SUSPENDED ALIBI

Naomi Chance and Patrick Holt

SUSPENDED ALIBI (1957). Director: Alfred Shaughnessy. 

Editor Paul Pearson (Patrick Holt of The Unholy Four) has been playing around with a fashion writer, Diana (Naomi Chance of Wings of Danger), despite his having a loving wife, Lynn (Honor Blackman), and young son, Bobby (Toby Winterbottom). He is trying to call it off with Diana, and uses a buddy, Bill (Bryan Coleman) as a beard. Unfortunately Bill is stabbed to death and Paul becomes a suspect. He tells the police he spent most of his time away from home with Diana, but when questioned she refuses to give him an alibi. Just in case she might change her mind, the real killer pays a call on Diana ... and then Paul is really in trouble.  

Patrick Holt and Honor Blackman

In some ways Suspended Alibi plays like something made twenty years earlier. The characters are not developed very well, and there are no scenes where the impossibly understanding wife has a strong confrontation with her adulterous husband -- he seems to get a free pass. There is a little suspense at the end as the police rush to apprehend the killer, but otherwise the film is watchable but has little tension. Another murder scene in which someone gets thrown out of a window is laughably muffed. Others in the cast include Andrew Keir as a reporter-friend of Paul's; Valentine Dyall as Inspector Kayes; and Lloyd Lamble as the neighbor Waller. 

Verdict: Distinctly minor-league British mystery that could have been developed into something much more worthwhile. **1/4. 

DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS (1948)

Denis Goacher and Siobhan McKenna

DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS (1948). Director: Lance Comfort. 

Emily (Siobhan McKenna) is a servant girl in a small-town parish in Ireland. When the ladies of the church object to how the men seem drawn to Emmie, they importune the priest to send her away. She winds up on an English farm run by the Tallent family: Julie (Honor Blackman) and her boyfriend Saul (Denis Goacher); Julie's sister, Bess (Anne Crawford of They Were Sisters) and her husband Bob (Barry Morse of Asylum); and their brother, Larry (Grant Tyler), among others. Julie remains friendly with Emily even after Saul makes a pass at her, but Bess simply can't warm up to the young woman. Things take a sinister turn when a man named Dan (Maxwell Reed of Daybreak), whom Emmie met at a fair in Ireland, turns up murdered ... 

Barry Morse and Anne Crawford

An unusual aspect of this unusual suspense film is the casting of Siobhan McKenna as the "femme fatale," Hardly possessed of great beauty -- in some shots she is positively homely -- her performance is so good that you sort of forget how she looks and appreciate the fact that some women can cast a spell over certain men even without possessing enormous pulchritude. If this had been remade for American audiences, it not only would have been more lurid and explicit, but Emily would have been played by a much sexier female. In any case, McKenna's innocent appearance works to the film's advantage.

David Greene and Siobhan McKenna

Daughter of Darkness never spells out exactly how various men are killed, adding to the film's obtuseness. The notion that she only kills men who try and have their way with her is jettisoned when one innocent youth is also found dead. Does Emily entice men and then react negatively when they give in to her enticement? Is she an evil, even sociopathic creature? We learn so little of her background -- and indeed all of the characters could have used more development -- that it's hard to figure out. In any case the film is moody and absorbing, and well-acted by all, making this a worthwhile watch despite its flaws. Others in the cast include David Greene as a man who disappears after meeting with Emily; Liam Redmond as the priest; and George Thorpe as the head of the Tallent family. Adding to the dark atmosphere is a dog, its owner dead, who wanders about howling and growling, and the bit with the church organ playing mysteriously in the middle of the night. Lance Comfort also directed Hatter's Castle. 

Verdict: Strange but compelling. ***.   

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER (1976). Director: Peter Sykes.

Author John Verney (Richard Widmark), who frequently writes on the occult, is importuned by a frightened man named Beddows (Denholm Elliott) to look after his daughter, Catherine (Nastassja Kinski), after she arrives in London. Catherine is a nun who belongs to the Church of the Children of the Lord, a sect that worships Astaroth. The leader of the church, Father Michael (Christopher Lee), is anxious to get his hands on Catherine because of certain bloody rites that must be performed. Initially sweet and compliant, Sister Catherine eventually becomes a danger to Verney's friends, including his literary agent Anna (Honor Blackman) and her boyfriend David (Anthony Valentine). Catherine makes her way to Father Michael as her own father writhes in terror and Verney learns what he can do to fight against the god -- or devil -- Astaroth's entry into earth via Catherine (or something like that). 

To the Devil a Daughter is a co-release of Hammer Studios but don't expect a Hammer classic with this atrocious movie. Most of the actors give it their all (one suspects Widmark wishes he had stayed in America) but they're fighting a losing battle with a hopelessly erratic script and sequences that are so bad they have to be seen to be believed. The last quarter of the film is hilarious, especially a sequence when a character is embroiled in fire and reduced to ashes so quickly that it is more comical than frightening. A bit of business in which a woman commits suicide by draining all of her blood into those special plastic bags turns hysterical when Chris Lee intones with consummate understatement: "she gave her life's blood." An orgy sequence is equally laughable. It's hard to imagine how anything could have been made out of this awful movie, which even Chris Lee can't save. 

Verdict: One of the worst Hammer movies ever made. *1/2. 

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963)

Todd Armstrong

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963). Director: Don Chaffey. 

