Hiroku Kaibyoden (1969)

HIROKU KAIBYODEN (1969)
aka The Haunted Castle
Article 3140 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-11-2010
Posting Date: 3-20-2010
Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka
Featuring Kojiro Hongo, Naomi Kobayashi, Rokko Toura
Country: Japan
What it is: Japanese horror film

A lord’s family and house are haunted by a murderous ghost cat that turns into a female vampire.

Given that the print I saw was in unsubtitled Japanese, I’m hard pressed to ferret out plot details, but the situation is familiar; it’s your basic “revenge from beyond the grave” tale. It’s very moody, and makes excellent use of color, shadow, startling imagery (including a scene where a cat laps up the blood of a woman who has committed suicide), and especially sound; I watched this one on my computer with headphones, and the sudden shrieks and noises are really effective. The music is mostly effective, though there were a few times where certain musical motifs were overused. It’s based on a legendary “ghost cat” story from Japan, and this is the first version I’ve seen, and the thrust of the story isn’t really a whole lot different than the various “Ghost of Yotsuya” movies I’ve seen; the concept that ghosts will lure you into killing those around you is used at one point.

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El asesino invisible (1965)

EL ASESINO INVISIBLE (1965)
aka Neutron Traps the Invisible Killer
Article 3139 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-10-2009
Posting Date: 3-19-2010
Directed by Rene Cardona
Featuring Jorge Rivera, Ana Bertha Lepe, Guillermo Murray
Country: Mexico
What it is: Mexican wrestler vs invisible man movie

The wrestler “The Golden Mask” must do battle with a homicidal invisible man.

For a while, this looked like it was going to be the Neutron movie I’d never see. In truth, I’d already seen all of the Neutron movies; this, despite the presence of Neutron’s name in the English version of the movie, does not feature Neutron, but a one-off wrestler called The Golden Mask, who, like Neutron, seems to be an actor rather than a real wrestler. Nevertheless, there are three wrestling scenes in this one. The first is at the very top of the movie, and I don’t remember if The Golden Mask was in it because I didn’t know what he was going to look like at the time. I know he isn’t in the second wrestling scene at all, and, though he appears in the third, that’s the only one that appears crucial to the plot, as the invisible man gets into the act. We do get plenty of nightclub scenes featuring Ana Bertha Lepe (who, based on seeing her name emblazoned across the marquee of the nightclub, appears to be playing herself), and some of her dances are pretty sexy. Still, I wouldn’t trust her with a gun; every time the invisible man shows up, she starts shooting all over the place. My copy is unsubtitled Spanish, and is a little difficult to follow, though I was able to pick up at least one plot element that gave me a clue to what was probably supposed to be a surprise ending. There’s a couple of clever moments (including one with a lynx), but overall, this isn’t one of the more memorable Mexican wrestler movies.

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Les allumettes fantaisistes (1912)

LES ALLUMETTES FANTAISISTES (1912)
aka Magical Matches
Article 3138 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-8-2009
Posting Date: 3-17-2010
Directed by Emile Cohl
No cast
Country: France
What it is: Animated abstract fantasy

Matches come to life, cavort, dance, and form themselves into figures who smoke.

I’m not sure if this is exactly the movie I’ve been hunting for, but I’ll review it anyway, as this type of abstract animation could be classified as a fantasy. This is the first movie I’ve seen by pioneer animator Emile Cohl, and it is utterly charming. There’s no plot; it jumps between pure abstraction and scenes about animated smokers; one smokes from a bewildering array of pipes, while another has his cigarette lit by any number of lighting devices. This can be found online at the Europa Film Treasures site, and is well worth hunting up.

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The Wandering Jew (1904)

THE WANDERING JEW (1904)
aka Le juif errant
Article 3137 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-7-2010
Posting Date: 3-17-2010
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Melies trick film, though on the more serious side

The Wandering Jew dreams of the event that brought about his curse, and then is tormented by a devil and has visions of the Mother of God.

