Hansel und Gretel Verliefen Sich im Wald (1970)

HANSEL UND GRETEL VERLIEFEN SICH IM WALD (1970)
aka THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF HANSEL AND GRETEL
Article 1991 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-27-2006
Posting Date: 1-24-2007
Directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb
Featuring Dagobert Walter, Francy Fair, Barbara Scott

Hansel wants to sleep with Gretel. Gretel wants to save herself for marriage. The wicked witch wants both of them for herself. A voyeur looks on.

In case anyone thought that GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES FOR ADULTS would mark the end of softcore versions of fairy tales, no such luck. At least Hansel and Gretel are adults in this one. I’m sure that to some people, the translation of a fairy tale into sexual terms comes across as clever, but I’ve always thought that, once you decided to go that route, it ends up being rather thuddingly obvious. Furthermore, in taking that approach with this story, and by making the witch a metaphorical one rather than a literal one, you strip the fantastic content out of the story. If it weren’t for a surreal (but rather dumb) dream sequence and the shot ot a felled tree righting itself (quick, figure out what sexual activity this scene is a “subtle” metaphor for), the movie is devoid of fantastic content. As for enjoying the movie on any alternate level, well, let’s just say that it’s not that funny, all the characters are jerks and there are too many scenes of people sticking their fingers up their noses.

That’s entertainment.

 

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Bluebeard (1963)

BLUEBEARD (1963)
aka LANDRU
Article 1990 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-26-2006
Posting Date: 1-23-2007
Directed by Claude Chabrol
Featuring Charles Denner, Michele Morgan, Danielle Darrieux

In order to support his wife and family, an antique dealer takes to marrying, seducing and murdering lonely women for their money.

This is the fourth version of the Landru story that I’ve covered. In approach, it’s most similar to Chaplin’s take on the story, MONSIEUR VERDOUX. Based on some comments on IMDB, I gather that this is fairly faithful to the facts, and that Charles Denner looks very much like Landru. The dubbing seems to have been quite good; and the first half of the movie is very effective; watching how Landru meets and wins over his victims is fascinating and witty; he is particularly adept at figuring out what techniques work best with each individual woman. Much of it plays with an effective comic edge, and some of Chabrol’s direction is simply beautiful. It does have certain problems, though; once you reach a certain point in the story, you don’t need to see any more of Landru’s methods, but the movie continues to dwell on them when it should move on to his capture and trial. Unfortunately, once the arrest is made, the charm goes out of the story, and things get a bit dull; maybe the director just wanted to stretch out the better part of the movie. At any rate, it runs too long, and though it does have definite points of interest, I think the viewer would probably be better off with Chaplin’s take on the story.

 

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Cosmic Journey (1936)

COSMIC JOURNEY (1936)
aka KOSMICHESKIY REYS: FANTASTICHESKAYA NOVELLA, THE SPACE SHIP
Article 1989 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-25-2006
Posting Date: 1-22-2007
Directed by Vasili Zhuravlyov
Featuring Sergei Komarov, K. Moskalenko, Vassili Gaponenko

A man, a woman, and a young boy go to the moon in a rocket ship.

Though IMDB says this Russian science fiction epic is not a silent, my copy has only music and title cards to help me along. Unfortunately, the title cards are in Russian, so this not only leaves me in the dark about some of the plot elements, but I also have no idea how to pronounce what I do see. Still, I think the only thing I’m missing is a few details about the human storyline; the main plot is that of the basic adventure story, in which adventurers go to the moon and then return. The special effects are quite fun in this one; I particularly like the stop-motion animation used to show the astronauts leaping all over the place on the moon’s surface. Even if I can’t follow the story closely, I do sense that there is some humor in the proceedings (there is a sequence involving the boy, the bearded man, and a photographer that looks pretty amusing), and I suspect that the movie may even have been made with a juvenile audience in mind; the boy is definitely a major character in the story. It will take a translated version of the movie to help me to really understand it, but I liked what I saw.

 

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Der Andere (1913)

DER ANDERE (1913)
aka THE OTHER
Article 1988 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-24-2006
Posting Date: 1-21-2007
Directed by Max Mack
Featuring Albert Bassermann, Emmerich Hanus, Nelly Ridon

After an accident riding a horse, a man develops a split personality. He discovers this when his alternate personality helps a criminal to rob his own house.

My copy of this silent movie has no soundtrack, and all the title cards are in German. However, having had a little German in high school, I was able to figure out enough information to follow the plot. It’s not strictly a horror movie, though split personalities can lend themselves to a horror interpretation. It’s more of a drama, as the main character eventually comes to realize that he is living a double life. Exactly how he solves his problem is still a little elusive to me, but I did find this short entertaining enough to hold my interest, and it was good to discover that prints of this movie (which has been sitting on my hunt list for quite some time) do exist.

