PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Unknown Terror 1957

The Unknown Terror 1957 Screenplay by Kenneth Higgins, directed by Charles Marquis Warren.

Mala Powers is looking for her brother, lost in a Caribbean cave. She's married to John Howard, they're going to the Caribbean to look for the brother. Paul Richards arrives at the couple's going away party and joins up with the expedition. Paul and Mala had a thing at one time, Paul and Howard had been on an expedition when Paul got hurt saving John's life, Paul walks with a limp.

The Americans arrive in the Caribbean and their guide disappears. The American's try bossing the locals around but they don't get anywhere much, the local tribe say there's no such cave. Gerald Milton is an American doctor who's got some fungi research going on. He helps the Americans but it's not help one would want. Things get pretty dicey for the trio of explorers and people die.

It's barely average but enjoyable enough. Nothing special about it but I've sat through it a couple of times before. I've probably seen it enough now but I kept a copy off of YouTube just in case I wanted to refer back to it in some way. One of the highlights was the Calypso sound track and the appearance of Sir Lancelot. The Wikipedia says he signed on because of the popularity of calypso at the time. You might like it, if you're the kind of person who likes a low budget horror film.

Friday Night Movies 862

It Happened Tomorrow 1944 Based on the one act play The Jest Of Haha Laba by Lord Dunsany, unproduced screenplay by Hugh Wedlock and Howard Snyder, ideas by Lewis R Foster, screenplay by Dudley Nichols and René Clair with additional dialogue by Helene Frainkel, directed by René Clair.

Dick Powell plays the obit writer on a newspaper who wants to be a reporter. The man who runs the newspaper's archives gives Dick a newspaper from the next day and that really changes his life, giving him the chance to write a big story. The story gets him in lots of trouble. Linda Darnell plays a medium in a vaudeville show, Jack Oakie is her father and the star of the act. Both of them get pulled into Dick's life.

A second and third news paper complicate Dick's life even more. There's plenty of running about and yelling with some entertaining jokes and characters. Edgar Kennedy, Edward Brophy, Sig Ruman and Paul Guilfoyle were some of the cast that I knew. I hadn't heard of the film before and was glad to have seen it. I downloaded a copy from YouTube, see link above, as I know I'll want to watch it again sometime. There's is a DVD and Blu-ray available for those that want it.

Buccaneer's Girl 1950 Story by Joe May and Samuel R Golding, screenplay by Joseph Hoffman and Harold Shumate, directed by Frederick de Cordova. Fred was Johnny Carson's producer on The Tonight Show from 1970 to 1992.

Yvonne De Carlo plays a singer who gets captured by the pirate Fredric Baptiste. She escapes the ship when it docks at New Orleans and gets a job at Eliza Lanchester's school for young ladies. On an assignment she finds out that the pirate is really Captain Kingston. He's been acting the pirate to sink the ships of a rich man and selling the cargo to fund ships for others.

It's more a romantic comedy musical than a lady pirate movie. We couldn't remember anyone being killed in any of the fights. It's still fairly pleasant and the baddies get theirs in the end. I didn't care much for the songs but enjoyed the rest of the film. There's a nice Blu-ray out from Kino Lorber. I picked it up during one of their sales. I'll probably watch it again someday.

Please Murder Me 1956

Please Murder Me 1956 Story by David T Chantler and Ewald André Dupont, screenplay by Donald Hyde and Al C Ward, directed by Peter Godfrey. It's much more noir than anything in the British Noir III DVD set I watched earlier in the week.

Raymond Burr is a lawyer, as we meet him he's leaving a tape message for the DA. Raymond predicts his death in 55 mins, flashbacks tell us how he got to his predicament. Angela Landsbury is the wife of his best friend Dick Foran. Even though Dick and Angela have only been married a couple of years, she's had enough of her husband and she is leaving him for Raymond. Angela kills her hubby, claiming he attacked her after Raymond told him what had been going on behind his back. She's arrested and the case goes off to trial. John Dehner plays the DA and Denver Pyle plays the arresting police detective.

The story gets bleaker and bleaker, eventually we get to Raymond in his office with his tape recorder. You can see if his prediction comes true. It's a short film, only 75 mins, and story moves along very nicely. I like that sort of film. The script was good and the story kept my interest to the end. I'd want to watch it again someday.

The LEGO Movie The Second Part 2019

The LEGO Movie The Second Part 2019 Story by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Matthew Fogel, screenplay by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, directed by Mike Mitchell. I got the DVD ages ago and it's just been sitting there.

