SIREN OF ATLANTIS

Maria Montez

SIREN OF ATLANTIS (1949). Director: Gregg G. Tallas.

Lt. Andre Saint-Avit (Jean-Pierre Aumont of Carnival of Crime) is found in the desert, delirious, half-starved, wailing about a lost city, an evil queen, and a friend he murdered. In flashback he tells his superiors how after a sandstorm he discovered the lost city of Atlantis -- improbably hidden under the mountains in the Sahara -- where the beautiful Queen Antinea (Maria Montez) loves and disposes of one man after another, and acts cruelly towards her subjects and her slaves. Andre's friend is Captain Jean Morhange (Dennis O'Keefe), who can resist the queen because he's headed for a monastery anyway. Before too long, Andre becomes the favorite of the queen, and presumably does a lot more than play chess with her, but then days go by and Jean is nowhere to be found and the queen isn't calling for Andre ... In his novel "Myron," the sequel to "Myra Breckenridge," Gore Vidal wrote about a Maria Montez flick called Siren of Babylon, and it was probably this picture he was referring to. Not quite a camp classic, it immediately suffers from the fact that it works up absolutely no sense of wonder over this apparently marvelous hidden city, which doesn't seem much different from the kind of places you'd find in those space-babes-on-the-moon epics. Maria Montez is indeed beautiful, if somewhat heavy featured, but her acting is barely adequate. She comes off like a particularly vicious drag queen (not to suggest that most drag queens are vicious). Aumont is fine in an impossible part, and an almost comically miscast O'Keefe doesn't look particularly good in a mustache and goatee. Other characters in the film include Lindstrom (Allan Nixon of Pickup), one of Antinea's cast-off lovers; Cortot (Alexis Minotis of Land of the Pharaohs), an alchemist who had his tongue cut out by the queen; the tragic slave Tanit (Milada Mladova) who dies a horrible death; and Blades (Henry Daniell), the court librarian and philosopher who acts as a kind of butler or assistant and who cackles and belittles the men, primarily acting like the loathsome little cockroach that he is -- Daniell easily offers the best performance in the film. (Movies like this should offer some kind of catharsis, but neither he nor his mistress ever get their comeuppance.) Antinea has her ex-lovers turned into immortal statues. Michel Michelet's score is interesting if a trifle overblown at times, and Karl Struss' photography is fine, especially a sequence in which Andre sees the mirage of an oasis of rushing water in the desert. Aumont and Montez were a real-life married couple from 1946 until 1951 when the Spanish beauty (born in the Domenican Republic) drowned in her bath after possibly suffering a heart attack. She was only 39. Director Tallas also helmed Prehistoric Women, which starred Allan Nixon. It is much worse than this.

Verdict: Everyone should see at least one Maria Montez movie. **. 

COUNTERPLOT

Allison Hayes

COUNTERPLOT (1959). Director: Kurt Neumann.

Brock Miller (Forrest Tucker) is hiding out in San Juan after being accused of murdering a man in New York who owed him money. He has befriended a boy named Manuel (Jackie Wayne), and has a girlfriend, a singer, named Connie (Allison Hayes). Fritz Bergmann (Gerald Milton) a portly lawyer and apparent owner of the club where Connie works, has knowledge that might clear Brock, but there's interference from the victim's business partner, Ben Murdock (Richard Verney). Spargo (Miquel Angel Alvarez) tries to play both men against each other for a price. It all comes together for a final shoot-out. Counterplot has some good acting in it, especially from the dynamic Milton, and Allison Hayes, the 50-foot Woman herself, is warmer and more sympathetic than usual. Jackie Wayne is a talented and appealing child actor who appeared in the original stage production of "Damn Yankees;" Counterplot is his only movie credit. Milton was mostly a television actor who also appeared in Unknown Terror. Forrest Tucker [Fresh from Paris] basically plays the same dull "Forrest Tucker" character. Photographed by Karl Struss [Sunrise], who did many films with director Neumann .

Verdict: A melodrama that holds the attention but never quite catches fire. **1/2.

ROCKETSHIP X-M

The astronauts explore red planet Mars

ROCKETSHIP X-M (1950). Director/producer/writer: Kurt Neumann.

The first manned spaceship and its team -- consisting of Colonel Floyd Graham (Lloyd Bridges), Major William Corrigan (Noah Beery Jr.), Dr. Karl Eckstrom (John Emery of Kronos),  Dr. Lisa Van Horn (Osa Massen), and Harry Chamberlain (Hugh O'Brian) -- take off for the moon but somehow, as if they were Abbott and Costello, wind up on Mars instead. Wandering around in stark, red-tinted landscapes, they discover stone age savages and eventually come to a depressing realization. The decent production values insure that the sets and FX are less cheesy than they are in similar movies, and there's a nice theme by Ferde Grofe [Albert Glasser was musical director]. The picture was also photographed by Karl Struss [Sunrise] and has a downbeat conclusion. Morris Ankrum gives perhaps the best performance as Dr. Fleming back on earth. There are no giant spiders in this although some may feel it could have used them.

Verdict: Not quite serious sci fi but close. ***.

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. ***.

KRONOS

KRONOS (1957). Director: Kurt Neumann.

