ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

Ellen Burstyn

ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (1974). Director: Martin Scorsese.

After the death of her husband in an accident, Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn of The Exorcist) packs up and drives off to a new life as a singer with her young son Tommy (Alfred Lutter). Trying to get a job as a singer -- although she's not very good -- she winds up as a waitress in a diner in Arizona and along the way gets involved with two very different men (Harvey Keitel and Kris Kristofferson). This once very popular movie hasn't worn well with time. Although Alice was hardly the first Hollywood movie to deal with a widow moving on and starting a new life for herself, stumbling all the while, it came out in a decade reappraising women's roles and therefore seemed more novel than it actually was. Burstyn is good, if a bit overwrought at times, and won the best actress Oscar for the role. Lutter as her son is terrific and the rest of the supporting cast, including a young Jodie Foster as a friend of Tommy's, is excellent. A product of its time if little else.

Verdict: Pleasant and well-acted. **1/2.

CONVERSATION PIECE

Burt Lancaster

CONVERSATION PIECE (aka Gruppo di famiglia in un interno/1974). Director: Luchino Visconti. 

In an absolutely gorgeous old house in Rome, there lives a professor (Burt Lancaster), a widower, who only wants to be left alone with his books, his art, and his housekeeper. An aggressive and vulgar woman, the Marchesa Brumonti (Silvana Mangano), importunes him to rent her the upstairs apartment for her daughter, Lietta (Claudia Marsani), Lietta's boyfriend Stefano (Stefano Patrizi), and the marchesa's younger lover, the German Konrad (Helmut Berger of Ludwig), who is also sleeping with Lietta. To his horror the professor discovers that this "family" is making wholesale changes to the apartment's very structure. In spite of his annoyance over this and other matters, the lonely professor comes to see these people as a surrogate family and seems to develop unspecified feelings for Konrad, who may not be as frivolous as he seems, leading to a literally  explosive finale.

Aging gay prostitute? Helmet Berger as Konrad
 

Visconti's penultimate film, Conversation Piece, which was filmed in English and has an English soundtrack (a dubbed Italian version is also available), is a modestly interesting failure that never realizes its potential. Although Burt Lancaster should be given credit for trying something challenging as a character actor in his later years, he is still too young and robust to make a convincing fussy old professor. The next most important character is Konrad, played by Visconti's then-boyfriend, but although Konrad is apparently strictly a hetero gigolo, he comes off -- as Berger generally did -- as a kind of sleazy aging gay prostitute, making his characterization rather unconvincing. We can hear his real voice for a change, but his accent is often too thick to be understood, and his acting in this is only adequate. 

Patrizi, Marsani and Mangano on the professor's balcony

Silvano Mangano can perhaps be forgiven for going over the top at times because she's playing an imperious, overbearing wealthy woman who is constantly jealous of the young man she actually seems to despise. Claudia Marsani is a bit too perky for my taste, but Stefano Patrizi makes a creditable Stefano. At one point the young couple and Konrad engage in a strictly straight menage-a-trois which is not terribly sexy. The lack of homoerotic material, aside from the vague intimation that the professor might be attracted to Konrad, actually makes the film seem more dated than daring. I confess that because the characters, including the professor, are so underwritten and the film so half-baked, that when somebody dies I actually laughed out loud. Dominique Sanda and Claudia Cardinale have cameos as, respectively, the professor's mother and wife. 

Verdict: Hardly Visconti at his best. **. 

SHANKS

Marvel Marceau and Marcel Marceau

SHANKS (1974). Directed by William Castle. Subtitle: William Castle Presents a Grimm Fairy Tale.

Deafmute Malcolm Shanks (Marcel Marceau) makes puppets and lives with his shrewish stepsister (Tsilla Chelton) and her husband Mr. Barton (Philippe Clay) in their home, where they berate and abuse him on a regular basis. One day Malcolm goes to work for the elderly Professor Walker (also Marceau) who shows him how he uses special technology, like magic, to reanimate the corpses of frogs and roosters. When the professor dies, Malcolm decides to reanimate him, but there is just a walking physical shell, no mind. Later on Malcolm turns his deceased sister and brother-in-law into "living" corpses to do his bidding, a situation that both fascinates and repels the young Celia (Cindy Eilbacher). Into the professor's mansion, where Malcolm has taken up residence, come a group of hard core and thuggish bikers who try to take the "living dead" technology away from Malcolm.

