Keep Your Eyes On Quintillas

 

CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN-1958-At a dig in Pompei a worker discovers a box of jewels and a 2000 year old kind of mummified man. While being transported in the back of a truck it shows signs of life. Carlo Fiorillo (Luis Van Rooten), head of the Pompei museum calls in Dr. Paul Mallon (Richard Anderson) to examine the body. He's assisted by former lover Maria (Adele Mara), Fiorillo's daughter and her fiancee Enrico (Gar Moore). 

Meanwhile the body comes to life and kills the truck driver. The truck crashes but the body is found intact and un-moving. Another egghead Dr. Emmanuel (Felix Locher) translates a medallion found on the body. It seems there's a curse that caused Mt. Vesuvius to erupt. They also learn the body's name is Quintillas (Bob Bryant). Paul's fiancee Tina (Elaine Edwards), an artist, paints a picture that looks like the body after seeing it in a dream. After viewing the body Tina becomes obsessed/hypnotized by it and visits the museum at night to make a sketch (apparently no locks are employed; she walks right in through the front door). While she's drawing, the body gets up and she faints. A guard's bullets fail to stop it. The body puts the medallion on Tina and becomes immobile again. Paul, Carlo and Maria put the brooch near the prone body of Q and he gets up and clobbers Paul who tried to stop him with an ax. Quintillas goes after Tina and chases her before collapsing again. When Emmanuel regresses Tina they learn she is the reincarnation of Q's lost love. After killing Enrico, Q grabs Tina and heads for the sea. The confused monster thinks he's saving his love from Vesuvius' destruction. The water dissolves Q and Paul rescues Tina. 

Slight Mummy inspired movie has a few nice touches by the great Edward L. Cahn and like many of Cahn's pictures a narrator gives the whole thing a kind of documentary type feel. In this case the narrator is the uncredited Morris Ankrum. The screenplay is by Jerome Bixby (who also penned IT!THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE for Cahn a few years later).

Thanks for reading!

Another Sibling!

DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL-1957-After an eerie intro about Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story where Mr. Hyde is called a "human werewolf" and he cackles "Are you sure?", Janet Smith (Gloria Talbott) comes to the house of her guardian Dr. Loomas (Arthur Shields) with her fiance George Hastings (John Agar) to celebrate her 21st birthday and their engagement. Things seem ok at first and Dr. Loomas even informs the couple that Janet has inherited a huge estate. But the big news is she is the daughter of the infamous Dr. Jekyll who became Mr. Hyde and was eventually killed by a mob. Janet refuses to marry Bill but he disagrees. Meanwhile a stupid servant Jacob (John Dierkes) hangs around eavesdropping. Of course Loomas is up to no good and he kind of hypnotizes Janet. At night she has a weird dream and then finds evidence she might have been out roaming. 

After Maggie the maid (Mollie McCard) is found dead Jacob spreads rumors that Janet could be a werewolf. She has another nightmare and wakes up with blood on her hands. "This ridiculous! We're living in the 20th century!” Of course it's Loomas who's the Hyde-wolf and he's hypnotized Janet into thinking she's the killer. George has encounter with Loomas and gets clouted but wakes in time to prevent Janet from committing suicide. After George and Loomas-Hyde have another tussle, Jacob puts a stake through his heart. But the final scene is a repeat with Hyde saying "Are you sure?". 

This run of the mill typical late '50's low budget horror film was directed by the great Edgar Ulmer who's output for interesting films was reaching it's end. He made only 6 more movies. The story has a few good scenes but basically it's not much. Screenwriter Jack Pollexfen was nearly at the end of his career too.

Star Talbott made THE CYCLOPS for Bert I. Gordon the same year. 

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2020/11/they-dont-call-him-mr-big-for-nothing.html

Thanks for reading!

He also had a son!:

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2020/11/inferior-quasi-sequel.html

The Tingler

 

THE TINGLER-1959-After a pre-credit warning from director William Castle, Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price), a doctor who does autopsies for the state, meets Ollie Higgins (Phillip Coolidge), a theater owner who's brother in law has just been executed. Ollie invites Chapin home for some coffee where the doc meets Ollie's mute wife Martha (Judith Evelyn)) who faints at the sight of blood. When Chapin goes home we learn that he's married to a rich floozy named Isabel (Patrica Cutts) who's sister Lucy (Pamela Lincoln) gets a long very well with her brother in law and is also in love the the doc's young assistant David (Darryl Hickman). After frightening Isabel and taking X-rays of her spine he discovers a creature he dubs “the tingler” that lives on fear and resides in every human! 

