SATELLITE IN THE SKY (1956)
Article #291 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-31-2001
Posting date: 5-17-2002

A new bomb is set to be tested in outer space. When the propulsion unit of the bomb fails, it stays in the vicinity of the rocket, threatening the lives of the people in it.

The British were capable of making tense thrillers when they put their minds to it; they were also capable of making talky, tiresome snoozefests. This is one of the latter, I’m afraid. It might be considered ahead of its time, as it in many ways reminds me of the disaster movies of the seventies. Unfortunately, that comparison also tells you everything you need to know about the movie; once you’ve seen the first twenty minutes, you pretty much have the measure of it, and nothing in the movie really surprises you. It might be better if I saw it under ideal conditions (the movie is in color and Cinemascope, but my print is in black and white and features the worst pan-and-scanning I have ever seen), but I don’t see it really helping that much. It features Kieron Moore and Donald Wolfit.

STAR WARS (1977)
Article #288 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-28-2001
Posting date: 5-14-2002

A farm boy finds himself embroiled with rebels fighting the empire when he encounters two escaped droids, one of whom is trying to deliver a message to a lost jedi knight.

No matter what anyone says about the role this movie has played in the decline of cinematic SF, I still think it’s one hell of a movie. I can never forget the wonder of seeing for the first time in theaters, especially the cantina sequence and its amazing variety of alien life forms. It’s also an effectively and efficiently told story; simple maybe, but exquisitely presented. Plus, it has Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing, even if they are in roles that aren’t a real challenge to them. Still, it is sad to consider the impact that this movie had in shaping a specific idea of science fiction in the minds of corporate moneymakers; fortunately, they aren’t the only ones who make movies.

STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP (1945)
Article #287 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-27-2001
Posting date: 5-13-2001

A man wrongly hanged for murder haunts the swamp, killing those responsible for his death and their descendants.

This genuinely eerie horror movie from PRC isn’t perfect; it drags quite a bit in the middle of the movie. Still, you have to admire the amount of atmosphere that this cheaply-made movie generates. The setting has a lot to do with its appeal; the shots of people gliding through the swamp on the ferry are quite memorable. The acting is solid throughout, and once again you see how much care PRC put into its product.

SPIRITISM (1961)
Article #286 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-26-2001
Posting date: 5-11-2002

A woman tries to take care of the financial problems of her family by making a deal with the devil.

I was honestly surprised by this Mexican variation on a famous horror story which every description of the movie mentions, but which really doesn’t come into play until the last part of the movie. I found myself touched and moved by some of the events and relationships; there is a seance in the middle of the movie involving a woman who is in denial about her own death that is almost heartbreaking, even in the dubbed version of the movie I saw. Quite frankly, it doesn’t resemble any other Mexican horror movie I’ve seen, and it has many elements you certainly wouldn’t find in an American movie of this vintage either. It’s not perfect (it’s quite talky at times, and the final ending narration is pretty bad), but I was really impressed. This may be the best Mexican horror film I’ve seen.

SON OF INGAGI (1940)
Article #271 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-12-2001
Posting date: 4-27-2002

A woman doctor keeps a strange ape creature in a secret laboratory in her house. When she dies at its hands, the house goes to a newlywed couple, who don’t know the creature is still loose.

I found this creaky all-black horror movie to be surprisingly enjoyable; especially interesting are the surprisingly good performances by the monster (played by Zack Williams, though the makeup is pretty bad) and the doctor (I don’t know the name of the actress who played this role); their roles have greater dimension then you would have expected. It’s pretty silly at times, too, with a comic relief detective who manages to escape with his life but loses two sandwiches in the process. This movie has apparently no connection to an earlier film called INGAGI.

SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)
Article #270 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-11-2001
Posting date: 4-26-2002

The son of Frankenstein inherits the baron’s castle, and there discovers that the monster is still alive and under the control of a vindictive maniac named Igor.

This would be the last time the Frankenstein series would be given a real class treatment by Universal; it’s not the equal of the first two movies, but it’s still pretty good. The shining stars this time out are Bela Lugosi as Igor, one of the best roles of his career, and Lionel Atwill as Krogh, the one armed police inspector. Karloff essays the monster for the last time, but the script really doesn’t give him a chance to develop the monster any further; it’s easy to see why he didn’t want to play the role again after this. Rathbone hated his role, but he does all right; originally I thought he overacted, but I noticed this time that the only times he does this are when he’s trying to put up a front, and his behavior makes sense in this regard. The child actor is truly bad, though; couldn’t they have found someone without a thick southern accent to play the role? There’s lots of other familiar faces on hand, and some wonderful visual moments; one I noticed this time is Rathbone giving a defense of his work to his wife while the portrait of Frankenstein hovers over him in the background.

SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES (1962)
Article #266 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-7-2001
Posting date: 4-22-2002

A vampire seduces the wife of a nobleman, and he has to bring in a special doctor to help cure her of her condition.

