This blog was begun Thursday night April 16th, and completed the following day :
Tonight we trekked high into the Himalayas in search of "The Snow Creature"(1954), a Yeti who has run off with Teru Shimada's wife. But this hasn't happened yet so lemme start at the beginning: A botanist (Paul Langton) and his hard drinking photographer (Leslie Denison) set off on an expedition to locate exotic plants that are rumored to grow in the Himalayan highlands. With several Sherpas in tow, including their English speaking guide Subra (Shimada) they ascend to the plateau level and prepare to make camp. But that night, a runner arrives with an urgent message for Subra - his wife has been abducted by the Yeti, taken from their home in the village below.
Subra wakes Dr. Langton to tell him the news, but Langton laughs it off : "Oh.....you mean 'The Abominable Snowman'? I've heard all the legends and I don't believe it. Sorry, Subra".
"But Doctor.......wife is missing! Even if no Yeti, we must find. But Yeti take! Neighbor see! We must find"!
By now, the photographer has also awakened. He takes another belt of Scotch and offers one to Subra. "Here you go, old chap. This will help you to come to your senses". Then he and the Doctor share another chuckle. "These Sherpas are very superstitious. His wife is probably stepping out on him. To save face, he blames the Yeti". Ha ha ha, funny stuff..... right? Subra doesn't think so. After the two white men fall back to sleep, he sneaks into their tent and unloads their rifles. In the morning, when the Doctor orders the expedition to resume, the Sherpas refuse. Subra has pulled a Mr. Sulu and has mutinied (Sulu was always mutinying on "Star Trek" - every other episode, it seemed).
Subra speaks up : "I try to tell you, Doctor. Yeti take my wife. You don't listen, so I have no choice. I take ammunition, guns no good anymore. You want to get off mountain, you need me, so Subra in charge now. We go higher, look for Yeti".
The Doc and his partner have to comply, so now they are in the rear with the gear as Subra calls the shots. At nightfall, alone in their tent, the Doc will try to sneak an SOS call on his short wave radio, but Subra is all over that, too - a real Johnny On The Spot. "Aha! Subra catch you! Now I shoot radio (kablam!); radio no good anymore". Ahhh, but that's what Subra thinks. Actually, the radio might still work after all, because The Doc has a brilliant idea, having to do with a bottle of Scotch.
How he repairs the radio is never explained (did he use the bottle or the Scotch itself?) but in any event it made me think of The Professor on "Gilligan's Island", and had they continued with this subplot, it would've made the film a lot more interesting (the SOS call, the conflict between Subra and the Doctor, perhaps a rescue attempt, all with the Yeti still to come). Instead, director W. Lee Wilder (brother of Billy!) abandons the whole thing. The radio is never spoken of again (why go to all the trouble to repair it?) and the search for the Yeti continues. Finally, Subra spots some tracks, leading to a cave in Bronson Canyon. "See here, Doctor. Big footprints. Is Yeti! He go inside cave".
The Doc's not quite convinced, but he's getting there. Within minutes, the team will stumble upon the Yeti's den, removing all doubt of his existence. Just when it looks like the men are gonna get their butts kicked, the Yeti is knocked unconscious by an impromptu cave-in. This give the Sherpas and the Doc - all on the side now - a chance to tie him up and take him back to the village, where Doc Langton makes plans to transport the Big Guy back to Los Angeles. The disappearance of Subra's wife is never again mentioned (hmmm, maybe the Doc was right).
Well, they stick the Yeti in a refrigerator. It resembles a phone booth with a temperature control, the only cool lookin' piece of sci-fi hardware in the movie. Soon the Doc and the Yeti are back in L.A., the photographer having gone home to London to make a bundle with the tabloids. "How dare he sell those pictures"!, Langton grumbles. "This is science, not a sideshow"! But this avenue is never explored either. If we'd had one of those screenwriters who are capable of cramming multiple threads into a short format picture, we'd have had a complex plot. Instead, while Los Angeles immigration bureaucrats argue over the Yeti's status ("we can't admit him til we know if he's beast or man" ; "He's both"! - the Doc), the creature escapes, and for the final twenty minutes you've got a predictible Yeti-on-the-run caper, which will ultimately lead to a police search of the downtown sewer system.
Man oh man.........Wilder had every opportunity to take this movie in any number of interesting directions, and it wouldn't have cost him a cent more than he already had to work with. Most of the movie is dialogue anyway. All they needed to do was write and intercut some scenes dealing with the subplots, maybe discuss the history of Yeti mythology also. But they got lazy, so we've ended up with half a good movie once again. I don't know if it's entirely Wilder's fault; he made the imaginative "Phantom From Space", which we saw and enjoyed a couple weeks ago.
Ahh, yes........but he had Bill Raynor helping him with that one. You remember Bill, our neighbor in Reseda when I was a kid. Bill was a good writer of sci-fi, too bad he didn't work on this script. As it stands, I'm gonna be extremely generous and give "The Snow Creature" Two Regular Thumbs Up (the print is soft, but that's no one's fault). At some point, we'll watch and compare it to another more famous Yeti film, "The Abominable Snowman", which if I remember correctly scared the bejeezus out of me when I was a kid. Stay tuned. //////
It is now Friday evening and I shall go for my CSUN walk. Tonight I will attempt to find us a more thought provoking film, perhaps another from Bert I. Gordon. "The Attack of the Puppet People", anyone? ;);)
See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Friday, April 17, 2020
Thursday, April 16, 2020
60 + "The Amazing Colossal Man" directed by Bert I. Gordon
This blog was begun Wednesday night April 15th, and completed the following evening :
I can hardly believe I'm gonna be 60 in eleven hours, not because I'm unprepared (I know what comes after 59, lol), but because it once seemed so distant and now.......here it is, haha. I can remember thinking, when I was around 20 or maybe younger, "wow, I won't be forty until the year 2000"! The millennium seemed light years away, but I also remember pondering further : "And I won't be sixty until 2020". Both the age and the year seemed impossibly far off, something for a Future Version of Myself to mull over. For my 20 year old self, these thoughts were just a flash in the pan, brought on by the fantastic sounding numerals..........2000 (40)...........2020! (60!).
Time doesn't start to speed up until you are about 40, and even then the process begins gradually. Prior to 40 the years are eternal, but once you hit that age you notice a shift in perspective. You start to think in seasons rather than years : "Boy, summer sure went by fast". Suddenly it's Spring again. By 50 you are thinking in months, "man, it's August already? Christmas was five minutes ago". And then, by about age 54 or so, you just settle into the cycle of Time Moving Ever Faster, like a car around a race track. In my case, you were just 59, now you're 60. :)
But the good news is that time also moves very slowly. For instance, if you look backwards in memory, some events in your life seem so distant that it feels like they happened "in another lifetime", right?. Others can feel as if they took place "only yesterday". For myself, these kinds of time-bending memories do not always adhere to a linear order. For instance, a memory from kindergarten (55 years ago) can feel like yesterday, whereas one from my high school years is from another lifetime. This phenomenon can mix things up all over the map, to the point where 1964 can feel like it came after 1975, which came after 1998, which came before 1971, and what the heck happened to 1967? Did it disappear entirely? So yeah, time is a trip as we've mentioned many times, and it only goes fast in the day-to-day, year by year "counting forward" sense. If you are going by memory, or projection into the future, or just being present in the moment (not easy to do), it goes much, much slower. Remember that in childhood, before we got "used to things" a year seemed to take forever, and in a good way.
So that's time for ya. It goes fast and slow, all at The Same Time. I have a quote to bolster me today, when I think about the "new number", the one beginning with 6. Upon the occasion of his own 60th birthday ten years ago, the great Carl Palmer remarked "60 is the new 40". I've never forgotten that quote, and now I can use it myself! :)
So let's see, where were we? Oh yeah, tonight's motion picture was called "The Amazing Colossal Man" (1957), the debut feature by director Burt I. Gordon, who we became fans of after watching "Tormented" the other night. We've probably all seen "Colossal" as well, though I didn't notice the familiarity myself until the Man in question became Colossal, but more on that in a moment. Here we go with the story:
Along with several of his troops, Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan) is crouched in a trench at the Nevada Test Site, preparing to witness the detonation of America's first plutonium bomb. Suddenly, during the countdown, some nitwit flies his Cessna over the restricted airspace. The control tower orders him to land, but in doing so he crashes. Colonel Manning tries to save him, rushing to pull the man from his plane before the test bomb explodes, but it's too late.
Ka-BLAMMO!!! (huge mushroom cloud, shock wave, firestorm, etc.) The plane and pilot are vaporised, as is the model town built to demonstrate the effects of the blast. But as for Colonel Manning? Curiously, he is not blown to smithereens. All his clothes are burned off, yes, as is as most of his skin - which isn't good - but other than that he's faring pretty well under the circumstances (and sorry about the grisly details). But then things get better. He is taken to the base hospital, where against all odds, and given little chance for survival, his skin miraculously grows back by the morning. He remains unconscious but it looks like he's gonna pull through. But then things get worse! When his girlfriend (Cathy Downs) arrives at the base later in the day, she is told she can't see him. His status is now classified.
After doing some in-house detective work, Downs finds his room number and sneaks past the sentry in order to see the Colonel.........only to scream and back away in terror, because he is now 18 feet tall! How the heck did that happen, I hear you ask? Well, according to Col. Manning's doctor (William Hudson), his growth spurt is related to the same rapid cell regeneration that caused his skin to grow back. "It's an unexpected side effect of the plutonium radiation". Unexpected without a doubt! Downs asks the doctor what will happen if Manning's growth continues unabated. After some quick calculations he gives her the grim prognosis : "By tomorrow he'll be 55 to 60 feet tall".
"Oh please, please don't give up on him"!, she begs.
"I assure you we'll do everything we can", answers the Doc, trying to provide a ray of hope. "We're working on an antidote at this very moment".
When Downs returns the next day, Manning has been moved to a Secret Facility in (where else?) Bronson Canyon. She tracks him down, demanding to be let in, but is told it's not a good idea. "Besides", adds the Doctor, "He's no longer cooperating. He won't talk to anyone".
"He'll talk to me"!, Downs exclaims. "I'm his fiancee! Maybe I can help". After considering this, the Doc agrees it might be a good idea. Manning is now being confined inside a large tent outside the hospital grounds. That he is now indeed 55 feet tall, as predicted, doesn't faze Downs. She tries to talk some sense into Manning, but he has retreated into cynicism and is sullen in response to her propositions. "But Glenn........they're trying to help you"!
This was the scene where I recognized I'd seen the movie before (probably decades ago on late-night tv), and you would remember it too, because Manning now looks like a gigantic version of Mr. Clean, with shaved head and chest and wearing only a swimsuit. All the chairs and tables look like dollhouse furniture, but what's also memorable is his rant about being seen as a sideshow freak : "Look at me! The Amazing Colossal Man! Line up to get a look at the monster, bring your friends and family! How do you expect me to live a normal life like this"? But then he turns the tables. "Wait a minute.....maybe I'm not the freak. I'm not a giant......it's all of you who are small! Yes, that's it! You're the ones who are different, not me"! As I recall, it's a pretty famous "outcast" speech that sort of put this movie on the map with the MST3K crowd. Feeling sorry for himself, Manning will now go on an equally famous pseudo-rampage, where he will stomp all around Las Vegas, but given his newfound ire, it's perplexing that he doesn't do anywhere near the damage you'd expect. I thought he was gonna completely trash the place, but instead he just toys with some of the landmarks along the Strip, like when he breaks off an oversized high heel shoe set atop a casino, only to put it back. He's a pouty Colossal Man more than a genuinely angry one.
Had he actually gone on the warpath, engaging the military with all their hardware, there might've been an exciting conclusion to this Paean to Gigantism. Instead, the ending just sort of peters out. The story begins with promise, but just when all of the scientific jargon is leading up to an Amazing Breakthrough, Manning starts acting like a moody overgrown teenager and gets all philosophical and depressed on us. It seems out of character, what with him being a highly disciplined military officer, but then I've never been 55 feet tall, so who am I to say? I'd probably resort to sarcasm, too.
