Movie review - "Return to Treasure Island" (1954) **

 A modern day updating of Treasure Island from the team of Pollexfen and Wisberg who wrote and produced many low budget films for Edward Small.

Dawn Addams is Jim Hawkins, Tab Hunter is Ben Gunn, Porter Hall is Long John Silver, I think... that's the film's big problem it doesn't have a strong Long John figure.

The film smells cheap. It's badly directed. Hunter narrates (was this added after he was casst in Battle Cry?). THere's too much of his weak high pitched voice. No chemistry between Addams and Hunter. No atmosphere.

Really Hunter should have played Hawkins with Addams as a sexy stowaway. Or maybe just done better.

The story on paper sounds exciting but it's plodding and amateurish like bad AIP.

Movie review - "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1941) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 MGM slums it with some horror, though it gives Spencer Tracy the chance to do his stuff and its set in their backlot Britain which it loved. Two macho types were behind it - John Lee Mahin and Victor Fleming.

This film is mostly for fans of the stars (and director) and the story... and also students of acting. It's interesting how Tracy challenges the role. Underplays as Jekyll. Kind of as Hyde but he still has silly make up on which is disconcerting. I didn't think it worked.

Great intensity in the scenes where Hyde torments Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner.  Like they are full on sadistic scenes I think Fleming got off on them. Also both actresses are clearly into Tracy as Jekyll - again Fleming seems into this. Bergman and Turner both look stunning. Bergman really gets into flirting with good Tracy and being scared of bad Tracy, it's a very good performance. Turner is also strong.

Beautifully shot. Ian Hunter is the dull guy who is there to shoot Jekyll dead.  Donald Crisp and C Aubrey Smith are stock British types.

Quite confronting. Bergman is raped and then strangled. Turne is attacked. (Though doesn't die.)

The film didn't quite work for me but it is interesting.

Movie review - "Kidnapped" (1971) **

 Delbert Mann directed a series of classic novel adaptations for US TV and foreign theatrical markets - this was the last because it cost too much they had to sell to AIP to finish the movie. They still didn't have enough cash annoying even cuddly Michael Caine.

His performance as Alan Breck is the main reason to see this. Not an all time classic he's not quite comfortably cast - he's professional and charismatic, it's just a little odd to hear him talk in Scottish. Sorry Mike!

The script spanks through the events of the novel and Catrionna - Mann can't really get the excitement and adventure happening. It still has a television feel about it. The two leads are there. Who are they? Why do they fall in love? What purpose do they serve? 

The ending doesn't work - after traipsing over the hills everyone gets stuck in rooms. Ending has Alan turn himself in? Change of heart not really handled. All surface.

There is lovely Scots scenery and a terrific support cast including Donald Pleasance (creepy uncle), Gordon Jackson, voice dubbed Jack Hawkins.

Interesting to see Caine's Breck.

Book review - "The Black Arrow" by Robert Louis Stevenson (1888)

 Second tier Stevenson. The adventures of a 17 year old and the girl he hooks up with during the War of the Roses - he's on the Yorkist side i.e. ultimately unsuccessful though he wins in this one. There's fights, outlaws and derring do but I struggled to register it and my mind drifted listening (it was an audio book).

Movie review - "The Black Arrow" (1948) **

 Columbia went into swasbucklers in a big way after World War Two - they were usually produced by Sam Katzman or Edward Small. This one is a Small effort, based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel with the hero aged up to make a vehicle for Louis Hayward, and a dash of Robin Hood and Hamlet sprinkled into the story.

Hayward returns from the wars to find his dad dead. George Macready blames another noble, whose daughter Janet Blair is under the control of Macready. There's a sassy fiar, outlaws in the woods, a trial by combat at the end, a cameo by the future Richard III in a sort of sympathetic but not really part (he's depicted as pompous)

Director Gordon Douglas does a decent job and there's fine production values even if in black and white. But it's a sluggish tale. Uninspired support cast. Not very engaging story. I had that issue with the novel (which is different to this).

Some decent Hayward-Blair flirting but that's about it.

Book review - "Catriona" by Robert Louis Stevenson

 Sequel to Kidnapped which actually has a strong idea, because it deals with a dangling plot strand - David Balfour knowing that an innocent man has been arrested for murder. He tries to save him, and gets in trouble.

The novel is named after a highland gal who is Balfour's love interest - this is more of a romance than a bromance, so Alan Breck gets shunted to the side. This isn't good. 

