THE SATAN BUG

George Maharis and Anne Francis

THE SATAN BUG (1965). Director: John Sturges.

Lee Barrett (George Maharis of Sylvia) is called in when several vials are stolen from a government lab. Some of these vials contain a deadly virus that can cause many deaths but will eventually die out itself. But one of the vials contains what scientists have termed "the Satan bug," an airborne, self-perpetuating, basically indestructible virus that can wipe out all of humanity within the space of two months! Barrett learns that a wealthy and mysterious man named Ainsley may be behind the theft after he makes certain demands, but he also fears that this mastermind may have a confederate in the lab. To show he means business Ainsley unleashes the "less" deadly virus on Florida, killing many innocent inhabitants. Now Barrett has to find the flasks and get them away from Ainsley and his associates before the worst can happen.

John Clarke, George Maharis, Simon Oakland

I had wanted to see The Satan Bug for years (although this was probably not the best time to finally take a look at it). It's a strange picture. It has many interesting elements and a few very suspenseful scenes, especially towards the end, but for much of its length the movie just sort of meanders under John Sturge's somewhat stodgy direction and this is its primary problem. The plot of the movie should have had the audience on the edge of its seat biting its nails, but aside from one or two scenes, it never develops that level of tension. George Marahis' role is ill-defined, which is also true of Anne Francis as his sort-of girlfriend and Dana Andrews as her father. The large supporting cast includes everyone from Richard Basehart (who is excellent) as a scientist to Edward Asner as a bad guy to Harry Lauter as a phony FBI agent to James Doohan as a real agent of some kind, and many others.

The film does have its moments. There's a tense business when Barrett enters a lab with a mouse with the realization that if the little creature dies he will have to be shot moments later to protect everyone else. There's the black and white footage the characters watch as a helicopter flies over the corpses all over the ground in Florida. Then there's a wild fight in a careening helicopter. But much of the suspense is minimized by poor pacing and sequences that don't add to the excitement but seem to detract from it. Still, The Satan Bug is undeniably creepy and generally absorbing. Sturges also directed Jeopardy.  A much better film on a somewhat similar theme is the excellent Andromeda Strain.

Verdict: Just misses being a really top-notch thriller. **3/4. 

THE MUGGER

Kent Smith, Nan Martin, James Franciscus

THE MUGGER (1958). Producer/director: William Berke. Based on a novel by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter).

An unidentified man is running about the city stealing women's purses and leaving a slight slash on their cheeks. Lt. Pete Graham (Kent Smith of Nora Prentiss), a police psychiatrist, is assigned to the case. He is convinced that it is unlikely the "mugger" will move up to murder, but then a victim, Jeannie (Sandra Church), is found dead. But was she really a victim of this mugger, or did someone else kill her? Suspects in the case include Nicholas Grecco (George Maharis), who was infatuated with the murder victim; cab driver Eddie Baxter (James Franciscus), who was the brother-in-law of the victim; and Franklin Corey (Bert Thorn), who may be hiding a secret from his wife  Graham's fiancee is policewoman Claire Townsend (Nan Martin), who goes out undercover to try to catch the mugger. Dick O'Neill is a police sergeant and Renee Taylor plays a woman who is being followed -- by her husband.

James Franciscus and Kent Smith

The Mugger is a slick, low-budget, generally absorbing feature that in some ways resembles a television crime show. A very young James Franciscus [The Valley of Gwangi] has some good scenes as the cab driver; Smith is reasonably effective; Maharis [Journey to the Unknown] plays his character like a nerd to explain why Jeannie doesn't want to date him; and the other performers are all competent. The most chilling thing about the movie is after the killer is dispatched in a grisly fashion, and an old man who witnessed the death (and doesn't know the person was a murderer) waxes philosophical about the event without displaying a shred of compassion, although this may have to do with some insufficient emoting on the bit actor's part.

Verdict: Okay programmer with some interesting players. **1/2. 

SYLVIA

SYLVIA (1965). Director: Gordon Douglas.

"Before you can save the soul, you gotta feed the body."

Frederic Summers (Peter Lawford) hires private eye Alan "Mack" Macklin (George Maharis) to investigate the background of his fiancee, Sylvia (Carroll Baker). As Mack tracks down the woman's past, he learns about how she was raped by her stepfather, became a prostitute, then a poet, and has favorably impressed many of the people she met along her journey. This includes the librarian, Irma (Viveca Lindfors) and a former "hostess" named Jane (Joanne Dru), whose hospital bills were paid by Sylvia. Mack finally catches up with Sylvia herself, and is drawn to her -- but what will happen when she discovers the truth about him? At first Sylvia seems that it might have serious possibilities, and doesn't just seem like a tawdry exercise despite the subject matter, but as the film proceeds it's clear that it's pretty much junk that isn't lurid enough. The two leads are okay, but small-scale, and hardly give great performances. There is better acting from Lindfors (whose character has often been considered a lesbian although there's nothing in this to indicate it); Dru; and especially Ann Sothern [A Letter to Three Wives] as a slatternly former co-worker of Sylvia's. There are also nice turns by Nancy Kovack as a stripper, Jay Novello as a priest, Edmond O'Brian [Backfire] as a former client of Sylvia's, Connie Gilchrist as a madame, and especially Paul Gilbert [So This is Paris] as a drag queen entertainer/club owner known as "Lola." Lawford is actually quite good and there are appearances by Aldo Ray, Lloyd Bochner, and Majel Barrett, among other familiar faces, as well. Although the story bounces around from Mexico to New York and other places, there is never any sense of time or location, as if everything exists in that certain soap opera void that only Hollywood could produce.

Verdict: There's a reason why certain movies are completely forgotten. **.

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. **.