Count Yorga, Vampire.

Review #2283: Count Yorga, Vampire.

Cast:

Robert Quarry (Count Yorga), Roger Perry (Dr. James "Jim" Hayes), Michael Murphy (Paul), Michael Macready (Michael "Mike" Thompson), Donna Anderson (Donna), Judy Lang (Erica Landers), Edward Walsh (Brudah), Julie Conners (Cleo), Paul Hansen (Peter), and Sybil Scotford (Judy) Written and Directed by Bob Kelljan.

Review: 

Admittedly, you really could make a vampire movie out of any half-baked idea if you have enough luck involved. Michael Macready was a producer that wanted to make a movie with Bob Kelljan on the cheap in softcore horror, tentatively calling their movie "The Loves of Count Iorga"; Kelljan had made his debut as a director with the skin flick Flesh of My Flesh (1969), which he starred and co-produced with Macready. They asked Robert Quarry about possibly doing their softcore movie. He had done a handful of features in either small or uncredited nature while in a small theater group that happened to include Macready. Quarry wanted to do a "straight horror movie", although they compromised and shot a few scenes that could be used as softcore if the film wasn't going well. His recollections of the film stated that there were just four crewmembers and a budget of just under $100,000 (he shot the film in the night while shooting a small part in WUSA [1970] in the day). The result, as distributed by American International Pictures (who made the suggestion to go with "Yorga" for easier pronunciation) was a hit. A sequel came up immediately with The Return of Count Yorga, which was directed and written by Kelljan. Quarry wanted to do a third film (apparently wanting to do one where he is broken and recovering in the sewers); The Deathmaster (1973) sometimes gets confused as related to Count Yorga due to its killer vampire (now a hippie), complete with AIP promoting the movie with similar beats to Yorga. As for Kelljan, he directed three further films (Scream Blacula Scream, Act of Vengeance, Black Oak Conspiracy) before going on to direct in television prior to his death in 1982; the rights for any Yorga film lapsed to Macready, who Quarry did not want to work with. 

While Quarry did not become a grand star of stature with AIP (who due to Yorga had him for a contract with ideas of succeeding Vincent Price as their guy) due to their fading status in horror, he was quite happy with his experiences making the Yorga films and recollected his experiences often prior to his death in 2009. You don't have that many vampire movies set in its current day for that era, unless you want to dig in for films such as The Return of the Vampire, The Return of Dracula or The Vampire. It does prove to be a slick little movie, one that benefits from its modern setting with the sinister elegance leading the way from Quarry. It isn't often you get to see a séance lead off a movie (after narration from George Macready, son of Michael), that much is for sure. Quarry plays off the title role as a mystic that glides from scene to scene for a movie that is sometimes offbeat and sometimes funny for 93 minutes. This works out for better or worse because of the fact that the rest of the actors are only mildly interesting to begin with, unless you count Walsh playing a murky-looking heavy. The folks get into the vampire belief schtick a bit early, which is somewhat amusing. Some of the time you can tell where the budget ends and where the soft stuff could play out (particularly with one bit involving two ladies), but at least it isn't too skimpy on the weird nature of vampire-people relations. The ending is at least interesting for where exactly it ends up even with the usual "sure, the threat is dead..." bit, mainly because it ends on a freeze-frame that actually seems earned for once. In general, it might be an average horror film by the usual merits one would approach the genre, but it is generally involving enough to win out with a suitable enough lead presence and some interesting moments of blood to make one at least be curious to inquire further with Quarry and company.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

On the Beach.

Review #1402: On the Beach.

Cast: 
Gregory Peck (Commander Dwight Towers), Ava Gardner (Moira Davidson), Fred Astaire (Julian Osborn), Anthony Perkins (Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes), Donna Anderson (Mary Holmes), John Tate (Admiral Bridie), Harp McGuire (Lieutenant Sunderstrom), Lola Brooks (Lieutenant Hosgood), Ken Wayne (Lieutenant Benson), and Guy Doleman (Lieutenant Commander Farrel) Produced and Directed by Stanley Kramer (#139 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and #228 - Inherit the Wind)

Review: 
"I take a very reluctant and conservative view on what a single film can do in affecting our lives. I don't make films to stir the world. I am not conscious of a responsibility to society or even to my own social consciousness when I make a film. My motivation can be as simple as saying, gee, this would make an exciting picture."

