The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)

THE GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY (1972)
Article 2081 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-26-2006
Posting Date: 4-24-2007
Directed by Lamont Johnson
Featuring George Peppard, Michael Sarrazin, Christine Belford

The only survivor of an explosion in a secret government installation is a man known to be a spy now suffering from amnesia. A government agent vows to get the truth out of him, and then decides to let him escape in order to use him for bait to catch the people behind him.

This movie put me off initially; the direction is rather uninvolving, the acting is uneven, and the dialogue is sometimes quite awful. However, there’s an excellent story in the center, and once the story gets moving, the movie’s problems take a back seat and the ride becomes quite enjoyable. The first three-quarters of the movie works in a pretty standard thriller mode, but the last quarter takes some very interesting twists and ends with a memorable showdown between the two stars, George Peppard and Michael Sarrazin. The movie starts out as borderline science fiction (we never really know what was being worked on at Groundstar), but it veers much closer once we learn the twists in the final quarter of the movie. I can’t go into detail without giving away the end of the movie, but suffice it to say that it involves medical techniques that most likely didn’t exist at the time. The movie also deals with a theme that is quite topical indeed; to what lengths should the government be allowed to go to protect itself?

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Green Mansions (1959)

GREEN MANSIONS (1959)
Article 2080 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-25-2006
Posting Date: 4-23-2007
Directed by Mel Ferrer
Featuring Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, Lee J. Cobb

A political refugee escapes into the jungle in the hope of finding a lost city of gold with which he can finance his revenge. He encounters a primitive tribe that fears a mystical bird woman in a forbidden forest. He decides to investigate.

This is an interesting jungle melodrama in its way, but the cast is downright bizarre. I have no problem with Lee J. Cobb as an old man tortured with guilt, but I find it a little hard to buy Anthony Perkins as the courageous but vengeance-driven hero of the story, but he puts his best foot forward. It’s extremely odd to find Audrey Hepburn as a jungle woman, though she’s certainly lovely in the part. And any movie in which Henry Silva plays the son of Sessue Hayakawa is bound to give one pause. The fantastic content mostly consists of the mystical overtones of much of the action that surrounds the woman in the forbidden forest. There are biblical references to the Cain and Abel story from the Bible. It’s silly on occasion, effective on others, but it’s watchable enough.

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Tin Man (1935)

THE TIN MAN (1935)
Article 2079 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-24-2006
Posting Date: 4-22-2007
Directed by James Parrott
Featuring Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly, Matthew Betz

Two women and a escaped criminal find themselves trapped in a spooky house with a mad scientist and his robot.

One of the pleasures of this project is when a movie that has been sitting on my hunt list a long time finally manifests itself so I can watch it. This is true even when the movie in question isn’t very good. This was one of a series of short comedies Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly made in the early thirties until Thelma’s death in 1935. Most of the humor comes from their interaction with the robot, who drinks what I can only assume is oil, pours water on one of the women’s heads, and short-circuits when water is thrown on him. The escaped criminal gets the worst of it. It’s amusing enough, but the gags just aren’t strong enough to pass muster. Still, it’s nice to cross this one off the list at last.

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Girl from Starship Venus (1975)

THE GIRL FROM STARSHIP VENUS (1975)
aka THE SEXPLORER
Article 2078 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-23-2006
Posting Date: 4-21-2007
Directed by Derek Ford
Featuring Monika Ringwald, Mark Jones, Andrew Grant

An alien takes the form of a beautiful Earthling to investigate the customs and mores of the inhabitants of Earth.

Adventures in Movie Watching: For those of you paying attention, you’ll notice that the Viewing Date has skipped a day. There’s a reason for this. There’s a a movie from the mid-seventies which has been on my hunt list that I’ve been trying to acquire. I thought I had it and watched it yesterday, but it turns out out the movie I watched was not the movie I was hunting for. As it turns out, the movie I was looking for was a remake of a hardcore adult film of the same name made a couple of years earlier, and it was that film I viewed instead. It was only when I sat down to write my review and found that the movie didn’t match the IMDB entry that I realized what had happened.

Now, usually when this sort of thing happens, I just sit down and watch another movie and write my review of that one. However, since the movie I did see does qualify for my series (IMDB classifies it as Horror, and that is a source I will eventually use for my series), and because I didn’t want to have to watch the movie again when it does enter my hunt list (once was enough for this one, I say), I wrote a review of it and marked it as done. I won’t post it until it officially enters my hunt list.

I wouldn’t bother telling the above story except that my reaction to today’s movie hinges somewhat on my reaction of yesterday’s movie. Suffice it to say that yesterday’s movie was one of the most repugnant viewing experiences I’ve ever endured, and practically anything I watched afterwards would have been a relief. That’s why I actually kind of enjoyed this dumb British sex comedy; whereas in other circumstances I might have railed at its stupidity, in this case I found myself attracted to its shear innocuousness. Most of the humor is sexual in nature, and there is plenty of nudity on hand, but the humor is of a type that I generally find quite amusing; to wit, most of it is centered around the space aliens trying to make sense out of earth customs and coming up with seemingly logical but ludicrous explanations for the phenomena they see. As a result, I enjoyed it more than I expected I would. For me, this just demonstrates once again that your reaction to a movie may often be dependent on your reaction to what you’ve seen previously.

