Cinderella (1950)

CINDERELLA (1950)
Article #1512 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-5-2005
Posting Date: 10-2-2005
Production Supervisor: Ben Sharpsteen
Featuring the voices of Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Fulton

The beautiful girl is abused by her cruel stepmother and ugly stepsisters, but is given a chance for happiness when the local king stages a ball to find a wife for the prince.

During the first twenty-five years in which he was engaged in making feature-length cartoons, Walt Disney achieved a certain level of excellence that cannot be denied; almost every one of these features is a recognized classic. However, that doesn’t mean that each feature was the equal to all the others, and though this feature is certainly a worthy addition to the list, I think it lacks the inspiration of many of the others. It certainly gets by on charm; like PINOCCHIO; the plot is at a standstill for the first quarter of the movie, but it really doesn’t matter because it so charmingly introduces us to the characters. In fact, the movie maintains that level of charm throughout. Yet, to some extent, it feels like a lesser version of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, with which it shares certain similarities. Like Snow White, Cinderella is at the mercy of her stepmother, but whereas the Queen in SNOW WHITE was evil and murderous, the stepmother here is merely mean, petty and selfish, and though one can’t really belittle Cinderella’s suffering, it’s obvious that the stakes are nowhere near as high as they were for Snow White. Instead of the seven dwarfs, we have an assortment of talking animals, but these are comparatively undeveloped, without even a Grumpy to win over.

Perhaps the most telling detail about his movie is that, unlike every single other Disney animated feature I’ve covered so far, there is not a single moment that blows you out of the water and makes your jaw hang open. Just to pick one at random from each, SNOW WHITE had the pursuit of the witch through the rain, PINOCCHIO had the transformation into donkeys, FANTASIA had the dancing ostriches and hippos, SLEEPING BEAUTY had the battle with the dragon, THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD AND MR. TOAD had the encounter with the Headless Horseman, and DUMBO had Pink Elephants on Parade. There’s simply nothing in this movie to equal any of those moments. As a result, it feels relatively minor; it’s the difference between hearing a musical genius play an extraordinarily difficult number brilliantly and hearing the same musician play an easy number very well indeed. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the second piece, but it’s the first one that reminds you why he got to be called a genius in the first place.

Still, I won’t condemn a movie for failing to be brilliant, especially when it’s very good indeed. And let’s face it; during the sixties, seventies and eighties, it was a rarity for Disney to make an animated feature that was even this good.

1 CommentLeave a comment

Blood on Satan’s Claw (1970)

BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW (1970)
(a.k.a. SATAN’S SKIN)
Article #1511 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-4-2005
Posting Date: 10-1-2005
Directed by Piers Haggard
Featuring Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, Barry Andrews

When a farmer digs up the body of a demon in 17th Century England, it leads to a cult of witchcraft among the youngsters of the village.

When I saw this movie years ago on my local Creature Feature, I was left with three impressions. I remembered vividly a scene where something horrible was found in a field. That scene is certainly here, and it opens the movie. I also remember being creeped out by the movie, and it certainly does that. Many factors come into play to create this feeling. For one thing, the movie has a strong sense of period, with excellent costumes and effective use of archaic speech patterns. It also makes exemplary use of music, and builds on a sense of dread and uneasiness and the use of disturbing images and events. In fact, the movie is a near classic in the way it gets under your skin.

My third feeling was one of confusion; I couldn’t understand the story very well back then. It’s easy to see why; the movie was no doubt heavily cut for commercial television. However, the sense of confusion has been replaced by a sense of disappointment, and despite its many strengths, the movie falls flat. Its problem is a simple one; there’s a point where the deliberate and moody buildup needs to be set aside so that the movie can kick into high gear for a big finish, and it fails to do so; the ending falls flat badly. It’s a shame, as a strong ending would have made this one a classic rather than a misfire. Still, it is an interesting misfire, and it’s worth catching for the first two-thirds of the movie.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Deadly Ray from Mars (1966)

DEADLY RAY FROM MARS (1966)
Article #1510 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-3-2005
Posting Date: 9-30-2005
Featuring Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton

Flash Gordon packs fifteen weeks of adventure into ninety minutes when he flies to Mars to fight Ming the Merciless.

I’ve gone on at length before on my opinion of feature versions of serials. Quite frankly, I’m as bored with rehashing this opinion as I’m sure you are with hearing me beat this dead horse. However, I still have plenty of them to watch, and my reaction remains the same. So how am I going to write about the experience of having watched yet another one? Simple; I’ll couch the experience in an extended but labored simile which I nevertheless hope will prove somewhat entertaining.

