THE LONG ARM

 

The last film in Kino's BRIT NOIR COLLECTION II Blu-ray set I need to cover is THE LONG ARM, released in America as THE THIRD KEY. It was produced by Ealing Studios, and released in 1956. The movie reunites director Charles Frend and actor Jack Hawkins, who worked together on the fine WWII picture THE CRUEL SEA. 

THE LONG ARM is more of a police procedural than a all-out noir, but it does have a number of nighttime set sequences with lonely rain-slicked streets, and it uses plenty of actual locations, giving it a gritty and down-to-earth feel. The story revolves around Scotland Yard Superintendent Tom Halliday (Jack Hawkins), who is engaged on an investigation of a spate of safe robberies. Halliday is resolutely determined to catch the culprits behind the thefts, especially when a man is killed in a hit & run by the vandals after one of the robberies. 

Jack Hawkins brings his solid, no-nonsense bearing to the role of Halliday. The Superintendent is shown to be a dogged investigator, but we are also introduced to his wife and young son, and we see him breaking in a new Detective Sergeant (John Stratton). Halliday is a thorough professional, but Hawkins gives the viewer a glimpse into his human side. Much screen time is devoted to all the various procedures used by Scotland Yard to track down criminals, and Hawkins spends so much time and effort in catching his quarry that the viewer can't help but want to see him succeed. 

Halliday encounters several character types during his investigation, and they are all enacted by a solid cast including Ursula Howells, Geoffrey Keen, and Ian Bannen. None of the supporting players particularly stand out, but I think this was due to the story being presented in a more realistic manner. There's nothing really unbelievable or over-the-top in THE LONG ARM. Halliday is no Dirty Harry, but he does take part in a mini-action sequence at the end which fits in well with the movie's overall tone. Gerard Schurmann's music score adds greatly to the drama. 

Out of all the three movies in the BRIT NOIR COLLECTION II set, THE LONG ARM is the best. It is also the best looking overall--the black & white visuals are very sharp here. The BRIT NOIR COLLECTION II set has audio commentaries for each film, and the set has two discs. 

Kino has already announced BRIT NOIR COLLECTION III and IV (they must have rights to a bunch of 1950s and 60s British films). As in the first set, I believe the definition of noir is used rather loosely here, but for Region A folks we're getting introduced to a number of well-made rare British films that are filled with fine acting talent. 

THE INTRUDER (1953)

 

It's back to Kino's BRIT NOIR COLLECTION II Blu-ray set with a look at 1953's THE INTRUDER, produced by British Lion and directed by Guy Hamilton. 

Once again I have to question the classification of a movie as noir. THE INTRUDER is more of a melodrama dealing with how war and military service affects individuals. The story begins with a stockbroker named Merton (Jack Hawkins) coming home from a golf outing to find that there's a burglar on the premises. Merton is shocked when he recognizes the perpetrator as Ginger Edwards (Michael Medwin), a man who served under him during World War II. Edwards runs away before he can be caught, and Merton decides to track him down on his own, hoping to find out why such a fine soldier has been reduced to theft. 

THE INTRUDER takes on an almost anthology feel as Merton encounters a number of men from his former brigade and asks them about Edwards. There are a number of flashbacks to WWII throughout the film, and each is almost a mini-story in its own--there's even a comic vignette. When we finally get to the sequence explaining what has happened to Edwards since he came home from the war, it comes off too abruptly--the fellow's entire life falls apart literally in a few scenes. I believe the story would have worked better if more time had been spent setting up and detailing Edwards' plight. 

Jack Hawkins provides his usual stalwart presence, and he's backed up by a typically commendable British supporting cast of the period, featuring the likes of Dennis Price and George Cole. (Hammer fans will recognize Michael Ripper and Duncan Lamont in small roles.) 

This was Guy Hamilton's second feature as a director. (Ironically his first one, THE RINGER, is included in Kino's BRIT NOIR COLLECTION I set.) He does well juggling all the flashbacks and the present day scenes. The golf course shown at the beginning of this movie would be used by Hamilton again for a famous sequence in GOLDFINGER. 

One would assume that THE INTRUDER is a dark, brooding tale about one man's downfall, but it winds up being an ensemble piece dealing with a group of men who served together during WWII. This film's climax in particular is much more positive than that of most American noirs made around the same time. 

Book Review: METRO-GOLDWYN-VAMPIRE

 

Greg Mank gives readers another fast-paced ride down the dark corridors of classic Hollywood with his third novel METRO-GOLDWYN-VAMPIRE. 

The story is set in late 1934. MGM is getting ready to shoot director Tod Browning's latest thriller, a remake of his silent-era production LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT. Recent events off the set, however, are far more horrifying than anything Browning could dream up. A number of young women are being savagely murdered--and the victims have one major thing in common: they all auditioned for a part in Browning's new opus...the role of "Luna the Bat Girl". 

Against his better judgement, private investigator Porter Down gets involved in the case (he has a problematic relationship with the movie industry, particularly the folks at MGM). Down has faced danger many times in his adventurous life, but what he experiences in METRO-GOLDWYN-VAMPIRE literally brings him to the edge of madness. 

Once again the author puts his massive knowledge of Hollywood history and his vivid imagination to excellent use in fashioning a 1930s Gothic horror mystery that is decidedly creepy. METRO-GOLDWYN-VAMPIRE features an exceedingly nasty occultist and his "creation", a blasphemous being that just might be the most loathsome thing Porter Down has ever faced off against. 

This novel also gives film buffs plenty to geek over, with appearances by historical figures such as Browning, Bela Lugosi, Elizabeth Allan, Guy Endore, William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies, and Thelma Todd. 

METRO-GOLDWYN-VAMPIRE is over 400 pages, but once you start reading it, you'll find it hard to put down. If you are an old movie buff willing to delve into the ghoulish and the gruesome, this book is perfect summer reading. 

Book Review: VAMPIRE OVER LONDON--Bela Lugosi In Britain

 

I purchased this volume a couple weeks ago at the 2026 Summer Monster Bash Conference. 

Perhaps no other actor's profile has been affected by various myths and legends as that of Bela Lugosi. Many of these fables are still all over the internet, to the point where one must be very wary when reading something about Lugosi on social media. 

VAMPIRE OVER LONDON--Bela Lugosi In Britain, is a heavily researched, minutely detailed book that deals in facts, not legend. Written by Frank Dello Stritto and Andi Brooks, the volume takes a deep dive into the 1951 British stage tour of DRACULA starring Lugosi, and the three films the actor made in England (MYSTERY OF THE MARY CELESTE, THE DARK EYES OF LONDON, and MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE). 

Legend says that the 1951 DRACULA tour was so unsuccessful that Bela and his wife Lillian went broke and were basically stranded in England, forcing Lugosi to take part in the terrible MOTHER RILEY movie just to raise enough money to get home. The authors reveal that Lugosi spent nearly six months touring on stage in the U.K as the Count, giving 229 performances despite physical travails and worries over his career. 

A number of people that were actually involved in the tour, either on stage or off, have been interviewed for this book, along with many folks who were blessed to witness one of Bela's performances. They state that despite Bela being in his late 60s, he was still a compelling and captivating figure on stage. 

The book also gives an almost day-by-day portrait of Lugosi during a tumultuous period in his life. Bela was a complicated individual, but he still had plenty of Old World European charm, and despite his frustrations over typecasting, he could easily slip into his Dracula persona when he needed publicity. 

VAMPIRE OVER LONDON also shines a much-needed spotlight on Lillian Lugosi. Out of all of Lugosi's wives, Lillian lasted the longest, and this book shows that she was Bela's one-woman entourage, taking care of him and watching over him at all times. It's no coincidence that after Bela and Lillian split up the actor's life went downhill. 

VAMPIRE OVER LONDON is nearly 500 pages long, and it is jammed packed with material and heavily illustrated, with many rare photos of Lugosi. The book has a number of appendices that give even more knowledge on Lugosi's overall appearances on stage as the Count, and how critics at the time reacted to the 1951 British stage tour. 