Still, I’ve spent the last three days watching three seriously oversexed movies. I’m really ready to move on.

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Perverse Countess (1974)

THE PERVERSE COUNTESS (1974)
aka LA COMTESSE PERVERSE, THE EVIL COUNTESS, LES CROQUEUSES
Article 2077 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-21-2006
Posting Date: 4-20-2007
Directed by Jesus Franco
Featuring Alice Arno, Howard Vernon, Kali Hansa

An evil count and countess lure beautiful women to their island and hunts them (among other things).

Yes, it’s Franco again. This is supposed to be a variation of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, and I suppose it is; it’s kind of hard to follow the plot between the endless scenes involving bodies thrashing about, which account for about fifty percent of the movie. Of the remaining half of the movie, most of that consists of women either standing around naked, sitting around naked, or in the process of getting undressed. Given that this movie is rated highly (for a Franco film, anyway) on IMDB, I can only come to the conclusion that Francophiles consider this one an expression of great cinematic art. Me, I’ll give it credit for two things; the Count and Countesses’ abode is a fairly unnerving architectural structure, and the music is a little better than usual for a Franco film. Other than that, I have little use for this one.

I’m ready to move on.

 

1 CommentLeave a comment

Stolen Face (1952)

STOLEN FACE (1952)
Article 2076 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-20-2006
Posting Date: 4-19-2007
Directed by Terence Fisher
Featuring Paul Henreid, Lizabeth Scott, Andre Morell

A plastic surgeon, in love with a woman promised to another, undertakes to perform plastic surgery on a deformed female criminal and gives her the face of the woman he loves.

This movie is anchored by a good performance from Lizabeth Scott in a dual role as both the object of the doctor’s affection and as the criminal whose face he reconstructs and whom he marries. Paul Henreid also does fine as the surgeon. Nonetheless, I wasn’t very impressed with the movie. It does surprise me that it didn’t quite go in the direction I expected, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with where it did go. Part of the problem is that the movie never really does anything significant with its central gimmick; even though the fact that the doctor does this act gives us a glimpse inside the doctor’s psyche, he’s not really that interesting enough a character for this to be truly effective. The only other use the movie makes of its concept is that one of the two women gains information through being mistaken for the other one, but with some very minor plot changes, they could have gotten the information in other ways. Take away the central gimmick, and there’s really nothing more here than a rather ordinary romantic melodrama. The ending, though an example of poetic justice, is also a little too pat for my taste.

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Omoo-Omoo The Shark God (1949)

OMOO-OMOO THE SHARK GOD (1949)
Article 2075 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-19-2006
Posting Date: 4-18-2007
Directed by Leon Leonard
Featuring Ron Randell, Devera Burton, Richard Benedict

A captain, having hidden two black pearls that were used as the eyes of Omoo-Omoo the Shark God, finds himself under a curse as a result.

I’m not sure how true this story is to the Herman Melville novel from which it was derived, but it feels like a pretty conventional south seas flick to me. It’s mildly entertaining, I suppose, but it’s also thoroughly run-of-the-mill. Still, a few items of notice.

1) There are no sharks in this movie. Now I know that it’s not supposed to be about sharks (just a shark god), but I don’t think it’s asking too much that a movie about a shark god should have sharks as well. There are also no cows, despite the fact that you can hear “moo” twice in the title, but, to be honest, I didn’t really expect any.

2) I find it hard to believe that Omoo-Omoo would curse people; he has such a big smile on his face, it’s kind of like getting hexed by Santa Claus. Granted, I don’t think a curse that seems to make its sufferers less likely to return the black pearls (among other symptoms, sufferers seem to get greedier and more selfish) is particularly effective.

3) I suppose stock footage of a fight between a moray eel and an octopus is appropriate for a south seas epic. However, I couldn’t help but notice that during the fight (which is witnessed by two people on a ship looking down into the water), the octopus constantly puts his suckers on the side of the aquarium where the real battle took place. So much for the illusion.

 

1 CommentLeave a comment

The Mutations (1974)

THE MUTATIONS (1974)
Article 2074 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-18-2006
Posting Date: 4-17-2007
Directed by Jack Cardiff
Featuring Donald Pleasence, Tom Baker, Brad Harris

A scientist experiments with crossing animal and plant life on human beings; he dumps his failures into a freak show, one of whose members (a sufferer from acromegaly) he enlists as a henchman by promising him he will cure him of his deformity.

