Bantam Street

100 is the square root of ten. 100 is the Atomic Number of...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:06:00 -0800

100 is the square root of ten. 100 is the Atomic Number of Fermium. In Greece, India, and Israel, 100 is the phone number you dial for the police. In Belgium, dialing 100 will get you an ambulance; in the United Kingdom, 100 will get you the operator. If the average length of each of the 100 movies listed below was 90 minutes, that means The Doomed Farmer has spent about 9,000 minutes during the past nine months watching 24 frames per second whiz by his eyeballs. That’s some persistence of vision. The Doomed Farmer looks forward to watching more movies and writing about them here. He thanks Larry Blamire for inviting him to write these reviews, thanks you for taking the time to read them, and thanks Bantam Street’s Moviola for compiling the list below. (Guess this is a Thanksgiving column after all.)

12 TO THE MOON (1960) Written by DeWitt Bodeen, Directed by David Bradley

ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN, THE (1957) Written by Nigel Kneale, Directed by Val Guest

ALL NIGHT LONG (1962) Written by Nel King & “Peter Achilles” (Paul Jarrico), Directed by Basil Deardon

AN ANGEL FOR SATAN (1966) Written by Giuseppe Mangione & Camillo Mastrocinque, Directed by Camillo Mastrocinque

ANDY WARHOL’S DRACULA (1974) (aka BLOOD FOR DRACULA) Written & Directed by Paul Morrissey

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1962) Written by George Bruce & Orville Hampton, Directed by Edward L. Cahn

BELPHEGOR, PHANTOM OF THE LOUVRE (2001) Written by Daniele Thompson, Jerome Tonnerre & Jean-Paul Salome, Directed by Jean-Paul Salome

BLACK CAMEL, THE (1931) Written by Barry Conners, Phillip Kline, Dudley Nichols, Directed by Hamilton MacFadden

BLIND BEAST (1969) Written by Yoshio Shirasaka, Directed by Yasuzo Mazumura

BLOOD FOR DRACULA (1974) (aka ANDY WARHOL’S DRACULA) Written & Directed by Paul Morrissey

BLUE GARDENIA, THE (1953) Written by Charles Hoffman Directed by Fritz Lang

BOSTON BLACKIE AND THE LAW (1946) Written by Harry Essex, Directed by D. Ross Lederman

BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR, THE (1965) Written & Directed by John Gilling

CABINET OF CALIGARI, THE (1962) Written by Robert Bloch, Directed by Robert Kay

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (1943) Written by Griffin Jay & Henry Sucher, Directed by Edward Dmytryk

CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD (1965) Written by Michael Reeves & Lorenzo Sabatini Directed by Warren Keifer

CHRISTOPHER LEE, SIR; retrospective

CHU CHIN CHOW (1934) Written by Edward Knoblock, L. du Garde Peach & Sidney Gilliat, Directed by Walter Forde

COUNT DRACULA (1977)Written by Gerald Savory, Directed by Phillip Saville

COUNTER-ESPIONAGE (1942) Written by Aubrey Wisberg, Directed by Edward Dmytryck

CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (1955) Written by Curt Siodmak, Directed by Edward L. Cahn

CREEPING FLESH, THE (1973) Written by Peter Spenceley & Jonathan Rumbold, Directed by Freddie Francis

CURSE OF THE DEVIL (1973) Written by Paul Naschy, Directed by Carlos Aured

CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB, THE (1964) Written and Directed by Michael Carreras

DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON (1931) Written by Monte Katterjohn, Sidney Buchman & Lloyd Corrigan, Directed by Lloyd Corrigan

DEVIL DOLL; Brynant Halliday; scrapbook: movie poster and mention

DEVIL SHIP PIRATES, THE (1963) Written by Jimmy Sangster, Directed by Don Sharp

DIABOLIQUE (1955) Written by Henri-Georges Cluzot, Jerome Geronimi, Frederic Grendel, Rene Masson, Directed by Henri-Georges Cluzot

DRACULA (1931) Written by Garrett Fort, from the play by Hamilton Deane and John Balderston

DRACULA (1973) Written by Richard Matheson, Directed by Dan Curtis

DRACULA IN ISTANBUL (1953) Written by Umit Deniz, Directed by Mehmet Muhtar

FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, THE (1967) Written by Gerard Brach, Directed by Roman Polanski

FILMING OTHELLO (1978) Written and Directed by Orson Welles (though no credit as such appears on the film)

FLESH EATERS, THE ; William Castle; movie poster / flyer

FRANKENSTEIN (1931) Adapted by John Balderston, Screenplay by Garrett Fort and Francis Edwards Farragoh, Directed by James Whale

FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY (1973) Written by Christopher Isherwood & Don Bachardy, Directed by Jack Smight

GHOST TRAIN, THE (1941) Written by J.O.C. Orton, Directed by Walter Forde

GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE (1943) Written by Kenneth Higgins, Directed by William Beaudine

GIANT BEHEMOTH, THE (1959) Written and Directed by Eugene Lourie

GOD’S LITTLE ACRE (1958) Written by Phillip Yordan (credited) & Ben Maddow (uncredited), Directed by Anthony Mann

GOLDEN BAT (1966) Written by Susumu Takaku, Directed by Hajime Sato

GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (1960) Written by Sergio Corbucci and Ducio Tessari, Directed by Sergio Corbucci and Giacomo Gentilomo

GORGON, THE (1964) Written by John Gilling, Directed by Terence Fisher

HAMMER QUARTET, More Hammer Films on DVD; reviews

HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961), (aka HERCULES CONQUERS ATLANTIS) Written by Vittorio Cottafavi, Sandro Continenza & Ducio Tessari, Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi

HERE COME THE NELSONS (1952) Written by Ozzie Nelson, Donald Nelson & Bill Davenport, Directed by Frederick de Cordova

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (2004) Written & Directed by Hiyao Miyazaki

ICONS OF ADVENTURE DVD from Columbia / Four Hammer Films

INVISIBLE AGENT (1942) Written by Curt Siodmack, Directed by Edwin L. Marin

IRON MAN (2008) Written by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Markum & Matt Holloway, Directed by Jon Favreau

ISLAND OF LOST MEN (1939) Written by William Lipman & Horace McCoy, Directed by Kurt Neumann

J’ACCUSE (1919) Written & Directed by Abel Gance

JOHN STANLEY, Comic Book Writer / Artist; Retrospective

JUGGERNAUT (1936) Written by Cyril Campion, Heinrich Fraenkel & H. Fowler Mear, Directed by Henry Edwards

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER (2007) Written by Stan Berkowitz and Darwyn Cooke, Directed by David Bullock

L’ECLISSE (THE ECLIPSE) (1962) Written by Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Elio Bartolini & Ottiero Ottieri, Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

LE MEPRIS (CONTEMPT) (1963) Written by Jean-luc Godard, from the novel by Alberto Moravia, Directed by Jean-luc Godard

LEMON GROVE KIDS MEET THE MONSTERS, THE (1965/66/67) Written by Jim Harmon, Ron Haydock, E.M. Kevke & Steckler, Directed by Ray Dennis Steckler and “Ted Roter” (Peter Balakoff)

LONE WOLF TAKES A CHANCE, THE (1941) Written by Earl Felton & Sidney Salkow, Directed by Sidney Salkow

LOST SCRAPBOOK OF CADAVRA TOO, THE; memorabillia

LOST SCRAPBOOK OF CADAVRA, THE; memorabillia

LOVERS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (See NIGHTMARE CASTLE) (1965) Written by Mario Caiano & Fabio De Agostini Directed by Mario Caiano

MAD ABOUT MEN (1954) Written by Peter Blackmore, Directed by Ralph Thomas

MALPERTUIS (1972) Written by Jean Ferry Directed by Harry Kumel

MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH, THE (1959) Written by Jimmy Sangster, based on the play by Barre Lyndon, Directed by Terence Fisher

MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE, THE (1942) Written by Arnaud d’Usseau, Directed by Herbert I. Leeds

