PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Valley Of The Zombies 1946

Valley Of The Zombies 1946 Story by Royal K Cole and Sherman L Lowe, screenplay by Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E McGowan, directed by Philip Ford.

That's Lorna Gray and Ian Keith, she's a nurse at a clinic and he's an insane murder who's also dead. Doctor Maynard is the head of the clinic, he's upset that someone is stealing blood from the store they have on hand. Robert Livingston plays a doctor who works at the clinic, he's dating Lorna. Ian had been a patient of Maynard's, he had been committed to a mental institution, he died during an operation and his brother took the body for burial in the family crypt.

First Dr Maynard gets murdered, the police suspect Robert and Lorna, they have to evidence so they spring the couple, hoping to find out more by keeping an eye on them. Robert and Lorna play detective, hoping to keep the law from locking them up, and the body count starts to rise. Eventually it will be worked out for the most part.

I had a laugh or two and the story was entertaining enough for me to get to the end of the film. Nothing special going on here, just a bit of light entertainment. You can check it out on YouTube, link above, and see if you like it.

Residence For Spies 1966

Residence For Spies 1966 Director Jesús Franco co-wrote the script with Michael Loggan. Both these posters have some quirks.

Eddie Constantine plays a similar character to the spy in Franco's Attack Of The Robots but it's not the same one. He's in Istanbul, undercover as a driver for the head of a girl's school. He's investigating the deaths of some of the students. There's a few dust up and some traveling about the area. He even makes an illegal trip to Greece and some cops get killed. There's a few pretty girls but the romantic parts with Eddie and his fiance aren't much of anything. The whole movie is a bit blah, not hardly as much fun as Attack Of The Robots. I downloaded it from Rarelust and was glad not to have paid for a disc of it.

Science Fiction Sunday 670

 

Doctor Who 0051 Spearhead From Space Four part story that aired January 3 to 24 1970. Written by Robert Holmes and directed by Derek Martinus. For some reason the BBC packaged DW DVD reissues in set boxes, this one has two serials, the second being Terror Of The Autons. I already had a US DVD of Spearhead In Space but the set was cheaper to buy than the US DVD of Terror Of The Autons and that's including the shipping from the UK. Now I have both the UK and the US version in the box and the other disc is in place in release order as it should be.

I watched this back in April 2013 and enjoyed it. There's a link to the post in the title above. I feel about the same as I did then. On second watch, my main thought was how nice it was that the new Doctor, Jon Pertwee, wakes up in a bright and colorful world. The whole serial was shot on 16mm film and in color. They would go back to the studio, and the usual combination of video and film, the next episode.

The Doctor has been exiled to the Earth by the Time Lords. The Tardis arrives in the UK in 1970, the Doctor stumbles out of the police box and collapses. He's found and taken to a small hospital. Eventually the Doctor winds up in the hands of Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, played by Nicolas Courtney, and he gets a new assistant, Liz Shaw, played by Caroline John.

The story was entertaining the second time around and it's a good reminder why I like the 4 part story.

Doctor Who 0052 Doctor Who And The Silurians Seven part story that aired January 31 to March 14 1970. Written by Malcolm Hulke and directed by Timothy Combe.

I watched this in April 2013 and you can read that post by clicking on the link in the title above. Another longer serial with a bit of padding. I still enjoyed it.

Friday Night Movies 869

Attack Of The Robots 1966 Director Jesús Franco co-wrote the screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière. We watched the Redemption Blu-ray and it looked quite nice. I bought it on a whim during the last Kino Lorber sale, only a tenner, and it turned out to be my favorite Franco film. The IMDb says that Franco made a half dozen more films with private eye Al Preira.

Eddie Constantine plays an ex-spy who gets tricked into being the bait for an evil mastermind who's got a gang of well tanned hit men and women. They aren't robots, not in anyway. The baddie kidnaps people with a certain blood type and dips them in a tube with lights shining on it. The victims get tanned and a special pair of glasses puts them under the remote control of the baddies. Eddie has his hands full trying to keep ahead of the villains.

