Brains!

 

 (The Criterion Collection)

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE-1958-Strange murders occur on and around a US Air Force Base in Canada. Victims have their brains and spinal cords "sucked out". Locals think the cause is the base's radar experiments with atomic energy. Major Cummings (Marshall Thompson) must find the real reason which leads to Prof. Walgate (Kynaston Reeves) and his strange mind experiments. Cummings shows interest in Walgate's assistant Barbara (Kim Parker) but she blames him for everything. In a flashback the professor explains how he created an invisible "thing", a mental vampire. When the power plant is accidentally turned up the creatures become visible brains with long spinal cords. This has an excellent climax and good SFX (some of them rather gruesome for the time). 

Director Arthur Crabtree later made HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM. Screenwriter Herbert J. Leder later made THE FROZEN DEAD. According to star Thompson, he finished directing the film when Crabtree left the production before it was finished. It's based on the short story “The Thought Monster” by Amelia Reynolds Long.

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Why 1970?

 

 

FRANKENSTEIN-1970-1958-A TV crew comes the Castle Frankenstein to film a live spook show special to commemorate the 240^th anniversary of Frankenstein. Boris Karloff plays the last descendant of the infamous doctor, a scarred, limping, bitter, slightly insane (and possibly castrated) old man who was forced by the Nazis to do experiments on humans. Deep in his castle he's creating a new monster but since this was made in the 1950's atomic energy plays an important part as the Baron has a reactor in his lab (it was provided by the production company so the Baron would allow them to film in his castle). The manic director (Don “Red” Barry) and the producer (Tom Duggan) seem oblivious to the evil goings on but the Baron's lawyer (Rudolph Anders, the Nazi leader in SHE DEMONS the same year) suspects his client is dabbling in the old family pastime. In fact when Anders hints at this the Baron threatens to cut out his tongue! (He later uses his eyes instead) He also uses his loyal butler. He is polite but creepy toward the lead actress (Jana Lund) who when complaining about past role mentions The Donner Party! The monster is a big bandaged giant (played by pro wrestler Mike Lane) who gets to carry the girl around in the finale and when his bandages are removed has an interesting face.

This low budget Allied Artist production was directed by Howard Koch who'd already made movies like UNTAMED YOUTH and BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO. He would also serve as producer of Karloff's other AA horror film for that year the much worse VOODOO ISLAND. Soon after this he ventured into television and much later produce AIRPLANE and its sequel. Screenwriter Richard Landau was a prolific TV writer and also penned the aforementioned VOODOO ISLAND.

Despite being villainous and sleazy Karloff still manages (as usual) to instill his character with a few sympathetic tones. I've read many bad reviews for this film but despite the low budget I think it's great! Hey it was Karloff's first film effort in a couple of years! Glad ya came back Boris!

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Life In The Atomic Age

ATOMIC AGE CLASSICS-Vol. 3-A-Bombs, Fallout & Nuclear War-

Someone gave me this DVD years ago. All these shorts are now available to see on places like You Tube but since I wasted time watching it (when I could have been  watching..say..a movie by TV Mikels...) I decided to review them here anyway...

Living With The Atom (1957)-Produced by The Moody Institute of Science and hosted by it's founder Irwin Moon who explains what an atom is and how it relates to atomic energy. He talks about cyclotrons and the first A-bomb test on Bikini Island. It seems Moon was an evangelist who gave “Sermons of Science” and in demonstrations he would let one million electrical volts surge through his body! This color short was one in a series he made over a period of years. It's fairly straightforward but his point seems to be although Einstein developed E=MC2, God created the whole thing and it's part of “his” plan.

Radioactive Fallout and Shelter (1965)-Produced by the U.S. Office of Civil Defense this short advises you how to deal with “pesky fallout” should you or your food be exposed. The on screen narrator demonstrates how to handle bread and potatoes after these items have been exposed. He says things like “place them on an uncontaminated area”, yet if you were eating exposed food I don't think there'd be much of that around. He also talks about how to shield yourself from fallout. If you cover yourself with earth or concrete and wait 2 weeks you have a good chance of surviving. Sometimes it just seems like they are trying get people to spend money on home made bomb shelters and Geiger counters. No idea who the narrator is.

The Atom Strikes (1945)-The Army Signal Corp.-This short was released soon after the US dropped the bombs on Japan and attempts to explain why the A-bomb was used and what devastation it's use wrought. It starts with footage of the testing in Los Alamos, N.M. Then to the Enola Gay and the actual mission. There's extensive footage of the devastating results in Hiroshima. At certain points army officers are shown pointing out certain aspects but it's not made clear when all this was shot. Footage is horrific of course but the matter of fact narration is more concerned with structural damage than any lives that were lost. One person interviewed is a German born Jesuit priest who survived the bombing who (while reading a prepared script) seems to say that Japan and Germany condoned the bombings. Near the end, the bombing of Nagasaki is mentioned and it was targeted because of it's many munitions plants. (but again no mention of human life)

Fallout: When and How To Protect Yourself (1959)-This is a cute cartoon animation from the US Office of Civil Defense. A narrator (who keeps empathizing the the word “fallout”) once again describes the effects and prevention of fallout. It's darker than the one made in '65 and probably scared most audiences despite the animated man who tries to protect his family by building his own bomb shelter and stocking it with can goods and such.

The Atom Goes To Sea (1954)-This is the earliest and shortest entry. It was written and directed by True Boardman for General Electric. It shows how atomic energy powers nuclear reactors to power atomic submarines. It's very detailed but uses mostly animated diagrams. Director Boardman wrote several classic Abbott & Costello films in the '40's and later scripted episodes of THE FAMOUS ADVENTURES OF MR. MAGOO!

I think the real reason I posted this is just so I could throw out that line about True Boardman....

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