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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Snake Woman (1961)

Starring Susan Travers, John McCarthy, Geoffrey Denton, Elsie Wagstaff, Arnold Marle
Directed by Sidney J. Furie
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A scientist injects his wife with snake venom to cure her insanity, but when their daughter is born, she shows signs of being part-reptile, and is thought a creature of evil by the townspeople.

I'd have to label this film as disappointing, although there's some fine shadowy photography, good performances, and professional production values.  Despite all this, there's a lack of imagination in creating a compelling character for Travers as "the snake woman," and no payoff with a creature makeup or any special effects.  Intercutting Travers with footage of a regular-sized snake suggests her ability to transform into the creature, but the filmmakers could have done so much more to make this a memorable horror film.  Still, I can't quite dismiss the movie, as it's certainly well-crafted, and entertaining to watch.

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