Article 4582 by Dave Sindelar
Directed by Lamberto Bava
Featuring Bernice Stegers, Stanko Molnar, Veronica Zinny
Country: Italy
What it is: Horror thriller

An adulterous married woman spends a year in an institution after having been traumatized by a car accident in which her lover was decapitated. After being released, she moves into the apartment where she was meeting her lover, and continues with the affair…

This is the directorial feature film debut for Mario Bava’s son, Lamberto Bava. He does a decent job here, but he’s hardly the stylist his father was, and the movie suffers from some pacing problems; still, it is a solid debut. If you read the plot description above, you’re probably suspecting that there’s something distinctly unhealthy (to use the mild euphemism) going on in this movie, and you’d be right; however, I won’t go into any details because the whole thrust of the movie is to bring those details to light. Suffice it to say that it all has something to do with what is locked in the freezer door of a refrigerator. Incidentally, the woman is not the only character involved in sick behavior here; her daughter is proof that the nuts don’t fall too far from the tree, and you’ll see how twisted she is during the first few minutes of the movie. The movie is supposedly based on a true story that actually did take place in New Orleans (where the movie is set), and except for one last-second supernatural nod, I suppose it could have happened. But as for that supernatural nod, it can be either seen as pretty silly or weirdly logical depending on your mood; I could go either way with it myself.

MYRTE AND THE DEMONS (1950)
aka Myrte en de Demonen
Article 4578 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-13-2014
Directed by Paul Bruno Schreiber
Featuring Myrte, Harry Berg, Ludzer Eringa
Country: Netherlands / UK
What it is: Stylized fairy tale

A young girl is targeted by evil demons who wish to destroy her soul. When she falls into their trap, all of her dolls and animals friends are transformed into stone. In order to save them and herself, she must go into the dark woods armed with a candle that will only protect her while it is lit, but she has the help of a friendly goblin, two dwarfs, and the man in the moon.

This fairy tale, with its emphasis on dance, puppetry, music and mood, is more like a stylized ballet than a straight movie, and even that doesn’t quite describe this one. The story is at times quite dark (such as the scene where one of the demons sets out to kill a fluffy bunny), at other times a bit treacly (the little girl must win the demons over with her innocence), and is sometimes plain weird (the man in the moon is a rather unnerving presence). It most resembles Cocteau’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, though it isn’t quite as successful in sustaining its sense of poetry and magic. Nonetheless, this is an interesting and unique fairy tale, and I’m glad its appearance on YouTube has allowed me to rescue it from my “ones that got away” list.

MAD ABOUT MONEY (1938)
aka Stardust
Article 4570 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-30-2014
Directed by Melville W. Brown
Featuring Ben Lyon, Lupe Velez, Wallace Ford
Country: UK
What it is: Musical

Two men trying to put together a feature-length musical film to demonstrate a new color film process find themselves in trouble when they lose their biggest backer. One of them romances a rhumba dancer who is posing as an heiress in the hopes that he can convince her to finance the film; she’s actually trying to get her best friend into the picture.

There are two fantasy musical numbers here (one in which a songwriter finds himself on trial by the ghosts of famous composers for trying to lift the melody of “The Blue Danube” for his film, and the other where various members of the cast go to outer space on a rocket) that give the movie its fantastic content. As for the rest of the movie, well… unless you happen to find the above plot description intriguing, most of the movie consists of an insignificant, over-complicated story told with maximum dullness; it’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie in which I cared less about what was going on. Yes, there’s a certain entertainment value in the weirdness of the two musical numbers mentioned above, but neither of them are staged in a particularly interesting fashion, and the other musical numbers have even less going for them. There is a certain interest factor in the presence of silent screen funnyman Harry Langdon in the cast, but he’s barely in it and isn’t really given much to do. Quite frankly, this one is a waste of time.

