THE NAKED WITCH (1964)
Article #999 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-9-2003
Posting Date: 5-7-2004
Directed by Larry Buchanan
Featuring Libby Hall, Robert Short, Jo Maryman

A student working on a thesis about the history of German settlement in Texas stumbles across the legend of the Luckenbach witch. In his investigation, he accidentally revives the witch. He does not encounter Willie and Waylon and the boys.

Some thoughts on THE NAKED WITCH.

1) There are two versions of this movie out there. One is available on DVD and in color. The other is available on VHS and is in black and white. Though I should probably wait until I acquire the former, all I’ve got at this point is the latter, and that’s what I’m covering here. Under the circumstances, I really don’t think it’s fair to expect me to spend the extra bucks.

2) First, let me give you a walking tour of my experience of watching this movie. Though the tape only runs about an hour, it opens with three trailers. They are for the movies MONSTROSITY, BLOOD OF THE MAN BEAST (a.k.a. HOUSE OF THE BLACK DEATH), and MONSTER-A-GO-GO. I’ve seen all three of these movies, and they’re all at about the same level of quality of this one. This is not a good sign.

3) The movie then treats us to a ten minute documentary about the history of witches in the middle and dark ages, all done to the eerie music usually used in old-time spook show promos. By the time this sequence is through, I am roughly one-quarter a way through the tape. Not a good sign.

4) We have now reached the movie proper. It opens wth a quote from Shakespeare. Unfortunately, the quote prominently features the word “yawn”. Not a good sign.

5) The next thing I notice in the credits is that the movie was written, directed and edited by Larry Buchanan. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.

6) By the time we actually see the student entering the town where the allegedly scary incidents take place, the movie is one-third over.

7) This movie has at least one good quality about it; the backdrop of an old German community that serves as the setting for the movie is unusual and gives the movie an unexpected air of authenticity, even if the first interchange we hear between the student and one of the residents prominently uses the word “Weinerschnitzel”. So much for the good things about this movie.

8) If there’s any one thing I can say about the soundtrack, it’s that organists from the era of the silents could still find work as late as 1964.

9) Yes, the witch is naked. Don’t strain your eyes, though; you won’t be able to see past that strange bar that hovers across the middle of the screen during most of her cavorting.

10) As for the rest of the movie, imagine, if you will, the experience of watching a young, inexperienced Larry Buchanan at work before he mastered his craft. “Mastered”, by the way, is a relative term.

As a side note, I would like to point out that, by coincidence, there was another movie called THE NAKED WITCH made during the same year and with a very similar plot. That one was directed by Andy Milligan, and appears to be lost. Is this coincidence or something more sinister? I can’t say, but I will point out this is number 999 of this series of reviews, and if you turn that number upside down…

NO BLADE OF GRASS (1970)
Article #956 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-27-2003
Posting Date: 3-25-2004
Directed by Cornel Wilde
Featuring Nigel Davenport, Jean Wallace, John Hamill

When a plague decimates the grass of the world, governments collapse, anarchy rules, and a family attempts to reach the safety of a farm in Scotland.

If you wanted a handy pocket description of this movie, think of it as an update of PANIC IN YEAR ZERO with ecological disaster (very trendy topic of the late sixties/early seventies period in which the movie was made) in place of nuclear disaster. And also like that movie, it was directed by a man better known as an actor (Ray Milland for the earlier movie, Cornel Wilde for this one). As a result of having been made in a more permissive era, it’s also nastier, meaner, more violent and more brutal. It’s also more confusing (the first twenty minutes of this movie is a headache-inducing blur of fancy editing) and preachier; just how many shots of pollution do you need to make your point, anyway? It’s also depressing and unrelenting in its depiction of man falling into savagery in order to survive (a theme which it also shares with PIYZ); you end up being incredibly grateful for the few moments when the veneer of civilization shines through the scuzziness. For all that, I find it less successful than the Milland movie, if for no other reasons than that the artiness, preachiness, and savagery are all established early enough in the action that it leaves very little in the way of surprises as the movie progresses. Fans of seventies dystopian science fiction might be the best audience for this one.

NIGHT MUST FALL (1964)
Article #955 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-26-2003
Posting Date: 3-24-2004
Directed by Karel Reisz
Featuring Albert Finney, Mona Washbourne, Susan Hampshire

A psychopath takes up residence with an old woman and her daughter.

