THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD

Kerwin Mathews as Sinbad

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958). Director: Nathan Juran.

Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) is betrothed to the princess Parisa (Kathyrn Grant) and takes her back to his homeland of Baghdad. Along the way he lands on the island of Colossa, where he encounters the magician Sokurah (Torin Thatcher). Chased by an angry cyclops, Sokorah sails off with Sinbad and crew, but he covets the magic lantern that he had to leave behind. He therefore contrives a way to force Sinbad to sail back to Colossa, using his magic to shrink Parisa to the size of a doll, and insisting that they must have the eggshell of a giant roc in order to grow the princess back to normal. Naturally, Colossa is the home of the rocs ...

Mathews and Torin Thatcher

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a simply wonderful fantasy film that is fast-paced, exciting, and suspenseful. Mathews, who was at his best in material of this nature, and Grant play their leading roles with just the right touch, and Torin Thatcher makes a marvelously sinister villain. While Nathan Juran [Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman] was the director of record, most of the FX scenes were handled by stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen, with this process being coined "dynamation" for this film. The film is further enriched by Bernard Herrmann's score, which complements and embellishes virtually every sequence.

Grant, Mathews and the dragon

Harrryhausen's work on this film is superlative, and the picture boasts many memorable sequences: the cyclops lifting the sailors out of his treasure room and trying to roast one poor fellow on a spit; the battle between another cyclops and Sokurah's fire-breathing dragon; the fight between Sinbad and a skeleton that Sokurah brings to life (forecasting a famous sequence in Jason and the Argonauts), the scene when Sokurah turns the lady-in-waiting into a dancing snake woman, and the sailors' fight against the gigantic, two-headed roc. The action never flags.

Sinbad vs the living skeleton

The supporting roles in the film are all well cast, with Richard Eyer playing the genie who becomes a cabin boy, and Danny Green a stand-out as the nasty Karim, who tries to lead a mutiny on board ship but comes a cropper of some wailing demons. Juran and Mathews reteamed for the disappointing The Boy Who Cried Werewolf fifteen years later as well as the imitative Jack the Giant Killer in 1962. Juran and Harryhausen worked together again on The First Men in the Moon after doing 20 Million Miles to Earth the year before.

Verdict: Delightful, FX-filled fantasy film. ***1/2. 

THIS ISLAND EARTH

Domergue, Reason and Morrow

THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955). Director: Joseph M. Newman. 

Scientist Cal Meachum (Rex Reason) is sent a manual that has instructions for building a device called an "interlociter." Being a genius, Cal is able to construct the machine, and through it is contacted by a mysterious man called Exeter (Jeff Morrow of Legacy of Blood). Exeter makes Cal an offer: to get in a plane he is sending for him and come work for him. His curiosity ignited, Cal soon arrives at Exeter's estate, where he meets fellow physicists Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue of It Came from Beneath the Sea) and Steve Carlson (Russell Johnson of Attack of the Crab Monsters), as well as other scientists who walk around like zombies. There is also another guy named Brack (Lance Fuller), who resembles Exeter. It isn't long before Cal realizes that something about this operation is not on the up and up, and Exeter is actually an alien ... Flown off of the earth, he and Ruth find themselves helplessly embroiled in a war between planets. 

This Island Earth was one of the big sci fi "thrill" pictures of the fifties and all these years later it is still a well-made and very entertaining movie. Morrow is excellent as Exeter, and both Reason and Domergue are effective as the lead characters. The film benefits from the blaring score that Universal-International used for virtually all of its sci fi films in the fifties (the work of various composers) and its FX work is fine for the period and still works well enough by today's standards. There is a certain inevitable quaintness to the film, however. A hilarious moment occurs when Exeter says to Ruth "don't tell me that as a woman you're not curious about our destination?" They're heading for a distant planet light years away but Exeter thinks it's only Ruth's sex that might make her curious? Really?

The scenes that take place on Metaluna, Exeter's planet, employ cartoon animation to good effect. There are also those wonderful, tall, bug-eyed "mutants" that serve as especially ugly security guards and come after poor Ruth at one point. The "science" in the film as it pertains to space travel and other matters is strictly of the "fantastic" variety. 

Verdict: Well,paced, exciting -- a big colorful comic book of a movie. ***. 