MR. WONG, DETECTIVE (1938)
Article 4569 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-29-2014
Directed by William Nigh
Featuring Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Maxine Jennings
Country: USA
What it is: Murder mystery

A chemical manufacturer contacts Mr. Wong when he believes his life is in danger. When Mr. Wong shows up for their appointment, he discovers that the manufacturer has died mysteriously in the interim. Can he figure out who killed him and how?

Despite the presence of Boris Karloff, the Mr. Wong movies were mysteries rather than horror movies; this one only gets by because the method of murder (which involves poison gas in small glass spheres that shatter under specific circumstances) pushes the movie marginally into science fiction territory. Fortunately, that’s not giving away a major spoiler; we find out about this aspect of the story during the first half of the movie. and the real mystery is trying to figure out what those specific circumstances are. I was fortunate enough to guess that aspect early enough to enjoy the cat-and-mouse game Mr. Wong was playing with the various suspects. Karloff does a good job, and though he eschews trying to give his character an Oriental accent, this probably helps to keep the character from being a stereotype as well. It’s a good and entertaining B feature, albeit one that is fairly uneven.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1968)
Article 4550 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-1-2014
Directed by Peter Hall
Featuring Derek Godfrey, Barbara Jefford, Nicholas Selby
Country: UK
What it is: Shakespeare

Two pairs of lovers fall into the hands of mischievous sprites on a midsummer’s night.

This is perhaps the Shakespeare play with the greatest amount of fantastic content; only “The Tempest” really gives it a run for its money. As far as this version goes, I have no problems with the script (and even if I had, it isn’t like I could bring in the original author for a rewrite). Nor do I have any problems with the cast; given that it features members of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and given the number of name actors in the cast (David Warner, Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench and Ian Holm, just to name the most familiar), it’s on very solid ground from an acting standpoint. However, I am less taken with the direction. It isn’t that the production fails to try to keep it from coming across like a photographed stage play. It’s more that it overuses many of its various tricks; in particular, there are far too many close-ups, and its only real special effect (having people appear and disappear out of and into thin air) is overused. It also has a tendency to break up scenes that should be left whole, and it even has some changes of location within monologues, and the result is some jarring breaks in continuity. Even despite these attempts, the movie still comes across like a photographed stage play, and this may be partially due to the decision not to have a musical score on the soundtrack; I think that alone would have made it flow better and feel more cinematic. At any rate, despite the talent on display here, I’m more partial to the 1935 version.

THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN (1969)
Article 4520 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-30-2014
Directed by Joseph McGrath
Featuring Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr, Isabel Jeans
Country: UK
What it is: Satire

A tycoon adopts a homeless man as his son, and shows him his mission in life – to find out if every man has his price.

I was fairly slow on the uptake on this movie, as some of the early scenes had me scratching my head. However, I finally did light on the key subject of this satire, thanks to a few scenes which made it explicit; it’s basically a satire on just how easy it is to corrupt someone or get them to undergo something disgusting if you have enough money. Once I reached that understanding, the movie became rather obvious in its message. Fortunately, the movie is loaded with fun little cameos to hold the interest, and sometimes the movie can be quite creative in finding ways to get people to do strange things. I did find myself wondering what the fantastic content would turn out to be, and was wondering if the general surreal air of the proceedings was it. However, near the end of the movie, there are a few events that give it some definite fantastic touchstones; I’m not going to give them away, but if you consider this list of cameo appearances (Richard Attenborough, Laurence Harvey, Christopher Lee, Spike Milligan, Raquel Welch, Roman Polanski, pre-Monty Python John Cleese and Graham Chapman, and an uncredited Yul Brynner), you’ll probably light on the one who provides the greatest content of this sort. All in all, I found the movie entertaining enough, though I suspect it would get tiresome with repeat viewings. Incidentally, my favorite cameo was Brynner’s.

