PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Die Gruft Mat Dem Ratselschlob 1964

Die Gruft Mit Dem Rätselschloss 1964 Based on the 1908 Edgar Wallace novel Angel Esquire, screenplay by Robert A Stemmle and Franz Josef Gottlieb, directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb. A German film released in the US as The Curse Of The Hidden Vault. Filmed in Germany and London.

A criminal has secured his loot in a booby trapped vault. Some criminals try to break into the vault. Inspector Angel is on the case. The criminal escapes the baddies and his house and vault kill a few more people. Some of the traps were entertaining. On the whole the movie delivered a good story.

Dog Eat Dog 1966

Dog Eat Dog 1966 Written by Robert Bloomfield, Michael Elkins and Robert Hill, directed by Robert Cunha and Gustav Gavrin. A German crime film with Jayne Mansfield, Ivor Slater and Cameron Mitchell.

Jayne, Cameron and Ivor steal a million bucks. Ivor decides not to share with Cameron and kills him. They have a hard time hiding out, they aren't bright. Things get worse as the movie progresses.

It's entertaining in a watching stupid people having a hard time surviving in the world sort of way. I have no problem laughing at misfortune. It's about average in the production department. You can try it out at YouTube.

Agent 077 Trilogy

Agent 077: Mission Bloody Mary 1965 Written by Sandro Continenza, Marcello Coscia and Leonardo Martin, directed by Sergio Grieco. All three films are Italian, Spanish and French productions.

Ken Clark is Dick Mallory, a spy on the trail of the Black Lily, a bunch of criminals who've just stolen a nuclear bomb code named Bloody Mary. Dick tracks the gang from France to Spain and to Greece. I remember a lot of water and plenty of running.

Agent 077: From The Orient With Fury 1965 Written by Sandro Continenza and directed by Sergio Grieco.

Dick's trying to keep a disintegrator gun out of the hands of some baddies. They chase Dick from France to Spain and onto Istanbul in Turkey.

Agent 077: Special Mission Lady Chaplin 1966 Written by Sandro Continenza, Marcello Coscia, Giovanni Simonelli and Hipólito de Diego, directed by Alberto De Martino and Sergio Grieco.

This Dick is on the trail of a man who tried to sell a dog tag from crew member of a sunken nuclear submarine. The man is killed and Dick has to find the submarine on his own. When he does he finds the sub nukes are all missing. Oh oh!

They're all about the same production wise, the actors are good enough for dubbing. There's a fair bit of action, baddies fall left and right but there's nothing overly exciting about them, they aren't James Bond quality and not as entertaining as the OSS 117 series. You can find them all on YouTube, see links above.

Der Grüne Bogenschütze 1961

Der Grüne Bogenschütze 1961 Based on The Green Archer by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Wolfgang Menge and Wolfgang Schnitzler, directed by Jürgen Roland.

The Green Archer is killing people with arrows. Most of the action is around the Bellamy family, some rich people who live in a big old mansion. A man is murdered in the first scene during a tour of the house. The story gets more complex and there's plenty of running about and more murder.

That's Gert Fröbe, you might remember him from Goldfinger, he had a good career in Germany as well as America. He plays Abel Bellamy, his son John was killed in the war.

I enjoyed it but had to go back a couple of times to remind myself how things connected together. The copy I had was from YouTube, it's since disappeared. I did find a better copy at RareLust, it's bigger but it's only available to download. Here's a guy with an arrow in his back. Don't cross the Green Archer.

Das Wirtshaus von Dartmoor 1964

Das Wirtshaus von Dartmoor 1964 Based on the Victor Gunn novel, screenplay by Egon Eis, directed by Rudolf Zehetgruber. The English title is The Inn On Dartmoor. The IMDb says there is little of the original novel in the movie.

The police are investigating the escape of 12 men from Dartmoor in the last three years. The men manage to slip out of the prison and make their way through the swampy moor. Private Investigator Anthony Nash, played by Heinz Drache, works with Inspector Cromwell, played by Paul Klinger, of Scotland Yard. That's Heinz on the left and Paul on the right, the guy in the middle is Ralf Wolter, he plays a bit of a crook.