MERMAID Movie Reviews

MERMAIDS OF TIBURON, THE (1962/1987) Written & Directed by John Lamb

MIRANDA (1948) Written by Peter Blackmore, Directed by Ken Annakin

MONSTERS CRASH THE PAJAMA PARTY; n/a scrapbook: movie poster/flyer and mention

MYSTERY LINER (1934) Written by Wellyn Totman from a novel by Edgar Wallace Directed by William Nigh

NEUTRON VS THE AMAZING DR. CARONTE (1963) Written and Directed by Federico Curiel

NIGHT CREATURES (1962) Written by John Temple Smith & Anthony Hinds, Directed by Peter Graham Scott

NIGHT STALKER, THE (1972) Written by Richard Matheson, Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey

NIGHT STRANGLER, THE (1973) Written by Richard Matheson, Directed by Dan Curtis

NIGHTMARE CASTLE (1965) Written by Mario Caiano & Fabio De Agostini, Directed by Mario Caiano

PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER, THE (1961) Written by Jimmy Sangster, John Hunter & John Gilling, Directed by John Gilling

PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948) Written by Paul Osborn & Peter Berneis, Directed by William Dieterle

RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK (1966) Written by Anthony Hinds Directed by Don Sharp

RAT PHINK A BOO BOO (1966) Written, Directed & Photographed by Ray Dennis Steckler

RETURN OF MR. MOTO (1965) Written by Fred Eggers Directed by Ernest Morris

RETURN OF THE WHISTLER (1948) Written by Edward Bock & Maurice Tombragel, Directed by D. Ross Lederman

RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (2007) Written by Don Payne & Mark Frost, Directed by Tim Story

ROBINSON CRUSOE (1955) Written by Hugo Butler & Luis Bunuel, Directed by Luis Bunuel

RUSTY LEADS THE WAY (1948) Written by Nedrick Young, Directed by Will Jason

S.O.S. EISBERG (1933) Written and Directed by Arnold Fanck

SCANDAL (1950) Written by Ryuzo Kikushima & Akira Kurosawa, Directed by Akira Kurosawa

SECRET OF BLOOD ISLAND, THE (1964) Written by John Gilling, Directed by Quentin Lawrence

SH! THE OCTOPUS (1937) Written by George Bricker, from the play by Ralph Murphy and Donald Gallaher, Directed by William C. McGann

SHE CREATURE (2001) Written & Directed by Sebastian Gutierrez

SHUTTERED ROOM, THE (1967) Written by D.B. Ledrov & Nathaniel Tanchuck, Directed by David Greene

SIR CHRISTOPHER LEE; retrospective

SKIDOO (1968) Written by Doran William Cannon, Directed by Otto Preminger

SKULL, THE (1965) Written by Milton Subotsky, Directed by Freddie Francis

SLEEPERS WEST (1941) Written by Lou Breslow & Stanley Rauh Directed by Eugene Forde

SPY IN THE GREEN HAT, THE (1966) Written by Peter Allan Fields & David Victor, Directed by Joseph Sargent

STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY (1960) Written by David Zelag Goodman, Directed by Terence Fisher

TERROR ABOARD (1933) Written by Robert Presnell and Manuel Seff, Directed by Paul Sloane

TERROR IN THE CRYPT (1964) Written by Ernesto Gastaldi Directed by Camillo Mastrocinque

TERROR OF THE TONGS (1961) Written by Jimmy Sangster Directed by Anthony Bushell

THERE GOES BARDER (1955) Written by John Berry and Jacques Nahum, Directed by John Berry/Jacques Lemare

THIRTEENTH GUEST, THE (1932) Written by Arthur Hoerl & Frances Hyland, Directed by Albert Ray

THRILL KILLERS, THE (1964) Written by Gene Pollock & Ray Dennis Steckler, Directed by Ray Dennis Steckler

TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM, THE (1967) Written by Manfred R. Kohler, Directed by Harald Reindl

TWELVE TO THE MOON (See 12 TO THE MOON) (1960) Written by DeWitt Bodeen, Directed by David Bradley

TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL, THE (1960) Written by Wolf Mankowitz Directed by Terence Fisher

VAMPIRE BAT, THE (1933) Written by Edward T. Lowe, Directed by Frank Strayer

VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972) Written by Judson Kinberg, Directed by Robert Young

VAMPIRE LOVERS, THE (1970) Written by Harry Fine, Tudor Gates & Michael Style, Directed by Roy Ward Baker

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA; n/a; fun production photo and mention

WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966) Written by Takeshi Kimura & Ishiro Honda, Directed by Ishiro Honda

WEREWOLF, THE (1956) Written by Robert E. Kent, Directed by Fred F. Sears

WOMAN IN BLACK, THE (1989) Written by Nigel Kneale, Directed by Herbert Wise

WORLD WITHOUT END (1956) Written & Directed by Edward Bernds

WORLD’S GREATEST SINNER, THE (1962) Written, Produced, Directed and Distributed by Timothy Carey

YETI, GIANT OF THE 20TH CENTURY (1977) Written by Marcello Coscia, Gianfranco Parolini & Mario di Nardo, Directed by “Frank Kramer” (Gianfranco Parolini)

—Robert Deveau
The Doomed Farmer

A ONCE-IN-A-LIVE-TIME EVENT!Okay, maybe twice—but no more,...

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:02:20 -0800

A ONCE-IN-A-LIVE-TIME EVENT!

Okay, maybe twice—but no more, that’s it!

See the original cult classic on the big screen with live DVD-style commentary as the picture runs by writer/director/star Larry Blamire and members of the cast and crew.

ONE SHOW ONLY! Sunday, Dec. 13th, 2009 at 7:30 PM

The American Cinemathéque at the Aero Theatre
1328 Montana St. (at 14th St.) in Santa Monica 323-466-FILM

http://aerotheatre.com/Aero/aeromastercalendar.htm
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/thelostskeletonofcadavra/

Okay, you asked for it. Well, somebody did. I know they did. ...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:37:32 -0800

Okay, you asked for it. Well, somebody did. I know they did. More stuff from the all-too-brief reign of THE WISE-EYE GUYS. Here’s the splash page from what would have been THE WISE-EYE GUYS very own comic book of their very own.

NEXT: an interior page!

About the only things these two films have in common is the fact...

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:47:43 -0800

About the only things these two films have in common is the fact that they are both in black and white and were originally filmed in a language other than English. That could describe quite a few movies since the advent of the Talkies. Oh yes; they are both action packed. Does that count?

NEUTRON VS THE AMAZING DR. CARONTE (1963)
Written and Directed by Federico Curiel

The masked, bare chested hero Neutron (Wolf Ruvinskis) battles the masked, lab coat wearing Dr. Caronte (Julio Aleman) and his army of monsters. There were seven films in the Neutron series, all of which were edited together from a Mexican TV show. Usually lumped in with Santo and other Mexican wrestlers. Neutron, despite his costume, is never seen wrestling, and never referred to as anything other than a hero or — and I quote from the English dubbed dialog — “a great humanitarian”. Early in the film, the three male leads — Mark, Charlie and Jimmy (all of whom have Mexican accents) — make a joint proposal of marriage to their mutual girlfriend Nora. Charlie says, referring to himself and his two pals, “This insecurity you’ve kept us in has almost wrecked our friendship.” To which Mark adds “And what’s more, we’ve become almost hypocrites.” But Jimmy makes the most original bid for Nora’s affections when he tells her “Now listen to me, Nora. Together with my love I offer you an exciting life — the crazy world of television!” Later, two of these three plus the head scientist, Dr. Thompson swap identities or souls or something, creating enormous confusion for the cast and the viewer as to who is fighting whom. One of the funniest scenes happens when a TV reporter breathlessly announces the impending destruction of the world unless Neutron is handed over to Dr. Caronte: “But I say no, gentlemen! A thousand times no! Freedom loving people everywhere would rather die than surrender the hero Neutron to the evil Dr. Caronte. And now, here’s your sports announcer.” The sports announcer steps to the microphone and, even more excited than the previous fellow, shouts “Football!!! Three touchdowns were scored by the Bears in today’s game against the Bruins!!!” Only Mexican films of the late 1950’s/early 1960’s have this special kind of breathless wackiness. (Viewed on an old but watchable VHS TV print from Sinister Cinema.)

