THE PHANTOM OF THE MOULIN ROUGE (1925)
Article #849 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-12-2003
Posting Date: 12-9-2003
Directed by Rene Clair
Featuring George Vaultier, Jose Davert, Albert Prejean

A noted businessman disappears at about the same time that mysterious happenings take place in Paris.

Title check: Though the phantom doesn’t focus on the Moulin Rouge for his doings, it is the site for certain events that culminate in his appearance.

The above plot description does not match the movie for about the first half hour, which unfolds in such a way as to lead you to suspect that you’re watching a fairly conventional melodrama of sorts. However, it’s at about the half hour point that things start to get weird, and it’s also at this point that the more comic aspects of the story manifest themselves. The comedy element was somewhat inevitable, as the movie was directed by Rene Clair, who was an expert at adding a light comedy touch to this sort of story. The plot takes some very interesting and fascinating directions; it’s something of a ghost story, but it depends a little on exactly how you define a ghost. At any rate, this one was a lot of fun, with some particularly fascinating editing during the encounter between the businessman and the psychologist.

THE PYX (1973)
Article #844 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-7-2003
Posting Date: 12-4-2003
Directed by Harvey Hart
Featuring Karen Black, Christopher Plummer, Donald Pilon

A policeman investigates the mysterious death of a hooker/drug addict who either jumped or was pushed off the balcony of a penthouse apartment.

Title check: A pyx is a container used by Catholic priests to hold communion wafers. As a title, it’s obscure, but appropriate to a movie with a Catholic backdrop such as this, especially as it is one of the items discovered on the body of the hooker.

Despite certain marked horror elements that become more defined as the movie progresses, horror fans may be somewhat disappointed by this one, as it mostly plays its story as a cross between a drama and a crime movie. I found it consistently interesting, if occasionally a bit contrived, and I admire how effectively it pulls off a difficult trick in storytelling; half of the story recounts the investigation of the crime, and the other half tells the story of the hooker in flashback. Though the movie jumps back and forth between the two timestreams without warning, amazingly enough you don’t get lost, because it squarely focuses on the two major characters in each timestream so you always know where you are in the story. It’s definitely a seventies movie, and it doesn’t shy from the sleazy aspects of the story, but it comes off a little better than you might expect.

A PLACE OF ONE’S OWN (1945)
Article #837 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-30-2003
Posting Date: 11-27-2003
Directed by Bernard Knowles
Featuring James Mason, Margaret Lockwood, Dennis Price

An old couple buys a country house in which they hope to spend their retirement, only to discover that the place is haunted.

Title check: Appropriate in it’s own ironic way, nonetheless, it still sounds more like it should be the title of a sentimental comedy.

Some movies are easy to describe; this is essentially a less scary British take on THE UNINVITED. There’s not much in the way of surprises here, but there are a couple of good scary scenes (generally involving piano music) and the acting is quite good, even if Mason and Barbara Mullen are too young to be playing the old couple (though I had to double-check the cast list before I realized that James Mason was playing the old man). Keep your eyes peeled for Ernest Thesiger; if you don’t know he’s in the movie, you may not recognize him when he appears. Enjoyable enough, but minor.

PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN (1951)
Article #823 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-16-2003
Posting Date: 11-13-2003
Directed by Albert Lewin
Featuring James Mason, Ava Gardner, Nigel Patrick

A woman who cruelly dallies with her would-be lovers finds love herself when she encounters a man who turns out to be the Flying Dutchman of legend.

Title check: No title problem; both Pandora and The Flying Dutchman are the central characters here.

This movie has some beautiful cinematography, is well acted by everyone concerned (particularly the always-great James Mason), has some striking visual moments, and is well-written. Yet, for all that, I found myself somewhat disappointed by this romantic fantasy; though I can appreciate what’s happening on an intellectual level, it’s somewhat distant and unapproachable, and never really strikes any emotional chords. This in itself would not be a problem, but since the main theme of the movie is that true love will call forth the greatest of sacrifices, one would expect a more passionate, emotional style rather than the one used here. This, combined with the length of the movie (just over two hours), contributes to my inability to really get lost in the story and to really feel for the characters. The only time the movie really takes off is during a party sequence on a beach full of old statues, and this sequence even feels a little out of place.