 

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Golden Hands of Kurigal (1966)

GOLDEN HANDS OF KURIGAL (1966)
Feature Version of Serial FEDERAL AGENTS VS. UNDERWORLD INC.
Article 1987 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-23-2006
Posting Date: 1-20-2007
Directed by Fred C. Brannon
Featuring Kirk Alyn, Rosemary La Planche, Carol Forman

When an ancient relic is unearthed in the country of Abistahn, an evil woman plans to use the item to build an underworld organization. However, Federal Agent David Worth is out to stop her.

I didn’t care much for this serial when it was a serial, and I still have little use for it in this form. It did make me realize something, though, and that is if there is any particular cinematic form that I honestly wish had given in to over-the-top hammy acting styles, the serial would be the one I’d choose. At least one of the reasons THE LOST CITY remains a favorite is that it does engage in that hammy melodramatic mode. I feel that serials all too often went in the opposite direction; when it comes to the acting, I find most of them extremely bland and colorless. It really doesn’t matter when other aspects are done with verve and pizzazz; one of Republic’s warehouse-busting fight scenes can add a lot to the fun. But those had vanished by the time this one was made, and almost every actor here seems bored; even Ray Barcroft, who I usually like but is here consigned to a henchman role, performs the part by adding little more than a dour grumpiness to the proceedings. The only actor who seems really interested in the proceedings is James Craven, who, as Professor Clayton, appears only at the beginning and the end of the story. I suppose action fans don’t mind as long as there’s action, but for me, the action isn’t really all that interesting unless the characters and situations make it interesting, or if the action scenes are particularly well staged; if they’re not, I find them potentially as dull as scenes of people having long conversations while standing stock still. And as far as feature versions of serials go, this one is as clumsy and abrupt as the worst of them.

 

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The Claw Monsters (1966)

THE CLAW MONSTERS (1966)
Feature Version of the serial PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO
Article 1986 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-22-2006
Posting Date: 1-19-2007
Directed by Franklin Adreon
Featuring Myron Healey, Phyllis Coates, Arthur Space

A scientist uses his knowledge of chemistry to create giant crawfish monsters to terrorize the natives away from a diamond mine. However, a woman photographer known as the Panther Girl is intent on getting footage of the crawfish monsters so that she can start an official investigation into them.

I’ve not seen the serial on which this feature version is based, but I’ve heard about it, and what I’ve heard is not good; it was one of the last Republic serials, and it showed little of the energy of the studio at its best. Still, I can’t help but feel a little warmth towards a serial that actually features monsters, which is extremely rare. Even serials you’d think would feature monsters usually don’t; in THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES, do we get a monster? No, it’s a humanoid alien in the form of Roy Barcroft. In THE MONSTER AND THE APE, do we get a monster? No, it’s actually a robot! So I must admit its nice to have a serial that actually has a monster.

But, if this feature version is any indication, the monsters don’t appear all that often, and to fill out the running time, we get lots of stock footage from the Nyoka serials and an almost unending succession of fistfights and gunfights. Given what I’ve seen here, I’m guessing that the serial wears thin awfully quickly; I know this feature version does. Still, it feels better edited than some of the other serials I’ve seen, but by this time serial episodes were so short, that there wasn’t very much footage to trim away to begin with. Still, if you just have to watch a feature version of a serial with crawfish monsters, this one’s for you.

 

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Bell Book and Candle (1958)

BELL BOOK AND CANDLE (1958)
Article 1985 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-21-2006
Posting Date: 1-18-2007
Directed by Richard Quine
Featuring James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon

A witch uses a spell to win the affection of a man about to be married to an old rival, but risks losing her powers when she starts to fall in love with him.

Had this been the first time I’d seen this movie, the main attraction for me wouldn’t have been Stewart, Novak, Lemmon, or Lanchester; it would have been to see Ernie Kovacs, one of the greatest innovators of television comedy. However, since I had seen the movie before, I knew that I would be a little disappointed with Kovacs here, not because he gives a weak performance here (he doesn’t; he’s still one of my favorite things in the movie), but because performing in this capacity did not give him the opportunity to really indulge in his strengths as one of the great television surrealists. Granted, I really shouldn’t have expected it, but I’m disappointed nonetheless.

The movie does have its strengths; the cinematography is beautiful, the special effects (the few that exist anyway) are very good, the use of color is stunning, and it has an excellent cast. It’s the story that leaves me cold. It was originally conceived as a drama, but only became a comedy when laughter during auditions indicated that it would work better that way. Still, I find very few laughs here, and despite the excellent cast, I simply didn’t find the characters interesting enough to bring this overlong but rather ordinary love story to life. And, despite the magic and witchcraft, I think the story is very ordinary – it’s one where a woman gives up everything for love, and that’s fairly common. No doubt the movie is loved in some quarters, and those who do are welcome to it; I find it overlong and dull. Still, it does say something that the comic-relief talking bird isn’t totally annoying.

