No Mania

 

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BLOOD MANIA-1970-A doctor (Peter Carpenter, also one of the screenwriters) is blackmailed for doing abortions when he was a med student. He has an affair with Victoria (Maria De Aragon), who's bed- ridden father is his patient. After the blackmailer rapes the doc's wife, Victoria uses a drug to kill dad. She admits to the doctor that she killed her dad but she promises to give him money from her inheritance to pay off the blackmailer. Her sister Gail (Vicki Peters) comes for the reading of the will. Surprise! Dad leaves everything to Gail. Victoria has a break-down but it doesn't bother the doc. He just romances Gail. 

This drawn out psychological bs has bad acting, a boring story, hardly any blood and plodding direction from Robert Vincent O'Neil who later directed ANGEL (1984) and its sequel AVENGING ANGEL (1984). Star Carpenter was a mystery man for years. It had been thought he passed away in the early '70's but in fact left movie making for real estate and died of AIDS in 1996. He also starred in POINT OF TERROR in 1971 with Dyanne Thorne. 

Co-star Maria De Aragon was later in Harry Essex's terrible THE CREMATORS (1972) and was unbilled as the alien Greedo in the first STAR WARS movie in 1977.

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Wise Thriller

 

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HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL-1951-A woman (Valentina Cortese) in a Nazi prison takes on the identity of her friend Karen who died there. She comes to America looking for her “son” Chris who is heir to a fortune. In NY, she meets Chris’ guardian Allen (Richard Basehart) who she eventually marries. They go to San Francisco and meet Chris (Gordon Gebert) and then go live in the title house where she has a problem with housekeeper Margaret (Fay Baker) who seems as though she might have a secret agenda with Allen. Especially when the brakes fail on Karen's car. She tells Allen's sort of friend, Marc (William Lundigan), she thinks Allen is trying to kill her and Chris. Or is it just in Karen's mind? 

An ironic twist ending reveals everything. Nice little thriller directed by Robert Wise who made THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL the same year.

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In Like Flynn

 

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CRY WOLF-1947-After the death of Jim Demarest, his widow Sandra (Barbara Stanwyck) shows up to claim his estate. His brother Mark (Errol Flynn) doesn't seem to know anything about the marriage or so he says. He keeps a tight rein on his niece Julie (Geraldine Brooks) who hears strange noises and screaming that seem to come from Mark's mysterious and forbidden lab.

Interesting film noir with a twist ending directed by Peter Godfrey who made THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS with Humprey Bogart the same year. Also with Richard Basehart & Jerome Cowan. It's based on a novel by mystery writer Marjorie Carleton.

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Ghost on The Beach

 

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THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI-1966-Recently dead old guy Hiram Stokley (Boris Karloff; he did HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS the same year) is told by his dead sister Cicely (Susan Hart) that if he wants to go to heaven and be young again, he has to do one good deed. He decides to make sure his estate goes to his rightful heirs. Chuck Phillips (Tommy Kirk), "not very bright but a nice boy", Lili Norton (Deborah Walley), Myrtle Forbush (Patsy Kelly), plus his attorney Reggie Ripper (Basil Rathbone; in QUEEN OF BLOOD the same year) and his "vile sidekick" J. Sinister Hulk (Jesse White). 

After Myrtle's nephew Bobby (Aron Kincaid) and his friends arrive, Nancy Sinatra sings "Geronimo". The young people frug arrogantly and act dumb at the pool. Ripper introduces his daughter Sinestra (Quinn O'Hara) and she tries to kill Bobby. Then Princess Yolanda (Bobbi Shaw) and her Indian companion Chicken Feather (Benny Rubin) with a gorilla (George Barrows) show up to help get rid of the relatives. The Rats, a motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) arrive because their stupid leader falls in love with The Princess. Then Stokley's butler Malcolm (Francis X. Bushman in his last movie role) shows up to warn Chuck to leave. Meanwhile, Stokley watches on a crystal ball and comments and Cicely intervenes to help. Chuck's not very bright friend gets terrorized by some fake monsters and the slapstick finale takes place in a torture chamber. The Bobby Fuller 4 also perform. 