It's still worth a view, if only to take a trip down Memory Lane (of late night Sci-Fi movie re-runs), and I've gotta say again that Bert I. Gordon is no hack, as some would have him. We've seen two of his movies now and everything about them looks professional, like Grade A theatrical releases. "The Amazing Colossal Man" is excellent right up until the tent scene, and then things go awry because Gordon diverts from the science fiction aspect to get a bit wishy-washy. Had he kept it a straight monster movie, it could've been a classic. I'm still gonna rate it Two Solid Thumbs Up because of it's very strong first half. See it for the plutonium test if nothing else. /////
That's all for tonight. I had a nice birthday today, hanging out by the duck pond for a while, enjoying the sunshine. I had some very nice wishes from friends on FB, as well as a few birthday phone calls. When Disneyland re-opens, I wanna celebrate it all over again, and everyone is invited. :):)
See you in a little while at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
I can hardly believe I'm gonna be 60 in eleven hours, not because I'm unprepared (I know what comes after 59, lol), but because it once seemed so distant and now.......here it is, haha. I can remember thinking, when I was around 20 or maybe younger, "wow, I won't be forty until the year 2000"! The millennium seemed light years away, but I also remember pondering further : "And I won't be sixty until 2020". Both the age and the year seemed impossibly far off, something for a Future Version of Myself to mull over. For my 20 year old self, these thoughts were just a flash in the pan, brought on by the fantastic sounding numerals..........2000 (40)...........2020! (60!).
Time doesn't start to speed up until you are about 40, and even then the process begins gradually. Prior to 40 the years are eternal, but once you hit that age you notice a shift in perspective. You start to think in seasons rather than years : "Boy, summer sure went by fast". Suddenly it's Spring again. By 50 you are thinking in months, "man, it's August already? Christmas was five minutes ago". And then, by about age 54 or so, you just settle into the cycle of Time Moving Ever Faster, like a car around a race track. In my case, you were just 59, now you're 60. :)
But the good news is that time also moves very slowly. For instance, if you look backwards in memory, some events in your life seem so distant that it feels like they happened "in another lifetime", right?. Others can feel as if they took place "only yesterday". For myself, these kinds of time-bending memories do not always adhere to a linear order. For instance, a memory from kindergarten (55 years ago) can feel like yesterday, whereas one from my high school years is from another lifetime. This phenomenon can mix things up all over the map, to the point where 1964 can feel like it came after 1975, which came after 1998, which came before 1971, and what the heck happened to 1967? Did it disappear entirely? So yeah, time is a trip as we've mentioned many times, and it only goes fast in the day-to-day, year by year "counting forward" sense. If you are going by memory, or projection into the future, or just being present in the moment (not easy to do), it goes much, much slower. Remember that in childhood, before we got "used to things" a year seemed to take forever, and in a good way.
So that's time for ya. It goes fast and slow, all at The Same Time. I have a quote to bolster me today, when I think about the "new number", the one beginning with 6. Upon the occasion of his own 60th birthday ten years ago, the great Carl Palmer remarked "60 is the new 40". I've never forgotten that quote, and now I can use it myself! :)
So let's see, where were we? Oh yeah, tonight's motion picture was called "The Amazing Colossal Man" (1957), the debut feature by director Burt I. Gordon, who we became fans of after watching "Tormented" the other night. We've probably all seen "Colossal" as well, though I didn't notice the familiarity myself until the Man in question became Colossal, but more on that in a moment. Here we go with the story:
Along with several of his troops, Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan) is crouched in a trench at the Nevada Test Site, preparing to witness the detonation of America's first plutonium bomb. Suddenly, during the countdown, some nitwit flies his Cessna over the restricted airspace. The control tower orders him to land, but in doing so he crashes. Colonel Manning tries to save him, rushing to pull the man from his plane before the test bomb explodes, but it's too late.
Ka-BLAMMO!!! (huge mushroom cloud, shock wave, firestorm, etc.) The plane and pilot are vaporised, as is the model town built to demonstrate the effects of the blast. But as for Colonel Manning? Curiously, he is not blown to smithereens. All his clothes are burned off, yes, as is as most of his skin - which isn't good - but other than that he's faring pretty well under the circumstances (and sorry about the grisly details). But then things get better. He is taken to the base hospital, where against all odds, and given little chance for survival, his skin miraculously grows back by the morning. He remains unconscious but it looks like he's gonna pull through. But then things get worse! When his girlfriend (Cathy Downs) arrives at the base later in the day, she is told she can't see him. His status is now classified.
After doing some in-house detective work, Downs finds his room number and sneaks past the sentry in order to see the Colonel.........only to scream and back away in terror, because he is now 18 feet tall! How the heck did that happen, I hear you ask? Well, according to Col. Manning's doctor (William Hudson), his growth spurt is related to the same rapid cell regeneration that caused his skin to grow back. "It's an unexpected side effect of the plutonium radiation". Unexpected without a doubt! Downs asks the doctor what will happen if Manning's growth continues unabated. After some quick calculations he gives her the grim prognosis : "By tomorrow he'll be 55 to 60 feet tall".
"Oh please, please don't give up on him"!, she begs.
"I assure you we'll do everything we can", answers the Doc, trying to provide a ray of hope. "We're working on an antidote at this very moment".
When Downs returns the next day, Manning has been moved to a Secret Facility in (where else?) Bronson Canyon. She tracks him down, demanding to be let in, but is told it's not a good idea. "Besides", adds the Doctor, "He's no longer cooperating. He won't talk to anyone".
"He'll talk to me"!, Downs exclaims. "I'm his fiancee! Maybe I can help". After considering this, the Doc agrees it might be a good idea. Manning is now being confined inside a large tent outside the hospital grounds. That he is now indeed 55 feet tall, as predicted, doesn't faze Downs. She tries to talk some sense into Manning, but he has retreated into cynicism and is sullen in response to her propositions. "But Glenn........they're trying to help you"!
This was the scene where I recognized I'd seen the movie before (probably decades ago on late-night tv), and you would remember it too, because Manning now looks like a gigantic version of Mr. Clean, with shaved head and chest and wearing only a swimsuit. All the chairs and tables look like dollhouse furniture, but what's also memorable is his rant about being seen as a sideshow freak : "Look at me! The Amazing Colossal Man! Line up to get a look at the monster, bring your friends and family! How do you expect me to live a normal life like this"? But then he turns the tables. "Wait a minute.....maybe I'm not the freak. I'm not a giant......it's all of you who are small! Yes, that's it! You're the ones who are different, not me"! As I recall, it's a pretty famous "outcast" speech that sort of put this movie on the map with the MST3K crowd. Feeling sorry for himself, Manning will now go on an equally famous pseudo-rampage, where he will stomp all around Las Vegas, but given his newfound ire, it's perplexing that he doesn't do anywhere near the damage you'd expect. I thought he was gonna completely trash the place, but instead he just toys with some of the landmarks along the Strip, like when he breaks off an oversized high heel shoe set atop a casino, only to put it back. He's a pouty Colossal Man more than a genuinely angry one.
Had he actually gone on the warpath, engaging the military with all their hardware, there might've been an exciting conclusion to this Paean to Gigantism. Instead, the ending just sort of peters out. The story begins with promise, but just when all of the scientific jargon is leading up to an Amazing Breakthrough, Manning starts acting like a moody overgrown teenager and gets all philosophical and depressed on us. It seems out of character, what with him being a highly disciplined military officer, but then I've never been 55 feet tall, so who am I to say? I'd probably resort to sarcasm, too.
It's still worth a view, if only to take a trip down Memory Lane (of late night Sci-Fi movie re-runs), and I've gotta say again that Bert I. Gordon is no hack, as some would have him. We've seen two of his movies now and everything about them looks professional, like Grade A theatrical releases. "The Amazing Colossal Man" is excellent right up until the tent scene, and then things go awry because Gordon diverts from the science fiction aspect to get a bit wishy-washy. Had he kept it a straight monster movie, it could've been a classic. I'm still gonna rate it Two Solid Thumbs Up because of it's very strong first half. See it for the plutonium test if nothing else. /////
That's all for tonight. I had a nice birthday today, hanging out by the duck pond for a while, enjoying the sunshine. I had some very nice wishes from friends on FB, as well as a few birthday phone calls. When Disneyland re-opens, I wanna celebrate it all over again, and everyone is invited. :):)
See you in a little while at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
"Bride of the Gorilla" starring Raymond Burr, Barbara Payton, Lon Chaney Jr. and Tom Conway
Tonight's film was chosen for it's cast as well as an intriguing title. When you've got Raymond Burr, Lon Chaney Jr., Tom Conway and the tragic Barbara Payton all starring in a picture called "Bride of the Gorilla"(1951), you should have a winner on your hands, especially when said picture is written and directed by Curt Siodmak, who penned quite a few classic horror films including "The Wolf Man" and "The Invisible Man Returns". He also wrote the original novel "Donovan's Brain", a bestseller that was made into the movie we watched last month. With all of this talent, the lineup is there to knock it out of the park, but did the movie live up to the names on the marquee? Let's find out.
Raymond Burr is the foreman on the jungle plantation of Mr. Klass Van Gelder (Paul Cavanaugh). He's fed up with being underpaid and he's got a thing for Van Gelder's young wife (Payton, whose train wreck of a life could fill a separate blog). One night when they are alone, he confesses his love for her. At first she brushes him off, swearing loyalty to her much older husband, but Burr - thin and handsome here - is persistent. Before long, he's worn down Payton's defenses. She falls for him and they make plans to get away. Before they can leave the plantation however, Mr. Van Gelder gets word of their tryst. He confronts Burr and within moments, the heated discussion turns deadly. Burr pushes Van Gelder into an outdoor snake pit, where he dies after being bitten. Burr assumes there were no witnesses, and tells Payton it was an accident, but just yards away, sitting in a little cove, was an old woman, a native witch whom Van Gelder kept on the property to protect his workers against evil spirits. She saw Burr kill Van Gelder and overhears his conversation with Barbara Payton, telling her he found her husband dead. The witch was devoted to Mr. Van Gelder, so she puts a curse on Raymond Burr, who will very shortly begin to feel it's effects.
Meanwhile, Burr has had a change of plans. With Van Gelder dead, there is no reason for he and Payton to elope. She is going to inherit the plantation and her late husband's fortune. Burr convinces her that they should stay put. He has a personal motive, for when they are married, as Payton's new husband he will be rich, too - large and in charge, as they say. Lon Chaney Jr. will come snooping around as "Police Commissioner Taro" a jungle native himself who has been educated abroad. He strongly suspects Mr. Van Gelder was murdered, but can't prove it because the Old Witch won't testify. She trusts her curse to provide justice and claims she saw nothing.
By now, Burr has had his first blackout, after wandering into the jungle late at night all alone. He will later tell Payton that he "felt it's pull".
"It was as if all my senses were sharpened. I could hear leaves fluttering a mile away, and could spot a tiger cub sitting on a mountaintop". The village physician, Dr. Viet (Tom Conway of "The Falcon" fame), wants to examine him but Burr steadfastly refuses. In confidence, Viet tells Payton of his own suspicions : "I believe he's been poisoned. The blackout, the hallucination, his extreme anxiety and even the lividity in his skin"........all are signs, according to Dr. Viet, of A Rare Form of Jungle Poisoning, the specifics of which you'll have to pay closer attention than I did, haha. Dr. Viet, a friend of Van Gelder's, also suspects Burr of murdering the man, but for now he is keeping it to himself to avoid upsetting Barbara Payton.
