Cast:
Antony Carbone (Renzo Capetto), Betsy Jones-Moreland (Mary-Belle Monahan), Robert Towne (Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator), Beach Dickerson (Pete Peterson Jr), Robert Bean (Happy Jack Monahan), Esther Sandoval (Porcina Perez), Sonia Noemí González (Mango Perez), Edmundo Rivera Álvarez (General Tostada), Terry Nevin (Colonel Cabeza Grande), Blanquita Romero (Carmelita Rodriguez), and Jaclyn Hellman (Agent XK-120) Produced and Directed by Roger Corman (#368 - The Little Shop of Horrors, #684 - It Conquered the World, #852 - The Terror, #931 - Not of This Earth, #1007 - Attack of the Crab Monsters, #1039 - Five Guns West, #1042 - War of the Satellites, #1136 - Gas-s-s-s, #1147 - X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes, #1186 - A Bucket of Blood, #1423 - The Wild Angels, #1425 - The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and #1674 - Machine-Gun Kelly)
Review:
In his autobiography How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood And Never Lost a Dime, Corman briefly talked about the movie, one that came about when in production for filming Last Woman on Earth and Battle of Blood Island (he directed the former while producing the latter), and it should also be mentioned that money for this film came from stuff left that wasn't used for The Wild Ride (1960). This movie and the aforementioned Earth film share the same trio of actors of stars with Carbone, Jones-Moreland, and Towne. He discovered that there were tax incentives available for "manufacturing" in Puerto Rico, which included moviemaking. During the two-week shoot for the aforementioned Earth film, he contacted Charles B. Griffith about making him a script. Charles B. Griffith had written the scripts for a variety of films for Corman, such as Naked Paradise (1957) and Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), and this film has a few similarities to those; he was told to make a comedy-horror movie ripe for filming, complete with having a week to do it, although Corman dictated the ending (incidentally, each film had one day of preproduction). Believe it or not, he actually intended to have a small part in the film, telling Griffith to write a small part with Happy Jack; Griffith responded by making a part with mood swings that Corman noticed he couldn't do, so he gave it to a performer that had worked on one of Corman's productions in Robert Bean (he also got to play the Creature), one that was used for animal noises while also being the boom mic operator.
The movie begins with probably the most interesting moment with an animation sequence directed by Monte Hellman (who coincidentally was the director of Beast from Haunted Cave), one of the numerous folks who collaborated with Corman that gave them a start in filmmaking. So yes, Puerto Rico is doubling for Cuba, and the plot involves a gambler helping exiled Cubans with getting a fortune of gold out of the country before his crew plans to take down the group with a cover story of a mythical monster. Somewhere in all of that is an American secret agent that narrates the movie that falls in with the group and fails to do anything of importance because he bumbles in a crush on one of the criminals while others fall in with the natives. Technically, since the movie never seems like a real movie at any point, this should be interesting. Honestly though, its energy level really matches The Fast and the Furious (1954) in true average value. Carbone might sound like Humphrey Bogart, but it doesn't make him seem anything other than mildly bemused to be standing with a semi-comedy/thriller. Jones-Moreland thought it sounded better as just a takeoff on what Corman had done before, but she felt it got lost somewhere in the middle, and she is quoted as wishing she had never heard of it. That is more words to use for her than the performance, which is just okay. Robert Towne (future writer of films such as Chinatown) stars as one of the actors, although he is credited as Edward Wain. He had first met Roger Corman when each were in an acting class together (taught by Jeff Corey); never one to miss giving a chance to untested individuals, Towne wrote for Corman with the film Last Woman on Earth in 1960 (he would also write for Corman with The Tomb of Ligeia four years later). The costs for bringing him along with the actors would have meant Towne would need to be hired as an actor by Corman, so he did so, taking the trip to Puerto Rico. Technically speaking, he reminds me of a fluky parody of a noir character, but he isn't exactly Don Adams, if you know what I mean. At least Bean gets to make a bunch of noises. The language gags (i.e., look up some of the phrases translated from Spanish to English) are okay, but there isn't exactly anything particularly big to standout for fun.
The costume was designed by Beach Dickerson, which was assembled from a collection of helmets, a wetsuit, moss, Brillo pads, tennis & ping-pong balls, pipe-cleaner claws, and oilcloth that came out to $150. Honestly, the only reason to really see the movie is to see just how amusing the costume ultimately turns out, even though you really don't see it much in 75 minutes of run-time. I wonder if it would be a better movie in terms of "laughs" if you saw the monster more. It isn't exactly that funny of a movie anyway, so one might as well just take amusement at the dopey prop, but there is a lack of focus here that reminds one of more interesting times with films like Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), A Bucket of Blood (1959) or the obvious one in The Little Shop of Horrors (1960; at least no one will try to make an inferior musical this time around). Somehow, the advertising failed the movie, because it promoted the thriller aspects more so than the comedy, but Corman is the ultimate chameleon filmmaker, honing to the tastes of what seems like a good idea, whether that involves the works of Edgar Allan Poe or producing other varied works. The movie isn't good at any real consistent point, but folks wanting to watch a silly Corman product will not mind too much, as long as they are patient enough to go through some flaky comedy to get to its monster.
Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.
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