KIM NOVAK'S VERTIGO

 

This is a documentary that I've been pining to see since I first heard about it last year. KIM NOVAK'S VERTIGO has just been released on DVD by Kino Lorber. (For whatever reason, this film is not on Blu-ray yet.) 

Producer/Director Alexandre O. Philippe somehow managed to gain the trust of the reclusive legendary actress Kim Novak, and the result is a free-flowing conversation (mostly at Novak's Oregon retreat) that goes into various aspects of her life and film career. The talk is non-linear, with Philippe keeping mostly off to the side and letting Novak reveal her thoughts and feelings at her own pace, and on her own terms. Because of this unique setup, the viewer feels as if Novak is in the room with you, providing rare insights and reflections. 

Plenty of rare private footage and scenes from Novak's films are included, sometimes almost at random, sometimes as a way to back up what Novak is expressing at the moment. Novak's striking and ethereal artwork gets plenty of screen time as well. 

As one expects from the title, VERTIGO plays a major role in this documentary. Novak and Philippe go back to it again and again, and it appears that the actress has finally accepted how the movie has defined her life and career. At one point it is revealed that Novak has the famed grey suit she wore in VERTIGO safely packed away in storage at her home--and she is shown unpacking and examining it for the first time in years, a jaw-dropping moment for any film geek. (Novak is brought to tears during this sequence.) 

Some may feel that KIM NOVAK'S VERTIGO is unfocused, and that it leaves more questions than answers. The documentary is only 76 minutes long, and many basic facts about Novak and her films are either not acknowledged or only alluded to. One must remember Novak's solitary nature (she has far more affection for animals than people) and the fact that much of her star status was built upon her mysterious qualities. (It's no coincidence that many of Novak's characters on screen were pretending to be something they were not.) KIM NOVAK'S VERTIGO doesn't "explain" its subject (as if any documentary about a complex personality actually could), but it shows that this is a woman who chose to live her life her own way, and that she has managed to reach her Nineties and still be able to reflect on her life and work in a articulate and perceptive manner. KIM NOVAK'S VERTIGO is a poignant, unusual documentary about a woman who lived an unusual life, but was still able to thrive and survive on her own terms. 

DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST On Blu-ray From Kino

 

DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST(1966), one of the many Euro Westerns with the name "Django" in the title, has just been released on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. 

Whoever this Django is, he's decidedly not the one portrayed by Franco Nero. This Django is played by Dutch actor Glenn Saxon, and he's far more affable and talkative than most iterations of the character, and he has a sense of humor to boot. This Django discovers that his father has been killed by a bounty hunter after escaping jail from a town near the border called Silver Creek. Django also finds out that his father was set up by the town bigwig, who happens to run the local bank. Django sets out to make things right, while romancing a pretty saloonkeeper (Erika Blanc) and avoiding the machinations of the bigwig's deceitful coldhearted wife (Evelyn Stewart). 

DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST was directed by Alberto De Martino, who made all sorts of pictures in various genres. De Martino's style changed depending on what type of story he was making, and DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST has a much more lighthearted tone than one would expect. Glenn Saxon's Django isn't seething with revenge--he seems more amused by the whole situation than anything else. The pacing here is a bit slower than the usual spaghetti western, and instead of the story ending after the final confrontation, the focus switches back to a saloon brawl that keeps going on....and on. There's even a bit of a twist at the end that makes one wonder if the whole thing was supposed to be a spoof. 

Nevertheless, De Martino knew how to make solid adventures, and DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST is diverting enough, although hardcore Euro Western fans might prefer something more brutal and edgy. Evelyn Stewart steals the film as the darkly ambitious femme fatale, and she and Erika Blanc even come to blows at one point, which might be some Euro Cult fanboy's idea of a wet dream. 

Alberto Lupo plays a mysterious well-dressed fellow known as "Doc" who takes it upon himself to help Django. Doc is very reminiscent of Lee Van Cleef's Colonel Mortimer--Doc even provides info on an incident from the past that gives a major reason for all the goings-on. Euro Western veteran Fernando Sancho, usually a bad guy, here plays Django's confidant. The fine score is by Bruno Nicolai. 

Kino provides an excellent-looking print of DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST on this disc, in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. English and Italian dub tracks are included, along with English subtitles. 

The extras include a 15 minute program in which Glenn Saxon provides memories of making the film, along with some info on his life and career. (Unfortunately Saxon is never actually shown--only his voice is heard.) There's also an audio commentary by Alex Cox, which I have not listened to yet. (I have nothing against Cox, but it seems that whenever Kino releases a Euro Western on Blu-ray, by default he does the audio commentary. I'd like to see some other film buffs and historians get the chance to discuss these types of films.) 

DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST is not as dark or as stylized as most renowned spaghetti westerns, but it does have enough entertaining elements in it, and it does feature two striking Euro Cult performers: Evelyn Stewart and Erika Blanc. Any time a lesser-known Euro Western gets a proper official home video release is a good thing. 

ROCKETSHIP X-M

 

The extras on Film Masters' DESTINATION MOON/FLIGHT TO MARS special edition Blu-ray make numerous mentions of ROCKETSHIP X-M (1950). This was another "First flight into space" movie that was made mainly to take advantage of the production publicity of DESTINATION MOON. (As a matter of fact, ROCKETSHIP X-M made it into theaters just before DESTINATION MOON.) 

ROCKETSHIP X-M, DESTINATION MOON, and FLIGHT TO MARS form a loose trilogy of films with the same basic storyline. Of the three, DESTINATION MOON is the most technically proficient, FLIGHT TO MARS is the most adventurous, and ROCKETSHIP X-M is by far the one with the darker mood. 

The crew of ROCKETSHIP X-M consists of Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, John Emery, Noah Beery Jr., and Hugh O'Brian, with soon-to-be science fiction veteran Morris Ankrum as the point man for the journey, keeping track of things back on Earth. The explorers are planning to go to the Moon (X-M stands for "Expedition Moon"), but mistakes and an accident along the way somehow propel the crew all the way to Mars. Mission leader Emery decides that they might as well land and take advantage of a situation that any scientist would dream of. The dream becomes a nightmare, however, as the crew is attacked by the remnants of a Martian civilization that has devolved into savagery. 

I had never seen ROCKETSHIP X-M --I had always assumed it was nothing more than a cheap knockoff of DESTINATION MOON. Technically, that's what it is, but it doesn't feel cheap, or look as if it was quickly put together. Co-prodcuer/co-writer/director Kurt Neumann tries to keep things low-key for the first part of the film. Until the rocket ship lands on Mars at about the 50 minute mark, most of the story takes place in the cramped crew cabin, and a sense of claustrophobia hangs heavy. 

When the crew is on Mars, the movie switches from black & white to what appears to me to be a sepia-tinted picture (at least that's what it looked to me on the version of this film shown on Tubi). The Mars sequences were filmed at remote locations in Southern California, and here the Red Planet is a barren, desolate place that displays no sense of wonder. The crew find ruins that are radioactive, and they determine that the Martians wiped themselves out through an atomic war. They also find what is left of the Martians, a group of caveman-like creatures who are decidedly not more advanced than the people of Earth. 

The sequence of the crew fighting off the Martians is the best thing in the film. The pitiful natives are for the most part kept at a distance, a shadowy but deadly presence. The sequence shows that the crew are way over their heads, which, considering how they screwed up the mission, doesn't surprise the viewer. It's notable to watch an older science fiction film in which the aliens are not advanced in intelligence and/or technology. (The "Everything on this planet is deadly" element would be taken to a higher level in THE ANGRY RED PLANET and many other similar movies.) 

The movie's ending extends the dark tone, and makes ROCKETSHIP X-M stick out even more. There's even a hint of the climax of THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT in that Morris Ankrum, just like Brian Donlevy's no-nonsense scientist, is determined to start planning a new mission, despite the setbacks of the first. 

ROCKETSHIP X-M was much more interesting than I thought it would be. It shows that there's a very dangerous side to the wonders and optimism of space exploration.....or, to put it another way, it's a sci-fi movie in which the entire crew can be called Red Shirts. 

FLIGHT TO MARS On Blu-ray From Film Masters

 

Film Masters' recent Blu-ray release of DESTINATION MOON contains a bonus disc featuring the 1951 science fiction movie FLIGHT TO MARS. A very low-budget follow up to DESTINATION MOON, FLIGHT TO MARS is as different from its inspiration as you can get....but it also establishes the template for many other sci-fi flicks for the rest of the Fifties. 

FLIGHT TO MARS starts out in a DESTINATION MOON type of mode, as a crew of four scientists (Marguerite Chapman, Arthur Franz, John Litel, Richard Gaines) and a reporter (Cameron Mitchell) plan a rocket trip to the Red Planet. Once the crew crash lands on Mars, the story goes off on a very different course, as the party from Earth discover that the planet is inhabited by a race of humanoids that live in advanced underground cities. (Despite their "advanced" civilization, the Martians have not been able to develop space travel, nor can they directly contact Earth, even though they are able to listen to our radio and TV broadcasts.) The Martians agree to help the Earth crew repair their rocket ship, but the leaders of the Red Planet really want to steal the technology for their own nefarious purposes. 