This volume is an absolute must for Bela Lugosi fans. We will never know what it must have been like to see Lugosi play Dracula on stage, but VAMPIRE OVER LONDON gives the reader as close of an approximation of that experience as one could have. It also gives us a much better idea of what Bela was like as a human being. The book is published by Cult Movie Press. 

THE SPACE CHILDREN

 

The title of this film is somewhat of a misnomer--there are no space children in it, and no children in it actually go out in space. THE SPACE CHILDREN is a 1958 science-fiction tale produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold. Alland and Arnold together made some of the most notable genre films in the 1950s for Universal, but on this one they were working under the auspices of Paramount. 

THE SPACE CHILDREN takes place at a top secret military base on the California coast. An important launch is being prepared there of a satellite that will be carrying advanced weaponry. During the run up to the launch, a number of strange occurrences take place. A being from outer space, a being that resembles a glowing, growing, pulsating brain, has been making contact with a group of children of the civilian workers on the base. The point of this contact is to stop the weapon from being launched into orbit. 

THE SPACE CHILDREN has a few things in common with another William Alland-Jack Arnold film, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, and it also calls to mind VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, even though the children in that film are far more lethal. The 'being" is using innocent humans to achieve its goal, but it isn't overtly threatening or dangerous (except in one instance). There's very little FX in THE SPACE CHILDREN, and the expected clash between the military and the being never comes to pass. 

In the science-fiction films he directed Jack Arnold usually made much use of the terrain the stories were located in, and he does this plenty in THE SPACE CHILDREN. There's plenty of scenes showing characters going back and forth over the rocky shore, and the sound of the pounding surf is a constant throughout. Arnold even trots out one of his favorite tricks, the "character being unexpectedly grabbed from off-screen" jump scare. Arnold's use of the environment is rather pronounced here, probably due to the fact that there isn't much to the plot. The movie only lasts about 68 minutes, and it could have easily been turned into a half-hour TV show. 

Due to the short length of the film we never get to really know any of the kids--they're a generic group of bright-eyed youngsters, but none of them stands out. (Michel Ray as Bud, the sort-of-leader of the kids, does show an unusual maturity.) None of the adult characters stand out either--the parents of the kids are overly emotional and argumentative, another way of reminding us that only innocent children would be able to understand an alien force that just wants us to stop destroying ourselves. (It is mentioned that there are children all over the world who are in the same situation, but due to this film's low budget, we are never shown any of this.) 

The cast is notable for the presence of four performers best known for their roles in classic TV shows: Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES), Russell Johnson (The Professor on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND), Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester on THE ADDAMS FAMILY) and Johnny Crawford (the son of THE RIFLEMAN). Russell Johnson plays against type as the parent who is a drunken lout (he's also the only character killed by the being in order to stop him from beating his stepson). Johnson's part is such an obvious jerk that one wonders how in the heck he has a job at a top-secret military base. 

It's fairly accurate to say that William Alland and Jack Arnold were trying to make a gentler kind of 1950s sci-fi story, with an anti-nuclear weapons message. It's a decent effort, but it's not on the same level as the earlier sci-fi tales made by Alland and Arnold. The budget is too low, and there's just not enough going on in the story to make it memorable. 

HOME AT SEVEN

 

Kino's BRIT NOIR COLLECTION II is now available, and like the first set, it contains three black & white British films from the 1950s and 60s whose stories involve crime and murder. Today I'll be discussing 1952's HOME AT SEVEN (also known as MURDER ON MONDAY), a London Films production based on a R.C. Sherriff play, starring Ralph Richardson, who also directed. (HOME AT SEVEN was the only theatrical feature the esteemed actor ever helmed.) 

HOME AT SEVEN gets things going right off the bat, as bank clerk David Preston arrives home from work at 7 pm, as he usually does. He finds his wife Janet (Margaret Leighton) in a state of hysterics, however--she hasn't seen him since he left for work Monday morning, and this is Tuesday. The befuddled Preston comes to the realization that he has no memory of what happened to him the last 24 hours--and neither, apparently, does anyone else. To make matters worse, a large amount of money was stolen from Preston's club, an organization in which he was the treasurer, and a member of the club--a man Preston despised--has been found murdered. Preston struggles to find out what exactly happened, with help from Janet and his Doctor (Jack Hawkins). 

HOME AT SEVEN is more of a suburban mystery story than a full-fledged noir, although there is a psychological element to Preston's mental block. The story's origins as a stage play are quite evident, with many dialogue-heavy scenes and events being described instead of dramatized visually. (The important character of the murdered man is never even shown.) 

Ralph Richardson played the role of David Preston on stage, and it fits him well. Richardson always brought a quirky aspect to whatever part he played, and while Preston appears to be a straightforward unassuming white-collar man, the viewer gets the feeling that he's hiding something. Richardson gets good support from Margaret Leighton as his loyal wife and Jack Hawkins as the trustworthy doctor. Many of the other roles in this film were played by actors who, like Richardson, also appeared in the stage version of the story. 

HOME AT SEVEN sets up a very intriguing premise, but the climax is a bit of a disappointment. Ralph Richardson is always entertaining to watch, and he directed this film capably enough, but if this story were remade again I've no doubt a few extra plot twists would be added. Ironically enough a BBC TV adaptation of HOME AT SEVEN was made in 1957, starring my favorite actor Peter Cushing in the lead role. I'd certainly love to see that, but it appears no copies of it exist. 

THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA

 

What better way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America than to watch a movie that revolves around the War for Independence? Now, what if I told you the movie stars Cary Grant, of all people, as a rugged Colonial frontiersman? 

That movie happens to be THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA, a 1940 Columbia release that was produced and directed by Frank Lloyd. I recently purchased it on DVD at a discount from Edward R. Hamilton. 

Cary Grant stars as Matt Howard, a brash fellow in 1760s Virginia who wants nothing more than to travel to the untamed Ohio territory to carve out a place for himself. Matt starts to do some surveying for various upper class Virginia families, and he falls in love with the daughter of one esteemed household--Jane Peyton (Martha Scott). In true old movie fashion, Matt annoys the prim and proper Jane until she agrees to marry him. The couple starts to build a new life together, but the tensions between the Colonies and England affects their happiness, as Matt chooses to fight for an independent country while Jane wants her family to avoid conflict altogether. 

The main topic when it comes to THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA is the casting--or miscasting--of Cary Grant in the lead role. Why anyone at Columbia thought having Grant in this movie is beyond me. There were plenty of other leading men in 1940 Hollywood that would have been much more suitable, such as Randolph Scott (who actually was a native Virginian), Joel McCrea, and John Wayne. Grant looks distinctly uncomfortable in 18th Century colonial garb, and his performance is uncomfortable as well. Grant overplays the role, yelling most of his dialogue and using what at times sounds like an Irish-Scottish accent. Grant's Matt Howard is so brash and demonstrative that one wonders if he's under the influence of colonial-era uppers. 

Martha Scott's Jane is so prim & proper that she comes off as strident, and she and Grant are not much of a romantic couple. The first part of THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA deals with Matt and Jane trying to get used to one another during the early years of their marriage (at one point Matt takes part in a rambunctious hoedown). In the second part of the film the story gets away from the soap opera elements and starts to follow the historical events leading up to the Revolution, as Matt is elected to the House of Burgesses and starts to be more of a firebrand. This bothers his wife and her disdainful, snooty brother (Cedric Hardwicke), a dyed-in-the-wool Tory who never wanted his sister to marry Matt in the first place. 

Eventually, Matt joins the Continental Army, and his two sons (who seemingly have grown into teenagers overnight) visit their father at Valley Forge to join up as well. The entire Howard family is finally happily reunited just before the Battle of Yorktown. 

Among the major historical characters who have "cameos" in THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA are George Washington, Patrick Henry, Baron von Stuben, and the Marquis de Lafayette. One founding father actually has a major supporting role: Thomas Jefferson, as played by Richard Carlson. Jefferson happens to be Matt's best friend (Howard calls him "Tom"). Thomas Jefferson is one of the most intriguing figures in American history, but here he's just the main character's sidekick. 

(I need to point out that my favorite actor, Peter Cushing, is in this film for one scene. If you're looking for him, he shows up right after the beginning sequence, when Thomas Jefferson introduces Matt to a number of prominent Virginians at a tavern.) 