Chelton, Marceau and Clay

Shanks is William Castle's most original and possibly most interesting picture -- it was also the last film he directed (he also served as executive producer). Using occasional title cards like a silent film and a spirited, quirky score by Alex North [The 13th Letter], the movie proceeds, as it should, like a dream or nightmare. Because of this approach viewers might not look too closely at the rather ghoulish actions of the protagonist, well-acted by Marceau, who is sympathetic despite the fact that he turns corpses into large performing dolls. Marceau only speaks when he plays the professor. The other performances are excellent as well, although the casting of sixteen-year-old Eilbacher, who looks even younger, adds a bit of a creep factor as she sort of becomes the love interest for 51-year-old Marceau and comes to a highly unpleasant fate as well. This reminds me of the kind of films Tim Burton makes, with their weird subject matter and lapses in good taste, and I would not be surprised if that filmmaker was influenced by Castle's work in general and this film in particular. Photographed by Joseph F. Biroc [Forty Guns]. Castle appears as a grocer, and there is an interesting attack-by-rooster. 

Verdict: Although Castle's direction may not be not top-notch, and criticisms of the film are not without merit -- especially the deliberate pacing --  Shanks is still an unusual and worthwhile picture, a fitting end to his directorial career. ***. 

BUSTER AND BILLIE

Jan-Michael Vincent

BUSTER AND BILLIE (1974). Director: Daniel Petrie.

In 1948 Georgia, handsome and popular teen Buster Lane (Jan-Michael Vincent) is engaged to one of the high school's prettiest gals, Margie (Pamela Sue Martin). Margie, however, won't "put out," so Buster decides to try a date with the town tramp, a shy young lady named Billie Jo (Joan Goodfellow). Although Buster's primary interest in the girl is sex, he develops tender feelings for her, breaking off his engagement and defying the town's attitude towards this gal of easy virtue. Unfortunately, the two are headed down a tragic path ...

Joan Goodfellow

I really wanted to love this ill-fated romance, which I haven't seen since it was released in '74, but it just isn't as convincing as it needs to be. Vincent offers a very good performance, showing the sensitive man inside the brash youth, but Goodfellow is weak, and the script doesn't help to develop her character so that we can really care about what happens to her. Buster's switch from Margie to Billie Jo happens so abruptly that you might wonder how the man who cares for Billie Jo despite everyone's opinions of her can be the same man who so suddenly, almost cruelly, breaks things off with his fiancee. Most of the supporting characters in the film are fairly shadowy. One of the more interesting characters, Buster's friend "Whitey," is well-played by Robert Englund of Freddy Krueger fame. There's some nice music by Al De Lory.

Verdict: Lots of possibilities in this, but it never really catches fire. **1/2. 

BUTLEY

Michael Byrne, Richard O Callaghan, Alan Bates

BUTLEY (1974). Director: Harold Pinter. Screenplay by Simon Gray, based on his stage play.  American Film Theater.

"Is there a sub-text to that or can I take it as straight abuse?" -- Joey to Butley.

Ben Butley (Alan Bates of An Unmarried Woman) is a university professor and T. S. Eliot scholar who shares an office, an apartment, and -- until recently -- his life with a young assistant and former student, Joey (Richard O Callaghan). Apparently Butley left Joey at one point to marry Anne (Susan Engel) -- their marriage lasted only a year and resulted in one child. They are now separated and Ben is back with Joey, but the latter wants to move in with gay friend, Reg (Michael Byrne), if only to get away from Butley. For Butley is truly an obnoxious character, a bitter heavy drinker who seems to care little about his students, resents that a colleague, Edna (Jessica Tandy), will have a book published, and plays nasty mind games with everyone, Reg, Joey, and Anne included. Ben discovers that Anne wants a divorce because she wants to marry a man that he thinks is the dullest fellow in England. Neither Anne nor Joey seem to be truly in love with their prospective partners, but both want to get away from Butley ... Butley was a success for playwright Simon Gray and for Alan Bates, who played the role in London and on Broadway, but the play itself is problematic. Not only is Butley completely odious on all levels, but Bates plays him in such a shrill, off-putting style -- strictly in the key of arch -- that he gets on one's nerves almost from the start. You can't understand what any man or woman would see in him! The other performers are fine, however, with especially good work from a likable and sympathetic O'Callaghan. Byrne and Tandy are also notable, and there are nice bits from Georgina Hale and Simon Rouse as students. Gray leaves a lot to the imagination,  however, so we never really learn (although we can guess) how Joey feels about Butley leaving him for Anne, and how Anne feels about his homosexuality (she thinks Joey is creepy, however, which may be jealousy and homophobia on her part), or if the marriage was due to internalized homophobia on Butley's part of if he was genuinely bisexual (the term is never used). A scene between Butley and Reg illustrates how "queers" who have relationships with women can act superior to men who are strictly gay in their behavior. One suspects Gray based much of this on characters he encountered in the halls of academia, as there have certainly been plenty of professors who have both wives and boyfriends. Butley has some very good and funny dialogue but you can't quite call it a comedy, although I imagine when Nathan Lane played the role in 2006 he brought out all the humor in the loathsome character.