Message films, with the right execution, can strike a chord with an audience. Stanley Kramer was a director-producer who liked to specialize in these type of films throughout his career in film. Kramer had written columns for his university paper and graduated with a business degree from New York University, and it was his zest for writing that led to a internship with 20th Century Fox (as opposed to his initial ambition for law), which led to a variety of small jobs around the Hollywood studios for over a decade, such as set furniture mover, writer-researcher, and film cutter. His plan to make his own independent production company was delayed due to Pearl Harbor, and Kramer served underr the Signal Corps to make training films. After the end of the war, he formed a partnership alongside writer Herbie Baker, publicist George Glass and producer Carl Foreman to form Screen Plays Inc. They set out to make films with stories they wanted to do that had something of value to say as per their personal taste without needing to rely on stars. Their attempts at producing independent films met with a few notable films such as Champion (1949), The Men (1950), and High Noon (1952). In 1951, Columbia Pictures signed Kramer and the company to a deal that would give them their own production unit within the studio that gave them free rein and increased budgets. It did not last the contracted five years, and Kramer felt that this one of the most dangerous moves of his career. In a three year partnership, he would produce films such as The Wild One (1953) and The Caine Mutiny (1954) before deciding to enter the foray of directing and producing with Not as a Stranger (1955). This was his fourth work, released between noted films The Defiant Ones (1958) and Inherit the Wind (1960), and it simultaneously premiered on all seven continents one week before Christmas Eve. Despite fair reviews, it was not a big hit with audiences, although it has found appreciation in later years.

Can you imagine what the world would look like after a massive event that affected people's lives and led to long-term consequences? Authors have written apocalyptic and post apocalyptic fiction for as long as people have been around on this Earth, with the modern age being no different in inspiring further looks into what a world would look like with disaster from nuclear fallout, or from something like disease or the environment. Nevil Shute wrote one such work on the apocalypse, writing his work in 1957 while residing in Australia (he also worked as an aeronautical engineer and pilot before his death in 1960). The novel has been turned into a film twice, with the other adaptation being a TV film in 2000. Shute found dissatisfaction with this adaptation when it came to certain aspects of the novel, particularly the romance between Peck and Gardner's characters being more pronounced than in the book when it came to the former's fidelity to his dead wife (Peck agreed with this privately). It certainly must have been an interesting film to view for the time (where this decade had seen war in Korea and continuing Cold War tension) - a bleak movie through and through, where blame is not given to any one side of the unseen war. While one is spared visual decay of vanquished people or even the effects of radiation on the survivors, the film manages to do well enough in maintaining itself in grim composure that makes one think about their future that could have been or the future that could be for what was the future of 1964, complete with filming in Australia. Peck handles himself with resolve in a mellow voice that can handle impending doom and conflicting feelings with care. Two actors playing against the type they were usually known for in film are femme fatale Gardner and song-and-dance Astaire, and each follow Peck fine, making light romance and guilt come out with some effectiveness. Perkins and Anderson give off a bit of intimacy and anxiety decently enough, although they don't stick out as much as they could when it comes to such a dreary quiet time. It is the sights and what one can see and doesn't see within the Australia landscape and beyond (such as a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge with no one present) that drives the film for 134 minutes with adequacy. It comes off with an urgency that warns for the future without becoming too much of a lecture to stand on its own as a film of oblivion that resonates still after over six decades since release.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

And now, an announcement for the month of May, comprised of 30 films.

Movie Night: Inherit the Wind.

Review #228: Inherit the Wind.

Cast
Spencer Tracy (Henry Drummond), Fredric March (Matthew Brady), Gene Kelly (E. K. Hornbeck),  Florence Eldridge (Sara Brady), Dick York (Bertram T. Cates), Donna Anderson (Rachel Brown), Harry Morgan (Judge Mel Coffey), Claude Atkins (Rev. Jeremiah Brown), Elliott Reid (Prosecutor Tom Davenport), and Paul Hartman (Deputy Horace Meeker) Directed by Stanley Kramer.

Review
In the last review, I talked about Gene Kelly and what he did for singing and dancing. Here, he does none of that, but he's still good in a supporting role. Why did I add that last part? It's to mention the main two leads, Tracy and March. They play off each other well, given the proceedings. The film keeps you interested all through out, and the film can still be watched today with no real problems of age. All in all, the cast works, with no real problems. Happy belated (100th) birthday to Gene Kelly. I said it was his birthday, yet I didn't say that in the last review (I'd edit it, but it wouldn't make a difference) Oh well. A hidden gem for the age. Gloomy, but useful film.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.