Francis in the Haunted House (1956)

FRANCIS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE (1956)
Article 2840 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-15-2009
Posting Date: 5-23-2009
Directed by Charles Lamont
Featuring Mickey Rooney, Virginia Welles, James Flavin
Country: USA

Francis the talking mule tries to save his friend, David Prescott, from getting involved in a series of murders happening at the MacLeod estate. When Prescott becomes a suspect, Francis must solve the case to clear him.

This could be described as a departure for the Francis the Talking Mule series; Donold O’Connor departed from the series (to be replace by Mickey Rooney), Chill Wills (the voice of Francis) departed from the series (to be replaced by Paul Frees doing a Chill Wills impersonation), and the series itself would depart after this entry. Actually, to me it smacks somewhat of desperation; the haunted house story is a common entry in many series comedies, and the decision to rely on it here feels like a desire to revert to formula, or, to put it another way, a different formula than this series had used so far. After all, this series is a prime example of running a concept into the ground; any one movie of the series taken on its own has its good points, but taken in toto, one can see the dearth of creativity and imagination at work. Even this one gets most of its laughs by having people not believe Prescott when he tells of a talking mule, people fainting when they see the mule talk, the mule not talking in front of others when Prescott needs him to, etc. There’s a ghost of a knight on the loose in this one, but it’s a Scooby-Doo plot; after all, how can you expect people who buy the premise of a talking mule to accept the premise of a real ghost? Mickey Rooney really isn’t given a character to play with, and Paul Frees isn’t quite as good at the insults as Chill Wills was. The cast also features David Janssen as a police lieutenant, and Richard Deacon (from “The Dick Van Dyke Show”) as an attorney.

And, speaking of departures, this marks my departure from covering the Francis series – that is, until someone hits on the idea of a remake.

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Fame and the Devil (1949)

FAME AND THE DEVIL (1949)
Article 2839 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-14-2009
Posting Date: 5-22-2009
Directed by Mario Moncelli and Steno
Featuring Marcel Cerdan, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Mischa Auer
Country: Italy

A professor, hoping to win the heart of the woman he loves, ends up making a deal with the devil to have him take over the body of a celebrity.

Despite the presence of the devil rather than of an angel, this movie is basically a comic variation on HERE COMES MR. JORDAN. Some of the similarities are rather interesting, if inversions of the earlier movie; in JORDAN, our main character was initially a boxer, and in this one, the meek professor ends up inhabiting the body of a boxer at one point (played by real-life French boxer Marcel Cerdan). Also, he has a buddy who keeps running into him in his new forms; Carlo Acmpanini plays the equivalent to the James Gleason role. It’s all quite amusing, but it’s also rather predictable; about half way through the movie, I pretty much knew where it was going and had a strong inkling of what the final (overly-familiar) twist was going to be. Nevertheless, I still liked the movie, especially when I discovered the identity of the third celebrity he inhabits (which I won’t give away here). I saw the U.S. version, which is shorter than the original by ten minutes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the parts that got the axe had some political significance; the woman the professor loves works for an international diplomat (played very enjoyably by Mischa Auer). This one is minor, but fun.

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Dick Tracy’s Dilemma (1947)

DICK TRACY’S DILEMMA (1947)
Article 2838 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-13-2009
Posting Date: 5-21-2009
Directed by John Rawlins
Featuring Ralph Byrd, Lyle Latell, Kay Christopher
Country: USA

Dick Tracy investigates a fur theft. He discovers that one of the people involved is a hulking brute with a hook for a hand.

There’s not really much new here, but since this is a series I like, that’s all right by me. The horror element is provided by this movie’s “ugly face”, a hulking brute with a limp, a hook hand, and an affection for cats; he’s known as “The Claw”. Ian Keith steals the movie once again as the aging actor Vitamin Flintheart. The violence is once again a bit nastier than you might expect from a B movie. And, also once again, the character names occasional acknowledge the comic roots of the series. With this review, I have not completed the whole Dick Tracy series from the forties.

