TARZAN'S PERIL

Dorothy Dandrige

TARZAN'S PERIL (1951). Director: Byron Haskin.

Radjeck (George Macready), a bad guy who escaped from jail, is up to no good with his less bloodthirsty companions, Trask (Douglas Fowley) and Andrews (Glenn Anders). One of Radjeck's victims is Commissioner Peters (Alan Napier). Before realizing what a crumb he was, Jane (Virginia Huston) had befriended Radject, but now Tarzan (Lex Barker) is out to snare him. Radjeck wants to sell weapons to a nasty native tribe; Queen Melmendi (Dorothy Dandridge) represents a tribe of friendlier natives. Tarzan's Peril is a poor Tarzan entry, badly directed by Haskin, who fails to give the film any kind of pacing or suspense. (This is strange, as Haskin also directed The War of the Worlds and Too Late for Tears, among others, both excellent movies.) Dandridge [Change of Heart] is as criminally wasted as she usually was, even after her Oscar nomination some years later for Carmen Jones. Macready is strangely subdued (for him) as the villain throughout most of the running time. There's a mechanical snake that nearly eats Cheetah (who has little to do in the pic), and man-eating plants that ensnare both Tarzan and a baby elephant with their vines. Jane looks like she'd be more at home on Park Avenue than in the jungle!

Verdict: Not Tarzan's finest hour. **.

JOAN OF ARC

A captive Joan prays: Ingrid Bergman

JOAN OF ARC (1948). Director: Victor Fleming.

"We can win only if we become God's army."

Joan (Ingrid Bergman), a young farm girl in France, claims to hear voices from God, telling her to speak to the Dauphin (Jose Ferrer) -- who would become King of France -- and to rally the French troops to force the British interlopers out of the country. She is on a mission from God to save France. Initially people are skeptical --  she is eventually seen as a witch by some, and a saint by others, and she marches into battle as a kind of unarmed mascot. But Joan's admirers are growing in number, and the French powers-that-be are disturbed ... Joan of Arc was excoriated when it was first released, primarily because it cost more than Gone with the Wind but was a financial bust. It's hard to understand why contemporary critics found the film boring and almost worthless. I am not at all religious, but I was impressed by the film's performances --virtually every well-known character actor working in pictures at the time -- the score (Hugo Friedhofer), and the beautiful color cinematography (Joseph Valentine) which often makes each shot look like a painting. The movie moves quite quickly as well. Bergman gives an Oscar-winning performance, and is wonderful. The only quibble I might have is that in scenes when she is supposed to be utterly exhausted due to no sleep she merely seems mildly fatigued -- even make up would have helped, but one supposes no one wanted to mar her features. Bergman was 33 at the time of filming (Joan was put to the stake at 19) and always wanted to play the role; a younger actress might have lacked the ability and strength the part required. Jose Ferrer, who was introduced in this picture,  also won a Best Actor Oscar, and while he's not on Bergman's level, he is quite good as the rather foppish Dauphin. Of the huge supporting cast there is notable work from Richard Derr as a knight and Joan's first follower; John Emery [Kronos] as the sympathetic Duke d'Alencon; and Jeff Corey [Seconds] as a jailer intent on Joan's rape. There are also appearances by Jimmy Lydon (!) as Joan's brother; Alan Napier (Batman's butler) as the Earl of Warwick; Hurd Hatfield as Father Pasquerel; and brief bits with Henry Brandon, Thomas Brown Henry, George Coulouris, and many others. The worst performance is by Francis L. Sullivan [Hell's Island], who plays Pierre Cauchon, Joan's chief accuser, almost as if he were a villain in a cliffhanger serial. The movie employs a lot of dramatic license, as a great deal is not known about Joan, and the picture simply takes her at face value, with no indication (from the movie's point of view) that she may be either demented, opportunistic or both. Her horrible death is depicted but rather glossed over -- she doesn't even break out into a sweat as the flames supposedly consume her.

Verdict: At times the movie seems to exist in a vacuum, but it is beautiful to look at, well-paced, and features some marvelous performances. ***.

TARZAN'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN

Lex Baker took over the role of Tarzan

TARZAN'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN (1949). Director: Lee Sholem.

