Beauty and the Beast (1962).

Review #2035: Beauty and the Beast.

Cast: 

Joyce Taylor (Althea), Mark Damon (Eduardo), Merry Anders (Sybil), Walter Burke (Grimaldi), Eduard Franz (Orsini), Alexander Lockwood (Man), Dayton Lummis (Roderick), and Michael Pate (Prince Bruno) Directed by Edward L. Cahn (#331 - It! The Terror From Beyond Space, #560 - Experiment Alcatraz, and #656 - Invasion of the Saucer Men)

Review: 

In 1740, a story was published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins (The Young American and Marine Tales) that in English was called Beauty and the Beast. It was written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. Sixteen years later, a re-written and abridged version was published by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, which is the one that ended up being most known among fairy tales told to folks. Oddly enough, Beauty and the Beast took considerable time to adapt for film. The most notable film adaptation for most of the 20th century might be the French film Le Belle et la Bête (1946), which was directed by Jean Cocteau to noted interest in its visual style. The first English-language adaptation, however, was made in 1962, with Edward Small as executive producer. Small was a producer with a lengthy career that spanned both the silent and sound era and covered various productions such as The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), Raw Deal (1948), and Witness for the Prosecution (1957). This film was one of numerous ones that he did with United Artists that were targeted to make money when sold to television rather than make large profits on its budget (roughly $100,000-$300,000), whether that involved Westerns, or melodramas. This was one that was targeted for the family audience that he called a "fairytale for everybody - no messages, no menace." The film was written by George Bruce and Orville H. Hampton. At the helm of director was Edward L. Cahn, who had directed films since the 1930s after getting his start with Universal Pictures in 1917 within the editing department. He became known for his work in Poverty Row studios such as Monogram along with short films that kept him busy (this was the fourth of four films he directed for release in 1962 alone). It may interest you to note this was the last film for Cahn as a director, as he died the year after it was released at the age of 64. It was also the penultimate film with makeup by the famed Jack Pierce, who closed his career with The Creation of the Humanoids (1962) and constant work on the TV show Mister Ed prior to his death in 1968.

I wish I could say that the film is a decent little cheapie. I wish that there was something positive beyond a few effects within a story about a guy who turns into a wolf-looking beast at night, particularly since the effect resembles The Wolf Man from two decades earlier. Alas, this is not one of those little gems that you wish to find and spend 77 minutes with intent curiosity. You can't even be mean about calling it "not good", because it mostly is just a bland film that could be constituted to about five sentences: Duke wants to get married to a woman, silly prince wants to stop him, Duke is a wolf at night that stands around cursed because [reasons], woman saves him with love at the stake, the end. The debate you will have here is whether to call the film "paper-thin" or "paint by the numbers", unless you are not really interested in harvesting as many words as possible. Small's message of no message or menace unintentionally comes true in the worst way possible that it also has no real sense of urgency. The transformation sequences with Damon merely seem to come and go with him standing like a shaggy statue rather than convey any sense of tragedy that come from someone who spends more time than necessary wondering how much sunlight is left, which isn't exactly a compliment for Damon or Taylor when it comes to trying to sell this patchwork of romance. At least Pate seems like someone who could be a useful stoolie for adversarial presence, but again, the only threat the movie has going for it is the idea of tricking villagers into murdering someone that happens to look like a wolf at that very moment. As a whole, Beauty and the Beast at least has a look like a set for the Middle Ages, so that is probably the best thing I can say for a movie that seems a bit too slipshod all the way around to work for anything other than for people who really, really want to see anything that moves. 

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

House of Usher.

Review #1918: House of Usher.

Cast: 

Vincent Price (Roderick Usher), Mark Damon (Philip Winthrop), Myrna Fahey (Madeline Usher), and Harry Ellerbe (Bristol) 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, and #1684 - Creature from the Haunted Sea)

Review: 

“What drew me to Fall of the House of Usher was first the macabre setting, the house itself. Surrounded by fog, deserted…and then within the house, the relationship between Roderick Usher and his sister. The incestuous sexual/horror relationship between them, it was just a fascinating situation.” - Roger Corman

Undeniably, a film by American International Pictures leaves a bit of curiosity to go along with trepidation. Sure, they made plenty of fast and cheap movies in their day, but you always have to pick your hopes and doubts when it comes to wondering how they can handle executing premise the right way...so imagine them adapting the works of Edgar Allen Poe. But they did do so, with Roger Corman behind it all. Instead of making two low-budget black-and-white films (done in 10 days each) fit for a double feature that AIP desired, Corman came to an agreement to make one color movie for them (with 15 days to shoot), and the result became its own cycle of movies, much to the surprise of Corman. He would make eight feature films as director and producer for eight Poe works House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Premature Burial (1962), Tales of Terror (1962), The Raven (1963), The Haunted Palace (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), and The Tomb of Ligeia (1964). All but Burial had Vincent Price as the star, as he was a contract player for the studio. Corman wanted him for this movie, and he got his wish for an actor that loved playing this role, one he felt was the most sensitive of the lead characters of a Poe work (he even bleached his hair for the role). The film was made on a budget of $270,000. Richard Matheson was best known at the time for his novels I Am Legend (1954) and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1956), and he had written film scripts for two prior movies (one being an adaptation of the former novel). He wrote the adaptation of this film and wrote for three more of the Corman/Poe cycle of films. The movie, as you might know, is adapted from Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher", first published in 1839. The movie changes the dynamic of the trio of characters: the story features an unnamed narrator that visits the house to see the elder Usher, his "best and only friend", while the film has him visit the Ushers because of his fiancé. This was the third adaptation of the book, after La Chute de la maison Usher (1928), the short The Fall of the House of Usher (1928), and The Fall of the House of Usher (1950). It was the last film adaptation for 29 years.