All of this would normally be a strong start to the kind of adventure/horror mysteries that were popular in the 1930s and early 40s and were set in exotic locales, and with Siodmak writing the script it should be money in the bank, but apparently directing was not his strong suit. That skill was best left to his brother Robert, who made several quality Noirs in his own career and was known, according to Wiki, as an "actor's director". Curt, on the other hand, manages only wooden performances out of everyone except Payton, who looks like she had a fair amount of talent. I've only seen her in one other movie (and she only lived to be 39), but after watching her give the only inspired portrayal in "Bride of the Gorilla", I feel it's unfair that she be remembered only for the turmoil in her life, or as a bimbo, the same old story we always hear about such women.
She will be one of the reasons I'll give this film a favorable review (just barely), because if not for her energy, the story would fall flat. Burr, normally an engaging performer (he was Perry Mason for cryin' out loud), recites his lines without expression, as if he were sitting at a pre-production "read through", but compared to Lon Chaney, he's putting on a Shakespearean Performance. In every scene he's in, Chaney stands facing to one side, without a doubt reading from cue cards in a formal, almost phonetic manner. He must've signed on at the last minute, or was likely just cashing a paycheck, because he was usually pretty reliable even in later years when he was boozed up to the max. But maybe in this case, the lackluster acting is all down to Curt Siodmak, who perhaps just wanted to be done with it. He doesn't even give you a lot of Gorilla, much less than you should feel entitled to, given that the big ape is in the title.
I can't pinpoint what went wrong here; you've got Perry Mason, The Falcon and The Wolf Man all in one cast, in addition to the talented bombshell Payton, and you've got a good story by one of the better horror/mystery/sci-fi writers of the era, featuring a jungle setting, a witch and a voodoo curse that turns it's victim into a gorilla. It should be at least a 7 out of 10 and likely higher, but I can only give it Two Regular Thumbs Up, and that's being generous, but I still recommend you see it because the potboiler story keeps things interesting even when the acting does not. When you are done with the movie, make sure to read up on the lives of Burr and Payton. It turns out he made a fortune and was quite a philanthropist, a really good guy by all accounts. Payton, in turn, was taken advantage of and turned to drugs and alcohol. She did herself no favors with her own tempestuous behavior, but you get the feeling she was too intelligent for her time, and like Frances Farmer, was too much for Hollywood to handle during the era in which she worked. Anyhow, interesting biographies on both Burr and Payton. I often like to read about the cast members after watching a show or movie, which is how I get the tidbits I pass on to you. :):) ///////
That's all I have for this edition of the blog. I've finished reading "Gobekli Tepe" (did I mention that?), and I highly recommend it for it's in-depth look at the world's oldest temple and also the mindblowing story of the author's search for the actual, geophysical location of the Garden of Eden.
See you in a little while at the Usual Time. Stay well. :):)
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Raymond Burr is the foreman on the jungle plantation of Mr. Klass Van Gelder (Paul Cavanaugh). He's fed up with being underpaid and he's got a thing for Van Gelder's young wife (Payton, whose train wreck of a life could fill a separate blog). One night when they are alone, he confesses his love for her. At first she brushes him off, swearing loyalty to her much older husband, but Burr - thin and handsome here - is persistent. Before long, he's worn down Payton's defenses. She falls for him and they make plans to get away. Before they can leave the plantation however, Mr. Van Gelder gets word of their tryst. He confronts Burr and within moments, the heated discussion turns deadly. Burr pushes Van Gelder into an outdoor snake pit, where he dies after being bitten. Burr assumes there were no witnesses, and tells Payton it was an accident, but just yards away, sitting in a little cove, was an old woman, a native witch whom Van Gelder kept on the property to protect his workers against evil spirits. She saw Burr kill Van Gelder and overhears his conversation with Barbara Payton, telling her he found her husband dead. The witch was devoted to Mr. Van Gelder, so she puts a curse on Raymond Burr, who will very shortly begin to feel it's effects.
Meanwhile, Burr has had a change of plans. With Van Gelder dead, there is no reason for he and Payton to elope. She is going to inherit the plantation and her late husband's fortune. Burr convinces her that they should stay put. He has a personal motive, for when they are married, as Payton's new husband he will be rich, too - large and in charge, as they say. Lon Chaney Jr. will come snooping around as "Police Commissioner Taro" a jungle native himself who has been educated abroad. He strongly suspects Mr. Van Gelder was murdered, but can't prove it because the Old Witch won't testify. She trusts her curse to provide justice and claims she saw nothing.
By now, Burr has had his first blackout, after wandering into the jungle late at night all alone. He will later tell Payton that he "felt it's pull".
"It was as if all my senses were sharpened. I could hear leaves fluttering a mile away, and could spot a tiger cub sitting on a mountaintop". The village physician, Dr. Viet (Tom Conway of "The Falcon" fame), wants to examine him but Burr steadfastly refuses. In confidence, Viet tells Payton of his own suspicions : "I believe he's been poisoned. The blackout, the hallucination, his extreme anxiety and even the lividity in his skin"........all are signs, according to Dr. Viet, of A Rare Form of Jungle Poisoning, the specifics of which you'll have to pay closer attention than I did, haha. Dr. Viet, a friend of Van Gelder's, also suspects Burr of murdering the man, but for now he is keeping it to himself to avoid upsetting Barbara Payton.
All of this would normally be a strong start to the kind of adventure/horror mysteries that were popular in the 1930s and early 40s and were set in exotic locales, and with Siodmak writing the script it should be money in the bank, but apparently directing was not his strong suit. That skill was best left to his brother Robert, who made several quality Noirs in his own career and was known, according to Wiki, as an "actor's director". Curt, on the other hand, manages only wooden performances out of everyone except Payton, who looks like she had a fair amount of talent. I've only seen her in one other movie (and she only lived to be 39), but after watching her give the only inspired portrayal in "Bride of the Gorilla", I feel it's unfair that she be remembered only for the turmoil in her life, or as a bimbo, the same old story we always hear about such women.
She will be one of the reasons I'll give this film a favorable review (just barely), because if not for her energy, the story would fall flat. Burr, normally an engaging performer (he was Perry Mason for cryin' out loud), recites his lines without expression, as if he were sitting at a pre-production "read through", but compared to Lon Chaney, he's putting on a Shakespearean Performance. In every scene he's in, Chaney stands facing to one side, without a doubt reading from cue cards in a formal, almost phonetic manner. He must've signed on at the last minute, or was likely just cashing a paycheck, because he was usually pretty reliable even in later years when he was boozed up to the max. But maybe in this case, the lackluster acting is all down to Curt Siodmak, who perhaps just wanted to be done with it. He doesn't even give you a lot of Gorilla, much less than you should feel entitled to, given that the big ape is in the title.
I can't pinpoint what went wrong here; you've got Perry Mason, The Falcon and The Wolf Man all in one cast, in addition to the talented bombshell Payton, and you've got a good story by one of the better horror/mystery/sci-fi writers of the era, featuring a jungle setting, a witch and a voodoo curse that turns it's victim into a gorilla. It should be at least a 7 out of 10 and likely higher, but I can only give it Two Regular Thumbs Up, and that's being generous, but I still recommend you see it because the potboiler story keeps things interesting even when the acting does not. When you are done with the movie, make sure to read up on the lives of Burr and Payton. It turns out he made a fortune and was quite a philanthropist, a really good guy by all accounts. Payton, in turn, was taken advantage of and turned to drugs and alcohol. She did herself no favors with her own tempestuous behavior, but you get the feeling she was too intelligent for her time, and like Frances Farmer, was too much for Hollywood to handle during the era in which she worked. Anyhow, interesting biographies on both Burr and Payton. I often like to read about the cast members after watching a show or movie, which is how I get the tidbits I pass on to you. :):) ///////
That's all I have for this edition of the blog. I've finished reading "Gobekli Tepe" (did I mention that?), and I highly recommend it for it's in-depth look at the world's oldest temple and also the mindblowing story of the author's search for the actual, geophysical location of the Garden of Eden.
See you in a little while at the Usual Time. Stay well. :):)
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Elizabeth + "Hand of Death" starring John Agar
This blog was begun on the night of April 13th, and completed the following day :
Elizabeth, your drawing of Buster is excellent! Your technique is impeccable, but at the same time you've captured his doggie spirit. I can feel it and I haven't even met him. From your description he sounds just the slightest bit irascable, and in that respect - and because of his size and breed - he reminded me a little bit of the late great Kobi, Pearl's dog who was such a good friend of mine. I have to tell you about one thing he used to do because it still cracks me up to this day. Like Buster, Kobi liked to sleep late, and when he was sleeping you couldn't wake him up (though he was probably faking it, lol). But what was funny was that, when Kobe got tired, he sometimes didn't make it all the way into his bed. He had one of those round padded beds like you get at the pet store, and when he was really wiped out after a long day of eating, jumping up and down and barking, he'd sometimes crawl into his bed, but only make it halfway. And so you'd see him sound asleep, but only with his upper half in the bed. His rear end and back legs would still be sticking out on the floor, and I always found that to be a riot. I used to call him a "Four Wheel Drive Dog", and from Kobi I learned that small dogs are definitely not wimps. In your drawing of Buster I can see the same is true for him!
Man, I've gotta get me another dog. As I've said to Pearl, "you gotta have two, a Small and a Big. The Big One to do all the dirty work (like stealing pizzas) and the Small One to boss him around".
Right now I am grateful for the kitties in my life, and can't wait to see them again. They must wonder what happened to me, at least I hope they do. Our Governor is supposed to make an announcement tomorrow about the re-opening of California's economy, which will hopefully begin by May 15th or maybe sooner. Fingers are crossed. /////
Well, on the motion picture score we fared a little better this evening - only marginally so, mind you - but anything would be a step up after the execrable experience of "They Saved Hitler's Brain". Seeing John Agar's name in the cast, I cued up a film with the rather unimaginative title of "Hand of Death". I mean......whataya think? To me, it conjures up a Kung Fu flick, and while there is a Hand of Death in this movie (belonging to Agar), it isn't separated from it's owner, as Horror Movie Hands usually are. Think of the Hand in "The Hand", for instance, the 1981 fright fest that was written and directed by Oliver Stone. That Hand was most definitely not attached to anyone. But let me not get off on yet another tangent, because - like Brains - I could talk about movie Hands all day. On with the plot, then.
Agar is a scientist working on a new type of nerve gas at his laboratory in the desert. He has mixed in a hypnotic drug, and he tells his government bosses that the resulting concoction will make nuclear war obsolete. If deployed, it would first knock people unconscious (the nerve gas element), and when they woke up they'd be hypnotised by the additional drug, and therefore highly susceptible to suggestion. Agar reports the good news that in future wars, there needn't be any casualties. "All we'd have to do is spray this gas and the enemy would be knocked out! When they came to, we could send them back to their own country, merely by hypnotic suggestion! Don't you see? They would simply walk away! Isn't it brilliant"?!
Well, yes.......on paper it sounds wonderful. But Agar also has direct evidence. He's tried the gas out on a local sheep farmer and it worked as advertised. But his immediate superior, one Dr. Ramsey, isn't so certain. "As you know, I'm sitting in this wheelchair because of a previous and similar experiment".
"Yes, Doctor......but we have stricter controls now. I realise the need for further testing, but I'm telling you the gas is safe. I've seen it myself! When that farmer woke up, he got back in his truck and drove away, all because I directed him to, and he's had no ill effects".
"All the same", Ramsey replies, "until we try it out en masse we cannot be certain of a 100% success rate, and for that, you will need to stabilise the gas to apply to a myriad of different physical characteristics, including the variance in body weight among soldiers and the general population".
Agar is frustrated but agrees to Dr. Ramsey's wishes, in part because, as per usual in these Mad Scientist movies, Ramsey's daughter (Paula Raymond) is his girlfriend. You don't wanna tick off the potential father-in-law, so Agar begins work on homogenizing his new gas. And that, my fellow monster movie fans, is where everything goes to hell.
