Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (1973)
Article #1502 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-25-2005
Posting Date: 9-22-2005
Directed by John Newland
Featuring Kim Darby, Jim Hutton, Barbara Anderson

When a couple moves into an old house, the wife unbolts a small ash door in a bricked-up fireplace, and releases some small malevolent creatures who have sinister plans for her.

My experience with made-for-TV horror movies was rarely positive. When an ad for a made-for-TV movie caught my attention, I would tune in to watch it, but rarely was I really satisfied with the results; the Kolchak movies remained for me the sole exception to this experience. Eventually, I gave up on them; why waste time with these limp substitutions for horror movies when my local Creature Feature was showing the real thing on Saturday Nights?

Had I caught this movie as a kid, I might have had a better time of it; this is one that would have had me on the edge of my seat as a kid, and I’m sure that the warmth of my memories of this one would have been reflected in this review. Unfortunately, today marks the first time I’ve seen it, and though I think it works well enough, it still falls a little short. Though the fireplace monsters are unique and original creations, the surrounding story is a little too familiar; I’ve seen the subplot about the wife who isn’t getting enough attention from her career-obsessed husband several times before, the handyman (William Demarest in this case) who spends most of his screen time giving out vague warnings is also pretty cliched, and though the whispering voices of the creatures are suitably eerie, the movie overuses the concept. Still, I think anyone with fond memories of this one won’t be disappointed by a rewatching, and it is definitely one of the better made-for-TV horror movies out there.

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Dimension 5 (1966)

DIMENSION 5 (1966)
Article #1501 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-24-2005
Posting Date: 9-21-2005
Directed by Franklin Adreon
Featuring Jeffrey Hunter, France Nuyen, Harold Sakata

Spies use a time-traveling belt to help prevent an attempt by communists to blow up the city of Los Angeles.

If you haven’t figured it out from the plot description, the gimmick in this movie is the time-traveling belt. I really am disappointed that they found nothing better to do with the idea than make it part of a James Bond style spy thriller, but this being the mid-sixties, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. At least I think it’s supposed to be a James Bond style spy thriller; actually, it comes across as if someone had been told about James Bond style thrillers, and decided to make one of his own without the benefit of having seen any of the originals. Yes, there are pretty girls and suave spies who specialize in witty repartee. However, the story would easily fit into thirty minutes of a real James Bond thriller, the pacing is non-existent, the repartee painful, the music anonymous and without any of the brassy charm of a real James Bond soundtrack. About the only thing that really comes across as Bondian is the presence of Harold ‘Oddjob’ Sakata as the main villain, and even he’s been dubbed by Paul Frees. The time-traveling belt gimmick remains little more than such; the movie could have been easily rewritten to remove it. In short, this is a dull, cheap, tired little spy thriller; it is a James Bond movie devoid of all the style that goes into that type of movie, and since I consider James Bond movies to be example of “style over substance”, I would say that if you take the style away, you have very little left. In this context, the best thing about it is France Nuyen, who plays her part with a bored sultriness, a decision that would be fatal in most movies but somehow manages to be somewhat interesting here. Jeffrey Hunter is mostly remembered nowadays for having almost been the captain of the Enterprise in ‘Star Trek’, but passed on the opportunity to appear in a second pilot for the series, the role going to William Shatner.

Incidentally, in the U.K., this movie was called DIMENSION FOUR. I take this to mean that they realized that there was less dimension here than originally promised.

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Junior G-Men (1940)

JUNIOR G-MEN (1940)
(Serial)
Article #1500 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-23-2005
Posting Date: 9-20-2005
Directed by Ford Beebe and John Rawlins
Featuring Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell

A group of saboteurs known as the Flaming Torches are trying to force the secret of a super explosive from a renowned scientist. They set their sights on capturing his son as a hostage. His son, however, is part of a street gang who has been contacted by the FBI in the hopes of enlisting his help to catch the Flaming Torches.

One of the main problems I have with serials is that they eventually became so formulaic that there are rarely any surprises at all in them. Because of this, I’ve come to appreciate any time they find a way to vary the formula somewhat. I still think the use of The Dead End Kids and the Little Tough Guys was a good idea for serials, since they certainly weren’t your conventional heroes, and the fact that they were often on the wrong side of the law themselves made it more understandable why they wouldn’t enlist the help of the police in their own dealings with outlaws. Still, the serials featuring them weren’t really all that good, and other than the gimmick just discussed, this is a pretty uninspired serial. The main villain is marginally interesting, but he’s still another one of those “sit-at-the-desk-and-bark-out-orders” types that I’ve seen a million times. I do wonder about the intelligence quotient of any gang that has each of its members tattoo their logo on their wrists (thereby making it very easy for the authorities to identify them). And let’s face it; the aggregation known as “The Dead End Kids and The Little Tough Guys” was one of the least interesting of the combinations; give me “The Dead End Kids”, “The East Side Kids” or “The Bowery Boys” anytime, all of which were more fun and interesting.