One of the things I’ve come to learn from writing these MOTDs is that the order in which you watch movies based on the same story can have a strong effect on how you feel about them. I wonder what I would have thought of this one if I hadn’t already been quite familiar with the 1937 version with Robert Montgomery as the psycho. Though I have problems with that one, it did do two things right; it placed the character focus primarily on the daughter, allowing us to experience the psycho from her perspective, and the psycho was played with such subtlety by Robert Montgomery (emphasizing the natural charm of the actor rather than his madness) that it was easy to see why the old woman was taken in by him. In this one, Albert Finney plays the psycho as just that—a psycho, and we get so many scenes of him acting loony that the end result is more silly and childish than frightening. This movie gets rid of the stagey talkiness of the original, but it also loses the suspense of the original by making explicit what was only implied in the earlier version. It also makes the daughter more of a cipher; for most of the movie, we don’t know or care about who she is or what she is feeling at all. And the psycho has been changed completely; Montgomery’s psycho was frightening because he was focused and very much in control; he was a definite threat. Finney’s psycho is about not being in control, and it makes him not only less scary but the whole story becomes rather aimless. On the plus side, the photography is beautiful, and there are some effective scenes towards the end; nevertheless, I prefer the original.

THE NINTH GUEST (1934)
Article #830 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-23-2003
Posting Date: 11-20-2003
Directed by Roy William Neill
Featuring Donald Cook, Genevieve Tobin, Hardie Albright

A group of eight people are invited to a party by an anonymous host, and are killed off one by one.

Title check: The title is indeed relevant, and though telling you who it is doesn’t give away the story, it does give away a great line in the movie, so I’ll not say at this point who the Ninth Guest is. It’s not the comic relief butler, by the way.

The basic story format is familiar enough; anybody reading the above description will quickly figure out that this is basically a variation on “Ten Little Indians”, though it may predate the Christie story. Still, this one has a somewhat unique feel. Though each of the characters has a guilty secret that marks them for death, most of the deaths are planned in such a way that the characters bring them about by themselves; the murderer knows each one so well, he has correctly predicted what each one will do in a certain set of circumstances. Though this is somewhat far-fetched (it’s really hard to believe some of the ‘accidents’ were pre-planned), it does place a much greater emphasis on character than other movies of this ilk are apt to do, and it is very interesting to see the events unfold that cause the respective deaths. Like TLI, it remains only marginally in the horror category, though the murderer is indeed mad enough to cause the movie to qualify. It’s not up to the level of Clair’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, but it it is definitely worth a look.

THE NEXT VOICE YOU HEAR… (1950)
Article #822 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-15-2003
Posting Date: 11-12-2003
Directed by William Wellman
Featuring James Whitmore, Nancy Davis, Gary Gray

The voice of God begins to appear nightly on the radio, and this has a deep impact on an ordinary American family.

Title check: Since the title highlights the impact of the event and is actually used at two key moments in the story, it is a very appropriate title indeed.

I’m pretty wary of movies like this; they just seem to invite preachiness of the most overbearing kind. Yes, it does get fairly preachy, but it also allows its main characters to play real people rather than mere pawns in a story, and this is the movie’s strength; James Whitmore’s performance in particular makes good use of the fact that even if you like a character, you don’t have to like everything that he does. In fact, the movie’s willingness to allow the character to react honestly about the unfolding events gives the movie a real power it would otherwise lack. Unfortunately, this falters somewhat in the second half of the movie; some of the events definitely seem contrived here, and at least one character has a complete personality change that can only be explained by the fact that the movie is now trying to drive the message home. Two interesting touches; we in the audience never actually hear the voice of God on the radio; we always hear about it second hand. And I admire the fact that they actually make some sort of attempt to make Nancy Davis look pregnant (though not as pregnant as she actually should be) rather than just telling us she is, as so many other movies from the period would do.

NIGHT OF VIOLENCE (1966)
(a.k.a. LE NOTTI DELLA VIOLENZA)
Article #816 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-9-2003
Posting Date: 11-6-2003
Directed by Robert Mauri
Featuring Alberto Lupo, Marilu Tolo, Lisa Gastoni

A strange masked man is stalking and murdering women; police investigate.

Title check: The violence does happen at night, so it’s appropriate in that regard. However, it also happens over several nights rather than one.

Well, here I am, once again, staring at a foreign language movie (Italian, this time) that I could only find in an undubbed, unsubtitled version. Now, for some movies this isn’t a problem; for those that largely use visuals to tell their story, it really doesn’t matter. However, if there’s one thing this movie has, it’s talk, and lots of it. I was able to figure out that we were dealing with a masked murderer attacking women, but the whole middle section is a real question mark to me. It does look somewhat interesting, and maybe someday I’ll come by a more English-friendly version (or learn Italian). Until then, this is another one that will have to wait for further consideration.

NIGHT CREATURES (1962)
(a.k.a. CAPTAIN CLEGG)
Article #773 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-27-2003
Posting Date: 9-24-2003
Directed by Peter Graham Scott
Featuring Peter Cushing, Patrick Allen, Michael Ripper

A captain is sent by the crown to investigate reports of smuggling in a small town, and encounters stories of ghostly riders in the swamps and a pastor with something to hide.