To try and understand the power of the tingler, Chapin takes a powerful drug (seems like LSD) and becomes terrified but is saved when he screams which is the only way to immobilize the creature. When Martha dies after seeing some horrifying hallucinations (it seems like Chapin might have given her the drug) Ollie brings her corpse to Chapin who removes her tingler (since she couldn't scream it's still active) and puts it in a cage. It looks kind of like a giant centipede. Isabel tries to use it to kill her husband but Lucy spoils her plans. Chapin decides he's broken the laws of nature and the only way to destroy the tingler is to put it back in Martha's body. It turns out Ollie's not the kindhearted timid henpecked husband he pretends to be....

This classic '50's "gimmick" film directed by the one and only William Castle features one scene in bright color and is still as entertaining as it was when first release (despite a few lapses in reason). Price is great as the very analytical scientist who comes to regret his discovery. On it's initial release certain seats in theaters were wired to give unsuspecting moviegoers a slight "tingle" when the monster appears! 

Thanks for reading!

They Don't Call Him Mr. Big For Nothing!

 THE CYCLOPS-1957-Susan Winter (Gloria Talbott) is looking for her husband who disappeared in a mysterious valley in Mexico. Along for the ride are the pilot Lee Brand (Tom Drake), bacteriologist Ross Bradford (James Craig) and Marty (Lon Chaney), a grumpy guy looking for uranium. They encounter some giant animals (lizard, hawk, rodent) and the husband now a 25 foot giant (Duncan “Dean” Parkin) with a radiation scarred face and one eye. He traps them in a cave and kills Marty. They make for their airplane while the cyclops is fighting a snake. Bradford throws a flaming spear into its eye and they escape. 

Once again writer-director Bert I. Gordon makes a low budget movie about a gigantic man. Supposedly shot in 5 or 6 days Gordon did his best with what he had. Monster Dean Parkin played the scarred Glen Manning in THE WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST the next year, a sequel to THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (which Mr. B.I.G.made the same year as this; he also made the giant bug movie THE BEGINNING OF THE END in '57). 

Star Gloria Talbot was the lead in DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL the same year as this. Male lead James Craig was once groomed to be Clark Gable's replacement while the star was in the army. Despite having co-starred with Judy Garland in 1944's MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, Tom Drake film career never took off and he wound up mostly doing TV. Lon Chaney co-starred in the TV series "The Last of The Mohicans" around this time. He had a standout role in THE DEFIANT ONES the next year. 

Thanks for reading!

Blood Drinking Mummy

 

PHARAOH'S CURSE-1957-In 1910 Cairo British army Sgt. Storm (Mark Dana) leads a small party to an ancient tomb. Along with him is Sylvia Quentin (Diane Brewster) whose husband is at the site. While camping they meet the mysterious Simira (Ziva Rohann; billed here as Ziva Shapir) who wants to guide them so they'll get to the tomb quicker. Suddenly their food and water starts to disappear. When Sylvia is bitten by a scorpion they find their medical kit gone as well but Storm saves her. Meanwhile Sylvia's husband Robert (George N. Niese) decides to open the tomb despite the warnings of his colleague (Ben Wright). They discover a mummy but when Storm gets to the site he and orders the tomb sealed, the mummy has vanished and strange footprints are found. Their guide (Simira's brother) starts to turn into a mummy! He later drains the blood from a donkey. The next day while everyone is exploring, the full fledged mummy kills a soldier and drinks his blood. A dead pharaoh has actually transferred his spirit into the guide and made him a wrinkled up blood drinking mummy. While the main group searches for the tomb their translator (Kurt Katch) is killed. Storm tries to stop the mummy but only gets its arm. Simira scares Sylvia who runs into a cave but she is rescued by a soldier. Quentin is killed in a cave in while following the mummy (who also seems to die). Simira was probably a cat goddess and it's decided the group won't tell the outside world about the discovery. 

Despite it's low budget PHAROAH CURSE has some creepy scenes thanks to director Lee Sholem who'd directed SUPERMAN VS. THE MOLE MEN, TOBOR THE GREAT and a few in the Jungle Jim saga. Like a lot of fast but competent low budget filmmakers he went into TV. 

Thanks for reading!

Inferior Quasi-Sequel

 

THE SON OF DR. JEKYLL-1951-After the notorious Mr Hyde is killed and changes back to Dr. Jekyll, his baby son Edward is rescued by Dr. Lanyon (Alexander Knox) and adopted by Dr. Utterson (Lester Matthews). Years later Edward (Louis Hayward) is thrown out of college for some of his experiments. When he proposes to his fiance' Lynn (Jody Lawrance) the doctors decide to tell Ed of his heritage. Ed takes up residence in dad's house and is hounded by the newspapers and taunted by locals. Ed concocts his father's formula and against the wishes of his faithful butler Michaels (Rhys Williams) takes it. 

