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INTRUDERS

 

INTRUDERS (1992 two-part mini-series). Produced and directed by Dan Curtis. 

"Half the time you think you're going crazy. Half the time everyone thinks you are." 

Psychologist Dr. Neil Chase (Richard Crenna) encounters people who have had weird and frightening experiences that they can't explain or clearly remember, but it seems to point to alien abductions. The story focuses on Mary Wilkes (Mare Winningham), who is afraid the aliens might also have an interest in her young son, Timmy (Joseph and Christian Cousins); and Lesley Hahn (Daphne Ashbrook), who is at first thrilled at her pregnancy but then horrified after the aliens apparently take her baby. Chase learns that the government knows about the aliens but is denying everything until they know exactly what and who they're dealing with while the abductees suffer horribly. Chase risks his professional reputation by going public with what he knows. 

Marie Winningham

Many of the stories of alien abductions have been successfully debunked by now, with scientific explanations for much of what happens to the "victims," but this telefilm proceeds with the premise that the aliens and their experiments on humans are real. One man in a survivor's group hates the aliens and is sick of being treated like a guinea pig, while Mary, incredibly, comes to see the aliens -- who kidnap and experiment on people without their consent and steal their babies -- as having benign intent! Intruders examines all the usual conspiracy theories and folklore about alien abductions, and does a fairly good job of dramatizing them. The acting is more than adequate. Other cast members include everyone from Jason Beghe to Ben Vereen. The aliens themselves are strictly by way of Close Encounters. A sappy "happy" ending doesn't help. 

Verdict: All you need to know about alleged alien abductions. **1/2. 

TRICK

Omar Epps and Ellen Adair

TRICK (2019). Directed and co-written by Patrick Lussier. 

At a high school Halloween party one of the guests, Patrick Weaver (Thom Niemann), suddenly goes berserk, hacking and slashing at everyone and killing several people. Cheryl (Kristina Reyes) manages to subdue him and he is brought to the hospital, where he escapes after falling out of a window. Detective Mike Denver (Omar Epps) is convinced that Patrick -- known as "Trick" -- managed to survive a hail of bullets and a three-story fall, but Sheriff Lisa Jayne (Ellen Adair) isn't so certain. The police determine that "Patrick Weaver" never existed but have no clue as to who he really is. Each year on Halloween more murders occur, with Denver assuming "Trick" is behind them and Jayne thinking it has to be a copycat. After the grisly death of two FBI agents at the hands of Trick, Epps loses his job. but on the next Halloween night he is importuned to get involved again with the maniac he has now been pursuing for several years. Will he survive long enough to get the answers he seeks?

Trick at first seems to be an attempt to duplicate the success of Halloween and Michael Myers, with suggestions of the supernatural, but instead comes up with a reasonably clever -- if rather far-fetched -- explanation for the gruesome goings-on. The trouble with Trick isn't necessarily the screenplay but the mediocre direction, with the film at times seeming disjointed, a slow pace, and moments that are genuinely boring when you should actually be at the edge of your seat. The acting is okay, but my favorite performance is by little Melody Hurd as a cute black girl who quite sensibly wants to get out of a scary Halloween maze that her big sister keeps dragging her into. The only name actors in the film are Jamie Kennedy as a doctor and Tom Atkins as the owner of the local diner. The film goes on too long with a silly coda that adds nothing to the picture but tries to set up an unlikely sequel. The movie could have been an excellent thriller but its sensibilities turn it into just another mediocre slasher film. 

Verdict: Another hoary Halloween horror with some tricks if not treats. **1/4. 

THE CORPSE VANISHES

 

THE CORPSE VANISHES (1942). Director: Wallace Fox.

A series of young brides collapse and apparently die in front of the altar on their wedding days, and then their bodies -- taken away by a hearse -- completely disappear. Could Dr. Lorenz (Bela Lugosi) be the culprit? A reporter named Patricia Hunter (Luana Walters) discovers that each woman was wearing a special kind of orchid at her wedding. Patricia's editor is so stupid that he doesn't seem to think this is any kind of a clue! Tristram Coffin (billed as Tris Coffin), the King of the Rocket Men himself, plays the Lorenz' family doctor, while Elizabeth Russell from The Seventh Victim, Weird Woman, and others, plays Lorenz' aged wife who needs, shall we say, frequent beauty treatments. This holds the attention but it isn't one of Bela's better latter-day features. An interesting idea isn't well developed. Lugosi is good, as usual.

Verdict: Hold the orchids if you dare. **.

FEDERAL AGENTS VS. UNDERWORLD, INC.

Dale, La Planche and Alyn

FEDERAL AGENTS VS. UNDERWORLD, INC. (12 chapter Republic serial/1949). Director: Fred C. Brannon.

