ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

 

Originally posted on 4/10/21

 

Currently rewatching: ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932). One of the most grotesque and truly horrifying films of the Golden Age of Horror. 

 

Paramount set out to match Universal after that studio's previous year's successes with "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" by adapting another classic novel, H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau", and ended up creating a film so dark and so shocking that it has lost little if any of its power. 

 

Erle C. Kenton ("House of Frankenstein", "House of Dracula") proves once more that he was hardly just a hack director by making this a lavishly decadent, often nightmarish viewing experience.

 

 

 

Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) survives a shipwreck only to end up on the uncharted island of mad scientist Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton at his best) who, through his techniques of accelerated evolution, transforms animals into tortured, pathetic animal/human hybrids.

 

These creatures are terrifying thanks to convincing performances (not the least of which being Bela Lugosi as a wolf man who acts as the keeper of the law taught to them by their cruel master Moreau (thou shalt not run on all fours, thou shalt not eat meat, thou shalt not spill blood, etc.) and a makeup department that had a field day creating a host of some of the screen's most frightening visages.

 

Things get even weirder when Moreau decides to test just how much of a woman his Panther Woman (the exotic Kathleen Burke) really is by introducing her to Arlen in a scene that practically oozes with pheromones. 

 

 

 

The film crackles with menace as the jungle surrounding Moreau's house is always crawling with the most wretched of creatures who are constantly on the verge of fully reverting to savagery and descending upon the island's human inhabitants.

 

When this finally occurs during the exciting finale, Moreau finds himself in danger of discovering why his "House of Pain" (the manimals' name for his laboratory) is a place of such terror and dread.

 

Leila Hyams and Paul Hurst also appear as Parker's bride-to-be and a captain who brings her to the island in search of her love. Arlen's a likable hero and Kathleen Burke both fascinating and heartbreaking in her character's yearning to be loved as a human female.

 

 

 

Laughton, of course, feasts upon the jungle scenery as a brazenly warped narcissist who revels in his own perversions and awaits the day he can return to shock the daylights out of those who have doubted and exiled him. 

 

As such, he shares a trait or two with ISLAND OF LOST SOULS itself, a film that shocks and horrifies its audience with giddy and almost human delight.

 

 

(NOTE: Thanks to Mark French for the heads up.) 

 

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932) -- Movie Review by Porfle

PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/19/22

 

Serials are a wonderful phenomenon unto themselves. They aren't self-contained units like movies or TV show episodes.  They're something that we watch in a different way entirely, with each open-ended chapter gradually adding up to a cumulative whole. 

And since the usually rather uncomplicated overall story must be sustained throughout these multiple chapters, it must necessarily be rambling, padded, stretched-out, repetitive, and filled with dead ends and shaggy-dog subplots.  (This is why so many serials have so easily been edited down into regular-length feature films.)

Because of this, serials seem to take place in their own unique, utterly unreal universe where actions are rash, dialogue is corny, the laws of physics don't apply, and logic as we know it simply doesn't exist.

Regarding the serial-like Saturday morning TV series "Jason of Star Command" I once said: "There's nothing like a show that's both stupid and cool at the same time to bring out the kid in me." This is, to me, a perfect summation of the appeal of the serial.  Since it's resolutely unlike anything else, it offers a whole different appeal and a refreshingly naive and uncomplicated kind of fun that's simply indescribable. 

Which brings us to PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO (1954), the latest classic serial to be released on Blu-ray and DVD by Olive Films.  The penultimate chapter play from Republic Pictures, who gave us THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, it came near the end of the glorious serial era but still serves as a fun and exciting example of it.

The lovely and talented Phyllis Coates, who first played Lois Lane opposite George Reeves in the TV series "The Adventures of Superman", stars as Jean Evans, known as "The Panther Girl" by the local natives due to an earlier incident which has become legend.  Jean's profession as a fearless wildlife photographer makes her a bit of a female Carl Denham, who once boasted that he would've gotten "a swell shot of a charging rhino" if his assistant hadn't run away with the camera.

 

Here, however, the charging rhino is replaced by a "claw monster" created by Dr. Morgan (Arthur Space, THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST, THE RED HOUSE), a shady scientist operating in the area.  Morgan and his burly henchmen Cass (John Day, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT, SILVER STREAK) and Rand (Mike Ragan, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) have an illicit diamond mine but can't work it until the natives and other snooping interlopers have been run out of the area. 

To this end, Morgan has created a growth formula to turn crawdads--yes, crawdads!--into giant lobsters known as "claw monsters" which Cass and Rand then herd toward the village to wreak fear and havoc.  (And, potentially, one hell of a seafood dinner.) 

The whole thing's too much for even the intrepid Jean to handle by herself, so she calls upon the aid of her pal, big-game hunter Larry Sanders (Myron Healey, THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST, THE UNEARTHLY, RIO BRAVO) to come join in the hunt for the claw monsters and to help deal with Cass and Rand, who make quite a nuisance of themselves at the behest of Dr. Morgan.

Thus, we have the groundwork for 12 entire chapters filled with furious fistfights, blazing shootouts, jungle perils, and an ample serving of giant lobsters.  Sanders handles the frequent fisticuffs, with Jean usually falling and conveniently getting knocked out at the onset of each fight.  The shootouts are a different matter, as Jean wields a rifle or a pistol with equal skill. 

Each chapter ends, of course, with a cliffhanger, with Healey's character being the subject of a surprising number of them.  Most aren't all that imaginative, involving falling trees, exploding dynamite, quicksand, etc. but some end on a more exciting note with Jean being menaced by a giant lobster claw or an advancing gorilla-suit suitor. 