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Deadlier Than the Male (1966)

DEADLIER THAN THE MALE (1966)
Article #1499 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-22-2005
Posting Date: 9-19-2005
Directed by Ralph Thomas
Featuring Richard Johnson, Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina

Insurance Investigator Hugh Drummond discovers an organization that hires itself out to corporations to facilitate business deals but uses assassination as its modus operandi.

This was the first of the two movies to revive the character of Bulldog Drummond and cast him in the James Bond mold. These movies are far and away my favorite of that genre; truth be told, I think I prefer them to the Bonds. Maybe its because they’re less stunt-oriented (I’m not a big fan of stunt cinema) and more story and humor oriented. In this one, the assassinations are committed by two beautiful women (Sommer and Koscina) who use time bombs, spear-guns and fatal variations on the exploding cigar gag. Fans of character actor Milton Reid will also find him here as a black belt instructor. The movie also features a great chess sequence, and my favorite use of kleptomania as a plot point to date. Sadly, this series never lasted very long.

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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1949)

A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT (1949)
Article #1498 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-21-2005
Posting Date: 9-18-2005
Directed by Tay Garnett
Featuring Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, Cedric Hardwicke

A mechanic of the twentieth century suffers an accident that sends him back to the time of King Arthur.

Mark Twain’s novel was basically considered a satire, and was at times darkly cynical. There’s not much of that here, but then, given that Bing Crosby is the star, I didn’t expect it would be; I expected a light-hearted musical comedy, and that’s what it is. Oddly enough, it does get a little dark at times; at one point, Crosby’s character visits a poor peasant family who just lost their father to the plague. Though this event causes the character to hatch a scheme to take King Arthur out into the real world disguised as a peasant so he can see the suffering and injustice of the world, the movie immediately undercuts the idea by having our disguised friends sing a cheery, happy song about the joys of being free and without responsibility. The music is merely okay, but the comedy is quite good on occasion; there’s a scene where Sir Sagramore (William Bendix) plays around with a gun without the slightest idea of its danger that is rather enjoyable. All in all, it’s watchable, enjoyable and forgettable, though in all honesty, I must admit that Rhonda Fleming is stunningly beautiful here. Still, I find it impossible to believe that she could effectively disguise herself as a young boy as she does at one point in the proceedings.

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The Clones (1973)

THE CLONES (1973)
Article #1497 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-20-2005
Posting Date: 9-17-2005
Directed by Lamar Card and Paul Hunt
Featuring Michael Greene, Susan Hunt, Gregory Sierra

A scientist escapes from a near disaster to discover that someone who looks just like him has taken his place.

Those who think that cloning paranoia began with Dolly the sheep should check out this one. I remember ads for this movie running on my local TV station, but the movie never actually showed up in town. No wonder. To begin with, the movie gives away its biggest mystery in the title. Then there’s the fact that despite the science fiction premise, the movie largely descends into rather dullish action fare; car chases, gunfights, fistfights, etc. etc. etc. Arty trip sequences add nothing and go nowhere, and the shaky hand-held camera work gets pretty tiresome as well. There’s the odd good moment; the opening is mysterious enough, there’s a scene where our hero checks the bathroom before stealing a car from a service station, John Drew Barrymore has a memorable cameo as a hippie, and Angelo Rossitto fans may want to catch it for a short scene in a phone booth. Other than that, this one is a tedious washout; even having the final shootout take place in an amusement park falls flat. How does it end? Well, it was the seventies, so…

Incidentally, this is also the last credit listed for serial and feature star Bruce Bennett, though where he appears in the movie is a mystery to me.

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Bewitched (1945)

BEWITCHED (1945)
Article #1496 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-19-2005
Posting Date: 9-16-2005
Directed by Arch Oboler
Featuring Phyllis Thaxter, Edmund Gwenn, Henry H. Daniels Jr.

A woman leaves her home and fiancé at the urging of her evil alternate personality.

Arch Oboler was the writer/producer/director of the radio show “Lights Out” before moving into a cinema. This was his first directorial effort, based on an adaptation of a story called “Alter Ego” that he had done for his radio show. It must have made for a fine radio presentation; as a movie, however, it doesn’t quite work. There’s a lot of dialogue here that would have worked fine over the radio, but on screen, it feels artificial, forced and self-conscious. As a director, Arch Oboler knows a few cinematic tricks, and this movie has a few of them; unfortunately, they feel like tricks rather than part of the real action, and they stand out like sore thumbs. The story doesn’t stand up quite as well as it could; I think Oboler made a mistake by making the girl’s alternate personality such a mean-spirited, snarling villainous hussy (whenever she talks, it sounds like she’s trying to do an imitation of one of Edward G. Robinson’s gangsters) because it makes the whole experience seem less unsettling and more like a standard good-versus-evil situation. Still, there are nice touches the story, and Edmund Gwenn is memorable as a psychiatrist. Oboler would go on to direct other genre efforts such as FIVE, THE TWONKY and THE BUBBLE.