Professor Clayton (James Craven), the curator of the National Museum of Arts and Sciences, is kidnapped. Inspector David Worth (Kirk Alyn) and Laura Keith (Rosemary La Planche) investigate, unaware that another professor, Williams (Bruce Edwards), is in league with a foreign villainess named Nila (Carol Forman). Nila comes from the country of Abisthan, and covets a pair of solid gold hands with which she hopes to influence her followers; Williams already has one of those hands. She also intends to unite the American underworld into one group, Underworld Inc., that will rival the FBI for efficiency. To that end Nila has joined forces with gangster Spade Gordon (Roy Barcroft). The missing Professor Clayton may have his own agenda as well.

Carol Forman as the nasty Nila

Although some sequences could have used a little more oomph, Federal Agents is another fast-paced and entertaining Republic serial. Kirk Alyn plays the hero with a little more humor instead of square-jawed intensity. Craven, Barcroft and Forman are their usual evil selves, playing this kind of material with aplomb. Outfitted with a scar at one point, a burnoose at another, top stunt man Tom Steele plays multiple roles. Tristram Coffin [King of the Rocket Men] shows up as a shady lawyer, and Marshall Reed is also in the cast. Agent Steve Evans is played by James Dale; he had only a few credits, mostly in serials. This was the last theatrical work for former "Miss America" [1941] Rosemary La Planche, who was Devil Bat's Daughter, and had two TV credits, 12 years later.

James Dale and Kirk Alyn

Highlights of the serial include cliffhangers involving fires and collapsing ceilings; the hero nearly running over the heroine in chapter seven; and an exciting sequence in chapter ten involving two planes, a fire on board, and a mid-air collision. An odd moment occurs in chapter nine when the couple realize there's a bomb on the road ahead, but instead of simply applying the brakes to avoid disaster, they both jump out of the car! Oh, well! 

Verdict: Another fun and fast-paced Republic serial. ***

PRIME SUSPECT

Cartwright and Farrell

PRIME SUSPECT (1982 telefilm). Director: Noel Black.

Frank Staplin buys a couple of boxes of cookies from a cute little girl scout, Sharon (Elizabeth Hoy), who later goes missing. A series of little girls have been kidnapped and murdered by an unknown suspect, but Frank becomes high on the list as far as detectives are concerned and simply can't prove his alibi. Frank is eventually let go due to lack of evidence -- although he is still the prime suspect --  but feels he was tried and convicted by the media, especially reporter Amy McCleary (Teri Garr), of one "happy news" broadcast. His boss (Charles Aidman) suggests that he transfer to another office and change his name! Eventually a repentant Amy tries to help Frank with his alibi and comes into conflict with her boss (James Sloyan) because of it. 

Farrell and Cartwright

Prime Suspect focuses solely on Frank and his family, including wife Janice (Veronica Cartwright) and eventually Amy, but there is no attempt to create any suspense over the identity of the true murderer. Farrell and Garr give acceptable performances, although Cartwright, who always seems angry whether the script calls for it or not, is just plain odd. There is virtually no attempt to generate any pathos over the missing and murdered children and for all you know Frank and Amy could be discussing his being accused of, say, embezzlement. Prime Suspect enters a twilight zone territory of unreality when Frank simply decides that he's not going to let this get to him and everyone warmly and happily welcomes him back into the office despite the fact that at that point he is still the prime suspect. The ending is a mere anti-climax as by this time you don't really care about Frank -- who never really expresses much feeling over the children -- or anyone else. Noel Black also directed Pretty Poison. 

Verdict: Minor and insubstantial telefilm with some insufficient acting. **. 

THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE

Our villain prepares a shrunken head

THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE (1959). Director: Edward L. Cahn. 

Jonathan Drake (Eduard Franz), an anthropologist, has been frightened of a family curse that strikes male members when they hit sixty years of age. When the Jivaro Indians in South America kidnapped and beheaded a Swiss agent who worked with Drake's great-grandfather, the retaliation -- the murder of all the male Jivaros, including children -- was decided overkill. Now Drake's ancestors are paying the price. The latest victim is Kenneth Drake (Paul Cavanagh of Bride of the Gorilla), whose head is found missing when his coffin is opened at his funeral! When Jonathan himself is attacked, Lt. Jeff Rowan (Grant Richards of You Have to Run Fast) looks into the matter as Drake's daughter, Alison (Valerie French) wrings her hands and worries. 

Henry Daniell pontificates

The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake is not one of prolific director Edward L. Cahn's better efforts, as a film with this plot should certainly be rich with atmosphere, which this isn't. However Orville H. Hampton's gleefully ghoulish screenplay makes this nifty horror film a contender. We not only have beheadings, shrunken heads, a mute Jivaro Indian with his lips sewn shut who runs about with a cleaver and a basket and wears sandals made of human skin, but there's his master, who has a white man's head sewn onto an ancient Indian's body. And we mustn't forget Henry Daniell, light years from Camille, who makes the most of his sinister role as Dr. Emil Zurich. Four Skulls is a lot of grotesque fun. 

