November 25 - December 1, 2023

 

To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.

Brain Teasers:

Charles Gilbert asks: "According to academic-accelerator.com re: KING OF KINGS (1961) which of the following five actors was not initially considered by director Nicholas Ray for the role of Jesus that went to Jeff Hunter? - Peter Cushing, Tom Fleming,  Alain Delon,  Christopher Plummer or Max Von Sydow."

Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Alain Delon.

By what name is J.W. Fordson better known?

Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes knew that it was Mario Costa.

By what name is Lee W. Beaver better known?

Bertrand van Wonterghem, George Grimes and Angel Rivera knew that it was Carlo Lizzani.

And now for some new brain teasers:

In what movie does Giuliano Gemma, Terence Hill and Alain Delon appear together?

In what movie does Giuliano Gemma, Stephen Boyd and Hugh Griffith appear together?

In what movie does Giuliano Gemma, Penelope Cruz and Alessandro Tiberi appear together?

Name the movies from which these images came.

Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Gordon Scott, Ugo Sasso, and Mario Brega in BUFFALO BILL, L'EROE DEL FAR WEST. aka BUFFALO BILL HERO OF THE FAR WEST.

Above is a new photo.

Can you identify from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's photo of Gordon Scott in MACISTE ALLA CORTE DEL GRAN KHAN, aka SAMSON AND THE SEVEN MIRACLES OF THE WORLD.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's frame grab of Kitty Swan in GUNGALA LA PANTERA NUDA, aka GUNGALA, THE BLACK PANTHER GIRL.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Wang Lung Wai in THE BRAVE ARCHER 2.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

**********************************************************************

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:

Enjoyed: 

Astrid et Raphaëlle, aka Astrid season two (2021)

Professor T (UK) season 2 episode 1 "Ring of Fire"

Mildly enjoyed:

Frontline "20 Days In Mariupol" (2023) - I can't say that I enjoyed this compelling document on the suffering and death in the Ukrainian port city at the beginning of Russia's invasion. The images of dead babies and dying pregnant women are not enjoyable.

Did not enjoy:

BAD MOON (1996) - Eric Red came to most people's attention by writing the screenplays for THE HITCHER and NEAR DARK. He directed two feature films, COHEN AND TATE and BODY PARTS, before the project to turn Wayne Smith's novel THOR into a movie came about. Reportedly, the novel tells the story from the point of view of the a family dog named Thor. Well, the movie opts for the usual objective point of view introducing bits to which the dog wasn't a witness. The film opens with Michael Pare and Johanna Lebovitz celebrating the conclusion of their expedition in the wilds by having sex in their tent at night. A werewolf grabs Lebovitz off of Pare before they finish and begins to tear her to pieces. Pare gets bitten by the monster before he gets his hands on a shotgun and blows its head off. We are then introduced to Pare's sister, Mariel Hemingway, who lives a quiet life in the country with her son, Mason Gamble, and their German Shepherd Thor, played by Primo. A con man Hemingway nicknames "Flopsy", played by Hrothgar Mathews, tries to intimidate the woman by saying that Thor bit him, but Hemingway is a lawyer and threatens to call the sheriff. Pare invites his sister and nephew to have dinner in the mobile home where he now lives. Thor senses something is wrong about Pare, and ends up finding the slaughtered remains of a victim, but, of course, can't tell anyone about it. When the authorities start to investigate the deaths near where Pare has parked, Pare accepts an invitation from his sister to move his home to next to her place. Of course, Thor doesn't approve. Will the dog be able to protect his family from Uncle Werewolf? Will the filmmakers put a clip from WEREWOLF OF LONDON on a TV set? Will Eric Red be able to resist the temptation to pull a CARRIE-like surprise ending? Whle he is unable to generate any suspense with this film, Red does deliver gruesome gore for the kills. 

DISASTER MOVIE (2008) - Journey back with me to 2008 when making fun of Amy Winehouse was acceptable. This movie would best be viewed in 2008, because many of the pop culture references don't mean anything in 2023. Parody movies were usually made with a scattergun perspective, but this effort by parody movie specialists Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer (DATE MOVIE, EPIC MOVIE, MEET THE SPARTANS) tossed in so many allusions that I gave up trying to keep track before I fell asleep. The only surprise was that the semblance of a plot related to director Steven Spielberg's INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. Some would like to put this on the list of the Worst Movies Of All Time, but it is in focus, the color is good, and some of the female performers are attractive.

