TERROR BENEATH THE SEA (1966)
Article 1799 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-16-2006
Posting Date: 7-16-2006
Directed by Hajime Sato
Featuring Sonny Chiba, Peggy Neal, Franz Gruber

When a strange vision of a swimming creature is seen by two reporters during a test of guided torpedos, they decide to investigate, and are captured by underwater fish-men and kept prisoner in an underwater city.

Director Hajime Sato only worked on a handful of movies, but he appears to be something of a cult item. I suspect this may be due to his last film, the queasy, nihilistic GOKE BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL. I’m not really impressed with this one from a year earlier; it’s loaded with cliches, the gillman-on-a-budget suits are pretty cheesy, the make-up is awful, and some of the acting is painful. Though it’s tempting to attribute the last problem to bad dubbing, the fact of the matter is that much of the cast seems to be speaking English already; certainly, Peggy Neal doesn’t appear to be dubbed at all. It’s her performance that I really dislike in the movie, but I’m not sure it’s her fault; she has one of those characters that I simply find too annoying for words. She is useless in any tense situation, screams at everything, complains that when she isn’t believed that she’s being dismissed as a hysterical female (and then acts the role through the entire movie), and when she undergoes the first step to transform her into one of the underwater cyborgs, what seems to traumatize her most is that she’s not beautiful anymore. Even when the movie pulls the old Who-Shot-The-Gun fakeout (if you don’t know what this cliche is from my name for it, you will when you see it), it’s not even her at the trigger. Sonny Chiba would go on to fame as The Street Fighter in a series of martial arts films.

THE TENTH VICTIM (1965)
aka La Decima vittima
Article 1791 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-8-2006
Posting Date: 7-8-2006
Directed by Elio Petri
Featuring Marcello Mastrioianni, Ursula Andress, Elsa Martinelli

In the future, people can sign up for a hunt game. They can win a million dollars if they win ten rounds, five of which have them hunting another person, the other five of which they are the hunted. This is the story of one hunter and one victim.

This is one of that subgenre of movies about violent futuristic sports movies where the sport in question is usually fatal to the loser. Movies like THE RUNNING MAN, ROLLERBALL and DEATH RACE 2000 all belong somewhat to this genre, but none of them are quite as unique, clever, or disarmingly charming as this one. It’s a duel to the death as romantic comedy, and it is frankly hilarious as Ursula Andress (as the Hunter) and Marcello Mastroianni (as the Victim) try to kill each other while falling in love at the same time. The killing is hampered by contractual obligations; both sides have decided to maximize their profits by agreeing to endorse products so that the resulting kill can be used in an advertising campaign. Despite the undertone of dark satire, this movie has as light a touch as any movie by Rene Clair, and both Andress and Mastroianni are so charming in their respective roles that I found the movie utterly irresistible. Compared to it, movies like DEATH RACE 2000 are heavy-handed and obvious. And I laughed more than once at some of the scenes, my favorite being a long complaint being made by a hunter about all the restrictions about where you can kill people in Rome (no hospitals, for example). The movie was based on a short story by Robert Sheckley.

TEN LITTLE INDIANS (1965)
Article #1775 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-23-2006
Posting Date: 6-22-2006
Directed by George Pollock
Featuring Hugh O’Brian, Shirley Eaton, Fabian

Several people are invited to a party at a mansion by a mysterious man named U. N. Owen. They discover that they have all been found guilty of murder, and are going to be executed one by one.

I’ve read the play version of this movie. I’ve also seen the Rene Clair version AND THEN THERE WERE NONE several times. I mention this to underline the fact that I have a good familiarity with the story, and (especially) the ending. The trouble is – if you know how a mystery ends, it takes some of the fun out of watching it. And this is a rather famous mystery at that.

Now, if you’re doing remake of a well-known mystery, there are several approaches you can take. You can do a faithful version of it in the hope of appealing to those who aren’t familiar with it, but this makes it less fun to those who are. You can change the ending to add a surprise element for those who do know the story, but the problem I have with this is that it potentially underlines the arbitrariness of the resolution; in a good mystery, the identification of the killer should make you realize just how logical it was that this (and only this) particular person was the guilty party. A third approach is to make a totally different story, but if you want to do that, why do a remake? Quite frankly, none of these are really satisfactory.

This movie opts for the first approach. Sure, some of the characters have different backgrounds (the prince of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE gives way to the rock star here, for example), some of the names have been changed, and the ways that many of the characters meet their demise is different; nevertheless, the movie stays pretty close to the original story. As a result, the movie was a little predictable to me, and the mediocre direction does little to recommend it. However, the cast is quite good for the most part, and it can be a little fun to play the game of choosing who you ended up preferring in certain roles between different versions (Mischa Auer or Fabian? Barry Fitzgerald or Wilfred Hyde White? Stanley Holloway or Roland Young?). I’ll still prefer the elegance of the Clair version myself, but those who don’t really have an affinity for Clair or prefer movies in which both Shirley Eaton and Daliah Lavi appear in their underwear may opt for this one. To each his own.