Emmet lives in the rubble of the first movie, it's called Apocalypseburg, and he's still an upbeat guy. Duplo aliens have been attacking and a space-suited alien kidnaps some of Emmett's friends. Emmet and Wildside go rescue them.They have a lot of wacky adventures doing so.

It goes on and on for 107 minutes, about 25 minutes before the end we get to the human side of the story and that kid's pretty much a dick who didn't want to play with his sister. He has to have all his LEGO put in tubs to change things.

I found I wasn't as enthused by the movie as I was by the first movie. None of the songs were as good as Everything Is Awesome and I have kind of hear that song enough for now. I'd be less likely to watch this again than the first movie.

Twice Around The Daffodils 1962

Twice Around The Daffodils 1962 Based on the play Ring For Caty by Patrick Cargill and Jack Beale, screenplay by Norman Hudis, directed by Gerald Thomas. The 1959 film Carry On Nurse, the 2nd of the Carry On film series, was based on the same play, Norman wrote the screenplay and Gerald was the director. Norman wrote the first 6 of the Carry On series and Gerald directed all 30 films in the series.

Joan Sims, Jill Ireland and Kenneth Williams appeared in both this film and Carry On Nurse but playing different parts. I knew some of the rest of the cast, Juliet Mills, Donald Sinden, Donald Houston, Ronald Lewis, Andrew Ray, Lance Percival and Sheila Hancock.

The setting is a TB sanitarium and all those guys have TB. They've all got some screen time to build up their characters and we see the way they deal with the disease. They are in the sanitarium for over 6 months and it has an effect on their home lives. A Welsh coal minor doesn't believe he sick at first, another fellow has his girlfriend leave him, a man's sister writes him so many letters that they've nothing to talk about on her visits, a west country farmer learns to play chess and a young man falls in love with a young nurse. There's a second romance, the guy who lost his girlfriend winds up with Juliet Mills.

It's not Carry On funny but it still has a nice sense of humor with a bit of drama here and there. I thought it entertaining to the end and was glad to have seen it. I'll watch it again sometime.

British Noir III

Another Noir film collection from Kino Lorber. Five old British films on two discs. The films look alright but they are arguably noir. The only one I had already seen was The Frightened Lady.

The Frightened Lady 1940 Based on a 1931 play by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Edward Dryhurst and an uncredited Robert Stevenson, directed by George King.

Helen Haye is Lady Lebanon and the head of the Lebanon family, her son is Lord Lebanon and he's played by Marius Goring. They live in Marks Priory which Lady Lebanon has decided needs some renovations. Patrick Barr plays an architect named Richard Ferraby, he's come to look the place over. Penelope Dudley Moore plays a cousin called Isla Crane. Lady Lebanon wants Isla to marry her son but Isla isn't that keen and neither is his Lordship. Lady L is a strong believer in blood lines and not interested in polluting them with inferior blood.

When the chauffeur gets strangled the police come visiting. George Merritt plays the Detective Inspector and Ronald Shiner plays the Sergeant. Their first suspicion is that the husband of a local woman could be the murder, the wife and the chauffeur were having an affair and she intended to leave the husband for the chauffeur. Something suspicious puts their attention on the family's doctor but he soon turns up strangled.

The story gets more and more complicated as the police dig into the family history, eventually they figure out who done it. It's a fairly good thriller but hardly noir. There's a bit of humor and romance mixed in with the reminder that marrying close family members isn't that good an idea, even if it's keeping the bloodline pure. You can check it out on YouTube in the link above.

Brass Monkey 1948 Based on a play by Alec Coppel, he wrote the story for the film with Thornton Freeland, additional dialogue by William Freshman, Vernon Sylvaine and Robert Buckland, directed by Thornton Freeland. It's Carole Landis' 2nd last film, it was filmed in late 1947, but not released in the US until 1951. A troubled woman she committed suicide in 1948 at the age of 29.

Another one that's not noir, more a comedy crime musical set in the world of radio. Carole plays the fiance of a guy who's smuggling a brass monkey into the UK. Thinking the piece is of no value she gives it away. Turns out that some rich guy is willing to pay a large pile for the monkey and it's two pals. The crook at the heart of the transaction won't stop at murder in getting that third figure back. Herbert Lom and some other guy work for the crook and provide the rough stuff.

Terry-Thomas appears in a series of radio bits and sings a comedy song. There's a lot of music, especially in the last act when the radio show is going on. It's barely average to me. I wound up speeding through some of the musical numbers and the comedy bits had barely any laughs.

