The Premature Burial.

Review #2434: The Premature Burial.

Cast:  

Ray Milland (Guy Carrell), Heather Angel (Kate Carrell, Guy's Sister), Hazel Court (Emily Gault, Guy's Wife), Alan Napier (Dr. Gideon Gault), Richard Ney (Miles Archer), John Dierkes (Sweeney), Dick Miller ("Mole"), Clive Halliday (Judson), and Brendan Dillon (Clergyman)

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, #1674 - Machine-Gun Kelly, #1684 - Creature from the Haunted Sea, #1918 - House of Usher, #2030 - The Trip, #2113 - The Undead, #2211 - The Intruder, #2275 - The Wasp Woman, #2295 - The Pit and the Pendulum)

Review: 

Apparently, when Roger Corman was making films for American International Pictures, there came a time to settle differences of his fee with a coin toss. He and Samuel Z. Arkoff would flip a coin...and Arkoff won a handful of times that made Corman interested to venture for himself. He went to Pathe Lab to try and finance a film, since they did their own print work and financed a few AIP movies. He got Charles Beaumont and Ray Russell to do the script but had to go with Ray Milland for the lead due to Vincent Price being in an exclusive AIP contract. And then...AIP arrived on the first day of production to say that they were now partners on this film, as they leveraged the position of not having any more lab work to become partners on what became this film. While the movie made some money with audiences, Corman reflected later that the response meant that the formula "had to be varied." The next "Poe Cycle" movie was Tales of Terror (1962), released four months later that was an anthology feature with Price and other noted names. The movie is inspired by the short story of the same name, as written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1844 that had an unnamed narrator with fears of being buried alive with "catalepsy" that tries to cope with the phobia...although that story ends with one ending their obsession with death.

It isn't a forgettable movie, but it definitely is one that shows strain. It may interest you to know that Milland was an Academy Award winning actor, having previously won it for The Lost Weekend (1945). The Welsh actor had a lengthy career, and he was more than happy to be a character actor in his later years with the occasional lead or two, as one might recognize him from AIP's 1963 classic (at least that's how I remember it) X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (1963); Milland acted until shortly before his death in 1986 at the age of 79. Unfortunately, The Premature Burial is not among his highlights, mainly because the movie does not give him to really do. It isn't merely a case of the movie needing the services of Price (four years younger than Milland, although each was already in their fifties by 1962), it just seems like a movie that is trying to coast on what you already saw from the last two Poe AIP movies and flailing. You want to see a worthy tragedy, you want to see something that could inspire anxiety and curiosity, but Milland can only do so much for a movie that doesn't really have a mystery or tragedy to it. You could almost pick a random actor from Milland's heyday to do this and possibly still have the same effect. It does not help that Court and Ney have absolutely nothing to contribute for what is meant to be a curiosity: a woman who wants to associate with a guy who believes he is doomed and a doctor in the middle of looking at his mental state. But they don't really stick in your mind for anything other than "okay". The sense of doom just seems like the previous two Poe movies but with diminishing returns besides the cemetary maybe being a different angle to look at this time. The dream sequence might be the most noted sequence in the whole film (which only runs at 81 minutes anyway) because it seems lurid and eerie in ways that actually makes one wonder where the rest of the energy went. The movie just isn't as fun as it really could be, managing to be a bit too cozy to really make anyone get chills for something that could've been a fun mystery or a look at a strange person. As it stands, it isn't a bad movie, but it just isn't accomplished enough to really recommend when there are better things elsewhere.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

The Thief (1952).

