Emergency 1962 Written by Don Nicholl, Jim O'Connolly, Lewis Gilbert and Vernon Harris, directed by Francis Searle. A remake of Emergency Call from 1952.
A girl is hit by a truck, she's got a rare blood type and the blood bank is out. The possible donors are an odd lot, a murdered waiting to be executed, a scientist who's been selling secrets to foreign agents and a soccer player who's got a big game coming up. The murdered doesn't want to do it. The scientist thinks the police visiting him at work are after him for being a traitor so he goes on the run. The soccer player's manager hides the request from the player until the last minute.
It's fairly touch and go for the little girl and there's a bit of tension. I enjoyed it but it's only about average. It's only an hour long and the time passes quickly.
Gate Of Flesh 1964 Written by Taijiro Tamura and Goro Tanada, directed by Seijun Suzuki. I hadn't seen this for a while and I had no DVD. I ordered the Criterion disc and enjoyed it the other night. Suzuki is one of my favorite directors, mostly for Tokyo Drifter and Branded To Kill.
The story is set in Tokyo just after WW2 has ended. Japan is in shambles and the US military are in charge. A group of prostitutes band together for mutual protection. They have taken over a bombed out building to live in. They have some rules and punishments for breaking them. They're harsh judges and meet out fierce punishment.
Joe Shishido is a ex-soldier, he's got no job prospects and no place to go. He takes part in a robbery at the US base, it gets him shot in the leg. He hides in the abandoned building the prostitutes are using. They let him stay and that interferes with their lives. He's a bad guy, women fall for him, jealousy breaks rules. No one comes out of that encounter any better.
Tokyo is a dark and dangerous place for the average citizen. Crime is rife, dead bodies turn up, no one cares. The police and US military work to stop black marketeers and thieves. People will double cross you in a heartbeat and turn you in for next to nothing.
Despite it's dark mood it's an entertaining film. I've enjoyed it every viewing. I certainly hope to see it again a time or two more.
The DVD has interviews with Suzuki and art director Takeo Kimura. Both men are interesting but I really liked Kimura's story about building the sets out of salvaged material from the studio lots. The used materials lent a rough look to everything and gave it a stage like look.
Joy House 1964 Based on Joy House by Day Keene, screenplay by René Clément, Pascal Jardin and Charles Williams, directed by René Clément. A French film with Jane Fonda, Lola Albright and Alain Delon. Les Félins is the original French title, it's also known as The Love Cage and Joy House.
Alain plays Marc, he's a ladies man who's got a death sentence on him. He's was romping in the sack with the wife of a gangster who wants him dead. Marc manages to escape and hides in a soup kitchen for the poor. Lola plays Barbara and Jane plays Melinda, they live in a nice mansion, Barbara hires Marc as her chauffeur.
The big mansion has some secret rooms that Barbara's lover hides in, he's on the run from the police for a bank job. Melinda takes a liking to Marc but Barbara sleeps with him first. Marc feels a bit trapped and he tries making an escape on the local bus to Paris, Unfortunately he's spotted by the gangsters. He manages to make an escape when Melinda pulls up in her car. The gangsters manages to get her license and the chase is on.
It's a crime thriller with a sense of humor and a bit of romance. It's a bit dark, Barbara and her boyfriend don't end up so well but it does get the gangsters off Marc's back. Poor Marc is stuck with Melinda against his wishes. I thought it was entertaining enough. I bought the Kino Lorber DVD with a commentary by Howerd Berger and Nathaniel Thompson. I didn't think it was one of their better commentaries.
The Cabinet Of Caligari 1962 Written by Robert Bloch, produced and directed by Roger Kay.
Glynis Johns plays Jane, she has car trouble and seeks help from a nearby estate. Caligari is the owner and he's played by Dan O'Herlihy. They offer her a place to stay the night.In the morning Jane realizes she's become a prisoner. She becomes afraid of Caligari from the way he treats her. She seeks help from others on the estate including a young man called Paul. Odd things happen until there's a cathartic moment and Jane learns what's really going on around her.
I was kind of curious about the film, I've an interest in the 1919 original, I've a slight interest in Robert Bloch. It's got a good cast but the script is only fairly good. According to Bloch the screenplay was rewritten, and ruined, by Roger Kay. I enjoyed the first half the movie but my interest was flagging in the second half. It perked up briefly during the cathartic moment but it's still only average for me, I wouldn't think I'd give it another go around.
Sins Of The Fleshapoids 1966 Directed by Mike Kuchar. An underground SF movie set a million years in the future. It's only 43 minutes long.
