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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, May 3, 2020

Teenage Monster (1957)

Starring Anne Gwynne, Stuart Wade, Gloria Castillo, Chuck Courtney, Gilbert Perkins
Directed by Jacques R. Marquette
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

In the old West, a widow tries to protect her teenage son, who has mutated into a murdering monster.

This isn't a good movie, but it's still a lot of fun due to the outlandish plot and the casting of 50 year old Gilbert Perkins playing the title role under an extremely hairy costume, with makeup by Universal stalwart Jack Pierce.  His character is still capable of speech but unintelligibly whines and mumbles most of the time.  It's good to see Universal horror starlet Anne Gwynne in another role, as the widow, and she elevates the material whenever she's on screen, while Castillo is a hoot as the scheming waitress who manipulates Perkins to get what she wants.  The film has several problems including poor pacing, a weak script, and a very low budget feel to it, but Walter Greene's music score adds some punch, and the sheer ridiculousness of it all is for this movie an asset.  Marquette was an established cameraman who had a long career, but this was the first and only film he ever directed.

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