Review #2254: The Thief (1952)

Cast: 

Ray Milland (Allan Fields), Martin Gabel (Mr. Bleek), Harry Bronson (Harris), Rita Vale (Miss Philips), Rex O'Malley (Beal), and Rita Gam (the Girl) Directed by Russell Rouse (#549 - The Oscar)

Review: 

I'm sure you haven't heard of this film before, unless of course you admire old films or happen to admire bad puns when writing opening sentences for reviews. That is because this is a film where, well, no dialogue is spoken the whole way through, complete with the smallest possible use of verbal communication possible: seeing a telegram message (there is sound of course). It is basically a test to see how much one can get out of an actor, and a former Academy Award winner in Milland seems apt here. The film was written by Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse, who had written a handful of films together since The Town Went Wild (1944). Most notably, they co-wrote D.O.A. (1950) and the story for Pillow Talk (1959), with the latter resulting in an Academy Award. Rouse had rose up all the way from props (and a background related in film from his father and great uncle), and The Thief would be the second of ten features he directed from 1951 (The Well was first, which he co-directed with Leo C. Popkin to considerable notice) to 1967; Greene either co-wrote or produced all of Rouse's films. Rouse continued to write until a few years before his death in 1987 at the age of 73.

 

Really this is the kind of movie where using your imagination might help with a film as strangely involving as this one is. Dwelling in the shadows of fear where a man is alone is interesting when you don't know the motives behind such things for a strange 86 minutes. I suppose it is important to make a movie that show the methods of work as one that isn't so much about action or wordplay but instead wordless grind that can and will turn one inside out. Imagine a movie where one can see some legs in a film that really does go to show that actions speak louder than words. In that sense, Milland is up to the challenge, one filled with weary dread for the business that he has signed himself. The guilt for where his responsibilities now lie is a palpable one that especially leads one to imagine where we would be in his shoes. It isn't exactly a blank slate, but I think you can see where films like Silent Night (2023) found interesting inspiration to try and mold something with weary (silent) abandon. Gabel simply just has to stare in the manner that arises from men in shadows that have no use for fear or heavies when procedure is enough. This is a film for those that would like to see just what makes a clock tick beyond just sounds. Sure, there are moments that seem to contort to follow the rules it sets for itself, but it doesn't hurt it completely when one thinks about low-budget cheapies that either made up their own rules or went with the flow (or alternatively, improvisation). The ending of the film is probably predictable for the era it was made (take a guess where a guy taking photos for "the enemy" is going to end up beyond either jail or death), but it doesn't detract from the overall achievement of the film in curiosity.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.

Review #1147: X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.

Cast: 
Ray Milland (Dr. James Xavier), Diana Van der Vlis (Dr. Diane Fairfax), Harold J. Stone (Dr. Sam Brant), John Hoyt (Dr. Willard Benson), and Don Rickles (Crane) 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, and #1136 - Gas-s-s-s)

Review: 
Who else could make a movie about a scientist who invents eye-drops to increase the range of human vision to see things such as ultraviolet and x-ray wavelengths and uses it on himself than Roger Corman? X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes was made on a budget of under $300,000 in three weeks, with the vision effects (billed as "Spectarama") being done by John Howard. They were a combination of superimpositions, lens effects, and coloration, and they certainly leave an impact on the viewer upon first glance. For a movie that is just 79 minutes long, there is certainly an interesting film to behold in how weird and disturbing it can get within it's science fiction and horror roots, with a screenplay from Robert Dillon and Ray Russell (noted writer of material such as Mr. Sardonicus). Sure, it isn't a film with much of a body count or any big science fiction spectacles, but it makes up for it by having a compelling performance from Milland alongside a few standout moments from the small cast. He sticks out among the rest of the others in part because of how he slowly makes the main thread get more and more foreboding. Van der Vlis is decent in her moments on screen, having a fleeting but manageable presence on screen. Stone and Hoyt are decent counterparts for their fleeting moments on screen. Rickles, in a part not typical of his usual comedic forays on screen, does a pretty fine job with being unsettling with his avarice towards the situation presented to him. The movie is at its best when showcasing its crude but fairly effective X-ray shots, which only get more interesting as the film keeps going, with clever bits such as him using his powers to deal with a few hecklers of the carnival audience, played by Corman mainstays Jonathan Haze and Dick Miller. The climax has a few tense moments to it, especially when Milland shows his eyes, and the car chase is fairly riveting to build-up its resolution. While I do like where it ultimately ends up, I do find it to be a bit abrupt that doesn't give too much closure. Noted horror writer Stephen King claimed that there were rumors of a longer ending, involving out Milland crying out after the action he has done to himself and saying a few choice words, although Corman (who thought it was a better ending than the actual one) has denied that the ending was ever filmed. At any rate, X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes is a nimble and effective film that befits everything that make Corman's films interesting to encounter and watch.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

The Big Clock.

