PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Spider Woman Strikes Back 1946

The Spider Woman Strikes Back 1946 Written by Eric Taylor and directed by Arthur Lubin. Part of Universal's monster collection. I watched the Lino Lorber Blu-ray. Gale Sondergaard played the Spider Woman in the 1943 Sherlock Homes film The Spider Woman. This film isn't a sequel to that film but Universal hoped they could get sequels to this. They never happened.

Gale is the town's richest woman and she's got a lab in her basement where she robs younger woman of their blood to create a serum. Brenda Joyce plays a young woman who takes the job of Gale's secretary. Rondo Hatton plays Gale's man servant. It takes a while for Brenda to cotton on to her predicament but she manages to get away at the end.

Sadly it's barely average. Some say it helped kill off Universal's horror line. Universal didn't even put it out on Blu-ray. Lubin claims he hated the film, he didn't want to direct it, he was forced by his Universal contract. A lot of this background is covered by Tom Weaver and David Schecter on the audio commentary. That was almost more interesting than the movie. There's a nice making of featurette on the making of the movie.

Friday Night Movies 1002

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny 2023 Screenplay by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp and James Mangold, directed by James Mangold.

The movie opens with Indy trying to steal treasures looted by the Nazis. Indy and his pal Basil are after the Lance of Longinus. The pair sneak about but are ultimately captured by the Nazi scum. Hitler wants the Lance but Indy and Nazi astrophysicist Voller say it's a fake. Voller has half of the Archimedes Dial, he thinks it will be more valuable to the Reich than the Lance. There's plenty of mayhem as Indy and Basil escape.

In 1969 New York Indy is retiring from teaching at a college. Basil's daughter Helena shows up to see Indy, she believes he's still got the Dial. She claims she wants to study it. Indy reveals he still has the device. Voller and his Nazi pals show up to steal the Dial. They kill a lot of people but Helena steals the Dial and leaves. Voller blows off a meeting with the President to chase after Indy who's gone to Tangier. Indy and the Nazis interrupt Helena's plan to sell the Dial at a stolen antiquity auction. There's a long chase through the city and the Nazis get the Dial. The story moves on eventually leading to the past and a chat with Archimedes.

The fifth Indiana Jones movie sure doesn't live up to level of the previous films. The film was considered a flop, not making it's nut back at the box office. There's a good bit of action with plenty of yelling, gunfire and explosions but it doesn't make up with the weak film. Crabby old Indy isn't that much fun to be around. It's a long film that seems longer, it could have been tightened up to it's benefit.

Lucky for him Indy manages to get through the fights and survive getting shot. Conversely I was disappointed Helena survived. I really disliked her, she's truly a scumbag. Trying to redeem her character in the last minutes of the film is positively weak. I doubt I'll wind up watching this film as much as I would the fourth film and I know it's going to be way less than the first three.

The Catman Of Paris 1946 Screenplay by Sherman L Lowe, directed by Lesley Selander. Lesley directed over 100 westerns in his 32 year career. Occasionally he'd direct a horror film, we watched The Vampire's Ghost at movie night back in 2017. He also directed the 1951 SF film Flight To Mars and the first two Lone Ranger films in the 50s. This is also on the Repubic Picture Horror Collection. Not a stellar package so far but watchable films.

In the late 1800s a Paris novelist called Charles has penned a controversial book,  he claims the book has made him enemies among the public. Charles tells his friend Henry his troubles. Soon after a man who had damning documents detrimental to Charles is found dead, strangled and slashed. Charles former sweetheart is killed in a similar way. Charles is suspected of being the so called Catman.

The rest of this low throttle thriller is a tad lack luster. There's a bit of action but it's spread thin. There's not much suspense and the ending isn't much of a surprise. It was made to be the second half of Republics first horror double bill with Valley Of The Zombies. I still enjoyed it but couldn't give it more than a 5 on the IMDb. I'd  watch it again sometime and I plan to listen to the commentary on the Blu-ray.

