THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN

Glen Manning struts through Las Vegas

THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (1957). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

"What sin could a man commit in a single lifetime to bring this upon himself?" -- Glenn Manning 

Korean War vet Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan of Jungle Heat) is caught in a Plutonium blast while heroically trying to save the pilot of a downed aircraft. The radiation miraculously heals his injuries in record time, but his cells keep multiplying, and he begins to grow taller at an alarming rate, 8 to 10 feet a day  -- except for his heart muscle. The race is on to stop, and perhaps, reverse his growth before his heart gives out. But there is also the danger that his mind will go first ... 

Cathy Downs with William Hudson

This imitation of The Incredible Shrinking Man is nowhere in that league but it is an absorbing science fiction drama nevertheless. While the special effects are variable, the film's main strengths are a credible enough screenplay and the performances of Glenn Langan as the tragic hero and Cathy Downs [Missile to the Moon] as his loving fiancee Carol Forrest, who is treated quite badly by the military establishment. The opening with the bomb is quite tense and well-done (and may have influenced the origin of the Marvel Comics character, the Hulk), but eventually the movie becomes a bit schlocky. A scene in which Dr. Linstrom (William Hudson) reveals a miniature elephant and camel is ludicrous, although a bit with a giant needle that skewers one unfortunate soul is effective. 

Glenn Langan with Cathy Downs

Actor William Hudson would be forever linked with giant people because he also appeared in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, playing the heroine's husband. (Mark Hanna wrote the screenplays for both pictures.) There's a newscaster named "H. Wells" --- Gordon would later film Wells' novel The Food of the Gods, twice. Albert Glasser contributes his typically effective brassy score. Gordon also did a sequel to this picture, War of the Colossal Beast.

Verdict: Despite deficiencies, this is an entertaining picture with Langan making the most of his unusual role. ***. 

STATE TROOPER

Don Haggerty and Rod Cameron

STATE TROOPER (1956). Half-hour TV series. 

State Trooper starred Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, the chief investigator for the Nevada State Troopers. In some episodes he was advised or assisted by Don Haggerty (of King of the Rocket Men) as Sheriff Elder and Robert Armstrong (of King Kong fame) as Sheriff Andy Anderson. The series lasted for three seasons and amassed 105 episodes, all of which are available on DVD. The stories ranged from chases after escaped convicts to missing persons cases to classic, complicated murder mysteries which sometimes sent Blake way outside of his normal stomping grounds. The show was slick, fast-paced and entertaining. Cameron was perfect as Blake, a strong but sympathetic character who could be as tough as nails when he had to be but also had a soft and fair side to him. If you were going to be arrested, you wanted the arresting officer to be Blake, as he'd ferret out the truth if anyone could. 

Faith Domergue

The most memorable episodes of the series include: "From Here to Molokai" --  a fugitive is accused of murder in Hawaii; "Boulder Joe's Bottle House" -- an old, retired safecracker is forced to do a job (with Jeanne Cooper); "The Last Stage" -- a hotel's prop stage coach is actually robbed (with Doris Packer); "Cinder Jungle" -- a railroad robbery leads to the murder of a sympathetic cop; "Diamonds Come High " -- a series of diamond robberies (with Doris Singleton); "No Blaze of Glory" -- a store owner's wife is caught in a blaze (with Vivi Janis and Frank Ferguson); "Safe on a Boat" -- a robbery of a casino's safe during a honeymoon boat trip; "Fury on Freemont Street" -- an intense woman (Virginia Christine) is supposedly scared of her ex-con ex-husband. 

