Steel Dawn (1987)

STEEL DAWN (1987)
Article 3130 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-22-2009
Posting Date: 3-10-2010
Directed by Lance Hool
Featuring Patrick Swayze, Lisa Niemi, Anthony Zerbe
Country: USA
What it is: Post-apocalyptic compendium of action cliches

It’s after the apocalypse. A wandering soldier witnesses the assassination of his old teacher by a hired sword. He hooks up with a farming family who were going to be under his former teacher’s protection, and seeks to save them from the machinations of an evil man intent on controlling all the water in the region.

Patrick Swayze makes a fine action hero, and Anthony Zerbe and Christopher Neame make for good villains, so I don’t really have issues with the acting here. It’s the script that is sleepwalking through the movie. It’s a rehash of THE ROAD WARRIOR, only without the motor vehicles, so we get a lot more walking. What it doesn’t borrow from THE ROAD WARRIOR, it culls from any number of western and action movies, and though the odd moment here or there may show a bit of creativity, the movie is otherwise totally lacking in surprises.

You know, you can just tell when you’re in the eighties…

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Faust (1960)

FAUST (1960)
Article 3129 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-21-2009
Posting Date: 3-9-2010
Directed by Peter Gorski and Gustaf Grundgens
Featuring Will Quadflieg, Gustaf Grundgens, Ella Buchi
Country: West Germany
What it is: Classic sell-your-soul-to-the-devil drama

Faust sells his soul to the devil.

This movie is for all practical reasons a photographed stage play of the first part of Goethe’s classic story of Faust that runs for over two hours long and is in unsubtitled German. If that’s enough for you to throw in the towel before you’ve even gotten wet… well, I can appreciate that; if I weren’t a committed fool to this project, I’d probably do the same. Those who persist will find some incredibly good acting, especially from Gustaf Grundgens, who had been essaying the role of Mephisto for three decades; as always, I maintain that good acting can be spotted even if you don’t understand the language. It also makes some real effort to keep the “photographed stage play” approach from getting too stodgy; changes in camera angles, close-ups, and occasional cinematic special effects enliven the production. As for not understanding the movie, that can be easily solved by grabbing a translation of Goethe’s work and reading it in preparation for the viewing, as I suspect this version is quite faithful to it. I didn’t quite have the time to prepare, and though I’ve read the original play many years ago, I barely remember it and recall it being a difficult read. There’s also a mind-blowing sequence that pops in about fifteen minutes before the movie is over, and it makes some rather creative use of atomic bomb stock footage. It’s quite interesting, albeit intimidating, but I’ll make sure I’m more prepared when I watch a second time.

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Ein Unsichtbarer geht durch die Stadt (1933)

EIN UNSICHTBARER GEHT DURCH DIE STADT (1933)
aka An Invisible Man Goes Through the Town
Article 3128 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-20-2009
Posting Date: 3-8-2010
Directed by Harry Piel
Featuring Harry Piel, Fritz Odemar, Lissy Arna
Country: Germany
What it is: German invisibility drama/comedy

A cabbie discovers that a suitcase left behind by a passenger contains an outfit that turns him invisible. He uses the outfit to make his fortune at the racetrack. However, his outfit is stolen by someone planning on using it to rob banks, and he embarks on a chase of the criminal.

IMDB doesn’t classify this one as a comedy, but, despite the fact that my copy is in unsubtitled German, I do get the feeling that the first part of the movie at least is played for laughs. As is usual when I cover movies not in English, you should take the above plot description with a grain of salt. The special effects aren’t quite up to the level of the Universal’s THE INVISIBLE MAN, but they work well enough. The movie is fairly ordinary, but it does have some good moments; some of the scenes have a nice scary sense of what it might be like to face off with an unseen adversary, and the extended chase leads to an amazing sequence involving an airship. Unfortunately, the action sequence ends with a disappointing thud, so I’m afraid I can’t quite recommend the movie. Harry Piel would go on to direct a couple more science fiction movies with DIE WELTE OHNE MASKE and DER HERR DER WELT.

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Dead Men Tell (1941)

DEAD MEN TELL (1941)
Article 3127 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-19-2009
Posting Date: 3-7-2010
Directed by Harry Lachman
Featuring Sidney Toler, Sheila Ryan, Robert Weldon
Country: USA
What it is: Charlie Chan mystery with some spooky touches

Here’s another entry in the Charlie Chan series, many of which I’ve already covered for this series. As usual, the horror element is slighter than it is in a real horror movie (this is a mystery), but it’s actually strong enough here that I can see why this one qualifies. Part of the story revolves around an ancestral peg-legged hook-handed pirate whose ghost appears to members of his family at the moment of their deaths, and the first appearance of the “ghost” here is genuinely eerie. Sidney Toler is charming as usual as Chan, and some of the other cast members are interesting; George Reeves plays a reporter who is not what he seems, and Milton Parsons plays – no, not an undertaker, but a neurotic man who occasionally can’t control certain desires. There’s a talking parrot here, but fortunately he’s not overused for comic purposes, and even plays a part in the solution of the mystery. All in all, this is an enjoyable entry in the series.

