GOODBYE TO MR. B.I.G.

Bert I. Gordon

GOODBYE TO "MR. BIG:" BERT I. GORDON (1922 - 2023). 

Filmmaker Bert I. Gordon lived to be a hundred and directed his last film. Secrets of a Psychopath, when he was in his nineties! Gordon may not have been a brilliant director along the lines of Hitchcock or Wyler, but his low-budget movies -- especially the giant monster movies which earned him the nickname of Mr. Big (taken from his initials, of course) -- were at their best fun, fast-paced and entertaining. 

Some of Gordon's movies were genuinely good. These included The Amazing Colossal Man with a fine performance from Glenn Langan, The Food of the Gods with Ida Lupino and Ralph Meeker, The Magic Sword with Basil Rathbone and Estelle Winwood, and The Cyclops starring Gloria Talbot and Lon Chaney -- with The Spider and Beginning of the End as runners-up. Considering how low the budgets were it's amazing that some of the movies turned out as well as they did. Gordon even directed no less than Orson Welles (!) in the film Necromancy, a fact that is slightly mind-boggling to contemplate! Imagine the same man who dropped grasshoppers onto photographs to simulate an attack by giant locusts on Chicago advising the great Orson Welles in a movie, although it's probable that he just sat back and let Orson do his thing. 

Thanks Bert for giving many genre fans a big amount of pleasure. (I can't tell you how many times I've watched The Cyclops!)

PICTURE MOMMY DEAD

Martha Hyer and Don Ameche

PICTURE MOMMY DEAD (1966). Director: Bert I. Gordon.

Young Susan Shelley (Susan Gordon) gets out of a "convent" for the mentally disturbed three years after the death of her mother, Jessica (Zsa Zsa Gabor), in a fire in their mansion. Her father, Edward (Don Ameche), has been traveling the world with his new viper-like wife, the former governess, Francine (Martha Hyer), and now they are nearly broke. Another member of this highly dysfunctional household is Jessica's cousin, Anthony (Maxwell Reed), who was disfigured in the fire and will inherit money if both Edward and his daughter should happen to die, something which Francine is also happily aware of. But the murder victim may be more unexpected than you imagine. Picture Mommy Dead  -- one of a number of thrillers made by director Gordon, who had previously specialized in movies about giant people and monsters -- isn't that good, but it has a fairly interesting script that just misses the mark. A big problem with the picture is that Susan Gordon, the director's daughter, is too inexperienced (despite 25 previous credits!) to handle such a difficult and demanding role, although she gets an E for Effort. Zsa Zsa appears in a few flashbacks and isn't given anything too demanding to do, while Hyer plays her bitchy part with a little zest but little real skill. Ameche [Slightly French] comes off better, but Maxwell Reed of Daybreak is only somewhat effective. Wendell Corey delivers the goods in his one scene, playing a lawyer who is so tactlessly blunt with everyone that it's a wonder nobody murders him right then and there.

Verdict: Not terrible, but Gordon probably should not have cast his daughter. **1/2.

SIZE IS RELATIVE

Marvel's Ant-Man

SIZE IS RELATIVE.

This week we've got a round up of movies dealing with differences in sizes. While I hesitate to say this is in honor of the opening of Marvel's Ant-Man movie tomorrow -- the movie might be too awful to "honor" -- it has got me thinking about the size of things in movies and on television shows, especially the size of people. This blog has already posted on such films as The Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Cyclops, Dr. Cyclops, Fantastic Voyage, and Attack of the Puppet People and this week we look at The Devil-Doll*, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver and TV shows World of Giants and Land of the Giants. There's also a look at classic Twilight Zone episodes that deal with the relativity of size.

As for Ant-Man, the original character from the sixties, Henry Pym, is being played by Michael Douglas in the movie. The younger Ant-Man is "Scott Lang," who is sort of Pym's protege. The old comic book stories from Tales to Astonish were ridiculous but charming. [For more info see The Silver Age of Comics.] Michael Crichton and Richard Preston wrote Micro, an interesting novel about miniaturization, but it has yet to be made into a movie.

* I actually watched this movie last night and wrote a review, only to discover I had already reviewed it on this blog some years ago. My opinion of it has gone down half a star. Both reviews are available on Great Old Movies.

