Seven Days in May (1964)

SEVEN DAYS IN MAY (1964)
Article 3290 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-27-2010
Posting Date: 8-17-2010
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Featuring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March
Country: USA
What it is: Political thriller

The United States is in turmoil after the president signs an unpopular peace treaty with the Soviet Union. An aide to an extremely popular general (who opposes the treaty and has political ambitions) begins stumbling across clues that make him suspect that there may be an attempted military coup to take over the country. What will he do… and will he be believed?

Compared to the other genre movies by John Frankenheimer during this period (to wit, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and SECONDS), this one is less audacious and certainly less flamboyant. On the other hand, it doesn’t need to be; the subject matter is gripping enough that it doesn’t need extra cinematic prodding, and the straightforward technique combined with the excellent performances from a stellar cast are what make this one fly. I couldn’t help but notice how well the story works as an ensemble; along with those mentioned above, the cast also featues Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Martin Balsam, Whit Bissell and George Macready, and all of these actors are used just to the extent the story needs them. Just for example, Kirk Douglas dominates the first half of the movie as the driving force behind the plot, but once events move out of his hands, he is used sparingly, meaning that the story is the focus here, not the star power. I couldn’t also help but notice the scarcity of overt violence on the screen, which is very striking for a movie that can be described as a thriller; once again, it is the story that thrills rather than the action sequences. Several of the actors won awards for their performances here, as did Rod Serling for his script based on the novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. The concept of a military polical coup in the U.S. is what makes it political science fiction, though I could understand why some might contest that classification; nevertheless, it’s an excellent and highly recommended movie.

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The Secret of the Whistler (1946)

THE SECRET OF THE WHISTLER (1946)
Article 3289 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-26-2010
Posting Date: 8-16-2010
Directed by George Sherman
Featuring Richard Dix, Leslie Brooks, Michael Duane
Country: USA
What it is: Mystery, Whistler style

An artist, married to an ailing rich woman, becomes enamored with one of his models, and hopes to marry her when his wife passes away. However, when the wife recovers, he finds himself tempted to make sure she has a relapse…

As is often the case with this series, the only fantastic content is the Whistler himself, who is more of a narrator than an actual element of the story. This is one of the weaker entries in the series; it’s very well acted and opts for subtlety over histrionics, but the story itself is a little too ordinary to be really satisfying. There are some striking moments, though; I in particular like the opening scene in which a woman purchases a tombstone… for herself. There’s also a certain irony in the fact that a certain page in a diary would have the effect of both incriminating the husband as well as clearing him. And I do admire the way that the characters are defined by their actions rather than by what they say; we have a good idea of the model’s intentions without her ever having to say them because we see what she’s doing with the knowledge she has. All in all, the Whistler series was very well done, and even at its weakest, it has its points of interest.

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Village of Eight Gravestones (1977)

VILLAGE OF EIGHT GRAVESTONES (1977)
aka Yatsuhaka-mura
Article 3288 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-26-2010
Posting Date: 8-15-2010
Directed by Yoshitaro Nomura
Featuring Kenichi Hagiwara, Mayumi Ogawa, Tsutomu Yamazakie
Country: Japan
What it is: Supernatural revenge mystery

When an orphan discovers he is the heir to a rich family in a small village, he goes to the village to meet the family. But family members start dying one by one, and he discovers that the village lives under a curse; years ago, eight fugitive warriors were betrayed and slaughtered by the villagers for money, and one of the warriors cursed the village previous to his death. The curse has manifested itself several times over the years… and may be returning again.

Due to events I won’t go into here, I was unable to watch this movie in one sitting, and there was a gap of about a month between my watching the first half of the movie and the second half. Perhaps this was a plus for me; had I watched it all at once, its two-and-a-half-hour running time might well have worn me out, and I notice on IMDB that some of the negative reaction to it is tied to its length. As it is, I found that when I watched the second part, I was still able to recall enough of the first part to keep me from getting lost, and it was still strong enough in my memory that I was able to appreciate the way one of the final scenes in the movie matched one of the first scenes in the movie. I found it a successful merging of mystery and supernatural horror, which doesn’t happen very often; usually, the addition of a mystery element has the effect of negating the fantastic elements of a movie, but that’s not the case here. The fantastic elements revolve around the curse, while the mystery surrounds the manifestation of the curse; there must be a human element in the cause of the deaths, and though the villagers blame the newcomer, we soon learn that there is a real question about his true parentage. It’s a complex, fascinating movie that manages to satisfy as both genres; I was quite impressed by it all. Still, that length may well prove daunting for a single sitting, so I’d recommend taking a break after the first hour or so.

