Kaiju Contest

 

 (imdb)

WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS-1966-A giant green monster fights a sea serpent and sinks a fishing boat. It then invades Japan and wrecks an airport and eats a woman. At first scientists think it is related to the Frankenstein monster but American Dr. Stewart (Russ Tamblyn) and Japanese partners Akemi (Kumi Mizumi; in several of the director's films) and Dr. Majida (Kenji Sahara; RODAN (1956)) prove this false. The monster attacks a nightclub where a singer (Kipp Hamilton) does a terrible song and is killed. The monster doesn't like light. After a long battle, the army seems to defeat the green giant but it's rescued when a gold furry giant appears. They name green giant Gaira (Haruo Nakajima) and the lighter one Sanda (Yu Sekita). They come to believe that Sanda is the offspring of their Frankenstein and Gaira is it's offspring. Sanda shows its good side when it saves Akemi when she falls off a cliff. The two eventually have a knocked down drag out that ends with an erupting volcano! 

The great Ishiro Honda co-wrote and directed this fun destruction outing, a sort of semi-sequel to FRANKENSTEIN VS. BARAGON (1965) that has since gained a cult following. It's always noted that Tamblyn behaved like an asshole on the set, doing the opposite of Honda's instruc-tions. The actor later stated that the only reason he did the picture was to get a free trip to Japan. Tab Hunter had originally been Toho studios first choice.

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Hall-Montez

 

 (imdb)

COBRA WOMAN-1944-Ramu (Jon Hall) & Tulia (Maria Montez) are to be married. On their wedding day she's kidnap by Hava (Lon Chaney), a sinister looking guy pretending to be blind. Ramu's friend McDonald (Moroni Olsen) says Tulia has been taken back to the treacherous "Cobra Island" where she was born. Ramu journeys to the island to rescue her accompanied by a local talkative young guy Kado (the one and only Sabu). Once there Ramu spies Tulia swimming and goes to her. They embrace but she seems rather distant. After they part, he's captured and sentenced to die. Kado meets up with Tula and the Queen of the island (Mary Nash).

It turns out the woman Ramu met was not Tula but her evil sister Narja who rules the island using sacrifices to a volcano and the help of evil fiancée, Martok (Edgar Barrier). It turns out Hava is not bad but a servant of the Queen who brought Tulia back to rule.

Universal made several of these Technicolor tropical adventures with Hall & Montez. Mostly considered camp, they do have a cult following. A dance in front of a cobra is kind of funny and Chaney is once again wasted in a mute role. Directed by Robert Siodmak, a year after making SON OF DRACULA with Chaney.

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Burroughs

 

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THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT-1974-A sailor finds a bottle with a message in it. Thus is related in 1916 a German U-boat torpedoes an English ship. 2 survivors Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) and Lisa Clayton (Susan Penhaligon) are rescued by some of the crew who survived. The survivors take over the U-boat. Later the Germans retake the sub and going off course they wind up in the south pole, landing in the thought to be legend land of Capuria. They encounter a pterodactyl, sea monsters and a bunch of cavemen. Eventually the German crew revolt but are all killed when a volcano erupts. Only the two survive and Tyler writes his message in a bottle. 

This Amicus co-production was director Kevin Connor's second film and it's not bad with the exception of some cheap looking SFX. It's based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs with the screenplay by fantasy artist James Cawthorn and fantasy writer Michael Moorcock. Connor made a sequel AT THE EARTH'S CORE two years later.

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Keep Your Eyes On Quintillas

 

CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN-1958-At a dig in Pompei, a worker discovers a box of jewels and a 2000 year old kind of mummified man. While being transported in the back of a truck it shows signs of life. Carlo Fiorillo (Luis Van Rooten), head of the Pompei museum calls in Dr. Paul Mallon (Richard Anderson) to examine the body. He's assisted by former lover Maria (Adele Mara), Fiorillo's daughter and her fiancee Enrico (Gar Moore). 