BEGINNING OF THE END

BEGINNING OF THE END (1957). Director: Bert I. Gordon.

Reporter Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle) is surprised to learn that the town of Ludlow has been wiped out overnight and all of its 150 inhabitants have disappeared. [Nobody ever suggests a tornado might be responsible even though that is what the damage resembles in stock footage.] No, in a grotesque development Audrey learns that irradiated food worked on by entomologist Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves) has been accidentally eaten by grasshoppers and has turned them into humongous giants that have devoured everyone in town [bones included]! Before long General Hanson (Morris Ankrum) and Colonel Sturgeon (Thomas B. Henry) are leading a desperate battle against the ravenous plague of locusts as Wainwright tries to come up with the solution to destroying them. The climax has Wainwright and Aimes working in a skyscraper in Chicago as the grasshoppers converge en masse ... This is a cheap but entertaining entry in the "big bug" cycle, zippily directed by Gordon, and not badly acted by the enthusiastic cast. Beginning of the End is fast-paced fun but it's not a classic a la Them, its obvious model, nor is it as good as Tarantula. [Gordon also directed Earth vs. The Spider, among many others.]

NOTE: There is a scene in this movie when the Army first encounters the giant grasshoppers but find they are more than they can manage. As a truck pulls away from the forest where the mutants are congregated, one grasshopper suddenly rushes after the truck and nearly catches up with it. However, on the only DVD of this picture currently available, there is a fade out just before the monster appears, stripping the movie of one of its more exciting sequences. Reportedly, the DVD has cut three minutes of footage from the movie. This makes absolutely no sense. The whole point of DVDs with their special features and widescreen format is to show the complete movie as it was intended to be seen. It could be argued that some cuts tighten the movie or remove bad FX work, but fans of this genre want to see the whole movie as it was originally presented, no matter how good the video quality. [ For more on this and similar films see Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies.]

Verdict: Movie: **1/2. DVD: *1/2.

HIDDEN WORLD

HIDDEN WORLD (1958). Director: Bert I. Gordon.

This lost, unreleased film is sort of an unofficial sequel to "Mr. B.I.G." s [Bert I. Gordon] 1957 monsterpiece The Cyclops. Marie Windsor, Henny Youngman (surprisingly good in a dramatic part), Richard Crane, Lynn Bari, and Noah Beery Jr. play members of an expedition who take a copter into the unmapped Mexican jungle to search for a lost treasure. At one point references are made to a "lost flier named Bruce who grew into a giant in this valley," stories which are discounted by most of the characters. Once the copter lands, Hidden World turns into a mini-Journey to the Center of the Earth as the expedition enters a tunnel that leads deep down into an enormous cavern filled with out-sized man-eating frogs and forty-foot giant men [who try to roast Henny on a spit at one point.] Henny tries to joke his way out of his predicament by saying to one of the giants "Take my wife -- please!" Whiny Katherine Squire plays a normal-sized tribeswoman who is constantly screeching at the giants to "destroy the invaders." The best scene has Squire picked up by a disgruntled big guy who bites her head off. The sequence with the expedition members surrounded by hungry, roaring toads with long, snapping tongues is also amazing. The film was unfinished but an upcoming DVD release uses stills to fill in for the missing footage.

Verdict: If you loved The Cyclops ... ***.

TORMENTED

TORMENTED (1960). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

Jazz pianist Tom Stewart's (Richard Carlson) girlfriend, singer Vi Mason (Juli Reding) understandably has a bad reaction when he tells her he's getting married to the wealthy Meg Hubbard (Lugene Sanders). When the lighthouse railing she's leaning against gives way, Stewart doesn't make a move to save her, and rationalizes that he was not responsible for her death. Vi comes back at inopportune moments to haunt him, making his behavior baffle Meg and her little sister Sandy (Susan Gordon, daughter of the director). The basic plot of Tormented is workable, but this is one of low-budget director Gordon's few boring pictures, and is on occasion unintentionally humorous. Composer and frequent Gordon collaborator Albert Glasser turns in what is probably his worst score ever. Carlson is okay if a bit perfunctory. The best performances come from generally dependable Gene Roth [fine in Earth vs the Spider; awful in Captain Video] as a lunch stand operator, and Joe Turkel as a guy who tries to blackmail Stewart; Turkel mostly worked on television. A scene when Vi's ghost interrupts the wedding falls flat. Photographed by Ernest Laszlo! 

