DEADLY INTENTIONS

Michael Biehn and Madolyn Smith Osborne

DEADLY INTENTIONS (1985 telefilm/mini-series). Director: Noel Black.

Charles Raynor (Michael Biehn) is an aspiring doctor who boards with the Livanos family and has a rather neurotic adoptive mother (Cloris Leachman). Charles falls in love with Katherine Livanos (Madolyn Smith Osborne) and the two move to a new town where he gets a job at a hospital. Katherine discovers that her new husband is rather peculiar, giving her lists of things to do each day, treating her like a child, and deliberately frightening her as he takes photos of her distress. When he gives her medicine for their baby boy, and Katherine discovers from a pharmacist (Robert Clarke in a bit) that the stuff could have killed the child, she makes up her mind to get out. This leads to an incredibly suspenseful and scary sequence that ends part one. Part two, while still entertaining, and which details events that occurred after the Raynor's divorce and Charles' plot to murder his wife, should have been compacted to about half an hour. In any case Deadly Intentions, based on a true crime book written by the prosecutor in the attempted murder trial, is quite absorbing, and features two terrific lead performances. With his crazy eyes one could suggest that Biehn [Aliens] is halfway there with his part, but he really does give an outstanding and marvelously intense performance that deserved an Emmy (I don't think he was even nominated). Cloris Leachman, Kevin McCarthy as a defense lawyer, and Cliff De Young [Dr. Giggles] as the prosecutor are also notable. Noel Black also directed the theatrical film Pretty Poison. Followed by Deadly Intentions ... Again?

Verdict: Watch out for those eyes. ***.

KING OF THE CARNIVAL

KING OF THE CARNIVAL (12 chapter Republic serial/1955). Director: Franklin Adreon.

Bert King (Harry Lauter) is a former paratrooper who is now a high-wire trapeze artist with a circus run by Jess Carter (Robert Shayne), who is also the ringmaster. His former army buddy and fellow paratrooper Art Kerr (Rick Vallin), now an agent with the Department of the Treasury, has tracked down a gang of counterfeiters to the circus and environs. Art sort of deputizes both Bert and his partner, June (Fran Bennett), to help with the investigation and spy on suspicious characters within the circus. The HQ of the gang is in a water-tight compartment on what appears to be a sunken ship, with gang members entering through a water lock. Although he is not the big boss -- there is little attempt to disguise his identity -- a foreign agent named Zorn (Gregory Gaye) is the one who manufacturers the counterfeit bills, with which he hopes to flood Europe. There are some decent cliffhangers involving high-wire performers dangling over a circle of lions, and a bit with a rushing train, as well as a good mid-chapter sequence with a gasoline fire on a water tank. Much of the serial was cobbled together from stock footage, but it still manages to be entertaining -- Adreon's direction is snappy and fast-paced -- although it does become a little tedious towards the end. Lauter and Shayne are fine, although Fran Bennett, mostly a TV actress, has a somewhat flat delivery. Robert Clarke, Stuart Whitman, and Tom Steele have smaller roles. This was the last Republic serial ever made.

Verdict: Handsome Harry handles the hoodlums! **1/2.

SECRET FILE HOLLYWOOD

Robert Clarke

SECRET FILE HOLLYWOOD (1962). Director: Ralph Cushman (Rudolph Cusumano).

After an incident in a bar during which someone is shot, private eye Max Carter (Robert Clarke) loses his license. He gets mixed up with a shady lady named Nan (Francine York), who says she'll pay cash if he helps her set up a married director, James Cameron (John Warburton), with a babe and takes pictures for a scandal sheet. Gay takes her orders from a mysterious person who leaves instructions on audio tapes like something out of an old-time movie serial (although then they used records). The "babe" in the set-up is actually an actress named Gay Shelton (Maralou Gray), who simply wants to audition for Cameron in his home and has no idea of how she's to be used. When this whole business blows up in everyone's faces, a TV personality named Rutherford (uncredited) excoriates the scandal sheets on his show. Max and Gay team up to uncover the perpetrator behind the whole sleazy scheme. Secret File Hollywood is a cheap movie -- you can see the boom mike hovering overhead in half of the shots -- with a supporting cast of amateurs, but it is entertaining, and Clarke [Outrage; The Hideous Sun Demon], handsome and more than competent in the role, is perfect as Carter; he would have made a great lead in a private eye TV show.  York, Warburton. Gray, and Sydney Mason as "Hap," an associate of Nan's to whom Max owes money, also give good performances.

Verdict: Some good acting puts this over and Clarke is always appealing. **1/2.

BEYOND THE TIME BARRIER

BEYOND THE TIME BARRIER (1960). Director: Edgar G. Ulmer.

