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| Henry Daniell |
THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE (1959). Director: Edward L. Cahn.
Colorized version.
Jonathan Drake's (Eduard Franz) whole family has been under a curse for generations, a curse that has to do with Jivaro headhunters and revenge down in South America. Drake's ancestor killed a whole host of Indians in retaliation for their beheading an important crew member. Now every male member of the Drake family will die on his 60th birthday and be buried without their heads. After this happens to Jonathan's brother, Kenneth, (Paul Cavanagh), both his daughter, Alison (Valerie French) and Police Lt. Jeff Rowan (Grant Richards of
Guns Girls and Gangsters) are afraid Jonathan might be next.
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| Valerie French and Grant Richards |
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake is a gruesome hoot, a wild melange of shrunken heads (how they are processed is shown in detail), decapitations by machete, ancient Indians with their lips sewn together wearing moccasins made of human flesh, severed heads boiled in pots, and a centuries-old sinister figure with a white man's head stitched on top of an Indian's body! Skulls and heads show up at unexpected moments. The acting is all satisfactory, with Henry Daniell taking top honors in an underplayed performance as the sinister Dr. Zurich. Grant Richards has a brusque, butch style that works well for his role.
Verdict: More shrunken heads than you can throw a stick at! ***.
Now that is is an actor who really worked for decades. I recognize him immediately but did not know his name until today!
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If you mean Henry Daniell he was keeping Greta Garbo (in Camille, not off-screen!) way back in the thirties and kept working, as you say, for decades. A strong, reliable actor who knew his way around a line!
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