The Black Widow (1947)

THE BLACK WIDOW (1947)
(Serial)
Article #1242 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-8-2004
Posting Date: 1-5-2005
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and Fred C. Brannon
Featuring Bruce Edwards, Virginia Lee, Carol Forman

A mystery writer is called on to investigate a series of deaths of noted scientists, and he attempts to track down a villainess known as the Black Widow.

Yes, it’s another Republic serial, and it’s another good one. Though I’m not keen on serials in particular, I do like how Republic handled them; they have a good sense of fun and well-staged fight scenes. By the late forties, they had also reduced the length of the episodes; except for the twenty-minute first episode, the lengths of the rest are in the thirteen to fourteen minute range. I felt this was the ideal length, since longer episodes feel more padded and my patience starts to waver. There is lots of scientific gadgetry in this one, including a teleportation machine, though I am left wondering how a culture with the scientific smarts to come up with that gizmo still needs to steal our secrets for an atomic missile. This one is thirteen episodes rather than the standard twelve, and I found myself wondering if the length of the serial was changed in mid-production, since one episode consists almost entirely of footage from other episodes. Still, this one is pretty good.

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Television Spy (1939)

TELEVISION SPY (1939)
Article #1241 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-7-2004
Posting Date: 1-4-2005
Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Featuring William Collier Sr., William Henry, Judith Barrett

A cantankerous industrialist decides to give financial backing to an inventor intent on developing long-distance television, but has to deal with spies, both industrial and political.

This is my favorite movie of the thirties with the word “television” in the title. This in itself really isn’t saying much; TRAPPED BY TELEVISION was fairly humdrum, and MURDER BY TELEVISION was a sore waste of celluloid. This one is a lot of fun, though. Part of the fun is the hilarious performance by William Collier Sr., whose barking, opinionated, and cantankerous industrialist is highly entertaining. They also make a lot of use of the science fiction elements on this one; much of the plot revolves around unexpected transmissions from the television sets in use. The movie also includes early performances by Richard Denning and Anthony Quinn. It’s exciting and efficient, running just under an hour. It’s just a b-movie, but it shows how entertaining they can be when done right.

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Life is a Circus (1958)

LIFE IS A CIRCUS (1958)
Article #1240 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-6-2004
Posting Date: 1-3-2005
Directed by Val Guest
Featuring Bud Flanagan, Teddy Knox, Jimmy Nervo

When most of Joe Winter’s circus performers walk out, a handful of men try to singlehandedly keep the big top alive. Then they discover Aladdin’s lamp. Hilarity ensues.

You can tell this is a comedy right off the bat; the stars of this one are a group of men known as “The Crazy Gang”. You can also tell it’s a musical; the title song gets spotlighted about four times during the length of the movie. There’s also a chimp to spice things up; he helps to keep the humor from getting too lowbrow. Lionel Jeffries pops in as the genie and promptly steals the movie. I also recognized Joseph Tomelty, who appeared in DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS. Most of the schtick is frantic and desperate, but the occasional funny line comes through. Despite its obvious appeal to kids, I’d be cautious about springing it on to them unprepared; the genie is watching the dance of the seven veils inside of his lamp, and it doesn’t leave a whole lot to the viewers imagination. So this is what Val Guest does when he’s not directing movies based on stories by Nigel Kneale.

I miss Quatermass.

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So Dark the Night (1946)

SO DARK THE NIGHT (1946)
Article #1239 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-5-2004
Posting Date: 1-2-2005
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Featuring Steven Geray, Micheline Cheirel, Eugene Borden

A famous detective from Paris falls in love with a country girl while out on a holiday, but she has a jealous boyfriend. Nonetheless, he becomes engaged to her. Then the girl vanishes the night of the engagement party and later shows up dead.

There are some plot twists that are indelible; once they’ve been used in one story, they ingrain themselves in your memory, and if you should encounter another story using the same twist, you can see it coming a mile away. This explains why it was that at the halfway point of this movie, I knew exactly what the twist was going to be.

