The Walking Dead (1936).

Review #2267: The Walking Dead.

Cast: 

Boris Karloff (John Elman), Ricardo Cortez (Nolan), Edmund Gwenn (Dr. Beaumont), Marguerite Churchill (Nancy), Warren Hull (Jimmy), Barton MacLane (Loder), Henry O'Neill (Werner), Joseph King (Judge Shaw), Addison Richards (Prison Warden), and Paul Harvey (Blackstone) Directed by Michael Curtiz (#125 - Casablanca, #416 - Yankee Doodle Dandy, #505 - The Adventures of Robin Hood, #529 - Mildred Pierce, #719 - Mystery of the Wax Museum, #1370 - Life with Father)

Review: 

Sure, of course Warner Bros. thought they could have some fun making a horror film. Sure, you can see the clear inspiration when it comes to having Boris Karloff star as a lumbering man back from the dead, particularly since this came out a year after Universal's Bride of Frankenstein (1935) ...but here it is arranged within the trappings of a gangster film. Of course, the obsession with trying to bring back people from a fate worse than a broken leg wasn't limited to the current day. The "perfusion pump", for example, is shown for a moment during the pivotal resurrection scene. This glass device was designed by Charles Lindbergh and Dr. Alexis Carrel to try and keep organs functioning outside of the body (the process can be explained better in articles such as this); Lindbergh wanted to find ways to help his sister-in-law, who had a bad heart. Labeled as a "mechanical heart" in some circles, Lindberg and Carrel were even featured on magazine covers for their invention (better ways of "organ perfusion" eventually came around in the next couple of years, naturally). In 1935, a film wad made called Life Returns, which featured the exploits of Dr. Robert E. Cornish, a biologist that had an interest in restoring life that tried using a teeterboard/see-saw to try and get the blood flowing of the dead...it technically worked, albeit not perfectly, on dogs (interestingly, the film didn't exactly get a great release). Incidentally, Karloff would star in two subsequent features in the following years dealing with resurrection with The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) and The Man with Nine Lives (1940), which took inspiration from Cornish. Evidently with this film, Karloff was slated with little dialogue to speak before he raised issue with said matter. Five people were given credit for the writing: Ewart Adamson, Peter Milne, Robert Hardy Andrews and Lillie Hayward wrote the screenplay, while Adamson and Joseph Fields wrote the story. The movie was directed by Michael Curtiz, a particularly busy director in the 1930s that had some experience in horror (among others in the 30+ films he did in the decade) with Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933).

Okay, you're going to love the way the "resurrected" man decides to handle being framed for murder. After he is brought back from being electrocuted, he seems to have developed a certain type of clot in his brain that gives him a strange knowledge of just who had framed him. Oh, but it gets better, he actually gets his revenge, in perhaps the most curious way possible. Of course, the film is pretty fast and loose at getting there with a 66-minute runtime. Karloff proves a quality knowing presence to unnerve the soul when it comes to second sight with select times to speak or just stare. The funny thing about this horror/crime feature is that there isn't really much of a villainous presence or even a ham actor. Gwenn might be the lead scientist presence, but it ends up coming off as just warm curiosity that is fine for someone with as much experience on stage and film as you'd expect from him (one can take a guess what film you would recognize that voice from). Churchill and Hull are serviceable enough when you consider that the rest of the folks don't have much to do besides being casually terrorized after the execution. Okay, so the array of deaths that happen in the film are done not by any one man but are actually a string of accidents that just happen to involve our lead character because of his "sense" of knowing who led to his death. Probably the most amusing is a guy nervous about who just stumbled in to confront him that decides to run only to encounter a train. The movie has plenty of shadows and fog to keep things looking ideal rather than just being a Frankenstein cheapie. In general, the movie is a quietly solid one, not rocking the boat too much in unnerving horror (the resurrection scene might be the most involving for the sheer execution of it, although the last scene is interesting) but generally working well with one's expectations. This is the kind of movie you can sense was made in a few weeks by professionals that came and went to get things done without too much fuss (five writers, but still) that will prove up to code.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

The Mummy's Ghost.

Review #2265: The Mummy's Ghost.