I had given up this Melies short for lost some time ago, but while researching another movie on my hunt list, I discovered a site called the Europa Film Treasures that had it online. It’s Melies in a more somber mood than usual, and the backgrounds, though obviously painted, look much more realistic. In some ways, this is one of Melies’s more impressive shorts; I especially like the lightning that flashes across the sky at the end of the movie. I’m always glad when I can retrieve a movie from my lost list and add it to my watched list.

****NOTE**** This movie also became available through the new collection of Melies shorts from Flicker Alley.

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Marguerite de la nuit (1955)

MARGUERITE DE LA NUIT (1955)
aka Marguerite of the Night
Article 3136 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-6-2010
Posting Date: 3-15-2010
Directed by Claude Autant-Lara
Featuring Michele Morgan, Yves Montand, Jean Debucourt
Country: Italy/France
What it is: Updated Faust story

An old doctor sells his soul to the devil to possess the beautiful Marguerite, but finds his joy may be short-lived…

I finally got a chance to watch this movie, and, even though my copy is in unsubtitled French, I found it quite enjoyable. It helped, of course, to have a certain familiarity with the Faust story to begin with, but it helps that there are some excellent performances here from Michele Morgan and Yves Montand (I’ve come to discover that, even in a language you don’t understand, good acting shines through) and from some stunning set design and excellent use of color. In some ways, it looks like a Douglas Sirk movie with touches of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI around the edges. The sets look artificial, but this is intentional, and I think that the opening scene in which we watch the final scene of an opera about Faust hints that the movie itself is no less staged than the opera. The first thirty minutes work best, as I love the visual touches and tricks, such as the cigarette that won’t go out, the shadow of the hand, and the bright red entrance of the nightclub which makes it look like a descent into hell. Things get a big draggy in the middle, and it took a while for me to pick up from the visual clues just where the story was going, but I eventually figured it out. Granted, it would have been better had I had English subtitles to help, but as far as watching movies in foreign languages go, I found this was one of the easier ones to follow.

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Come rubammo la bomba atomica (1967)

COME RUBAMMO LA BOMBA ATOMICA (1967)
aka How We Stole the Atomic Bomb
Article 3135 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-2-2010
Posting Date: 3-15-2010
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Featuring Franco Franchi, Ciccio Ingrassia, Julie Menard
Country: Italy/Egypt
What it is: Spy parody

A fisherman witnesses the crash of an American Air Force plane believed to be carrying an atomic bomb. He becomes the target of spies who believes he has information about the bomb.

So far the only Franco and Ciccio movie I’ve seen in English is DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS, a movie that was not only a sequel to an American movie but featured an American star in the form of Vincent Price. In other words, I suspect that Franco and Ciccio weren’t the main attraction to English-speaking audiences, and I suppose it’s not surprising that all of the other movies I’ve seen of theirs I’ve only been able to find in unsubtitled Italian. Fortunately, IMDB had a full plot synopsis that I was able to follow to help me here.

For what it’s worth, Franco (the short one addicted to shouting and mugging) is slightly less annoying here than usual, though it doesn’t really help much (he needs to be a LOT less annoying). Initially, they don’t work as a team here; Franco is the fisherman, and Ciccio is a down-on-his-luck spy whose career is dependent on finding the bomb in question. It’s only in the latter half of the movie that they spend a lot of time working together. The plot itself isn’t too bad as far as these things go, and the fantastic content, outside of the marginal spy content, actually delves a bit into horror when one of the villains is trying to use the bomb to revive an Egyptian mummy. The humor even takes an ominous satirical turn towards the end, when the two comedians become for all practical reasons international terrorists. Still, the funniest thing about the movie has little to do with the duo; there’s a trio of of competing spies all trying to get their hands on the bomb who are so busy fighting each other they let their real prey get away. Outside of that, the comic highlight is seeing Ciccio strapped to a butt-kicking machine. Now, if only it had been Franco…

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Habeas Corpus (1928)

HABEAS CORPUS (1928)
Article 3134 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-26-2009
Posting Date: 3-14-2010
Directed by Leo McCarey and James Parrott
Featuring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Richard Carle
Country: USA
What it is: Classic comedy with macabre overtones

A mad professor hires two panhandlers to procure him a body from the local cemetery.

