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 comedy shorts in the silent era. He later directed Mae West in I'M NO ANGEL. 

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Based on The Truth

 

39 STRIPES-1979-Director/co-writer Ron Ormond presents this dramatization of the real life preacher Ed Martin (Tim Ormond who wrote the script with dad), a former chain gang convict who found Jesus and was born again. Boring with too much talk. The acting and direction suck.

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I Am The God of Hell Fire!

 

BURNING HELL-1974-A preacher tries to convince everyone that the Bible says there is a real Hell and sinners will burn there forever if they do not repent and accept Jesus. He's mocked by 2 bikers but when one of them is decapitated the other goes to hear the preacher's sermon which tells the story of a king of Babylon who goes to Hell where sinners are a burnt bloody mess. Maggots eat up Herod in another scene. Then there's the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. The greedy rich man winds up frying in Hell while the beggar Lazarus ascends to heaven and sits with Abraham (who looks like Rip Van Winkle). "The Bible says" is his favorite term. 

This Christian scare film is badly made and acted and co-written and directed by Ron Ormond who along with his wife June and son Tim (who plays the surviving biker in this) made many more religiously twisted exploitation films.

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Divorce 1930's Style

WHAT BECOMES OF THE CHILDREN?-1936-Fred (Glen Boles) and Marion (Joan Marsh) are close knit brother and sister, the children of a railroad magnate John Worthington (Robert Frazer) and his uncaring wife Edith (Natlie Moorhead). The Siblings are split up by the divorce of their parents. 15 years later Fred is a college dropout who gets a job as a saloon piano player. Marion marries hastily to Roy (Larry Kent), a diamond smuggler arrested on their wedding night! Almost thrown out of her apartment, she meets Elsie Ford (Barbara Pepper) who takes her to the saloon where her bro is working. Roy also shows up and taunts and manhandles Marion until Fred lays him out. Brother and sister are finally united but Roy is shot when he tussles with Fred again. Dad comes to the rescue and it's proven someone else did the shooting. Mom and dad get back together and everyone lives happily ever after in this low budget badly acted rumination on the pitfalls of divorce.

This is a remake of an 1918 silent film of the same name that starred the director of this sound version Walter Shumway (his only directorial effort) and his wife Corra Beach, who wrote the book it's based on.

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Daring Drug Expose'

MARIHUANA-1936-More REEFER MADNESS influenced anti drug mania with two sleazy grass peddlers who recruit a woman (Harley Wood) to help them push weed after the boyfriend who impregnated her is killed in a drug smuggling operation. Later they kidnap her sister's child and hold her for ransom until she learns it's actually her child! Another badly acted morality tale from exploitation master Dwain Esper, the director of MANIAC and HOW TO UNDRESS IN FRONT OF YOUR HUSBAND.

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Devil's Island

I ESCAPED FROM DEVIL'S ISLAND-1973-Le Bras (Jim Brown; also in SLAUGHTER'S BIG RIP-OFF the same year), a convict is saved from the guillotine and given a life sentence on Devil's Island instead where guards make bets on fights between prisoners. It's run by a one armed commandant (Paul Richards) and 2 sadistic guards. Another convict Davert (Christopher George) is the leader of a communist faction who Le Bras feels saved his life. Le Bras devises an escape plan with 2 other cons JoJo (Rchard Ely) and Dazzas (James Luisi) and Davert is kind of forced to go with them. On their tiny raft they are driven back to the island by sharks and flee into the jungle where they are taken in by a group of lepers. Later they are captured by local natives and Le Bras is chosen to be the new husband for the wife of a man he killed. Once again they escape by raft and somehow make it back to civilization. Dazzas is arrested for stealing but Le Bras and Davert use fireworks to make their escape.

I ESCAPED FROM DEVIL'S ISLAND is one of the last movies directed by the legendary William Whitney who's career began in the late 1930's. He did many low budget serials and westerns plus movies featuring Zorro, The Lone Ranger and Dick Tracy. Although he entered TV in the 50's he still occasionally made a feature film (like MASTER OF THE WORLD with Vincent Price in 1961). Here he does the best with what he has on the film's obviously low budget and fast paced schedule. The story by Richard L. Adams (who'd also pen THE SLAMS starring Brown the same year) is sadistic and far fetched but the two leads manage to keep it going.

