TRADER TOM OF THE CHINA SEAS

Harry Lauter and Aline Towne

TRADER TOM OF THE CHINA SEAS (12 chapter Republic serial/1954). Produced and directed by Franklin Adreon. Colorized.  

Tom Rogers (Harry Lauter of The Louisiana Hussy) is a trader in Asian territories who is willingly signed up by Major Conroy (Robert Shayne of The Neanderthal Man) to help ferret out a gang that is smuggling out weapons, including light bulbs containing a poison gas, to foreign agents who are arming rebel natives so as to turn their country into a satellite. Vivian Wells (Aline Towne of Radar Men from the Moon) is the feisty daughter of a doctor who was targeted by evil forces, and Mr. Barent (Lyle Talbot), is the representative of his country's forces and the chief architect behind Trader Tom's troubles. Victor Sen Yung is Wang, a friendly associate of Rogers. 

Lauter and Towne with Lyle Talbot

Barent's helpmates include the nasty Kurt Daley (Fred Graham of The Giant Gila Monster), the mute Gursan (an unrecognizable Tom Steele), the psychotic Gorth (Richard Alexander), the rebel leader (Richard Reeves), and others. Tom gets some help from Kahn (Jan Arvan), who is fighting off the rebel forces in his country. Tom and Vivian have to deal with landslides, being trapped on a sinking freighter, being trapped underwater with a cut air hose, a train collision, angry rebels with big knives, and so on. Tom thinks nothing of burning these would-be killers to death, and nearly falls off a cliff into the fire in chapter seven. In chapter six a killer is placed inside a mailbag so he can take care of the engineer. 

Vivian and Tom escape from one doom only to face another

A nice aspect of the serial is that Vivian is depicted as being just as brave, plucky, and competent as Tom. She is no mere decoration, but an important player in the story. Lyle Talbot gives his usual professional but utterly bland portrayal, as he usually did in these serials. Fred Graham, on the other hand, emerges as a very credible and distinctly unpleasant bad guy. Trader Tom of the China Seas is a late Republic serial, one that is much more down to earth than the studio's sci-fi and superhero cliffhangers. For many, that may be the serial's weakness, but it has to be said that Trader Tom is fast-paced and full of action, with plenty of interesting death-traps, and a charismatic lead performance by Lauter. 

Verdict: Decent, often exciting serial if perhaps not as much fun as others. **3/4. 

GIRL ON THE RUN

Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

GIRL ON THE RUN (1958). Director: Richard L. Bare. 

Private investigator Stu Bailey (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is hired by a man to find a young lady named Kathy Allen (Erin O'Brien), a singer who has changed her name and is working in a nightclub. Bailey doesn't know that Kathy ran off after she witnessed a murder -- a labor leader was shot in a parking lot -- and felt that the police couldn't protect her (a sniper fired into the hotel room where the cops were guarding her). We know the identity of the perpetrator from the first: a district attorney named McCullough (Shepperd Strudwick), who is obviously as dirty as they come. Once Bailey finds out the truth his job is two-fold: protect Kathy (and himself) and ferret out the identity of the murderer and her tormentor. Meanwhile a hit man named Smiley (Edd Byrnes of Reform School Girl) is also on the trail. 

Edd Byrnes as the smiling psychopath

Stuart Bailey was introduced in novels written by Roy Huggins, then appeared on two episodes of Conflict, an anthology series, where he was also played by Zimbalist. Girl on the Run was a telefilm that also served as the pilot for 77 Sunset Strip, the long-running LA-based private eye show. Girl on the Run was released as a theatrical feature in non-USA markets. Although playing a sleazy bad guy in this, there were things about Byrnes' portrayal that appealed to producer William Orr, and when the series started, Byrnes was retained in a good guy role ("Kookie") who shared some of the more benign qualities of the hit man Smiley.  A hilarious aspect to this is that every time Byrnes appears, we hear the kind of sexy music that is usually associated with beautiful babes -- it's weird. Even weirder that the Byrnes "theme" was retained for 77 Sunset Strip! A funny sequence has the hitman laughing at a Daffy Duck cartoon in a movie house.

Erin O'Brian

Despite knowing who the villain is from the first, Girl on the Run has some suspense as Bailey, well-played by Zimbalist, tries to outwit both Smiley and McCullough (well-played by Strudwick). Erin O'Brian also delivers in her role of the somewhat feisty but frightened witness. Harry Lauter (of The Louisiana Hussy) plays a man that Bailey hires to play drunk and annoy Kathy so that he can come to her rescue. Marion Hargove did the screenplay and Howard Jackson composed the score.

Verdict: An interesting intro to 77 Sunset Strip. **1/2. 

