Radio review – SG – “The Glass Key” (1946) ***

Alan Ladd returns, but we have Ward Bond instead of Brian Donlevy and Marjorie Reynolds instead of Veronica Lake. This is still a decent radio adaptation of Hammett’s story, punching through the action in 30 minutes; the Ladd-Reynolds romance feels a bit sudden, bit it did in the film too. Ladd is in good form; this was one of his best roles.

Radio review – CP#10 – “The Green Goddess” (1939) ***

Welles played this in vaudeville, a disastrous experience, just before he went to Hollywood. It sort of sticks out like a sore thumb in Orson Welles’ theatre career – Shakespare, Marlowe, Native Son… and a junky melodrama about some British citizens captured by an Oriental despot. So it’s fascinating to hear it on radio.

But you know something... junky or not, this is still pretty good fun, with Orson having a high old time as a prince threatening to kill Madeleine Carroll and her two colleagues unless the British release some prisoners. Welles’ character is interesting – he keeps saying he doesn’t want to do it, but has toin order to keep the locals happy; of course he falls for Carroll. I had to listen hard to catch the fact that the British come to the rescue in the end.

Book review – “Love in a Goldfish Bowl” (1961) by Jack Sher

A novelisation of Columbia’s entry into the teen pic genre – it really works because it can get inside the head of the lead character Gordon, and is limited by the acting abilities of Tommy Sands. This is decent enough teen fiction – two platonic friends, both with neglectful parents, go for a holiday together, and jealousy rears its head when she strikes up a romance with a local coast guard. The character of Gordon does admittedly read a little gay at times – notably his lack of interest in any other female – but his uniting with Blythe does work.

Movie review – “Man with Two Brains” (1982) ***

Steve Martin is very entertaining and is magnificently matched by Kathleen Turner, sexy and funny as hell. It’s amazing to think this was still one of her first performances (also interesting that the way she looks at the end of the film is how she looks now). Sissy Spacek’s voice is also ideal. It motors along and remains bright; I don’t have the attachment to this that I do of Flying High but there are several classic moments: Martin talking to the girl at the scene of the accident, the drink driving test, David Warner’s apartment.

Movie review – “Queen of Blood” (1966) **1/2

A number of American films were made in the 60s using footage from Russian science fiction movies. This was one of the best ones, mainly because they made a decent attempt to create a new film. It also has a pretty good cast, including Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper and John Saxon, and a great credit sequence with some weird music over some odd paintings.

This really is a two parter – part one is a mission to rescue a foreign space ship on Mars, involving two expeditions. Part two has them find one survivor and take them back to Earth – only to realise that survivor lives off human blood (just like Alien). The second part is the strongest and is genuinely spooky, especially the discovery that she has left eggs all over the ship.

I recognise this isn’t the best movie in the world – all those awkward segues to cover major plot points (eg discovery of life on another planet), all that set up to get the people to Mars (there's an incredible amount of plot in order to justify John Saxon and his mate joining the expedition) – but it has a unique atmosphere; there’s just something about it. Florence Marley has genuine creepiness as the alien, the eggs are effective, there's surprising feminism (the lead women is a scientist and full part of the expedition and the other cast members don't go on about it incessantly and/or sexually harass her constantly).

NB I saw this again on DVD at one in the morning – it’s totally the way to see it. In a quiet house, flicking image on a television, no one to judge you for watching it…

Movie review – “Dust Off the Wings” (1997) **

A decent enough subject matter for the film – the troubles of being faithful to the one partner in the la-la land of Bondi – has a fair structure – a 24 period incorporating a buck’s party and hen’s night. But it’s not very good. There was no real excuse for a film made in a suburb populated by actors to have non-actors playing the bulk of the important roles; Ward Stevens in particular is a debit. (Kate Cebrano is the best of the non-professionals; she's a bit awkward but is better than the two leads.) The film also really needed to see the bride’s point of view to make an impact, and even out some of all that misogyny. I've got to say though - bits of it linger in the memory for a long time, and not in a bad way.

Movie review – “The Marihuana Menace” (1931) *

A lesser known example of 30s exploitation: a news reporter goes under cover to expose marijuana smokers. As usual, mull makes people laugh, skinny dip and crash cars, and have the requisite parties with kids laughing and attempted stabbings. But apart from a great opening scene where an old lady crashes her scooter and all these kids laugh this movie is too sensible and non-stupid to be really fun. The finale in a courtroom is even a bit reminiscent of a Judge Hardy film – the actor who played gramps was reminiscent of Lionel Barrymore. The blonde with a screwed up face reminded me of Hatchet Face in John Waters’ Cry Baby.

Movie review – Phantom of the Opera (1925) ****

A tip-top silent classic, with great spooky atmosphere, wonderful sets (the money is up there on screen) and a strong love story. The Phantom really loves Christine; she’d be better off with him than the pompous Raoul. There’s a great bit which isn’t in the later ones with Christine and Raoul on the roof during the ball and she’s saying “get me away from this Phantom” and the Phantom is listening from the statue are above, his heart breaking – it’s great acting from Lon Chaney. Raoul is useless – doesn’t even save the day, all he does is stop Christine getting stomped on by the mob.

There is very strong horror – crashing chandelier, hanging corpses, people who go looking for the Phantom with hands raised so they don’t get strangled, a spectacular mob violence finale, a sinking gondolier, etc. The underground cavern is amazing with canals, and rooms, trapdoors, places to burn people and the head of the secret police is a good creepy character. Worth seeking out, even if you don't normally like silent movies.

Movie review – “The Overlanders” (1946) ***1/2

A real Aussie Western – Chips Rafferty vows to march cattle across country to escape the Japanese advance… but only after he gets permission from the government. This film proved you didn’t need Aussies to make great Aussie movies – but you do need sensitive collaborators willing to spend time here, as Henry Watt did.

