Creatures The World Forgot (1971)

Starring Julie Ege, Tony Bonner, Robin John, Brian O'Shaughnessy, Sue Wilson
Directed by Don Chaffey
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A prehistoric tribe escapes their home after a volcanic eruption, and merge with another tribe, where twin sons grow up to oppose one another.

This entry from Hammer Films in their series of cave people pictures is a bit harder to follow than the others, with no narration or subtitles to allow us to interpret the actors' dialogue or movements, and not much excitement in the script by Hammer writer/producer Michael Carreras.  Ege is certainly attractive, although she kind of pops out of nowhere in the latter half of the film, and the movie is beautifully photographed, but the "creatures the world forgot" disappoint, consisting of some deer, warthogs, a ram, and a savage bear.  The stop-motion animated creations of Ray Harryhausen and Jim Danforth from Hammer's earlier films in this sub-genre are very much missed, and the conflict between the brothers (played by Bonner and John) is just not that compelling.  On-screen attempted rapes are distasteful and bear no relevance to the story, and I didn't understand the lady shaman's training of a young girl to replace her until near the end of the film.  I managed to sit through the picture, but wouldn't look forward to doing so again.

Beyond The Time Barrier (1960)

Starring Robert Clarke, Darlene Tompkins, Arianne Ulmer, Vladimir Sokoloff, Stephen Bekassy
Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After a test flight into space, the pilot returns to Earth, only to find he's traveled 64 years into the future, and the world is now a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Low-budget auteur Edgar G. Ulmer works his magic yet again, this time in the science fiction genre, delivering a pretty entertaining offering despite financial limitations.  The bulk of the film takes place in "The Citadel," an underground complex housing Earth's last survivors, which was apparently filmed on state fairgrounds in Texas, with production designer Ernst Fegte adding diamond shaped ornamentation to the walls and ceilings to make the settings seem futuristic.  Per Wikipedia, distributor American International Pictures also cuts in footage from Fritz Lang's Indian Tomb films to make the army of mutants kept out of the Citadel seem much more expansive.  Robert Clarke, star of The Incredible Petrified World and The Hideous Sun Demon, who produced the film, appears as our hero, Major William Allison, and gives a good performance as the noble test pilot.  He's well supported by the always dignified Vladimir Sokoloff as the complex's leader, Darlene Tompkins as a deaf-mute mind reader he falls for, and Ulmer's own daughter Arianne as one of a trio of scientists from the past kept prisoner.  Darrell Calker contributes a nice score with a noble march to represent Allison, Universal horror's Jack Pierce supplies some important makeups, and Arthur C. Pierce's screenplay offers a unique twist on what caused civilization's demise on Earth.  It's far from a great film, but I certainly found it enjoyable.

Secret Of The Blue Room (1933)

Starring Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas, Edward Arnold, Onslow Stevens
Directed by Kurt Neumann
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Three suitors for a young woman, to prove their courage to her, agree to each spend a night in the "Blue Room" in her father's castle, where three met death 20 years before.

Only recently released on home video, this Universal horror-mystery featuring an early directorial effort from Kurt Neumann (The Fly), is a really entertaining watch, with good performances from Atwill as the father with secrets to hide, Lukas as a military captain and one of Stuart's suitors, and especially Edward Arnold as the no-nonsense police commissioner who investigates new crimes at the castle.  Modern audiences might guess the murderer early on, but there's enough red herrings and plot twists to make them second guess in an effective screenplay from William Hurlbut, based on a German film property.  More importantly, the film flows well throughout, and concludes with an exciting and well-staged climax.  It would have been even better with a music score, opening and closing with the familiar "Swan Lake" cues that accompanied Dracula and other Universal '30s fare, but lacking anything in between.  Still, it's a fine production I'll look forward to revisiting.

Calling Dr. Death (1943)

Starring Lon Chaney Jr., Patricia Morison, J. Carrol Naish, David Bruce, Ramsay Ames
Directed by Reginald LeBorg
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A neurologist has a blackout over a weekend, after which he discovers his wife has been murdered, and he wonders if he's guilty of the crime.

