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.

TORSO

 

TORSO (1973/Italy). Director: Sergio Martino. 

While this Italian giallo film lacks the style, finesse and classy art direction of the best of Mario Bava and Dario Argento, it does manage to work up some suspense and chills in the final quarter. Young women are being stalked, murdered and dismembered in Rome. The suspects include a professor, a love-sick student, a handsome doctor, a co-ed's uncle, the "village idiot" and others. The heroine, Jane, (Suzy Kendall) retreats with three friends to a house in the country high atop a cliff, but finds she can not escape the killer. The movie begins inauspiciously and promises to be a pretty dull item, but it sustains interest until an excellent sequence when Jane hides from the maniac as he begins to dismember her friends. Later there is a very taut, chilling sequence when he goes through her room in search of her and nearly finds her. If the whole movie had been on the level of these tense scenes it really might have amounted to something. As it is, horror fans may find it worthwhile. The professor, Franz, is played by John Richardson, who co-starred with Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. (1967) and did little else of note. The script throws in a lesbian love-making scene for no apparent reason other than to presumably add some extra titillation. None of the killer's many victims, either male or female, ever seem to fight back. At one point he manages to dispatch three women (off-screen) at the same time! 

Verdict: Not great, but of interest to fans of psycho-shockers. **1/2.

MONSTER A GO-GO

 

MONSTER A GO-GO (1965). Director: Bill Rebane. 

A space capsule returns to Earth but the astronaut inside has vanished. He later turns up mutated into a ten foot, ghoulish looking man-monster. This bad movie has a perfectly workable premise and a not-too-terrible script, and the astro-creature itself looks pretty gruesome -- we just don't see enough of him. Most of the action seems to occur off-screen aside from a couple of attack scenes where we just see close ups of people screaming. Most of the film consists of scenes of people sitting around talking. These sequences are professionally acted and shot but don't add much excitement to the storyline. There appears to be one shot of the monster and that's it! The cast is entirely unknown. A jangling soundtrack helps a bit but is ultimately all for naught. Watch Giant from the Unknown instead. 

Verdict: One you can definitely miss. *.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

 

HAVE A SAFE HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! (save some candy for me, LOL!)

THE MIGHTY GORGA

THE MIGHTY GORGA (1969.) Director David L. Hewitt.

Anthony Eisley of The Wasp Woman plays a circus owner who teams up with a female animal trapper (Megan Timothy) to find a mythical giant ape in the supposed jungles of Africa. (This section of the jungle is referred to as "Green Hell" and is supposed to be an area where no white man has ever gone -- even though the natives are all played by white guys!) Climbing to the top of the plateau (shades of The Lost Continent with Cesar Romero), the couple encounter a hilarious forced perspective T Rex with a flapping bottom jaw, as well as a kind of cave lizard or dragon brought to life by a few seconds of crude stop motion animation (the only time it's employed in the film). 

Gorga turns out to be man in an ape suit and a mask with immobile eyes. Miniature props are used to make the ape seem giant-sized. Director Hewitt's script is an affectionate homage to great and not-so-great old monster movies like King Kong (giant ape), The Lost World (plateau with dinosaurs), Monster from Green Hell, and so on, but the film lacks the budget and imagination to make it work and the whole thing comes off like an ambitious home movie. This is a cheapjack, ultra low-budget film devoid of pacing, style or suspense. The actors aren't bad at all, and give the film more than it deserves. Kent Taylor and Scott Brady are also in the cast. Even if you think you love monster movies you should probably skip this one. 

Verdict. 1/2* for the creditable acting.

WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST

The Colossal Man makes an entrance

WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST (1958). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

In this sequel to The Amazing Colossal Man, there are reports that Glenn Manning may be alive down in Mexico. His sister, Joyce (Sally Fraser) -- his fiancee from the first film is out of the picture, literally and figuratively -- tries to convince the authorities, especially Major Baird (Roger Pace), that her brother is subsisting on food from trucks that he snatches off the roads. Joyce and Baird find the wrecked trucks, and Manning -- now played by Duncan Parkin and with his face horribly disfigured -- does put in a startling appearance. Can Glenn be captured and brought to some island where he can live out his days in peace? 

