HOUSE OF THE DAMNED

Merry Anders 

HOUSE OF THE DAMNED (1963). Director: Maury Dexter. 

Architect Scott Campbell (Ron Foster of The Music Box Kid) is hired to survey Rochester Castle and bring his wife and partner, Nancy (Merry Anders), along. Eventually lawyer Joseph Schiller (Richard Crane of No Man's Woman) and his excitable wife, Loy (Erika Peters), also arrive on the scene. There are 13 keys for the house and a variety of rooms, as well as strange people skulking about in the shadows. Then Loy is chased by a giant figure (Richard Kiel of "To Serve Man" on Twilight Zone) and disappears, until Merry seems to find her headless corpse ...

Peters, Crane, Foster, Anders

Be warned that the above description makes House of the Damned sound a lot better than it is. The whole project just seems so languid and mediocre. It was as if this great location, the castle, were chosen first and then a script was hastily -- very hastily -- scripted around it, so there are no real characters and only one genuinely creepy moment, when some thing sneaks into the bedroom and borrows those keys. The house is beautiful, but it's not enough to save the movie. You might groan when you discover exactly who or what is behind the "horror." 

Ron Foster was a handsome and talented actor who chiefly appeared in "B" movies, and despite the fact that this was produced by 20th Century Fox in CinemaScope, this is no different; he couldn't catch a break. Henry Vars has contributed a nice and eerie theme, but otherwise the score is just too lethargic.   

Verdict: Promises a lot but delivers very little. **.   

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1962)

Joyce Taylor and Mark Damon

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1962). Diretor: Edward L. Cahn.

Althea (Joyce Taylor) travels with her father, Count Roderick (Dayton Lummis), to a kingdom presided over by the young and recently coronated King Eduardo ( Mark Damon of The Young Racers). Althea, who is affianced to Eduardo, expects a warm greeting but discovers that her fiance is "indisposed" and there is hardly any staff in the castle aside from his chief aide Orsini (Eduard Franz). Althea sees the handsome Eduardo in the morning, but he tells her that their wedding may have to be postponed. It's worse than that -- a curse was placed upon Eduardo by a alchemist who was sentenced to death by Eduardo's father when he refused to share his secrets. Now each night Eduardo grows fur, claws and fangs and becomes a benign if tormented werewolf (of sorts). If Eduardo's nasty Uncle Bruno (Michael Pate) finds out, his regime may come to a decidedly violent conclusion.

Anders, Pate and Burrke

Beauty and the Beast is a rarity in that it's probably the only TechniColor film directed by B Movie maestro Edward L. Cahn. (This was Cahn's last film, as he died the following year.) Mercilessly skewered for its low-budget and a comparison to Cocteau's 1946 film of the same name, on its own terms Beauty and the Beast is a minor but entertaining film that probably works best for young viewers. Taylor and Damon, especially the latter, give good enough performances; Pate and Merry Anders as his gal pal, Sybil, are fine; Franz and Lummis are credible; and Walter Burke gives the most notable performance as the slimy and scheming Grimaldi, servant to Bruno.

Mark Damon. 

The werewolf design is by Ernie Young and the famous Jack P. Pierce. It doesn't look bad, although an unfortunate side effect of the big teeth is that it comically affects Damon's speech. Hugo Friedhofer's musical score is a plus, especially the theme music. A former pop singer and Howard Hughes discovery, Joyce Taylor appeared in Atlantis the Lost Continent and other genre films; her last feature was in 1971. Mark Damon starred in Roger Corman's House of Usher, did many films overseas, and became a producer. Merry Anders was in Hear Me Good and Ib Melchior's The Time Travelers, among others. Beauty and the Beast has a notable climax when the couple race to get married with Bruno's hate-filled followers in rabid pursuit. Edward L. Cahn directed Zombies of Mora Tau and about a zillion others.

Verdict: More than acceptable children's fantasy film. ***. 

PRINCESS OF THE NILE

Debra Paget and Jeffrey Hunter

PRINCESS OF THE NILE (1954). Director: Harmon Jones.

