TERROR-CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE

Barbara Steele and Mirella Maravidi

TERROR-CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE (aka 5 tombe per un medium/1965). Director: Massimo Pupillo. Colorized.  

Lawyer Albert Kovak (Walter Brandi) pays a call on widow Cleo Hauff (Barbara Steele) and her stepdaughter Corinne (Mirella Maravidi), and learns that although his partner just received a letter from Dr. Geronimus Hauff (Umberto Raho), the man has been dead for nearly a year! For some reason Hauff, who was a student of the occult, has threatened revenge on five people who were present at his death, and three of them have already died in mysterious circumstances. As Albert investigates with Dr. Nemek (Alfredo Rizzo), more deaths occur. Then it develops that the widow Hauff and Albert's partner, Joseph Morgan (Riccardo Garrone), have been having an affair. The Hauff manor had been built over the ruins of a hospital where hundreds of plague victims died in the 15th century. On the one year anniversary of Dr. Hauff's death, their spirits will run wild!

Walter Brandi and Alfredo Rizzo

Terror-Creatures is an atmospheric Italian horror film which promises a lot but delivers very little. There is some suspense as you wait for the climax, which is criminally brief. Although shots of tombs and graves opening are provocative, we never see the actual ghouls which the audience has been impatiently waiting for. Instead some of the characters break out in a disfiguring plague. An interesting touch has a display case of human arms that were severed centuries before from people who spread the plague. Terror-Creatures has a lot of interesting elements to it, but few of them are realized. This is not one of Ms. Steele's better movies, although she's okay in it. 

Verdict: An Italian horror flick with real potential that is frittered away. **. 

HYSTERIA

HYSTERIA (1965). Director: Freddie Francis.

One of Jimmy Sangster's worst scripts is the main problem of this silly pseudo-thriller in which an American (Robert Webber) traveling from France to England winds up losing his memory in an auto crash. The dead driver's widow, Denise (Lelia Goldoni), arranges for his treatment in a clinic and for him to stay in her luxury apartment. Trying to summon up comparisons with Psycho, there's some business with a bloodied knife and then a corpse being found in or near a shower stall with the water running and so on -- but this is no Psycho and doesn't even come close. The film never works up more than the mildest of suspense as it tries to make you wonder who Webber really is and how he fits in with Denise, the dead body, and Dr. Keller (Anthony Newlands), the doctor who's been treating him. Jennifer Jayne from The Crawling Eye plays Gina, a nurse and romantic interest. A riot of loose ends and stupid contrived murder "plots," Hysteria is simply tedious and terrible and never makes much sense. Goldoni had a better role in Theatre of Death a couple of years later. Sue Lloyd of Corruption briefly plays a zesty French hooker. Dan Banks' jazzy score is pretty bad.

Verdict: Unmemorable British thriller. *1/2. 

AN UNLOCKED WINDOW: ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR

T. C. Jones, Louise Latham, Dana Wynter

AN UNLOCKED WINDOW: The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. (Season 3, episode 17/1965).  Directed by Joseph M. Newman. 

In the middle of a thunder storm, two nurses, Stella (Dana Wynter of The View from Pompey's Head) and Betty (T. C. Jones), and a cook/housekeeper (Louise Latham of Marnie), are alone in the house with their patient, Glendon (John Kerr), who is in bed in an oxygen tent. The caretaker has been sent off to get another tank of oxygen, and the ladies are nervous because several nurses in the area have been murdered by an unknown maniac. Stella is determined to make certain that every door and window in the house is locked, but down in the basement she is startled by a mouse, and forgets to lock a window swinging in the wind ... Something nags at Stella, who does seem forgetful at times, as Betty reminds her.

Nurses in the bedroom with John Kerr

Based on a story by Ethel Lina White, and with a script by James Bridges, An Unlocked Window is one of the most memorable episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The big reveal at the end is not as shocking as it was back in the sixties, and if you know anything about the actors you will be clued in early on, but the program is still quite suspenseful and well-acted (even if in some scenes Wynter doesn't act quite as terrified as she should). The show is well-directed by Joseph M. Newman for maximum tension. Admittedly there is one scene that is a bit of a cheat, rather impossible in fact -- people simply can't be in two places at once -- but this doesn't completely ruin things (blame it on the editing).  Busy director Newman's most famous film is probably This Island Earth. Writer James Bridges later directed such films as The China Syndrome and Urban Cowboy. 