Cast: 

Lon Chaney Jr (Kharis), John Carradine (Yousef Bey), Robert Lowery (Tom Hervey), Ramsay Ames (Amina Mansori), Barton MacLane (Police Inspector Walgreen), George Zucco (High Priest Andoheb), Frank Reicher (Professor Matthew Norman), Harry Shannon (Sheriff Elwood), Emmett Vogan (Coroner), and Lester Sharp (Dr. Ayad) Directed by Reginald Le Borg (#1179 - The Black Sleep)

Review: 

Okay, so here we are with another Mummy film (in the timeline of 30 years after The Mummy's Hand as established by The Mummy's Tomb). It's hard to believe that this is the third of the four Kharis films released from 1940 to 1944, and yet here we are. It is funny that Zucco returns for this film, having apparently survived being shot and going down the stairs from the last two films just so he can go assign the task of getting the mummy to the character played by John Carradine (creatively called Yousef Bey, after the last film had used named the follower character Mehemet Bey and the 1932 film had used "Ardath Bey"), who was busy enough to be on four Universal horror films (the others being The Invisible Man's Revenge, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula). The film was written by Griffin Jay, Henry Sucher, Brenda Weisberg, as based on a story by Jay and Sucher. The movie was shot quickly in August/September of 1943 but wasn't released until June of 1944. This is also yet another movie where a priest tries to get involved with a woman while trying to deal with Kharis. Oh, and reincarnations involving people thought to be the long-dead woman lover, which you might recognize as being from the 1932 Mummy film. The movie was done by Reginald Le Borg, an Austrian who had moved to the States in 1934 that rose from staging in film to bit part actor to directing by the late 1930s. He had made films for the Office of War Information during World War II but got to be part of Universal in 1943 for a handful of their films, most notably the first three "Inner Sanctum Mystery" films; he didn't care for his horror films, but he was a craftsman of several films in the B-level for many years.

You are not getting anything different that you saw in Tomb or Hand, but are you really that surprised? Sure, those movies weren't actually that good, but you could at least say they tried. Here, there just isn't anything to really grouse about, and this is a movie with Carradine in it. He just doesn't get that much to really do when compared to the stuff you saw before when it comes to goofy priests. Lowery might as well be an actual broomstick. Ames has one defining characteristic: a streak of white in her hair, which clearly means danger and sleepwalking. Since one knows that Chaney had a painful time with the makeup (couldn't even scratch an itch), it does amuse to see him try to go around with one good arm (such as with a fence). The people in the film sure have a fun time trying to avoid him, and it is pretty funny to see in a giant case of steps for the climax. Probably the most amusing thing about the movie is the use of a dog to help guide the people around to find the mummy, because then one can make a lazy Lassie joke. Nah, actually, my favorite joke is that a few times the movie has someone ask "Amon-Ra" to aid his quest and I could simply say "but Amon-Ra (St. Brown) plays in Detroit." The only thing that saves the movie is the ending, because for once, you don't get to have a happy ending wrapped up in the last five minutes. I do wonder just what the headline writers or folks did when it came to the time after the swamp episode ("Men Swamped By Swamp", anyone?). In conclusion, nothing has been improved from before in a series of serviceable but wholly "not particularly good" 1940s Mummy films. Making one have to debate between Hand and Tomb for the "best follow-up to The Mummy until being blown out by the 1999 rendition" is a sad task indeed.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

You and Me.

Review #2009: You and Me.

Cast:

Sylvia Sidney (Helen), George Raft (Joe Dennis), Barton MacLane (Mickey), Harry Carey (Mr. Morris), Roscoe Karns (Cuffy), George E. Stone (Patsy), Warren Hymer (Gimpy), Robert Cummings (Jim), Adrian Morris (Knucks), and Roger Gray (Bath House) Directed by Fritz Lang (#333 - M, #500 - Metropolis, #1365 - Scarlet Street, #1619 - Destiny)

Review: 

As the story goes, Norman Krasna wrote up a story at the request of Paramount Pictures that would have George Raft as a star. Krasna, for those who don't know, had gone from an ambition to do journalism to work his way into becoming a drama critic before moving onto playwrighting to then becoming a studio writer, first with Columbia before moving onto others such as Paramount. In fact, one of his ideas for a script would become the basis for what became Fury (1936) at MGM, with Krasna receiving a co-credit and a subsequent Oscar nomination. Important to the story of the film that eventually became a film is that Krasna wanted to direct it. However, Carole Lombard read the script and found it interesting (after plans had been done to have Raft star with Helen Burgess), which then made Paramount want someone to direct who, well, had experience directing, because Raft and Lombard wanted someone with experience. At any rate, Krasna was let go from directing, which was meant to go for Richard Wallace before it eventually landed to Fritz Lang, as asked by Sylvia Sidney (who had starred in Fury and You Only Live Once (1937), as directed by Lang), who was brought on to star with Raft. Lang later called the film his first flop ("deservedly") while saying that he had wanted to make a "didactic" film while having influence from Bertolt Brecht, a good friend of his that had made a theatre style called Lehrstück that basically was a play that would teach you something. Virginia Van Upp (a child actress-turned-script writer/reader/casting director/agent) is credited with the screenplay, although Jack Moffitt did uncredited work as well. As for Krasna, he would eventually get his chance to direct, albeit in the 1940s with Princess O'Rourke (1943), which he also wrote.

