PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries Volume 2

Volume two of The Edgar Wallace Mysteries is another 3 disc set with 8 movies mostly based on Edgar Wallace novels. The last two aren't based on Wallace stories but they were included in the series later. As with the first volume it's a UK product that requires magic to watch.

Man At The Carlton Tower 1961 Based on the Edgar Wallace novel The Man At The Carlton, screenplay by Philip Mackie, directed by Robert Tronson. An ex-cop comes back to help catch a nasty bit of work. Good solid story with a good cast.

Clue Of The Silver Key 1961 Based on the Edgar Wallace novel The Silver Key, screenplay by Philip Mackie, directed by Gerald Glaister. Bernard Lee returns to play Superintendent Meredith and Stanley Morgan returns to play Sergeant Anson. A horrible rich guy is killed by a horrible crook. About average.

Attempt To Kill 1961 Based on the 1929 Edgar Wallace novel The Lone House Mystery, screenplay by Richard Harris, directed by Royston Morley. The Richard Harris there is not the actor, he wrote many many scripts for shows like The Avengers, Adam Adamant Lives!, The Sweeney, A Touch Of Frost, The Last Detective, and Man In A Suitcase which he also created.

A rich guy fires his creepy assistant, the man is always bothering the rich guy's secretary, and the assistant vows he'll get what he wants. The rich guy and his secretary plan to marry but she's really got something going on with the handsome garage owner and powerboat dealer. The creepy ex-assistant has something going on with the rich guy across the lake and that rich guy is tied to the other rich guy by a past bad financial deal. Hardly anyone to like here. About average.

Man Detained 1961 Based on Edgar's 1916 novel A Debt Discharged, screenplay by Richard Harris, directed by Robert Tronson. It's a comedy of errors where the errors lead to death. A photographer holds some fake money in his safe and a safe cracker steals it. The photographer's assistant calls the cops but the photographer convinces her the money had been taken out before safe cracker got there. he next day the photographer is found murdered. The money is found to be counterfeit when the safe cracker is caught. The police use him to catch the real baddies. Good story with some nice bits of business going on. I liked the characters for the most part.

Never Back Losers 1961 Based on the 1929 Edgar Wallace novel The Green Ribbon, screenplay by Lukas Heller, directed by Robert Tronson. An insurance investigator on his first case gets beat up when he pokes into an ordinary car crash. Turns out the driver is a jockey and he was suspected of throwing a race. When he starts digging into the jockey and his pals, the investigator is warned off and then smacked up a bit. Patrick Magee is an interesting villain. Good story, moves along well, kept me interested.

The Sinister Man 1961 Based on Wallace's 1924 novel of the same name, screenplay by Robert Banks Stewart, directed by Clive Donner. A dead professor floating in the river Thames leads the police to Oxford and some stolen archeological items called the Kytang Wafers. They could mean legitimacy for the made up nation of Kytang. The dead professor was killed by a karate chop and suspicion falls on the Asian student. There's plenty of investigating and a rather complex story that was fun to follow. I did like the one ladies glasses quite a bit. I liked the movie more and would certainly want to watch it again.

Backfire! 1962 Screenplay by Robert Banks Stewart, directed by Paul Almond. A dopey old business man hires a couple to help him run his cosmetics business and some time later the company is in shambles. The couple are for burning the factory down and collecting the insurance money. They can pay off their debts and have plenty left over. Against the old business man's wishes the husband hires a psychopath to set the place ablaze. The husband stops in at the factory to get his wife's mink coat and discovers the poor cleaning woman looking at the timer set up. He kills her and runs off before the place goes up. He's a real piece of shit, that guy, but the police are on his incompetently covered trail. Good story, well told, happy to have seen it.

