PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Flame In The Streets 1961

Flame In The Streets 1961 Based on the 1958 play Hot Summer Night by Ted Willis, screenplay by Ted Willis, directed by Roy Ward Baker. Interracial romance in 1960 Britain.

John Mills is Jacko Palmer, a union leader who fights for the rights of black workers just like he does for his white coworkers. At home things are a mess, he's just found out his daughter plans to marry a black man from the West Indies. He tells her he's worried about how hard it will be for a mixed race couple. Jacko's wife is just an out and out racist. There are some tough scenes with racist characters making racist comments.

Sylvia Sims plays Jacko's daughter, Brende De Banzie plays the wife. I knew some of the other actors from watching 60s British TV and movies: Earl Cameron, Johnny Sekka, Wilfred Brambell, Guy Houston, Gretchen Franklin, Harry Baird and Cyril Chamberlain. That's Earl Cameron and Ann Lynn above. He's works at the same company that Jacko does.

A good film, I enjoyed it, despite it being a drama. I'm not keen on them, I watched it because it was directed by Roy Ward Baker.

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The Unknown Man Of Shandigor 1967 Written and directed by Jean-Louis Roy. A Swiss spy film originally titled L'inconnu de Shandigor about a scientist who creates an invention that can incapacitate atomic bombs.

That's Daniel Emilfork, he plays the baddie Herbert Von Krantz. He's created the bomb stopper and he's a mad mad scientist. He holds up in a big house with his daughter Sylvaine and an albino assistant called Yvan. Herb keeps everything locked up and he watches over the property with his surveillance cameras. There's also an unseen and under used creature living in his pool. Occasionally someone stops by the pool to throw bits of dry ice into the water. Disappointingly we never see the creature.

Several countries have spies watching him. Sylvaine runs off and is kidnapped by one of the spy groups. She spends a lot of time running around places with Gaudi architecture with one of the spy guys.

It's an odd film, someone commented it was shot like a Berman film and I could se that. One of the two reviews on the IMDb said:

The Unknown Man of Shandigor is far more whimsical than any James Bond film. Yet, it is neither a parody nor a satire of spy films. It is just a bizarre take on one. I would compare this film to Alphaville in the way the film is a delirious style piece. It even shares one actor from the Godard film, the always welcomed Howard Vernon. I might also mention Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter, director Seijun Suzuki's two takes on the yakuza film from the same time period as The Unknown Man of Shandigor.

It's an unusual film, not for everyone. I liked it well enough and I am tempted to pick up a copy.

The Liquidator 1965 Based on the novel of the same name by John Gardner, screenplay by Peter Yeldham, directed by Jack Cardiff. Not a series I ever read. I think I've only read the first of Gardner's James Bond sequels. Like a Bond movie it opens with a big song. Shirley Bassey's alright singing wise and the music by Lalo Schifrin isn't that bad. The problem is the poor lyrics, not good.

Rod Taylor is Boysie Oakes, he saved the life of a man called Mostyn, played by Trevor Howard, in Paris during World War 2. He killed a German soldier who was about to shoot Mostyn. He killed that man by a lucky accident but Mostyn didn't see that, he just saw the dead Nazi. Years later Mostyn is a Colonel in British Intelligence. He's given a project by his boss, played by Wilfred Hyde-White, who wants Mostyn to eliminate security leaks in the agency with deadly force. It's a totally secret and illegal operation but Trevor goes ahead with the project.

He hires Boysie thinking he's a stone cold killer. Tempted by the spy game, the fancy car, the ladies and the lavish apartment Boysie goes along with the program until he learns he's going to be an assassin. Boysie wants to quit but Mostyn has him over a barrel and he can't resign. Boysie doesn't want to kill people, he fails in his attempt on that lady in the hat. Boysie wants keep his lavish lifestyle, so he does the next best thing, he farms out the killing to Griffin, played by Eric Sykes, a freelance professional assassin.

It all works well enough for a while but Boysie is a bit of a rule breaker and he wants to get closer to Mostyn's secretary Iris, Jill St John plays her and she's a handful. The problem that keeps cropping up is there are rules about spy's dating the agency civilian staff. Serious rules that could get rule breakers 10 years in prison. Despite that Boysie and Iris take a trip to the Côte d'Azur on the French Riviera. They get tumbled before the plane leaves the runway and Mostyn is on their trail. Meanwhile in France a secret plan to kill the Duke Of Edinburgh is formulating. Boysie is set up by a fake agent and believes his story about a training exercise. The baddies really have another goal, they want to steal the new test plane that the Duke was to inspect, they nearly get away with it before Boysie finally comes through.