Aviatrix Gloria James (Evelyn Ankers of The Pearl of Death) disappeared twenty years before but her plane and diary are found by Tarzan. Since James' testimony is required to free a jailed man, Tarzan goes to a hidden city -- full of what could best be described as white Aztec-Romans -- to bring Gloria back, and discovers she hasn't aged a day in all those years. Naturally there are unscrupulous people who hope to discover the Fountain of Youth, such as Trask (Albert Dekker) and Dodd (Charles Drake). In a development that borrows from Lost Horizon, Gloria ages as soon as she gets home, and returns to Africa with her husband, Douglas (Alan Napier), where the two hope that Tarzan will guide them back to the Blue Valley where she lived all of those years. But Tarzan is opposed to the plan, and some nasty residents of the hidden city -- against the orders of their leader, the High One (David Bond) -- do their best to kill him and anyone else who knows of the pathway to their valley. Tarzan's Magic Fountain was Lex Barker's first appearance as Tarzan, and he's fine, playing it in the nearly monosyllabic mode popularized by Johnny Weissmuller. Brenda Joyce, who replaced Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane in the last Weissmuller movies, returns as Barker's Jane, but this was her last appearance in the role -- and her last picture, as she promptly retired from the movie business. Johnny Sheffield as Boy had already left the series and turned into Bomba, and he was not replaced in the role. Tarzan's Magic Fountain has an interesting premise, but not a lot is done with it, and the screenplay is mediocre, as is the direction; Lee Sholem mostly directed TV episodes. The ever-versatile Henry Brandon plays one of the Blue Valley natives who wants to kill Tarzan for allegedly giving away the secret location of their city; Rick Vallin is another one of those natives. Elmo Lincoln, one of the first Tarzan's, supposedly plays a fisherman, but he is not credited. Cheetah's cutest scene of many is her encounter with bubble gum. When she regains her youth at the end of the movie, she turns into a different species of ape! Albert Dekker and Charles Drake also appeared together in The Pretender.

Verdict: Barker is fine, but it's an inauspicious debut for him. **1/2.

HOUSE OF HORRORS

Marcel (Martin Kosleck) admires his bust of the Creeper

HOUSE OF HORRORS (1946). Director: Jean Yarbrough.

Starving artist Marcel De Lange (Great Old Movies' favorite Martin Kosleck) is about to commit suicide in despair when he stumbles across an injured man known only as the Creeper (Rondo Hatton). The Creeper had already committed a series of murders, snapping people's spines, and is presumed dead. Marcel uses the Creeper to get revenge on his enemies, especially the acidic critic Holmes Harmon (Alan Napier), who has no tolerance for the abstract. The main suspect in Harmon's murder, however, is commercial illustrator Steven Morrow (Robert Lowery of the Batman and Robin serial), who was to be the target of his venom in the critic's latest column. Another critic, Joan Medford (Virginia Grey), happens to be Morrow's girlfriend and a champion of De Lange's macabre sculptures. But when she gets too close to figuring out De Lange's deadly secret ... This is a snappy and suspenseful horror thriller, well-directed by Yarbrough, and with an excellent performance from Kosleck, and good back up from Hatton [who thinks his bust is "pretty"], a highly vivacious (perhaps too vivacious considering the goings-on) Grey, and a more than competent Lowery and Napier. Howard Freeman also scores as another art critic, Hal Ormiston, who participates in a scheme to catch the murderer. The beautiful model Stella is played by Joan Shawlee and Lt. Brooks is Bill Goodwin. House of Horrors is an unofficial sequel to the modern-day Sherlock Holmes film The Pearl of Death, in which Hatton also played a Creeper who breaks spines. Oddly the opening credits of Horrors "introduce" Hatton as the Creeper. There were plans to make a series of Creeper films and turn Hatton into a horror star, but the poor fellow, who suffered from acromegaly due to exposure to poison gas in WW1, passed away before House of Horrors opened. Kosleck's most famous part was in The Flesh Eaters. Yarbrough directed She-Wolf of London and many, many others.

Verdict: Highly entertaining horror flick. ***.

PREMATURE BURIAL

PREMATURE BURIAL (1962). Director: Roger Corman. 

"I never enjoy myself. I just enjoy greater or lesser degrees of tedium." -- Dr. Gault [Alan Napier]. 

Guy Carrell (Ray Milland) is convinced that his father was buried alive and that he, too, suffers from narcolepsy. He builds an elaborate vault with all manner of safety devices that will enable him to escape from his crypt when he awakens entombed. His wife Emily (Hazel Court) is horrified by Guy's morbidness and unhealthy obsession and convinces him to take drastic action. Then ... This is a very handsome production with some very capable -- if Hollywood style once-removed -- acting. Edgar Allan Poe's short story has been transformed by Charles Beaumont and Ray Russell [Mr. Sardonicus, Incubus] into a grim, suspenseful thriller with twists a la Robert Bloch. On that level it works beautifully. Ronald Stein's rich score takes off on the basic theme of "Molly Malone" and goes from there. Richard Ney is Carrell's doctor-friend, and Alan Napier is his waspy father-in-law. 

Verdict: Just misses being really great. ***.

THE UNINVITED

THE UNINVITED (1944). Director: Lewis Allen. 

In 1937 England, brother and sister Roderick (Ray Milland) and Pamela Fitzgerald (Ruth Hussey) come across a lovely deserted manor by the sea and fall in love with it. A young lady, Stella (Gail Russell), grew up in the house and her mother died in it (or near it). Even as Roderick and Stella find themselves increasingly attracted to each other, a sinister presence makes itself felt inside the house. Is it the ghost of Stella's mother, Mary, another woman named Carmel, or someone else? The performances from the stars and supporting cast -- Alan Napier, Donald Crisp, Barbara Everest, Dorothy Stickney, Cornelia Otis Skinner -- are uniformly excellent. This isn't for all tastes, but those who go for it will find it suspenseful and very entertaining. The movie hints at some things that might never have gotten past the production code. Elizabeth Russell of The Seventh Victim and Weird Woman, among others, was the model for the portrait of dead Mary. Composer Victor Young wrote the lovely "Stella by Starlight" for this film. Gail Russell died tragically young at 36. Her bio on imdb.com states that her role in this film was "insignificant," which is hardly the case. 

