Voodoo Unto Others

 

 (themoviedb.org)

THE DISEMBODIED-1957-Dr. Carl Metz (John Wengraf) lives in the jungle with his younger, unhappy, bitchy native wife Tonda (Allison Hayes). Behind his back, she performs a type of voodoo to get rid of him. Enter two white men, Tom (Paul Burke) and Norm (Joe Marston), photo journalists with a wounded friend Joe (Robert Christopher). Tonda takes them to her husband but he can't save Joe. When they hear drums, the men decide to investigate despite the warnings from their native guide Gogi (Paul Thompson). They discover Tonda dancing erotically. She's the voodoo queen who uses servant Suba (Dean Fredericks: later the star of THE PHANTOM PLANET (1961)), a chicken and a doll to cure their friend Joe. Next day Suba is found with his heart cut out. Later Tonda tells Tom she's afraid of her husband and they embrace but a seemingly bewitched Joe attacks Tom. He says “kill the white man”. Tonda blames her husband but from the look on her face, she's probably lying. Tom confronts Metz at gunpoint and tells him to cure Joe. Tom is stopped but Metz suspects his wife. When Joe disappears, Metz warns Tom to leave. Tonda declares her love for Tom but he rejects her. He and Norm and Gogi plan to leave but they find Gogi dead, their jeep disabled and their guns missing. After Tonda stabs her husband and it's clear he's dying, Tom tries to trick Tonda into saving his life. It backfires but when Tonda is killed everything works out. 

This is just some standard jungle voodoo love triangle on a very low budget. Of course it's always nice to see Allison Hayes on any budget. This was director Walter Grauman's first job. He later went into TV (One of his early efforts was a color version of “Frankenstein” in 1957 with ex-boxer Primo Carnera as the monster!) and occasionally made a feature film (like LADY IN A CAGE (1964)). He also made some seldom seen entries into ABC's “Movie Of The Week” like THE OLD MAN WHO CRIED WOLF and CROWHAVEN FARM (both 1970).

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Tiny Planet

 

THE PHANTOM PLANET-1961-After an Earth rocket ship that look off from the moon is destroyed by some kind of asteroid, Commander Frank Chapman (Dean Fredericks) and his philosophical co-pilot Makonnen (Richard Weber) investigate. When Makonnen is killed saving Chapman, the ship is drawn to an asteroid and is forced to land. When Chapman steps onto the planet he passes out. 80's⁹Later he wakens and encounters some tiny inhabitants. He passes out again and shrinks to their size. They seize him and bring him to a court overseen by Sessom (Francis X. Bushman). It seems he's on the planet Rheton and can never go back to Earth. Sessom wants Chapman to be a productive citizen even offering the astronaut his choice of a wife, his daughter Liara or the mute Zetha (Dolores Faith). 

Sessom's second in command Aron (Anthony Dexter) is the troublemaker who gets jealous when Liara takes a liking to the alien Chapman. Meantime, a search party is sent out to find the missing astro. He seems to prefer Zita but green eyes Aron challenges Chapman to "the duel". When Chapman bests his rival he refuses to kill Aron and let's him live. Then Aron wants to help Chapman leave so he can have Liara all to himself although Chapman already told her to bug off. Before the escape plan can be implemented, their dreaded enemies The Solarites attack. They destroy the attackers but a captured Solarite (Richard Kiel in his film debut) escapes and attacks Sessom. Chapman is eventually rescued but thinks it all might have been a dream except he has a stone Zita gave him. 

There's some minor narration at the beginning by Marvin Miller. Director William Marshall (not to be confused with the actor who played Blacula) also produced and co-wrote this unusual space opera. 

Richard Kiel and Dolores Faith were reunited a few years later in THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS (1965).

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