Hammer were best known for their horrors and thrillers but they also made a surprising amount of comedies - such as this obscure 1950 movie. It actually has an OK idea, a sort of sequel to The Admirable Crichton - a noble and his butler return to England after ten years on a tropical island, only to find they've been accompanied by an island princess who is hot for the butler. Now, Kenneth More made films with worse plots but this is weighed down by inadequate casting.
If anyone out there is a massive fan of Edward Rigby (aristocrat) or Henry Mollison (butler) I apologise but I found neither up to the task. They also introduce the male love interest - a reporter - way too late (40 mins in). It really needed colour and some first rate comic talent, like More, or Margaret Rutherford or Alistair Sim. As it is, it's got the B team. It passes the time, and worse films have been made.
Sunday, June 01, 2014
Movie review - "Horrors of the Black Museum" (1959) ***
Stylish horror movie, a co production between the UK's Anglo-Amalgamated and AIP (this was the latter's first movie in colour). It's got a decent central idea - a series of murders are being committed involving unusual methods eg binoculars with spikes, guillontine, electrocution, brain transfer serum (I think) - and crime writer Michael Gough seems all too interested in them.
The photography and colour are excellent, as is the production design - British horror films from this period really had it over the Yanks. There is also some stylish acting from Gough (no Vincent Price or Orson Welles, both of whom were considered then had to be ruled out as too expensive, but decent work) and Geoffrey Keene, and a logical enough script.
Like a lot of Herman Cohen productions, many of the characters are misogynist, there's some trampy women who get their comeuppance (one of those slutty girls from movies of the period who dance provocatively on their own to jukeboxes in bars) and bad acting teenagers. Shirley Anne Field is one of the teenagers - she's very pretty but also very ordinary (she later become good). Graham Curnow (brainwashed killer) and June Cunningham (tramp) are also very bad.
US prints have a 13 minute prologue where this man hypnotises the audience, which is corny but also kind of cool.
The photography and colour are excellent, as is the production design - British horror films from this period really had it over the Yanks. There is also some stylish acting from Gough (no Vincent Price or Orson Welles, both of whom were considered then had to be ruled out as too expensive, but decent work) and Geoffrey Keene, and a logical enough script.
Like a lot of Herman Cohen productions, many of the characters are misogynist, there's some trampy women who get their comeuppance (one of those slutty girls from movies of the period who dance provocatively on their own to jukeboxes in bars) and bad acting teenagers. Shirley Anne Field is one of the teenagers - she's very pretty but also very ordinary (she later become good). Graham Curnow (brainwashed killer) and June Cunningham (tramp) are also very bad.
US prints have a 13 minute prologue where this man hypnotises the audience, which is corny but also kind of cool.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Movie review - "Alakazam the Great" (1961) **
Fans of the TV show Monkey Magic might get a kick out of this animated feature from Japan, which tells the origin story of Journey to the West - Monkey being king, going power crazy, and starting on his trip.
AIP picked it up and dubbed it into English, adding songs from Les Baxter - Frankie Avalon plays Monkey, with support from Dodie Smith and Jonathan Winters. It's a piece with a lot of charm and cuteness, decent atmosphere; there was a lot of plot and set up and to be honest I struggled to follow it at times.
But there's also plenty of action and Frankie Avalon is an ideal voice over person for this sort of thing.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Book review - "Count Belisarius" (1936) by Robert Graves
The bloke who does the introduction for this says it's a shame this book isn't as well known as I Claudius because it's as good but it's not, not by a long shot. Belisarius was a great figure, an amazing general who almost got the old Roman Empire back and firing again - and might have done it, had he enjoyed a better relationship with his Emperor - but he was so remarkable that he's not nearly as relatable as Claudius. Claudius was an all time great underdog of history, and his story involved family; Belisarius is a genius with a not particularly memorable family.
Also Graves' narrator is a loyal eunuch, which is not only uncomfortable to think about but he's a dull character to, and far too much of this is repetitive: Belisarius is given inadequate support, manages to win, Justinian gets jealous (this happens in Africa, Italy, the Middle East). It also has a down beat finale of legend with Belisarius being blinded and winding up poor (something Ian Hughes disputes in his biography of the general).