Verdict: Fascinating -- or much ado about nothing. Your call. ***.

THE MOLE PEOPLE

THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956). Director: Virgil Vogel. 

Explorers and scientists Roger Bentley (John Agar), Jud Bellamin (Hugh Beaumont from Leave it to Beaver) and Etienne LaFarge (Nestor Paiva) wind up in giant caverns which hold the lost civilization of Sumeria. At first they are considered gods by the high priest (Alan Napier of Batman fame), who worships Ishtar, but eventually he realizes the truth and there's trouble. The Sumerians use ugly-looking mole creatures [see photo] as their brutalized slaves, who can dig through the layers of the cavern and who eventually rebel. This is Saturday matinee fare hokum, but it's also entertaining, with atmospheric underground sequences and fine matte paintings. There's no evil queen, but a few babes, including Cynthia Patrick as the sympathetic Adad. Dr. Frank Baxter introduces the movie and is a bore. Agar isn't bad, Paiva is better, and Napier is just swell. Effective musical score [cobbled together from different sources] as well. 

Verdict: More fun that you might expect. ***.

MANHANDLED

MANHANDLED (1949). Director: Lewis R. Foster. 

"I wouldn't dream of depriving you of the opportunity of making a vulgar display of yourself." 

Alton Bennet (Alan Napier), an upper crust type with money problems, sees a psychiatrist (Harold Vermilyea) to tell him of a persistent nightmare he has in which he beats his rather trampy wife (Irene Hervey) to death with a very large perfume bottle. When the woman is murdered during a jewel robbery, the shrink's secretary Merl (Dorothy Lamour) becomes the chief suspect. Sterling Hayden plays Joe Cooper, the insurance investigator assigned to the case, while Art Smith and Irving Bacon are the police officers. Dan Duryea is suitably oily as a supposed friend of Lamour's, and Phillip Reed plays an attractive architect who is Mrs. Bennet's favorite date. Manhandled is no world-beater, but it holds the attention for the most part, has good performances, and some twists up its sleeve that you may not see coming. Napier [Alfred the Butler on Batman] certainly makes an impression as the snooty, oh-so-superior Bennet. Lamour handles this type of material with aplomb. Hervey is also vivid. 

Verdict: More Noir Lite. **1/2.

THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS

THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940). Director: Joe May.

When Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price) is wrongly imprisoned for murdering his brother, his friend Dr. Frank Griffin (John Sutton) -- brother of John Griffin, the original Invisible Man -- visits him in prison and gives him a shot of the formula. Voila! Radcliffe is soon free, wandering the countryside, becoming more and more paranoiac and dangerous as he tries to find out who actually murdered his brother. Like Claude Rains before him, Price gives an impressive performance using only his voice -- following the tradition of The Invisible Man he isn't seen until the very end of the picture. John P. Fulton's effects are outstanding; particularly notable is the way Price is seen as a ghostly spectre in smoke and fog and rain, as well as the effect of his emerging capillaries at the end. Nan Grey is nice as the love interest, and Cecil Kellaway and Sir Cedric Hardwicke are excellent support as, respectively, a police inspector and Radcliffe's friend. John Sutton is also quite good and Alan Napier stands out as a nervous, sinister foreman who knows more than he's telling about the murder. Director Joe May covers the action adequately but the film lacks any real style. The Invisible Man Returns is a more serious film than its predecessor, but it, too, cries out for a more exciting musical score.

Verdict: Not bad sequel if you're game. **1/2.

THREE STRANGERS

THREE STRANGERS (1946). Director: Jean Negulesco. Written by John Huston and Howard Koch.


Tied in with an old Chinese legend, three strangers share a sweepstakes ticket and an uncertain destiny. Crystal Shackleford (Geraldine Fitzgerald) is determined to get her husband, David (Alan Napier), back from the new woman in his life and will tell any nasty lie to do so. Jerome Arbutny (Sydney Greenstreet) is facing complete and total ruination if it gets out that he played fast and loose with a client's money -- he even goes so far as to ask the old biddy for her hand in marriage. Johnny West (Peter Lorre) is a foolish drunk who is arrested for a murder he didn't commit and was only nominally involved in. Will the goddess Kwan Yin favor them with good fortune, or will their own natures get the better of them? Unusual, cleverly scripted story features some fine performances from the stars and supporting cast, with Peter Lorre playing a more sympathetic -- and romantic -- part than usual. Decidedly offbeat and certainly unpredictable.

Verdict: Something different. ***.