RIDERS TO THE STARS (1954)
Article #957 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-28-2003
Posting Date: 3-26-2004
Directed by Richard Carlson
Featuring William Lundigan, Martha Hyer, Herbert Marshall

A space expedition is planned to send people into space to retrieve a meteor to discover why they aren’t destroyed by cosmic rays.

Though it’s purely the result of serendipity, I now find myself for the second day in a row discussing a movie that was directed by a man primarily known as an actor; this one was directed by science fiction mainstay Richard Carlson, who also plays Dr. Lockwood in the movie. It has its share of problems, primarily as a result of the budget not quite being large enough to accomodate the ambitions of the story, and the science in the story is clearly out of date. Nonetheless, I found it rather charming and enjoyable in its own right; it takes itself seriously without becoming pompous, it really seems interested in its own story, and the acting is quiet, competent and sincere if not necessarily inspired. It’s also one of those movies that likes to dwell on details and it succeeds in making those details interesting to the viewer. It’s no classic, but in its own way, it’s one of the better science fiction movies of the era.

RUBEZAHL’S WEDDING (1916)
(a.k.a. RUBEZAHLS HOCHZEIT)
Article #927 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-28-2003
Posting Date: 2-25-2004
Directed by Paul Wegener and Rochus Gliese
Featuring Paul Wegener, Lydia Salmonova, Arthur Ehrens

A giant becomes enamored with an elf, and tries to win her hand in marriage.

I’m guessing a little on the plot, as the title cards on this movie are in German, and given the fact that my print seems to be fairly well down the line on the dupe heirarchy, they are also hard to read. However, it looks like a fairly fun comic fantasy. The fantasy elements are quite strong; Rubezahl is obviously a giant, and there are several scenes of him towering over a mountainous landscape; there is also a witch involved, and a unicorn pops up at one point. I can only hope that someday these forgotten silent movies can be given proper restorations and translated subtitles so that there are aren’t so many obstacles to my enjoyment of them.

THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER (1950)
Article #888 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-20-2003
Posting Date: 1-17-2004
Directed by Anthony Pelissier
Featuring Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies, John Mills

A boy discovers that he can pick the winners of horse races while riding a rocking horse.

I was startled to see that this movie was based on a story by D.H. Lawrence, but that was because I hadn’t correctly taken the measure of this movie before I watched it. To me, the concept sounded like one of those cute whimsical ideas that I’d expect to find in a Disney ‘shopping cart’ movie, where the kid and the rocking horse are kidnapped by comic relief crooks and must be rescued by his befuddled uncle Fred MacMurray. Well, this movie is not only NOT whimsical, it doesn’t even flirt with whimsicality; in fact, the fantasy of the concept verges far closer to horror than anything else, with the demonic face of the rocking horse and the chilling whispers of the house pleading for more money. The end result is unforgettable; this is a powerful and sad movie about a child who tries to take on the responsibilities that his parents have failed to meet, and the price is not cheap. In a sense, the movie hovers somewhere between THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE and THE INNOCENTS, while really being like neither one. Highly recommended.

RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS (1932)
Article #887 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-19-2003
Posting Date: 1-16-2004
Directed by Richard Boleslawski
Featuring Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore

This is the story of Rasputin’s rise to power and his role in the destruction of Russia.

Rasputin is such a colorful and powerful historical personage that cinematic tellings of his story almost inevitably lend themselves to being included in the horror genre; certainly, the use of hypnotism in this one falls within the realms of horror. Nonetheless, this movie approaches him from a historical standpoint, but it never quite reaches the epic sweep to which it aspires. The first thirty minutes is somewhat confusing, partly because of the welter of character introductions and the difficulty of tackling those Russian names. Surprisingly, it is Lionel who plays Rasputin rather than John, who I think would have been wonderful in the role. As a matter of fact, I also thought Lionel could have been wonderful in the role also, but unfortunately it seems he takes this opportunity to give one of the ripest and hammiest performances of his career; the power of the character becomes diffused and is lost within the distractions and scenery-chewing. It doesn’t destroy the movie, but it prevents it from reaching the dramatic heights that it could have attained. The best scene involves Rasputin forcing the son of the empress to watch a battle between an ant and a fly.

REVOLT OF THE GHOSTS (1949)
(a.k.a. LA REBELION DE LOS FANTASMAS)
Article #875 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-7-2003
Posting Date: 1-4-2004
Directed by A. F. Bustamente
Featuring Gilbert Roland, Amand Ledesma, Angel Garasma

Famous ghosts try to save an old house from being burned down.