THIEF OF DAMASCUS (1952)
Article #1730 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-9-2005
Posting Date: 5-8-2006
Directed by Will Jason
Featuring Paul Henreid, John Sutton, Jeff Donnell

A general tries to rid Damascus of the tyrannical rule of the evil Khalid. He enlists the help of Sinbad, Ali Baba, Aladdin and Sheherazade to do so.

One source from which I took this entry claims there is no fantastic content in the movie, and certainly there’s none from Aladdin, who merely talks about his lamp and pals around with Sinbad (who does no sailing). Still, there is the magic cave of Ali Baba which opens with the phrase “Open Sesame” that makes the film qualify, and I don’t see how it could have been missed; everyone makes such a fuss about how magic it is that it becomes annoying after a while. But then, that kind of fuss permeates the movie, which is mostly played for lame comedy; certainly, the plot (which is muddled) and the action scenes (which, when not lifted from JOAN OF ARC, are quite bad) but then, what do you expect of an Arabian Nights movie produced by Sam Katzman? For me, the high point of this movie is watching Lon Chaney Jr. having a grand time as Sinbad, even if the script gives him little to do than trade quips with Robert Clary as Aladdin. Other than that, there is little to recommend here. Remember this – when making your choice of thieves, you’re better off taking any of three good ones from Bagdad rather than settling for the one from Damascus.

TRANCERS (1985)
Article #1665 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-5-2005
Posting Date: 3-4-2006
Directed by Charles Band
Featuring Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, Michael Stefani

A detective from the future must go into the past to catch a cult leader who transforms his victims into murderous creatures called Trancers.

The John Stanley book describes the movie as a cross between BLADE RUNNER and THE TERMINATOR, and I think that’s as useful a description as any; it gives you a basic idea of the plot while capturing the derivative nature of the movie. In fact, the movie feels like a non-stop barrage of eighties cliches; even given the fact that I don’t have a working knowledge of eighties movies at this point, it still feels over-familiar. Yet, I must admit that I found this one rather enjoyable, despite the fact there’s a little voice whispering in my ear telling me that this is a serious lapse of taste. But it’s useful to remember that since I don’t have a working knowledge of genre movies from the eighties, I haven’t reached the point where the cliches on display have become actively annoying yet; I might well have felt differently about this one had I watched it much later in this series. The acting is certainly variable, but it is somehow appropriate to the movie, and the lead actress (Helen Hunt) would go on to a distinguished career. This is the first movie I’ve covered from Charles Band (who I’ve heard mentioned in passing, but rarely in glowing terms), and this is reputed to be one of his best movies. I now consider myself suitably prepared to deal with them as they show up.

TRAUMA (1962)
Article #1657 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-27-2005
Posting Date: 2-24-2006
Directed by Robert M. Young
Featuring John Conte, Lynn Bari, Lorri Richards

Upon witnessing the murder of her aunt, a young woman is struck with amnesia. Years later, she returns to the old home with her new husband in the hopes of sorting out what happened on that night.

For a good deal of its running time, this movie’s good qualities do battle with its bad qualities for dominance of this film, and for the first half of the movie, it looks as if the latter will win. However, its better qualities take over during the second half of the movie, and the turgid pacing and confused exposition give over to a decent amount of mystery and suspense. The acting is uneven, with the best performance given by Lynn Bari as the socialite aunt; this somewhat atones for the fact that the only sequence in the movie to feature the aunt is the extended prologue at the beginning of the movie (we don’t get the opening titles until fifteen minutes in, and you feel every minute of it), and that the aunt’s main function in the story is to be murdered. Fortunately, there is the occasional suspenseful moment to tide you through to the second half, where the mystery elements start to come to the fore, and you find yourself really wondering about the intentions of the husband, the nature of the extension added to stable, and the secrets surrounding the handicapped son Everett who didn’t die when everyone said he did. The last twenty minutes are the best in the movie. This was the sole directorial effort of Robert M. Young, who would go on to a successful career as a TV writer as well as penning other genre efforts such as THE CRAWLING HAND and ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN.

TOWER OF SCREAMING VIRGINS (1968)
(a.k.a. DER TURM DER VERBOTENEN LIEBE)
Article #1649 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-19-2005
Posting Date: 2-16-2006
Directed by Franz Antel
Featuring Jean Piat, Teri Tordai, Marie-Ange Anies

Some things happen in a tower.