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Pulgarcito (1957)

PULGARCITO (1957)
aka Tom Thumb
Article 3126 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-18-2009
Posting Date: 3-6-2010
Directed by Rene Cardona
Featuring Maria Elena Marques, Jose Elias Morena, Cesareo Quezadas ‘Pulgarcito’
Country: Mexico
What it is: Mexican fairy tale

The diminutive Pulgarcito must save himself and his six normal-sized brothers from an ogre.

After having sat through two rather dry German fairy tale movies, I welcomed the opportunity to catch a Mexican fairy tale movie, even one that hadn’t been dubbed into English. At the very least, you can count on a Mexican children’s movie to have a strong sense of fun and energy, and this one does. Granted, it’s not as fascinatingly bizarre as some other children’s movies I’ve seen from Mexico (LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, for example), but I found this one entertaining enough. One thing that surprised me is that the special effects were actually not too bad; you can pretty much figure out the various camera tricks that were employed to make Pulgarcito seem as small as he is, but the illusion is sustained. Even in a scene where the ogre reaches for Pulgarcito where you can tell that the hand is fake, nonetheless the editing is brisk enough that the camera doesn’t dwell on the effect overmuch, and the hand moves convincingly enough that the illusion is sustained. For me, one of the funniest moments in the movie is when Pulgarcito gets the upper hand on the ogre by teaching the ogre’s wife and children hygiene and manners. The young actor who plays Pulgarcito would reprise the role five years later in LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE MONSTERS.

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The Spirit is Willing (1967)

THE SPIRIT IS WILLING (1967)
Article 3125 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-17-2009
Posting Date: 3-5-2010
Directed by William Castle
Featuring Sid Caesar, Vera Miles, Barry Gordon
Country: USA
What it is : Tepid ghost comedy

A couple moves into a haunted house with their teenage son. The ghosts play havoc with their lives.

Despite my real affection for William Castle and his horror movies, I tend to be less taken with his attempts at comedies. In a sense I find this surprising; the trailers for his movies are some of the most hilarious I’ve seen, and he himself has a wicked sense of humor. But somehow, that humor gets left behind when he directs a comedy. I was not impressed with either THE OLD DARK HOUSE (Castle’s version) or ZOTZ, and both of those are better than this one. It’s too laid back and aimless to be effective, and the mood sometimes gets shrill (such as when everyone is yelling at each other) or glum (when the wife believes that her husband is cheating on her). Furthermore, the movie misses every opportunity to add a few shudders to the mix, largely because the movie is blanketed throughout with a rinky-dink musical score that just screams “COMEDY”. It’s a bit of a shame; the cast is pretty impressive; it’s loaded with a whole slew of familiar faces, and you just wish the movie would give the actors something to do. As it is, I barely smiled, much less laughed, though one sight gag (when we finally spot Felicity at the birthday party) did raise a single chuckle. But one chuckle does not make a comedy, and I found this one fairly interminable.

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Snow White (1955)

SNOW WHITE (1955)
aka Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge
Article 3124 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-16-2009
Posting Date: 3-4-2010
Directed by Erich Kobler
Featuring Elke Arendt, Addi Adametz, Niels Clausnitzer
Country: West Germany
What it is: Another German fairy tale

When her magic mirror informs an evil queen that her stepdaughter named Snow White is more beautiful than her, she plans to have her murdered. However, Snow White takes refuge in a cottage inhabited by seven dwarfs. However, the evil queen is not so easily thwarted…

We follow up yesterday’s movie with another German version of a classic fairy tale by the same director. Well, at least the story of Snow White has more story to begin with than “The Shoemaker and the Elves”, and if you need to figure out how to stretch it to a full-length movie, you have a handy version from Disney that can give you a few pointers. Most of the differences between the two versions seem to be a matter of this version hewing closer to the original fairy tale; in this one, for example, the wicked queen makes three visits to the dwarfs’ cottage, with a poison belt and a poison comb taking the place of the apple for the first two visits. The movie does have a certain fairy tale quality to it, but, to my eyes, it adds very little new to the tale. Sometimes you have to face the fact that a children’s movie is indeed for children, and I suspect a young child who hadn’t been introduced to the Disney version would find this one acceptable. However, it is one you would probably not bother watching with them. Well, at least this one was dubbed into English.

