JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER

Narda Onyx, John Lupton and Cal Bolder

JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (1966). Director: William Beaudine.

"My, you're a humanitarian. You should have stayed in Europe and given pink pills to sweet old ladies." -- Maria to Rudolph.

Dr, Maria Frankenstein (Narda Onyx), daughter of Victor, and her befuddled brother, Rudolph (Steven Geray of Gilda), transplanted from Vienna, are experimenting on men in the old west, inexplicably trying to create a strong monster to do their bidding. Her latest victim is Hank Tracy (Cal Bolder), who is a friend of the infamous Jesse James (John Lupton). Juanita (Estrelita Rodriguez), a villager, believes that Maria murdered her brother, and in the process of helping Jesse and Hank, falls in love with the former. Meanwhile Marshall MacPhee (Jim Davis of Monster from Green Hell) is on the look-out for Jesse with the help of James' former associate, Lonny (Rayford Barnes). The surprising thing about this absurd but entertaining movie is how creditable the acting is, with Onyx doing her best to make her ridiculous character come alive, the talented Geray making an impression despite the fact that at times he appears to have wandered into the wrong movie, and baby-faced Lupton [The Man in the Net], outfitted with a mustache, coming off more like the title outlaw that one would have imagined. Rayford Barnes makes his mark as Lonny as well, but it's Estrelita who really makes an impression as Juanita, playing the whole bizarre scenario with conviction. William Fawcett and Nestor Paiva also have good supporting roles. Onyx mostly did television work; this was her last credit. This was also the last credit for "Estralita," who had appeared in Rio Bravo. Bolder frequently appeared as a heavy on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Barnes had nearly 300 credits. As "The Wild Bunch" is mentioned in this movie it's interesting that Barnes was later cast in Sam Peckinpah's movie The Wild Bunch. Veteran director Beaudine keeps things moving.

Verdict: Strangely absorbing if not terribly wonderful. **1/2.

KILLER APE

KILLER APE (1953). Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet.

"Fish that climb trees?"

Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) and the natives have noticed that the crocodiles in the region have become strangely lethargic. Could it have something to do with experiments in secret caverns to create a drug that will enslave mankind? Evil scientists and nice natives alike are menaced by a hulking man-ape (Max Palmer) who lives in the area and keeps trying to carry off the feisty native girl, Shari (Carol Thurston), who at first has an antagonistic relationship with Jungle Jim. This film is fairly lively, and director Bennet keeps things moving. Others in the cast include Michael Fox as a medical officer, Nestor Paiva [Mr. Reckless] as the head bad guy, and Ray Corrigan [Undersea Kingdom], who for once is not playing a gorilla (after his start as a serial lead). By this time the chimp Tamba had taken over the Jungle Jim series in much the same way that Cheetah took over Weissmuller's Tarzan series. Tamba's antics are very funny, and at one point she leads a charge of dozens of maddened monkeys! At the end the chimp drives off in a car! Carol Thurston gives a good performance as Shari; she played Weissmuller's girlfriend in Swamp Fire.

Verdict: You can't beat those Man-apes! **1/2.

THE LADY PAYS OFF

Stephen McNally and Linda Darnell

THE LADY PAYS OFF (1951). Director: Douglas Sirk.

Evelyn Warren (Linda Darnell), an unmarried teacher who's sick of the men who want her just to be a mother to their children, has just won a "Teacher of the Year" award. She goes off to Nevada for a vacation and tries her hand at gambling, not realizing that the chips she's playing with are each worth $100 instead of a buck. Before long she's in the hole for $7000! Fortunately, the manager, Matt Braddock (Stephen McNally) offers her a chance to pay the money off by temporarily becoming a companion and tutor to his young daughter, Diana (Gigi Perreau). But still Evelyn won't let go of her dislike for Matthew, although things may be percolating behind her unpleasant demeanor. The Lady Pays Off is a contrived comedy-drama with good performances from the three leads, as well as good support from Ann Codee as the housekeeper, Virginia Field [Dial 1119] as Matt's old girlfriend, Kay, and especially Nestor Paiva [Mr. Reckless], who is a riot as a crazy captain of a fishing boat. The ending is completely unconvincing. McNally also played a pit boss in the superior The Lady Gambles with Barbara Stanwyck.