Egypt 1249 A.D. Princess Shalimar (Debra Paget of The River's Edge) is supposedly confined to the palace, but she sneaks out at night via an underwater passageway and becomes the super-sensual dancer, Taura. It is in the tavern where she dances that Shalimar first encounters equally gorgeous Prince Haidi (Jeffrey Hunter of Man-Trap) of Bagdad, as well as the nasty Bedouin, Rana Khan (Michael Rennie). Shalimar's weak father is under the thumb of his shaman (Edgar Barrier), who is in league with Rama Khan and would also like Haidi out of the picture. After all sorts of palace intrigue, Khan tells Shalimar he will spare her loved ones if she will marry him, a fate truly worse than death ... Princess of the Nile offers a starring role for Paget, who gives an authoritative and sexy performance; a hot love couple in Paget and Hunter (who is equally good and quite romantic); two "bodies beautiful" for the price of one; and also boasts solid work from Rennie, Barrier, and Wally Cassell as the good-humored slave, Goghi. Dona Drake [Beyond the Forest] is also on hand as a helpful handmaiden and good friend to Shalimar. (Other handmaidens include Merry Anders and Honey Bruce Friedman of Dance Hall Racket). Billy Curtis plays the lovable little guy, Tut. Princess of the Nile is a minor film, but it is fast-paced and entertaining (and quite short at 70 minutes) and both the locales and attractive leads are very nice to look at in Technicolor. Six years later Paget was cast as Cleopatra's Daughter. Harmon Jones also directed Gorilla at Large. 

Verdict: Two sexy lead actors never hurt. **1/2. 

VIOLENT ROAD

Dick Foran and Ann Doran

VIOLENT ROAD (1958). Director: Howard W. Koch.

A runaway missile explodes in a small town, causing many deaths, necessitating the move of the local company that fired the missile to another location. Rocket fuel, which is comprised of many dangerous and acidic chemicals which can "burn a man alive," has to be transported over difficult terrain, and six men are chosen to be the drivers. These include George (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) whose family was lost in the blast; Frank (Dick Foran), who has a tragically bitter quarrel with his wife (Ann Doran) before leaving; Manuelo (Perry Lopez of The Steel Jungle), who needs the money from the trip to become an engineer; the world-weary Ben (Arthur Batanides); and Mitch (Brian Keith), a foot-loose adventurer without much of a past.  Ken Farley (Sean Garrison), the sixth driver, replaces his sad, drunken brother (John Dennis) when he's too hungover to drive. Along the way there are harrowing incidents, such as a runaway bus, brake failures, tumbling rocks, and acid spills, as well as flashbacks that tell us more about these individuals. Violent Road is clearly an unacknowledged rip-off of the far superior French film The Wages of Fear -- which was also remade as Sorcerer -- but it has its moments if taken on its own terms. One stand-out sequence is a tender and tragic moment between Frank and his wife, with an outstanding performance from Ann Doran [Meet John Doe]. Dick Foran is also excellent, and Keith also makes his mark, as does John Dennis in the early scenes. Sean Garrison also makes an impression as the handsome and cocky Kenny. If there's any problem with the movie it's that it seems to lack a real climax and ends much too abruptly. Peter Brown has a small but effective role as a marine, and Merry Anders is fine as a woman who picks Mitch up on the road.

Verdict: Not that explosive, and highly unoriginal, but tense and absorbing nonetheless. *** out of 4.

HEAR ME GOOD

HEAR ME GOOD (1957). Writer/producer/director: Don McGuire.

"I've always wanted to be a Very Important Freak, Mr. Holland."