Frank Lloyd directed a number of historical epics in his career, including the 1935 version of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY. He keeps the story moving here but so many incidents go by so quickly that it's hard at times to remember how many years have passed from one scene to another. THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA has more than a few things in common with DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK, but that John Ford epic was a much better film, and it was in color. 

If THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA had a different leading man and leading lady, and if it had spent more time and effort detailing history, it would have come out more successfully. The Revolutionary War is filled with all sorts of amazing figures and amazing incidents, but the entertainment industry has never really been able to capture it in a dramatic and interesting fashion. 

UNEARTHLY STRANGER On Blu-ray From Kino

 

How do you make a science fiction film with no special effects? The 1963 British movie UNEARTHLY STRANGER managed to pull it off. A black & white low-budget feature with no major stars and no major FX sequences might not seem very promising, but this is a creative and imaginative tale that is ahead of its time in some ways. Kino Lorber has recently released it on Blu-ray. 

John Neville (who played Sherlock Holmes in A STUDY IN TERROR) plays British scientist Mark Davidson, who is working on a top secret project involving the use of concentrated thought to allow humans to project themselves into outer space. Mark is troubled by the fact that a number of other scientists around the world working on the same idea have been killed--their brains have been literally blasted by an overwhelming force. Mark starts to suspect that there is some sort of conspiracy to stop the project from coming to fruition, and he's also worried about his beautiful young wife Julie (Gabriella Licudi), a woman he recently married despite barely knowing her only a few days. Julie has a number of strange attributes. 

UNEARTHLY STRANGER is a quite underrated movie that has an X-FILES "everything is a conspiracy" feel to it. (John Neville would go on to play a small but important role in the original THE X-FILES TV series.) Director John Krish and cinematographer Reg Wyer make up for the lack of FX by giving the story a disorienting feel, with all sorts of unusual shot setups and plenty of dramatic closeups. John Neville gives the story a solid foundation with his fine portrayal of the lead character, making the viewer buy into his plight. 

The small supporting cast includes Kubrick regular Phillip Stone as Mark's fellow scientist and friend, Patrick Newell (who played "Mother" on THE AVENGERS TV series) as a quirky security officer, and Jean Marsh as a secretary at the research center Mark works at. Gabriella Licudi does well with the notable part of Julie. It's obvious from the start that Julie is connected in some way with Mark's research, but Licudi gains the viewer's sympathy with her vulnerability. 

I won't discuss the climax of this film too much, so first-time viewers can appreciate it more, but the ending fits right in with the 21st Century vibe of "we're all being controlled no matter what we choose". 

Kino presents UNEARTHLY STRANGER in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1. The picture quality is very clear, but I have to say that the sound is underwhelming. The movie comes with a disc sleeve that has different promotional art than that of the actual disc cover (see above). Neither cover actually presents the film accurately, but any artwork would be hard-pressed to define the movie's ideas. 

This disc contains two different audio commentaries, one by Gary Gerani and the other by Bryan Reesman and Max Evry. I haven't had a chance to listen to either of them. The disc also contains original trailers for UNEARTHLY STRANGER and a few other films released by Kino. 

I liked UNEARTHLY STRANGER a lot. It isn't overwhelmingly great, but it's a nice little sci-fi feature that feels as if it was made for today's times instead of the 1960s. It is a genre film than should get more attention. 

MAGIC TOWN

 

This is a 1947 RKO release that was produced & written by Robert Riskin, and directed by William Wellman. It stars James Stewart and Jane Wyman. With a roster of talent like that, most of you reading this may be wondering why you haven't heard of this film. It wasn't a success when it originally came out, and it almost never plays on TV. I watched it once, years ago, and I recently bought it on Blu-ray from Edward R. Hamilton. 

MAGIC TOWN was Robert Riskin's attempt to make a comedic-dramatic look at American life like the ones he collaborated on as a writer with Frank Capra in the 1930s. The title refers to a small Midwestern town called Grandview, a place whose residents accurately reflect the opinions of most Americans. Pollster Rip Smith (James Stewart) discovers this, and he and his associates (Donald Meek and Ned Sparks) immediately set up shop in the town as insurance agents. Smith's plan is to covertly access the citizens thoughts while supposedly trying to sell insurance, and selling the findings to various companies. Smith knows that any major changes to Grandview will throw off his scheme, so he keeps an eye on the local newspaper editor, a woman named Mary Peterman (Jane Wyman) who believes the town should stretch out and grow. 

Rip and Mary grow attracted to one another, and Smith starts coaching the local school basketball team. Just as Rip is becoming a trusted member of the community, and he and Mary are becoming more and more serious about each other, she discovers his scheme (a development one knew was going to happen). Mary prints a story in her newspaper detailing how Grandview is the perfect American city, which draws all sorts of attention to the town. Grandview becomes a national sensation, while Rip sullenly goes back to New York City. The first official poll the citizens of Grandview take on their own winds up way off of what the majority of Americans think, causing the town to go bust. A chastened Rip and Mary try to figure out a way to bring the town back to its senses. 

The idea of a town reflecting the majority of the average American's opinions is a good one, but one can tell from the above synopsis that Robert Riskin wasn't able to properly figure out how to use it. MAGIC TOWN tries very hard to be a classic Capra comedy that also reflects contemporary social issues, but there's something about it that just doesn't jell. The folksy elements so beloved in Frank Capra's work come off as forced and obvious in MAGIC TOWN. William Wellman was an excellent director--he's one of the most underrated filmmakers that worked during the Golden Age of Hollywood--but one gets the feeling this wasn't his type of material. 

James Stewart is fine as always, but his Rip Smith is more of an antagonist instead of a protagonist. Rip constantly wavers back and forth between being a hard-boiled cynic about what he is doing and someone who truly loves Grandview and its citizens. The movie has a lot of scenes detailing Rip and Mary's relationship, but Stewart and Wyman just don't seem to click. Jane Wyman's Mary is too severe, and in my opinion the actress is stuck with an unflattering hairstyle. 

MAGIC TOWN is filled with plenty of character actors who play the type of "regular people" roles that Frank Capra loved so well--actors like Donald Meek, Ned Sparks, Wallace Ford, and Ann Doran and Regis Toomey, who play almost exactly the same type of roles that they did in Capra and Riskin's MEET JOHN DOE. The "ordinary folks" antics in this movie seem a bit contrived. 

The best sequence in the film shows how Grandview changes after getting national attention. While watching this last night I first thought that the presentation of the town going from bucolic to booming to bust happened way too fast, but considering how in today's world yesterday's trending topic becomes forgotten a few days later, Robert Riskin was onto something here. The sequence also has an energy and a drive that reminds one of the Capra touch. 

The biggest issue I have with MAGIC TOWN is the ending. To revitalize the citizenry of Grandview, Rip and Mary come up with the idea of shaming the populace into building a new high school and civics center, even though the town is now broke. Most of the great Capra-Riskin films deal with an individual facing huge odds. MAGIC TOWN deals with a city instead of a leading character, something that is much harder to dramatize. The climax of MAGIC TOWN involves a discussion about city planning issues, which isn't exactly the type of thing to get an audience excited about. (During the sequence, the citizens--which are all gathered together in the best Capra tradition--swear that if they have to they will build everything themselves, which seems very hard to believe.) 

James Stewart is one of my all-time favorite actors, and I really wanted to enjoy MAGIC TOWN, but it just didn't work for me. It would be intriguing if someone took the main idea of MAGIC TOWN and did a different spin on it--but in today's world society is so fragmented that a town that reflects what the majority of Americans think seems something out of a science-fiction tale. 

THE HOUSE OF HAMMER--VOLUME ONE

 

The current Hammer Films company has been churning out plenty of product in the last few years--so much product that you'd have to be Elon Musk to buy it all. I've been very carefully picking & choosing when it comes to the latest Hammer home video box sets, but I took the plunge with THE HOUSE OF HAMMER--VOLUME ONE. It is a two-disc region free Blu-ray set that also includes a 120-page booklet. 

The discs and the booklet contain a number of programs, documentaries, and articles that examine not only various facets of Hammer history, but the entire English Gothic genre overall. 

