Starring John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson, Erin O'Brien-Moore
Directed by Irving Pichel
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
Unable to launch a successful space rocket through a military program, a determined general gets private industry to fund a manned rocket to the moon, although the project becomes beset by a number of problems.
Producer George Pal's first science fiction film is notable for its prescient script and art direction which foresees pretty accurately what a voyage to the moon and the lunar conditions would be like. Noted sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein contributed to the script, and veteran art director Ernst Fegte created the rocky lunar surface, enhanced by matte paintings by Chesley Bonestell. Leith Steven's majestic score is just about perfect for the film, and the cast is all fine, with Wesson standing out as the first of many cinematic Brooklynites who make it into space. The film also showcases a Woody Woodpecker animated sequence, presented to investors to explain the science behind the rocket, which may have influenced a similar sequence in 1993's Jurassic Park. The friendship between Pal and Woody's creator Walter Lantz would lead to future cameos by the cartoon character in a number of Pal's films.
Showing posts with label John Archer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Archer. Show all posts
Saturday, August 15, 2020
Friday, October 6, 2017
King Of The Zombies (1941)
Starring Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor, John Archer
Directed by Jean Yarbrough
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A government agent, his faithful valet, and their pilot crash land on an island where a mysterious doctor resides and frightening zombies roam the grounds.
Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures delivers a number of horror elements, from the zombies to a graveyard, to Victor's cultured villain with something to hide, but the whole movie's really a comedy vehicle for the always wide-eyed Mantan Moreland. Although Moreland throughout his career played mainly stereotypical roles which would definitely be looked down upon and criticized today, he had an indisputable comic timing, and talent for delivering rapid-fire jokes, which kept him employed as comic relief on a great number of pictures. He might have his funniest material in this script, bouncing off the other actors playing their roles as straight as can be, and excelling when hypnotized into becoming a zombie, but definitely not a silent one. That helps the film flow pretty well, despite Victor's less than compelling villain- Bela Lugosi or John Carradine would have done more with the role. Despite Monogram's status on Poverty Row, somehow this film earned an Oscar nomination for composer Edward Kay.
Directed by Jean Yarbrough
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A government agent, his faithful valet, and their pilot crash land on an island where a mysterious doctor resides and frightening zombies roam the grounds.
Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures delivers a number of horror elements, from the zombies to a graveyard, to Victor's cultured villain with something to hide, but the whole movie's really a comedy vehicle for the always wide-eyed Mantan Moreland. Although Moreland throughout his career played mainly stereotypical roles which would definitely be looked down upon and criticized today, he had an indisputable comic timing, and talent for delivering rapid-fire jokes, which kept him employed as comic relief on a great number of pictures. He might have his funniest material in this script, bouncing off the other actors playing their roles as straight as can be, and excelling when hypnotized into becoming a zombie, but definitely not a silent one. That helps the film flow pretty well, despite Victor's less than compelling villain- Bela Lugosi or John Carradine would have done more with the role. Despite Monogram's status on Poverty Row, somehow this film earned an Oscar nomination for composer Edward Kay.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Bowery At Midnight (1942)
Starring Bela Lugosi, John Archer, Wanda McKay, Tom Neal, Vince Barnett
Directed by Wallace Fox
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A psychology professor leads a double life as a criminal, using a mission for the poor as a front for his activities which include theft and murder.
Here we have one of Bela Lugosi's thrillers for low-budget Monogram Pictures, notable for his dual role, and his morbid burial of his past accomplices in a cemetery in the mission's basement. Anyone familiar with Lugosi's horror films may let loose a chuckle when he admonishes an associate, "I don't want your cat desecrating my graves." It's a slight movie without much to recommend it, but entertaining in its own right.
Directed by Wallace Fox
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A psychology professor leads a double life as a criminal, using a mission for the poor as a front for his activities which include theft and murder.
Here we have one of Bela Lugosi's thrillers for low-budget Monogram Pictures, notable for his dual role, and his morbid burial of his past accomplices in a cemetery in the mission's basement. Anyone familiar with Lugosi's horror films may let loose a chuckle when he admonishes an associate, "I don't want your cat desecrating my graves." It's a slight movie without much to recommend it, but entertaining in its own right.
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.
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