FALLEN ANGELS (1995) - This is the first film directed by Wong Kar-wai that I've seen and perhaps it is not where I should have started. Very quickly I found its wide angle tilted camerawork irritating and the disembodied voice overs off-putting. Its portrayal of an young hired killer who is lazy and likes living with everything planned out for him so that all he has to do is show up and kill everyone is extremely unconvincing. He's lonely and alienated but he feels that he should have no emotional involvement with his "partner", the woman who comes into his place while he's out and cleans it. She's says she happy being alone because she can take care of herself - which we see as she rubs up against a Wurlitzer juke box followed by her masturbating on a bed with the camera below her feet. She is fully dressed and the wideangle shot emphasizes her black fishnet stockings. Later on, we see her again taking care of herself from just about the same angle, but the stockings have changed. Long scenes of ennui are broken up by ridiculous shoot-em ups that make John Woo films look realistic. (My - my look at how the sparks fly.) An ex-con enters the movie breaking into people's businesses and selling their goods on the street. He takes to videotaping his father and wishing that he wasn't so lonely and alienated. Perhaps I'm too old a viewer for this stuff for I found this visually unappealing, emotionally uninvolving and a real patience tester.

TIMESTALKERS (1987) - A CBS Movie of the Week, TIMESTALKERS was based on an unpublished novel by Ray Brown, with a screenplay by Brian Clemens famous for the TV series The Avengers. The film is so well set up in the beginning, that the last part of the film is predictable, and director Michael Schultz of CAR WASH fame fails to make any of this compelling. William Devane may be a college professor, but he loves practicing his quick draw with the old pistols of the Wild West. A while after his wife and son are killed in a freak car accident, Devane and his Army buddy John Ratzenberger attend an auction of old Wild West memorabilia and they buy two trunks. Inside one of the trunks, Devane finds an old tintype photograph from 1886. During the auction, the film flashes back to the 1860s to see Klaus Kinski riding into town and gunning down three men. These flashbacks are accompanied by loud sizziling sounds and light flashes that look like fireworks. These are not flashbacks being had by any character, they are "third person narrative flashbacks" which no one sees but the viewing audience. Devane sees a tintype of Kinski, and notices that he's carrying a 1980s Magnum 357 handgun. It isn't too long before Devane writes a scientific paper on the tintype considering that Kinski would have to be a time traveler to have a 1980s gun in the 1880s. While his students laugh at him, Devane is visited by Lauren Hutton, who, of course, has come from the future. She's looking for renegade future scientist Kinski, who helped to develop the time travel devices which he has been forbidden to use. Devane's paper has given her a clue as to where Kinski escaped. Eventually, Devane and Hutton figure out that Kinski went into the past in an effort to change the future by killing an ancestor of Hutton's father, John Considine. It is future Considine that forbade Kinski from using time travel. Past Considine was saved from death by a stranger with fancy pistols. Kinski kills the stranger with fancy pistols, so, of course, Devane picks up the fancy pistols and saves Past Considine by killing Kinski. Naturally, in the end, Hutton also allows Devane to be able to save his wife and son from the freak car accident. Someone thought there might be a sequel by having Hutton make Devane promise to help her again if she needs it. Thankfully, a sequel never happened. The film is notable as the last project in which Forrest Tucker and Arnold Roberts appeared before their deaths.

                                                        

******************************************************************

David Deal Enjoyed:

OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT (52) - After Cameron Mitchell and his boys rob the bank, several "undesirables" are cast out of Poker Flat. Among them are gambler Dale Robertson and Anne Baxter, who, unbeknownst to everyone, happens to be Cameron's girl. The group hole up in a cabin during a blizzard and who should show up but Mitchell. This claustrophobic noir western is pretty dark in mood and subject. Robertson is low-key competence, Baxter is a tough beauty, and Mitchell is a low-down, killing rat. Worth a look. Craig Hill has a smallish part.

GOOD LUCK, CHARLIE (65)

DAKOTA LIL (50) - When the Hole-in-the-Wall gang steals $100,000 in unsigned treasury notes, Secret Service agent Tom Horn (George Montgomery) is dispatched to put a stop to the gang. Marie Windsor is Dakota Lil who has the forgery skills to get the notes signed. Rod Cameron runs the gang and is a cold-blooded killer who strangles several people in the film's most sadistic touch. Montgomery, clad in black from head to foot fits the hero bill and Windsor plays the clever Lil with ease. Fun.