Third Time Lucky 1949 Written by Gerald Butler and directed by Gordon Perry. More an anti gambling melodrama than a noir film.

Glynis Johns plays a young woman who gets involved with a gambler that thinks she brings him luck. He takes her to gambling places and wins a bit of money. She slowly falls for him but he's stickily business. He does poorly when she's not there and winds up owing a lot of money. That gets him shot and as the movie opens we see Glynis telling the police what lead up to that.

I was bored through part of it and turned up the speed. Not a film I would bother with again.

Tall Headlines 1952 Based on a novel of the same name by Audrey Erskine Lindop, she wrote the screenplay with husband Dudley Leslie, directed by Terence Young. Terence would go on to direct Dr No, From Russia With Love and Thunderball. I've seen those more than once, most of his other work, not at all.

Totally a weepy miserable melodrama about a family nearly destroyed when their son gets charged for murder and executed. It goes on and on until there's a brief glimmer of hope in the last minute. The only thing I liked seeing was Sid James as a neighbor, sadly, he only pops in in that last minute. Not one I cared that much for.

Breakaway 1956 Original story by Manning O'Brine, screenplay by Norman Hudis, cinematography by Monty Berman, directed by Henry Cass. A nearly noir thriller in the same vein as The Saint or Tom's long running series about The Falcon. Some might remember him from three of Val Lewton's films, Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie and The Seventh Victim.

Tom plays a private eye who winds up in the middle of a smuggling operation gone south. The always entertaining Michael Balfour plays Tom's sidekick Barney and Honor Blackman plays the sister of a kidnapped woman called Diane.

The criminals want to use Diane as a bait to get a special formula for hardened steel. Diane's boyfriend Johnny was supposed to deliver the formula to his brother, when he stops on the road to see what's going on with a crashed car, he's beaten up and knocked out, the crooks take Diane.

Tom and Barney come along soon after the crooks bolt and Tom takes a sock on the chin for waking Johnny. Johnny bolts and Barney finds Diane's purse. Honor comes calling and things get more and more complicated.

I enjoyed it, it ties with The Frightened Lady for best of the set. There's a nice mix of mystery, action and humor. You can watch it on YouTube in the link above. It's one I would watch again.

Science Fiction Sunday 662

Doctor Who 0041 The Web Of Fear Six part story that aired February 3 to March 9 1968. Written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, directed by Douglas Camfield.

 

Only the first episode survived the Great Wipe, in 2013 the rest of the serial was located in Nigeria but the 3rd episode disappeared in transit to the BBC. The four new episodes were released, along with a photo recreation of the third episode, on iTunes that same year. I watched them back then. I have the DVD now and have ordered the Special Edition DVD released last August. It has an animated version of the missing episode and some other extras. The photo recreation of episode 3 is fairly good for the most part. I was waiting for the US DVD to be released but it seems to be taking a while, there's no release date on Amazon so I ordered the British DVD. It won't be here for a while. I'll watch the extras then and amend this post.

 

This story has the Tardis halted in space and covered with a web like material. After sitting still for a while the Tardis the drops the gang underground in the London Underground. They find out that the city had been attacked by Yetis under control of the Great Intelligence.

 

The scientist aiding the Army is Professor Travers who was part of the expedition that encountered the Yeti, and the Doctor, back in 1935. They gang meet Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart for the first time. The small group battles the Yeti but it's futile and many die. The Great Intelligence reveals his plan to suck the memory out of the Doctor's head and put all that knowledge into his own. He's doomed to failure of course, it's not his show. The gang exits stage left.

Enjoyable but like a lot of the six parters it seems a bit padded. I look forward to the extras and that animated episode.

The Ghost Of Motley Hall

I've watched the three seasons of The Ghosts Of Motley Hall and enjoyed them. It's a children's series from Granada TV and it aired from 1976 to 1978 on ITV. Five ghosts live in Motley Hall and they can't leave the house.

 

That's the five ghosts on the DVD cover, they haunt the place from day to day, forever. Occasionally other ghosts turn up for an episode and most episodes see the arrival of living humans. Freddie Jones, Sheila Steafel, Arthur English, Nicholas Le Provost and Sean Flanagan play the ghosts.

 

Peter Sallis plays the man who owns the hall, it's been empty for 20 years, every couple of episodes he turns up with a new attempt to sell the place. He's a nervous type, after he's seen The White Lady in the cellar he was even more fearful. Some human's can see the ghosts and some can't. The ghosts can pick up things and move them about. That's the kind of ghost I would want to be, one that can move stuff, poke stuff into things, wiggle them about.