There's plenty of espionage activity, a fair number of gags, some dust ups, a few explosions and a ship on fire. There's plenty of beautiful women, oddball characters and gorgeous Spanish scenery in Madrid and Alicante. It was shot in color but only B&W prints are known to exist. I enjoyed it more than most Franco films and would want to watch it again. There's a sequel with Eddie Constantine called Residence For Spies that came out the same year.

Steel And Lace 1991 Written by Joseph Dougherty and Dave Edison, directed by Ernest D Farino. This time there's really a robot under that ladies skin.

The movie starts with a rape, a trial and a suicide. The rapist is defended by his four pals and is acquitted for lack of evidence. Clare Wren is the victim, she's so despondent at seeing the rapist walk free that she jumps off the roof of the court house. Bruce Davison plays Clare's brother, he tried to stop her but failed.

Five years pass. Bruce has built himself a robot sister and set her on a path of vengeance. She kills the pals, one at a time, each death ramming more fear down the throats of the still living. At first they aren't sure who's doing the killing, the pals even think it might be the rapist, cleaning house.

David Noughton plays a police detective and Stacy Haiduk is the court artist who was at the trial. They had dated in the past but broken up. Now they're brought back together. Such a tried cliche, that old ex, I wish people would stop using it.

There's a fair bit of running about, some gore and fights, a couple of laughs and a few effects. It's not more than about average to me. Not something that I would need to buy now that I've seen it.

Ten Little Indians 1989

Ten Little Indians 1989 Based on the Agatha Christie novel And There Were None, screenplay by Jackson Hunsicker and Gerry O'Hara, directed by Alan Birkinshaw, produced by Harry Allan Towers. A Cannon Films release that only became available on DVD and Blu-ray last year, it had been released on VHS and Laserdisc in the past.

This time the setting is the African jungle and everyone is thinking they are on a safari. The IMDb trivia page says producer Harry Alan Tower changed the setting in the original script, the usual island setting, to Africa because it was cheaper to shoot there. Other than a few minor changes to the characters, Brenda's character is now a lesbian, the story is pretty much the same. As you'd expect they are picked off one at a time and the little Indian statues have their heads broken off by the mysterious Mr Owen.

The cast includes Donald Pleasence, Frank Stallone, Sarah Maur Thorp, Brenda Vaccaro, Herbert Lom, Warren Berlinger, Yehuda Efroni, Paul L Smith, Moira Lister and Neil McCarthy. Herbert played the Doctor in the 1974 film adaptation of the story.

I thought it was barely average and it's the least interesting of the versions of the story that I've seen. The Wikipedia lists 25 different TV and film productions, there's even an adult version, but I've only seen 7 of them. I thought this version might have been made for TV, it almost seems like that level of production, typical of Cannon Films. Lucky for me there are some better versions.

The Blue Lamp 1950

The Blue Lamp 1950 Original treatment by Jan Read and Ted Willis, screenplay by T E B Clarke, directed by Basil Dearden. I've been picking up random Basil Dearden films and occasionally getting around to watching them. This I just got today and I decided to plop it on. Turned out I was quite happy to have picked it up.

Jack Warner plays PC Dixon and would go on to play PC Dixon in the 1955 TV series Dixon Of Dock Green. He would play the part for 21 years, he was 80 years old when he stopped. Sadly most of the 400 plus episodes were wiped by the BBC. No one was making audio recordings of those shows and it's doubtful that the BBC is going to make animated versions. You can see the few random episodes left on YouTube if you go look.

In The Blue Lamp Dixon is nearing retirement when he offers a young constable a place to stay. Jimmy Hanley plays the young man, he had been in a couple of films with Jack Warner, Holiday Camp and Here Come The Huggetts. Holiday Camp is quite good and worth a look. The Huggetts trilogy that followed is a bit more light weight but still worth a gander.

