Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939)

DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (1939)
(Serial)
Article #1432 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-14-2005
Posting Date: 7-14-2005
Directed by John English and William Witney
Featuring Charles Quigley, Bruce Bennett, David Sharpe

Three daredevils decide to help the police track down an escaped criminal known by his prison number (39013) when one of his acts of sabotage brings about the death of their young mascot.

When I began this viewing project, I didn’t expect that I would end up watching as many serials as I have. This wasn’t a particular pleasure, as far as I was concerned, because I’m not really a fan of the form. Yes, they sounded really cool when I was a kid, but my enthusiasm was quickly cooled when I actually saw one (probably ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE), and saw how far they fell short of my imagination. As a consequence, I’ve learned to scale down my expectations of what to expect from the form quite a bit.

Nonetheless, it is nice that every once in a while I encounter a serial that actually comes close to being everything a serial is supposed to be, and this is one of them. The science fiction elements are slight (a death ray plays a role in a couple of episodes), but in all other respects it is truly worthy. The heros are a lot of fun—three daredevils with individual talents (one is extremely limber, another is very strong, and another is an escape artist) which use them in the course of the adventure (though when Tiny prevents some criminals by escaping by lifting the back end of their car so that the wheels are off the ground, they go a little too far; after all, that’s Superman-style strength there). The villain himself is also a winner, both in the fact that he’s played by Charles Middleton and also because his particular gimmick is memorable; he wears a disguise to make him look like the daredevils’ boss, who is actually being held prisoner in a secret room in his own house. The serial is largely free of the more mundane cliffhangers, and seems perpetually inventive. It also allows the child to die in the first reel, which not only gives the daredevils a real motivation to catch the criminal, but spares us from having to deal with the kid for the rest of the serial. One touch I really love is that there’s a mysterious double agent at work. Now, most serials have this element, but it’s usually someone spying on the actions of the good guys and informing the bad guys. This one reverses it; the daredevils get hints and clues from a mysterious friend known as the Red Circle, and you’ll have a lot of fun speculating as to who the spy is (though I must admit to being a little disappointed at the final revelation in this regard).

In short, this is one of the very best serials I’ve ever seen. I can only speculate as to how my attitude towards the form would have changed if I had seen this one for my first serial rather than ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE.

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The Wonders of Aladdin (1961)

THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN (1961)
(a.k.a. LE MERAVIGLIE DI ALADINO)
Article #1431 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-13-2005
Posting Date: 7-13-2005
Directed by Henry Levin
Featuring Donold O’Connor, Noelle Adam, Vittorio De Sica

Aladdin is given a magic lamp by his mother, and uses it to save the prince from an assassination attempt.

I’ve seen several versions of the Aladdin story by now, and though I haven’t read the original Arabian Nights version of it, I think I have a basic idea of how it goes. This comic take on it makes several changes to the tale, none of them good. For one thing, Aladdin has been split into two different characters, as has the princess. As an adventure epic, it’s tepid, and the action scenes are pretty lame. As a comedy it’s only sporadically funny. What it really lacks is exactly what it promises in the title; it’s singularly short on the sense of wonder.

Actually, I find the credits a lot more interesting than the movie itself. Donald O’Connor plays the part of Aladdin. The Genie is played by noted Italian Neo-Realist director Vittorio De Sica. Omar is played by familiar character actor Milton Reid; if you’ve seen CAPTAIN CLEGG, DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, or THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, you should recognize him. Much of the second unit direction was handled by Mario Bava. And the part of the prince was played by Mario Girotti, who would later on in life be billed as Terence Hill and appear in several spaghetti western comedies as Trinity.

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The Witch’s Curse (1962)

THE WITCH’S CURSE (1962)
(a.k.a. MACISTE ALL’INFERNO)
Article #1430 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-12-2005
Posting Date: 7-12-2005
Directed by Riccardo Freda
Featuring Kirk Morris, Helene Chanel, Vira Silenti

A witch places a curse on a Scottish village, and only Maciste can rid the village of the curse.

I went into this movie knowing it was supposed to be a Sword and Sandal movie. However, the first eighteen minutes consist entirely of the witch-hunting antics of a seventeenth century Scottish village, and I began to really wonder if the movie had been wrongly classified. Well, I shouldn’t have doubted; at the twenty-minute mark, Maciste (clad in his traditional loincloth) rides into the village on his trusty horse, runs into a building, goes to the bars of a cage, and immediately goes into the patented Sword and Sandal bending-the-bars-back routine. Still, if you’re wondering what Maciste is doing in seventeenth-century Scotland, you’re asking the same question I asked about him in another movie when he appeared in 13th century China. You also may wonder why it is that when Maciste has to go to hell to defeat the witch who left the curse, he ends up in the Hades of Greek mythology (he meets that guy who was strapped to a rock so an eagle could eat his entrails every day) rather than the Hell of Christian mythology, but this will just give you a headache.

