THE CAT CREATURE

Gale Sondergaard and Meredith Baxter

THE CAT CREATURE (1973 telefilm). Director: Curtis Harrington.

Joe Sung (Keye Luke) steals a cat-medallion from a recently opened Egyptian casket, and begins a chain of deaths from a clawed creature that counts him among its victims. The trail leads to Hester Black (Gale Sondergaard), a shady lady who runs an occult shop. Lt March (Stuart Whitman of Eaten Alive), aided by egyptologist Roger Edmonds (David Hedison of The Lost World), investigates the case, which also embroils Hester's new assistant, Rena Carter (Meredith Baxter). While it's fun at first seeing such veteran actors as Kent Smith [Cat People], John Carradine, Luke, Milton Parsons (as a coroner, naturally), and especially an excellent and criminally wasted Sondergaard [The Letter], The Cat Creature is pretty bad, with one of Robert Bloch's least inspired scripts. Tabbie cats are not exactly fearsome animals, for one thing. "Peter Lorre Jr." -- actually a man named Eugene Weingand who pretended to be Lorre's son -- has a small role as a murdered pawnbroker. Baxter is given a pretty embarrassing role to play.

Verdict: Great to see Sondergaard still in top form, but the movie is terrible. *1/2. 

JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN

George Maharis in "Miss Belle"

JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN. 1968 television series.

This British import ran for one season and was produced by Joan Harrison, who worked on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but if this show is any indication she had lowered her standards for scripts considerably for the later series. The majority of episodes not only would have been instantly rejected by Hitch, but are lame by any standard, with weak premises devoid of a final snap or twist. There are very few exceptions. "The New People" is an excellent, creepy, and suspenseful episode [directed by Peter Sasdy from Charles Beaumont] in which a young couple have very strange if fun-loving neighbors; the cast includes Robert Reed and a notable Milo O'Shea. "One on an Island" [from Donald Westlake] features a fine performance from Brandon De Wilde [All Fall Down] in an absorbing story of a young man shipwrecked on an isolated island. It shouldn't work at all but somehow it does. "Matakitas is Coming" stars Vera Miles as a woman who writes about murders for a magazine and finds herself locked in a library that has somehow gone back in time to the night a librarian was murdered by a maniac back in the 1920s. The murderer is creeping about, and so is the victim ... The episode has an excellent premise even if its execution is uneven and a little confusing. Also Miles is a little too perfunctory at times given her character's situation. "Somewhere in a Crowd," with David Hedison [Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea] giving one of his best performances (in a tale wherein the same group of people keep showing up at disasters), would have been one of the series' more memorable episodes were it not for the fact that it's a complete, uncredited rip-off of Ray Bradbury's 1948 short story "The Crowd." George Maharis appears in an unpleasant look at child abuse -- a woman raises her little nephew as a girl -- in "Miss Belle." And there were episodes even worse than that.NOTE: Some of the episodes from the show were strung together to make TV movies. One, Journey to the Unknown, features Joan Crawford as host and presents "Matakitas" and an episode with Patty Duke vacationing at the English seaside at an inn with a strange landlady.

Verdict: Three decent episodes does not a great series make. **.

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA Season Three

The Seaview crew must battle a giant lizard in "Night of Terror"

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA Season 3. 1966.

Irwin Allen's series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea had an excellent first season, a good second season -- and then deteriorated badly. The producer clearly thought of it strictly as a Kiddie show, and figured the children wanted more and sillier monsters over good storylines. Reportedly this was extremely embarrassing to star Richard Basehart, who hated the scripts. There were far too many episodes in which Admiral Nelson (Basehart) or Captain Crane (David Hedison) are mesmerized or brainwashed into trying to destroy the Seaview or each other. The nadir of monsters were the idiotic lobster-like creatures (not to be confused with the Lobster Men of the fourth season) of "Doomsday Island." There were very few memorable episodes: "Day of Evil" combines nuclear reactor problems with an alien impersonating Nelson who wants to create a holocaust. "The Thing from Inner Space" features Hugh Marlowe as a TV host urging Nelson to search for a monster that killed his crew. "The Brand of the Beast" has Nelson turning into a werewolf and has some suspense. "The Day the World Ended" is another suspenseful episode in which all life on earth seems to have disappeared. "Deadly Waters" is a serious episode -- and the best of the season -- in which the Seaview is trapped on the ocean's bottom below crush depth. Seaman Riley was replaced by Patterson (Paul Trinka), and the unnamed Ship's Doctor (Richard Bull) made many appearances, along with Kowalksi (Del Monroe) and Sharkey (Terry Becker). The acting was generally quite good, with Basehart, Hedison and the others playing more or less with conviction regardless of how absurd the plots and creatures were, although Admiral Nelson seemed increasingly dyspeptic (along with Sharkey), possibly because of Basehart's feelings about the series. A big lizard from Allen's The Lost World showed up yet again in "Night of Terror."