Verdict: Interesting enough, but it doesn't quite grip or move you. **1/2.

DAN CURTIS' DRACULA (1974)

Jack Palance

DRACULA (aka Dan Curtis' Dracula/1974 telefilm). Produced and directed by Dan Curtis.

Jonathan Harker (Murray Brown) travels to Transylvania in Hungary to meet with Count Dracula (Jack Palance of Sudden Fear) at his castle. Dracula needs property in London to carry out his plans, which include meeting up with the reincarnation or lookalike of his lost love, who in this century is named Lucy (Fiona Lewis). Dracula's plans go awry thanks to the interference of Professor Van Helsing (Nigel Davenport), and the hunt is on for the vampire before he can destroy Lucy's friend Mina (Penelope Horner). Well-produced for a TV movie, this version of Dracula still smacks more of sunny California than Transylvania, but its main problem is a slow pace and a general lack of suspense and excitement. Palance has his moments as the evil count, but he is borderline hammy and not as effective as one might have imagined. Lewis is solid, but Simon Ward [The Chosen] generally doesn't bother to work up much emotion in his portrayal of the doomed Lucy's fiance, Arthur. Davenport [Mary Queen of Scots] is okay as Van Helsing, but frankly neither he nor Palance can wipe away the memory of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in the same roles. Murray Brown is quite good as Harker, however. This version of the story eliminates the crazy Renfield, there are no scenes of Dracula socializing with his victims as in the Lugosi version, and the supposedly romantic sub-plot (which is not in Bram Stoker\s novel) is entirely out of place. Sarah Douglas plays one of the vampire women who prey upon Jonathan Harker. A more interesting if much less faithful TV version appeared on Masterpiece Theatre in 2006. Dan Curtis was the man behind Dark Shadows, which also had a vampire obsessed with a lost love.

Verdict: Barely acceptable version of the famous story. **.

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974). Director: Sidney Lumet.

Famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney of Tom Jones) takes over the investigation after a man using an assumed name is murdered, and there turns out to be a whole train load of suspects. In her novel, Agatha Christie's starting off point was the murder of the Lindbergh baby, and the victim was involved in the kidnapping of the child, herein named Daisy Armstrong. In both book and movie Poirot perhaps doesn't exhibit quite as much incredulity as he might have when he learns at least two people on the train just happen to have had ties to the victim (as well as others whose deaths were a direct result of little Daisy's murder). And then things get even stranger, but there's a method to Christie's madness ... This was the first of the big-budget, all-star adaptations of the works of Christie, and it's entertaining if unspectacular. Oscar winner for Best Actor, Finney is nothing like Poirot, but if this is a "stunt" performance, I must say it's an excellent one, although he isn't as good as David Suchet, who later made the role his own. Wendy Hiller gives a positively weird, and one assumes, intentionally comic performance as the aged Princess Dragomiroff. Ingrid Bergman is fine but her very small role hardly deserved the supporting Oscar she received. Similarly, Sir John Gielgud is wonderful, but he's on-screen for only a few minutes; he won a BAFTA award. (Surely Oscars should be reserved for actors who are very much outside their comfort zone, which Finney definitely was). In a terrible performance, Anthony Perkins literally twitches all over the place as the secretary to the dead man; Sean Connery has one strong scene explaining himself to Poirot; Rachel Roberts scores as the princess' maid; Richard Widmark is fine as the victim; Vanessa Redgrave [Camelot] is perfect and lovely as Connery's paramour; and Martin Balsam is a delight as a representative of the train line and a personal friend of Poirot's. Richard Rodney Bennett provided the pastiche Porter score, which lacks the suspense this type of picture requires. Many of the cast members, especially Lauren Bacall as the loud American lady, seem self-conscious.

