Daughter of Horror (1955)

DAUGHTER OF HORROR (1955)
(a.k.a. DEMENTIA)
Article #691 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 2-4-2003
Posting date: 7-4-2003
Directed by John Parker
Featuring Adrienne Barett, Bruno Ve Sota, Ben Roseman

An insane woman murders a man and finds herself running from the police.

Fans of THE BLOB will certainly remember that freaky movie the teenagers were watching in the movie theater; here it is in all its glory. In some ways, it’s not really a horror movie, but the underlying theme of madness and the darkly disturbing surrealness of the proceedings make it more horrifying than any number of more conventional horror movies. Except for some narration provided by Ed McMahon, there is no dialogue to the movie, though to call it a silent movie is to ignore the use of sound and music throughout, and though we hear no one talk, we do hear them laugh. The movie is about madness; madness pervades every frame of this movie, every arty shot, every close-up, and it is really unlike any other movie I’ve seen in this regard. Some people love this movie; some people hate it. Me, it depends on my mood, but I do think it is one of those movies to which a closer look should be given. It also features Angelo Rossitto in a cameo role.

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Crash of Moons (1954)

CRASH OF MOONS (1954)
Article #690 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 2-3-2003
Posting date: 7-3-2003
Directed by Hollingsworth Morse
Featuring Richard Crane, Sally Mansfield, Scotty Beckett

Rocky Jones tries to save the inhabitants of a planet that is doomed to a collision with one of the moons of a two-moon system, but runs into resistance from the planet’s suspicious empress.

This is the second of the Rocky Jones movies I’ve seen, the first being BEYOND THE MOON. Not much has really changed; the dialogue is pretty lame, the acting so-so, and the special effects fairly primitive. Nonetheless, it gets by well enough, largely because it comports itself with a certain amount of quiet dignity, and actually seeks to tell a fairly elaborate story within its limitations; the sincerity of it all wins me over. And even if the effects are primitive, they are also creative, evocative and fun to look at, and in some ways that may be even more important. This one also features an early performance from John Banner.

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Counterblast (1948)

COUNTERBLAST (1948)
Article #689 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 2-2-2003
Posting date: 7-2-2003
Directed by Paul L. Stein
Featuring Mervyn Johns, Nova Pilbeam, Karel Stepanek

A Nazi scientist escapes imprisonment, and impersonates an English bacterioligist so he can develop an antidote to a plague virus that he is hoping to use for world conquest.

The science fiction elements present in this story seem slight (the plague virus), but they do drive the story, so this British spy thriller is definitely in the fantastic movie category. It’s a bit on the longish side (it runs 100 minutes), and after the first ten minutes, it settles down into a kind of talky drama that is actually a lot more interesting than it could have been, due to the decent story, the interesting characters, and the solid acting (particularly from Mervyn Johns). Unfortunately, the movie loses its way just when you’re expecting it to take off; the last ten minutes are unfocused and anticlimactic, and the ending is convenient, contrived and unsatisfying. This is a real shame; it could have been a much better movie if only it had ended with a bang. As it is, the lack of a good ending is probably one of the reasons the movie remains somewhat obscure today.

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Charlie Chan at the Opera (1937)

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OPERA (1937)
Article #688 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 2-1-2003
Posting date: 7-1-2003
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Featuring Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, Keye Luke

Charlie Chan investigates a death threat against an opera singer.

Generally, when a horror star appears in a mystery movie, he turns out to be an obvious red herring. I’m not going to say whether Karloff is one or not, but I will say that the movie does take the care not to make him an obvious one. In fact, the movie seems to take quite a bit of care all around; it looks like a lot of work went into the opera sequences, and the characters are a little more fleshed out than they usually are. Karloff’s definitely is, and his presence is definitely a highlight of the movie, as are Warner Oland’s (in the title role, of course) and William Demarest’s, who makes several appearances as a police detective. The presence of Karloff definitely inspired a bit of the horror touches at the beginning of the movie, and there is of course the seemingly obligatory reference to FRANKENSTEIN that seems to pop up in any non-horror movie Karloff made at the time. There is an amusing sequence where Demarest tries to pick out Keye Luke from among a number of knights in shining armor.

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Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937)

BULLDOG DRUMMOND ESCAPES (1937)
Article #687 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-31-2003
Posting date: 6-30-2003
Directed by James Hogan
Featuring Ray Milland, Sir Guy Standing, Heather Angel

Hugh Drummond returns to England to get caught up in a case where an heiress is held prisoner by her relatives.

I actually ended up enjoying this little programmer immensely, largely because it was done with a light touch emphasizing humor. This is the second Bulldog Drummond movie I’ve seen; in the first, I was amused by the antics of his cohort Algy Longworth. He’s here in this one, too, though played by a different actor, but in this case, it’s E. E. Clive as Drummond’s fast-thinking proactive butler Tenny that steals the show. Drummond himself is played by Ray Milland, and I found some of the conversations between the two very amusing. However, despite my enjoyment of the movie, I didn’t really feel it qualifies as horror in any but the most marginal of ways; mainly, a little fog here and there and a house that might be a little spooky if you squint really hard. Nevertheless, since at least one of my sources lists it as such, I’m including it anyway.