Verdict: Way too much silliness and stupid scripts. **. 

THE FLY (1958)

THE FLY (1958). Director: Kurt Neumann.

George Langelaan's novelette "The Fly," originally published in Playboy in 1957, is one of the all-time great terror stories, presenting a fascinating scientific notion and elaborating it by piling horror upon horror. The film version, with a screenplay by James Clavell, is very faithful to the story in most respects. Andre Delambre (David Hedison, billed as Al) has invented a matter transmitter [years before Star Trek's teleportation device] that can send things and people from one chamber to the next, and theoretically will be able to ship supplies and individuals to other countries and even planets. Unfortunately, Delambre is careless and allows a common house fly to get into the chamber just as he is about to teleport himself into the next room, resulting in a man with a horrible fly's head [but human brain -- at first] and a fly with a tiny human head and leg [apparently matter transmission can redistribute atoms and change sizes, but no bother]. The film, like the story, unfolds as a mystery, as Delambre's wife Helene (Patricia Owens) tries to explain to her brother-in-law Francois (Vincent Price) and Inspector Charas (Herbert Marshall) why she lowered a crushing mechanical press down onto the body of her husband, nearly obliterating his form. [The shot of the lower half of Delambre sticking out from under the press, a puddle of blood surrounding it, especially gruesome in color, was undoubtedly cut out of television prints.] Hedison is fine as Delambre, although most of the time he has to wear a not-very-convincing mask. Although she gets an A for effort and has a few good moments, Patricia Owens is generally out of her depth as the wife who is nearly driven mad by the grotesque developments of the story. Vincent Price pretty much walks through the movie, seemingly disinterested in the material, but Herbert Marshall is solid and professional, as ever, as the police inspector. The climactic scene with the fly caught in the spider's web still packs a horrifying wallop. Although there are unfortunate elements to the movie that border on burlesque, it works as a mostly effective tragic horror flick. Kurt Neumann's [Carnival Story, Kronos] direction is only standard, however, and the film is not as good as the novella. Paul Sawtell's score, including a generic love theme, is likewise mediocre. Photographed by Karl Struss, who often worked with Neumann. Kathleen Freeman has a small role as a maid who tries to find "the fly with a white head."

Verdict: Imaginative and in some ways rather disgusting. ***.

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA Season 2

A giant scientist goes after Seaview in "Leviathan"

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. Season 2. 1965.

The second season of the popular science fiction-adventure show was shot in living color. The character of Curley -- Henry Kulky had passed away -- was replaced by Chief Sharkey (Terry Becker), and the second episode marked the debut of the flying sub, which was destroyed more than once on subsequent episodes. Cute crewman Riley (Allan Hunt) was given a lot more to do. The show was set in the "future" with episode tags declaring that the date of the story was 1976 or 1978. The first episode had new, inferior theme music, but the original theme was brought back for the very next episode [the new theme -- stately, dark, but less exciting -- was used in the background of some episodes]. While perhaps not as good overall as the first season, the second season still had its share of memorable episodes. The suspenseful "Left-Handed Man" wondered if a potential secretary of state posed a danger, while "Leviathan" -- which introduced a new opening for the show -- featured a fissure that caused gigantism in animals. "The Machines Strike Back" had drones with bombs attacking the U.S. under the direction of an unknown individual. Alfred Ryder was the ghost of a Nazi U-boat captain in "The Phantom Strikes" [wherein the show entered supernatural territory, not really a good fit for it]  and "The Sky's on Fire" was basically a mini-adaptation of Irwin Allen's original motion picture. "Graveyard of Fear" featured Robert Loggia as a scientist with a 200-year-old assistant (Marian Moses) and threw in a giant Man-of-War for good measure. "The Shape of Doom" [directed by Nathan Juran] involves a whale that comes dangerously close to a presidential carrier from which crazy scientist Kevin Hagen hopes to extract important scientific equipment. The three best episodes were the opener, "Jonah and the Whale," with Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart) and Gia Scala inside a diving bell that is swallowed by a whale; "The Death Ship," a highly-suspenseful "Ten Little Indians"-type plot that takes place aboard the Seaview with an unknown killer decimating other important passengers; and  "... And Five of Us Are Left," about WW 2 sailors trapped in a cave for 28 years!. Basehart and David Hedison still play their roles with conviction, although sometimes it seems as if their relationship changes to support the contortions of the storyline. The show would occasionally aspire to be a spy series, with generally dismal results, and more stock footage from Allen's The Lost World showed up in "Terror on Dinosaur Island."

