PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Friday Night Movies 935

Madam Satan 1930 Screenplay by Jeanie MacPherson with dialog by Gladys Unger and Elsie Janis, directed by Cecil B DeMille.

A romantic musical comedy that had scenes filmed in Multicolor. Sadly the color scenes set in the Zeppelin only exist in B&W. It was the most expensive film made at Metro Goldwyn Mayer that year.

That's DeMille next to Kay Johnson, the lady on the left is screenwriter Jeanie MacPherson. It's DeMille's only musical and came out at a time when the public had started to lose interest in them. It was a box office failure that lost $390K, that's over $7,000,000 in 2023 dollars. DeMille had left Paramount for a better deal at MGM. He made three pictures there and two of them went bust at the box office. He went back to Paramount.

Kay Johnson plays Angela Brooks and Reginald Denny plays her husband Bob. Early one morning Bob comes home drunk with his pal Jimmy, played by Roland Young. Angela finds out from the newspaper that he'd been arrested and appeared in Night Court with his wife and Jimmy. Bob tries to convince Angela that "Mrs Brooks" was really Jimmy's wife Trixie, played by Lillian Roth. It's not a convincing story and Angela knows that Bob is cheating on her.

After Bob sleeps the day away the couple get into a fight because he's forgotten that they were supposed to go to the theater. They split up and Bob leaves the house. Angela regrets the split and decides to fight for her hubby. Her maid sings her a song about fighting for her husband. Angela tells Jimmy she's like to spend the night with him and Trixie, knowing all too well that they aren't married. She follows them home and puts them on the spot. Bob appears and they fool him into thinking that Trixie was out and Jimmy was there with a new girlfriend.

Jimmy has a costume party on a zeppelin. There's a nice model of the zeppelin and mooring tower. The zeppelin has large sets and plenty of great costumes.

There's a floor show with about as many performers as guests.

Angela makes an appearance in her Madam Satan costume and wows the men. Bob forgets Trixie quickly and goes after Madam Satan. There's some running about and funny dialog. Then things take a turn, a giant electrical storm comes up and detaches the zeppelin from the mooring tower. Now it's a disaster movie. The zeppelin is tossed about, the guest parachute to safety and only Bob manages to get himself hurt. Things get back to what ever normal is among the rich and the movie is over.

I enjoyed parts of the movie. The banter among the main characters is entertaining, Angela putting Jimmy on the spot is fun, the zeppelin model is great, the costumes are wild. I didn't care for the musical numbers. the singing is high pitched and the words are hard to understand. I did like the big dance routine on the zeppelin even though it's a bit of a goofy thing. I'd recommend seeing it, it's unusual and that's a plus. I doubt I'd need to see it again so I don't need a DVD of it. That's one less thing to store.

Eat Brains Love 2019 Based on the novel Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart, screenplay by Mike Hero and David Strauss, directed by Rodman Flender. Rodman has directed very few films, I've only seen a couple, Leprechaun 2, Idle Hands, and enjoyed those. He mostly directs TV episodes, most of which I've also not seen.

Jake and Amanda are in school when they turn zombie and eat their classmates. The zombie plague is only transmitted sexually. The victim of the disease only appears as a zombie when stressed or hungry. They look normal the rest of the time. Zombie's have remarkable recuperative powers.

The government is hunting zombies so the couple go on the run. With the help of a zombie lesbian couple they quickly adapt to their new lifestyle. The lesbians have a shopping list consisting of local sex offenders. No one will miss those victims. One of the zombie hunters is a psychic called Cass. She develops a thing for Jake over the movie and eventually gives up the zombie hunting. Alastaire is Cass's boss, he's been experimenting on zombie's turning them into controlled slaves.

There's a good bit of gore that isn't too excessive, it goes well with the humorous tone of the script. It's briskly paced and mostly enjoyable. Not sure I'd need to see it again, I'm not going to get the Blu-ray.

Torment 1950

Torment 1950 Written and directed by John Guillermin. It was John's first solo directing job. It was released in the US with the title Paper Gallows.

Twin brothers, Cliff and Jim Brandon, are murder mystery writers. They're both interested in their secretary Joan but she's only got eyes for one of them. The unwanted brother kills someone and frames Joan for the murder. The good brother has to keep her off the gallows and marry her before the end of the movie.