Unbeknownst to him someone has tampered with the brew. He passes out and turns into Hyde Jr. But when he tries to reproduce the results for the press of course it doesn't work. When a young man (Hamilton Camp) is attacked Edward is accused and arrested by Inspector Stoddard (Paul Cavanagh). It seems Ed is being railroaded. He escapes from the sanatorium and does his own investigating. Of course Lanyon is behind the whole thing. Apparently he lost his reputation when he defended Ed's dad and wants revenge by driving Ed crazy. 

Victor Adamson (aka Denver Dixon and father of future exploitation film director Al Adamson) is briefly seen as a coachman.

SON isn't very good. It's talky and predictable. Director Seymour Friedman made entries into series featuring Boston Blackie, The Crime Doctor and The Saint and later went into TV. 

Thanks for reading!

Dance Vampire Dance

 

THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA-1960-A vampire terrorizes an Italian countryside. A ballet troupe is rehearsing at the home of a local professor. Two women Francesa (Tina Gloriani) and Luisa (Helene' Remy) and boyfriend Luca (Isarco Ravaioli) wander into an abandoned castle. There they meet the countess Aldo (Maria Luisa Rolando) and the trouble starts! The countess and her servant Herman (Walter Brandi) are actually vampires setting their sights on the women. Herman turns into a wrinkled laughing monster when he needs blood and the troupe do some wild exotic modern ballet dances. The best part is the vampires' destruction.

The screenwriter/director of this black and white Italian production Renato Polselli later made another vampire film THE MONSTER OF THE OPERA.

Thanks for reading!

Moe and Larry and Curly Joe

 

 HAVE ROCKET WILL, TRAVEL-1959-The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry and Curly Joe) are maintenance men for a NASA like rocket foundation headed by JP Morse (Jerome Cowan). Inga Naarvey (Anna-Lisa) heads the project and admits she's “married to science” when psychologist Ted Benson (Robert Colbert; later in Irwin Allen's "Time Tunnel on TV) suggests marriage. 

When JP tells Inga the foundation might close down the trio (who have taken a liking to Inga and vice versa) decide to make their own rocket fuel. Moe tries to stuff Larry down a sink and they make a general mess of the place (and JP). They hide out in the supposedly abandoned rocket and when it's accidentally launched, they go into space headed for Venus. 

After some hi-jinx with no gravity they land on Venus and encounter a giant spider and then a unicorn whose horn is stuck in a rock. They help him and he takes them to a city. Along the way they sing a song. Later they meet a talking flying electric car and then a weird robot with multiple arms. It shrinks the trio and puts them in a cage. The machine makes robot doubles of them but they botch up everything as well. Somehow the zany three make it back to Earth and are hailed as heroes. At a party in their honor the stooges wind up making all the party goers fight each other. Their doubles show up too!

This was the "new" Three Stooges first feature length film as the team had a resurgence in the late '50's due to their Columbia shorts being shown on TV. It's also Curly Joe DeRita's debut. He replaced jolly Joe Besser who co-starred in the last series of their short comedies. Though this black and white movie was a box office success Moe didn't like it and really it's that good. Later efforts were much funnier. 

Director David Lowell Rich was a busy TV director who later made many TV movies and the blaxploitation film THAT MAN BOLT. 

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2018/10/bolt.html

Thanks for reading!

Stan and Ollie

 

A CHUMP AT OXFORD-1939-Stan & Ollie (Laurel & Hardy of course!) fake their way into becoming butler and maid for a wealthy couple (Stan is the maid). After being fired (Stan gets drunk and serves the salad dressed only in his underwear) they get jobs as street sweepers. When they accidentally capture a bank robber (Rex Lease) (because of Stan's discarded banana peel) the bank president sends them to Oxford to get an education. After the students (one is Peter Cushing) play several pranks on the duo, Stan gets hit on the head and becomes Lord Paddington, an ear wiggling pompous powerhouse with an English accent. 

The opening segment involving the team as servants was added by Hal Roach after the production was finished because his distributor United Artists, deemed it too short (around 40 minutes). This had been done deliberately by Roach as he wanted to double the time of two reelers but not make a full length feature. 

Australian born Alfred J. Goulding directed Harold Lloyd comedies in the 1920's and later worked on the ill fated last project by Laurel & Hardy, UTOPIA. 

Thanks for reading!