CANADIAN MOUNTIES VS ATOMIC INVADERS

William Henry and Susan Morrow

CANADIAN MOUNTIES VS ATOMIC INVADERS (12-chapter Republic serial/1953). Director: Franklin Adreon.  Colorized.

A group of foreign agents in Canada want to build bases from which they can launch rockets to destroy key American cites. Sgt. Don Roberts (William Henry of Uranium Boom) is unaware of this dastardly plot but wonders why some desperadoes are trying so hard to keep homesteaders from settling in a certain area. Don and reporter Kay Conway (Susan Morrow of Cat-Women of the Moon) face avalanches, overturned boards with spikes in them, trucks going over cliffs, cracking ice floes, and exploding boats before they figure out what's going on, and that a folksy, simple-minded tradesman in town is secretly a sinister agent named Marlof (Arthur Space of The Crimson Key). There are also appearances by Harry Lauter, Pierre Watkin, Hank Patterson, and Tom Steele, not to mention a couple of cute, mischievous bear cubs. 

Verdict: Acceptable if unspectacular cliffhanger serial. **3/4. 

THE LOUISIANA HUSSY

Peter Coe and Nan Peterson

THE LOUISIANA HUSSY (1959). Director: Lee Sholem. A Bon-Air Production. 

In a stretch of the bayou called The Pit, brothers Jacques (Peter Coe) and Pierre (Robert Richards) love the same woman, Lili (Betty Lynn), but she prefers Pierre. On their wedding day a stranger who calls herself Minette (Nan Peterson of The Hideous Sun Demon) shows up in town, and is taken in by the newlyweds. Right away Minette is making passes at Pierre -- which he initially does little to reject -- and then moves in on -- and with -- Jacques. Pierre and Lili are convinced that Minette is bad news so they decide to investigate her past, bringing them to an estate and a drunk, grieving widower named Clay Lanier (Harry Lauter of It Came from Beneath the Sea). 

Betty Lynn, Robert Richards, Harry Lauter

An atmospheric melodrama, The Louisiana Hussy is reasonably absorbing and mildly titillating, although some of the love scenes are kind of intense for a fifties movie. Although Nan Peterson is rather  average-looking to play a femme fatale, with her push-up bra she manages to assert her sexuality in scene after scene. Betty Lynn is best known as Barney Fife's girlfriend on The Andy Griffith Show and she's bland but adequate in this. Richards had only a few credits, Peterson twice as many, and Coe amassed over eighty appearances. Also in the cast, as a doctor, is Tyler McVey of Attack of the Giant Leeches. 

Like many movies from this period and after, the film is hypocritical when it comes to the question of marital affairs. This is one of those films in which the trampy gal who goes after married men is seen as being much, much worse than the husbands who simply don't abstain, and get all moralistic about the mistress while ignoring and justifying their own behavior. Lee Sholem also directed Pharaoh's Curse.

Verdict: Sizzles but never quite boils. **1/4. 

FLYING DISC MAN FROM MARS -- IN COLOR!

Walter Reed and James Craven

FLYING DISC MAN FROM MARS (12-chapter Republic serial/1950.) Director: Fred C. Brannon. Colorized.

Martian Mota (Gregory Gaye) has come to earth and enlisted a former Nazi scientist named Bryant (James Craven of The Purple Monster Strikes) to assist him in conquering the planet, something which Bryant seems eager to do. His chief opponents are Air Patrol security officers Kent Fowler (Walter Reed of Government Agents vs Phantom Legion), Helen Hall (Lois Collier), and Steve (Sandy Sanders). Since Mota's spaceship, or flying disc, has been destroyed, Bryant helps him construct what he calls a smaller "semi-disc" which is hidden inside a volcano HQ when it isn't in use. For twelve chapters Fowler and his associates do their level best to foil the dastardly plans of Mota, Bryant and their own associates, including Drake (Harry Lauter of It Came from Beneath the Sea) and Ryan (Richard Irving). 

The fabulous "seni-disc"

Fred C. Brannon had co-directed a number of Republic serials but eventually helmed the productions single-handedly and did just fine. Flying Disc Man moves at a swift pace and is colorful, action-packed fun. Fowler is one of the luckiest heroes in serials as on two occasions he survives falls from great heights -- in planes no less -- merely by landing on some bushes or a hay stack (this after falling through a bomb bay)! There are also exciting cliffhangers involving a train trestle, a fiery rag stuffed into a gas tank, oil from a rocket ignited by sparks, and others. The actors all go through their paces playing it in just the right note. 

Verdict: Even more fun in color! ***. 

FLYING DISC MAN FROM MARS

Walter Reed and James Craven

FLYING DISC MAN FROM MARS (12 chapter Republic serial/1950). Director: Fred C. Brannon. 