Phyllis Coates, who somehow looked appealingly MILF-y even in her 20s, makes for a fetching heroine when Healey isn't hogging the action limelight himself.  Many viewers used to seeing her in the prim 50s fashions Lois Lane wore in "Superman" will delight at the sight of Phyllis running around in her jungle miniskirt and boots for 12 chapters.  (She also sports a robust, chest-heaving scream that rivals that of the great Fay Wray herself.)

While much of the action consists of stock footage from the 1941 Frances Gifford serial JUNGLE GIRL, Phyllis gets ample opportunity to show off her character's derring-do when the usually self-reliant Sanders stumbles into a few sticky situations that require rescue by the Panther Girl.

In one scene she executes a thrilling high dive off a cliff to save the drowning hunter.  In another, she does a backflip off a swinging vine just in time to wrestle a crocodile that's about to eat him. 

Since this is a budget-conscious jungle adventure, the Republic backlot is pressed into service to stand in for darkest Africa, along with a standing town set, a simple native village, and a limited number of interior sets including the doctor's lab, the diamond mine, a saloon, and Jean's rustic jungle bungalow.

Special effects by the ubiquitous Howard and Theodore Lydecker (COMMANDO CODY: SKY MARSHAL OF THE UNIVERSE, JOHNNY GUITAR) include some cool rear-projection shots of those wonderfully hokey-looking claw monsters with Jean and Sanders blasting away at them in the foreground. 

The DVD from Olive Films has an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 with mono sound and optional English subtitles.  No extras.  The transfer is from a near-pristine print with beautiful black and white photography that's just a joy to look at.  (Note to subtitle writers: in 1954 it was "Miss", not "Ms.")

PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO probably wouldn't rank among the best serials of all time, but darn if it isn't one of the most downright fun and enjoyable ones that I've seen.  There's just something about these things--stupid, yes, but totally cool--that I find utterly irresistible.

PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/13/16

 

I don't know how often your local stations showed it, but when I was a little Monster Kid back in the 60s I only got to see THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS (1959) once.  So viewing the new DVD from Olive Films was literally only my second time to watch this modest but effective monster thriller from the tail end of the 50s creature-feature era.

Still, I always remembered it fondly, and I have a feeling a lot of lifelong Monster Kids also hold this seldom-seen gem in warm regard.  Partly because it's such an enjoyably low-key and earnest effort, but mainly due to its titular monster, a scaly, bloodthirsty, and extremely foul-tempered beast with a penchant for decapitating his victims.

Indeed, the most enduring images from the film, which many of us first saw in the pages of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine, are those of the monster carrying around a bloody, realistic-looking severed head (as he does right there on the DVD cover itself).  This really piqued our morbid imaginations in those days since such graphic gore was still a novelty, especially on television. 

For the most part, however, THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS is pretty standard stuff for a low-budget independent horror feature, though nicely done on all counts.  The simple story takes place in a small seaside town and centers around the lighthouse which is maintained by crabby old Mr. Sturges (John Harmon, FUNNY GIRL, MONSIEUR VERDOUX), who seems to know more than he lets on about the rash of mysterious, violent deaths occurring around town. 

While his attractive daughter Lucille (Jeanne Carmen) spends her school break with him and romances local boy Fred (the great Don Sullivan of THE GIANT GILA MONSTER and TEENAGE ZOMBIES) on the sly, Sheriff Matson (Forrest Lewis, THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR) and Dr. Jorgenson (Les Tremayne, WAR OF THE WORLDS) try to solve the mystery of the headless corpses popping up all over town.

Lewis, Tremayne, and Harmon, each of whom appeared in films both big and small, use their considerable collective acting experience to lend gravitas to the production.  As for the younger players--Sullivan is an old favorite of mine, even when he has his ukulele with him (his awful solo number in GIANT GILA MONSTER is the stuff of legend), and Carmen, a close friend of Marilyn Monroe who led quite a colorful life in showbiz, gives a likably restrained, earthy performance as Lucille. 

 

I like the smalltown ambience the film establishes--everyone knows everyone else and the phone numbers are only three digits long--as well as the unhurried pace that scripter H. Haile Chace and director Irvin Berwick (MALIBU HIGH, HITCH HIKE TO HELL) maintain until the monster's first shocking appearance jolts us out of our seats. 

After that, we get to see more and more of the reptilian beast until the film's exciting and suspenseful climax, which takes place atop the lighthouse itself.  The monster suit itself resembles a poor man's "Creature From the Black Lagoon" with much more grotesque features (similar to the fearsome alien in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE), and is definitely a cut above the usual zipper-up-the-back job. 

The DVD from Olive Films is in 1.78:1 widescreen with mono sound.  Subtitles are in English.  No extras.  Picture quality is quite good.

If you don't have a warm spot in your heart for low-budget horror fare from the 50s, chances are THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS will either leave you cold or put you to sleep, or both.  But if the very title puts a smile on your face while sending a pleasant little chill up and down your spine, then this soulful nostalgia fix should give you a potent buzz. 

THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS -- DVD Review by Porfle

My Joy Harmon Music Video ("VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS", 1965) (video)

This is our musical tribute to the great Joy Harmon...

...who played Merrie in the cult classic VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS (1965).

She's also famous for her television appearances with Groucho Marx...

...and as the girl who washes her car in the 1967 Paul Newman classic COOL HAND LUKE.


Music: "More Than This" by Roxy Music 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

My Joy Harmon Music Video ("VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS", 1965) (video)

VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS -- Movie Review by Porfle

 
(NOTE: This is one of my earliest movie reviews and originally appeared at Bumscorner.com in 2005.)

 

In the annals of goofy teen movies, one stands taller than all the rest. Mainly because it has giant teenagers in it.

VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS is one of the dumbest movies ever made, yet it's a heck of a lot more fun to watch than THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. Flung onto movie screens by Avco-Embassy Pictures way back in 1965, VILLAGE boasts an incredible cast including Tommy Kirk, Ron Howard, Johnny Crawford, Beau Bridges, Toni Basil, Joy Harmon, Tim "Mickey's my dad!" Rooney, Tisha Sterling, Joe Turkel, and the Beau Brummels. 

 

It was directed by Bert I. Gordon, the guy who liked to put giant things in his movies (notice hisinitials) such as AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, EARTH VS. THE SPIDER, and FOOD OF THE GODS. Aside from the giant teenagers, this one has giant ducks, a giant tarantula, a giant cat, and a giant dog. The special effects aren't all that great, but, well, the movie didn't have a giant budget.

The story begins with a car wreck on the outskirts of town during a really bad rainstorm. Eight wild, fun-loving teenagers in their mid-twenties pile out and start dancing around in the mud. Then they flop down in it and commence to mud-rasslin'. But these activities aren't enough to satisfy such a hyperactive bunch, so they decide to walk to Hainesville and see what's hoppin' down at the local dance club. First, however, they break into a closed theater and help themselves to the facilities, which apparently include a washer-dryer combo and a shower.

Meanwhile, manly teen-heartthrob Tommy Kirk is making out on the couch with his girlfriend Nancy when suddenly there's an explosion down in her basement (no double-entendre intended). Nancy's kid brother, "Genius" (an Opie-sized Ron Howard), has just blown up his laboratory, and in the process has accidentally invented a substance that can super-size animals, which he discovers after his dog eats some of it and suddenly bumps his head on the ceiling. 

 

They feed a bit of it to some ducks that just happen to be waddling around out in the backyard, and the ducks get really big, too. Then the ducks waddle on down to the club and start dancing with the kids, who seem to think it's really neat to dance with some giant ducks.

But the ducks mean something else to Beau Bridges, the leader of the bad teenagers from outta town -- money. If he could steal the substance (technical name: "goo") he and his pals could get rich quick. He enlists Tisha Sterling to seduce Tommy Kirk while he personally puts the moves on Nancy, buying her a Coke and letting her feel his muscles. But their incredible combined sex appeal fails to elicit any information about the goo, so they must bide their time.

The next day, Tommy and Nancy hold a big rock 'n' roll pool party where they serve roast duck, and plenty of it. While Freddie Cannon serenades the crowd by unsuccessfully attempting to lip-synch to his song "Little Bitty Corinne", one of the bad girls finally tricks Genius into spilling the beans about the goo. 

 

Before you know it, Beau and his wild bunch are back at the theater, dividing the stolen hunk of goo into eight pieces. Seems they've decided to eat it themselves, get big, and show all those mean old adults that have always pushed them around who's boss, along with goody-goody fellow teens such as Tommy and Nancy.

 

They eat the goo. Buttons start popping off. Clothing begins to rip. Joy Harmon comes to the forefront at this point in the movie for two really big reasons. No, not her acting and dialogue. In case you don't know, Joy played the girl who washes her car in COOL HAND LUKE, which is the first thing that most guys who have seen COOL HAND LUKE remember about it. She doesn't wash a car in this movie, but she does get to be about fifty feet tall and dance around in a makeshift bikini, which will do.

The pool party suddenly turns ugly when the giant teenagers show up and start jerking and frugging in slow motion to Jack Nitzsche's ultra-cool theme music. At one point, Joy playfully grabs normal-sized Johnny Crawford (who played Mark McCain on "The Rifleman") and hangs him from her halter straps. Maybe it's just me, but this doesn't seem like such a bad thing. Since his girlfriend is watching, however, Johnny must act mortified by the jiggling ordeal until finally the local sheriff (Joe Turkel of BLADE RUNNER fame) shows up, takes one look at the giant teens, and groans wearily, "Oh, for crying out loud, now what's THIS?"

Beau informs him that they are taking over the town. This means that the adults will have to take orders from them, which includes lugging tons of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Cokes to the theater every day around lunchtime. To ensure their cooperation, Beau has the sheriff's daughter and Tommy's girlfriend kidnapped and held hostage. Tommy and the rest of the good teens must then think of a way to rescue them while Genius works feverishly on a goo-antidote. 

 

Toni ("Oh Mickey, you're so fine") Basil, who plays a go-go dancer at the club, helps by distracting the big boys with some far-out booty-shakin'. Meanwhile, Johnny is lowered from the rafters by a rope so that he can shove a huge wad of ether-soaked cotton in Joy's face, and ends up lodged in her cleavage again. Did he help write this script or what?

All of this, of course, is leading up to the final David-and-Goliath showdown between Tommy and Beau involving spears and slingshots in the town square. "Don't worry...I'll bring you his head on a silver platter," Beau promises Joy right before the fight, to which one of the group confidently responds, for no apparent reason, "That was Samson and Delilah!" No, it wasn't, you big dummy, it was John the Baptist and Salome'. You just wanna grab Mr. Information and slap him a few times for being so dumb, but you can't, which is frustrating. But that was forty years ago, so he's probably been slapped plenty of times by now anyway.

If I told you any more, I'd be giving away too much of the plot -- not that it matters. VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS is stupid, has bad special-effects, and doesn't really make much sense, but it's also a lot of fun to watch. So for its entertainment value, and because Joe Bob Briggs himself once bestowed the "Joy Harmon Fan Club Appreciation Award" on me (although I'm not sure whether or not he's really authorized to do that), I'm giving it a giant thumbs up.

VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS -- Movie Review by Porfle

ONE WAY WAHINE (1965) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/21/21

 

Currently watching: bouncy blonde beach goddess of the 1960s, Joy Harmon, in the incredibly obscure beach flick ONE WAY WAHINE (1965).

