PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Phantom Fiend 1935

The Phantom Fiend 1932 The film was titled The Lodger in the UK and it was based on the 1913 novel of the same name by Mrs Belloc Lowndes. She'd written a short story called The Lodger in 1911 which was based on Jack The Ripper and the Lambeth Poisoner. The novel was adapted for the screen by H Fowler Mear, the scenario is by Miles Mander and Paul Rotha with an uncredited Ivor Novello. It was directed by Maurice Elvey. It appeared on US screens in 1935 cut down from 85 mins to 62 mins.

Alfred Hitchcock directed a silent version of the film, it was released in 1926 in the UK as The Lodger: A Story Of The London Fog and 1927 in the US under the title of The Case Of Jonathan Drew. Ivor Novello appeared in that version and this one. There were versions of the book adapted to feature films in 1944, 1953 and 2009. In 1967 Armchair Mystery Theater adapted the novel for an episode. In 1967 there was a German version for TV called Der Mieter. There were 6 radio versions and an opera in 1960.

That's Ivor Novello with Elizabeth Allan and some dead guy. Elizabeth lives with her mother and father, they're having a bit of time with cash flow and decide to take a lodger. Ivor shows up and rents the room. The family is happy to have the rent money. They are worried about the murders, especially when Elizabeth's boyfriend, an annoying reporter, comes to call. He can't shut up, not that guy.

Elizabeth becomes enamored with the new lodger, he plays piano and violin but is a bit moody. The murders continue and mom is a bit suspicious of her tenant's activities and mood. Elizabeth doesn't believe he's the killer but it sure looks like she's wrong.

I had seen the movie some years ago and had forgotten most of it. It's about average and I enjoyed it all over again, you can check it out in the link in the title above. Sadly, the film is in rough shape and a bit noisy.

Crime On The Hill 1933

Crime On The Hill 1933 Based on a play by Jack Celestin and Jack DeLeon. screenplay by Vera Allinson, E M Delafield, Michael Hankinson and Bernard Vorhaus, the director is Bernard Vorhaus.

The movie is set in a small English village, the local vicar and doctor are pals who like a bit of fishing. They surprise the niece of the local Lord while she's out swimming. They all head to the manor house to have tea with his Lordship. The niece's fiancee meets them along the way. They find his Lordship dead in his study. Turns out he had a bad heart and his doctor expected him to die at anytime.

The niece is set to inherit until a woman shows up with a marriage certificate. They'd married in secret. Soon after the burial ugly rumors start up and the dead man is exhumed. They find poison in the body and the evidence could point to the fiancee. Even though there were other characters with motive and means, the  unimaginative local police arrest the fiancee, he's convicted and sent off to be hung.

The vicar hears things that lead him to believe the young man might not be guilty. He sets his sights on freeing the fiancee and he maybe right as there's more murder ahead.

It's a smidge under 64 minutes and they don't waste time. It's got a good story and a nice tight script. The cast is pretty good, nice sets and locations. A good entertaining story that's much above average. It's part of The British Film series from Network. I'd be happy to watch it again.

The Cardinal 1936

The Cardinal 1936 A British film that's part of The British Film series by Network. Adapted by DB Wyndham from a play by Louis N Parker, the director is Sinclair Hill. I'd seen Sinclair's Bombs Over London fairly recently and enjoyed that.

Matheson Lang is Cardinal Giovanni de Medici, it's 1510 and he's trying to get St Peter's Basilica built. His work is hindered by an upcoming war, the Pope has hired General Balmonte to command his troops in routing the French invaders, and Balmonte wants a big pile of cash. The General wants the Pope to divert money from the Basilica.

The General is a right piece of shit and the only people who like him are the local scum he pays. He's got his eyes on the 16 year old daughter of a local noble, when the father says no the General stabs him.

The Cardinal's brother Giuliano is also interested in the young lady and she's interested in him. At the time of the murder the couple are sitting on a balcony above the scene of the crime. Giuliano jumps to the ground and is knocked out in the fight with the General. Taking advantage of the situation the General puts Giuliano's dagger in the wound and claims he fought off the attacker but was too late to save the father.

Giuliano is trucked off to jail, before the Cardinal finds out about his brother the General confesses the crime in confession without mentioning the other man was the Cardinal's brother. Because of the sacredness of the confessional the Cardinal can't testify against the General. The Cardinal uses his wits and creates a plan to trick the General into confessing.