S.O.S. EISBERG (1933)
Written and Directed by Arnold Fanck

An expedition sets off to rescue an explorer lost amid the icebergs of Greenland and jeopardizes their own lives in the process. During the late silent/early talkies era, there was a big vogue in Germany for mountain climbing films. The top producer/director of these films was Arnold Fanck, and his main star was Leni Reifenstahl. They were so successful that Universal co-produced this film, in German and English language versions, both of which are included on this DVD from Kino. Having seen Reifenstahl’s own THE BLUE LIGHT and Fanck’s WHITE HELL OF PITZ PALU (co-directed with G.W. Pabst), I had high expectations for dangerous spectacle and was not disappointed by the German language S.O.S. (the longer of the two versions), Fanck and Reifenstahl’s final collaboration. A spectacular action adventure film that forsakes some narrative coherence in its final third in favor of an impressionistic presentation that mirrors the desperation of its characters, with an excellent wall-to-wall score by Paul Dessau, the most amazing thing about the film is that its production was nearly as dangerous as its fictional situations. Stunningly shot by Richard Angst and Hans Schneeburger on location among the icebergs of Greenland (with some icy cave interiors shot in the relative safety of the Swiss Alps), S.O.S. features no process shots, rear screen projections, stuntmen, special effects or trick photography of any kind: every dangerous act in the film is actually performed by the stars: Gustav Diesel actually swims the frigid waters from ice flow to ice flow, Max Holzboer actually spears and is chased by a polar bear, Reifenstahl actually crashes a two-seater airplane into a two hundred foot tall berg. The pilot in the flying footage was Ernst Udet, decorated member of Von Richthofen’s Squadron, who was evidently so famous in Germany after WWI that he could suddenly appear in the film, in heroic close-up, without any introduction at all. Audiences of the time would recognize him immediately. Though Leni doesn’t actually fly her plane — Udet was crouched out of frame doing the actual piloting — she really was in the cockpit of the tiny two-seater as it careened among gigantic ever-shifting bergs, and leapt from the plane after crashing it into the iceberg; Udet didn’t jump from the burning plane until after Fanck called “Cut!”. Not until Werner Herzog made his crazy adventures in the ‘70’s did anyone attempt anything like S.O.S. EISBERG again. Must be something in the German gene pool.

— Robert Deveau
El Campesino Enmascarado

THE LOST SCRAPBOOK OF CADAVRA TOO

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:46:08 -0800

Once again, The Doomed Farmer has reached way back into his agricultural archives (which nestle between the Cathedral of Lost Soap and Forgetful Milkman’s Quadrangle) to bring you more yellowed newspaper ads and ancient magazine clippings from a bygone era; mainly, The Sixties.

In the early Sixties, nobody flooded the “nabes” (as variety liked to call them) with more psychotronic films than American International Pictures. With their beach movies, biker films, and both home-grown and imported horror and sci-fi, AIP was the Saturday matinee studio of choice. This ad for A COMEDY OF TERRORS emphasizes its comedic nature, and proved to be a rare flop for them. So —

AIP reworked their ad campaign to emphasize the words EVIL, SINISTER and TERRORS, but by then it was too late. Still, I’d go to see anything that starred Karloff, Price, Rathbone and Lorre — wouldn’t you?

This ad for Corman’s THE HAUNTED PALACE, (despite the tacked-on Poe title, an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward”) features humorous copy distinctly out of tune with the film’s somber tone. Since PALACE was released a year before COMEDY OF TERRORS, maybe they thought a light touch was a good idea?

Even with a successful film, it was standard for a press book to have several different promotional concepts for the same movie, as evidenced by these two ads for Roger Corman’s final entry in his hugely successful Edgar Allan Poe series.

This smaller ad features a stylish drawing of the black cat that was a significant presence in the film. Does anyone out there know if the great Reynold Brown, who painted so many of AIP’s impressive posters, also did these black and white drawings?

Double and even triple bills were standard fare at the second run houses and drive-ins. Since TALES OF TERROR featured three Poe short stories, this double bill essentially gave you four movies for the price of one!

Finally, here’s a montage of five ads for four Massachusetts drive-ins that lumped together whatever sci-fi or horror films they could grab and labeled them “Giant 4 Unit Horror Rama” and “Giant 4 Unit Space-O-Rama”. From dusk till midnight, guaranteed to make your eyes fall out of your head. I had fun coloring these in with colored pencils, back when I was about ten or eleven years old.

— Robert Deveau,
The Doomed Farmer

A LOOK AT THE WISE-EYE GUYSAbout a trillion years...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:42:00 -0800

A LOOK AT THE WISE-EYE GUYS

About a trillion years ago—eleven to be exact—before LOST SKELETON (the time known as BLS) I created THE WISE-EYE GUYS for an internet company known as Bali Hai Entertainment. WISE-EYE GUYS was a nonlinear, interactive adventure in retro style for kids and their adult counterparts. It followed the adventures of four odd superheroes of vague and indeterminate powers as they worked on their latest mystery on their home base, Weg Island. The user could choose any of the four and follow him/her along, looking for rollover clues and suspects along the way in this somewhat surreal world where seemingly anything could happen.

Besides writing it and designing the characters, I created hundreds of drawings, first on paper, then on a Wacom tablet. This was animation done in the purely traditional way, which seemed to fit the whole retro feel of the piece (black and white of course). The voices were done by two people; wild and wacky Jennifer Blaire did all female voices while that irrepressible madcap Cortney Skinner did all the male voices (well, I did one, but you’ll have to guess).

By the time we’d completed chapter two Bali Hai had become victim of the internet crash of 2000. So two chapters are all that exist of the WISE-EYE GUYS’ first adventure “The Secret of Brozen Floke”.

Recently, that clever dp/filmmaker extraordinaire AJ Rickert-Epstein, just for grins, taped a screen as he played Chapter 2, giving some idea of the look and feel of the piece (linked below). In the future I’ll post some more WISE-EYE GUYS artifacts.
—Larry Blamire

http://www.cobprofilms.com/pages/larry/LARRYCARTOON.mov

When Christopher Lee began his acting career in 1948, he was...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:55:44 -0800

When Christopher Lee began his acting career in 1948, he was told repeatedly by producers that he would never get anywhere. He was too tall, too “Italian” looking, altogether something no one was looking for. The fact that he could act, fence, sing, speak multiple languages, had a commanding presence with a deep, resonant voice, and could handle physical action with gracefully expressive movement meant nothing. He was too tall, too Italian. Sixty years later, the actor nobody wanted is still working, still making movies, still proving those long forgotten experts wrong.

RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK (1966)
Written by Anthony Hinds Directed by Don Sharp
Expelled from a monastery for lewd behavior, Gregori Rasputin works his way into the court of the Czar of Russia, increasingly gaining power until a plot is hatched to end his influence - and his life, the latter proving exceedingly difficult. Though the film pays little attention to the political realities of the times, its depiction of Rasputin’s career is, in its broad strokes, historically accurate. Lee gives a convincingly magnetic portrayal in the title role and Barbara Shelley is very good as a noblewoman in his thrall. I saw this on its initial theatrical release way back in ‘66, and have seen it a number of times over the years. The reason I watched it again recently was to listen to the commentary track, recorded a few years ago for its laser disc release, which I’d missed — laser discs were so much more expensive than DVDs. The commentary is a reunion of the principal members of the cast: Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews and Suzan Farmer. I’d read a highly enthusiastic review of this commentary in Video Watchdog, and was looking forward to listening to it — they’d described it at the time as one of the main contributions laser discs had made to the fan world. It doesn’t disappoint: the four actors reminiscence about working at Hammer (the execs, the sets and locations, the set designers, cinematographers and makeup men) , talk about nearly every actor who appears on screen (Shelley: “Oh, that’s dear Dickie Pasco!” Lee: “Yes, I saw him recently in a Shakespeare; but which one…?”) and even a few who don’t (brief but warm memories of Michael Ripper), Lee is brimming over with details about the historical Rasputin, Shelley and Lee talk about how unusual it was for them to do a love scene - a semi-nude one, at that — and so much more. I watched it on Anchor Bay’s double disc set with THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, which also has a commentary with Lee and that film’s female lead, and is worth every penny.