I don't think it's humorous enough to be a spy spoof, it's more a thriller with a dark comedic core. People commenting on the IMDb and reviews can't seem to agree on what it is. Boysie doesn't want to kill people but he's OK with Griffin doing the job. Daniel Emilfork, Krantz in the first film tonight, has a small role as a spy.

I enjoyed it most of the time. It moves along fairly well until the last act when it starts to lag a bit. It's 104 mins could have been cut by 10 mins and it would have tightened it up nicely. I picked up a copy from Amazon for a tenner and I'm not sad about that. I'd watch it again.

Les Creatures 1966

Les Creatures 1966 Written and directed by Agnes Varda.

Catherine Deneuve lives in a big old house with her husband Michel Piccoli. She doesn't speak, the result of Michel's bad driving and generally being an asshole. He's some sort of writer, he wanders the town imagining the locals as part of his novel. I find him very uninteresting. He has trouble with some crooked bed sheet salesmen and visits some regular folks. There's a bit of blur between the novel and reality though some novel scenes are tinted reddish.

It's gotten mixed reviews over the years and I can see why. It's pretty abstract. I didn't find it as interesting as some people did but I got to the end of the film. I didn't think I would need to see it again. So many other things I like better to see.

Fury At Smugglers Bay 1961

Fury At Smugglers Bay 1961 Written, directed and produced by John Gilling. John wrote a fair number of decent movies, some for Hammer Films, he directed a good number of decent movies too, the same can be said for his TV work.

Peter Cushing is Squire Trevenyan and he lives in 18th century Cornwall. Bernard Lee is Black John, a local scumbag who's in the ship wrecking business. BJ is blackmailing the Squire to keep his trap shut. The Squire's son is in love with a local gal who's father is a thief who's being sent to a penal colony. William Franklyn plays a local thief who's a nice guy at heart. He helps the local gal to put an end to Black John's activities.

It's an average movie with a good cast. There's some intrigue, some fist fights, some sword wavin', a bit of romance and a nice rescue. There's a poor copy on YouTube, a better one on Rarelust, and a DVD that I'm not sure I would need at 15 smackaroonies.

Sleepy Eyes Of Death: 8 Sword Of Villainy 1966

Sleepy Eyes Of Death: 8 Sword Of Villainy 1966 Original story by Renzaburo Shibata, screenplay by Diasuke Ito, directed by Kenji Misumi. Music by Akira Ifukube.

Raizô Ichikawa returns as Nemuri Kyoshiro. He's in Edo, when we meet him he's being told a story by a hairdresser, an oil dealer and his family were attacked in their home and tied up. When they get rescued they find nothing seems to be missing.

 

That's the thief, a man called Aizen, while going through the family papers he talked to the family's little girl, he promised to bring her a present. That stick is one many sticks he paints a bit later in the movie. He plans to give them to the little girl. It's one of his many plans.

His big plan is to get back at the government for killing his Master, a political reformer on the side of the poor. The Shogun had him killed and Aizen wants to burn Edo Castle to the ground with a whole bunch of ministers inside. He's going to set off bombs in a couple of oil dealer's warehouses near the castle. It will set fire to much of the city and the castle should be right in the path of the fire. So will the locals. They aren't important to him or his plans.

That's Osoyo on the right, she's a member of a lion dance troupe and she's got vengeance on her mind. She wants to kill a minister who used her to steal from the same man that Aizen followed. Aizen tells her to keep out of his way or he'll kill her. Nemuri helps her not get killed.

Aizen's plan goes forward, Nemuri attempts to stop him but he's tricked by a secret trapdoor in the floor. Aizen sets off his bombs and the fires start. The film ends with a battle between the pair. Nemuri watching the fires at the end of the movie.

 

Kenji Misumi is a good director, he keeps me interested. The fights are pretty good, especially the Nemuri and Aizen fight. Glad to have seen it. There's another 4 films in the series. Hopefully I'll get to those quicker than this one. I watched number 7 last January. For some reason I just can't seem to chain watch the series.

The Devil's Agent 1962

The Devil's Agent 1962 Based on the novel Im Namen des Teufels by Hans Habe, screenplay by Robert Westerby, directed by John Paddy Carstairs. A co-production between Britain, West Germany and the Republic of Ireland. 

