Tonight we bounced back from the stupendously cretinous experience of "Mesa of Lost Women" to enjoy one of the weirdest pictures we've seen so far : "Monstrosity"(1963). In my searches I've been wary of venturing too far into the 1960s. Sci-Fi took a dive by the middle of that decade as cultural changes altered the landscape of the movie industry. There were still cheesy monster movies, but now they'd lost their Atomic Age flavor, which was replaced by elements of sex, drugs and rock n' roll. As the 60s progressed, many B-movies of all genres were filtered through the Generation Gap, with an emphasis on rebellion or psychedelic experimentation, and what happened in sci-fi was that the conservative, science-based ingredients of 1950s America were lost. The studio system also broke down around this time, and while we've been viewing independent, low-budget movies during the quarantine, that style of filmmaking - no matter how inept at times - was still influenced by the studio formula. Free form experimentation in cinema didn't begin until the mid-60s, and while it worked well in the hands of the European auteurs, the same can't be said for most American efforts, which is why so many of our films from that era look dated nowdays.
Fortunately, if you draw the line around 1962/63, you can still find a few movies that retain the '50s atom splitting ethos while adding a dash of early 60s neurosis brought on by extreme mental breakdown flicks from the new decade, like "Psycho" and "Baby Jane". Cutting bait at this point also ensures the film will usually be in black and white, color being in this reviewer's opinion the Great Ruiner of Science Fiction (with some notable exceptions of course).
Such were the boundaries in which we took a chance on "Monstrosity", and it paid off. The movie wasted no time in getting to the good stuff.
A Mad Scientist (Frank Gerstle) is working in his laboratory in the basement of a mansion. I have to butt in right away to say that it might be Greystone in Beverly Hills. I'm not certain about that but the movie was shot in Los Angeles and I don't know what other mansion you could use on such a low budget. I will conclude my intrusion by adding that the scientist's lab is one of the best ones we've seen. You could call it an Industrial Strength Radiation Lab. Okay, so back to the plot. We see him through the window of his operating tank. He's wearing a hazmat suit with face shield, checking on the status of his latest creation, a young woman - recently deceased - whom he has tried to reanimate. He's only succeeded in bringing her back to Zombie status, but it's an improvement on his earlier works, all of which involved brain transplants - from animal to human.
He has a henchman, for instance, who wanders the yard like a guard dog, and that's because he is one, in a manner of speaking. The guy was the recipient of a dog's brain in a previous operation. Now he's got big teeth and a rubber nose. He doesn't say much but he growls a lot.
So the Doc has proven he can transplant brains. Now he has to show he can do it human-to-human. You see, he is being bankrolled by the Old Lady (Marjorie Eaton) who owns the mansion. She is rich beyond belief and rules over him with an iron fist. She keeps the Doc afloat, with the proviso that he will eventually transplant her brain into the body of a beautiful young woman. She hates the idea of getting old and now, with the ongoing success of the doctor's experiments, she won't have to.
The Doc does his own dirty work, but has attracted the attention of the police by breaking into crypts at the local cemetery. This is where he's been obtaining his bodies, but it's off limits now that the heat is on. Besides, he hasn't yet demonstrated the ability to restore a corpse to a "fully functioning" state. The Old Lady isn't shelling out millions to become a brain-dead Barbie Doll; she wants to get her money's worth and live life to the fullest. Her great regret is that she's never experienced true love. Men have only ever wanted her for her money. Now she's gonna show them, but first she's gotta get into that Youthful New Bod, and it's gotta be in full working order.
"The cemetery's out"!, she tells the Doctor. "I can't have the police coming here. What about a living transplant? Could you perform one? I'm getting tired of waiting".
After considering the possibility, the Doctor answers in the affirmative. He's not certain he could pull off a Live One, but he doesn't wanna lose his grant so he tells the Old Lady what she wants to hear. "Yes, I can do it. But we're going need a donor. How should we go about getting one"?
The lady puts an ad in the paper for housekeepers and the response is overwhelming, leaving her plenty of candidates to choose from. She selects three young women, all from foreign countries, the reason being that they will be too far from home to run away when they discover their fate. Also, she can hold immigration law over their heads. After careful examination of each lass (taking of body measurements, etc.), the Old Lady picks "Bea" (Judy Bamber) from England, a statuesque beauty with a vibrant manner. The Doc asks for one last preliminary experiment to ensure all systems are go, so the lady gifts him with "Anita" (Lisa Lang), one of the rejected housekeepers. He's been wanting a cat to go along with his dog, so he takes the brain of Xerxes, his black kitty, and transplants it into the head of Anita. Now she's climbing the furniture, clawing the curtains and generally hissing a lot. Bea doesn't understand her behavior and tries to talk to Anita, but this only causes her to run up to the roof, where she perches on the parapet. When Bea comes up after her, Anita claws her eye out. Now her pretty face is ruined! She can no longer be used for the transplant. Boy is the Old Lady pissed off.
Fortunately for the Doc, there is one housekeeper still available, the pert "Nina" (Erika Peters) from Germany. She's not the knockout Bea was but she's not unattractive either. "She'll do. Just don't louse her up like you did the other one". Nina, however, is on to the Doc's scheme. She's already plotted her escape through a passageway in the basement. The problem with this route is that it will take her within biting distance of the Dog Man, who's chained up right next to the door. She's gonna have to chance it, though. It's either that, or she's gonna become the Old Lady by tomorrow morning. Or the Old Lady is gonna become her. Something like that. Anyway, yeah! It's all as Weird as it sounds, and doggone good, too. It's professionally made, moreso than many of the films we've been watching, featuring excellent, multi-angled camera work (at times reminiscent of Hitchcock movies). It's got creepy lighting and better than average acting from TV veteran Gerstle and "Old Lady" Marjorie Eaton, who was in movies as diverse as "Mary Poppins" and "Revenge of the Jedi". There is good location footage from Burbank Airport, the 101 Freeway (in 1963!), and inside the mansion itself. And as macabre as the story sounds, it never descends into being sick or gross. It's always played from the classic Mad Scientist angle, where he believes he's doing the right thing. :)
I can't for the life of me understand why "Monstrosity" has but a 2.9 rating on IMDB. It's production values alone should rate it higher than that. "Mesa of Lost Women" has a 2.7 and this film is light years better. Well, there's no accounting for taste I suppose, especially in brain transplant movies, but I for one admired it greatly. As such, I'm gonna give "Monstrosity" Two Big Thumbs Up". It's a tight 65 minuter that doesn't waste time on the boring stuff. It gives you what you want and then some. Highly recommended. ////
That's all for the moment. Time for yet another CSUN walk. See you a bit later, at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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