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Die Heinzelmannchen (1956)

DIE HEINZELMANNCHEN (1956)
aka The Shoemaker and the Elves
Article 3123 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-15-2009
Posting Date: 3-3-2010
Directed by Erich Kobler
Featuring Nora Minor, Dietrich Thoms, Elke Arendt
Country: West Germany
What it is: Fairy tale

Every 100 years, elves appear in a small town and help the villagers with their work. They help a shoemaker, a baker, and a tailor. They also have to contend with a thief and a shrewish wife.

Just how long can you watch a group of children dressed up as elves do work to sprightly music without wanting to take a nap? I’m willing to bet that it’s not half the amount of time that this movie dedicates to showing you that very thing. The first twenty minutes introduces the human characters; the shoemaker, the tailor, and the baker and their respective families, as well as the thief and the local constabulary. Then we get a good thirty minutes of toiling elves, and that’s a good twenty-five minutes too long. The littlest elf does a few magic tricks for us to enliven things (to no avail), and the action is interrupted by a slapstick sequence in which the elves outwit a thief, another scene that wears out its welcome before its done. After this nonstop whimsy, we have another ten minutes of villagers reacting to the elves’ work while an elf who failed to vanish with the others at daybreak must elude capture. Then it’s night again, and the elves come back and…start working some more. After five minutes more of this they have a little change of pace (so you can stop climbing the walls) by having one of the elves break into a drum solo, and the other elves start playing along on makeshift instruments of their own (and guess what? They’re awful!) And then the shrewish wife tries to capture them, and I’ll be merciful and not give away the ending of the movie.

I found this one on YouTube in undubbed German, but it doesn’t really matter; after the first twenty minutes, there’s very little dialogue, and it’s not as if the story is unfamiliar in the first place. However, I suspect even children will have their patience tried by this one; there’s only so much whimsy you can get out of working elves, and that whimsy gets spread way too thin here.

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Savage Abduction (1973)

SAVAGE ABDUCTION (1973)
aka Cycle Psycho
Article 3122 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-14-2009
Posting Date: 3-2-2010
Directed by John Lawrence
Featuring Joe Turkel, Steve Oliver, Sean Kenney
Country: USA
What it is: Psycho killer flick with bikers

A lawyer hires a psycho sex fiend to kill his wife, but finds himself blackmailed by the psycho to find him more women to kill. To that end, the lawyer hires a biker gang to kidnap two young girls for the psycho’s pleasure.

Take PSYCHO, mix with a biker movie and throw in a little LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, and what do you have? If you’re not sure yet, be aware that the director and writer for this one also gave us the script for THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT. There are three types of characters here; the repulsive ones, the stupid ones, and the stupid repulsive ones. Many wrong-headed decisions are made; I can understand playing biker-style music whenever the biker gang is tooling around, but whoever decided that the psycho’s theme song should be a lyrical singer-songwriter ditty has his head screwed on wrong. It even seems as if they’re trying to play the psycho with a comic spin; for example, he gleefully sharpens his cutlery in preparation for his fun and tries to comfort the two scared girls by showing the body bag he’s brought along. These moments are not only wrong-headed and offensive, they’re not really funny, either. In the end, the movie is sleazy, trashy and stupid, which I’m sure some folks will take as a recommendation; they can have it.

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Twins of Evil (1971)

TWINS OF EVIL (1971)
Article 3121 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-13-2009
Posting Date: 3-1-2010
Directed by John Hough
Featuring Peter Cushing, Madeleine Collinson, Mary Collinson
Country: UK
What it is: Hammer Karnstein vampire tale

Female twins, upon the death of their parents, come to live with their aunt and uncle. The uncle leads a brotherhood that has been chasing and burning witches. However, he doesn’t know that he’s actually up against vampires, with the evil Count Karnstein as their leader. And the evil count has his eyes on one of the twins…

It’s your typical Hammer vampire movie with a WITCHFINDER GENERAL subplot and a smidgen of THE CORSICAN BROTHERS added to the mix. The subplot is the key element here, and the movie makes good use of it by casting Peter Cushing as the witch-hunting uncle. Cushing emphasizes the complexity of his character; he is not an evil man so much as one whose fanaticism has caused him to deeply compromise his character through rashness, and his inability to stop and consider whether his victims are truly guilty or chosen out of convenience is his fatal flaw. The situation is further complicated by the added element of political necessity; the villagers are afraid to take on the count because they fear retribution from the emperor. These elements add some much deeper subtexts to the usual violence, gore and sex of the Hammer formula. Dennis Price had a potentially interesting role as a man who provides perverse entertainment for the Count, but ultimately the story doesn’t know what to do with the character, and he is conveniently taken out of the way. All in all, I found this one a very satisfying Hammer production, especially for this point in their history.

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