WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE (1962)
Article #302 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-11-2002
Posting date: 5-28-2002

An ex-vaudeville star terrorizes her crippled ex-movie star sister when she discovers that she was planning to sell their house and send her to a home.

I’ve never really been a fan of Bette Davis, but I do have to admit she gives one hell of a performance in this movie, as does Victor Buono as the somewhat decrepit musician she befriends. I’m less impressed with Joan Crawford, but in all fairness, she doesn’t have the good role. This movie marks the beginning of a truly odd subgenre of horror films which found challenging roles for actresses that were most likely considered over-the-hill at that time, and there’s no doubt there is a lot of dimension to the grotesque character of Baby Jane in this movie, and it gave both actresses a new phase in their career, though only Davis would really pull it off; Crawford would end up in the likes of BERSERK and TROG. As for the movie itself, I think it’s overlong and could have used some better pacing, but it really is a very unique movie.

THE WASP WOMAN (1960)

Article #301 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-10-2002
Posting date: 5-27-2002

The head of a cosmetics firm becomes the subject of a youth-restoring serum made from wasp jelly with dire results.

This Filmgroup horror movie, directed by Roger Corman and written by Leo Gordon, takes a long time to get off the ground, and it never really builds up much of a head of steam. Still, it has a fine performance by Susan Cabot as the head of the cosmetics firm and one of the better roles for character actor Michael Mark as the scientist Mr. Zinthrop. I recognize some of the soundtrack from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS in this movie. One question: even though the injections manage to restore Miss Starlin to her beauty, wouldn’t she lose her youthful figure after dining on a meal the size of Bruno Ve Sota? Just asking.

WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)
Article #300 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-9-2002
Posting date: 5-26-2002

Martians invade the earth in unstoppable war machines.

I remember watching this movie on TV as a kid, and it had an enormous impact on me; I’ve never forgotten the scenes where the landing craft knocks over the farmhouse, the eye sneaks in and spies on the hero and heroine, and the wonderful moment at the end with the martian hand coming out of the downed saucer. Nowadays, I still love the movie, and it is far and away my favorite alien invasion movie. It’s also my favorite George Pal film, and even though religious themes have annoyed me in other movies, in this one I accept them; the only time I feel a little embarrassed by them is on the comment about it taking the same amount of time to destroy the earth as it did to create it. There’s lots of familiar faces (and voices) on hand, with Gene Barry, Les Tremayne, Paul Frees, Sir Cedric Hardwicke (narration), Russ Bender, and (I noticed him for the first time this time round) Paul Birch as the man with the white flag.

THE WILD WOMEN OF WONGO (1958)
Article #294 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-3-2002
Posting date: 5-20-2002

This is one of those movies where a plot description is best. Prepare for SPOILERS.

Right off the bat, Mother Nature (I hope she was well paid for her cameo) tells us about an experiment she tried by creating two tribes of primitive people; one in which all the men are ugly and all the women beautiful (Wongo), and the other that’s just the opposite (Goona). When a Goona man visits the Wongo tribe to enlist their help in fighting the ape men, the women of Wongo notice the difference. The Wongo men notice, and try to kill the Goona warrior, but he escapes unharmed.

Now it turns out that both the Wongo women and the Goona men have rites of passage; the Wongo women have to visit the goddess at the dragon shrine (who expresses herself by magically donning her gator hat and dancing; I am not making this up), and then one of them will be sacrificed to the dragon god (which appears to involve women wrestling gators, though not in either mud or jello). When they are attacked by ape men (who look no more than apes than the men of the Wongo tribe), they defeat them and their bodies are eaten by the gators (by the way, there are several clues here to indicate that this was filmed in Florida).

The death of the ape men having appeased the Dragon god (he prefers ape men to beautiful women; go figure), they return to Wongo to find the men missing, except for one who they find dead. Thinking the men have all been killed by the ape men, they set out for Goona and the good pickings to be had there. The men of Wongo are not dead, though, and when they return to the village, think that the women have been captured by the ape men, and decide also to go to Goona.

Meanwhile, the men of Goona are undergoing their rite of passage, which involves them going out in the jungle without spears and not talking to women, and maybe even doing some skinny-dipping (no gator-wrestling is involved), and then going back to marry one of the ugly Goona women. This makes them easy pickings for the Wongo women, who capture them and take them to the goddess at the shrine, who blesses their marriages. Then the men of Wongo show up with their prospective mates. Can you guess who? I won’t give this part away.

Oh, yes, and there’s a parrot who gives a running commentary on the action. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; talking birds are not funny.

It has one of the worst soundtracks on record; it even pillages the soundtrack of PLAN 9 at one point.

I know. Some of your mouths are watering, while others of you are finding your eyes glazing over. Whichever it is, consider yourself warned.

Watching these things is a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.

WHERE EAST IS EAST (1929)
Article #244 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-15-2001
Posting date: 3-31-2002

A trapper of wild animals for circuses discovers his daughter loves the son of one of his customers. However, the son meets the girl’s mother (who has been estranged from the trapper for years), who tries to steal him away. The trapper does all he can to prevent this from happening.

The book that I am currently using to create my viewing list contains a few listings that really don’t belong to the realm of fantastic cinema, but I’ve decided to retain those listings in my viewing system, if for no other reason than to explore a little the criteria for placing movies in a particular category. This exotic (it takes place in Indochina) soap opera/melodrama ends up in the horror movie classification for only two reasons that I can make out; the presence of Lon Chaney as the trapper (in another fine performance; I especially like the scenes with his daughter), and the existence of a gorilla that comes into play in the final act of the drama (though it is disappointing seeing Browning once again relying on a big ape for his deus ex machina just a few years after THE UNHOLY THREE). It’s not bad for what it is, but if you’re expecting a horror movie, you’ll be disappointed.

THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935)
Article #155 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-18-2001
Posting date: 1-1-2002

Two werewolves battle over possession of a rare Tibetan flower that is the only antidote (albeit a temporary one) to lycanthropy.

When dealing with supernatural creature lore, it is always a good thing to remember that, since such creatures do not exist, any lore involving their habits and/or the disposal of such creatures is artificially conceived. What is generally accepted as the standard werewolf lore is more a result of the popularity of THE WOLF MAN than of any established rules that existed previous to that movie. This being the case, I suspect that our conception of werewolves would be somewhat different if this movie had been Universal’s big hit rather than the later Lon Chaney, Jr. one (which probably wouldn’t have been made had this one hit paydirt). As it is, I find THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON enjoyable enough, with the idea of a flower offering a temporary antidote to the curse to be an intriguing idea, as the conflict between the two werewolves (Henry Hull and Warner Oland, both giving fine performances) adds a lot to this movie. The discovery of the flower in Tibet is for me, the most memorable scene in the movie, as well as some of the stalking sequences in the foggy streets of London. Henry Hull’s makeup was originally supposed to resemble the makeup used by Lon Chaney Jr. in THE WOLF MAN, but Hull blanched at the amount of time it would have taken to apply that makeup; the less elaborate version used in the movie was certainly effective enough, as it apparently scared Valerie Hobson out of her wits, but it just wasn’t as memorable as the makeup in the later movie.

WORLD WITHOUT END (1957)
Article #145 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-8-2001
Posting date: 12-22-2001

Astronauts on a trip to Mars hit a time warp and end up 500 years in the future. They return to Earth after a nuclear war, and encounter mutants and a civilized society living underground, whom they help with their 20th century earthman knowledge.

Allied Artists was quite ambitious with this one; just the use of color tells you that. It also has certain novelties; it takes place in the future rather than on another planet, which is certainly unusual. Also, there is a certain variety in the design of the mutants which, though not strictly necessary, shows that there was some creativity being invested in the movie. Unfortunately, the underground society is made up of beautiful women and doddering old men; this scenario is obviously designed to make the virile young twentieth century men become the mates-of-choice of the beautiful women, which seems to me to be less inspired by any sort of logic than it is by the desire to pander to its audience. The smug fifties-style sexism doesn’t help, either; for a woman who is pretending she can’t talk to give herself away when she is accused of being bow-legged is just sexist, but to have this trick engineered by the men betrays the smugness of it all. Ultimately, it feels like a cross between PLANET OF THE APES and FLIGHT TO MARS, with a smidgen of FIRE MAIDENS FROM OUTER SPACE thrown in. If my memory serves me correctly, they fight a cave spider that has popped up in several movies of this ilk.

WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES (1922)
(a.k.a. HAXAN)
Article #144 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-7-2001
Posting date: 12-21-2001

This movie is partially a documentary on witchcraft, and partially a fictional account of a woman accused of witchcraft.

For some reason, I can’t really think of a lot to say about this strange mixture of documentary and fiction, despite the fact that I’d wanted to catch this movie for years due to what was written about it in various books about horror movies. It’s packed full of creative and shocking imagery, and most likely would offend the devout with its portrayal of corrupt clergymen, but considering the subject matter, this is unavoidable. It’s quite fascinating, and the subject matter alone makes it of interest to horror fans, but what I found most striking was when it took the theme into the twentieth century and discussed the nature of hysteria. The director plays the devil, which I find quite amusing. There’s a version narrated by William Burroughs, but that’s not the one I’ve seen; though I suspect it would be interesting to watch, I also suspect it wouldn’t be the way the movie was originally intended to be seen.

WAXWORKS (1923)
(a.k.a. DAS WACHSFIGURENKABINETT)
Article #143 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-6-2001
Posting date: 12-20-2001

A wax museum hires a writer to write stories about three of their new wax figures; Harun al Raschid, Ivan the Terrible, and Jack the Ripper.

There’s an impressive cast here; Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, and Emil Jannings play the three wax personages, while director-to-be William Dieterle plays the writer, as well as several characters in the three stories. I think the movie is terribly uneven; the first story about Harun al Raschid is an amusing enough fantasy, and is IMHO the best part of the movie. The second part is about Ivan the Terrible, and though it includes some striking sequences (especially one involving an hourglass), I’ve never been able to follow the storyline, if there is one. And for those who are primarily interested in the Jack the Ripper sequence, be forewarened; the running time is almost up by the time they reach this sequence, and no mistake has been made on the running time. This is my way of saying that the last sequence seems nothing more than a joke with which to end the movie, and not a particularly satisfying one.

THE WALKING DEAD (1936)
Article #142 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-5-2001
Posting date: 12-19-2001

A scientist brings back to life a man framed for the murder of a judge. The man has returned to life with the knowledge of the men who framed him, and confronts each one of them, resulting in their accidental deaths.

This movie had an enormous impact on me when I saw it as a child, and time has not dampened that impact in the least. Though some people may not care for the religious themes in this movie, I think they are what give the movie its power; it’s one of the only movies I’ve seen dealing with the resurrection of the dead that really cares about what the subject experienced during the time he was dead. Karloff is outstanding in this movie, especially after he is resurrected: I love the lost and confused look that goes over his face after each confrontation, as if he himself doesn’t even know what’s going on. I also noticed this time around that before each confrontation, all the friends and protectors of the one he’s going to meet seem to vanish or have unexpected reasons to not hang around, almost as if outside forces are guiding their actions. The scene where Karloff plays the piano while turning his gaze on each of the men who framed him is a classic. It’s a shame this movie has had no official release on VHS or DVD; I consider it a real classic that seems destined to be forgotten.