As Agar is mixing chemicals, a beaker starts to bubble over. He removes the cork to allow the contents to settle, but in doing so, he gets a big whiff of the new, supposedly stable gas. The next thing you know, he has fallen to the floor unconscious. When he wakes up, there doesn't seem to be any problem. He still feels fine, so no harm's been done and he gets back to work. Then an assistant enters the lab, and I must butt in to say that for some reason, the assistant is played by the legendary cinematographer John A. Alonzo, who looks like Joe Schmo here. I must further add that we have another Two Night Motif on our hands, as we were dealing with gas and a famous cinematographer (Stanley Cortez) last night in "Hitler's Brain". In this case, the legendary lensman (Alonzo) is acting rather than working the other side, but he is very young, so perhaps he hadn't yet moved into camera work.....but good thing he did, eh? Had he not become a cinematographer, he might've spent his whole career acting in movies like "Hand of Death", lol.
Back to the plot, it is unfortunate timing for Alonzo to have entered the laboratory at this moment, because Agar is not as fine and dandy as he thinks he is. For one thing, he looks a little.......darker than usual. Alonzo notices the change : "Hey Dr. Marsh......have you been out in the sun all day? You look like you've gotten a tan". Right then, Agar grabs his forearm to show him the beaker and things go downhill very quickly. Alonzo falls to the floor screaming and within seconds he is not only dead but charred to a cinder.
The Hand of Death has claimed it's first victim.
Agar knows he can't call the cops - how would he explain? So instead he torches the lab with Alonzo's body still in it. For the rest of the movie he will be on the run, his appearance ever worsening, and by the time he goes back to the home of Dr. Ramsey, he looks like a relative of the Elephant Man, if EM were African-American. Folks, even though Agar is obviously wearing a mask (and at some angles you can even see the neck strap), the look of it is so grotesque that had I seen this film as a kid, it would have (altogether now) : Scared the Living Be-JEEzus Out Of Me. It's a Horrifying Mask, I tell you!
The trouble is, there isn't much of a story to go with it. You know how in some short-duration Film Noirs, we've marveled at the screenwriter's ability to pack a jillion sub-plots into the script? That doesn't happen in "Hand of Death". It runs a mere 58 minutes, but the interesting part of the plot peters out after the first 25. The rest of the movie is basically Agar running around trying to escape his fate, which he can't of course. Even if he avoids the cops, he's gonna keep getting uglier, and he's gotta maintain social distancing - he can't touch anyone lest they die - so he's doomed to a life of terrible loneliness no matter the outcome.
Paula Ramsey will plead with Agar to go to a hospital for help, but it may be too late. The screenplay can no longer be altered and the budget appears to have run out as Agar staggers forlornly down Santa Monica beach, past little Butch Patrick playing in the sand in a pre-Munsters role. Had the filmmakers had more dough they might've had a better picture because the intent is there. Agar even forgoes his usual smugness to put real pathos into his plight (although it must be said that in the early scenes, pre-mask, he still has that Indelible Agar Smirk where it looks like he's trying not to laugh at his dialogue). Another problem was the print I watched : soft and low contrast. A restoration would improve things greatly, especially the horror, which is the movie's main drawing card. Imagine seeing that mask in a crisp transfer with full grey scale! Holy smokes, the Beejeezus would be scared right out of you guaranteed, no matter your age. So yeah, with an improved print my rating would be higher, but I'm still gonna be generous and give "Hand of Death" Two Solid Thumbs Up, even with it's anemic story and bland interiors. It's one of those super-cheapies that looks like it was filmed in someone's living room, with the lab scenes outsourced to a motel. But it tries hard, and for that reason I will recommend it, and also because it is brief in length. We will continue to try for better movies, in content and picture quality, but if the Science-Fiction/Horror Well does run dry, as it looks like it may be doing, we'll switch over to Noirs (oh, but I'm having so much fun with sci-fi!....sigh). /////
That will be all for the moment, unless you have anything else that needs to be brought to my attention. If not, you may go and I shall depart for my walk, to meet up back here at the Usual Time. :):)
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Elizabeth, your drawing of Buster is excellent! Your technique is impeccable, but at the same time you've captured his doggie spirit. I can feel it and I haven't even met him. From your description he sounds just the slightest bit irascable, and in that respect - and because of his size and breed - he reminded me a little bit of the late great Kobi, Pearl's dog who was such a good friend of mine. I have to tell you about one thing he used to do because it still cracks me up to this day. Like Buster, Kobi liked to sleep late, and when he was sleeping you couldn't wake him up (though he was probably faking it, lol). But what was funny was that, when Kobe got tired, he sometimes didn't make it all the way into his bed. He had one of those round padded beds like you get at the pet store, and when he was really wiped out after a long day of eating, jumping up and down and barking, he'd sometimes crawl into his bed, but only make it halfway. And so you'd see him sound asleep, but only with his upper half in the bed. His rear end and back legs would still be sticking out on the floor, and I always found that to be a riot. I used to call him a "Four Wheel Drive Dog", and from Kobi I learned that small dogs are definitely not wimps. In your drawing of Buster I can see the same is true for him!
Man, I've gotta get me another dog. As I've said to Pearl, "you gotta have two, a Small and a Big. The Big One to do all the dirty work (like stealing pizzas) and the Small One to boss him around".
Right now I am grateful for the kitties in my life, and can't wait to see them again. They must wonder what happened to me, at least I hope they do. Our Governor is supposed to make an announcement tomorrow about the re-opening of California's economy, which will hopefully begin by May 15th or maybe sooner. Fingers are crossed. /////
Well, on the motion picture score we fared a little better this evening - only marginally so, mind you - but anything would be a step up after the execrable experience of "They Saved Hitler's Brain". Seeing John Agar's name in the cast, I cued up a film with the rather unimaginative title of "Hand of Death". I mean......whataya think? To me, it conjures up a Kung Fu flick, and while there is a Hand of Death in this movie (belonging to Agar), it isn't separated from it's owner, as Horror Movie Hands usually are. Think of the Hand in "The Hand", for instance, the 1981 fright fest that was written and directed by Oliver Stone. That Hand was most definitely not attached to anyone. But let me not get off on yet another tangent, because - like Brains - I could talk about movie Hands all day. On with the plot, then.
Agar is a scientist working on a new type of nerve gas at his laboratory in the desert. He has mixed in a hypnotic drug, and he tells his government bosses that the resulting concoction will make nuclear war obsolete. If deployed, it would first knock people unconscious (the nerve gas element), and when they woke up they'd be hypnotised by the additional drug, and therefore highly susceptible to suggestion. Agar reports the good news that in future wars, there needn't be any casualties. "All we'd have to do is spray this gas and the enemy would be knocked out! When they came to, we could send them back to their own country, merely by hypnotic suggestion! Don't you see? They would simply walk away! Isn't it brilliant"?!
Well, yes.......on paper it sounds wonderful. But Agar also has direct evidence. He's tried the gas out on a local sheep farmer and it worked as advertised. But his immediate superior, one Dr. Ramsey, isn't so certain. "As you know, I'm sitting in this wheelchair because of a previous and similar experiment".
"Yes, Doctor......but we have stricter controls now. I realise the need for further testing, but I'm telling you the gas is safe. I've seen it myself! When that farmer woke up, he got back in his truck and drove away, all because I directed him to, and he's had no ill effects".
"All the same", Ramsey replies, "until we try it out en masse we cannot be certain of a 100% success rate, and for that, you will need to stabilise the gas to apply to a myriad of different physical characteristics, including the variance in body weight among soldiers and the general population".
Agar is frustrated but agrees to Dr. Ramsey's wishes, in part because, as per usual in these Mad Scientist movies, Ramsey's daughter (Paula Raymond) is his girlfriend. You don't wanna tick off the potential father-in-law, so Agar begins work on homogenizing his new gas. And that, my fellow monster movie fans, is where everything goes to hell.
As Agar is mixing chemicals, a beaker starts to bubble over. He removes the cork to allow the contents to settle, but in doing so, he gets a big whiff of the new, supposedly stable gas. The next thing you know, he has fallen to the floor unconscious. When he wakes up, there doesn't seem to be any problem. He still feels fine, so no harm's been done and he gets back to work. Then an assistant enters the lab, and I must butt in to say that for some reason, the assistant is played by the legendary cinematographer John A. Alonzo, who looks like Joe Schmo here. I must further add that we have another Two Night Motif on our hands, as we were dealing with gas and a famous cinematographer (Stanley Cortez) last night in "Hitler's Brain". In this case, the legendary lensman (Alonzo) is acting rather than working the other side, but he is very young, so perhaps he hadn't yet moved into camera work.....but good thing he did, eh? Had he not become a cinematographer, he might've spent his whole career acting in movies like "Hand of Death", lol.
Back to the plot, it is unfortunate timing for Alonzo to have entered the laboratory at this moment, because Agar is not as fine and dandy as he thinks he is. For one thing, he looks a little.......darker than usual. Alonzo notices the change : "Hey Dr. Marsh......have you been out in the sun all day? You look like you've gotten a tan". Right then, Agar grabs his forearm to show him the beaker and things go downhill very quickly. Alonzo falls to the floor screaming and within seconds he is not only dead but charred to a cinder.
The Hand of Death has claimed it's first victim.
Agar knows he can't call the cops - how would he explain? So instead he torches the lab with Alonzo's body still in it. For the rest of the movie he will be on the run, his appearance ever worsening, and by the time he goes back to the home of Dr. Ramsey, he looks like a relative of the Elephant Man, if EM were African-American. Folks, even though Agar is obviously wearing a mask (and at some angles you can even see the neck strap), the look of it is so grotesque that had I seen this film as a kid, it would have (altogether now) : Scared the Living Be-JEEzus Out Of Me. It's a Horrifying Mask, I tell you!
The trouble is, there isn't much of a story to go with it. You know how in some short-duration Film Noirs, we've marveled at the screenwriter's ability to pack a jillion sub-plots into the script? That doesn't happen in "Hand of Death". It runs a mere 58 minutes, but the interesting part of the plot peters out after the first 25. The rest of the movie is basically Agar running around trying to escape his fate, which he can't of course. Even if he avoids the cops, he's gonna keep getting uglier, and he's gotta maintain social distancing - he can't touch anyone lest they die - so he's doomed to a life of terrible loneliness no matter the outcome.
Paula Ramsey will plead with Agar to go to a hospital for help, but it may be too late. The screenplay can no longer be altered and the budget appears to have run out as Agar staggers forlornly down Santa Monica beach, past little Butch Patrick playing in the sand in a pre-Munsters role. Had the filmmakers had more dough they might've had a better picture because the intent is there. Agar even forgoes his usual smugness to put real pathos into his plight (although it must be said that in the early scenes, pre-mask, he still has that Indelible Agar Smirk where it looks like he's trying not to laugh at his dialogue). Another problem was the print I watched : soft and low contrast. A restoration would improve things greatly, especially the horror, which is the movie's main drawing card. Imagine seeing that mask in a crisp transfer with full grey scale! Holy smokes, the Beejeezus would be scared right out of you guaranteed, no matter your age. So yeah, with an improved print my rating would be higher, but I'm still gonna be generous and give "Hand of Death" Two Solid Thumbs Up, even with it's anemic story and bland interiors. It's one of those super-cheapies that looks like it was filmed in someone's living room, with the lab scenes outsourced to a motel. But it tries hard, and for that reason I will recommend it, and also because it is brief in length. We will continue to try for better movies, in content and picture quality, but if the Science-Fiction/Horror Well does run dry, as it looks like it may be doing, we'll switch over to Noirs (oh, but I'm having so much fun with sci-fi!....sigh). /////
That will be all for the moment, unless you have anything else that needs to be brought to my attention. If not, you may go and I shall depart for my walk, to meet up back here at the Usual Time. :):)
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Monday, April 13, 2020
"They Saved Hitler's Brain" (godawful)
This blog was begun Sunday night April 12th, and completed the following day :
Well folks, I'm sorry to report that tonight we reached the bottom of the barrel, the absolute nadir of our collective viewing experience. Against my better judgement I selected a film entitled "They Saved Hitler's Brain" (1963/1968), and yes, you read the double dates correctly. This is the first time I've ever had to list two different years of release for a picture, and that's because "TSHB" is so bad that it's two godawful movies in one. I don't even know if I have the energy to explain at this point, but I'll try : in 1963, some genius made a movie called "The Madmen of Mandoras", in which some leftover Nazis have absconded with Hitler's head (not his brain) at the end of WW2 and have set up shop in South America, where 18 years later, they now have the technology to bring him back to life. It's not clear whether they intend to install him on another body, but what's more important is that either way, he'll be calling the shots once again, and so the future of the Reich is looking rosy. Now all they need is the formula for a new poison gas, even more deadly than Zyklon-B, that has been invented by one "Professor Coleman" out in Reseda in the San Fernando Valley, and no, I am not kidding about the location. I should clarify that in the movie, the search for Coleman looked to me like it was shot somewhere else, maybe Encino or North Hollywood, but the line of dialogue did specify "Reseda", so I feel the need to mention it because Reseda is pretty cool.
