20,000 EYES

James Brown and Gene Nelson

20,000 EYES (1961). Produced and directed by Jack Leewood. 

Dan (Gene Nelson) tries to pull a fast one on a mobster named Novak (John Banner) and winds up owing him $100,000 which he pays back in five days -- or else! With the aid of his fiancee, Karen (Merry Anders  of The Hypnotic Eye) and old buddy Jerry (James Brown) -- who used to be Karen's squeeze -- Dan concocts a scheme to steal diamonds from a museum and engineer insurance fraud. But this might prove to be even more difficult to pull off than he imagines. 

Merry Anders with Nelson

20,000 Eyes had possibilities, and the acting is perfectly adept -- former song and dance man Nelson is perfectly fine as the anti-hero -- but this is a super-cheap TV-like production and there isn't enough skill in the direction to make this percolate, let only come to a boil. The storyline is over-familiar as well with few if any twists. The best performance is given by John Banner, who later wound up as Schultz on Hogan's Heroes; he's quite good as the mob boss. 

Verdict: Nelson gives a good account of himself, but this is a tepid melodrama. **. 

WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES

WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES (1961). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

The Cady Lodge, owned and run by Cady (Henry Corden), is located not far from a prison. That very night a man, Pierce, is about to be executed, although witness Sam Morgan (James Brown) isn't so sure about his identification of the condemned man. On the road Sam picks up Ellie (Merry Anders of Legacy of Blood), who turns out to be Mrs. Pierce, the wife of the man on death row. Apparently there's $600,000 floating around and both Sam and Ellie want a piece of it -- could the answer be in the condemned man's effects? As the couple conspire, Sheriff Mitchell (Roy Barcroft of G-Men Never Forget) drops by for his usual beer --- and there's two other visitors to the lodge: Martinez (Jorge Moreno), who insists that he killed the man allegedly murdered by the now-dead Pierce; and yet another "Mrs. Pierce" (Peggy Stewart)!

Corden, Brown and Anders

When the Clock Strikes, while illogical at times, certainly has an intriguing premise as well as a few good twists. It's fun to see major serial villain Roy Barcroft playing a good guy for a change. Brown and Anders offer lead performances that are competent but suggest there wasn't much rehearsal time for this very low-budget opus. Edward L. Cahn was the prolific director of seemingly a thousand B movies, including The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake, Invasion of the Saucer Men, and Voodoo Woman. 

Verdict: Minor but intriguing little mystery movie. **1/2.