Verdict: Very creepy, with a chilling finale -- you just can't trust anyone, can you? ***. 

THE NANNY

THE NANNY (1965). Director: Seth Holt. Screenplay by Jimmy Sangster.

A ten-year-old boy, Joey Fane (William Dix), suspected of being responsible for the drowning death of his younger sister, comes home from an institution and gets into a battle of wits with the middle-aged nanny (Bette Davis) -- in the process testing the patience of his stern father (James Villiers) and fragile, emotionally-devastated mother (Wendy Craig). But does his hatred of the nanny perhaps have a basis in reality? This very suspenseful movie keeps you guessing nearly until the end, and Davis' excellent performance (for once her latter-day affected style works to her advantage) doesn't give it away. Little Dix, a remarkably confident and talented child actor, is more than a match for Davis, and the other performances, including that of Jill Bennett as his aunt with a weak heart, are all very effective. Pamela Franklin is also good as a young upstairs neighbor who wonders if it's nanny or little Joey who's nuts. Very interesting story with a moving finale. Dix later appeared in Doctor Doolittle but his career did not continue into adulthood. 

Verdict: This is one of Hammer studios' best pictures. ***. 

THE EMBALMER

Pitiful victims of the Embalmer

THE EMBALMER (aka Il mostro di Venezia/The Monster of Venice/1965). Director: Dino Tavella.

In Venice an unknown figure in a scuba outfit is swimming the canals and popping out to grab innocent young women who are never seen again. In a sinister underground chamber this crazy embalms the women with his special formula -- to keep them beautiful forever -- and puts them on macabre display. In addition to the police, a reporter named Andrea (Luigi Martocci) investigates the crimes, and gets involved with Maureen (Maureen Brown), a brave woman who is the leader of an all-female tour group. Other characters include her elderly friend, Catherine (Paola Vaccari) and Catherine's nephew, Nicky (Elmo Caruso), an archeology professor. When Maureen investigates a passageway to the underground from a certain person's apartment, she finds herself in serious trouble. Will Andrea be able to save her? 

The Embalmer on the prowl

The Embalmer has a good and very macabre premise (later used in the film Amsterdamned), which is the movie's main strength, along with that great on-location Venetian atmosphere that serves the story so well. Dino Tavella's direction is generally uninspired and slow, with some sequences and takes going on much too long. Another problem is the musical score, which is effective in some spots and horribly overdone and overly bombastic in others. The killer in this wears a cowl and hood and a skull-like face mask, and not only swims the canals but prowls the dank underground recesses of Venice. In this dubbed version the heroine is called "Maureen," which is actually the name of the actress. Director Tavella and stars Martocci and Brown each did only two films apiece. 

Verdict: Despite its flaws, this is rather creepy and interesting, with a downbeat ending. ***. 

MANHATTAN NIGHT OF MURDER

Heinz Weiss and George Nader

MANHATTAN NIGHT OF MURDER (aka Mordnacht in Manhattan/1965). Director: Harald Philipp. 

In New York a group of thugs called The Hundred Dollar Gang are terrorizing business owners who don't pay the monthly protection fee of $100. During an attack on a restaurateur, the man is shot to death, but apparently not by any of the gang members. FBI agent Jerry Cotton (George Nader) and his partner, Phil Dekker (Heinz Weiss) investigate, and obtain the help of gas station owner Sophie (Elke Neidhart) while doing their best to protect little Billy (Uwe Reichmeister) who witnessed the shooting. Jerry and Phil eventually arrive at the Goldfish Club, where there are "mermaids" in a tank and a cool blonde named Wilma (Silvia Solar of Death and Diamonds) advises the gang members. But she is not the true leader -- that is something Jerry and Phil have to determine before they can put this case to bed.

George Nader

This is the second of eight German action films starring Nader as Cotton, and it is generally entertaining and fast-paced although it drags in some spots. The musical score, featuring the Carnival-like Jerry Cotton theme, becomes pretty annoying, however. Nader makes a good Cotton and the other performances are also adept. There is a terrific scene when one of the thugs, who screwed up, is tied to a chair with a bomb that will go off if anyone opens the door, and Jerry has to enter the room another way to prevent both of them from being killed. There are some fairly exciting fight and chase sequences. The identify of the ultimate gang leader is a small surprise. There are enough location shots to preserve the illusion that this actually takes place in New York City, although one suspects that this was filmed mostly in Germany. This follows The Violin Case Murders and is preceded by The Trap Snaps Shut at Midnight. 

