The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals (1969)

THE MUMMY AND THE CURSE OF THE JACKALS (1969)
Article 3300 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-11-2010
Posting Date: 8-27-2010
Directed by Oliver Drake
Featuring Anthony Eisley, John Carradine, Robert Alan Browne
Country: USA
What it is: Monster mash

An archaelogist acquires a preserved Egyptian princess and a mummy, but inherits a curse that turns him into a werejackal. The princess and the mummy come to life. Havoc ensues.

Anthony Eisley claims that this movie was never finished and that director Oliver Drake was senile at the time the movie was made. In a comment on IMDB, one of Drake’s offspring claims that his or her father was not senile, but would have agreed that the movie was atrocious. Still, given the script and the budget that this cheapie had, I don’t think it was necessary for the director to be senile to result in a movie this bad. Between the cheesy soundtrack music and the horrendous cinematography, the movie is almost unwatchable. There’s the occasional interesting moment, but not enough to shake the movie out of its turgidity. The oddest moment has the two monsters shambling around Las Vegas while barely being noticed by the crowds that see them; they no doubt thought they were just actors in tacky costumes (which they were). Oliver Drake served as associate producer on WEIRD WOMAN and THE MUMMY’S CURSE, but spent most of his career on B westerns. Writer William Edwards would go on to pen DRACULA (THE DIRTY OLD MAN), which should give you an idea of the quality of this one.

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The Phantom (1943)

THE PHANTOM (1943)
Serial
Article 3299 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-10-2010
Posting Date: 8-26-2010
Directed by B. Reeves Eason
Featuring Tom Tyler, Jeanne Bates, Kenneth MacDonald
Country: USA
What it is: Masked hero jungle movie

A masked hero known as the Phantom must protect the native tribes from a group of spies planning to build a secret airstrip in a lost city.

If you can get your mind around the patently absurd premise (that for years a family of white men have been protecting the native jungle tribes under the guise of the masked bejumpsuited immortal hero known as the Phantom) and the strangeness of seeing an urban-style masked hero in jungle settings, you should find this to be one of the sturdier and more enjoyable serials out there. At least one advantage of the jungle settings is that we don’t have a single bail-out cliffhanger in the bunch, for one thing. Western actor Tom Tyler does a good job as the title character, and Kenneth MacDonald does one of the better jobs of playing a villain who manages to successfully cover up that role when dealing with the heroes. The plot also has enough story to avoid being repetitive, but not so much to be confusing. One of the episodes had to be redubbed due to the deterioration of the soundtrack, and you’ll spot the episode right off the bat with the opening narration. The most prominent fantastic content surrounds the legend of the Phantom’s immortality (which we know is faked); outside of that, it’s mostly marginally fantastic in that jungle-movie sort of way. This is one of the better serials out there.

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Mission Mars (1968)

MISSION MARS (1968)
Article 3298 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-9-2010
Posting Date: 8-25-2010
Directed by Nicholas Webster
Featuring Darren McGavin, Nick Adams, George De Vries
Country: USA
What it is: Old-fashioned science fiction movie.

Astronauts go to Mars. Will they encounter Martians? Will they come back alive?

Director Nicholas Webster has had a little experience with science fiction previous to this one; he gave us SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS. If that doesn’t sound encouraging, that’s because it isn’t. He has a bigger budget here, which results in slightly better special effects and a certain degree of star power, but it doesn’t help much. It’s sincere, but dull; nothing much happens until the astronauts get to Mars (which is a little more than halfway through the movie), and nothing is done to keep the first half of the movie from turning into a major snoozefest. The encounters with the strange Martians perk things up a little, but not enough to hide the fact that the movie has no real surprises in store for us. The story is by Audrey Wisberg, who also gave us some of the weaker science fiction movies of the fifties with THE NEANDERTHAL MAN, PORT SINISTER and CAPTIVE WOMEN after a relative high point of THE MAN FROM PLANET X; this movie is a lot closer to his low points.

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8 1/2 (1963)

8 1/2 (1963)
Article 3297 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-8-2010
Posting Date: 8-24-2010
Directed by Federico Fellini
Featuring Marcello Mastrioianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee
Country: Italy / France
What it is: Art film, Fellini style

A filmmaker suffering from artistic block has to contend with the making of his next movie as well as dealing with the complications of his love life.