Future men have created human like androids called Fleshapoids, they treat the androids like slaves and live in comfort. Having had enough, a male androids kills the woman who's his master and runs away with a female android. There's a bit of a revolution. The script is vague on what's going on, it's all a guess on my part. The movie lacks any audible dialog, there are word balloons superimposed on the screen for some of the times someone speaks. It doesn't matter, it's just not that good. I downloaded a copy from the Internet Archive, see link in title. Don't expect anything. Not something I'd rush to get back to at any rate.
Francesca Annis plays Sally, she moves to London to move in with Angela, played by Anneke Willis, and Dee, played by Suzanna Leigh. The ladies hang out with Dexter, played by Ian McShane, and Nikko, played by Klaus Kinski. They hang out with other young adults for all the usual reasons.
There's a good cast, I knew some of them, those above and Tony Tanner, Mark Eden, Carol Cleveland, David Graham and Hugh Futcher. The script's alright but there's not much going on but dating and personal problems. Slight enjoyment watching it but not something I'd get back to again.
The Whip And The Body 1963 Written by Ernesto Gastaldi, Ugo Guerra and Luciano Martino, directed by Mario Bava under the name John M Old. An Italian production with Christopher Lee.
Christopher Lee is Kurt Menliff, he's come to his father's castle to celebrate his brother Chistiano's marriage to Nevenka, who's played by Daliah Lavi. Kurt's real motive is to reclaim his title and fortune. He'd been ready to marry Nevenka when he had an affair with a young servant. The servant commits suicide and Kurt's father throws him out. While on the beach by the castle Kurt runs into Nevenka. He whips her and rapes her. Later that night Kurt is murdered with the same dagger that the young servant used to kill herself. Soon after Kurt's ghost returns to haunt the family.
What a shitty family, I wouldn't want to live with any of them. It's average story wise but it's pokey pace didn't do me any favors. I might watch watch it again but I'd speed up some of the slow bits. There's an audio commentary with Tim Lucas that offered up some film info, it didn't make me like the film more. Apparently Christopher Lee thought it was his best performance in a European film, he was sad he didn't dub his own voice.
The Day The Earth Caught Fire 1961 Screenplay by Wolf Mankowitz and Val Guest, directed by Val Guest. A British disaster film about the Earth being blown off it's axis by nuclear blasts.
We follow a reporter about just after the US and the Soviets conduct nuclear tests. The weather starts to change over a short period of time. The Earth has gotten hotter, rivers and lakes evaporate. It's found that the blasts have tipped the Earth by 11 degrees and things are awful all over. Shortly after it's revealed that the Earth is closer to the sun. The heat rises and many die. The governments of the world hope to correct that by blasting off 4 more big nukes.
It's a pretty good film. It's B&W except for some yellow tinted bits at the beginning and the end. It's a talky film but the script is good and there's a good cast behind it. I liked the scenes at the newspaper office as the staff deal with the crisis. There's a bit of romance mixed in with all the horrible calamity. It seems a bit bold for 1961. They use a good bit of stock footage to depict the disasters around the world. It's done quite effectively.
There's a rather ambiguous ending. Not sure why people do that sort of ending. Not my favorite story element. I watched a DVD from Kino-Lorber that has the 2014 remastered print. Looks nice. I'd want to watch it again sometime. Definitely worth seeing.
It Came From Somewhere 2022 Written by Steve Hermann and Bryan Parkerson, directed by Ashley Hefnew and Steve Hermann.
The movie is a modern attempt to recreate a low budget picture from the 1950s. It's a mash up of Plan 9 From Outer Space and Teenagers From Space. These parody films rarely work for me. The film makers never seem to understand that Ed Wood wasn't setting out to make a bad film. He thought he had something going on but he had more enthusiasm than talent.
This time the aliens are planning to take over the Earth by enacting Plan 10. The alien's soldier monster gets loose and befriends a little girl. One alien is a killing machine, the locals get blasted one after another, their skeletons pile up as the alien moves on. The other alien falls for an Earth woman. Ultimately the aliens fail in their mission. The Earth is saved until the next alien invasion.
Sadly it's not that good. Lucky for me it was only an hour. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. You can watch it on YouTube but I'm not going to watch it again. It's an insult after the first movie.
Billy goes to Ibiza in Spain to "write" on his mother's dime. He's not a writer, he's more a beatnik, he spends his days hanging out on the beach and at the local cafes, drinking coffee and beer, smoking cigarettes and cheap weed. Billy stays at the house of a local drug dealer called Eric. Billy meets and marries a German girl, they move to Barcelona where the marriage fails after Billy gets cut off by his mom.