Verdict: Delightfully gruesome horror flick. ***. 

THE FLAME BARRIER

Arthur Franz and Kathleen Crowley

THE FLAME BARRIER (1958). Director: Paul Landres.

Carol Dahlmann (Kathleen Crowley of The Rebel Set) is on a hunt for her husband, who disappeared while on an expedition in the jungle. A rocket that crashed to earth and may have important scientific information is considered irretrievably lost, but Dahlmann (Dan Gachman), a chemical magnate, used his own funds to try to find it -- he never came back. Now his wife importunes two brothers, Matt (Robert Brown) and Dave Hollister (Arthur Franz of New Orleans Uncensored), to guide her into the same territory where he disappeared before the rains come. Matt is handsome, charming and solicitous, while Dave -- whose ex-wife ran out on him -- is rude, obnoxious and hostile -- guess which brother Carol falls for? Dave wonders if Carol really loved her husband or if she just needs proof of his death so she can proceed with probate. 

Crowley with Robert Brown

The Flame Barrier is an interesting low-budget science fiction movie with an unusual monster, a lifeform that the rocket brought back to earth and which radiates a deadly destructive field that causes victims to burst into flame. If it isn't destroyed in time the entire world could be in trouble. The trek through the jungle is suspenseful and at times deliberately humorous and there is good interplay between the three main characters. With her sexy whiskey voice Kathleen Crowley, always a solid actress, makes the most of her confused but likable character, while Franz and Brown also score as two siblings with very different personalities. Although the production values generally remind one of a TV show, the film still manages to work up atmosphere, and there are effective moments concerning the somewhat shapeless, expanding lifeform and the fate of Dahlmann. There are illogical moments, but the screenplay offers some interesting concepts as well. Gerald Fried's music is a decided plus, offering a more flavorful background than the typical generic score. Brown and Crowley both did a lot of TV work in the fifties and sixties. 

Verdict: Entertaining and well-acted enough so that you don't miss the usual giant bugs or lizards. ***.

FEDERAL OPERATOR 99

Marten  Lamont and Helen Talbot

FEDERAL OPERATOR 99 (12 chapter Republic serial/1945). Directors: Spencer Gordon Bennet; Wallace Grissell; Yakima Canutt.

Master criminal Jim Belmont (George J. Lewis) who loves classical music but only seems to play "Moonlight Sonata," has a number of decidedly anti-social money-making schemes in which people are kidnapped, threatened, and even tortured for information. (The owner of a Stradivarius is told he'll have his fingers crushed if he doesn't hand it over!)  Fortunately special federal operative 99, Jerry Blake (Marten Lamont), is out to stop Belmont any way he can. In this he is assisted by the gun-carrying Joyce Kingston (Helen Talbot,) who is far more than a mere "secretary." Belmont also has a female helpmate, a sadistic creature named Rita (Lorna Gray of Exposed), not to mention a chief assistant named Matt Farrell (Hal Taliaferro). Jay Novello [Atlantis the Lost Continent], "Mr. Versatile," plays a crooked jeweler.

Joyce and Rita have at each other! 

In addition to some great fight scenes, the serial boasts some splendid cliffhangers: Joyce is nearly incinerated when she is locked in a cabinet; a car crashes through a high floor with Jerry out on a ledge; Joyce goes over a cliff in a runaway laundry basket etc. The best and most horrifying cliffhanger has Joyce tied up in an aircraft factory while a huge propeller moves inexorably down a track directly towards her. Rita is broken out of jail in a clever fashion, and has a cat-fight with Joyce, who simply throws her out of a truck! At one point nasty Rita even threatens a countess by holding a cigarette lighter near her face. What a witch! Of the players, British Lamont is appealing and plays well with the feisty Talbot. George J. Lewis plays with restraint but there are times you wish he was a little over-the-top; Lorna Gray is more on the mark. 

Verdict: Federal Operator 99 is a remarkably entertaining serial with lots of action and interesting incidents throughout. ***1/2. 

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS (1994). Written and directed by Michael Cohn.

Captain Swaggert (Martin Sheen) investigates when the severed hands of several children are found by police. Swaggert brings in Special Investigator Audrey Macleah (Ally Walker) to help with profiling the perpetrator, but the trail leads instead to a mute young man, Jordan (Tara Subkoff), who is in an institution and seems to have some connection to the hands. As the police follow different leads, Audrey discovers that Jordan has a twin, Jennifer (also played by Subkoff), and that things in the past -- and an old, seemingly abandoned house -- may unravel the answers that Audrey seeks, if she survives that long ... 