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Dead Ringer (1964)

DEAD RINGER (1964)
Article 2837 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-13-2009
Posting Date: 5-20-2009
Directed by Paul Henreid
Featuring Bette Davis, Karl Malden, Peter Lawford
Country: USA

Angered by the revelations she discovers at her twin sister’s husband’s funeral, a woman decides to kill her sister and take her place. She rapidly finds out that this will not be an easy task…

If I were using my own judgment as to whether a movie was genre or not rather than the judgment of my various sources for my hunt lists, I would not be covering this movie. Though the “good and evil” twins concept has been used in horror before (see Karloff’s THE BLACK ROOM, for example), it isn’t by nature necessarily a horror theme. Furthermore, the “good and evil” theme doesn’t really apply here; it is the supposedly “good” twin that commits the murder and substitutes herself for the “evil” twin, a reverse of what happened in the previously mentioned Karloff movie. Furthermore, the previous movie had a curse and a secret room that added some other touches of horror that this movie does not have. I suspect that if this movie is horror at all, it’s more in its ad campaign; I see a lot of images of Bette Davis juxtaposed with that of a skull, and that’s more horror than anything in the movie. I suspect this was done as a result of the success of the previous year’s WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?

That being said, I found myself initially disappointed by Bette Davis’s performance in this movie; during the first half of the movie, she comes off as somewhat awkward and uncomfortable, even in scenes where it’s not appropriate. This is especially true of the scenes where she appears as both of her roles together; I suspect that Davis didn’t really feel at ease with the concept, and these scenes especially feel unnatural. However, once Davis has to worry about playing only one of the characters, she’s extremely good; any awkwardness feels natural and entirely understandable, and I love the way she plays the scene where she figures out she can’t imitate her sister’s handwriting and comes up with a drastic solution to the problem. The movie also features a number of familiar faces in other roles; Karl Malden does a good job as a police Sergeant loved by one of the sisters, Peter Lawford is fine as the other sister’s lover, and Estelle Winwood is excellent in a small role as the dominatingly religious Dona Anna. George Macready is always a welcome face, but he’s really stuck in an unmemorable role. The performer I’ll probably most remember, though, is Cyril Delavanti as the butler; he’s one of those character actors with an instantly recognizable face, and he takes part in what for me is the most memorable scene of the movie, in which the beleaguered impostor sister discovers she has one real friend in the household.

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The Premonition (1976)

THE PREMONITION (1976)
Article 2836 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-12-2009
Posting Date: 5-19-2009
Directed by Robert Allen Schnitzer
Featuring Sharon Farrell, Edward Bell, Danielle Brisebois
Country: USA

The natural mother of a girl given up for adoption plots to kidnap the daughter from her new parents. Helping her is a carnival clown with a psychotic streak. Unbeknownst to her, however, the child’s adoptive mother has psychic powers…

At the time of this writing, this movie is sitting with a 2.1 rating on IMDB, which leads me to believe that the movie is held in very low esteem. The movie does have some real problems, and, if I wanted to, I could just bring those up and quickly dispense with the film. However, I can’t quite do that; there’s something unique and engaging about the basic story here. And some of the condemnations that could be thrown at this film I can’t quite swallow. First of all, horror fans will be mightily disappointed by this one, because it really isn’t a horror film; despite the fact that it has several people who could be described as not sane (one of which who is homicidal), it’s much more of a drama about psychic powers, and is best watched without any of the expectations you would have for a horror film. Also, the plot relies on what seems to be at first glance some outrageous coincidences; however, if you are willing to buy one of the central premises of the film (that a woman’s spirit has returned from the dead and is influencing the lives of the people in the movie), then it is possible to see the coincidences as manifestations of the dead woman’s power.