More Juveniles

 

BOY SLAVES-1939-Runaway kid Jesse (Roger Daniel) falls in with a gang of homeless juvenile delinquents led by weird looking jerk Tim (James McCallion). After they beat up a rich kid, the sheriff (Arthur Hohl) arrests them but a seemingly honest businessman Albee (Charles Lane) says they can work for him but it's just for illegal child labor. Albee's servant Annie (Annie Shirley) helps them but gets beaten for her trouble. When their plan to mail a letter telling of their plight fails, they rebel, beat up the foreman, start a fire and escape. 

Unfortunately Jesse is shot and killed. The rest and Annie hold up in a cabin. The adults try to use the kids for target practice but some cops arrive to defuse the standoff and Annie convinces them to give up. A judge (Ray Gordon) gives a heartfelt "apology" to the exploited kids and sends Albee to jail. The kids have names like Knuckles, Miser, Pee Wee, Atlas and Pinky and Olin Howlin is a cook. It's the only movie directed by screenwriter PJ Wolfson. 

Thanks for reading!

Are They?

 

ARE THESE OUR CHILDREN?-1931-An early talky exploitation mortally tale about Eddie (Eric Linden), a too self confident high school student who lives with his grandmother (Beryl Mercer) and younger brother (Billy Butts) and has a nice girlfriend Mary (Rochelle Hudson). But after he's humiliated at school he falls into a life of crime while romancing a floozy (Arline Judge). He shoots and kills his grandma's deli owner friend over a bottle of "hooch". When he and his cronies are arrested Eddie likes the publicity. When his ego driven idea of being his own lawyer backfires he's convicted and sentenced to death. 

Director Wesley Ruggles (brother of actor Charlie) had made made comedy shorts in the silent era. He later directed Mae West in I'M NO ANGEL. 

Thanks for reading!

Angel Angel

 

ANGEL, ANGEL DOWN WE GO-1969-Wacky hippie drug mess about Tara (folksinger Holly Near), the dumpy headcase daughter of decadent gay father (Charles Aidman) and self obsessed ex-porno actress mom (Jennifer Jones) who winds up taking drugs and having sex with weirdo rock star Bogart (Jordan Christopher) and freaky friends Joe (Lou Rawls), Santoro (Roddy McDowall) and Davey Davidson (Anna Livia). Bogart seduces mom and after she dies skydiving he whips dad to death with a chain. 

This movie is not very good and it's a shame to see Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Jones in such a sleazy production, one of the last produced by the legendary Sam Katzman and released through AIP. It's the only directing credit for screenwriter Robert Thom (it's based on an unproduced play he wrote) who was no stranger to off beat films previously writing WILD IN THE STREETS and THE LEGEND OF LYlAH CLARE. He later wrote DEATHRACE 2000 and CRAZY MAMA. Star Christopher had been the lead singer in "The Wild Ones" who after he left the band recorded the original version of "Wild Thing". 

Thanks for reading!

"Let's pay Mr. Tartu a Visit"

 

DEATH CURSE OF TARTU-1966-In a pre-credit scene Dr. Hunter (exploitation film director Brad Grinter) gets trapped in an underground tomb and is killed by an Indian warrior. After a decrepit hand shows us the credits we are now in the Everglades where Dr. Gunter (Frank Weed) and local yokel Billy (Bill Marcus) argue over ancient spirits. Billy leaves the doc to his exploring. He drinks coffee and digs up an artifact. As soon as he does a dead witch doctor Tartu (it reminded me of The Aztec mummy) awakens in his coffin and turns into a snake. Gunter is crushed to death by a giant python. Enter Ed Tison (Fred Pinero) and his wife Julie (Babette Sherffill) and some of his students. They go looking for Gunter but only find the artifact he dug up. After the students have an impromptu dance party, Tartu (Doug Hobart) rises from its tomb once again. It turns into a shark (?) and kills Tommy and Joanne, two of the students. When all they find is one bloody limb they agree something evil is going on. Johnny sets out alone for help. Tartu turns into a snake again and bites Johnny to death. After the remaining student Cindy has a dream Johnny is dead, the trio go looking for Tartu's tomb. There they find Hunter's corpse. Cindy flees in terror and is killed by an alligator. They try to open Tartu's coffin but instead Tartu rises and turns into a scary native warrior. He beats up Tison and chases Julie through the swamp. Tison recovers from his beating and pursues them. While Julie sinks in quicksand, Tison and Tartu scuffle again. This time the ancient warrior falls into quicksand and Tyson saves his wife. 

Despite its low budget restraints and its barely seen monster TARTU director William Grefe' manages to provide a fairly haunting and claustrophobic atmosphere in this technicolor low budget horror film . Grefe' (STING OF DEATH) went on to make THE DEVIL'S SISTERS (with Pinero and Sherrill), THE NAKED ZOO (with Rita Hayworth) and IMPULSE (with William Shatner).