It’s great to see another Laurel and Hardy short, and this marks the first of their silent shorts I’ve seen. It’s a fun idea to put these two in a Burke-and-Hare scenario; even though some of the humorous content is obvious (Stan is scared), it’s still timed so well it works. Still, despite the visual gags, my favorite moment is a verbal (albeit in title cards) one in which Hardy reassures Laurel about the sanity of the professor. There’s a man disguised as a ghost and a bat to add to the horror content.

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Christmas Carol (1914)

CHRISTMAS CAROL (1914)
Article 3133 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-25-2009
Posting Date: 3-13-2010
Directed by Harold M. Shaw
Featuring Charles Rock, Edna Flugarth, George Bellamy
Country: UK
What it is: Version of the perennial Dickens classic

Scrooge is visited by three spirits who teach him the true meaning of Christmas.

At only about ten minutes, there’s not a whole lot an adaptation like this can do with the source material. However, it does manage to fit a nice little character moment I haven’t seen in the other versions I’ve seen; when Scrooge turns down the gentlemen seeking a contribution to help the poor, Bob Cratchit eagerly manages to cough up a small coin of his own to contribute. It’s moments like these which make me realize how even a small adaptation can have a surprise or two up its sleeve. Still, as usual with versions this short, the story is short-changed; the ghost of Christmas Future, for example, has only time to show Scrooge his own grave, which, if you think about it, really doesn’t prove anything. And for those of you checking the viewing dates of the movies I review, you may be surprised to notice that I actually did manage to watch this one on Christmas Day, which, given my refusal to plan my series around the holidays, marks a happy coincidence.

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In Search of the Castaways (1962)

IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS (1962)
Article 3132 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-24-2009
Posting Date: 3-12-2010
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Featuring Maurice Chevalier, Hayley Mills, George Sanders
Country: USA
What it is: Vernian adventure

When a Frenchman finds a message in a bottle that indicates that a captain is still alive, he, along with the captain’s two children, convinces a British lord to use his yacht to begin a search for the missing man.

Disney returns to the works of Jules Verne for this colorful adventure film, though the fantastic content of the film seems to be much fainter; THE MOTION PICTURE GUIDE describes it as a “fantasy/adventure”, but it’s only marginally a fantasy, and I can’t even point to a specific element that makes it qualify, unless the existence of a giant condor qualifies. It’s also a much more lighthearted effort; it’s even partially a musical, with Maurice Chevalier crooning a couple of songs during the movie. It’s almost impossible to take the movie seriously, especially when the adventures ride down a snow covered mountain in the Andes on a piece of cliff dislodged by an earthquake. In fact, this movie somewhat reminds me of the Indiana Jones movies in terms of the action setpieces. The cast also includes Wilfred Hyde-White as the lord, and features a cameo from Roger Delgado as a sailor held hostage.

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That Riviera Touch (1966)

THAT RIVIERA TOUCH (1966)
Article 3131 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-23-2009
Posting Date: 3-11-2010
Directed by Cliff Owen
Featuring Eric Morecambe, Ernie Wise, Suzanne Lloyd
Country: UK
What it is: Basic comedy team shtick

Two traffic wardens take a vacation in France, but are targeted by jewel thieves who plan to use them to unwittingly smuggle a stolen necklace out of the country.

Eric Morecombe and Ernie Wise appear to be a comedy team from England; I don’t know how well known they are outside of their native country, but I’ve not heard of them until now. As a team, they’re okay; they have good chemistry with each other, and show a decent sense of timing. However, there’s really nothing special about them that sets them apart, and the movie itself is pretty routine; I could easily see Abbott and Costello in the same story. As for the fantastic content, it’s on the thin side; the duo end up staying at a rather creepy villa, and though no one says outright that it’s haunted, there’s a running gag with Morecombe constantly finding dead bodies that disappear.

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