If you're a fan of the divine Joy Harmon, chances are you've already watched her magnum opus, VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS (also from 1965) numerous times. You'll also have fond memories of her legendary car-washing scene in COOL HAND LUKE two years later.

And vintage TV fans will even recall her charming appearances with an eyebrow-waggling Groucho Marx on his classic 1950s-era shows "You Bet Your Life" and "Tell It To Groucho" under the name "Patty Harmon."

 

Joy popped up in several other movies and TV episodes during her career, which spanned from 1956 to 1973, but her only starring role seems to be in the little-known ONE WAY WAHINE. ("It rhymes with bikini!" the poster tells us.)

Shot on a miniscule budget by a long-forgotten production company, this odd little film features Joy as Kit, an impossibly tanned beach bunny who, when not drawing the attention of every man in sight sunbathing on a Hawaiian beach, likes to wander from party to party while making a meager living doing whatever she can to get by.

We first see her stretched out on a beach towel looking almost as dark as "Tan Mom" but without the use of a tanning booth. She's being ogled via binoculars by a couple of fugitives from a Chicago bank robbery, Charley and Hugo (character actors Lee Kreiger and Ken Meyer, familiar faces from such films as THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN and LITTLE BIG MAN), as they lounge on the balcony of their Hawaiian getaway pad.

 

 

When Kit's friend Lou (David Whorf) delivers some hooch to the crooked pair and deduces that they're sitting on a bundle of stolen cash, he enlists his roommate Chick (Anthony Eisley) to help cook up a plan to steal the stolen loot themselves by setting up Kit and Chick's girlfriend Brandy (Adele Claire) as call girls who will seduce the bank robbers and then slip a Mickey into their drinks.

From the plot description, one can easily surmise that this is anything but the usual "beach party" teen movie. In fact, it's hard to figure out just who the filmmakers were aiming this pleasantly odd diversion at besides Joy Harmon fans hoping to catch her in and out of her clothes while basking in her bubbly dumb-blonde (but not that dumb) persona. (Her energetic dance to the film's theme song is a highlight.)

And unlike the standard beach movies, there's no surfing, romantic complications, zany supporting characters (unless one counts a bearded, unrecognizable Edgar Bergen as aging beach bum Sweeney and "Green Acres" icon Alvy Moore as Kit's amorous landlord), or big-name rock 'n' roll stars. 

 

 

In fact, most of the people in this movie are well past even pretending to be teenagers. (Pretty Adele Claire could even be described as a "milf.")

Despite various attempts at lightheartedness, the plan that our two main couples are hatching has an air of real danger about it (especially after we see bank robber Charley cleaning his automatic weapon which he always keeps at the ready).

When a dolled-up Kit and Brandy finally show up at Charley and Hugo's pad with knockout pills ready to slip into their drinks, the preliminary partying leads to one bad break after another for the girls until, to our dismay, fists start flying and the attempts at sex become wildly non-consensual. And the situation actually escalates from there.

 

 

While the first half of the film drags a bit and gives no indication that it will ever actually become more than a somewhat endearingly cheap novelty, the second half got my movie-watching juices flowing nicely. And the Hawaiian backdrop is a big improvement over the dreary beaches where Frankie and Annette used to hang out.

The cast is made up mainly of recognizable old pros (Eisley, Kreiger, Meyer, Bergen) who help us get past the film's low budget and its bland "point and shoot" directing style. (I won't comment on the image and color quality, sound, etc. since the copy I watched was anything but optimum.)

And of course there's the divine Joy, who provides fans with some delectable eye candy while fully displaying her sparkling personality. She's the main reason for spending time on a mildly diverting but otherwise wholly unexceptional obscurity like ONE WAY WAHINE, and it's to her credit that the time, for me anyway, felt not so badly spent.

ONE WAY WAHINE (1965) -- Movie Review by Porfle

R.I.P. Joy Harmon (1940-2026)

 

 

We are very sad to announce the passing of the beloved actress Joy Harmon (born Patricia Joy Harmon in 1940). 

She was a longtime fan favorite thanks to her appearances in such films as VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS, COOL HAND LUKE (in which her car-washing scene is iconic), and ONE-WAY WAHINE, as well as guest roles on "The Monkees", "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", "Batman", and Groucho Marx' "You Bet Your Life", where she first came to prominence.

After a busy acting career, she settled down to raise a family (including three children—Jason, Julie, and Jamie—and nine grandchildren) and began a bakery called Aunt Joy's cakes, which started in her own kitchen before becoming a runaway success. 

 

 

According to People.com, her family confirmed she died from complications related to pneumonia, which she had been battling for several weeks. After a hospitalization of about one to two weeks and a stay at a rehabilitation center, she spent her final days in hospice care surrounded by loved ones. Remarkably, she was reportedly working at her beloved bakery just the day before she was originally hospitalized. 

Joy will be long remembered by her many loving fans for her sweet, bubbly personality and the way she could light up the screen no matter what she was in. 

 

 

 

R.I.P. Joy Harmon (1940-2026)

Phantom Hand Blooper in "From Russia With Love" (1963) (video)

When Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) greets Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) at the door in the second James Bond movie "From Russia With Love" (1963, with Sean Connery), something odd happens--a phantom hand appears where you might least expect it.  See if you can spot it!


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Hope you enjoy it!

Phantom Hand Blooper in "From Russia With Love" (1963) (video)

Nudity In The Sean Connery "James Bond" Films? (video)

Connery's Bond operated in the less-permissive 60s.  

Thus, little or no nudity was seen.

Ursula Andress seems to briefly bare all in "Dr. No."
But a closer look reveals her dignity remains intact.

