THE BLACK CASTLE

Rita Corday, Boris Karloff, Richard Greene

THE BLACK CASTLE (1952), Director: Nathan Juran.

Sir Ronald Burton (Richard Greene of The Blood of Fu Manchu) believes that an evil man named Count Karl von Bruno (Stephen McNally of The Lady Gambles) was responsible for the disappearance of two of his friends as an act of revenge for events that happened in Africa. Under an assumed name, Burton travels to von Bruno's imposing castle near the Black Forest, where he sets about trying to find evidence of his friends' possible imprisonment or deaths. Burton receives unexpected aid from the count's lovely wife, Elga (Rita Corday), who was forced to marry him, and the castle's doctor-in-residence, Meissen (Boris Karloff of Lured). But someone overhears Burton and Elga conspiring and there may be hell to pay ...

Stephen McNally

I had never even heard of this movie when I spotted it on youtube, and found it to be a pleasant surprise. Karloff plays a sympathetic role for a change, and both Greene and Corday offer admirable performances. The scene-stealer, however, is Stephen McNally, who is really excellent as the charismatic but malevolent count. McNally had always been a very contemporary kind of actor, but he handles his role in this costume melodrama with aplomb. The Black Castle might be considered more of a thriller than a horror film, but it does have such horror elements as a creepy old castle with a dungeon, people nearly being buried alive, and even a pit full of snapping alligators! In addition to the aforementioned actors, we have solid support from Lon Chaney Jr. as the brutish servant Gargon, John Hoyt as Count Stelken, Michael Pate as the sinister von Melcher, and Turo Owen as Burton's very loyal manservant, Romley, among others. Romley makes a great sacrifice, but is sort of forgotten at the end. Nathan Juran also directed The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and many, many others.

Verdict: Nifty little old castle thriller with very good performances. ***. 

THE CROOKED WEB

Lovejoy, Blanchard and Denning on the road

THE CROOKED WEB (1955). Director: Nathan Juran.

Joanie (Mari Blanchard) works for boyfriend Stanley (Frank Lovejoy) in his drive-in. Along comes her ne'er-do-well brother Frank (Richard Denning) who knows a way they can all make a lot of money if Stanley is willing to kick in. Thus begins a saga that eventually lands the trio in post-war Germany. The best thing about The Crooked Web is the first half hour which has more than one twist that turns bad guys into good guys and vice versa. [Warning: the imdb.com synopsis gives the twist away, as it often does.] The rest is a fairly routine crime melodrama that has a modicum of suspense but is comparatively flat. The three lead performances are all quite good, however, with Blanchard especially zesty as the gal who's looking for "security" any way she can get it. Harry Lauter [Trader Tom of the China Seas] is an Army sergeant, and Roy Gordon [War of the Colossal Beast] plays the father of a murdered M.P.

Verdict: If only the twists had kept coming ... **1/2.

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958). Director: Nathan Juran.

In this marvelous fantasy film inspired by tales of the Arabian Knights, Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) must battle a whole host of monsters on the island of Colossa in order to save his beloved, Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant), who has been shrunken to doll size by the evil wizard, Sokurah (Torin Thatcher). There's a mean-tempered cyclops [who actually has a right to be mean as some of Sinbad's crew try to steal his treasure], a gigantic roc with huge flapping wings, and a fire-breathing dragon kept tethered in a cavern. In one of the best scenes, Sinbad has to battle a sword-wielding skeleton that has been animated by Sokurah [see video]. Actually the skeleton and everything else has been animated via stop-motion photography by the great FX wizard Ray Harryhausen, who offers superlative work in this picture. Mathews and Grant are acceptable in the leads, but the acting honors go to a really wonderful Thatcher, who seems to be having a ball enacting his villainy. {It's amusing that absolutely no one can figure out that it was Sokurah who shrunk the princess -- duh!] Nowadays fantasy films often feature computer effects of variable quality, but 7th Voyage with its stop-motion effects is the real deal. Mathews and Thatcher were reunited for Jack the Giant Killer, which featured stop-motion of inferior quality [not done by Harryhausen]. Thatcher had one of his best roles as the prosecutor in Witness for the Prosecution. 

Verdict: One of the all-time great fantasy films. ***1/2.

THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS

THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS (1957). Director: Nathan Juran [as Nathan Hertz].

"A very exciting female -- she appeals to me."

Scientist Steve March (John Agar) goes with associate Dan Murphy (Robert Fuller) to Mystery Mountain for some experiments and discovers a hitherto unknown tunnel -- and exploring it encounters the evil Gor from planet Arous. Gor is an intergalactic criminal as well as a ghostly disembodied brain of substantial size who takes over March's mind and then tries to take over the world. Although Gor terrorizes the military and several representatives of world governments by frying enemies and bringing down airliners, there are some compensations: March's girlfriend, Sally (Joyce Meadows), notices that Steve has become a much more passionate kisser. The Brain from Planet Arous is like a fifties horror/sci fi comic book story and just as silly. But it's also extremely entertaining and features a whopping good lead performance from John Agar, who really seems to be having a ball threatening everyone with his evil eye beams. There are also solid performances from the supporting cast, including Meadows and Fuller, as well as old stand-bys Thomas Browne Henry and Ken Terrell. Meadows was primarily a television actor, as was Fuller, although he also appeared in What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? with Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon in 1969. 