Baird and others hide from the giant 

Despite its grim premise, War of the Colossal Beast is a fun movie, and the Colossal Man makes a lively monster. There's a terrific scene when the giant pursues a truck in the hopes he'll eat some of the doctored food inside of it and fall asleep, which he does after trying to grab the men and crushing one poor sheriff as he topples. Glenn also escapes from captivity in an airplane hanger more than once, grabbing a bus full of screaming children at the Griffith Observatory in L.A. at the finale, although it's incredible that no one spots the big guy until then.

Peek a boo! 

The acting in this is serviceable. Sally Fraser comes off like a talented high school student as opposed to a professional actress, although it's not her fault that Joyce seems delusional and stupid, desperate to keep her brother alive when he would probably rather be dead. War of the Colossal Beast uses a lot of footage from the previous film, but new footage includes Glenn's tug of war involving some soldiers and a rope; his brief rampage when he gets loose in the airport and terrifies a woman in the control tower; and a black comedy bit when one agency after another tries to pass on their responsibility as far as the out-sized Manning is concerned.  Typically for Gordon, the FX are uneven but generally effective.

Verdict: Despite its absurdities and its amusing veneer, and not to be pretentious, but the tragedy of the decent Manning's fate is always there under the surface.. ***. 

NEVER SEND FLOWERS: JAMES BOND

NEVER SEND FLOWERS. John Gardner. Putman's/Berkley/1993. 

This James Bond adventure was promoted as "007 hunts a serial killer!", serial killers being very much in vogue at the time in popular fiction. While the ultimate villain in this -- a deranged actor named David Dragonpol -- does kill several people, the only real "serial killer," a murdered woman's brother, is out of the picture when the story begins. Bond meets and works with a Swiss agent named Flicka von Grusse, whom he eventually develops deep feelings for. Dragonpol has built a museum inside his mansion which recreates different periods in history via the use of holograms and animatronics, so it's no wonder that his ultimate goal is to kill Princess Diana and her boys when they take a trip to EuroDisney in Paris. 

Although most of Gardner's Bond novels seem well-thought out and well-constructed, this time Gardner seems to have written the book on the cuff, with little pre-planning, giving the whole thing a haphazard and perfunctory feel. It is the weirdest James Bond novel ever written, culminating in an utterly ridiculous scene when Bond fails to spot Dragonpol at a key moment, making 007 seem incompetent.  Never Send Flowers is still entertaining and has some suspenseful moments, but if you want to sample Gardner's Bond, this is not the novel to start with. Read License Renewed instead. 

Verdict: 007 treading water. **1/2. 

ZORRO RIDES AGAIN

Zorro about to spring into action

ZORRO RIDES AGAIN (12 chapter Republic serial/1937). Directors: John English; William Witney. 

An evil man named Marsden (Noah Beery) wants to take over the Califronia-Yucatan Railroad and doesn't care who gets hurt in the process. He is opposed by minority stockholders Phillip Andrews (Reed Howes) and his sister, Joyce (Helen Christian). The principal stockholder in the Railroad is James Vega (John Carroll), who seems utterly disinterested in the railroad or much of anything else. Only his friend, Renaldo (Duncan Renaldo), knows that Vega is actually the new Zorro, the great-grandson of the original. Using his whip and other skills, and riding his horse "El Rey," Zorro mounts a one-man campaign against Marsden and his nasty lieutenant, Brad Dace, also known as "El Lobo" (Richard Alexander).

John Carroll as Zorro/James Vega

Zorro Rides Again is an early Republic chapterplay and the first of several to feature the Zorro character and his descendants. This serial takes place in "modern" times. There are plenty of horses and cowboys, but also cars, trucks, planes and skyscrapers, one of which Zorro nearly falls off after he raids Marsden's Manhattan office. In other cliffhangers, Zorro and pals are on a train that is bombed by El Lobo's pilot; has to deal with a ticking time bomb in the railroad supply warehouse; and is sent hurtling down a mine track toward imminent destruction. In the best cliffhanger, Zorro winds up with his foot caught by a derailing switch just as an express train comes barreling towards him!