As for the bedroom shot of Daniela Bianchi in "From Russia With Love"...
...is she, or isn't she?

"Goldfinger" comes close a couple of times.

Most of the time, however, a bit of suggestion was enough.

(Note: the emphasis here is on shots intentionally staged by the director, not accidental slips.)


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Nudity In The Sean Connery "James Bond" Films? (video)

Switcheroo Stunt in "DR. NO" (1962) James Bond (video)

It's a common but fun trick when the star "becomes" the stunt person in one unbroken take.

My favorite example is in the first James Bond film, "Dr. No."  First, we see Sean Connery and Ursula Andress.

They run behind some scenery, and, without cutting away, the stunt people emerge to dazzle and amaze us. 


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Switcheroo Stunt in "DR. NO" (1962) James Bond (video)

My Jessica Alba "Sin City" Music Video

 

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. Song: "Illegal" by PinkPantheress. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

My Jessica Alba "Sin City" Music Video

"MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN" Corkscrew Car Jump: NO Slide Whistle! (video)

The cartoony slide whistle always ruined the effect of this great stunt for us.

So we took it out and replaced it with cool Bond music!

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Hope you enjoy it!

"MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN" Corkscrew Car Jump: NO Slide Whistle! (video)

AXE / KIDNAPPED COED -- Blu-ray + CD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/31/22

 

Sometimes a disc falls into my hot little hands which is an all-round cinematic experience in itself, and goes beyond simply watching a movie or two and some extras. Severin Films' new 2-disc set, AXE/KIDNAPPED COED (one Blu-ray disc, one soundtrack CD) is just such a heady film-fan experience. 

Representing the entire filmic output of 70s independent writer/producer/actor/director Frederick R. Friedel (save for an obscure 2000 comedy called MY NEXT FUNERAL), it's a saga of how someone with a little money and a lot of talent made his mark in the regional movie industry, had his films robbed from him by a crooked distributor, and finally found a "rainbow at the end of the storm" decades later when his work was rediscovered by a whole new audience of fervidly appreciative fans.

Watching the first film, AXE, aka "Lisa, Lisa" (1974), my initial impression was that this guy Friedel is one of those creative talents who can take the kind of budget and resources usually reserved for the lowest drive-in dregs and work a kind of rough-hewn magic with them.  Even as the film's look and feel still have that unavoidable bottom-drawer ambience, there's something sharply intelligent about the camerawork and editing, as well as performances by a uniformly fine cast, which elevates it all into a much higher realm of watchability.

Two plotlines are introduced which will eventually intertwine--in one, three gangsters are on the lam after having dispatched some unlucky mug in his cheap hotel room, in luridly violent fashion.  Jack Canon plays Steele, the icily psychotic leader, Ray Green the equally sadistic thug Lomax, and Friedel himself is Billy, a novice criminal still hampered by a nagging conscience.  After the murder, they disappear into the North Carolina backwoods to find a place to lay low for awhile.

This brings them into a collision with plotline number two, in which a curiously disaffected young girl named Lisa (Leslie Lee) is the sole caretaker for her catatonic grandfather (Douglas Powers) in a remote two-storey farmhouse.  Scarcely into her teens, Lisa already seems shell-shocked by life, and barely reacts when Steele, Lomax, and Billy forcibly invite themselves to stay. 

While Lisa's deceptively placid countenance hides a fierce inner turmoil, the evil men now invading her life force her to take overt actions to defend herself.  This comes to a head when Lomax enters her bedroom at night with bad intent, and Lisa displays an aptitude for slicing and dicing heretofore reserved for chickens.

 

This is where AXE starts to live up to its lurid trailers and print ads (which scream the tagline "At last...total terror!"), with winsome nutcase Lisa wielding a straight razor and an axe in bloody fashion without ever breaking that strangely calm but troubled fascade.  Still, the film is never in the same league as THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (alternate titles include CALIFORNIA AXE MASSACRE and THE VIRGIN SLAUGHTER) nor does it try to be.  It's mainly a compelling and pleasingly morbid character study with splashes of gore but little that could be called "graphic", although that didn't stop it from being condemned as one of England's infamous "video nasties" of the 80s.

As for the cast, the leads couldn't be better.  Leslie Lee is an ideal Lisa, pretty but strange, her sad face always interesting to look at as you wonder what the heck's going on behind it.  As Steele, Jack Canon is a classic big-screen tough guy that you just can't look away from.  He'd have been perfect as the lead in one of those tacky 70s or 80s TV cop shows like "Hunter"--as it is, one can only wonder why he never went farther as an actor.  Ray Green's bloated Lomax is sleaze personified, and Friedel himself, bearded and Brillo-haired, is a convincingly conflicted Billy who ends up trying to help Lisa. 

As a director, Friedel takes his time and lingers artistically over every sequence as much as the brisk shooting schedule allowed, drawing out every nuance of visual interest possible while admittedly playing fast and loose with the script.  An early scene of Steele and Lomax terrorizing a poor convenience store clerk (Carole Miller) is like a foretaste of Oliver Stone's NATURAL BORN KILLERS.  Never one to rely on sheer exploitation, Friedel shoots this and Lisa's rape scene later in the film--as well as the subsequent killings--not just as visceral exploitation but as an opportunity to indulge in a form of raw cinematic poetry.

Wanting to fully explore the potential he saw in Jack Canon during the making of AXE, Friedel then concocted the entire screeplay for his follow-up film KIDNAPPED COED, aka "Kidnapped Lover" (1976) around the actor's charismatic appeal.  Thus, Canon appears in almost every single scene and makes the most of his screen time with a performance that should've been a ticket to broader fame.

Equally compelling is young Leslie Ann Rivers as ginger-haired, bespectacled Sandra, a well-to-do teenage "coed" whom small-time crook Eddie Matlock (Canon) abducts in hopes of a big ransom.  Both actors have faces that are fascinating to look at and naturalistic acting styles that bring their characters to life. 

Friedel has a bigger budget here (around $40,000) which allows for more elaborate camera moves and other relative indulgences that really pay off in the movie's look and style.  Again, he takes plenty of time for character development as the two leads get to know each other and gradually even form a tentative romantic relationship, all done in a series of quirky exchanges taking place during some wildly unexpected situations.

These include a brutal, Scorsese-esque sequence in which both are attacked in their seedy hotel room by a couple of violent thugs who force their way in at gunpoint so that they can beat up Eddie and rape the horrified Sandra in another scene that's stunningly executed.  Continuing the theme that this just isn't his day, Eddie later encounters unfriendly shotgun-wielding farmers while simply trying to get water for his car radiator, and finally ends up in a life-or-death struggle against another bearish farmer who has just welcomed him and Sandra into his home before suddenly going pitchfork-wielding berserk. 

As all this happens to them, Eddie and Sandra's relationship wanders through different stages as the film itself passes, with varying degrees of finesse, through such disparate genres as thriller, horror, action, character drama, quirky romance, and even comedy.  Friedel admits in the commentary that he doesn't even remember whether or not there was a written screenplay for the film, but this only contributes to its off-kilter charm.  Mainly, though, it's Canon and Rivers that keep our eyes glued to this wildly uneven but compelling little film right up to its abrupt and somewhat anti-climactic ending.

The full story surrounding these two films from conception to oblivion (and, lucky for us, joyous rediscovery) is recounted in the hour-long bonus documentary "At Last… Total Terror! – The Incredible True Story of AXE & KIDNAPPED COED", which sees the warm reunion of Friedel and several key members of his production team who also gather to provide excellent commentary tracks for both films.

"Moose Magic – The George Newman Shaw & John Willhelm Story" (38 mins) tells of the two young musical geniuses who scored the films shortly before their tragic demise in a car accident.  Shining lights in the Charlotte, North Carolina music scene, these wonderfully creative and eclectic musicians contributed some offbeat, often minimalistic tracks to AXE and KIDNAPPED COED that are preserved in this set's second disc, a music CD which also includes several bonus tracks of the duo's non-movie-related jazz compositions that provide scintillating listening. 

A ten-minute interview with author Stephen Thrower ("Nightmare USA"), who helped bring Friedel and his films to the attention of new audiences, is followed by several trailers and TV spots for them. 

No doubt the oddest of all the bonus features is the full-length feature film BLOODY BROTHERS, which is actually a later re-edit by Friedel of both AXE and KIDNAPPED COED into one strange, disjointed narrative in which Jack Canon's "Steele" and "Eddie Matlock" characters are presented as identical twins unaware of each other's existence.  Their unrelated stories are intercut with little rhyme or reason, while recurring intertitles tell us that the two are gradually drawing closer to one another ("Five miles away", "One mile away", "1/2 mile away", etc.)

Since we know they'll never meet, we wonder what this is all leading up to, if anything. The main interest is seeing which scenes Friedel decides to include and how he cross-edits them, as well as what he leaves out, including the entire subplot of Eddie and his mom.  There's one scene that's entirely new, which shows Eddie on the beach performing a Jewish prayer ceremony even though he isn't Jewish.

This interesting oddity comes with another winning commentary track by Stephen Thrower. I really can't say how it would play for someone who hasn't already seen the two films on their own. 

Severin Films has restored AXE and KIDNAPPED COED from the original negatives (rescuing these from movie purgatory is part of the main documentary's gripping story) for this HD Blu-ray release, which is in 1.85:1 widescreen and mono sound.  No subtitles. 

AXE, KIDNAPPED COED, and their bastard sibling BLOODY BROTHERS, along with the abundance of extras that go along with them, add up to several hours of movie watching that are engrossing, enriching, and just plain fun.  It's all very satisfying in an exploitation vein, but not only that, Friedel's low-budget films are small-scale artistic wonders which yield all sorts of aesthetic rewards and make one wish he'd done more before being soured on the business. Rather than "so bad, they're good", his films are actually so good, they're great.



Stills used are not taken from the Blu-ray.

AXE / KIDNAPPED COED -- Blu-ray + CD Review by Porfle

Solo Moe: Moe Howard's Non-3 Stooges Acting Roles #1 ("Space Master X 7", 1958) (video)

 

We all know Moe Howard as the scrappy leader of the Three Stooges.

But on his own, Moe was also a top-notch character actor.

Here he is stretching his acting chops as a hapless cab driver involved in a government crisis.

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

Solo Moe: Moe Howard's Non-3 Stooges Acting Roles #1 ("Space Master X 7", 1958) (video)

JAMES BOND: Breaking The Fourth Wall (video)

 

 

 

Sure, he's always shooting at us through that gun barrel. 

 

But how often has James Bond really broken the 4th wall and acknowledged our presence? 

Or even talked to us? 

I count three, and here they are... 

 

 I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

JAMES BOND: Breaking The Fourth Wall (video)

Sean Connery's Kid Brother In A James Bond Rip-Off? ("Operation Kid Brother", 1967) (video)

Sean Connery's James Bond movies were so popular in the 60s...

...that in 1967, Sean's younger brother Neil was courted to star in a Bond clone.
It was called "Operation Kid Brother", aka "O.K. Connery."

Neil bore a resemblance to Sean, but with little of his screen presence.
And although he sounded much like his brother, Neil's voice was dubbed by another actor...
...because he'd suffered a throat injury prior to the ADR sessions.

The producers cast as many familiar faces as possible from the actual Bond films.