Ally Walker

When the Bough Breaks plays a bit like a TV show, but that may be because former Clairol girl Ally Walker also played a profiler, and the lead, in the series Profiler (1996 - 1999) -- she probably got the part because of her performance in this movie. While she is by no means terrible, and has some good moments, I'm not completely sold on her, either. Another problem is that some of the sequences between Audrey and Jordan border on the inappropriate and seem a mite ridiculous. Martin Sheen isn't given an especially interesting part in this although Ron Perlman makes more of an impression as the twins' father. There is a creepy and violent climactic confrontation in a basement, but otherwise this is just too ordinary to recommend. As I watched I kept thinking Dario Argento could have turned this plot into a very satisfying giallo film, but no such luck.   

Verdict: Just not good enough on any level. **1/2. 

ACCOUNT RENDERED

John Van Eyssen and Ursula Howells

ACCOUNT RENDERED (1957). Director: Peter Graham Scott. 

Robert Ainsworth (Griffith Jones of Hidden Homicide) is unhappily married to the faithless Lucille (Ursula Howells), who is carrying on with a man, Clive Franklyn (John Van Eyssen), who is painting her portrait. Said portrait reflects the ugliness of her soul beneath the alleged beauty. Robert follows his wife after her assignation with Clive, and sees her arguing with a fellow in a park. He trips, hits his head, falls unconscious, and later finds out that during this time Ursula was strangled. Robert is, of course, the main suspect, but there is also Clive, as well as Sarah (Honor Blackman), who is secretly in love with Robert. Ursula was also dallying with John (Philip Gilbert), who is married to the neurotic Nella (Mary Jones) -- could one of them have done the deed? Robert's friend Gilbert Morgan, (Carl Bernard), provides an alibi for Robert but does he have secrets of his own?

Griffith Jones

Account Rendered is another very short, very minor British murder mystery which makes no attempt at cleverness a la Agatha Christie. The killer should come as no great surprise to anyone. In an attempt to avoid suspicion, Robert keeps silent about what he saw in the park, even though the fellow with his wife could have been the murderer! There is absolutely nothing to distinguish this film from dozens of others, although the acting is more than adequate and Van Eyssen is quite effective as the artist. This later turned up as an episode of the American anthology series Kraft Mystery Theater!

Verdict: Minor British melodrama. **.  

BERSERK

Joan Crawford and Ty Hardin

BERSERK (1967). Director: Jim O'Connolly.

Tough broad Monica Rivers (Joan Crawford) is at first not too concerned -- to say the least -- when one of her high-wire performers is killed in an accident as she feels it will attract the ghoulish to her circus in droves, which it does. When her business partner Albert (Michael Gough of Horrors of the Black Museum) gets a rivet pounded into the back of his head, Monica is free to do what she chooses -- and the murders continue. Monica begins an affair with the hunky new high-wire artist Frank Hawkins (Ty Hardin) who wants a piece of the circus action for himself. Two other women cause issues: Matilda (Diana Dors), who does a saw-the-lady-in-half act with her husband and can't keep her hands off Frank; and Monica's daughter Angela (Judy Geeson), who gets thrown out of school and insists on joining the troupe. Who will be the next to die?  

Diana Dors with Hardin

Berserk is a very entertaining film that manages to work up significant suspense even as it shows us some amazing acts from the real-life Billy Smart Circus -- trained elephants, horses, and poodles, not to mention the lions. Crawford plays with her customary authority although at times she just seems to be reading her lines the way she would at a rehearsal. Ty Hardin, better-known for his beefcake status than for his acting, is actually quite good in this and even manages to do love scenes with the much-older Crawford with conviction-- they are unlikely lovers, however. Dors is her usual vivid and zoftig self and there is also good work from Geeson, Gough, George Claydon as the little person Bruno, and others. The circus performers do an amusing number called "It Might Be Me." The Billy Smart Circus was also featured in the earlier film Circus of Horrors. 

Verdict: Genuinely suspenseful and a lot of fun. ***. 

BLAIR WITCH (2016)

BLAIR WITCH (2016). Director: Adam Wingard. 