In addition to the 2017 remake, there have been other adaptations of the famous story. Alfred Molina played Poirot in a 2001 television version. David Suchet again essayed Poirot in a 2010 TV movie  which added a prologue, with an adulteress being stoned to death, that was not in the novel, and an epilogue wherein Poirot expresses moral outrage over the murder on the train which he does not express in the book; later he softens his attitude due to the murder of that woman at the opening. Suchet is especially excellent in this and it's amusing to see Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey playing a mere valet. Finally, a Japanese mini-series based on the novel appeared in 2015.

Verdict: Take this train ride or not -- it's up to you. **1/2.

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THE FILMS OF GENE KELLY

THE FILMS OF GENE KELLY: Song and Dance Man. Tony Thomas. Introduction by Fred Astaire. Citadel Press; 1974.

This heavily illustrated tome is an excellent introduction to and authoritative dissection of the career of the man who was best known as a dancer, but who also made his mark with dramatic performances and as a film director of note. Kelly had a different style than that of his "rival," Astaire, one that might be described as more athletic, but both men were tops in their profession. Thomas delves into Kelly's musicals, such as Anchors Aweigh, Brigadoon, and Living in a Big Way; his "straight" performances in non-musicals such as The Black Hand, Christmas Holiday, and Inherit the Wind (in which he was excellent); and his hit-or-miss directorial assignments such as Gigot with Jackie Gleason, A Guide for the Married Man, and Hello Dolly with Barbra Streisand. Along the way we get Kelly's impressions of each film as well as behind-the-scenes details, and lots and lots of photographs. Although I was never an especially big admirer of Kelly's, this book made me look at him differently. Kelly originally made his mark starring in Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey on Broadway -- much better casting than Frank Sinatra in the film version -- and it could be argued that he was one of those lucky people who got better-looking as they got older. Also included are Kelly's interesting remarks about gay dancers.

Verdict: Top-notch, informative, and intelligent look at the career of a great hoofer. ***1/2.

KILLER BEES (1974)

Gloria Swanson and her little darlings

KILLER BEES (1974). Director: Curtis Harrington.

Semi-estranged from his family, who own vineyards as well as a town, Edward van Bohlen (Edward Albert) brings his pregnant fiancee, Victoria (Kate Jackson), home to meet the family. This consists of his father, Rudolf (Craig Stevens), brother Helmut (Roger Davis of House of Dark Shadows), and Uncle Matthias (Don McGovern), not to mention his grandmother-matriarch Mrs. van Bohlen (Gloria Swanson). Victoria has a hard time being accepted by the van Bohlens, and matters are made worse by attacks from bees swarming all over the vineyards. Seems the van Bohlens have a strange connection to the bees that came with the family decades ago from Africa. Given bizarre roles to play, both Jackson [Night of Dark Shadows] and Swanson [Beyond the Rocks] manage to acquit themselves nicely, with the latter clearly enjoying herself as she puts on a rather hammy show at times. The movie could easily have been called Queen Bee if it hadn't already been used for a Joan Crawford movie. The bees themselves never actually seem to "attack" anyone but there is a macabre climax in the mansion's attic. Curtis Harrington also directed Queen of Blood.

Verdict: If you take the absurd developments with a grain of salt, this is one of Harrington's better latter-day movies. ***.

DEATH CRUISE

Kate Jackson and Edward Albert

DEATH CRUISE (1974 telefilm). Director: Ralph Senensky.

Three couples have won an all-expenses-paid, three week cruise on an ocean liner. Sylvia Carter (Polly Bergen) is distressed by her husband Jerry's (Richard Long) philandering. Elizabeth Mason (Celeste Holm) is concerned that her children are grown and may not need her, and then learns that her husband (Tom Bosley) wonders if there's any point in their even staying married. Mary (Kate Jackson of Making Love) is bitterly disappointed when her husband James (Edward Albert) insists that he doesn't want children. Then one by one all of them begin dying. The ship's doctor (Michael Constantine) discovers that the company which paid for the three couple's cruises doesn't even exist. Screenwriter Jack B. Sowards channels his inner Agatha Christie to come up with a suspenseful, twisting, and diabolical plot, and all of the actors do their best to bring their characters to life as well as to conceal who may or may not be behind it all. Everyone is good, but Holm [All About Eve] and Long [Follow the Boys] make the best impression. Albert and Jackson also played a couple in the previous year's Killer Bees.

Verdict: Absorbing TV puzzler well worth the watching for mystery fans. ***.

THE HOUSE OF SEVEN CORPSES

Faith Domergue and John Ireland

THE HOUSE OF SEVEN CORPSES (1974). Director/co-writer: Paul Harrison.