Helen Christian and Reed Howes

The villains in this are especially ruthless. In the first chapter they murder both the father trying to protect his little boy but the child as well. A surprising bit shows blood coming out of the mouth of a cowboy who's been shot -- you rarely if ever saw blood in one of these old serials or westerns. Zorro hangs out in a kind of "bat cave" which can be accessed by a secret tunnel behind a painting. Frankly it doesn't make much sense that Vega wouldn't simply tell Phillip and Joyce that he was Zorro, and it seems incredible that they were fooled even for an instant. One of the most satisfying scenes shows Zorro literally whipping El Lobo onto his ass in a nightclub, although the deaths of the bad guys in this are not nearly terrible enough. There are some good chases and fight scenes in this serial, but the kind of incredible choreographed fisticuffs that Republic could boast did not quite develop until a later period. John Carroll makes a likable hero and looks the part. 

Verdict:  Entertaining early Republic cliffhanger with some exciting and suspenseful sequences. ***. 

FROM HELL IT CAME

Tabanga carries off unfaithful widow

FROM HELL IT CAME (1957). Director: Dan Milner. 

Because an atomic bomb was detonated 1500 miles from a Pacific atoll, followed by a "freak typhoon" which may have blown fall-out towards the island, a scientific team has been called in to investigate. They find that a plague is decimating the island, but that radioactivity is negligible -- so there are no giant intelligent crabs as in Attack of the Crab Monsters -- but the team have other problems. The witch doctor Tano (Robert Swan) still blames the natives' sickness on "Devil Dust" from the sky. Chief Maranka (Baynes Barron)  orders the death of Kima (Gregg Palmer of The Rebel Set) because he covets Kima's unfaithful wife, Korey (Suzanne Ridgway). Dead and buried, Kima comes back as the legendary "creature of revenge," the Tabanga. 

Tod Andrews, Tina Carver, Jon McNamara

Apparently some of the "Devil Dust" did make its way to the island -- although one native suggests that Kima is not the first Tabanga, eliminating fall-out as a cause of this mutation -- because, confusingly, Tabanga registers an alarming amount of radioactivity. This aspect is dropped as the team -- Dr. Bill Arnold (Tod Andrews), Professor Clark (John McNamara), helpful Eddie (Mark Sheeler), and Dr. Terry Mason (Tina Carver of Uranium Boom) -- dig up the tree stump that has risen over Kima's grave and bring it back to their headquarters. They don't seem surprised when overnight the stump has turned into an eight-foot-tall tree with facial features and a heartbeat. The tree also oozes a green blood-like substance. As it revives and escapes the lab, it resembles nothing so much as a malignant Gumby on a bender! Stumbling around in a comical manner, Tabanga manages to kill off several people. 

Andrews and Carver

The screenplay for From Hell It Came is workable, but the film itself is nearly done in by a ludicrous monster. The actors are professional enough, although at times the male scientists seem about as enthused about things as shipping clerks on a coffee break, and other times at least one of them seems slightly drunk. Terry Mason is depicted as an independent woman who isn't interested in marrying Bill Arnold (although this changes by the film's end) yet when she's carried off by the tree-monster this feisty lady faints and becomes helpless. The film is greatly abetted by the score by Darrell Calker, who includes a love theme for Terry and Bill but also adds excitement to the otherwise not very exciting scenes with Tabanga. In fact, the music is better than the picture deserves. Korey has a "catfight" with her rival for the Chief's affections, Naomi (Tani Marsh), at one point, but Tabanga intervenes. One disappointing aspect to the story is that the annoying British lady who works at a trading post, Mrs. Kilgore (Linda Watkins) isn't killed off by Tabanga. Although Watkins got an "introducing" credit in the film, she had actually starred in a series of now forgotten films in the thirties -- she was off the screen for 17 years, but had quite a few credits afterwards. 

Verdict: Trees don't make the most interesting of monsters. **.