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Passport to Pimlico (1949)

PASSPORT TO PIMLICO (1949)
Article 3287 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-24-2010
Posting Date: 8-14-2010
Directed by Henry Cornelius
Featuring Stanley Holloway, Betty Warren, Barbara Murray
Country: UK
What it is: Political science fiction comedy

When a bomb is actually set off in the small community of Pimlico in London, it uncovers treasure as well as documentation attesting to the fact that the area in question actually belongs to the country of Burgundy. When the residents realize that this status as a foreign territory relieves them of adherence to some of the more annoying British laws, they decide to stand by their rights to be Burgundians rather than Britons, a move that starts an escalating chain of events as Britain and Pimlico must come to terms with each other.

When I saw this movie many years ago, it never occurred to me that it could be interpreted as science fiction, and I could understand why some might argue that it doesn’t belong. However, it is speculative political fiction, and it’s very intelligently done as well; it explores the whole world of foreign relations with the twist that the foreigners are practically next door. The movie has a great ensemble cast, and watching the various events unfold (the installation of customs stations, the arrival of an heir to the Burgundian crown, the “closing of the frontiers” in an attempt to force the residents to evacuate, etc.) is fascinating. This comedy becomes even more charming as it goes along, with the scene where three children pioneer a method of saving the Burgundians from starvation a particular high point. This is one movie that is worth rewatching.

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Operation Counterspy (1966)

OPERATION COUNTERSPY (1966)
aka Asso di picche operazione controspionaggio
Article 3286 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-23-2010
Posting Date: 8-13-2010
Directed by Nick Nostro
Featuring George Ardisson, Helene Chanel, Lena von Martens
Country: Italy / Spain / France
What it is: Spyghetti

A secret agent impersonates a safecracker to get secrets of importance to national security. The secrets turn out to be photographs from various cities, but enemy agents will kill to get them. What is their significance?

Though the enigma of the photographs is of mild interest, once the enigma is solved at about the halfway point, the movie settles down into what it primarily is – a not-particularly-inspired imitation of the Bond movies. Most of the fantastic content comes towards the end of the movie when we reach a secret underground laboratory in which a madman plots to… but that would be giving too much away, even if it isn’t all that impressive to begin with. The most interesting characters are the spies’ boss and assistant. There’s the usual assortment of beautiful women. If this is right up your alley, go for it; if not, there’s nothing special here.

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The One-Eyed Soldiers (1966)

THE ONE-EYED SOLDIERS (1966)
Article 3285 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-22-2010
Posting Date: 8-12-2010
Directed by John Ainsworth
Featuring Dale Robertson, Luciana Paluzzi, Guy Deghy
Country: Yugoslavia / Italy / UK / USA
What it is: Offbeat crime thriller

When a UN medical representative falls to his death eluding pursuers, his dying words refer cryptically to “one eyed soldiers”. Several people are interested in the meaning of this comment – a newspaper reporter, the dead man’s beautiful daughter, a fat man who poses as an undertaker, a police inspector… and a crime syndicate headed by a vicious dwarf.

Mill Creek used to put out movie megapacks, which were basically very affordable DVD packages of 50 movies each, and, having a weakness for such things, I bought all of them they produced, irrespective of whether they belonged to the genres I was covering. This occasionally proved very helpful, as a movie I would otherwise have to hunt down was sitting on one of these sets. I found this one in the “Gunslingers” collection.

Now, I don’t know about you, but to me, the word “gunslingers” implies westerns, and the blurb on the set pretty much backs this up. However, this movie is anything but a western; it’s set in a border town in an unnamed Central European country in modern times, a decidedly unwestern milieu. There’s gunplay, all right, but that’s about the only reason I can see for the movie’s anomalous inclusion on this set. Furthermore, it’s pretty marginal in terms of any fantastic content; there’s some touches of horror in that part of the setting involves tombs and catacombs, we have a dwarf and an ugly mute, and there’s a scene where a woman faints when she sees a body rise from its casket (though we audience members know all along that the man in the coffin is very much alive). These are very slight touches, to be sure, so it no more belongs to the fantastic genres than the western one.

On its own terms, I found it muddled but enjoyable. My main enjoyment came from Guy Deghy, who plays the fat man; he appears to be channeling Sydney Greenstreet, and he’s given priceless dialogue to match. I suspect he’s also in a dual role, as I see no credit on IMDB for an actress playing the fat woman who the police mistake for the fat man in drag, since she bears an uncanny resemblance to him. The story is a bizarre crime thriller, hardly believable but entertaining enough in its own way.