Dr. Bryant (James Craven of King of the Rocket Men), a possible German sympathizer during WW 2, fears that some strange flying ships are spying on his laboratories, so he sets out to find one -- and discovers a Martian man named Mota (Gregory Gaye) who just happens to have an Italian accent. As is typical in these serials, Mota is the lone advance guard for an invasion force, and he assures Bryant that if he helps him he will be made emperor of the Earth once the Martians take over. The two men enlist the aid of criminals Drake (Harry Lauter) and Ryan (Richard Irving), and their first mission is to get themselves some uranium for weapons. Many other dastardly deeds, including murder, follow.

the wild "semi-disc Plane"

Fighting against Mota and his associates are Kent Fowler (Walter Reed) of "Fowler Air Patrol" (whatever that means) and his assistants Steve (Sandy Sanders) and Helen (Lois Collier). Mota and his gang fly around in a weird-looking "semi-disc plane" and shrewdly -- or stupidly -- have their main HQ inside an active volcano! Kent has to make do with ordinary planes, at least three of which are utterly destroyed during the proceedings. At one point Kent manages to get inside the flying disc only to be dropped out of the bomb bay in mid-air. Kent also blacks out as he reaches too high an altitude in pursuit of the disc, nearly leading to disaster (and another wrecked plane). In chapter seven the prone Kent is nearly sliced in two by a heavy metal door sliding down upon him, and is apparently thrown into a furnace in chapter four. (In a blatant and amusing "cheat," in the next chapter we suddenly see that it's another man who falls into the furnace.)

Sanders, Collier, Reed

At least in this serial one of the characters, Bryant, displays some astonishment at the realization that an alien is walking around on the earth, a situation which most people take in stride in these chapter plays as if it were an everyday occurrence. Stanley Wilson's musical score, especially the theme, helps keep things hopping, and the FX work of the Lydecker brothers works swell for this type of production. Walter Reed amassed nearly 300 credits during his long career, and pretty Collier had over sixty. Sanders did a lot of TV and western film work. Gregory Gaye (also spelled "Gay" in many productions) had close to 200 credits. Harry Lauter played the hero in the cliffhanger Trader Tom of the China Seas and King of the Carnival. The acting in this is professional all around but no one is especially distinctive. 

Verdict: Fun, exciting Republic serial. ***. 

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS

Curtis, Marlowe, Taylor and Blake 

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956). Director: Fred F. Sears. NOTE: This is the colorized version.

"When an armed and threatening power lands at the steps of our capital, we don't greet them with tea and cookies!" -- Adm . Enright

Scientist Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife, Carol (Joan Taylor of 20 Million Miles to Earth), encounter a flying saucer while driving to his office at Operation: Shyhook, where rockets are being blown out of the sky. Russ can't figure out how the aliens are communicating with him, so he misses a message about their arriving at the base. Stupidly, armed forces start firing at the aliens when they land, but it wouldn't have made much difference, as these representatives of a dying universe are here to take the earth for themselves no matter what. Now it's up to Russ to come up with a weapon that can bring the multitude of saucers crashing down before they can destroy Washington, D.C. and before their disintegrator beams can destroy him and the weapons.

Russ and Carol enter the main saucer

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is a fun if minor sci fi movie distinguished by some very good Ray Harryhausen effects. Though the FX genius couldn't add too much personality to these saucers as he could living animals, the UFOs still perform quite well, and the other effects are generally okay considering the very low budget -- an entry foyer into one of the spaceships actually rattles as the characters step into it. The sound effects are unnerving and creepy, however. 

Morris Ankrum

Marlowe and Taylor offer professional performances, and the latter is able to summon up the necessary emotion when required. Morris Ankrum [Beginning of the End] is notable as Carol's father, who comes to a bad end, and there are also appearances by Thomas Browne Henry as an Admiral who's itching to fight the nasty aliens; Donald Curtis as a Major who tries to assist Russ and his wife; Harry Lauter as a technician working with Russ; and Larry J. Blake as an ill-fated motorcycle cop. Curtis and Lauter were both in Harryhuasen's It Came from Beneath the Sea. 

The saucers invade Washington, D.C.!

For me the biggest problem with the movie is that not one of the many characters ever register the slightest awe or sense of wonder at the fact that aliens from a faraway world even exist, let alone that they've come to earth. (This was also a problem with the much later alien invasion movie Independence Day). You'd think this sort of thing happened every day. Russ and Carol at least seem a bit amazed and frightened when they first spot the saucer, but that aspect is quickly jettisoned. The whole movie is on the intellectual level of a cliffhanger serial along the lines of King of the Rocket Men. Just as Universal used the same music cues in its sci fi movies over and over again, Columbia studios did the same thing in its sci fi films, so the score for this is very familiar. Fred F. Sears' direction is totally routine.

Verdict: Not quite a fifties sci fi classic but entertaining on its own terms. **3/4. 

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. ***.