THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE

Henry Daniell

THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE (1959). Director: Edward L. Cahn. Colorized version. 

Jonathan Drake's (Eduard Franz) whole family has been under a curse for generations, a curse that has to do with Jivaro headhunters and revenge down in South America. Drake's ancestor killed a whole host of Indians in retaliation for their beheading an important crew member. Now every male member of the Drake family will die on his 60th birthday and be buried without their heads. After this happens to Jonathan's brother, Kenneth, (Paul Cavanagh), both his daughter, Alison (Valerie French) and Police Lt. Jeff Rowan (Grant Richards of Guns Girls and Gangsters) are afraid Jonathan might be next. 

Valerie French and Grant Richards

The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake is a gruesome hoot, a wild melange of shrunken heads (how they are processed is shown in detail), decapitations by machete, ancient Indians with their lips sewn together wearing moccasins made of human flesh, severed heads boiled in pots, and a centuries-old sinister figure with a white man's head stitched on top of an Indian's body! Skulls and heads show up at unexpected moments. The acting is all satisfactory, with Henry Daniell taking top honors in an underplayed performance as the sinister Dr. Zurich. Grant Richards has a brusque, butch style that works well for his role. 

Verdict: More shrunken heads than you can throw a stick at! ***. 

SON OF DR. JEKYLL

SON OF DR. JEKYLL (1951). Director: Seymour Friedman. 

Edward Jekyll (Louis Hayward) discovers that he is the son of the notorious Dr. Jekyll of Jekyll/Hyde notoriety. He finds his father's note books and for reasons that are never explained, decides to continue his experiments, even down to drinking the dangerous formula. (Apparently brains don't run in the Jekyll family.) Meanwhile Dr. Lanyon (Alexander Knox), a friend of the late Dr. Jekyll, hovers about looking ominous. Although Edward does briefly turn into Mr. Hyde, this is less a horror film than a mystery. When the secret is revealed, it occurs to the viewer that everything could have been avoided if only a certain party hadn't stupidly told Edward who he really was. In any case, a somewhat similar premise was used for the superior Daughter of Dr. Jekyll six years later; although Son itself does hold the attention, has atmosphere, and is not without entertainment value. Well-acted by Hayward and the rest of the cast, which includes Paul Cavanagh [Bride of the Gorilla] as an inspector. Paul Sawtell contributed a nice score. 

Verdict: Has its moments but Daughter is more fun. **1/2.

THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE

Our villain prepares a shrunken head

THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE (1959). Director: Edward L. Cahn. 

Jonathan Drake (Eduard Franz), an anthropologist, has been frightened of a family curse that strikes male members when they hit sixty years of age. When the Jivaro Indians in South America kidnapped and beheaded a Swiss agent who worked with Drake's great-grandfather, the retaliation -- the murder of all the male Jivaros, including children -- was decided overkill. Now Drake's ancestors are paying the price. The latest victim is Kenneth Drake (Paul Cavanagh of Bride of the Gorilla), whose head is found missing when his coffin is opened at his funeral! When Jonathan himself is attacked, Lt. Jeff Rowan (Grant Richards of You Have to Run Fast) looks into the matter as Drake's daughter, Alison (Valerie French) wrings her hands and worries. 

Henry Daniell pontificates

The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake is not one of prolific director Edward L. Cahn's better efforts, as a film with this plot should certainly be rich with atmosphere, which this isn't. However Orville H. Hampton's gleefully ghoulish screenplay makes this nifty horror film a contender. We not only have beheadings, shrunken heads, a mute Jivaro Indian with his lips sewn shut who runs about with a cleaver and a basket and wears sandals made of human skin, but there's his master, who has a white man's head sewn onto an ancient Indian's body. And we mustn't forget Henry Daniell, light years from Camille, who makes the most of his sinister role as Dr. Emil Zurich. Four Skulls is a lot of grotesque fun. 