DATE WITH DISASTER

Tom Drake and Maurice Kaufmann

DATE WITH DISASTER (1957). Director: Charles Saunders. 

American Miles Harrington (Tom Drake) is in a car dealership business with his English partner, Don Redmon (Maurice Kaufmann). Don dates pretty Sue Miller (Shirley Eaton), whose sister was once involved with MIles, whom Sue is now carrying a torch for. Unbeknownst to Miles, both Don and his sales manager Ken Prescott (Richard Shaw) are planning a robbery of Wells Chemicals Company with the help of convict Tracey (William Hartnell). When the caper proceeds and thieves fall out, Miles finds himself having to rescue a kidnapped Sue from one of the men he formerly trusted. 

Shirley Eaton and Richard Shaw

Date with Disaster sounds like it might be exciting, but it's a minor picture that at least moves at a fast enough pace. Tom Drake was typical of American actors who sought work in the UK where they found themselves headlining films in a way they would not have in the U.S. His role is the least interesting of the bunch, with the other cast members offering flavorful performances of the assorted bad guys, and Eaton showing off her assets in comely and efficient fashion. Michael Golden is also fine as Detective Inspector Matthews, who has been assigned to the robbery and tries to get Tracey to turn. Deirdre de Peyer has a saucy bit as Prescott's greedy and jealous girlfriend. 

Verdict: Another forgettable British B movie. **. 

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS

Curtis, Marlowe, Taylor and Blake 

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956). Director: Fred F. Sears. NOTE: This is the colorized version.

"When an armed and threatening power lands at the steps of our capital, we don't greet them with tea and cookies!" -- Adm . Enright

Scientist Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife, Carol (Joan Taylor of 20 Million Miles to Earth), encounter a flying saucer while driving to his office at Operation: Shyhook, where rockets are being blown out of the sky. Russ can't figure out how the aliens are communicating with him, so he misses a message about their arriving at the base. Stupidly, armed forces start firing at the aliens when they land, but it wouldn't have made much difference, as these representatives of a dying universe are here to take the earth for themselves no matter what. Now it's up to Russ to come up with a weapon that can bring the multitude of saucers crashing down before they can destroy Washington, D.C. and before their disintegrator beams can destroy him and the weapons.

Russ and Carol enter the main saucer

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is a fun if minor sci fi movie distinguished by some very good Ray Harryhausen effects. Though the FX genius couldn't add too much personality to these saucers as he could living animals, the UFOs still perform quite well, and the other effects are generally okay considering the very low budget -- an entry foyer into one of the spaceships actually rattles as the characters step into it. The sound effects are unnerving and creepy, however. 

Morris Ankrum

Marlowe and Taylor offer professional performances, and the latter is able to summon up the necessary emotion when required. Morris Ankrum [Beginning of the End] is notable as Carol's father, who comes to a bad end, and there are also appearances by Thomas Browne Henry as an Admiral who's itching to fight the nasty aliens; Donald Curtis as a Major who tries to assist Russ and his wife; Harry Lauter as a technician working with Russ; and Larry J. Blake as an ill-fated motorcycle cop. Curtis and Lauter were both in Harryhuasen's It Came from Beneath the Sea. 

The saucers invade Washington, D.C.!

For me the biggest problem with the movie is that not one of the many characters ever register the slightest awe or sense of wonder at the fact that aliens from a faraway world even exist, let alone that they've come to earth. (This was also a problem with the much later alien invasion movie Independence Day). You'd think this sort of thing happened every day. Russ and Carol at least seem a bit amazed and frightened when they first spot the saucer, but that aspect is quickly jettisoned. The whole movie is on the intellectual level of a cliffhanger serial along the lines of King of the Rocket Men. Just as Universal used the same music cues in its sci fi movies over and over again, Columbia studios did the same thing in its sci fi films, so the score for this is very familiar. Fred F. Sears' direction is totally routine.

Verdict: Not quite a fifties sci fi classic but entertaining on its own terms. **3/4. 

EXPOSED (1947)

Adele Mara and Mark Roberts

EXPOSED (1947). Director: George Blair. 

"He probably got admitted to the bar too often." -- referring to attorney-turned-drunk Severance. 

