Movie Night: The Pirates of Blood River.

Review #593: The Pirates of Blood River.

Cast
Kerwin Mathews (Jonathon Standing), Glenn Corbett (Henry), Christopher Lee (Captain LaRoche), Peter Arne (Hench), Marla Landi (Bess Standing), Desmond Llewelyn (Tom Blackthorne), Oliver Reed (Brocaire), Andrew Keir (Jason Standing), and Michael Ripper (Mack) Directed by John Gilling.

Review
Christopher Lee (a regular occurring actor on this show) as the villain in a Hammer pirate movie? What could go wrong? As it turns out, a few things. The biggest problem is that the film is so dull. It feels so standard, like it's fulfilling a checklist of stuff without much excitement to it. The movie has one sword fight, and it's at the end of the movie, but by the time you get to the end you'll either be asleep or won't care. The actors are just okay, it's a shame that Lee is wasted in this movie, stuck in a ridiculous haircut that makes him look like Moe from the Three Stooges and an eye patch from your local dollar store. The pirates are the most interesting characters as our main character is just boring, and so is the rest of the non pirate cast. The action is sparse, but there sure is a good deal of dialogue. They do have a sword fight between two pirates...blindfolded, which sounds fun for about 2 minutes. This is just a mediocre/boring film that is just a disappointment. Stick to better pirate movies. Countdown to 600: 10, 9, 8, 7...

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

Review #272: The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Cast
Peter Cushing (Sherlock Holmes), André Morell (John Watson), Christopher Lee (Henry Baskerville), Marla Landi (Cecile Stapleton), Ewen Solon (Stapleton), Francis de Wolff (Richard Mortimer), Miles Malleson (Frankland), John Le Mesurier (Barrymore), and David Oxley (Hugo Baskerville), Directed by Terrance Fisher (#257 - The Curse of Frankenstein and #258 - Dracula.)

Review
Once again I'm reviewing a Hammer film with who else but with Cushing, Lee, and Fisher all involved. And it is grand in its approach and it is also a lot of fun. This is adapted from the 1902 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle of the same name (Strangely enough, I've read the book. Me reading a book and then the film based upon that? Impossible!), and it has been adaped into film and television over 20 times since the first in 1914. Anyway, the acting is good here, with Cushing and Morell doing a really good job conveying the two they are meant to portraying, Holmes and Watson. Lee does a fine job here (He's moved from being Dracula to the Creature to a character who speaks a good deal of dialogue.) It does change from the novel (such as having a sacrifice, a tarantula and a mine shaft involved along with giving a certain thing a mask instead of phosphorus paint.) But I won't be angry for that. Why? Because the film still keeps to its roots of just being a detective mystery that is still a lot of fun, deviations and all.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.