 

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Angels in the Outfield (1951)

ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD (1951)
Article 1984 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-20-2006
Posting Date: 1-17-2007
Directed by Clarence Brown
Featuring Paul Douglas, Janet Leigh, Keenan Wynn

A foul-mouthed coach of a losing baseball team is visited by an angel, who offers him a chance to win the pennant if he cleans up his act.

I’m not a baseball fan and I’m not particularly keen on angels, either. As a result, the thought of seeing a movie where angels help a baseball team to win the pennant strikes me not as enthralling, but as corny, and despite the fact that this movie has a decent reputation, I didn’t expect to care for it much. Fortunately, the first twenty-five minutes of this movie are great; the performances of Paul Douglas and Keenan Wynn as the coach and his arch-rival, a news reporter, are hilarious, and when the angel appears (unseen, but voiced by James Whitmore), he proves to be a bit of a tough talker himself. Unfortunately, the coach reforms much too soon, and with his reformation he loses his comic edge. Throw in a cute little orphan girl who can see angels into the proceedings, and the movie not only becomes as cutesy as I was afraid it was going to be, but the plotline becomes very familiar; it turns into a variation on MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET with angels instead of Santa. Still, the movie ends up improving immensely towards the end when the plot ends up turning on the fate of an over-the-hill pitcher, and it brings a hitherto secondary character to the forefront of the story. Bruce Bennett’s nearly wordless performance in this role is fantastic, and he becomes such a real character to us that the movie transcends its cliches. All in all, I enjoyed this one much more than I expected.

Oh, and horror fans may want to keep their eyes open during the wrestling broadcast for a very familiar face.

 

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The Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena (1976)

THE AMAZING WORLD OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA (1976)
Article 1983 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-19-2006
Posting Date: 1-16-2007
Directed by Robert Guenette
Featuring Raymond Burr, Jeane Dixon, Jules Eisenbud

Raymond Burr takes us on a tour of the various forms of psychic phenomena, including telepathy, telekinesis, ghosts, life after death, reincarnation, and the ability to gain knowledge of events and people through the examination of physical objects they handled.

On matters such as these, I tend to be highly skeptical, but not entirely turned off to the concept that there may exist powers and forces such as those discussed here. I am, however, fully aware of how adept movies can be in fooling you, and any documentaries on subjects like this will be taken with huge grains of salt. Granted, I don’t think this movie was meant to convince the unbeliever; I suspect those that have far less skepticism will get a lot more out of this movie. Most of the reenactments are pretty cheesy and unconvincing, but it is worthwhile seeing footage of the actual psychics themselves. For me, the most interesting things about the movie were learning about some of these various psychic individuals, and if I ever wanted to pursue investigations into the subject matter, I’d find some people to start with here; in particular, I found Edgar Cayce (who is portrayed by an actor, but whose story sounds quite fascinating) and Peter Hurkos (who appears here as himself) seem interesting. The movie itself is pretty uneven; entertaining enough at times, rather dullish at others, and most of the subjects covered were things I’d run into before from other sources. To some extent, reviews of movies like this are useless; I think most people would know from the outset whether this movie would appeal to them just by looking at the title.

 

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The Two Crazy Secret Agents (1965)

THE TWO CRAZY SECRET AGENTS (1965)
aka DUE MAFIOSI CONTRO GOLDGINGER, THE AMAZING DOCTOR G
Article 1982 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-18-2006
Posting Date: 1-15-2007
Directed by Giorgio Simonelli
Featuring Franco Franchi, Ciccio Ingrassia, Gloria Paul

Two idiots get embroiled in a plan by a supervillain to turn world leaders into mindless robots.

I was surprised to find that the movie DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS had its defenders, most of whom felt that the presence of Vincent Price was enough to keep the movie from sinking to any utter depths of badness. I wonder how some of these people would contend with Franco and Ciccio movie without the benefit of Vincent Price. Well, here’s your opportunity. To begin with, I do have to admit that this movie is not entirely without merit; as a James Bond parody, it does have its moments. The movie does a fairly decent job when it’s zeroing in on some of the elements of GOLDFINGER and DR. NO for its targets, and at least one joke was brilliant (which I won’t give away other than to say that one presumably major character departs the story early in the proceedings). I actually laughed a couple of times. This last fact I consider amazing, because I’m surprised any joke could survive the incessant mugging and the painful histrionics of its starring comedy team. Actually, to be fair, I can’t really say how they would come across in their native language, and Ciccio (the tall one and the more subtle of the two) is tolerable. But whoever dubbed Franco here has a voice that could cut glass, and he really starts to grate early on. Still, even they had their supporters; they were actually big comic stars in Italy, and with a rating of 5.7 on IMDB (significantly higher than GOLDFOOT’s rating of 3.4 but lower than a whole slew of other movies of theirs), it’s obvious that they still retain a bit of popularity. This may be, but I have to say that any comedians that make me appreciate the relative subtlety of Jerry Lewis, the restraint of Larry Storch, and the commitment to dignity of the Three Stooges, is a little (OK, let’s face it: a LOT) too much for me.

 

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