Lou On His Own

 

 

 (themoviedb.org)

THE 30 FOOT BRIDE OF CANDY ROCK-1959-Small town rubbish collector inventor Artie Pinsetter (Lou Costello), a "world famous scientist who isn't famous yet", is in love with Emmy Lou (Dorothy Provine; THE BONNIE PARKER STORY (1958)) who's uncle the grouchy mayor Raven Rossiter (Gale Gordon) doesn't like Artie and won't allow them to get married until he thinks Emmy is pregnant. 

Unfortunately, Emmy wanders into a strange mist and grows to 30 feet tall! Rossiter is trying to run for governor and is followed around by a TV reporter (Peter Leeds) which helps Artie when he needs Rossiter's help. The mayor is also head of The Boosters, a club Artie would like to join. Other boosters include Charles Lane, Doodles Weaver, Bobby Barber and Joey Faye. Eventually Emmy gets mad and invades the town. Later, a goofy army patrol thinks Emmy is from Mars and orders missiles to destroy her. Artie's computer-like machine Max turns the army into a confederate army and then into cavemen. It also makes Artie airborne. Max cures Emmy's gigantism but then shrinks her out of existence. But in the end, Emmy is cured and Artie becomes a hero. Also with Will Wright and Veola Vonn. 

This was the last role for comedian Lou Costello (and his only starring role without Bud Abbott) and was released about 5 months after his death in 1959. While it's not very good with old gags and some situations that are supposed to be funny but don't succeed, Costello tries hard and shows that if given the right material he probably would have made it as a solo performer. 

Director Sidney Miller (also an actor) didn't really seem to have a grasp as to what was going on. Lead actress Provine was also in RIOT IN JUVENILE HALL the same year and later co-starred in two short lived TV series “The Alaskans” and 'The Roaring 20's”.

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From The Philippines

 

 (imdb)

WOMAN IN THE WOODS-2020-Jason (Brian Sy), a Canadian of Philippine extraction, returns to The Philippines after the death of his father. Getting lost in the jungle, he meets Magayon (Mercedes Cabral), a spirit no one else can see, who's wounded. He gets help from Batibat, a local woman who tells him a legend. Then he starts on a tedious aimless adventure while being pursued by a pack of warriors. 

The giant with the tusks was kind of cool but the rest of this is meandering nonsense. The director Kevin Ang also worked as an animator on several Marvel productions.

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Where No Blog Has Gone Before...Not!

 

 (amazon.com)

WILLIAM SHATNER'S MYSTERIES OF THE GODS-1977-Bill (with a lot of hair) starts to narrate after a model of the Enterprise is shown. He starts in prehistoric times speculating that giants may have shared the Earth with dinosaurs then examining cave drawings made by various ancient peoples across the globe. He asks "who were the ancient astronauts?" Then proceeds to talk about the gods and legends of different tribes across the Earth. His interview with a NASA scientist goes on too long. Dr. Dennis Hauck who's interviewed later wrote an unauthorized bio of Bill titled "Captain Quirk". A woman who owns a crystal skull tells a story about a woman who laughed at the skull and died soon after. Jean Dixon is also interviewed. Erich Von Daniken makes a brief appearance as this was actually a German production based on one of his books. 

This might have been trying to cash in on the fact that Shatner's buddy Leonard Nimoy began hosting the long running TV show “In Search Of” the same year. The ex-TJ Hooker is now the host and executive producer of History Channel's “The UnXplained”.

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Dubious Documentary

 

 (imdb)

A RACE OF GIANTS-2015-This wildly speculative documentary is about the discovery of giant skeleton bones across the Americas. It sites many examples (some proven hoaxes) and says The Smithsonian Institute was created specifically to gather and destroy giant skeletal bones to create a cover-up that would undermine Charles Darwin's theories. It speculates there once was a war between Native Americans and a race of man eating giants. It also mentions that St. Christopher was a giant who encountered dog headed man eating giants. 

