MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL (1958)
Article #582 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 10-18-2002
Posting date: 3-13-2003

A test rocket into space crash lands in Africa, unleashing mutated giant wasps.

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Hey, look! A movie in which rocket scientists do battle with giant wasps in Africa!

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Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

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Unfortunately, they have to make a four-hundred mile safari through the wilds of Africa to reach Green Hell, the home of the giant wasps.

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Sounds boring, doesn’t it?

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Guess which description above gives a better idea of what watching the actual movie is like?

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Hint: I put enormous gaps between my sentences, thus increasing dramatically the amount of empty, dead white space here, for a reason.

MESA OF LOST WOMEN (1953)
Article #581 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 10-17-2002
Posting date: 3-12-2003

The ads for this movie featured a picture of Tandra Quinn, and asked the cinematic question “Have you ever been kissed by a woman – LIKE THIS?” In the movie, she kisses nobody, but she does an eccentric dance, for which she is shot.

The movie also features about fifteen minutes of the most awful narration imaginable by Lyle Talbot. It’s not his fault; it’s just the words he was given.

The soundtrack consists of a constantly strumming Spanish guitar, punctuated by the sound of a gorilla trying to play the piano. Okay, I don’t know for sure that it was a gorilla at the piano, but I do know that George Barrows is in the cast. The soundtrack is so “impressive” that no less a personage than Ed Wood lifted it for use in his movie JAIL BAIT.

The movie features the most ingenuous, congenial, courteous and well-mannered psycho in screen history. It’s a pity he isn’t scary.

The movie pioneered a rarely-used cinematic technique; once everyone is stranded on the mesa, the action is enhanced by having close-ups of dwarves edited in at random. I think the technique is rarely-used for a very good reason.

Jackie Coogan is in the movie. He has a deformed left eye just above the big black mole on his left cheek. When he’s being friendly, he’ll take off his glasses so you can get a good look at it.

The oriental character? Speaks in aphorisms.

A woman at one point finds she’s being stared at by a crowd of dwarves and beautiful women. She makes sure to give them several seconds in which to all run for cover before she informs her companions by yelling “Look!”

There’s a big spider in here somewhere. There’s also Katherine Victor, Mona McKinnon, Dolores Fuller, John George and Angelo Rossitto.

Put it all together, and you have the closest approximation I’ve ever seen to a fever dream I had once when I was running a temperature of 112 degrees.

It must be seen to be believed, but that only goes to show that sometimes disbelief is a good thing.

THE MAN WHO LIVED AGAIN (1936)
(a.k.a. THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND)
Article #579 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 10-15-2002
Posting date: 3-10-2003

A scientist discovers a method of switching the minds of animals, and proceeds to try it on human beings.

A glance at the title and a quick perusal of the plot description may lead one to believe that this is one of Karloff’s Columbia mad doctor vehicles; however, this is a British production that predates them by a few years, and it’s superior to those productions. Karloff gives a relaxed but confident performance in the type of role that would soon be all too common for him, and it’s directed with a good pace and a nice visual sense, particularly during a rather nightmarish montage sequence. However, the movie is stolen by two character roles; Clayton is a cynical sharp-tongued cripple who is all too willing to put his two cents in at every opportunity (he has perhaps the funniest lines of any character this side of Ernest Thesiger’s Dr. Pretorius), and Lord Haslewood is an amusing but homorless newspaper magnate trying to cash in on whatever Karloff’s scientist can give him. They are played by Frank Cellier and Donald Calthrop (not necessarily respectively), and they serve as a great example on how a couple of sharply-written character roles can enhance a movie-watching experience enormously. This may not be one of Karloff’s better-known vehicles, but I think it ranks with some of his best work and is definitely worth catching.

MUMMY’S BOYS (1936)
Article #531 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-29-2002
Posting date: 1-21-2003

Two ne’er-do-wells are employed on an expedition to Egypt to return treasure to a tomb in order to fend off an ancient curse.

You know, it’s movies like this that give me the most trouble in this series; it’s so thoroughly and uneventfully commonplace that I find it hard to say anything about it. It’s the first movie I’ve seen featuring Wheeler and Woolsey, and though I don’t find them bad, I don’t find them all that memorable, either. Willie Best is on hand, but he isn’t really given much to do either. One of the running jokes in the movie involves one of the characters forgetting things almost as soon as he’s told them, and then having to take a nap in order to remember what he’s forgotten. Considering the speed with which this movie is already dissipating from my consciousness, I find it somewhat apt that the concepts of forgetfulness and sleep play such a prominent role in the proceedings.

This movie made me miss ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY; at least that one worked itself up to giving us a real mummy in the bargain.

THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD (1934)
Article #530 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-27-2002
Posting date: 1-20-2003

A pacifist journalist hooks up with an ambitious but untrustworthy editor and later discovers his cause has been betrayed.

If you’re like me, you may have first encountered this movie on your local creature feature where it was included with horror packages on release at the time. There are only four reasons I can think of that would cause this drama to be classified as such: 1) the title sounds like it might be a horror movie, albeit an eccentric one, 2) the ending of the movie involves madness and a rather horrifying murder, 3) the presence of Lionel Atwill, and 4) the fact that this was Claude Rain’s follow-up to THE INVISIBLE MAN. All I could remember from having seen this movie in my childhood was the opening scene where Rains talks to a lawyer; since I had been expecting a horror movie, it’s easy to see why I forgot the rest.