The White Trap 1959 Original Script by Peter Barnes, directed by Sidney Hayers. I liked this one quite a bit. Lee Patterson is a guy in prison for a crime he did not quit. He's escaped repeatedly to try to clear his name but he's been caught every time. He escapes this time so he can go visit his pregnant wife in hospital. She's not going to make it and he barely does. It's a sad story but well told. Really, more of a drama with thriller elements than a crime story. Worth a look.

After all those films I'm starting to notice several reused sets and locations. Many of the locations are really close to the old Merton Park Studios in South Wimbledon London. The first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant, was made there. The last filming there was in 1967. Another good batch of films. Nice.

Millions Like Us 1943

Millions Like Us is a 1943 British propaganda film. The original screenplay is by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, the guys also directed. I like those guys quite a bit so I bought the DVD from Amazon. It appears to be a bootleg of unknown origin but it looks alright. You can see a decent copy on YouTube.

 

The movie starts in 1939 as we meet the Crowson family, they're heading off to the south of England for a seaside holiday in Hastings. There's plenty of interesting footage of  train stations, streets and countryside. When the war breaks out the family helps out with the war effort, dad is in the Home Guard, daughter Phyllis joins the Auxiliary Territorial Service, daughter Celia gets posted to a factory making airplane parts. Everyone has to make due with rationing and other hardships. The German's bomb the area around the factory occasionally and the women have concrete bunkers to hide in, they don't appear that safe, there's a lot of stress. Celia meets a Scottish flight sergeant and they marry. They honeymoon in Hastings, staying at the same B&B that Celia has stayed in since she was a toddler. The town is all sandbagged up and ready for the Nazi invasion from France. The war doesn't go the sergeant's way but Celia carries on at the factory.

Millions Like Us has the fourth and last appearance of Charters and Caldicott, played Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne. They appeared in The Lady Vanishes, Night Train To Munich and Crook's Tour. The two would appear together in other films but as different characters. They add a bit of humor to the hard times. There's some humor as the different classes of citizen rub up against one and other. One of the woman at the factory is pretty posh and she loathes working on a lathe making airplane parts. The foreman is always on her case and they wind up in a relationship.

I enjoyed Millions Like Us and was glad to have added it to my collection. I thought it was worth a look and would recommend it to people who don't mind a war time melodrama. I've seen most of the films by Gilliat and Launder and hardly any of them aren't re-watchable. The Wikipedia says the film was popular in Russia. 

The Good Companions 1957

The Good Companions is a 1957 British musical comedy based on the 1929 novel by JB Priestly. It's been made into numerous stage and radio plays, films and TV programs since 1931. The 1957 film has a screenplay by TJ Morrison, additional dialog from John Whiting and JL Hudson, with J Lee Thompson directing.

The Dinky Doos are a musical road company fallen on hard times. Hardly anyone comes to see their shows anymore. Lucky for them, a rich lonely lady comes to their rescue. Things are rocky for a while but a star emerges and makes good.

There's a good cast in Eric Portman, Celia Johnson, Hugh Griffith, Janette Scott, John Frazer, and several more I didn't know. It's a mix of drama and music with a bit of comedy. I didn't care that much for the music but I got through with the help of the speed control. Could have been a lot worse.

Science Fiction Sunday 575

The first of two SF films from Amazon Prime today is The Dark Side Of The Moon. The listing says the movie is a 2019 release but it's really from 1990. Chad and Carey Hayes wrote the script and DJ Webster directed. It starts out as a routine space repair mission but ship failure puts them out of power and drifting to have a gander at the moon's backside. They see an abandoned shuttle and connect up to it, hoping to find more oxygen than they have. Now it becomes more of a horror movie, there's some sort of evil entity on board and he's got fresh victims. There's plenty of running about and murder. It doesn't end well for much of anyone. It was watchable for the most part but hardly more than average. The IMDb score is a 5.0 and I'd vote that. I wouldn't need to see it again and there's little chance of it falling into my hands on DVD. You can even get a Blu-ray, what a waste of 20 smackaroonies.