Review #882: The Big Clock.

Cast:
Ray Milland (George Stroud), Charles Laughton (Earl Janoth), Maureen O'Sullivan (Georgette Stroud), George Macready (Steve Hagen), Rita Johnson (Pauline York), Elsa Lanchester (Louise Patterson), Harry Morgan (Bill Womack), Harold Vermilyea (Don Klausmeyer), Dan Tobin (Ray Cordette), Richard Webb (Nat Sperling), Elaine Riley (Lily Gold), Luis Van Rooten (Edwin Orlin), Bobby Watson (Morton Spaulding), and Lloyd Corrigan (McKinley) Directed by John Farrow.

Review:
The Big Clock utilizes its main actors (Milland and Laughton) to great effect, in a movie that manages to work a film noir in part due to its sharp and quick pace. Laughton portrays this villain with a great kind of villainy, in part because how mean he comes off. It's so easy to see parts of this man in other people, but Laughton manages to make him seem so compelling. You know from the gecko that he's a villain, but the way he oozes the lines makes him so watchable. Milland shouldn't be forgotten either, as he makes for a good everyman protagonist. He's a believable character who isn't overplayed from reality. It is a film noir, but it also has some good snappy dialogue along with melodrama. O'Sullivan is okay, though she doesn't really get much screen time. Corrigan is pretty noteworthy, especially around the climax, alongside Macready's effort with a sniveling character. The ending of the movie is swift, after a good deal of buildup and suspense. It's a clever film where the hunter becomes the hunted, but it also is a nifty little look into newspaper editorials of the time, with a serviceable length of 95 minutes and some nice shots (such as the clock) which work well enough for me, and I'm sure it will work well enough for you as well.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: It Happens Every Spring.

Review #562: It Happens Every Spring.

Cast
Ray Milland (Vernon K. Simpson/King Kelly), Jean Peters (Deborah Greenleaf), Paul Douglas (Monk Lanigan), Ed Begley (Edgar Stone), Ted de Corsia (Jimmy Dolan), Ray Collins (Prof. Greenleaf), Jessie Royce Landis (Mrs. Greenleaf), and Alan Hale Jr. (Schmidt) Directed by Lloyd Bacon

Review
It Happens Every Spring was made without the support of Major League Baseball, which is evident immediately, given that all the stadiums are referred to by city (such as Pittsburgh Stadium or Brooklyn Stadium), a practice not really done at the time (Instead, they were referred to by other names, such as Ebbets Field, Forbes Field, Shibe Park, and Sportsman Park (Used by both St. Louis teams for years), though Cleveland Stadium was an exception to the rule that I just mentioned), and all the teams in the movie are referred to by city name in both jerseys and in dialogue. I'd like to think that the team the main character plays for is the St. Louis Browns rather then the Cardinals because the though of having to see the Cardinals win the World Series again even in a movie makes me shudder. So yeah, how is the film itself? If you ignore the fact that the main character essentially cheats to help his team win the pennant and no one bothers to complain, the movie is easy to like. The actors are fine, and Paul Douglas is enjoyable to watch (Douglas also does a good performance in a baseball movie, (#433) Angels in the Outfield), and I guess the movie is alright, even though it's not exactly a great baseball movie. It's certainly a decent movie, and I can see the effort that was done for this movie. Would I recommend it? I'd recommend it along with other baseball movies, such as The Natural, Angels in the Outfield, and Field of Dreams. But oh well.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.