Now, if you aren’t familiar with the twist in question, this movie should work for you just fine. But if you are familiar with it…well, in my case, the movie worked just fine anyway. I think that’s because the characters are so charmingly developed and brought to life (by a cast of largely unknown actors), that even when you see the twist coming, you still care about the characters enough to wonder what will happen afterwards. It’s also very nicely directed, with some fascinating visual moments and some creative use of lighting. The fantastic aspects are mild, but I can’t really go into much detail about them for fear that they will give away too much, so I’ll just say that madness plays a role in the proceedings. In some ways, this little b-movie does its job so well, that I really have very few complaints. It’s definitely worth a look.

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The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)

THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN (1968)
Article #1238 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-4-2004
Posting Date: 1-1-2005
Directed by Michael Anderson
Featuring Anthony Quinn, Laurence Olivier, Oskar Werner

A Russian priest who was imprisoned in Siberia for twenty years is released to the Vatican. He then wins the election to become the next Pope.

First of all, let’s get the fantastic elements out of the way; the movie takes place in the near future where atomic war is brewing as a result of widespread starvation in China; this places the movie into that somewhat marginal category of political science fiction. This serves as a backdrop to what is essentially a drama, but I can understand the necessity of using this type of backdrop; if you’re going to create a fictional story about a personage as important as the Pope, you most likely are going to want to paint the story on a big canvas rather than on a postage stamp.

As to the movie itself, it has some fine moments and some great performances; I’m particularly taken with the work of Anthony Quinn, Oskar Werner and Leo McKern here. It deals with some interesting themes, such as the fact that in some ways being a Pope makes our lead character as much of a prisoner as he was in Siberia. I also like the subplot revolving around Oskar Werner, a terminally ill friar who wants to get his books published before his death, but is turned down by the Vatican committee because of the questionable theological ideas they contain. Unfortunately, the movie also has some major problems; at two hours and forty minutes, it is far too long. It is also too slow, gets bogged down in one totally unnecessary subplot (the one about the philandering reporter), and despite the fact that the movie really tries its best to effectively set up its final moments, when they finally come, I found it impossible to believe. I think it also may have tried too much. At any rate, it has made me a little curious about Morris L. West’s novel, and I’m curious as to whether it fleshes out certain things about which the movie merely hints. Despite its moments, this one is really for the very patient.

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Screaming Mimi (1958)

SCREAMING MIMI (1958)
Article #1237 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-3-2004
Posting Date: 12-31-2004
Directed by Gerd Oswald
Featuring Anita Ekberg, Philip Carey, Gypsy Rose Lee

A woman who became mentally unhinged after an attack by a psychotic becomes the target of a psychiatrist’s obsessions.

This psychological film noir with horror underpinnings was based on a novel by Fredric Brown. It has a fascinating story to tell, and there are some good performances here, particularly from Harry Townes as the psychiatrist. There’s also some good music from jazz xylophonist Red Yost Norvo, and a good vocal number from Gypsy Rose Lee, who also gives a relaxed, charming performance in the movie. It could have been a real winner, but it falls a bit short, and I suspect that the reason for this is the presence of Anita Ekberg.

In some ways, she was very appropriate for the role; she’s such a stunningly attractive woman it’s easy seeing how men might become obsessed with her.  Furthermore, she does lend to that air of sex that hangs over the movie.  Unfortunately, she’s not much of an actress, and her role requires someone with much greater thespic and musical talents.  Despite the fact that she appears to have had the benefit of a lot of coaching, she never really comes across as a real character.  And though she’s very easy on the eyes during her dance scenes, every time I look at her face, the only emotion I can see is that she’s really trying hard to remember her moves.  It’s movies like this that really could benefit from a thoughtful and careful remake.

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The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930)

THE RETURN OF DR. FU MANCHU (1930)
Article #1236 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-2-2004
Posting Date: 12-30-2004
Directed by Rowland V. Lee
Featuring Warner Oland, O.P. Heggie, Jean Arthur

Dr. Fu Manchu fakes his own death in order to have another chance on avenging himself against Dr. Petrie.

The three movies in Warner Oland’s Fu Manchu series are quite entertaining, but reportedly they have precious little to do with Fu Manchu as presented in the Sax Rohmer novels. I haven’t read any of these, so I can’t make a comparison, but I do know that in comparison with some of the other Fus I’ve seen (notably, Boris Karloff’s in THE MASK OF FU MANCHU), Warner Oland’s is positively cuddly and benign, while still proving to be a resourceful villain. This is the second in the series, and is a direct sequel to THE MYSTERIOUS DR. FU MANCHU, with all the surviving main characters back with the original actors in their respective roles. Unfortunately, that also means that the character of Sylvester is back, which means we have more scenes of his annoyingly prissy cowardice (and he doesn’t even have the marmalade line to redeem him this time). Still, this one may well be the most enjoyable of this series.