Director Don Weis made this hokey dated beach movie but the old guys seem to having a good time.

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Reap This Righteous Rift

 

 

 (wikipedia)

REET, PETITE AND GONE-1947-Bandleader Louis Jarvis (the great Louis Jordan) goes to visit his dying father but is too late. In the old man's will, Louis inherits everything if he marries a woman dad describes in the will. Oddly the woman described matches their crooked lawyer's (Lorenzo Tucker) secretary. Louis and his manager Sam (Milton Woods) advertise for the leading woman in their new play who must match the description for Louis' wife. Despite the thin plot, this is really a showcase for the real Jordan to show off his talent doing the title song, “The Green Grass Grows All Around”, “Ain't That Just Like A Woman” and more. 

Director William Forest Crouch directed many musical shorts featuring Jordan, The Jubalaires, Nat “King” Cole and others.

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Red Herring Bela Again

 

 (imdb)

ONE BODY TOO MANY-1944-Insurance agent Albert L. Tuttle (Jack Haley) gets involved with the reading of a millionaire's will and his greedy relatives when he visits the dead guy's home (he doesn't know about the death). The butler Merkle (Bela Lugosi) and the maid (Blanche Yurka) think about poisoning everyone. The relatives mistake Tuttle for a private investigator. The running gag is no one wants to drink their poisoned coffee. Relatives include Lyle Talbott, Douglas Fowley, Dorothy Granger and Lucien Littlefield. The one nice relative is the dead guy's niece (Jean Parker). Meanwhile, Prof. Hilton (William Edmunds) fools around with a telescope in the observatory. A clutching hand threatens Tuttle who manages to wind up in the millionaire's coffin underwater! Later he roams around in the dark with just a towel on. 

Not half bad comedy/horror/murder mystery although once again Lugosi is wasted in a red herring role. Director Frank McDonald also made another murder mystery with Haley called SCARED STIFF (1945).

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Defective Detectives

 

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THE GORILLA-1939-A series of murders committed by “the gorilla” plague the city. Walter Stevens (Lionel Atwill) believes he is the next victim. His niece Norma (Anita Louise) comes to visit him with her husband Jack (Edward Morris). Stevens has a suspicious looking butler (Bela Lugosi) and a loud maid (Patsy Kelly). He hires detectives Harrigan, Mulligan and Garrity (The Ritz Brothers) for protection. Stevens owes money to someone and explains how he and Norma are the sole heirs to her father's fortune. Meanwhile a mysterious figure (Joseph Calliea) prowls around the house in the rain. The brothers shout a lot, spout one-line insults at each other and fall down. A real gorilla (Art Miles) shows up (it escaped from its trainer) and Bela saves the day. 

The Ritz Brothers were kind of a combo of the 3 Stooges and The Marx Brothers. Atwill and Lugosi were in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN same year as this mildly amusing comedy was made. Prolific director Allan Dwan also made a version of THE THREE MUSKETEERS which also featured The Ritz Brothers and Atwill. THE GORILLA is based on a play by Ralph Spence.

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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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High Society

HIGH SOCIETY-1955-Once again Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the Bowery Boys (minimally used David Gorcey and Bennie Bartlett) get into trouble when some con-men try to use Sach to swindle a little boy (Ronald Keith) out of his inheritance. Amanda Blake (who would start a long run co-starring on TV in GUNSMOKE the same year) is a female swindler. One weird scene features a pianist who does a bad Liberace impersonation. William Beaudine returned to direct this one. 

Strangely, the next year MGM released a big budget Cole Porter musical with the same name starring Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly (in her last movie role). A mix-up with the two titles caused the Bowery Boys movie (written by Jerome Gottler and Bert Lawrence) to be inadvertently nominated for best screenplay! (It was changed before the awards took place). 

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