It might not be too historically accurate but it was entertaining none the less. Matheson is fine as the clever de Medici and the other cast members are all good. Robert Atkins is particularly nasty as the General. Eric Portman plays the brother, he was quite good as the German stranded in Canada in 49th Parallel and as Charlie Forbes in Millions Like Us. Glad I picked The Cardinal up, I'll watch it again someday.

Best Of British Classics Double Feature Vol 1

   

Tomorrow We Live 1943 Released in the US as At Dawn We Die, which I find sounds hopeless, that's the opposite of what the movie is about. It's WW2 and the German's have occupied France, John Clements is a Frenchman who has some intel on the German's U-Boat base to give to the British. The resistance operates in the town and they set up an escape to England.

The Nazis are harsh masters, fining the village for violations, abusing and killing the citizens for minor infractions. It gets worse once the SS get there. There's a whole subplot devoted to collaborators. The things people had to do to stay alive, didn't always pan out. A lot of people died.

Not a happy story but a hopeful one. Dorothy Hope wrote the original story, Anatole de Grunwald wrote the screenplay and George King directed. A good solid film that has interesting characters and a nice bit of danger. You can see it on YouTube. I've linked to it in the title above.

Inquest 1939 Elizabeth Allan is accused of murder and Hay Petrie plays the KC that defends her at the inquest. It's a nice complicated story that's based on a play by Michael Barringer, he adapted his own play with Francis Miller, the director is Roy Boulting. There's a good bit of humor, despite the hangman looking over Elizabeth's shoulder. Hay works to find out what happened and comes through a champion. Well worth seeing.

Friday Night Movies 785

Trailer Park Shark is a 2017 big ass shark comedy. It's directed by Griff Furst, son of Stephen Furst. Griff wrote the movie with his brother Nathan Furst, Marcy Holland, Matt Muschamp and Xander Wolfe.

The movie is set in a squalled trailer park in Louisiana. A rich scumbag wants the park gone so he hires a stupid scumbag to blow up the levee. It floods the park and most of the trailer park residents are washed away with their trailers. A few survive and to make their day worse, somehow, a big ass hungry shark has come calling. Oh, yeah, he's an electric shark. His electric discharge knocks people out and shorts out electrical systems in boats.

The CGI is fair to middlin', you can see that shark top looks a bit low rez. Generally the physical effects work, the only one that was annoying was the rain effect. They had a physical spray system set up but it was so small you could see where the rain ended on the water. The physical gore is a bit of a step up over the CGI gore. The movie moves along briskly and there's always some new danger and slaughter.

I did like the movies sense of humor. I laughed out loud a couple of times and it was fun to see the scumbags get some chompin' action. Glad to have seen it and would watch it again.

This Is Not A Movie came out in 2011 and the Wikipedia says it's a Mexican experimental SF film. It's written and directed by Olallo Rubio. Edward Furlong plays three different versions of the same character. It's the end of the world and he's in a hotel room in Las Vegas discussing some philosophical stuff with his other selves. It's pretty artsy fartsy but I did get a good laugh out of one part. A physical gag that had little to do with the lack of story. Edward was pretty good as the different personalities. Sadly I wasn't that interested in his internal monologue. I had gotten the DVD cheap and will keep it. I might never watch it again. Who knows.

The Lost Patrol is a 1934 Boris Karloff film. It's adapted from a Philip MacDonald story called Patrol by Garrett Fort, the screenplay is by Dudley Nichols, the director is John Ford. Victor McLaglen, Wallace Ford, Reginald Denny, Billy Bevan, Alan Hale and JM Kerrigan are some of the cast I knew. Merian C Cooper is an executive producer and Max Stein created the music.

It's a WWI film, set in the desert of Mesopotamia, with a troop of lost soldiers. They've been beleaguered by some spirituous Arabs who snipe at them with sad efficiency. The troop find an oasis and camp out, resting themselves and their horses. In the night two men are killed and the horses stolen. The troop are randomly picked off by the hidden enemy. Help arrives in the form of an airplane. The pilot lands and is killed.

As their despair grows Boris goes mad and he becomes a danger to himself and the troop. He's eventually killed by his own delusion. Rescue comes but nearly too late. It's all pretty bleak and horrible. Not much by way of humor going on here. It's very much like a horror movie, the kind with a human monster. It's still better than the other two films. I might even watch it again someday.