Corman was an engineer before he realized that he was destined to be a filmmaker, you know. By 1960, he was already a five-year director familiar with getting things done on a quick and engineered basis. This proves to be right up his alley, given the limited cast and one big set captured in CinemaScope. Well, that, and a barn in California that had its teardown filmed by Corman to be used in the film, which ended up being used in a handful of future movies. I think it is a splendid film in its execution that benefits most from having Price on screen more than anything. He is the perfect one to emulate such a pale figure of doomed stature, and his belief that the film was a gamble worth believing in is proven correct, and his dynamic with his on-screen sister in Fahey is appropriately eerie. The monster of the movie isn't any one thing but instead the curse that has stricken a bloodline: it is the specter of inevitability that looms over the film when you boil it all down, combining two curiosities into one: folks who love to see Corman try to pull another cheap show of entertainment and Price dominate your attention with dignity, for which you get exactly what you want in terms of fun in horror. Ellerbe may not have the name power of the others or even as many lines, but he fits the puzzle in the tiniest crucial moments needed to keep the movie on point of weird stylings that never get distracted. In a lesser movie, you might focus on Damon, who actually won an award for his performance (granted, it was a Golden Globe...awarded for "newcomer" actors, despite the fact he appeared in a number of shows and movies since the mid 1950s). It isn't a terrible performance, merely just being an ordinary one to contrast with Price and the other doomed figure in Fahey that is, well, a guy trying to make sense of oneself. Corman utilizes cinematography by Floyd Crosby and production design by Daniel Haller to striking effect to make a solid 79-minute ride of creeping atmosphere. You are left to brood for the time required, and it rewards your patience in a movie that is one of Corman's highlights as director. 

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Good morning. THE HOUSTON ASTROS HAVE WON THE WORLD SERIES AGAIN! Friends of the show know my appreciation for this baseball team and all they have done for the state of Texas, and it feels so good to call them the king of baseball once again. 

Next Time: A redux special.

Black Sabbath.

Review #792: Black Sabbath.

Cast
Boris Karloff (Gorca, segment "The Wurdalak"), Mark Damon (Vladimire d'Urfe, segment "The Wurdalak"), Michèle Mercier (Rosy, segment "The Telephone"), Susy Andersen (Sdenka, segment "The Wurdalak"), Lidia Alfonsi (Mary, segment "The Telephone"), Jacqueline Pierreux (Helen Chester, segment "The Drop of Water"), Glauco Onorato (Giorgio, segment "The Wurdalak"), Massimo Righi (Pietro, segment "The Wurdalak"), Milly Monti (The Maid, segment "The Drop of Water"), Gustavo De Nardo (Police Inspector, segment "The Drop of Water"), Rika Dialyna (Maria, segment "The Wurdalak"), and Harriet Medin (Neighbor, segment "The Drop of Water") Directed by Mario Bava.

Review
With Year One (of college, anyway) done with, it only makes sense that I try to deliver some content to you loving folks (and hope that you didn't forget about me in the delays). And what better day to bring luck than Friday of all days? Black Sabbath is the American International Pictures cut of "I tre volti della paura", which was an Italian-French production. The original version was in Italian and had the order of stories changed, with "The Drop of Water" being the last one shown instead of "The Wurdalak", along scenes of violence and other various things (especially in "The Telephone") being edited in the AIP cut. Karloff not only stars in one of the segments, but he also acts as the host of the film, introducing the three segments anyone might try to do in a horror film, but Karloff (even in his aging state) manages to make it work with his voice. As for the segments, "The Wurdalak" is probably my favorite, mainly because it feels more complete and has some sense of terror, despite some strange thinking by the characters; Karloff is the highlight, but it does have some good reaction shots. "The Drop of Water" is relatively decent; Pierreux is decent, and her moments of terror are convincing enough. "The Telephone" is not necessary a bad segment, it pales (for me anyway) compared to the other two segments, but it is at least somewhat entertaining. It feels ridiculous at times, and the ending is admittedly a bit cheesy, but it fits the strangeness of this peculiar film. If you're looking for an anthology movie that's a little different, I'd suggest trying it out.

(I tried making a reference to the band Black Sabbath in this review, but I couldn't find a way to reference that they got their name from this film.)
Anyways...10, 9, 8...

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.