VOODOO WOMAN

Touch Connors wants none of Marla English

VOODOO WOMAN (1957). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

Deep in the jungle, a crazy scientist named Dr. Roland Gerard (Tom Conway of Bride of the Gorilla) uses a combination of his science and the witch doctor, Chaka's (Martin Wilkins) voodoo to turn a pretty native girl, Zuranda (Jean Davis) into a hideous, hulking monster. With some vague plan to get revenge on colleagues who laughed at him and probably take over the world, Gerard is dismayed to discover that the decent Zuranda will not kill at his command, even when she is in her monster form. However, he also discovers that a greedy adventuress named Marilyn Blanchard (Marla English), who had a tough early life in Pittsburgh, will be only too happy to kill whoever gets in her way. Will these two creeps form an unholy alliance?

Wedded bliss? Tom Conway and Mary Ellen Kay

Voodoo Woman just misses being a hoot, although it certainly tries hard to be a luridly entertaining melodrama. Marla English makes a game effort to get across Marilyn's sociopathology, but she hasn't quite got the real acting chops to completely pull it off. As Gerard's helpless wife, Susan, whom he keeps a prisoner, Mary Ellen Kay gets across her character's hysteria but is also limited as an actress. Conway, who looks ill, is fun as the mad doctor. Lance Fuller [This Island Earth] is Marilyn's disposable boyfriend, Rick, and Mike Connors (billed as "Touch" Connors) is the guide, Ted,  who takes the couple deep into the dangerous jungle wherein they encounter that fun couple, the Gerards. It's funny how often Ted rejects the supposedly seductive advances and icy would-be charms of the not-terribly-feminine Marilyn. This was the one and only starring role for Marla English, and the last picture she made as well. One positive thing about the movie is that at least it employed a lot of black actors instead of having natives portrayed by whites, although native stereotypes undoubtedly abound. Paul Blaisdell, who designed the barely-seen creature, plays the monster.

Verdict: Moderately compelling schlock. **.

INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN

Steven Terrell and Gloria Castillo

INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN (1957). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

"I bet you killed one of my price heifers!" -- Farmer Larkin

Out near Lover's Lane in the town of Hicksville, two teens who plan to get married -- Johnny (Steven Terrell) and Joan (Gloria Castillo) -- run over a little green man who came out of a spaceship. Bedeviled by the creature's severed but animated claw, they contact the police, only to be accused of killing a huckster named Joe (Frank Gorshin of Hot Rod Girl) who hoped to cash in on the alien's body. As the military close in on the spaceship and ultimately destroy it, Johnny and Joan decide to find the little green man's corpse for themselves, and do the sensible thing -- by fleeing the police station and stealing a patrol car! They enlist the aid of Joe's roommate, Artie (Lyn Osborn), who doesn't seem the slightest bit concerned or even that curious about his supposed friend's demise. Since the adults won't listen to them, Johnny and Joan gather up the necking teenagers and decide to take care of the alien invaders -- if that's what they even are -- themselves. 

aliens on the loose!

Invasion of the Saucer Men is not a very good movie, but it's not an out and out parody, although it comes close at times. The aliens, who are short but have big, membranous and ugly heads, appear only briefly, although one of them has a fight with a bull, injecting the animal with alcohol (as it did Joe) via needles at the end of its fingers. As for the cast, Steven Terrell was a regular on the sitcom Life with Father, and played a lot of "teen" roles, although he was actually 28 when he appeared in Saucer Men. Gloria Castillo was 24 and also played a number of teen roles, mostly on television. 

Because they're young? Terrell and Castillo

Raymond Hatton nearly steals the movie with his blustery and amusing portrayal of Farmer Larkin, who is always afraid some one will steal or kill one of his price heifers.  Douglas Henderson, who plays Lt. Wilkins of the U.S. Air Force,  was in Bert I. Gordon's King Dinosaur and amassed quite a few credits. Frank Gorshin, who later achieved a measure of fame playing the Riddler on Batman, is fine as the ill-fated Joe and seems to be having fun. Ronald Stein contributed a quirky musical score which is still creepy when it needs to be. The constant references to how the teens just won't be believed about the aliens because they're young, and how clueless those pesky adults can be, gets "old" very quickly.

Verdict: See it once and never again. **1/4.