Watching an episode of a serial is like eating a candy bar. It’s sweet and tasty but full of empty calories and has no nutritional value. One is enough for any reasonable length of time, as their rich sweetness definitely calls into play the law of diminishing returns. Of course, not all candy bars are created equal; some I like quite a bit, while I have no appetite at all for others. Got that?

Watching a feature version of a serial is like wolfing down a given number (in this case, fifteen) of a specific candy bar in a compressed period of time (say, ninety-six minutes). The fact that I like this particular candy bar makes little difference; the sickening overdose of a sugar rush renders the experience aggressively unpleasant. In this context, the only positive thing about the experience is that this candy bar has almonds, which remain tasty nonetheless (i.e., I like the sets).

Personally, I’m glad it’s only a simile. I am on a diet, you know.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)

THE MAN WHO COULD WORK MIRACLES (1936)
Article #1509 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-2-2005
Posting Date: 9-29-2005
Directed by Lothar Mendes
Featuring Roland Young, Ralph Richardson, Edward Chapman

A cosmic entity grants the ability to work miracles to a random individual on the planet earth.

Producer Alexander Korda had adapted H.G. Wells to the screen with THINGS TO COME, and returned to the author with this movie. Initially, these two movies couldn’t be more different; whereas the events in THINGS TO COME played themselves out in broad strokes on an epic scale, this one seems at first to be light comedy. After all, this massive power has been granted to a slightly befuddled, somewhat meek man named Fotheringay; one need only know that the part is being played by Roland Young to have an idea of what the character is like. However, the light comedy that permeates most of the movie is a bit of a deception; at heart, it’s a long-burning fuse that leads to an explosion that occurs when Fotheringay finally realizes that the power he has been granted is subservient to his will and no one elses, and it is at this point that the guidance he has been seeking from the idealistic but somewhat hypocritical crusader Mr. Maydig (Ernest Thesiger) and the conservative but selfish and brutal Colonel Winstanley (Ralph Richardson) comes to naught. It is at this point that the theme of progress in the movie starts to bear a certain resemblance to the same theme in THINGS TO COME; furthermore, there’s also the theme of the seductiveness of power which strongly recalls the similar theme in another Wells adaptation, THE INVISIBLE MAN. Roland Young is excellent in the title role, as are Thesiger and Richardson as well. The movie also features early performances from George Sanders who, as a mystical creature known as Indifference, is already displaying the arrogance that would be an acting trademark of his, and George Zucco, cast in a very unusual role for him as a manservant. The movie is full of clever touches, and the ending is great. This may be the finest adaptation of Wells to date.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Final Conflict (1981)

THE FINAL CONFLICT (1981)
Article #1508 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-1-2005
Posting Date: 9-28-2005
Directed by Graham Baker
Featuring Sam Neill, Rossano Brazzi, Don Gordon

Damien Thorn the Anti-Christ becomes an ambassador to England in order to prevent the second coming of Christ.

My system for watching movies results in my watching certain series films out of order. I saw THE OMEN many years ago, but I’ve never seen the immediate sequel; this was the third of the series. I do remember that it never made much of a splash in the theaters, and quite frankly, I’m not surprised. Granted, any movie that purports to be about the final battle between good and evil is setting itself up to disappoint, but this one doesn’t even seem to be trying to deliver; it’s uninspired and painfully bland, despite the best efforts of a melodramatic soundtrack and the presence of several biblical quotes. The mystery and the sense of drama of the original is long gone, the death scenes (the highlights of the original movie) are fairly mundane, and Damien’s prayers to his true father are more likely to elicit snickers than shivers. Oddly enough, one more movie was dredged up out of this series, and rumor has it that is even worse than this one. As apocalypses go, this one doesn’t even rank on the Richter scale.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Fat Spy (1966)

THE FAT SPY (1966)
Article #1507 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-30-2005
Posting Date: 9-27-2005
Directed by Joseph Cates
Featuring Phyllis Diller, Jack E. Leonard, Brian Donlevy

Teenagers invade a small island owned by a cosmetics magnate who believes that the fountain of youth is found there.

You know, it would be nice to go into a movie with a clean slate and no preconceptions of what you’ll be experiencing when you see it. However, when the title of your movie is THE FAT SPY and it comes from the mid-sixties, you’re going to have an opinion right off the bat. I fully expected to see a very bad parody of a James Bond movie with a running joke about the weight of our hero.