The story is more an amiable stroll. Some of the characters are interesting - Catriona, her deadbeat dad, but David is never really in peril. There's no classic set pieces. Some good bits but ultimately not that interesting.

Movie review - "Dr Heckyl and Mr Hype" (1980) **

 Charles B. Griffith does a comedy-horror (I guess) based on Stevenson's famous story, updated to the present day. Oliver Reed in heavy make up plays a doctor who is nice but ugly and gets turned into a handsome cad.

It's a silly, "wacky" comedy that TBH could have done with more exploitation elements (violence, sex, nudity). Maybe it would've played better shot in the 50s with Dick Miller in the lead (Miller is in this, incidentally). 

Oliver Reed completely commits, it's got to be said - as Heckyl he's covered in make up and puts on a weird accent and as Hype does his Oliver Reed thing.

Sunny Johnson is quite good as the blonde dream girl - she died of a brain tumour not long after filming.  Griffith's old Roger Corman colleague Mel Welles pops in as a doctor.

This was an early American film for Cannon, who wanted a Love at First Bite. Didn't quite work out that way. I've got to say, it's not a dumb film, though - it is silly, very silly, but not dumb.

Book review - "Kidnapped" by Robert Louis Stevenson (re-read)

 Classic. First third is brilliant - the dodgy uncle, the stairs, the will, the boat, meeting Alan Breck, the roundhouse siege, landing on a foreign shore, the deadly blind man. Then it gets involved with shenanigans amongst highlanders and is less interesting though I loved the lord in the "cage". It just isn't up to its first third. Battle of wits finale.

Movie review - "Treasure Island" (1972) **1/2

 Orson Welles started making a version of this story in the 1960s - he'd done it on radio - and I wish he had, he is an ideal Long John Silver. Here is voice is dubbed which seems absurd.

Still, he's got a twinkle in his eye and is full of rogueishness - even without the voice its an endearing performance. He has pleasing by play with Jim Hawkins, who seems very young, but that adds to the drama.

There is a solid sail boat, and occasionally this springs along very well, with some flourishes. It feels like a flawed work but I didn't mind it. It was fun to see Welles in a lead in this stage of his career.

Book review - "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson (audiobook)

The classic novel. I listened to an audio book. Didn't get that into it. Maybe I'm not a big fan of Alfred Molina, who read it. Maybe I got annoyed by the Doctor and Squire Trelawney. But it bogged down and wasn't scary or exciting. Is it me or the book? I remember liking this more.

Book review - "The Master of Ballantrae" by Robert Louis Stevenson (1889) (audiobook)

I return to this story every decade or so - there's something about it. Perhaps the universality of the central theme: Jamie, the Master, is shallow and flashy, but everyone loves him and forigves him; Henry, the younger brother, is brave, dutiful, smart, honest... but no one really likes him, except the narrator, a "confirmed bachelor" Mackellar (the stock narrator of many old time adventure novels).

This is also a powerful psychological thriller - there is action, but it is dispensed with  quite quickly (the Master's adventures with Bonnie Prince Charlie are covered in a few pages; ditto his time among pirates). Most of the reading time is spent with a family being mean - the father and Jamie's ex pining after Jamie, treating Henry like shit, and Henry taking it so stoically you want to slap him, then Jamie coming back and psychologically torturing everyone, and then Henry gradually goes mad.

It's actually really powerful stuff that would've made a great Gainsborough melodrama with James Mason as the master and Stewart Granger as the brother and Phyllis Calvert as the woman with maybe Jean Kent as the girl Jamie knocks up. Or do a sex change - Lockwood as the Master, Calvert as the younger sibling.

So it's a harrowing read, with no terribly sympathetic characters - even the narrator got wearying. The book picks up at the end when it's just Jamie and Mackellar and the former tries to smooth talk the latter and they head off to America, with an exciting finale in the forests of America being chased by Indians, looking for gold and going mad.

The Irish soldier of fortune character was great fun and I wish he'd come back at the end.

Movie review - "Treasure Island" (1950) ****

Charming version of the legendary tale, helped with some beautiful production design and photography, a very strong cast of Brit actors (except for lead Bobby Driscoll who is most engaging), and a filmmaking team clearly into it.

Robert Newton's Long John Silver isn't everyone's cup of tea - it's not a replica of what's in the book, but it is a lot of fun. He really is the definitive eye rolling argh me hearties pirate. You can understand why Jim Hawkins wants to hang out with him more than the other adults, who are a little dull.

