LOVE FROM A STRANGER (1937)
Article #1561 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-23-2005
Posting Date: 11-20-2005
Directed by Rowland V. Lee
Featuring Ann Harding, Basil Rathbone, Binnie Hale

A woman discovers that winning the lottery has driven a wedge between her and her fiance. She leaves him and takes up with a mysterious stranger who appears on the scene unexpectedly.

The phrase ‘mysterious stranger’ in the above plot description should make you suspicious of the character right away, as does the fact that he doesn’t appear until after the woman has become rich. You should also have a good idea of where the story is going to go from here, and you’d most likely be right; the plot is fairly standard. However, what raises this one above the herd is the excellence of the performances; Rathbone isn’t only after her money, he’s mad as well, and this may be his creepiest performance. Ann Harding also does very well, especially near the end of the movie where she shows that she herself isn’t without resources, and as a result the ending is quite memorable. Rathbone and director Lee would reunite a couple of years later with SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. The fantastic element here is the madness of Rathbone’s character, which gives the movie a bit of horror atmosphere.

THE LOST JUNGLE (1934/II)
(Feature Version of Serial)
Article #1560 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-22-2005
Posting Date: 11-19-2005
Directed by David Howard and Armand Schaefer
Featuring Clyde Beatty, Cecilia Parker, Syd Saylor

A noted animal trainer goes to an island that features animals from both Asia and Africa to bring some specimens back alive and reunite with the woman he loves.

Yep, it’s another feature version of a serial. Still, in terms of that particular type of movie, it’s not badly done. It doesn’t attempt to squash the whole serial into its 68 minute running time; rather, it emphasizes the first few episodes and then winds up the loose ends with bits and pieces of footage from the later episodes. It actually does a decent job of it; if you watched it without knowing, you might not be able to tell it was originally a serial at all. Still, as a movie, the story isn’t much. It’s heavy on the exposition, spends too much time with the comic antics of Syd Saylor, and it’s rather dullish. Still, I do admire the fact that they actually took the trouble to make it feel like a real feature.

Addendum: Rich Wannen was kind enough to inform me that much of this feature version of the serial consisted of new footage shot specifically for this version. This goes a long way towards explaining why this one flows so much smoother than your average feature version of a serial. I also want to take this opportunity to thank anyone out there who has been kind enough to share their own research as part of this series; in doing one movie a day, I rarely have the chance to do any intense research on any one of them individually.

THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH (1964)
Article #1558 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-20-2005
Posting Date: 11-17-2005
Directed by Antonio Margheriti
Featuring Barbara Steele, George Ardisson, Halina Zalewska

A woman being burnt alive for being a witch and having committed murder (the latter is a false accusation) places a curse on those responsible for her execution.

Antonio Margheriti seems to be better remembered for his early sixties forays into science fiction (ASSIGNMENT OUTER SPACE, BATTLE OF THE WORLDS, etc.), but I’ve always found these movies to be muddled to the point of incomprehensibility. I much prefer his forays into horror, such as this one. The beginning is certainly familiar territory, but for once I found myself caught up in the mechanics of the curse coming to fruition. It involves the fates of the two daughters of the witch (one living, one dead), adultery, an attempted murder with overtones of DIABOLIQUE, some side characters who might harbor political ambitions, a plague, a resurrection from the grave, and an effigy destined to be burned. These aspects all come together in a fairly coherent plot for an Italian horror movie, and it’s also helped by better-than-average dubbing. It doesn’t quite have the kick of CASTLE OF BLOOD or THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG, but I found it quite satisfying.

LI’L ABNER (1940)
Article #1557 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-19-2005
Posting Date: 11-16-2005
Directed by Albert S. Rogell
Featuring Jeff York, Martha O’Driscoll, Mona Ray

Li’l Abner is told that he has only twenty-four hours to live, and ends up proposing to both Daisy Mae and Wendy Wildcat in order to make them happy under the belief that he will be dead before the wedding. When he survives, the two women fight over him.

Fantastic aspects: Li’l Abner has super strength. For that matter, so do Earthquake McGoon and Mammy Yokum.

I remember this comic strip running in my Sunday papers when I was a kid, though it was gone before I was really old enough to appreciate the satirical edge I’m told it had. Still, I do remember the looks of the characters, and if there’s anything that this slapsticky version of the comic strip does well, it captures their looks. Outside of that, it’s pretty silly, but fitfully amusing. It’s mostly memorable for the presence of Buster Keaton as Lonesome Polecat, though that doesn’t mean that his talents weren’t wasted here. The movie also features Edgar Kennedy as Cornelius Cornpone.

THE LAST WAR (1961)
(a.k.a. SEKAI DAISENSO)
Article #1556 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-18-2005
Posting Date: 11-15-2005
Directed by Shuei Matsubayashi
Featuring Frankie Sekai, Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi

A Japanese family tries to continue to live their normal lives with the impending threat of nuclear war.

My copy of this movie (in Japanese and subtitled) opens with the trailer for the movie, and the trailer would have you believe that the movie is a non-stop barrage of special effects. If it were, it wouldn’t be nearly as effective as it is. Instead, this movie focuses for the most part on the travails of a single family. The father is unable to fathom the possibility of nuclear war and assumes that all will work itself out, the mother is suffering from an unspecified illness but still takes her full role in the family, and the daughter is hoping to marry the man she loves, even if her father disapproves; there are also two young children. We get to know this family fairly well. Interspersed between these scenes of the family are scenes of the events surrounding a coming nuclear war, and two of these events involve touch-and-go situations (one involving faulty machinery, the other involving an avalanche) both of which almost result in the onset of nuclear holocaust which is only averted at the last second. If there is anything these scenes accomplish, it is that they do not leave you feeling comfortable with the idea that no war will occur and that cooler heads will prevail, two of the father’s beliefs. Still, during the panics near the end of the movie, the father makes a comment that is very telling when he refuses to evacuate himself from Tokyo with the comment that there is no place for ninety million people to hide. The movie ends up being very effective in that it allows you to get close enough to the characters that you care about them and their fates, and that is the strength of this movie. It has its problems; in particular some of the acting by non-Orientals is variable. Still, this is a worthy addition to the nuclear holocaust movies of the fifties and sixties.