The first of the Inner Sanctum movies, based on the popular radio series, which all starred Chaney as various professional men involved in murder or death, the picture is almost framed like a film noir, with shadowy photography by Virgil Miller, and distinctive imagery utilized during the hypnosis sequences.  Although Chaney's acting in these pictures has largely been unheralded, he's good enough in his role here, and receives excellent support from Morison as his secretary and nurse, as well as Naish as the police inspector who keeps pestering him.  I'd probably rank it second among the Inner Sanctum films, after Weird Woman, and found it professionally filmed and enjoyable to watch.

Satellite In The Sky (1956)

Starring Kieron Moore, Lois Maxwell, Donald Wolfit, Bryan Forbes, Jimmy Hanley
Directed by Paul Dickson
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The commander of a British mission to fly a spacecraft outside the Earth's atmosphere is told just before takeoff that the craft will also carry an atomic bomb to be detonated in space.

A combination of sci-fi adventure and old fashioned melodrama, the picture is probably most notable for the presence of Maxwell, who portrayed Miss Moneypenny in numerous James Bond films.  She has a much more substantial role here as a romantic lead and reporter who stows aboard the spacecraft.  The special effects would have been passable at the time the film was released, but haven't aged well, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the movie.  It's acted well enough, with familiar heavy Wolfit standing out as the professor in charge of deploying the bomb, and the script poses some valid questions about the quest to explore space while the world is preoccupied with other problems.

Terror Is A Man (1959)

Starring Francis Lederer, Greta Thyssen, Richard Derr, Oscar Keesee, Lilia Duran
Directed by Gerry de Leon
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A shipwreck survivor lands on an island where a doctor is engaged in experiments on a panther, but he soon discovers the doctor has made the panther into something almost human.

A small-scale version of H.G. Wells' The Island Of Dr. Moreau, with only one "manimal," the picture doesn't break new ground, but is well-directed by de Leon, who makes good use of the black and white photography and its jungle like setting on a Philippine island to create some genuine terror and suspense.  Ariston Avelino's score, with its bold and dramatic themes, and Flory Carlos' savage performance as the panther-man, are also strong attributes.  Thyssen, surely cast for her va-va-va-voom figure, showcased in tight outfits and ever-present gleaming lipstick, nonetheless impresses with some intelligent dialogue well delivered.  I found the screenplay's love triangle between her, Lederer, and Derr, the weakest part of the film, and was more intrigued by the echoes of Frankenstein in the story.  The movie is perhaps best known today for a marketing gimmick in which a bell sounds to warn the audience to shield their eyes during a gruesome scene.  The opening titles identify the film's location as "Blood Island," a locale producer Eddie Romero as well as director de Leon would return multiple times to for a series of horror shockers in the late 1960s.

The Unearthly (1957)

Starring John Carradine, Myron Healey, Allison Hayes, Marilyn Buferd, Arthur Batanides
Directed by Brooke L. Peters
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A young woman suffering from fright and an escaped convict arrive at the sanitarium of Dr. Charles Conway, who is planning to use his patients as guinea pigs in experiments to prolong youth.

This independent offering has limited sets and a bad reputation, but I think it's really a lot of fun.  The crisp photography, strong cast, and very spooky music score give the film a look and feel which is much more polished than you would expect, and Carradine and Healey in particular give excellent performances, at least in my opinion.  Tor Johnson, credited by IMDB as "Lobo II," perhaps a reference to his performance as "Lobo" in Bride Of The Monster, definitely makes a visual impact as one of the failed experiments who lugs a heavy coffin on his back in a memorable scene.  Harry Thomas turns in some grotesque makeups for this horror/exploitation combo from director Boris Petroff (credited as Peters), who would go on to make a few more of them.

The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939)

Starring Richard Greene, Basil Rathbone, Wendy Barrie, Nigel Bruce, Lionel Atwill
Directed by Sidney Lanfield
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Sherlock Holmes is engaged to protect the life of Sir Henry Baskerville, whose estate is said to be haunted by a ghostly hound, blamed for the deaths of his predecessors.