There's a lot of love that's gone into the movie. It's done with affection and a spirit of adventure. Decent action - it doesn't shy away from the darker stuff either, like Jim Hawkins having to kill.

Movie review - "The Master of Ballantrae" (1953) **1/2 (re-viewing)

Plenty of good stuff on display here - the colour, a decent budget, lots of action, Stevenson's source material, Errol Flynn being perfectly cast as the dissolute brother who goes to fight for Bonnie Prince Charlie while good brother Anthony Steel stays behind, Flynn's by play with Roger Livesey.

They've made Flynn heroic, which isn't consistent with the text, but I understand why they did it - that brother simply had more interesting adventures, going off and being a pirate and what not. If you want tot make the other brother the hero you'd need to spend time with him - and the piece would be less of a swashbuckler and more of a gothic noir.

But having said that they make the other brother (Steel) a goodie. Flynn thinks Steel has betrayed him, but he's wrong which is fake drama and dull. And makes Steel's presence in the whole movie pointless. If you make Flynn good, make Steel bad - wouldn't be hard: he covets Flynn's popularity, and love interest. Steel being good is kind of pointless. Maybe it could've worked if there had been another villain - but it turns out Flynn was betrayed by a girl who loved him.

The second flaw is the romance between Flynn and Beatrice Campbell is so flat. It doesn't work on the page - he's clearly a lousy boyfriend, the romance will last five seconds once the film is over - and the playing between the two doesn't help.

So those are two big flaws. It's a shame because they could have been easily fixed.

Flynn was clearly aging and getting on but it actually suits the part. It is one of his better 50s films.

Movie review - "Kidnapped" (1960) **1/2

Disney was still on his classic adaptation kick when he decided to blow the dust off Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel. I've had a fondness for this book but it never quite breaks through to the top rank for me... the characters are great, David, his slimy uncle and especially Alan the soldier of fortune who does a little dance after a violent action. The story line is more problematic - after a terrific beginning it goes off into episodes with stuff about the murder of some officer that ambles. It feels like part one of something and indeed there was a sequel.

The film needed to be a bromance to work - that's what's in the book, the relationship between David and Alan. That doesn't really come across here.

Peter Finch is a decent enough Alan - maybe not entirely believable as a man of action, but fairly enigmatic. I did feel that Peter O'Toole, who has a small role towards the end as a highlander, would have been better value.

James MacArthur is okay as David. Very American yes but that's alright - it brings a contemporary feel. And his performance isn't bad - there's just not much chemistry between him and Finch.

There's pleasing location work in Scotland and a decent support cast. The treatment is respectful rather than full blooded. I always felt this story should have made David into a woman you could have played proper romance then.

Movie review - "Ebb Tide" (1937) **

Henry Hathaway was meant to direct this but he was delayed on Souls at Sea which is a shame because he would have brought some much needed vigour. James Hogan doesn't do a very good job.

The basic story is very strong - it's based on a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. But it badly lacks excitement and pace. There's a storm sequence but it's not very well done. The one effective moment is when the three main guys arrive on the island and meet Lloyd Nolan. The climax is forgettable the action undercooked.

Oscar Homolka is extremely irritating in his first Hollywood movie - I wonder why producers were so keen on him? Ray Milland is fine in a whatever part. Barry Fitzgerald is solid. Frances Farmer seems bored in her role - I get she was unhappy in Hollywood but I get the sense she's phoning it in a bit here. It's not a great role (her character is mostly a nag, she's mostly there to hang off Milland's arm) but she could have done better.

The one actor who really nails it is Lloyd Nolan, who is strong and creepy as the deranged island ruler. But the film isn't up to him.

Book review - "Kidnapped" by Robert Louis Stevenson

I first became familiar with this as a kid reading an abridged version with plenty of pictures. But you know something? I don't think my judgement's changed. It starts off fantastically - with David Balfour orphaned, going to his uncle, uncle tries to kill him by sending him up stairs, he's sold into slavery, meets Alan Breck, helps fight against the crew, winds up shipwrecked, a blind man tries to kill him.

Then things get let sure - the plot ambles as the characters amble through the heather. David meets Breck, they are near an assassination, they meet some highlanders - but it's really kind of a lot of walking and became less interesting. I felt a specific person needed to be after them or something.

Breck is a great character - Han Solo of his day, doing a little dance after a fight because he loves war so. Really, David should be a girl in this - they even have a lovers tiff.

A very strong first third, but then I lost interest.

