TARANTULA

Tarantula on the rampage!

TARANTULA (1955). Director: Jack Arnold. Colorized. 

When lab assistant "Steve" Clayton (Mara Corday) comes to work with Professor Deemer (Leo. G. Carroll) in a small desert community, she has no idea what she's getting into, and neither does the local doctor, Matt Hastings (John Agar), who falls for her. They have no clue that Deemer has been injecting animals with a synthetic nutrient that contains a radioactive isotope, and that during a fire caused by another assistant, a tarantula has escaped into the desert. Before long skeletons of cattle and humans are being found alongside huge pools of what turns out to be spider venom! 

Get out of town! Look what's coming!

Tarantula is one of the best fifties giant bug movies, done with enthusiasm and skill, and boasting some good acting, a nerve-wracking score, good FX work, and very chilling sound effects. The movie is horrific but it doesn't need to show chewed up corpses or limbs flying through the air; it gets it points across without them. A stand-out sequence is when the two prospectors or campers sort of cling to each other as the mandibles of the arachnid descend upon them, and we mustn't forget the sight of the stupendous spider just waiting on the top of a hill before it moves downward towards some horses and the unfortunate rancher who owns them. Then there's the spider advancing on Professor Deemer's house and peeking in, mouth parts working, on "Steve" before it demolishes the entire house. And the spider moving across the valley floor as the terrified inhabitants can only helplessly watch its inexorable progress. 

Edwin Rand, Corday, Agar, Paiva

Agar, Carroll and Corday are stalwarts who play the roles straight and are all the better for it. Nestor Paiva of The Mole People is especially good as the town's sheriff, and Hank Patterson ("it's gettin' to be a fast world" he says as he observes how quickly Steve and Matt make each other's acquaintance) adds some welcome humor as the hotel clerk, Josh. Others in the cast include Ross Elliot [The Adventures of Superboy] as a reporter, Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale of The Beverly Hillbillies) as a scientist named Townsend, and Clint Eastwood in a bit as a pilot. There have been many movies about giant spiders since the long-ago release of Tarantula, but most of them are campy and grisly stinkers  This remains the best monster arachnid movie. NOTE: This is not to be confused with Bert I. Gordon's Earth vs. the Spider, which is fun but not quite as good.

Verdict: Once that humongous spider starts moving, watch out! Even creepier in color!  ***. 

THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS

The Brain

THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS (1957). Director: Nathan Juran (as Nathan Hertz). Colorized. 

Nuclear scientist Steve March (John Agar of Bait) and his associate Dan (Robert Fuller of Death in a Red Jaguar) think that something weird is happening out at the isolated Mystery Mountain. Inside a cave they discover a huge floating alien brain creature named Gor who flash-fries poor Dan and takes over Steve's mind. Gor is fascinated by the human female, Sally (Joyce Meadows), Steve's fiancee, whom the brain finds "very exciting," and Sally discovers that Steve's new extra-passionate nature seems to know no bounds. His kisses go from being much more enthusiastic to downright brutal. Eventually Sally and her father, John (Thomas Browne Henry), discover the truth from another, friendlier brain that has taken up residence in Steve's dog. Meanwhile "Steve" destroys airliners with his mental power and tells an international council that he will wipe out capital cities if they don't comply with his demands. He is out to take over not only the earth but the entire universe!

John Agar

The Brain from Planet Arous is very much like a sci fi comic book story from the fifties. Despite its absurdities it plays reasonably well thanks to the acting by the principals. John Agar is commanding and sinister as the Gor-controlled Steve, laughing uproariously as he destroys planes and threatens the annihilation of entire cities. Joyce Meadows admirably plays with complete conviction whereas lesser actresses might have simply tossed off the lines with a pained expression. E. Leslie Thomas also deserves kudos as General Brown, especially in a well-played sequence when he confronts the evil Gor at a conference. Dale Tate, who was the TV news anchor in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, herein plays another professor and also does the voices of Gor, the friendlier brain, and an announcer on the radio. Tate was an associate producer on the film. Joyce Meadows amassed 75 credits. 