Lady private eye Belinda Prentice (Adele Mara) is hired by Colonel Bentry (Russell Hicks) to investigate the doings of stepson William Foresman (Mark Roberts of The Brothers Brannigan), who has supposedly been acting strangely. Belinda and associate Iggy (William Haade) have barely gotten started when the client is found dead in his study. Suspects include William, his sister Judy (Lorna Gray), the attorney turned drunken butler Severance (Harry Shannon), the lawyer Lowell (Charles Evans), seedy gunsel Chicago (Bob Steele), Dr. Richard (Colin Campbell of The Lost World) and the odd Professor Ordson (Paul E. Burns). Belinda's father, Inspector Prentice (Robert Armstrong), just happens to be the lead cop on the case, and he doesn't appreciate his daughter's interference. 

Robert Armstrong and Adele Mara

The notion of a female private eye was still unusual enough in the forties, but while Exposed starts out in snappy enough fashion, it soon bogs down into a very routine Republic studios programmer that lasts less than an hour and is much less entertaining than the average episode of Perry Mason (Mark Roberts appeared eight times on that series). There are no clever murder schemes nor any surprises whatsoever. In fact, the only memorable sequence is a protracted and explosive fight between Iggy and Chicago that reminds one of the kind of fisticuffs you would see in one of Republic's serials. The actors are all professional enough although none of them especially distinguish themselves. Mara seems over-rehearsed throughout. 

Verdict: Except for the lively fight scene, this is pretty dull. *1/2. 

THE TIGER WOMAN (1945)

Kane Richmond

THE TIGER WOMAN (1945). Director: Philip Ford. 

Private eye Jerry Devery (Kane Richmond) is contacted by a pretty singer at the tony Tiger Club named Sharon Winslow (Adele Mara). Sharon is afraid that something might happen to her husband, the club's co-owner, because of gambling debts, but she also confesses that she is in love with her husband's partner, Steve Mason (Richard Fraser). Sharon and Steve find Mr. Winslow's dead body along with a suicide note, and Steve decides to burn the note so that he can collect on his partner's insurance. Now even the police are sure it was murder -- and maybe it really was. Devery discovers a suspect, Rosie (Donia Bussey), who had a grudge against Winslow and she is arrested, but are things as neatly sewn up as Devery thinks? 

Adele Mara and Richard Fraser

Based on a play, The Tiger Woman -- not to be confused with the cliffhanger serial of the same name -- comes off like an interesting pastiche of various private eye novels. There are no major surprises in the plot but there are some twists and turns along the way and the flick is entertaining. It also features an especially ruthless and sociopathic villainess. Kane Richmond plays the private eye in the insouciant style that was nearly obligatory during the period, and he's perfectly okay on that level. Adele Mara doesn't have to do much but look good, alternately purring and snarling, but she is also okay. Richard Fraser and Donia Bussey offer adept supporting performances, and Cy Kendall [Lady in the Death House] is more than adequate as the fat Inspector Leggett. Although Leggett amd Devery eventually unravel the clues in the case, they generally don't come off as especially intelligent investigators. From Republic Pictures.

Verdict: Private eye pastiche from Republic. **3/4.

MISSION IMPROBABLE: CINNAMON CARTER DOES DIETRICH

Bain as Cinnamon as Dietrich

MISSION IMPROBABLE: "CINNAMON CARTER" DOES DIETRICH.

In the season three episode of Mission: Impossible entitled "Illusion," Barbara Bain, playing model-turned-spy Cinnamon Carter, summons up the image of a woman who was murdered by imitating her act in a nightclub. Intentional or not, Bain does an absolutely hilarious take-off on Marlene Dietrich, flat, off-key singing in a German accent and all. Arguably, it's the best acting Bain ever did on the show. Rarely did Cinnamon (or Bain) ever show emotion, and when Cinnamon -- arrested and jailed during a mission in another episode ("The Exchange") -- seems to break down in her cell, it's hard to tell if Bain is actually acting or just pretending to act like Cinnamon does. Incredibly, Bain won an Outstanding Actress Emmy for all three seasons that she was on the show, while her much more talented husband, Martin Landau, while nominated each year, never won (he did, however, win a well-deserved Supporting Actor Oscar for Ed Wood.) You just never know ... To be fair to Bain, while a great actress she may never have been (My mother used to say, "she only has one expression!") she did add a certain something, a kind of oomph to Mission: Impossible, and both she and Landau were missed when they left the show, although Leonard Nimoy was a great replacement for Landau.