In this second sequel (after Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2) to The Blair Witch Project, James (James Allen McCune), goes with friends to see if he can find his long-missing sister, Heather, who disappeared 15 years ago in the woods supposedly haunted by the Blair Witch, who was murdered there many, many years before. The group, which includes Peter (Brandon Scott) and Ashley (Corbin Reid), hooks up with two locals, Lane (Wes Robinson) and  Talia (Valorie Curry), who are more familiar with the area. These last two fake a little evidence at first to get the group intrigued, but eventually when weird things begin to happen it is clear that they couldn't be behind the mysterious and frightening happenings. James is determined to find the spooky house that appeared in the original found footage (that forms the first movie) and he does -- more's the pity. 

the talented cast of Blair Witch

As found footage movies go, Blair Witch is better than most, and while the film engendered some serious hate, I found it much better and more professional than the original. If I recall correctly, the 1999 movie meandered along and was somewhat boring with only a creepy final few minutes, but Blair Witch manages to sustain the eerie atmosphere and tension almost throughout the entire movie. The climax, especially the discovery and exploration of the horrible old house, not to mention a bit when Lisa (Callie Hernandez) crawls her way through a narrow underground tunnel to, hopefully, escape and you get the disquieting feeling that you're down there with her, is marvelously effective and chilling (excruciating for claustrophobes). All of the actors are on top of things. The movie includes a drone camera that can fly over the woods to give the group some aerial views, but this doesn't add too much to the movie, and there's a little gore as well. 

Verdict: Atmospheric and suspenseful and for my money much better than the original film. ***. 

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL

Tom Tyler crashes through!

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL/12 chapter Republic serial/1941). Directed by John English and William Witney. 

Very young reporter Billy Batson (Frank Coghlan Jr.) accompanies some scientists to the Valley of the Tombs in Siam. There they uncover some secret chambers,  one of which holds ancient lenses that could be used to create a devastating weapon. In another chamber Billy meets the old wizard Shazam, who imbues him with special powers based on the gods of legend. All he has to do is utter the magic word "Shazam!" and he instantly transforms into the powerful hero, Captaim Marvel (Tom Tyler)!

The sinister Scorpion wants those lenses!

Back in the States, both nerdy Billy and the super-butch captain will need their wits about them because they have an adversary, a masked man who calls himself the Scorpion and who is secretly one of the scientists on the expedition.  The lenses have been divided up among the other men and the Scorpion will stop at nothing to get them so that he can create a "Solar Atom Smasher." Billy, CM, and secretary Betty (Louise Currie) all find themselves in doom-traps thanks to the Scorpion and his equally evil henchmen. These include a guillotine, a bomb in Billy's plane, a machine gun safe trap, and a car with Betty inside careening floor by floor down a parking garage, among others.   

Captain Marvel takes to the air

"Junior" Coghlan is boyishly earnest and although older than the character in the Captain Marvel comic book this is based on, he manages to come off as a juvenile even though he was 25-years-old at the time. Former cowboy hero Tom Tyler has limited dialogue but he makes an impressive Captain Marvel, and the flying sequences and other FX are well-done by the Lydecker brothers. Captain Marvel is a tough character who takes no prisoners, tossing crooks around like tenpins, and even throws one guy off the roof of a building to his death in chapter five, in which he also gets trapped by a river of molten ore. 

Frank (Junior) Coghlan Jr. as Billy Batson 

Among the supporting cast, the best impressions are made by Reed Hadley [Public Defender] as Rahman Bar, who is working with the Scorpion, and John Davidson as the Indian Tal Chotali, who is also a suspect. An unseen Gerald Mohr is the voice of the Scorpion and apparently plays the part while masked, but when the villain is unmasked he is revealed as someone else entirely. An exciting scene in chapter ten has the gang trapped on a floundering ship, and Billy suggests they use a breeches buoy to get everyone off of it before it sinks. It's a suspenseful sequence, but one can't help but think that Captain Marvel could have simply flown everyone off the ship in a quarter of the time. Nevertheless, this is a very entertaining serial. 

Verdict: More entertaining than the comic books, frankly. ***.                                                              

AMERICAN PREDATOR

AMERICAN PREDATOR. Maureen Callahan. Viking; 2019. 

While you've heard of Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, you may not have heard of serial killer Israel Keyes, whose career was ended after he kidnapped a young woman from a coffee kiosk in Alaska before murdering her. After Keyes was caught, it developed that he had been responsible for other deaths and disappearances in previous years, including a middle-aged couple that he raped (both of them) and slaughtered. Author Callahan looks at the investigation into Keyes activities, focusing on how a prosecutor named Feldis insisted on doing the interviewing of Keyes even though this was a serious breach of professional conduct and that he was not very adept at it.

Two portraits of Israel Keyes

Callahan looks into the bisexual (as he described himself) Keyes' background, as well as into his bizarre early family life, which might have driven anyone crazy (not that his actions were in any way justified). Keyes had a relationship and a child with a woman named Tammie, then became engaged and lived with another woman who had no idea of what he was up to. He kept "kill kits" hidden in various places that he might use when the proper circumstances and victims presented themselves and he was in a sadistic mood. Callahan suggests that Keyes might have been allowed to kill himself in prison. 

Verdict: Horrifying story of one sick individual, but somehow this is not a classic true crime book and probably not the last word on Keyes. **1/2. 

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE?