A hustler named Marty Holland (Hal March) is down on his luck and hopes to make money off of a beauty contest. Unfortunately, his chosen contestant, Rita (Jean Willes), is on the outs with Marty, as is her boyfriend, an unseen gangster. Marty then hits on the idea of entering would-be stewardess Ruth (Merry Anders) in the contest, and surprises her with an outfit that literally falls apart in front of the cameras. Can Marty and Ruth find true love even though he's a heel?  Don McGuire was an actor who appeared in such films as The Fuller Brush Man before he turned to writing and directing; he was a pal of Frank Sinatra's, but it's unfortunate The Voice couldn't importune Dean Martin to star in the film instead of Hal March, whom I have to assume was also a friend of McGuire's. March was the host of The $64,000 Question quiz show, but is probably best known as the dress-selling cad who tries to make a date with Lucy on an episode of I Love Lucy, but in this movie at least he lacks real comedic flair and is distinctly mediocre. Joe E. Ross of Car 54, Where Are You? does his usual shtick, but Jean Willes [Desire Under the Elms] makes an impression as sexy Rita. The production is almost completely stage-bound, as if it were a filmed play, and is neither well-directed nor well-edited. There are a couple of chuckles but the script is poor; McGuire did better work elsewhere. Don McGuire also starred in the title role in the serial Congo Bill.

Verdict: Fuggetaboutit. *1/2.

CALYPSO HEAT WAVE

Alan Arkin (left) as a young calypso singer

CALYPSO HEAT WAVE (1957). Director: Fred F. Sears. Produced by Sam Katzman.

Mack Adams (Paul Langton of The Big Knife) is head of a record company whose primary artist is Johnny Conroy (Johnny Desmond). Sleazy Barney Pearl (Michael Granger) tries to insert himself into Adams' business even as Pearl's girlfriend, Mona (Meg Myles) gets herself a hit record thanks to Adams' assistant, Alex (Joel Grey). Meanwhile Johnny walks out on this new hybrid company and takes off to the West Indies -- can Mack and his secretary Marti (Merry Anders of The Hypnotic Eye) convince him to come back and save the company? Calypso Heat Wave has a slender plot that employs the talents of Columbia recording artists, including Maya Angelou in her pre-poetess days, an all-black group called the Treniers, and a romantic trio known (confusingly) as the Tarriers, for whom a young Alan Arkin is the lead singer -- and he's not bad. If that weren't enough we have Pierre Watkin as the lawyer Thornwall, and Darla Hood (of The Bat and "Our Gang" comedies fame) singing a duet with Johnny but having no real role or dialogue. Desmond is a charismatic performer who manages in some numbers to crediby do the Calypso with a Caucasian twist, although in other numbers he comes off a little hokey. Angelou, known as "Miss Calypso," gets two numbers and is effective, while Meg Myles does a nice job with the catchy "Treat Me Like a Lady." Of the actors, Langton, Grey [Cabaret] and Myles make the best impression. That same year director Sears came out with the zesty The Giant Claw.

Verdict: Some genuine and Hollywoodized Calypso music and that's about it. **.

MIKE HAMMER Season 2 (1959)

Hammer comes across an interesting leg in his hotel room

MIKE HAMMER Season 2. 1959.

Darren McGavin was back as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer for a second entertaining season in 1959. Hammer had always been a brash, no-nonsense tough guy, but in this season he was sometimes an outright bully and frequently obnoxious, picking on older and smaller men, and acting too much like a goon [not that this is necessarily inconsistent with the character]. He especially delights in tormenting and brutalizing a sniveling, un-threatening small-time operator and candy store proprietor (played quite well by Vito Scotti), but when this same person sells an illegal gun to a man who uses it to kill a woman Hammer is in love with, Hammer pretty much lets him get away with it and doesn't even report him to the police! Go figure. Cliffhanger serial director William Witney directed many of the second season episodes, which move briskly.

