In their fledgling days AIP turned out the odd Western - a genre with a ready market that could be made cheaply and where quality wasn't a must. But the market for these was shrinking, there was too much competition from TV and the big studios (who had stars and colour), and the teen audiences were proving more lucrative, so this was the last.
It's from the team of Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna, who combined on several efforts. Griffith is one of my favourite screenwriters, but this is pretty routine. Only once or twice does it perk up - an opening where John Agar's brother is revealed to be his identical twin (I thought more was going to happen with this), a climactic action sequence where Marla English is tied to a stake and attacked by ants (this was supposedly added because AIP liked the poster so much of a lady being tied to a stake they requested a scene reflecting it be added to the film).
The story has a bit of that Antony Mann-James Stewart 50s Western vibe with hero John Agar forming a bond with Touch Connors, unaware the latter is the killer of his brother that he's looking for. Agar is bland but Connors gives good work, and English is beautiful as an Indian girl who comes between them. Perfunctory handling - if you're not choosy about your 50s Westerns you might like it, but really it's for Agar and/or Griffith completists only.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Movie review - "Bloodsuckers" (1970) ** (aka "Incense of the Damned")
Also known as Incense for the Damned this horror flick was directed by Robert Hartford-Davis, British exploitation maestro from the 60s and 70s. He had a decent budget here, resulting in some location shooting in Greece and a cast that includes Peter Cushing, Edward Woodward, Johnny Sekka and Alex Davion.
However it was a troublesome shoot, apparently running out of money mid production; there is some narration and lots of odd cuts, which normally indicates troubled post production. It shouldn't really have been needed because the story boiled down to its essentials is quite simple: a well-connected Oxford don (played by Patrick Mower, whose dark glowering good looks would have made him a sure fire Gainsborough star had he been born a few decades earlier) goes missing in Greece and his friends (including his fiancee) go to retrieve him.
It turns out Mower has fallen in with some Alister Crowley types, led by Imogen Hassall (a cult figure from British films of this period) as a Greek femme fetale, frequently wearing not much. Even though Mower and Hassall make out a lot and participate in an orgy together, Mower can't sleep with her - he's never slept with her fiance (Madeline Hind). Johnny Sekka is Mower's friend who is quick to claim they don't have a gay relationship but he seems awfully keen on making sure said friend is okay. Davion is a private eye, Edward Woodward has one scene as a nerdy expert, and Macnee a British diplomat.
This is a weird film, with all sorts of stuff in it - Sekka's casting gives it rare racial versatility, Hassall is quite sexy, Mower has charisma, there are some interesting ideas (mocking the pretentious of academia, the concept of psychological vampires) which are not developed, a ham-fisted attempt to introduce some sexual complexity, some really bad stumbling when it comes to exploiting drama, pretty scenery. It's a mess and it shouldn't have been - it's not a professionally made movie. But there was enough to keep my interest for the most part.
However it was a troublesome shoot, apparently running out of money mid production; there is some narration and lots of odd cuts, which normally indicates troubled post production. It shouldn't really have been needed because the story boiled down to its essentials is quite simple: a well-connected Oxford don (played by Patrick Mower, whose dark glowering good looks would have made him a sure fire Gainsborough star had he been born a few decades earlier) goes missing in Greece and his friends (including his fiancee) go to retrieve him.
It turns out Mower has fallen in with some Alister Crowley types, led by Imogen Hassall (a cult figure from British films of this period) as a Greek femme fetale, frequently wearing not much. Even though Mower and Hassall make out a lot and participate in an orgy together, Mower can't sleep with her - he's never slept with her fiance (Madeline Hind). Johnny Sekka is Mower's friend who is quick to claim they don't have a gay relationship but he seems awfully keen on making sure said friend is okay. Davion is a private eye, Edward Woodward has one scene as a nerdy expert, and Macnee a British diplomat.
This is a weird film, with all sorts of stuff in it - Sekka's casting gives it rare racial versatility, Hassall is quite sexy, Mower has charisma, there are some interesting ideas (mocking the pretentious of academia, the concept of psychological vampires) which are not developed, a ham-fisted attempt to introduce some sexual complexity, some really bad stumbling when it comes to exploiting drama, pretty scenery. It's a mess and it shouldn't have been - it's not a professionally made movie. But there was enough to keep my interest for the most part.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Book review - "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J.K. Rowling
It took a while for me to get into this - the beginning felt slow, Dobbie was incredibly annoying, and it inevitably lacked the excitement and underdog factor of the first in the series. But it got better as it went along, particularly upping the stakes - students are killed at school, Hermione is petrified - and some of it was genuinely creepy (the snake, the diary, Tom Riddle, the ending).
Book review - "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
The first in the enormously popular series. What else is there to say? Like a lot of phenomenal successes it succeeds in recycling a lot of old ingredients in a fresh way (Star Wars, The Hunger Games). It's very pro boarding school and coming from a good family; Harry inherits money, a good name, sporting ability, and a place at a school. However he is brave, works hard and is non snobbish. It's written with passion and flair with a neat line in humour and eye of characterisation and action.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Movie review - "The Angry Red Planet" (1959) **
A movie best remembered for it's special effects - CineMagic was meant to revolutionise science fiction, creating drawings-style background, which would have been very expressionistic (and fascinating to watch). It didn't turn out the way the filmmakers intended but the effects are the most interesting thing about this - red filtered scenes on Mars with various creatures attacking astronauts (most notably the rat-spider-thingy, an evocative picture which inspired me to watch this).
