The Gore Gore Girls (1972)

THE GORE GORE GIRLS (1972)
Article 3280 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-13-2010
Posting Date: 8-7-2010
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
Featuring Frank Kress, Amy Farrell, Hedda Lubin
Country: USA
What it is: More Gore from Herschell

Someone is brutally killing and mutilating strippers. A newspaper hires a private detective to solve the murders.

This movie marked the end of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s directorial career for a good thirty years. By this time, he had achieved a certain level of competence in his filmmaking, and the acting shows some improvement over his earlier movies. He even managed to land a name star – Henny Youngman. As a result, this movie just looks and sounds better than some of his earlier movies. The gore is pretty extreme, but I wouldn’t really call it convincing. Considering the misogynistic nature of Lewis’s gore movies, I’m a little surprised that I don’t find his work near as offensive as that of certain other directors, maybe because I don’t really sense any nihilistic hatred underneath; I don’t sense that Lewis really takes any of this seriously, and I find after a while that I can’t either. If there’s any one thing I really noticed, it’s that Lewis was one pretty strange filmmaker; he clearly has a sense of humor (though it is wildly uneven), and there are numerous head-scratching touches (why are all the police investigations accompanied by a bad arrangement of the “Anvil Chorus?”). Yet, somehow, it managed to hold the attention even during the non-gory sequences.

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Dick Barton: Special Agent (1948)

DICK BARTON: SPECIAL AGENT (1948)
Article 3279 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-12-2010
Posting Date: 8-6-2010
Directed by Alfred J. Goulding
Featuring Don Stannard, George Ford, Gillian Maude
Country: UK
What it is: Uneven spy melodrama

Dick Barton investigates a smuggling operation that actually seems to have a more sinister intent up its sleeve.

This movie was based on a popular British radio series. All I can say is that this series must have been really popular if this movie managed to spout two sequels. It’s half ineffectual comedy and half campy heroics. The script is a mess, and the combination of static direction and frantic but substandard editing makes for a confusing and unpleasant viewing experience; it feels somewhat like you’re listening to a song where one of the musicians is consistently off a half-beat throughout. The low budget really shows in the use of sound; several of the scenes feel like a redubbed silent movie with the words not matching the mouths, and when the foley artists decide to add fight sounds to the fight scenes (which they don’t always see fit to do), they don’t make any attempt to match the sounds up to the action. And as for the visual aspect of the fight scenes, I haven’t seen this many missed hits since the last time I saw a “Starman” movie. The fantastic content involves vials of super-germs, which never actually get used, so the movie remains pretty marginal overall. Reportedly, the movie is a lot more fun if you’re a kid. Also, I hear tell that the sequels are vast improvements over this one. Since I’ll eventually be watching them, I’ll find out for myself.

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Anju to Zushio-Maru (1961)

ANJU TO ZUSHIO-MARU (1961)
aka The Littlest Warrior, The Orphan Brother
Article 3278 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-10-2010
Posting Date: 8-5-2010
Directed by Taiji Yabushita
Featuring the voices of Yoshiko Sakuma and Kinya Kitaoji
Country: Japan
What it is: Animated folk tale with fantasy elements

In feudal times, a father is exiled. When the rest of his family attempts to rejoin with him, they encounter kidnappers who separate them and sell them into slavery. Will they ever reunite?

I was only able to find this movie in unsubtitled Japanese, and maybe I was the better off for it. I’ve seen two other animated movies by this director (PANDA AND THE MAGIC SERPENT and ALAKAZAM THE GREAT), both of which had been dubbed into English and both of which came across as having been heavily compromised by the English dubbing. The language barrier proved to be only a minor inconvenience; though I couldn’t find a good plot description of this movie, I did discover that it was basically a version of the same story of SANSHO THE BAILIFF, and a few plot descriptions of that one gave me the framework I needed to follow this one. Since I don’t see the latter movie listed in any of my guides to fantastic movies, I assume that much of the fantastic content here is unique to this telling. We have talking animals, for one thing, and since this is a children’s version of the story, I’m not surprised at the addition. There’s also a battle with a giant spider. Still, the final fantastic aspect is truly striking; when certain characters die, they undergo a transformation to another form which seems to give them power over that form’s particular element. One transforms into a mermaid, and the other into a flying swan, and both the forces of air and water play into the story to bring justice on the villains. The story has no doubt been cleaned up a little; I believe in the other movie, one character was forced into prostitution, but that detail understandably doesn’t appear here as far as I can tell. Still, it doesn’t soft-pedal the tragedy; though it more or less has a happy ending, there are some great losses, and quite a few tears are jerked in the final parts of the movie. Somehow, I suspect the English version of this would have weakened the movie considerably, so I’m glad I saw it as I did.

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Play Misty for Me (1971)

PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971)
Article 3277 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-9-2010
Posting Date: 8-4-2010
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Featuring Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills
Country: USA
What it is: Psycho thriller

A DJ has a brief fling with an obsessed female fan, but the woman begins intruding on his life. He soon discovers that the woman is insanely jealous, mad… and homicidal.