Constance Ford

A passenger disappears from a charter boat in "The Talking Corpse" with Craig Stevens and Jeanne Cooper (again). Rod goes undercover to investigate thefts of mine ore and finds a nasty foreman and a trampy wife in "The Fancy Dancers of Steptoe Valley." Rod investigates what caused a stampede that killed a blind woman in "The Sound of Death" with Laurie Mitchell. In "Dancing Dowager" a con woman thinks Rod is rich and tries to fleece him. In "Cable Car to Tombstone" a man (Dennis Moore) falls off of the Hoover dam and a cop (Ross Elliott) is accused. In "Sweetheart of Sigmund Kaye" a young woman (Norma Eberhardt) with a fiance (Corey Allen) reports her parents missing after quite a long time. In "The Case of the Happy Dragon" the twenty-year-old corpse of a Chinese woman is stolen from a funeral home and ransomed. In "Stay Lost, Little Girl" an old man hires a private eye to find his missing niece, but she may not want to be found. "And Baby Makes Two" features a wonderful Constance Ford in a dual role of a Vegas showgirl and her lookalike involved in a casino robbery.

Norma Eberhardt and Corey Allen 

Other guest-stars on the show include Bart Burns, Paul Langton, Patrick O'Neal, Walter Reed, Andrea King, Virginia Gregg, Joan Taylor, Angie Dickinson, Joi Lansing, Faith Domergue, Robert Vaughn, Douglas Fowley and even Joan Crawford's brother Hal Le Sueur. State Trooper presented satisfying mini-dramas of good and evil and often featured lively fight scenes, interesting characters, and exciting chases. The episodes rarely went below a B+ in quality. 

Verdict: Good cop show with an excellent, perfectly-cast Cameron. ***. 

SISTERS OF DEATH

Cheri Howell

SISTERS OF DEATH (1976). Director: Joe Mazzuca. 

During an initiation ceremony in a sorority secret society, a young woman is killed during a game of Russian roulette. 7 years later the surviving members are invited to a reunion at an isolated estate. Partying with them are two men -- Mark (Paul Carr) and Joe (Joe E. Tata) -- who were hired to bring the girls to the estate. Their client is Edmond Clybourn (Arthur Franz), whose daughter is the dead girl. Clybourn is determined to find out which of the other women switched bullets in the gun and killed his daughter, but when people start dying off is it Clybourn doing the killing or the unknown suspected sorority sister? 

Arthur Franz

 Sisters of Death was released in theaters, but it plays like a Movie-of-the-Week with bloodless killings and less real suspense than your average telefilm. Franz is the best-known actor -- and Paul Carr appeared on the TV version of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea -- but he is given little to do but sit around making bullets. Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings is the best-known woman in the cast, but the best femme performance is by Cheri Howell as Sylvie. In general the acting is more than acceptable, as is the premise of the film, but it is let down by a fairly dull and routine execution. There is, however, an interesting climax involving a gatling gun. 

Verdict: A real time-waster. *1/2.  

G-MEN NEVER FORGET

Clayton Moore

G-MEN NEVER FORGET (12 chapter Republic serial/1948). Directed by Fred C. Brannon and Yakima Canutt.

Notorious criminal Vic Murkland (Roy Barcroft) escapes from jail and joins his gang at the sanitarium of Dr. Benson (Stanley Price). Murkland has come up with an ingenious plan: he has Benson surgically alter his face so that he looks exactly like Police Commissioner Cameron (also played by Roy Barcroft) and then changes places with him, keeping the real commissioner prisoner. This way he secretly keeps interfering with agent Ted O'Hara (Clayton Moore of Lone Ranger fame) and his very capable assistant, Detective-Sergeant Frances Blake (Ramsay Ames) as they try to stymie the plans of the missing Murkland and his chief gunsel Duke Graham (Gil Frye) and others.

Moore and Roy Barcroft

G-Men Never Forget has a more interesting story than many other serials, and some times almost plays like film noir. Moore makes a strikingly handsome and very effective leading man in this, and Ramsay Ames makes a better impression than she does in other productions. With this serial Roy Barcroft, who appeared in a great many serials, is given one of his best opportunities, and he's fine in a dual role. Premiere stunt man Tom Steele also has more to do than usual, not just as a stunt double but as one of Murkland's gang. Douglas Aylesworth is Detective Hayden, whom at one point O'Hara suspects of being in league with Murkland, a fatal error.