Too bad the movie isn't.
But back to my attempted explanation : At some point after it's theatrical release, "The Madmen of Mandoras" was sold to television, but it's 74 minute running time was too short to fill out the airtime of a typical "Friday Night Horror" program, so whomever was in charge of the situation prevailed upon the film's director to go back and shoot an additional 18 minutes of footage, which he did, with the help of some UCLA students. Now, from the looks of said footage, he did not have the use of a professional cinematographer, whereas the original movie was shot by Stanley Cortez, who photographed some fairly big name films, including "The Magnificent Ambersons" (and how Cortez went from that masterpiece to "Madmen of Mandoras" is one of the Great Mysteries of Cinema). So the incongruity between the opening scenes in what is now called "They Saved Hitler's Brain", and the rest of the film, is obvious. Anyhow, let me backtrack a little bit.....
So the director, with the help of the UCLA students, went back and shot 18 more minutes and edited it together with his original film, "The Madmen of Mandoras". Now it was long enough to be shown on television, and someone had a brilliant idea. Being that it was going to be featured on Elvira-style hosted horror programs, it's original title wasn't gonna cut it. It sounded too ambiguous, perhaps even too ethnic. They needed something that would stand out, that would go for the throat. Brain movies were big in the 1950s and early 60s, so the brilliant idea was to take Hitler, who was a main character in "Mandoras", and exchange his head for the word "Brain". And voila! Right there you've got one of the most out-regis titles in motion picture history, encapsulating the World's Worst Bad Guy and the word Brain all in one statement : "They Saved Hitler's Brain".
Prospective viewers : "They did? My goodness, I wasn't aware of that! I'd better tune in and find out why"!
So, even though there is no actual Brain in the movie, no one is gonna know until it's too late (and to be fair, there is a Head, so I suppose they could say "Well, his Brain was inside his Head, so technically they did indeed save it).
I think I'm losing my sanity trying to explain all of this, but in the name of thoroughness I'll carry on.
With it's added footage and new title, "They Saved Hitler's Brain" was premiered on television in 1968, which is why you have the double release dates, However, when I unfortunately selected this film on Youtube tonight, I was under the impression it was made in 1963, as that was the only date listed by the uploader. Therefore, when the movie started, I was looking at the male character's collar length hair, cut in a Tony Orlando shag, and the female's mini-skirt, and I was thinking, "wait a minute.....nobody had hair that long in 1963, not to mention a bushy moustache. And girls' dresses were still to the knee. What's going on here"? The chick also had long, natural hair - unstyled - whereas in 1963 it would likely have been piled up in a Beehive. Believe me, I was puzzled, but the couple (who were playing CIA agents) drove an old Ford that was circa 1963, so I let the matter go.
"Hmmm.......maybe the UCLA students were ahead of their time, fashion-wise".
And, they were searching for "Professor Coleman" in Reseda, or so they said. That kept me intrigued for several minutes as I tried to make out recognisable locations, but I was unsuccessful as noted above, and soon, these Mod-looking characters were gone, shot dead by two guys in a black Lincoln Continental who looked exactly like Jake and Elwood Blues. I've got to jump in here to ask once again, "Is it possible that future directors saw some of these movies and were influenced by them"? I mean, last night we had two very similar Star Trek-like scenes in "The Phantom Planet", and tonight in "Hitler's Brain" we've got The Blues Brothers acting as South American assassins. I can picture young Spielberg watching at home, taking notes....
But anyway, yeah......the 1968 characters are killed off by Jake and Elwood, and then that's apparently the end of the additional footage, because all of a sudden we cut to an office at CIA Headquarters (called "CIS" in the movie), where a new agent is set to take over the investigation. This new guy looks straight out of 1963, as do all the Pentagon types in the room, and the photography looks more professional, so this must be where the original movie began. The hunt is still on for Professor Coleman, the only living scientist with an antidote to the deadly new poison gas the surviving Nazis are after. CIA spies have ascertained their continuing existence in a South American hideout (i.e. Mandoras, which suspiciously resembles Beverly Hills). They know the Nazis are trying to get their hands on the gas formula, and suspect they may have kidnapped Coleman, but they have no idea the SS had removed Hitler's head after the war, and had preserved it cryogenically all this time. That part they won't find out until the last half hour of the movie, and if you can make it until that point, you might find the last few minutes enjoyable, or laughable, but the key word here is "might". Speaking for myself, I was on the ropes, a victim of Bad Movie Fatigue that began early on, when I couldn't find any of the promised "Reseda" locations. My condition worsened as the script grew ever more muddled with scene after scene of indecipherable cloak-and-dagger skulduggery. I had no idea who was after whom, other than the elusive "Professor Coleman", and I really didn't care, so lousy was the storytelling.
About halfway through, it became clear that this was in no way a science fiction film. Instead, it was closer to an action/adventure, although I can't really say it was "close" to anything - certainly not coherancy. But it's wasn't a sci-fi, it wasn't a horror movie, and it wasn't even a "Good" Bad Movie. I mean, you can do anything but don't step on my Blue Suede Shoes, am I right? Make a great movie, make a terrible one........but don't bore me. Ed Wood knew that was the one no-no for even the most unskilled director, and compared to "They Saved Hitler's Brain", his "Plan 9" looks like a masterwork worthy of a spot in the National Film Register.
Now, in all honesty I should admit that we were probably gonna watch this movie sooner or later. I was long aware of it's existence, and likely so were you. I mean, no one could miss that title, and I probably heard it when I was still in my teens, and maybe younger. On a side note, the prints were done by General Film Laboratories, where my Dad was Vice President in the early 1960s, so if the credit that runs beforehand refers to the 1963 version, then Dad was at General when the original movie was developed. Still, it wasn't retitled until 1968, so I suppose the point is moot, and so am I at this point.
Moot, that is. I am moot, after spending so much of my time reviewing this movie....or trying to.
In hindsight, I should've done some research prior to choosing this poor excuse for a flick. The IMDB rating of 2.5 would've given me an indication of what not to expect, which was "anything resembling a good movie". Actually, that may be the lowest rating of any film we've seen (pretty sure it is), and believe me, this movie lives down to it. Some have called it "The Worst Movie Ever Made" - you can check for yourself if you don't believe me. Read the Wikipedia entry. But please, please don't watch it in an effort to find out. I can't be held responsible for the brain damage you will suffer as a result. As for me, I'm gonna shuffle off now and try to protect the handful of brain cells I still have remaining....
As someone remarked : "They Saved Hitler's Brain" but they shouldn't have saved this movie". No amount of Thumbs, set even at the depths of the Marianas Trench, could suffice. /////
See you later tonight at the Usual Time, lol.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Well folks, I'm sorry to report that tonight we reached the bottom of the barrel, the absolute nadir of our collective viewing experience. Against my better judgement I selected a film entitled "They Saved Hitler's Brain" (1963/1968), and yes, you read the double dates correctly. This is the first time I've ever had to list two different years of release for a picture, and that's because "TSHB" is so bad that it's two godawful movies in one. I don't even know if I have the energy to explain at this point, but I'll try : in 1963, some genius made a movie called "The Madmen of Mandoras", in which some leftover Nazis have absconded with Hitler's head (not his brain) at the end of WW2 and have set up shop in South America, where 18 years later, they now have the technology to bring him back to life. It's not clear whether they intend to install him on another body, but what's more important is that either way, he'll be calling the shots once again, and so the future of the Reich is looking rosy. Now all they need is the formula for a new poison gas, even more deadly than Zyklon-B, that has been invented by one "Professor Coleman" out in Reseda in the San Fernando Valley, and no, I am not kidding about the location. I should clarify that in the movie, the search for Coleman looked to me like it was shot somewhere else, maybe Encino or North Hollywood, but the line of dialogue did specify "Reseda", so I feel the need to mention it because Reseda is pretty cool.
Too bad the movie isn't.
But back to my attempted explanation : At some point after it's theatrical release, "The Madmen of Mandoras" was sold to television, but it's 74 minute running time was too short to fill out the airtime of a typical "Friday Night Horror" program, so whomever was in charge of the situation prevailed upon the film's director to go back and shoot an additional 18 minutes of footage, which he did, with the help of some UCLA students. Now, from the looks of said footage, he did not have the use of a professional cinematographer, whereas the original movie was shot by Stanley Cortez, who photographed some fairly big name films, including "The Magnificent Ambersons" (and how Cortez went from that masterpiece to "Madmen of Mandoras" is one of the Great Mysteries of Cinema). So the incongruity between the opening scenes in what is now called "They Saved Hitler's Brain", and the rest of the film, is obvious. Anyhow, let me backtrack a little bit.....
So the director, with the help of the UCLA students, went back and shot 18 more minutes and edited it together with his original film, "The Madmen of Mandoras". Now it was long enough to be shown on television, and someone had a brilliant idea. Being that it was going to be featured on Elvira-style hosted horror programs, it's original title wasn't gonna cut it. It sounded too ambiguous, perhaps even too ethnic. They needed something that would stand out, that would go for the throat. Brain movies were big in the 1950s and early 60s, so the brilliant idea was to take Hitler, who was a main character in "Mandoras", and exchange his head for the word "Brain". And voila! Right there you've got one of the most out-regis titles in motion picture history, encapsulating the World's Worst Bad Guy and the word Brain all in one statement : "They Saved Hitler's Brain".
Prospective viewers : "They did? My goodness, I wasn't aware of that! I'd better tune in and find out why"!
So, even though there is no actual Brain in the movie, no one is gonna know until it's too late (and to be fair, there is a Head, so I suppose they could say "Well, his Brain was inside his Head, so technically they did indeed save it).
I think I'm losing my sanity trying to explain all of this, but in the name of thoroughness I'll carry on.
With it's added footage and new title, "They Saved Hitler's Brain" was premiered on television in 1968, which is why you have the double release dates, However, when I unfortunately selected this film on Youtube tonight, I was under the impression it was made in 1963, as that was the only date listed by the uploader. Therefore, when the movie started, I was looking at the male character's collar length hair, cut in a Tony Orlando shag, and the female's mini-skirt, and I was thinking, "wait a minute.....nobody had hair that long in 1963, not to mention a bushy moustache. And girls' dresses were still to the knee. What's going on here"? The chick also had long, natural hair - unstyled - whereas in 1963 it would likely have been piled up in a Beehive. Believe me, I was puzzled, but the couple (who were playing CIA agents) drove an old Ford that was circa 1963, so I let the matter go.
"Hmmm.......maybe the UCLA students were ahead of their time, fashion-wise".
And, they were searching for "Professor Coleman" in Reseda, or so they said. That kept me intrigued for several minutes as I tried to make out recognisable locations, but I was unsuccessful as noted above, and soon, these Mod-looking characters were gone, shot dead by two guys in a black Lincoln Continental who looked exactly like Jake and Elwood Blues. I've got to jump in here to ask once again, "Is it possible that future directors saw some of these movies and were influenced by them"? I mean, last night we had two very similar Star Trek-like scenes in "The Phantom Planet", and tonight in "Hitler's Brain" we've got The Blues Brothers acting as South American assassins. I can picture young Spielberg watching at home, taking notes....