On its own, it’s a little slow-moving; certain scenes take too long to make their points, and others go on after they have already made their points. Still, the story itself is pretty solid and interesting. It also pulls off the nice trick of keeping in mind that it is about a character who is a pacifist rather than about pacifism per se; the preachiness inevitable in the subject matter ends up being directed between the characters on the screen rather than at us in the audience, leaving the movie to explore the deeper and more universal issues that are its true themes; idealism, integrity, compromise, and corruption. This is a nice trick for this sort of movie, and one that is rarely pulled off, so I can’t help but admire one that does it well.

THE MAGICIAN (1926)
Article #529 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-26-2002
Posting date: 1-19-2003

A hypnotist trying to discover the secret of life takes control of the will of a young woman.

It’s a crying shame this movie is languishing in obscurity and remains difficult to find; it’s fascinating to watch it in the light of certain movies that appeared afterwards. In particular, the lab scenes and the castle in the last part of the film are astoundingly reminiscent of those in FRANKENSTEIN six years later; between this and the existence of certain themes that also bear similarity to both movies, I’ve noticed that certain people like to describe the movie as a variation on the Frankenstein story. If it is, it never gets off the ground; actually, it is far more similar to another movie, namely SVENGALI, only in this case our villain has much nastier designs on the Trilby character than making her a famous singer. Plotwise, it seems a little shaky in some ways, but it is well acted and has a truly satisfying ending. It’s high time someone took an interest into reviving, restoring, and making generally available this forgotten classic.

THE MOONSTONE (1934)
Article #502 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 7-30-2002
Posting date: 12-23-2002

A rare and valuable gem is brought from India to be a gift for a young woman. However, the gem is stolen during the night.

The movie opens with the opening of a book entitled “World’s Greatest Mysteries Volume 1”, and the title page opens to “The Moonstone” by Wilkie Collins; by all reports, it is one of the cornerstone mysteries of all time. I’ve never read it, but it might be interesting to do so one day. Somehow, I suspect that when I do, I won’t find this adaptation of the story to have been a satisfactory substitute, but that’s not really fair, as my print of it runs just a little under fifty minutes, and by all reports, the full movie runs sixty-two. That means I’m missing thirteen minutes, and in terms of pacing in a movie this short, thirteen minutes can be crucial. It may explain why I find the last part of this movie perfunctory and rushed; it’s over at just about the time I’m gearing up to get caught up in the mystery. Therefore, I must reserve judgment until I see the full version; this shortened one is just too abbreviated to be much fun, despite the presence of familiar faces such as David Manners, Gustav Von Seyfertitz and Elspeth Dudgeon.

THE MASTER MYSTERY (1919)
Article #495 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-23-2002
Posting Date: 12-16-2002

When an executive in a business that makes its money by buying inventions and holding them from production gets stricken with conscience, he is poisoned by his partner, and a power struggle for the company ensues.

I’m beginning to get the impression that there was a greater variety of serial plots during the silent era than there was during the sound era; in fact, the above description doesn’t sound like a serial at all in some ways. Not to worry; there are plenty of serial-like thrills on hand, especially as one of the main villains is a robot (called an automaton; this was before the word “robot” was coined). In fact, “cyborg” may be a more correct term, as the story implies that the mechanical man is the housing of a human brain; the actual truth of the matter remains a secret until the end of the story. The real novelty of this serial, however, is the presence of Harry Houdini as the hero (the serial was also referred to as “The Houdini Serial”). This would be just ordinary gimmick casting except for the fact that the serial makes good use of Houdin’s abilities as an escape artist by making them the centerpieces of the cliffhangers. There are no cheats here; they revolve around seeing Houdini actually escape from the bonds that hold him prisoner. This is a wonderful idea, even if it gets a little repetitive. There are a few flaws here; there are too many moments where the heroes stupidly trust untrustworthy villains (“I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf. If you visit me at this address, I will turn evidence over to you!”), and the middle gets pretty muddled, though the latter problem is at least partially the result that the serial does not exist in its entirety. It was originally 15 episodes; the copy I have claimed it has been edited into eleven episodes, but I only count ten, and the number of the last one is nine, so go figure. At any rate, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses here, and I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

MAN’S GENESIS (1912)
Article #485 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 7-13-2002
Posting date: 12-6-2002

Caveman Weakhand loses his girl Lillywhite to the bully Bruteforce, and must use his brain to win out.

The first caveman epic? I wouldn’t be surprised, though it is always hard to say with these early films, as there are many lost and unknown ones out there; it is currently the earliest one I’ve covered so far. D. W. Griffith’s short is fun and simple, but with only ten minutes of running time, there is once again not much one can say. Though I haven’t seen it yet, I’ve heard that footage from this was used in D. W. Griffith’s PRIMITIVE MAN, made the next year.

THE MAN FROM BEYOND (1922)
Article #483 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 7-11-2002
Posting date: 12-4-2002

A man revived after being frozen in a block of ice for one hundred years believes a woman is the reincarnation of his lost love.

The selling factor of this rather forgettable movie is the presence of Harry Houdini in the lead role. Despite the presence of both suspended animation and reincarnation in the story line, the movie really doesn’t do much with them; at heart, it’s just a mundane little melodrama, with an escape sequence thrown in to take advantage of the presence of Houdini. The final sequence involving a waterfall isn’t too bad, but otherwise this is a fairly ho-hum affair.