CALYPSO HEAT WAVE

Alan Arkin (left) as a young calypso singer

CALYPSO HEAT WAVE (1957). Director: Fred F. Sears. Produced by Sam Katzman.

Mack Adams (Paul Langton of The Big Knife) is head of a record company whose primary artist is Johnny Conroy (Johnny Desmond). Sleazy Barney Pearl (Michael Granger) tries to insert himself into Adams' business even as Pearl's girlfriend, Mona (Meg Myles) gets herself a hit record thanks to Adams' assistant, Alex (Joel Grey). Meanwhile Johnny walks out on this new hybrid company and takes off to the West Indies -- can Mack and his secretary Marti (Merry Anders of The Hypnotic Eye) convince him to come back and save the company? Calypso Heat Wave has a slender plot that employs the talents of Columbia recording artists, including Maya Angelou in her pre-poetess days, an all-black group called the Treniers, and a romantic trio known (confusingly) as the Tarriers, for whom a young Alan Arkin is the lead singer -- and he's not bad. If that weren't enough we have Pierre Watkin as the lawyer Thornwall, and Darla Hood (of The Bat and "Our Gang" comedies fame) singing a duet with Johnny but having no real role or dialogue. Desmond is a charismatic performer who manages in some numbers to crediby do the Calypso with a Caucasian twist, although in other numbers he comes off a little hokey. Angelou, known as "Miss Calypso," gets two numbers and is effective, while Meg Myles does a nice job with the catchy "Treat Me Like a Lady." Of the actors, Langton, Grey [Cabaret] and Myles make the best impression. That same year director Sears came out with the zesty The Giant Claw.

Verdict: Some genuine and Hollywoodized Calypso music and that's about it. **.

THE BAT

THE BAT (1959). Director: Crane Wilbur. 

An acceptable "light" version of the famous Mary Roberts Rinehart story features an old dark house, a mysterious masked villain who tears out throats with metal claws, an embezzler who comes to an untimely end, a doctor (Vincent Price) who breeds bats, including one that seems to be giant-sized (in one quick shot), and a famous mystery writer (Agnes Moorehead) who comes afoul of all of this because she's staying in the mansion, The Oaks, that seems to be the focus of the action. The Bat acts more like a creeping villain out of an old movie serial than anything else, and the actor who portrays him acts so sinister in his ordinary life that he sort of gives the game away (hint: it ain't Price). Moorehead and Price strike just the right note, and Lenita Lane (who also appeared with Price in The Mad Magician) is great as Moorehead's housekeeper-companion. Darla Hood, who played "Darla" in all the old Our Gang comedies as a child, shows up briefly as a witness who has an unfortunate run-in with The Bat. Director Crane Wilbur keeps things moving at a brisk pace. Some amusing moments and even a couple of quick chills but it isn't always very logical.

Verdict: Not great but has its moments. **1/2