Clint Eastwood’s fame probably wouldn’t have suffered one bit had he never decided to take up directing; however, he did, and in doing so, developed a career perhaps more distinguished than his acting one. This was his first directorial effort, and though it has a few problems, for a first effort, it is excellent. A strong script and an excellent performance by Jessica Walter are what really make this one work. Jessica’s psycho is the stuff of nightmares; she uses every trick in the book to worm her way into the DJ’s life, and you can feel his frustration when his attempts to break off with here result in only more shrill, spiraling madness. I love the moments in the movie where it doesn’t feel the need to explain or show certain things; you can figure out how the woman knew which bar to go to to meet the DJ without being told, and you don’t need to see her eavesdropping on the phone when the DJ takes a call from his girlfriend. It’s also fun to see director Don Siegel as the bartender. The main problem with the movie is the pacing is occasionally off, and the movie comes to a screeching halt about three-fourths of the way through the picture before picking up with the finale. Eastwood himself does a decent job as the DJ, though I don’t think he would have been my first choice for the role. Still, this was an auspicious directorial debut for Eastwood.

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Robot Wrecks (1941)

ROBOT WRECKS (1941)
Short
Article 3276 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-8-2010
Posting Date: 8-3-2010
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Featuring Billy ‘Froggy’ Laughlin, George ‘Spanky’ McFarland, Billie ‘Buckwheat’ Thomas
Country: USA
What it is: Our Gang short

The kids in Our Gang, inspired by a robot at a department store, decide to build one themselves to do their chores from them. This opens them up to being bilked out of the club dues by another kid who sells them ‘invisible rays’ to make the robot work.

The trouble with cute kids series is that kids grow older and become less cute. It’s been five years since I’ve seen Spanky and Buckwheat in SPOOKY HOOKY, and here they are again, only not quite as cute. The humor seems more dependent on special effects tricks (such as fast motion) than in the previous ones I’ve seen, and though it’s short enough not to wear out its welcome, it’s the weakest of the Little Rascals/Our Gang comedies I’ve seen. The robots are fun, though.

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Der Herr im Haus (1940)

DER HERR IM HAUS (1940)
aka The Gentleman in the House
Article 3275 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-7-2010
Posting Date: 8-2-2010
Directed by Heinz Helbig
Featuring Hans Moser, Maria Andergast, Elise Aulinger
Country: Germany
What it is: Comedy

I’m forgoing the usual plot description here for the simple reason that I can’t really piece anything together. I’m watching this one in unsubtitled German, and usually in cases like this, I’m able to pick up some thread to follow, but not in this case. I know it’s a comedy, and it follows the adventures of a man who seems to be either a landlord or a butler. His daughter is involved in a romance with a handsome young man. There’s a big stage production involved. And part of the plot revolves around spiritualism, with one scene in which a medium (who may be a con man; there’s some business about switching necklaces) is trying to summon the spirit of Napoleon Bonaparte. Oddly enough, the main character’s name seems to be Napoleon Bonaparte, but I’m pretty sure we’re not dealing with the historical figure. Almost all of the humor is verbal and tied to various character relationships, which leaves me very little to go on. So I’m marking this one as watched, but until I become really fluent in German, I’m at a loss here.

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Cul-de-sac (1966)

CUL-DE-SAC (1966)
Article 3274 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-6-2010
Posting Date: 8-1-2010
Directed by Roman Polanski
Featuring Donald Pleasence, Francoise Dorelac, Lionel Stander
Country: UK
What it is: Darkly comic crime drama

A meek artist and his philandering wife live at a castle on a stretch of land that is cut off from the rest of the world when the tide comes in. Two wounded criminals, one near death, take refuge in the castle when their car breaks down. Strange relationships develop between the surviving gangster and the couple.

I’m covering this title because it is included in Lentz’s “Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film and Television Credit Volume One”, and, like some of the others in the book, it’s a false alarm. I suppose if one squints real hard, you may see it as a borderline horror story; given that one character is a basket case by the end of the movie, it touches on the theme of madness a little. Still, that’s quite a stretch, and despite the fact that both Polanski and Pleasence both have prominent fantastic film credits, this one really doesn’t qualify.