I have figured out one issue, though; it’s obvious that Maciste is a time traveler. When he loses his memory in Hades, he looks into a pool to recover it and sees scenes from ATLAS AGAINST THE CYCLOPS and the aforementioned foray into thirteenth-century China (the title of this one eludes me at the moment), so I can only assume that all three are the same Maciste. Now how else can this one man appear in three separate eras other than time travel? He can’t fool me; he may lead you to believe that he rides a horse around, but I’ll bet he has his Tardis just over the hill. He’s probably on first name terms with the Doctor, as well.

Yes, you heard me right. Maciste is a timelord. You heard it here first, folks.

Can I have my medicine now?

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Werewolf in a Girl’s Dormitory (1962)

WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS’ DORMITORY (1962)
(a.k.a. THE GHOUL IN SCHOOL / LYCANTHROPUS)
Article #1429 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-11-2005
Posting Date: 7-11-2005
Directed by Paolo Heusch
Featuring Barbara Lass, Carl Schell, Curt Lowens

When a new professor arrives at a girl’s reform school, a series of werewolf attacks begin.

Given the exploitational (and inaccurate—the werewolf never actually shows up in the girls’ dormitory) title, and the semi-comic secondary title (THE GHOUL IN SCHOOL) designed to spotlight a rock song (which only appears during the opening title, lasts ten seconds, and merely repeats the phrase “There’s a ghoul in the school” a couple of times), you might understand why I expected little more from this than a forgettable horror/exploitation movie with maybe a touch of humor and lots of bad dubbing. Actually, it’s better than that; there’s a good sense of mystery to it, it has an assortment of interesting characters, and the subplot about the man having an affair with one of the students is far better than I anticipated (though I did expect it to be a red herring). It does still suffer from horrendous dubbing, though, and it did make me wonder how many foreign movies out there would have a better reputation if it weren’t for this latter circumstance. At any rate, there’s a lot more meat on the bones of this one than I expected. This one is worth a look for those willing to see past the dubbing.

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Krakatit (1947)

KRAKATIT (1947)
Article #1428 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-10-2005
Posting Date: 7-10-2005
Directed by Otakar Vavra
Featuring Karel Hoger, Florence Marly, Eduard Linkers

An ill man has a fever dream in which he creates an explosive powder called Krakatit, which becomes an eagerly sought substance by foreign powers.

Once again I find myself watching a foreign movie in its native language (Czech) without subtitles; however, I was also given a document which translated the dialogue for me, so by following the script while watching the movie, I was able (albeit awkwardly) to follow the story. This is good, as the story is complex enough that if I had had to rely on the visuals alone, I would have been lost. It’s a powerful story by Karel Capek, the Czech writer responsible for the birth of the word ‘robot’ (from the play “R.U.R.”) about the illusion that the ultimate weapon will be the ultimate peacemaker. There are some haunting moments here, particularly in scenes with an old mailman and with a mysterious character called D’Hemon (pronounced “Daimon”, and if you know a word that sounds very close to that, you’ll have a clue to his real identity). Since the movie is framed by sequences in which a doctor and a nurse try to care for the ill main character, you’re left wondering whether the events are being dreamed or remembered. At any rate, this is a powerful movie, and it’s a shame that it’s not better known or more widely available.

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The Crimson Pirate (1952)

THE CRIMSON PIRATE (1952)
Article #1427 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-9-2005
Posting Date: 7-9-2005
Directed by Robert Siodmak
Featuring Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok

A pirate hatches a scheme to make a fortune by selling guns to rebels, and then turning in the rebels for a reward. His scheme backfires when he falls in love with the daughter of the rebel leader.

At the top of this swashbuckling pirate epic, Burt Lancaster tells the viewer to ‘believe only what you see’. Then, after an impossible stunt (courtesy of running some footage backwards), he amends this to ‘believe only half of what you see’. This is the movie’s witty way of telling you not to take it too seriously, but they needn’t have worried; the movie does a fine job of putting you in the right frame of mind even without the reminder. In short, this is a hilarious and fun romp, chock full of stunts, many of them courtesy of Burt Lancaster and his partner from his circus days, Nick Cravat (who plays his part like an athletic Harpo Marx). Watching these two work together is a real joy, as they share a real chemistry with each other. The fantastic content doesn’t really manifest itself until the end of the movie, when certain science fiction elements come to the fore, but it’s best to leave these as surprises. In a sense, this movie reminds me a little of the TV show, “The Wild Wild West”, in which an athletic star is placed in a period setting with occasional primitive-looking science fiction devices. The movie also features Torin Thatcher (THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD), and Christopher Lee.