Verdict: Watch out for Agar's popping eyes! **1/2. 

THE MOLE PEOPLE

John Agar, Nestor Paiva, Hugh Beaumont

THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956). Director: Virgil W. Vogel. Colorized. 

A group of archeologists including Roger (John Agar), Jud (Hugh Beaumont of Pier 23), and LaFarge (Nestor Paiva) ascend a mountain to come across some Sumerian ruins. A section of ground collapses, revealing a deep tunnel. The men descend, ostensibly to find the body of the scientist who fell through the crack, but are much more interested in finding the rest of the lost city. A rock slide kills another man and the survivors are trapped underground. (No one bothers to mourn or even remark upon either of the dead men.) There they find the lost city, which has inhabitants, humans as well as weird creatures who can burrow into the ground and are treated like slaves. King Nazar (Rodd Redwing) and the High Priest Elinu (Alan Napier) at first think the three men are gods, messengers of Ishtar, and that their flashlight is a mystical weapon. But when the batteries wear down the scientists may find themselves in a spot of trouble ... Elinu doesn't want anyone threatening his power.

Right into real estate: Cynthia Patrick as the doomed Adad

The early climbing scenes of The Mole People are well-done and the movie begins auspiciously, but after awhile what began as a fun popcorn flick becomes a little tedious and constantly threatens to turn into utter schlock. For some feminine pulchritude the movie introduces Adad (Cynthia Patrick), a beautiful serving wench who is somehow different from the rest of the lovely ladies -- she doesn't get burned to a crisp when they are exposed to sunlight, for instance (not that this does her much good, considering her ultimate fate). Patrick had mostly bit parts both before and after appearing in Mole People and eventually went into real estate. The other actors do the best they can with a silly screenplay. The music helps a lot. Virgel Vogel also directed the superior The Land Unknown and even The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm!

Verdict: This gets worse with each viewing and the color doesn't help. **1/4. 

THE GOLDEN MISTRESS

THE GOLDEN MISTRESS (1954). Director: Joel Judge (Abner Biberman). 

In Haiti Bill Buchanan (John Agar of Bait) is behind in payments for his boat. He is beloved by some of the people for bringing an anti-toxin to them and saving lives. A scoundrel named Carl Dexter (Abner Biberman) has stolen an idol from natives and wants to team up with Bill to find a lost treasure. Carl sends his daughter, Ann (Rosemary Bowe), to talk to Bill and he winds up dumping her in the ocean. Eventually, after her father's death at the teeth of a shark, Ann and Bill do team up to see if they can find the treasure on a mysterious island that may not even exist. But there's no guarantee that either of them will come back alive. 

John Agar and Rosemary Howe (Stack)

The Golden Mistress is a 99 cent item filmed in Haiti, and for much of its length it resembles a travelogue with some interesting locations. Soaking up local color is one thing, but Mistress doesn't know when to end a scene and move on to something more entertaining. The picture meanders -- it's full of incident but the story isn't told in a compelling fashion, and after awhile you may lose patience. There's a brief flurry of excitement at the very end, but this doesn't last long.  John Agar gives a charismatic and solid performance as the captain, who like most men in these old adventure movies, is chauvinistic. Rosemary Howe was a former model who in this is barely passable as an actress. (She has trouble showing emotion when her father is eaten by a shark.) She gave a much better performance in The Big Bluff but wisely married actor Robert Stack the following year and left the business. 

The supporting cast is of more interest. Jacques Molant is Ti Flute, a likable teen native who is the cabin boy or first mate, depending on who's asking. Andre Narcisse is Iznard, the Houngan or high priest whose son, Christofe (Kiki), is saved by Bill when the boy's foot is caught inside a clam. Abner Biberman, who plays Carl Baxter, also directed the film under a pseudonym. His credits were mostly in television. Considering the location, some of the native cast members and other elements, it's a shame that Golden Mistress doesn't emerge as a more memorable motion picture. 

