The Love Bug.

Review #2395: The Love Bug.

Cast: 

Dean Jones (James "Jim" Douglas), Michele Lee (Carole Bennett), David Tomlinson (Peter Thorndyke), Buddy Hackett (Tennessee Steinmetz), Joe Flynn (Havershaw), Benson Fong (Tang Wu), Joe E. Ross (Detective), Barry Kelley (Police sergeant), Iris Adrian (Carhop), Gary Owens (Announcer), Chick Hearn (Announcer), and Andy Granatelli (Association President) Directed by Robert Stevenson (#1415 - Mary Poppins)

Review: 

You might remember Robert Stevenson was an Academy Award-nominated director. But I suppose that's what happens with the strange magic of Mary Poppins (1964), because Stevenson was a veteran director who Walt Disney Productions liked enough to use for nineteen movies. Stevenson had written scripts since the late 1920s and graduated to directing by 1932, which later included movies such the 1937 version of King Solomon's Mines. He even got to do some Hollywood films with David O. Selznick and RKO and got into the television kick before, well, working for Disney for two decades, starting with Johnny Tremain (1957). He directed into his seventies and closed it out with The Shaggy D.A. (1976); he died in 1986 at the age of 81. The movie cites the use of the story "Car, Boy, Girl" by Gordon Buford as its adaptation material. The screenplay was written by Don DaGradi and Bill Walsh (who also produced the film). The movie made its premiere in late 1968 but did not go into wide release until March of 1969 and would you believe it was a major hit on release? Seriously, it was the second-highest grossing movie of that year, so clearly there were follow-ups, albeit with different cast members. Stevenson directed the first follow-up with Herbie Rides Again (1974); Jones returned for just the second follow-up (and the TV projects) with Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977) before Herbie Goes Bananas (1980) and the TV show Herbie, the Love Bug (1982) sent the series into a slumber for a time.*

Honestly, it is a bit hard to resist the charms of Herbie. Sure, it probably isn't as whimsical as say, Mary Poppins, but there really is something that makes me smile about the charms that come around with a silly car and hijinks that is infectious. It has a breezy sense of enthusiasm that manages to ride along with hit-or-miss gags that puddle together for a slap-bang feature, at least for those who go with it knowing what they will get with a friendly-seeming Volkswagen (note the fact that you never hear the brand named in the film**) from the man that also churned out The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) in terms of "light stuff that ended up getting further returns". Jones had done a bit of Broadway and bit roles for MGM before his role in Ensign O'Toole (1962-63) and Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963) led on to getting signed for Disney film productions that started with That Darn Cat! (1965), which was the first of nearly a dozen collaborations with Disney. He plays it basically as ordinary as one can do when fit into a formula that demands a bit of commitment with a smile without going into say, overacting or complete listlessness. Him and Lee are mostly just pleasant, but the highlight is more on hijinks and the presences of Hackett (who inspired the "Herbie" nickname) and Tomlinson. Hackett and his schtick involving a bit of "New Age" syrup and banter with the car (remember that early in the film one bit posits that we put so much love and time into our tech that machines probably think it *is* somebody) that is a bit twee. But at least Tomlinson is delightfully arrogant enough to basically ham it up for chuckles, as one does. The movie probably toils a bit too long at 108 minutes, and it probably has a few wonky effects (depending on how one views say, splitting a car in half), but there are those moments that are neat enough to tickle my funny bone, such as the pursuit sequence, as one does when searching for a sentient car, which naturally leads to both teetering at the Golden Gate Bridge. You know where it's going to go with its vrooms and booms, but at least Herbie is something you'll watch rather than some generic car, I suppose. In general, it is a candy-coated type of movie, one that might be worth a check if in a comfortable mood that takes what they see and just rolls with its sweet chuckles.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

*Dean Jones returned for a TV movie of The Love Bug in 1997 before folks saw Herbie: Fully Loaded in 2005 in theaters. Not sure if my mom watched any of them, but she seemed fine with The Love Bug, so there's that.

**Do you really want to look up the origins of the Beetle in relations to Germany? 

The Fast and the Furious (1954).

Review #1388: The Fast and the Furious.

Cast: 
John Ireland (Frank Webster), Dorothy Malone (Connie Adair), Bruce Carlisle (Faber), Iris Adrian (Wilma Belding - Waitress), Marshall Bradford (Mr. Hillman - Race Marshal), Bruno VeSota (Bob Nielson - Truck Driver), Byrd Holland (Doctor), and Larry Thor (Detective Sergeant) Directed by John Ireland and Edward Sampson.

Review: 
"You can make a movie about anything, as long as it has a hook to hang the advertising on."