Verdict: Easy to take if instantly forgettable. **1/2.

KING OF THE MOUNTIES

One good-lookin' mountie: Allan Lane as Sgt. King

KING OF THE MOUNTIES (12 chapter Republic serial/1942). Director: William Witney.

In this sequel to King of the Royal Mounted, Sgt. Dave King (again Allan Lane) and his cohorts are up against a triumvirate of Axis baddies: Admiral Yamata (Abner Biberman) of Japan; Marshal von Horst (William Marshall) of Germany; and Count Baroni of Italy (Nestor Paiva of Tarantula). This gruesome threesome is behind numerous deadly acts of sabotage on Canadian soil, targeting such as oil fields, munition factories and the like, and employing such devices as a spiffy-looking flying Falcon ship. They use an active volcano [!] as their headquarters. Their plans for an Axis invasion of Canada are threatened by an invention called the Brent Airplane Detector; when the inventor is killed, his daughter Carol (Peggy Drake) carries on in his efforts to keep the device out of the determined enemies' hands. The three main bad guys are aided in their efforts by the traitor Harper (Douglass Dumbrille) and his associate Pierre (Duncan Renaldo). The wonderful Jay Novello shows up in a beard and engages in some of the lively fisticuffs that are sprinkled all through the serial. King makes some amazing death-defying leaps as well. Highlights include the remote control torpedo hidden beneath a phony haystack, and King's fight with a Japanese soldier in the cockpit of an out-of-control spitfire. Mort Glickman's music is also effective. This is a bit better than King of the Royal Mounted due to its somewhat more interesting storyline. Director Witney keeps things moving and at a high-excitement level throughout. NOTE: Much of the sound and some of the picture of this serial have been lost. You can find cheap copies of this with the missing parts, or buy a more expensive DVD from Serial Squadron which adds sub-titles to the parts without a soundtrack.

Verdict: Snappy stuff. ***.

THE FALLEN SPARROW

John Garfield

THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943). Director: Richard Wallace.

John Garfield enters Alfred Hitchcock territory with mixed results in this story of John "Kit" McKittrick (Garfield), who escaped from a Spanish prison and has something [the "MacGuffin"] that Nazi agents are after. In New York he investigates the death of a close friend who fell or was pushed from an upper story window during a party. Kit gets embroiled with three women: Toni Donne (Maureen O'Hara); old girlfriend Barby (Patricia Morison); and young singer Whitney (Martha O'Driscoll), none of whom he can trust any more than the men he encounters. Then there's the mysterious limping man who was a torturer in the Spanish prison and is now skulking around New York [his identity comes as no great surprise]. Garfield, Morison and O'Hara are all fine, and Walter Slezak scores as a strange professor in a wheelchair. Nestor Paiva [Mr. Reckless] and Hugh Beaumont [Larceny in Her Heart] have small roles as well. The movie is only sporadically interesting and can hardly be considered one of Garfield's more interesting pictures. What this needs is Alfred Hitchcock and a stronger script.

Verdict: Watch Body and Soul instead. **1/2.

DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD

DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD (/13 chapter Filmcraft serial/1943). Directors: Lewis D. Collins, Ray Taylor.

 "The Japs would give their eyeteeth to get this information."

"You mean their buck teeth, sir." [Oy!]

In this superior sequel to Don Winslow of the Navy, Winslow (Don Terry) is assigned to the Coast Guard and continues to battle the machinations of the Scorpion (Nestor Paiva) and his female lieutenant, Tasmia (June Duprez). Elyse Knox is cast as the plucky nurse, Mercedes, and talented Philip Ahn is rather wasted in the role of bad guy Hirota. Highlights include a fire in an oil derrick, a plane that smashes into a boat, another boat that is blown to bits, and a neat bit with a car that rolls down a hill backward and winds up in the drink. The Scorpion has an interesting headquarters located in a cliff behind a waterfall. An interesting aspect of the serial is that the story is conversationally recapped/reported at the beginning of the chapter by one of the supporting characters. Terry is more than adequate as the action-hero, and Paiva, in a rare villainous role, is adequate if a little bland. Full of WW2 lingo and stock sea battle footage.

Verdict: Much better than Don Winslow of the Navy. ***.

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS

Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955). Director: Douglas Sirk.