An asteroid approaches the earth and lands in the ocean off the coast of Mexico. But wait a minute -- didn't it veer and turn direction at the last moment? Scientist Dr. Gaskell (Jeff Morrow) senses that there's more to this "asteroid" than meets the eye and wouldn't you know he's right. Before too long the ocean is boiling and up from the depths comes a 100 foot high, robotic "energy assimilator" which Gaskell christens Kronos after the monster of mythology. Sent by an alien race to steal energy supplies, Kronos tears across the land sucking up power from atomic plants and causing general mayhem. This is an entertaining science fiction "monster" flick with a fairly able cast. Morrow is as professional and enthusiastic as ever. John Emery is another scientist whose mind is taken over by an alien intelligence. Barbara Lawrence, who played herself in The Star as a young rival to Bette Davis' character, is cast as Vera Hunter, Gaskell's assistant and lover. Morris Ankrum is a doctor who discovers what's wrong with Emery, and George O'Hanlon is another nerdy scientist who has a computer nicknamed "Suzie." The score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter is effective at increasing tension and the movie is well-photographed by Karl Struss (it's best to see it in wide screen format). Marjorie Stapp of The Indestructible Man has a small role as a nurse. The best scene has the scientists landing on top of Kronos in a copter as it makes unnerving noises and begins to open up ... Creepy.

Verdict: Maybe not a classic, but it has its moments. **1/2.

MOHAWK

MOHAWK (1956). Director: Kurt Neumann.

Unless you have a mania for westerns, there's probably no good reason to see this unless it's to see how Allison Hayes (pictured with Scott Brady), star of the "classic" Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, comports herself in a more "serious" film. Hayes wasn't so hot in Zombies of Mora Tau, but she isn't half-bad in Mohawk (though no Kate Hepburn). Scott Brady plays John Adams, a painter who works out of an Army fort. Hayes is his zesty model, Greta, but he also has a fiancee named Cynthia (Lori Nelson) who shows up unannounced at the fort with her peppery Aunt Agatha (Vera Vague) in tow; Nelson once again proves what a mediocre actress she is. While juggling these two babes, Adams discovers that there's also an Indian wench, Onida (Rita Gam), who has a hankering for him, and vice versa. Meanwhile, some renegade Indians are planning an attack on the fort. Supposedly all the action footage comes from John Ford's Drums Along the Mohawk, but none of it is very convincing. John Hoyt is Butler, the white villain of the piece, and Tommy Cook does a nice turn as the doomed Indian lad Keoga. It's a pleasant surprise to see who Adams winds up with at the end. Handsome production is well photographed by Karl Struss and has an effective score by Edward L. Alperson, Jr.

Verdict: See it for saucy Hayes if you must. **.

SUNRISE

SUNRISE (1927/U.S.). Director: F. W. Murnau. NOTE: This review describes key plot points of the movie.

A beautifully photographed and well-directed, cinematic film from Murnau, but this is also a little too dopey and irritating to quite hit the category of masterpiece, although it certainly has its moments. George O'Brien is a farmer who is tempted by a vamp from the city (Margaret Livingstone) who tells him that if his wife (Janet Gaynor) were only to “drown” they could be together forever. O'Brien is at first outraged by the mere suggestion, but after a few more kisses he dutifully rows his wife out to the middle of a lake and stands above her with murder in mind; only the distraction of a bell saves the woman's life. The best protracted sequence in the movie shows what happens after O'Brien, who can't bring himself to kill Gaynor, rows back to shore and the heart-broken, horrified Gaynor runs off to a trolley that takes both of them to the city. Gaynor's shock, desperation, and despair are almost palpable.

First of all, though, we have to wonder why either O'Brien or the hotsy totsy he was sleeping with thought it necessary to dispose of the poor wife. Sure, her mother could look after their little child, but why get rid of Gaynor in the first place? Couldn't O'Brien have simply done what tens of thousands of other husbands have done and run off to the city and presumable eternal bliss with the vamp?

O'Brien eventually convinces Gaynor that he is full of repent over his almost-murder, and the film abruptly changes into – get this – a romantic comedy as the two have a second honeymoon in the city, going to a dance, a carnival, eating dinner, even running after a cute little piglet that causes havoc in a kitchen. These sequences, like everything else in the film, are extremely well-done, even amusing, but they're completely out of tone with the mood that has been established since the beginning. And frankly, you keep hoping to see more of that mean, sexy vamp.

Then the film turns tragic as the happy couple return home across the lake (but why exactly do they have to cross the lake when he rowed backwards to get to shore after the murder attempt?) and a storm comes up, washing both of them overboard. O'Brien survives, Gaynor is apparently killed, and a distraught O'Brien nearly strangles his lover until he learns that Gaynor has actually survived. The vamp returns dejectedly to the city, and the husband and wife wake up to a brand new sunrise with their child.

The trouble with the movie is that no wife could ever look at her husband in the same way after she realizes that he had made a conscious and planned decision to kill her (and it would take more than a couple of hours to get over it). You're never convinced that O'Brien won't eventually want to hook up with the vamp again. Yet we have to remember that Murnau's films were often like poetic fairy tales [for instance The Last Laugh], so these criticisms have to be taken with a grain of salt, although it is also probably true that Murnau wanted you to take this film in perfect seriousness. That is not possible to do. But it is possible to appreciate its many moments of beauty and power, its inventive approach to many sequences, the excellent photography by Karl Struss, fine acting by the leads, and a highly effective musical score (in the later sound version currently being shown on Fox Movie Channel). Despite its glaring flaws, it is easy to see why Sunrise is much beloved in some quarters.

Verdict: Definitely worth a look. ***.