The music was composed by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai.
The movie itself was your typical Italian "spy-ghetti" romp.

Sean Connery was so upset by it that he didn't speak to any of the participants for some time.
But most earned more for this film than for their Bond movie roles.

And it still has its fans.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Sean Connery's Kid Brother In A James Bond Rip-Off? ("Operation Kid Brother", 1967) (video)

INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 6/27/14

 

This is one of those documentaries in which you're either very interested in the subject, and thus won't mind so much sitting through eighty some-odd minutes of talking heads with the occasional film clip...OR, you have no interest whatsoever in scream queens or the movies they appear in or a documentary about them, in which case it's unlikely you'll ever find yourself watching director Donald Farmer's INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS (Wild Eye Releasing, 1992) anyway.

Of course, if you're in the first group, then these are some pretty nice talking heads and chances are what most of them have to say will have you perking up your ears. This is because (a) these ladies are just plain fun to look at, and (b) anyone with a passion for B-movies, and especially low-budget horror flicks, will find inside info and anecdotes here that are quite engaging.

I wish I could say this is true of the entire film. Unfortunately, it alternates between the good and the not so good, since some of these actresses tend to be on the yakky side and it's not all riveting stuff. Plus, I was surprised to find so few film clips on display to spice up some of these monologues--indeed, although we hear about the making of several movies, we rarely actually get to see scenes from them. And a number of them aren't even what I would consider "scream queen" material anyway.

One disadvantage I had in watching this is that I never really sampled a wide variety of films of this nature, choosing instead to pick a few favorite actresses and concentrate exclusively on renting their videos (or watching heavily edited versions of them on "USA Up All Night"). So the best passages, for me, are the ones in which they're onscreen talking about movies and filmmakers that I'm familiar with. This includes Michelle Bauer (my all-time favorite scream queen), Martine Beswick, Brinke Stevens, and the venerable Mary Woronov. (Linnea Quigley is conspicuous in her absence here.)

Michelle Bauer tells us how she got started in the B-movie biz after meeting Fred Olen Ray during a "Playboy" video shoot. She's strikes me as the most talented and professional of the bunch (with the exception of Mary Woronov), although this may be entirely due to the fact that I've had the hots for her ever since the day I first rented HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS.

Always lovely Martine Beswick talks about the catfight scene with Raquel Welch from ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. and also her co-starring role in another well-remembered Hammer production, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (from which we actually get to see a lengthy film clip). Later, another familiar face, Elizabeth Kaitan, speaks at length from the balcony of her apartment.

Perky Janus Blythe is almost unrecognizable as the actress who played Ruby in THE HILLS HAVE EYES for Wes Craven and has some stories about working with snakes and meeting Jonathan Demme on the set. Soft-spoken Melissa Moore turns out to be both cute and captivating as she relates her experiences working with Roger Corman and getting to appear with BLOOD FEAST's Fuad Ramses himself, Mal Arnold.

Several other women are featured as well, including Ruth Collins (LITTLE DEVILS), Goth-y sisters Marya Gant (A POLISH VAMPIRE IN BURBANK) and Katina Garner (HALLOWEEN NIGHTS), Deborah Stern of Mark Pirro's NUDIST COLONY OF THE DEAD, and writer-star Vivian Schilling (TERROR EYES, SOULTAKER).

The stories these women tell are interesting because they're real behind-the-scenes accounts of their experiences making B-movies, rather than pre-written Bruce Vilanch-style quips for them to recite. Most of the participants speak in a warm, relaxed manner in which they let their natural charm come through rather than having to do shtick for the camera.

Video and sound quality are on par with an old VHS tape you might stick in the machine after finding it lying under a couch cushion for several years. (Some parts may have you reflexively reaching to adjust your tracking.) The videotape-level visuals don't bother me at all--in fact, they're rather appropriate even though some of the clips look like third generation dubs--but the sound made me wince a few times. (This may have been due to my watching a screener, however.) There are rough transitions and, overall, the casual, unpolished air of home video.

There's a lot to like for fans of these actresses and their movies in INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS. For me, however, there just wasn't enough of it, and too much tiresome footage that threatened to yakkity-yak me to sleep. So as much as I gained from watching it, I must admit that I was a little relieved when it finally ended.

(NOTE: I reviewed a screener without the extras. The official disc should include a new 2013 interview with Donald Farmer, deleted/extended interviews from the original production, and an excerpt featuring Linnea Quigley from the out of print book that started it all, "Invasion of the Scream Queens.")

INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS -- DVD Review by Porfle

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

 Originally posted on 9/25/21

 

Currently watching: LAND OF THE PHARAOHS (1955), a staggeringly epic film by Howard Hawks. 

While not Biblically inspired, this breathtaking cinematic fever dream of ancient Egypt rivals the greatest works of Cecil B. DeMille in sheer spectacle, with huge sets and the proverbial cast of thousands.

It's the sort of thing that's mostly left to CGI effects whizzes these days, and the fact that it's all real--even the magic of matte paintings and other photographic effects of the time is sparse--makes the grandeur on display throughout the film even more impressive.

The story is simple yet compelling. Jack Hawkins plays the Pharaoh as one who believes himself a living god, and the thought of his tomb being raided of his precious store of treasures after his death prompts him to hire the greatest architect available to design for him a theft-proof tomb, nestled inside the largest pyramid ever built, which will take many years and hordes of slaves to complete.

The architect is himself a slave, but he persuades Pharaoh to release his people if the theft-proof tomb is a success. Meanwhile, Joan Collins (at her most gorgeous) plays a would-be queen whose avarice rivals Pharaoh's, and she conspires to have him entombed as soon as possible so that she may claim both the throne and the treasure. 