Maybe I was in a bit of a cranky mood when I saw this, but I couldn’t help but feel that with all the skulking, cleavage, angry villagers, crosses, stakes, heaving bosoms, and old world castles, there wasn’t a whole lot here I haven’t seen in vampire flicks a thousand times before. The beginning scene is not too bad, and it does get a little bit more novel towards the end, when a child’s life is threatened, but for the most part, I saw little that was new to hold my attention. Perhaps I would have liked it more if I had been in a different state of mind, but so many vampire movies have been made over the years that unless they have something new or novel about them, or are particularly well done, I have little use for them.

SPOILERS

Furthermore, the movie didn’t really know when to end; after the vampire has been dispatched, we have several minutes of footage before the movie comes to its conclusion. No loose ends were tied up, there’s no final twist, nothing to make this footage either interesting or important. Unless I was missing something extremely subtle, this strikes me as a perfect example of unnecessary footage.

SHE-WOLF OF LONDON (1946)
Article #264 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-5-2001
Posting date: 4-20-2002

A woman believes she is suffering from the Curse of the Allenbys, which would cause her to go the park at night and perform werewolf-like murders on people.

MAJOR SPOILERS IN COMMENTARY

This is one of those movies where someone believes they are committing a series of horrible murders. She doesn’t remember them, but she sees evidence, such as mud appearing on her shoes overnight. She breaks off her impending marriage for fear of the curse. In order to help her sleep, her aunt (who isn’t really her aunt, as we find out in the first ten minutes) gives her a glass of milk every night and urges her to drink it all. This isn’t a movie, this is a math problem; just put two and two together and see what comes out.

So there’s no real surprises in this movie. It was shot quickly, but with a certain amount of professionalism. it’s incredibly talky, and quite repetitive.

Nonetheless, there is something almost archetypal about this movie. In some ways, it’s the prime example of the “I just think I’m a monster, but I’m really not” plot that pops up occasionally in horror movies; in fact, from this point onward, I’ll refer to them as “She-Wolf of London” movies. Usually, there’s no monster at all in these movies, but they can surprise you on occasion. Nonetheless, I always find these movies somewhat disappointing and more than a little annoying; in fact, as a general rule, whenever you have a scene where person one is urged by person two to “finish their drink before they go to bed” and the movie then dwells on person one finishing their drink, you can rest assured that person two is the real villain.

Someone asked me to compare it to CRY OF THE WEREWOLF when that was the Movie of the Day, and I couldn’t at that time because I hadn’t seen this one in years. Having seen them both recently, I’d say they’re about equal quality-wise; SHE-WOLF OF LONDON certainly looks more professional, but at least CRY OF THE WEREWOLF has a real monster.

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958)
Article #261 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 12-2-2001
Posting date: 4-17-2002

Sinbad rescues a magician from a cyclops, but the magician loses his magic lantern in the process. The magician then casts a spell on the princess that Sinbad is going to marry in order to force him to help retrieve the lantern from the cyclops.

This was Harryhausen’s first attempt at a color movie, and it is wonderful. He gives his creations all the right touches (both the dragon and the cyclops are particularly good), and Nathan Juran keeps the story moving quickly. The script is a little clunky, and some of the acting is subpar, but these are only minor problems. This was definitely one of Harryhausen’s major triumphs, and gave him a direction for his talents that would prove to be rewarding.

THE SPACE CHILDREN (1958)
Article #241 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-12-2001
Posting date: 3-28-2002

A brain from outer space lands on the earth and takes control(?) of children living on a nearby military base.

This Jack Arnold SF movie has always felt pretty dull to me; I never really get attached to or interested in any of the characters (and Peggy Webber’s perpetually worried mother is a major annoyance), and the message is fairly obvious. However, there are a few familiar faces here; Jackie Coogan, Russell Johnson, Johnny Crawford, and the little girl from THEM! are all on hand. As a whole, the movie is like a cross between THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, and VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED .

Recently, a bit of an issue came up about whether the children are acting under the control of the space brain (and though there is some question on this matter, I do consider the space creature a brain) or whether they are acting under their own free will. It’s actually hard to say; the movie really doesn’t allow us to intimately share the feelings and thoughts of the children during the sequences in question. I suspect the writers themselves never really thought much about the question; what concerned them is that the brain should seem scary and evil until the end of the movie, when it should be viewed as wise and benevolent. In other words, I think it’s a flaw in the movie itself. It’s not the first movie I’ve seen with this flaw, nor the worst (THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER, anyone?); it just tries to have it both ways.

P.S.  Of all the reviews I’ve written, this is the one for which I’ve received the most email over the years, mostly from people who feel it is clear that the children are acting under their own volition.  It hasn’t changed my mind on the matter (though if I do change my mind upon rewatching the movie, I’ll note it here), but I do wish to make at least one extra comment.  If you watch this movie when you’re a certain age, the movie has the potential of being a very powerful experience, and I acknowledge that power.  I didn’t see it until I was well into adulthood myself.