"As Freud says, when we reach a certain age sex becomes incongruous."

""You were ready for a love affair, but not for love."

Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), a small-town widow approaching middle age, finds a second chance for happiness with a somewhat younger gardener named Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson). Even though Ron has his own successful business, he is seen as a poor choice for Cary, whose first husband was an affluent businessman. While the town busybodies gossip, even wrongly suggesting that something was going on between Cary and Ron even before Mr. Scott's death, Cary's son, Ned (William Reynolds), and daughter, Kay (Gloria Talbott), have strenuous objections to their mother's relationship with Ron. Concerned about her children's feelings, Cary makes a fateful decision, only to discover her children haven't time to give much thought to their mother's feelings. [A great scene has the children giving Cary a television set for Christmas, and the camera pulls in toward her sad reflection in the screen as she realizes this TV is meant to be her "companionship" for the future.] Jane Wyman gives an excellent and sensitive performance that holds up through all of the plot contrivances, and Hudson, if not on his co-star's level, is good and romantic and at the height of his male beauty. This is a typically handsome Ross Hunter production with picture postcard Technicolor cinematography. The screenplay tries [and fails] for added depth by making Kirby a Thoreau addict who tries, along with his friends Mick and Alida (Charles Drake and Virginia Grey), to turn aside from mindless ambition and enjoy life's simpler pleasures. [Only in a Hollywood movie can people who eschew the rat race and Keeping Up With The Jones' live in such utterly sumptuous surroundings. Anyone who lives in a reconverted, refurbished mill house has to have bucks.] That being said, there is some good dialogue and supporting performances from such as Gloria Talbott [as the constantly psychoanalyzing daughter], William Reynolds, Donald Curtis as a lecherous suitor, and Agnes Moorehead as Cary's good friend, Sarah. Jacqueline DeWit is the bitchy Mona, who dishes dirt on everyone, Nestor Paiva is one of Ron's circle of friends, and David Janssen is Kay's boyfriend. Although the film makes some attempt at dealing with ageism, it's also guilty of it in its treatment of Harvey (Conrad Nagel), who is Cary's steady date. Harvey may be twenty years older than Cary, but it's still a bit ludicrous to suggest that a man in his late fifties [as Nagel was] would settle for a sexless marriage with a younger woman, as Harvey more or less suggests. Setting aside these and other quibbles, All That Heaven Allows is not without appeal, although it is nowhere near as good as a similar vehicle with Barbara Stanwyck, My Reputation. Nice Frank Skinner score with classical themes.

Verdict:  Attractive soap opera with compelling leads [if for different reasons]. ***.

THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN

THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN (15 chapter Universal serial/1940). Directors: Ford Beebe; John Rawlins.

This sequel to the first Green Hornet cliffhanger uses the same directors, most of the original cast, but has a new Hornet: Britt Reid and his masked alter ego the Hornet are now played by Warren Hull of Mandrake the Magician. Gordon Jones of the first serial might have had the slight edge, but Hull isn't bad. He also tries to affect a different voice when he tries to speak as the Hornet, but is less effective at it than Jones. The Green Hornet Strikes Again is as episodic as its predecessor, but it's also a more entertaining serial. Anne Nagel is back as "Casey," Reid's secretary, as are Wade Boteler as reporter Michael Axford [who always calls our hero the "Hahnet"] and Keye Luke as Kato. Eddie Acuff plays a new character, a reporter named Lowery. Although the Hornet doesn't know his identity until the very end, the audience is clued in to the fact that the head of the syndicate that has its fingers in many illegal pies -- the building business, oil wells, steel mills, heiresses subject to extortion -- is Boss Crogan (Pierre Watkin, who is effective if comparatively colorless). Roy Barcroft, Nestor Paiva, and possibly Grant Williams are also in the cast in small roles. There are exciting cliffhangers involving a moving bridge, the Hornet's plane being shot down, and a great bit with the Hornet and a hood plunging through the top floor when a building collapses. There's a very effective warehouse fire, as well as a lively fight when some hoodlums attack trucks distributing Reid's paper, the Sentinel. One chapter deals with a steel mill that is secretly making bombs for a foreign government. Jay Michael offers a notable turn as a sneering construction racketeer in chapter 14. The classical music on the soundtrack is sometimes disconcerting. This is definitely one of the better Universal serials.