Verdict: Stick to The Cyclops instead. **.

KING DINOSAUR

KING DINOSAUR (1955). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

When a new planet, christened Nova, somehow enters our solar system in a nearby orbit, four scientists are sent by spaceship to the world to investigate. There they find normal-looking snakes and gators, as well as a big ugly bug and an island full of prehistoric monsters. The biggest, supposedly a T-Rex, is "King Dinosaur." The first quarter of the film is mostly narration and stock footage, but things pick up a bit -- comparatively speaking -- when the scientists start exploring. The climax with two of the members of the expedition trapped in a cavern by King Dinosaur, who thrusts his snout and sticks his claws into the hole in an attempt to get at them, is fun. The music by Louis Palange and Gene Garf sounds like a lazy pastiche of Ravel's Bolero most of the time, but there is effectively-done action music for the climactic scenes. Of the actors, Bill Bryant, who plays Ralph, had the most potential, and indeed he had a long career as a working actor. Douglas Henderson also had a long list of credits both before and after making this movie. The actresses did not fare as well, however. Patti Gallagher had only a few credits, and this was the only film that Wanda Curtis ever appeared in. This was the first of Mr. BIG [Bert I. Gordon's] giant monster movies. NOTE: For more on this and similar films see Creature Features. 

Verdict: Perfect for a rainy Sunday, but for fans of cheapie creepies only. **1/2.

EARTH VS. THE SPIDER (1958)

EARTH VS. THE SPIDER (1958). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

A gigantic spider who's been snacking on luckless folk who wander into his cavern or environs is apparently killed, but revives in the high school auditorium when the band starts rehearsing. The spider appears to suffer from gastritis, as it is always squealing like a pig. The movie has many unintentionally funny scenes and cheesy effects, but much of it plays perfectly well and, like most of Mr. BIG's [Bert I. Gordon] films it's entertaining for fans of creature features. Gene Persson and June Kenney are perfectly swell as the teen couple who get trapped in the cavern with the spider at the climax; Ed Kemmer is only adequate as their teacher. Gene Roth as Sheriff Cagle nearly steals the movie away from the spider. Gordon also directed The Cyclops, The Amazing Colossal Man, Attack of the Puppet People and many others. To read more about this film see Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies. 

Verdict: A lowercase Tarantula but fun. **1/2.

THE CYCLOPS

THE CYCLOPS (1957). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

"The secret of continuous, limitless multiplication of living cells in ordinary animals." 

Susan Winter (Gloria Talbott) travels to Mexico with a motley group in search of her fiance who crashed in an isolated jungle. Her companions include friend and scientist Russ (James Craig), pilot Lee (Tom Drake), and uranium-seeker Marty (Lon Chaney Jr.). Inside the "jungle" the little band discovers that radioactive properties of the soil have turned all of the animals and insects into huge monstrosities -- and what about that thirty foot giant who's wandering around? Could it be ...? Don't expect anything Oscar-worthy with The Cyclops, but it is very entertaining for those who are in a "BIG" [Bert I. Gordon] and monstrous mood. Despite it's cheapness, the film is done with a certain low-budget and economical flair. Albert Glasser's music is a plus, as usual, and the performances, especially by Chaney, are more than adequate. Gordon also directed The Amazing Colossal Man and War of the Colossal Beast, among many others. NOTE: For more on this film and others like it, see Creature Features. 

Verdict: Great fun for fans of creature features. ***.

ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE

ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (1958). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

"He turned your fiance into a doll!" 