Well, I was wrong. It isn’t a James Bond parody at all. It’s an overtly comic variant on a genre that was on its last legs; namely, the beach party movie. The main difference between this and a regular beach party movie is that the teenagers are the secondary characters here and the comic subplots have taken over. However, I wasn’t wrong about one thing; it’s very bad indeed. In fact, it’s even worse than I expected. So here are my ten thoughts on this particular travesty.

1) If I haven’t mentioned it already, this movie is also a musical. The music is largely a compendium of regurgitated sixties musical motifs. I’m tempted to say there’s way too much music, but at least when they’re dancing and singing, they’re not trying to advance the plot, which, in this movie, is a good thing.

2) There are four romantic pairings in this movie. The first is a young couple with a secret. This secret doesn’t manifest itself until the last scene in the movie, and is probably the best part of it. Of course, I won’t reveal it here.

3) The second is a star-crossed romance between a young boy named Dodo and a mermaid. Given the fact that the boy is named after an extinct bird, you shouldn’t be surprised if this romance has a tragic ending. Or does it? Only his swim trunks know for sure, and they’re not talking. I hope.

4) The third is between Jack E. Leonard as Irving, a rose-loving researcher on the island, and Jayne Mansfield as Junior (in full-blown breathy dumb blonde mold). Given that Jack E. Leonard can be described physique-wise as the anti-Mickey Hargitay, I’ll leave it to you to decide on the likelihood of this romantic pairing.

5) The fourth is between Jack E. Leonard as Herman (Irving’s brother and the Fat Spy of the title) and the main rival to Herman’s boss, another cosmetics magnate named Camille (Phyllis Diller) whose real name is Rapunzel Fingernail. If there is anybody out there dying to see Jack E. Leonard and Phyllis Diller engaged in a passionate kiss, this is the movie for you. For me, the scene will linger long in my nightmares.

6) And now a competition for the most embarassing scene in the movie. The first nominee – Watching Jack E. Leonard and the teens writhing together during a musical number about the world’s slowest dance called The Turtle.

7) Second nominee – Watching Phyllis Diller beat her masochistic Sikh servant with a riding crop. Phyllis Diller as dominatrix? I bet I’m not the only one having nightmares.

8) Third nominee – Jack E. Leonard and Phyllis Diller chowing down greedily on a black rose.

9) Fourth nominee –- Watching Jack E. Leonard sing a love song to Phyllis Diller that compares her to other sex symbols such as James Cagney and Darryl F. Zanuck.

10) Fifth nominee (and my choice) – Watching Brian Donlevy (in what surely must be the cinematic low point of his career) sitting in a boat while disembodied voices doing imitations of Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart encourage him in his quest.

All in all, this is scarier than most horror movies of the period. Now, if it only WERE a horror movie…

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Fantastic Planet (1973)

FANTASTIC PLANET (1973)
(a.k.a. LA PLANETE SAUVAGE)
Article #1506 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-29-2005
Posting Date: 9-26-2005
Directed by Rene Laloux
Featuring the voices of Cynthia Adler, Barry Bostwick, Hubert de Lapparent

A planet is inhabited by a race of giants called Traags and a race of small people called Oms. Though the Traags domesticate some of the Oms, they generally consider them as pests and exterminate them at regular intervals. Then one of the domesticated Oms brings a Traag learning device to the aid of the Oms…

Some movies are so unusual that their flaws become a non-issue. This bizarre, offbeat and fascinating animated movie is one of them. The plot is fairly straightforward when looked at it in its entirety, and the movie has a leisurely pace which goes off on many tangents throughout its running time. Yet each tangent is visually fascinating and shows an impressive degree of imagination, and fully makes use of the possibilities of animation. At heart, no explanation can really capture this movie; it is one to be seen and appreciated. it’s rich on so many levels that it can probably support multiple viewings. I’ve just seen it for the first time, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it again in the near future. It’s a classic of animated science fiction.

1 CommentLeave a comment

Fangs of the Living Dead (1969)

FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD (1969)
(a.k.a. MALENKA)
Article #1505 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-28-2005
Posting Date: 9-25-2005
Directed by Amando de Ossorio
Featuring Anita Ekberg, Gianni Medici, Diana Lorys

A woman returns home upon inheriting a castle and discovers that she’s from a family of vampires.