WACO (52) - Wild Bill Elliott shoots a card cheat in self defense in Waco but is headed for a murder charge, so he high-tails it and joins up with I. Stanford Jolley's gang and lives the life of an outlaw. Finally acquitted of the murder charge, he's given the job of sheriff back in Waco. Conflicts of interest arise. For a B oater, this delivers a twisty story with solid characters. Good job.

THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE (61)

THE LOST WEEKEND: A LOVE STORY (22) - Documentary on May Pang's relationship with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. An eye opener.

THE GHOST (63)

HYPNOSIS (63)

Mildly enjoyed:

THE DEPRAVED (57) - By circumstance, Army officer Robert Arden meets abused wife Anne Heywood and sparks fly. Soon the plot to kill her husband is in full swing. Things don't go as planned. This British noir is a by-the-numbers production that manages to ruin several lives in 70 minutes, but the ending is a kicker. Not bad.

GLASS ONION (22)

THE LAST MAN TO KILL (66) - Check out "The Eurospy Guide" book on amazon for a full review of this Umberto Lenzi/Roger Browne entry.

******************************************************************

Angel Rivera Highly enjoyed:

"THE MARVELS" (2023) Stars the comely Brie Larson. I found it very entertaining. Fitting in under the "it's so bad, it's good" category! Some might find fault with its convoluted plot, but I found its star fetching, especially where in one scene she is dressed like "a princess"! While its plot is a little convoluted, if one thinks of it as "good triumphing over evil" it is easy to swallow. Well worth a viewing if taken as it is; just a popcorn movie. Brie Larson is very easy on the eyes.

"THE WIZARD OF OZ" (1939) The classic film with Judy Garland. Still holds up well. Even after multiple viewings.

Mildly enjoyed:

"PRISCILLA" (2023) Based on Priscilla Presley's book, "Elvis and Me"; tells the story of Priscilla's life with Elvis completely from her point of view. Directed by Sofia Coppola. For instance she apparently didn't have much contact with the colonel, so he is not in it. Well acted but one sided.

****************************************************************

Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:

La poison (1951, Sacha Guitry)

Nature in the wrong (short) (1933, Charlie Chase)

4... 3.. 2... 1... morte (1967, Primo Zeglio)

Maciste nella terre dei ciclopi (1961, Antonio Leonviola)

Lawmen Bass Reeves – season 1 – episodes 1 to 3

Pharaoh's curse (1956, Lee Sholem)

Kyôfu kikei ningen : Edogawa Rampo zenshû / 

Horrors of malformed men (1969, Teruo Ishii)

Toto – allegro fantasma (1941, Amleto Palermi)

Mildly enjoyed:

Monarch: legacy of monsters – season 1 – episodes 1 & 2

Akgwi / Revenant – season 1 – episodes 11 & 12

6isxtynin9: the series – season 1 – episodes 1 & 2

Mi ni te gong dui / Fantasy mission force (1983, Yen-ping Chu)

Did not enjoy:

The doomsday machine (1967, Lee Sholem & Harry Hope)

Uçan daireler Istanbulda / Flying saucers over Istanbul (1955, Oran Erçin)

Pamela Rose, la série – season 1 – episodes 1 & 2

Queen of Oz – season 1 – episodes 1 & 2

****************************************************************

November 18 - 24, 2023

 

To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.

Brain Teasers:

Which actor, born in 1921 Austria, appeared in films with Jean Servais, Maria Schell, Gert Frobe, Andre Morell,  Sophia Loren, Kenneth More, Cameron Mitchell and Alessandra Panaro?

Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Carl Möhner.

Which actress, born in 1939 Rome, worked for directors Mino Roli, Dino Risi, Giacomo Gentilomo, Mario Mattoli, Luchino Visconti, Giorgio Ferroni and Tulio Demicheli?

Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Alessandra Panaro.

Which American actor worked with directors Sergio Grieco, Carlo Campogalliani, Domenico Paolella, Luigi Capuano, Pino Mercanti and Aldo Florio?

Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Guy Madison.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Charles Gilbert asks: "According to academic-accelerator.com re: KING OF KINGS (1961) which of the following five actors was not initially considered by director Nicholas Ray for the role of Jesus that went to Jeff Hunter? - Peter Cushing, Tom Fleming,  Alain Delon,  Christopher Plummer or Max Von Sydow."