Verdict: As evil brain movies go, this one is a winner. ***.

DEADLY MANTIS

DEADLY MANTIS (1957). Director: Nathan Juran. 

A gargantuan prehistoric preying mantis thaws out from its icy prison and makes it way down from the Arctic and toward Washington D.C. and then Manhattan, where it lodges inside a tunnel after popping quite a few people into its mouth. This is one of the few credible mechanical monsters to appear in a creature feature -- its skin is slick, it drips saliva, it's "altogether icky" and its utter lack of personality only makes it creepier. Craig Stevens is the stoic, nearly wooden Colonel Parkman, assigned to destroy the big bug; William Hopper is a helpful paleontologist; and Alix Talton is the nature mag photographer and nominal love interest. The best scenes, aside from the tunnel climax, have the insect climbing the Washington Memorial and flipping over a bus -- not to mention when it creeps up on an Army base and scares the bejeezus out of Talton. 

Verdict: A fun creature feature. ***. NOTE: To read more about this film and others like it, see Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies.

FIRST MEN IN THE MOON

FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1964). Director: Nathan Juran. 

20th century astronauts make it to the moon, only to discover a British flag draped over a rock along with a note. Apparently people from the 19th century somehow managed to get there first. The rest of the movie tells us how this happened, as scientist Joseph Cavor (Lionel Jeffries) invents a compound that blocks gravity and hurls him and two other passengers -- Arnold Bedford (Edward Judd) and his girlfriend, Kate (Martha Hyer) -- through outer space in 1899. This loose adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel begins with an excellent, highly dramatic theme by composer Laurie Johnson that pulls you in and excites you, then fumbles the ball with a moronic, unbearably silly screenplay that makes the first half of the movie an effort to sit through [it takes a long 47 minutes for the cast to finally start off for the moon]. Worse, the normally reliable Jeffries' over-the-top, excruciatingly awful performance is cringe-inducing [Hyer and Judd are much better]. Ironically, Jeffries' character is much more intelligent and thoughtful as he watches, appalled, as the xenophobic Bedford introduces earth violence to the moon's insectoid inhabitants. The movie's second half is much more watchable and entertaining, introducing giant moon calves animated by Ray Harryhausen, as well a huge pit and gigantic caverns inside the moon and their weird inhabitants; the special effects throughout are fine. The ironic ending is a nice touch. 

Verdict: Once it finally gets going it's a lot of fun. ***.

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957). Director: Nathan Juran.

A rocket ship returning from Venus carrying a specimen of a native life form crash lands off Sicily and a young boy (Bart Bradley/Braverman) who finds the little creature brings it to a local professor (Frank Puglia) . Soon the little animal is growing rapidly, until it escapes its cage and has to be recaptured. Now as big as King Kong and then some, it breaks out of a lab in Rome after an accident and terrorizes the city, taking a last stand at the Coliseum. Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation of the Ymir (the name by which the creature became known, although it is never referred to as such in the film itself) is lively and fluid and the FX make the film watchable and entertaining. William Hopper is stalwart and essentially wooden as the hero, but Joan Taylor is better as the professor's grand-daughter, who is studying to be a doctor. Thomas Browne Henry plays yet another military man, giving his usual crisp delivery.

Verdict: Great fun! ***.

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958). Director: Nathan Juran (Nathan Herz).

Blond floozies hanging around hotel bars, a neurotic, dipsomaniac multi-millionairess who clings to an unloving husband, bald giants from space, and the biggest boob fetish of all time combine in a microcosm of 1950's Americana such as has never been seen before or since. Seriously, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a hoot! Rich Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes) has a run-in with a giant man (Michael Ross) from outer space who is after her diamond (he uses the gems to power his satellite) and becomes infected, growing to giant-size. As a giantess she tears out of her (rather unimpressive) mansion and takes off for town where her hubby Harry (William Hudson) is hanging out with his honey, a tramp named, well, Honey (Yvette Vickers). The "attack" doesn't last long but it's as much fun as everything else in this highly-entertaining tongue-in-cheek sci-fi flick. You can see through the giant people and the 50 foot woman's prop hand isn't very convincing, but it's all drenched in dramatic, attractive music by Ronald Stein, and the acting of the two ladies is very vivid if a trifle overwrought at times. Very fast-paced. Written by Mark Hanna, who also did the screenplay for the more serious Amazing Colossal Man (which also featured actor William Hudson). That same year director Nathan Herz had a big, technicolor hit with The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, which he directed under his own name, Nathan Juran; "Nathan Herz" was no more. Otto Waldis and Roy Gordon play Mrs. Archer's doctors. 

Verdict: Not to be missed if you're in a silly mood and love "big people" movies. ***.