It’s got everything: great opening scene of a farmer (John Nugent Hayward) punching holds in his water tanker and burning his house; Chips Rafferty rising to the challenge; a two up game; an aboriginal horseman who agrees to go away for one-two years “just give me five minutes to tell the wife” (Clyde Combo); a new chum male juvenile lead (Peter Pagan); a fat comic relief Pommy (John Fernside); a squatter’s daughter (Daphne Campbell) and her kid sister (Helen Grieve) and their wise mum (Jean Blue); an exciting river crossing; horses dying and some men pulling out; capturing the brumbies; a moonlight romantic rendezvous followed by q night time stampede; Daphne racing to the plane; stunning photography full of great images of dust swirling around cattle.

Rafferty is great value – confident, good looking even, in a way. He’s a lot more comfortable than the male romantic lead – but you hardly notice him. Daphne Campbell is pretty and spirited (she pashes Pagan even though she’s got a boyfriend) – and, what’s more, classy (too classy for Pagan - you get the sense she’s glad to see him go). The film slows down a lot in the second half; while the film had a good solid story it lacks subplots you need in cattle drive films.

Radio review – Suspense - “The Doctor Prescribes Death” (1943) **1/2

Bela Lugosi’s accent limited him for radio work but he’s perfectly at home in this suspense tale, which sounds like the sort of film he make for Monogram: he’s a doctor who develops a theory that suicides are capable of murder, and when he’s laughed he sets about determined to prove his theory right. A lot of time is taken up by the adventures of one of the girls Bela is “experimenting” on rather than hi, but it’s still entertaining.

Book review – “Tracy and Hepburn” (1970) by Garson Kanin

Apparently Kate Hepburn regarded the writing of this book as a betrayal. It’s a very affectionate depiction of the two of them but I can understand her point of view – Kanin has invaded their privacy. It’s written in the style of Kanin’s book on Maugham, jumping around in time from story to story. It seems Kanin was an even better friend to Tracy and Hepburn than he was to Maugham – for one thing, he frequently collaborated with them professionally (Kanin directed Tracy’s last Broadway show, plus wrote Adam’s Rib and Pat and Mike); for another, he and wife Ruth Gordon teamed a tight foursome with Tracy and Hepburn.

Hepburn’s feelings aside, I’m glad Kanin wrote the book for the insights on Tracy. I mean, the writings on Hepburn are fine, but she’s such a familiar charcter from so many bios and from her persona that its not that revealing (although I did like the story of her insisting the door was open during performances of Coco because she hates stuffy rooms). It’s the talking about Tracy which is a revelation. Tracy always comes across in books I’ve read as this tormented, boozy whiner. Kanin’s close friendship with the man creates a different picture – amiable, funny, egotistical, quiet and retiring but still desperate to know what’s going on. He would smoke a packet of cigarettes a day – but only in bed while reading mystery novels all night (no wonder he didn’t live very long). He would go on holiday and enjoy the isolation but freak out if he couldn’t call home – if only calling Eddie Mannix to find out what the weather was like.

NB After reading this and the book on Somerset Maugham, and taking into account Kanin’s frequent idolatrous references to George Abbott, Thornton Wilder and Renee Clair, I can’t help wondering – did all Garson Kanin’s friendships involve him worshipping famous people? Did he ever befriend equals?

Movie review – “Nosferatu” (1921) ****

Early account of Bram Stoker’s classic tale holds up incredibly well – it looks terrific (location filming helps), the broad performances suit the story, it has atmosphere to burn. Nosferatu’s bald, spike eared vampire is a long way from the smooth Lotharios we’ve come to know and love (although bald ugly vampires have made something of a comeback in recent years, if only as support players); still his love for Nina is touching, if only because she’s so out of his league. Not much screen time is given either to Nosferatu or Van Helsing – you see more Harker.

This is surprisingly naturalistic – none of your Caligari expressionism really. The climax desn’t make sense completely – wouldn’t Nosferatu know that sun light was bad for him?

Movie review – “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” (1921) ***

We’ve only second hand accounts of John Barrymore’s supposed greatness on stage, but he was definitely at one point a handsome devil, as demonstrated in this silent film. Without the puffiness and bloating of later years, his profile is more pronounced and his acting more energetic. He plays the devoting hard working scientist who after a visit to a racy nightclub (Nita Naldi is dancing) becomes obsessed with the idea of dual natures. He concocts a potion and after a great transformation scene – becomes crazed Hyde.

Like many accounts of this tale the evil things Hyde gets up to are kept kind of vague apart from drinking and roaming the streets (at one stage it seemed to hint he was going to try for a threesome with two girls but this is shied away from; he does kill someone but the guy deserves it). There are some pretty girls in the support cast, a memorable moment where Barrymore lies in bed and has hallucinations of a spider (bit close to the bone, eh, Barrymore?), and it stands up as a solid drama with a dash of horror. But the chief attraction is the bravaura performance by its talented star.

Movie review – “Extreme Measures” (1996) ***

Entirely decent thriller which performed poorly at the box office, mostly because Hugh Grant never seems comfortably cast. There’s nothing wrong with his performance, he’s obviously trying – it’s just he’s Hugh Grant, and he doesn’t seem right in the role. It needs a Richard Gere or Michael Douglas or something. But Tony Gilroy is a good writer (apparently William Goldman did some doctoring as well) and the story moves along with a few decent twists, and genuinely interesting moral point, and some decent actors in support, like Gene Hackman, David Morse (evil rather than cuddly) and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Movie review – “The Blob” (1988) **

Didn’t enjoy this as much when I saw it in the cinema many moons ago – it’s a bit whatever, despite Frank Darabont’s name as co-writer and the pleasures of seeing Kevin Dillon aka Johnny Drama in a lead role. I had a little crush on Shawnee Smith as the female lead and she’s still quite winning, with that odd high pitched voice – so at the end when she’s holding a machine gun and yelling at the blob it doesn’t quite work. This is more effective as an action movie with sci-fi connotations than a horror flick – genuine shocks are in short supply but the effects aren’t bad and there’s plenty of explosions. A small kid gets killed but you won’t mind since he’s such a bad actor.