By what name is J.W. Fordson better known?

By what name is Lee W. Beaver better known?

Name the movies from which these images came.

Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Andrea Giordana in QUELLA SPORCA STORIA NEL WEST, aka THAT DIRTY STORY OF THE WEST, aka JOHNNY HAMLET, aka THE WILD AND THE DIRTY.

Above is a new photo.

Can you identify from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem, Charles Gilbert and George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Luciana Gilli and Kirk Morris in IL CONQUISTATORE DI ATLANTIDE, aka THE CONQUEROR OF ATLANTIS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo of Margaret Lee in SANSONE CONTRO I PIRATI, aka SAMSON AND THE SEA BEAST.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Tim Ferrante identified last week's frame grab from COWARD BASTARD.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

**********************************************************************

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:

THE MARVELS (2023)

Enjoyed: 

Agent Carter season two (2016)

Did not enjoy:

 DESPERADO (1987) - Elmore Leonard wrote an original screenplay called DUELL MCCALL which was sold to NBC-TV as a potential pilot for a series. The network decided to not pick up the show as a weekly, but instead made a deal for four more TV movies. Alex McArthur starred as the hero, but was not very charismatic. On the other hand, female lead Lise Cutter made a strong impression and it is disappointing that her career was not more successful. Using that awful song by the Eagles as its theme (which is at least less annoying that "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers), "Desperado" tells the fairly standard story of a cowboy - and we actually see him herding cows - coming into a town where the evil town boss, David Warner, wants the land of peaceful widower Donald Moffat. Our hero is befriended by Moffat, falls in love with Moffatt's daughter, Cutter, and then is set up on a false murder charge by corrupt sheriff Robert Vaughn. Director Virgil W. Vogel throws in a lot of needless slow motion shots in an attempt to add some visual style to his poorly staged fight scenes. Our good guy hero does not follow Tony Anthony's lead from UN DOLLAR TRA I DENTI and shoot combatants in the back. He does seem to take a cue from Tony Anthony in COMIN' AT YA! by using a lot of dynamite, though. Yaphet Kotto plays Warner's right hand thug, while Gladys Knight runs the brothel while future Hooperman series regular Sydney Walsh plays a friendly prostitute. In the end, Marshal Pernell saves McArthur from death, and then allows him to ride off to find the one surviving member of Warner's gang who could clear him of the false murder charge.

THE RETURN OF DESPERADO (1988) - So European American Alex McArthur splashes through a river in slow motion looking for the man who can testify that he didn't committ murder. Suddenly a shot rings out, but African American Victor Love ends up shooting the bounty hunter dead. Love explains that he had been tracking the bounty hunter since they were heading in the same direction, and then offers to share a camp fire with McArthur. McArthur poo-poos Love's idea that in China the man who saves another man's life owns the saved man. In the morning, McArthur awakens to find that Love traded his poor horse for McArthur's fine steed. Soon, our hero rides into the town of Beauty as the town is burying the local newspaper man. He finds his horse in the town stable, and is told by the worker there that the man who rode the horse into town is now in the jail set to be hanged for the killing of the newspaper man. Of course. Love has been framed for the murder by the town boss Robert Foxworth. McArthur asks around about the man he's seeking, but only Marcy Walker will talk to him. Because Walker shows open disdain for Foxworth, some goons start to hassle her, which leads to McArthur coming to her rescue. After she leaves, more goons show up, clobber our hero in the back of his head and throw in him jail next to Love. Previously, at the campfire, McArthur told Love that he couldn't stand someone playing the harmonica, so waking up in jail to Love playing the harmonica makes things doubly irritating. Eventually, Love tells McArthur that he needed to use his horse inorder to get to Los Cruces to put down the $2,000 for the land that his people from Georgia were going to live. Foxworth lets McArthur out of jail and hopes to recruit him to join his goons, but our hero is only interested in trying to find his possible witness. Even after Love's sister, Vanessa Bell, and Walker ask him for help, McArthur isn't swayed to join the cause until after he finds that Foxworth's goons have murdered a settler and burned his house because he wouldn't sell out. Bell and two others fall into a trap trying to spring Love from jail, but McArthur shows up to save at least two of them. With Walker, McArthur goes to where Bell's people are, and find out that their leader is Billy Dee Williams, a former Union soldier hoping to put combat behind him. Of course, it all comes down to a battle when the good guys try to save Love from being hanged, and Walker gets the newspaper presses working again to expose Foxworth's land fraud scheme. For the climax, Foxworth threatens to shoot Walker if our heroes don't disarm, but McArthur quickly raises his rifle and shoots the villain dead. Even though he previously had a slow motion bed scene with Walker, McArthur leaves town to continue his quest to find his witness. Veteran TV director E.W. Swackhamer has taken over the helming chores with no real difference in the quality of the show. 