The technical accuracy of DESTINATION MOON gets pushed to the side fairly quickly in FLIGHT TO MARS. One reason for that is the latter film's low budget, which doesn't enable the story's ideas to fully develop. We don't get a proper idea of the scope or size of the Martian society, but the viewer is shown that all the Martian women appear to look and dress like Las Vegas showgirls, while the Martian men, mostly middle-aged and elderly, wear robes and come off as weak or duplicitous. The attributes of the Martian men and women in this film would appear again and again in depictions of futuristic or alien societies throughout the next decade of science fiction cinema. In some ways, FLIGHT TO MARS was more influential than DESTINATION MOON. (Actors Arthur Franz and Morris Ankrum, who plays the Martian leader, would show up in plenty of sci-fi movies for the rest of their careers.) 

FLIGHT TO MARS also injects a very old-fashioned story element with a love triangle between Cameron Mitchell, Marguerite Chapman, and Arthur Franz. This element just bogs down the main plot (and it was also a major factor in Fritz Lang's WOMAN IN THE MOON). Overall, FLIGHT TO MARS is a diverting slice of sci-fi pulp, despite its being very quaint in a lot of areas. 

Film Masters' restored scan of FLIGHT TO MARS looks great, even though the movie uses the Cinecolor process, which (fittingly for this film) is dominated by the color red. The movie looks so good on this Blu-ray that it's hard to believe it was produced by Monogram (and directed by Lesley Selander, who ironically helmed a film a wrote about last weekend, THE FATAL WITNESS). 

The FLIGHT TO MARS Blu-ray also contains a number of extras, such as a restored original trailer for the film, and a fine new audio commentary by Justin Humphreys. Humphreys gives out all the info needed on the production, and while he points out the movie's various flaws, he also appreciates what it was able to do despite its lack of budget.  

Also on the Blu-ray are two featurettes. One, by Ballyhoo Pictures, discusses the development of the "Trip to Space" movie genre, and how important WOMAN IN THE MOON was to it. The other program looks at the life and early career of producer Walter Mirisch, and the movies that he was involved in during the early 1950s, such as FLIGHT TO MARS. 

I had never seen FLIGHT TO MARS, and while it certainly isn't on the same level as DESTINATION MOON, it can't help but bring a smile to the face of any classic horror/sci-fi fan. Film Masters has done its usual magnificent job in restoring FLIGHT TO MARS and giving it the deluxe home video treatment. 

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

 

FOREIGN EXCHANGE is the second of two American TV network movies that were filmed in England and based on novels written by Hammer Films veteran Jimmy Sangster. As with its predecessor, THE SPY KILLER, FOREIGN EXCHANGE was directed by Roy Ward Baker, with many other Hammer veterans filling roles behind the camera. This movie was first broadcast on American TV in 1970.

The main cast of THE SPY KILLER returns for this entry, with Robert Horton in the lead role as John Smith, Jill St. John as his girlfriend, and Sebastian Cabot as Max, a shady British Intelligence operative. Once again John Smith reluctantly re-enters the world of espionage when Max threatens to deport his girlfriend. Smith gets involved in a plot to undermine a Soviet spy network, which requires him to travel to Russia. A number of convoluted double-dealings ensue, driving Smith to attempt to outwit both the British and the Soviets. 

I wasn't all that impressed with THE SPY KILLER (which I covered a few weeks ago), and FOREIGN EXCHANGE is even more lackluster. There's very little action, and the plot is confusing at times. (Needless to say, no one on this production got anywhere close to actually filming in Russia.) One big drawback is Robert Horton, an actor who in his performances always seemed to be annoyed by something. He's really annoyed here--his John Smith is a cynical guy with a chip on his shoulder who is constantly moaning about the situation he is in. If the lead character of a story is disaffected by what is going on, then the viewer will more than likely be disaffected watching what he is doing. Jill St. John has even less to do here than in THE SPY KILLER, and the only supporting player of note is Eric Pohlman, who plays a Russian colonel. 

I haven't read the Jimmy Sangster novels upon which THE SPY KILLER and FOREIGN EXCHANGE are based, and I doubt that what was on the written page was any more interesting than what wound up on screen. Sangster was trying to make John Smith as anti-007 as possible, but he overdid it, with the result that John Smith's "adventures" are as dull and dreary as he is. Considering what the state of American television was in the late 1960s--early 1970s, I'm surprised some network executive didn't demand that these movies be juiced up in some way. 

If you are interested in Jimmy Sangster's overall work as a screenwriter, especially outside Hammer, these two TV movies are available on YouTube, but I wouldn't place them among Sangster's best efforts. 

THE FATAL WITNESS

 

THE FATAL WITNESS is a 1945 B movie from Republic Pictures that is fairly run-of-the-mill for the most part. Its climax, however, is so unexpected that the movie winds up being more memorable than one would expect. 