Kathleen Quinlan and Peter Graves

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? (1974 telefilm). Director: John Llewellyn Moxey. Teleplay by Lewis John Carlino. 

Steven Anders (Peter Graves of Beginning of the End) and his children David (George O'Hanlon Jr.) and Deborah (Kathleen Quinlan) are out camping when they investigate a cave and discover something bizarre has happened while they were inside. Their friend Clancy (Noble Willingham), who was not inside the cave, becomes very sick and eventually dies while they are taking him to civilization. What's weirder, his body disappears. Back in town the Anders discover that somehow solar flares (and, ironically, a virus) have killed off most of the populace, turning their bodies into dust. In addition there are no phones or electricity. Steven's wife did not go camping and now his primary focus is to fight off both animal and human predators and make his way back to his spouse. 

Verna Bloom as Jenny

Where Have All the People Gone? is a compelling and suspenseful story that at times comes off like an eerie Roger Corman movie. The characters, including a woman survivor named Jenny (Verna Bloom) whose husband disintegrated and whose children were attacked and killed by maddened dogs (a side effect of the solar flares), are well-developed and the acting is quite good -- with the exception of lead Peter Graves, who rarely works up the consternation and emotion Steven would be feeling. Steven eventually finds his wife, but it is not a happy moment. It might have been good if the script offered some more detail as to what's happened, but it works as a nominal end-of-the-world scenario that is not without hope for the future. 

Verdict: Depressing but quite good doomsday telefilm. ***.

JUNGLE GIRL

Acuff, Gifford, Neal

JUNGLE GIRL (15 chapter Republic serial/1941). Directed by William Witney and John English. 

Nyoka (Frances Gifford) lives in the jungle with her father, Dr. John Meredith (Trevor Bardette). Nyoka has never been told that her faher has an evil twin brother, Bradley, who shamed the family with his criminal actions and jail time. With the help of an associate, Latimer (Gerald Mohr of The Catman of Paris), Bradley traps his brother, murders him, and takes his place. The two men are after diamonds that belong to John and are hidden in caves guarded by natives. Then there's the problem of the wicked witch doctor, Shamba (Frank Lackteen), who wants to get rid of Nyoka and her pals -- including pilot Jack Stanton (Tom Neal) and his buddy Curly (Eddie Acuff) -- so he can be the most powerful man in the place. For this reason he also covets a sacred lion amulet.

Trevor Bardette and Gerald Mohr

Jungle Girl is an excellent serial that particularly percolates in the second half when the stakes are raised and the good guys -- and gal -- seem in increasingly frightening danger.  While one certainly can't rave about Ms. Gifford's acting skills, the character she plays is admirably strong, brave, and resourceful; the same can be said of little Kimbu, (Tommy Cook), the jungle boy who comes to everyone's assistance on several occasions, along with his adorable monkey. The other cast members are all satisfactory, and Gerald Mohr as the slimy Latimer easily takes the acting honors. In addition to some exciting cliffhangers, there are other thrilling moments throughout the serial. 

Don't buy a used car from this man: Frank Lackteen

Nyoka and her buddies wind up trapped in a pit with a hungry lion; on a rope bridge overhanging a stream full of gators; dealing with an outraged and very strong gorilla, and caught in a fire-spear trap, among others. The best sequences have to do with Nyoka trying to pull Jack out of quicksand while natives lob arrows at Curly; a scene when the trio are trapped inside a stone chamber as the floor slides into the wall to reveal a very deep and deadly drop; and especially a classic bit when Jack is placed on a conveyor belt with his body being pulled towards a huge, crushing block of stone that may crash down on top of him at any moment. The climax features Jack hanging to the bottom of his plane as Latimer takes off, but one of them comes to a pretty grim ending. 

Little Kimbu (Tommy Cook) and his pet monkey

Ken Terrell [Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman] who appeared in many of these serials, has a larger part than usual as the native, Mananga. Things get confusing at times because Mananga seems to switch sides in each chapter, and more than one extra looks an awful lot like the actor, as if he put his relatives to work. Little Tommy Cook, who gives a boyishly earnest performance, grew up to appear in such films as Missile to the Moon. The African natives are all played by Caucasian actors. Briskly edited and directed, Jungle Girl is one of the best serials ever made by Republic or any other studio. 

Verdict: How do you think Indiana Jones and James Bond got up to their own stunts? ***1/2. 

CIRCUS OF HORRORS

Anton Diffring

CIRCUS OF HORRORS (1960). Director: Sidney Hayers. 

A plastic surgeon flees England after a job on a woman's face goes wrong -- although he claims she didn't follow his instructions -- and winds up in France, where he re-invents himself as Dr. Schuler (Anton Diffring) and takes over a circus once owned by Vanet (Donald Pleasence). Ten years go by and Schuler has filled the circus with criminals whose faces he has changed and who have somehow developed abilities as performers. The late Vanet's daughter, Nicole (Yvonne Monlaur), thinks of Schuler as her uncle and is grateful that he healed her childhood scars. 

