Starring Albert Dekker, Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton, Victor Kilian
Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A trio of scientists travel to South America to assist a reputed biologist, but when they discover the secrets behind his research, he shrinks them to a tiny size and they try to escape.
This is a very entertaining sci-fi adventure with terrific special effects, directed by Schoedsack who worked on the original King Kong. Although some of the same types of effects in Kong are used in this film, like rear projection and giant mockups of Dekker's hands for grasping his tiny victims, the film's master stroke is the detailed recreations of objects in Dekker's lair in giant size for the "shrunken" actors to climb and interact with. The work put into building these objects and the sets built to mimic the doctor's lab and the outdoor lagoon shore is absolutely superb. Yet Schoedsack and his additional crew should be given even more credit for creating a thrilling film utilizing these backdrops. In particular, I love the music score by Gerard Carbonara, Albert Hay Malotte, and Ernst Toch. In his book Classics Of The Horror Film, historian William K. Everson compares their work to a Disney music score, and it's an apt comparison, with beautiful lyrical themes for the scientist's journey and the jungle locale, as well as an energetic passage with dark notes whenever Dekker is on the attack.
Showing posts with label Albert Dekker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Albert Dekker. Show all posts
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
She Devil (1957)
Starring Mari Blanchard, Jack Kelly, Albert Dekker, John Archer, Fay Baker
Directed by Kurt Neumann
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A scientist injects a dying woman with an experimental serum, and she completely recovers, but also gains strange abilities and loses her inhibitions, transforming her into a predatory female.
This film has a fascinating hook- what if we applied the ability of insects to adapt and heal themselves to human beings, and what abilities could they develop? Although we get to see these abilities manifest themselves in Blanchard's character, it's not really what the film's about, instead turning into a monster movie with a liberated woman as the creature. Whether the filmmakers are using this as a vehicle to say something about repression or sexism in the '50's, or trying to reinforce such attitudes, I don't know, but the results are an entertaining romp, although one that can't be taken seriously in the slightest. It's a hoot though, and Blanchard makes a fine villainess. Director Neumann's better known for his follow-up the next year, The Fly, but once you see its predecessor, you won't be able to forget it.
Directed by Kurt Neumann
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A scientist injects a dying woman with an experimental serum, and she completely recovers, but also gains strange abilities and loses her inhibitions, transforming her into a predatory female.
This film has a fascinating hook- what if we applied the ability of insects to adapt and heal themselves to human beings, and what abilities could they develop? Although we get to see these abilities manifest themselves in Blanchard's character, it's not really what the film's about, instead turning into a monster movie with a liberated woman as the creature. Whether the filmmakers are using this as a vehicle to say something about repression or sexism in the '50's, or trying to reinforce such attitudes, I don't know, but the results are an entertaining romp, although one that can't be taken seriously in the slightest. It's a hoot though, and Blanchard makes a fine villainess. Director Neumann's better known for his follow-up the next year, The Fly, but once you see its predecessor, you won't be able to forget it.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Gammera The Invincible (1966)
Starring Albert Dekker, Brian Donlevy, Diane Findlay, John Baragrey, Dick O'Neill
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
An atomic blast in the Arctic unleashes a giant prehistoric turtle that devastates all in its way in search of energy to feed on, leading the world's nations to convene to find a way to stop the creature.
The first in a long series of Gammera movies from Japan, and to the best of my knowledge, the only installment in the series in which Gammera is a villain (it battled other monsters menacing the universe in the sequels). This isn't the original version of the film but the Americanized re-release, with Dekker and Donlevy playing members of the U.S. military brass trying to lend their support to the Japanese authorities, but the emphasis is still on a young Japanese boy's friendship with the monster turtle, paving the way for a series of young co-stars in Gammera movies to come. It's a fun and entertaining concoction, with a much lighter tone than other Japanese monster epics, featuring some more than serviceable special effects that hold up fairly well.
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
An atomic blast in the Arctic unleashes a giant prehistoric turtle that devastates all in its way in search of energy to feed on, leading the world's nations to convene to find a way to stop the creature.
The first in a long series of Gammera movies from Japan, and to the best of my knowledge, the only installment in the series in which Gammera is a villain (it battled other monsters menacing the universe in the sequels). This isn't the original version of the film but the Americanized re-release, with Dekker and Donlevy playing members of the U.S. military brass trying to lend their support to the Japanese authorities, but the emphasis is still on a young Japanese boy's friendship with the monster turtle, paving the way for a series of young co-stars in Gammera movies to come. It's a fun and entertaining concoction, with a much lighter tone than other Japanese monster epics, featuring some more than serviceable special effects that hold up fairly well.
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