CAPTAIN KIDD AND THE SLAVE GIRL

Anthony Dexter and Eva Gabor

CAPTAIN KIDD AND THE SLAVE GIRL (1954). Director: Lew Landers. 

Captain William Kidd (Anthony Dexter) is convicted of piracy and sentenced to hang (as he was in real life). In this completely fictionalized story, Kidd's death is faked with the complicity of Lord Bellomont (James Seay), who hopes to eventually learn where Kidd's treasure is buried. To that end Kidd is given a new name and put on board a ship helmed by Captain Pace (the ever-uninteresting Lyle Talbot). Also on board is Judith Duvall (Eva Gabor) who was put there to report back to Bellomont. After an adversarial relationship, the two eventually become lovers, possibly because Kidd walks around with his shirt off through much of the movie. Eventually the two encounter Blackbeard (Michael Ross) and lady pirate Ann Bonney (Sonia Sorel). It's a question who will wind up with the treasure and if Kidd and Judith will ever make it back to England. 

Alan Hale Jr. with Dexter

Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl is fast-paced and amusing, with a dashing and adept performance by Dexter, who'd previously played Valentino and appeared in the trash-classic Fire Maidens of Outer Space. Gabor is better than expected, Ross [Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman] makes a blustering Blackbeard, and Sorel is quite effective as Bonney. It's fun watching Kidd turn Gabor into a galley slave early in their relationship, and even more fun watching Gabor and Sorel having a zesty "cat-fight." A hilarious scene has Kidd telling Judith to pretend to be his slave when she is wearing a fancy gown. Someone in the make up department had the lousy idea of painting a beard and mustache on Dexter's face instead of letting him grow one or using a fake beard with spirit gum -- in some shots it looks very strange. Alan Hale Jr. is excellent as Jay Simpson, a good friend of Kidd's who sticks with him to the bitter end. William Tannen also makes an impression as Steve Castle, a decided enemy of Kidd's, and smaller roles are played by William Schallert, Harry Lauter, Ken Terrell, and others who appeared in numerous B movies and serials. Although this movie was released in color, the only print I could find was black and white. 

Verdict: A sexy Kidd never hurts! ***. 

COMMANDO CODY: SKY MARSHAL OF THE UNIVERSE

Judd Holdren  and Aline Towne

COMMANDO CODY: SKY MARSHAL OF THE UNIVERSE  (12 episode Republic series/1953). Directors: Harry Keller; Fred C. Brannon; Franklin Adreon.

In the near-future Commando Cody (Judd Holdren of Zombies of the Stratosphere) whose identity "must" be hidden behind a mask "for security reasons," and his team are up against, the Ruler (Gregory Gaye of Dodsworth), an outer space despot who is out to take over the earth, as he has other planets, or destroy it. The Ruler creates weather changes that lead to tidal waves, destroys atomic research stations, employs germ warfare, alternately freezes the earth than causes super-high temperatures via twin suns, then tries to tilt the earth using a magnetic field. In each episode the Commando and his assistants foil the Ruler's plans, taking off to such places as the moon and Mercury when they need to in the Commando's rocketship (he also uses a jet pack to fly). There has always been a debate over whether Commando Cody is a serial or a TV show. Apparently it was originally conceived as a TV series, but for some reason was shown in theaters first as a series of short films (the episodes don't end with cliffhangers as serials usually do, but are more or less self-contained). The series was then shown on television. In any case, Commando Cody is a lot of fun, with adequate acting and more than serviceable special effects. Along with the colorless Aline Towne, William Schallert [The Man from Planet X] and Richard Crane play Cody's associates, Lyle Talbot is cast as an equally colorless earth guy working with the Ruler, and Rick Vallin plays Captain Duron. Gloria Pall is the space babe who answers messages for the Ruler; she is decorative and little else.

Verdict:  You either love this stuff or you just hate it! ***.

THE WILD, WILD WEST Season Four

Jo Van Fleet and Robert Conrad in the final episode

THE WILD, WILD WEST Season Four. 1968. CBS.

While there were less outstanding episodes in The Wild, Wild West's last season than in previous years, it remained an entertaining, generally well-made and well-acted program until the end. During Ross Martin's illness, Charles Aidman filled in for Artemis Gordon as "Jeremy Pike" in several episodes. [William Schallert filled in as "Frank Harper" in one two-part episode.] There was a suspenseful scene in a vault in the first episode, "Night of the Big Blackmail," with Harvey Korman; a mechanical squid and an underwater HQ in "Kraken;" a giant tuning fork sonics weapon in "Avaricious Actuary;" a certain song that holds the key to which secret service agent might be a traitor in "the Janus;" an obnoxious opera singer (Patrice Munsel) in the unusual episode "Night of the Diva;" a tank used to tear homesteaders' dwellings apart in "Juggernaut;" a vial of deadly plague in "Gruesome Games;" and a deadly new explosive in "Doomsday Formula" with Kevin McCarthy. Dr. Loveless (Michael Dunn) plays dummy to a robot ventriloquist and kidnaps several people in ways related to a nursery rhyme in "Miquelito's Revenge;" and "Bleak Island," concerning skulduggery in a spooky old house on a cliff, features fine performances from John Williams, Beverly Garland and, especially, Robert H. Herron. The two best episodes were "The Sedgwick Curse," in which people disappear without a trace from a sinister hotel; and the very last episode of the series, the slightly sexist "Night of the Tycoons," in which Jo Van Fleet expertly plays the sole female member of a board of directors who are being killed off one by one. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin still seem to be having fun, and Aidman and Schallert make admirable and likable fill-ins.

Verdict: Nice wind-up to an unusual and entertaining TV series. ***.

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. ***.