Griffith, Hylton, and Diffring

Schuler may seem like a hero to Nicole, but in reality he becomes very possessive of the women he remodels, and a number of them die in "accidents" while they are performing. The police and a reporter are suspicious, but there's nothing they can pin on Schuler. His latest acquisition is a woman named Melina (Yvonne Romain), who is cast as Helen of Troy and apparently trained as a lion tamer! Schuler's associates Martin (Kenneth Griffith) and his sister, Angela (Jane Hylton), who is in love with Schuler, are starting to get antsy. And we mustn't forget the lady back in England, who still has a horribly scarred face ... 

Donald Pleasence

Anton Diffring gives another winning performance in Circus of Horrors, and there is also good work from Donald Pleasence, Griffith, Hylton, and some of the ladies. The script, written by George Baxt, has to be taken with a grain of salt, as Schuler finds it incredibly easy to turn crooks, whores and so on into skilled circus performers, the deaths of so many women should have brought in the authorities much sooner, and it's especially hard to believe anyone, such as trapeze headliner Elissa (Erika Remberg),  would actually do their dangerous act after trying to blackmail the even more dangerous Schuler. Still, the movie is absorbing and at times delightfully lurid if never distastefully graphic.  Hayers also directed Burn, Witch, Burn. 

Verdict: Zesty British horror film. ***. 

ELEVATION Stephen King

ELEVATION. Stephen King. Scribner; 2018.

In this interesting if unremarkable novella by King -- a homage to Richard Matheson (to whom the book is dedicated) in general and his novel The Shrinking Man in particular -- hero Scott Carey (the name of the hero of Matheson's novel) discovers something very strange is happening to him. According to his scale he is losing weight rapidly, but his appearance isn't changing at all. His doctor is utterly baffled, but Carey is afraid that sooner or later his complete lack of mass -- despite what he looks like, a pot-bellied middle-aged man -- will send him soaring into the heavens. Carey's neighbors are a lesbian couple who are trying to run a restaurant in King's fictional Castle Rock but encountering difficulties due to prejudice. It's not just that they're a gay couple but that they're married. Carey makes it his business to help them, even though one of the women comes off like a stereotypical man-hater with a chip on her shoulder. In this testament to how friendship can overcome all barriers, the two women eventually become concerned friends of Carey's.

While the gay aspects of the book, however well-meaning (especially after King's nasty depiction of a gay male couple in Needful Things), are a bit awkward, his heart seems to be in the right place. The book is as well-written as anything by King, but some readers might be a little put off by the ending, which is somewhat moving but also a little comical and inexplicable. It's a good, fast read, but by no means a King classic.

Verdict: Worth an hour of your time if you don't expect too much. **3/4. 

X MARKS THE SPOT

Damian O'Flynn

X MARKS THE SPOT (1942). Director: George Sherman. 

Eddie Delaney (Damian O'Flynn of The Hidden City) is a private eye who is about to go into the Army. His father, Timothy (Robert Homans), is a beat cop who is shot to death when he confronts some suspicious characters at a warehouse. Eddie is determined to find out who murdered his dad, but he is warned by Police Lt. Bill Decker (Dick Purcell) that he can't become a vigilante no matter how he feels. When a suspect named Marty Clark (Jack La Rue) is shot and killed in his own nightclub, Bill arrests Eddie for the crime. In tried and true PI fashion, Eddie slugs Bill and takes off to solve the crime on his own. He has help from his "dream gal," Linda (Helen Parrish), a woman whose voice he has only heard when he asks for a song on the jukebox but who got involved in the murder when someone asked her to say there was a black-out and she tells everyone to turn out the lights. 

Helen Parrish and Damian O'Flynn

X Marks the Spot is a standard WW2 private eye melodrama that doesn't boast too many surprises. Not as rugged as other private dicks, O'Flynn still makes a reasonably appealing protagonist, and Dick Purcell is also good as the head cop on the case. Helen Parrish is acceptable as Linda but there are more interesting females in the movie, such as Lulu (Anne Jeffreys), who dallies with Marty, and Billie (Edna Harris), Linda's amusing older co-worker. The only other well-known cast member in the movie is Neil Hamilton, who plays a man who hires Eddie to find out who stole two empty trucks that belonged to his company.

O'Flynn with Dick Purcell

The motive behind everything may seem strange today but we have to remember that during WW2 rubber was a hot commodity. This is another movie that takes advantage of the fact that decades before the jukeboxes with which we are familiar, people in clubs could get tunes by calling up an exchange wherein the "d.j" would play records at a central location and pipe them out to different establishments (or something like that; it's a bit confusing, frankly). George Sherman also directed The Lady and the Monster. 

