THIRTEEN FRIGHTENED GIRLS

 13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS (1963). Director: William Castle.

Candace Hull (Kathy Dunn) is an American diplomat's daughter who attends Miss Pittford's Academy for Young Ladies along with many other diplomats' daughters. Her best friend is Mai-Ling (Lynne Sue Moon), whose father is Red Chinese. Candy has a big crush on Wally Sanders (Murray Hamilton of Jaws fame), who works for the state department and may soon be out of a job. When a murder occurs while Candy is visiting Mai-Ling in the Chinese embassy, Candy decides to become a spy -- code-named "Kitten" -- so that she can help Wally out of his career problems. If it all sounds pretty awful, believe me it is -- but not bad enough to be good. This is one of the few William Castle films that has virtually no entertainment value. Kathy Dunn is so shrill and whiny at times that you want to slap her; Lynne Sue Moon is cute and charming, however. Candy's obsession with Wally is inexplicable when there are handsome guys closer to her own age in the movie, with whom she flirts -- but only as part of her spy activities. Hugh Marlowe of Earth vs. the Flying Saucers plays Candy's dad. Joyce Taylor of Atlantis the Lost Continent and who also (badly) played "Rappaccini's Daughter" in Twice-Told Tales, plays Wally's fiancee. Alexandra Bastedo and Judy Pace are two of the girls who became somewhat better known years later. Khigh Dhiegh plays Kang, Mei-Ling's uncle. 90 minutes of your life you can never get back. 

Verdict: Read a Nancy Drew book instead. *.

TWICE-TOLD TALES

TWICE-TOLD TALES (1963). Director: Sidney Salkow. 

Star Vincent Price appears in three stories freely adapted from the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. In Heidegger's Experiment Price and Sebastian Cabot play love rivals who discover the dead woman they both loved has been preserved by a natural chemical like a fountain of youth. As portrayed by Mari Blanchard, however, the lovely Sylvia comes off more like a hard-boiled slattern than anything else, but there's no accounting for taste. In Rappaccini's Daughter a young man (Brett Halsey) falls in love with a woman (Joyce Taylor) who has been raised on poison by a jealous father (Price) and whose very touch means instant death. This is the best of the three stories but it isn't well served by the insufficient playing of the lovers. As an actor, Halsey was good-looking and little else. Primarily a TV actress, Taylor was vivid enough in George Pal's Atlantis the Lost Continent but in this she's simply bad. The weakest segment is a poor and loose adaptation of The House of Seven Gables which is somewhat bolstered by the appearance of Beverly Garland and not at all by the unlikely presence of Richard Denning, although he's not terrible. More derivative of other horror films than of Hawthorne. 

Verdict: Has its moments. **1/2.

ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT

Joyce Taylor and Sal Ponti (Anthony Hall) 

ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT (1961). Produced and directed by George Pal. 

Greek fisherman Demetrios (Sal Ponti, here billed as "Anthony Hall") finds a woman floating in the sea and discovers she is supposedly Princess Antillia (Joyce Taylor) of Atlantis. Demetrios and his father, Petros (Wolfe Barzell), think she must be out of her head, but she eventually importunes Demetrios to set sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules and on to Atlantis. There Demetrios thinks he will be showered with riches and marry Antillia, but instead -- unbeknownst to the princess -- he winds up a slave, as do all foreigners. Demetrios can win his freedom if he survives the Ordeal of Fire and Water, but even if he does he will have to contend with evil Zaren (John Dall), the true power behind the throne, who wants to wage war on other countries with his laser canon. Then there's that pesky volcano that keeps trembling in the background ... 

Atlantis sinks!

I first saw Atlantis the Lost Continent when I was a kid, loved it, have seen it several times since, and still get a kick out of it every time I watch it. The film has been utterly excoriated in many circles as the worst film George Pal ever made, which I personally find ridiculous. The film is fun, colorful, entertaining, well-acted by the leads (neither Taylor or Ponti may ever have been tapped to do Shakespeare, but they are perfect for this picture) and most of the supporting cast, the FX work is quite good for the time, and there's a bang-up finish involving the volcano and that runaway laser cannon. Not to mention the exciting Ordeal of Fire and Water in which Demetrios must face a bull of a man in a pit in an arena which is first full of fire and then flooded with water. 

 John Dall and Frank DeKova

John Dall (in his last film, only appearing on Perry Mason thereafter) practically steals the movie as Zaran, with the man's smiles being even more lethal than his sneers, his every utterance a treacherous double entendre. Berry (sic) Kroeger is nastiness personified as the surgeon who turns men into animal-human hybrids, and Jay Novello [Soldiers of Fortune] once again exhibits his amazing versatility as the Greek slave, Xandros, who is slowly metamorphosing into a bull. However, Frank DeKova, who plays Sonoy, the astrologer, sounds about as "Atlantean" as Fanny Brice! Edward Platt is given the thankless role of the pious priest, Azor, another in a long line of characters who point out the evils of Paganism while never acknowledging that Christianity has its own set of  negative aspects. William Smith plays the Captain of the Guard but isn't given enough time or close-ups to really register. Paul Frees not only does the narration but dubbed three of the actors. 

Berry Kroeger sizes up Sal Ponti

MGM didn't give George Pal a huge budget, so there's some stock footage and short cuts in the movie, but that's not exactly an unusual avenue to take. I love the beast men attacking Berry Kroeger, the priest taking care of Zaren, the disintegrater beam that atomizes some people and merely skeletonizes others, the metal submarine that sneaks up on the couple in their boat, the impressive destruction of Atlantis, Demetrios flinging mud at the princess, and the princess telling off Zaren, who has stolen power from her father: "You would think you wore his crown!" Say what you will, for me this is a neat picture.

Verdict: A hoot! ***.