Radio review - Suspense – “The Lost Special” (1943) **

Starts with a flourish – it’s the last testament of a person about to be executed – but the story was a bit dull and hard to follow. Orson Welles narrates. From a story by Conan Doyle. A copy of the script is here.

Radio review – Lux – “Notorious” (1948) **1/2

Ingrid Bergman reprises her screen role in what remains a good story; of course the visual flourishes Hitchcock brought are missed – especially in the wine cellar sequence, and the finale, which depends on POV. But the emotional stuff of the story remains. Joseph Cotten substitutes very well for Cary Grant – he feels like a natural Bergman co-star does Joe Cotten, but the guy who replaces Claude Rains isn’t as good. A copy of the script is here.

Movie review – “Cindy and Donna” (1970) **

Sleazy Crown International sexploiter about two sisters who have a wild weekend. Mum’s a drunk, Dad sleeps with prostitutes and his eldest daughter Donna – who poses nude and is gangbanged by her boyfriend and his mates (with her consent). Younger daughter Cindy tries sex with her female friend, who tells her “it was fun… but it’s no substitute for the real thing” – so she sleeps with Donna’s boyfriend. Donna walks in and sees, then runs out and is run over. Tragic ending! A film made by and for dirty old men, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t hot at times and Cindy and Donna are at least good looking, Cindy especially.

Movie review – “Confessions of a Shopaholic” (2009) *1/2

A movie made by people who don’t care. There’s no reason why this shouldn’t have been a hit – it’s got a great title, all the ingredients are there, Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy aren’t stars but they’re amiable enough, the supporting cast is strong. But they make several mistakes.

Firstly, Fisher’s character comes from a poor background – so it’s her own fault she’s addicted to mindless consumerism, and it’s not really fun to see her get into financial turmoil (one of the basic rules of farce is to make your characters rich). Secondly nothing’s at stake. She’s hiding the fact she has a credit card debt – OMG! What sort of deception is that? (She needed to become a big media star about how to save money or something). Thirdly it just feels false – people don’t become massive stars from writing columns. There is a great deal of forces humour, slapstick etc.

The makers are this are going to be able to point to the GFC as an excuse for this film's failure at the box office. But the fact is they just made a bad movie.

Radio review – Orson Welles on Jack Benny (1940, 1943) ***

Welles appeared on The Jack Benny show in 1940, playing himself, training Jack for the role of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. (Benny returned the favour the next week by appearing on June Moon for Campbell Playhouse). 

Welles was a great success – he wasn’t always the best at comedy but could be hilarious in a well written piece for which he was appropriately cast (eg Twentieth Century). He fit into Benny land because (a) he was playing a funny version of himself, kidding his genius image, and (b) the Benny show had a strong ensemble that centred around an egotistical lead; it was a kind of mad house into which Welles slotted right in. (One can imagine most stars with a strong persona could, eg Errol Flynn, Bogart.) So in 1943 when Benny was ill, Welles was invited back as guest host and proved very successful.

There were some irritating things about the Benny ensemble – that slightly creepy boy tenor who always sang, the catch phrase “isn’t that a lu-lu” from the band leader. But there was a genuine warm family feeling despite the insults and it's not hard to see how it was so successful.

Movie review – “Attack of the Giant Leeches” (1959) **

Producer by Gene Corman (Roger was exec p) but directed by Bernard Kowalski and written by Leo Gordon. Yvette Vickers, everyone’s favourite late 50s sci fi tramp, plays a tramp married to a fat man but who actually is having an affair. There’s a do-gooder park ranger hero who comes up against hostile locals - was John Jarrat in Dark Age a homage to this? He’s a Ken doll hero, so it’s great he’s played by an actor called Ken.

This is not a bad film. Okay that’s relative – there is too much bad acting (the hero park ranger and his wife are particularly bland), the creature effects are a bit silly, and the climax underwhelming (you keep waiting for the wife to be threatened and it never happens). But the structure is basically sound, there is some decent drama – the bit where its revealed some missing hicks are in fact alive and being kept captive by the leeches is creepy

NB If I’m not mistaken that’s Roger Corman playing the silent role of a sheriff deputy around the 11 minute mark

Movie review – “De Sade” (1969) **

When Sam Arkoff was interviewed in the early 70s he gave this as an example of AIP’s biggest disaster. It’s a surprise when you consider the subject matter would seem a natural for AIP (this was part of the second cycle of Poe pictures) and there were some impressive names involved: the cast included Lilli Palmer, Santa Berger and John Huston, the script was by Richard Matheson), the director Cy Endfield. However the shoot proved highly troublesome. Endfield apparently rewrote the script (changing it from non-linear to linear) and flipped out, causing Roger Corman to step in to help finish the film.

 

Apparently Endfield’s direction was chaste but here are lots of bare boobs here, some female bums (no male bums); Arkoff says in his memoirs that Dullea was reluctant to do orgy scenes but he’s in there, licking nipples. Presumably Corman did all this.

 

Keir Dullea's performance is a major debit. The role of de Sade is a gift but Dullea lacks spark, artistry, madness, etc. He does have a look of bored aplomb of the aristocracy – kind of like a Nazi officer – but that doesn't work for someone like de Sade. As a result, for all the orgies and boobs on display, the film isn't very interesting. There are lots of trippy sequences, music that sounds a bit like 70s TV, some decent art design. 

 

A major opportunity missed.