Verdict: Acceptable PI meller. **1/2. 

GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATER: BLAZE OF GLORY

Lurene Tuttle and Lou Costello

 "BLAZE OF GLORY." General Electric Theater. 1958.

This was the first episode for the seventh season of General Electric Theater, hosted by has-been and future president Ronald Reagan. Lou Costello plays Neal Andrews, a plumber who gets a phone call from a woman needing emergency service. His wife, Ginny (Lureme Tuttle) isn't bothered so much by the fact that the client is female as that the whole thing sounds suspicious: Lou will be picked up by a man and must wear a suit and tie instead of his plumber's outfit. Driven to a hotel by guys who seem like thugs he learns that he has been taken off by a gang of jewel thieves. 

Joe Corey and Jonathan Harris 

At the hotel, Neal meets the head of the gang, an elegant man named Favier (Jonathan Harris). A diamond has apparently dropped down the sink and Neal is required to obtain it -- or else. But with the help of a dissatisfied gun moll, Gladys (Joyce Jameson), he just might be able to outwit the thieves. Well, when they were talking about "the golden age of television," I doubt they meant this mediocre, if well-acted, episode, which isn't much different from the type of stuff Costello did in the movies minus the slapstick. A cast stand-out is Harris, who downplays the campiness he displayed on Lost in Space and delivers a fine performance as the oily and rather sinister Favier. 

Verdict: Costello is as amiable as ever even if the material is trite. **.

TWICE-TOLD TALES

TWICE-TOLD TALES (1963). Director: Sidney Salkow. 

Star Vincent Price appears in three stories freely adapted from the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. In Heidegger's Experiment Price and Sebastian Cabot play love rivals who discover the dead woman they both loved has been preserved by a natural chemical like a fountain of youth. As portrayed by Mari Blanchard, however, the lovely Sylvia comes off more like a hard-boiled slattern than anything else, but there's no accounting for taste. In Rappaccini's Daughter a young man (Brett Halsey) falls in love with a woman (Joyce Taylor) who has been raised on poison by a jealous father (Price) and whose very touch means instant death. This is the best of the three stories but it isn't well served by the insufficient playing of the lovers. As an actor, Halsey was good-looking and little else. Primarily a TV actress, Taylor was vivid enough in George Pal's Atlantis the Lost Continent but in this she's simply bad. The weakest segment is a poor and loose adaptation of The House of Seven Gables which is somewhat bolstered by the appearance of Beverly Garland and not at all by the unlikely presence of Richard Denning, although he's not terrible. More derivative of other horror films than of Hawthorne. 

Verdict: Has its moments. **1/2.

THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS

 

THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946). Director: Robert Florey.

 Another fascinating -- if familiar -- Peter Lorre characterization is the cornerstone of this highly entertaining mystery/horror film, directed with style and suspense by Robert Florey, who also directed Lorre in The Face Behind the Mask. When crippled pianist Francis Ingram (Victor Francen) dies, relatives descend upon his Italian villa, which is already occupied by his nurse Julie (Andrea King), the scholarly Hilary (Peter Lorre) and mysterious hanger-on Bruce Conrad (Robert Alda). J. Carroll Naish is the police commissioner who investigates when more bodies turn up, the murders strangely attributed to a severed and disembodied hand. Charles Dingle is Ingram's brother-in-law, who is determined to steal the estate away from Julie. An interesting aspect to the movie is that you may find yourself liking the bad guys, and disliking the kind of cold and sleazy romantic couple played by Alda and the strangely sinister King. The film works well and is even eerie for most of its length, although the filmmakers couldn't resist having a last comical wink at the audience at the end.

Verdict: Worth viewing. ***.

THE SHUTTERED ROOM

 

THE SHUTTERED ROOM (1967). Director: David Greene. 

This is an oddball adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story that basically removes the supernatural element! Mike Kelton (Gig Young) brings his young bride Susannah (Carol Lynley) back to the island off New England and the mill house she grew up in and inherited. But there's a sinister lurking presence waiting in the house ... Actually more menace is generated by Oliver Reed and his gang of inbred laughing thugs than by anything else. A scene when they tie up Young, leave him on the roadside, and repeatedly race up to his body in their car and stop just short of smashing him is harrowing and well-executed. Reed gives the most vivid performance, but the others are fine, including Flora Robson as Aunt Agatha. This is one of those movies where if everyone just acted logically there would be no danger and no plot. There are eerie scenes and Greene's direction has its good points -- some people found it "arty" -- but this could not be classified as one of the better or more faithful Lovecraft adaptations were it not for the fact that so many others were much worse. The jazzy background score is no help at all. 

Verdict: Despite flaws it holds the attention and has its moments but it's only minimal Lovecraft. **1/2.