It also discusses mound builders, gigantism, the Nephilim,Stonehenge and ancient Indian legends. Director J. Michael Long has done a lot of videos on UFOs, aliens, etc.

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Allison Hayes

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN-1958-Wealthy alcoholic Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes), a socialite fresh out of a mental hospital has a close encounter with a giant alien. No one believes her of course. Her husband Harry (William Hudson) carries on with floozy Honey Parker (Yvette Vickers) and is only around for her money and would like to send her back to the hospital and take possession of her famous “Star of India” necklace. Later Nancy and Harry go out into the desert and at first find nothing. Nancy is ready to commit herself until the UFO shows up and a rubbery giant alien hand terrorizes her. Harry hops in the car and abandons her! The sheriff (George Douglas) and his stupid deputy (Frank Chase) investigate and arrest Harry when he and Honey try to skip town. Nancy is found on  the roof of the bath house exonerating Harry. 

Later on Nancy grows to an enormous size and two doctors Cushing (Roy Gordon) and Loeb (Otto Waldis) think it's due to radiation. The sheriff finds huge footprints in the garden and he and Jess, Nancy's faithful butler (Ken Terrell) follow them. The duo find the spacecraft, enter it and find a collection of jewels including Nancy's “Star of India”. They are chased away by the same giant giant Nancy encountered and he wrecks their car and flies away in his ship. Eventually Nancy breaks free and combs the town for hubby yelling “Harry! Harry!” She finds and kills him just before being electrocuted herself. 

Although this a fun low budget Sci-Fi movie it's really hampered by terrible SFX. Director Nathan Juran didn't like it and is credited as Nathan Hertz (he made THE  7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD the same year). Screenwriter Mark Hanna had written THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN for Burt I. Gordon the year before!

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This Is A Thriller....

THRILLER-1961-Episode 23-”The Well of Doom”-The wealthy soon to be married Robert Penrose (Ronald Howard, in one of three roles for the TV series) is on his way to a bachelor party accompanied by his family butler Teal (Thorin Thatcher) when they are waylaid by a spooky looking old man named Squire Moloch (Henry Daniell, made up to resemble Lon Chaney in LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT) who claims to be the devil. He's assisted by a giant named Styx (Richard Kiel). Moloch does seem to have supernatural powers. When the butler tries to run away Moloch kills him just by pointing a finger at him. Later Penrose is held prisoner in a dungeon where his fiance' (Fintan Meyler) is also being kept (a flashback shows Styx kidnapping her). Moloch claims to be the former owner of the Penrose estate who Robert's father killed and dumped in a well. The same well Moloch plans to throw Penrose in if he doesn't give up his inheritance. Thinking ahead he rigs the well so if he is thrown in he can climb back up. Since Thriller has hit the airwaves again I won't give away the surprise (though rather pat) twist ending.

The Well of Doom is an effectively eerie piece directed by German born John Brahm who made other fog bound thrillers like THE UNDYING MONSTER, THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE. This was one of 12 THRILLERS he directed as well as 10 episodes of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. His last film was the crazy HOT RODS TO HELL. Prolific TV writer Donald Sanford adapted the John Clemons story. Sanford would later write the screenplay to the WW2 epic MIDWAY. Earlier he shared an Emmy for writing the TV special “The Golden Junkman” in which Lon Chaney Jr. gave perhaps his finest performance.

Richard Kiel (who died in 2014) would play a much more memorable TV role as the Kanamit alien in the TWILIGHT ZONE episode “To Serve Man”. As the sinister Moloch, Henry Daniell was coming to the end of his long career (he died in '63) but still found time to be in 4 other THRILLERs. His last role was an un-billed bit in MY FAIR LADY.

Of course THRILLER was hosted by the great Boris Karloff (who occasionally starred in a few). His intro here isn't as good as some others but he still ends with the often used tagline “as sure as my name is Boris Karloff”.

THRILLER was a neglected anthology for years but thanks to a DVD release and it showing up on cable it's been given a second look and should be checked out by everyone!!!

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