The Whip Hand (1951)

THE WHIP HAND (1951)
Article 3460 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-26-2010
Posting Date: 2-3-2011
Directed by William Cameron Menzies
Featuring Carla Balenda, Elliott Reid, Edgar Barrier
Country: USA
What it is: Espionage thriller

A reporter on a fishing trip becomes suspicious of a small town and its secrets, and decides to investigate. And the rich eccentric on the outskirts of town has something to hide…

Of the three science fiction films made by William Cameron Menzies during the fifties, this is the least interesting, partially because the plot is pretty weak and partially because the fantastic content (a super-virus) is more of a Gizmo Maguffin than anything else. It does have an interesting history, though; IMDB lists that Bobby Watson (who made something of a career of playing Hitler) originally appeared in the movie, but his scenes were deleted. That’s because producer Howard Hughes decided that the original villains of the movie (Nazis) should be changed to communists to make it more relevant, and the movie was extensively reshot. The movie has an appropriate sense of paranoia, but it overuses it to the point that it gets fairly tiresome and starts to seem far-fetched. It also lacks the visual sense I usually associate with Menzies films. All in all, I found this one a disappointment.

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The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966)
aka Furankenshutain no kaiju: Sanda tai Gaira
Article 3459 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-25-2010
Posting Date: 2-2-2011
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Featuring Russ Tamblyn, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara
Country: Japan
What it is: Giant monster movie

A human-shaped undersea creature is terrorizing boats on the ocean. Witnesses claim the monster is the one raised by scientists, but the scientists don’t believe it is the same creature. However, it turns out there are two creatures, one an evil clone of the other.

This is a sequel to FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, but the American version of the movie obscures the connection. This was fairly easy to do; it looks as if between the two movies, the visual conception of the monster was radically changed, so the creature Sanda here bears little resemblance to the monster from the original movie. The earlier movie is largely dismissed as one of the weaker kaijus, but this one has a strong cult following and many choose it as their favorite Japanese monster movie. In some ways I can see why; Gailah the sea creature is one of the nastier kaiju monsters, if for no other reason than it explicitly eats people, something that is mostly implied for the other monsters. There’s some memorable scenes here; when Gailah takes a woman out of her apartment, we expect a KING KONG-like moment, but instead the monster eats her and spits out her clothing. Other memorable scenes; a laser attack on the monster destroys hundreds of trees, the good monster discovers the truth about the evil monster, and a lounge singer sings the unfortunate song “The Words get Stuck in my Throat”. In some ways, the fact that the monsters are humanoids helps the movie, as the battles are more lively than in some of the other kaijus. There’s also a bit of emotional resonance when we discover that the military plans to show little attempt to differentiate between the good and evil monsters, and will seek to destroy both. This is one of the more memorable kaijus out there.

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Reborn (1981)

REBORN (1981)
Article 3458 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-24-2010
Posting Date: 2-1-2011
Directed by Bigas Luna
Featuring Dennis Hopper, Michael Moriarty, Antonella Murgia
Country: Spain / USA / Italy
What it is: Religious fantasy

A TV preacher / faith healer finds himself paired up with an Italian woman to make a countrywide tour. The woman’s healing powers are real, however, and when the man who brings her to America leaves her pregnant, complications arise.

This was one of those movies that, for most of its running time, had me wondering what the point of it was going to be. I didn’t get the gist of it until late in the movie, when the woman in question goes into labor and gives birth in a gas station; a decoration in the door of the station gave me the clue I needed, and though I haven’t sorted everything out with absolute clarity, I can say at the very least that this satire on faith healing is not the work of a skeptic, but of a believer. It was this clue, for example, that made me understand what the purpose of the mysterious helicopter was, and I’m actually quite taken by the realization of what it symbolized. My print runs only about 92 minutes, and the whole movie runs 105 minutes, so I’m probably missing something. The movie is often confusing, but it’s anchored by three fine performances; both Dennis Hopper and Antonella Murgia are very good, but Michael Moriarty really steals the movie with an unusual and offbeat role. One final note: since I don’t gear my watching system towards the holidays, it’s rare when I actually watch a movie that’s fitting for a holiday. This may be an exception; once you know what it’s about, it’s a fitting choice for Christmas Eve.