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The Monster of Highgate Ponds (1961)

THE MONSTER OF HIGHGATE PONDS (1961)
Article 3284 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-21-2010
Posting Date: 8-11-2010
Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti
Featuring Roy Vicente, Ronald Howard, Rachel Clay
Country: UK
What it is: Children’s monster movie

Three children raise a monster hatched from an egg.

This needs to be said, so let’s just get it out of the way; this movie is lame. It’s also sincere, harmless, unpretentious, short, and uses some stop motion animation during several short sequences. And, as a kid who grew up loving monsters, I find it hard to dislike any movie about children having a chance to raise a monster, no matter how lame it is. So, rather than condemning it for not being better than it is, I’ll let it go on behalf of its simple low-budget charm. I just wish the comic bits were funnier.

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Goliath and the Sins of Babylon (1963)

GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON (1963)
aka Maciste, l’eroe piu grande del monde
Article 3283 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-17-2010
Posting Date: 8-10-2010
Directed by Michele Lupo
Featuring Mark Forest, Jose Greci, Giuliano Gemma
Country: Italy
What it is: Sword and sandal

Goliath arrives at a kingdom whose throne has been usurped by a man who is a puppet of the king of Babylon, who is demanding a yearly tribute of 30 virgins. He helps a group of rebels defeat the usurper and the Babylonians.

This is a slightly above average sword-and-sandal movie. It emphasizes action and spectacle, and despite the fact that the tone is slightly more serious than some others of the same genre, it is laced with plenty of humor, especially during the fight scenes. It features a comic-relief midget, who also proves useful on several occasions during the story. It’s pretty light in terms of its fantastic content; other than Goliath’s super-strength, there’s nothing else. And, of course, Goliath is in actuality Maciste. Perhaps the most striking thing about this one is its relative lack of pulchritude; despite the 30 virgins plot element and the existence of a princess who must be defeated in a chariot race before she will marry, there is very little in the way of feminine flesh here, which will certainly disappoint some viewers. There isn’t even a liturgical dance scene. On the other hand, this is one of those movies that really explores the use of a gong during a fight scene.

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Legend of the Werewolf (1975)

LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF (1975)
Article 3282 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-16-2010
Posting Date: 8-9-2010
Directed by Freddie Francis
Featuring Peter Cushing, Ron Moody, Hugh Griffith
Country: UK
What it is: Faux Hammer werewolf tale

A child raised by wolves is captured by a travelling showman for display in his circus. When the boy grows up, he takes on a job at a zoo in Paris, but his wolf upbringing has come with him… especially on the nights of the full moon.

There is such a wealth of Hammer stalwarts in this Tyburn production that it’s no surprise it feels like a Hammer movie, albeit one that feels somewhat anomalous in the mid-seventies. Yes, it feels like a rehash of CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, but that should be no surprise, given that both scripts were written by Anthony Hinds. Still, despite the fact that it’s a rehash of sorts, I really like this movie, at least partially due to the excellent cast. Yes, David Rintoul is no Oliver Reed, but the surrounding characters are all quite interesting, and I think the story has a better flow. It has some interesting touches; my favorite is that the werewolf doesn’t appear to be quite as devoid of reason as werewolves usually are; he can speak, and he does seem to be able to tell his friends from his enemies. The end is particularly touching, as we sense that this is one monster that could have been redeemed. The best thing about the movie, though, is Peter Cushing. For a while, I was wondering if he was only going to serve as narrator as he does during the opening section of the movie, but once he appears, he steals the movie; his police surgeon/coroner character would have made a fine protagonist in a TV or film series; it’s a shame something like that never developed.

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The Glass Sphinx (1967)

THE GLASS SPHINX (1967)
aka La sfinge d’oro
Article 3281 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-15-2010
Posting Date: 8-8-2010
Directed by Luigi Scattini
Featuring Robert Taylor, Anita Ekberg, Gianna Serra
Country: Italy / Egypt / Spain
What it is: Tepid adventure story

A millionaire’s search for the tomb of a pharaoh who was rumored to have a secret elixir of life inspires violence and betrayal.

It’s plotted to maximize confusion, takes every opportunity to work in an action sequence (mostly fistfights shot with some of the shakiest camerawork I’ve seen), and scores it all with a repetitive soundtrack that makes every scene feel the same. It almost feels like one of those James Bond ripoffs from Italy that were so common at the time, only minus the charm. As far as the fantastic content, it never manifests itself to the extent that the movie ever leaves the realm of marginalia. Yes, there are two beautiful women in the cast, but, truth to tell, I’ve never been partial to women who have velcro implants in their eyelashes. All in all, an uninspired exercise in adventure.

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