Condensed Serial

ROBINSON CRUSOE OF MYSTERY ISLAND-1936/1966-This 12 part serial was originally called ROBINSON CRUSOE OF CLIPPER ISLAND. 30 years after it was first released it was condensed in this short movie and sold to television!

Mala, a Polynesian federal agent (Mala) investigates the strange events on the mysterious Clipper Island after a dirigible blows up and its landing field is destroyed. Foreign spies working for the shadowy "HK" are to blame. They can make a volcano on the island erupt which upsets the natives but their newly returned queen Melani (Mamo Clark) tries to hold things together despite interference from Porotu (John Piccori), an androgynous local high priest. Mala gets in a lot of predicaments, dives into the ocean and is assisted by his St. Bernard Buck (playing himself) and his horse Rex (Rex the Wonder Horse). The acting is bad but not unusual for this kind of thing and Mala kinda sounds like he took acting lessons from Johnny Weissmuller. The funniest part though is the look of terror on the face of the co-pilot when the dirigible is starting to crash in the first scene!

Mala (AKA Ray Mala) was born in the Alaska territory and came to Hollywood at an early age. Besides making around 25 movie appearances, he also worked as a cinematographer. Unfortunately he died of heart failure at age 45 in 1952. One of the directors (Mack Wright) also directed RIDERS OF THE WHISPERING SKULL.

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Bad..James Bad

QUANTUM OF SOLACE-2008-This is the second of the "new" James Bond films and takes up soon after the last one. Daniel Craig returns as the blond haired 007, a violent, no nonsense killing machine who although on the side of good mostly seems like some out of control cyborg from a Jeff Wincott video.

Judi Dench once again plays M, looking a lot less like she's smelling some foul odor than she did in previous outings and leading lady Olga Kurylenko (CENTURION) is pretty forgettable.

Bond is out to avenge the death of his lover from CASINO ROYALE but winds up getting involved with a guy who wants to help a dictator regain power in Bolivia so he can buy up the water rights! Though this is action packed it's ultimately a little disappointing. For one the filmmakers take several shots at the US especially that they are turning a blind eye to the events going on because they want oil. This coming from the country that let the Lockerbie bomber out of jail so it could get an oil deal from Libya?! Two, though Jeffery Wright returns a Felix Leiter, he's more or less a stooge/wimp and most importantly number three: What has happened to the Bond villains?

Toward the end of the Roger Moore series there seemed to be a deliberate shift away from a super villain type bad guy to some ordinary sneering known it all. Once there was Goldfinger, Dr. No, hell even Jaws but at least it was something. In this one we get Mathieu Almaric (THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY) as some bug eyed wimpy whiner who somehow almost manages to beat Bond in the climax with an axe!

Giancarlo Giannini returns from the last film also. The one woman Bond has sex with in this film winds up killed with fuel oil in a nod to GOLDFINGER. The end credits only say "James Bond Will Return". Director Marc Forster had made MONSTER'S BALL and FINDING NEVERLAND.

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Bond..

CASINO ROYALE-2006-It’s a ironic that the most serious and violent adaptation of a James Bond story would be the one that was first done as a comedy. Blond haired James Craig is a very different 007: a detached anti-hero with a big ego and violent tendencies. Still in a film world where every leading man is a detestable jerk, Craig at least holds your interest and makes you want to see more of him in action. The stunts and action scenes are the usual over the top kind but very well done. A murky torture scene (although part of the original novel) seems unnecessary however. Bond has a wild ride on a gasoline truck, gets poisoned and plays high stakes poker.

Craig had had supporting roles in movies like TOMB RAIDER THE ROAD TO PERDITION MUNICH and THE JACKET. Director Martin Campbell had directed GOLDENEYE with Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Also with Eva Green (from Bertolucci’s THE DREAMERS), Giancarlo Giannini, Jeffery Wright and returning Judi Dench as “M”.

The original film version of CASINO ROYALE was first adapted for American TV in the '50's with Barry Nelson as "Jimmy Bond".

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