SURFSIDE 6

Troy Donahue, Lee Patterson, Van Williams

SURFSIDE 6 (1961).

This hour-long action-mystery series lasted for two seasons. Dave Thorne (Lee Patterson of The Flying Scot) and Kenny Madison (Van Williams of The Green Hornet) lived on a houseboat in Miami Beach and formed the Thorne-Madison private detective agency. Their rich buddy, Sandy Winfield III (Troy Donahue of Parrish) lived at the yacht club and kibitzed with the other two until he seemed to be working for, or with, them full-time. Each episode would star one of these three actors, although there were times when the others would appear; sometimes all three guys would get involved in a particularly difficult case. Beside the assorted women who would appear in each episode, there were two female regulars: Diane McBain as Daphne Dutton, a pretty heiress who hangs around the boys and occasionally gets mired in one of their cases; and Margarita Sierra as "Cha Cha" O'Brien, a poor man's Carmen Miranda and night club entertainer. Sierra was never a good fit for the program, as sometimes the story would have to stop dead to include one of her numbers while the other actors wore frozen smiles in reaction shots. On rare occasions "Cha Cha" would have something to do with the main storyline. Sierra over-sang everything terribly. In the first season the boys' police liaison was the gruff, nearly barking Lt. Snedigar (Don "Red" Barry), while in the second season he was replaced by Lt. Plehn (Richard Crane), who was a bit more pleasant but just as professional. Both actors offered interesting and adept portrayals, and Crane was especially good.

The most memorable episodes of the series include: "The Old School Tie," with Gloria Talbott involved with murder at a reunion; "Midnight for Prince Charming," with a lonely man conned by a criminal couple; "Race Against Time," with Lee's associates desperately trying to save his life after he's been poisoned on an airliner; "Vengeance is Bitter," concerning a roman a clef about a murder case and the attempts to uncover the author; "Anniversary Special," a twisted domestic drama about a TV host and his unhappy wife, with both roles played superbly by William Windom and Jeanne Cooper; and "Overdose of Justice," in which a ferociously good Mara Corday [Tarantula] plays a vicious beauty involved with a love-sick insurance man played by Ed Platt [Get Smart]. The vast majority of episodes in the series were solid "B"s if not better with a few clunkers along the way. Although Donahue tended to be a bit stiff, he was okay in most episodes, with Williams and Patterson exhibiting a bit more flair and charm. Diane McBain was lovely and talented. I can't make up my mind if the theme music is catchy or really annoying.

Verdict: Entertaining mystery series with handsome studs and pretty gals awash in intrigue. ***.

FOXFIRE

Jane Russell, Dan Duryea and Jeff Chandler

FOXFIRE (1955). Director: Joseph Pevney.

A wealthy young woman named Amanda (Jane Russell) gets a lift from a handsome half-Apache mining engineer [who seems to have mixed emotions about his heritage], Jonathan "Dart" Dartland (Jeff Chandler), and the two rapidly fall in love and get married. Amanda must deal with the culture shock of moving out of luxury to a comparative shack in a mining town, and Dart has to deal with jealousy and a certain void in his emotions, as well as some self-esteem issues. The movie doesn't bang you on the head with the characters' problems, which is all the better, and the leads give good performances. Chandler has a limited bag of tricks but he makes them work within the role, and Jane gives a vital, warm and appealingly feminine performance instead of playing it hooker-hard as she often does in other movies. She and Chandler work up a lot of chemistry, which the latter didn't have with all of his leading ladies [such as the unfortunate June Allyson]. Frieda Inescort [The Alligator People] is fine as Russell's high society mother, but Austrian Celia Lovksy is ludicrously miscast as Dart's Native American mother, especially with that thick Viennese accent! Dan Duryea scores as the alcoholic doctor in the mining camp as does Mara Corday as his nurse, Maria, even if it makes no sense that the doc is smitten with Amanda but can't see the even more gorgeous and buxom Maria for dust. "Foxfire" refers to an abandoned Indian mine that Dart suspects has hidden gold in it, and wants to work. When all is said and done, however, Foxfire can't quite rise above its minor melodrama-romance status, despite some unusual and interesting elements. Whether Foxfire is accurate as regards to Native American affairs and attitudes in the fifties is debatable. NOTE: Jeff Chander wrote the lyrics for the title tune (with music by Henry Mancini) and also did the vocal, quite creditably. Nice score by Frank Skinner.

Verdict: Nice technicolor and a solid cast never hurt. **1/2. 

THE BLACK SCORPION

THE BLACK SCORPION (1957). Director: Edward Ludwig.

"I'll not protect him from the devil just by lighting candles."

If the residents of Mexico didn't have enough problems with a massive earthquake and subsequent lava flow, things get even worse when a crack in the earth unleashes once-dormant prehistoric -- and man-eating -- scorpions of enormous size from a fissure.Willis O'Brien of King Kong fame supervised the special effects, and Pete Peterson did some splendid animation, creating scuttling, fast-moving, fluid horrors like something out of a nightmare. There's a harrowing sequence set in an underground cavern full of giant scorpions and other monsters, as well as an effectively grotesque scene when the scorpions attack a train. The biggest scorpion -- "the granddaddy of them all" -- then kills off all of the smaller ones and rampages through Mexico city for a climax in a bullring. In a movie like this the actors hardly matter, but Richard Denning [Michael Shayne] and Mara Corday [Girls on the Loose] are the nominal stars as, respectively, a geologist and a ranch owner. Carlos Rivas [Dr. Ramos], Pascal Garcia Pena [Dr. de la Cruz], and Mario Navarro [little Juanito] also appeared in The Beast of Hollow Mountain the previous year. NOTE: For more about this and similar films, see Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies.