In the late sixties or early seventies, a horror movie triple feature called “Orgy of the Living Dead” was making the rounds which insured that anyone driven mad by the movie would be given psychiatric care or placed in an asylum. The movies were called REVENGE OF THE LIVING DEAD, CURSE OF THE LIVING DEAD and FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD. Obviously, this triple feature was trying to cash in on the success of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, but anyone going into this triple feature hoping for the same harrowing experience of watching that movie would no doubt come away disappointed. In fact, the first two movies predated NOTLD, and had their titles changed for this triple feature. REVENGE OF THE LIVING DEAD was actually THE MURDER CLINIC, while CURSE OF THE LIVING DEAD was Mario Bava’s KILL, BABY, KILL , probably the best movie in the bunch.

I don’t know if this movie played in this country under any other name, but its more common title is MALENKA. It’s probably Amando de Ossorio’s first attempt at a horror film, and it’s pretty lame. The pace drags mightily, the dialogue is simply wretched, and the acting is weak. Granted, some of these problems are no doubt due to the poor dubbing, but there’s something about the way that the actors and actresses carry themselves that makes me believe it’s not significantly better in its native language, besides, I’ve had experience with Anita Ekberg’s thespic talents before (remember SCREAMING MIMI). However, the movie probably wasn’t a total washout; sure, it’s not the least bit scary, but if the presence of Ekberg didn’t clue you off, it does have plenty of heaving bosoms. In fact, you might as well make a sub-genre of it—The Heaving Bosom Vampire movie. It’s not the first I’ve seen, and most probably won’t be the last. How much you like it may depend on just how long heaving bosoms can hold your attention. Ossorio would eventually hit his stride as a horror director with his Blind Dead movies.

1 CommentLeave a comment

Endless Night (1971)

ENDLESS NIGHT (1971)
(a.k.a. AGATHA CHRISTIE’S ENDLESS NIGHT)
Article #1504 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-27-2005
Posting Date: 9-24-2005
Directed by Sidney Gilliat
Featuring Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett, Britt Ekland

A poor man with an eye for beautiful things and great art meets a rich young woman who falls in love with him. They marry against the wishes of her relatives, and she buys a plot of land so he can have a famous architect build a dream house on the site. And then…

Though mysteries are closely aligned with horror movies, I’ve had little call to review movies based on the works of Agatha Christie, largely because her stories are really light on anything resembling horror content. This is only the second so far; the first, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, got by on its similarities to certain ‘old dark house’ thrillers, and this one has the theme of madness cropping up, as well as a couple of jarring images that border on the horrific.

You’ll notice that the plot description is fairly vague and unexciting. This was done on purpose; to have revealed more would have resulted in a barrage of spoilers. It also somewhat reflects the feel of the movie; if you hadn’t seen the name of Agatha Christie in the opening credits, you might well have wondered what kind of movie you stumbled into here. In short, the central murder doesn’t happen until the movie is nearly three-quarters of the way through; everything before that is set-up. How you react to this movie may well depend on how patient you are; those expecting a fast-paced thriller will definitely be disappointed. However, the final twists are doozies, and there’s plenty of satisfaction to be found for those willing to sit back after the movie is over and dwell on the events to see how they all fit together. At any rate, it’s no surprise to me that the movie splits reactions somewhat; some people consider it great, others consider it a bore. I lean towards the former view, myself, but I do advise patience for anyone willing to take a chance on this one.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Earth Dies Screaming (1965)

THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING (1965)
Article #1503 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-26-2005
Posting Date: 9-23-2005
Directed by Terence Fisher
Featuring Willard Parker, Virginia Field, Dennis Price

An American test pilot arrives in England to find almost everyone dead. He joins forces with a handful of survivors to survive an attack of robot creatures who also resurrect the corpses of the dead to do their bidding.

During the short sixty-two minute running time of this movie, I found myself being constantly reminded of other movies, such as VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (the people dropping in their tracks), THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (survivors just happened to be in the right circumstances to survive), TARGET EARTH (residents in an empty city battling slow-moving robots), and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (the newly risen dead with blank eyeballs). In feel, it mostly reminds me of THE SLIME PEOPLE, though I do think it’s a little better than that movie. Terence Fisher does what he can; he generally keeps the pace up, and this goes a long way to keeping the movie from buckling under its rushed, underdeveloped script. The latter is written by Harry Spalding under the name Henry Cross, and I find his scripts terribly uneven; he gave us THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH, HOUSE OF THE DAMNED, WITCHCRAFT (1964) and contributed to THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS; though these movies have their supporters, I myself feel that for the most part, they fall short of being effective. Also, don’t hold your breath waiting for an explanation of what’s going on; there’s none forthcoming. All in all, it’s better than it could have been, but still it’s all rather dreary.

0 CommentsLeave a comment