 

 
How director Howard Hawks manages to make all this so compelling is a wonder to behold. The film is not only visually intoxicating but exceedingly literate (with William Faulkner among the screenwriters) and well acted.

Hawks stages it all to perfection, and seems to thrive on this sort of spectacle even without his trademark rapid-fire overlapping dialogue and touches of lighthearted humor.

While stately and exquisitely dry, the script also leaves Hawks plenty of room for the sort of gaudy visual and thematic indulgence which is the very stuff of the most satisfyingly over-the-top cult classics. This helps him keep things effortlessly involving for the film's entire running time, all the way up to the not-so-surprising yet still rewarding twist ending.

 
I'd heard about this film's cult popularity over the years--people who saw it as kids seem to have retained their fondness for it--but never suspected that I myself would find it so richly entertaining and rewatchable.

Still, it does lack a key element of DeMille's spectacles in that there's no core of religious faith, no ultimate catharsis of the spirit to send us off at the end with that soulful glow. LAND OF THE PHARAOHS does have a satisfying ending, but it's a rather hollow one.

 

(Thanks to William De Lay for the DVD)

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS -- Movie Review by Porfle

THE PARTING OF THE RED SEA: Five Different Versions (video)

 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Cecil B. DeMille, 1923) 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956) 

THE PRINCE OF EGYPT (1998) 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (2006 Mini-Series) 

THE BIBLE (2013 Mini-Series) 

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

THE PARTING OF THE RED SEA: Five Different Versions (video)

Did Disney's "THAT DARN CAT!" Inspire Tarantino's "FROM DUSK TILL DAWN"? (video)

 

Quentin Tarantino's script for "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996)...

...features two bank robbers and their frightened hostage, a female teller.

So does Walt Disney's 1965 comedy, "That Darn Cat!"

One particular scene from the Disney film clearly inspired Tarantino...

...and both are equally unsettling. 

 

(Originally posted on 1/14/21)

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Did Disney's "THAT DARN CAT!" Inspire Tarantino's "FROM DUSK TILL DAWN"? (video)

Was This Scene In "Inglourious Basterds" Inspired By "The Culpepper Cattle Company"? (video)

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

 

Was This Scene In "Inglourious Basterds" Inspired By "The Culpepper Cattle Company"? (video)

STELLA DALLAS (1937) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/8/15

 

Barbara Stanwyck demonstrates why many film fans tend to think so highly of her talents in 1937's weepy classic STELLA DALLAS.  She's a great deal of fun to watch in the role of a blowsy blue-collar girl who tries to better herself by marrying a rich man but ultimately finds only heartbreak.  The "crying in your popcorn" kind, that is.

John Boles, burdened with the useless role of Henry Frankenstein's friend Victor in 1931's FRANKENSTEIN, gets to play somewhat less of a stiff here even though his "Stephen Dallas" is a proper upper-class twit.  (Boles was good at playing such a character, though, and manages to make Stephen about as sympathetic as anyone could.) 

Having lost the love of his young life, Stephen has left his former pampered existence to make it on his own as an executive in a large factory where Stella's brother works.  This is where she gets the idea of pursuing him with as much wild charm as she can muster until he's ready to turn sappy and stumble into the marriage trap. 

But when Stella retains her lowbrow ways and fails to evolve into the proper society girl Stephen envisioned, they drift apart romantically and are kept together only by mutual love for their sweet little daughter, Laurel.  Stephen moves to New York for business reasons and runs into his former love, Helen (Barbara O'Neil, GONE WITH THE WIND), now a widow with three sons and suddenly available again. 

As their love is rekindled, Stella devotes her life to raising Laurel with her only other friend being a boisterously obnoxious drunkard named Mr. Munn (Alan Hale, Sr.), whom Laurel can't stand. Laurel (Anne Shirley) loves visiting her father and Helen at her mansion, wishing that she could have the kind of life they offer, but refuses to leave her needy mother alone and unloved despite their threadbare lifestyle.  This becomes increasingly embarrassing for Laurel when her friends and other townspeople begin to shun and ridicule Stella for her tacky clothing, oddly eccentric behavior, and apparently improper relationship with Mr. Munn. 

Stanwyck's impeccable acting skills really shine through here.  She has a field day in the role, seeming to revel in how unglamorous she can be as her character becomes more and more pathetic. Her Stella is blowsy, frowsy, crude, and sometimes downright loony--I began to suspect the onset of mental illness and perhaps even schizophrenia at times--yet she never overdoes it or comes off as maudlin or unconvincing.

I like the way Stella undergoes an almost clownish transformation when dressing to impress Laurel's new society friends and the havoc she wreaks at their summer resort simply by flouncing her way through it.  Laurel's reaction when she discovers that her mother is the laughingstock of all her friends and their parents is heartrending, setting up the film's final headfirst plunge into pure, industrial-strength bathos.

Several scenes in the film's latter half stand out as the kind of aggressive, borderline-maudlin tearjerker stuff that many viewers will devour like a sumptuous dessert.  Nowhere is this more so than in the final scenes, which (although they failed to move me quite as much as intended) are calculated for maximum cry-inducing potential.  Stanwyck plays these to the hilt, and her final smile right at the fadeout is the perfect topper to such a manipulatively heart-tugging yarn.

The film's snappy pace whisks the viewer through the story with barely a moment to catch our breath.  King Vidor's direction is straightforward and lean, just what this streamlined, uncluttered yarn needs. 



STELLA DALLAS has but one purpose, and that is to move us to tears over a mother's desperate love for her child and the selfless sacrifice she'll eventually be forced to make to ensure her happiness.  Thanks mainly to Barbara Stanwyck's richly watchable performance, it's more than effective at doing just that.

STELLA DALLAS (1937) -- Movie Review by Porfle