To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Which Italian screenwriter, considered the father of the Italian sword & sandal cinema revival, also directed a movie starring Alec Guinness?
Tom Betts, Bertrand van Wonterghem, Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew that it was Ennio De Concini.
For what film did the above mentioned screenwriter win a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award?
Tom Betts, Bertrand van Wonterghem, Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew that it was for DIVORZIO ALL'ITALIANA, aka DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE.
Which two Italian Westerns is the above mentioned screenwriter credited on?
Tom Betts, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew it was I QUATTRO DELL'APOCALISSE, aka FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE and AMORE, PIOMBO E FURORE, aka CHINA 9 LIBERTY 37.
George Grimes went with FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE and GUNS FOR SAN SEBASTIAN, but I think of SAN SEBASTIAN as a French film.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which Italian Western was shot in Russia?
Which Italian Western was shot in Colombia?
Which Italian Western was shot in Algeria?
Name the movies from which these images came.
Tom Betts and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Lola Falana in LOLA COLT, aka BLACK TIGRESS.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's photo of Livio Lorenzon and Chelo Alonso in IL TERRORE DEI BARBARI, aka GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes identified last week's rame grab from RITI, MAGIE NERE E SEGRETE ORGE NEL TRECENTO..., aka RITES, BLACK MAGIC AND SECRET ORGIES IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY..., aka THE REINCARNATION OF ISABEL, aka BLACK MAGIC RITES.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes identified last week's photo from 13 ASSASSINS (1963).
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
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I am interested in knowing what movies you have watched and what you enjoyed or not. So please send me an email at scinema@earthlink.net if you'd like to share. Here's what I watched last week:
Highly enjoyed:
Ellen DeGeneres "Relatable" (2018)
Ellen DeGeneres "For Your Approval" (2024)
Enjoyed:
Vincent Price What Keeps Us Alive (2026) - I did not know that Vincent Price was Gray-Listed during the McCarthy era. Some feel that that is why he ended up making Horror movies, because he wasn't being hired by the big studios. This documentary is more interested in examining Price's personal life than his professional career, which is fine. However, though they show two photographs of him in WITCHFINDER GENERAL, that movie is never mentioned, And the film is referred to by the U.S. title of THE CONQUEROR WORM. This program also uses the annoying style of playing many clips in a phony TV box rather than showing them in full frame.
Mildly enjoyed:
TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES (1963) - In the end credits comes the legend "We are grateful to the people and the tourist Organization of Thailand whose co-operation made it possible to film this motion picture entirely on location in Thailand." This appears to be true as I could only spot one shot with matte lines when Jock Mahoney and Woody Strode are climbing hand over hand on a rope over a ravine. "You will never see Africa again," taunts Strode. If Rex Harrison, Chow Yun Fat and Yul Brynner can all play the king of Siam, who should question Strode being able to play the brother who covets the throne? It must have been odd for Strode to keep referring to Mahoney as "the African". The film does not name where the story takes place, so the filmmakers are free to make up the rules for their fictional country, as long as it makes use of the scenery and extras of Thailand. Bernie Giler again gets screenplay credit along with director Robert Day. Of interest to me is that this is the closest Tarzan movie I've seen that plays like a Maciste movie. Specifically, this plays like a rewrite of 1961's MACISTE ALLA CORTE DEL GRAN KHAN, aka SAMSON AND THE SEVEN MIRACLES OF THE WORLD, starring Gordon Scott. The fact that the villain is named Khan is probably just a coincidence. While Maciste (or Samson) just wanders around the countryside wearing only a loin cloth, Tarzan has been summoned by the dying leader, played by Woody Strode who gets to talk to himself in one scene, to escort the next leader who has been chosen by the council. As in the Maciste movie, the rightful leader is being hidden by monks, and Mahoney ends up relying on the villain Salan Jamal as his guide when Strode's henchmen kill his original guide. Strode is determined to find and kill The Chosen One, the little boy Ricky Der, before the current leader dies. Because after the leader dies, the Chosen One is considered holy. After passing three tests by the monks at the temple, including being tied between two water buffaloes in a scene reminiscent of Dan Vadis in 1964'S ERCOLE L'INVINCIBILE - which actually used elephants, Mahoney is accepted as the one to take Der to the city. After a number of incidents, including one in which Mahoney strangles a killer, when Strode catches up to our heroes, the leader has died, so Strode can not kill the Chosen One outright. In the city, Der must pass three tests to be confirmed as the new leader. Strode then steps forward and demands a