PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Meet Mr Lucifer 1953

Meet Mr Lucifer 1953 Based on the play Beggar My Neighborhood by Arnold Ridley, screenplay by Monja Danischewsky with additional dialog by Peter Myers and Alec Grahame, directed by Anthony Pelissier.

Stanley Holloway plays two roles, a crotchety drunken actor who's playing the devil in a pantomime of Robinson Caruso. Joan Sims plays the Fairy Queen and Ian Carmichael plays Man Friday in blackface. Stanley hits his head using the stage elevator and briefly visits with the Devil. He offers Stanley a job helping him ruin people's lives with Television. Stanley takes the job.

Mr Pedelty gets given a TV set on the day he retires. He takes it home and sets it. Soon visitors are weaseling their way into his flat. He runs up some bills, for food and booze, with the local tradesmen while he entertains his guests.

Mr Pedelty sells the TV to the young couple in the flat above. They get stuck with the guests. Peggy Cummings plays the wife Kitty and Jack Watling plays the hubby Jim. The constant TV crowd bothers Jim while he's trying to study for his pharmacy exam, things get tense, after a bad bit the couple split. After Stanley tells Jim what he's been up for the Devil Jim gifts the TV to his co-worker, the chemist he doesn't like. The chemist falls for The Lonely Hearts Singer and goes into a depression when the show takes a break. His depression causes him to run the phamacy poorly and the shop loses money for his aunt, the owner. Gordon Jackson plays the co-worker and Kay Kendall is the singer. Eventually everything works out for most of the characters. 

It's amusing and rather naive. There are jokes and bits of fun business going on. I particularly liked the square dance scenes. I thought it was a bit better than average and gave it a 6 on the IMDb where it's score is 5.9. I saw it mentioned somewhere and thought I'd see if I could find a copy. I found one on Rarelust. I watched it this afternoon and a bit ago found that I already had it on DVD. It's part of Network's The Ealing Studios series. That's part of their British Film series. Sadly Network closed last year. I'm missing them.

The People Next Door 1953

The People Next Door 1953 Based on the 1953 play Wearing The Pants by Zelda Davees, directed by John Harlow. No writer is credited on the film or on the Wikipedia. There is a credit on the film and the Wikipedia for Zelda Davees for writing the play. The IMDb lists Zelda as the only writer.

A bit of class struggle set during the WWII. An RAF pilot from an upper crust family is dating the daughter of a factory worker. The rich parents try to get the couple to break it up, even to the point of trying to bribe the father who is played by Jack Warner. It just makes him mad. The families bond a bit when the pilot is shot down in action.

It's a sentimental story that is pretty familiar. It's well enough made and the cast is fine but there's nothing special about it. A good solid 6 from me. I might watch it again sometime but it's doubtful.

London Entertains 1951

London Entertains 1951 Written by Jimmy Grafton and directed by E J Fancey.

Some gals set up an agency called At Your Service after graduating from a Swiss finishing school. Hire them and they'll show you around London and the sites of the Festival of Britain for 1951. You'll also get some entertainment with your tour. The gals get some help from BBC radio presenter Eamonn Andrews. Looking for places to take their customers the gals see variety shows at the Windmill Theatre and Grafton's public house. The later place is owned by film writer Jimmy Grafton. The movie is a mix of travelogue and comedy with musical numbers. There's even a Busby Berkeley sort of number. We meet some singers and comedians. There's even a sketch by The Goons who were known as Crazy People then. The gals in the agency were played by members of the Eastbourne Girls Choir. It's fairly entertaining, despite all the songs, but it's only about average.

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Arsène Lupin Vs Arsène Lupin 1962 Screenplay by Georges Neveux, François Chavane and Édouard Molinaro, directed by Édouard Molinaro. This is the third film in the Lupin collection from Kino Lorber. It's a good trio of films but the set lacks any interesting extras.

 

Poor André Laroche has died, there's a big funeral, attended by many. The local magistrates wife tells her son François that she had an affair with Laroche, the result was a son. She also drops the bombshell that Laroche was Arsène Lupin.

A lawyer asks François to stop by for a message from Laroche, when he does he finds out there's a second son and he's supposed to find him. The magistrate finds out François is a petty thief, stealing small items from the homes of people who have invited the family to visit. There's also a sub plot involving a cache of jewels belonging to the dethroned royal family of Poldavia. The two sons eventually meet and help out the Poldavians.

 

I thought it was pretty entertaining, there's action and danger, a bit of romance and a good amount of comedy. It's a nice trio of films that I know I will want to watch again sometime.

The 30 Foot Bride Of Candy Rock 1959 I watched this a few weeks back. Here's that post.