With a crew of brave and adept champions, including the mighty Hercules (Nigel Green), Jason (Todd Armstrong) sets sail on the Argo to the ends of the earth in an attempt to find the famous golden fleece. Jason is unaware that he has been sent on this journey by his hated enemy, Pelias (Douglas Wilmer), who only wants him out of the way. Also accompanying Jason is Pelias' conniving son, Acastus (Gary Raymond), and Argos (Laurence Naismith), the ship's builder. Jason has been granted several wishes by Hera, queen of the Gods (Honor Blackman) and she greatly enjoys stymying the plans of her husband Zeus (Naill MacGinness). But can even Hera help Jason overcome the incredible challenges he faces? 

The humongous Talos bears down on the Argo

These challenges, brought to life by the stop-motion wizardry of Ray Harryhausen (possibly his greatest achievement), include the gigantic bronze statue of Talos, which comes to life; tormenting harpies on an island paradise; the many-headed, slithering hydra; the clashing rocks, which would destroy the Argo were it not for the help of a very huge Poseidon; and the living and armed skeletons of the hydra's victims in the bravura climax. Jason is also graced with a rich and exciting score by Bernard Herrmann, excellent production values, skillful photography by Wilkie Cooper; and often stunning costuming and art direction to boot. In fact, Jason looks almost as good as MGM's Captain Sindbad. 

Jason confronts the gods of Olympus

The actors are also well-chosen. Todd Armstrong makes the perfect Jason. Although he had a perfectly good speaking voice which you can hear in other movies he made, he is dubbed as Jason. Nancy Kovack is also dubbed as Medea, who falls in love with Jason and vice versa when he rescues her from the sea. Blackman, MacGinnes, Naismith, Raymond, Green, Wilmer -- as well as John Cairney as the young and ill-fated Nylas and Jack Gwillim as King Aeetes -- all give flavorful and adept performances. Sadly Jason was not the big box office hit it deserved to be because people confused it with one of the ever-proliferating Italian "peplum" movies of the period when it was on a much, much higher level. The film did not do much good for the career of handsome Armstrong, who tragically committed suicide at 55. 

Verdict: Jason and the Argonauts gets my vote as the greatest classic fantasy film ever made. ***1/2.

THE GLASS TOMB

John Ireland

THE GLASS TOMB (1955). Director: Montgomery Tully.

"Now turn around and watch the man starve like a good boy."

It's impossible to understand why anyone on earth would have wanted to actually film this hopeless screenplay, nor why anyone wanted to adapt the novel it was based on in the first place. Get this: Pel Pelham (John Ireland) is a promoter who has one act, a "starving man" who won't eat for several weeks. While one can imagine some morbid people lining up to see this guy in the final stages of starvation, why would anyone pay good money to see him at the start of his campaign? A young woman, Rena (Tonia Bern), who was blackmailing a friend of Pel's, is found murdered, and Pel suspects the friend, Tony (Sidney James), of doing the deed. The audience knows he's wrong, because we see the actual murderer dispatching Rena about twenty minutes into the picture, meaning the movie has absolutely no suspense or surprises.The performances by Ireland, Honor Blackman as his wife, and others are good, but they have absolutely no decent material to work with. The movie is only about an hour long but seems longer. This is one of Hammer studios B mystery films released in the U.S. by Lippert.

Verdict: Staggeringly stupid and pointless. *.

THE CAT AND THE CANARY

THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1978). Written and directed by Radley Metzger. Director's Cut. 

This is a disappointing color remake of the old scary silent movies of the same name. In 1934 at Briarcliffe Manor, the heirs are gathered together to find out which of them will get all of the late Cyrus West's money -- from Cyrus West (Wilfrid Hyde White) himself speaking on a film he made before his death. [An interesting aspect of this sequence is that the housekeeper is not only serving dinner to the heirs as they look at West's will-movie, but is also seen serving West in the movie-within-a movie, passing behind the screen in real time and showing up on the screen a second later. The only problem is that the actress doesn't look any younger, even though the will-film was made years before]. An added complication arrives in the form of a doctor (Edward Fox) who tells them all that a madman who thinks of himself as a cat and likes to tear at flesh has escaped from his asylum and they are all in danger. The main problem with this movie, which has an interesting cast, is that it has absolutely no atmosphere and is greatly over-lit. Talky and slow, it gets better in the second half when the Cat makes his appearance, and there's a good, suspenseful climax, but it may be too little too late. Wendy Hiller comes off best as West's lawyer, although Fox, Honor Blackman, Daniel Massey and Peter McEnery are also swell. Michael Callan and Carol Lynley are the nominal hero and heroine. and Beatrix Lehmann is the aged housekeeper. Olivia Hussey of Romeo and Juliet appears as another one of the heirs. Metzger was better known for his erotic features, and was the editor for The Flesh Eaters, which was way more entertaining than this borderline campy movie which never realizes its full potential. 

Verdict: At least the hidden passageways are interesting. **.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (1958). Roy Ward Baker.

A Night to Remember takes a more detached, clinical view of the Titanic tragedy than other cinematic versions, and while there are vignettes of various characters, we never get to know any of them very well. There is much more detail concerning the final fates of the people left aboard the ship -- scrabbling frantically as the ship begins to tilt, jumping into the frigid water, and so on -- and we see the squabbling on some of the lifeboats as people argue as to whether or not they should go back to pick up survivors. Certain moments are unsparing, such as when a pair of newlyweds are apparently crushed by the falling smokestack. But while the final scenes in Remember are harrowing and horrifying -- and you can't help but be moved by them -- they lack the human drama, and therefore, the emotional intensity, of the Webb/Stanwyck Titanic. Furthermore, the actor who plays the ship's designer essays it in a stoic, completely unreal manner, and certain scenes, such as Isadore Strauss and his wife deciding to stay on the ship together, lack the impact of their counterparts in the original.

Verdict: Enough to make you take a plane. **1/2.