DESPERADO: AVALANCHE AT DEVIL'S RIDGE (1988) - Sometime director Larry Cohen gets the writer's credit for the third DESPERADO TV movie, but Richard Compton of MACON COUNTY LINE directs. Cohen came up with some unusual elements this time, and Lise Cutter came back, so this is a definite improvement over RETURN. With many unnecessary slow motion shots, the film opens with Alex McArthur avoiding capture by a posse. However, crafty deputy Dwier Brown lies in wait and captures McArthur. However, as Brown travels to bring McArthur to town, he comes upon two men sharing one horse. After Brown refuses to give them McArthur's horse, the two bushwack the good guys. Before Brown dies, he gives McArthur the key to the handcuffs and our hero kills the two bad guys. When McArthur and Brown's horses arrive in town riderless, Sheriff Hoyt Axton quickly assembles a posse and heads out. Seeing the posse approach, McArthur puts on Browns badge and tells everyone that the dead man is Duell McCall. In town, McArthur signs a receipt for the reward on McCall, but before he can get away, Axton sees that the signature doesn't match the one on a letter Brown wrote, so our hero ends up in jail. Having heard the false story that McCall was dead, Lise Cutter arrives in town only to ask to spend the night with McArthur in his cell before the hanging. Explosions rock the night and it turns out that Lee Paul has kidnapped the daughter of the mine owner Rod Steiger. Steiger offers McArthur a chance at freedom if he helps bring back Alice Adair. In the mean time, Steiger will make Cutter an unwilling guest at his ranch house. Paul proves very handy with dynamite, so all of the posse that accompanies McArthur are killed, but Axton is able to shoot the kidnapper dead before he dies. It soon becomes apparent that Paul was not holding Adair against her will. In fact, Paul was trying to rescue Adair from Steiger who is not her real father. Her real father sold her to Seiger for $65 when she was 14 years old. McArthur doesn't want to deliver Adair back to Steiger, but he knows he has to inorder to free Cutter. After ensuring that Cutter is free and clear, McArthur attempts to rescue Adair from Steiger's ranch. Luckily, Steiger had his arsenel piled up on a wagon in the field, so McArthur can set it to exploding, occupying Steiger's men so that our hero can get into the house. McArthur and Steiger trade who has the drop on the other, until Adair mortally wounds the villain. Rather than run away with our hero, Adair decides that since everyone thinks that she is Steiger's only living relative, she will inherit his wealth. All she need do is blame Steiger's death on the wanted man McArthur. After McArthur comments that he will now be wanted for another killing he didn't commit, Steiger's men show up necessitating our hero to jump through a closed window to escape. This rather cynical ending seems like something that Larry Cohen would write, but, of course, it also means that another sequel will be coming. Compton proves to be no better at making this kind of thing than the two previous directors, but as this is a series, no probably wanted any noticeable improvements.Reportedly Laura Harring is in this, but I didn't see her.