"Not exactly the Beverly Hilton, is it?" -- Gayle.

Seven murders or suicides took place in an old house where a filmmaker, Eric Hartman (John Ireland of Raw Deal), has come with his cast and crew to make a movie about these events. David (Jerry Strickler) finds a copy of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and star Gayle Dorian (Faith Domergue) reads incantations from it in  the character of a witch. Unfortunately, these incantations get something stirring underneath the ground in the cemetery ... The House of Seven Corpses has a not-bad screenplay but its execution is mediocre. Domergue [Cult of the Cobra] offers the best performance as the likable diva whose career, like Domergue's, is on the downslide. John Carradine [Munster, Go Home!] plays the caretaker of the estate, and Charles Macaulay is vivid as the male lead, Christopher Millan. (He amassed 82 credits and later played both a judge and a district attorney on some of the Perry Mason telefilms.) Carole Wells plays the ingenue, Anne, who is David's girlfriend. Ron Foreman, the make up man and art designer, was drafted to basically play himself. The movie has atmosphere and a few lively moments, but at times it's disjointed and confusing, and the lighting schemes can cause eyestrain. Some amusing dialogue helps. This was filmed at the Utah State Historical Society in Salt Lake City, who probably hoped something a bit better might have come of it. This was the only film directed by Harrison.

Verdict: Watchable but inferior horror flick. **1/2.

MAME

Auntie Mame and Patrick on the Statue of Liberty!

MAME (1974). Director: Gene Saks.

The story of madcap Auntie Mame was turned into the musical Mame, starring Angela Lansbury. Although Lansbury, who could sing and had appeared in a great many movies, could certainly have essayed her screen equivalent, the role was instead given to Lucille Ball, who couldn't sing a lick. Remember the classic "Operetta" episode of I Love Lucy? When Ricky remarks that Lucy on occasion hits a flat note, Ethel reassures him that "every time she opens her mouth the entire cast will join in." If only they had followed that policy in this movie, because dear Lucy's croaking pretty much devastates all of her numbers. However, that being said, Mame is not a bad movie. Ball is not up to Russell's level, but she's hardly terrible as Mame Dennis, although the picture is completely stolen by Bea Arthur as Vera Charles (Coral Browne was great as Vera in the original, but she didn't steal the picture from Russell). "The Man in the Moon" is a funny number, as is "Bosom Buddies," and "My Best Girl" is a pretty tune. There are other good songs, but Lucy butchers all of them, except when Jane Connell repeats her Broadway role as Agnes Gooch and adroitly delivers her one big solo. [There's also a new song, "Loving You."] Kirby Furlong and Bruce Davison [Stolen: One Husband] are fine as the young and older Patrick, respectively, and Doria Cook-Nelson scores as Patrick's fiancee, Gloria, as does Patrick Labyorteaux as Mame's little grandson, Peter. Lucille Benson is funny as the mother of Robert Preston's Beauregard Burnside, who marries Mame and travels the world with her. The sub-text of the film substitutes racism for anti-Semitism. Say what you will about Mame, when the whole troupe breaks into the title tune the movie certainly plays. Jerry Herman did both music and lyrics, including the snappy "Open a New Window," an anthem to having new life experiences.

Verdict: Not in the league of Auntie Mame, but not bad on its own terms. *** out of 4.

A VERY NATURAL THING

An iconic image from Very Natural Thing

A VERY NATURAL THING (1974). Director: Christopher Larkin.

David (Robert McLane aka Robert Joel) is a fairly conservative gay teacher who used to be in the seminary. He falls hard for a guy named Mark (Curt Gareth), who tells him right off the bat that he isn't much for romance. In spite of this David moves in with Mark, and tries to follow his lead by having a more open relationship. It's not a surprise when things don't work out, but it is a surprise as to which man moves out first ... When David meets a nice new fellow, he's somewhat gun-shy. A Very Natural Thing was, to my knowledge, the very first theatrical gay-themed movie (after The Boys in the Band) that was not a porn film. There are erotic scenes in the movie, and some quick glimpses of full frontal nudity, but nothing out and out pornographic. Christopher Larkin's goal in making the film was to present homosexuality unapologetically, and to show how gay couples could be very similar to straight couples, what with issues of monogamy and such, and yet also different in some ways. Of course, it is a little off-base in suggesting that a gay man must be conservative and/or religious in wanting to be monogamous. The film is very low-budget, and the appealing cast consists of talented amateurs who lack spontaneity and are overly earnest at times. Jay Pierce makes a nice professional impression as David's sophisticated friend, Alan. David is apolitical, but scenes from the actual Gay Pride March are incorporated into the film when he meets up with Jason (Bo White), who gently argues with David on gay politics and turns out to be separated from his wife (Deborah Trowbridge). In one interesting scene Jason's cast-off spouse wants him to visit her family but he tells her he's spending the weekend with David, and the pain and disappointment is etched tellingly in her face as she bravely wishes him well. It could be argued that there ultimately isn't that much to A Very Natural Thing  -- one critic stated that it proved that homosexuals could be just as boring as heterosexuals -- but there's something compelling about the movie in spite of it. I found the ending extremely moving, but whether it was because of the music, memories of my youth, the fact that so many in this period would die of AIDS (just when so many, as in this film, were feeling good about being gay), or everything put together, I don't know.