Verdict: This one has a little more sting. ***.

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. ***. 

MR. RECKLESS

MR. RECKLESS (1948). Director: Frank McDonald.

Jeff Lundy (William Eythe) discovers that when it comes to his alleged girlfriend Betty (Barbara Britton), he's been away for far too long -- years in fact. Now he discovers that Betty is engaged to his pal, restaurant owner Gus (Nestor Paiva, pictured). The three go off to an oil town where Gus opens a new eatery while he and Betty prepare for their wedding, and Jeff goes to work for the oil company. This is basically a poor man's They Knew What They Wanted [musicalized as The Most Happy Fella] with a pretty young women engaged to a much older and less attractive fellow; there's even a scene when Betty wants to marry Gus, whom she doesn't really love, right after he has an accident. Eythe, Britton, and Lloyd Corrigan as Betty's father -- who gets locked in an oil tank at one point -- are all good, and character actor Paiva is given one of his biggest roles; he's okay but he's not exactly Edward G. Robinson. Four years later Britton co-starred in the TV show Mr. and Mrs. North. The title of this film has led people to believe it's about a man engaging in reckless stunts to win his girl back, but that really doesn't happen.

Verdict: One you can miss. **.

CORNERED

CORNERED (1945). Director: Edward Dmytryk. 

Laurence Gerard (Dick Powell), a Canadian shot down over France and helped by the underground, learns that the resistance fighter he married and hardly knew was murdered along with many others under the orders of a collaborationist named Jarnac -- who is supposedly dead. Gerard travels to Buenos Aires to find Jarnac, even though he doesn't know what he looks like or what name he might be using. Helping and hindering along the way are Jarnac's widow (Micheline Cheirel), the hostess Mrs. Camargo (Nina Vale), her mousy husband (Steven Geray), a shady tourist guide (Walter Slezak of Lifeboat), and the sinister Dr. Satana (Morris Carnovsky). Even Edgar Barrier and Nestor Paiva get into the act as, respectively, an insurance agent and a police official. Powell and Slezak give terrific performances, with a sharp assist from Luthor Adler and the rest of the supporting cast. The movie is unpredictable and basically absorbing, though it has no great Hitchcock-like set-pieces and is rather talky at times. Still, it is undeniably intriguing and has an exciting climax. NOTE: Cornered is one of the eight films on Warner brothers' Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 5. 

Verdict: Powell proves again that he's not just a song and dance man. ***.

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955). Director: Jack Arnold.

In this sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Gill Man is captured at his lagoon in the Amazon and brought to an Oceanarium in Florida where he becomes a star attraction. Professor Clete Ferguson (John Agar) is a scientist who takes a leave of absence from his school just so he can study the creature, while Joe Hayes, (John Bromfield) is one of the men who captured the monster. Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson) is a pretty student who's along for the ride, and gets more than she bargained for when the creature runs off with her. Frankly, Revenge is not nearly as good as the original, although it holds the attention. Nestor Paiva, Neil the adorable chimp, and a young Clint Eastwood all make brief appearances. Taken out of his native habitat, the creature is truly a fish out of water, although the latter half of the film has him undewater for a couple of sequences. The acting is okay for the most part but Lori Nelson seems devoid of any genuine talent. Bromfield also appeared in Three Bad Sisters.

Verdict: Not quite a revenge on the audience. **.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954). Director: Jack Arnold.

Deep in the Amazon an expedition searches for a fossil but discovers a living gill man who can do without their intrusion into his territory. In short order the bad-tempered creature nearly wipes out the entire party, and blocks off their exit from the lagoon as well. The "B" variety actors are more or less solid, the creature design is quite good, and the film has a certain degree of suspense and tension. Of the cast Richard Denning and Whit Bissell come off best, although Julie/Julia Adams, Richard Carlson, the ever-reliable Nestor Paiva, and Antonio Moreno as the man who found another gill man's fossilized claw are more than acceptable. The creature's underground lair is well-designed, and the brassy, jangling score [used in many other Universal films including the sequels to Creature] is effective. The erotic underwater "ballet" between the creature and Adams is a stand-out sequence. Although the creature is generally seen as a victim of sorts, hunted by interlopers, an early scene shows him slaughtering two innocent natives even before the expedition arrives. Followed by Revenge of the Creature. 