That's Christopher Lee and Peter Van Eyck, they knew each other in WWII but haven't seen each other in a long time. They met at the train station and had a drink. Peter gets invited to Christopher's place and he does visit. The next day he's picked up by the US Secret Service and asked why he's visiting a known spy and transporting a secret code book to another spy.

The American's force him into the spy business again. Both Peter and Christopher were in military intelligence during the war, Peter went into business when the war was over. Now he's in a new venture and he's living proof you don't have to be intelligent to play. He quickly turns on both sides and tries to play them for his own gain. That won't end well for him.

It was fairly decent but it lacks a strong character at the helm. There's not much action, plenty of talking though. It's a good reminder of the reality of spying, it's mostly not James Bond. You can see if you like it here.

Operation Bikini 1963

Operation Bikini 1963 Written by John Tomerlin and directed by Anthony Carras. An American International Picture that was produced by Lou Rusoff, James H Nicholson and Samuel Z Arkoff. William Shatner is the uncredited narrator.

Tab Hunter is the head of a Navy underwater demolition team that's been assigned the task of blowing up a sunk US Navy submarine before the Japanese can get their hands on the new advanced radar system. The team has to travel by submarine to Bikini Atoll where they find the Japanese have already located the sub. With the help of some locals they battle the Japanese and blow the hell out of the sub.

It's a B&W film with odd bits of color inserted. Frankie Avalon sings a song while dreaming of his girl. The dream is in color, a truncated version of that scene is shown again later in the film. At the end of the film there's a scene of the Bikini atomic test and then it switches to color with scenes of girls in bikinis running around on a beach while the credits roll past.

It's the directorial debut of Anthony Carras, he edited a lot of AIPs films, he directed one more film in 1971. Sadly his debut is pretty basic with little to stand out. The cast is some better than the script.Besides Tab and Frankie we've got Jim Backus, Scott Brady, Gary Crosby, Michael Dante, Jody McCrea, Aki Aleong and a bunch of people I didn't know. William Shatner is the uncredited narrator.

I watched it and after a short while I switched to 1.5 speed to move things along a bit faster. There's a lot of cliched scenes, typical friction among the two different Navy teams to make it tense in the sub. An island romance develops, while on a mission, and the native woman later dies in a fire fight. Who needs that? You can find out if it's worth your while, I'm thinking it's below average enough to give it a 4, there's a link to the film on YouTube.

The Cat Girl Gambler 2 Naked Flesh Paid Into The Pot 1965

The Cat Girl Gambler 2 Naked Flesh Paid Into The Pot 1965 Screenplay by Kenzô Asada and Kazuo Nishida, directed by Hiroshi Noguchi.

The second film is set a short while after the first. Yukiko is working in a massage parlor. Between films she'd learned that her mother had remarried after leaving Yukiko and her father a long time ago. The mother was married to a leader of a Yakuza clan called the Tempu's, at some point she died, some time later pop was killed. The sister sickens and a rival clan leader steps in to help. He takes over her territory with the agreement that he would return it to her when she was well.

Yukiko is looking for the man who killed her father, she believes working in a massage parlor frequented by gangsters is one way to get some info. One night a Yakuza drops in through the window, a couple guys are looking for him. Yukiko takes pity on him, he looks like her dead lover  from the first film, the same actor plays both parts, and hides him. It turns out he's was involved with the Tempu's before he went to prison for 4 years. He joins up with Yukiko and her sister to lure the head of the rival clan into gambling for territories after the man decides not to return the Tempu territory.

It's kind of pokey despite the number of players and all the stuff going on. There's not a lot of action, much of it in the last act. It ends with another dead lover and Yukiko vowing to leave town and find a new life. I'll find out if she does in the third film.

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Vengeance Is A Golden Blade 1969 Written by Meng-Hua Ho and Yun Chih Tu, directed by Meng-Hua Ho.

That's Li Zhishan, his wife is fooling around with one of the Vicious Long Brothers. The VLBs are a rival security company who earn extra income robbing their clients. Business has been poor for the VLBs after Li began offering his security services. He's got a non-robbing security service. The Brothers decide to eliminate the competition and take Li's fancy, and unbeatable Golden Sword.

Li is hurt in the fight, a servant bundles him into a wagon with is young daughter and they all escape to the mountains. They find shelter with a herbalist and 18 years pass. The young daughter is now an adult, she's been trained up in the martial arts but doesn't know much of anything about her past.