Meanwhile the body comes to life and kills the truck driver. The truck crashes but the body is found intact and un-moving. Another egghead Dr. Emmanuel (Felix Locher) translates a medallion found on the body. It seems there's a curse that caused Mt. Vesuvius to erupt. They also learn the body's name is Quintillas (Bob Bryant). Paul's fiancee Tina (Elaine Edwards), an artist, paints a picture that looks like the body after seeing it in a dream. After viewing the body Tina becomes obsessed-hypnotized by it and visits the museum at night to make a sketch (apparently no locks are employed; she walks right in through the front door). While she's drawing, the body gets up and she faints. A guard's bullets fail to stop it. The body puts the medallion on Tina and becomes immobile again. Paul, Carlo and Maria put the brooch near the prone body of Q and he gets up and clobbers Paul who tried to stop him with an ax. Quintillas goes after Tina and chases her before collapsing again. When Emmanuel regresses Tina they learn she is the reincarnation of Q's lost love. After killing En-rico, Q grabs Tina and heads for the sea. The confused monster thinks he's saving his love from Vesuvius' destruction. The water dissolves Quintillas and Paul rescues Tina. 

Slight Mummy inspired movie has a few nice touches by the great Edward L. Cahn and like many of Cahn's pictures a narrator gives the whole thing a kind of documentary type feel. In this case the narrator is the uncredited Morris Ankrum. The screenplay is by Jerome Bixby (who also penned IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE for Cahn a few years later).

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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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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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Swamped

SWAMP VOLCANO-2011-More science fiction nonsense, this time an underwater volcano threatens Miami during spring break after a secret oil drilling scheme goes awry. Brad Dourif plays the head of the project but has the good sense to get killed off early. It's left to to two volcano experts to set things right. It's a race against time to stop an eruption in another climate crazy calamity that debuted on The Sy Fy Channel. Will I ever learn? The best part is how the main villainous guy gets killed.

Also known as MIAMI MAGMA, it was directed by Todor Chapkanov, a second unit director on stuff like THE GRUNGE 3 and LAKE PLACID: FINAL CHAPTER.

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Happy Birthday Mom!

Not a Jurassic Park Sequel!

THE LOST WORLD-1960-The great Claude Rains (with red hair) portrays Prof. Challenger, the grumpy, ill tempered explorer in this Technicolor adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's novel. He's back from the Amazon where he claims to have seen living dinosaurs. He's ridiculed by his colleagues at a meeting but organizes an expedition that includes the pompous Prof. Summerlee (Richard Haydn), big game hunter Lord Roxton (Michael Rennie), his girlfriend Jennifer (Jill St. John), her brother David (Ed Stricklyn, RETURN OF DRACULA) and reporter Ed Malone (David Hedison, in the TV show FIVE FINGERS at the time). They are joined by guitar strumming Gomez (Fernando Lamas), their helicopter operator and his assistant Castro (Jay Novello). After a dinosaur wrecks their helicopter Malone chases and catches a native girl (Vitina Marcus) and kills a giant green spider. While Roxton and Malone have a fist fight they find the diary of Burton White, another explorer who got to the prehistoric land before Challenger (Roxton was suppose to go with them but he was delayed). The dinosaurs that menace the party are actually little lizards made up to look scary. They terrorize the group and 2 "dinos" have a long tussle. Everyone is taken captive by the local cannibal natives. The native girl helps them escape and takes them to see the still alive but blind White (Ian Wolfe) who tells them how to escape (before the whole place blows up) although they have to go through many obstacles plus a revenge seeking Gomez.

THE LOST WORLD is fairly entertaining. It has a good cast and acting (although some seem to think Rains is too bombastic) but really not much happens. The SFX and sets aren't that great. Two standout points: One is that until the last 15 minutes not one of the group gets killed. The other is Jill St. John's Jennifer who is explained by several characters as being a person capable of being in the expedition despite being a woman yet all she does is scream when there's danger (with her pet poodle in tow)!

This was Irwin Allen's first movie as director since THE STORY OF MANKIND in 1957. Most of the dinosaur footage was re-used in his '60's TV shows. Screenwriter Charles Bennett wrote for many of the TV shows Allen later produced. Claude Rains was coming to the end of his long career (he died in 1967) and doing mainly TV (he starred in 5 ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS) at the time.

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