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. ***. 

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. ***. 

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA

An absolutely humongous octopus

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955). Director: Robert Gordon. NOTE: This is a review of the colorized version. 

Cmdr. Pete Mathews (Ken Tobey) and the crew of his atomic submarine have a strange encounter with what turns out to be an unknown marine animal. Dr. John Carter (Donald Curtis) and Professor Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue of Cult of the Cobra) are called in by the Navy to find out what they can about this beast. Said beast is a stupendously big octopus that has become radioactive from atomic testing, and risen from the Mindanao Deep in search of food. Its normal food supply has been cut off because the fish have built-in Geiger counters that warn them off. The trio institute a search for the monster, but after one scary encounter on the beach, it attacks San Francisco in all its glory. Can even their bombs put paid to the beast?

Octopus versus Golden Gate

It Came from Beneath the Sea has one great selling point, and that's the monster, which is brought vividly to life by the stop-motion artistry of Ray Harryhausen -- even the tentacles of the monster seem to have a sentience of their own, and the shots of those huge appendages hovering over the streets of San Francisco and sweeping away highly unfortunate humans are rather startling and horrifying, as are the shots of the creature trying to pull itself out of the bay. The monster also has an encounter with the Golden Gate Bridge, with the bridge being the loser, as well as a tramp steamer that loses nearly all hands. 

Beach confab: Tobey, Domergue, Curtis

A problem with the movie is that no one ever expresses any sheer awe at the mere existence of this gargantuan animal who can cause havoc and massive death on the shore without even leaving the water. The only fear our heroes display is during the aforementioned scary beach encounter in which a sheriff (Harry Lauter) comes to a bad end. Robert Gordon's direction of the non-monster sequences is flat and prosaic, with no real attempt to create suspense or tension. The romance worked up between Tobey and Domergue is never convincing, and is even comical at times, with the former's character being so aggressive in some instances that his actions border on harassment. 

Domergue, Tobey and Harry Lauter

On the other hand, the movie has a decided feminist slant, with Dr. Carter trying to make the commander understand "the new breed of woman" who doesn't need or like to be coddled or condescended to. The performances of the three leads are competent but they, including the sexy Domergue, can't make much of an impression next to that hungry, roaring octopus. Many of the supporting roles are filled by people who don't even appear to be actors, but may instead be sailors or officials doing double-duty. NOTE: To read more about this and other movies like it, see Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies. 

Verdict: A lively monster and some great Harryhausen effects keep this flick afloat. ***. 

CULT OF THE COBRA

Faith Domergue as Lisa

CULT OF THE COBRA (1955). Director: Francis D. Lyon.

Several soldiers are in Asia in 1945 when they encounter a man named Daru (Leonard Strong), who tells them he can get them in to see the rites of a snake-worshipping cult  -- the Cult of the Cobra -- for a price. Unfortunately, while the ceremony is going on, one of the men, Nick (James Dobson), stupidly takes a photo with a flash bulb! Pandemonium results, one cultist is killed, and a death curse is placed on the heads of the fleeing G.I.s. 

Leonard Strong, Jack Kelly, Reynolds, Janssen

Back in the U.S., Tom (Marshall Thompson) learns that Julia (Kathleen Hughes), who dated both Tom and his roommate Paul (Richard Long), has decided to marry the latter. A despondent Tom is happy to meet a beautiful new neighbor, Lisa (Faith Domergue of Legacy of Blood), and they quickly fall for each other. In the meantime, Tom's G.I. buddies -- Rico (David Janssen), Carl (Jack Kelly), and Pete (William Reynolds) -- begin dying in mysterious ways, and Lisa takes surreptitious walks late at night. The Cult of the Cobra. also known as Lamians, always claimed some of the cultists could change from human into snake ... 

On the rebound? Marshall Thompson

Cult of the Cobra is an entertaining picture with an interesting cast. Although Domergue may not seem like the perfect choice to play an Asian snake goddess, she gives a generally good performance, as does Marshall Thompson. Domergue convincingly gets across her distress that she may be forced to kill a man that she is falling in love with. The other actors show little emotion as their buddies start dropping like flies. The picture has no atmosphere or much directorial flair, although it does generate some suspense towards the end. Kathleen Hughes is decorative as Julia. A confrontation between her and Domergue is over just as it starts to get interesting. 

Verdict: Worth one look but probably not another. **1/2. 

LEGACY OF BLOOD

Bad Hair Day: Faith Domergue and John Russell

LEGACY OF BLOOD (aka Blood Legacy aka Will to Die/1971). Director: Carl Monson.

Christopher Dean (John Carradine), the hateful patriarch of the Dean family, has expired, and the relatives are gathered to hear the reading of the will. Dean's four children -- Greg (Jeff Morrow), Veronica (Faith Domergue), Leslie (Brooke Mills) and Johnny (Richard Davalos), the last two of which have incestuous feelings for one another -- will inherit millions but must spend a week in the family mansion before they can get a dime. Naturally, murders begin to occur, with the first, inexplicably, being that of the sheriff (Rodolfo Acosta). 

Faith Domergue

Legacy of Blood certainly has an interesting cast in that we've got sci fi hero Jeff Morrow [This Island Earth], Howard Hughes discovery and genre actress Faith Domergue [It Came from Beneath the Sea and This Island Earth as well], Dick Davalos of East of Eden, and another genre specialist, Merry Anders [The Hypnotic Eye], playing Morrow's wife. Then we've got TV stars John Smith and John Russell playing, respectively, Leslie's husband and a servant-driver named Frank. The movie is reminiscent of Curse of the Living Corpse, and not only because of the business with a severed head on the kitchen table. 

Faith Domergue and Richard Davalos

Domergue easily gives the best and most convincing performance although the others are credible, given the material. Davalos has some good moments but is a little too overwrought at times. Ivy Bethune makes her mark as the maid, Helga, and she has one very good scene with Davalos, but Brooke Mills and Buck Kartalian (as another servant, Igor, who likes to be whipped) are memorable for all the wrong reasons. The picture has some atmosphere and a slight touch of suspense, and there's an electrocution-in-bed sequence that's effective, but there are too many "twists" and the black comedy aspect of the ending doesn't really work. This may hold your attention but there have been better dysfunctional family/maniac movies.  

Verdict: Low-budget horror flick could have used a little more originality but it has its moments. **1/4.