Second feature is the 2013 SF film Dark Space. It's written and directed by Emmett Callinan. Six young adults rent a spacecraft to take them to Centari Five. One of them screws with the ship to make it go faster and they wind up on a unknown planet with all sorts of damage to the rental. Hopefully they have space insurance. Not that it will matter to 5 of them. While they are out looking about some space mercenaries attack them. They've been sent to wipe out the indigenous population so who ever sent them can take over the planet for their own use. One of tourists teaches the natives how to kill with a rock and she escapes in the mostly repaired ship. It was alright, I watched it to the end, but it's still a bit below average. Some of the dialog is annoying and it's all the same sort of thing I've seen before. Another one I wouldn't need to bother with again. Not sorry to have taken a look.

Friday Night Movies 775

First up is the 1995 SF horror film Xtro 3: Watch The Skies. We watched the new Blu-ray, there were two previous DVD releases but the last one was 15 years ago. It's got a script by Daryl Haney and direction is by Harry Bromley Davenport. It's a British film and it seems to have nothing to do with the other two films. This one takes place mostly on an island off the coast of the US. Even though it's only 200 miles from shore it's supposed to be forgotten about or some such nonsense.

Robert Culp appears briefly as the General that sends the marines to the island. He tells them that there had been a munitions dump there during WW2. They  need the marines to sweep the island for forgotten bombs and other explosives so they can build a refueling station there. The marines are a mixed bag and hardly marine material. Still, they're really just there to get picked off one by one once one of the more useless marines accidentally lets the alien gets out of his concrete block house. Then it's all yelling and rushing about in the woods.

It's the least interesting of the series and should have been included with the other two in a three pack. Hardly worth buying when it's just so mediocre. You can see for yourself by clicking on the link in the title.

I hadn't remembered seeing Ninja Apocalypse before and had to sit through it again. Me so sad. Here's what I said just shy of two years ago.

Ninja Apocalypse is a 2014 post apocalypse movie that people are saying is a ripoff of The Warriors. They've certainly used that script as a template, big rally, assassination of the leader, blame the Lost Clan, chase them to their home base. It all takes place underground but it's the same idea, just with swords and some magical ninja powers. Sadly, it's nowhere near as good as The Warriors. Watch that instead. It's so much better. More fantasy than SF.

It didn't get any better the second time.

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries Volume 1

In the first half of the 1960s Anglo-Amalgamated produced 47 films based on Edgar Wallace stories. They were filmed at Merton Park Studios by producers Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy. They had obtained the rights to all Wallace's work and they set to banging out the films, 47 in 5 years. They are set in modern day and mostly shot in and around London. They had low budgets, the Wikipedia says £22,000, which is just under half a mil today, but they look fine for the most part. Kind of reminds me of a British TV show of the time. Plenty of great actors in them too.

Urge To Kill 1960 It's based on the novel Hughie Roddis by Gerald Savoy, he'd adapted it into a play called Hand In Glove. Screenplay by James Eastwood, directed by Vernon Sewell. It's not part of the original series, it and several others were included later, even though they don't have originals stories by Wallace. Hughie is a handicapped young man who lives with his mother, she runs a boarding house with a couple of gentlemen borders. One's a retired schoolteacher and the other is a young man who's a bit of a cold fish. After a couple of murders some of the locals are thinking it's Hughie. The Police Inspector doesn't believe it's Hughie, he's got other fish to fry. Entertaining but only about average.

Clue Of The Twisted Candle 1960 Edgar Wallace novel of the same name, screenplay by Philip Mackie, directed by Allan Davis. Locked room mystery with Bernard Lee as the Inspector and Stanley Morgan as his Sergeant. They are investigating a murder. About average story.

Marriage Of Convenience 1960 Based on The Three Oak Mystery by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Robert Banks Stewart, directed by Clive Donner. An unlucky criminal gets out of prison to find his girlfriend has run off with the stolen loot and married the cop that arrested him. That cop has retired but Harry H Corbett is the Inspector in the trail of the stolen loot. I thought it was OK and found I enjoy Harry H Corbett in a more serious role.