This is the first time for this series that I’ve had to contend with a full-length movie by Fellini, though I’ve encountered him twice before in individual segments of the anthology films BOCCACCIO ’70 and SPIRITS OF THE DEAD; in both of the other cases, he was the best thing about them. This is a dizzying exploration of creativity, honesty, love, and whatever else Fellini had in mind for it. The plot summary above only gives the bare bones of what is going on in the movie, though it does serve as a starting pointing for trying to grasp it all. I’m not going to claim that I understand it all enough to give a worthwhile critique, though I do admit that I was enthralled enough by some of the scenes that I consider it a movie worthy of fairly deep exploration. The opening and closing sequences are particularly engrossing, and there are moments where it seems the movie they’re trying to make is the very movie we’re watching, and I can’t help but note that many of the characters in the movie have the same name as the actors playing them. As in many of the art films I’ve covered, the fantastic content may simply be that movies like this stretch the bounds so far that they become de facto fantasies. There are certain more substantial elements, though; the opening dream sequence has a flying man, and the movie that the director is making appears to be at least partially a science fiction movie involving nuclear war and spaceships. As for the title, Fellini had directed 7 1/2 pictures up to this point (the half was for a picture he co-directed), so the number for this one was 8 1/2. Horror fans may take note of the presence of Barbara Steele in the movie, which isn’t surprising; given Fellini’s love of interesting faces, it’s easy to see why he would cast her.

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Black Christmas (1974)

BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974)
aka Silent Night, Evil Night
Article 3296 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-7-2010
Posting Date: 8-23-2010
Directed by Bob Clark
Featuring Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder
Country: Canada
What it is: Prototypical slasher film

Members of a sorority are being killed off one by one by a mysterious obscene phone caller.

Director Bob Clark had a very interesting career which largely began with a trio of horror films during the early seventies. This is one of his best, a prototype of the slasher film that would become popular in the wake of HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH, though this taut and suspenseful movie may be better than either of them or their spawn. The characters are three-dimensional and well acted here; one feels and cares about them because they don’t act like the usual slasher fodder. Granted, certain plot twists have now become cliches, and there is at least one moment in the movie where one character acts with a certain amount of stupidity, but at least you can understand that her motivation may be concern about her sorority sisters. The final twist isn’t extremely original, but it’s handled with such panache that you’ll like it anyway. And I always admire a horror movie that knows how to use silence rather than shrillness for its scares.

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The Bloody Judge (1970)

THE BLOODY JUDGE (1970)
aka Il trono di fuoco, Night of the Blood Monster
Article 3295 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-6-2010
Posting Date: 8-22-2010
Directed by Jesus Franco
Featuring Christopher Lee, Maria Schell, Leo Genn
Country: Liechtenstein / Italy / Spain / West Germany
What it is: Witch-hunting drama

The brutal Lord Chancellor of England, Judge Jeffries, deals with witches and rebels during his reign.

At one point, someone tells the title character that it might be worth his while to witness the executions he hands out, which I think is a rather fitting comment given the rumor that Christopher Lee had completed all of his scenes and was not around to see the gruesome torture scenes that were added to the movie. In fact, the scene where he makes love to a young woman may not feature him at all; all we see is of his character in that scene is a hand, which could well belong to anyone. Still, Lee considered his role in this one to be one of his finest performances, and he’s right; his character is extremely well drawn, and Lee does an exemplary job with it. Given that the director was Jesus Franco and the producer was Harry Alan Towers, I expected the worst going into this, but it’s one of those cases where Franco was given a decent budget to work with, and he makes wise use of it. Though I wouldn’t call it a great movie (it gets rather dull on occasion), it’s definitely one of Franco’s better efforts, and it even rises above being just another knockoff of WITCHFINDER GENERAL; the movie finds its own voice and doesn’t merely echo the earlier movie. Yes, there’s some added sleaze, but that’s pretty much what you would expect from Franco at this time, wouldn’t you?

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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1972)

ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (1972)
Article 3294 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-4-2010
Posting Date: 8-21-2010
Directed by William Sterling
Featuring Fiona Fullerton, Michael Jayston, Hywel Bennett
Country: UK
What it is: Classic fantasy adaptation

Alice falls down a rabbit hole into the world of Wonderland.

This movie makes a real attempt to stick to the original story; in many ways, it may be the most faithful attempt yet, with only the appearance of Tweedledum and Tweedledee as sops to the sequel. It also has a bevy of famous British actors and comedians in the cast, including Ralph Richardson, Peter Bull, Roy Kinnear, Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, Dennis Price and Spike Milligan. Nevertheless, I found myself hating the movie. Part of the problem is that the movie caves in to certain kiddie movie conventions, such as having Alice sing and dance with the other characters at every opportunity. Another problem is the score which, to my mind, gives the movie the air of “knees bent before a classic” rather than the sense of comic absurdism the story needs. The acting is frantic and confused, the cinematography is often static, and the editing increases the feeling of disjointedness. In the end, the movie left me feeling rather nauseous, and the sense of fidelity towards the story started to come across as the director’s attempt to get around the fact that he didn’t really ‘get’ the story. On the plus side, the costumes and makeup are excellent, and the casting is occasionally inspired; my favorite example of the latter is Peter Bull as the Duchess, a cross-gender conceit that is surprisingly appropriate.

