MONEY, WOMEN AND GUNS

Jock Mahoney

MONEY, WOMEN AND GUNS (1958). Director: Richard Bartlett.

Western detective "Silver" Ward Hogan (Jock Mahoney) rides into town and is immediately assigned the case of an elderly murdered prospector. Hogan discovers that the killer might be one of the people mentioned in the old man's will, so he sets out to find them and see what's up. The beneficiaries include a cute little boy named Davy (Tim Hovey), who lives with his widowed mother, Mary (Kim Hunter), and who ignites Hogan's cautious interest. Then there's the bearded Briggs (Don Megowan); the supposedly reformed crook Clinton Gunstone (William Campbell), who lives with his wife Mary (Judi Meredith); and the oldtimer Henry Devers (James Gleason), whose best pal is Art Birdwell (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Hogan also has a rival in bounty hunter Johnny Bee (Jeffrey Stone, who makes a good impression in a strange role).

The comically generic title of the movie, along with its poster, promises something that the flick doesn't quite deliver. One imagines Mahoney stumbling out of a dance hall with a smile on his lips and lipstick all over his face, but any dance hall gals in this movie are kept far, far in the background. Instead, Money, Women and Guns is a relatively serious and well-written western-mystery whose major flaw is its very abrupt wind-up. Smaller roles in the film are played by Phillip Terry as a lawyer, Tom Drake as the brother of two desperadoes, and Gene Evans [The Giant Behemoth] as an autocratic sheriff. Kim Hunter [The Seventh Victim] is fine if a bit out of place as Mary, little Tim Hovey is a scene stealer, and James Gleason [Racket Squad] arguably offers the best performance as Devers. Mahoney has charisma and is competent but is frankly out-classed by some of the other actors. From Universal-International, this is a color CinemaScope production.

Verdict: Entertaining, minor western with a good premise. **1/2. 

DARK INTRUDER

DARK INTRUDER (1965). Director: Harvey Hart.

In the mid-1960's Leslie Nielsen was tapped for the lead for a show in which he would play occult investigator Brett Kingsford, who works surreptitiously with the police on bizarre bases calling for his expertise. A pilot was made, but when the show [which would have been a kind of forerunner to Kolchak, Night Stalker in every sense of the word as it takes place in the 19th century] called The Black Cloak, wasn't picked up by a network, it was released by Universal as a theatrical feature despite its short [59 min.] running time. In old San Francisco there have been a series of murders in which victims are clawed to death at the same time as the Ripper killings in London. Robert Vandenberg (Mark Richman), a friend of Kingsford's, is especially disturbed because he knows several of the victims, and his dizzy, annoyingly yapping fiancee Evelyn (Judi Meredith of Queen of Blood), has noticed a change come over him in recent weeks. Kingsford wonders if the murders are somehow connected to a deformed boy Vandenberg knew years ago who was brought to America from Bagdad to further his education but who suddenly disappeared. Other suspects include a weird professor of the occult (Werner Klemperer); a doctor who remarks upon the wounds left by the mysterious assailant (Vaughn Taylor); and Kingsford's diminutive man-servant Nikola (Charles Bolender). Dark Intruder is creepy, suspenseful and well-produced with a very good plot and cast and a satisfying wind-up. Nielsen is fine except for when he tries to affect a British accent and wouldn't convince a nine-year-old that he's from England.The screenplay is by Barre Lyndon, who also wrote the original stage play The Man in Half Moon Street, upon which that film was based. Hart also directed The Pyx, Bus Riley's Back in Town, and other theatrical films, and also did a great deal of work for television. He is not to be confused with Herk Harvey, who directed Carnival of Souls.

Verdict: Worthy supernatural mystery with interesting players. ***.

QUEEN OF BLOOD

The very odd Florence Marley as a sinister queen

QUEEN OF BLOOD (aka Planet of Blood/1966 ) Writer/director: Curtis Harrington.

Using footage from a foreign space epic or two for FX shots, Curtis Harrington [What's the Matter with Helen?] fashioned this quaint horror-sci-fi tale using some American actors and Czech-born Florence Marley. Astronauts Alan Brenner (John Saxon), Laura James (Judi Meredith) and Paul  Grant (Dennis Hopper), among others, fly to pick up an alien visitor who has landed on the wrong moon. The visitor is a silent, spooky, weird alien queen (perfectly cast Marley) with green skin, an acorn hairdo, and a certain strict diet that Dracula could empathize with. Before long the crew find themselves fighting off her unwelcome advances. Queen of Blood is disjointed, but eventually it becomes modestly entertaining. Basil Rathbone plays a doctor who seems more fascinated by Marley's appetite than appalled. The actors do the best they can, considering what they have to work with. Meredith was the princess in Jack the Giant Killer. Now and then you'll hear some of Ronald Stein's music from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

Verdict: Okay, but no It, the Terror from Beyond Space. **1/2.