Dermot Walsh plays Cliff, Rona Anderson plays Joan and John Bentley plays Jim. It's an OK movie but not much above average. It's short and quickly paced, I was entertained.

The Crowded Day 1954

The Crowded Day 1954 Based on a story by John Paddy Carstairs and Moie Charles, screenplay by Talbot Rothwell, directed by John Guillermin. Released in the US under the ghastly title of Shop Soiled. A comedy with a serious side.

 

Joan Rice plays a shop girl at Bunting and Hobbs, a large multi floor department store in London. Joan is dating a co-worker played by John Gregson. She's not happy with him, when the movie opens he's failed to show up for their date, his excuse is he had to go to a meeting of his vintage car club. She breaks their engagement and they spend the rest of the movie getting back together.

On a more serious note, Josephine Griffin plays another store employee with relationship problems. She's desperately trying to find her fiance. He left his mother's house two months ago for a job and Josephine hasn't heard from him since. The mother hates Josephine and won't tell her where her son has gone. The personal manager finds out that she's pregnant and gives her two week notice. Josephine steals some strychnine tablets and leaves the store. She spends the rest of the movie deciding what to do. Josephine's scenes contrast with the more carefree scenes of her co-workers. The movie ends on a high note for her.

The other characters have small story arcs that fill in the spaces around the two main story lines. It's more of a drama that I care for but I enjoyed it. There's a good script, a director I like, and some good actors in the cast: Freda Jackson, Patricia Marmont, George Woodbridge, Sonia Holm, Rachel Roberts, Vera Day, Thora Hird, Arthur Hill, Prunella Scales, Sydney Tafler, Edward Chapman, Richard Wattis and Sidney James. You can check out a nice copy on 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.

Friday Night Movies 934

Where The Spies Are 1966 Based on the novel Passport To Oblivion by James Leasor, screenplay by James Leasor, Wolf Mankowitz and Val Guest, directed by Val Guest. Niven and Guest optioned the next five Leasor novels but only two of them ever got written. I've not read any of them.

David Niven plays Doctor Jason Love, he's been recruited by MI5 to go to a medical conference in Beirut to contact another doctor. John Le Mesurier plays the MI5 guy MacGuillvray, he'd worked briefly with Doctor Love in WWII when they both were in Military Intelligence. Love is reluctant to go but MacGuillvray offers to buy him a rare Cord automobile to get him on board.

Françoise Dorléac plays a spy called Vikki, her day job is that of international model. She's Love's contact at the airport. They start a bit of a romance. Love misses his plane only to see it explode on take off.

There's plenty of spying activity as the Russian spy Stanilaus, played by Ronald Rudd, gets ready to assassinate the pro-British Prince of Zahlouf. Love turns up and nobbles the Russian's plan. The Russkies kidnap Love and plan to take him to Russia.

Vikki turns out to be a double agent. She does redeem herself by shooting Stanilaus but sadly her modeling career comes to an end when Stanilaus returns the favor. I figured she'd die, it's the mid-60s, there's usually payback for blowing up a plane full of people. Doctor Love escapes and returns home.

I liked the movie well enough, it's more a spy movie like Our Man In Havana than a James Bond thriller. The Wikipedia says it's a comedy adventure film, it does OK on the adventure but it lacks a good supply of jokes. Despite that it's got a fairly decent script, perhaps a bit too long at 112 mins, and cast of good British actors. I recognized Cyril Cusack, Eric Pohlmann, Paul Stassino, Noel Harrison, Alan Gifford, Bill Nagy, Basil Dignam and Nigel Davenport. It's different enough from the average spy film that I'd watch it again.

Dr Renault's Secret 1942 Written by William Bruckner and Robert F Metzler and directed by Harry Lachman.

I wasn't certain that I had seen it before but the title was familiar. I looked at my Watched Movie List but I couldn't see it. Well, I couldn't find it due to a typo when I entered the movie in November 2017. The post I did then is linked in the title above. I still feel the same about the movie.

Das Mädchen Mit Den Katzenaugen 1958

Das Mädchen Mit Den Katzenaugen 1958 Story and screenplay by Werner P Zibaso, directed by Eugen York. A German film called The Girl With The Cat Eyes.