Verdict: Crude at times but undeniably exciting. ***.

TARANTULA

The big spider advances on the town!

TARANTULA (1955). Director: Jack Arnold.

Professor Deemer (a disinterested Leo G. Carroll) is experimenting on food nutrients with animals and has inexplicably created some economy-sized creatures, including a dog-sized spider. During a battle with a crazed assistant who experimented on himself, a fire breaks out and the animals are destroyed -- or so Deemer thinks. The spider actually walked out into the desert and [although it's no longer receiving the nutrient] continues to grow and grow, finding another food supply in cattle, horses and humans. The local doctor, Matt Hastings (John Agar of Brain from Planet Arous), Deemer's new assistant Stephanie Clayton (Mara Corday of The Giant Claw), the sheriff (Nestor Paiva) and newspaper man Joe Burch (Ross Elliott) all do their best to wipe out the big spider and stay out of its jaws. The special effects are variable but shots of the huge tarantula roaming the desert and sneaking up on victims are creepy, and there's a great scene when it peeks in at Corday at Deemer's mansion and then completely demolishes the house. Ross Elliott played the director on the classic "Lucy Does a Commercial" episode of I Love Lucy, and also played Ricky's publicity man when the series went to Hollywood under his own name. He was a busy actor, also appearing in a number of fantastic genre films. For more on this and similar films see Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies.

Verdict: Lots of fun and quite ghoulish at times. ***. 

SO THIS IS PARIS

SO THIS IS PARIS (1955). Director: Richard Quine.

In this "French" version of On the Town three American sailors wind up in Paree and have various, generally romantic, mis-adventures. Joe Maxwell (Tony Curtis) is the love 'em and leave 'em type; Al Howard (Gene Nelson) is shyer and more sensitive; and Davy Jones (Paul Gilbert) is the amiable cook and clown. Joe thinks he's got it made with an intriguing chanteuse, but he gets home early while Al and Davy show up later all smeared with lipstick. The women they meet include Jane (Gloria DeHaven), who pretends to be a French girl named Collette for her nightclub act; Suzanne (Corinne Calvet), a beautiful heiress who runs through men the way Joe runs through women; and Yvonne (Mara Corday), a pretty cashier in the nightclub who has a big family to support. It's interesting to see Corday, who starred in The Giant Claw, Tarantula, and The Black Scorpion, appear in a film where she isn't nearly eaten, but she isn't given nearly enough to do. She fares better than Allison [Attack of the 50 Foot Woman] Hayes, however, who seems to be in the background of a pool scene but whose dialogue scenes were apparently cut. On the Town [at least the original Broadway version] had songs composed by Leonard Bernstein; So This is Paris has the team of Moody and Sherrill, whose songs are hit or miss, mostly miss, although one number briefly crooned by DeHaven isn't bad. The performances are fine, with Paul Gilbert being especially noteworthy, and Gene Nelson's athletic dancing is a definite bonus. Curtis sings and dances and doesn't embarrass himself. The talented Gilbert didn't have too many TV or film credits but he may have been more at home in the theater; he later wound up in Women of the Prehistoric Planet.

Verdict: Surprisingly entertaining and not without its charms. ***.

GIRLS ON THE LOOSE

GIRLS ON THE LOOSE (1958). Director: Paul Henreid. 

"Let's check everything, just to be sure!" Vera, sizing up the hunky delivery man. 

Startling study of an all-girl gang directed by Paul Henreid, the male lead of Now,Voyager and Deception. Mara Corday, who starred in such delightful creature features as Black Scorpion, Tarantula and The Giant Claw, plays Vera Parkinson, the owner of a night club who leads her gal pals into a payroll robbery. This is basically the when-thieves-fall-out plot with a distaff twist. Corday is attractive and viciously capable as the sociopathic Vera, and Barbara Bostock makes an impression as her more sensitive singing sister, Helen. Lita Milan is the dunken French hairdresser Marie, and Joyce Johanneson is the callous blond masseuse, Joyce. Abby Dalton of Viking Women vs. the Sea Serpent and Mark Richman also have roles. There are zesty cat fights, lively action, more than competent performances, and it's all quite vivid and entertaining in its way. 

Verdict: Mara like you've never seen her! ***.

THE GIANT CLAW

THE GIANT CLAW (1957). Director: Fred F. Sears. "I'll never call my mother-in-law an old crow again!" 

A gargantuan bird from outer space with an anti-matter shield shows up on Earth where it attacks planes, lifts cars and trains off of the ground, pops screaming parachutists into its mouth, and knocks over skyscrapers. Not good. Pilot Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow), scientist Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday). Lt. General Considine (Morris Ankrum) and Dr. Karol Noymann (the bizarre Edgar Barrier) team up to destroy "the big bird." As it has some horrific elements and good sequences, this might have amounted to an outstanding monster movie had the FX department come up with a monster (pictured) that didn't look as stupid as the one in The Giant Claw. The actors are more than competent, considering. SHAMELESS PLUG. You can read more about this movie in my new book Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies. Available at amazon.com and at the publisher's website. 

Verdict: Despite its deficiencies, this pic is a lot of fun. ***.