Major William Allison (Robert Clarke) flies his plane on a test run and somehow manages to cross the time barrier, winding up in a dismal world 64 years in the future. Due to a cosmic plague from space travel, the inhabitants of the underground city he is taken to are mostly sterile deaf mutes, and there are mutants -- with very wrinkled bald pates -- groveling in a prison pit. People who have escaped the plague are contemptuously referred to as "Scapes." Both the Captain (Boyd "Red" Morgan) and Supreme (Vladimir Sokoloff), who are the rulers, suspect Allison of being a spy, although it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to spy on this pathetic "civilization." Other "spies," whose aircraft or spacecraft also crossed the time barrier in later years than Allison's, include General Kruse (Stephen Bekassy of Black Magic), Dr. Bourman (John Van Dreelen of The Leech Woman) and Captain Markova (Arianne Arden Ulmer, the director's daughter). The most sympathetic person in this futuristic world is Trirene (Darlene Tompkins), who seems to have some psychic power and is hoping to repopulate the world with Major Allison. The other "spies" want to help Allison get back to his time so he can prevent the plague, but perhaps they have something more sinister up their sleeves ... Clarke [The Hideous Sun Demon], who also produced, gives a good performance in this, but the movie is old comic book-level sci fi schlock: dying future societies with horrible mutants were nothing new even in 1960, and a couple of interesting ideas are not well-developed. The acting is generally good, with Arianne Ulmer, who had few other credits, credibly bitchy, and the expressive Tompkins, who was introduced in this picture, poor gal, getting things across with no dialogue; she had a few more credits than Ms. Ulmer. Both Sokoloff and Boyd, who wears a ridiculously long and pointy beard in this, had a great many credits. The ending is rather downbeat, especially given that the Major is a pretty decent guy.

Verdict: Could have used a few monsters to liven things up; Clarke deserved better. **.

THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON

THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON (1959). Director: Robert Clarke. 

Handsome "B" movie actor Robert Clarke both stars in and directed this interesting if highly imperfect monster movie. Dr. Gil McKenna (Clarke) is exposed to radiation, which has the unusual result of making him turn into a lizard-like creature -- somewhere down the evolutionary scale, it is explained -- every time he is hit by direct sunlight. McKenna's drinking problem is exacerbated by his understandable depression over having to be isolated and stay out of the daylight. Eventually it proves too much for him and he goes on a rampage. The Hideous Sun Demon is not always well-paced but there are some great locations for the climactic scenes, as well as notable attempts for some good camera angles. Despite a couple of overwrought moments, Clarke's performance is basically good, and the other actors are low-key and professional. Nan Peterson makes an impression as a buxom nightclub singer who briefly takes up with Gil. John Seeley contributed a very effective score for the film, which helps a lot. The make up is appropriately "hideous" if not entirely convincing, and there are a few unintentionally comical moments. Still, The Hideous Sun Demon holds the attention despite some talky scenes that go on too long. Clarke also appeared in The Man from Planet X, The Incredible Petrified World, and Outrage [possibly his best performance]. 

Verdict: Hardly a classic, but not completely terrible either. **1/2.

THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD

THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD (1957). Director: Jerry Warren.

A group descends in a new-type diving bell which breaks loose from its cable at 1700 feet. Escaping from the bell, the four people inside somehow make their way into an underground cavern (the logistics of this are never made clear, and it is never explained why they didn't make their way to the surface.) Inside these immense caverns (actually the Colossal Cave in Tucson, Arizona), which are illuminated by phosphorescence in the walls, the group discover an old man who claims to have been trapped there for fourteen years! Although this is a very cheap movie, it does manage to work up a disquieting sense of claustrophobia and despair, and the acting -- especially from Phyllis Coates of The Adventures of Superman TV fame, again playing a reporter -- adds to its veracity. Robert Clarke from The Man from Planet X and John Carradine are also in the cast. The battling monsters in the ads are in reality represented by a quick cut of a lizard that is not only not in the same frame as the actors but doesn't really seem to be in the same movie!

Verdict: Not for people who hate cheap movies, but this has atmosphere to spare. ***.

THE MAN FROM PLANET X

THE MAN FROM PLANET X (1951). Edgar G. Ulmer. 

John Lawrence (Robert Clarke) travels to an isolated village in England where he has been told a new planet will most closely approach the Earth. Professor Elliot (Raymond Bond) is observing the planet from this vantage point, along with a disgruntled former colleague Mears (William Schallert). One night on the very foggy moors, the professor's daughter Enid (Margaret Field, mother of Sally Field) comes across a small spaceship and sees a face looking out of a porthole at her ... This eerie and compact little movie is well-acted, has a surprisingly ambitious storyline about planetary invasion, and is well-directed by Ulmer. The little alien is both scary and cute. Atmosphere -- and fog -- to spare! 

Verdict: No world-beater maybe, but it holds the attention. ***.

OUTRAGE (1950)

OUTRAGE (1950). Director: Ida Lupino.

Ann Walton (Mala Powers) is a happy young women who has just been proposed to by Jim Owens (Robert Clarke), the man she's in love with. She's looking forward to a happy future when her future is compromised by a run-in with a rapist who assaults her. The first half of Outrage realistically details the effects of rape on a young woman, as Ann withdraws from her friends and family, shuns her fiance, and feels guilt and shame over an incident that was certainly not her fault. She eventually suffers a breakdown and runs off, coming under the protection of a kindly, attractive priest (Tod Andrews). But then the movie descends into melodrama, and Powers, frankly, isn't up to the challenges of the role. What could have been a powerful film is simply deadly dull. Lupino's direction isn't bad, but it doesn't do much to make the script, weak as it is, come alive. Robert Clarke, who appeared in several genre items in the fifties such as The Hideous Sun Demon, makes a nice impression as the boyfriend (Clarke did a lot of work on nighttime soaps during the 70's.) Powers appeared in Unknown Terror and Andrews was in From Hell it Came.

Verdict: Not memorable but deserves an A for effort, and for tackling a controversial theme. *1/2.