fourth test - "The Challenge of Might". Der asks Mahoney to be his defender, which, of course, our hero accepts. After running a difficult course in the country, Mahoney and Strode must have a sword fight on a rope net over boiling hot cauldrons. This scene fired my imagination as a seven year old and remains my favorite sequence in any Tarzan movie. Some critics at the time of this film's release lamented that Jock Mahoney's characterization did not continue the Johnny Weissmuller characterization. They obviously weren't fans of the novels where Lord Greystoke long ago gained the ability to speak well. However, Mahoney continued to only wear a loin cloth, which was something that Maciste would also do. You'd think that someone traveling from Africa to Asia would have at least a change of loin cloth. He does wear a robe during the funeral for the old leader. With no Cheta in sight, the filmmakers seemingly decided that Der would befriend a baby elephant, supposedly to keep the children in the audience happy. Interestingly, Mahoney ends up having a short play period with a monkey while he is hiding in a tree to spring a trap on Strode. Reportedly Mahoney was deathly ill during the making of this movie, which is probably why he looks a bit scrawny. In any case, Mahoney would not return to the role of Tarzan again. I don't know what Christopher Carlos looks like, but he also appeared in TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT.
Did not enjoy:
EVIL DEAD RISE (2023) - With the original Sam Raimi trilogy gaining cult status, I suppose it was impossible for the producers to not try and create a new franchise. There was a remake in 2013 followed by three seasons of Ash vs Evil Dead. Reportedly, RISE began as a direct sequel to the 2013 film. When that didn't work out, Lee Cronin stepped up to make this film, which seems to be based on the idea of Evil Dead is an apartment building. However, the film starts off at a cabin by a lake, where a young woman becomes possessed and kills her cousin and boyfriend. EVIL DEAD (1981) had begun with a camera racing through a forest, so this film starts off with a similar shot of the camera racing into the cabin and on to a woman sitting on a couch. However, this turns out to be a fake-out with the camera being on a drone being operated by the young man. After the bloody mayhem, a title appears saying "One Day Earlier..." and we get the main story. An earthquake in L.A. traps a group of people in an apartment building, while also uncovering a secret chamber under the parking garage. Rather than playing an audio tape of someone speaking the words of the curse as in the original film, vinyl records are found in the chamber which unleashes the evil dead. Only Lily Sullivan and Nell Fisher survive in the end. Then, in the morning, we see the woman who was possessed in the opening sequence, going to her car in the garage where she is hit by an invisible evil. Filmed in New Zealand, RISE was originally planned as an HBO/Max offering, but test screenings convinced Warner Bros./New Line convinced them to go theatrical. Possibly I'm getting too old for this shit, because I found this just as uncompelling and unenjoyable as director Sam Raimi's DRAG ME TO HELL.
TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE (1955) - Or When There Is No Jane, A New Woman Will Appear To Make Bonehead Decision. Whether Lex Barker opted to not continue as Tarzan, or if producer Sol Lesser decided to replace him is uncertain. In any case, Gordon Scott was working as a life guard in Las Vegas, so a talent scout knew that he could swim. So, the new Tarzan is introduced in this film swimming. On shore, Scott asks Cheta (Who decided to change the spelling of this chimp?) if he hears something. Soon a rifle shot is heard and a lion is dead. Scott swings over and finds that Charles E. Fredericks and Richard Reeves have also shot a baby elephant. Scott takes their guns away and tells them to leave. Unlike Weissmuller, Scott doesn't break the rifles, but no one seems interested in trying to retrieve them from where he tossed them. Fredericks and Reeves work for Jack Elam who has a contract with Don Beddoe to deliver animal fat, lion skins and elephant tusks. Figuring that there isn't much game left on Scott's side of the river, Fredericks sends Reeves across the river to scout for game there. They are warned that the native tribe on the other side of the river worship animals and kill all whites, but Fredericks orders Reeves to check it out. Reeves is soon captured and tossed into a pit filled with hungry lions. Scott is able to stop the baby elephant's bleeding and then takes the animal to see Dr. Peter van Eyck for further treatment. Along the way he finds Nurse Vera Miles skinny dipping in the river. Cheta steals her clothes, but Scott is able to get them back and give them to her. Van Eyck is able to treat the elephant, and then he asks Scott to help him with jungle medicine for a patient he has that isn't responding to Western medicine. Having read a magazine article on van Eyck, Elam and Fredericks figure that the doctor can get them safe passage across the river to the hostile tribe there.. Pretending to be a movie crew sent by the United Nations to capture the hostile tribe on film, Elam and Fredericks ask for the doctor's help. Van Eyck is reluctant, but Miles convinces him to let them come with him. Elam and Fredericks left porter Ike Jones behind to steal the baby elephant, but