Hunter

 

 (imdb)

THE GOLDEN ARROW-1962-Hassan (Tab Hunter with a dubbed in voice) leads a band that kidnaps Jamila (Rossana Podesta; in HORROR CASTLE by the same director the next year), a princess and holds her for ransom. At night, he takes the ransom and the princess and makes his getaway. He abandons her in a market and is promptly arrested. 3 genies help him escape because he is actually the real sultan of Damascus. 

With a flying carpet, fire monsters and a serious story that switches to comedy whenever the genies show up. Low budget Italian “sword & sandal” production directed by Antonio Margheriti.

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Not A Poe Film

WAR GODS OF THE DEEP-1965-After Ben Harris (Tab Hunter) finds the body of Mr. Penrose washed ashore, he's attacked by a scaly creature. Later a sailor talks about an undersea city called Lyonese. Ben meets Penrose's daughter Jill (Susan Hart) and her eccentric friend Harold (David Tomlinson who complains about a sketch he made of Jill having disappeared. Ben thinks it's all connected somehow. At night Jill is captured by the same creature that attacked Ben. Following, Ben and Harold find a secret passage that leads to some caves and they see a man chained to a pole who drowns when the cave fills with water. Later they meet The Captain (Vincent Price) who rules over an underground city threatened by a volcano. He and the rest of the populace are all over 100 years old! They live near the legendary lost city where the sea creatures are the last inhabitants. To top it off The Captain thinks Jill is his late wife. The trio want to leave but aren't allowed. They plan their escape which leads to an unusual and long underwater chase/fight in clunky diving suits. They make it back to the surface but The Captain and his gang follow them. The volcano makes some statues break up and fall trapping them and The Captain. After another encounter with “the gill men”, they get to the surface. So does The Captain who quickly ages and dies. The volcano erupts and destroys both cities. 

These days WAR GODS OF THE DEEP is known CITY IN THE SEA. British writer Charles Bennett, who wrote several films for Alfred Hitchcock, wrote the original screenplay which was heavily rewritten by producer Louis Heyward in England where this was filmed. It seems to try and capitalize on the AIP-Poe films Vincent Price was starring in at the time and uses lines from the poem “City In The Sea” by Poe at the beginning and end. 

This was the last film directed by Jacques Tourneur (CAT PEOPLE, I WALK WITH A ZOMBIE) who had worked previously with Price on THE COMEDY OF TERRORS in 1963.

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60's Western

HOSTILE GUNS-1967-This AC Lyles production features George Montgomery as US Marshall Gid McCool who transports convicted criminals to the state pen. He needs a deputy but can find no one willing so he "recruits" bad boy Mike Reno (Tab Hunter). Their first prisoner is Hank Pleasant (Leo Gordon) on his way to the gallows for killing a child. They later pick up a corrupt railroad official (Robert Emhardt) and a goat thief (Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales who croons a tune). Their fourth pick up is Laura Mannon (Yvonne DeCarlo), who shot her boyfriend. Laura (she and McCool had once been lovers) manages to come between the duo which leads to them fighting and almost being killed by Pleasant's brother (John Russell) and other family members.

This low budget western has lots of witty dialogue and a great cast which also includes smaller roles with Brian Donlevy, Richard Arlen, James Craig, Fuzzy Knight, William Fawcett, Emile Meyer and Don Barry. It was directed by RG Sprignsteen, a veteran of Westerns since the late forties but by this time (not untypically) he had done a lot of TV. Unfortunately the low budget shows through several times especially with camera crew lights reflecting off the scenery at times!

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