DOOMSDAY MACHINE

Grant Williams and Bobby Van 

DOOMSDAY MACHINE (1976). Directors: Harry Hope; Lee Sholem. 

Several astronauts, including Colonel Price (Denny Miller), Major Mason (Grant Williams of The Leech Woman), and Danny (Bobby Van), are about to take off for a flight to Venus when they are told some of the other men must leave to make way for three women: Dr. Turner (Ruta Lee), Lt. Carlson (Lorri Scott), and Russian Major Bronski (Mala Powers of The Unknown Terror). Some of the men are appalled with this development, while others leer. Halfway or so through the journey, they discover that a nuclear chain reaction has completely obliterated the earth. Will the group manage to reach Venus, who will pair off with whom, and will Mason manage to restrain himself before he has his way with Carlson? Wise old Dr. Perry (Henry Wilcoxon) might have all the answers. 

Ruta Lee and Mala Powers

Doomsday Machine sat on the shelf for years because there was no money to finish the picture. Even when it was finally released it was never quite finished, as the ending --which drags and drags -- features two different actors and different voices as Danny and the Russian major wind up in a lost Soviet spaceship. The shame is that while Doomsday Machine is very, very low-budget, it boasts some very good performances and an interesting story that keeps you watching. The shape of the spaceship they are traveling in keeps changing, there are all kinds of technical errors, and the crew, although initially shocked, never have any real reaction to the loss of loved ones back on earth. 

Grant Williams

As the kind of sleazy Captain Mason, Williams probably gives the best performance in the film, but the others are all very credible. Casey Kasem plays a mission control officer back on earth and James Craig of The Cyclops is Dr. Haines. There is a creepy, uncredited score that borrows a bit from Forbidden Planet but certainly adds to the atmosphere. Lee Sholem also directed Pharaoh's Curse. 

Verdict: Interesting casting and storyline help cope with a miniscule budget and other problems. **1/2. 

DANGEROUS PARTNERS

James Craig and Signe Hasso

DANGEROUS PARTNERS (1945). Director: Edward L. Cahn. Colorized.

After a plane crash Carola Ballister (Signe Hasso) discovers that one of the passengers, Kingby (Edmund Gwenn), has in his possession four wills naming him the beneficiary of one million dollars each. Carola teams up with shady lawyer Jeff Caighn (James Craig of Flying G-Men) and the two form a shaky partnership, even after learning that one of the people leaving money to Kingby has been murdered. The couple set out to contact the other three people and hope they will hand over to them the bonds that are in their possession, but Kingby has no intention of sitting still for this ...  

Signe Hasso and Edmund Gwenn

Dangerous Partners is, frankly, a confusing and unsatisfying bit of film noir, although it has some good moments and good acting. Leading man Craig is notable as the lawyer, but Signe Hasso doesn't really make the most compelling of femme fatales. Part of the problem is her odd looks; the rest is a performance that never really comes alive, although she is competent. The picture is stolen by Edmund Gwenn, playing against type as a nasty and murderous Nazi. Audrey Totter and Mabel Paige also have small roles. Throughout the movie we come to know Jeff and Carola as rather unpleasant people, so their abrupt switch to relative decency at the end -- especially where Jeff is concerned -- isn't very convincing. Director Edward L. Cahn never manages to build up much suspense. Cahn also directed the zesty Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake. Photographed by Karl Freund. 

Verdict: Half-baked film noir. **1/4. 

Verdict: 

FLYING G-MEN

James Craig, Robert Paige and Richard Fiske

FLYING G-MEN (15 Chapter Columbia serial/1939). Directed by James W. Horne and Ray Taylor. 

Five years ago four pilots known as the Skyhawks became famous when they flew around the world. Now saboteurs are operating in America and one of them decides to take on the identity of the Black Falcon to fight them. One of the four -- Ed McKay (William Lally), who was planning to test a new bombing device -- is killed almost immediately, leaving behind a beloved sister, Babs (Lorna Gray of Exposed) and little son, Billy (Sammy McKim). The three other men are Hal (Robert Paige), Bart (Richard Fiske) and John (James Craig), who are assisted at times by Babs and little Billy. 

James Craig as one of the G-Men

Flying G-Men is an entertaining Columbia chapterplay with no great cliffhangers as such but plenty of fast-paced action both on the ground and in the air. Not too much suspense is generated over the identity of the mastermind behind the sabotage, whose unveiling happens relatively early on. The notion of keeping the hero's identity secret was used earlier in The Lone Ranger and later on in The Masked Marvel, but there isn't much suspense worked up over that, either. No matter, the serial is still fun. Lorna Gray has little to do in the serial but would get more attention when she played the villainess in The Perils of Nyoka. Although the theme music is pretty snappy, the score in general is overdone, like something out of a silent movie with a piano playing along. Our heroes fly about in certain chapters in a "pick-a-back" plane which has one aircraft attached to the top of another. 

Verdict: Entertaining Columbia serial thriller. ***.