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The Nurse’s Secret (1941)

THE NURSE’S SECRET (1941)
Article #1235 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-1-2004
Posting Date: 12-29-2004
Directed by Noel M. Smith
Featuring Lee Patrick, Regis Toomey, Julie Bishop

A nurse agrees to help a police detective to uncover the secrets surrounding the accident / suicide / murder of a man.

I thought at first that it was merely a curious coincidence that I was watching another movie about a nurse right after viewing MISS PINKERTON. When the second scene in this movie opened with an old lady hurting herself after discovering a dead body, the coincidence just seemed somewhat sharper. Then when I discovered that the old lady’s last name was Mitchell, I became convinced that the resemblances between the two movies were more than coincidental, and sure enough, this movie is indeed a remake of MISS PINKERTON. As such, I found it less confusing than the earlier movie; there’s fewer scenes of people just standing around acting suspicious and more scenes of people talking to each other, so you get to know them and their motivations a lot better. The changes to the story also seem better; the old lady doesn’t merely faint; she falls backward down a staircase, which makes the need for the presence of a nurse that much stronger. The dog has also changed from a smallish one to a full-sized Great Dane, and he actually has a role to play in the plot in this one. I’m glad I saw this one, as it helps the story make more sense, but if I had to rewatch one of these, I’d probably go back to MISS PINKERTON, because I like the cast better. It’s just nice to have the details of the story worked out.

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Miss Pinkerton (1932)

MISS PINKERTON (1932)
Article #1234 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-31-2004
Postind Date: 12-28-2004
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Featuring Joan Blondell, George Brent, Ruth Hall

A nurse tired of her routine duties at the hospital is sent out on an assignment of caring for an old woman who fainted when she discovered the dead body of her nephew. She becomes involved in the investigation of the death.

Is the death the result of suicide? Or is it murder faked to look like suicide? Or is it a suicide faked to look like a murder that was faked to look like a suicide? (There’s insurance involved.) Or is it a murder faked to look like a suicide that was being faked to look like a murder being faked as a suicide? Believe it or not, the investigation actually starts digging this deep. Between that and the fact that practically everyone is acting fairly suspicious and also given that we are thrust into the proceedings without really being properly introduced to all the characters involved, you might understand why I found this particular mystery to be somewhat confusing. Still, it is entertaining in its own muddled way, and it does have a black-cloaked figure with a clutching hand to add some horror touches to the proceedings. The ending did leave me feeling vaguely dissatisfied, though. And just for fun, see if you can figure out what Mrs. Mitchell was planning to reveal in her final legal statement.

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King of the Jungle (1933)

KING OF THE JUNGLE (1933)
Article #1233 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-30-2004
Postind Date: 12-27-2004
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and Max Marcin
Featuring Buster Crabbe, Frances Dee, Sidney Toler

A boy who is the only survivor of a plane crash is raised by lions. Years later, he is captured along with the lions and sold to a circus.

This movie starts out as a Tarzan variation, substituting lions for apes, but it comes into its own when the action moves from the jungle into the civilized world. A black-haired Buster Crabbe plays the lion man, who is dubbed with the name of Kaspa (not to be confused with the friendly ghost), and he wears what may be the skimpiest loincloth I’ve ever seen; in fact, the skimpiness of the costume becomes a bit of a running gag once civilization is reached. It’s the animal scenes that steal the movie, though, especially in the grand finale in which the circus catches on fire. Some of the scenes are a great deal of fun; watching Kaspa play-wrestling with one of the lions is a charmer. Some of them are truly exciting; the scene where the elephants escape into the city and start wreaking havoc reminded me of scenes from KING KONG. And some of them are upsetting; there’s a fight between a lion and a bull in the first half of the movie that looks all too real, and one is reminded that animals were not treated as well in the earlier days of cinema as they are now. Still, the movie is quite entertaining, and it has a happy ending. The movie also features Irving Pichel, Douglas Dumbrille, and Sam Baker (Hugo from THE LOST CITY).

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