Friday Night Movies 1000

Godzilla x Kong - The New Empire 2023 Story by Terry Rossio, Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, screenplay by Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slatter, directed by Adam Wingard. A sequel to Godzilla vs Kong from 2021.

Kong is adapting to life in the Hollow Earth and Godzilla is still bashing monsters on the surface. Kong finds an enslaved camp of giant gorillas under the thumb of Skar King. Kong gets Godzilla to help battle Skar King and free his people. Some humans get tossed in the battle blender and eventually find a colony of humans who live in the hollow Earth. Their descendants lived on the surface but were all killed off in the first film, except for one telepathic girl who calls up Mothra.

There's plenty of battles and big blasts, there's lots of noise and oodles of collateral damage. Mixed in is a lot of personal baggage. The monster fights were good but I'm not getting much out of the humans. It was OK but not as entertaining as Godzilla Minus One.

The Valley Of The Zombies 1946 Story by Royal K Cole and Sherman H Lowe, screenplay by Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E McGowan, directed by Philip Ford. Another film from the Republic Pictures Horror Collection.

A dead man called Murks returns to life with the help of voodoo and blood. Murk's  seeks revenge on the men who locked him up in an asylum and the doctor who killed him on the operating table. Murks had faked his death and his body was revived by his brother. A doctor and his fiance help defeat the insane man. There's some police help.

Sadly it's rather slow despite being 56 mins. I'd seen it before and since I bought the Blu-ray collection I'll watch it some more when I get around to the commentaries on the four films.

Friday Night Movies 999

Death Machine 1995 Written and directed by Stephen Norrington. We watched the director's cut from the Kino Lorber Blu-ray. It's got three versions of the movie on two disks. Norrington only directed four films, this was the first, followed by Blade, The Last Minute and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I've liked the 3 films of his that I've seen, TLM is the one I haven't seen. He hasn't directed any films since 2003 but has occasionally worked in special effects. He has no credits on the IMDb after 2016.

Ely Pouget is head of Chaank Armaments Corp, Brad Dourif is a designer, Richard Brake and William Hootkins are executives. The Corp's enhanced solder glitches and kills some people in a diner. The story is out and the public isn't happy. The corp tries some damage control. Ely wants full public disclosure but the board says no. She wants Brad fired but the board says no.

Ely has an encounter with Brad about the project in Vault 10 and Brad threatens her. He's a major loony but fun to watch. Things get worse between them and Brad sends his killer robot from Vault 10 after her. Soon the robot is clanking around the building, slaughtering the staff. Some Eco-warriors break into the building, they become Ely's reluctant partners battling the robot and trying to escape. Ely locks Brad in Vault 10 with his robot. Hardly anybody gets out alive.

It's got plenty of great robot action, lots of clanky noise, good sets and models, plenty of gun shooting and explosions. I enjoyed it and I will order the Blu-ray for myself. I want to see the other versions of the film and I'm curious about the Norrington commentaries. The Blu-ray is only 15 bucks on Amazon. Seems a bargain.

The Lady And The Monster 1944 Based on the novel Donovan's Brain by Curt Siodmak, screenplay by Dane Lussier and Frederick Kohner, directed by George Sherman. He watched the new Kino Lorber Republic Horror Collection Blu-ray. It's got four 1940s films on two Blu-rays with plenty of commentaries.

 

Erich von Stroheim is Professor Franz Mueller, he's a mad scientist with his own laboratory in a fake looking castle in the middle of the Arizona desert. Erich believes he can keep a human brain alive out of the body. Mueller is asked by the local rangers if he can help a man who was in a plane crash. When the man dies Mueller takes advantage and removes the brain. They find out the dead man is a millionaire business man called Donovan. Richard Arlen and Vera Ralston are Erich's assistants, Patrick and Janice. The pair have a thing going on but Mueller also has feelings for Janice, he tries his best to disrupt the relationship.