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Signed, Arsene Lupin 1959 Written by Diego Fabbri, Maurice LeBlanc, Jean-Paul Rapperneau and Yves Robert, directed by Yves Robert.

 

That's the Kino Lorber 3 film Blu-ray collection. They used the French poster from this movie on the case, it's a much more interesting bit of artwork than the poster for the first film.

It's just after the end of WWI and Lupin is resting in a convalescent home in the French countryside. His old accomplice La Ballu comes by to see if he's interested in robbing a nice villa on an island. Lupin goes along and La Ballu sets him up for the police to capture. Lupin manages to escape but not before noticing that La Ballu has stolen a painting.

The painting is part of a triptych, when arranged in a certain way the paintings are clues to a treasure buried on the grounds of the house. La Ballu gets the second painting but the third is stolen before he gets to the museum. Having some good luck Lupin manages to steal the third from the boss of the gang. They join forces, Lupin robs the boss blind and then skedaddles. 

Like the first film there's a nice caper and a good sense of humor. The film looks fine. I enjoyed it and would watch it again someday.

Haunted Samurai 1970 Based on the manga of Goseki Kojima, screenplay by Kiyoshi Hoshikawa, directed by Keiichi Ozawa. Goseki is the artist for the Lone Wolf And Cub manga.

Rokuheita is a samurai working for the Yagyu clan. He decides to give up his enforcing job and lets two innocent people the clan wanted dead go free. The Yagyu ninjas show up pretty quickly to kill him for deserting. There's plenty of chasing about and sword play.

There are a couple of sub plots going on and plenty to keep track of. Rokuheita hides in a small village and takes up farming. He finds to local warlord a brutal murderous man. He sides with the villagers to fight the warlord. The Yagyu ninjas find him and complicate things.

All in all a good solid film with a decent story and characters. There's a bit of humor, a bit of sadness, plenty of fights and topless lady ninjas. There's even a fight underwater, with topless ninja ladies. I'd watch it again sometime.

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House Of Terrors 1965 Written by Hajime Takaiwa and directed by Hajime Satô. A Japanese ghost story. We watched the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray, it looked very nice. There's a tiny copy on YouTube that's dubbed into Italian, with English subtitles, that's a bit shorter than the Blu-ray. A Japanese version is available on Rarelust but I haven't looked at it to see what it's like.

After the death of Yoshie's husband Chonin she finds out he has another house, known as Satan's Pit, that wasn't mentioned in his will. It's a Western style house on a large plot of land in the countryside. Chonin had bought it about a month before he had an incident that left him crazy and under the care of his doctor and father Keisuke.

Yoshie travels to the house and meets the hunchback caretaker, played by Kô Nishimura whom some might remember from the many films he's made, like Yojimbo, Gorath, The Bad Sleep Well, Bushido and The Sword Of Doom. He also starred as the lead character in the Honzo The Razor trilogy.

Yoshie's joined a bit later by Keisuke, his assistant Takashi and Takashi's girlfriend. The house proves to be pretty haunted, with strange noises and physical manifestations like opening and closing doors. Chonin's mistress turns up looking for a bit of cash and a Medium stops by to tell them that the place is haunted. The mistress gets murdered instead and the Medium gets possessed for her trouble. The house slowly picks off the visitors. You'll have to watch the movie to see who survives.

It's a nice moody ghost story that very much reminded me of the Robert Wise film The Haunting. I enjoyed it and would watch it again sometime.

The Adventures Of Arsène Lupin 1957 Based on the novel by Maurice Leblanc, screenplay by Jacques Becker and Albert Simonin, directed by Jacques Becker. A French film from a three film Blu-ray collection of Lupin films from Kino Lorber.

Lupin robs a rich guy of a couple of valuable sketches, robs a jeweler of a nice lot of diamond jewelry and steals a million Marks from Kaiser Wilhelm II. He nearly gets caught by a manicurist but manages to wriggle free to continue his crime spree.

It's all rather lighthearted and amusing, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'd watch it again and I'm looking forward to seeing the other two films in the set. Glad I picked it up.

The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp 1954

The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp 1954 Based on The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp by Charles Terrot, screenplay by Sidney Cole and Charles Terrot, directed by Alan Bromly. There was a 30 min adaptation on the BBC in 1951 and a 1959 German film.

An angel is sent down to help some people in Inslington. She pawns her harp with a local pawnbroker to raise a bit of cash to get a room. She interacts with several people and helps them along their way.

It's very charming and quite entertaining. I enjoyed it. I'd watch it again. You can see a decent copy on YouTube. Link above.

 

Jumping For Joy 1956

Jumping For Joy 1956 Written by Henry Blyth and Jack Davies, directed by John Paddy Carstairs. A Frankie Howerd film with Stanley Holloway, Alfie Bass, Richard Wattis, Charles Hawtry, Joan Hickson and Lionel Jeffries.