But anyway, yeah......the 1968 characters are killed off by Jake and Elwood, and then that's apparently the end of the additional footage, because all of a sudden we cut to an office at CIA Headquarters (called "CIS" in the movie), where a new agent is set to take over the investigation. This new guy looks straight out of 1963, as do all the Pentagon types in the room, and the photography looks more professional, so this must be where the original movie began. The hunt is still on for Professor Coleman, the only living scientist with an antidote to the deadly new poison gas the surviving Nazis are after. CIA spies have ascertained their continuing existence in a South American hideout (i.e. Mandoras, which suspiciously resembles Beverly Hills). They know the Nazis are trying to get their hands on the gas formula, and suspect they may have kidnapped Coleman, but they have no idea the SS had removed Hitler's head after the war, and had preserved it cryogenically all this time. That part they won't find out until the last half hour of the movie, and if you can make it until that point, you might find the last few minutes enjoyable, or laughable, but the key word here is "might". Speaking for myself, I was on the ropes, a victim of Bad Movie Fatigue that began early on, when I couldn't find any of the promised "Reseda" locations. My condition worsened as the script grew ever more muddled with scene after scene of indecipherable cloak-and-dagger skulduggery. I had no idea who was after whom, other than the elusive "Professor Coleman", and I really didn't care, so lousy was the storytelling.
About halfway through, it became clear that this was in no way a science fiction film. Instead, it was closer to an action/adventure, although I can't really say it was "close" to anything - certainly not coherancy. But it's wasn't a sci-fi, it wasn't a horror movie, and it wasn't even a "Good" Bad Movie. I mean, you can do anything but don't step on my Blue Suede Shoes, am I right? Make a great movie, make a terrible one........but don't bore me. Ed Wood knew that was the one no-no for even the most unskilled director, and compared to "They Saved Hitler's Brain", his "Plan 9" looks like a masterwork worthy of a spot in the National Film Register.
Now, in all honesty I should admit that we were probably gonna watch this movie sooner or later. I was long aware of it's existence, and likely so were you. I mean, no one could miss that title, and I probably heard it when I was still in my teens, and maybe younger. On a side note, the prints were done by General Film Laboratories, where my Dad was Vice President in the early 1960s, so if the credit that runs beforehand refers to the 1963 version, then Dad was at General when the original movie was developed. Still, it wasn't retitled until 1968, so I suppose the point is moot, and so am I at this point.
Moot, that is. I am moot, after spending so much of my time reviewing this movie....or trying to.
In hindsight, I should've done some research prior to choosing this poor excuse for a flick. The IMDB rating of 2.5 would've given me an indication of what not to expect, which was "anything resembling a good movie". Actually, that may be the lowest rating of any film we've seen (pretty sure it is), and believe me, this movie lives down to it. Some have called it "The Worst Movie Ever Made" - you can check for yourself if you don't believe me. Read the Wikipedia entry. But please, please don't watch it in an effort to find out. I can't be held responsible for the brain damage you will suffer as a result. As for me, I'm gonna shuffle off now and try to protect the handful of brain cells I still have remaining....
As someone remarked : "They Saved Hitler's Brain" but they shouldn't have saved this movie". No amount of Thumbs, set even at the depths of the Marianas Trench, could suffice. /////
See you later tonight at the Usual Time, lol.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, April 12, 2020
"The Phantom Planet" starring Dean Fredericks and Francis X. Bushman + Robert Kinoshita
This blog was begun Saturday night April 11 and completed the following evening :
Tonight's movie was "The Phantom Planet"(1961), chosen this time not because of a Youtube recommendation but because I'd struck out beforehand, while trying to watch "The Mad Monster" starring the ever-reliable George Zucco. That movie had a promising start but the sound kept dropping out. I don't know if it was the uploader's fault or just a bad print (the picture was a little blurry, too), but after about ten minutes I had to bail out, and I didn't wanna go through another long search process so I went for the first thing that looked passable. And though it looked for a time like "Phantom Planet" might be little more than an extended "Star Trek episode, in the end it turned out to be very entertaining indeed, complete with a Rubber-Suited Monster and an excellent one at that. Boy, have we come to appreciate our RSMs of late. :) :)
It is sometime in the future and an American space agency now has a base on the Moon, from which they conduct forays into the Solar System and beyond. One of their rockets has disappeared while on a mission to inspect a Mysterious Asteroid that doesn't show up on radar. The moon base can see it on their video screens, but it keeps changing size and position. How can this be? One crew has vanished in an effort to find out, and now a second rocket - piloted by Captain Frank Chapman (Dean Fredericks) - is sent up to try and find them, and to explore the asteroid too, if possible.
On the way, Chapman loses his navigator in a way that Kubrick might've admired (and maybe he saw this flick), so when he lands on the asteroid, he is alone. Low on air, he stumbles from the rocket and collapses. His helmet is jarred open and, breathing in the strange new atmosphere, he shrinks!
Chapman is then carried away by a group of men wearing what looks like hospital pajamas. They aren't orderlies, however, but inhabitants of the Planet Rheton, which is what they call their little asteroid. The Rhetonians are led by an older gentleman named Sessom (the legendary Francis X. Bushman of "Ben Hur" fame). Sessom immediately puts Chapman on trial for resisting arrest (a bogus charge, I say), and though he is found guilty he isn't jailed. This is because Sessom has a daughter named Liara (Colleen Gray) that he's trying to marry off. He hopes she will show interest in the manly Captain. If all of this sounds a little kooky, it is, but here is where the Star Trek plotline is going to take effect. You see, Sessom has an assistant named Harron (Tony Dexter) who has prior interest in Liara. He is manly too, and is insulted that Sessom and Liara have never considered him as her mate. Doubling his anger is the clear fact that Liara does indeed have the hots for Captain Chapman, which is plain for all to see. Now, Chapman doesn't wanna get married, to Liara or anyone else (and there's another pretty girl who's eyeing him). He just wants to get back to his rocket ship and fly home to the Moon, but that's not gonna happen because he's only about four inches tall, a fact he does not yet realise. For his part, Harron the assistant is still incensed over being dissed by Liara, so he challeges Chapman to a duel that is not unlike the one that pitted Kirk against Spock for the hand of T'Pring in the "Amok Time" episode of Star Trek. All that's missing in the "Phantom Planet" duel is the unforgettable music, but again, I wonder if this scene had any influence on a later sci-fi master, in this case Gene Roddenberry.
The duel takes place, with Chapman easily overpowering Harron, but he doesn't kill him. By showing mercy, Chapman hopes to be allowed to leave. It is then that Sessom breaks the bad news to him, that he is in fact now shrimp-sized due to the ingestion of Rheton's atmosphere and intensified gravity. Lengthy discussions will ensue about how this works, and Sessom will explain that Rhetonian scientists have learned how to manipulate this ultra-strong gravitational pull to shrink the planet, when necessary, to the point of invisibility, so as to dodge all invaders. Chapman is impressed : "Ahh, so that's why you didn't show up on our radar". Meanwhile, Harron has now turned friendly to Chapman, who had the chance to kill him but didn't. Chapman also insists he was never trying to steal Harron's girl, reiterating that all he wants to do is leave. Harron has a plan to help him, which besides getting Chapman back to the Moon will also leave Harron as the only eligible bachelor for Liara, so it's a win/win for both men. They have to keep their plan a secret from Sessom, who by no means is willing to let Chapman depart.....but wait!
Here come the Solarites, the Rhetonians' mortal enemies! The Solarites are the only interstellar civilisation that is immune to the effects of Rheton's "Universal Gravity Machine", being that they come from the Sun and their spaceships are made out of flaming plasma. You'll have to work out the physics on that one for yourself, but the current beef has to do with the fact that Sessom is holding a Solarite in prison. This will be Richard Kiel (of James Bond and Gilligan's Island fame), and as the Solarite in question, he will be wearing a Rubber Suit that ranks up there with the best we've seen. And with his appearance, what had been a vaguely interesting plot with the production values of a tv show will now be transformed into a full-blown Space Extravaganza with B-Movie overtones, including bitchin special effects (of the Solarites' attack) and Fearsome Fight Scenes, as Herron and Chapman work together to fend off the 7 foot Kiel, who looks even taller with his Solarite head. The final note of conflict will involve Chapman's attempt to save the Other Pretty Girl who was eyeing him early in the movie. She is deaf, and her storyline will lead to another scene that bears a strong resemblance to one from "Star Trek", where Spock had to decide between staying with Mariette Hartley in a cave, or returning home with Kirk and Bones. So again, I wonder if Roddenberry saw this movie.
If you're willing to hang in there, "The Phantom Planet" has a solid payoff. The going is a little slow beforehand, but it's mostly the plaster-of-paris set design that weighs things down. The movie starts off with some quality hardware in Chapman's rocket, and above average effects during a spacewalk that leads to the loss of his partner, but once he lands on the asteroid, it turns into a papier mache affair for a while, until the Thrilling Conclusion. The dialogue is good throughout, though, and the old pro Francis Bushman - who was nicknamed "King of the Movies" - keeps things from descending into silliness with a Convincing Portrayal as the Rhetonian leader Sessom. I've said before, as an actor you've gotta invest yourself in these kinds of movies, because if you don't believe in the dialogue, no one else is going to, either. So when you say, "Herron! The Solarites are breaking through our graviton shield"!, you've gotta say it with conviction!
Thankfully for us, Bushman does. And so do the other actors for the most part. One final Francis X. Bushman note - he had a grandson named Pat Conway who was also an actor. I had never heard of Conway until I bought the dvd box set of a tv series called "Tombstone Territory", on which he played the Sheriff. The show turned out to be a favorite of mine (it initially ran from 1957-60), and during this quarantine I've been watching a lot of episodes. At the end of each one, a name kept appearing in the credits that got my attention : Robert Kinoshita. I noticed him because you don't see a lot of names of Japanese-Americans in tv or movies from that era, but on "Tombstone Territory" he appears as the art director in every episode. And then, lo and behold, he showed up as the art director and executive producer of "The Phantom Planet", so I wondered if there was a connection between Francis X. Bushman, his grandson Pat Conway, and Robert Kinoshita. Probably so, and on a side note it turns out that Kinoshita was pretty famous in his field : he also designed "Robby the Robot" from "Lost In Space" among other credits. So there you have it, a bit of trivia from "The Phantom Planet", which gets Two Solid Thumbs Up from yours truly. Watch it for The Solarites if nothing else. ////
Well, it's now Easter Sunday evening. I hope you had a nice holiday. I did too, though I sure missed singing in church. I've been in choir for the previous five Easters and it's one of the best services for singing. Well, hopefully this nightmare will be over soon and we can get back to living life. If the message of Easter teaches us anything, it's to keep the faith. Now I will go for my walk. See you later tonight at the Usual Time. :):)
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Tonight's movie was "The Phantom Planet"(1961), chosen this time not because of a Youtube recommendation but because I'd struck out beforehand, while trying to watch "The Mad Monster" starring the ever-reliable George Zucco. That movie had a promising start but the sound kept dropping out. I don't know if it was the uploader's fault or just a bad print (the picture was a little blurry, too), but after about ten minutes I had to bail out, and I didn't wanna go through another long search process so I went for the first thing that looked passable. And though it looked for a time like "Phantom Planet" might be little more than an extended "Star Trek episode, in the end it turned out to be very entertaining indeed, complete with a Rubber-Suited Monster and an excellent one at that. Boy, have we come to appreciate our RSMs of late. :) :)
It is sometime in the future and an American space agency now has a base on the Moon, from which they conduct forays into the Solar System and beyond. One of their rockets has disappeared while on a mission to inspect a Mysterious Asteroid that doesn't show up on radar. The moon base can see it on their video screens, but it keeps changing size and position. How can this be? One crew has vanished in an effort to find out, and now a second rocket - piloted by Captain Frank Chapman (Dean Fredericks) - is sent up to try and find them, and to explore the asteroid too, if possible.