Verdict: 2nd entry in an interesting series. **3/4. 

THE POSSESSED

Peter Baldwin

THE POSSESSED (aka La donna del lago/1965). Directors: Luigi Bazzoni; Franco Rossellini.  

A novelist named Bernard (Peter Baldwin) tells his unseen girlfriend that he is obsessed with a young woman he met some months ago and has to go see her. Arriving at the village where this lady, Tilde (Virna Lisi), worked at the Lakeside Hotel, he takes a room there and tries to find out what happened to her. Speaking to the hotel's proprietor, Enrico (Salvo Randone), he learns that Tilde supposedly committed suicide. However, a photographer named Francesco (Pier Giovanni Anchisi) tells him that Tilde was actually murdered, but that this was covered up. There are rumors that she was pregnant and either Enrico or his son, Mario (Philippe Leroy), may be responsible. Bernard determines to find out the truth, whatever it may be ... 

striking photography

The Possessed is a moody, strikingly photographed (Leonida Barboni) picture but I'm at a loss as to what genre it belongs to. It's not a horror film, and as a suspense film or murder mystery it falls short. Deliberately-paced, to put it mildly, the film offers some wonderful images as well as close-ups of the poetically handsome Peter Baldwin, but the story is only mildly intriguing and the denouement -- if you can even call it that -- is completely unsatisfying. Pia Lindstrom, the daughter of Ingrid Bergman -- who later became a television journalist -- appears in a small role as Mario's wife. Valentina Cortese is cast as Enrico's daughter, Irma. Both ladies make a positive impression in this. Virna Lisi has too little to do and although Baldwin is credible -- it's hard to judge his dubbed performance -- his chief asset seems to be his looks. He later became a director. 

Verdict: Very good to look at, but it's too "arty" for its own good and never catches fire. **. 

OSS 117: MISSION FOR A KILLER

Frederick Stafford

OSS 117: MISSION FOR A KILLER (aka Furia a Bahia pour OSS 117/1965.) Director: Andre Hunebelle. 

After a series of suicide bombings which seem to be committed by solid citizens who have been drugged, Agent 117 (Frederick Stafford) is sent down to Rio to investigate. There he meets two lovely ladies: supposed secretary Consuela (Perrette Predier), who's in league with the bad guys, and Ana-Maria (Mylene Demongeot), who is being targeted by them because she knows too much. Ana-Maria and her brother Miguel (Jacques Riberolles) are friends with a man named Leandro (Raymond Pellegrin) who may or may not be in league with Carlos (Francois Maistre), who wants to bring about a New World Order from his base in the jungles of Brazil. 

Stafford, Demongeot, Riberolles

After Kerwin Mathews finished two OSS 117 films for director Andre Hunebelle, the latter discovered Czech actor Stafford and cast him as the secret agent in his first movie. Like Mathews, Stafford plays a super-cool, seemingly unflappable and mostly unemotional  spy. While he isn't better in the role than Mathews, he does seem a touch more likable. In addition to widescreen photography and color, the film greatly benefits from intriguing and colorful locales and some spectacular scenery. 

Spectacular scenery

Mission for a Killer has several memorable scenes: a gunman opens fire in an operating theater, killing the patient, shooting doctors and nurses, and nearly killing 117 and Ana-Maria. There's a terrific sequence in which a felon uses a flame thrower on 117 and doesn't care if he burns up his own partner or the entire house. Then there's a lively battle on a plane over the Amazon where the balance of power quickly shifts from one side to the other and back again. A climax on a waterfall boasts a truly spectacular setting. While Mission for a Killer isn't quite up to the level of the best of the Bonds, it is still a superior eurospy movie. Stafford later starred in Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz. Followed by OSS 117: Mission to Tokyo. In French, with English sub-titles.

Verdict: Smooth, fast-paced entertaining spy stuff. ***. 

SPACEFLIGHT IC-1

SPACEFLIGHT IC-1 (1965). Director: Bernard Knowles.