Perhaps the oddest thing about this cross between FREAKS and any number of mad scientist movies (for some reason, THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE came to mind while watching this) is that it seems somewhat out of its time for the year it was made; most horror movies of the mid seventies were more interested in witchcraft and demonic possession, and an old-fashioned monster movie (which this primarily is) was an anomaly. It borrows heavily from FREAKS for the subplot about the freak show, and, like that movie, it uses real freaks for most of the movie’s freaks; the main exceptions are the monsters produced by the scientist, and the acromegalic Lynch (played by “Doctor Who’s”‘ Tom Baker, wearing a costume that looks actually fairly close to the one he wore in the series). Somehow, I think it’s rather interesting that the freak who rejects the fellowship of his comrades is the one played by an actor in make-up (it looks somewhat similar to that used by John Hurt in THE ELEPHANT MAN) rather than a true-life freak. The movie manages to work up a decent amount of pathos for the freaks, though much of it is due to the its borrowings from FREAKS, though the scene where Lynch seeks out a prostitute and has to pay her extra to get her to tell him she loves him is original to this one. The mad scientist plot is standard, but the movie benefits from an interesting cast; outside of the aforementioned Baker, the movie also features Donald Pleasence as the scientist (who lovingly strokes his rabbits before feeding them to a hokey carnivorous plant with a really big chin), sword-and-sandal star Brad Harris, Norwegian bombshell Julie Ege, and the great Michael Dunn, who leads the freaks but is bullied and intimated by Lynch; he was a great actor, and his facial expressions are sometimes heartbreaking. This would be one of his last roles.

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Finian’s Rainbow (1968)

FINIAN’S RAINBOW (1968)
Article 2073 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-17-2006
Posting Date: 4-16-2007
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Featuring Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Tommy Steele

An Irishman comes to the small town of Rainbow Valley to bury a pot of gold (stolen from a leprachaun) near Fort Knox, in the hope that it will produce more gold. He ends up having to contend with his nemesis, the leprechaun who wants his pot of gold back and is slowly turning mortal, and a corrupt senator who is trying to seize the land in the town.

This movie was based on a 1947 Broadway musical that took twenty years to finally make it to the silver screen; this was due to the fact that those studios who were interested in adapting it to the screen wanted to make changes to the story (the themes of racism were ahead of their time and considered too hot to handle), but the writers held out until a faithful version could be made. By the time the movie was made, the themes were no longer controversial, but time had also rendered some of it quaint and a little dated.

Nevertheless, I found the movie thoroughly enjoyable. The opening scenes in which Fred Astaire and Petula Clark are seen walking against a backdrop of beautiful landscapes and famous sites (including the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore) are a form of cinematic magic that fires the imagination and prepares one for the magical events that follow. Fred Astaire was in his late sixties at the time, and even though he keeps his dancing quite simple, he still remains light on his feet and engaging throughout. The movie is also filled with top-notch songs and people who can actually sing (two things that DOCTOR DOLITTLE could have used), with Petula Clark and Don Francks performing beautifully, but Tommy Steele (as the leprechaun) doesn’t always manage to keep on the right side of annoying. Barbara Hancock is wonderful as a deaf and dumb girl (who communicates through dance, an appropriate conceit for a musical). Keenan Wynn almost steals the movie (he would have if Fred Astaire hadn’t been present) as the racist, pompous Senator who is turned black to learn the other side of his racist ways; unfortunately, his makeup is not particularly convincing in many of the scenes. The use of language is stunning in this movie; you can hear the music of the Irish lilt, and it is loaded with memorable lines. It’s a bit too long, though, and the plot gets confused at times, but there’s a lot of real magic here, and it’s become one of my favorite movie musicals.

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment

License to Kill (1964)

LICENSE TO KILL (1964)
aka NICK CARTER VA TOUT CASSER
Article 2072 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-16-2006
Posting Date: 4-15-2007
Directed by Henri Decoin
Featuring Eddie Constantine, Daphne Dayle, Paul Frankeur

A scientist hires Nick Carter to protect his invention (a machine that uses a small flying saucer to destroy things) from Chinese spies.

Don’t let the title fool you; this movie is not one of the rash of James Bond clones that appeared in the mid-to-late sixties. No, this movie owes much more to detective B movies, mysteries, and yellow peril movies from the thirties and forties. The only time I’ve really had a chance to encounter Eddie Constantine before this was in ALPHAVILLE, and I suspect that that movie (having been dominated by director Jean Luc-Godard) didn’t really represent his oeuvre very well. In this one he is thoroughly charming. Part of it may be that this is the first time I’ve heard him use his own voice for the English dubbing, which is wonderful for the part. The movie has a naive don’t-take-it-too-seriously charm about it, and is filled with fun elements from old mystery and detective movies; Nick Carter has a jealous secretary and a dim-witted assistant, the plot involves a locked door mystery at one point, there’s lots of gadgetry (Carter’s watch dial is able to burn through ropes), and it even can’t resist ending the movie with a parting joke reminiscent of movies from an earlier era. Best of all are the fights; they’re hardly convincing, but they’re hilarious, as Nick Carter dispatches gangs of assailants with unflappable ease. My favorite moment in the latter is where he encounters a series of killers with machine guns who, despite the fact that their weapons are spurting out lead at an incredible rate, never hit a target and are dispatched with one shot of Carter’s pistol. Taken seriously, the movie is hard to swallow; take it as a comedy, and it’s great fun. Recommended.

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment