MA AND PA KETTLE AT WAIKIKI

Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main

MA AND PA KETTLE AT WAIKIKI (1953). Director: Lee Sholem.

Pa Kettle's (Percy Kilbride) cousin, Rodney (Loring Smith of Shadow of the Thin Man), who once hoped to marry Ma (Marjorie Main) but instead stayed in Hawaii to run a pineapple business, has been told to take it easy by his doctor. Rodney and his associates decide to importune Pa -- whom they wrongly think is rich and successful -- to temporarily run the pineapple business in Honolulu until Rodney's health improves. They also think Pa's brilliance will put the company on the fast track again. Against all odds, the ever-lazy Pa seems to come up with schemes that enrich the firm's coffers. But then he's kidnapped and taken to an island where he thinks there's buried treasure.

Percy Kilbride as the lazy Pa Kettle

Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki starts out well with several amusing sequences revolving both around Pa's efforts at the pineapple plant and Ma's encounters with the snobby bank president's wife, Teresa Andrews (Mabel Albertson of The House That Would Not Die) and her condescending lady friends. Unfortunately, the flick falls apart in the second half with the introduction of the thoroughly uninteresting kidnappers (including Russell Johnson and Myron Healey) and the whole dull business with the treasure hunt. Even the insertion of a Hawaiian version of Ma and Pa and their huge brood doesn't help, but leads to even more tedious sequences when these characters attempt to rescue Pa with Ma's super-butch assistance and a lot of coconuts. Okay, there's a cute business with a crab but that's about it.

Lori Nelson returns as the Kettle's grown daughter, Rosie, and goes to Hawaii with them, and her new love interest is Bob Baxter (Byron Palmer), who works for Rodney Kettle. Birdie Hicks (Esther Dale) returns briefly and is back to hating Ma again, leading into a funny sequence involving an air-conditioner that doesn't work the way Pa intended. This script has Ma seeming much more stupid than usual.

Verdict: Some fun, but otherwise a disappointment. **1/4. 

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953). Director: Jack Arnold.

Astronomer John Putnam (Richard Carlson) sees what he thinks is a meteorite crash to earth, but discovers it is actually a spaceship. When a rock slide covers up the entrance to a cave inside which the ship is hidden, Putnam finds that few people will believe what he saw. His girlfriend, Ellen (Barbara Rush) stands by him, but the local sheriff (Charles Drake), who also seems to have a yen for Ellen, is adamant that Putnam is nuts. Before too long the aliens, who can resemble humans, make their presence known in frightening ways. It Came from Outer Space is a creepy, very well-directed sci-fi thriller that also has a thoughtful sub-text of small-town conformity versus open-minded imagination, with Putnam and Drake representing the opposite poles. Director Arnold, as he often did, makes good use of the desert milieu. The performances are fine, and the fifties-type effects more than serviceable. There are some confusing aspects to the movie, however, such as Putnam's reaction when the alien reveals his true form to him, even though it appears that both he and Ellen have already seen the space beings in their natural form (which may have influenced the nastier aliens in The Crawling Eye). There is no on-screen credit for the composers, but the effective score was obviously influenced by Herrmann's work on The Day the Earth Stood Still.  A scene when Ellen is frightened by what is obviously a little boy dressed as a space cadet makes her seem mildly demented. Jack Arnold also directed the desert-oriented Tarantula.

Years ago I read an analysis of this film in which the author asserts that one sequence shows how the aliens aren't really that familiar with our species, citing an alleged sequence when two line men (Joe Sawyer; Russell Johnson) walk down the street holding hands. While this is certainly intriguing, this scene does not appear in the movie, and never did.

Verdict: I had forgotten how entertaining the darn thing is! ***.

THE TURNING POINT (1952)

Alexis Smith and William Holden

THE TURNING POINT (1952). Director: William Dieterle.

"I don't need a speech about honor or integrity -- from either one of you." -- John Conroy.

John Conroy (Edmond O'Brien) is a special prosecutor determined to break the hold that the rackets have on his city. Unfortunately, his good friend, reporter Jerry McKibbon (William Holden), has discovered that Conroy's own father, Matt (Tom Tully of Where the Sidewalk Ends), is a crooked cop in the employ of mobster Neil Eichelberger (Ed Begley), Conroy's chief antagonist. Adding to Conroy's troubles is the fact that his girlfriend and co-worker Amanda (Alexis Smith of Whiplash) is falling for Jerry and vice versa. There's a lot going on in The Turning Point -- a "B" movie with an "A" cast from Paramount and not Republic-- but much of it is handled in so perfunctory a manner that you wonder why the sub-plots -- Conroy's father being secretly corrupt; the love triangle -- were even introduced; Jerry is especially under-developed as a character. Still, the movie has interesting aspects and is well-acted, especially by Begley and Adele Longmire as the terrified witness, Carmelina. Carolyn Jones has a nice turn as another ditsy witness, and Russell Johnson [Attack of the Crab Monsters] briefly plays a cold-blooded hit man, as does Neville Brand. O'Brien's unemotional, reigned-in performance may fit the stoic character, but it also makes it harder to sympathize with someone who's having a really lousy year. The movie cries out for a good musical score, which it doesn't get.

Verdict: Borderline film noir with intriguing situations but it's perhaps less effective than some cheaper movies without major stars. **1/2.

ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS

ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (1957). Director: Roger Corman.

This is it: a group of scientists are trapped on an island with two – count 'em – two giant crabs who are out to rule the world. These crabs are not only big but intelligent, as they have devoured all of the members of the previous expedition and absorbed their conscious minds and brain power. The crabs send out heat waves which cause explosions designed to shrink the size of the island so that their potential victims will have nowhere to run. It ain't Shakespeare, but this creepy movie is well-directed and much more imaginative than the general rampaging giant monster movie. It is also amusing without being campy. The giant crabs are as adorable as they are ugly – they even have big eyes with eyelids that slowly open just when you think the little darlings are asleep. A fast-paced, entertaining gem of a horror flick that never takes itself too seriously. The actors generally play with conviction, although they never seem quite as nervous as you or I would be, wondering if we'll not only wind up as a crab dinner but wind up eating one of our friends for dessert afterward! The cast includes Pamela Duncan, Russell Johnson, Corman regulars Ed Nelson, Beach Dickerson and Leslie Bradley, and others. 

Verdict: Great old monster flick. ***.