The most interesting thing about it is the relationship between Belisarius and his ambitious ex hooker wife and her possible lover. I enjoyed Belisarius as a child and the stuff about the chariot riot but the second half was more of a struggle to read.
Also Graves' narrator is a loyal eunuch, which is not only uncomfortable to think about but he's a dull character to, and far too much of this is repetitive: Belisarius is given inadequate support, manages to win, Justinian gets jealous (this happens in Africa, Italy, the Middle East). It also has a down beat finale of legend with Belisarius being blinded and winding up poor (something Ian Hughes disputes in his biography of the general).
The most interesting thing about it is the relationship between Belisarius and his ambitious ex hooker wife and her possible lover. I enjoyed Belisarius as a child and the stuff about the chariot riot but the second half was more of a struggle to read.
Book review - "Belisarius: The Last Roman General" by Ian Hughes
I really enjoyed Hughes books on Valens/Valentinian and Aetius, but found this less satisfactory. Its done with customary style and skill, with plenty of pictures and maps and an easy to read style, but found it hard going at times - maybe because so many of Belisarius' campaigns dragged on and on (eg Italy), his personal life was so sordid (constantly cuckolded by his wife), all the battles he fought were ultimately pointless... I think it was the character rather than Hughes' treatment. Maybe it's also because to me the Byzantine Era feels so foreign whereas the Western Roman Empire doesn't - prejudice, I know, but can't be helped.
Movie review - "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein" (1957) ***
Follow up to I was a Teenage Werewolf is actually a very different type of film because it's not told from the point of view of a teenager (here, the monster) but rather the mad doctor Frankenstein character, played by Whit Bissell. On those terms - a late 50s version of a Universal mad doctor movie - this is quite enjoyable: Bissell does some solid, underplayed mad doctor acting which suits its Einsenhower era setting, and there are some cute flourishes like an alligator in the basement and a finale in colour; the monster make up is impressive; there are some choice lines of dialogue ("I know you've a tongue in your head, I sewed it myself") and moments of pure camp (eg Bissell talking about youth being the future then hearing a car accident outside which results in some conveniently dead teenagers).
Gary Conway is a teenage monster and come to think of it an interesting movie could have been made from his point of view - it might have been more typically AIP. Several plot elements were later used in Konga, also by producer Herman Cohen - the mad scientist protagonist, scientist marrying shrewish assistant who is later killed by the creature. Good fun.
Gary Conway is a teenage monster and come to think of it an interesting movie could have been made from his point of view - it might have been more typically AIP. Several plot elements were later used in Konga, also by producer Herman Cohen - the mad scientist protagonist, scientist marrying shrewish assistant who is later killed by the creature. Good fun.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Movie review - "Invasion of the Saucer Men" (1957) *
Another 50s AIP movie that doesn't live up to the fun promised by its title and poster - the aliens are terrific creatures, short with bald heads and pokey eyes, right out of Mars Attacks!. But there's far too little of them - they are only glimpsed here and there and pop up at the end.
Most of the time this dull movie is about teenagers running around in a small town (well, a boyfriend and girlfriend) having mystery encounters with aliens while the adults don't believe them. It's played as a comedy which lessens suspense and makes it frustrating because the comedy isn't very funny. The two leads are uninspired though Frank Gorshin pops up in the support cast.
There's wacky music and mugging from the actors a la Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow. This was remade as The Eye Creatures and actually the basic story isn't bad - it's roughly the same as The Blob - it's just badly executed. If they wanted to make it a comedy they should have given us more aliens.
Most of the time this dull movie is about teenagers running around in a small town (well, a boyfriend and girlfriend) having mystery encounters with aliens while the adults don't believe them. It's played as a comedy which lessens suspense and makes it frustrating because the comedy isn't very funny. The two leads are uninspired though Frank Gorshin pops up in the support cast.
There's wacky music and mugging from the actors a la Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow. This was remade as The Eye Creatures and actually the basic story isn't bad - it's roughly the same as The Blob - it's just badly executed. If they wanted to make it a comedy they should have given us more aliens.
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