When it comes to film entertainment, one cannot deny the attracting power of American International Pictures. The company was formed on April 2, 1954 by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff as American Releasing Corporation with the intent to distribute films on an independent level. There would be numerous people that found themselves involved in AIP, such as cinematographer Floyd Crosby, screenwriter Lou Rusoff, producer Herman Cohn alongside Roger Corman. They were given their first chance to distribute with this film, picked by Corman over other companies while also being offered money to help Corman make further films. This was the third film that Corman was involved with, having made his contributions to Highway Dragnet and Monster From the Ocean Floor with story and producing the previous year. Along with producing, he also work as a bit actor and stunt driver while also making deals with a local dealer for Jaguar cars and utilizing stock and filmed footage from the Monterrey racetrack. Shot in nine days at a cost of $50,000, it is no wonder that this was a fair hit for audiences of the time, who must've been big on jailbirds on the run with fast cars and women to go with a thin plot directed by its star Ireland and Edward Sampson, an editor in his lone directorial credit. It was the work that Corman did here that made him want to become a director, which he would soon get the chance to do with Five Guns West the following year.

It sure is a shame that this is such a plain affair, one that moves with a quiet roar for 73 minutes that seems fitting of being put on the back end of a double bill than anything. Ireland and Malone don't really seem to have much chemistry with each other beyond a few quips that beg for more vulnerability and charm, since these characters seem thinner than a fuel gauge in characterization. Most of the time is spent on them with only a few glimpses into the chase for them alongside the race they happen to come across, as if trying to be a crime film isn't enough to latch onto. One needs a third presence stronger than someone like Carlisle to really counteract the main duo to make things seem more urgent to care about. By the time the film races to its conclusion, it doesn't even seem like a real ending, reminding me more of Quicksand (1950) than anything, and one might not even remember that the main character is supposedly innocent to begin with because of how casual things seem. The racing aspects are decent, but nothing too special to follow along with. On the whole, while this movie isn't particularly good by most standards, it is at least a modest curiosity that could  pique interest on a boring day with access to the public domain, filled with quick thrills that could reach an audience that could then inquire further into the library of American International Pictures for further, better features to look into.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Bluebeard (1944).

Review #1364: Bluebeard.

Cast: 

John Carradine (Gaston Morrell), Jean Parker (Lucille Lutien), Nils Asther (Inspector Jacques Lefevre), Ludwig Stössel (Jean Lamarte), George Pembroke (Inspector Renard), Teala Loring (Francine Lutien), Sonia Sorel (Renee Claremont), Henry Kolker (Deschamps Lutien), Emmett Lynn (Le Soldat), and Iris Adrian (Mimi Roberts) Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (#797 - People on Sunday, #803 - Detour, and #943 - The Man from Planet X)

Review: 
Surprise, surprise, Onward will be delayed, since I could not view it in time before movie theaters began their temporary closure in light of the coronavirus. In any case, time to move on to continuing the tribute for the month.

Who better to deliver low budget noirs than Edgar G. Ulmer and Producers Releasing Corporation? The two almost seem made for each other. The film was inspired by famous French folktale Barbe bleue (written by Charles Perrault), first published in 1697 that told of a wealthy man who had a habit of murdering his wives. The story has been adapted to numerous media over the years, from a 1901 film by George Melies (among at least six other adaptations) to opera to ballet. Ulmer had first come to Hollywood in 1926, having worked as a stage actor and set designer in Austria (living in Vienna after being born in Olomouc, Austria-Hungary, now considered part of the Czech Republic). He would go on to a distinguished career with films in four different decades. His first directorial efforts were People on Sunday (1930), a production written by Billy Wilder that Ulmer co-directed with Robert Siodmak before moving on Damaged Lives (1933), an American/Canadian exploitation film about diseases. His one main studio film in The Black Cat (1934) was a huge box office hit. However, he was relegated to doing films for Poverty Row studios because he had an affair with Shirley Kassler, who was married to a relative of a studio head before divorcing him for Ulmer. She would later serve as script supervisor on most of the films that followed from Ulmer, spent primarily with ethnic dramas and low budget studios like PRC, which had been founded in 1939 to do low-budget fare that could be used for double bills while never spending more than $100,000 for productions, which worked for 179 films in seven years total before being acquired by Eagle-Lion Films (which later disbanded in 1950).

With a shooting schedule of six days, it is a triumph of Ulmer that this film noir (written by Arnold Lipp, Werner H. Furst and Pierre Gendron) turned out so well for what it does, a decent little gem. One must be impressed by how he made a spellbinding experience with a standout performance from Carradine, a prolific presence given a chance to deliver chills. He has quite an alluring power to him, trapped with obsession that makes it worthwhile to spend time with. Parker keeps up with him just fine, an innocent yet manageable counterpart. Asther does fine with making some authority seem to mean something without being completely washed away by Carradine and Stossel makes for a sniveling secondary aspect of the film count. One has an inkling of where the film is going to go (crime doesn't pay, or at least that's the lesson one is meant to get from films of the era), but it doesn't mean the methods are going to be cut and dry, where Ulmer makes something out of what would've likely been just another B-movie. It is an interesting experience at 72 minutes, a movie that is stagy but watchable when it needs to be that overcomes cash-strapped foundations with a can-do cast headlined by Carradine in generating interest in something that makes for a solid public domain pick. It's the journey that counts, and this one is helped by Ulmer in getting its foot in the door.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.