Movie review – “Monster from the Ocean Floor” (1954) **

Roger Corman’s first film as producer, partly financed with money earned from the sale of his story for Highway Dragnet. It has two features that would frequently re-occur in his later work: a strong female lead, and a production gimmick, in this case a minature sub, which Corman got for free in exchange for publicity. It’s the best thing about the film.

Unfortunately there’s also a rather blah story, indifferent acting and handling – watch how long the talking scenes with the Mexicans go on. There are two effective bits – one where the girl is menaced underwater by a shark in some very realistic footage, and the climax where they ram the sub into the (crappy) sea monster’s eye.

Radio review – Lux – “Jane Eyre” (1944) ***

I enjoyed Welles’ radio rendition of Rochester more than his screen one – less glowering – and Loretta Young is a perfectly acceptable substitute for Joan Fontaine. The excellent opening sequences of the film are trimmed, with more emphasis given to the famous dodgy romance of Rochester and Jane, but this remains an effective adaptation with good performances. Enjoyable banter at the ending involving Cecil B de Mille, Welles and Young; de Mille tells Orson he is his son’s favourite director, and Orson replies that must make him very lonely at de Mille’s house.

Radio review – CP#20 – “Private Lives” (1939) **1/2

Orson Welles wasn’t really a comedian of the Noel Coward light touch brigade – although he could be funny, there was something heavy about his delivery – but it’s still lots of fun to hear him banter with Gertrude Lawrence in the famous Coward play. It’s interesting listening to a play be adapted for radio rather than a novel – it did feel a little thin at times, but it’s still entertaining.

Radio review – CP#17 – “Showboat” (1939) **1/2

One of the best casts ever for a Campbell Playhouse production – Margaret Sullivan as Marigold, Helen Morgan as Julie (she sings a song too, though it’s not one from the musical), Welles (as Cap’n Andy, not Gaylord) and Edna Ferber herself (as Purvey). Welles acts all over the place in high school play style; Ferber clearly has fun (maybe he took this role to perform opposite her).

Radio review – Suspense – “The Hitchhiker” (1942) ***

Perhaps the second best known script by Lucille Fletcher, who also wrote Sorry Wrong Number, this is a spooky tale about a man driving cross country who is hounded by the constant sight of a hitchhiker. The final twist is now commonplace but it definitely wasn’t then, and is still effective. Best listened to late at night alone at home. Orson Welles plays the panicky driver and is really good – he had a nice line in hysteria by this time, Welles.

Radio review – Suspense – “The Most Dangerous Game” (1943) ***

Wonderful, faithful adaptation of one of the most famous short stories of all time. Orson Welles pinches the role of the hunter – he’s actually not as good as you would think, going overboard at times. Still, it’s Welles hunting someone around his private island – I would have loved to have seen him play a version of this on screen. Keenan Wynn plays Rainsford, quite well, and the story has plenty of suspense. Instead of the slightly ambiguous ending of the short story, this one spells it out – Wynn kills Welles in a duel. Apart from that it's very faithful to the original, even down to the method of how Rainsford sets his traps and so on.

Play review – “Caesar and Cleopatra” by GB Shaw

Famous Shaw play which brings his unique dry and witty take to the bantering rulers. Cleopatra is a child, kittenish and capable of great charm and rages; Caesar is an aging sly ruler, not without vanity but holding the whip in their generation gap relationship (which seems sex-less). There’s some classic rom com stuff – she doesn’t know he’s Caesar for the first act – and the humour undercuts the Historical-ness of it all eg “I will always get my carpets from you” (NB was the joke about “Lesbian wine” intended?). It’s not without drama, eg the death of the servant (Shaw knew his structure). A clear influence for Mankciewicz’s Cleopatra – this is presumably why the first half of that film was so superior to the second.

Radio review – “Champion” (1949) **

Kirk Douglas reprises his star-making role as the bastard boxer. He’s very effective, but the story is too short at 30 minutes. For instance, you don’t get the impression that Douglas betrays anyone who doesn’t deserve it – aren’t they freeloading?

Radio review – “Abbott and Costello Show – Dorothy Lamour” (1945) **1/2

Universal didn’t have great star roster so Abbott and Costello only really got A list co stars on radio. Here it’s Dorothy Lamour, causing some digs at Hope and Crosby (“those two golfers”) – its an interesting comparison because there’s no sexual threat from A and C. They start off with a few jokes that die – but they plough on. Can’t imagine Steve Vizard doing that. There’s also an ad for Camel cigarettes where the company brags about sending smokes to Americans on Christmas Island (over 300,000 cartons!)

Radio – Screen Directors Playhouse - “Whispering Smith” (1949) **1/2

One of Alan Ladd’s best roles – the Western detective – makes for a decent enough drama. The compression of the form means that his relationship with an old flame is de-emphasized in favour of his relationship with his old mate.

Movie review – “Terminal Island” (1973) **

A great idea for an exploitation film, of special interest for Australian audiences – in the future, when the death penalty is abolished, prisoners are just dumped on an island from which it is impossible to escape. A black woman arrives to find the male prisoners run a thuggish regime, exploiting women as slaves. But fortunately there is another group of prisoners elsewhere on the island where men and women live in relative harmony.

Like Student Nurses, the action focuses around four women: Phyllis Davis, Ena Hartman, Marta Kristen (from Beach Blanket Bingo), and Barbara Leigh (who was in Nurses). The politics are fascinating but the film needed to be a bit trashier.

The action scenes are okay, the sex/nudity scenes are pretty average, and there is none of the creepiness of, say, Escape from New York. The best bit is a mock showdown which turns unexpectedly real. But then the goodies have shockingly bad strategy at the end – they keep charging at a guy with a machine gun who has excellent cover. To make this mistake once or twice is forgivable but they keep doing it. And do you really believe Tom Selleck wouldn’t go back to the mainland at the end? Come on… Also there isn’t much difference between the characters – there’s the black henchman, the girl who can’t talk, the crazy head baddie, the guy who is Tom Selleck… that was about it for distinctive people.