Li allows his daughter to go into the city he used to live in and that unravels their secret existence. The wife sees the young woman and can only think of selling her virginity to the sleazy son of a rich official. Things go down hill from there, pretty soon most everyone is dead.

It's got some OK action and sword play, typical of the time, but the story is filled with clumsy bits and characters that act in their own worst interest. For a guy in security Li does one stupid thing after another. Early on he finds his wife cheating, again, and orders her to poison herself. He gives her the poison and leaves her alone in the house with the poison. She manages to poison Li and that helps the VLBs overpower him and take the sword. Li never tells his daughter anything of her past and that leaves her vulnerable. It's all very clumsy and I wished it was just better in general. There are so many more interesting films of the time, this one is barely average.

Deadlock 1970 Written and directed by Roland Klick. It's a German film shot in Israel which is standing in for the American West. It's filmed like a western and manages to use a lot of western tropes, all rather post-modern like.

A guy driving that truck sees a man lying in the desert. The man has been shot, he's carrying a machine guy and a suitcase with some cash in it. The truck driver takes him to the abandoned mining town he's living in, he's got an idea to let the guy die and keep the money but he's not that hard and he eventually saves the guy.

The guy is expecting a friend, turns out that friend is the guy who shot him in the first place. The trio fumble around while the money remains hidden. Ultimately nearly everyone lies dead on the desert ground.

It's way too slowly paced for me and there's little to like about any of the characters. I've seen better anti-hero kind of westerns, I wouldn't need to see this one again. The box says the film has developed a cult following, we all agreed we hadn't joined the cult.

Let's Kill Uncle 1966

Let's Kill Uncle 1966 Based on the novel of the same name by Rohan O'Grady, screenplay by Mark Rodgers, directed by William Castle. I watched the Blu-ray that came out last year. I didn't notice it had come out from Kino Lorber but ordered one as soon as I saw it. I suppose I could keep up with the new releases but that's a lot of work.

Rohan O'Grady turns out to be a 41 year old Canadian called June Margaret O'Grady Skinner. It's her 3rd novel, she wrote 4 more, only Let's Kill Uncle is available as a eBook. I think I'll get it, it sounds much darker than the film, that might be fun. The commentary by film historians Kat Ellinger and Mike McPadden talks about the book and the changes to the story.

Pat Cardi plays a 12 year old orphan called Barnaby, he's being escorted to a his new home on an island. His rich father has died and Barnaby is going to live with his Uncle Kevin. Mary Badham plays Chrissie, she's on the boat with Barnaby, they don't get along, fighting and causing damage. Mary's early role as Scout Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird had earned her an Oscar nomination, the first for a person of her age.

Robert Pickering plays Sgt Travis and Linda Lawson plays Justine, she's Chrissie's aunt and the romantic interest for the Sgt.

Nigel Green plays Uncle Kevin as a big game hunter adventurer sort. Barnaby is all excited to go live with Uncle Kevin, he's fascinated by Uncle Kevin, especially his WWII memoir Killing The Enemy. Uncle Kevin describes many gruesome ways to dispatch a Nazi. Little does Barnaby know that his cash poor Uncle Kevin is going to be using his deadly skills to deprive Barnaby of his inheritance.

The movie becomes a battle between the boy and the man, Chrissie aides  Barnaby and the adults are oblivious to what's going on. The kids adapt to the situation, if the adults aren't going to help them then they'll have to help themselves. Chrissie puts the idea of killing Uncle Kevin into Barnaby's head and the boy takes to the idea like a duck to water. I enjoy Castle's sense of humor. He's done well making a black comedy for the kids. I would have loved this as a child.

I saw a so-so download about 10 years ago and really enjoyed it. I'm a huge William Castle fan, I have most of his movies. Some are harder to get than others, this is the first time that Let's Kill Uncle has been released to home video. It's been restored and the 2K transfer looks fine. Nice and colorful too. I enjoyed it all over again.

The commentary is one of the few extras, there's a couple of trailers and an interview with Pat Cardi. He speaks well of his time on the film and William Castle. Both Kat Ellinger and Mike McPadden are huge William Castle fans and I enjoyed their enthusiasm for Castle and his work.

I find Castle fascinating as a film maker, he's more than his gimmick films. I like the gimmick films and have watched many of his films 3 or 4 times. I'm glad to have picked this up and will certainly want to watch it again. I should have a William Castle binge sometime.