The movie is an odd curiosity, that much is certain. It is probably not too hard to see why the movie did not make much of an impact with audiences, because it was an odd film to have a guy like Raft star in a film with Lang that is more of a quirky crime film rather than straight drama. Of course, it is a decent movie, one that is fairly watchable if one has the patience for a film that is just a bit off center when it comes to teaching about just where crime really can go when it comes to a businessman who wants ex-cons to work for him to give them a second chance at things that might as well serve as more of a means to one's end in streetwise foundation. Oh, and there is a bit of a romance alongside things as well. Raft once described his ambitions when it came to acting as simply wanting "to be me", which basically meant he wasn't trying to just stick to roles similar to his presence-making turn in Scarface (1932), which led to a handful of suspensions from the studios he worked with, since he did not want really want to play heels (hell, he was a dancer before becoming an actor). As such, his charm is basically room temperature, which means he reacts to the situations around him with the mildest of reactions, as if the only thing that can faze him is being behind the ball when the final score is up (of which I mean the score of life). Besides, with a passionate Sidney (who appeared a handful of gangster films in the time period, with some exceptions) around, one finds that the movie moves along well enough already. Her well-meaning procession of foolhardy attempts to keep the one she loves and the secret she holds just as dear firmly away from each other, and she does the best to make the dilemma matter (making a case of "you dummie" into "oh, poor dummie"). Of course, the real highlight is a sequence near the end in trying to point out just how much one really could make when robbing a store when detailing all of the costs that come with the setup, which she handles with splendid timing that makes a simple "go home and think about coming to work on time tomorrow!" all the more fun. The supporting folks are mostly there to fill the chorus of would-be returnees to crime, which work in small bits of charm that mostly come from Hymer and his demeanor. Maybe there is a sense of irony to see Carey, an actor known for his rugged frame actor (generally seen in Westerns) playing an owner who likes to hire parolees. At any rate, it is an strange curiosity, one that isn't merely a crime drama or a straight romance because of the fact that it likes to dwell on the absurdity that comes with trying to find where the real game is at when it comes to something as simple as "you and me". As a whole, it may stretch itself a bit thin for 94 minutes, but it is firmly watchable and certainly something that should be considered for viewing among the curiosities that made the career of Fritz Lang all the more involving for what he did end up bringing to the screen in vision.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Hell's Outpost.

Review #1871: Hell's Outpost.

Cast: 

Rod Cameron (Tully Gibbs), Joan Leslie (Sarah Moffit), John Russell (Ben Hodes), Chill Wills (Kevin Russel), Ben Cooper (Alec Bacchione), Kristine Miller (Beth Hodes), Jim Davis (Sam Horne), Taylor Holmes (Timothy Byers), Barton MacLane (Sheriff Olson), and Ruth Lee (Mrs. Moffit) Produced and Directed by Joseph Kane.

Review: 

Admittedly, the action movie is in more forms than just big-budget adventure or costume drama. No, one can also encounter action flicks in cheap B-movie form, courtesy of studios like Republic Pictures. Republic, if you were wondering, was the motion picture company behind many, many Westerns, serials, and B-films (with occasional A-features like The Quiet Man), which just happened to have a select number of films that featured John Wayne, Gene Autry, or Roy Rogers. It came about in 1935 as the result of merging six Poverty Row studios together, as devised by founder Herbert J. Yates that was focused on low-budget product with his laboratory to counter the lack of need from major studios to have his lab. As for the director for this film...Joseph Kane naturally ended up behind the chair because of his experience with Republic. The San Diego native actually went from an interest in cellist to directing, and he took up jobs with Mascot Pictures and Republic Pictures with serials in 1935, and he would stay with the latter studio until its demise in 1958, serving as an associate producer on numerous films along with editor and screenwriter. While he did not get to serve as primary director much in the years after the 1950s ended, he continued with second-unit work until his death in 1975 at the age of 81. 