The movie, set in England, stars the elegant Universal Scream Queen Evelyn Ankers as Priscilla Ames, the ward of the curmudgeonly Lady Ferguson (Barbara Everest). The old woman is found strangled in her stately manor, and suspicion immediately falls on her dissolute nephew John Bedford (George Leigh). Bedford seemingly has an airtight alibi--he was in jail the night Lady Ferguson was killed, after causing a disturbance in a pub. The investigator on the case, William Trent (Richard Fraser), is convinced that Bedford is guilty, and he goes to great trouble to prove it--while also finding time to romance Priscilla. 

THE FATAL WITNESS isn't so much a whodunit, or even a how-he-done-it, as it is a will-he-get-caught? The murderer and how he was able to perform the deed is very clearly shown to the audience, and George Leigh makes John Bedford a very slimy and obnoxious individual. Inspector Trent's final attempt to get Bedford to reveal himself leads to an incident that throws the story into a totally different direction. What makes this twist more striking is that nothing in the earlier parts of the film even hints at such a resolution. I'm not going to spoil the ending, since it is the movie's high point--but I will say that it reminds one of various episodes from the many 1960s suspense anthology American network TV shows. (The plot of THE FATAL WITNESS was actually based on an episode of the radio anthology show SUSPENSE.) 

It is rather appropriate that Evelyn Ankers gets top billing in this film, as THE FATAL WITNESS feels in many ways like a Universal movie made during the same period. The story appears to be set in contemporary times, but there's no mention of World War II, and the England it portrays is rather generic in tone. These are attributes that showed up in plenty of Universal's B pictures. Director Lesley Selander (a prolific low-budget veteran) even throws in a foggy sequence set on the London docks that could have come from a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes picture. One thing THE FATAL WITNESS lacks compared to Universal is that studio's stable of notable supporting character actors, although long-time Universal stalwart Harry Cording does show up as a pub owner. 

If you happen to be a fan of the Universal chillers of the 1940s, or you are someone looking for a B movie with a twist that won't take up too much of your time, I highly recommend THE FATAL WITNESS. 

THE SPY KILLER

 

The SANGSTER DIRECTS HAMMER box set from Severin has encouraged me to seek out some of Jimmy Sangster's American television work. THE SPY KILLER is a 1969 TV movie, first broadcast on the ABC Network. Jimmy Sangster produced the movie, and he wrote the script, which was based on his novel. 

One thing that stands out about THE SPY KILLER is that it is a Hammer film in almost everything but name only. The movie was filmed in England, and one of the locations was good old Black Park. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker, a name well-known to English Gothic fans. The behind-the-camera credits list has several names very familiar to Hammer fanatics, such as Arthur Grant, Scott MacGregor, Bert Batt, Neil Binney, and Phillip Martell. One of Hammer's best performers, Barbara Shelley, even shows up (though very briefly). 

Other than the Hammer connections, there isn't all that much to THE SPY KILLER. Robert Horton (WAGON TRAIN, THE GREEN SLIME) plays an American private eye based in London named John Smith (hard to believe Sangster couldn't have come up with a better moniker for the guy). Smith used to work for British Intelligence, but he got fed up with the life of a spy and quit. Smith is thrust back into the espionage game when he comes upon a notebook containing material wanted by the British and the Chinese. 

THE SPY KILLER is more John Le Carre than Ian Fleming, although I'd doubt Le Carre would appreciate the association. The movie runs about 75 minutes (it was made for a 90-minute TV slot), but it feels longer. It is a very talky story, and it very much resembles the early 1950s B movies made by Hammer, right down to the underwhelming American leading man. 

The London locations do make THE SPY KILLER stick out from the usual American TV fare of the period, but there isn't much done with them. (A later sequence does make good use of an abandoned RAF airfield.) The story is one in which nearly every character is lying or setting up others, and Robert Horton isn't much of an appealing lead--his John Smith is sardonic and sarcastic (and he doesn't seem to be much of an agent either). 

Sebastian Cabot plays the "M" equivalent (who is more devious than the supposed bad guys), and Jill St. John is Smith's girlfriend, the obligatory attractive young woman. As mentioned before, Barbara Shelley is in this as well, but unfortunately she contributes nothing more than a glorified cameo. 

Barbara Shelley in THE SPY KILLER

Jimmy Sangster also produced and wrote another TV movie focusing on John Smith, called FOREIGN EXCHANGE. This also featured most of the cast & crew of THE SPY KILLER. (I intend to view that as well.) I assume that Sangster was hoping ABC might pick up the activities of John Smith as a regular series, but it's easy to see why they didn't. John Smith (at least in the first TV movie) isn't all that charismatic a person, and Sangster's low-key dialogue-heavy portrayal of the spy world doesn't make for exciting TV viewing. THE SPY KILLER can be accessed on YouTube, and its most notable aspect is that it is a Hammer non-horror that officially isn't.