he is stopped by Miles who forces the porter to confess that it was Fredericks who originally shot the animal. Realizing her mistake in getting the doctor to allow the villains to accompany him, Miles sets off alone to warn the doctor. Scott arrives with the jungle medicine, is told that Miles has set off to the land of the hostile tribe alone, and quickly sets off in pursuit. Seeing as much game as they could want, Elam and Fredericks fall back, allowing van Eyck to reach the village without them. As the white hunters begin to shoot at the animals, tribesmen appear from the bushes to attack them. Scott rescues Miles from a bog and she faints. As Scott washes off the woman with river water, Miles awakens and objects to his hands on her body. "What I need is a bath." So, Scott picks her up and tosses her into the river. Eventually, Scott and Miles get to the native village just as a tribesman arrives bringing the news that the villains have killed some of the tribesmen and are driving the animals out of their land to the other side of the river, by gunning their jeep's motor without a muffler. Jester Hairston, the local witch doctor, decrees that van Eyck and Miles must be put to death. Scott only has a little time to correct the villainy, but he does so with his jungle yodel. It sends all of the animals back to the safe side of the river. The villains are trampled by the elephant stampede, but Hairston has already pushed the medicos into the lion pit before Scott returns. But Scott jumps into the pit and tells the lions to back off. Tribe Chief Rex Ingram declares van Eyck and Miles friends again whjle Scott swings off into the jungle. There is no Jane, no boy and no treehouse in this film. We only see Scott relaxing on a tree branch. I am uncertain from where the stock footage of African animals came, but it doesn't match the new footage at all. Veteran serial writer William Lively gets the credit for the screenplay while veteran director Harold D. Schuster is credited for being at the helm. It seems that this is where Gordon Scott met Vera Miles, and they soon married after production wrapped. After she bore him a son, she discovered that he already had a daughter from a previous marriage and so divorced him. Scott's hair in this movie is quite a fashionable 1950's cut.
TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI (1957) - By 1957, RKO Pictures was coming to an end, so Sol Lesser took the Tarzan franchise back to MGM, who decided to base the new installment in England. It was also decided to shoot this film in color, with actual location work in Africa - Nairobi, British East Africa to be exact. However, most of the movie was shot on sound stages at Elstree. Sol Lesser did not take his usual producer credit, instead passing it on toe John Croydon and N. Peter Rathvon. Returning to Europe after an exhausting wedding party are Pilot Peter Arne, his wife Betta St. John, Yolande Donlan and her husband George Coulouris, as well as Wilfrid Hyde-White - who has trouble getting his cigarette lighter to work. Arne flies low over the jungle to get a better look at the animals, but soon flies into a flock of birds which causes the engine to fail. Cheta awakens Gordon Scott in time for him to hear the plane crash and the two race to help the survivors. The jungle man gets all of the passengers out of the plane before it falls over a cliff. While Scott goes to the downed plane to get supplies for the survivors, St John decides to wander off and is quickly abducted by Oparian tribesmen. Among the tribesmen is white hunter Robert Beatty. The tribesmen want to sacrifice the white woman, but Beatty convinces them to let her go. He will lure all five of the whites for them to capture later. Beatty is after a fortune in tusks that the Opari have, and he also sets his romantic sights on St. John. When St. John, who is talking about separating from Arne, starts to flirt with Scott, Beatty figures to add Scott to those whom the Opari will sacrifice. Eventually, Scott figures out that Beatty has led them into a trap and disarms the villain. Scott sets out to find a way to go forward, when the Opari attack and take everyone else captive. Beatty leaves an easy trail for Scott to follow when he returns. Meanwhile, Cheta has found Hyde-White's lighter. As the Opari do the sacrificial dance, choreographed by Harold Holness, Scott gets Cheta to set fire to the Opari village. Using the native drums, Scott informs Chief Orlando Martins that Beatty is a traitor and that he set fire to the village. During the ensuing chaos, Scott frees the plane survivors and leads them across the rope bridge away from the village. Only Scott and Beatty are still on the bridge when the fire spreads and destroys the support ropes. Scott reaches out to save Beatty when Martins throws a spear into the villain's back. With the unfriendly natives unable to follow, Scott leads the survivors into an happy sunrise, in which even Arne and St. John have reconciled. Veteran TV writers Montgomery Pittman and Lillie Hayward get script credit, while veteran B-Movie maker Bruce Humberstone gets the director's credit. Scott still talks in an unsophisticated manner, but at one point he explains to St. John how he became a man of the jungle. This explanation is closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs' version of Tarzan's origin than any of the Weissmuller films. There is no explanation of how Scott gets the hair gel he is obviously using.
TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS (1958) - It would seem that TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI was a box office disappointment, because producer Sol Lesser took the production back to the U.S. and tried to turn it into a black & white TV series. When the networks failed to pick the show up, the three finished episodes were combined to make a feature film. Even so, the film's running time is only 70 minutes. For the TV series, the decision was to return to the Johnny Weissmuller version, with Eve Brent as Jane and Rickie Sorensen as Boy. Filmed in Black and White, the TV series would have been able to reuse a lot of previous material. Hunter Lesley Bradley is quickly identified as a villain by killing a mother elephant in order to capture the baby to sell to a zoo. Guide Maurice Marsac warns Bradley that this action is going to anger the lord of the jungle Gordon Scott, but Bradley is confident that with his rifle, he will prevail. Of course he doesn't after Scott calls for a stampede of elephants to destroy the villain's camp. Sell proclaimed "Great Hunter" Saul Gorse wants revenge because Scott captured his brother and sent him to the prison of Commissioner Bruce Lester. Trading post villain William Keene agrees to help Gorse thinking that this will help him to find a lost city thought to house a fabulous treasure. Keene and Gorse capture Chief Sherman Crothers, aka Scatman Crothers, to bait a trap for Scott, as well as to force Crothers to disclose the location of the lost city. After rescuing Crothers, Scott leaves an obvious trail for the villains to follow which leads them to the lost city. There Scott clobbers and chokes the natives employed by the villains before they attempt to pile on him. Naturally, he is able to toss them off. Keene is very disappointed to discover that the only treasure to be found in the lost city are the relics and memories of those who previously lived there. Scott ties up all of the bad whites who are then marched off to face Commissioner Lester. There are two memorable moments in this weak film. Scott is able to break a padlock on the baby elephant's chain with his bare hands. And, when Grose tests Scott's strength by forcing him to fight a bigger fellow, who looks like a Russian wrestler, Scott breaks the bad guy's neck. How this was originally intended as three TV episodes is hard to figure out, but Frederick Schlick and Robert Leach get the writer's credit. Charles Haas and Sandy Howard get the director's credit.
TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE (1958) - Even though the effort to reclaim the Johnny Weissmuller version of Tarzan failed with TRAPPERS, producer Sol Lesser decided to continue with it here, but with the color and African locations used in LOST SAFARI. Whether the African footage was done by the LOST SAFARI unit or by a second unit exclusively for this film is unknown. It is also uncertain whether this feature was made before or after the failure of the TV series. In any case, Rickie Sorensen's Boy was now officially named Tartu, and Cheta lost an "e" and is now wearing a loin cloth. Medical researcher Dr. Carl Benton Reid feels encouraged that he is making headway in curing various jungle diseases. His daughter, Jil Jarmyn, wants desperately to leave the jungle because of the antagonism of Witch Doctor James Edwards of the Nagasu Tribe. Edwards' henchman Woody Strode successfully scares off most of the doctor's native helpers. Jarmyn is happy when her fiance, Harry Lauter, returns from his two years of medical study in London. Naturally, the evil natives try to capture Lauter, but Gordon Scott comes to the rescue. Scott then confronts Edwards asking why the witch doctor is trying to scare away someone who is trying to help the people. A young native woman is attacked by a crocodile, and Scott insists on taking her to have Reid treat her. Hearing that Eve Brent has a pain in her side, Dr. Reid worries that she might have appendicitis and gives Scott a therometer to see if she has a fever. Lauter gives Sorenseon a magnifying glass which the boy and Cheta enjoy the distortion it gives. When Scott and Brent are reunited, they go for swim, which dissolves to Brent lying naked under a bed sheet back at home. Cheta uses the magnifying glass to raise the temperature on the therometer, so Scott and Sorenson put Brent into the new dugout canoe and head back to the doctor. The woman hurt by the crocodile dies because the witch doctor has forbidden anyone from giving blood for a transfusion. The woman's man is so distraught that he is easily persuaded by Edwards to strangle Jane with a ceremonial chord. Brent is recovering from successful surgery which Sorenson thinks is taking too long. Meanwhile, the young and future King has come down with the same disease which killed his father. Edwards was not able to save the father, and worries that he won't be able to save the young king. Strode convinces him that he can steal some of the white doctor's medicine, which will cure the boy. Unfortunately, Strode, who is unable to read labels, steals a bottle of poison. Scott must race to prevent Edwards and Strode from poisoning the future king, which seems to leave the way open for the assassination of Brent. Luckily, a loyal native assistant stops the murder, and is upset that he inadvertently killed the assassin. Getting permission to cross the land of the "little people", who seem to be children rather than dwarfs, Scott arrives in the land of the Nagasu only to be hit over the head and taken prisoner. At first Edwards wants the warm heart of a lion for his ceremony, but Strode convinces him to instead want Scott's warm heart. Of course, Scott wriggles free from his bonds and releases the lion, that eats up Strode. Pulling out the bars of his jail cell, Scott prevents Edwards from giving the poison to the king. When Edwards accuses Scott of lying that it is poison, Tribal Councilman Roy Glenn insists that Edwards drink some himself. Scott councils him to not do it, which convinces Edwards to drink it, and he dies. The film ends with Scott arriving back at the doctor's place with the news that the Nagasu are once again friends, though whether the doctor is to go to the tribe's home or if the tribe will bring the king to the doctor's home is uncertain. Actor Thomas Hal Phillips is credited as the writer of this, while Bruce Humberstone gets director's credit. Interestingly, the Africans in this film talk just like the Native Americans in Hollywood Westerns. Reportedly, the natives with whom Scott fights are white stunt men in black body makeup because the Stuntman's Association still wouldn't admit black men into their ranks. This is the movie in which Scott famously rides a giraffe, though there is no reason given why he should. This is also the movie in which Scott fought a real python. For this film, Weintraub got distribution from Paramount.
TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE (1959) - While Weintraub was making this film for Paramount, MGM decided to use their remake rights to do TARZAN OF THE APES with Denny Miller, which I do not have a copy. GREATEST ADVENTURE s proved to be a disappointment for me. While fans of the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films cite TARZAN AND HIS MATE as the best one, many other fans cite GREATEST ADVENTURE as the single best Tarzan film. I think that has to do with the serious tone adopted by director John Guillermin - who also co-wrote the screenplay with Bernie Giler from a story by Les Crutchfield - and the rather impressive supporting cast of villains, featuring Anthony Quayle, Sean Connery, Niall MacGinnis Al Mulock and (introducing, even though she had already appeared in five features and two TV productions) Scilla Gabel. The plot is a simple chase story, but the writers try to give it substance by having everyone take the time to explain themselves - even Tarzan, who speaks in complete sentences. Aside from not having a wife and child this time, Tarzan's tree house has been simplified, and when he sets out to get the bad guys, he tells Cheta that he can't come - and Cheta obeys.Partly this change from previous films was the result of Sol Lesser selling his company in 1958 to Sy Weintraub, who took the series from MGM to Paramount. Again based in England, this Tarzan production decided to return to Kenya where THE LOST SAFARI had done location work, with studio work at Shepperton. Covered in black makeup to look like natives, Quayle, Connery, MacGinnis and Mulock raid a small outpost for supplies, including dynamite. A white man and a black radio operator are killed in the raid, with the operator able to send out the message "Slade" before he dies. Native "talking drums" spreads the news, and Gordon Scott races to the outpost as those killed were friends. Female pilot