Movie review – Shayne #2 - “Sleepers West” (1941) **1/2

Entertaining Shayne adventure has the PI escort a witness (Mary Beth Hughes) across country. Lynn Bari is always fun in this sort of thing and so she is here, playing a female journo who figures out something is up with Shayne – so does her fiancée, who is a baddie.

Shayne doesn’t do a super amount in this film – he turns down a bribe and banters with Bari but more time is devoted to subplots, especially Hughes’ romance with a fellow drunk passenger (I saw this as a teenager and always remembered the subplot about the two passengers who found love getting drunk together on the train, one of whom has a big forehead). This might be because it was based on a non-Shayne novel adapted for Shayne (a not uncommon practice at the time) he characters hop off the train towards the end, and the film loses pace as a result. (A thought - There are no more train films. I guess its harder to make without back projection and people taking lots of trains.)

Movie review – “Malibu High” (1979) *1/2

Trashy Crown International exploitationer about a high school student who turns to hooking. Angel may have been an honour student by day hooker by night – this one is just a bad, lazy student looking to get ahead. She starts with a teacher, then goes to general hooking, then another teacher, then she changes pimps, then kills a customer, then kills her old pimp. Most of her sex scenes are with middle aged men. It gets increasingly silly as it goes on and the acting doesn’t improve; however there is a lot of stuff going on and you do find yourself watching.

Movie review – “Horror of Party Beach” (1964) *

A combination of Beach Party and Creature of the Black Lagoon, which is presumably why it’s in black and white. The plot involves some unconvincing creatures which rises and kill people by the beach – it turns out the creatures were created by toxic waste. Subtext! (The Beach Girls and The Monster tried a similar genre cross-pollination.)

This has become a camp classic over the years, often popping up in books about the worst film of all time. There’s a moody scientist hero who always wears swimmers, who works for a scientist; the scientist’s daughter is in love with the moody swimsuit-wearing scientist. There’s also a black servant who blames it on voodoo and the monster really knocks up a large death toll of victims (in one sequence if I’m not mistaken he kills 20 girls). Violent and silly, with a decent number in ‘The Zombie Stomp’.

Movie review – “A Swinging Summer” (1966) **

A beach party style movie – teenagers, lots of dancing and romance, music - although it's set at a lake rather than the beach: three college friends hope to get work at a resort over the summer – it’s cancelled so they offer to put dances on themselves.

Sam Arkoff once said the secret to AIP’s Beach Party series was to not let the real world in – this one does; the kids worry about money, Quinn O’Hara’s boyfriend won’t take charity from her father. The opening ten minutes are very serious; indeed, a lot of the film has a serious tone. More in line with typical beach party fare is the plot involving Raquel Welch, in her first starring role, as a nerd (i.e. she wears glasses on top of the bikini) who romances James Stacy as a scientific experiment.

It’s not among the top rank of beach party films, but it’s full of some interesting people: Michael Blodgett, later in Beneath the Valley of the Dolls (and even later a successful writer, of Turner and Hooch, among others), has a supporting role; Gerry Lewis does a few numbers and speaks some dialogue (you can hear his dad in his voice); The Righteous Brothers performs a rocking number. Quinn O’Hara is sweet and I enjoyed Welch, even if she’s not very convincing (and not very feminist, giving up her books at the end to go go dance - but it’s just so fun to see her.)

NB some trivia: the director of this film later died in a crash; lead James Stacy later lost a leg in an accident and went to gaol for molesting a girl.

Radio review – “The Shadow - Season 1” (1938) ***

For what it's worth, I think one of the reasons Orson Welles struggled professionally in his post Citizen Kane career was he lacked a solid commercial bread-and-butter fall-back option. That is, a type of movie he could make to re-establish himself at the box office and reassure financiers. The only time he really had that was on radio in the late 30s, where he was one of the biggest names on air with the Mercury Theatre and starring as Lamont Cranston in The Shadow. It’s a shame he never made a Shadow film project (apparently one was discussed) – or churned out a couple of more thrillers in the vein of Journey Into Fear or The Stranger. He was a wonderful adapter, and could have made some marvellous thrillers. But that’s the thing about Welles – you’re always going “if only he’d X.” He still left a wonderful legacy, including a season of Shadows (it ran for many more years without him.)

The Shadow is particularly well suited to radio, dealing with a mysterious figure with a memorable voice, and who specialises in mind control and freaking people out, all things that work well on air. (Come to think of it, the Shadow doesn't do much hard detection - more freaking.) It’s done tongue in cheek though there is a serious under-current - he would take on gangsters, anarchist bombers, corrupt judges.

“The Death House Rescue” is about a really stupid person on death row because he agreed to drive a getaway car (they want him to park outside the bank all day… and he doesn’t think it’s dodgy?). Most of the villains are your standard 30s bad guys - mad scientists, gangsters, insane people getting revenge, crazy Rajahs. The series has a surprising lefty slant – one story is about a war veteran who goes bonkers and the Shadow blames society for causing war; another takes on thinly-disguised KKK; another bags out a British Empire official. Good fun. Welles is perfect in the role and Agnes Moorehead offers good support has Lamont Cranston's lover/friend/helper (they keep changing her title), Margot Lane.

Radio review – SG – “Casablanca” (1943) **1/2

Bogie, Bergman and Paul Henreid reprise their screen roles – no Claude Rains, unfortunately. The story still works, although it lacks a bit of atmosphere and suffers from compression. A copy of the script is here.

Radio review – Lux – “Secret of the Incas” (1954) **

The sort of story that really needs to be watched in CinemaScope with location footage – so it doesn’t translate that well to radio. Apparently this film was a big inspiration for Raiders of the Lost Ark – that movie, however, had a much stronger story. Charlton Heston reprises his big screen role.

Radio review – SDP – “Mr and Mrs Smith” (1949) **

It seems to be generally agreed that the best thing about the only pure comedy Hitchcock made in Hollywood was Carole Lombard. This radio version doesn’t have Lombard, owing to her death, but Robert Montgomery returns – not that that’s going to make you sing from the heavens. Kathryn Crosby steps into Lombard’s shoes – she tries but she can’t lift the weak material. Norman Krasna was one of the best rom com screen writers in Hollywood but this was one of his lesser works. Hitchcock himself chats at the end.