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At the Edge of the World (1927)

AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD (1927)
(a.k.a. AM RANDE DER WELT)
Article #1426 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-8-2005
Posting Date: 7-8-2005
Directed by Karl Grune
Featuring Jean Bradin, William Dieterle, Edwin Faber

A mill situated on the border between two unnamed countries and the residents therein become pawns in a future war.

This summary is at least partially based on plot descriptions, though for once my inability to grasp the details of a movie is not due to its having been seen only in its native language. No, the titles of this German movie are indeed in English; the trouble is that the print is in such poor condition that not only are some of the titles illegible, but it’s even hard to identify faces from one scene to the next. This is a bit of a shame; there are some scenes I’d really like to get a good look at, particularly those which feature shots of the windmill and those that take place during a festival. I’d also like to see some of the cast members clearly, which include future director William Dieterle, famous silent actress Brigitte Helm, and Nosferatu himself, Max Schreck. The plot may be partially fantasy in the sense that the movie may be an allegory of sorts, though the future war description puts it in the category of marginal science fiction; whichever it is, it’s very hard to discern when you can’t make out any details. Chalk this one up as another one that deserves some sort of restoration.

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The Strange Door (1951)

THE STRANGE DOOR (1951)
Article #1425 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-7-2005
Posting Date: 7-7-2005
Directed by Joseph Pevney
Featuring Charles Laughton, Boris Karloff, Sally Forrest

A French nobleman tries to force a disolute playboy into marrying his daughter as part of an elaborate revenge scheme.

This movie along with THE BLACK CASTLE form an odd duo in Boris Karloff’s oeuvre; they’re both Gothic melodramas masquerading as horror movies which emphasized Karloff’s presence but consigned him to odd supporting roles. This one is the more interesting of the two, largely due to the presence of Charles Laughton. This would be the only time they would work together after THE OLD DARK HOUSE, and the movie is pretty much handed to Laughton, who chews the scenery with a gusto worthy of Tod Slaughter. In fact, he has all the good lines. Though he’s obviously having a good time, this isn’t one of Laughton’s better performances; some of his moments feel forced, while others feel just strange. Other than that, there’s not much of note here; the horror elements consist of some of the wilder Gothic elements, in particular a scene involving one of those rooms with the moving walls that come together. All in all, this is not a particularly noteworthy moment in the careers of either Karloff or Laughton.

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Tunneling the Channel (1907)

TUNNELING THE CHANNEL (1907)
(a.k.a. TUNNEL SOUS LA MANCHE OU LE CAUCHEMAR FRANCO-ANGLAIS)
Article #1424 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-6-2005
Posting Date: 7-6-2005
Directed by Georges Melies

French and English kings have a dream that they build an underwater tunnel between the two countries across the English channel.

It’s been a long time since I’ve covered one of Melies’ silent shorts, so it’s nice to do another one. This one is quite amusing, though you do have to wonder about the intelligence of the tunnel architects who only build one set of train tracks, failing to realize that you’ll have traffic going both ways at the same time. My favorite moment is the opening of the dream, in which England and France are represented as two giants with a body of water between them, and in order to shake hands, they must stretch their arms to the proper length; this sequence looks like a political cartoon come to life.

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Topper Returns (1941)

TOPPER RETURNS (1941)
Article #1423 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-5-2005
Posting Date: 7-5-2005
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Featuring Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis

Topper is bothered by another ghost. In this case, it’s the American friend to the heir of a fortune who was murdered by mistake. She wants Topper to help solve her murder.

This was the only one of the three Topper films that wasn’t based directly on one of Thorne Smith’s stories, but rather on the characters he created. You can see the difference. Whereas the other two Topper movies were somewhat unpredictable, wild but somehow never going over the top or descending into predictable slapstick. Such is not the case here. The story is your basic old dark house murder mystery, complete with suspicious characters and a scared black chauffeur; Eddie “Rochester” Anderson does his best with the latter, but I don’t blame him for for wanting to be back with Mr. Benny, as he mentions at one point. The humor here is over-the-top and predictable; Eddie Anderson being scared of the ghost, recycled humor from the first two movies in the series, slapstick antics, a stupid cop and a sarcastic cab driver. It’s somewhat hit and miss, but it does have a great cast; in fact, horror fans may prefer this one over the first two of the series; after all, we have George Zucco on hand to glower for us. Somehow, though, I suspect that Topper and Thorne Smith fans may be somewhat disappointed.

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