Thanks for reading!

Couch Killer

 

THE COUCH-1962-A psychopath Charles (Grant Williams; THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN) under the care of a psychiatrist Dr. Jantz (Onslow Stevens in his last role) murders random victims at 7 pm and tips off the police before hand. He's screwy because he hated his father and made his older sister his mother substitute after mom died. Despite this he somehow romances the shrink's niece Terry (Shirley Knight). He lies to her about most everything and they plan to marry! He makes a fatal mistake though when he decides to kill the doc who doesn't die as planned. Charles disguises himself as a surgeon and wants to sabotage the surgery. Fortunately he cracks up before he can kill the doc who he believes is now his father. Disappointing conclusion but funny final scene. 

Hal Smith and Harold Gould have unbilled roles. Robert Bloch penned this psychological  drama from a story by Blake Edwards. Director Owen Crump didn't make many feature films.

Thanks for reading!

Slender Man

SLENDER MAN-2018-This is one of the worst movies by far that I've seen that was released in the theaters. I know controversy followed it. The character is not some urban legend or myth. It was an Internet creation. A group of friends investigate the origins of the character and one of them goes missing. In real life two girls in Wisconsin lured a third girl into the woods and stabbed her multiple times to prove Slender Man existed. Fortunately the victim recovered and the would be killers were place in a mental hospital.

The director Sylvain White also THE LOSERS and has worked mostly on TV.

 

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2012/02/aptly-titled.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man_stabbing

Thanks for reading!

Who Does Her Hair?

 

THE GORGON-1964-In the small village of Vandorf, there have been several murders in the last 5 years. All the victims have been turned to stone but this is never brought out at the inquests. Prof. Jules Heitz (Michael Goodliffe) who's son has been convicted of the latest murder (and suicide) seeks the help of local professor Manaroff (Peter Cushing) who's assistant Carla Hoffman (Barbara Shelly) suspects something. Heitz thinks it's Magera, one of the Gorgons who can turn people to stone. Heitz himself is turned to stone but not before writing a letter to his son Paul (Richard Pasco). It's obvious Manaroff knows more than he admits. Paul briefly sees the Gorgon's reflection and ages badly. 

Fortunately when things start to get dull Paul's mentor Prof. Karl Meister (Christopher Lee) shows up and gives the local police inspector (Patrick Troughton) a hard time. Meister believes Carla is the killer but Paul of course has fallen in love with her. Meister is right. Carla is the snake haired monster. In the climax the Gorgon is beheaded but there's no happy ending.

Terence Fisher directed this interesting Hammer horror film that's a little thin on story. Still it's always good to see Lee and Cushing together as adversaries. Screenplay by director John Gilling.

Thanks for reading!

Sgt. Preston

SGT. PRESTON OF THE YUKON-This color series featured the adventures of Sgt. Preston of The North West Mounted Police who patrolled The Yukon in Canada during the gold rush. 78 episodes were produced over 3 seasons. 

Richard Simmons played the by the book but fair Mountie who always got his man usually with a minimum of killing. In all 78 the Sarge was accompanied by his wonder dog Yukon King. In the first season he rode Rex, a wonder horse. In this season there was no snow. Apparently it was the summer months where it was always daylight. The second and third seasons took place entirely in the snow bound winter. No Rex as Preston traveled by sled but Yukon King was there to pull his master's fat out of the fire many times. 

There were some guest stars and some unusual points. One episode "Gold Rush Patrol" (S 3 Ep 16) was co-written by Ron Ormond. Another was written by comic book writer Arnold Drake. Coleman Francis, the director of THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS acted in 4 episodes. Other guest stars: Richard Powers (aka Tom Keene), Almira Sessions, I. Standford Jolley (2), Dan Blocker, Frank Scannell, George Cisar, Keene Duncan (3), Don Red Barry, Gene Roth (2), Michael Mark, Iron Eyes Cody, John Hart, Dick Wilson (2), Harry Lauter, Bud Osborne, Fred Graham, Richard Devon, Syd Sayor, Lane Bradford (2), X Brands, Jason Johnson (2), Hank Patterson, Rusty Westcoat, Guy Williams, Jody McCrea, William Fawcett, Glenn Strange, Robert Shayne, Steven Ritch. 

                                            Coleman Francis in disguise!

The show's sponsor for most of its run was Quaker Oats. Preston ended nearly every episode saying : "Well, King this case is closed". Coincidentally Simmons had already played a Mountie in KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED (1940) though in an uncredited role.

Thanks for reading!