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The Dark (1979)

THE DARK (1979)
Article 3457 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-23-2010
Posting Date: 1-31-2011
Directed by John “Bud” Cardos and Tobe Hooper
Featuring William Devane, Cathy Lee Crosby, Richard Jaeckel
Country: USA
What it is: Extraterrestrial/zombie movie

Someone or something has been killing people nightly, and the police can’t capture it. A writer and a reporter team up to catch it.

The killer turns out to be an extraterrestrial, and that’s not a spoiler since it’s given away in the opening crawl. It also mentions it in the closing crawl. As for the rest of the movie, there’s a passing comment about it being an extraterrestrial, but that’s never really established anywhere else in the movie. Apparently, that’s because the monster was originally supposed to be a zombie, but the movie was so poorly received in that form that it was reedited to make it seem like an extraterrestrial instead. It apparently didn’t help; the movie has a fairly poor reputation, and I was expecting a truly horrible stinker. In truth, I found it tolerable; it’s not good, but the only thing that really annoyed me was that “scary” whispered voice that sounded like it was speaking Esperanto when it wasn’t saying “Darkness” over and over again. The monster costume was lame, but the movie mostly keeps it in the dark. Some of the dialogue is also quite silly. But I did like the odd touches to the plot enough that the movie never really got on my wrong side. By the way, Angelo Rossitto pops up once again as a newsboy, and on checking his info on IMDB, I just learned that he was born in Omaha, where I currently live.

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Virus (1980)

VIRUS (1980)
aka Fukkatsu no hi
Article 3456 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-22-2010
Posting Date: 1-30-2011
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Featuring Glenn Ford, Chuck Connors, Olivia Hussey
Country: Japan
What it is: Ambitious end of the world epic

A deadly biological weapon is unleashed that decimates the world. Soon, only a small group isolated in Antarctica is left alive to find a cure.

I’ve heard tell that the full version, which runs 156 minutes, is much better than the abbreviated 103 minute version I have. I’m willing to buy that; my version has a somewhat unfocused, rushed and confusing feel that could easily be the result of large chunks of footage having been cut. Still, the end result isn’t disastrous, and at about the halfway point a new development (involving an earthquake and an automatic missile launching system) gives the movie some much needed focus just when it needs it. I do like the international flavor of it; though it was a Japanese production, it uses actors of many countries and has a number of familiar faces; outside of those listed above, you’ll also see Henry Silva, Robert Vaughn, Sonny Chiba, Bo Svenson and Arthur Kennedy, just to name a few. Still, the movie proved to be a major flop, and given the ending, I’m not really surprised.

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The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969)
Article 3455 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-21-2010
Posting Date: 1-29-2011
Directed by Jim O’Connolly
Featuring James Franciscus, Gila Golan, Richard Carlson
Country: USA
What it is: Dinosaur/cowboy movie

A wild west show discovers a hidden valley with prehistoric creatures which could prove to have great attractions for their show… if they live to capture one.

The concept for Gwangi originated with Willis O’Brien, but it never got made in his lifetime, though MIGHTY JOE YOUNG used some of the ideas and the concept did get some use in THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN. Seeing this Ray Harryhausen movie certainly makes you understand why the idea of pitting cowboys against dinosaurs was so attractive; it’s seems a bit far-fetched until you see it in action, but then it works just fine. The plot is nothing special; it’s merely a reworking of THE LOST WORLD, though in some ways it should be pointed that this could also be said about KING KONG. But then, the plot is pretty secondary here; it’s the action setpieces that make the movie. It’s worst problem is that it takes too long to get to the action; the opening half of the movie spends too much time of relationships and characterizations that are neither novel in and of themselves or of any importance when the action gets underway. Once it gets going, it’s engrossing, with the ending sequence particularly striking. It’s not a great movie overall, but it is more than satisfying for dinosaur fans.

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The Big Bus (1976)

THE BIG BUS (1976)
Article 3454 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-20-2010
Posting Date: 1-28-2011
Directed by James Frawley
Featuring Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, John Beck
Country: USA
What it is: Disaster movie spoof

A new nuclear-powered bus name Cyclops makes its maiden trip, but an unscrupulous oil lobby has plans to destroy it.