Verdict: Not much more exciting than a bad Jungle Jim movie. **. 

JOURNEY TO THE SEVENTH PLANET

Carl Ottosen and John Agar

JOURNEY TO THE SEVENTH PLANET (1961). Producer/Director: Sidney Pink. 

In the year 2001 humankind has solved all of its problems and there is no war or fear of annihilation; the United Nations is the "sole governing body" of the planet. Spaceship Explorer 12, which has an international, if all-male, team of astronauts, is sent on a mission to explore Uranus, the seventh planet of our solar system. Landing on Uranus, the men expect to find a frozen wasteland, but instead they see lush forest land -- and babes! Is this yet another "Space Babes on the Moon" type fantasy a la Missile to the Moon? Not exactly. 

Just what the captain expects to find on Uranus

We learn early on that some kind of unseen presence has entered the minds of the astronauts and gleaned all of their secrets --  their hopes and dreams as well as their fears and nightmares. Lover boy and captain Don Graham (John Agar) runs into some of the beautiful women he knew back home, including Greta (Greta Thyssen). Commander Eric (Carl Ottosen) encounters the one woman he ever loved and lost years ago, Ingrid (Ann Smyrner). Svend (Louis Miehe-Renard) was always scared of rats, so he faces a giant materialization of a kind of rodent-monster. Meanwhile the evil presence that has overtaken Uranus -- a big brain with a glowing eye -- has taken up residence in frigid caverns below the surface where the team will have to try and destroy it. The ladies, of course, are just manifestations of this same creature, but it takes the guys awhile to realize this, and the Commander never does, wanting to bring the malevolent presence back to earth in the form of Ingrid!

pathetic rodent-monster

Journey to the Seventh Planet is a Danish science-fiction film released in the U.S. after some fiddling by AIP. When the nasty alien conjures up a giant arachnid to bedevil the men, the footage is actually from Bert I. Gordon's Earth vs the Spider, albeit tinted. The film's other monster is a pathetic, one-eyed clawed alleged rodent monster that is brought to life by fifth-rate stop-motion animation. Strangely, in the early sections as the men wander around wondering what on Uranus is going on, the film comes off like a Twilight Zone episode, and then seems more like early Star Trek, with similar shenanigans (aliens casting illusions and so on) and cheap production values. Despite its many flaws, Seventh Planet does work up a bit of suspense and holds the attention, although it wears out its welcome after about an hour with more than a quarter hour to go. The music is effective and there's a pleasant enough theme song at the end. 

Verdict: Watchable enough if not that memorable. **1/2.                       

DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL

Gloria Talbott and John Agar

DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL (1957). Director: Edgar G. Ulmer.

"If you love me, please kill me!" 

Janet Smith (Gloria Talbott of The Leech Woman) and her fiance George (John Agar of Bait) come for a visit with her late father's friend, Dr. Lomas (Arthur Shields). Lomas informs her that she has inherited this vast estate, house and cash, from her father, but also tells her that he was the notorious Dr. Jekyll. Departing from Stevenson's classic novel, Lomas tells Janet that Mr. Hyde was apparently a werewolf. Afraid that she has inherited the curse (although it sounds as if she were born before Daddy imbibed all those nasty chemicals), she breaks off the engagement. Worse, she has nightmares that she is attacking and killing women in her sleep, women who later turn up dead. 

The werewolf of Daughter

Daughter of Dr. Jekyll is a fair-to-middling horror film. On one hand, there are atmospheric shots of the mansion and countryside, all sheathed in fog, but the internal scenes seem a little too matter-of-fact. The truth of what's going on is pretty much given away by a campy prologue in which one character in werewolf make-up cackles at the audience (repeated at the end). Arthur Shields gives a good performance, while Talbott is suitably overwrought and Agar tries to summon up some enthusiasm. The supporting performers are fine, and the score, which is attributed to no one, is creepy when it needs to be. Cheap and entertaining, this is not one of Ulmer's best directorial efforts. The woman who appears in the nightmare sequences is an actress other than Talbott. 