Donovan's brain seems to be sending messages to a tired Patrick and Mueller encourages him to make contact with the brain. Patrick does, Donovan slowly takes over Patrick's brain, turning him into a slave. Donovan's lawyer is investigating the death, he finds the brain in the lab with documents about the experiment. Donovan had hid all his money, he sends Patrick on a mission to recover it. Things come to a head when Mueller tries to kill Patrick. The house keeper shoots him dead  and Donovan's brain gets dashed to the floor. Patrick goes to jail for monkeying with a dead man's brain and Janice promises to wait for him.

I mostly enjoyed the movie but it sure dragged at times, I was drifting off for a while there and there were complaints about the pace. A New York Times review, at the time of release, called it "a mite too lethargic." They aren't wrong. I seem to remember that the 1953 Donovan's Brain film was a better picture but it's been ages since I've seen it. I'll have to watch it and see. I'm looking forward to the commentaries on the film.

Friday Night Movies 998

Mad Heidi 2022 Written by Sandro Klopfstein, Johannes Hartman and Gregory D Widmer, directed by Johannes Hartman and Sandro Klopfstein.

For the last 20 years Switzerland has been under the control of a dictator who makes cheese. It's against the law for anyone to make their own cheese, it's against the law to be lactose intolerant. Heidi's boyfriend gets caught making goat cheese and Heidi gets arrested for complaining about Kommandant Knorr killing her boyfriend. In jail Heidi is bullied by the other women, she breaks out and a gaggle of nuns take her in and train her to fight the fascists. It's all revenge to the end.

I thought it was a lot of fun. One of the viewers here said it was the best exploding head movie he'd ever seen. There's plenty of goopy bits and violent action. The sets and scenery are fun. I enjoyed the heck out of it and would want to watch it again.

The Cat Creeps 1946 Story by Gerald Geraghty, screenplay by Edward Dein, Jerry Warner and Gertrude Walker, directed b Erle C Kenton.

The last of the Universal horror titles to be shot. It was released on a double bill with She-Wolf Of London. Horror was failing to draw the patrons, The Brute Man was shot just before The Cat Creeps, it was sold to PRC to release.

The movie is an old dark house sort of story with a group of people on an island without a way to get home after their boat is burnt. An old lady in the house is attacked as the visitors arrive at the door. They are there to search for $200,000 in cash that was stolen in a robbery 15 years ago. Someone finishes off the old lady and another guy has a bad fall down the basement stairs. Now the rest of the visitors have to try to keep alive until they can be rescued.

There's a cast of decent character actors, Noah Beery Jr, Frederick Brady, Douglass Dumbrille, Jonathan Hale, Paul Kelly are the few I knew. The story is pretty standard stuff, it gives the cast something to do most of the time.  It's not great but it's got some jokes. I enjoyed it and I'd watch it again.

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Where The Spies Are 1966 Based on the novel Passport To Oblivion by James Leasor, screenplay by James Leasor, Wolf Mankowitz and Val Guest, directed by Val Guest. Niven and Guest optioned the next five Leasor novels but only two of them ever got written. I've not read any of them.

David Niven plays Doctor Jason Love, he's been recruited by MI5 to go to a medical conference in Beirut to contact another doctor. John Le Mesurier plays the MI5 guy MacGuillvray, he'd worked briefly with Doctor Love in WWII when they both were in Military Intelligence. Love is reluctant to go but MacGuillvray offers to buy him a rare Cord automobile to get him on board.

Françoise Dorléac plays a spy called Vikki, her day job is that of international model. She's Love's contact at the airport. They start a bit of a romance. Love misses his plane only to see it explode on take off.

There's plenty of spying activity as the Russian spy Stanilaus, played by Ronald Rudd, gets ready to assassinate the pro-British Prince of Zahlouf. Love turns up and nobbles the Russian's plan. The Russkies kidnap Love and plan to take him to Russia.

Vikki turns out to be a double agent. She does redeem herself by shooting Stanilaus but sadly her modeling career comes to an end when Stanilaus returns the favor. I figured she'd die, it's the mid-60s, there's usually payback for blowing up a plane full of people. Doctor Love escapes and returns home.