The initial Holmes film that commenced the long partnership of Rathbone and Bruce as Holmes and Watson is a handsomely shot picture with many memorable characterizations.  Rathbone is excellent as Holmes, showcasing the great detective's cool intellect in a classic performance, and Atwill, Morton Lowry, John Carradine, Barlowe Borland, and Nigel de Brulier all make for colorful suspects, especially Borland, whose threats to sue his neighbors makes for an amusing embellishment to Conan Doyle's original story.  Bruce's Watson is yet to evolve into the doddering but lovable character that would inhabit the Universal Holmes series, but despite some overblown histrionics at one point, has some excellent scenes investigating the moors of Baskerville Hall.  Peverell Marley's tightly-focused photography plays to the strength of the cast by letting the actors and their reactions tell the story while adding shadow at key moments.  In an interesting choice, the music underscore all but vanishes when we arrive at Baskerville Hall, allowing the silence on the soundtrack to contribute eerie suspense for the bulk of the film as Holmes, Watson, and Baskerville meander across the moor.  The picture remains to this day my favorite of the Rathbone and Bruce films, and in my opinion, one of the great movie mysteries.

12 To The Moon (1960)

Starring Ken Clark, Michi Kobi, Tom Conway, Tony Dexter, John Wengraf
Directed by David Bradley
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An international crew of scientists take off on a rocket ship to land on and investigate the moon, which they discover is a dangerous world with a hidden civilization.

Writer/producer Fred Gebhardt offers a science fiction tale with low-grade special effects, but the quality of the actors and some excitement in the script made this an enjoyable programmer for me.  Starring Ken Clark as the American commander, Tom Conway as a Russian geologist, John Wengraf as the German designer of the spacecraft, and Michi Kobi and Anna-Lisa as the ladies aboard, there's a number of interesting personalities to pay attention to.  Cory Devlin, as the Nigerian navigator, was especially interesting to me, allowed to showcase his intelligence and spirituality, without a sign of stereotype, and treated by his shipmates and the screenplay with respect.  A subplot involving Wengraf's shame of his father, and Richard Weber's hatred of that man, seems unnecessary but makes up what little conflict there is among the crew.  As our crew traipses out upon the moon, the perils are low-tech but believable enough, and Michael Andersen's score brings some eeriness and tension to those scenes.  The film is far from a great science fiction entry, and may not even be as good as Gebhardt's followup, The Phantom Planet, which reuses some of the costumes and opticals.  I found it to be enjoyable enough however, and worth my time.

Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950)

Starring Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Lyle Talbot, Tommy Bond, Pierre Watkin
Directed by Spencer Bennet
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Superman returns in his second movie serial, this time to battle the scientific weapons of criminal genius Luthor, who employs a masked figure named The Atom Man as his partner.

Fans of the original Superman serial from 1948 will be glad to see all the returning players from the first one, as Alyn again plays Superman & Clark Kent, Neill once again is Lois Lane, Bond is Jimmy Olsen, and Watkin returns as Daily Planet managing editor Perry White.  There's also plenty of returning crew behind the camera, including the original co-director Bennet, and the filmmakers again have Superman change into an animated cartoon when flying through the sky.  Lyle Talbot as the comic book villain Luthor is the chief new addition, and he is most welcome, turning in a strong and faithful characterization of Superman's arch enemy.  To the best of my knowledge, the Atom Man never appeared in the comics but was the focal point of a memorable storyline on the Superman radio series, and on film comparatively he's disappointing, with his black cloak and glittery iron mask looking very low budget.  The budget again shows with the stock footage of the fire, earthquake, and flooding disasters Superman faces, which looks at least twenty years older than the rest of the film stock, and it doesn't take an eagle eye to spot use of footage from the first Superman serial.  Despite all that, the results are still entertaining.  It's not a great serial, but if you liked the first one, you ought to like the second.

The Invisible Man Returns (1940)

Starring Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, Nan Grey, John Sutton, Cecil Kellaway
Directed by Joe May
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The brother of the original Invisible Man uses his formula to help a wrongly convicted man escape the police, while he tries to find a cure before the madness that accompanies the invisibility can overtake him.

A sequel to Universal's excellent The Invisible Man carries on without director James Whale or most of the principal cast, instead casting Price as the new transparent one, whose vocal characterization foreshadows his future horror roles.  Written by German emigres Kurt Siodmak & Joe May (with Lester Cole), and directed by May, it's more serious in tone, without Whale's wry touches of humor, but still a worthwhile film, enhanced by the excellent special effects of John P. Fulton and crew. Frank Skinner and Hans J. Salter's score is fronted by a lovely theme underscoring Price's romance with Grey, and later a touching scene where he borrows the clothing of a scarecrow.  Unfortunately the background setting of a coal processing plant doesn't allow for the atmospheric advantages of the first film, but the picture is still arguably the best of the many sequels to the original.