Arrrgh! Here I am, reviewing the movies I was supposed to post this week for my MOTDs, and I discover that somehow, I managed to lose my review (written five months ago) for this movie! So, I have a choice; watch the movie again and write a new review, or wing it. My schedule being the way it is at the moment, I’ve chosen the latter course. I don’t remember much about the movie other than it was surprisingly more of a swashbuckler than any other genre (which is why the plot description is singularly useless) and I think the fantastic content consists of nothing more than the fact that some nasty murders nudge it into horror. Two points I do remember, though; one is that I was quite surprised to find that the movie was based on a work of Alexandre Dumas, and that if my research was correct, it was based not on a novel, but rather, a play.called LA TOUR DE NESLE. At any rate, there is nothing in Dumas’s title about screaming virgins. I also remember that as far as the title went, there was a tower, but there was precious little screaming and, given the randy conduct on the screen, no virgins to be seen.

THE TERROR OF THE TONGS (1961)
Article #1648 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-18-2005
Posting Date: 2-15-2006
Directed by Anthony Bushell
Featuring Geoffrey Toone, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Monlaur

The captain of a ship takes on the Red Dragon Tong.

I must admit that I have trouble finding much to say about many of the Hammer films, and this one is no exception. It’s enjoyable enough on a certain basic level, the acting is quite good, and I always admire their production values when I consider the smallness of their budgets. Still, I often find their movies to have an air of routine to them, and despite the fact that they made definite contributions to the history of the horror film, I find for the most part, their movies don’t call me back for repeat viewings. Director Anthony Bushell was mostly known as an actor; he appeared in such movies as THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and the Titanic movie A NIGHT TO REMEMBER; his directing credits were mostly for TV, but he does an acceptable job here. The most interesting names in the cast for me are those of Burt Kwouk, who would go on to play Cato in the Pink Panther films, and Roger Delgado, who will be instantly recognizable to DOCTOR WHO fans as the Doctor’s arch-foe, the Master.

tom thumb (1958)
Article #1636 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-6-2005
Posting Date: 2-3-2006
Directed by George Pal
Featuring Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young, June Thorburn

An elderly couple make a wish for a son, even if he’s no bigger than their thumb. The Forest Queen grants their wish.

I really enjoyed this version of the fairy tale when I first saw it. When I viewed it again years later, I was less impressed with it. I fully expected to repeat that reaction with this, my third viewing, since I watched while suffering from stomach flu and was in a rather foul mood. Instead, the movie had the opposite effect on me; the simple charms of the movie cheered me up immensely, and I ended up fully enjoying the experience. Like many of the better Disney features, the plot is pretty late in coming, but it makes up for its slowness in its substantial charm; Russ Tamblyn gives an energetic and spirited performance as tom (especially in the dances), and it was great seeing George Pal resurrect some of his puppetoon animation for the movie. It’s not as grim as the original story, but rarely are the works of the Grimm Brothers presented that way. The songs are a little on the weak side, the movie runs a hair too long, and Peter Sellers has a role that’s almost too easy for him (though he does very well indeed). All in all, I have to say that this is one of my favorite of George Pal’s movies.

A TASTE OF BLOOD (1967)
Article #1622 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-23-2005
Posting Date: 1-20-2006
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
Featuring Bill Rogers, Elizabeth Wilkinson, William Kerwin

An American businessman, the sole descendant of Count Dracula, receives a shipment of two bottles of brandy from Carfax Abbey. This brandy is mingled with the blood of Dracula, and it turns the businessman into a vampire with the intention of taking vengeance on the descendants of those who destroyed Dracula.

Apparently, Herschell Gordon Lewis considered this movie his epic and his move into the mainstream. He also considers it a mistake, and I think I know what he means. It looks better than many of Lewis’s other films, the acting is on a higher level (thought still quite bad at times), the gore is pretty mild (for Lewis) and the story itself is fairly decent; in particular, I like the fact that it attempts to be a sequel to the original novel rather than a particular movie version of “Dracula”. The cheapness comes through in the usual ways; the sound is once again quite awful and the musical soundtrack is ghastly and repetitive. However, its worst problem is one that I haven’t run into before with Lewis’s movie, and that is that it’s way too long; after all, none of the movies I’ve covered of his have run more than ninety minutes, and he actually had to add footage to THE GRUESOME TWOSOME to get it up to an acceptable length. This one runs 117 minutes, and its turgid pacing really kills the movie. On a couple of side notes, the movie features a very rare appearance of Lewis himself as a cockney seamen (though with his accent, you’ll have to take his word he’s a Cockney), and one piece of advice I’d give to him is that the final chase sequence is the wrong time in a movie to introduce a new comic relief character. On the plus side, this movie beats the similarly titled TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA to the concept of becoming a vampire by drinking Dracula’s blood by three years.