Some online have commented that this set is a group of extras looking for a feature, while others have suggested that the release should have been called THE HOUSE OF NON-HAMMER. (As you can see in the photo of the front of the set case above, Vincent Price takes prominence, and yes, I'm well aware he never appeared in a Hammer film.) I've actually watched all the programs on both discs, and I've read the entire booklet, and I will say that there is plenty of material here relating to Hammer. 

The highlight on Disc One is a nearly two-hour documentary on American-International Pictures--and this is just part one of the entire program. Titled MASQUES, MONSTERS AND MADMEN, the program covers the beginnings of AIP, how it took advantage of the entertainment industry conditions of the 1950s, and the company's relationship with filmmaker Roger Corman. The documentary mostly focuses on the British horror and sci-fi films AIP was involved in or at least distributed in the U.S. (It doesn't cover the Beach Party movies.) It goes up to about the end of the 1960s. Overall it is an extensive examination of some of the most famous horror films made in the 1950s and 60s. 

Disc One also contains an entertaining look at the life and acting career of Michael Gough by Jonathan Rigby, which runs about 45 minutes. There's also a program discussing the connection between Cornwall (an area of southwest England) and Birtish horror, which actually spends a lot of time talking about movies that don't have anything to do with Cornwall. 

Filling out Disc One is a short film made by Hammer in 1959 called TICKET TO HAPPINESS. Running about a half an hour, this is a lighthearted tale involving an industrialist trying to obtain land in a small British town. This short is so obscure, it's not even listed on IMDB! The most notable thing about it are the names involved in it that will be familiar to Hammer fans, such as director Peter Bryan, cinematographer Michael Reed, and actors Michael Goodliffe, Jeremy Longhurst, and Charles Lloyd Pack. 

Disc Two contains a feature documentary called DEEP CUTS, which examines the history of censorship in American and British cinema, and a program on makeup artists Lou and Dave Elsey, two full-on Hammer fans who have made their mark in plenty of big-time movie franchises. There's also a deep examination of various Hammer music soundtracks by David Huckvale, who is the ultimate expert in such matters. 

Disc Two also has footage of Roger Corman from a 1995 Festival of Fantastic Films convention, and, finally, a Q & A held after the premier screening of the 4K restoration of THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN in London in October 2025. The panelists include Kim Newman, Wayne Kinsey, Lucy Bolton, David Pirie, and actor Melvyn Hayes, the last surviving member of the COF cast, who steals the show. 

Now....I have to talk about the booklet!! That contains a look at the making of the AIP British film CRY OF THE BANSHEE, written by English Gothic expert John Hamilton. There's also articles on the British companies other than Hammer that delved into horror features, an appreciation of AIP's Edgar Allan Poe series, a look at Caralan, the production company that made DOCTOR BLOOD'S COFFIN and THE SNAKE WOMAN, and an essay by Wayne Kinsey showcasing the non-horror films made by Hammer. 

One article I need to point out is Dick Klemensen's look back at the beginnings of his fantastic magazine LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS, a publication which has played a major part in Hammer history. In that article Mr. K points out that no other film company has had nearly every aspect of its history as thoroughly examined as that of Hammer Films--and he's absolutely right, with this set being a perfect example. 

Needless to say, this set is jam-packed with material, and it comes in a slipcase with impressively-designed packaging. The booklet is well-illustrated, and the documentaries contain plenty of talking heads that are true Hammer and English Gothic experts, such as John Hamilton, Jonathan Rigby, David Pirie, John Logan, Wayne Kinsey, and Richard Klemensen. 

This is a hardcore set for hardcore fans. You'll certainly learn about Hammer and English Gothic history, but if you are not a major fan of the subject to begin with, you're going to be a bit lost. I personally loved it--there are some times in the programs where things jump about a bit, and the focus wavers, but all in all there's plenty of entertaining and informative material here, and this is a set that is made specifically for English Gothic enthusiasts. I've no doubt there will be multiple volumes of THE HOUSE OF HAMMER in the future, and I can only wonder what will be contained in them. (By the way, if Hammer and John Gore want to talk to someone who has spent some time with some of the Hammer ladies, I do know a guy....) 

THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU

 

I finally saw this movie last night. The immediate reaction to it has been underwhelming, but I have to say that I found it to be a good, solid, enjoyable action-packed adventure. 

Taking place in the post-RETURN OF THE JEDI Star Wars Universe, THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU presents the title characters dealing with various warlords and coming to the rescue of Rotta the Hutt. Rotta (voiced by Jeremy Allen White) is the son of the notorious Jabba the Hutt, and his fate causes Mando (Pedro Pascal) to go against his New Republic employers to do what he feels is the right thing. 

THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU starts out with a very well-executed action sequence, and things don't slow down very much from there. Along with disposing of several ex-Imperial operatives and goons, Mando also fights off a menagerie of CGI monsters. The numerous battle scenes might be repetitive to some, but director/co-writer Jon Favreau stages them skillfully and efficiently, and let's face it, this is a summer blockbuster popcorn movie, so....what else would you expect? 

I was worried that the Rotta the Hutt subplot would turn out silly, but it actually comes off very well, even though it is a bit disconcerting to hear a Hutt speak perfect Galactic Standard. 

There's nothing in this story that makes a major impact on the Star Wars Universe, which to my mind is a good thing. Mando still has his quiet swagger and deadpan sense of humor, while Grogu still eats a lot and does cute things. (The green tyke even gets a chance to save Mando during the film's latter moments.) 

THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU might have made a bigger impact in the marketplace if it had been released about five years ago, during the height of Grogunmania. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable and fun romp that more than delivers the goods action-wise. 

THE RINGER (1952)

 

For the last few years, I've been writing plenty of posts on German Krimi films based on the writings of British author Edgar Wallace. Here's a Wallace movie adaptation that was actually made in England. It is THE RINGER, made in 1952, and included in Kino's BRIT NOIR COLLECTION I set. 

THE RINGER is one of Edgar Wallace's most famous works. First written in novel form, the story was later adapted into a successful play, and it was made into a film several times. In this version "The Ringer" is Henry Milton, a notorious vigilante who supposedly fled to Australia and died there. The Ringer comes back into the news when it is rumored that he is threatening corrupt lawyer Maurice Meister (Herbert Lom). The Ringer's sister worked for Meister before apparently committing suicide. Scotland Yard tries to protect Meister, but no one knows what the Ringer looks like, not even his wife, who hasn't seen her husband in years. Plenty of suspects crop up, but it's the threat of the Ringer that causes more consternation than the man himself. 

Once again I need to point out that even though this movie appears in a Blu-ray set labeled "Noir', there isn't really all that much connected to that genre showing up in the feature. The 1952 THE RINGER has a lighthearted air about it, and most of the film takes place inside Meister's upscale house--there's no mean rain-slicked streets here. The movie offers up a number of enjoyably broad performances by the likes of Donald Wolfit (BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE), William Hartnell (the very first actor to play Doctor Who), and Greta Gynt as The Ringer's acerbic, glamorous wife. (Gynt had already starred in another famous Edgar Wallace movie adaptation: THE HUMAN MONSTER, with Bela Lugosi.) The cast also features a very young Denholm Elliott and Mai Zetterling. 

Earlier this year I had viewed DER HEXXER, the 1964 German Krimi version of THE RINGER, so I was familiar with most of the aspects of the plot....but the 1952 version still provided some surprises. This film is dialogue-heavy, and it does betray its stage origins, but director Guy Hamilton (whose debut film this was) keeps things barreling along almost like a screwball comedy. THE RINGER is a very different product from the 1960s German Krimis, but it's very entertaining in its own right. 

As for the entire BRIT NOIR COLLECTION I, I would call it very impressive overall. I had never seen the three films included in it, and although one can debate whether or not they are truly "noir", all the movies are very well made, and they look outstanding for their age. (All three are in black & white, and the only one in widescreen is THE FRIGHTENED CITY, with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.) Each film in this set has a brand new audio commentary (I have not yet been able to listen to any of them yet). I would rate THE FRIGHTENED CITY the best movie in the set, with THE RINGER just behind, and the heavy-handed CAGE OF GOLD in the tail position. 