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Chicago Nut Job

CHICAGO MASSACRE: RICHARD SPECK-2007-Based on the true story of mass murderer/nut job Richard Speck who murdered 8 nurses in cold blood in 1967, this is really just an excuse to show and exploit death, blood and gore at the expense of it being based on a true story. It shows how he was a nut from the beginning after being abused as a child and how he could have been taken off the streets earlier but wasn't. He abuses, tortures and kills several other women (and given the look and demeanor of the Speck character and the portrayal of these victims as being fairly normal the movie almost seems to say it was their fault they were killed). Two detectives track him down.

It's very brutal and graphic and Corin Nemec (also a serial killer in the same director's TED BUNDY: AN AMERICAN ICON) gives a good scumbag performance but recently these types of roles are all the rage in Hollywood. Some real footage of Speck in jail is also used but since the director Michael Feifer when on to make similar “opuses” about Ed Gein, Henry Lee Lucas and others that were not exactly fact based this may not be all that accurate either.  

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I Don't Need Your Rules or Your Uniform,Man!

HELL'S ANGELS ON WHEELS-1967-A recently fired gas station attendant named Poet (Jack Nicolson) gets in with the LA branch of The Hell's Angels when his motorcycle's headlight is busted by one of the bikers. In a bar he helps them beat up another gang. He hangs out with them and takes a shine to Shill the "old lady" (Sabrina Scharf; later in EASY RIDER) of their leader Buddy (Adam Rourke). Some sailors beat him up at a carnival. After the Angels get revenge on the sailors the whole gang has a drug and sex party. When the cops come the spray the room to eliminate the grass aroma and cry harassment. Later they have a weird wedding ceremony at a church where Bruno VeSoto is the pastor. They also tangle with some frat boys (led by future director John "Bud" Cardos) and act mostly like drop-out hippies than an actual motorcycle gang. A falling out between Poet and the leader spells the end of Poet's membership and a firery crash caps the end of the movie. Real life Angels (including leader Sonny Barger) play themselves.

WHEELS is a dated but amusing biker film with lots of guys saying "man". Not much really happens but it should make you laugh!

In addition to Bud Cardos (and Nicolson) WHEELS features three other future directors Jack Starrett, Gary, Bob Kelljan and (unbilled) Gary Kent, who was also did stunts. The same year Nicolson had a bit role in THE ST. VALENTINE'S MASSACRE and was on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW twice!

In 1968 director Richard Rush made PSYCH-OUT with Nicolson but since then he's only made 6 films.

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Cuban Rebel Flynn

ASSAULT OF THE REBEL GIRLS-1959-Usually referred to as CUBAN REBEL GIRLS, this is Errol Flynn's last role. In it he plays himself on assignment for The Hearst newspapers in Havana to interview Fidel Castro. Most of this pro-Castro propaganda is only narrated by Flynn. The main story concerns "the Cuban rebel girls", two young ladies (usually referred to as little girls) Jacqueline (Jackie Jackler), a Cuban  and Beverley (Beverley Aadland), an American who's boyfriend Johnny is in Cuba helping Fidel overthrown the Batista government. Secret police chase Flynn's contact Maria (Maria Edmund) when she tries to recruit some locals and Flynn's narration explains the goings-on and the terror the rebels feel while characters walk, run and deal arms with only a minimal of scenes with synchronized dialogue at first. Later as the story progresses there's synchronized scenes but it can't over come the the bad acting, shoddy direction and marginal budget. Flynn meets Beverley ("Haven't I seen you someplace before? On TV or somewhere?") and Castro takes over and the world lives happily ever after.

ASSAULT is  crummy piece of work and really shows how the once great Hollywood actor Flynn had fallen. Despite good roles the previous year in TOO MUCH, TOO SOON and THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN wild living and problems with the IRS had taken their toll on him. Although usual credits list him as the screenwriter, the film's credits just say from a story by Errol Flynn. He died of a heart attack in October of '59 before the movie was released.

This messy docu-drama was put together by Flynn's manager producer/director Barry Mahon who although born in California had served with distinction in the Royal Air Force during WW2. It's said the Steve McQueen character in THE GREAT ESCAPE is based in part on him! In ASSAULT he doesn't show much but later in the '60's Mahon became a  prolific and highly successful exploitation filmmaker (BUNNY YEAGER'S NUDE CAMERA, THE BEAST THAT KILLED WOMEN, NUDE A GO-GO).

The role of Beverley was played by Beverley Aadland who happened to be Flynn's 17 year old girlfriend! Though she had made un-credited roles in other movies before this, ASSAULT  was her last movie.

Most of the other actors had no other film credits but John McKay who plays Johnny was later in two other Mahon productions, THE DEAD ONE and ROCKET ATTACK USA.