On the way, Chapman loses his navigator in a way that Kubrick might've admired (and maybe he saw this flick), so when he lands on the asteroid, he is alone. Low on air, he stumbles from the rocket and collapses. His helmet is jarred open and, breathing in the strange new atmosphere, he shrinks!
Chapman is then carried away by a group of men wearing what looks like hospital pajamas. They aren't orderlies, however, but inhabitants of the Planet Rheton, which is what they call their little asteroid. The Rhetonians are led by an older gentleman named Sessom (the legendary Francis X. Bushman of "Ben Hur" fame). Sessom immediately puts Chapman on trial for resisting arrest (a bogus charge, I say), and though he is found guilty he isn't jailed. This is because Sessom has a daughter named Liara (Colleen Gray) that he's trying to marry off. He hopes she will show interest in the manly Captain. If all of this sounds a little kooky, it is, but here is where the Star Trek plotline is going to take effect. You see, Sessom has an assistant named Harron (Tony Dexter) who has prior interest in Liara. He is manly too, and is insulted that Sessom and Liara have never considered him as her mate. Doubling his anger is the clear fact that Liara does indeed have the hots for Captain Chapman, which is plain for all to see. Now, Chapman doesn't wanna get married, to Liara or anyone else (and there's another pretty girl who's eyeing him). He just wants to get back to his rocket ship and fly home to the Moon, but that's not gonna happen because he's only about four inches tall, a fact he does not yet realise. For his part, Harron the assistant is still incensed over being dissed by Liara, so he challeges Chapman to a duel that is not unlike the one that pitted Kirk against Spock for the hand of T'Pring in the "Amok Time" episode of Star Trek. All that's missing in the "Phantom Planet" duel is the unforgettable music, but again, I wonder if this scene had any influence on a later sci-fi master, in this case Gene Roddenberry.
The duel takes place, with Chapman easily overpowering Harron, but he doesn't kill him. By showing mercy, Chapman hopes to be allowed to leave. It is then that Sessom breaks the bad news to him, that he is in fact now shrimp-sized due to the ingestion of Rheton's atmosphere and intensified gravity. Lengthy discussions will ensue about how this works, and Sessom will explain that Rhetonian scientists have learned how to manipulate this ultra-strong gravitational pull to shrink the planet, when necessary, to the point of invisibility, so as to dodge all invaders. Chapman is impressed : "Ahh, so that's why you didn't show up on our radar". Meanwhile, Harron has now turned friendly to Chapman, who had the chance to kill him but didn't. Chapman also insists he was never trying to steal Harron's girl, reiterating that all he wants to do is leave. Harron has a plan to help him, which besides getting Chapman back to the Moon will also leave Harron as the only eligible bachelor for Liara, so it's a win/win for both men. They have to keep their plan a secret from Sessom, who by no means is willing to let Chapman depart.....but wait!
Here come the Solarites, the Rhetonians' mortal enemies! The Solarites are the only interstellar civilisation that is immune to the effects of Rheton's "Universal Gravity Machine", being that they come from the Sun and their spaceships are made out of flaming plasma. You'll have to work out the physics on that one for yourself, but the current beef has to do with the fact that Sessom is holding a Solarite in prison. This will be Richard Kiel (of James Bond and Gilligan's Island fame), and as the Solarite in question, he will be wearing a Rubber Suit that ranks up there with the best we've seen. And with his appearance, what had been a vaguely interesting plot with the production values of a tv show will now be transformed into a full-blown Space Extravaganza with B-Movie overtones, including bitchin special effects (of the Solarites' attack) and Fearsome Fight Scenes, as Herron and Chapman work together to fend off the 7 foot Kiel, who looks even taller with his Solarite head. The final note of conflict will involve Chapman's attempt to save the Other Pretty Girl who was eyeing him early in the movie. She is deaf, and her storyline will lead to another scene that bears a strong resemblance to one from "Star Trek", where Spock had to decide between staying with Mariette Hartley in a cave, or returning home with Kirk and Bones. So again, I wonder if Roddenberry saw this movie.
If you're willing to hang in there, "The Phantom Planet" has a solid payoff. The going is a little slow beforehand, but it's mostly the plaster-of-paris set design that weighs things down. The movie starts off with some quality hardware in Chapman's rocket, and above average effects during a spacewalk that leads to the loss of his partner, but once he lands on the asteroid, it turns into a papier mache affair for a while, until the Thrilling Conclusion. The dialogue is good throughout, though, and the old pro Francis Bushman - who was nicknamed "King of the Movies" - keeps things from descending into silliness with a Convincing Portrayal as the Rhetonian leader Sessom. I've said before, as an actor you've gotta invest yourself in these kinds of movies, because if you don't believe in the dialogue, no one else is going to, either. So when you say, "Herron! The Solarites are breaking through our graviton shield"!, you've gotta say it with conviction!
Thankfully for us, Bushman does. And so do the other actors for the most part. One final Francis X. Bushman note - he had a grandson named Pat Conway who was also an actor. I had never heard of Conway until I bought the dvd box set of a tv series called "Tombstone Territory", on which he played the Sheriff. The show turned out to be a favorite of mine (it initially ran from 1957-60), and during this quarantine I've been watching a lot of episodes. At the end of each one, a name kept appearing in the credits that got my attention : Robert Kinoshita. I noticed him because you don't see a lot of names of Japanese-Americans in tv or movies from that era, but on "Tombstone Territory" he appears as the art director in every episode. And then, lo and behold, he showed up as the art director and executive producer of "The Phantom Planet", so I wondered if there was a connection between Francis X. Bushman, his grandson Pat Conway, and Robert Kinoshita. Probably so, and on a side note it turns out that Kinoshita was pretty famous in his field : he also designed "Robby the Robot" from "Lost In Space" among other credits. So there you have it, a bit of trivia from "The Phantom Planet", which gets Two Solid Thumbs Up from yours truly. Watch it for The Solarites if nothing else. ////
Well, it's now Easter Sunday evening. I hope you had a nice holiday. I did too, though I sure missed singing in church. I've been in choir for the previous five Easters and it's one of the best services for singing. Well, hopefully this nightmare will be over soon and we can get back to living life. If the message of Easter teaches us anything, it's to keep the faith. Now I will go for my walk. See you later tonight at the Usual Time. :):)
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Saturday, April 11, 2020
"Tormented" directed by Bert I. Gordon + Elizabeth
Our Mayor has just extended the stay-at-home order for Los Angeles until May 15th. Oy. Well, maybe they'll at least open the parks back up before then, so I can go for a hike and take some pictures. Elizabeth, I am glad you got hang out with the Cool Rocks today, and to hear the sweet sound of the bubbling brook. I sure miss my boulders at Santa Susana, and as you know I love the sound of water flowing through the creek at Aliso and Limekiln Canyons, over rocks and down small waterfalls. The sound of rushing water is so soothing, just the thing I need right now if they'd only open up the parks. I understand the need for distancing, but that measure strikes me as unnecessary. Santa Susana is a mile wide and no one goes there. The most I've ever seen is maybe fifteen people all spread out. So please, Mr. Mayor, let us enjoy nature.
On the bright side, I still have the CSUN campus, and according to Weather.com, the Fimbulwinter! is set to end tomorrow. This will mark the conclusion of the Ice Age in the Northridgian Region, after which we may live to witness the coming of the New Swiderians, who will lead us toward re-civilization in the post-Trump Era.
(man, I've been reading too much Gobekli Tepe. I'll shut up now, but seriously - it's an amazing book!)
Tonight's movie was a supernatural thriller called "Tormented"(1960) starring Richard Carlson (of "Black Lagoon" fame) and directed by a guy named Bert I. Gordon. Now, Gordon's movies have been popping up in my Youtube suggestion box recently, but I've been avoiding him for the same reason I used to avoid Roger Corman. From what I'd read about Gordon over the years (which wasn't much, I admit), he was said to be a cheapie hack, one or two rungs below Corman on the cheesiness scale. But as we've been mining the Public Domain lode for several weeks now, we are getting to the point where we can't afford to be as choosy as we once were, so when "Tormented" appeared again last night with the Familiar Invitation ("recommended for you"), I cued it up without hesitation, mainly because of Carlson, a Sci-Fi champ whose presence usually signifies some standard of quality.
Here he plays "Tom Stewart" an amateur jazz pianist who works as a lighthouse keeper on Anacapa Island off the coast of Southern California. I have to stop right here to say here we go again with the Lighthouse Keeper Motif! That's two nights in a row, lol. How the heck did that happen?
But anyway, yeah.....Carlson's life is music, but he makes his living as a Lighthouse Keeper, and he's even working toward a degree in the corresponding scientific discipline. He's also about to be married to his sweetheart Meg (Lugene Sanders). All should be well, but then his old flame "Vi" (Juli Redig) shows up at the lighthouse in a Marilyn Monroe dress, begging him to call off the wedding, to leave his fiance and marry her. She's very pushy and backs Carlson into a corner. She won't take no for an answer, but then she leans against a broken railing and loses her balance. Carlson has a chance to save her as she reaches out for help, but he lets her fall instead, down to her death on the rocks.
This happens at night, with no one around to see. Vi's body is carried away with the tide and for Carlson, it's as if nothing ever happened. He doesn't report her death. Nobody knows Vi came to the island, so he feels he's in the clear, and besides, he didn't kill her - she fell. Well, that may be true but he had a chance to save her and backed away. Now his conscience is bugging him, or is it something else?
The next day, he and Meg are walking on the beach. Suddenly, Carlson sees a third set of footprints in the sand, appearing out of nowhere! He wipes his eyes, does a double take and looks again, but a wave has washed them away. Meg thinks he's acting a bit strange : "Honey, is something wrong"? He assures her everything is fine, but later that evening, he is playing some jazz piano when he hears a voice - Vi's voice - telling him "you've got to leave her, Tom.....I'm the only woman for youuuuu"......(imagine a Ghostly Voice). Now he is seriously spooked.
The next morning it gets worse. Meg's little sister Sandy (brilliant child actress Susan Gordon, the director's daughter) comes in from the beach with a necklace she has found. Inscribed on the medallion is a love message : "To Vi, always my love".
Sandy is excited by her discovery. "Tom, Tom! Look what I found". He, however, is horrified. He tries not to show it, but little Sandy is precocious. She understands adult behavior and so she asks Tom, "Why does this bother you"? Tom realises Sandy will not be as easily brushed off as Meg, who's preoccupied with the wedding, so he makes a pact with her to keep the medallion a secret. "Friends have to protect friends", he tells her. Little Sandy has a crush on Tom, so she will go along with his wishes. Later on, though, a Wise Guy will show up who won't be as amenable. Do you remember an actor named Joe Turkel? He was most famous for playing the bartender in "The Shining", but he was in a lot of movies. He's young here, playing a ferry boat captain who speaks fluid Hipster. He arrives at the beach house one day looking for Carlson. "Hey Daddio", he begins. "Are you Tom Stewart? Did you know a bird named Vi Mason? Oh.....you didn't? Well she knew you. Y'see I brought her over here on my tug, and she left without paying. She owes me a Fin, and I remember she mentioned your name. Maybe you could pay me for her? It's only a Fin".
Carlson pays him the five dollars to get rid of him, but Turkel will later hear news of the wedding while sitting at a beachside bar. He then returns to Carlson, threatening blackmail. "Y'know Dad, I don't think your dame would be thrilled to hear about that other bird...what was her name? Oh right....it was Vi. Now Dad, I see you're an accomplished pianist. You must be pretty well set. What would it be worth to you for me to skid right out of your life? Maybe......hmmm.......does five grand sound about right"?