However, other problems aren’t disposed of that easily. The movie’s physical-world-vs-metaphysical-world theme is clumsy and distracting. Certain scenes misfire badly. There’s something a little shrill about the movie as a whole (especially the mother’s psychic visions), despite the fact that it makes effective use of subtlety here and there. The biggest problem, though, is that the character of the adoptive mother is unconvincing; we’re supposed to feel for her and be caught up in her suffering and pain, but she often comes across as mentally unbalanced, and seems no saner than either the real mother or the psychotic clown. As a result, I found it very hard to warm up to her, and that feeling is necessary for the movie to have its emotional impact.

In short, the movie is badly flawed, though I still think it’s much better than a 2.1 rating would suggest. Still, it’s easy to see how some people might hate the movie, so use your own judgment. If you do give it a try, I suggest one thing; set aside your usual horror expectations.

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Adventures of Sir Galahad (1949)

ADVENTURES OF SIR GALAHAD (1949)
Serial
Article 2835 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-10-2009
Posting Date: 5-18-2009
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
Featuring George Reeves, Nelson Leigh, William Fawcett
Country: USA

When the sword Excalibur is stolen under the nose of Galahad (who seeks to become a knight of the round table), he must recover the sword to prove both his worth and his innocence.

This serial has enormous novelty value. It stars TV’s first Superman, George Reeves, as the title character, and his performance adds a lot of charm to the proceedings. It’s also nice to see a serial touching upon new territory; King Arthur movies are nothing new, but this is the only serial I know of on the subject. I also like the fact that the magical characters actually use magic; William Fawcett in particular seems to be having a lot of fun with his magical hand gestures. Another advantage is that the Arthurian settings means the serial can’t rely on the tired “bail out” cliffhangers so common to the form; in fact, the movie can only dredge up one of that ilk here. This compensates somewhat for the fact that, despite all the novelty value, it really is just a rehash of common serial elements in different clothing. Also, you may not want to pay too close attention to the story, which is a mess; just try to figure out why Merlin does what he does half of the time. I actually had the most fun trying to see how far the movie would stray from the typical King Arthur legends; you won’t be fooled by the serial’s attempts to try to paint Merlin as a villain (at first), and if you can’t figure out the identity of the black knight long before the serial is over, you don’t know your King Arthur. Still, it would have been fun to see Paul Frees behind the mask; after all, he provides the black knight’s voice.

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Future Cop (1976)

FUTURE COP (1976)
TV-Movie
Article 2834 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-9-2009
Posting Date: 5-17-2009
Directed by Jud Taylor
Featuring Ernest Borgnine, Michael Shannon, John Amos
Country: USA

A street cop is assigned to do rookie duty with a new cop who is actually an android.

This is another one of those TV-Movies intended as a pilot of a series; in fact, this one actually did become a series, but it didn’t last very long. On premise alone, I would have suspected this one to be a stinker, but, oddly enough, I found it quite likable. Sure, it can’t resist the humorous possibilities of a literal-minded android confusing jargon-laced instructions (much as Hymie the robot did in “Get Smart”), but the movie downplays this approach and decides to actually create a bond between the human cop and his android partner. This is a pretty difficult trick to pull off, but when the movie manages to establish that men do indeed bond with machines (with a pinball machine as the catalyst), I bought into it, and the premise didn’t seem quite as silly. Oh, there are problems; when the movie tries too hard to tug at the heartstrings, it falters. I can also see why the series would have failed; it would have been rather difficult to maintain the delicate balance necessary for it to work. Nevertheless, I liked this one a lot more than I thought I would. Borgnine’s performance is a plus, and I like the decision not to make the android indestructible and superhuman. Though I will not be covering the series, I will see a follow-up movie called COPS AND ROBIN at some time in the future.