A flight to a planet dubbed "earth 2" just outside our solar system, where mankind hopes to have a new beginning, is beset with tension and problems. Dr. Steven Thomas (John Cairney) discovers that his wife (Linda Marlowe) has a serious pancreatic condition, but the stern Captain Ralston (Bill Williams) refuses to turn back so that she can receive medical treatment. This leads to tragic consequences and some dramatic incidents, including what the captain perceives as mutiny. This short, low-budget British production is like a TV show, but Harry Spalding's script and some intense performances make it more interesting than you might imagine. There are no real effects or BEMs (bug-eyed monsters) or any other trappings of 50s/60s sci fi, but the story and its confrontations sustain interest. There's an android whose head is attached to a life support block, and two couples are kept in suspended animation. John Cairney, who also played Hercules' little friend Hylas in Jason and the Argonauts, is fine and has a bigger role than the nominal lead, former Hollywood second lead Bill Williams, who gives a solid performance as Ralston.

Verdict: There have been worse star treks than this one. **1/2.

OUR MAN IN JAMAICA

Larry Pennell as Agent 001

OUR MAN IN JAMAICA/aka A 001: operazione Giamaica/1965.) Director: Richard Jackson. 

Ken Stewart, aka Agent 001 (Larry Pennell), is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of Larry Peacock, Agent 009. Once there, Stewart pretends to be an antique dealer, and establishes a friendship with Mrs. Cervantes (Linda Sini), who is also in the business. But Larry develops a more personal relationship with the older woman's secretary, Gloria (Barbara Valentin), and Larry's sister, Jane (Margitta Scherr). Joining forces with Captain Mike Jefferson (Brad Harris), Stewart tries to uncover the true identity of an arms dealer operating out of the island, and winds up in the villain's makeshift electric chair! 

Brad Harris as Captain Jefferson

Clearly modeled after Dr. No -- although with a much less interesting villain -- Our Man in Jamaica is a fair-to-middling Eurospy film that features all of the usual elements, including an American actor in the lead; Pennell is fine as the spy. Brad Harris, also an American, went on to co-star in several more eurospy films in the Kommissar X series. This is a pretty low-tech affair -- a high-frequency recorder seems to be Agent 001's only gadget -- with location filming, and women who are far less beautiful than you usually see in Bond movies. Like Dr. No, the villain in this, played by Wolfgang Kieling, has his own private island, but there isn't much of interest on it. A pop tune that deliberately sounds like music for the Bond films plays over the opening credits.

The film has a hilarious prologue, with both Stewart and a lady friend passed out after a night of lovemaking. The woman says "You can marry me, like you said." To which a hungover Stewart replies: "Who are you?" Unlike a lot of eurospy movies, Our Man in Jamaica manages to hold the attention and proceeds at a relatively swift pace, but it never quite develops into anything that memorable. Italy-West Germany-Spain co-production. 

Verdict: Well-played and smooth but no Dr. No. **1/2. 

MISSION BLOODY MARY

Dick Malloy (Ken Clark) works at his favorite occupation

MISSION BLOODY MARY (aka Agente 077 missione Bloody Mary/1965). Director: Sergio Grieco. 

"Bloody Mary" is the code name for a  new nuclear bomb called B-32. When the bomb is stolen from the wreckage of a plane that crashed in France, CIA agent 077, Dick Malloy (Ken Clark), is sent into action, taking time away from the women he loves to romance and bed. He has a stocky assistant named Lester (Antonio Gradoli) and also hooks up with a friendly taxi driver (Andrea Scotti) after escaping from a yacht. But his main contact is Dr. Elsa Freeman (Helga Line). Dick finds the bomb inside a block of stone inside a factory but then he has to do his best to keep enemy agents from getting their hands on it.

Ken Clark and Helga Line

Mission Bloody Mary is the second of three Dick Malloy films starring Ken Clark, best-known for the schlock classic Attack of the Giant Leeches. He's given a weird dubbed voice in this one, and his performance is hard to judge, but with a physique that puts Sean Connery's to shame, and an ability to love up the women and rough up the guys in more than adequate fashion, it's easy to see why he was cast in these Eurospy films, co-productions of France, Italy and Spain. 