TERROR OF THE TONGS (1961)
Written by Jimmy Sangster Directed by Anthony Bushell

Essentially the same plot as STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY, but with better character motivation. Captain Sales (Geoffrey Toone), doesn’t give a hoot about the Red Dragon Tong in turn of the century Shanghai, until they murder his daughter, after which he goes after them with less finesse than which Guy Rolfe pursued the Thugs in STRANGLERS, but with a great deal more vigor. The typically lavish production design of Bernard Robinson and the cinematography and lighting of Arthur Grant combine with Bushell’s swift direction of Jimmy Sangster’s tightly focused script to produce another enjoyable Hammer programmer that looks much more expensive than it was. The only aspect of this film that rings totally false is its unfortunate tendency, so prevalent at the time, to cast English actors as Chinese, some of them quite ludicrously - the actor who plays the Tong doctor, for example. Burt Kwouk is the only Asian with a substantial speaking role, and he is killed off in the film’s first eight minutes. Christopher Lee as head Tong Chung King is essentially Fu Manchu a year or so before he actually played that role - which means that he’s good but retroactively rather familiar, Roger Delgado (The Master of “Dr. Who”) is his second in command, and the delectable Yvonne Monlaur is outrageously miscast as “half caste” Lee. Toone is a decent though somewhat soft looking hero. The most memorable performances are given by Marne Maitland as an anti-Tong agent in disguise and an uncredited bikinied dancer. Despite its shortcomings in verisimilitude, TONGS is another fun, pulpy Hammer action picture, which, of course, looks terrific on Sony’s “Icons of Adventure” DVD.

THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL (1960)
Written by Wolf Mankowitz Directed by Terence Fisher

The main problem with this ugly Jekyll/handsome Hyde film is that Mr. Hyde doesn’t do much that’s very awful until about 20 minutes before the film is over. Before that, he gets drunk, leers at women and lusts after his own wife. Paul Massie does a decent job in the dual role, convincingly talking to himself (literally), Christopher Lee is a fine cad and bounder, and Dawn Addams joins Hammer’s other intelligent redhead heroines Hazel Court and Barbara Shelley as Jekyll’s adulterous wife, managing to make the character sympathetic. Oliver Reed has a tiny role as a toff who, in attempting to defend the honor of a whore, gets beat up by Hyde, John Hollingsworth contributes a lush, romantic score, Terence Fisher directs Wolf Mankowitz’s good script briskly, but the real heroes here are, once again, cinematographer Jack Asher and the costume and scenic department, whose combination of rich colors and lush fabrics contribute enormously to the viewing experience. Particularly striking are the dance sequences, including a scantily clad snake charmer and a can-can as good as anything in the movie of that title. Sony’s “Icons of Horror” DVD is, like the others on this and its “Adventure” set, stunningly beautiful.
— Robert Deveau,
The Doomed Farmer

THE 2010 STEAM WARS WALL CALENDARMade especially for walls.Well,...

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:02:26 -0800

THE 2010 STEAM WARS WALL CALENDAR

Made especially for walls.

Well, since the 2009 STEAM WARS calendar actually came out after 2009 had already begun, and thus after everyone had already purchased their yearly wall calendars in that inevitable frenzy of wall calendar-buying madness that grips the wall calendar-buying world in a veritable storm of wall calendar-buying insanity, I decided to reissue the calendar, this time in advance of 2010 (the coming year—no dummy, me) with the addition of the new, recently completed, STEAM WARS art on the cover.

I have learned that when it comes to purchasing calendars, the more current the better. There seems almost no market for the “old” or “past” calendar and I can well understand why few companies thrive in the “old calendar market”, many even failing miserably.

As opposed to failing cheerily, or gaily, or happily, which just seldom seems to happen.

Except in THE PRODUCERS. But those guys are insane.

So, here it is. If you’re needing a calendar for 2010 so you’ll know when to do things, and when things are coming up and stuff, and you’d like it to have STEAM WARS art, and you held off buying last year’s cause it came out this year (?) well, look no farther.

Well, you can, you just won’t find much. Follow this link for all kinds of 2010 STEAM WARS wall calendar goodness. Also—makes a great Christmas present.

But only this year.

http://www.cafepress.com/larryblamire.362251745

Three low budget, black and white mysteries: one from the...

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:50:16 -0800

Three low budget, black and white mysteries: one from the Thirties, one from the Forties, and one from the Sixties. Can you guess which of these three suspects is the best film before we arrive at the conclusion of this week’s Doomed Farmer reviews?

RETURN OF MR. MOTO (1965)
Written by Fred Eggers Directed by Ernest Morris

Updating Mr. Moto in the midst of the secret agent boom wasn’t a bad idea, but this lackluster film wasn’t the way to do it. Henry Silva plays Moto as a tough New Yorker, an agent for Interpol; nothing wrong with that, except it’s not Moto. The film opens nicely with an extended scene of murder and cat and mouse on the dark and deserted streets of London, but never recaptures this feeling for atmosphere and suspense. The climactic scene in an empty nightclub, in which Moto unnerves a stone cold ex-Nazi killer by speaking via a microphone from a hiding place, is an illogical and risible idea. Too bad, as Silva would have made a good secret agent character in another series with another concept - and a bigger budget. (Viewed on Vol. 2 of Fox’s excellent Moto DVD sets, this “extra” is as beautifully transferred as the main Lorre movies. By the way, if you’ve never read any of J. P. Marquand’s original Moto novels, give one a try; they are jam packed with atmosphere, mystery, action and international intrigue. You’ll probably get hooked on them like I did and gobble ‘em up.)

MYSTERY LINER (1934)
Written by Wellyn Totman from a novel by Edgar Wallace Directed by William Nigh

Prof. Grimson (Ralph Lewis) has invented a device by which an ocean liner can be remotely controlled, but Capt. Holling (Noah Beery) goes mad before it can be tested. The Prof is attacked and nearly strangled to death - with a sailor’s knot. Is the murderer Capt. Holling, who has escaped from the asylum, or Capt. Downey (Boothe Howard), eager to take command of the ship, or is it mysterious European Von Kessling (Gustav von Seyffertitz), or someone else? Major Pope (Edwin Maxwell), private investigator, investigates as the ship sails. Nurse Lila Kane (Astrid Allwyn) is menaced by a mysterious, shadowy figure. This is a good Monogram film with nicely atmospheric cinematography from Archie Stout and what looks like Kenneth Strickfaden electrical effects. Look for George Hayes (minus the “Gabby” whiskers) as Joe the steward. At a brisk 63 minutes, this is one Monogram film that doesn’t sag in the middle and is entertaining throughout. (Viewed on TCM.)

SLEEPERS WEST (1941)
Written by Lou Breslow & Stanley Rauh Directed by Eugene Forde

Michael Shayne, private detective (Lloyd Nolan) attempts to escort surprise trial witness Helen Carlson (Mary Beth Hughes) undercover from Denver to San Francisco aboard a sleeping car (hence the title). The testimony of this witness can topple a governor; with so much at stake, her presence doesn’t remain a secret for long, as reporter Kay Bentley (Lynn Bari), her fiance, lawyer Tom Linscott (Donald Douglas), mobster Carl Izzard (Don Costello), railroad dick George Trautwein (Ed Brophy), and a stranger with mysterious motives (Louis Jean Heydt) are soon hot on her trail. A train speeding through the night is always a good location for suspense and mystery; no matter how often the film may pause for extended dialog, that locomotive is always hurtling toward its destination. In this case, the train is hurtling more rapidly than usual, as cranky old engineer Mack (Oscar O’Shea) is determined to make up for time lost waiting for late-coming passengers, and the dialog is wittier than usual for a B movie. One example, as reporter Kay chastises frequently tardy ex-boyfriend Shayne: Kay: “I waited for you through a wedding, a christening and a funeral!” Shayne: “Hey, wait a minute. It wasn’t all for the same person!” Rounding out this finely tuned little programmer is a cast of good supporting actors who are given more detailed characterizations than is often the case: Mantan Moreland and real-life nightclub partner Ben Carter as porters, O’Shea as the aforementioned conductor, Heydt as the mysterious stranger, Costello as mobster Izzard (Izzard: “How’d you know my name?” Shayne: “You looked like someone who’d have a name like that.”), Hughes as the reluctant witness, Bari as the reporter, Ferike Beros as a kindly old farm woman and George Chandler as a driver unjustly proud of his elderly car. Twentieth Century Fox’s print on their Michael Shayne Mysteries DVD set is flawless.
— Robert Deveau
The Doomed Farmer

SHOUT! ACQUIRES LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN AND DARK AND STORMY...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:04:00 -0800

SHOUT! ACQUIRES LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN AND DARK AND STORMY NIGHT

We are happy and pleased and also excited and pleased to announce that Shout! Factory has just acquired North American DVD and digital rights to THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN and DARK AND STORMY NIGHT. Both Shout! and Bantam Street are thrilled about the teaming and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.