Moore and Ramsay Ames

There are the usual thrills and spills, chases and fist fights. An explosion in a tunnel unleashes a torrent of water that nearly swamps O'Hara and he is nearly electrocuted when his truck runs into high voltage wires and explodes. Just as a truck she's trapped in is about to go over a cliff, Frances uses her wits to narrowly escape the death trap. In a surprising development, our hero doesn't save the day when Murkland sabotages a ship and a large heavy piece of its frame falls from a crane and causes death and destruction -- although O'Hara doesn't get a scratch. (This might have been real footage of a shipyard accident, the use of which is in questionable taste if anyone was actually killed.) Co-director Yakima Canutt was a famed stunt man, bit actor, and stunt coordinator who was the second unit director for the chariot race in the 1959 version of Ben-Hur.

Verdict: Snappy, fast-paced serial with the added sex appeal of Moore and Ames. ***. 

SHORT TAKES III

Dermot Mulroney and Michael Cudlitz

Silent Witness (2011 telefilm) Director: Peter Markle. A lawyer, Tony (Dermot Mulroney) who was once accused of a rape-murder, goes back to his home town to defend an old friend (Michael Cudlitz) who has been accused of killing a teenage girl with whom he was having an affair. Well-acted and absorbing, with a degree of suspense and a satisfying wind-up. Anne Heche is effective as the defendant's wife; Judd Hirsch scores as a legal associate of Tony's. Anthony Ruivivar and Lisa Berry are also notable in supporting roles. ***.

McConaughey and Phillippe

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011). Director: Brad Furman. Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) defends an entitled, homophobic creep named Louis (Ryan Phillippe) from a rape charge but begins to realize that his client may be even worse than he imagined. Performances help put over this suspense film, with notable work from the two leads as well as from Marisa Tomei as Mick's ex-wife and William H. Macy as his investigator. Macy apparently plays a gay character, but there is no discussion about Louis' remarks about the "faggots"who allegedly pulled him off his victim. Still, this is an interesting and attention-holding flick with some twists. **3/4.               

Bill Pullman

Innocent (2011 telefilm). Judge Rusty Sabich (Bill Pullman), who was acquitted years ago of murdering his mistress, is now put on trail for allegedly murdering his wife, Barbara (Marcia Gay Harden). Richard Schiff and Alfred Molina turn in good performances along with the leads. The picture is confusing at times because it bounces back and forth in time, although it has a decent score. Some of the developments are unlikely. Absorbing enough but ultimately minor. Based on a novel by Scott Turow, moderately well-known for the vastly over-rated Presumed Innocent. **3/4.

Switchback (1997) is a suspenseful, unpredictable and occasionally thrilling movie about an FBI man (Dennis Quiad) who searches for his son's abductor while another man (Danny Glover) picks up a hitchhiker (Jared Leto) and the audience wonders which is the serial killer. Quaid's actions sometimes seem strange, and there's a lot left unsaid about all of the characters but this is an absorbing and well-acted movie. Ted Levine and William Fichtner are also in the cast. Written and directed by Jeb Stuart. .

A Murder of Crows (1998) Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a man who becomes a celebrated author after presenting a dead man's manuscript as his own, but then winds up in deep crap when the book seems to detail a series of murders. Suspenseful if far-fetched, the entertaining picture features some good performances from Gooding, Tom Berenger, Eric Stoltz, Mark Pellegrino, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Written and directed by Rowdy Herrington. ***. 

ASYLUM

Robert Powell 

ASYLUM (1972). Director: Roy Ward Baker. Screenplay by Robert Bloch.

Dr. Martin (Robert Powell) arrives at the Dunsmoor Asylum to be interviewed for a job by Dr. Starr. Martin is told by Starr's assistant, Rutherford (Patrick Magee), that Starr has gone crazy and is now one of the institution's patients! Rutherford tells Martin that he can have the job if he is able to tell which of the inmates he's going to see is actually Dr. Starr. The patients then tell Martin their rather horrific stories as he tries to figure out who's who.

Richard Todd wants his wife to "rest in pieces!"