Circle Of Danger 1951

Circle Of Danger came out in 1951, it's British and directed by Jacques Tourneur. Philip MacDonald wrote the screenplay. Philip also wrote The Bride Of Frankenstein, 2 Charlie Chan films and 3 Mr Moto films. Ray Milland travels to England to see if he can learn some more about his brothers death during the war. He travels around meeting people connected to his brother, the military, and the raid the brother died on. His plan of vengeance takes a back seat when he finds the man's death was much different than he had been imaging. A sad story but well told. I'm not going to rush back to watch it again anytime soon but it's going on the shelf.

Bank Holiday 1938

Bank Holiday is a 1938 British comedy drama that's also known as Three On A Weekend. Oddly, it's not part of The British Film series but part of The Rank Collection. Rank DVDs have been turning up on Hamilton Books for the last several months, usually under 6 smackaroonies. That's often a bit cheaper than the British DVD and you don't need a special player to play the DVD. 

The original story is by Hans Wilhelm and Rodney Ackland, the scenario is by Rodney Ackland and Roger Burford, the director is Carol Reed. It's Carol's fifth credited feature, he followed it with Penny Paradise which I watched, and enjoyed, the middle of last year. In 1940 Carol would direct Night Train To Munich. I enjoyed that. I'm guessing Carol is better known for the 1949 film The Third Man, or the 1962 Mutiny On The Bounty. Most of his other films aren't ones I've seen, they have a tendency to be more dramas than crime films or comedies. I'd rather watch the later two genres.

Bank Holiday follows people as they travel to the seaside for vacation. There's a family, a nurse and her boyfriend taking a holiday in a hotel, and a couple of ladies looking for romance. There's ups and downs, most of the stories work out well in the end. It could use a few more gags, there's some heavy drama woven in there, but I got to the end credits OK. I'd even guess I'd watch it again.

Flying 55 1939

Flying 55  is a 1939 British crime drama that's based on the 1922 Edgar Wallace novel of the same name. It's a part of Network's The British Film series under the Edgar Wallace banner. Movies based on his writing all have a similar cover style. I can't remember ever reading any Edgar Wallace books. Victor M Greene, Vernon Clancey and Kenneth Horne worked on the screenplay and Reginald Denham directed. Can't say I was too excited about it. It's more drama than anything. At least it has a bit of a sense of humor. I've seen more interesting Edgar Wallace stories. Since I bought it, I have it, I might watch it again, I'm sure to want to go back through TBF series again and at least watch my favorites again. Certainly many of them are much more entertaining.

The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection Volume 1

The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection is a sub-set of The British Film series from Network. For some reason I'm a sucker for a film series on DVD. This series has 14 volumes, 28 discs, and 56 films, and the DVDs came out in 2013 and 2014. The films aren't the Ealing Comedies you might have heard about or seen, films like Kind Hearts And Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man In The White Suit, and The Ladykillers. Most of them haven't been on video before, often they've not been seen for a long time. They might be lesser films but they still have some entertainment value and I'm glad they managed to get them out. The complete set of DVDs is still available and they are priced between £3-6 each after the VAT has been removed. That's ordered from Amazon UK. Volume 1 has 3 films from the 1930s and 1 film from 1954. 

The packaging says that Ealing Studios made over 150 films over a three decade period but I only found 126 listed on the Wikipedia. The studio's history is convoluted with different studios merging over time so who knows what they're counting.

The site of Ealing Studios, Ealing Green in West London, has been used by film makers since 1902. In 1929 Basil Dean founded Associated Talking Pictures Ltd which became Ealing Studios in 1938. The Wikipedia says the current sound stages were built in 1931 and bought by the BBC in 1955. Ealing Studios continued to make films through 1957 and in 2000 they resumed making films again. Other film studios used the Ealing stages too.

Escape 1930 The very first of the ES films back when they were Associated Talking Pictures. It's based on a 1926 play by John Galsworthy, Basil Dean wrote the screenplay and directed. Dean had previously directed the 1929 film The Return Of Sherlock Homes with Clive Brooks and H Reeves-Smith. Since the Ealing stages weren't built at this time, the film was shot at the British Lion Studios in Beaconsfield.

That's Gerald du Maurier talking to Mabel Poulton above, he's an upper crust guy and she's a gal hanging out in a park. Gerald is father to writer Daphne du Maurier. A police detective accuses Mabel of soliciting and arrests her, Gerald steps in at the rough treatment, a fight ensues, the copper dies after hitting his head in a fall.