Radio review – SG – “Edge of Darkness” (1943) **

Instead of Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan we have John Garfield and Maureen O’Hara. Garfield at least feels more happily cast than Flynn – he fits more into the ensemble. But the ensemble thing is a problem – it’s hard to tell who is who; it I hadn’t watched the film I think I would have struggled to follow the story. It lacks the complexity of the film version. The most effective bit is the taunting of the resistance that bookends the tale.

Movie review – Ski Troop Attack (1961) **

Corman was best known for horror and sci fi but he also dabbled in war films such as this one. The most interesting thing about it is the setting – you don’t get many films dealing with ski warfare (I was surprised to see it’s a whole special field – big in the Finland wars, but the Americans did it in Italy) but the plot is uninspired. It's a variation of Naked Paradise – a bunch of desperadoes are in trouble, in this case American soldiers, who squabble amongst themselves. But Naked Paradise (and Creature from the Haunted Sea, another variation of the same story) had a couple of subplots at well. Charles D Griffith wrote it but it's one of his weakest scripts.

Maybe the problem is partly that Corman was never at his best in all male tales – there is a female in this, a German woman who lives in a cabin, but she’s killed off soon after she’s introduced. (They should have kept her alive for longer.) All we have instead is Americans being chased by Germans, and some really dull squabbling amongst two Americans. (a) Doesn’t feel realistic (surely the insubordinate dude would be chucked out (b) Doesn’t feel interesting.

It's also seriously undercast – you’re not likely to recognise anyone in it apart from Roger Corman himself, who plays a German soldier (and he looks like one too); the heroic lead is Michael Forest, who later played Atlas for Corman.

Radio review – SDP – “Across the Pacific” (1943) **

Bogie, Astor and Greenstreet reprise their roles on radio in a story that seems even sillier on ait than it did on screen; still good enough fun. Greenstreet had a wonderful radio voice in particular.

Movie review – “Pick Up” (1974) *

Starts unpromisingly with the sound of a man urinating by a mobile phone. Two girls hitch a ride with the man, and they get stuck in a swamp. One of the girls has sex with the guy (often in the woods) and does a lot of frolicking; the other girl is into tarot cards and flashbacks to being molested by a priest and teenage sex. The guy kills a wild boar at it seems like the filmmakers actually did it. The tarot card girl goes crazy, imagining clowns and a politician who goes door knocking in the swamp.

There’s a bit of nudity but the running time feels mostly padded – lots of shots of driving, walking around swamps, etc. They try to do something difference with the mad tarot girl and moody shots etc but it drags and isn’t that interesting. Neither good grind house, nor good art house.

Movie review – “Hollywood Boulevard” (1976) **1/2

The opening minutes of this features some sky diving stock footage, boobs and move in-jokes, and that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the film, famously made as a bet by producer Jon Davidson who told Roger Corman he could make the cheapest film ever for New World.

This was accomplished by incorporating footage from previous New World/Corman films: sky diving (Private Duty Nurses), car chases (Caged Heat, Crazy Mama), a period car crash (Big Bad Mama), roller derby (Unholy Rollers – actually made for AIP but produced by Corman with Martin Scorsese directing), Philippine action films (The Hot Box, Women in Cages, The Big Doll House), The Terror (they see it at the drive in), a futuristic car chase (Death Race 2000, perhaps the largest amount of footage used).

There are three plots – someone is killing people on murder sets, Candice Rialson tries to break in to showbiz, as does a roller derby star (Rita Grey). The filmmakers drop these plots and pick them up again as they feel like it; they forget the murder plot for great slabs of time, and the romance between Rialson and the screenwriter is also forgotten – they meet, then they’re together.

The main attributes of this film are a likable, breezy tone and a very strong cast – Dante and Arkush were fortunate to have a terrific players who can fill the screen like Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel and Dick Miller. Woronov was a terrific exploitation star – she looked like this magnificent alien goddess from Mars, with those high cheek bones and incredible legs; she was also very funny. Rialson is incredibly likeable – the girl next door, very good at comedy. (Quentin Tarantino once asked Arkush why Rialson didn’t move up with either of them; he thought her career was ruined by her appearance in the film about the talking vagina. Apparently Roger Corman wanted Roberta Collins instead of Rialson – I am a Collins fan but think it was the right decision to go with Rialson. Incidentally, Barry Gordon and Dwayne Hickman turned down the role of the producer.)

The film does suffer from some New World requirements of the time. There’s a scene where Rialson plays a rape victim which starts off funny but then kind of becomes unfunny because Rialson gets her top ripped off and she’s really traumatised by it. Later on Rialson watches the rape on screen while watching the film at a drive in, then is almost raped by the drive in projectionist – rape just isn’t really fun and this scene s yuck, it takes a while to recover from that. It does but then there’s an unpleasant knife murder scene.

The behind the scenes line up of talent is impressive. Jon Davidson produced, Amy Jones was one of the editors, the script is credited to “Pat Hobby” nom de plume from F Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph McBride plays a father at the drive in, Todd McCarthy is there was well, Mike Finnell and Barbara Peeters were on the crew, Charles Griffith plays a pool cleaner (his former writing partner Mark Hanna also has a small role).

In the audio commentary from Dante, Arkush and Davidson, the filmmakers seem embarrassed about some of the film, including the gratuitous wet T-shirt scene (which they should), the three-way sex scene and the sunbaking scene (which they shouldn’t, that’s good exploitation). But then look at Arkush and Dante’s subsequent work – there is not a lot of nudity, I think they were uncomfortable with it. They admit to watching Murder by Television and The Death Kiss while writing the script – they say The Death Kiss gave them ideas but not Murder by Television. Incidentally, Roger Corman apparently got a little sensitive about some of the things in the movie (eg actors bagging the movies in which they appear).

Radio review – SDP – “The Ghost Breakers” (1949) **1/2

Bob Hope throws in some topical ad libs – references to Truman, Olivia de Havilland in The Snake Pit. Occasionally the supporting actors get a bigger laugh than Hope and you can hear him thrown; he tries to get the upper hand back again.