THE PERILS OF PAULINE (1914)
(Serial)
Article #812 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-5-2003
Posting Date: 11-2-2003
Directed by Louis J. Gasnier and Donald McKenzie
Featuring Pearl White, Crane Wilbur, Paul Panzer

An heiress finds herself being put into hazardous situations by her ward, who has designs on her fortune.

Title check: Yes, the heroine is name Pauline, and she does indeed face perils.

If Walt Lee’s REFERENCE GUIDE TO FANTASTIC FILMS can be trusted on this point, then there are indeed fantastic elements in this, the most famous of the silent serials and the one that made Pearl White a star. However, he’s most likely referring to the original serial in its complete form; my copy is an edited version that cuts the twenty chapters down to nine and since the episodes were more distinct stories in their own right rather than one long narrative, it looks like the stories that had the fantastic elements aren’t present here. I don’t know if the serial exists in its entirety, but these nine episodes seem to be the longest chunk of them still in existence. It’s fun in it’s way; Pearl White is quite appealing, and they come up with a good variety of perils for her to undergo, but those who desire fantastic elements would be better off waiting for a more complete version of the serial to manifest itself.

THE PASSING OF THE THIRD FLOOR BACK (1935)
Article #811 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-4-2003
Posting Date: 11-1-2003
Directed by Berthold Viertel
Featuring Conrad Veidt, Anna Lee, Frank Cellier

A strange man comes to live at a boarding house and has a profound effect on the lives of its residents.

Title check: It’s a British movie, and I’m not sure whether “Passing” is a British slang or not; to these ears, it makes for a somewhat odd title, though I’m wondering if it has something to do with the fact that the stranger is not a permanent resident, but just “passing through.”

A look at the plot description above may well clue you in that we’re in “angel” territory again, though the movie does not make this explicit. Though the character played by Conrad Veidt doesn’t have any obvious powers, things do seem to happen when he’s around, and his dark stare certainly leaves a deep impression on you; Conrad Veidt was very well cast in the role. The characters are pretty unlikeable at the beginning, but the stranger’s presence allows us to see the whys and wherefores of their behaviors, and also their potentials for redemption. The movie has the good sense to enhance its power at the halfway point by having one of the characters manifest himself as the real antagonist; after all, it’s only fitting that a movie about an angel (even a vague one) should end up pitting him against a devil. The ending feels a little convenient, but it is satisfying nonetheless. Good performances abound.

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965)
(a.k.a. DEMON PLANET)
Article #802 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-26-2003
Posting Date: 10-13-2003
Directed by Mario Bava
Featuring Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Angel Aranda

Space travellers find themselves trapped on a strange planet inhabited by sinister beings.

Title check: There’s a planet, all right, but they’re not vampires and they’re not demons, but they couldn’t call it the PLANET OF THE WE’RE-NOT-SURE-WHATS, could they?

Some of the dubbed dialogue is pretty clunky, and the story moves rather slowly at times, but overall this is a pretty memorable movie. Mario Bava rarely ventured into SF, but it’s no surprise that when he did, he added a strong dose of horror to the proceedings. To start with, the movie is absolutely breathtaking to look at, and there are some scenes that I remember from having seen it years ago, in particular a sequence where men rise from their graves and tear themselves out of the cellophane that they were wrapped in, all in moody slow motion. There’s also a scene aboard an alien spaceship that I suspect was enormously influential on a similar scene in ALIEN, and some truly grotesque imagery of bodies that are not in the best of condition. I saw this one as a child and I never forgot it; this was one of the only Mario Bava movies my local Creature Feature ever ran, and it made a great impression on me. And since I never noticed the slowness of the plot until this viewing (my fourth), I’m more than willing to believe that this may be due more to my over-familiarity with the movie (depriving it of its ability to surprise) rather than a problem with the movie itself. It is probably the finest Italian science fiction movie I’ve ever seen.