Kino might be taking advantage of the popularity of the "noir" label to package a random set of British crime dramas, but these are movies very few Americans know about, let alone have seen, and any company giving rare films a home video debut is a plus. Kino has two more Brit Noir Collections coming out this year, and I'm already planning on purchasing them. 

CAGE OF GOLD

 

CAGE OF GOLD is one of the three films contained in Kino's BRIT NOIR COLLECTION I Blu-ray set. It is a 1950 film from Ealing Studios that is more of a soap opera-style melodrama than what I would call a true noir. 

Set in post-WWII London, the story concerns young Judith (Jean Simmons), who one day encounters former flame Bill Glennan (David Farrar). During the war Judith's family lived near an RAF base, and she had a huge crush on Glennan, who was a fighter pilot. Glennan once again sweeps Judith off her feet, causing her to reject her decent, upstanding doctor boyfriend Alan (James Donald). Judith gets pregnant, and she and Bill marry.....but he leaves her on their wedding night, and later Judith receives word that Bill has died in a plane crash. Judith marries Alan, and they raise her child with Bill as their own.....but Bill is still alive, and he returns to London to harass and blackmail the family. 

CAGE OF GOLD is one of those "Good woman gets involved with a bad relationship" stories that has some very predictable aspects to it. The movie is well-acted, and it is directed by the very capable Basil Dearden, but it lacks a certain spark that would make it very memorable. The main issue for me was David Farrar. He's not bad in the role of Bill, but the character is supposed to be a cad and a bounder who causes all women he meets to throw all caution to the winds, and Farrar seems too stolid and plain to be a conniving bad-boy and untrustworthy ladies man. 

A large amount of the running time of this picture involves Bill's shady doings in a Parisian nightclub (the establishment's name provides the film's title), with Madeleine Lebeau (CASABLANCA) as a nightclub singer who is another of Bill's conquests, and Herbert Lom as the mysterious fellow who runs the place. Lom gives off plenty of Peter Lorre-type vibes in his too-small role, but the nightclub scenes seem just a diversion from Jean Simmons' situation. 

The ending of this film wraps things up way too neatly, but the climax at least has Bernard Lee as a stalwart police inspector. One can't help but feel that if CAGE OF GOLD were made by Americans, the movie would have had more excitement to it. If this movie qualifies as a noir, it is a very mild-mannered, very British example of the genre. 

THE FRIGHTENED CITY

 

Kino Lorber has just released the BRIT NOIR COLLECTION I, a two-disc set containing a trio of British crime thrillers made in the 50s and 60s. The movie I chose to view first was THE FRIGHTENED CITY, a 1961 mob tale starring a pre-Bond Sean Connery. 

The plot of THE FRIGHTENED CITY revolves around corrupt accountant Waldo Zhernikov (Herbert Lom), who comes up with the idea to convince the leaders of six different London criminal gangs to merge all of their protection rackets. To help make sure the blackmail money is collected properly, petty thief Paddy Damion (Sean Connery) is hired, due to the fact that he is tough, but smart. Zhernikov and his shady associates start to rake in the dough, but the accountant gets even more ambitious. Zhernikov uses one of the crime bosses (played by Alfred Marks) to partake in a scheme to put the squeeze on some of London's major companies, which causes consternation among the other mob leaders. The scheme also causes Paddy to question whether his activities are worth doing. 

THE FRIGHTENED CITY is a movie I was not aware of, even though I'm a big Sean Connery fan. It's a decent crime story, with efficient black & white photography by Desmond Dickinson and a jazzy music score by Norrie Paramor (the movie's main theme was successfully covered by The Shadows). The film doesn't have as much action as one would think, and what action there is has a ragged feel to it. This factor does make the story come off as more realistic, even though despite the title, the viewer doesn't believe that London is in a panic mode. (If the production had more of a budget, no doubt we would have seen more criminal violence.) 

I have no idea whether James Bond producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman saw THE FRIGHTENED CITY, but the movie is a great showcase for the talents of a pre-007 Sean Connery. Connery's Paddy isn't a swaggering, brutish enforcer.....he has a quiet self-assurance while still maintaining a "Don't mess with me" vibe. Paddy isn't so much an out-and-out criminal as he is an anti-hero. Paddy also has a belief in "honor among thieves", and his experiences with Zhernikov make him realize that he's working for the wrong people. Paddy also develops a relationship with Zhernikov's nightclub singer mistress (Yvonne Monlaur). As always Monlaur looks stunning, and she and Connery project some major heat together. 

Connery is actually billed behind Herbert Lom and John Gregson, who plays the world-weary Inspector Sayers, a police official determined to find who is behind the city-wide protection scheme. Despite his billing Lom doesn't have all that much screen time--his Zhernikov is a clever (and shady) upper-class type who would rather control things behind the scenes instead of being upfront and getting his hands dirty. Like just about every British film made in the 50s and 60s, THE FRIGHTENED CITY has a fine supporting cast, with the likes of Alfred Marks, George Pastell, and Kenneth Griffiths. 

John Lemont co-wrote and directed THE FRIGHTENED CITY, which may shock some people, since Lemont is probably best known today for making KONGA! Despite the low budget Lemont keeps THE FRIGHTENED CITY rolling along, and he knows enough to keep the focus on Sean Connery. I wouldn't call this movie a hard-boiled noir, but it is an effective and entertaining crime story that proves even before he became James Bond Sean Connery could carry a feature. 

I plan on writing blog posts on the other two films included in this set. Kino also has two other Brit Noir Collections set for release this year. Whether all the movies that will be in them actually qualify as "noir" is debatable, but at least Kino is releasing a number of titles that most Americans (such as myself) have not been exposed to. 

SATURDAY NIGHT OUT

 

I'm currently reading BEASTS IN THE CELLAR: THE EXPLOITATION FILM CAREER OF TONY TENSER, written by John Hamilton. The book takes a deep, insightful dive into the movies produced by British showman-impresario Tony Tenser. Tenser made a number of provocative genre films during the 1960s-early 70s that are now regarded as cult classics. Tenser wasn't interested in gaining critical plaudits or mainstream respect--his specialty was making movies that got attention and drew audiences. 

SATURDAY NIGHT OUT (1964) was one of the films Tenser made in partnership with Michael Klinger for their Compton production company. The story--five sailors and one passenger looking for excitement during a night in London while their ship is docked there--has all sorts of exploitative possibilities, but the movie looks quite tame today. The London presented in SATURDAY NIGHT OUT is a black & white, dreary, unfriendly, working-class place, and none of the men on shore leave experience what they expect (except for one of the sailors who literally has a girl in every port, and who happens to spend the entire night with her in bed). The intertwined stories of the men have an air of sadness, loneliness, and frustration about them--there's no sense of a mod Swinging London here. 

SATURDAY NIGHT OUT is actually more notable for its cast than anything else. The various ladies that the men meet in the film are played by such actresses as Heather Sears (from Hammer's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA), Erika Remberg (CIRCUS OF HORRORS), Francesca Annis (Polanski's MACBETH), Vera Day (QUATERMASS II), Toni Gilpin (THE GORGON), and Margaret Nolan (GOLDFINGER). Martine Beswicke is in this film too, even though you barely get a glimpse of her, and on the male side there's Bernard Lee (the original "M" of the James Bond films) and Nigel Green (ZULU). The pop group The Searchers also show up to perform a couple of numbers, although their appearance seems forced into the proceedings. 

The women who get the most screen time are Heather Sears as a kooky chatterbox who falls for one of the sailors, and Francesca Annis (who I'll always think of as Agatha Christie's Tuppence in the British PARTNERS IN CRIME TV series) as a vulnerable orphan who forms a bond with the youngest and most innocent of the men on leave. 

SATURDAY NIGHT OUT was directed by Robert Hartford-Davies, who at times tries to bring a documentary-like tone to the various happenings. The movie was written by brothers Donald and Derek Ford, and they and Hartford-Davies would work with Tony Tenser numerous times. According to John Hamilton, the movie didn't make as much of a splash as Compton's other "slice of life" melodramas, and one can understand why after viewing it. None of the characters are particularly interesting or charismatic, and the men on leave seem far too willing to walk right into trouble (or just too naive to begin with). SATURDAY NIGHT OUT is very much a product of its time, but it does rate attention from film geeks and fans of 1960s British genre cinema. 