There were quite a few good episodes this season. In "I Ain't Talkin" a young man (Robert Fuller) won't name a man he saw committing a robbery and murder because that man is his brother-in-law (DeForest Kelly)."Baubles, Bangles and Blood" features murder at a carnival run by an ex-con. "Husbands are Bad Luck" starred Ann Robinson [The War of the Worlds] and Jean Willes in a tale of matrimony and blackmail. "Coney Island Baby" concerned murder in a wax museum at the amusement park with a notable Lloyd Corrigan as a lovesick older man. "Save me in San Salvador" was an amusing, change-of-pace episode in which Hammer looks for an embezzling professor in South America and discovers a spirited Nita Talbot. "Swing Low, Sweet Harriet" has Lorne Greene blackmailed by a paramour played by Merry Anders [Hypnotic Eye]. "Another Man's Poisson [sic]" has Hammer investigating if a blind man's long-lost brother is the real deal. "See No Evil," about a man falsely accused of robbery and murder, boasts a fine performance from Gene Saks [better-known as a director] and outstanding work from Walter Burke as a tormented organ grinder. Virginia Gregg [Crime in the Streets] steals the show as a nasty dilettante who takes over a small theater company in "Curtains for an Angel." "M is for Mother" stars Coleen Gray [The Vampire] as a woman whose daughter is afraid that her suitor is a little bit shady. In "Now Die in It" Barbara Turner's sister is murdered and Hammer comes to uncomfortable conclusions about who did it and why. "I Remember Sally" features Doris Dowling in another vivid performance as a woman being sought by old friend Malcolm Atterbury [High School Big Shot]. An ex-con he put away is out to get Hammer in "Merchant of Menace." A wealthy woman tries to buy off her brother's girlfriend in "Bride and Doom." The final episode, "Goodbye, Al," which illustrates Hammer's good side, and his compassionate sense of justice, deals with a lowlife gambler who is arrested for supposedly killing a waitress.

But even those, good as they were, weren't the best episodes, which include: "Groomed to Kill," in which a young man (Ray Daley) about to be married is blackmailed by a woman who smooches him at his bachelor party; "A Haze on the Lake" concerned everything from fraternity hazing to a murder plot to a troubled father and son relationship, and featured fine performances from Lorne Greene, Ray Stricklyn, and John Carlyle; and (perhaps the very best episode) "Park the Body" in which a parking garage scam leads to murder, with Robert Fuller and Helena Nash in top form.NOTE: To read about the first season and the pilot with Brian Keith as Hammer, click here.

Verdict: Great episode titles, some fine scripts, and McGavin add up to a darn good private eye series. ***.

THE TIME TRAVELERS

THE TIME TRAVELERS (1964). Written and directed by Ib Melchior.

Scientists have built a window into the future, but it turns out that it is also a portal through which they can step through time. Stupidly they do so -- going 170 years or so into the future -- then discover that the portal has closed and they can't get back. In this post-nuclear civilization human survivors live underground while savage "mutates" roam about outside trying to get in and grab the humans' food supplies. The humans are building a spaceship to escape the dying earth. There are some interesting ideas in the movie, but Melchior's screenplay includes no three-dimensional characters or  human reactions -- none of the scientists express any sense of loss [surely they have some loved ones back in the 20th century] or regret -- giving it a below-comic book flavor. Preston Foster [Two Seconds], Phil Carey [Screaming Mimi; Wicked as They Come] and Merry Anders [The Hypnotic Eye; Michael Shayne] are the scientists while Steve Franken is Danny, a technician who first steps through the time portal like an ass. Joan Woodbury, who was Brenda Starr, Reporter in the serial, plays future woman Gadra; John Hoyt [When Worlds Collide] is Dr. Varno; and Dennis Patrick [Dear Dead Delilah] is the nasty councilman Willard. [Woodbury is more attractive in middle-age than she was in her younger days.] The movie makes some good use of interesting locations, but has its tedious stretches; Richard LaSalle's music is interesting but not always appropriate. Melchior wrote the screenplay for Reptilicus and also wrote and directed Angry Red Planet. Very similar to Journey to the Center of Time, which came out three years later. Both films were probably influenced by World Without End (1956), not to mention H. G. Wells' novel "The Time Machine." Berry Kroeger [Atlantis, the Lost Continent] is supposed to be in The Time Travelers but I didn't spot him and he's rather distinctive.

Verdict: Watch out for those mutates! **1/2.