PREVIEW MURDER MYSTERY (1936)
Article #755 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-9-2003
Posting Date: 9-6-2003
Directed by Robert Florey
Featuring Reginald Denny, Frances Drake, Gail Patrick

The actor in a remake of “Song of the Toreador” is receiving threatening notes telling him he will not live to see the preview of the movie.

About two-thirds the way through my copy of this movie the videotape started doing some bizarre stuttering that made it somewhat difficult to watch, but I was able to see enough to figure out what was going on (though I do know that I’ll have to search for an upgrade in the future). It’s a bit of a shame; this is a very enjoyable mystery, well directed by Robert Florey, and with a cast that features the heroine of MAD LOVE and one-time DRACULA hopeful Ian Keith. It’s a little predictable at times; I saw one murder and one murder attempt being set up before they actually occur, but the ending has some quite satisfying twists that send it a little ways into the horror genre.

One question, though; at one point, a man suspects that a mouse has been eating some of the cheese on his desk. He then sets up an elaborate system with a camera and an assortment of strings in order to get a picture of the mouse. My question is in two parts: a) Why didn’t he just use a mousetrap?, and b) what was he going to do with the picture of the mouse; blackmail him?

POSSESSED (1947)
Article #736 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-21-2003
Posting Date: 8-18-2003
Directed by Curtis Bernhardt
Featuring Joan Crawford, Van Heflin, Raymond Massey

A disturbed woman is placed in a psychiatric ward, where under the use of drugs she recounts the events that brought her there.

Thematically this movie might have been marginally horror merely in its use of madness, but as the madness involves hallucinations of a certain sort, the movie pushes a little farther into the horror realm than it might otherwise. This accounts for its inclusion here; beyond that, I’m not quite sure what to make of it. It’s a Joan Crawford vehicle, and that says quite a lot right there; the trouble is, I’ve never been quite sure how I feel about Joan Crawford as an actress. Partially, this is due to the fact that I’ve heard so many rumors of what her life was like offscreen, and though these wouldn’t usually make a difference, it’s somewhat jarring to see some of these rumors reflected in the roles she played; considering that “Mommie Dearest” was written by her daughter, it leaves a bit of a chill to see her have so many bad relationships with daughters (or daughter-figures) in her movies. As for evaluating her work as an actress, I’m also a bit at sea; there are times here when she is brilliant, and there are times I feel she’s a little too campy and overdone, but overall I don’t get the feeling that she’s playing the same character from scene to scene, and this leaves me feeling somewhat ill at ease. Maybe you need to be a fan of hers to really get her, and I’m not one of them, though there is no doubt she has a powerful presence. The movie also features BLACK FRIDAY’s Stanley Ridges.

PURSUIT TO ALGIERS (1945)
Article #664 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-8-2003
Posting Date: 6-7-2003

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are bodyguard escorts to a prince who is the target of assassins.

The criteria by which I include movies in this series is that the movie is listed in one of my movie guides that purport to cover Horror, Fantasy and/or Science Fiction movies. So far, all of the movies I’ve covered have some slight connection to these genres (and in some cases, very slight indeed), but the connection is there. This is the first movie that leaves me baffled as to why it would be included in a book that covers those genres. I’ve covered one other of the Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies (SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SPIDER WOMAN), and there was enough of a real horror element there to make it qualify; that is not the case here. It’s not even really a mystery; it’s more of a thriller than anything. This is not to say that the movie isn’t entertaining; both Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce had a lot of fun with their roles, and there is also some nice work from Martin Kosleck here. I also spotted John Abbott (THE VAMPIRE’S GHOST) in a smaller role. Entertaining, but I’m afraid it doesn’t even qualify as fantastic cinema marginalia.