DESPERADO: THE OUTLAW WARS (1989) - Executive producer Andrew Mirisch is credited with coming up with the story for this installment, and the pitch was probably something like "let's have McCall do a Hopalong Cassidy bit involving a WAR WAGON scenario". E.W. Swackhamer is back as director so you know there will be plenty of unnecessary slow motion shots. In fact, the film starts with Alex McArthur riding away from Whip Hubley following on horseback. Concentrating on getting away from his pursuer, McArthur rides into a trap which knocks him off his horse. The other guy gets the drop on McArthur when Hubley catches up and confirms that they caught the wanted man. The other guy thinks it would be easier to take our hero in dead, but Hubley disagrees and shoots the other guy dead. This allows McArthur to get the drop on Hubley, disarm him and make a getaway. Hubley continues to pursue our hero, until, inexplicably, McArthur's horse bucks our hero and his saddle over a cliff into a river. From above, Hubley gives up the chase, and soon McArthur is walking down the road when a young African American boy comes alongside him on a buckboard and offers to help him to get a new horse at the town up ahead. In town, McArthur is recognized as a famous outlaw and finds that many killings and robberies have been attributed to him, of which he is unaware. "Journalist" Brad Dourif wants to make a deal with our hero to record his exploits, and witnesses two gunmen attempt to kill McArthur as he's trying to buy some new boots. McArthur kills one gunman, but the other, Brion James, gets away with a wounded arm. McArthur is in town to find Lisa Cutter, but meets Richard Farnsworth - who seems to have been Pernell Roberts in a previous film. It has been a year since McArthur last saw Cutter, and Farnsworth says that she doesn't want to see him anymore. McArthur finds Cutter, and discovers that she's given birth to their baby since they last met. McArthur hopes to settle down with her and give up trying to find the witness he needs to prove his innocence. But, Farnsworth shows up with the proposition that if our hero helps to bring in outlaw James Remar, Farnsworth will help to get him a pardon from the governor. So, McArthur agrees to go "undercover", and luckily goes into a barroom in which Hubley gets into a standoff with card players who accuse him of cheating. Hubley spent some time in Remar's gang, so by helping the guy out of a dangerous spot, our hero gets to visit Remar's hideout. Soon Remar plans to rob a gold shipment being transported in a solid iron wagon that would withstand dynamite. McArthur knows Geoffrey Lewis, an undertaker who is also an explosives expert. Lewis concocts some kind of "super nitro", and the robbery is a go. Our hero gets the little African American boy to alert Farnsworth of the raid, but the law doesn't arrive until after the wagon has been blow to pieces - without harming the little bags of gold inside of course. After a mostly slow motion gun battle, McArthur gets the drop on Remar, but then Remar reveals that he knows about Cutter and sent James to kidnap her. He will exchange Cutter, and baby, for his freedom and the gold. Farnsworth goes along with this plan, but then Remar kills Farnsworth - McArthur kills James - and Remar is about to kill McArthur when Hubley arrives and kills Remar. Back in town, McArthur calls Hubley an hero and prevents him from getting away with the gold. Dourif offers to make Hubley famous while the town considers electing him to Farnsworth's old job as sheriff. With Farmsworth dead, McArthur decides he must continue his search for the man who can clear his name and he leaves Cutter and child behind.

DESPERADO: BADLANDS JUSTICE (1989) - E.W. Swackhamer returns to direct the final installment in the Universal TV series, which doesn't resolve the hero's efforts to clear his name. It appears that five TV movies is as far as the money men were interested in making. Alex McArthur comes upon a building in the middle of nowhere with three horses tied up outside. He enters the building, sees two men at a table and asks for the man he needs as a witness. He says that he heard the man worked there. Edward Wiley explains that they had set a trap for McArthur and that an hidden third man had his gun aimed at our hero. Of course, McArthur turns the tables, kills two of the villains, wounds Wiley in the arm and escapes. Later, as he moseys along, McArthur hears an explosion and races to help. He comes upon a mother and daughter Deborah Slaboda trying to dig out the husband/father buried alive in their mine. Using a stick of dynamite, our hero clears the entrance to the mine and the man is rescued. The husband/father explains that he's going to sell the mine which will get him enough money to move back east and bulid his dream house. McArthur then go to the nearby town, where he is quickly mistaken for an hired gunman named Henry Boothe. Businessman James Sikking sent for Boothe to kill his rival John Rhys-Davies. Sikking wants to make McArthur sheriff, while Rhys-Davies wants our hero to join his gang of thugs. McArthur wants none of this, and so returns to see the family he helped earlier. The mother and father are lying dead outside their home, and our hero becomes frantic to find their little girl. Eventually, he is joined in that quest by Patricia Charbonneau, the little girl's guardian. Complicating the usual "two gangs one town" scenario is a band of Mexican revolutionaries led by Gregory Sierra, who is owed a gun shipment from Rhys-Davies. In the end, it becomes clear that Sikking killed the mother and father inorder to stop the sale of the mine to Rhys-Davies. Rhys-Davies kidnapped the little girl to force Charbonneau to sign ownership of the mine to him. Sierra rescues the little girl and then kills Rhys-Davies before taking possession of the arms shipment. Sikking shows up with the real Henry Boothe, who is Edward Wiley, whom McArthur left wounded at the beginning of the movie. Of course, McArthur and Charbonneau defeat their enemies, so that our hero can leave town to continue his quest to find his needed witness. The highlight of this flick is Patricia Charbonneau, who first came to my attention in the cast of director William Friedkin's TV movie C.A.T. Squad, and then in DESERT HEARTS. It is a shame that she never got the role to make her a popular star because she is terrific.