Dirk Bogart is a young hoodlum who pals around with a guy called Spud. They rob people and places and they have a general disregard for others. They're disrespected by the local villains for their use of violence and menace. Dirk has a 17 year old girlfriend who moves in with him. He recruits her to work in a theater the gang wants to rob. The night of the robbery PC Dixon confronts Dirk as he's exiting the robbery scene. Dirk fires the gun and Dixon goes down, he would later die. The police step up the investigation. Dirk and his girlfriend slowly fall apart as the investigation draws closer and closer. It's only a matter of time before the Yard can slip the noose around Dirk's neck and he's already feeling it tighten.

There's plenty of interesting characters and there's a good cast to really bring them to life. You might know some of them: Robert Flemyng, Bernard Lee, Peggy Evans, Bruce Seton and Clive Morton where the ones I knew. Their stages are the streets around the Padding Green Police Station, the film makers were given access to the station and even parts of Scotland Yard. There's a nice short film in the Bonus material that compares the locations in the film to the modern day locations. Many of the buildings in the area have gone over the years but there's still lots left.

I really enjoyed the movie despite being a bit of a police fantasy. There were many problems with the police force at the time, by the mid 70s much of it was revealed to the totally unsurprised public. I watched the Kino Lorber DVD and it looked quite nice. There's a couple commentaries that proved to be interesting, that location featurette, a nice BBC radio essay and 3 trailers.

Absolute Quiet 1936

Absolute Quiet 1936 Screenplay b Harry Clork, directed by George B Seitz.

Lionel Atwill is a well off business man who collapses at work, his doctor tells him to take a rest with absolute quiet. Lionel goes to his ranch with assistant. Wallace Ford and Bernadene Hayes are a Bonnie and Clyde pair who are on the run, they take over the ranch at gun point.

A plane needs to make an emergency landing in a fog and crashes when the ranch's runway lights aren't lit. The pilots die and the governor shows what a scumbag coward he is by pushing a woman out of the way to escape the plane. There's a reporter and an actor on the flight. The actor gets a couple of cuts on his face. He dismayed it probably means the end of his career.

Things stay civil for a while then Wallace and Bernadene pull their rods and start bossing people around. Their short career as criminals comes to an end when the actor finds a gun and blasts them repeatedly. It's a comedy with some romance, some political commentary, and some murder. Some parts of the script don't make much sense, especially the part where they plan to white wash Wallace and Bernadene being on the scene and letting them run away. They were the ones that caused the plane crash when they stopped Lionel from turning on the runway lights. If anyone deserved to die in a hail of bullets, it's those two.

I thought it was OK but still think the gangster aspect is sill annoying. You can take a look at it on the Internet Archive. See link above.

The Return Of Charlie Chan 1973

   

The Return Of Charlie Chan 1973 Story by Gene R Kearney and Simon Last, screenplay by Gene R Kearney, direction by Daryl Duke and an uncredited Leslie H Martinson. An American TV movie that was filmed in 1971, first broadcast in the UK in 1972 and 1973 under the title Happiness Is A Warm Clue, finally broadcast in the US in 1979. It was meant to be the pilot to a series but it didn't sell.

Ross Martin plays Charlie Chan, he comes out of retirement to help an old friend played by Richard Haydn. Leslie Nielsen plays a rich Greek tycoon, Louise Sorel plays his wife, Joseph Hindy and Kathleen Widdoes play Leslie's son and daughter. Some one on board Leslie's yacht tried to kill him and Charlie comes to investigate. He bring along his son and daughter. Another person on the yacht is killed and some guy tries to kill Charlie at the airport, Leslie's man kills the assassin.