Verdict: Delightfully gruesome horror flick. ***. 

BRIDE OF THE GORILLA

Barbara Payton and Raymond Burr

BRIDE OF THE GORILLA (1951). Writer/director: Curt Siodmak. 

Dina (Barbara Payton) is married to the wealthy plantation owner Klaas Van Gelder (Paul Cavanagh), but is secretly in love with his foreman, Barney (Raymond Burr), who returns her feelings. Barney is indirectly responsible for Van Gelder's death-by-snake, but the aged maid Al-Long (Gisela Werbisek), covers up for him and plots her own revenge. Barney begins imagining that he is transforming into a gorilla, and it starts driving him crazy, driving him into the jungle at night as well. Then there are stories of sightings of a supernatural creature that can tear a man to pieces ,,, 

Tom Conway and Lon Chaney, Jr. 

Bride of the Gorilla is similar to another Curt Siodmak film, Curucu, Beast of the Amazon, in that it promises a monster that it never delivers. With photography by Charles Van Enger and a flavorful score by Raoul Kraushaar, the film looks professional, but its script -- despite some interesting elements -- is dead on arrival. I imagine the film had a short shooting schedule as in many scenes the actors seem self-conscious and under-rehearsed. In spite of that, Raymond Burr and Barbara Payton have at least one well-played love scene. Cavanagh is as smooth and adept as ever in his brief appearances, and Tom Conway and Lon Chaney Jr. do the best they can with weak material. Woody Strode, who would go on to much better things, appears very briefly as a policeman. 

Verdict: Fortunately for Raymond Burr, Perry Mason put an end to his appearances in movies like this. **. 

JUNGLE JIM TV SERIES

Johnny Weissmuller

JUNGLE JIM (syndicated 1956 television series. 26 half hour episodes.

After Johnny Weissmuller finished playing Jungle Jim (or himself) in 16 films, he starred in a TV series featuring the character. In the show, Jim had a son named Skipper (Martin Huston)  and a manservant named Kaseem (Dean Fredericks), who was a combination housekeeper and butler. Tamba the chimp got up to mischief on a regular basis, and Paul Cavanagh showed up now and then as Commissioner Morrison. A number of talented black actors were cast as natives.

Dean Fredericks; Martin Huston 

In "Safari Danger" a couple hire Jim to guide them into territory where they can capture  a proboscis monkey, but wind up trying to capture a pygmy instead. In "Gift of Evil" a magical elixir given to the natives only gives them swamp fever. In "White Magic" some natives refuse to let an educated native doctor operate on a little girl who will die if the surgery isn't performed. In "The Deadly Idol" natives worship a totem which turns out to be a live bomb that fell from an airplane and could go off at any minute. "Land of Terror" features a lost prehistoric world where the characters are menaced by dinosaurs. 

"The trouble is most people don't think."

Secret cities figure in two episodes: "Treasure of the Incas" takes place in Brazil with a host of headhunters, and "Power of Darkness" occurs in Nepal where there is a lost city inside of a mountain. There are searches for a lost daughter ("The Silver Locket") and the ever-popular elephant's graveyard ("Fortune in Ivy"), as well as a kidnapping plot ("Precious Cargo") and a story in which precious diamonds are lifted from the eyes of a native idol ("Eyes of Manobo"). "Blood Money" features a wealthy tourist whose spoiled teenage daughter stupidly runs off with a lion cub. Natives sacrifice girls to a giant clam or pearl god in "Lagoon of Death," and Tamba takes center stage in "Code of the Jungle," in which the chimp becomes jealous of a dog that Skipper adopts.

Like the movies, the Jungle Jim TV series is a lot of "B" movie-type fun. While never what one could call a great actor, Weissmuller is perfect as Jim; wide-eyed young Huston makes an appealing sidekick for him; and Fredericks is dignified and professional as Kaseem. 

Verdict:  Entertaining series that makes the most of its low budget. ***.