UN MOSTRO E MEZZO (1964)
aka A Monster and a Half
Article 4491 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-31-2014
Directed by Steno
Featuring Franco Franchi, Ciccio Ingrassia, Alberto Bonucci
Country: Italy
What it is: A Franco and Ciccio comedy

A thief is arrested for murder when he steals a suitcase from a professor that contains a cadaver. He is rescued by the professor, who offers to change his face with his experimental plastic surgery.

Just when you thought it was safe to watch an Italian movie without English subtitles…. it’s Franco and Ciccio again. Yes, I know I’ve ribbed them a lot in my reviews, but I’m going to have to be honest -I really don’t feel entitled to make a judgment on the quality of their work. When their movies are dubbed, you end up judging the dubbing rather than the original performances, and I think the only times I’ve seen them with subtitles have been in movies that don’t capture them in their usual mode. As for watching them undubbed and unsubtitled, how can you really judge a comedy when you don’t get the jokes? Yes, I still hold that Franco Franchi is one of the most unrestrained muggers in movie history, but I still sense that he has a sharp sense of comic timing, and there are times in this movie where the mugging is used to good effect; a long sequence where he is mistaken for a corpse and wheeled in as a subject during a class lecture is a good example of this. Maybe I’m mellowing on these two because I’ve gotten used to them now; I know what to expect from a Franco and Ciccio movie, and the mugging has ceased to shock me. There are touches of horror to this one, and the scene where the plastic surgery takes place offers plenty in the way of mad science, so we do have fantastic content here.

EL MUNDO DEL LOS MUERTOS (1970)
aka The World of the Dead
Article 4481 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-21-2014
Directed by Gilberto Martinez Solares
Featuring Santo, Pilar Pellicer, Carlos Leon
Country: Mexico
What it is: Santo vs a witch

A woman becomes possessed by the spirit of a witch that means to kill off the descendants of those who burnt her at the stake… and one of those descendants is Santo, the Silver Mask.

Like yesterday’s movie, I watched this one in Spanish with no English subtitles. However, that really isn’t much of a problem with this one; Santo movies aren’t known for their reliance on the subtlety of dialogue in the first place, and besides, the “witch seeking vengeance from beyond the grave” is hardly a new and novel storyline. So this one is actually pretty easy to parse out; the first third of the movie covers the backstory, while the rest of the movie takes place in the present. This one actually conjures up quite a bit of horror atmosphere, and for a while it looks like one of Santo’s best movies. However, it stumbles a bit as it proceeds. Several of the fight scenes are shot in fast motion, giving them an unwanted comic effect when one is not needed. It also features graphic open-heart surgery footage that really seems out of place in a Santo movie. After a while, the movie starts spinning its wheels by having Santo fight the same three guys again and again and again. The ending is pretty bizarre, though; Santo ends up in a dream world that borrows footage from HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD. Despite the flaws, this is a fairly entertaining Santo movie, though I do have to point out that Santo is a much better wrestler than a swordsman, as can be seen in one of the fight scenes here.

MUTANT (1984)
aka Night Shadows
Article 4468 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-8-2014
Directed by John “Bud” Cardos and Mark Rosman
Featuring Wings Hauser, Bo Hopkins, Jody Medford
Country: USA
What it is: Toxic zombie movie

Two brothers get trapped in a small Southern town where the residents are suffering from a flu-like plague. However, the plague ends up turning them into bloodthirsty zombies with a toxic touch.

The movie has a 4.7 rating on IMDB, which is not very good, but I think I like it a little better than that. It’s made with a certain amount of competence, the characters don’t annoy me, and the music isn’t a turn-off, and, in general, I find the movie watchable enough. There’s a few script problems, to be sure, and there are times where the characters don’t always act with much in the way of intelligence. The primary problem with the movie is that it’s pretty derivative of any number of “zombies on the loose” movies, and its few original ideas don’t really lift it above the pack. I suppose I’m damning the movie with faint praise, but one of its strengths is that the moments that don’t work don’t make me hate the movie, but then, maybe that just means it caught me in a good mood, but there it is. I’ve sat through better, but I’ve sat through a lot worse.