I’ve been a big fan of Shout! since they started releasing box sets of SCTV some years back, and their sensibility is right up our alley (if we have an alley—I think we do—somewhere). As you can see, they release some very cool and eclectic stuff (I have recently been enjoying HIYA KIDS, their compilation of vintage 50s TV kids shows).

http://www.shoutfactory.com/

THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN and DARK AND STORMY NIGHT DVDs will be launched at Comic-Con in July. Both will be loaded with extras in typical Shout! fashion.

But wait, there’s more.

Our own Mike Schlesinger is masterminding a theatrical release of not only those two films, but also TRAIL OF THE SCREAMING FOREHEAD (which he’s dubbed “The Thrillogy”). This will be in March, in support of the DVD release, and the films will piggyback around the country to select cities. And, yes, they’re family friendly, so bring the kids.

From the moment we met with Shout! we had a mutual feeling that this was an ideal partnership, and we couldn’t be happier about it—particularly in the current tough market.
—Larry Blamire

UNCLE SILASSomeone forgot to tell director Charles Frank that...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:22:02 -0800

UNCLE SILAS

Someone forgot to tell director Charles Frank that UNCLE SILAS, released in the US in 1947 as THE INHERITANCE, wasn’t a horror film. The script, from a story by Sheridan Le Fanu, is full flown gothic melodrama. Helpless young Victorian lass Jean Simmons finds herself at the mercy of her very—and I mean VERY—strange Uncle Silas, played by Derrick De Marney.

Typical gothic stuff, yes? But Frank conspires with cinematographer Robert Krasker (yes, the man who shot THE THIRD MAN, ODD MAN OUT and BRIEF ENCOUNTER) to create a twisted masterpiece teeming with thinly veiled malevolence and the most memorable kettle of grotesques I’ve seen in quite some time. Katina Paxinou alone is a force to reckon with here. There are many wonderfully startling moments and staggering visuals, and I won’t ruin them. Besides De Marney (known to most as the lead in Hitchcock’s YOUNG AND INNOCENT) and Paxinou, additional creepiness is provided by Manning Whiley (big time), John Laurie and Guy Rolfe as Sepulchre Hawkes(!). Top it off with a fine, evocative score by the excellent Alan Rawsthorne.

Director Charles Frank is something of a mystery himself. Belgian born with a tiny handful of credits there seems little information about him available. I read somewhere that William K. Everson did confirm with several of his contemporaries that he was indeed real and not a psuedonym.

I discovered UNCLE SILAS on TCM quite by accident and, for my money, I think it’s both an unheralded masterpiece in any cinematic terms and a neglected horror film disguised as melodrama. Others may disagree (as do varying opinions of what exactly defines horror), but I think most will enjoy it. It ain’t the story that’s any great shakes here. It’s how it’s told.
—Larry Blamire

In the beginning, there was nothing. Nothing, that is, as far as...

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:54:28 -0700

In the beginning, there was nothing. Nothing, that is, as far as the American Horror Film was concerned. Despite a few German films (most significantly NOSFERATU and THE GOLEM) which subsequently proved influential, the genres of American film consisted of the western, the comedy, romance and mystery. The horror film didn’t exist. (Yes, its true that Edison’s company had made a short of FRANKENSTEIN in 1910, but that was one among thousands of nickelodeon attractions that quickly sank into obscurity.) Until Universal made DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, neither the supernatural nor the scientifically based horror film as we know it today didn’t exist. In celebration of Halloween, The Doomed Farmer looks again at the two films that gave birth to the American horror film.

DRACULA (1931)
Written by Garrett Fort, from the play by Hamilton Deane and John Balderston

A coach travels swiftly on a mountain road. One of its passengers is a dapper young American (Dwight Frye) who is on his way to Borgo Pass, where he will be met — at midnight — by a carriage sent from Count Dracula. The local innkeeper warns him off going there, telling him that the Count and his wives are vampires who feed on the blood of the living. At exactly six minutes into the film, Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and his three vampire brides are seen slowly emerging from their coffins, and the film begins its best, most cinematic sequence, in which the young American is met by Dracula’s coach, driven by the thinly disguised Count, on the fog shrouded Borgo Pass. Once inside the cavernous castle, the Count slowly descends the huge staircase and introduces himself: “I am… Dracula.” With these immortal words, Bela Lugosi forever fixed his image in the minds of moviegoers around the world. Tod Browning’s approach to his material seems to take its cue from the slow, deliberate cadence of Lugosi’s careful delivery, exactly the opposite of the manner in which James Whale would film Universal’s follow-up feature FRANKENSTEIN. The pace is so slow that when Mr. Renfield cuts his finger on a paper clip and the camera suddenly dollies into a medium shot of the Count, the speed is startlingly effective. Unfortunately, nothing in the film will ever move that fast again, and once we arrive at Dr. Seward’s London sanitarium, after the brief but effective sequence on board the Vesta where Renfield’s madness is revealed, and the equally effective scene in the symphony hall, the film’s theatrical origins alter it’s slow rhythm from atmospheric and mysterious to merely ponderous. Mina (Helen Chandler) is a silly ingenue with a callow beau, Jonathan Harker (David Manners), both early 20th Century theatrical stereotypes, neither of them capable of engaging our interest, and Dr. Seward is a blind fool slow to grasp whats going on around him. Browning shoots far too many scenes in static long shot as if we were observing a play from orchestra seats. The script itself is oddly elliptical, with Dracula given no reason for making the trip from his native land to London, so that his attacks on Lucy and Mina seem to happen merely because they are now conveniently his neighbors, and Dr. Seward appears to have no knowledge that his fly-eating patient had recently visited Transylvania where he arranged for the sale of nearby Carfax Abbey to the Count. In fact, madman Renfield is totally disconnected from the dapper young man we first met, probably because the opening scenes in Transylvania were created for the film, Renfield being already mad when he is introduced in the play. Far too many events that would have made dramatic moments occur off screen, described in dialog as they were required to be when the play was performed on stage, such as Lucy Westin’s re-emergence as the “Bloofer Lady”, whom Van Helsing promises to lay to rest, a situation that is briefly brought up then quickly dropped. Yet, the vigorous madness of Dwight Frye’s Renfield and Edward Van Sloan’s stolid, capable Van Helsing manage to carry the film through the moments when Lugosi is absent, and the two meetings between Van Helsing and Dracula, though indifferently shot, are strongly played by the two stage veterans. Unlike in the novel, Van Helsing never devises a deliberate campaign to combat Dracula, and the film saunters toward its conclusion when it should race, with the Count’s staking by Van Helsing occurring, as so many other important events before it, off camera. Its Lugosi’s strange, arresting charisma and his complete identification with his role that anchors the film, that makes it worth watching and re-watching. Though the film in which he appears is far from perfect, Bela Lugosi is, and always will be, Dracula. (Viewed on Universal’s Legacy Collection DVD, whose print is scratchy, with ancient, unrestored audio, and is missing the coda in which Van Sloan appears before a theatrical curtain to warn us to beware of vampires on our way home from the theatre.)

FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
Based on the novel by Mary Shelley and the play by Peggy Webling, adapted by John Balderston Screenplay by Garrett Fort and Francis Edwards Farragoh
Directed by James Whale

Following Edward Van Sloan’s friendly warning and the brief opening credits, we go to a sound stage cemetery to witness the conclusion of burial services. Our first glimpse of Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his hunchbacked assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye) affords an instant snapshot of Frankenstein’s intense focus on the task at hand: retrieving the newly buried corpse from its grave, after which the two travel by cart to a roadside gallows to cut down a second corpse, whose brain is, much to Frankenstein’s chagrin, damaged and therefore useless. Fritz immediately goes to Goldstadt Medical College where he clumsily steals an abnormal brain from its study hall. A mere eight minutes after its beginning, FRANKENSTEIN has set up the parameters of its drama: Frankenstein’s zeal combined with Fritz’s incompetence will produce the tragic figure of the Monster. When that Monster haltingly backs into view for the first time 30 minutes into the film and turns around to face us, it still sends a chill down my spine. Nearly 80 years after its release, its impossible to imagine a world in which the now classic elements of this film didn’t exist, but somebody had to create them: Mary Shelley’s novel and a subsequent play by Peggy Webling provided the basic framework upon which Robert Florey, John Balderston, Garrett Fort and others built a script that James Whale brought to vibrant life, with the able assistance of set designer Charles Hall, cinematographer Arthur Edeson and the brilliant, perfectly cast Colin Clive and Boris Karloff. The figure of the Monster is now familiar and degraded, but with each viewing I am struck anew by how other-worldly Karloff is. His now familiar visage still looks today as it must have to audiences of 1931: like a re-animated corpse, simultaneously inhuman and pitiable. No other actor has ever come close to matching Karloff’s balance of innocence and brute force, as no other actor has ever matched Clive’s focus, drive and intensity. When we first see Clive in the cemetery, no back story is needed: we know that Henry is imbalanced, driven and unstoppable. His delivery of “Crazy? We’ll see whether I’m crazy or not” reveals a man whose ego poses a danger to himself and the world. Whale and his editor Clarence Kolster keep the story moving at a fast, modern pace, Whale having a particular genius for eliminating all but the most essential scenes and shots; there are no longueurs in his FRANKENSTEIN, the film that gave birth to the modern horror film. Nearly 80 years later, no one — not Hammer and Cushing, not Kenneth Brannagh and Deniro — has significantly improved upon anything Whale, Balderston, Clive and Karloff created in this movie that justly deserves its status as a classic, and continues to reward the modern audience. (Viewed on Universal’s fine looking Legacy Collection DVD.)
—Robert Deveau
The Doomed Farmer

HALLOWEEN VIEWING REPORT IIEVIL DEAD II (1987) It’s funny,...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:13:00 -0700

HALLOWEEN VIEWING REPORT II

EVIL DEAD II (1987) It’s funny, it’s scary, it’s masterful. So many bravura sequences, the whole film’s a bravura sequence. Bruce Campbell gives one of the great performances in the history of horror. When you think, so much of what he/his character is doing is essentially alone. Twisted comic brilliance. Sam Raimi shows why watching the Three Stooges is important.

STRANGE INVADERS (1983) Wow. What happened? Was 1983 the right time and place for this? Does this mean you can’t go home again? Was I just so tickled to see Ken Tobey in an ‘83 film? Really liked it then, but man what tough sledding today. Eesh.

UNEARTHED(2007) Truly truly dreadful. Full disclosure: couldn’t make it through, we fastforwarded to see the monster better. Wasn’t worth it. The promising premise of people trapped at desert gas station was gunned down in its prime.

THE MISSING JUROR (1944) Mystery with horrorish vibe—jurors of old murder case getting mysteriously bumped off—runs into mind numbingly transparent “they’ve got to be kidding” obvious solution at midpoint, that a 2 year old could spot—but not the characters in this film.

THE GREAT YOKAI WAR (2005) We enjoyed the Yokai Monsters trilogy several years ago and were blown away by Miike’s new addition. Enough imagination for 20 fantasy films. In a blog not too long ago I was wondering where the wonder went from the screen. Between this and Miyazaki, apparently a lot of it’s in Japan. Only caveat, towards the end, some stuff that soured us. Meantime, hundreds of the wildest monsters you’ve even seen.

LES DIABOLIQUE (1955) The classic. Finally saw it. Now, I can read the Doomed Farmer’s review. Brilliant piece of suspense, sterling filmmaking in every department.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985) Bert, Ernie, Frank and Freddie contend with the walking dead down at the plant. It’s funny, it’s scary. Sounds like EVIL DEAD II. our pal Jimmy Karen of course steals the first half of the film, but really Clu Gulager, Thom Mathews and Don Calfa are also fantastic. And Linnea Quigley’s nude dance is legend. Written and directed beatifully by Dan O’Bannon.

SCARECROWS (1988) Bankrobbers parachute into field, and farm, that are lousy with killer scarecrows. Some good things here, but kind of meanders, keeps running out of steam. By the end, unsatisfying.

Best horror find this year? Unheralded 40’s British gothic masterpiece UNCLE SILAS repeating on TCM in next few days (see above pic). Do yourself a favor and catch it.
—Larry Blamire

Nothing says Halloween like classic British monsters. Unless...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:29:00 -0700

Nothing says Halloween like classic British monsters. Unless maybe its classic Universal monsters – we’ll get to them next week. Meanwhile, what better way to usher in the season of ghoulies and ghosties than two films from Hammer and one from Amicus.

THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1964)
Written and Directed by Michael Carreras

Sir Giles (Jack Gwillim), his colleague’s daughter Annette (Jeanne Roland), local government rep Hashmi Bey (George Pastell) and colleague John Bray (Ronald Howard) open a cursed tomb. The financier of their expedition is Barnum-like American showman Alexander King (Fred Clark), who takes the mummy on tour. But someone knows the ancient Words of Life… Until the Mummy wakes up at the 54 minute mark, this film is dull and talky, with two (count ‘em: two) flashbacks to ancient Egypt; with the exception of the first two of three hand amputations, it barely feels like a Hammer film at all, as almost none of their regular actors are on screen (except for supporting actor Pastell and Michael Ripper in a two-line role), and few of their regulars are behind the camera. When the Mummy appears at the top of a fog-shrouded flight of stairs to toss Clark down them, the movie finally starts moving and is quite satisfying until its unusual conclusion. Under the bandages, Dickie Owen attempts a credible imitation of Christopher Lee’s Mummy in Hammer’s first film in this unrelated series, and though he doesn’t possess Lee’s physical eloquence, he is a powerful presence. The film looks terrific and Sony’s transfer does justice to Otto Heller’s cinematography and Hammer’s typically fastidious set and costume departments. Carlo Martelli’s score is a fine departure from James Bernard’s usual (and effective) percussive hammering (excuse the pun). Ronald Howard is a dull hero, Jeanne Roland is not one of Hammer’s more memorable heroines, Terence Morgan makes an acceptable Gig Young-like bad boy, Pastell is allowed to play a good guy (unusual for a foreign character in a British film of this period), and Gwillim’s Sir Giles is an interesting character who sinks into alcoholism when his find is taken away from him by Clark, who aptly fills his role as the brash American entrepreneur. If only the first two thirds were as good as the final third, this would be a worthy sequel to Hammer’s first Mummy movie.

THE GORGON (1964)
Written by John Gilling Directed by Terence Fisher

In 1910, the German village of Vandorf is terrorized by a series of full moon murders in which the victims are turned to stone. The authorities, including Dr. Namaroff (Peter Cushing) and the chief of police (Patrick Troughton) do their best to cover things up, but when both a young artist, his model and the artist’s father are murdered, the artist’s brother (Richard Pasco) enlists Prof. Meister (Christopher Lee) to help him investigate, finding a surprise ally in the beautiful Carla Hoffman (Barbara Shelley), Namaroff’s assistant. I saw this when it was originally released on a double bill with CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB (when the theatre gave away “Black Stamps”, little postage stamps with monsters on ‘em), again when it was released as a difficult-to-track extended play pan and scan VHS 20 years ago, and not since. This gorgeous print on Sony/Columbia’s new “Icons of Horror” set allows the viewer to fully enjoy the rich lighting and cinematography of Michael Reed and the production design of Bernard Robinson. Terence Fisher gets maximum atmosphere and dread out of John Gilling’s good script, eliciting nuances of characterization from bad guy Cushing and encouraging good guy (for a change) Lee to energetically go all-out as the hero. Some beautifully done matte paintings enhance the production considerably, as does James Bernard’s typically vigorous score. Though the most effective Gorgon on film is undoubtedly Harryhausen’s creation in CLASH OF THE TITANS, Prudence Hyman’s hideous green clad vision is a strikingly effective image, though the same cannot be said for her prop decapitated head. Of all Hammer’s one-off monster movies (CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES, THE REPTILE), this may be the most entertaining.