A Few Words About Joseph Cotten

 

Last weekend I wrote a blog post about the Euro Western WHITE COMANCHE, in which Joseph Cotten received top billing in the credits. It got me thinking about the films that Cotten appeared in over his long acting career--a list of movies that defines the word "eclectic". 

Consider this group of films that Cotten starred in: 

CITIZEN KANE (Directed by Orson Welles)                                                                                

GASLIGHT (Directed by George Cukor)

SHADOW OF A DOUBT (Directed by Alfred Hitchcock) 

DUEL IN THE SUN (Produced by David O. Selznick) 

THE THIRD MAN (Directed by Carol Reed) 

In this collection of movies Cotten worked with some of the most acclaimed filmmakers of all time. Now consider this list: 

THE HELLBENDERS (Directed by Sergio Corbucci)

LATITUDE ZERO (Directed by Ishiro Honda)

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (Directed by Robert Fuest)

LADY FRANKENSTEIN (Directed by Mel Welles)

BARON BLOOD (Directed by Mario Bava) 

The second list is a collection filled by either all-time cult directors or all-time cult movies.....and I'd venture to say that some film geeks (like myself) might be more impressed with the second list rather than the first. 

Just think about the names of the directors on these lists. If you had tried to work with all these various men on purpose, you probably wouldn't have been able to pull it off. I'm sure Mr. Cotten would have been more inclined to have not worked on most of the movies of the second list, but to be able to have worked with all these filmmakers is an impressive feat. 

Consider also that Cotten appeared in AIRPORT '77 and HEAVEN'S GATE, and he had several television credits as well....he even showed up on an episode of THE LOVE BOAT. There's no doubt that monetary decisions played a part in a lot of Cotten's acting roles in the 60s and 70s....actors have bills to pay just like anyone else. 

However you look at it, Joseph Cotten had an incredible filmography.....although I have a feeling he might have described it in another way. 

WHITE COMANCHE

 

WHITE COMANCHE is a 1967 Euro Western starring--of all people--William Shatner, who made the film during a break in his STAR TREK schedule. What's more, Shatner plays twin brothers, sons of an American father and a Comanche mother. Johnny Moon is a decent man who has chosen to live in the white world, while his brother Notah is a murdering renegade. 

Shatner was one of the many 1960s American male actors who traveled to Europe hoping to emulate Clint Eastwood's success with Spaghetti Westerns. If Shatner thought his time on the plains of Spain would give him some big-screen clout, he was sadly mistaken. 

Johnny Moon is constantly being mistaken for his brother Notah, and constantly blamed for the latter's crimes. This is such a problem that one wonders why Johnny just doesn't go ahead and kill Notah when they confront each other at the beginning of the film (of course if he did, the movie would be only five minutes long). Instead Johnny challenges Notah to meet him in the nearby town of Rio Hondo in a few days. Until then Notah continues his depredations, while Johnny gains the trust of Rio Hondo's Sheriff Logan (Joseph Cotten). 

The situation of William Shatner playing twin brothers, with one of them in Native American garb, calls to mind the STAR TREK episodes "The Enemy Within" (where a transporter malfunction creates a good Kirk and a bad one) and "The Paradise Syndrome", in which the Captain loses his memory on an unexplored planet and is assimilated into an indigenous tribe. Shatner does quite well as the tight-lipped Johnny. He's proficient in the action sequences and he rides a horse very well (which will be no surprise to anyone who knows about the actor's personal hobbies). When it comes to the role of Notah, Shatner just can't cut it. Notah is a peyote taking, crazed savage, and the whiter-than-white clean-cut Shatner looks ridiculous trying to emulate him. (It's easy to tell the brothers apart--Johnny wears a shirt, while Notah doesn't.) 

The lackluster production didn't do Shatner any favors. The movie has a cheap feel to it, with choppy editing, strange camera setups, and mediocre music. The version I watched of this film had an English-language soundtrack, and while Shatner and Joseph Cotten provided their own voices, the rest of the cast sounds flat (and it doesn't help that at times the sound of gun shots are not properly aligned with weapons being fired in the scenes). You can't really call WHITE COMANCHE a true Spaghetti Western, since it was a Spanish-American production, with a Spanish director named Jose Briz Mendez, who is credited as Gilbert Lee Kay in the main titles. One of the producers of the film was Sam White, who was the brother of long-time Three Stooges associate Jules White. 

Rosanna Yanni, an actress who would later work with the likes of Paul Naschy and Jess Franco, plays saloon girl Kelly, who is raped by Notah and later falls in love with Johnny. Yanni has screen presence but it's a bit of a stretch to think her character would have feelings for the identical twin of the man who viciously assaulted her. Joseph Cotten doesn't have much to do as Sheriff Logan, even though he gets top billing above even Shatner. No one else in the cast particularly stands out. 

Much of the plot seems an excuse just to kill time before the final confrontation between Johnny and Notah--a confrontation that winds up being very underwhelming. William Shatner probably assumed that getting a dual role in a European Western would give him a chance to show off his acting chops, but it didn't do much for his career. (I've been an original STAR TREK fan for most of my life, and I barely knew anything about this movie, and hadn't even seen it.) For those who enjoy the camp aspects of William Shatner's performances, WHITE COMANCHE might be of interest, but overall it's a below average Euro Western that might have had a lower budget than the average STAR TREK episode. 

HATE FOR HATE

 

This is a 1967 Euro Western that I was not aware of (its original title is ODIO PER ODIO). It turned up on Turner Classic Movies earlier this week. 

The movie stars Antonio Sabato as Miguel, a poor Mexican prospector who is trying to raise enough money to move to New York and become an artist, and John Ireland as James Cooper, a bandit who is hoping that after one last robbery he can go back to his wife and daughter, who he has not seen in years. Circumstances bring Miguel and Cooper together--the bank that Cooper and his backstabbing partner Moxon (Mirko Ellis) broke into happened to hold Miguel's life savings. After some misunderstandings, the duo join forces to go after Moxon and his gang. 

Despite its title, HATE FOR HATE has a jaunty air about it at times. The charismatic Miguel always has a big grin on his face, and John Ireland lacks the intensity that most vengeance-obsessed Spaghetti Western protagonists have. The pairing of a cocky youngster and a middle-aged gunman is a common one in Euro Westerns, and the element of Cooper's wife and daughter adds some drama, although the situation isn't explored properly. 

HATE FOR HATE is a decent enough production, but there isn't much in it to make it stand out. There is a brief shootout in a rainstorm, and Cooper happens to be dying of malaria that he contracted while in prison, but the movie overall lacks style and energy. Spaghetti Western veteran Fernando Sancho makes an appearance, and honestly he would have made a much better main villain than Mirko Ellis. 

One Domenico Paolella directed this film, and among the multiple screenwriters are such Euro Cult names as Fernando Di Leo and Bruno Corbucci. The best thing about HATE FOR HATE is the engaging lead performance by Antonio Sabato. 

IMPACT (1963)

 

This is an effective, if low-budget, black & white British crime drama lasting only about an hour that I discovered on Tubi. The main reason that it caught my interest was that the film stars George Pastell, who played a number of exotic ethnic types in various movies for Hammer. The Cyprus-born Pastell also showed up in such mainstream fare as John Huston's MOULIN ROUGE, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, and KHARTOUM. 

This time Pastell gets a major role as Sebastian "The Duke" Dukelow, a Soho nightclub owner who also happens to be an underworld kingpin. Dukelow always manages to avoid the law, but a newspaper reporter named Jack Moir (Conrad Phillips) has been writing a number of articles about his criminal activities. Dukelow decides to get Moir out of his hair by framing the reporter for a mail robbery. Moir is convicted, and he winds up serving 20 months in prison. While behind bars Moir comes up with a plan to get revenge on Dukelow. After his release, the reporter sets the plot in motion, with the help of his former cellmate Charlie (John Rees), a fellow who works at a meat-packing plant that has a number of large walk-in freezers. 