Verdict: Imperfect but groundbreaking and in its attitudes towards gay men a quantum leap forward from The Boys in the Band. ***.

SCORE

Casey Donovan (Cal Culver) and Gerald Grant 

SCORE (1974). Director: Radley Metzger.

Elvira (Claire Wilbur) and Jack (Gerald Grant) are a pair of married swingers who like to invite other couples over for some sexual fun and games. As both spouses are "bisexual," Elvira tries to score with the wife while Jack goes after the husband. The two have turned this into a competition to see who can get the highest "score." Elvira and Jack's latest party-goers are Eddie (Calvin Culver) and his wife, Betsy (Lynn Lowry), who are much less sophisticated than their hosts. As the evening progresses towards a midnight deadline, Elvira and Jack both make strong attempts to get it on with their opposite number and win some points. Score actually works up some suspense as to whether or not the couple will "score," and the major set piece of the film -- not that this will surprise anyone -- is that they do, in a protracted hardcore sequence that jumps back and forth from the two women to the two men.

Based on an off-Broadway show by Jerry Douglas, who also wrote the screenplay, Score is typical of seventies "porn" in that there is at least an attempt to develop real characters and storylines -- there are some witty lines and the acting is good -- although this could not exactly be called a bisexual Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Like the infamous The Devil in Miss Jones, this picture also played in "legitimate" moviehouses.) Due to the rise of the modern gay rights movement, bisexuality (both real and imagined) also came out of the closet, albeit of the self-conscious, somewhat phony variety demonstrated in Score -- it might be called a gay movie with bisexual pretensions. (There is one straight sex scene in the movie, but most of it is homosexual in nature.) Jack tells his wife regarding Eddie, "you wouldn't appreciate him half as much as I do, and worse than that, he won't appreciate you half as much as me." The film more than suggests that the two gentlemen, at least, are far, far more interested in men than they are in their wives or women in general. While Score is meant to be a fun-loving, open-minded, free love free-for-all in which one's full sexuality is encouraged, one can't escape the suggestion that Jack is basically a gay man living with and off a wealthy lesbian, which actually makes the movie seem dated in these days of gay marriage.

Aside from a few genuine bisexuals or the bi-curious, the movie seems to defeat itself because the gay male viewers will be bored by the lesbian scenes and vice versa -- it's a question of the filmmakers wanting to have their cake and eat it, too. Hetero men may enjoy the "girl-on-girl" action but as for the rest ... ? Jerry Douglas (who is not to be confused with The Young and the Restless actor of the same name), also wrote and directed a film entitled Both Ways, in which Gerald Grant again plays a bisexual husband who has an affair with a gay man (Dean Tait) and, in a regressive twist, murders him. Neither film successfully ushered in a new genre of bisexual porn. Calvin Culver was better known as erotic film star Casey Donovan and was the boyfriend of actor-writer Thomas Tryon for several years. Grant and Wilbur had only a few film credits, but Lynn Lowry had a long list of credits, frequently in horror films. Radley Metzger also directed the non-exploitation The Cat and the Canary and did a slick editing job on The Flesh Eaters.

Verdict: If the description gets you excited, than by all means watch it! **1/2 out of 4.

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (1974). Director: Kevin Connor.