Carlson is outraged. "Five thousand dollars?! I'm a jazz musician, for God's sake! I don't even make enough money to pay the rent! My job at the lighthouse covers the bills, but if you think I've got five thousand dollars you're wasting your time".
"Yeah, Dad, but somebody had to've laid out the dough for this mansion. How about that honey of yours? Her old man must be loaded to the gills".
Carlson just wants Turkel gone, so he relents : "Alright, look. Yeah, her father is well off, and I can probably get the money from him, but you've got to give me some time so I can come up with an excuse. I can't just hit him up for that kind of cash out of the blue".
"Okay, so when's the wedding"?, asks Turkel.
"It's in five days".
"Okay, Dad - you've got till then. You get me my five grand before you say 'I do', or I'll have to be the guy who can't forever hold his peace, if ya know what I'm sayin' ".
This buys Carlson some time to figure out how to deal with Turkel, but he's still got little Sandy to worry about. Like all children, she's got a million questions for him. She's sincere about her promise to keep Carlson's secret, but how far can he trust her sincerity? After all, she's only eight years old. Much more nerve-wracking, though, is the increasing presence of Vi herself! (or rather.....Vi's ghost). Carlson keeps catching glimpses of her : Vi's hand appears out of thin air, wearing Meg's engagement ring as if she were it's rightful owner. Vi's face shows up in a polaroid snapshot of Meg and Carlson, taken at a pre-wedding party. Only Carlson can see these things, but it's freaking him out and now, others besides Meg are taking notice. "I always knew it was wrong for you to marry a musician"!, her Dad declares. "Especially one who plays jazz"! Now, if that's not one of the greatest lines in motion picture history, I don't know what is, haha. But yeah, Meg's Dad is right to have doubts about Carlson's sanity. By now, he's coming apart at the seams. He's "Tormented"! as the title informs us.
Meg's family has a maid (Lillian Adams) who senses something is amiss, but that's because she's blind. Her other senses are therefore heightened, and she can tell when someone is in the room, including Vi, whose perfume she smells. She will appear at various times throughout the movie to accentuate the possibility that something supernatural is in fact taking place, and that it's not all in Carlson's mind.
This is me talking now, and I've decided that I'm not gonna listen to myself anymore where movie directors are concerned, or t least so-called "bad" ones. I was wrong about Roger Corman, and now it turns out I was wrong about Bert I. Gordon, although on my behalf I did read an article or two suggesting he was a hack. Whoever wrote that never saw this movie, which is competent enough to be called "big league" in it's professionalism. The technical aspects are every bit as good as you'd see in an A-list release, including multi-angled camera work (including crane and dolly shots), excellent editing, creating strong continuity and tension, good use of shadow and light, inventive set decoration and the director's proficiency with actors. Maybe some of Gordon's other movies suck, but this one was top notch in every way. His daughter Susan steals the show (she was also in a "Twilight Zone ep), and she will figure in the film's ending, as her loyalty to Carlson will be tested to the limit. There are some great "ghostly" special effects, including one of Vi's disembodied head (as with lighthouses, we're also dealing with a lot of disembodied heads lately), and once again we also have an excellent beach town location.
What will happen to Richard Carlson and his terrible secret? Will he lose his marbles completely, or will Vi and Joe Turkel leave him alone to get married to Meg, and live happily ever after? There's only one way to find out, and you'll wanna watch "Tormented" for sure. It gets Two Big Thumbs Up from me, and the widescreen print was perfect. I'll look for more Bert I. Gordon films for our schedule. /////
That's all I have for the moment. I am happy to report that the Sun did indeed come out today and I was able to enjoy a very nice walk as a result. Now I will complete my daily mileage requirement with a second trip around the campus, after which I'll be back to see you once again at the Usual Time.
Tons and tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
On the bright side, I still have the CSUN campus, and according to Weather.com, the Fimbulwinter! is set to end tomorrow. This will mark the conclusion of the Ice Age in the Northridgian Region, after which we may live to witness the coming of the New Swiderians, who will lead us toward re-civilization in the post-Trump Era.
(man, I've been reading too much Gobekli Tepe. I'll shut up now, but seriously - it's an amazing book!)
Tonight's movie was a supernatural thriller called "Tormented"(1960) starring Richard Carlson (of "Black Lagoon" fame) and directed by a guy named Bert I. Gordon. Now, Gordon's movies have been popping up in my Youtube suggestion box recently, but I've been avoiding him for the same reason I used to avoid Roger Corman. From what I'd read about Gordon over the years (which wasn't much, I admit), he was said to be a cheapie hack, one or two rungs below Corman on the cheesiness scale. But as we've been mining the Public Domain lode for several weeks now, we are getting to the point where we can't afford to be as choosy as we once were, so when "Tormented" appeared again last night with the Familiar Invitation ("recommended for you"), I cued it up without hesitation, mainly because of Carlson, a Sci-Fi champ whose presence usually signifies some standard of quality.
Here he plays "Tom Stewart" an amateur jazz pianist who works as a lighthouse keeper on Anacapa Island off the coast of Southern California. I have to stop right here to say here we go again with the Lighthouse Keeper Motif! That's two nights in a row, lol. How the heck did that happen?
But anyway, yeah.....Carlson's life is music, but he makes his living as a Lighthouse Keeper, and he's even working toward a degree in the corresponding scientific discipline. He's also about to be married to his sweetheart Meg (Lugene Sanders). All should be well, but then his old flame "Vi" (Juli Redig) shows up at the lighthouse in a Marilyn Monroe dress, begging him to call off the wedding, to leave his fiance and marry her. She's very pushy and backs Carlson into a corner. She won't take no for an answer, but then she leans against a broken railing and loses her balance. Carlson has a chance to save her as she reaches out for help, but he lets her fall instead, down to her death on the rocks.
This happens at night, with no one around to see. Vi's body is carried away with the tide and for Carlson, it's as if nothing ever happened. He doesn't report her death. Nobody knows Vi came to the island, so he feels he's in the clear, and besides, he didn't kill her - she fell. Well, that may be true but he had a chance to save her and backed away. Now his conscience is bugging him, or is it something else?
The next day, he and Meg are walking on the beach. Suddenly, Carlson sees a third set of footprints in the sand, appearing out of nowhere! He wipes his eyes, does a double take and looks again, but a wave has washed them away. Meg thinks he's acting a bit strange : "Honey, is something wrong"? He assures her everything is fine, but later that evening, he is playing some jazz piano when he hears a voice - Vi's voice - telling him "you've got to leave her, Tom.....I'm the only woman for youuuuu"......(imagine a Ghostly Voice). Now he is seriously spooked.
The next morning it gets worse. Meg's little sister Sandy (brilliant child actress Susan Gordon, the director's daughter) comes in from the beach with a necklace she has found. Inscribed on the medallion is a love message : "To Vi, always my love".
Sandy is excited by her discovery. "Tom, Tom! Look what I found". He, however, is horrified. He tries not to show it, but little Sandy is precocious. She understands adult behavior and so she asks Tom, "Why does this bother you"? Tom realises Sandy will not be as easily brushed off as Meg, who's preoccupied with the wedding, so he makes a pact with her to keep the medallion a secret. "Friends have to protect friends", he tells her. Little Sandy has a crush on Tom, so she will go along with his wishes. Later on, though, a Wise Guy will show up who won't be as amenable. Do you remember an actor named Joe Turkel? He was most famous for playing the bartender in "The Shining", but he was in a lot of movies. He's young here, playing a ferry boat captain who speaks fluid Hipster. He arrives at the beach house one day looking for Carlson. "Hey Daddio", he begins. "Are you Tom Stewart? Did you know a bird named Vi Mason? Oh.....you didn't? Well she knew you. Y'see I brought her over here on my tug, and she left without paying. She owes me a Fin, and I remember she mentioned your name. Maybe you could pay me for her? It's only a Fin".
Carlson pays him the five dollars to get rid of him, but Turkel will later hear news of the wedding while sitting at a beachside bar. He then returns to Carlson, threatening blackmail. "Y'know Dad, I don't think your dame would be thrilled to hear about that other bird...what was her name? Oh right....it was Vi. Now Dad, I see you're an accomplished pianist. You must be pretty well set. What would it be worth to you for me to skid right out of your life? Maybe......hmmm.......does five grand sound about right"?
Carlson is outraged. "Five thousand dollars?! I'm a jazz musician, for God's sake! I don't even make enough money to pay the rent! My job at the lighthouse covers the bills, but if you think I've got five thousand dollars you're wasting your time".
"Yeah, Dad, but somebody had to've laid out the dough for this mansion. How about that honey of yours? Her old man must be loaded to the gills".
Carlson just wants Turkel gone, so he relents : "Alright, look. Yeah, her father is well off, and I can probably get the money from him, but you've got to give me some time so I can come up with an excuse. I can't just hit him up for that kind of cash out of the blue".
"Okay, so when's the wedding"?, asks Turkel.
"It's in five days".
"Okay, Dad - you've got till then. You get me my five grand before you say 'I do', or I'll have to be the guy who can't forever hold his peace, if ya know what I'm sayin' ".
This buys Carlson some time to figure out how to deal with Turkel, but he's still got little Sandy to worry about. Like all children, she's got a million questions for him. She's sincere about her promise to keep Carlson's secret, but how far can he trust her sincerity? After all, she's only eight years old. Much more nerve-wracking, though, is the increasing presence of Vi herself! (or rather.....Vi's ghost). Carlson keeps catching glimpses of her : Vi's hand appears out of thin air, wearing Meg's engagement ring as if she were it's rightful owner. Vi's face shows up in a polaroid snapshot of Meg and Carlson, taken at a pre-wedding party. Only Carlson can see these things, but it's freaking him out and now, others besides Meg are taking notice. "I always knew it was wrong for you to marry a musician"!, her Dad declares. "Especially one who plays jazz"! Now, if that's not one of the greatest lines in motion picture history, I don't know what is, haha. But yeah, Meg's Dad is right to have doubts about Carlson's sanity. By now, he's coming apart at the seams. He's "Tormented"! as the title informs us.
Meg's family has a maid (Lillian Adams) who senses something is amiss, but that's because she's blind. Her other senses are therefore heightened, and she can tell when someone is in the room, including Vi, whose perfume she smells. She will appear at various times throughout the movie to accentuate the possibility that something supernatural is in fact taking place, and that it's not all in Carlson's mind.
This is me talking now, and I've decided that I'm not gonna listen to myself anymore where movie directors are concerned, or t least so-called "bad" ones. I was wrong about Roger Corman, and now it turns out I was wrong about Bert I. Gordon, although on my behalf I did read an article or two suggesting he was a hack. Whoever wrote that never saw this movie, which is competent enough to be called "big league" in it's professionalism. The technical aspects are every bit as good as you'd see in an A-list release, including multi-angled camera work (including crane and dolly shots), excellent editing, creating strong continuity and tension, good use of shadow and light, inventive set decoration and the director's proficiency with actors. Maybe some of Gordon's other movies suck, but this one was top notch in every way. His daughter Susan steals the show (she was also in a "Twilight Zone ep), and she will figure in the film's ending, as her loyalty to Carlson will be tested to the limit. There are some great "ghostly" special effects, including one of Vi's disembodied head (as with lighthouses, we're also dealing with a lot of disembodied heads lately), and once again we also have an excellent beach town location.
What will happen to Richard Carlson and his terrible secret? Will he lose his marbles completely, or will Vi and Joe Turkel leave him alone to get married to Meg, and live happily ever after? There's only one way to find out, and you'll wanna watch "Tormented" for sure. It gets Two Big Thumbs Up from me, and the widescreen print was perfect. I'll look for more Bert I. Gordon films for our schedule. /////
That's all I have for the moment. I am happy to report that the Sun did indeed come out today and I was able to enjoy a very nice walk as a result. Now I will complete my daily mileage requirement with a second trip around the campus, after which I'll be back to see you once again at the Usual Time.
Tons and tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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