It's a dark and murderous crime film with some good baddies. That lady is right to be fearful, she won't come out of the story well at all. Much of the action takes place at an inn on Dartmoor. You can get a drink there, or get murdered.

I enjoyed it as well as I could, the copy on YouTube is hard to follow, the subtitles are among the worst ever. Here's some samples.

I'd like to see a better translated copy but I doubt that's going to happen. You can check it out on YouTube. Link above.

Pit of Darkness 1961

Pit of Darkness 1961 Based on the Hugh McCutcheon novel To Dusty Death, screenplay by Lance Comfort and Hugh McCutcheon, directed by Lance Comfort. I'd recently enjoyed Comfort's 1962 film Tomorrow At Ten and his 1964 film Blind Corner.

Richard Logan is a safe designer who wakes in the middle of some waste land, he doesn't know how he got there or what happened the day before. He heads for home and wife Julie only to find he's been missing for three weeks. Richard is played by William Franklyn and Moira Redmond plays Julie. One of Richard's nearly unbreakable safes has been broken into. Julie had hired a detective to find him but that guy got killed.

Richard and Julie try to break into his memories to figure out what happened. They get a few breaks and flashes of memory help solve the puzzle. He gets involved with criminals and there's some jeopardy. It's a decent story with a good cast. I enjoyed it. I'd watch it again. You can try it out on YouTube, links for three of Lance's films above.

A Matter Of Choice 1963

A Matter Of Choice 1963 Story by Derren Nesbitt and Vernon Sewell, screenplay by Paul Ryder, directed by Vernon Sewell.

 

A couple of guys go out for drinks and wind up knocking a police man into the street where he gets hit by a car. The woman driving the car has been out cheating on her husband with another man. The other man gives chase to the guys and one of them hits the man with a brick. The pair hide the body in the garage of the woman without her knowing about it. 

It was fairly good. I enjoyed the story well enough. You can check it out at YouTube.

Tomorrow At Ten 1963

Tomorrow At Ten 1963 Story and screenplay by James Kelley and Peter Miller, directed by Lance Comfort. Lance directed a few good crime and horror films that I've seen. Most recent for me was The Painted Smile. I keep an eye out for his films.

It's got a good cast: Robert Shaw, John Gregson, Alan Wheatley, Kenneth Cope, William Hartnell, Betty McDowall, Ernest Clark, Helen Cherry, Renee Houston and Alan Clunes (father of Martin Clunes).

Alan plays a rich guy who's son is kidnapped and hidden away with a bomb. The kidnapper shows up at Alan's house wanting a big pile of cash. He plans to run away to Argentina where they can't extradite him. When he gets there he'll call with the location of the boy. Things don't go well after Alan's wife calls the police.

I thought it was a good story that was well told. You can see a decent copy on YouTube.

The Painted Smile 1962

The Painted Smile 1962 From an original idea by Brock Williams,, screenplay by Pip and Jane Baker, directed by Lance Comfort.

Liz Frazer plays a con artist who's partner in crime is found dead in her apartment. She gets a guy to move the body and he becomes a person of interest to the police. There's plenty of chasing about and the film has a nice sense of humor.

It's all fairly light hearted and predictable but still entertaining. I liked the actors and they do a good job. Peter Reynolds plays the dead guy, Kenneth Griffith plays a baddie, Tony Wickert plays the suspect. You can check it out on YouTube.

Blind Corner 1964

Blind Corner 1964 Screenplay by James Kelley and Peter Miller, directed by Lance Comfort.

William Sylvester is a blind pop song composer married to Barbara Shelley. She's cheating on him with Alexander Davion, a painter. William's friend tells on her and things get pretty tense. Barbara decides to force Alexander to kill her hubby but that doesn't go well. Turns out William's friend is a dirty dog. The baddies get caught. Yay!

Entertaining crime drama. Worth a look for the right fan. One I'd watch again.