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (1974) - When did these anthology films start being called portmaneau movies? This was the seventh and last of these kinds of entertainments produced by Amicus Productions, before they discovered science fiction action films based on novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Based on four short stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE became a dreary exercise in tedium under the direction of Kevin Connor, who obviously pleased producers Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky because he continued to work for them until the demise of the Amicus company. The film boasted an impressive cast, who weren't really given much to do with the dull material. Peter Cushing is the host of the show as he runs an antique store called Temptations. Three of the four customers try to cheat the eccentric old man, and only the fourth survives. The cast includes David Warner, Ian Bannen, Donald Pleasence, Angela Pleasence, Diana Dors, Ian Carmichael, Nyree Dawn Porter, Margaret Leighton, Ian Oglivy and Leslie-Anne Down.

                                                        

******************************************************************

David Deal Enjoyed:

MOONFLEET (55)

LITTLE BIG HORN (51) - Capt. Lloyd Bridges is assigned to lead a patrol to warn Custer about the Sioux amassing at Little Bighorn. Lloyd also orders Lt. John Ireland along because Ireland has been messing around with his wife, Marie Blanchard. Based on a true story, this low-budget western doesn't shy away from character arcs nor from the inevitable violence and loss of the doomed patrol. Plenty of film noir sensibilities here. Recommended.

THE SECRET OF CONVICT LAKE (51) - Glenn Ford and Zachary Scott are two of the 29 convicts who escape from a Nevada prison, and they are two of the five who make it over a mountain pass into the town of Monte Diablo in the dead of winter. Ford has led them there because he aims to kill the man who sent him up for robbery and murder. They are met by Gene Tierney and the women folk of the place as the men have gone prospecting. Good noir western set in snow and fraught with bad personal trajectories. Recommended.

DANGEROUS EXILE (57) - When the king of France and Marie Antoinette are overthrown and executed, their son is smuggled to pro-monarchy England by Louis Jourdan, who leaves his own son in the young king's place. In Wales, the boy is taken in by Belinda Lee and her wealthy family but the French will not let the boy escape. The machinations of the factions involved take up the running time in this well-mounted British feature. Fanciful as it is, this unusual adventure is a cut above.

THE 1000 EYES OF DR. MABUSE (60)

THE PALE BLUE EYE (22) - In 1830, unorthodox detective Christian Bale is summoned to West Point to investigate the death of a cadet. He enlists the aid of another young cadet, Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling), in finding the culprit. A reimagining of Poe's short time at West Point, this curious mystery goes places I didn't expect, but I found the film's urge to be Poe-esque in the telling to be true. It also looks great.

THE DARK CORNER (46)

THE BRAINIAC (61)

HIGH CRIME (73) - Great to have this classic on disc finally, and a spanking new Blu-ray to boot!

THE AMAZING MR. X (48) - This "Special Edition" Blu-ray from Film Detective is made from Turhan Bey's personal print. It looks great.

Mildly enjoyed:

THE SPY WITH THE PERFECT COVER (66) - Secret agent Robert Lansing is a doppelganger for an international criminal. When the bad guy is killed, Lansing takes his place with the help of the bad guy's wife, Dana Wynter. All this in order to take down the syndicate which has political implications. This the second movie made up from episodes of The Man Who Never Was television show from the mid-sixties after Danger Has Two Faces. It is, needless to say, episodic. It does have the advantage of actually being shot in exotic European locations (William Berger, Gabriele Tinti and Beba Loncar show up) and the lovely Wynter is always an asset but it can't escape the slapdash, gobbled together feel of a cash in.

DANGEROUS CARGO (53) - Jack Watling works as an airport security guard where gold bullion is flown in on a regular basis. Karel Stepanek is a Mabusa-like mob boss who concocts a plan to blackmail Jack for the delivery schedule in order to pull off a major heist. Okay British programmer that shies away from anything to dastardly before the happy ending.