Movie review – Shayne#1 - “Michael Shayne Private Detective” (1940) **1/2

There was a period in the late 80s when Bill Collins would introduce B films late at night on Channel Ten – Mr Motos, Charlie Chans, etc. (Some of my most fond movie watching memories are seeing these on a little black and white TV in my bedroom – I’d also see The Untouchables TV show like this and it’s the best way to see it.) Among the films Collins showed were the Michael Shayne series, not as well known as the others, but nonetheless taunt, well-made entertainment.

They gave a star role to Lloyd Nolan, one of those excellent support players (wonderful speaking voice) who were never going to become a star, but were comfortable supporting in “A”s and could easily star B films, or TV series. Shayne is an enjoyable character – he’s tough and honourable but he has a sense of humour, a light touch; he’s often behind the eight ball as to what is going on, but figures it out eventually.

Shayne is assigned to look after the troublesome daughter of an old friend. He winds up accused of murder. Shayne spends most of his time trying not to be arrested by that PI staple, the hostile police (in lighter films like this the copper is idiotic; in the Philip Marlowes they tend to be menacing)

Bright support cast – Marjorie Weaver (very pretty) as the sprightly girl, Elizabeth Patterson as a murder-mystery-obsessed little old lady, and old reliable Douglas Dumbrille as a villain and Walter Abel as a sort of character who is always played by an actor fourth in the cast list in these films. The script has some clever stuff involving a suicide note (is it real or fake) and a gun (is it Shayne’s or not).

It benefits from being a B picture from a major studio – there’s good photography, decent sets and actors, etc. – although the writers can’t come up with a decent reveal apart from a long confession.

Book review – “Allan Quartermain” by H Rider Haggard

The sequel to King Solomon’s Mines gets off to a melancholy start with the death of Quartermain’s son (via disease) at the beginning. Quartermain decides to go off an expedition to the African interior to find a rumoured white race; Good and Curtis agree to come along because they’re bored – not as strong a motivation as trying to find a missing brother.

But once it gets going it’s great, with a terrific new character in Umpslogaas (bloodthirsty, humorous - a lot more interesting than the exiled king in King Solomon’s Mines) and a highly suspenseful sequence involving the Masai and an isolated missionary outpost (masses die to save the honour of a white girl - As usual for Haggard the death toll of servants for the white heroes is very high). There’s also a decent comic relief character in the form of a cowardly French cook and a classic sequence where they come upon the lost land via canoe.

It’s a white kingdom, well predominantly white (the whiter they are the higher they are up the social scale) where women wear garments that leave one of their breasts bare. Quartermain and his mates aren’t very good guests - when they arrive in the civilisation they blow away hippos to impress people, causing an incident; they also help provoke a civil war when Sir Henry Curtis falls in love with one of the twin queens. This is in contrast to King Solomon’s Mines where they were involved in overthrowing a tyrant to restore the rightful king. But there is some decent action, and a really moving and exciting finale in which both Umpslogaas and Quartermain die – not that that stopped Haggard from returning to both characters in prequels.

Movie review – “Wanda” (1970) *1/2

One of the few American films made by a female director at the time and as such importance in feminist cinema history but I found it a little dull. It was directed by and stars Barbara Loden, who was married to Elia Kazan. She plays a dopey woman who leaves her husband and falls in with a small time hoodlum. The plot is actually similar to the sort of exploitation films New World would later make (eg Jackson County Jail) but here the excitement is drained from the story, except for the bit where Loden meets the hoodlum at a bar and you realise he’s holding it up. Other than that, some scenes which you think would be sure-fire. But I should be fair – if you like John Cassavetes movies you might dig this.

Movie review – “The Teacher” (1974) * (warning: spoilers)

It takes a special film to combine the two most basic exploitation plots – a teacher having an affair with a younger student, and a stalker – to produce a dud film. The title character is admittedly hot – she’s perved upon by some young men, one of whom falls to his death doing so. He was surprised by a psycho pervert, who blames the survivor and threatens to kill him if he tells the police what happens. The survivor is then seduced by the teacher.

The music is that combination of guitar and flute that you hear in 70s movies and TV shows. Marquee value is provided by Jay North, TV’s Denis the Menace. The psycho is a familiar actor from rapists. Quinn O’Hara has a small role as do the mothers of John Cassavetes and Gina Rowlands

Remarkably bad shot composition – in one scene by the pool water gets on the lens. The acting is poor and the running time is padded with shots of cars driving, bicycles riding, and walking from A to B. There’s not even decent sex scene – the kid never seems like he penetrates. Utterly illogical – there is no good reason not to call the police.

The most hilarious scene is when the teacher and the student are on a boat and the stalker get changed into his frogman outfit to stalk them. One shock is the death of the kid – I genuinely didn’t see that coming. But generally this is poor.

Book review – “The Power House” (1916) by John Buchan

According to the introduction, this was written before the war but published after in the wake of the success of The 39 Steps to give soldiers at the front something enjoyable but nice and short to read.

This book introduces Hannay’s second main hero, the barrister Edward Leithen. Leithen is stuffier and more isolated than Hannay; he admits to having only loved one girl, and lost her. Her husband’s missing, so Leithen goes looking for him – but the story lacks emotional power. Where it is strong is in terms of atmosphere (a Buchan speciality) – lots of spooky buildings and walking down streets. Leithen battles a super villain – who is a kind of fallen angel, someone with the potential to be a decent chap but he went evil - but relies more on his brains and less on his fists than Hannay. Not in the top rank Buchan, but interesting enough if you’ve read his other stuff.

Book review – "Heartburn" by Nora Ephron

These days Nora Ephron is associated with sappy movies that have moments of brightness but tend to be overwhelmed by schmaltz and reference of old Hollywood classics – so it’s worth revisited this brilliant, pungent classic, a magnificent depiction of divorce. Full of brilliant moments – every page has some classic line. Very funny – how our emotions battle with our intellect, dealing with break up of marriages. There’s comments about food throughout the book and I realised she rehashed a gag in When Harry Met Sally (“Pretty. Nice. Big tits. Basic nightmare.”)

