SPY SHIP

Maris Wrixon and Craig Stevens

SPY SHIP (1942). Director: B. Reeves Eason. Colorized. 

Pam Mitchell (Irene Manning) works for a committee that wants to keep the United States out of WW2, but she is actually a spy for the Axis powers, paid good money by German agents operating out of a ship in New York's harbor. Her sister, Sue (Maris Wrixon), has no idea of this but disagrees with her public isolationist policy. Sue is the girlfriend of reporter Ward Prescott (Craig Stevens of The Hidden Hand), who has become suspicious of Pam's activities; Pam's father (George Irving) seems to actively hate her. Pam is stringing along a poor sap named Gordon (Tod Andrews of From Hell It Came) but is secretly in love with another traitor, Martin Oster (William Forrest), who is more interested in getting his hands on some incriminating letters he sent her. Then Koshimo Haru (Keye Luke) shows up on the ship to tell him that Japan is about to take certain steps -- the next day Pearl Harbor is bombed. 

Stevens on the story

Despite everything going on, including the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Spy Ship is dull and seems much, much longer than an hour. Irene Manning makes a good villainess, but the death of this horrible creature occurs off-screen, providing no catharsis for the audience. It is also unbelievable that Ward's editor (Frank Ferguson of The Big Night), would get so excited about covering her murder on the very day of Pearl Harbor -- that's all that anyone would be talking or reading about! Craig Stevens walks through the movie with one expression, and his character never seems to get all that excited about anything. Maris Wrixon is acceptable as the good sister, but she's too bland to be memorable. 

Verdict: Not even Keye Luke can save this. *1/2. 

FROM HELL IT CAME

Tabanga carries off unfaithful widow

FROM HELL IT CAME (1957). Director: Dan Milner. 

Because an atomic bomb was detonated 1500 miles from a Pacific atoll, followed by a "freak typhoon" which may have blown fall-out towards the island, a scientific team has been called in to investigate. They find that a plague is decimating the island, but that radioactivity is negligible -- so there are no giant intelligent crabs as in Attack of the Crab Monsters -- but the team have other problems. The witch doctor Tano (Robert Swan) still blames the natives' sickness on "Devil Dust" from the sky. Chief Maranka (Baynes Barron)  orders the death of Kima (Gregg Palmer of The Rebel Set) because he covets Kima's unfaithful wife, Korey (Suzanne Ridgway). Dead and buried, Kima comes back as the legendary "creature of revenge," the Tabanga. 

Tod Andrews, Tina Carver, Jon McNamara

Apparently some of the "Devil Dust" did make its way to the island -- although one native suggests that Kima is not the first Tabanga, eliminating fall-out as a cause of this mutation -- because, confusingly, Tabanga registers an alarming amount of radioactivity. This aspect is dropped as the team -- Dr. Bill Arnold (Tod Andrews), Professor Clark (John McNamara), helpful Eddie (Mark Sheeler), and Dr. Terry Mason (Tina Carver of Uranium Boom) -- dig up the tree stump that has risen over Kima's grave and bring it back to their headquarters. They don't seem surprised when overnight the stump has turned into an eight-foot-tall tree with facial features and a heartbeat. The tree also oozes a green blood-like substance. As it revives and escapes the lab, it resembles nothing so much as a malignant Gumby on a bender! Stumbling around in a comical manner, Tabanga manages to kill off several people. 

Andrews and Carver

The screenplay for From Hell It Came is workable, but the film itself is nearly done in by a ludicrous monster. The actors are professional enough, although at times the male scientists seem about as enthused about things as shipping clerks on a coffee break, and other times at least one of them seems slightly drunk. Terry Mason is depicted as an independent woman who isn't interested in marrying Bill Arnold (although this changes by the film's end) yet when she's carried off by the tree-monster this feisty lady faints and becomes helpless. The film is greatly abetted by the score by Darrell Calker, who includes a love theme for Terry and Bill but also adds excitement to the otherwise not very exciting scenes with Tabanga. In fact, the music is better than the picture deserves. Korey has a "catfight" with her rival for the Chief's affections, Naomi (Tani Marsh), at one point, but Tabanga intervenes. One disappointing aspect to the story is that the annoying British lady who works at a trading post, Mrs. Kilgore (Linda Watkins) isn't killed off by Tabanga. Although Watkins got an "introducing" credit in the film, she had actually starred in a series of now forgotten films in the thirties -- she was off the screen for 17 years, but had quite a few credits afterwards. 

Verdict: Trees don't make the most interesting of monsters. **.