Frankie works at the local greyhound race track, he get fired for his clumsiness. He buys a poorly preforming racing dog on the way out and his land lady kicks him out of his flat. He forms a plan with Stanley Holloway to make some money from the dog. They race the dog, it does better than it had and the old owner wants to buy it back. Frankie wants to keep the dog and there's trouble ahead for him. Eventually it's all sorted out and there's a bit of a happy ending.

Frankie is a favorite of mine and I find his silly antics amusing. I've seen most of his films and TV shows and there aren't many unseen left items for me to find. I need to watch some of them over again.

The 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock 1959

The 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock 1959 Written by Rowland Barber and Arthur Ross, directed by Sidney Miller. It was Lou Costello's only film without Bud Abbott. It was filmed in 1958 and released in August 1959, sadly 5 months after Lou died. This was on the Internet Archive briefly, it's gone now. I see that the film was released in February 2023 at part of a 4 movie Blu-ray from Mill Creek with 20 Million Miles From Earth, Creature With The Atomic Brain and It Came From Beneath The Sea. Those are mostly decent SF films, I've seen the other three films already and have them all on DVD. I'll put that on my Amazon Wishlist.

Lou is a small town garbage collector and inventor. Dorothy Provine is Lou's romantic interest and the niece of the local rich guy. Gale Gordon play's her uncle, he's owns most of the business in the town and plans to run for governor. He's also against his niece marrying the local garbage man. He won't even let Lou join the local businessman's club. Dorothy's got to sneak out of the house to see Lou. On a trip out to the desert Dorothy grows 30 feet tall.

The rest of the movie is dealing with a large lady. There's plenty of running about, noise and physical gags, all the sort of stuff you'd already came to expect from an Abbott and Costello feature. Just no Bud.

I hadn't seen it before despite trying to see all Lou's films. I'd watch it again when I get that Blu-ray.

Update: I got the Blu-ray and have watched all the films and listened to the commentaries. Well, worth the purchase.

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Renfield 2023 Story by Robert Kirkman, screenplay by Ryan Ridley and directed by Chris McKay.

Nicolas Cage is Dracula and Nicholas Hoult is his familiar Renfield. After a bad time with some Vampire hunters they decide to hide out in New Orleans while Dracula recovers from most of his flesh being burnt off him. Renfield has to get Dracula humans for food and he's getting tired of it after 90 years together. Renfield is in a 12 step group for people in codependent relationships, it gives him confidence to move away to Dracula. He gets his own studio apartment and go out to a nightclub.

Awkwafina is Rebecca, a cop in New Orleans, her father was killed by Teddy Lobo, the son of the local crime boss, his mom Bellafrancesca. Rebecca wants to put him away and an opertunity to arrest Teddy comes up during a traffic stop. Sadly the force is corrupt and under the thumb of Bellafrancesca. Pissed off the Lobo crime family sends their baddies after Renfield and Rebecca. Luckily Renfield can tosses back a bug to activate his vampire powers to keep her alive.

The rest of the movie is a series of battles, Renfield and Rebecca try to survive with the Lobo's, the cops and Dracula all after them. It's not a good day for any of those guys. Body parts are flying everywhere. There's plenty of action, plenty of gore and plenty of gags. I thought it was a hoot and will pick up the Blu-ray at some point.

Uncle Was A Vampire 1959 Story and screenplay by Edoardo Anton, Marcello Fondato, Sandro Continenza, Dino Verde, Steno and Renato Rascel, directed by Steno. Titled Tempi duri per i vampiri in Italy, that translates to Hard Times for Vampires. It was Christopher Lee's first Italian picture, it's on Blu-ray in The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2 from Severn.

Baron Osvaldo Lambertenghi is up to his ears in debt, he has to sell his castle to a hotel chain, they give him some money, he gives it to the government for his taxes and the hotel manager gives him a bellhop job. Osvaldo's uncle Baron Roderico da Frankurten (Christopher Lee) shows up expecting to stay at the castle. Baron Frankurten doesn't show up for a good while and then isn't in much of the movie after that.

Osvaldo gets bitten by his uncle and goes on a biting spree. Instead of killing his victims, all lovely ladies at the hotel, he manages to get 42 women to fall under his spell. The husbands and boyfriends of the ladies start chasing him around with stakes. Lucky for him the curse can be lifted and most everyone gets back to normal.

It's got a big mess for a plot and it's rather lacking in good gags to carry us along to the end. It's like a sex farce with vampires but no nudity. I'd give it a 5 if it had the jokes to go along with the story but I had to take a point off for that. Lee doesn't have much to do when he's on the screen. Hope he got paid well. There's a commentary, hope that's interesting.