 

Richard Carpenter is the series creator and writer. He's an actor and writer, I'd first come across him as a writer of a few episodes for the two series of The Famous Five, one from the 70s and the other from the 90s. He wrote a lot of other TV and some novels of the shows he worked on.

 

I found them rather low key in the humor department but they have heart and I grew to like the characters pretty quickly. I did laugh out loud but only the one time. On one of the commentaries Richard talks to Freddie Jones about the series, at one point they talk about the difference between kids shows of that era and the shows of today. Glad I picked up the set, I'll probably watch them again someday. The set is only available as a UK DVD so you need a magical box to play them here in the US.

Friday Night Movies 861

Bill & Ted Face The Music 2020 Screenplay by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, directed by Dean Parisot. Chris and Ed wrote the previous Bill & Ted films and Ed wrote some TV and films I like: It's Garry Shandling's Show, Mom And Dad Save The World, Men In Black, What Planet Are You From?, Charlies Angels and Now You See Me. Dean directed a good bit of TV and film over the last 35 years, I think the highlight for me is Galaxy Quest and the 2002 episode of The Tick - Arthur, Interrupted. Much of his work I just haven't seen.

Bill & Ted have fallen far after having a bit of fame. They haven't written the song that will re-unite humanity and and the universe is having time hiccups. People and places are jumping about in time and it's a right old mess. Kristin Schaal arrives on B&T's street in a time machine and takes them to see the Great Leader. They must write the song and preform it in 77 mins to avoid the destruction of space-time.

The boys hit on a plan but it fails, they make things worse and the Great Leader sends a killer robot after them. People in the future do well on the time travel but their killer robots have really crap AIs for brains. B&T's daughters take Kristin's time machine and round up a new band with musicians from various times.

The killer robot manages to kill Bill & Ted's families and send them to Hell. B&T follow, make a deal with Death, again played by the brilliant William Sadler, and the lot escape to the future. There's a nice happy ending as the boys figure out what to do about that pesky universe saving song.

I enjoyed it and ordered up a copy. I'll watch it again.

Lake Michigan Monster 2018 Story by Ryland Brickson Cole Tews and Mike Chesik, screenplay and direction by Ryland Brickson Cole Tews. A low budget B&W horror comedy with a thin coat of surrealism. It was made in Muskegon and Milwaukee Wisconsin.

A really annoying sea captain tricks 3 people into helping him kill a monster in Lake Michigan. Nearly everything he says is a lie, other than there's a monster in the lake. The film's CGI is pretty simple but it gets the job done. 

I liked some of the movie more then other bits, the comedic word play between the characters was a bit off putting. Not all those jokes were funny to me. Other's might get more mileage out of them. The Captain sets off on his solo voyage to battle the monster, I found that more entertaining than the interactions between the main characters. It's better than average for a low budget film but only about average when compared to the general range of films.

There's an Arrow Blu-ray out but it's 20 bucks and I wouldn't want to pay that. You can get all three of the Bill and Ted films in a 3 disc Blu-ray set for the same money. I'm getting that set and upgrading my DVDs of the first two films. I try not to upgrade but the difference between the Blu-ray of the last movie and the 3 pack is about 4 bucks.

Blood Of Ghastly Horror 1971

Blood Of Ghastly Horror 1971 Written by Al Adamson, Mark Eden, Chris Martino, Dick Poston and Samuel M Sherman, directed by Al Adamson. This is the third version of Psycho A Go-Go, like the second version, The Fiend With The Electronic Brain, new footage was shot for a newish version of the story that has footage from the previous two films. You can read more about the changes on the films Wikipedia page.

The film starts with a half dozen people being strangled, the last being a two header with these gormless idiots mugging to the camera.

John Carradine plays a scientist who puts a device in Roy Morton's head in the second version. Roy thanks him for making him a homicidal killer by putting John in his own machine.

New footage with Kent Taylor, Tommy Kirk and Regina Carrol was added for the third version, Tommy's a cop looking back at an old case. Tommy Kirk said he got $1000 for a couple of days work and is was the low point of his career. Sad, huh.

Like Jerry Warren and his ilk, Al and Sam should have the fleshless skull of Paul Naschy banged repeatedly on their nether regions as punishment for making these films. Psycho A Go-Go is nearly a film, they should have left it at that. Of course, they all went on to make more bad films. Don't watch them, watch something better.