THE SKULL (1965)
Written by Milton Subotsky Directed by Freddie Francis

I had seen this Amicus film only once before, and it’s pan/screen UHF image with commercial interruption did no service to it’s delicate mood, atmosphere, cinematography and scene design, all of which are strongly evident in this beautiful letterboxed DVD from Legend Films. I’ve read that the original script was only 58 pages long, forcing director Francis and his collaborators to flesh the film out to feature length with visual ingenuity and imagination. The slender plot involves supernatural esoterica collector Peter Cushing’s purchase of the skull of the Marquis de Sade, much against the advice of fellow collector Christopher Lee. Cushing is soon possessed by the evil spirit of the skull. Though Francis has said in numerous interviews that he never had any particular feel for horror films, (and all his other films I’ve seen bear this out), this is his best film as a director; he elicits strong, subdued performances from Lee, supporting actors Michael Gough, Nigel Green, and Patrick Magee, and an emotional tour de force from Cushing, who spends vast amounts of screen time reacting to the immobile skull and convinces you of its evil life. Francis uses every visual means at his disposal to inform the thin story with visual information: in the initial auction house scene, for example, he places Lee and Cushing in bright white light that pushes everyone else in the room into the three-dimensional background; and he uses the colors of the various libraries, hallways and stairwells in which the film is set to highlight the mental conditions of the characters. Cushing’s nightmare sequence, which starts unobtrusively and builds to surreality, is bolstered by decor, light, silence, and the strong music score of Elizabeth Lutyens. The plot of this movie could easily fit into a 25 minute Twilight Zone, but its use of all the tools of the color wide-screen movie makes it the shadowy, entertaining film it is.

— Robert Deveau
The Jack-O-Lantern Farmer

Jennifer “Animala” Blaire’s newly completed...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:49:00 -0700

Jennifer “Animala” Blaire’s newly completed children’s book STICKY MAE GREY has just gone up for sale on Lulu.com. The book contains two tales of the wonderfully odd and quirky Sticky and her strange little entourage. Both stories are told in rhyme and every page is an adventure in color, profusely illustrated (also by Blaire). There’s a playfully macabre quality to these that will appeal to kids of all ages, and even older kids of adult ages. A very nice thing for Halloween, or for Christmas or birthday presents.

Meet Sticky here:

http://tinyurl.com/yzbvjkk

DARK AND STORMY NIGHT is screening at the Prescott Film Festival...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:38:32 -0700

DARK AND STORMY NIGHT is screening at the Prescott Film Festival tonight and Danny Roebuck will be there! That’s tonight, Wednesday October 21st, at 6:30pm in Prescott AZ. Dan plays ace reporter 8 O’Clock Farraday in the wacky 1930s mystery/horror/comedy.

http://tinyurl. com/yfxw75s

A pall hangs like a shroud, like a shrouded, foggy, hanging pall...

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:32:43 -0700

A pall hangs like a shroud, like a shrouded, foggy, hanging pall hanging over the towns of Shtetl, Crythin, and Castle Andomye. The wind howls through the trees like a howling, windy thing. A bird flies over our heads — but wait! Was that a bird — or was it a bat? Nope, it was a bird. Anyway, there’s that pall again…

THE WOMAN IN BLACK (1989)
Written by Nigel Kneale Directed by Herbert Wise

Young, happily married, and a father of two, Arthur Kidd (Adrian Rawlins) is sent by his law firm to handle the estate of the late Mrs. Dablow at her isolated home in the coastal town of Crythin. Meeting a local lawyer in the town where the woman lived and died, Kidd is told that Miss Dablow would not be mourned by anyone else, so he is surprised to see a woman standing off by herself in the cemetery. But when he draws his colleague’s attention to the isolated woman in black, the small town lawyer becomes agitated, and the woman disappears. The mystery deepens when Kidd spends his first foggy afternoon in Eel Marsh Manor and hears the sounds of an awful carriage crash — with no one in sight.
This British television film has a reputation for being frightening, in the vein of THE HAUNTING or THE INNOCENTS, and while not quite up to the artistic merits or big budget of those two classic features, it’s reputation for being scary is entirely deserved. I will not present any spoilers in this review — the unexpected is essential to the nature of this kind of story — but I will tell you that the title character is a vision you will not soon forget. The intelligent script by the great Nigel Kneale (creator of the Quatermass series) lends a new polish to the venerable ghost story, and the production’s use of sound is inventive, from its audible ghosts to the sniffing noise made by the manor house’s generator. The locations used for the isolated manor are brilliant and evocative. Adrian Rawlins as protagonist Arthur Kidd is the unique male in jeopardy in this ghost story, convincing and sympathetic, and Pauline Moran as the silent Woman in Black deserves to be ranked with Max Shreck for her other-worldly characterization. (Viewed on a collectors’ market DVD thoughtfully supplied to me by Bobbie Culbertson of the Yahoo Lost Skeleton Message Board.)

THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM (1967)
Written by Manfred R. Kohler Directed by Harald Reindl

Judge von Marienberg (mustachioed Lex Barker) sentences Frederick, Count Regula (Christopher Lee) to be drawn and quartered, placing a spiked happy-face mask on the condemned man’s head. Thirty-five years later, Roger Mont Elise (clean-shaven Lex Barker), who never knew his parents or his birth name, receives an invitation to visit a stranger, Count Regula, at Castle Andomye. On his journey there, he meets Lillian von Brabant (Karin Dor), who has also received the same invitation from a man she, like him, does not know. Their journey takes them through a surreal fog shrouded forest, where inns mysteriously burn and collapse, corpses strew the road and body parts hang from trees. This is a far better film than it deserves to be, with a genuine atmosphere of threatening magic, a handsome hero, beautiful heroine, and dastardly villain. Barker and Lee dub their own lines, which helps their performances a lot, especially when Lee deadpans “This is a great moment for me” without the slightest trace of emotion; who said Lee doesn’t have a sense of humor? Dor looks lovely in a flowing violet gown, the castle’s walls are decorated with imitations of Bosch’s visions of Hell, there are vultures, snakes, spiders, green blood, pits and pendulums, a little stop-motion, and the whole enterprise moves rapidly enough to entertain. If only the musical score was on a par with the rest of the film; it scampers when it should darken the mood, meanders when it should build. (Viewed on Legend House’s fine DVD, whose wide-screen print rescues the film from pan/scan Public Domain ugliness.)

VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972)
Written by Judson Kinberg Directed by Robert Young

Talk about your High Concept title! In the village of Shtetl, vampire Count Mitterhouse (Robert Tayman, resembling a Glitter Rock star) is ravaging the local girls with the assistance of Anna (Domini Blythe), wife of Schoolmaster Albert (Laurence Payne). The villagers finally get fed up and storm the castle, led by the Schoolmaster and the Burgomeister (Thorley Walters). They stake the Count but Anna manages to escape. Fifteen years later, the village is again ravaged, this time by a plague that the local doctor believes is caused by the multitude of bats hanging out in the ruined castle of the Count. “Yes, vampire bats!” says one villager. The town is cut off from the outside world by a blockade; so when the traveling the Gypsy Woman’s (Adrienne Corri) Circus of Nights arrives, mysteriously side-stepping the blockade, the townspeople are grateful for the distracting entertainment; until their children begin to fall under the spell of the circus people. In one of the last gasps of classic Hammer vampire stories, the tired formula has some energy pumped into it with good acting, simple but effective effects, and lots of blood, violence and nudity.