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The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION (1984)
Article 3293 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-3-2010
Posting Date: 8-20-2010
Directed by W.D. Richter
Featuring Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin
Country: USA
What it is: Self-conscious cult movie

When modern renaissance man Buckaroo Banzai develops an oscillation overthruster that can take him to a dimension in between the atoms of a mountain, he sets into motion a chain of events that could release upon the world and invasion of red Lectroids. A race of black Lectroids, intent on preventing the invasion, threaten to start WWIII if Buckaroo Banzai doesn’t destroy the evil Dr. Lizardo.

This was a deliberate attempt to start a movie franchise, and on that level, it must be considered a failure, as it never did result in the series of sequels that it intended; I hope no one is still waiting for BUCKAROO BANZAI VERSUS THE WORLD CRIME LEAGUE. Why did it fail? It’s not the convoluted and somewhat confusing plot; if the other elements had worked, this would have just given viewers the impetus to rewatch the movie to sort it out. I’m guessing part of the problem was the casting of Peter Weller in the title role; he simply doesn’t project the right level of charisma and likability to make a go of the series. Furthermore, his sidekicks are a dreary bunch; practically all of them are playing in the same low-key laconic mode as Weller plays Banzai, with the result that none of them really becomes an interesting character; a greater amount of variety would have done wonders here, but ultimately the most interesting thing about them is their names and costumes. I suspect Ellen Barkin’s character is supposed to give the movie a bit of depth, but she ends up feeling more like a plot device than a real character, and when the movie turns her attempted suicide into a joke by having it mistaken as an attack on Banzai, the movie only underlines its shallowness. In the end, the movie is stolen by John Lithgow, who opts for a bizarre, manic performance that provides the most consistently enjoyable part of the movie. Other than that, the movie only works in fits and starts, and it is a little disappointing to see Christopher Lloyd stuck with a role that is little more than running joke about his character’s name (John Bigboote). Some recasting and better direction might have saved this one.

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Tarzan and the Trappers (1958)

TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS (1958)
Article 3292 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-30-2010
Posting Date: 8-19-2010
Directed by Charles F. Haas, Sandy Howard and H. Bruce Humberstone
Featuring Gordon Scott, Eve Brent, Rickie Sorensen
Country: USA
What it is: Tarzan movie

Tarzan must deal with illegal trappers, a safari for a lost city, and a hunter intent on capturing him.

I was tempted to dismiss this one as a Tarzan movie at its most uninspired, but the episodic nature of the movie began to make me suspect that it wasn’t really intended as a movie at all. And, sure enough, it was cobbled together from three episodes of an unsold TV series, though it does look as if the three episodes are at least somewhat related. It’s a pretty humdrum affair all around; the story does little new or interesting with the Tarzan idea, and it all feels rather uncompelling. What I like best is that it keeps the Cheta antics to a minimum (it even allows Cheta to heroically save Jane’s life in one of the opening scenes), and I do rather like the plot idea in which a hunter decides to track down the most dangerous animal in the world (see THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME) in the person of Tarzan, even if the movie makes little use of the idea in the final analysis. The fantastic content is little more than the marginal fantasy content of the Tarzan series. This is not essential Tarzan viewing.

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Spooks! (1953)

SPOOKS! (1953)
Article 3291 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-29-2010
Posting Date: 8-18-2010
Directed by Jules White
Featuring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard
Country: USA
What it is: Three Stooges short

Three detectives are hired to find a missing girl, and they pose as bakers giving away pies to do it. They encounter the girl in a spooky old house where a mad scientist is planning to put her brain inside the body of a gorilla.

I don’t think this is one of the best of the Stooges’ shorts, but I am taken with the fact that they decided to shoot this one in 3-D and decided to make some fun use of the gimmick. My only wish is that I had seen it in 3-D, but even flat, I can appreciate the comic possibilities of seeing Moe’s two fingers come right out of the screen at my eyes. Choosing the horror theme is a natural as well; we get to see knives, fountain pens, cleavers, and hypodermic needles all come right out at ya, as well as a bat with the face of Shemp. There’s a mad scientist, his ugly assistant, and, of course, the gorilla. And if the idea of detectives going from house to house to give away free pies seems contrived, you’ll quickly figure out why they do this; I mean, what else would you choose as your weapon of choice for the climax of a slapstick comedy?

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