WALK THE DARK STREET

Chuck Connors and Don Ross

WALK THE DARK STREET (1956). Written, directed and produced by Wyatt Ordung.

Two years after directing and appearing in The Monster from the Ocean Floor, Wyatt Ordung came out with this melodrama with a good performance from lead Chuck Connors. Connors plays Frank Garrick, whose brother Tommy (Eddie Kafafian) is killed in the war, but not before sending Frank a letter in which he says that if he dies it will be the fault of his lieutenant, Dan Lawton (Don Ross). Frank doesn't realize that Tommy was jealous of Lawton because the latter got the promotion he felt he, Tommy, deserved. Garrick decides to play a cat and mouse game with Lawton, telling him he'll give him $10,000 if he can tag him in a competition where the men will use so-called "photo guns" instead of the real things, and shoot each other with film instead of bullets. Fat chance. What happens after that is fairly predictable. Ordung's direction is self-conscious, and the downbeat, moody musical score is a little off-putting. Vonne Godfrey and Regina Gleason are two ladies involved in the storyline. Talented tenor Fred Darien/Darian appears in a nightclub sequence. Don Ross later amassed many credits, especially on television, as did Gleason; this was Godfrey's only credit.

Verdict: Despite interesting things and some good performances, the movie isn't memorable. **.

THE MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR

THE MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR (1954). Director: Wyatt Ordung.

Julie Blair (Anne Kimbell) is vacationing in Mexico where a monster is snatching cows and people from the shore. She meets a marine biologist named Steve Dunning (Stuart Wade) and his associate Dr. Baldwin (Dick Pinner). Dunning rides around in a cute one-man sub, and there are some nice underwater sequences. The director plays Pablo, who tries to kill Julie more than once because the villagers think she may somehow be the cause of their creature problem. Jonathan Haze of The Little Shop of Horrors is another villager named Joe. The movie is slow but atmospheric, and makes good use of its locations. Like a home movie at times, but strangely compelling. Anne Kimbell comes off like a 1930's style actress who entered pictures twenty years too late. She amassed about thirty film and TV credits from 1948 - 1958 and sometimes spelled her last name with an "a." Wade, uncredited, played a trooper in The Thing That Couldn't Die and had a few other credits. This was the first film solely produced by Roger Corman. The monster itself is nothing much to speak of.

Verdict: Not exactly Attack of the Crab Monsters, but what is? **1/2.