Verdict: Memorable monster movie -- and monster. ***

THE MOLE PEOPLE

THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956). Director: Virgil Vogel. 

Explorers and scientists Roger Bentley (John Agar), Jud Bellamin (Hugh Beaumont from Leave it to Beaver) and Etienne LaFarge (Nestor Paiva) wind up in giant caverns which hold the lost civilization of Sumeria. At first they are considered gods by the high priest (Alan Napier of Batman fame), who worships Ishtar, but eventually he realizes the truth and there's trouble. The Sumerians use ugly-looking mole creatures [see photo] as their brutalized slaves, who can dig through the layers of the cavern and who eventually rebel. This is Saturday matinee fare hokum, but it's also entertaining, with atmospheric underground sequences and fine matte paintings. There's no evil queen, but a few babes, including Cynthia Patrick as the sympathetic Adad. Dr. Frank Baxter introduces the movie and is a bore. Agar isn't bad, Paiva is better, and Napier is just swell. Effective musical score [cobbled together from different sources] as well. 

Verdict: More fun that you might expect. ***.

THE WILD PARTY (1956)

THE WILD PARTY (1956). Director: Harry Horner.

Anthony Quinn, Carol Ohmart (Vincent Price's bitchy wife in House on Haunted Hill), Arthur Franz of Atomic Submarine and The Sniper, Nestor Paiva of Tarantula, Kathryn Grant of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Paul Stewart and Nehemiah Persoff all in the same movie -- too bad it's a nearly unwatchable stinker. It's even more of a shame that virtually everyone in the cast gives a good performance, especially Carol Ohmart, who mostly did TV work. She plays Erica, who is seeing boyfriend Franz on his last night before going overseas, and is kidnapped by a crazy, desperate Quinn. Jay Robinson plays an even crazier pal of Quinn's, Gage. Persoff's hippie character, "Kicks," is incredibly annoying, although Persoff plays him well (too well). A lot of bad dialogue and under-developed characters.

Verdict: Fairly pitiful, with a cast that deserves better. *.

LET'S KILL UNCLE

LET'S KILL UNCLE (1966). Director: William Castle. 

Young Barnaby Harrison (Pat Cardi) goes to stay with his Uncle Kevin (Nigel Green) after his father is killed, and learns that the man fully intends to kill him -- as he even tells him -- for the five million dollars he inherited. Barnaby and his friend Chrissie (Mary Badham) decide it might be a good idea to kill Uncle Kevin first. What ensues is a game of cat and mouse as the kids try to outwit and murder the adult and vice versa. Unfortunately, the rather light, almost comic, tone of the picture works against the suspense and strips the film of needed tension. Cardi makes an appealing protagonist, Badham is a little creepy, Green is okay in an impossible part but radiates little menace. Robert Pickering and Linda Lawson are, respectively, a sergeant who accompanies Barnaby to his uncle's island home, and Chrissie's pretty Aunt Justine. At one point Barnaby gets into a small plane with his uncle, which makes no sense at all. A ramshackle, abandoned hotel and a shark in a swimming pool also figure in the action. Poor musical score and an incredibly flat ending. Castle directs by the numbers. 

Verdict: Despite an intriguing situation, this is pretty boring. *1/2.

THE DANCING MASTERS

THE DANCING MASTERS (1943). Director: Malcolm St. Clair.

Laurel and Hardy run a dance studio but are way behind in their bills. They have one wealthy student, Trudy (Trudy Marshall) who's in love with Grant (Robert Bailey), whom her father detests. Hardy tries to make Laurel break his leg so they can collect on an insurance policy, then the two help Grant demonstrate his "invisible" ray gun. A protracted climactic sequence with a runaway bus that winds up on a roller coaster track is frenetic but not very funny, but there are some amusing bits in the film, including an auction for a grandfather clock that ends in disaster. Margaret Dumont is amusing as Trudy's mother, but she hasn't enough to do. Robert Mitchum has a small role as a small time hood selling "insurance" to the boys. Nestor Paiva plays another crook. The script for this picture never really jells, and despite some good moments, it can't be considered one of the better L&H features.

Verdict: Not the boys at their best. **.