DARK STREETS OF CAIRO (41) - When the Seven Jewels of the Seven Pharaohs are unearthed by archeologists, villain George Zucco means to have them, no matter what or who gets in the way. Ralph Byrd (he of Dick Tracy fame) is the hero who gets involved along with his annoying sidekick Eddie Quillan. Sort of a riff on The Mummy's Hand but no monster is here to save the viewer's day. Okay exotic crime flick from Universal.  

BLACK COBRA WOMAN (76)

******************************************************************

Charles Gilbert watched:

INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN (1957) B&W. Nicholson/Arkoff farce with Steve Terrell and Gloria Castillo. The alien midgets attack their prey, which includes a bovine, with needle claws that infuse alcohol, thus rendering victims inebriated.. Frank Gorshin has a bit part. Stuntman Whitey Hughes (uncredited), who appeared in many TV westerns, is one of the 'teens' occupying convertibles at lovers' lane.

VOYAGE TO A PREHISTORIC PLANET (1965) American International Pictures courtesy Roger Corman adapted this Russian film to include Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue in scenes spliced for English audiences. From a lunar base three ships are dispatched for a mission to Venus where astronauts find evidence of prior human activity.

IKARIA XB 2 better known as VOYAGE TO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE (1963) B&W. Brooding Czech film with no recognizable actors employs fairly impressive sets and effects. Marketed by American International. They travel across the universe to find the Statue of Liberty on the Green Earth?

MUNSTER GO HOME (1966) A British inheritance lures the Munster clan to England, where Herman (Fred Gwynne) enters a roadster race. His makeup is indeed a nod to Jack Pierce except he's missing the left side ear-to-chin scar. 

THE LONG SHIPS (1964) Viking Rolfe (Richard Widmark) returns home after a failed voyage requesting from his father (Oscar Homolka) another ship and crew to seek out the "Mother of Voices" golden bell. Moor ruler Sidney Poitier wants it, too, and, after capturing them, employs his 'Mare of Steel' execution device to persuade the lusty Norsemen for help. I was interested in seeing Jeanne Moody, who plays Yiva, and was a beauty contestant from Alabama. She'd moved to England to appear in The Saint with Roger Moore and married Scott Forbes (Adventures of Jim Bowie).

Have Gun, Will Travel (S1E32) 'The Five Books of Owen Deaver' Walter Barnes plays Mason Enfield, a drifter who defies apprentice sheriff James Olson , who demands all guns be turned in while in town.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (S3E20) 'The Mummy' The super sub is transporting a sarcophagus containing a mummy to be returned to Egypt. The wrapped man mobilizes under way in the manner attributable to Tom Tyler and Lon Chaney Jr., but the wrappings are more like a burlap sack.

Outer Limits 'Specimen:Unknown' (S1E22) . A USA space crew returns to earth with lily-like plants that spew "popcorn" and poisonous gas, and proliferate wildly. But a sudden rain becomes their demise. Stephen McNally and Gail Kobe star.

Digging the Dancing Queens. Documentary on the British dancing beauties called Pan's People who appeared on the BBC show Top of the Pops. The one named Babs married actor Robert Powell.

****************************************************************

Bertrand van Wonterghem Highly enjoyed:

Himssenyeoja Kangnamsoon / Strong girl Nam-Soon (2022) - episodes 9 & 10

Enjoyed: 

The retirement plan (2022, Tim J. Brown)

Lan tou he / Dirty Ho (1979, Liu Chia-liang)

Pink angels (1971, Larry J. Brown)

Killer's kiss (1955, Stanley Kubrick)

Tian di xuan men / Eternal combat (1991, Thomas Yip)

Go chase yourself (1938, Edward F. Cline)

Yellow Hair and the fortress of gold (1984, Matt Cimber)

Esupai (1974, Jun Fukuda)

Voyage to the bottom of the sea – episode « the phantom strikes » (1966, Sutton Roley)

The invaders – episode « the enemy » (1967, Robert Butler)

Fort du fou (1963, Léo Joannon)

Mildly enjoyed:

Captain Celluloid vs the film pirates (1966, Louis McMahon)

Bodies – season 1 – episode 3

Polar Park – season 1 - episode 1

Haunted mansion (2022, Justin Simien)

57 seconds (2022, Rusty Cundieff)

The monster maker (1944, Sam Newfield)

Ballerina (2022, Chung-hyun Lee)

Did not enjoy:

Loki – season 2 – episode 6

Gangnam zombie (2022, Soo Sung Lee)

Five nights at Feddy's (2022, Emma Tammi)

****************************************************************