The German police are investigating a stolen car ring. Gert Fröbe is the owner of a garage the crooks are using to process the stolen cars for resale. He's not happy when his daughter shows up unannounced. He's even more upset when he has to run over a police detective with his truck. He's got no choice, the baddies will kill him if he doesn't.

Joachim Fuchsberger plays the next detective to go undercover. It takes him a while to get the goods on the baddies but he does a OK job of it. He even gets the girl. I enjoyed it, except for the fact I was watching a rather poor copy from YouTube. You can see it by clicking the link above. Here's a rather nice Italian poster for the movie.

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.

Appointment With Crime 1946

Appointment With Crime 1946 Written and directed by John Harlow.

William Hartnell is a small time crook who's been away in prison for a smash and grab. He'd gotten caught when the windows security shutter fell on his wrists. The other crooks in the gang got away. He'd spent his time away healing his broken wrists and developing a nice hatred of his old pals. He hits up his old boss for a job but the guy brushes him off. He doesn't think a crippled guy could do the work anymore.

William plans a nice revenge on his boss, he's going to frame him for the murder of the getaway driver from the failed robbery. William doesn't know it but the plan will lead to a lot of death. There's a bit of a romance between William and Joyce Howard but that doesn't go so well either.

It's a good solid crime film with William Hartnell playing a tough hood without enough brains to be more successful. Good script and good cast that includes Herbert Lom, Robert Beatty, Alan Wheatley, James Robertson-Justice, Ian Fleming and Wilfrid Hyde-White.

I picked up the Kino Lorber Blu-ray and it looks quite nice. You can try it out on YouTube.

Friday Night Movies 933

The Grave 1996 Story by Peter Glatzer, screenplay by Jonas Pate and Josh Pate, directed by Jonas Pate.

A couple of bottom feeder criminals in prison hear a story about a grave with a treasure buried in it. They escape and one of them gets shot stealing clothes from a hillbilly's clothes line. The pair hitch a ride and the guy gives them his truck so he can report it stolen for the insurance. It was a poor truck I would hardly think he'd get anything for it.

The guys seek medical help from a guy they know who is a mortician. He can't help much at all, the wounded guy dies but not before giving up the story about the grave. The mortician and his two even stupider friends decide to dig up the loot themselves. The other escaped convict shows up only to be killed by the mortician's pal. They don't find any treasure in the grave except a ring the dead guy was wearing. They  bury the convict in the grave.

Things get more complicated when a prison guard who knows about the grave murders one of the mortician's pals. Equally disruptive is the second escaped convict's ex-girlfriend. Most everyone dies.

I enjoyed it but wouldn't seek out a copy for me. Doubtful I would get around to it again. There are better stupid criminal movies out there.

Skeleton Man 2004 Written by Frederick Bailey and directed by Johnny Martin. Made for TV horror film with Michael Rooker and Casper Van Dien. It aired on the Sci Fi Channel.

An archaeologist digs up an Indian burial ground. He takes the skull of a native called the movie calls Skeleton Man. SM pops into existence through a portal and kills the archaeologist and anyone else who enters the wooded area his grave was found in. Some soldiers dies while on maneuvers and the military sends in Micheal, Casper and a few other folks for Skeleton Man to kill. Most everyone dies before Michael blows up a chemical plant.

The explosion might have killed the Skeleton Man but it seems unlikely as he appears again in the end credits. I'm unsure if that's what they meant, it's not clear. Nothing much is clear in the movie, it's just an excuse to kill people off. It's a slasher film with skeleton on a horse. It would have been better if the horse was doing all the killing. A good story would also have helped. Not one I'm going to need to see again.

All Coppers Are... 1972

All Coppers Are... 1972 Screenplay by Allan Prior and direction by Sidney Hayers. Produced by Carry On producer Peter Rogers.

A gritty crime story set in and around Battersea. A cop has a romp in the hay with a blonde woman he meet at a party. She doesn't know he's married with a baby and a cop. She gets something going with a local small time hood who's got a cigarette heist in mind. The heist puts him and the cop up against each other and it doesn't go so well.

It's pretty average despite the decent cast, Julia Foster, Martin Potter, Nicky Henson, Wendy Allnutt, Ian Hendry, Norman Jones, David Essex, Robin Askwith and Tony Wright. The script does well enough with the dialog and such but it's pretty much a by the numbers production. I more enjoyed the ambience of the time and place. You can check it out on YouTube and see if you like it.