The assistant director on ASSAULT  was Allen Baron (he also has a small role) and the director of photography was Merrill S. Brody. They would team up in 1961 to make the low budget film noir classic THE BLAST OF SILENCE.

"When you become a rebel you give up a lot of of things that make a feminine life easier".

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The Hilton Sisters

CHAINED FOR LIFE-1952-The stars of this low budget morality tale are The Hilton Sisters, Daisy and Violet, the real life Siamese twins who were in Tod Browning's FREAKS way back in 1932.

In CHAINED they basically play themselves but are called Vivian and Dorothy, the famous Hamilton sisters as this is not really a biography. It begins with one of the sisters being charged with murder. They tell their life story to the judge and jury in flashbacks. They sing a song and are signed to a Vaudeville act. Their manager Hinkley (Allen Jenkins) cooks up a phony romance angle with Dorothy and the greasy Andre (Mario Laval), a target shooter for the publicity. Unfortunately Dorothy really falls for the gold digging Andre which ticks off not only sister Vivian but Andre's girlfriend Renee' (Patricia Wright). He seems sincere at first, even singing a (terrible) song over the phone! But he's two timing her. Dorothy has a weird dream where she is no longer attached to her sister and she and Andre dance in a garden (this scene is well done with a double). They go see Dr. Thomas so they can have an operation and be separated but after much soul searching decide against it. Instead Dorothy decides to marry Andre but 27 states deny them a license! A blind minster finally helps them. Later it's discovered Vivian killed Andre. This causes a courtroom dilemma for the judge.

I'm sure it was a unique feature for the time but very cheaply made and the acting (except for Jenkins) and direction are atrocious. The director Harry L. Fraser also made THE WHITE GORILLA.

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Madness?

SEX MADNESS-1938-This venereal disease melodrama starts off with two old fogies complaining about young people. Then two secretaries talk about being strippers. They decide to go to a show where pasty faced theater goers (including a lesbian couple) oogle dancing girls. Later at a party everyone goes upstairs to have sex (not shown). A dancer named Millicent (Vivian McGill) is seeing a doctor who's treating her for syphilis and she relates how it all happened. He shows her patients permanently damaged by "the disease". Then two doctors talk about sex and social diseases. Millicent later returns home (after hanging in NYC getting her treatments) a cured woman and marries her boyfriend, Wendel (Mark Daniels). They even have a baby. Unfortunately the local doctor who was treating her turns out to be a lying quack who is arrested. This means Millicent wasn't actually cured and has passed the clap on to her husband and baby. An old doctor gives them a cautionary speech and when it seems suicide is the only way out they both come to their senses, take a new cure and live happily ever after. The End.

his badly directed and acted exploitation tale was made by Dwain Esper, the man responsible for the notorious and better known MANIAC (1934).

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It Comes In a Tube!

TEST TUBE BABIES-1948-in this "story as old as time", George (William Thomason) and Kathy (Dorothy Duke) are a happily married couple until Kathy starts hanging around with some boozy friends. At one of their get togethers there's some brief nudity. After two women have a tussle at the house while George is working late the couple decide to have a family but nothing happens. Kathy visits Dr. Wright (Timothy Farrell in his film debut) for help. "Do you think it's me?" asks George then finds out he's sterile. They decide to use artificial   insemination. Like in GLEN OR GLENDA?, Farrell gets to explain all the details and Kathy really comes across as a dumb Dora. 5 years later they have 3 kids!

Director W. Merle Connell also made THE DEVIL'S SLEEP and UNTAMED WOMEN and later cinematographer on THE UNEARTHY. Producer George Weiss (still alive at this posting)  made the aforementioned GLEN OR GLENDA? plus the OLGA series of movies in the early '60's.

Badly made, badly acted, bad print. For Timothy Farrell completists only!

Exploitation Movie For A Christmas Night

ESCORT GIRL-1941-A sleazy guy named Breezy Nolan (Guy Kingsford) runs an escort service but the real owners are Greg (Wheeler Oakman) and Ruth (Betty Compson) who oversee the operation while running a respectable cafe'. Ruth's daughter June (Margaret Marquis) pays a surprise visit with her fiance' Drake (Robert Kellard) who's going to work for the DA in bringing down the escort service. Of course June has no idea of her mother covert actions. Drake manages to get a job with the service (undercover). Through a big mix up Drake winds up thinking June is working as an escort. She wants to expose Greg as the leader of the illegal activities but when he reveals who his partner is June relents. Greg gets her drunk (she's pretty funny boozed up!) and Ruth freaks out when she finds them together. When Drake and Greg fight it out Ruth is shot and Greg falls out a window. Ruth confesses the truth and the couple live happily ever after.