POSSIBLE BRIEF SPOILERS: Though the sequence in which a family is stalked in the woods by the Panther Man could have been milked for more suspense than it is here, memorable moments include the completely nude snake dancer (Serena of “The Webers”), the acrobatic tumbling twins who turn into bats in mid-air, and what seems to be the eyes of a panther in the bushes that turns out to be boot buckles. END OF POSSIBLE BRIEF SPOILERS.

Overall, though none of these late Hammer vampire films deserve mention in the same breath with their earlier classics, this is, at least, a better film than any in the Karnstein trilogy, with heroes and victims who are young enough to be believably innocent and lend a strong air of pedophile decadence to the vampiric activities. Though full-frame, the print I watched on OnDemand’s Impact Channel is, despite its PG rating, completely uncut, with all nudity, violence and gore intact, which makes it the first time U.S. audiences have been able to see the film in its uncut form.

— Robert Deveau
Der Verloren-Bauer

HALLOWEEN VIEWING REPORT

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:43:00 -0700

Jen and I are dutifully immersing ourselves in another eclectic crop of—one hopes—spooky seasonal films. Been a pretty good roster so far, if tending towards the bleak for some reason. So, we’re kinda looking forward to catching up on some more extrovert fare; for instance, revisiting EVIL DEAD II (what can I say?), the retro fun STRANGE INVADERS, and a double feature of both versions of THE THING (equally superb, in entirely different ways).

Best so far though has been THE OTHER (1972) from director Robert Mulligan with screenplay (and novel) by Tom “I Married a Monster From Outer Space” Tryon. First rate in all departments, with an evocative rural setting, fine Goldsmith score and excellent cast headed by Uta Hagen. Very well told and at times quite chilling.

PULSE (aka KAIRO, 2001) is an excellent J-horror (no, I haven’t seen the American version), beautifully directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, that manages to chill even as it exploits a feeling of universal isolation and despair among its dwindling participants. Quite gripping, and more than a little haunting.

BLACK MOON (1933) is an early Columbia directed by Roy William Neill who once again shows that his fluid, ahead-of-its-time storytelling was no fluke. Jack Holt, Fay Wray and Dorothy Burgess are all good in this taut, exciting tale of voodoo and obsession in an exotic island locale. Not quite horror, not quite jungle adventure, but with elements of both, plus a healthy dose of pulp thriller, this one looks forward to the Val Lewton films of the 40s. Strong stuff for the time. And thanks, TCM.

SPIRIT TRAP (2005) and CONJURER (2008) both start out promisingly, and my hat’s off to anyone trying for less gore-dependant, more atmospheric-based ghost stuff. But as often is the case, severe dysfunction among the protagonists detracts from that certain “Other” (ghost, monster, whatever) and generates frustration rather than fear. Both have their moments, and evidence of skill in the telling (particularly CONJURER) but left us slightly disappointed.

Oh, yes, we watched the wonderful, original HALLOWEEN (1978) from Carpenter, a particular favorite of Jen’s. I’ve decided that film works so well, not because of what happens, but because of what doesn’t happen. Hey, if it ain’t broke…

—Larry Blamire

Four of The Doomed Farmer’s favorite people are Patrick...

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:35:56 -0700

Four of The Doomed Farmer’s favorite people are Patrick McGoohan, Orson Welles, and the inextricably linked Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. Here are reviews of three of their lesser known films.

ALL NIGHT LONG (1962)
Written by Nel King & “Peter Achilles” (Paul Jarrico) Directed by Basil Deardon

Jazz version of “Othello”, with a sweaty Patrick McGoohan as Johnny Cousin/Iago, attempting to undermine the love between a jazz band leader fashioned after Duke Ellington and his white vocalist wife so he can steal her away for his own band, during an all night jam session. It works, and the Aristotelian unity of time and place (love using that phrase) adds greatly to the intensity. For once, actors playing musicians mix convincingly with real musicians; McGoohan’s drum solo and Keith Michell’s sax work are as convincing on screen as Mingus and Brubeck playing themselves, and Marti Stevens as vocalist Delia Lane is totally believable, as is her love for her pianist husband Aurelius Rex (Paul Harris). Also of interest are the fact that the film features two biracial couples and doesn’t make a big deal of either, as well as Michell and McGoohan smoking pot, looking like they know what they are doing. Ted Scaife’s cinematography is impressive, particularly the few times the film ventures outside to the rainswept London docks. Damn good. (Viewed on TCM; also available on the Collectors’ Market.)

FILMING OTHELLO (1978)
Written and Directed by Orson Welles (though no credit as such appears on the film)

This is the first time I’ve watched an entire 84 minute feature on YouTube, and given that this is mostly O.W. as talking head with little going on visually, this was a good film to start with. With a couple of exceptions, this is Orson talking directly to the camera while seated at his Movieola, telling us how his OTHELLO was made. Because he is such an entertaining speaker and the creation of his second Shakespearean film is an involved tale, this is a delightful film, though as a film it could as easily have been a “Books on Tape” lecture. The two major exceptions to this are a long section in which Orson dines with his old Dublin Gate Theatre mentors Hilton Edwards and Michael MacLeammoir (who played Brabantio and Iago, respectively, in Welles’ film), making for a lively roundtable discussion, and a ten minute segment toward the end in which O.W. discusses the film with the audience at the Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge (the day after I saw him in his final onstage public appearance at Boston’s Symphony Hall - had I but known, I would have been in that Cambridge audience as well, and thus in an Orson Welles film). This is a rare, German-produced film, and someone calling himself “spotofbother” has done a major service to film lovers everywhere by posting this on-line in eminently watchable form. Not a great film, but a very entertaining one. (Unavailable on any home video format, but easily watchable on YouTube.)

SCANDAL (1950)
Written by Ryuzo Kikushima & Akira Kurosawa Directed by Akira Kurosawa

There are only a few Kurosawa films left that I have never seen, and five of them are contained in the recent Criterion set called “Post-War Kurosawa”. SCANDAL is what the director himself has called a “protest film”, in this case protesting the reckless freedom of Japan ‘s post-occupation press. A well known artist played by Toshiro Mifune is caught on film in what appears to be a compromising situation with a famous singer, but which is, in fact, perfectly innocent. He sues the magazine, and is represented by a down-on-his-luck lawyer played by Takashi Shimura. Shimura’s character is written and played in such a memorable way that he totally steals the movie away from Mifune’s straight-arrow artist. Like Welles’ FILMING OTHELLO, this film is not major Kurosawa, but it is nonetheless fascinating, as we see the director attempting to balance Frank Capra-esque sentimentality with Billy Wilder-like satire, and sometimes succeeding. The long scene between Mifune and his model which leads into the introduction of Shimura is beautifully done by all concerned, delineating the decent nature of Mifune’s character, the practical nature of his model, and the eccentric, endearing and very funny Shimura. One wishes that Kurosawa had made a film that was set completely in a trial courtroom, as the trial here is precisely executed. Unfortunately, the scandal rag’s publisher is such a one-dimensional villain and Mifune and the singer so saintly that the dramatic deck is stacked, allowing Shimura’s more complex and interesting lawyer character even more opportunities to purloin the viewer’s sympathy. The final image of the wall covered in torn posters of the scandal magazine’s cover succinctly expresses the ephemeral nature of such scandals. (Viewed on Criterion’s “Postwar Kurosawa” DVD set.)
—Robert Deveau
The Farmer of Lacking Caution

DARK AND STORMY CROSSINGYes, DARK AND STORMY NIGHT crosses the...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:40:54 -0700

DARK AND STORMY CROSSING

Yes, DARK AND STORMY NIGHT crosses the Atlantic, as we’re pleased to announce our first UK screening, at the upcoming Manchester Festival of Fantastic Films.

http://www.fantastic-films.com/festival/

Festival dates are 10/16—10/18, and when I have more specifics will pass it along. Filmmaker-actor Mark Redfield (http://www.redfieldarts.com/), who’s in the cast of DARK AND STORMY as slippery lawyer Farper Twyly, is a regular at the festival and is trying to make it there this year, schedule providing.

It’s our first screening of DASN beyond the US and we’re very psyched.