Sara Shane heard the transmission and informs the British authority and Scott about "Slade", whom Scott identifies as someone he should have killed long ago.While the authorities are convinced the perpetrators have gone down river, Scott announces that he will go upriver. Shane wants to come along, but Scott refuses. Of course, Shane decides to follow Scott, who is paddling a canoe, in her plane. And, of course, she crashes her plane. Scott rescues her by killing an attacking crocodile and reluctantly agrees to take her with him. Quayle knows that Scott is following them, but Mulock feels that our hero is one against four, so they need not worry. Not surprising, having Gabel, who is Quayle's girl, helps to cause tension among the villains, who end up failing to stand together in the face of conflict. Connery pulls a prank on Mulock, which results in Mulock being attacked by a leopard, and then Mulock sinks in a bog. Connery and Qualye attempt an ambush of Scott, during which Scott shoots an arrow into Connery's chest. Scott is injured when Quayle throws dynamite into the jungle, but Shane is able to provide some doctoring. Awakening after a long rest, Scott sees Shane in a different light. She bends forward out of frame and the scene dissolves - suggesting that Tarzan has become an active bachelor. It turns out that MacGinnis is an expert on diamonds and that Quayle needs the dynamite to reopen a mine that he blocked in the past. Not surprising, Quayle digs a deadly trap to get Scott, but Gabel falls into it escaping an amorous MacGinnis. Eventually, MacGinnis tries to do in Quayle, leading to MacGinnis' death. Quayle is obsessed with killing Scott with a wire attached to a pole, which is usually used to trap animals. But it can be used to strangle people, which Quayle tries to do while fighting with Scott on a cliff. In the end, Shane takes over the villain's power boat to head back to civilization, while Scott accepts that he should stay in the jungle. Interestingly, the two credited camera operators, Gerald Fisher and Nick Roeg, would go on to become quite celebrated directors of photography, rivaling the reputation of cinematographer Ted Scaife.
TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT (1960) - In the opening credits, this movie proclaims that it was made "with the cooperation of the Kenya Government, the Kikuyu and Masai tribes. This film was made in Africa." Perhaps that is why this film has no bad natives. The white villains are the Banton family - father John Carradine and sons Jock Mahoney, Al Mulock, Gary Cockrell and Ron McDonnell. Interestingly, only Mahoney is wanted for murder, though everyone in the family is known to be guilty. The Bantons rob the pay office in Mantu and kill at least two native cops. British cop, John Sullivan, on his own, finds the camp at night where the Bantons are sleeping and takes Mahoney prisoner. Not surprising, the other Bantons awake and kill Sullivan. Of course, Sullivan is a friend of Gordon Scott, so Scott attacks with bow and arrow and kills Ron McDonnell. Scott captures Mahoney and pledges to take him alive to Kairobi for the reward to give to Sullivan's widow. I guess in British Colonial Africa, you can't get the reward if the wanted man is dead. Anyway, Scott's plan is to take Mahoney to Mantu and await the boat to Kairobi. Carradine guesses his plan so he and his remaining sons murder the boat's Captain George Taylor, order all of his passengers off and then blows up the boat. None of the whites in Mantu are willing to risk upsetting the Bantons, so they will not help Scott. Luckily, a old native man agrees to hide him and his prisoner. After the Bantons fail to find Mahoney after searching Mantu, Scott assembles the former passengers from the boat - business man Lionel Jeffries and his wife Betta St. John (from TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI), former doctor Charles Tingwell and his wife Alexandra Stewart, and native Earl Cameron, who worked for Taylor and thought of him as his father - and tells them that he plans to take his prisoner overland to Kairobi. Even though he warns them that the trip is dangerous, particularly with the Bantons in pursuit, they all insist in jointing the trek. Berne Giler, again gets co-writing credit with his director. This time the director is Robert Day. Reportedly, Weintraub was so happy with GREATEST ADVENTURE, that he wanted all of actors who played villains to return, but Connery had already signed to make DR. NO and Quayle was signed to make LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. However, Al Mulock was available, and, as it turned out, he was the only Banton to survive this story, deciding to quit fighting Tarzan and walked away. On the way to Kairobi, Scott and company run into a tribe of which Harry Baird is a leader. The tribe wants to execute Mahoney because they recognize him as the murderer of one of their people. Scott gets taken to Chief Christopher Carlos who agrees that they won't kill Mahoney if the Chief's wife is able to deliver a healthy child. Tingwell volunteers to see what he can do, the baby is born healthy and the tribe celebrates with native dance footage reused from GREATEST ADVENTURE. As the film wraps up, Scott has only deliberately killed McDonnell. Cockrell is killed while wrestling for a rifle with Scott which goes off in his face. Carradine is killed by a bullet ricochet fired by Mahoney. Earlier Cameron is killed while Mahoney tries to take a rifle away from Jeffries. St. John helps Mahoney to escape custody, and is rewarded by Mahoney leaving her behind to be eaten by a lion. Robert Day brings a certain amount of professional polish to the proceedings, but can't over ome the corny SHIP OF FOOLS style characterizations, in which everyone gets a chance to explain themselves. The best thing to report about this film is that Gordon Scott has noticeably improved as an actor since he began his stint as Tarzan. That's good, because this was his last effort as the King of the Jungle. Soon he was in Italy making MACISTE CONTRO IL VAMPIRO, aka GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES. Reportedly, part of the reason he went to Italy is that U.S. authorities could not attach his wages there to pay the alimony and child support he wasn't giving to Vera Miles and their son Michael.