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La llorona (1960)

LA LLORONA (1960)
aka The Crying Woman
Article 2833 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-8-2009
Posting Date: 5-16-2009
Directed by Rene Cardona
Featuring Maria Elena Marques, Eduardo Fajardo, Luz Maria Aguilar
Country: Mexico

A man and a woman marry and have a child. Unfortunately, this brings on a curse known by the woman’s father; he tells his son-in-law the story of a female ancestor who, when her husband left her for another woman, killed her children. When a nanny shows up to care for the children, she has an uncanny resemblance to the female ancestor…

Once again, I’m doing a little guessing here; my copy of the movie is in unsubtitled Spanish. Still, I think I pretty much got the gist of it, though it required a bit of patience; I was quite a ways into the movie before I was able to pick up the threads of what was going on, and the nanny doesn’t show up until two-thirds of the way through the movie. However, I don’t think this is one of the better Mexican horror movies; in fact, some of the attempts the nanny makes on the life of the child have a comic touch about them that I suspect wasn’t intentional; I don’t feel this was supposed to be a comedy in any way. The story was based on a legend, and was adapted from a play version. My usual source for plot details of some of these Mexican movies, Robert Cotter’s “The Mexican Masked Wrestler and Monster Filmography” didn’t have a plot description, but it has a quote from the pressbook which I suspect would prove to be a translation of the opening narration, and this is rather entertaining in itself.

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Crime Doctor’s Warning (1945)

CRIME DOCTOR’S WARNING (1945)
Article 2832 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-7-2009
Posting Date: 5-15-2009
Directed by William Castle
Featuring Warner Baxter, John Litle, Dusty Anderson
Country: USA

Dr. Ordway is consulted on the murder of a model. He has a patient who suffers blackouts who may be connected to the crime, a possibility that exists when a model he’s been using also ends up murdered.

For the second day in a row, I find myself dealing with artists and models, albeit in a distinctly different genre. And, as it was yesterday, the fantastic content is pretty slight; we have a character with multiple personalities, hypnotism is used at one point, and a wax sculpture turns up. I do like the Crime Doctor series; they’re efficient and solidly told, but ultimately the story here doesn’t quite satisfy, and the ending is a letdown; when you get right down to it, the various story elements don’t really mesh as well as they could. John Abbott shows up as a silhouettist who is one of the suspects, and Eduardo Ciannelli appears as an overly colorful male model who resents the overuse of beautiful women in the trade. Still, for a b-movie, this is quite watchable.

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Artists and Models (1955)

ARTISTS AND MODELS (1955)
Article 2831 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-6-2009
Posting Date: 5-14-2009
Directed by Frank Tashlin
Featuring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Shirley MacLaine
Country: USA

An out-of-work artist finds a job at a comic book agency and uses the dreams of his roommate to help him with story ideas.

This is a so-so Lewis and Martin comedy, but I found myself wondering about just what type of movie it was and did a little musing on the subject. In some ways, it’s like the Bing Crosby / Bob Hope road movies; basically, the Jerry Lewis / Dean Martin comedy team paired a singer with a comedian, both of whom would have separate careers outside of the pairing. However, it lacks the offhand casualness of the Road movies. It’s also reminiscent of old-style musical comedies; like them, the story doesn’t matter (nobody is really taking it very seriously here), and it seems to exist mostly for the musical numbers (some comic, some straight). The comic setpieces are rather cartoonish, which is what I’d expect from Frank Tashlin, who began his career making animated cartoons. There’s also plenty of pulchritude in the movie; there’s a lot of women in the cast showing off as much of their charms as the times could allow. I can see why Lewis and Martin eventually broke up the team; the partnership must have been rather limiting for them both, especially Lewis. As entertainment, it’s passable enough, but, for the record, I only got one real laugh out of the movie, and that was from a comment Lewis made when he meets a mother who visits the publishing office of a comic book and tells the publisher he’s responsible for her child. The movie also features an early performance by Shirley MacLaine, and, given her mystical beliefs, it’s interesting to see her playing a character who embraces astrology and numerology.

Oh, and the fantastic content? It’s pretty marginal; the comic book publishing setting gives us some superhero thrills by proxy, and the plot eventually turns to spies and espionage when one of Lewis’s dreams reveals the first half of a formula for a new rocket fuel. However, these touches remain very minor indeed, and personally, I wouldn’t qualify this movie as belonging to the fantastic genres.

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