Book review – “Keith Urban” by Jeff Apter

Read this to get up to speed about Mr Urban, who was a vaguely familiar name for many years prior to becoming Mr Kidman. There were the appearances in the BRW Entertainers Rich List a few years ago – but before that apparently he was a frequent guest on variety shows like Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Midday and Steve Vizard – and you know what, thinking back I think I remember him. Urban got a lot of PR for being a spunky Aussie country artist, at a time when such a thing was rare (James Blundell did a similar thing). Before that he was in Rusty and the Ayers Rockettes and was even a Westfield Junior!

It’s hard to begrudge Urban his success – he knew what he wanted from an early age and worked like a dog to get it. He left school early, put in serious hard yards. He was spotted as someone with star potential quite early – he made a debut album back in the early 90s – but took a long, long time to really get going. There was a lot of rejection and even a drug habit. But once he did he was totally ready – once he made it, he really made it, becoming one of the most successful Australian artists on the world stage ever (“world stage” is probably not quite right – American country music doesn’t seem to travel far outside America). Even the drug habit proved useful – it proved Urban was a survivor and gave him something interesting to write about.

This is a pretty decent book; it has to draw on secondary sources a lot and people no longer close to Urban, but the story is so interesting that doesn’t really matter. I hope it works between him and Nickers, but honestly… they don’t seem to have that much in common. I guess after Tom Cruise, a bogan from Caboolture seems like a breath of fresh air, but one day she’s going to want to talk about a book she’s read or a foreign film she’s seen and then there’s going to be trouble.

Book review – “Leo McKern” By George Whaley

Leo McKern seemed to have everything going against him for a young actor: short, stumpy, plump, one eye, left school at 15, uninspiring military service, working class, no artistic connections in the family, no training, a dud marriage behind him, etc. Not to mention the fact he started in Sydney of the 1940s, not exactly a hot bed of theatrical activity. But he was interested in a girl who passionately wanted to be an actor, and he found that he enjoyed it. He got some jobs around the traps and ended up following the girl to London.

For a man with no training or connections, McKern’s rise to steady work was astonishingly rapid. Within a few years he was happily ensconced at the Old Vic and was never out of work over the next fifty years.

In hindsight, and only in hindsight, you can understand why. There is always room in actor land for a tubby character player, especially one who is skilled at comedy and conveying menace, as McKern was – you can play jesters, sidekicks, porters, fathers, priests, etc. It also helps to have a wonderful speaking voice, a hard work ethic, and genuine natural talent, and McKern went on to have a great career. In addition to Rumpole, he worked with Olivier, the Beatles, Tyrone Guthrie, David Lean, Williamson, etc – films, theatre, TV, radio… the sort of career English actors can have.

Despite all this McKern still found things to whinge about – fear of typecasting as Rumpole (as if it mattered), too much work, not enough work, etc. Although he married his soul mate he cheated on her, and he clashed at times with his daughters. But in general it was a rich life and he seems to have been a nice person.

Whaley is very strong on acting and the theatre – it’s a shame when discussing McKern’s performances he didn’t concentrate more on analysing his art rather than listing fellow cast members and reviews. (This is excusable for theatre performances which Whaley didn’t see; less so for McKern’s film and TV roles) It’s also annoying that there isn’t a list of credits at the end. McKern deserved a bio and I enjoyed reading it, it’s just a shame Whaley didn’t dig a little deeper.

Movie review – “She Done Him Wrong” (1933) ***1/2

Tales of the Gay 90s were a genre in themselves (far more so than the 1900s). Mae West made a point of it – presumably the period setting allowed her to be a bit more daring. The opulence and raffishness must have looked particularly appealing during the Depression. This is the film that made her a movie star – when people talk about Mae West they’re talking about this and Diamond Lil.

It’s an adaptation of a play and it feels like it – most of the action takes place in a saloon, there are entrances and exits. Mae herself is very theatrical, full figured and constantly cracking wise. Her character remains fascinating – she holds her own with me, she’s nice to a girl who gets herself in a mess and is comfortable with shonky people. She makes eyes at the younger Cary Grant and Gilbert Roland (she invites Roland up to see her sometime as well) and older guys pant all over her – indeed, they are driven to theft and murder.

It’s especially fun to see Mae flirt with Cary Grant in his salvation Army outfit – less so when he’s revealed to be a cop but they had to do it. Cary’s a bit young for her and you don’t believe it’s love, but who cares. The lines are terrific, eg “it takes two to get one in trouble”, “hello dark warm and handsome”, “when woman go wrong men go right after them”, “you can be had”. It’s also very adult –West is clearly a mistress to gangsters, a girl tries to kill herself after a relationship with a married man; Mae sings a song about an “Easy Rider’. The running time is barely over an hour – and that includes a couple of songs.

Movie review – “Rock n Roll High School” (1979) ***1/2

One of the best films from New World – a spirited, free-wheeling teen picture made with love, energy and enthusiasm from director Alan Arkush. There’s no nudity or gore (or even sense), just a lot of music, wacky humour and oomph. PJ Soles and Dey Young are immensely likeable as students who are best friends though very opposite: Soles is a rock chick, a big fan of the Ramones, the sort of spirited girls heaps of guys have crushes on but their heart is with the lead singer of a band; Young is a bespectacled nerd who pines for Vince Van Patten (she’s very pretty – although more so with the glasses on somehow – I think because the hint of the attraction without glasses is more evocative than when the glasses come off).

The two have a strong, supportive friendship that is the heart and soul of the film. However, the rest of the cast is excellent too – there’s Clint Howard as a teen tycoon, the magnificent Mary Woronov as the new principal (it’s impossible to imagine who else could have played this role), Paul Bartel as a teacher. The lack of a strong story means it runs out of puff a little around the two-thirds mark – and why no scene where we show Van Patten and Young actually fall for each other? (indeed Van Patten disappears for a whole section) - but it recovers for the glorious finale.