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The Bacchantes (1961)

THE BACCHANTES (1961)
(a.k.a. LE BACCANTI)
Article #1495 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-18-2005
Posting Date: 9-15-2005
Directed by Giorgio Ferroni
Featuring Taina Elg, Pierre Brice, Alessandro Panaro

A Theban tyrant banishes the worship of Dionysius in favor of that of Demeter, but the resulting drought drives his subjects into rebellion.

This story of the ancient Greeks is a French/Italian co-production made in the early sixties. If this description doesn’t conjure up the phrase “sword-and-sandal”, then nothing does. However, the phrase doesn’t quite fit here; despite the presence of many of the usual trappings of the form, this is less of an action-adventure spectacle than a drama. It even credits Euripedes with the source of the story, though anyone familiar with the Greek tragedy in question will find little familiar here. Still, I can’t blame them; ancient Greek tragedy is something of an alien form anymore, and for what it’s worth, this movie comes up with an interesting enough story that is worth following. In fact, I think it’s a decent fantasy-drama overall, though it does have some problems; in particular, the dancing and partying scenes of the Dionysians are pretty silly. I only wish I had snagged a color copy of the movie, but no such luck. Akim Tamiroff is almost unrecognizable as the blind prophet Teiresias.

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An American Christmas Carol (1979)

AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS CAROL (1979)
Article #1494 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-17-2005
Posting Date: 9-14-2005
Directed by Eric Till
Featuring Henry Winkler, R.H. Thomson, Susan Hogan

Benedict Slade, after spending the day before Christmas repossessing various pieces of merchandise and firing his assistant, is visited by the ghost of his former partner, and then by spirits to teach him the true meaning of Christmas.

The idea of updating the Dickens classic to take place in America has something of the air of gimmick, and had the script been written with only this in mind, it would have been disastrous. However, the script does a fine job with the idea. By setting the action during the great depression, it manages to capture something deeply American while still holding on somewhat to the ambiance of the original settings of the story. It also does a fine job with filling the story with the proper details to maintain interest, and after awhile you find yourself watching just to see the kinds of inventions the movie will use to adapt the story to its setting. And somehow, it all remains quite true to the source in spirit.

However, there are problems. From a story perspective, the movie fumbles the “Ghost of Christmas Present” section somewhat; by emphasizing the hardships that the Thatcher family (the equivalent to the Cratchits) are enduring, it feels too much like a guilt trip is being placed on Slade (the Scrooge character). Instead, it should be emphasizing the fact that somehow, through all the hardships, the Thatchers are still finding the strength to celebrate a joyous Christmas. Another problem is Henry Winkler’s performance, which is half a success and half a failure. Winkler manages to come up with a unique and interesting take on the Scrooge character, but he fails to make us believe he’s really the age of his character; his voice sounds too young, and he moves too swiftly and assuredly for a man of his supposed age. This problem is compounded by his rather unconvincing make-up, which also makes him look too old and obscures his eyes, and his hands and the lower part of his neck look much too young. Though these are problems, they’re not fatal; overall, the movie works quite well. Still, it’s no replacement for some of the classic earlier versions of the story.

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Aliens from Spaceship Earth (1977)

ALIENS FROM SPACESHIP EARTH (1977)
Article #1493 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-16-2005
Posting Date: 9-13-2005
Directed by Don Como
Featuring Lynda Day George, Donovan, Leigh Taylor-Young

A documentary about spirituality, Eastern religions and higher consciousness.

I got this title from John Stanley’s “Creature Features Movie Guide Strikes Again” book. He describes the movie as being about alien visitations and features recreations of close encounters. Though the book definitely has its uses, the fact of the matter is that he didn’t see every movie listed, and every once in a while this shows in his plot descriptions. Furthermore, IMDB gives a plot outline that claims that the movie “tries to prove that all great men of the past were actually aliens”. If there are two movies of this title, than IMDB has them merged into one; the director and cast listed do match that of the movie I’ve seen (as far as they go, anyway; the cast listed are just playing themselves in the movie).

At any rate, my copy of the movie ALIENS FROM SPACESHIP EARTH has no speculation about visitations from outer space nor great men in history really being aliens. It’s a documentary about spirituality, higher planes of consciousness, and the place of Eastern religions in the Western world. Those expecting anything else will be extremely disappointed. For those interested in the subject it does discuss, it has its uses; if you’re searching for spiritual guidance and would like to explore the options offered by Eastern faiths, this movie could serve as an introductory guide to some of the options. Though it’s main area of speculation (that man is on the verge of a spiritual breakthrough in this time of crisis) doesn’t seem to have panned out (to these eyes, anyway), I found it nonetheless to be quite interesting. Whether it properly falls into the genre areas of this survey, however, is another question, though the mystic and the fantastic do intertwine. However, don’t expect anything about alien visitiations.

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