Sure picked a winner, huh? Technically, it is more of a noir than an action movie, but at least there are a few fistfights (lasting less than five minutes each) to go along with a little bit of action involving loony rich guys and oddball heroes writing false letters in which both actors look like more famous ones if you squint a bit. There really isn't anything particularly great about the movie in any sense or form, and it definitely seems a bit too packed at 89 minutes, but one interested in B-movies or things to pass by on a long summer day could tolerate it. The only thing that sounds fun is the fistfight, because who doesn't want to hear about it? It happens, naturally, in the dark, and one hopes you have a good eye to see with the print (or video, if you like easy-to-find old movies). It isn't anything too special, but again, it satisfies the basic requirement when it comes to stomaching the rest of medium product that makes only the slightest of sense (rich guy decides to fight a guy, agrees to giving him $10,000 in a loan if the other guy wins and then does wild things to stop him enjoying using the money for a mine). This was based on a Luke Short's book Silver Rock, with Kenneth Gamet serving as screenwriter. Truly it fun to be talking about tungsten mines and guys trying to circumvent the other while middling relationships lurk in the background. Cameron (born in Canada but raised in New Jersey) kind of looks like if an old studio executive tried making a discount Randolph Scott, particularly since he did plenty of Westerns to go with other genres you might expect in cheapie fun; beginning in 1953, he ended up doing syndicated television over the course of three different shows in the span of eight years that made him a nice amount of money. He grits his teeth like it was a modern Western rather than the action crime drama hodgepodge, and it doesn't really gel greatly for anything besides mild stares and the occasional attempt to make a gray-shaded hero but having a guy who makes a few false letters isn't really as interesting as it could be for hustle quality. The sillier a movie like this, the better it seems...so it doesn't quite work with a stiff lead. Hey, what do you know, the villain is also a television presence: Russell is best known for his starring role on two shows that ran in the late 1950s involving adventure. He is mildly effective here in chewing the bland ham thrown to him in dastardly ideas, looking more like a guy trying to convince himself to pick apart the wings of baby birds because of boredom. Honestly, Wills might be the only name that sticks out today, albeit one who didn't grow to acting by Westerns, since he had his own singing group in the 1930s that he quit to go for acting, and his deep rough voice certainly wishes for something with riveting material to bite on rather than the mush here. To be nice to Leslie, one hopes that the assignment was a decent experience for them. As a whole, all one might enjoy is the occasional action bit, whether that involves drunken antics or the final sequence involving dynamite that goes...kind of the way you would expect from a cheapie needing to end quickly. It's a humble movie, where names go in one ear and out the other for nothing too special for a mediocre result. But, as a comparison to say just how action movies stack up from different eras when it comes to mushy foundations trying to hold it together with middling actors or effect, it fits the bill adequately.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

I know sometimes it is ideal to say what is next for a themed month but cobbling together a list is easier said than done...That said, next up is Motorpsycho.

Scared Stiff.

Review #835: Scared Stiff.

Cast
Jack Haley (Larry Elliot), Ann Savage (Sally Warren), Barton MacLane (George Markham), Veda Ann Borg (Flo Rosson), Roger Pryor (Richardson), George E. Stone (Mink), Robert Emmett Keane (Prof. Wisner), Lucien Littlefield (Charles Waldeck / Preston Waldeck), Paul Hurst (Sheriff), Arthur Aylesworth (Emerson Cooke), Eily Malyon (Mrs. Cooke), and Buddy Swan (Oliver Waldeck) Directed by Frank McDonald.

Review
Scared Stiff (also known as Treasure of Fear) is the kind of movie that falls into someone's lap if one is either bored enough or just stumbles into public domain territory, with this being a comedy/murder mystery. Haley (who appeared in just six more films after this) plays a bumbling chess reporter (of course he does) who is assumed to be a murderer due to a dead guy on the same bus being found with a chess piece near him (seriously), alongside the other weirdo passengers, including his girlfriend, a boy genius (who throws a smoke bomb into a room at one point), and his mentor professor. Hijinks (and I put that extremely loosely) ensue in a mystery lumpier than mashed potatoes. There is a subplot about retrieving chess pieces from an antique chess set from the 13th century, which seems better than the main character, actually. Do you like a bumbling character played for some sort of laugh? Well, you'll have to find a better movie. Haley isn't very interesting to watch, becoming tedious to watch after a while. There really isn't much energy to the cast, which just go through the motions of a sluggish script. There really is no chemistry between Haley and Savage. The killer is in the movie briefly, to the point where he has no defining characteristics. The length of the movie is 65 minutes, which is some ways is it's own relief. On the whole, there are countless other movies from this time period that are more interesting to watch than this, ultimately. It doesn't inspire many laughs, nor elicit any interest in the mystery, simply put. You know the people that remake movies and the ensuing reactions over it? Try remaking this and see what happens, which is a better idea than watching the movie.

Overall, I give it 4 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: The Maltese Falcon (1941).

Review #081: The Maltese Falcon.

Cast
Humphrey Bogart (Sam Spade), Mary Astor (Ruth Wonderly/Brigid O'Shaughnessy), Gladys George (Iva Archer), Peter Lorre (Joel Cairo), Barton MacLane (Lieutenant Dundy), Lee Patrick (Effie Perine), Sydney Greenstreet (Kasper Gutman), Ward Bond (Detective Tom Polhaus), and Jerome Cowan (Miles Archer) Directed by John Huston.

Review
This is a classic film that should be watched at least once by people who like film. Yes, that's my first line. And it's truthful straight down to the last period. The acting is good, especially from Bogart. The film has a style to it that helps the film makes its case for a good film, if not already from the acting. The story's good, making you interested in it for the entirety of the film. This film is the stuff that dreams are made of...

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.