Had this movie been made five years later, I’d have accused it of trying to emulate the style and success of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy classic, AIRPLANE!; it does come very close to capturing the style of that movie. However, since this predates that movie by several years, the influence (if any) must have gone in the opposite direction. However, the reasons this one never really became a comedy classic are rather clear; it doesn’t quite kick the comedic style into the stratosphere like the later movie did, and the movie runs out of gas while there’s still a goodly amount of running time to go. Still, there’s some good moments here; I particularly like the bar brawl and a gag involving a milk carton. I’m also partial to the gags involving the world’s most annoying pianist. It’s worst problem may be that it doesn’t know when to let some of its running gags expire; too many of them get repeated too often.

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The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972)

THE BOY WHO TURNED YELLOW (1972)
Article 3453 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-19-2010
Posting Date: 1-27-2011
Directed by Michael Powell
Featuring Mark Dightam, Robert Eddison, Helen Weir
Country: UK
What it is: Children’s fantasy

A young boy loses his pet mouse named Alice on a field trip to the Tower of London. He seeks a way to get it back.

If the above plot description seems singularly lacking in fantastic elements, be aware that the plot involves our main character ending up in an area in London where everything and everybody has turned yellow, meeting an extraterrestrial who skis across electricity, and facing execution unless someone can get a television to him in time. Yet the strangest thing about this one is that it marks the final collaboration between director Michael Powell and screenwriter Emeric Pressburger, who were responsible for THE RED SHOES, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH and THE TALES OF HOFFMANN, just to mention the movies I’ve covered of theirs for the series. Powell also gave us PEEPING TOM, which practically destroyed his career. This movie was made for the Children’s Film Foundation, and is definitely not representative of Powell’s work, but it is intriguing and downright weird. Once again, a children’s movie takes me places I’d never been before.

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Merlin (1992)

MERLIN (1992)
Article 3452 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-18-2010
Posting Date: 1-26-2011
Directed by Paul Hunt
Featuring Nadia Cameron-Blakey, Rodney Wood, Richard Lynch
Country: UK
What it is: Epic fantasy

A female reporter discovers that she is the reincarnation of the Lady of the Lake, and she is destined to try to keep the magical sword from falling into the clutches of the evil Pendragon, the son of Mordred.

Over the years, I’ve come up with a few guidelines for deciding whether a movie is going to be any good, and one of them is this – if a movie features the character of Merlin but does not feature King Arthur, it will be pretty bad. There’s no real logic about this rule; it’s based on experience, and this movie certainly doesn’t change that evaluation. It also make me think of another rule; if you’re going to imbue your epic action-adventure flick with mysticism, you’re better off keeping it simple and concise, or else you run the risk of muddying up your movie, as happens here. The movie is like a cross between EXCALIBUR and HIGHLANDER; unfortunately, it’s a lot closer to the latter, and lacks that movie’s pyrotechnics. The action sequences are confusing and the storytelling is pretty rotten. Unless you’re a big fan of Richard Lynch (who plays Pendragon) or James Hong (who plays the Lady’s guardian Leong Tao and who should really shave those hairs on his left cheek), there’s little reason to bother with this one.

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Deadly Blessing (1981)

DEADLY BLESSING (1981)
Article 3451 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-17-2010
Posting Date: 1-25-2011
Directed by Wes Craven
Featuring Maren Jensen, Sharon Stone, Susan Buckner
Country: USA
What it is: Odd Hittite horror film

A woman’s ex-Hittite husband is killed by a tractor. Two friends of the woman come and stay with her, but the local Hittites object to their presence… and there are killers about.

I saw this movie on TV many years ago, and I swear that the final scene was cut. I’m not sure why that would have been the case, as there doesn’t appear to be anything in the scene to make it objectionable, but it did leave me a little confused at the end. Not that I’m really less confused after having seen the ending, mind you. I’ve heard some claim that this is one of Wes Craven’s best movies, while I’ve heard others dismiss is as a misfire. I can actually understand both reactions; the Hittite milieu gives it a truly different flavor, and the movie, though made of some common elements, is fairly original. However, I’m not sure it holds together, especially after watching the whole thing; the revelations at the end still leave me wondering who exactly was responsible for what murder where, with the final revelation feeling almost tacked on. Ernest Borgnine gives a very focused performance as the Hittite elder, and the scary-looking Michael Berryman is also memorable as a Hittite man-child. There’s some good scenes here, some of which are hard to forget. If it’s a misfire, at least it’s not an uninteresting one.

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