Verdict: Slipping, but still a lot of fun. ***.

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA Season 1

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. Season 1. 1964.

Those who remember this series as a kind of campy monster-of-the-week show might be surprised by the black and white episodes of the first season, most of which are reasonable and serious. Based on his movie of the same title, producer Irwin Allen put together this program with Richard Basehart in the Walter Pidgeon role of Admiral Harriman Nelson [inventor of the nuclear sub Seaview] and David Hedison cast as Captain Lee Crane, the part originally played by Robert Sterling. Both are perfect for their roles.

First season highlights include "The Fear Merchants," in which a fear gas is secretly tested on the crew of the Seaview; "Submarine Sunk Here," a harrowing episode wherein the sub is downed by old floating mines; "Mutiny," in which Nelson and Crane have tense disagreements while dealing with a huge collective jellyfish; "Doomsday," in which the Seaview is put on standby alert for a possible WW3; "The Exile," wherein Nelson is stranded on a life raft with a miserable "People's Republic" ex-premier [Ed Asner]; "The Condemned," in which an egotistical admiral (J. D. Cannon) and his put-upon assistant (Arthur Franz) take the Seaview down to crush depth by using a special atmosphere; and "The Invaders," in which Robert Duvall plays an ancient life form found in a capsule at the sea bottom. Two especially excellent episodes were "The Ghost of Moby Dick," in which a scientist seeks revenge against the most humongous whale that ever existed; and "Hail to the Chief," in which the president is taken aboard Seaview for brain surgery and the crew has to deal with more than one assassin. There were several other fine episodes as well. Notable guest stars included Hurd Hatfield, Mike Kellin, Viveca Lindfors, Carroll O'Connor Richard Carlson, Donald Harron, Torin Thatcher, Leslie Neilsen,  and even George Sanders! In addition to Basehart and Hedison, cast regulars included Del Monroe as Kowalski, Robert Dowdell is Chip Morton, and Henry Kulky as Chief "Curley" Jones; all are fine.

As noted, the show was entirely reasonable [if "fantastic" at times], even when it dealt with monsters, with one notable exception. The episode "Turn Back the Clock" consists almost entirely of footage from Allen's production of The Lost World, which starred David Hedison, and has the crew of the Seaview arriving at a prehistoric world in the Arctic a la The Land Unknown.  After this episode aired it was hard to take Nelson and Crane seriously when they seem incredulous about some weird creature or another when they'd already encountered living dinosaurs! This cost-cutting maneuver of Allen's was probably not advisable in the long run, but he was to use stock footage from The Lost World again in the future. "The Village of Guilt," which features a giant octopus, uses a couple of quick clips from Harryhausen's It Came from Beneath the Sea.

The episodes have all been beautifully remastered for the DVD set and look quite splendid. In High definition it's like you can reach out and touch the water. Not having seen this show in many years, I was very delighted with its quality. Paul Sawtell's majestic theme music, [first used in the motion picture] sets the right mood week after week. NOTE: The Volume 1 Season 1 DVD set also includes the pilot episode in color  on the last disc.

Verdict: A very entertaining and well-done series. ***1/2.

THE LOST WORLD (1960)

THE LOST WORLD (1960). Director: Irwin Allen.

"Eaten alive! Horrible! Horrible!"