Actually, I got that plot description from a reference book; to me, it looks more like they’re trying to do some matchmaking between a resident of that house and an executive in the music business. Yes, it’s another “Spanish, no subtitles” scenario here, but this should be the last one for a little while. It looks pretty wild, with some of the famous ghosts having been real people (Chopin), and others fictional characters (Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, Romeo and Juliet, etc.). The plot is impenetrable under these circumstances, but some of the sight gags aren’t bad; restaurant owners should always beware when they present a ghost his tab, especially if it’s Sancho Panza. The antics and special effects make it a decent amount of fun, though, and the ending scene, in which a couple dances while being circled by several dancing phantoms, brings a smile to my face even when I can’t figure out the rest of it.

RESCUED FROM AN EAGLE’S NEST (1908)
Article #805 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-29-2003
Posting Date: 10-16-2003
Directed by J. Searle Dawley
Featuring Henry B. Walthall, D.W. Griffith

A woodsman saves his child from the clutches of an eagle.

Title check: Let’s put it this way; they either had to call it that or D.W. GRIFFITH WRESTLES A TURKEY.

The eagle is played by a stuffed bird from a taxidermist shop with movable wings. That this pathetic little critter could haul off a baby (who looks more puzzled than scared) is about the only fantastic premise I could find in this silent short. Fifty years later we would see people running and screaming from a Mexican bird puppet in THE GIANT CLAW, which just shows that history repeats itself. And yes, that is D.W. Griffith himself as the woodsman. Once again, this is another review that took longer to write than it took me to watch the movie. Is this an efficient use of my time?

R.F.D. 10,000 B.C. (1916)
Article #748 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-2-2003
Posting Date: 8-30-2003
Produced by Willis O’Brien

A mailman in prehistoric times uses underhanded means to steal the girlfriend of a rival.

Though it is nice that some of Willis O’Brien’s caveman comedies are still in existence, in all honesty I have to say they are more interesting historically than they are in and of themselves. As comedies, they’re fairly lame, and the characters are downright ugly; in fact, it’s hard to tell the men from the women sometimes (though if a character spends almost all of its time on all fours, you can say with some confidence it’s a dinosaur). As for the plot, I have a couple of comments; first of all, the mailman performs an act that would have been considered a federal offense had there been a federal government in those times, and in the denoument, a certain character implies that delivering mail is a very lucrative and prosperous profession, something that may well surprise an employee of the U.S. Postal System.

RODAN (1956)
Article #638 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-13-2002
Posting Date: 5-8-2003

A combination of overly deep mining and the eruption of a volcano contribute to the hatching of two eggs containing flying dinosaurs capable of supersonic speed and mass destruction.

The two Rodans aren’t the most engaging of Toho’s giant monsters, and a good deal of this movie is a fairly average example of this type of genre. However, as a kid, I found two things about this movie to be unforgettable. One is the ending, which actually had me in tears, at least partially because of the well-phrased narration (which is surprising, as most of the narration during the movie is unnecessary and redundant), and the first twenty minutes, which may be the single most terrifying sequence in this series of movies. Part of the reason is that the initial threat in this movie has a lot more immediate impact than the much larger monsters in the latter half of the movie, as the movie dwells with much more detail on the bloody deaths involved, not to mention the eerie sequences in the flooded mines. These two aspects of the movie still hold up well for me, as well as the special effects. The American version has an unnecessary and cliched prologue about atomic bomb blasts, and the dubbing features perhaps a little too much of the voice of Paul Frees; his voice is a little too distinctive to be used for more than one character. Rodan would make a few more appearances in the Toho movies before he was retired.

THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958)
Article #637 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-12-2002
Posting Date: 5-7-2003

Baron Frankenstein escapes the guillotine, and continues his experiments in another village under the name of Dr. Stein.

When I hear discussions on which of the Hammer Frankenstein movies are the best, this is one that is often mentioned. Watching it this time, I could see why; I think it’s a marked improvement over the initial entry in the series. For one thing, it’s a lot less obvious; there’s not one mention in the movie about Frankenstein playing God, and his assistant makes no attempt to be the doctor’s conscience. I find this makes the movie more interesting; one can concentrate on what the doctor is trying to do and how things go wrong without endless moralizing. There are wonderful touches here and there; one of my favorites involves a moment when the doctor decides not to place a flower in his buttonhole, a seemingly inconsequential moment which nonetheless catches your attention and puts you slightly on edge during the following scenes. It’s certainly one of my favorite Hammer horror movies, with an excellent and confident performance by Peter Cushing. It’s not perfect; a fight scene in the laboratory seems contrived because the movie fails to pre-establish the character of the janitor, thus leaving the viewer with the sense that the fight merely exists to push forward a plot point rather than being a natural outgrowth of the previous action. Nonetheless, this was definitely a worthy entry to the series.