Despite the American title of this movie (NIGHT CREATURES) and a subplot concerning ghosts on horseback, this isn’t really a horror movie, nor does it act like one; it’s more of a period crime melodrama (the original title, CAPTAIN CLEGG, is much more accurate). This may be one of the reasons that this remains one of the more obscure Hammer thrillers, but those who choose to seek it out may well enjoy it. The story is solid and entertaining, and the performances are strong throughout, particularly from Peter Cushing, Oliver Reed, and Michael Ripper (who nearly steals the whole movie as the local undertaker). I also recognized Milton Reid (in the role of the mulatto) as having been in DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, where he was the manservant playing pool; it looks like he specialized in Tor Johnson-type roles (big, bald and non-speaking), but he definitely has the screen presence for it. It may be a minor Hammer thriller, but I found it quite entertaining nonetheless.

THE NIGHT LIFE OF THE GODS (1935)
Article #754 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-8-2003
Posting Date: 9-5-2003
Directed by Lowell Sherman
Featuring Alan Mowbray, Florine McKinney, Peggy Shannon

An inventor creates a ring that will turn people to stone, and vice versa.

This movie was based on a novel by Thorne Smith, the same man who gave us the novel “Topper”, on which the movie TOPPER is based. That movie was the last time I encountered Alan Mowbray in this series; there he played a butler. Here he has a butler, played by Gilbert Emery. This movie also has William ‘Stage’ Boyd playing a detective; the last time I encountered him was yesterday, when he played a detective in MURDER BY THE CLOCK. Ray Corrigan is on hand, billed as Raymond Benard, and King Baggot (who played Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde once upon a time) is a lobby extra. Actually, I could go on like this for a little while longer to avoid trying to address the movie directly, as I’m not quite sure to what to make of it. In its way, it is as anarchic as HELLZAPOPPIN’, or any Marx Brothers comedy (without the music). It has little plot to speak of; it’s mostly a series of connected setpieces all playing with the concept of people being turned to stone and vice versa. The title refers to the second half of the movie, where our protagonist brings several statues of Greek gods to life, and they (for want of a better phrase) run amuck. Hebe steals cups, Neptune looks for fish and pokes people with his trident, Bacchus gets drunk, Venus tries to get a date…you get the idea. The movie also throws leprechauns into the mix. If it were a bit funnier, I might love it; as it is, it is a strange little question mark in the history of cinema. The butler steals the movie.

NEUTRON AGAINST THE DEATH ROBOTS (1960)
Viewing Date: 3-19-2003
Posting Date: 8-16-2003
Directed by Federico Curiel
Featuring Wolf Ruvinskis, Julio Aleman, Rosa Arenas

Dr. Caronte creates a horde of death robots to find blood for his hideous brain experiment, but Neutron decides to put an end to his reign of terror.

Do you like movies about Mexican wrestlers, but can’t stand the endless wrestling scenes? This might be the one for you; Neutron is for all practical reasons a Mexican wrestler; he wears a mask, walks around bare-chested in tights, and fights a villain in a mask who also wears tights. However, he is never referred to as a wrestler, and all his fighting is outside the ring. So what does this movie have other than wrestling scenes? How about a romantic subplot with three guys all after the same girl, and several musical numbers? Dr. Caronte has a dwarf for an assistant, the death robots look decidedly hairy for automatons, and Neutron says the line “Now it’s my turn to destroy something!” It’s also very badly dubbed, but then, you knew that, didn’t you?

All right, I’ll admit I loved it, but I had to take frequent breaks. I leave it to the rest of you to read the above description and decide whether it’s your cup of tea.

A NOUS LA LIBERTE (1931)
(a.k.a. LIBERTY FOR US)
Article #693 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 2-6-2003
Posting date: 7-6-2003
Directed by Rene Clair
Featuring Raymond Cordy, Henri Marchand, Paul Ollivier

When two convicts try to make a prison esscape, only one succeeds while the other sacrifices his chances to let the other one get away. Years later they meet again, the one who made his escape having become a phonograph tycooon, and the other still a vagrant.

The above description certainly doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with fantastic cinema, but since some of the plot revolves around the tycoon’s new fully-automated factory, it does fall within the bounds of science fiction. It’s a pretty amazing movie; despite having certain satirical points to make, it never becomes dark or heavy-handed. Thanks must go to Rene Clair, whose ability to add a light and delicate comic touch to all that he does is in prominence here; two scenes in particular where the action seamlessly flows from the devastatingly sad to the joyous (one involving an attempted suicide, the other when the tycoon first meets his old friend and believes he’s there to blackmail him) illustrate a master at work. The two friends are excellent (Henri Marchand and Raymond Cordy) as well as the rest of the cast. It apparently has strong similarities to Chaplin’s later MODERN TIMES, so much so that there were some legal actions taken. I’d heard about this movie for years; I’m overjoyed to finally have had a chance to see it.