It is, however, a fascinating movie in its own right. The set-up points the way to a crime thriller, with the basic premise of a desperate criminal holding two people captive until his boss can rescue him. However, the various character relationships don’t play out as simply as that. The criminal may be desperate, but he’s not sadistic nor sociopathic; if he could get out of his situation without hurting anybody, he would. He’s also not a particularly smart or competent criminal, which also makes him a little less threatening. The couple would probably be all right if they didn’t already have issues of their own. The thing that really drives the plot is the wife’s desire that her meek husband prove her love for her by standing up to criminal; to that end, she constantly sets up situations intending to force her husband’s hand, putting them all in danger that could have been avoided. The performances are stellar. Donald Pleasence is perfectly cast as the meek husband, especially as the movie progresses and he finds himself forced more and more to act out of character. Francoise Dorleac is also wonderful as the wife; she is the sister of Catherine Denueve, but whose career was cut short by a tragic car accident. Lionel Stander is also great. I’ve seen him many times before, or course, and generally found his characters enjoyable if a tad mannered. Here he comes across as extremely natural while retaining his charm; his criminal is perhaps the most likable character in the cast. The relationships are complex and fun; I particularly enjoy the sequence where the criminal has to pretend to be the couple’s gardener/servant when relatives of the husband show up out of the blue.

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Crime Doctor’s Man Hunt (1946)

CRIME DOCTOR’S MAN HUNT (1946)
Article 3273 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-5-2010
Posting Date: 7-31-2010
Directed by William Castle
Featuring Warner Baxter, Ellen Drew, William Frawley
Country: USA
What it is: Crime Doctor mystery

When Dr. Ordway discovers that one of his patients has been murdered by two men, he contacts the police. Though the initial investigation leads to a dead end, Ordway begins to follow his few leads and begins to piece together the crime.

Sometimes just checking IMDB can give you the extra clue you need to solve a mystery, and I don’t necessarily mean the plot summaries or the user comments. Occasionally, I have the cast list up while watching a movie so I can identify certain actors and actresses, and one performer was giving such an odd performance that I decided to check who it was. In the process, I discovered that the cast list did not list one character in the movie at all, and this one detail, combined with what I had already observed, and taking into account the nature of the Crime Doctor movies (Ordway is a psychiatrist, and the solutions to the mysteries usually have a psychological angle to them), I was able to figure out the surprise ending long before we reached it. Granted, reading the tagline of the movie (also on IMDB) might have also given me that clue.

Well, nevertheless, I do rather enjoy the Crime Doctor movies, and this one is no exception. Some interesting names pop up in the cast; William Frawley is the police inspector, an uncredited Myron Healey is the murder victim (the opening scene of him walking past a succession of gaming booths is a highlight of the movie), and Olin Howland who does a nice comic cameo as a phrenologist. The fantastic content is pretty sketchy; the various mental conditions at play here hint at the horror theme of madness, there is a slightly spooky deserted house, and one plot element has to do with a fortune teller. None of these are really strong enough to nudge the movie into horror territory, so I’ve consigned it to the world of marginalia.

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Charlie Chan’s Murder Cruise (1940)

CHARLIE CHAN’S MURDER CRUISE (1940)
Article 3272 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-4-2010
Posting Date: 7-30-2010
Directed by Eugene Forde
Featuing Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, Robert Lowery
Country: USA
What it is: Charlie Chan mystery

When a close friend from Scotland Yard is strangled in his office, Charlie Chan investigates. He knows the killer is one of several people taking part in a cruise party, so he goes along with the cruise in order to catch the killer.

As corny as the aphorism gimmick is, I couldn’t help but notice in this movie how much of Charlie Chan’s heart and soul are captured in these little observational nuggets; because Chan is required to be calm and objective on the surface, it is here (thanks to the solid writing and Sidney Toler’s fine performance) that his wit and humanity are allowed to shine through. This is definitely part of the charm of the Chan movies. This one has a fun cast that includes Lionel Atwill, Charles Middleton and Leo G. Carroll, who I didn’t recognize immediately because I’m used to seeing him a bit older. The mystery is entertaining and clever, even threatening to break the “red herring” rule at one point. The fantastic aspects here are harder to pin down; the opening scenes imply that the murderer is a serial killer of sorts, but I don’t really see how the story effectively explains murders that were previously committed to the ones that occurred here, even though it is these that bring the Scotland Yard detective into the story in the first place. In my mind, these don’t really qualify as serial-type killings. The other fantastic content is also implied; a female spiritualist is one of the suspects, but little is made of this; there isn’t even a seance scene. So, enjoyable as this one is, it’s too marginal to really belong to the fantastic genres.

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The Birth of the Robot (1936)

THE BIRTH OF THE ROBOT (1936)
Animated short
Article 3271 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-3-2010
Posting Date: 7-28-2010
Directed by Len Lye
No voice cast
Country: UK
What it is: Surreal puppet-style animation

Venus uses her music to turn a man who died in the desert to a robot to run the world.

No plot description really seems to be adequate to describe this surreal industrial short made by Shell Oil. The basic upshot of the short is that in ancient days, the world was turned by hand, but in these modern times, we need a robot to turn the world, and that robot will need lubrication. In between we get same strange scenes of a man driving an anthropomorphic car over the pyramids. The man and the car get caught in a storm, have hallucinations, and die. Then a rain of oil turns the skeleton of the man into a robot. You’ll be scratching your head for most of it, but, if you’re like me, you’ll enjoy it all the same. I found this one on YouTube; hopefully, it will still be there when I finally publish this one.

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