Gerald is plunked into prison for 5 years, after 2 years he escapes while working outdoors, he then leads the police a chase through the moors. Gerald is befriended or betrayed by the people he meets and not much else happens.

It's an odd film, I'm not sure what to make of the story. The Wikipedia says it's a look at class and such. Many of the people Gerald meets think he got a bum sentence but 5 years doesn't seem too bad for manslaughter. With a bit of help from the locals Gerald manages to stay on the run for a couple of days. The local Bobbies have enlisted men for searching and they're hot on his trail. Gerald only got caught because he didn't want the Priest who helps him to lie for him. It was different enough it kept my attention to the end. It's only 68 minutes so I didn't have that hard a job. I'd watch it again.

West Of Zanzibar 1954 An interesting topical film about Africa. Harry Watt wrote the story and directed, Max Catto and Jack Whittingham wrote the screenplay. It's a sequel to Where No Vultures Fly which I don't have. WNVF is 30-40 smackaroonies on Amazon so I'm not having that. It's even more crazy expensive on Amazon UK, the price ranges from £46.91 to £208.15. You can buy used or bootleg copies online for a reasonable price.

Anthony Steele is a game warden in Kenya. He's friends with the Chief of a tribe that's facing a big decision. The drought  is so bad they must move the tribe. Either further into the countryside or near Mombasa. The Chief wants to stay in the country but the tribe votes to move to Mombasa.

They have a hard time adjusting to life near the city, the young men of the tribe want the fancy trappings of city life but they have no jobs or money. Some of them join up with Ivory poachers and that leads to trouble.

There's a mix of location shooting and stock footage. The story is fairly good with the two story lines wrapping around each other until they become one story. It's topical and there's some nice scenery to see. Worth a look.

Penny Paradise 1938 The 7th film directed by Carol Reed. Basil Dean, Thomas Browne, Walter Meade and Thomas Thompson all worked on the screenplay at some point.

Edmund Gwenn is a tugboat captain in the picture above. The young woman is Betty Driver, she plays Edmund's daughter Betty. She sings 3 songs during the movie but it's not meant to be a musical. Jimmy O'Dea plays Edmund's assistant and the older lady is Aunt Agnes, played by Ethel Coleridge. Jimmy played King Brian in Darby O'Gill And The Little People.

Edmund fills out a penny pools ticket and gives it to Pat to mail. Guess what, Pat doesn't mail it in, and Edmund wins £20,000. It throws the area into a tizzy as the story plays out.

It's a nice comedy about a lovable old sea captain, his lovely daughter and their stupid and incompetent pal. Why people continue to hang around Pat I'll never know. Betty is in love with him and Pat's in love with her. Betty was 18 at the time the picture was shot and Jimmy was 40. Trouble is Creepy Pat's too weak and stupid to tell her. Aunt Agnes is an old harridan who thinks she should get half the winnings because she said the name of one of the 15 teams that won. Family sure can suck. Still, it will all work out nicely in the end, other than Betty and Jimmy hooking up. I usually enjoy Edmund in most of his pictures and this is no exception. It's a fun tale.

Cheer Up! 1936 Written by Stanley Lupino and Michael Barringer with Leo Mittler directing. Stanley's also the producer and he's in the movie, playing a songwriter. He also wrote the lyrics to the songs he sings. Roddy Hughes plays his musical pal and Sally Grey plays the romantic lead. That Sally and Stanley in the picture above.

I didn't like Stanley right from the get go, he's annoying and creepily made up. Stanley and Roddy do a lot of slapstick bits that were fair to poor. Their characters have some songs and want someone to back their revue. Sally is an actress and singer who's badly in need of work. I didn't care much for the songs in the movie but eventually they do get them on stage. There are several musical dance numbers that were sort of entertaining to look at. Better if I had liked the songs. All told not a movie I liked that much.

A mixed bag of stories and production values. Still I was glad to have picked the first of the series up. I have all the others in a stack. I'll get to those soon, I hope.

Adventure In Sahara 1938

Sam Fuller only wrote the story to Adventure In Sahara, a 1938 film about a guy who joins the Foreign Legion. Maxwell Shane wrote the screenplay and D Ross Lederman is the director. It's a story of vengeance. The Captain is a sadistic man who's responsible for the death of many men under his command. The brother of one of those poor victims comes to the post for revenge. It's barely an hour and it moves along quite well. There's a fair bit of talking, some action and a bit of romance. Oh, yeah, there's a good bit of vengeance too. That Captain was really a prick.