This anthology, based on the work of R. Chetwynd-Hayes, features stories that are loosely tied in with an antique shop run by an elderly proprietor (Peter Cushing). The first story deals with a mirror  with a demonic inhabitant who urges the owner, Edward Charlton (David Warner) to butcher women. In the second story Christopher Lowe (Ian Bannen), a man saddled with a harridan of a wife (Diana Dors,) encounters an old fellow veteran (Donald Pleasance of You Only Live Twice), and his rather odd daughter (Angela Pleasance) who falls for him -- or so he thinks. The third story is about a man (Ian Carmichael) and his wife (Nyree Dawn Porter) who hire a medium, Madame Orloff (Margaret Leighton of The Astonished Heart), to get rid of an "elemental" that is causing havoc. The fourth and final episode, which is easily the best and most suspenseful, has a man (Ian Ogilvy of And Now the Screaming Starts) affixing an antique door to a cupboard and discovering that it now opens into a cobwebbby and sinister old room that is kept alive by human sacrifices, one of whom almost becomes his wife (Lesley-Anne Down).

Verdict: Well-produced Amicus film with some good actors and generally mediocre scripts. **1/2 out of four.

FLESH GORDON

Flesh Gordon offers to repay Prince Precious

FLESH GORDON (1974). Directors: Michael Benveniste; Howard Ziehm.

In this erotic parody of the Flash Gordon serials, Flesh Gordon (Jason Williams) and Dale Ardor (Suzanne Fields) travel with Dr. Jerkoff (Joseph Hudgins) in his Phallic spaceship to the planet Porno, where the evil Emperor Wang (William Dennis Hunt) is aiming a destructive "sex ray" at the earth. Most of this is a sophomoric semi-romp featuring painfully obvious double entendres (some of which are amusing) with some stop- motion animation by David Allen [The Day Time Ended] and Jim Danforth to enliven the proceedings. The "penisauruses," with big eyeballs at the end of their stalks, aren't badly done; there's a metal insectoid creature that reminds one of the moonmen in First Men in the Moon; and a giant, talking, hooven satyr who carries off Dale at one point -- there are some smooth shots of this creature as well as crude ones. The movie is both progressive and regressive for its day, with the members of the Amazon Underground trying to have their way with Dale and called "Dykes!" by Jerkoff. Meanwhile Prince Precious (Prince Barin in the original), played by Mycle [sic] Brandy, leads a band of gay merry men. Unlike the amazon queen the prince is not played as a stereotype except for one scene when he screams like a woman. After the prince helps save Flesh and the others, Flesh asks him if he can repay him -- Precious gives Flesh a blow job! While there are plenty of naked breasts "fleshing" about, this is pretty soft-core, with sexual activity being more suggested than anything else. Joseph Hudgins, who is actually quite good, does a dead-on imitation of Frank Shannon in the original serials. (As Dr. Jerkoff puts it as regards his rocket ship: "I was able to get most of the parts from the Sears catalog.") Fields and Brandy are fine in their respective roles, getting into the spirit of the silliness, while it's tempting to say that Williams makes Sam J. Jones (as well as Buster Crabbe) in Flash Gordon look like Laurence Olivier, but he's adequate. Hunt chews the scenery as Wang, which is appropriate, but doesn't erase the memories of the much more restrained Charles Middleton. Ultimately, this would have worked better as a short sketch instead of a 90 minute movie! Craig T. Nelson [Poltergeist] did the voice of the giant Satyr. Followed by Flash Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders which replaced Jason Williams with Vince Murdocco, and which, if I recall correctly, had some gross if imaginative touches to it.

Verdict: A somewhat clever, more often dopey, college kid's movie, with occasionally decent visual effects. **.

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD (1974). Director: Pete Walker.

Anne-Marie (Penny Irving) falls for a guy who calls himself "Mark E. DeSade" (Robert Tayman). Unfortunately, Anne-Marie doesn't get the reference, and she goes off with him to meet his parents. Said parents turn out to be a demented former judge (Patrick Barr) and his wife (Barbara Markham), who, with the assistance of two female prison guards, capture and punish "loose" and immoral women for their alleged betterment. House of Whipcord is not the super-sadistic, gruesome field day that one might imagine  -- and some might have preferred -- but it isn't badly acted and holds the attention, although it should have been trimmed of at least twenty minutes. The older actors make more of an impression, with Sheila Keith vivid as the somewhat butch matron, Walker. Director Pete Walker, in the meantime, also directed Schizo, The Comeback (in which Keith was also quite effective), and several other horror films.

Verdict: Not terrible, just kind of ho-hum. **.

ZARDOZ

Connery, Alderton, and Kestelman

ZARDOZ (1974). Written, produced, and directed by John Boorman.