I liked the movie well enough, it's more a spy movie like Our Man In Havana than a James Bond thriller. The Wikipedia says it's a comedy adventure film, it does OK on the adventure but it lacks a good supply of jokes. Despite that it's got a fairly decent script, perhaps a bit too long at 112 mins, and cast of good British actors. I recognized Cyril Cusack, Eric Pohlmann, Paul Stassino, Noel Harrison, Alan Gifford, Bill Nagy, Basil Dignam and Nigel Davenport. It's different enough from the average spy film that I'd watch it again.

Dr Renault's Secret 1942 Written by William Bruckner and Robert F Metzler and directed by Harry Lachman.

I wasn't certain that I had seen it before but the title was familiar. I looked at my Watched Movie List but I couldn't see it. Well, I couldn't find it due to a typo when I entered the movie in November 2017. The post I did then is linked in the title above. I still feel the same about the movie.

Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde 1941

Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde 1941 Based on the Robert Louis Stevenson story Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde, screenplay by John Lee Mahin, Percy Heath and Samuel Hoffenstein, directed by Victor Fleming.

Spencer Tracy plays Dr Jekyll, he's got an idea that he can separate the good and bad in people. We all know now how that's going to go. His experiments lead him to taking his serum and Mr Hyde is born.

 

He likes the night life, visiting the musical halls, and taking a fancy to Ivy, played by Ingrid Bergman. Hyde provides her with an apartment and sexually abuses her for his fun. Things get worse and worse and Hyde eventually kills Ivy. His transformations are out of control and that eventually leads to his death.

Hyde has some interesting visions when he takes his serum.

It's a fairly good adaptation. Before watching this I watched the 1911 and 1920 silent versions. Those were not anywhere near as interesting. Tracy is good but his Hyde isn't as repulsive looking as many of the other adaptations. Despite the lack of ugly his Hyde is still a monster. I'll want to watch it again sometime. Maybe have a Jekyll and Hyde marathon.

The Jester's Supper 1942

The Jester's Supper 1942 Based on a play called La cena delle beffe by Sem Benelli, screenplay by Sem Benelli, Renato Castellani and Alessandro Blasetti, directed by Alessandro Blasetti. The play was later turned into an opera.

In 15th century Florence aristocrat Giannetto Malespini is being bullied by aristocratic brothers Neri and Gabriello Chiaramantesi. That's Giannetto, he's played by Osvaldo Valenti, in his off screen life he was a fascist, in 1945 he and his wife Luisa Ferida were executed by partisans.

The lady is Clara Calamai, she plays Ginevra, a servant in the Chiaramantesi household. Neri brought her to a party at Giannetto's as an insult. Giannetto fell for her and Neri didn't care for that much. Gabriello is also interested in the woman but Neri controls her for his own sick pleasures.

That's Amedeo Nazzari as Neri and Alfredo Varelli as Gabriello. Neri is the worst of the two and he's the one that abuses Ginevra. The film has one of the earliest nude scenes in Italian cinema, Neri rips off her nightgown in front of his pals and Giannetto.

 

Finally having enough of Neri and his brother Giannetto plots his revenge. He convinces others that Neri has gone mad and they chase him through the city and up a bell tower. He escapes and attacks a lot of people. He's recaptured and tortured by some of the people who hate him so much. Luisa Ferida plays one of the many women treated poorly by Neri. Giannetto tricks Neri into killing his brother. Neri is driven mad by the deed.

I found it quite entertaining. The DVD looks fairly good, be nice if they restored it. I got it at Hamilton Books for 6 bucks. Well worth it.

Jungle Captive 1945

Jungle Captive 1945 Screenplay by Dwight V Babcock and M Coates Webster, direction by Harold Young. The third and last film in the Cheela, the ape woman trilogy. The year before this film Harold Young directed the live action scenes for Disney's The Three Caballeros, a couple of years before that he directed The Mummy's Tomb. In 1934 he directed the Leslie Howard film The Scarlet Pimpernel. I haven't seen much of his other work.

