Last night we found a classic and heretofore unknown black and white sci-fi from Roger Corman! Man, when was the last time we had one of those? I thought we'd long since run the well dry on Mr. C, but anyhow, the name of the film was "Monster from the Ocean Floor"(1954) and to be honest, it wasn't a classic, but the shabularity was negligible, and it was the second film Corman is credited with, his first as a producer. As it opens, a narrator expounds on the native history of the Southern California coast, and folklore concerning a sea monster in the area. Then we cut to "Julie Blair" (Anne Kimball), a commercial illustrator who is vacationing at what looks like Laguna Beach. She's sketching the waves there, when a Mexican boy interrupts to tell her that he lost his father, a fisherman, to a sea monster. She finds his story unbelievable, and heads out for a swim. But before she can paddle past the breakers, she's bumped into by a one-man submarine driven by "Steve Dunning" (Stuart Wade), a marine biologist who pilots his craft to the shore. With her swim ruined, Julie turns back too. Dunning apologizes and introduces himself. Because he's a scientist, she finds him fascinating and forgives his rude sub-bump.
The next we see them, they are on a boat that Steve shares with "Dr. Baldwin" (Dick Pinner), who's accompanying him on a scientific mission to study the one-celled organisms of the Pacific. Baldwin and Steve show Julie some slides under a microscope (one showing a ravenous amoeba) that she finds interesting. It reminds her of the Mexican boy's story of the sea monster, which she relates to the two scientists. Steve finds it ridiculous and Dr. Baldwin agrees. Julie, who also agreed with that viewpoint initially, now questions it. "If a one-celled creature is that voracious and dominant, imagine how much more so a so-called 'monster' could be". The scientists reassure her that there are no sea monsters, and recite data describing the known marine life and the various sizes of sharks, whales, etc. Julie goes swimming again and is startled to see a squid, which at first looks a lot bigger than it is. When she gets back to the boat, Steve chides her for thinking it was the sea monster, which hurts her feelings, so she goes to the village to talk to "Pablo" (Wyott Ordung), a long time resident. To prime him, she brings a bottle of Tequila! (ba-dum-badda-bu-dum-bum-bum), and he tells her he knew the boy's father, the fisherman who got eaten. By now, Steve and Dr. Baldwin have found a diving suit, complete with iron helmet, but with no body in it. Things are gettin' pretty schpooky.
Julie is staying in a beach house owned by an old woman of the village. Unbeknownst to her, the lady is a witch. She wants Pablo to sacrifice Julie to the monster. By now we're at the 40 minute mark, and though you've seen Julie underwater on several occasions, you've yet to see (sea) a monster. "Sea" what I did there? Oh man that's a riot! It's good stuff and the back story holds your interest. The photography is professional, and as always, Corman gives you value for your money, all 15k of the budget. The leads turn in solid, Cormanlike performances, and the character actors are sufficiently eccentric. What more could you want? Well, you could want a Monster, who supposedly lives on the Ocean Floor, and when you finally get him he's Absolutely Terrifying!, but he only shows up when the movie is almost over. Still, I give "Monster from the Ocean Floor" Two Bigs, because the story is what counts here, and it's well told by having Anne Kimball's character investigate the monster on her own, after being scorned by the all-knowing scientists. The one-man submarine works as a cool gimmick, and according to Wiki it was also used for the aquatic photography. One thing about Roger Corman is that his movies always look pro. I didn't know that before becoming a fan, which might not have happened if not for Youtube because all I knew of his work was "Little Shop of Horrors", which truly is a bad film, and it's why I think he got a bad rap early on. Comedy horror was not his forte (nor should it be anyone's), but this flick is dead serious and well-done. The picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night we found a new cowboy star, Reb Russell, who starred in "The Man from Hell"(1934). Russell plays "Clint Mason", a cowpoke recently paroled from the "hell" of the Yuma jail for a crime he didn't commit. He comes back to town looking for a man named Trig, the thug who framed him. Mason is walking a fine line because he really wants to go straight and have no trouble, but he has to settle up with Trig by exposing his frame-job. The town is a rough place; there's a major-leaguer spilling out of the saloon as soon as the movie opens. The fights in this movie go on way too long, but at any rate, Mason discovers that Trig is now going by another name, "Anse McCloud" (Fred Kohler) and he just happens to be the Mayor. He's a big galoot, ornery as hell, and when Clint goes to visit his old girlfriend "Nancy Campbell" (Ann Darcy), he finds out that Mayor McCloud (who's really Trig the thug), has coerced her into an engagement. It's either that, or he's gonna put her Daddy's mine out of bidness. McCloud says the mine is used up, out of ore, but really he's using it as a front for a criminal deception. He's running a stage robbery gang, then saying he got the gold out of the mine.
As noted Clint Mason is out to settle the score with the Mayor McCloud (i.e. Trig), who framed him years earlier, and there's a big-time shootout at the end that resembles a Western stuntman show at Universal Schtudios. The interesting thing about this film is Reb Russell himself, a former football star at Nebraska, which in that regard makes him another Johnny Mack Brown. Both men were good looking athletes, the difference being that JMB was a Rose Bowl hero and thus nationally famous, and - much more importantly - Johnny Mack could act. Reb is okay, but it looks and sounds like he's reading his lines from cue cards. Even so, it makes his performance interesting because of the way it slots into the movie, like a square peg. The director makes it fit; he hammers Russell in with the professional actors, and he makes a contrast with the over-the-top ham fisted brutality of the bully Fred Kohler, who likely went to acting school but perhaps beat up the teacher. Yakima Canutt gets in some awesome stunt riding and is in the mega-shootout at the end. All in all, "The Man from Hell" gets Two Big Thumbs Up because it stands out for Reb Russell's amateurish but interesting performance, and for that reason it's highly recommended. The picture is very good in this case, and we'll certainly be looking for more from Reb. ////
And that's all I know for tonight. I'm listening to Hatfield and the North "Rotter's Club", and Gilgamesh "Another Fine Tune". I hope you are having a nice weekend and I send you Tons of Love as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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