THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE

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. 

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! ***. 

FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON

The huge cast of Five Weeks in a Balloon

FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON (1962). Produced and directed by Irwin Allen. 

Balloonist Fergusson (Cedric Hardwicke) wants to explore Africa by air but also has a deeper concern: beating a group of slave traders to a certain uncharted territory so that it can be claimed for England instead of by them. The balloon eventually fills up with a riot of motley individuals: the fussy Sir Vining (Richard Haydn at his fussiest); Fergusson's handsome assistant Jacques (Fabian), who handles the engine; American ne'er-do-well reporter Donald O'Shay (a miscast Red Buttons); rescued slave, Makia (Barbara Luna); another rescued slave, Susan (Barbara Eden); and even the slave trader himself Ahmed (Peter Lorre). There are way too many people on this balloon!

Buttons, Luna, Fabian

Five Weeks in a Balloon is the second film version of Jules Verne's first novel of the same name. Flight of the Lost Balloon, made the previous year, is a cheaper copy with very different plot points. Released by 20th Century-Fox in CinemaScope, Five Weeks has much better production values. Unfortunately this adaptation is just as loose and silly. After The Brothers Four warble the title tune over the credits, Fabian reprises it twice -- I can't get the damn thing out of my head. It is slightly better than the title tune for Flight of the Lost Balloon. Instead of a drunken fat cannibal queen as in Flight, this version offers an equally fat and drunken sultan. There's a sandstorm that doesn't really amount to much, a few wild animals, minor romances, and a fairly exciting climax in the forbidden city of Timbuktu. 

Chester aka Duchess: a "simian sot!"

Fabian [Bus Stop] actually manages to give a decent performance, although there is absolutely nothing of the 19th century about him, especially his hair style. I had trouble understanding a lot of Hardwick's mushy speech. Hadyn seems to essentially be playing the same part he played in The Lost World and many other films. Eden and Luna are reasonably competent and decorative. Peter Lorre is too cute by far for a rather loathsome and conscienceless slave trader. The slave trade is condemned but not very forcefully and black natives are never mentioned. Henry Daniell shows up briefly as a Sheik, and Herbert Marshall is the prime minister. Chester the Chimp plays the Duchess, who likes her liquor. "A simian sot," Hadyn declares her. Score by Paul Sawtell and photographed by Winton Hoch. 

Verdict: The surplus of silliness works against it. You keep hoping some dinosaurs will show up to enliven things! **1/4. 

THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE

Our villain prepares a shrunken head

THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE (1959). Director: Edward L. Cahn. 

Jonathan Drake (Eduard Franz), an anthropologist, has been frightened of a family curse that strikes male members when they hit sixty years of age. When the Jivaro Indians in South America kidnapped and beheaded a Swiss agent who worked with Drake's great-grandfather, the retaliation -- the murder of all the male Jivaros, including children -- was decided overkill. Now Drake's ancestors are paying the price. The latest victim is Kenneth Drake (Paul Cavanagh of Bride of the Gorilla), whose head is found missing when his coffin is opened at his funeral! When Jonathan himself is attacked, Lt. Jeff Rowan (Grant Richards of You Have to Run Fast) looks into the matter as Drake's daughter, Alison (Valerie French) wrings her hands and worries. 

Henry Daniell pontificates

The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake is not one of prolific director Edward L. Cahn's better efforts, as a film with this plot should certainly be rich with atmosphere, which this isn't. However Orville H. Hampton's gleefully ghoulish screenplay makes this nifty horror film a contender. We not only have beheadings, shrunken heads, a mute Jivaro Indian with his lips sewn shut who runs about with a cleaver and a basket and wears sandals made of human skin, but there's his master, who has a white man's head sewn onto an ancient Indian's body. And we mustn't forget Henry Daniell, light years from Camille, who makes the most of his sinister role as Dr. Emil Zurich. Four Skulls is a lot of grotesque fun. 

Verdict: Delightfully gruesome horror flick. ***.