In the year 2293 Earth has undergone a great many changes. In the "outlands" there are masses of comparatively uncivilized "brutals" who are hunted down and killed by "exterminators," who are given weapons by a great floating stone head that calls itself Zardoz. One of these exterminators, Zed (Sean Connery) climbs into the head and winds up in a supposedly more peaceful enclave called a "vortex," where the people are immortal and sexless and many long to die; there is a mixture of new technology with primitive culture. Scientist May (Sara Kestelman) determines that Zed is a superior, mutated specimen of humanity, while Consuella (Charlotte Rampling of Deception), who may or may not be her lover, thinks he should be destroyed. Half of the community wants to be impregnated by Zed while the other half wants to kill him. Whatever allegory may have been intended, Zardoz (the title comes from "The Wizard of Oz" because Zardoz is just a human male and not any kind of god) is monumentally stupid, and doesn't sustain interest. Connery's performance is more than okay, but you wonder why he took this silly assignment unless he felt a need to boast -- or boost -- his virility. Niall Buggy is Zardoz and John Alderton plays a condescending "Friend" of Zed's. Boorman also directed Exorcist II: The Heretic, which was at least a little more entertaining.

Verdict: Pretentious and rather dull twaddle. *1/2.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF FLIGHT 412

Robert F. Lyons and David Soul may have seen UFO

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF FLIGHT 412 (1974 telefilm). Director: Jud Taylor.

"Officers aren't supposed to act on instinct, they act on orders, and yours are to lay off!"

Two air force men are doing a test flight [412] to check for electrical problems when they see two blips appear and disappear on their radar screen, followed by the complete disappearance of two jet fighters. They are quickly taken off to be debriefed by SID officers, much to the consternation of their commanding officer, Colonel Pete Moore (Glenn Ford), who first wonders where the hell they are and then why they were taken in the first place. While the Flight 412 pilots (David Soul; Robert F. Lyons) are held and questioned along with others, Moore demands answers from General Enright (Kent Smith of Nora Prentiss) even as Major Dunning (Bradford Dillman of Jigsaw) urges him to forget the whole business. What's going on here? Well, sadly, not a hell of a lot, as this cheap production was cobbled together to take advantage of the UFO rage of the seventies but lacks a strong plot, suspense, or any pay-off. A lot of perfectly good actors are just wasted. The blaring, brassy musical score does its best to create some excitement, but can't disguise the fact that nothing much is going on here. There are a hell of a lot of good-looking men in the cast, for those who are interested.

Verdict: Not nearly as much fun as The Invaders. *.

SPASMO

Suzy Kendall and Robert Hoffman

SPASMO (1974). Director: Umberto Lenzi.

A young couple see a woman hanging from a tree but it turns out to be a life-size rubber doll. Then Christian (Robert Hoffman) and a lady friend spot what they think is a woman's corpse on the beach, but she turns out to be the very alive Barbara (Suzy Kendall), who agrees to have a drink and then disappears. Christian next spots her at a boat party he crashes, and winds up in her motel room, where a strange man breaks into the bathroom, threatens him with a gun, and gets shot in self-defense; later the body disappears. Barbara takes Christian to a friend's cliffside tower house, where they encounter an older man named Malcolm (Guido Alberti) and his younger companion, Clorinda (Monica Monet), both of whom seem to be keeping secrets. The trouble with Spasmo is that in trying to keep secrets from the audience, it leave us in the dark for too long, making the whole thing seem pretty nonsensical. [In truth, even after the revelations, the movie still doesn't make a lot of sense.] At one point Barbara, who throughout the movie says things like "I don't understand anything" and "I can't take any more" asks Christian "doesn't it seem terribly absurd to you?" at about the same time all the members of the audience are asking each other the very same question. Meanwhile, someone is leaving "murdered" mannikins all over the place. There's a wealthy man named Alex (Mario Erpichini) who seems obsessed with Barbara, and Christian's brother, Fritz (Ivan Rassimov), who may or may not be involved in what ever's going on. The acting isn't bad, with pretty Kendall, who also appeared in Torso, acquitting herself nicely, and Austrian actor Hoffman -- this Italian production has a truly international cast -- making a more than competent and very attractive leading man. The darn thing holds your attention because it's not only unpredictable for the most part, but you keep watching it for no other reason than to find out what the hell is going on; there's at least one good twist as well.

SPOILER ALERT. Spasmo  has been classified as an Italian giallo film but it's actually more of a suspense film than a horror movie or shocker. However, it does feature two brothers, one of whom is a serial killer of women, and another who stabs and strangles mannikins instead of real people.

Verdict: One of the weirdest movies ever. **1/2.