Dwight V Babcock wrote about 20 other films and even more TV. I've seen several of the films he's penned: The Mummy's Curse, House Of Dracula, She-Wolf Of London, The Unknown and last Rondo Hatton film The Brute Man. I can't say I've seen much of his TV work. M Coates Webster also co-wrote The Brute Man with Babcock. I can't say I recognize any of his other titles.

This time it's Otto Kruger playing the mad scientist. This one's not an actual doctor but that doesn't stop him from all sorts of shenanigans. That's Amelita Ward in the car with Otto. Amelita plays Ann, the Otto's assistant. Otto's already restoring life to dead rabbits but he wants a bigger more advanced carcass to revive. He sends his man Morloch to the morgue to collect the body of the recently dead ape woman.

Rondo Hatton plays Morloch. He's a rather simple guy who doesn't mind a bit of murder to get what he wants. He strangles the morgue attendant to get the ape woman. Back at Otto's secret lab the mad scientist revives the ape woman and shortly after she turns into Paula Dupree. Otto kidnaps his assistant Ann, played by Amelita, to get some blood from her. Poor Moloch has feelings for her despite her liking Don.

That's Vicky Lane playing Paula. Phil Brown plays Ann's boyfriend Don and the doctor's other assistant. He comes to Ann's rescue but is caught by Moloch. Paula escapes and Don frees himself while the mads are off looking for her. Don rescues Ann but they get caught on the way out of the secret lab. Moloch tries to stop Otto from killing Ann with his experiment and gets a bullet in the gut. Otto experiences a crushing defeat when Paula turns back into a beast. Don and Ann are saved when the police arrive.

I thought it was the weakest of the trio but still enjoyed it. Mostly for Rondo and his mad scientist pal. I'm glad they put these out in nice editions, so I can see all the films in the series. I did like the commentary by Scott Gallinghouse, he had lots of stories to tell.

Jungle Woman 1944

Jungle Woman 1944 Story by Henry Sucher, screenplay by Bernard L Schubert, Henry Sucher and Edward Dein, directed by Reginald LeBorg. The sequel to Captive Wild Women cobbled together new footage and flashbacks from the first movie. It's the third film in the 5th volume of the Universal Horror Collection. Each film gets it's own Blu-ray disc. There's a commentary by Gregory William Mank and a still gallery by way of extras. Acquanetta returns as Cheela the Ape Woman despite being shot in the last film. Acquanetta doesn't return for the third film in the trilogy.

The story starts shortly after the first movie ends. A Doctor Fletcher is at an inquest into the death a young woman. He tells how he got to the state he's in. He'd been at the circus the night of the big storm from the first movie and seen the gorilla shot. Somehow he acquires the caress, finding a faint heartbeat, he revives the creature. Fletcher learns more about the experiments that mad scientist John Carradine was up to, he then buys all of John's equipment and sets the lab up in his sanitarium.

Cheela turns back into a young woman called Paula, this time she can speak. Fletcher's daughter Joan and her fiance Bob come for a visit. Paula get jealous and tries to drown Joan. The big guy in the lobby card above is Willie, he disappears that day. A dog and some chicken are killed, crushed, and Willie's suspected. We know he didn't do it and a bit later Willie would be found dead in the woods.

That's Paula and Bob with another doctor. This doctor thinks she's a bit mentally unstable, he also notices that she's very strong. Doctor Fletch discovers that the fingerprints from Paula and Cheela are the same. Bob and Paula return to the sanitarium. Bob tells Paula that he's going to marry Joan. Paula runs off. Fletcher gets attacked by Paula and he gives her a fatal dose of sedative. The movie ends with a shot of Paula being pulled out of the coroner's freezer and everyone seeing she's reverted to a partial gorilla state.

I didn't think it was as entertaining as the first in the series. The commentary by Gregory Mank had a good bit of info to take in. Turns out Acquanetta was really a black woman called Mildred Davenport who was passing as white. . She made a few more movies and dropped out of Hollywood. Mank covers a good bit of her life post-Hollywood. The commentary is more entertaining than the movie. It's certainly one of the poorer films in the series.