The first story, an EC Comics pastiche, has a man (Richard Todd) taking an ax to his wife (Sylvia Sims) so that he can be with his mistress (Barbara Parkins). Unfortunately for both of them, the wife's pieces, wrapped in paper, come alive to get revenge upon them. In the second and arguably best story a financially-desperate tailor (Barry Morse) accepts a commission from a strange man (Peter Cushing of The Beast Must Die) who wants him to make a special suit -- but he can only work on it at certain hours. 

Charlotte Rampling and Britt Eklund

The third story is a fairly obvious split-personality tale of a sick woman (Charlotte Rampling) and her best friend (Britt Eklund) and murders that ensue. The final story has an inmate (Herbert Lom) putting his soul into a tiny robot-like replica of itself, a murderous "doll" that has realistic internal organs and blood inside of it. Despite some lame aspects -- and its lack of real scares -- Asylum is probably the best horror anthology put together by Amicus Studios. The film is well-acted, fast-paced, and extremely entertaining. Barry Morse [No Trace], who is marvelous as the tailor, certainly shows off his  versatility in this.

Verdict: Lots of fun! ***. 

THE HIDDEN CITY

Johnny Sheffield and Sue England

THE HIDDEN CITY (aka Bomba and the Hidden City/1950). Director: Ford Beebe.

Dennis (Damian O'Flynn) and his driver Hadji (Smoki Whitfield) are taking nature shots of the jungle when they spot Bomba, the Jungle Boy (Johnny Sheffield) swinging by. They report this to Hassan Emir (Paul Guilfoyle), the leader of a place called the "Hidden City." Dennis wants to capture Bomba, more out of curiosity than any malevolence, but Hassan and his right-hand Abdullah (Charles La Torre) seem to want Bomba dead.

Haggard in the jungle: Sue England

Apparently they are afraid that Bomba may know the true origins of a young lady named Zidah (Sue England), an orphan who has been taken in by adoptive father, Raschid (Leon Belasco). Raschid is anxious to get in good with Hassan, so when the latter comes to choose a wife -- or slave -- from the girls of a nearby village, he is eager to offer Zidah. However, Zidah runs off and tries to set up housekeeping with Bomba in the jungle -- Bomba will have none of it. (It may be that in some shots Zidah looks old enough to be Bomba's mother, or that Bomba hasn't yet developed much interest in the opposite sex; English was 22 and Sheffield 19.)

Belasco, O'Flynn and Whitfield

The Hidden City is a standard Bomba adventure with some amusing moments and a fast pace courtesy of director Ford Beebe. Sheffield is charming, England  adequate, and Guilfoyle, and especially Belasco, make a decided impression in their roles. In one scene Abdullah savagely whips a prone Bomba, but neither the blows nor the teenager are seen in the frame. Although the title sort of promises some kind of mysterious adventure or locale, this doesn't quite materialize. The film is reasonably pleasant for Bomba and jungle movie enthusiasts. From Monogram.

Verdict: So-so Bomba adventure that moves too swiftly to wear out its welcome. **. 

GOVERNMENT AGENTS VS PHANTOM LEGION

Walter Reed goes into action

GOVERNMENT AGENTS VS PHANTOM LEGION (12 chapter Republic serial/1951). Director: Fred C. Brannon.

A board of trucking company owners is alarmed when their trucks, especially those holding important government materials that could be sold to a foreign country, are repeatedly hijacked. Hal Duncan (Walter Reed), one of the board members, is appointed a special agent to find out who is behind the hijackings. In this he is assisted by Sam Bradley (John Pickard) and their secretary Kay Roberts (Mary Ellen Kay). One of the board members is the secret mastermind behind the hijackings, and he employs persistent thugs Regan (Dick Curtis) and Cady (Fred Coby), among others, to carry out his orders. 

Mary Ellen Kay and Walter Reed

Government Agents vs Phantom Legion is full of the usual quota of thrills, fist-fights, car chases, fires, explosions and those famous cliffhangers, some of which are recycled from earlier Republic serials. A trail of fire pursues Hal in a narrow mine; he parachutes onto a train track just as an express train comes speeding along; dodges bullets fired at a boat he's on that then explosively collides with another ship; winds under an ore dump that unleashes tons of rock upon him; and plunges out of a high window. Driving along at gunpoint in chapter nine, he tells the gunsel pointing the weapon at him that "I'm a dead duck anyway, so I might as well take you with me" as he stamps down on the gas and careens towards a cliff! (Naturally, he survives).