IMPACT is a very straightforward tale that barely has any flab on it (both Moir and Dukelow have girlfriends, but the ladies don't have much to do). Moir's plan for revenge is actually quite believable, since it doesn't involve a major action sequence. 

Conrad Phillips (best known for playing the lead role in the WILLIAM TELL TV series) shows plenty of understandable bitterness as the put-upon Moir. (Phillips co-wrote the script for IMPACT with its director, Peter Maxwell.) George Pastell gets the better role as the Duke, and the actor plays him as a disarmingly charming man with plenty of self-assurance. The Duke is so confident that his scheme to frame Moir will work, he even donates 1,000 pounds toward the reporter's attorney fund. 

IMPACT is the type of movie that is best watched late at night when sleep is elusive. Despite its title, the impact it makes is rather low-key.....but Hammer fans will enjoy seeing George Pastell as the lead bad guy. 

THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1969)

 

This is not the 1963 film with the same title directed by Mario Bava. This is a 1969 crime drama that I picked up on DVD at a very cheap price from Edward R. Hamilton, due to the fact that it stars Adam West, one of my childhood heroes due to his portrayal of Batman in the classic TV series. 

This movie was made after the end of West's time as the Caped Crusader, and he no doubt thought THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH would give him a much needed change of pace. West plays Johnny Cain, a former adventurer and intelligence operative who has settled down to become the owner of a nightclub. Cain lives on a luxury boat and zips about in a sports car, and he's also a ladies man. His swinging bachelor lifestyle is interrupted by an accident one night at his club. A garbage truck happens to smash into the wall of the establishment, killing the man sitting in front of the wall--a man who happens to be a powerful crime boss. Cain's former girlfriend Rebel (Nancy Kwan) was the crime boss's mistress, and the syndicate thinks Johnny has something to do with the killing. Cain becomes drawn into an intricate plot involving the mob, communists, the CIA, and a Tibetan statue. 

THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH attempts to be an action-packed adventure, but it falls way short. The plot is convoluted and confusing, and the too-few fight scenes are very basic (and they're not helped by Adam West having a stunt double that looks nothing like him). West spends most of his time either talking to someone or traveling to one location after another, and the pacing is hurt with the insertion of a performance by an exotic dancer and two mediocre songs by the lounge singer who works at Cain's club. The Tibetan statue is a very weak MacGuffin--it doesn't even wind up being all that important. 

Nancy Kwan is actually the title character, but she doesn't have all that much screen time, and she doesn't even provide all that much helpful knowledge to Cain. The supporting cast includes familiar types such as Nehemiah Persoff and Robert Alda, but there are none of the quirky minor characters that most above-average noir/crime/adventure films feature. 

Francis D. Lyon directed THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, and the movie at times feels more like the pilot for a TV series instead of a true theatrical film. The character of Johnny Cain is a promising one, and Adam West does his best with it. Unfortunately the story just never gets going, and Cain's quest for answers doesn't seem to be all that important. This is a movie that will mainly appeal to Adam West fans. 

STRANGE CONFESSION

 

In my post yesterday about THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD I forgot to mention that Universal remade the film in 1945 as STRANGE CONFESSION. The remake was part of Universal's "Inner Sanctum" series, a group of weird mystery movies based on a famed radio show/short story series. 

The Inner Sanctum movies had almost nothing to do with the mystery series it was supposedly based on. The films were low-budget features--they each lasted about an hour--and they all starred Lon Chaney Jr. Universal may have felt they were giving Lon Jr. a chance to stretch his acting chops in the Inner Sanctum series, but Chaney wound up playing a number of brooding, brainy characters that he wasn't really suited for. Lon Jr. spent most of his time on the Inner Sanctum series looking glum and depressed, and the roles that he enacted were not very charismatic. 

Chaney gets a lot of blame for the mediocrity of the Inner Sanctum series, but Universal gave the movies (six in all) journeyman directors, scripts that weren't all that thrilling, and a dull, overall look. I have the entire Inner Sanctum series on DVD, and I hadn't pulled it out in years before I did so last night to view STRANGE CONFESSION. Universal horror fans don't give much respect to the Inner Sanctum series, and even Lon Chaney Jr. fans find the movies underwhelming. 

STRANGE CONFESSION for the most part follows the story pattern of THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD, but there are some major deviations. THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD takes place in World War One-era France, while STRANGE CONFESSION takes place in contemporary America (even though no mention is made of World War II). In the original film Claude Rains is a pacifist writer whose work is credited to publisher Lionel Atwill, while in the remake Lon Chaney Jr. is a chemist working for devious boss J. Carrol Naish. (A pacifist character probably wouldn't have worked too well in a 1945 American film.) 

Lon's chemist, Jeff Carter, comes up with a number of medicines that Naish's Roger Graham, the head of the company, takes credit for. Jeff quits over this but he comes back to make life better for his wife (Brenda Joyce) and their young son. Graham is pushing Jeff to finish up a new medicine, but the chemist wants to make 100% sure it is effective. Graham sends Jeff off to South America on a research trip, so he can take Carter's notes and rush out the new medicine. Graham also wants to put the moves on Jeff's wife. While Jeff is stuck in South America, Graham rushes out the new medicine during an influenza epidemic, but the product doesn't work, causing a tragedy that drives Carter to attempt to retrieve his "mind". 

STRANGE CONFESSION, like all the other Inner Sanctum films, has a decent premise but its drab, no frills attitude doesn't take advantage of it. The movie spends a lot of time trying to establish Lon Jr.'s Jeff as a good family man, but Chaney still looks uncomfortable in such a role. J. Carrol Naish is much more low-key than Lionel Atwill in THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD, and the result is that Naish doesn't come off as a major threat. 

The supporting cast has plenty of familiar faces, including Milburn Stone, Lloyd Bridges, Mary Gordon, and Ian Wolfe. The movie was directed by John Hoffman, not exactly a household name, and while STRANGE CONFESSION isn't terrible, there's nothing in it that makes it stand out, other than its leading man and its Inner Sanctum connection. 

I don't think up to this point I have ever written a blog post on any of the Inner Sanctum titles. They are films that I don't revisit very often. If you happen to be a Universal Monsters fan and you haven't watched the Inner Sanctum series, I would suggest that you do check them out, just to see Lon Jr. and plenty of other cult actors. Just don't expect too much out of them. 

THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD On Blu-ray From Kino

 

Kino provides another rare early 1930s Universal production with a home video release. THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD (1934) has been branded as a "sort of" horror thriller, but it's really a melodrama set during World War One that details how one man's earnest creativity can be used for nefarious ends. 

The Man of the title is Paul Verin (Claude Rains). Paul is a French pacifist writer and a social misfit who takes up penning editorials and articles for publisher Henri Dumont (Lionel Atwill) in order to improve his family's financial standing. The articles go out under Dumont's name, which doesn't bother Paul, who believes the more socially-connected publisher will be able to influence public opinion and help shape a better world. When World War One breaks out, the ambitious Dumont is convinced by a group of powerful arms dealers to change his tune. The resultant rush to war sweeps Verin into the army, while Dumont attempts to seduce the writer's beautiful wife Adele (a very young and blonde Joan Bennett). The various crises cause Verin to go past the breaking point and leave the front in order to retrieve his "mind". 

The main story of THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD is told in flashback by a distraught Paul. This flashback takes up the rest of the film. Claude Rains gives another of his outstanding performances as the lead character, although the audience's sympathy for Paul is tempered by the fact that he's too modest and committed to his beliefs to realize he's being used. (One also wonders how a person like Paul was able to marry the much younger and attractive Adele.) 

The number one reason to see this movie is to watch greats like Rains and Lionel Atwill act opposite one another. Atwill's Dumont isn't so much an out and out villain as he is a clever, suave opportunist. One can even understand why Adele might be swayed by the outwardly charming Dumont. It's intriguing to think of an alternate version of this film where Rains and Atwill switched roles. 

Universal horror fans will recognize such supporting actors as Lawrence Grant, Gilbert Emery, Edward Van Sloan, and Harry Cording. (Valerie Hobson is also in this as well, but you'll have to really pay attention to get a glimpse of her.) Director Edward Ludwig and cinematographer Merritt Gerstad provide a number of expressive sequences and shots. 