Verdict: Good enough premise, and fun in a limited way. **1/4. 

TARANTULA

The spider plans a midnight snack at the ranch

TARANTULA (1955). Director: Jack Arnold. 

Professor Deemer (Leo G. Carroll) is conducting experiments with a food supplement in an isolated Arizona laboratory. The food supplement makes baby animals reach adulthood much sooner, and it also increases their size. During a fire one of the lab experiments, a tarantula the size of a large dog, escapes into the desert, where it rapidly grows to tremendous proportions and begins snacking on cows, horses, and people. Dr. Hastings (John Agar of Bait), Deemer's pretty assistant, Stephanie (Mara Corday), and Sheriff Andrews (Nestor Paiva) discover this all too clearly when the spider demolishes Deemer's house then -- as big as a mountain-- advances on the town itself!

Peekaboo! The big spider looks for a meal

After the success of the giant ant movie Them, there was no doubt that more giant insect/arachnid films would be in the offing, and Tarantula was the first of them and probably the best. Although the process work is imperfect, the monster looks and acts a lot better than the giant spiders in modern low-budget CGI offerings. With a creepy, suspenseful musical score, Tarantula also manages to work up plenty of chills as the creature advances on a ranch, overturns a truck, corners two fleeing hobos who huddle together in horror as it bears down upon them, and in a bravura sequence approaches Deemer's mansion and prepares to tear it apart after first spying on Stephanie in her bedroom, its mouth parts moving back and forth expectantly in the window.

One friggin' big spider!

Tarantula is able to get across the horror of its concept without throwing one severed limb at the viewer after another or becoming too gross to be amusing, although there is some gruesome stuff involving skeletons and huge pools of spider venom. The performances are more than adequate, and the byplay between characters is often intentionally comical. The sound FX for the creature are typically disquieting. Clint Eastwood has a bit part as a pilot who drops napalm on the spider as it moves rapidly towards the town. John Agar did a number of sci fi films, and Mara Corday did a few more monster movies as well. Two years later Jack Arnold would deal with another tarantula when he helmed The Incredible Shrinking Man. 

Verdict: Entertaining semi-classic creature feature. ***. 

BAIT

An interesting but atypical shot from Bait

BAIT (1954). Director: Hugo Haas. 

Marko (Hugo Haas) teams up with young Ray Brighton (John Agar) to find a lost gold mine and agrees to split everything fifty-fifty with him. But Marko is supposedly tempted by the Devil (Cedric Hardwicke!) to want all of the gold for himself, so he cooks up a scheme involving sexy and allegedly immoral waitress Peggy (Cleo Moore) in which he hopes to murder Ray without consequence. Marko makes Peggy his wife, and they all stay in the same small cabin together, while Marko watches the two younger people like a hawk, hoping they will eventually succumb to their obvious attraction to one another ... 

John Agar has gold fever

Bait is one of several films that director Haas made with his favorite leading lady, Moore, but this is not one of the better ones. The plot makes it sound like this might at least be entertaining, trashy fun, but be forewarned that it isn't. Moore and Agar both seem too old for their roles, and as for their performances, they hardly work up a sweat trying to act. Haas is much better, as usual, but not as good as he has been in other films directed by himself or others. Worse, the movie moves slowly -- very slowly -- and nothing much happens until the last few minutes, where there's just a slight bit of irony in play. Somehow Haas inveigled Sir Cedric Hardwicke to play the Devil in a prologue -- he's terrific -- and to add some observations in voice-overs throughout the movie. Bruno VeSota has a small role.

Verdict: A misfire on virtually all levels. Haas and Moore fans would be better off with the far superior Hit and Run with Vince Edwards. *1/2.