The Man Who Was Nobody 1960 Novel by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by James Eastwood, directed by Montgomery Tully. Hazel Court plays a private eye who gets hired to investigate some stolen jewels. It's just the start of a strange few days for her but it all ends well. I enjoyed the story. Paul Eddington and John Crawford co-star.

Partners In Crime 1961 Based on The Man Who Knew by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Robert Banks Stewart, directed by Peter Duffell. Bernard Lee is a different police Inspector and Stanley Morgan is a different police Sergeant. There's been a murder so the pair bung around for a look see. It was alright too.

The Clue Of The New Pin 1961 Based on the Edgar Wallace novel, screenplay by Philip Mackie, directed by Allan Davis. A millionaire is found dead in his locked vault with the key to the door on the table in the room. OK story with easy to solve gimmick.

The Fourth Square 1961 Based on The novel Four Square Jane by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by James Eastwood, directed by Allan Davis. People are being murdered for emerald jewelry. A bunch of dishonest people muck about in the police's case and some of them come out pretty poorly. I thought the story was better than some of the others. Glad to have seen it. 

October Moth 1960 Another non Wallace story that was added to the series for syndication. Original screenplay by director John Kruse. John wrote the excellent Hell Drivers and some episodes of The Saint. He wrote a good number of other scripts but this is his only directing job. Too bad.

Lee Patterson is a mentally disturbed farmer who lives with his sister. Lee sees a woman drive her car off the road and goes to rescue her. Some how he gets it in his head that she's his dead mother come back to him. All sorts of fatal trouble comes from that. Luckily for Lee's sister a phone lineman comes to her rescue. One of the more tense stories in the lot. It's a nice bleak bit of business set on a great looking farm set. 

All in all a nice lot of films. They look pretty good, even with some discs having three films on them. None of the films is over an hour so far. Film historian Kim Newman produces a nice booklet with pictures and some skimpy amount of info. One disc has some PDF press info and an Image Gallery.

Dandy Dick 1935

Dandy Dick is a 1935 Will Hay film. Will worked on the adaption of Sir Arthur Pinero's play of the same name with Frank Miller, Clifford Grey and director William Beaudine. Will plays a vicar that needs to come up with a £1000 to fix the church steeple. He bets on Dandy Dick at 10-1. There's plenty of farce and slapstick with lots of yelling. It kept me entertained to the end but I like Will Hay and the like.

The Goose Steps Out 1942

The Goose Steps Out is a 1942 Will Hay movie. Bernard Miles and Reg Groves had the idea, Angus MacPhail and John Dighton turned that idea into a screenplay, Basil Dearden and Will Hay share the directing credit. Will co-directed three films with Basil, he might have gone onto direct more of his own films but his failing health ended his career. Cancer and a stroke crippled him but he managed to rally and he hung on until 1949.

 

The Goose Steps Out is set during the Second World War. Will is William Potts and he turns out to be the exact double of a German spy. That same spy is in British custody  and the War Office wants Potts to impersonate the spy. He's to travel to Germany and steal info on a new German secret weapon. In Germany Potts is put to work teaching young German spies all about the UK. Charles Hawtrey, William Hartnell, Peter Ustinov and Barry Morse are cast members I knew.

It's a nice slap in the puss to the Fuhrer and there are some other good jokes too. The film was popular at a time that people were pretty down and it still holds up fairly well. I laughed and was glad to have picked up the DVD. I will have a Will Hay film festival someday.

Science Fiction Sunday 574

Vegas Skyline is a 2012 piece of crap no one needs to see. Speaking of seeing, see that Independence Day like ship attacking a tall building? Not in the movie at all. Nothing like it. Just another lie foisted on you by some poor ass production company. I feel the need to knock nut sacks with the de-fleshed skull of Paul Naschy. Truth be told, Paul never made a movie this bad.