There's all the usual walking and talking you'd expect in a Charlie Chan film. There's more murder attempts and one is successful. Charlie eventually figures out who done it. You can check it out in the link in the title above. I didn't think there was anything special about it, it's watchable, and forgettable. It is however much better than the Charlie Chan film that followed, Charlie Chan And The Curse Of The Dragon Queen. That was pretty poor, I disliked it so much I only gave it 1 star at the IMDb, I gave Ross and his gang a generous 5.

Science Fiction Sunday 669

Doctor Who 0050 The War Games A 10 part story that aired April 19 to June 21 1969. Written by Terrance Dicks And Malcolm Hulke, directed by Derrick Sherwin. The last story of the 6th series, the last story in B&W, and the last appearance of Patrick Troughton, Frazier Hines and Wendy Padbury.

I watched this back in 2013, link for post in the title above, and still feel about the same about the story. It's still too long even thought it has some interesting stuff going on. Like meeting the Time Lords. I thought the forced regeneration scene didn't look that interesting. I am looking forward to watching the Jon Pertwee series that's coming up.

Friday Night Movies 868

In Search Of The Castaways 1962 Based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name, screenplay by Lowell S Hawley, directed by Robert Stevenson. Lowell and Robert both worked for Disney in the fifties and sixties. Lowell was the story editor and wrote scripts for the Disney Zorro series. That's always been one of my favorite Disney shows of the era. Robert wrote and directed films in the UK before going to Hollywood in 1939, you might have seen F.P.1. or the 1937 King Solomon's Mines.

In 1957 Robert directed his first Disney film Johnny Tremaine, he would direct 18 more films for them, including Darby O'Gill And The Little People, The Absent Minded Professor, Mary Poppins and Bedknobs And Broomsticks. Plenty of pleasurable memories watching those films when they were new, some we saw in the theaters but many were watched on one of the Disney TV programs or another. Sadly I only saw them in B&W, we didn't have color TV until I was into my twenties. The first time I saw Star Trek in color was on 16 film at an SF convention. 

In Search Of The Castaways has the children of a ship's captain appeal to the head of the shipping company to find their father. Hayley Mills and Keith Hamshere are the kids, Jack Gwillim is their father, Maurice Chevalier is the man who finds the father's note in a bottle, Wilfred Hyde White is the head of the company. It takes a while to convince Wilfred to make the trip but he goes and they have a grand adventure in South America, Australia and New Zealand.

There's plenty of action and derring do, the expedition battles nature and man. There's a giant flood, a tidal wave, a lightning storm and a volcano. George Sanders plays the smooth talking baddie who tricks Wilfred in hiring him, only to steal his ship and turn the rescue party into castaways. Some of the effects looks poor by today's standards but the models and matte paintings are still very nice. They get the job done and it's not something I would complain about. The only thing I would complain about are the songs. I started fast forwarding through them. There's a happy ending and it all looks nice and bright. I was happy to see it and will have to watch it again sometime.

The Great Spy Chase 1963 Written by Michel Audiard and Albert Simonin, directed by Georges Lautner. These are the same fellows that wrote and directed Monsieur Gangster which I just watched a short time ago. The French title of The Great Spy Chase is Les Barbouzes, french slang for spies, it was retitled for the US market. Lino Ventura appears in both films and both films are in release in the US from Olive Films. I watched the Blu-ray of The Great Spy Chase and it looks very nice. No extras though.

Bernard Sachs is a massive arms dealer, he's also a massive guy. All the spy agencies keep an eye on him. He's known to have acquired a number of patents for nuclear weapons. When he dies the spy agencies all want to get their hands on those patents, which are now in the hands of his wife.

All the spy agencies send people around to the wife's Bavarian castle to buy or steal the patents. Lino plays the spy from France, he's been assigned to take the body to the wife. Several other spies are on their trail. Things hot up at the castle as the different groups descend on the place. There's plenty of action, a massive body count, plenty of collateral damage, all slathered in barrels of slapstick. Made me laugh out loud a couple of times. Glad I picked it up.