TARZAN GOES TO INDIA (1962) - Now that Steve Reeves was a star, producer Sy Weintraub reportedly didn't want Tarzan to look like a body builder. I find this hard to believe, but Gordon Scott was gone. Weintraub also took the series back to MGM. Reportedly Don Bragg was to replace Scott, but he injured his foot and couldn't do the film. As Jock Mahoney was credited as the world's best stuntman, Weintraub decided he would get the role, even though he had just played the villain in the previous TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT. Also returning to the series was director John Guillermin from GREATEST ADVENTURE. In addition to the British and American companies, this film also boasted a company from Switzerland, but I find no mention of such in the films' credits.Who came up with the novel idea of setting the story in India isn't known, though Robert Hardy Andrews gets co-screenplay credit with director Guillermin. This film waits until the end credits to proclaim "We are grateful to the government of India, the government and forestry departments of the states of Mysore and Madras, Air India International and the people of India whose co-oparation made it possible to film this motion picture entirely on location in India." It is true that this is the first Sy Weintraub production that doesn't feature a shot or a sequence which looks like it was done in a studio. There are no shots featuring matte lines or back screen projection. Maharajah Murad, who befriended Jock Mahoney in Africa, requests him to come to India. Why he would have him delivered in a bi-pane from which he would have to jump into a river without a parachute is a mystery. Murad had designated his land as a animal refuge, but now the new dam project threatens to flood the land, killing the 500 or so elephants living there. Murad figured that Mahoney would be the best chance for the elephants to be saved. Hearing that there is a pass through which the beasts could escape the valley, Mahoney decides that is the best way. Engineer Mark Dana says that the pass must be blocked in order to prevent the water from escaping the new lake. Foreman Leo Gordon, with whom Mahoney had a previous conflict in Africa with the brute killing elephants for ivory, is in-charge of building the wall to seal off the pass. Of course, Mahoney must lead the elephants through the pass before it is sealed, but the herd is being led by a rogue elephant - which seems a contradiction as a rogue elephant is a loner not a leader. In any case, Mahoney comes upon Elephant Boy Jai who refused to be evacuated with the other villagers. After Mahoney explains that he plans to kill the rogue elephant, Jai is pleased because his friendly elephant would then become the leader of the herd. Not surprising, Gordon tries his best to thwart Mahoney's efforts. Mahoney tries to shoot an arrow into the rogue's brain, but fails. Luckily, Jai's elephant challenges the rogue, and after a tremendous fight, kills it, becoming the new alpha. Gordon, with two helpers, kidnaps Jai in order to lure Mahoney into an ambush. Mahoney kills one helper with an arrow and then holds the other at knife point to trade for the boy. However, Gordon shoots the other dead trying to get Mahoney. Luckily, the friendly elephant appears and throws Gordon off a cliff to save the boy. Hearing that Gordon is dead, Dana rushes to the work site determined to seal the pass right away. Mahoney tells Dana that he will take the elephants through the pass, but the head strong engineer decides to try and stop him by building fortifications with hidden dynamite. After a night of celebration for having built a corral concentrating the elephants together, the native people helping Mahoney then join the herd in attacking Dana's fortifications. Jai took a stick of dynamite from the work site, which Mahoney uses to trigger the hidden charges, blowing up much of the fortifications. The elephants wreck the work site as they make their way to safety. Dana despairs that the equipment he needs to seal up the pass has been destroyed, but budding engineer Prince Feroz Khan explains that elephants have been doing the heavy lifting for centuries. Khan reconciles with his sweetheart, Princess Simi Garewal, as Mahoney wearing only a loin cloth, walks away to the cheers of the crowd - which looks just like the ending of many Maciste movies which Gordon Scott was currently making in Italy.