Kino's Blu-ray of THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD looks and sounds great, with a very nice black & white transfer. Two new audio commentaries are provided. One features Troy Howarth, and he gives plenty of detail and interesting analysis about every aspect of the film. The other commentary is by David Del Valle, which I haven't listened to. 

I had never actually seen THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD before, but I had certainly read about it over the years. Despite having plenty of Universal Monster-style elements, it is definitely not a horror film, and I wouldn't even call it very thrilling. It is a well-done drama, a bit heavy-handed at times, and it is worth seeing mainly for Claude Rains and Lionel Atwill alone. Kino has thankfully released a number of early 1930s Universal films that have seemingly fallen through the cracks, and hopefully they have more on the way in the future. 

TREASURE ISLAND (1990)

 

This is another DVD I purchased at a discount from Edward R. Hamilton. This version of Robert Louis Stevenson's venerable story was first shown on the American TNT TV cable network in January 1990. I remember seeing commercials for it, but for whatever reason I didn't catch its original broadcast, and I never saw it until last night. 

One would assume that since this TREASURE ISLAND stars Charlton Heston and was written, produced and directed by his son Fraser C. Heston, it is nothing more than a vanity project. That's far from the case, however--it is a well-mounted production that was released in theaters overseas. Some reviews I've read online state that it is the best overall version of the classic adventure story. 

The 1990 TREASURE ISLAND gets off to a rousing start with the likes of Oliver Reed as a supremely rugged Billy Bones and Christopher Lee as a particularly loathsome Blind Pew. A teenage Christian Bale is Jim Hawkins, and even at this early stage in his career the actor is showing his "Look how intense I am" performance style (this Jim is not a wide-eyed youngster). 

Charlton Heston was in his sixties when he played Long John Silver here, but he puts his all into the role, and he seems to be enjoying himself immensely. He also makes Silver a decidedly nasty fellow who isn't as likable as other versions of the character. As a matter of fact, this TREASURE ISLAND is a bit darker and more realistic than other adaptations, with a group of cutthroats and scalawags who are much more brutal than quirky or entertaining. 

The supporting cast is a fine one, with Julian Glover as Dr. Livesey and Richard Johnson as Squire Trelawney. (Isla Blair, Julian Glover's real-life wife, plays Jim Hawkins' mother.) The art direction and production design is very impressive, and the movie is helped immeasurably by location shooting on the coast of England, and Jamaica. 

This technically may have been a Cable-TV movie, but it feels and looks like a theatrical feature, and it is better than most films made around this period. My favorite TREASURE ISLAND is still the Disney live-action version, but the Hestons should have been proud of what they accomplished with their adaptation. 

THE MERCILESS TRAP

 

This is a 1961 noir film made by Japan's Toho Studios. I discovered it on the Internet Archive, in an English-dubbed version with English main titles. Very few non-Kaiju Toho films were given the status of an English-language version. I assume THE MERCILESS TRAP got this distinction due to its being very much like the gritty low-budget American crime films of the 40s and 50s. (The original Japanese title of this movie is NASAKA MUYO NO WANA.) 

Makato Sato plays Ninomiya, an ex-con who makes his living driving a dump truck. Ninomiya is under suspicion of having murdered the call girl he was with the night before. A sympathetic inspector (Ichiro Nakatani) takes Ninomiya to the morgue and shows him the woman's corpse, but the truck driver is shocked to find that it is not who he spent the night with. Ninomiya knows that the police will doubt his story, so he goes off to find the actual woman (Kumi Mizuno)--a woman he happens to be infatuated with, even though he knows almost nothing about her. That woman, named Masako, happens to have plenty of troubles of her own....and both she and Ninomiya are pawns in a criminal game they know nothing about. 

THE MERCILESS TRAP has plenty of noir-like features, with its grimy, working-class settings, stark black & white photography, ex-con protagonist suspected of a crime he didn't commit, and a mysterious woman who holds the protagonist's fate in her hands. Toho giant monster fans will appreciate THE MERCILESS TRAP for its acting lineup of Kaiju veterans, such as Akihiko Hirata playing the role of Ninomiya's boss and Mie Hama in a small role. Director Jun Fukuda would go on to helm many Godzilla adventures himself. 

Makato Sato also showed up in plenty of Kaiju features, usually as a gangster or a bad guy. Here he gets the lead role, and I must say he's rather over-exuberant in it. One can understand why he's so emotional, but if anything it makes his character look even more guilty. Cult legend Kumi Mizuno gives a great performance as Masako, a young woman who has important reasons for being mysterious. 

Watching THE MERCILESS TRAP makes one realize how easily film noir could be transferred to another country. This is a Japanese film, but it has an urban feel and plenty of characters trying to get through life the best way they can. The jazzy, soulful music score by Kenjiro Hirose adds to the atmosphere. 

Noir and Kaiju fans will appreciate THE MERCILESS TRAP. It is a fine showcase for Kumi Mizuno, proving that she could hold her own in a mainstream drama that didn't have any genre elements. 

KRONOS

 

The 1957 science fiction film KRONOS stands out for its title "monster", a giant metallic machine from outer space that accumulates massive amounts of energy and is invulnerable to man-made weapons. 

The giant machine grows out of a flying saucer that lands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico. The saucer is believed to be an asteroid, but Dr. Leslie Gaskell (Jeff Morrow) has his doubts. Gaskell works at a scientific research center called LabCentral along with his girlfriend-lab assistant Vera (Barbara Lawrence) and buddy-co-worker Dr. Arnold Culver (George O'Hanlon). The trio go to Mexico to investigate the strange craft, while an alien intelligence has taken over the mind of Dr. Hubbell Eliot (John Emery), the head of LabCentral. As the giant Kronos machine makes its way up the West Coast, Gaskell tries to figure out how to stop it, while fending off the possessed Dr. Eliot's devious intentions. 

KRONOS certainly has a novel premise--the title character is the true star of the film, and its design is unique and intriguing. (It is not a robot, by the way.) One wishes that the production had a bigger budget to make more of such a premise. It's no coincidence that the giant machine pops up next to a desolate stretch of Mexico (no major cities or landmarks to deal with). It appears that Gaskell and his two companions are the only people investigating the landing of the strange object, and they also appear to be the only scientists that are trying to come up with a plan to destroy Kronos. (Gaskell gives the giant machine its moniker after a character in Greek mythology.) 

The movie starts out much like a Jack Arnold-Universal sci-fi movie (I'm sure this wasn't a coincidence either). A working-class guy is driving a pickup on a lonely stretch of desert highway when he sees the strange object land and emit a beam that possesses him. The man then drives to LabCentral, forces his way in, and the alien force transfers itself to Dr. Eliot. We then are introduced to the other main characters at the base. It's a nice way to start off the story, but it takes a while for Kronos to get going and do his thing. 

One positive aspect of KRONOS is the fact that its lead character is played by Jeff Morrow. Morrow was in a number of 50s sci-fi movies, and he always elevated them by his steady presence, no matter how the rest of the film's elements turned out. Barbara Lawrence gets stuck with the girlfriend of the hero role, and the script manages to get her into a swimsuit and gives her a chance to scream. George O'Hanlon is the comic relief buddy, and he would later go on to provide the voice of George Jetson (every time O'Hanlon said a line of dialogue, I couldn't help but think of that cartoon). Genre veteran Morris Ankrum also appears, but this time as a doctor instead of a military official. 

KRONOS was produced and directed by Kurt Neumann, who made the original THE FLY, and the widescreen photography was provided by Karl Struss. The movie comes off fairly well, and the special effects are decent for the most part. At various times Kronos can move about by the use of giant piston-like legs, an animated effect that thankfully isn't used too much. 

I'm certainly no fan of remakes and reboots, but the premise of KRONOS is one that could easily be expanded upon. Just imagine an entire army of Kronos machines landing on Earth, and the global war that would result. What if Toho Studios had made their own version of KRONOS, with their expertise in miniatures and giant monsters?? Or how about a KRONOS set in today's world, with an all-star cast and multiple locations?? Knowing how the present-day entertainment conglomerates operate, they'd still find a way to screw it up.