The direction and acting are sub-par but the fights are entertainingly bad and the print I saw was choppy. It's the only director credit for Edward E. Kaye.

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30's Drug Culture

COCAINE FIENDS-1935-In this crude low budget drug exploitation film Nick (Noel Madison) pushes drugs, sometimes at a drive-in diner where Fanny and Eddie work. When Fanny (Sheila Bromley) wants to "make woopie" at a nightclub Eddie (Dean Benton) says he's too tired so Fanny gives him some cocaine to wake him up. It works and they go to "The Dead Rat Cafe" to watch a famous actress dance. Nick is there with his wife who is Eddie's sister but she pretends not to know him. Fanny and Eddie wind up moving in together but Eddie becomes a hopeless addict (the landlady calls him a "hophead").  "I need a shot!" he implores Fanny who becomes a prostitute to help feed his habit. Fanny eventually becomes an addict too and gets pregnant to boot. Another character the well to do Dorothy (Lois Lindsey) frequents the drive-in, Her boyfriend Dan is an undercover cop. Eddie says a lot of hateful things to Franny who commits suicide. Nick winds up kidnapping Dorothy but his wife shoots and kills him. The police arrive just in time to arrest the big boss: Dorothy's prominent father! The Eddie character is totally forgotten about.

COCAINE FIENDS is filled with preachy dialogue without much action. Characters say "swell" a lot and there are some terrible musical numbers that take up time. Also known as THE PACE THAT KILLS, the print I saw was terrible. Director William A. O'Connor was an assistant director on many low budget westerns. I couldn't find a date for his death but if he is still alive he's be 113!!!

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8 or 10...Who's Counting?

10 VIOLENT WOMAN-1982-Ted V. Mikels, the creator of THE DOLL SQUAD and ASTRO-ZOMBIES, returns with his “woman in prison tale”. 

8 women are tired of working for a living so they rob a jewelry store of a million dollars in diamonds. They go to Las Vegas to sell the loot to Leo The Fence (director Mikels). He offers them cocaine in exchange for the diamonds but they don't accept it. One of the woman gets shot (and later dies) and another stomps Leo to death with her high heel. 

After running around in the dark and stealing a guy's clothes they go to a club to sell the coke. The heel stomping woman deals to two narcs and is shot dead. The others are arrested and sent to prison where their section is run by Miss Terry, sadistic lesbian and her hench-woman Madge (“a hypocritical religious old creep”) with a limp, wart and mustache. Once in a while Terry clashes with a social worker but usually abuses the inmates especially one woman (who refused her carnal come-ons) who she tortures with a riding crop and a wet towel while Madge prays loudly. Only the lone African American attendant seems to care. 

After a shower cat fight, the remaining girls escape and some of them become belly dancers for a Sheik (it was his diamonds they stole). 

This a goofy violent movie with some nudity and comedy (intentional and unintentional). The acting isn't the greatest (Mikels himself gives a good performance) but the worst part is most of the night scenes are too dark to see! 

Co-screenwriter James Gordon White wrote both THE INCREDIBLE TWO HEADED TRANSPLANT and THE THING WITH TWO BRAINS! It starts out with only eight women. By the time they get to jail they are only 6 but they meet 2 prisoners who help in their escape so I suppose in reality there were 10 women! Ted V. Mikels, probably the last of the old time '60's-'70's low budget filmmakers (contemporaries like Ray Dennis Steckler, Al Adamson and  Larry Buchanan are all gone) is still going strong at 84 and recently released ASTRO-ZOMBIES:M4.    

This was filmed in 1979 but only released in 1987 (I saw it in the now defunct Drake movie theater on Woodhaven Blvd in Queens, NY!)

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They Got The Clap!

DAMAGED LIVES-1933-The great Edgar Ulmer made this cautionary exploitation drama a year before his horror masterpiece THE BLACK CAT. 

Donald Bradley, a young businessman (Lyman Williams) gets a venereal disease from a one night stand with a woman he meets at a party. He gets married to his fiancee, Joan (Diane Sinclair) and passes it on to her. 

He visits the famous doctor Leonard (Murray Kinnell) who gives him a tour of patients who have long term disabilities from the effects of untreated VD. Madness, blindness, body sores are some of the results. Their family doctor (Jason Robards Sr.) tries to cheer them up but then he won't even let his young son kiss Joan. After she tries to commit suicide and take hubby with her they realize everything will be ok (the medical treat to cure them will take two years) and they live happily ever after. It's based on a French play. 

You can read more about the author of the play here:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Brieux

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