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Angel Rivera Highly enjoyed:
"THE FOREIGNER" (2017)
Great film with Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan, both in top form.
"TROY" (2004)
Lots of action and great performances from all the cast led by Brad Pitt as Achilles and Eric Bana as heroic Hector. With Peter O'Toole as King Priam, Diane Kruger as Helen, Rose Byrne as Briseis and Sean Bean as Odssyseus.
"MATCH POINT" (2005)
The film that won Scarlett Johansson her reputation as a sexpot in this Woody Allen directed thriller.
"TOP HAT" (1935)
My favorite musical starring Fred and Ginger with the music of Irving Berlin and featuring Fred singing the song, "Cheek to Cheek".
"WEST SIDE STORY"" (1961)
A classic with great music from Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, and great performances from its cast.
All the above I have watched several times.
Mildly enjoyed:
"THE TROJAN HORSE" (1961/2)
After watching "Troy" for the umpteenth time I decided to watch this film to compare. Since I had vague memories of this Steve Reeves starring film, it was almost as if I had never seen it. (I did catch it when it first premiered on TV on my B&W set back in the sixties.) First off, Reeves plays Aeneas, a character portrayed as a very young man in only one scene in"Troy". Here Aeneas kills Ajax, here portrayed by Mimmo Palmara. The film starts with the death of Hector by Achilles, here portrayed by Arturo Dominici. Paris, portrayed by Warner Bentivegna as a sniveling opportunist kills Achilles, and is then killed by Menelaus portrayed by Nando Tamberlani. Menelaus is not killed by Hector as in "Troy" and makes it all the way to the end of the film and takes back Helen who is played as a wanton seductress by the lovely Edy Vessel. Aeneas as portrayed by Reeves is the Trojan hero who succeeds Hector as Troy's prime defender after the latter is killed. As Aeneas, Reeves has lots of battle scenes as the film showcases Aeneas as the hero. The film also features John Drew Barrymore, father of actress Drew Barrymore, who portrays Odysseus as a conniving trickster who plans the sneak attack of Troy by hiding within the "Trojan Horse". Still mildly interesting.
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David Deal Enjoyed:
HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (61)
THE BLACK CAT (34) - In case you hadn't noticed, I'm working my way thru the Universal horror films from the 1930s onward. This one is a creative peak, thanks to director Edgar Ulmer.
THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (35) James Whales' masterpiece, the sadistic bastard.
THE RAVEN (35) - An "also ran" in the Universal canon, but still interesting enough.
THE INVISIBLE RAY (36) - Excellent special effects add to this sci-fi horror entry.
MAN ON THE RUN (25) - Paul McCartney's journey from Beatle to individual artist. Fascinating, if 20 minutes too long.
DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (36) - One of the undervalued entries in the Universal horror canon, this remains a superior artistic accomplishment and solid favorite of mine.
SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (39) - Watching Basil Rathbone come unraveled is worth the price of admission.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (74) - An undeniable classic.
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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:
Gli uomini che mascalzoni (1932, Mario Camerini)
Fargo (2016, season 3 – 10 episodes)
Yijae, Got Jookseummida / Death's game (2023, Ha Byeong-hun) – episodes 1 to 7
Iroside – episode 'message from beyond' (1967, Michael Caffey)
Mildly enjoyed:
Il gatto dagli occhi di giada (1977, Antonio Bido)
Landlock (anime) (1996, Yasuhiro Matsumura)
The florist (2025, Babak Najafi)
Did not enjoy:
Yijae, Got Jookseummida / Death's game (2023, Ha Byeong-hun) – last episode
Blooded (2025, Ed Boase)
Epic movie (2007, Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer)
The perfect woman (1980, Robert Emenegger & Allan Sandler)
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