Tom Steele

The mastermind in this speaks to his men from behind a mirror in a room adjacent to the one in which they receive their orders. Only minimal suspense is generated over his identity. Walter Reed is fine for this kind of material; he also starred in the serial Flying Disc Man from Mars. Although she amassed quite a few credits and is what they used to call a "cute trick," Mary Ellen Kay really doesn't appear to be an actress.  Stanley Wilson did the music and the Lydecker brothers provided the FX. Tom Steele is one of the stunt doubles and plays one of the bad guys. 

Verdict: Fun, fast-paced serial. ***. 

RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS

Kay, English and Castillo

RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS (1956). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

"Some men are kids at thirty. Some kids are men at twenty." 

Three young ladies have their problems at home. Audrey (Marla English) has overly permissive parents, Ruth (Anna Sten of Let's Live a Little) and George (John Litel). Mary (Mary Ellen Kay) lives with her father (Jay Adler), who fears she will become like her tramp mother who left home, and objects to her wanting to marry her boyfriend, Bobby (Steven Terrell). Angela (Gloria Castillo) is ignored by her unseen mother and has to make do with her horrible brother, Tony (Lance Fuller), who has his eye on Audrey. Fed up with life and parents, the three gals take off in a stolen car and get in a wreck, then decide to go to work at a dance hall run by Tony's gal pal Dixie (Adele Jergens). But can there possibly be a happy ending for any of these young ladies?

Adele Jergens and Lance Fuller

Although her part is not huge, Adele Jergens probably gives the best and most vivid performance in the movie, and she is a lot of fun as she verbally spars with Angela in more than one sequence. English makes a better impression in this than she did in her starring role in Voodoo Woman. Mary Ellen Kay is also a bit better than usual, and Castillo is probably the best actress of the three. Lance Fuller scores as Tony, herein given one of his best roles, and John  Litel makes an amiably clueless and borderline alcoholic father. Steven Terrell, who also appeared with  Castillo in Invasion of the Saucer Men, is adept and appealing. Frank Gorshin also makes an appearance as a teen, as does Nicky Blair as dopey Joe. Edward L. Cahn directed in haste. 

Verdict: You might need to runaway from this often silly melodrama. **1/4. 

MINER'S MASSACRE/ CURSE OF THE FORTY-NINER

Stephen Wastell as Axl

MINER'S MASSACRE (aka Curse of the Forty-Niner/2002). Director: John Carl Buechler. 

Three couples, including Axl (Stephen Wastell) and Tori (Sangie), set off to a small town because they have been told that there's a mess of gold in a mine there. But a hideous figure -- an old (and deceased) "forty-niner" (Brad H. Arden) -- takes exception to this and begins killing them all off. This is a by-the-numbers slasher film with an uninteresting maniac, and characters that no one can care about. 

John Phillip Law 

The most interesting thing about the movie is the cast. Not the young people -- although they are all professional -- but such veterans as John Phillip Law as the sheriff; Karen Black channeling Agnes Moorehead from Hush ... Hush Sweet Charlotte as batty Aunt Nelly; Martin Kove as her neighbor, Cabel; Richard Lynch as "Old Man Prichard," an early victim of the forty-niner; and Jeff Conaway playing a preacher in a flashback sequence. 

Karen Black as Aunt Nelly

As in Leprechaun, the miner in this wants his stolen gold back -- or else. There is very little originality in the screenplay, which includes flatulence jokes and one scene of Axl having an explosive bowel movement -- what fun! As Axl, Stephen Wastell at least displays some presence. This whole mess was executive- produced by Peter Lupus, who played Willie on Mission: Impossible. His son, Peter Lupus III, produced. 

Verdict: No great reason to waste your time on this one. *1/2.