Dick Malloy with colleague

At one point Malloy has to audaciously confirm Elsa's identity by looking at her naked breasts, which she, of course, allows him to do as the camera swings discreetly away. A bad guy who calls himself the "Black Lily" turns a room into a makeshift crematorium to get rid of a difficult colleague. There's a helpful cab driver, both Russian and Chinese agents, and some duplicitous individuals -- as well as the usual interesting locations, with a climax in Athens. This moves at a fast enough pace to keep you watching although it gets a little wearisome towards the end. The pop tune "Bloody Mary," composed by Ennio Morricone, plays over the title credits.

Verdict: Acceptable Eurospy fare. **1/4. 

SECRET AGENT FIREBALL

Richard Harrison as agent Bob Fleming

SECRET AGENT FIREBALL (aka Le spie uccidono a Beirut/1965).  Director: Luciano Martino (Martin Donan)

American agent Bob Fleming (Richard Harrison) is assigned to locate a missing scientist before the Russians do. His boss gives him "unlimited expenses and permission to kill." When the scientist is murdered, Fleming must find a piece of microfilm that has a formula for the H bomb on it, and goes after the dead man's niece, Liz (Dominique Boschero), to see if she knows anything. Unfortunately, sinister Soviet agents have the same idea, and Fleming is forced to rescue the young lady more than once. 

Harrison and Dominique Boschero

This Italian Eurospy movie is typical of the genre, with a horny and ruthless hero, sadistic spies, a femme fatale, and a variety of colorful locations. Fleming is certainly not chivalrous, however. When he and another, older woman are kidnapped at one point, he escapes from the car they are in and just leaves her behind to be murdered! Although there is some globe-hopping, most of the action takes place in Beirut.

Richard Harrison

One spy uses a pipe that contains a lethal dart, used to kill the aforementioned scientist and others. A police car that suddenly turns into a boat reminds one of a sequence in the later Moonraker. There is a knife fight with the two participants tied together with a rope, and two lady wrestlers are the entertainment in a nightclub. Fleming is assisted by Lepetit (Alcide Borik), an alleged taxi driver who has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Harrison makes a good-looking super-spy and handles both love scenes and fist fights with aplomb. He played Bob Fleming in a later film as well. 

Verdict: Not to be confused with a classy James Bond flick. **1/4. 

FIRST MEN IN THE MOON

Lionel Jeffries and Edward Judd

FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1965). Director: Nathan Juran. 

In 1899 a scientist named Cavor (Lionel Jeffries) creates a substance that cancels out gravity, to which purpose he decides to fly in a sphere to the moon. His companions are greedy, bankrupt playwright, Bedford (Edward Judd), and his fiancee, Kate (Martha Hyer) who is only dragged along to save her life when she comes to confront Bedford over his nefarious financial dealings. On the moon they discover an insect-like civilization of "selenites," but while Cavor approaches these creatures with respect and scientific curiosity, Bedford is more like a bull in a china shop, creating dangerous complications. 

a gigantic moon calf attacks

First Men in the Moon is a very loose adaptation of the novel by H. G. Wells. It takes nearly an hour for our trio to actually reach the moon and the first half of the film is full of supposedly comical incident largely centered on Cavor, who is riotously overplayed in very tiresome fashion by a normally dependable Jeffries. Just when you think the film can't get any sillier, our voyagers literally hit the moon and the film becomes much more interesting. A highlight is the appearance of unpleasant and bad-tempered moon calves -- like gigantic caterpillars -- who go on the attack thanks to the stop-motion artistry of Ray Harryhausen. In general the FX of the film are very, very good. 

Jeffries and Hyer inside the moon

There is a sub-text of Cavor's intellectual approach versus the macho meat-headedness of Bedford, but the film, determined to be as stupid as possible, sort of throws this away, dismissing the destruction of an entire civilization with a quip at the end. (Bedford was just as unlikable in Wells' novel as he is in the film). Judd plays his distasteful character adroitly, Hyer is fine as the throwaway gal who never appeared in the book, and the score -- especially the stunning theme music -- by Laurie Johnson is exceptional. Wilkie Cooper's widescreen cinematography is another plus. The story is bookended by a modern-day sequence with sixties astronauts arriving on the moon only to find a Union Jack implanted in the ground! Peter Finch has a cameo as a process server. 

Verdict: The moon sequences are generally quite well done, but the rest is hash. **3.4,