The film has great production values – heaps of songs. The Ramones are perfect band, rockers but just the right degree of cool – it’s hard to imagine who else would have worked as well. Indeed, watching the whole film you keep thinking “this could have gone wrong so easily”, because it’s about tone (which is why there are so few films like it), but it works beautifully.

The DVD is full of interesting bits and pieces – the long gestation of the project (Corman was supposed to be quick putting films into production but there were several scripts, including one by Chuck Griffith), the cost cutting that went on, the fact there was a nude scene (a topless PJ Soles, with a cameo from Ron Howard) that was cut out (a good choice I think, this film didn’t need nudity – although Soles does dance around in lingerie during a dream sequence). Great fun.

Movie review - “The Undead” (1957) ***1/2

This film is talked about a fair bit in books on Roger Corman so I was anxious to see it. It was made to cash in on the “past lives craze” inspired by the best seller Lives of Bridie Murphy; Charles Griffith originally wrote it in iambic pentameter but Corman apparently lost his nerve and ordered it translated into English. I’d love to read the original (ditto Griffith’s unfilmed script for The Golden Bug) but you can’t really blame him.

What’s left, though, is fascinating. It’s a full on, tough story – the heroine is a prostitute experimented on by a crazed shrink. She realises she’s the reincarnation of a woman burned at the stake as a witch. The modern day woman ends up trying to help the old woman avoid being burned at the stake. Bt this threatens new woman’s existence. So the shrink goes back in time to try and persuade the old woman to allow herself to be killed as a witch so the new woman can live. And she does – she offers up her head to be chopped off and everything. Now that’s genuinely clever – even more so than most Griffith scripts for Corman.

The female lead is poor but the magnificently proportioned Allison Hayes is excellent as a witch, and Mel Welles is fun as a gravedigger. There’s a midget; a dance number by the graveyard; a dull hero performance from Richard Garland (Corman never seemed that interested in conventional male heroes – he was a lot more comfortable with baddies or nerds); Hayes chops off someone's head for Satan; a witch has warts on her nose; a line up of people selling their soul to the devil (who actually carries a trident)

Corman later admitted that this and Saga of the Viking Women were films with big budget ideas made for a low budget – he advised if you want to make a low budget film, make a low budget idea. This is definitely a movie that needed a bit more time and money – a touch of the Poe treatment, in particular Dan Haller and Floyd Crosby. Many of the actors look silly and the art design isn’t what it needed. But its fascinating and another fine effort from one of the best screenwriters of the 50s and 60s.

Movie review – “Illegal” (1955) ***

As pointed out by David Shipman in his book on movie stars, the blacklist knocked Edward G Robinson off the A list for a number of years, but some of the lower budgeted films he made during this time such as Illegal have proved surprisingly durable, particularly on television. 

He plays a DA who quits prosecuting after sending an innocent man to the chair and becomes a defence lawyer.

Robinson uses a variety of flashy techniques in his new career – he punches out a witness, takes poison, blackmails a business owner – but gets in over his head when his protege (Nina Foch) is tried for murder.

The script is from two top writers, James Webb and W.R. Burnett (writer of Little Caesar). The cast is full of familiar faces – Chief from Get Smart, Bones McCoy from Star Trek, one of the assassins from North by Northwest, Hugh Beaumont, Jayne Mansfield. 

Like a lot of films from director Lewis Allen, it’s fast paced and unpretentious – although I’m confused by the ending, does Robinson die or not? It implies that he does but no one seems to overly worried about it, or acts as if they want to call an ambulance.

Radio review – Lux - “Two Years Before the Mast” (1947) **

Most worth listening to in order to hear Howard da Silva reprise his excellent performance as the captain. Alan Ladd is on hand again. Might have been better off borrowing more from the book than the film. At least in this one it was clear that Ladd and the other mutineers got off at the end.

Radio review – SDP - “The Big Lift” (1951) **

The Berlin airlift would seem a natural for radio – you can create all those exciting flights without having to worry about filming them – but this adaptation unfortunately concentrates on the antics of two pilots on the ground. They are played by Edmund O’Brien and Paul Douglas, typical of the sort of middle aged war veteran types who populated American screens in the post-war period. (Montgomery Clift was in the film and they should have cast another young actor to play his role, would have made it more interesting.)

Movie review – “Joh’s Jury” (1994) ****1/2

The poor quality of video tape is off putting at first, and Simon Cossell’s character is an irritating way to be introduced to the story – “I believed what I was doing was the right thing… so I took off time from my marketing degree to serve on a jury” (aw gee, are you doing to be disillusioned? Giving up all that hard work studying marketing). But once it gets going it’s fine and becomes more and more gripping, a fascinating look at the legal system.

Having served on a jury in Brisbane shortly after the events of this film, I can say they captured it perfectly: the dingy rooms, the biscuits and cups of tea, the sort of people who make up juries (uni students, the unemployed, retirees and public servants), their crappy awkward banter. I also loved references to Four X and Fridays.

This got a lot of attention because of its conspiracy theory hints, but it’s most successful as an examination of 12 human beings locked in a room – stubborn closet-conservative Shaw (Malcolm Kennard), the gameboy-playing crippled slacker (Noah Taylor), the nice old lady (Betty Lucas), the brightly smart girl nice middle aged woman (perfectly cast Penny Cook), the laidback bloke (John Jarratt), the feisty union official (a thin John Howard), an easy-going smoker (Norman Yemm), etc. Terrific cast, which helps to tell people apart. I particularly liked Penny Cook. The art direction, costumes, etc were spot on, too.

Luke Shaw seemingly went in there with his mind made up and stuck to his guns, despite pressure – when you think about it, that’s what Henry Fonda did in Twelve Angry Men, although he was more active, whereas Luke Shaw mostly obstructs. For all Shaw’s stubbornness, it seems the real problem was the idiot woman who refused to. (More than anything else, the film seems to be a plea for majority verdicts.)

One other poignant thing watching this - they just don’t make drama like this any more. Did it really happen? Was there a well funded ABC drama department, once upon a time? Sigh…