Colorful and loose adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel has a motley group trapped on a South American plateau with a variety of prehistoric monsters and cannibalistic natives. Fitted with bibs, horns and the like, the "dinosaurs" are actually rather majestic lizards, and the sets during the climax are redressed from Journey to the Center to the Earth [especially the Atlantis scenes). The peppery exchanges between Professor Challenger (Claude Rains) and Summerlee (Richard Haydn) are amusing, and Jill St. John as the only woman in the group is as saucy as ever. The climactic scenes as the party is chased by natives through the foggy Caves of Fire -- and encounter the monstrous Fire God -- are suspenseful and exciting. David Hedison, Michael Rennie, and Fernando Lamas don't do that much more than walk through the picture, but Jay Novello is as splendid as ever as the weasel-like Costas who winds up a blue plate special. Uneven effects. You have to see the pink poodle Frosty come up against a leaf-munching dinosaur to believe it. NOTE: For more on this film and others like it see Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies. FURTHER NOTE: It is best to see this in wide-screen and high definition.

Verdict: Silly but entertaining creature feature. ***.

LICENCE TO KILL

LICENCE TO KILL (1989) Director: John Glen. Written by Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum. 

This is perhaps the grittiest and, for lack of a better word, most “realistic” of the Bond films. Bond (Timothy Dalton) is in Florida for the wedding of his old friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison), who nearly misses his wedding to go after his number one target, drug lord Sanchez (Robert Davi, pictured). Sanchez, unfortunately, escapes -- with the aid of a traitorous colleague of Leiter's -- and takes revenge on Leiter by murdering his bride and feeding Leiter to a Great White. [This scene is actually taken from Ian Fleming's novel Live and Let Die. As in the book, Leiter does not die but loses a couple of limbs, and is delivered back home with a note that reads He disagreed with something that ate him.] Bond makes up his mind to take down Sanchez, but both American drug agents and M himself order him to back off. Enraged, Bond resigns and goes AWOL, teaming up with drug agent Pam Bouvier (Cary Lowell), who also has an interest in Sanchez. In Isthmus City in Panama, Bond and Pam are up to their necks in Sanchez' associates, Japanese drug merchants, counter-agents who are out to get Sanchez, and even Q (Desmond Llewelyn), who comes to Isthmus City with gadgets for Bond and plays a larger role than he does in most Bond movies. Although Llewelyn plays Q, M and Miss Moneypenny are essayed by different actors than those in the earlier films. Licence to Kill is romantic, darkly amusing, and quite exciting for the most part. Dalton plays Bond like a heroic human being and not a Superman. Lowell's character is feisty, independent and liberated; only her jealousy of Bond's “relationship” with Sanchez' girlfriend. Lupe, is stereotypical and silly. Lowell is perfect as Pam, but Talisa Soto betrays very little acting skill as Lupe. Robert Davi is a major Bond villain with equal parts charm and menace, and Benicio Del Toro is slithering, sociopathic, almost sexy prime evil as Sanchez' lead assassin. Anthony Starke scores as Sanchez' fresh-scrubbed Wall Street-type associate, Truman-Lodge, and Wayne Newton is amusing and inspired casting as an evangelist who helps Sanchez distribute his drugs. Don Stroud, Anthony Zerbe, David Hedison, Priscilla Barnes and others also turn in solid performances. The film has superior production design and good photography from Alec Mills. The title song is a snappy one, although not particularly well sung by Gladys Knight. Michael Kamen's score is functional, but doesn't compare with John Barry's romantic music, which may have been considered unsuitable for this grittier approach to 007. Licence to Kill was filmed on location in Mexico and Florida. Although this is a very good Bond adventure, there are – surprisingly – no particular scenes that one can point to and pronounce a “knock-out.” The film works on a cumulative level. This is not to say that there aren't memorable sequences, such as when Bond takes over the small plane being piloted by drug runners or the ironic death of the traitor at the teeth of the Great White. But some of the scenes are not edited as tightly as they should have been. The climax is marred because they keep cutting away from the main action too often, and the fight to the death between Bond and Sanchez, while clever, is much too brief. Dalton really had a handle on the character – too bad he wasn't allowed to play Bond for a few more films. 

Verdict: While flawed, this is a highly satisfying and entertaining 007 outing. ***.