Gordon, who had already helmed The Amazing Colossal Man and its sequel War of the Colossal Beast -- not to mention The Cyclops -- switched from gigantism to miniaturization in this very lower-case Incredible Shrinking Man. A lonely, dotty toy maker, Mr. Franz (John Hoyt), doesn't like anyone -- even his secretaries -- to leave him, and shrinks them down to doll-size, where they stay in suspended animation in cases until he decides to revive them for parties and the like. [There are hints that Franz has shrunken the old mail man, but we never see the guy thereafter.] Franz' latest victims include receptionist Sally (June Kenny), salesman Bob (John Agar), and Laurie Mitchell, the Queen of Outer Space herself. Franz has an old friend, Emile (Michael Mark), who is a puppeteer, and the climax takes place in a theater where Emile is performing. [Emile is also a bit batty. He suggests that he and Franz have a night cap and says "I'll pick you up at noon." The cinematographer is Ernest Laszlo (!) and the score is by the ever-reliable Albert Glasser. There are a couple of mediocre songs, and an strange little girl who shows up at the toy maker's without any parents in sight. There's some suspense, the pic is watchable, and the effects are typically fair-to-middling. 

Verdict: For those who think small. **1/2.

THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN

THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (1957). Director: Bert I. Gordon. Written by Gordon and Mark Hanna.

AIP rushed out Gordon's Amazing Colossal Man to take advantage of the success of the superior Incredible Shrinking Man, but on its own terms, Colossal is a creditable effort. Glenn Langan plays Colonel Glen Manning, who is observing a plutonium bomb test from a safe distance when a small plane crashes in the vicinity. Manning bravely rushes in to see if the pilot is alive, and gets caught in the full force of the blast. (Stan Lee essentially lifted this sequence to create an origin for The Hulk.) This makes his cells go out of whack – he heals with great rapidity but his cells keep on growing, until he becomes a literal giant. Eventually he loses his mind, rampages through downtown Las Vegas, and is (presumably) killed near Boulder Dam. Despite some ludicrous detours, this is an “intelligent” B movie with excellent performances from Langan and Cathy Downs as his heartsick fiancee. Langan had played romantic leads and second-leads in such films as Dragonwyck with Vincent Price and Margie but his career was on the downslide (he didn't make a film for eight years after Colossal and had to go to Italy to do so), and it isn't improbable to wonder if he used his anguish over faded career opportunities to empower his performance as the tormented Manning. (“What sin could a man commit in a single lifetime to bring this upon himself?” Manning wonders.) Unlike those who are crippled or disfigured, Manning couldn't possibly reenter society in any realistic manner. Gordon's low-rent FX work features a see-through colossus, but there is an effective moment involving a giant hypodermic needle.

NOTE: Continued in the review of the sequel, War of the Colossal Beast.

Verdict: Not bad at all. ***.

WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST

WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST (1958). Director Bert I. Gordon. Written by George Worthing Yates.

The Amazing Colossal Man, now played by Dean Parkin (in make up very similar to what he wore for Gordon's Cyclops), reappeared in the sequel War of the Colossal Beast. Manning somehow survived his fall into the damn and floated down to Mexico, where he lifts trucks carrying food off the back roads and hides out in the mountains. His sister (Sally Fraser) convinces an Army Major (Roger Pace) to fly down and search for him. [Considering the number of trucks he's carried off, you would think dozens of people would have seen him by now instead of one frightened boy.] As usual, the effects are very cheap, but Gordon manages some effective bits, especially when another truck containing the major and a local sergeant is pursued by the humongous legs of the giant, as well as his tug of war with a dozen privates, and his rampage through an airport. Now and then there's a very cleverly handled shot. Despite some of the intentional humor of the film, it's rather depressing, especially when Manning, his mind clearing enough to recognize that he's become a danger as well as a freak, commits suicide in front of his horrified sister by clutching some power lines. Albert Glasser's score for both pictures is very good, particularly when it is creating suspense and eeriness in the sequel. Taken separately or together, these are reasonably entertaining flicks for the monster movie devotee. Mark Hanna, who co-scripted Amazing Colossal Man, also scripted Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958). Two actors in that epic, William Hudson and Roy Gordon, also appeared in Bert Gordon's Colossal Man films. Hudson is "Handsome Harry," the unfaithful husband of Alison Hayes, in 50 Foot Woman and Dr. Lindstrom in Amazing Colossal Man. Roy Gordon is the Mayor (uncredited) in Colossal Beast and Doctor Cushing in 50 Foot Woman. These two actors certainly had their hands full with very big people! A remake of The Amazing Colossal Man was announced in the 1990s but it never materialized. [The less said about the television remake of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman the better.] 

Verdict: If you dig it, dig it! **1/2.