Vegas Skyline gets an undeserved 2.2 on the IMDb. If only they had a "Fuck off and die" vote. The only positive I see here is that no one tried to game the votes by giving the movie a 10, or a 9, or an 8 or even a 7. Were the film makers and their friends too honest or too embarrassed to vote it a ten? The director is Michael Ricks, he wrote the mess with Michele Hailey and she plays one of the characters in the movie. For some reason Michael does not get a director credit on the IMDb.

Vegas Skyline is a low level alien invasion set in Las Vegas. Some nice footage of casinos at night under the open credits and it's all downhill from there. We spend too much time with a couple of horrible couples, the men of whom both get taken over by aliens. Their inane chatter sure reminds me to spend less time with people. It's an embarrassment to science fiction.

Phantom From Space was also on Amazon Prime. I couldn't face another recent bad SF film so I watched one from 1953 that I hadn't seen in a long while. It's an alien encounter movie, an invisible alien arrives in LA, some humans encounter him in his doomed adventure. The version on Amazon Prime is colorized, I was curious, it doesn't look too bad. The movie is a bit slow going and talky but there's an invisible alien and plenty of theremin music. It's below average but it's so much better than Vegas Skyline. I might even watch Phantom From Space again someday.

Friday Night Movies 774

Zombieland Double Tap is the 2019 sequel to Zombieland. It's written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Dave Callaham, it's directed by Ruben Fleischer. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin return and they are joined by Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, Luke Wilson and more people I didn't know. The main four have taken up residence in the White House and try to avoid people and zombies. That goes on for a while but abruptly Emma and Abigail split, taking Woody's fancy Mad Max car with them. Time passes and Jesse hooks up with Zoey who had been living in a freezer at the mall. Emma returns for guns and ammo, turns out Abigail had run off with a scumbag poser. The team reunites and heads off to Graceland. They eventually find Abigail at a compound filled with morons who've melted all their guns down. It sure seems only the stupid survive in great numbers in a zombie film. At least there are plenty of laughs and a huge budget to have fun with. I enjoyed it about as much as the first movie and would want to pick up a copy once it gets cheaper.

Kill Zombie is a 2012 Dutch zombie film set in Amsterdam-West. It's mostly filmed in Amsterdam-North. Typical film making trivia. It's more of a Shaun/Juan Of The Dead type comedy than a serious zombie film. That's fine! I'm almost tired of the serious as shit zombie holocausts I see so often. This time the zombies are victims of a plague that's brought to Earth when the International Space Station crashes into the top of an office building where our hero Aziz had worked. He'd been fired earlier in the day for getting a date with the woman that the boss fancied. To be honest, Tess, the office hottie, only invited him on a date to make her boss jealous. She's that kind of self centered bitch. Aziz goes to see his moronic brother, they get in a fight with some guys, they get arrested, they get thrown into jail overnight, they miss the whole start of the virus outbreak. Out of jail they team up with one of the only living cops left in the station. Kim is played by Gigi Ravelli and she's an ass kicker. Among her acting credits are 804 episodes of a TV show that I can only think is a soap opera. Those 804 episodes were filmed in a 7 year period. Back in the movie Aziz gets a call from Tess and goes off to rescue her. He takes Kim, his brother, the guys they fought and a jackass in a suit along for the ride. Sadly, these are some dumb fuckin' people and they put a lot of self-inflicted hurdles in their own way. The movie has a high mortality rate for the main characters. It has some jokes, some gore, some goofy moments, some dumb shit and some poor CGI but I liked it well enough to order the DVD from the UK. It was only £2.71 plus shipping. I was ordering some other British films so I put it in my order. It might not look as nice as the Blu-ray we watched but by the time I see it again, I'll have forgotten and I know I'll want to watch some of this at 1.5 speed.