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The Brighton Strangler (1945)

THE BRIGHTON STRANGLER (1945)
Article #686 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-29-2003
Posting Date: 6-28-2003
Directed by Max Nosseck
Featuring John Loder, June Duprez, Rose Hobart

An actor suffers a concussion during an air raid, and takes on in real life the role he was playing at the time, that of a murderer known as The Brighton Strangler.

This is a fairly ordinary but moderately entertaining take on a common story, with a good performance by John Loder in the title role. The story itself is pretty predictable, but there are some nice setpieces here. I particularly like a scene in a movie theatre in which a murder is interrupted by a newsreel; there’s also a nice murder sequence during a snowstorm. It’s no classic, but it’s a pleasant enough time-killer that doesn’t wear out its welcome; it runs 67 minutes.

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Kriemhilde’s Revenge (1924)

KRIEMHILDE’S REVENGE (1924)
(a.k.a. DIE NIBELUNGEN: KRIEMHILDS RACHE)
Article #685 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-29-2003
Posting Date: 6-28-2003
Directed by Fritz Lang
Featuring Margarete Schon, Gertrud Arnold, Theodor Loos

Kriemhilde seeks revenge against the man who killed Siegfried.

This is the second half of Frtiz Lang’s DIE NIBELUNGEN, the first half, SIEGFRIED, having already been covered. The fantastic elements are minimal in this one, though the same cannot be said for the first half; the most obvious fantastic element here is a short flashback of the first half in which Siegfried kills a dragon. The story is less episodic and more focused than the first one, as it establishes Kriemhilde’s thirst for revenge from the beginning and never strays from that theme. Like SIEGFRIED, I can spot parts of Wagner’s musical themes on the soundtrack. It’s interesting to see Attila the Hun portrayed as something other than a total villain; here his desire for a son, his love for him, and his eventual loss of him makes him a sympathetic character, certainly moreso than the brutal but almost immortal Hagen Tronje, or Kriemhilde herself, whose obsession becomes her sole reason for existing. Like all of Fritz Lang’s silent films, definitely worth a look.

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Bloody Pit of Horror (1965)

BLOODY PIT OF HORROR (1965)
(a.k.a. IL BOIA SCARLATTO)
Article #684 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-28-2003
Posting Date: 6-27-2003
Directed by Massimo Pupillo
Featuring Mickey Hargitay, Walter Brandi and Moa Tahi

Photographers and beautiful models find themselves terrorized by a sadistic torturer known as The Crimson Executioner.

The basic concept has been done many times before, usually much better. The dubbing is pretty bad, which certainly doesn’t help matters much. There are certain flashes of creativity in the torture sequences, particularly in one that takes place in an unlikely room involving a spider web, a fake spider, and several bow-and-arrow traps; the bizarre thing about this torture is it just doesn’t feel like the type of direct torture that our villain engages in for the rest of the movie. The oddest thing by far is the villain’s motivation for his acts, to wit “to keep his perfect body free from contamination.” Is this the dark side of body-building? The dialogue is so ludicrous, and Mickey Hargitay so deranged (especially in the last half of the movie), that it all becomes entertaining in spite of its unpleasantness.

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It Happened Tomorrow (1944)

IT HAPPENED TOMORROW (1944)
Article #683 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-27-2003
Posting Date: 6-26-2003
Directed by Rene Clair
Featuring Dick Powell, Linda Darnell and Jack Oakie

A reporter begins to receive the daily paper one day early, and tries to take advantage of his knowledge of the future.

This is only the third time I’ve encountered Rene Clair on this cinematic journey, and though I tend not to think of him as a “Great” director, I do think he’s perfect for unpretentious movies that require a light touch to them. Thanks to him, this movie never becomes pretentious or heavy-handed; the closest he comes to an arty shot is an exquisite little moment involving a revolving door, and since it occurs during the only moment in the movie that anyone dies, it works nicely. This comedy makes some nice uses of the central concept, and it’s fun to see Edgar Kennedy as a frustrated cop trying to deal with his uncooperative prisoners. All in all, a light, enjoyable change of pace from my usual fare.

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The Blackbird (1926)

THE BLACKBIRD (1926)
Article #682 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-26-2003
Posting Date: 6-25-2003
Directed by Tod Browning
Featuring Lon Chaney, Owen Moore, Renee Adoree

Two crooks vie for the attentions of a nightclub entertainer; the loser then tries to undermine the winner’s success.

This is another of Tod Browning’s and Lon Chaney’s exercises on the theme of deformity; Chaney’s character has a dual identity: a criminal called the Blackbird and a kindly but hideously deformed philanthropist known as the Bishop. It starts out very well, particularly during an opening scene in which faces from London’s limehouse district flash before us, and the story has some interesting twists to it. In some ways, it is reminiscent of THE UNKNOWN, only with the cards shuffled into a different order. Sadly, I feel it stumbles towards the end; the final twist is brought about by a specific physical occurrence that (for me) fails to be convincing, and unfortunately it is not possible for me to be more clear without engaging in spoilers of the worst kind. Let’s just say I didn’t buy the ending, and all the acting in the world from Lon Chaney (who does give a great performance throughout, as does Owen Moore) never quite makes me buy it.

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