The rest of the movie is depressingly conventional - it's about four astronauts who go to Mars in one of those space ships where most of the scenes take place in the one set, the control section... which is big enough for a living room. The four astronauts are stock 50s types: the "heartthrob" captain (Gerard Mohr) with his steel wool hair and displayed-too-often chest, making lecherous remarks to the red headed female (Naura Hayden) who constantly refers to the fact she's a woman and falls in love with him, plus comic relief fat person (Jack Kruschen) and dotty professor (Les Tremayne).
The scenes on the spaceship and on earth are hard going but the special effects do make it interesting.
The rest of the movie is depressingly conventional - it's about four astronauts who go to Mars in one of those space ships where most of the scenes take place in the one set, the control section... which is big enough for a living room. The four astronauts are stock 50s types: the "heartthrob" captain (Gerard Mohr) with his steel wool hair and displayed-too-often chest, making lecherous remarks to the red headed female (Naura Hayden) who constantly refers to the fact she's a woman and falls in love with him, plus comic relief fat person (Jack Kruschen) and dotty professor (Les Tremayne).
The scenes on the spaceship and on earth are hard going but the special effects do make it interesting.
Movie review - "Corridors of Blood" (1960) ***
The Haunted of Strangler was a hit so the same team got together for another exercise in polite British period horror: Boris Karloff, producer Robert Gordon, director Robert Day, a historical background. In this case its the invention of anaesthetic, done by Doctor Boris Karloff. Like many a good mad scientist he starts off idealistic but it's not too long before he's sucking down the ether and hiring body snatchers.
Yes that's right - British horror movies in the 19th century either had to reference Jack the Ripper or Burke and Hare; here it's the latter with Christopher Lee and Francis de Wolff stepping into that role. The two story strands (ether creation and body snatching) don't always merge seemlessly, but it's a handsome movie, with enjoyable production design, stylish photography and confident handling from Day.
In addition to Christopher Lee, who is good value in his villainous role (even getting splashed with acid by Karloff), Hammer fans will enjoy seeing Francis Matthews (once again helping a mad scientist, as he did in The Revenge of Frankenstein) and Adrienne Corri; there's also Finlay Currie and Nigel Green. But the real star is Karloff, turning in a top effort as the tormented scientist, not really evil, getting hooked on drugs. Betta St John plays Karloff's niece who has an affair with Karloff's son (played by Matthews)... which is a bit yuck.
Yes that's right - British horror movies in the 19th century either had to reference Jack the Ripper or Burke and Hare; here it's the latter with Christopher Lee and Francis de Wolff stepping into that role. The two story strands (ether creation and body snatching) don't always merge seemlessly, but it's a handsome movie, with enjoyable production design, stylish photography and confident handling from Day.
In addition to Christopher Lee, who is good value in his villainous role (even getting splashed with acid by Karloff), Hammer fans will enjoy seeing Francis Matthews (once again helping a mad scientist, as he did in The Revenge of Frankenstein) and Adrienne Corri; there's also Finlay Currie and Nigel Green. But the real star is Karloff, turning in a top effort as the tormented scientist, not really evil, getting hooked on drugs. Betta St John plays Karloff's niece who has an affair with Karloff's son (played by Matthews)... which is a bit yuck.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Movie review - "The Final Programme" (1973) **1/2
Remember when Jon Finch was a movie star? It wasn't for long but in the early 1970s he got to play leads for Polanski, Hitchcock and here Robert Fuest, coming off The Abominable Dr Phibes. This was not a box office success, but has developed a cult, as a long of ambitious-but-not-very-well-executed-sci-fi tends to do.
It's based on a novel by Michael Moorcock, which I've never read - he's done a bunch of them about a secret agent/adventurer Jerry Cornelius. The film opens with the funeral of Cornelius' father who was a scientist working on some top secret program. Other scientists want to get their hands on it and enlist Cornelius to help.
That brief synopsis makes the movie sound easier to follow than it actually is : for the most part this is very confusing, and I kept having to refer to websites to get my head around what I was watching. There's a bisexual scientist, some other scientists, Finch's sweeter-than-thou sister and dirtbag brother, and Finch and Runacre combining into a caveman. The look of the film is fascinating - it's slightly futuristic a la Clockwork Orange, with some way out sets and costumes: there's mud wrestling, wacky nightclubs.
Jenny Runacre is a lot of fun as Miss Brunner, Finch is a lot more lively here than in many of his other films, and there's some choice support from the likes of Patrick Magee, Sterling Hayden and Hugh Griffith. And while it's confusion at least it tries to be smart. I found it more interesting than I thought it would be if only because it was so insane. David Puttnam was executive producer and this is completely unlike anything else he ever made.
It's based on a novel by Michael Moorcock, which I've never read - he's done a bunch of them about a secret agent/adventurer Jerry Cornelius. The film opens with the funeral of Cornelius' father who was a scientist working on some top secret program. Other scientists want to get their hands on it and enlist Cornelius to help.
That brief synopsis makes the movie sound easier to follow than it actually is : for the most part this is very confusing, and I kept having to refer to websites to get my head around what I was watching. There's a bisexual scientist, some other scientists, Finch's sweeter-than-thou sister and dirtbag brother, and Finch and Runacre combining into a caveman. The look of the film is fascinating - it's slightly futuristic a la Clockwork Orange, with some way out sets and costumes: there's mud wrestling, wacky nightclubs.
Jenny Runacre is a lot of fun as Miss Brunner, Finch is a lot more lively here than in many of his other films, and there's some choice support from the likes of Patrick Magee, Sterling Hayden and Hugh Griffith. And while it's confusion at least it tries to be smart. I found it more interesting than I thought it would be if only because it was so insane. David Puttnam was executive producer and this is completely unlike anything else he ever made.
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