Book review - "The Ebb Tide" by Robert Louis Stevenson

One of Stevenson's last completed novels although he wrote it with Lloyd Osborne. It's a cracker story - Wages of Fear meets Apocalypse Now as three down and outs on a Pacific Island get a second chance when a ship comes in with all the crew dead from fever. They plan to rob the ship, only to find out the cargo is dodgy, and wind up at an island run by a maniac. The climax looks to build to something awesome but after the drunk dude dies, that's it. It's a shame.

It's also got to be said this isn't very well written -  florid and over the top. Was this Osborne more than Stevenson? Maybe that's why it isn't very well known.

Also there's a lot of racism that is typical of the time but hard to read - talk of n*ggers and Kanakas and so on, and they're all depersonalised too.

Movie review - "Adventure Island" (1947) **1/2

Enjoyable south seas tale from a Robert Louis Stevenson novel I'm not that familiar with - The Ebb Tide. It's a solid story - three dissipates on a Pacific Island get a gig transporting a boat of champagne to Sydney; two of them decide to steal the cargo, leaving the third (Rory Calhoun) to form an alliance with the daughter (Rhonda Fleming) of the owner. Then they wind up at an island run by a religious maniac (Alan Napier) and have to escape.

You can see why Calhoun was snapped up by talent scouts and why his initial public appearance as Lana Turner's date called a stir - he's tall and handsome and has a bit of zing. But at this stage he was very awkward and uncomfortable on camera. The same goes for Rhonda Fleming who is hurt by the fact the version of the film I saw was in black and white (apparently there's a colour version).

They are attractive though and there's a strong support cast including Paul Kelly (who, like Calhoun, had been in prison), John Abbott (as a drunk) and Napier. And the local natives are even given a bit of a plot - it's only a little bit but it's more than many south sea films of this time.

The handling isn't very good but the script is solid - Maxwell Shane was Pine-Thomas' go-to guy and you can see why - and the story holds. And I like south sea movies.

Book review - "The Master of Ballantrae" by Robert Louis Stevenson (1889)

Everyone knows the classic Stevenson tales - Jekyll and Hyde, Kidnapped, Treasure Island - but this would rank on the second level, probably along with The Black Arrow. It's a surprisingly dark and bleak tale with a strong central idea - a Scottish lord has two sons, a wastrel and a more reliable type, and during the 1745 rebellion it's decided one should remain loyal while the other joins Bonnie Prince Charlie; they flip a coin and the wastrel gets to go Jacobite. Everyone misses him and thinks he's the better brother, and when he comes back he sets about psychologically torturing the "good" brother.

If this were an everyday tale it would be clear-cut good and evil and for a long time it seems to be that, with the Master (the wastrel, Jamie) behaving appallingly - but when the bad brother chases the good to the American colonies, the good brother snaps and starts taunting, tormenting the bad brother.

This might have been a better book had the brother (Henry) snapped earlier. Because for a lot of it he is frustratingly passive, paying off Jamie's mistress, and taking a lot of crap, including from his dad and wife who both adore Jamie. Also passive are their father, the steward who narrates the tail, and even the wife.

However Jamie is a bright, vivacious character - an evil little turd to be sure, but he's always doing something, turning pirate, or setting up business in India, or trying to blackmail his brother, who he becomes obssessed with. A very strong villain who has interesting adventures (piracy, burying treasure in America etc). It's a genuinely different sort of adventure tale, very different in tone to the 1953 Errol Flynn version.

Movie review - "I, Monster" (1971) **

Disappointing re-telling of the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story from Amicus, despite the presence of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the leads. It might have been better had they played those roles respectively - Cushing would have made a tremendous Jekyll and Lee a wonderful Hyde - but here the double role goes to Lee. And while I like Lee - who doesn't have a soft spot for Christopher Lee, with that magnificent height, voice and bearing - the fact is, he's a limited actor, and it annoyed me here. Cushing plays his friend, who thinks that the Hyde character is blackmailing Jekyll (although they use different names in this movie) not aware they're the same person.

The pacing is slow, there's a lack of atmosphere and suspense, and a weak support cast - the only other role of note is the one played by Mike Raven as a fellow gentleman friend of Cushing and Lee's; there's also a horny Victorian housewife (introduced as if she's going to be important, then throw away) and a cliched buxon barmaid.

There are far too many scenes of people sitting around drawing rooms talking and not nearly enough scary bits. Some solid work from the art department and costume people is wasted.