Billy runs back to Ibiza to stay at Eric's again. Eric thinks the layabouts need to start contributing a bit of cash to the upkeep of his casa. One of the women suggests robbing an older man she used to date. She was with him when he was robbed before and he didn't put up a fight. Eric wants Billy and another lad to do the job but Billy is scared and doesn't want to do it. Eric brow beats him into getting the rob on and off they go. Of course things don't go so well. These aren't competent young men.
As a film it's below average but interesting as a bit of social history. I can say the same for a segment of the film near the end. Billy is on the run, he's gotten back to Barcelna, he sees two cops down the street and ducks in Antonio Gaudi's Casa Mila to hide. There's a short scene of him outside, inside and on top of the building. I'm such a big Gaudi fan I decided to keep a copy of the film in case I wanted to see that segment again. You can see the film over at YouTube. You might have an interest.
Murder At The Vanities 1934 Play written by Earl Carroll and Rufus King, screenplay by Carey Wilson, Joseph Gollomb, Sam Hellman (dialogue) and an uncredited Jack Cunningham, directed by Mitchell Leisen.
The Earl Carroll Vanities were a series of Broadway revues that appeared between 1923 and 1940. The main draw was the big lavish production numbers with dozens of showgirls dancing and singing. There were other acts featuring singers, dancers and white comics in blackface. Real black entertainers had jobs too, Duke Ellington appears in the movie just like he would have appeared in the revue.
Jack Oakie is the backstage manager at the Earl Carroll Revue, he's on his own, Earl is out of town, and he's worried about failing. Carl, the main singer, is going to marry Ann after the show, she's his partner in the show. Carl's old girlfriend is upset but his mother is happy, she's the seamstress on the show but that's a secret. Things percolate as the story progresses.
That's one of the cactus ladies in the Sweet Marijuana song. That song got a lot of flack and not for the nearly naked lady. It was the weed itself that people were complaining about, there was even comment at the League of Nations. Paramount was supposed to cut the song from the film but lucky for us Paramount didn't and we can see it today. That lovely ladies is about to have blood dripped on her by the first victim of the movie. It's pre-code so it's a bit more risque than it will be for another 30 years.
There's a good cast beside Jack Oakie: Carl Bisson is the main singer suspect, Victor McLaglen is the homicide detective, Kitty Carlisle is Carl's main partner in the revue, she's the gal he's going to marry. Gertrude Michael is the ex-girlfriend and Jessie Ralph is Carl's secret mom with a bad past. There's over 100 showgirls, they're often scantily clad.
The murders ramp up and there's plenty of running about between musical numbers. The show is known for the debut of Cocktails For Two. I didn't know it was from the movie but I was familiar with the song from 60s and 70s TV variety shows. People are still singing it today. Eventually the music is over, the murderer confesses and everyone leaves the theater.
I thought it was fairly entertaining but I wasn't that keen on some of the musical numbers. I watched the Kino Lorber Blu-ray and then listened to the commentary by film histories Arthur Slide. He had plenty of info and presented it well. I'll probably give it another watch sometime down the line.
The Love-Ins 1967 Written by Hal Collins and Arthur Dreifuss, directed by Arthur Dreifuss. The film was produced by Sam Katzman for Columbia Pictures. Sam had his own film unit there and was well known for making cheap pictures that made a profit.
A college professor becomes a cult leader in Haight-Ashbury. Richard Todd is the professor, Mark Goddard is the grifter, James MacArthur and Susan Oliver are the college students who run a hippy newspaper. James and Susan get tossed out of college for their views. The professor speaks out for the hippy newspaper and freedom of speech. He becomes the hippy's hero when he quits his job in protest. The professor falls victim of his vast ego and Mark moves in as manager so he can make a buck from the hippies. Things go pretty poorly for everyone. I did enjoy Susan's Alice In Wonderland themed LSD trip.
I never embraced the hippy lifestyle, preferring to work and have a nice place to live. And books, and toys, and music, all that jazz. I did stand on the corner of Haight-Ashbury in the mid 70s. I think I have a picture on a slide. I should scan it someday. I'm always interested in cultural movements and what happened. The better ones yield some change in lifestyle habits, good or bad.
Producer Sam Katzman was well known for taking a topic people were talking about and quickly spinning up a film that used that topic to base it's story on. He worked in all genres, he was there to make product, he had a successful career. The Love-Ins captures some of what was going on in the hippy scene despite the heavy handed and rather laughable script. Here's a nice copy to see on YouTube.