Verdict: They should have recorded Cinnamon's singing on an album and played it at parties for laughs! 

THE TELEVISION HORRORS OF DAN CURTIS

THE TELEVISION HORRORS OF DAN CURTIS: Dark Shadows, the Night Stalker, and Other Productions. Jeff Thompson. McFarland; second edition 2019. 

Although producer/director Dan Curtis was also responsible for the mammoth and critically acclaimed mini-series The Winds of War and its sequel War and Remembrance,  he will always be primarily remembered for his prodigious output in the horror field. This includes Dark Shadows and its reboot as well as the big-screen adaptations; The Night Stalker, which introduced Carl Kolchek (Darren McGavin); the notable theatrical film Burnt Offerings; videotaped adaptations of literary classics such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dorian Gray, Frankenstein etc.; and numerous horror telefilms, some of which were quite effective (Scream of the Wolf) and others which were merely mediocre (the over-rated Trilogy of Terror and others). Author Jeff Thompson provides lots of behind-the-scenes details in several chapters that explore these various projects, as well as a chapter on projected projects that never came to be. Although at times Thompson writes as if Curtis can do no wrong -- and despite some good work I'm not necessarily convinced Curtis was some kind of horror genius -- the book is still well-written and very entertaining.

Verdict: If you love the work of Dan Curtis, this is the book for you. ***.

VACATION DAYS

Warren Mills and Freddie Stewart

VACATION DAYS (1947). Director: Arthur Dreifuss.

Miss Hinklefink (Belle Mitchell), a teacher at Whitney High, takes her graduating students -- and Professor Townley (Milton Kibbee), the principal of the school and her crush -- for a vacation at her ranch in the town of Gulch's Gulch. There young Freddie Trimball (Freddie Stewart) is mistaken for a notorious outlaw named "Angel Face," whom he greatly resembles, and assorted people do their damnedest to kill him. 

Jim Hart and June Preisser

Vacation Days is yet another in the series of "Teen Agers" films from Monogram studios and along with the aforementioned players we've also got the usual suspects: Frankie Darro, Noel Neill, Warren Mills as the kind-of-campy Lee, and perky June Preisser; Jackie Moran was apparently on a real vacation when this was made.  Handsome Jim Hart plays "Big Jim," the foreman at the ranch, who gets the girls' juices flowing but may not be all he seems to be; Hart had a minor career primarily based on his looks but he amassed 168 credits! 

With his very nice voice and amiable screen presence, Freddie Stewart makes an impression singing the standard "Once in a While," but despite a few chuckles and spirited players, the movie has little else to recommend it. 

Verdict: More Teen Agers than you can shake a stick at! **.

HELL HATH NO FURY

Loretta Swit

HELL HATH NO FURY (1991 telefilm). Director: Thomas J. Wright. 

Terri Ferguson (Barbara Eden of Dead Man's Island) has a happy marriage to furniture store owner Stanley (David Ackroyd). One afternoon Stanley is murdered by an old girlfriend, Connie (Loretta Swit), who has been obsessed with him since college. Not only does Terri have to deal with the loss of a man she loved, but she discovers they were practically broke, their daughter (Amanda Peterson) far preferred her father over her mother, and now the police are zeroing in on her as the primary suspect. Meanwhile Connie changes her appearance and befriends Terri, who has no idea that this is the woman who ruined her life ...

Barbara Eden

Hell Hath No Fury is an absorbing telefilm, although it never becomes the nail-biter it could have been. Loretta Swit offers the best performance as Connie, who improbably manages to hide her demented state a bit too well. Barbara Eden has been offered a terrific role in this -- better than psycho-Swit's, in fact --  but while she's competent, she simply hasn't the acting chops to really make the most of this opportunity. Amanda Peterson is adequate as Michelle, but Conor O'Farrell offers a flavorful if obvious performance as a young detective who is smugly convinced of Terri's guilt. Richard Kline and Kim Zimmer are fine as close friends of Terri's who try to help her through her ordeal and wind up paying a terrible price. William Lucking plays an older cop, and Natalie Core has a strong moment or two as Connie's very distraught mother. 

Verdict: Entertaining "psycho-bitch" movie with some exciting moments. **3/4.