Greetings!


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.

Thanks for visiting!


Showing posts with label Sidney Pink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sidney Pink. Show all posts

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Reptilicus (1961)

Starring Bent Mejding, Asbjorn Andersen, Povl Woldike, Ann Smyrner, Mimi Heinrich
Directed by Sidney Pink
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A drilling operation discovers the fossilized tail of an ancient reptile, and on turning it over to scientists, they are able to regenerate the entire beast, which escapes and menaces the city.

Denmark produces its own version of Godzilla, and the results, considering the filmmakers' limited resources, aren't too bad, although the special effects don't hold up too well today.  The creature resembles a giant sea serpent with a snake like mouth that spits out acidic bile, and appears to be a puppet or manipulated by wires, rather than animated.  The filmmakers make an interesting choice in shooting the creature on a much grainier film stock than that used for the principal actors' scenes, unless this was necessary for the special effects, definitely giving the footage a unique look.  The story (by Pink and Ib Melchior) is fairly solid, following the blueprint of previous sci-fi pictures in the discovery of the beast, and the hunt for it by the military, featuring Carl Ottosen as the authoritative general in charge, who would later appear in Pink's Journey To The Seventh Planet.  Wikipedia notes that two versions actually were made, a Danish version directed by Poul Bang, and an English-language version helmed by Pink, which would be interesting to compare and contrast.  The picture overall is far from an exemplary monster movie, but it's more than watchable, and a horrifying sequence where an official raises a bridge while masses are fleeing across it, leading bicyclists to plunge into the ocean below has stayed with me ever since my first viewing.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Journey To The Seventh Planet (1962)

Starring John Agar, Carl Ottosen, Ove Sprogoe, Louis Miehe-Renard, Peter Monch
Directed by Sidney Pink
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A spaceship is sent to Uranus to investigate radiation signals, but when they land, they find the hostile environment has been replaced by landscapes and people out of their own memories.

We have here another sci-fi effort from director Pink and screenwriter Ib Melchior, who previously collaborated on The Angry Red Planet and Reptilicus.  Although Agar is the biggest name in the cast, Ottosen plays the commander of the ship, whom he and the rest of the crew defer to.  There's definitely some good ideas in the screenplay (that I think at the least inspired some Star Trek episodes) as the crew find they're matching wits with an alien intelligence who tries to distract them from their mission by recreating a number of attractive female acquaintances of the men.  I liked an encounter with a stop-motion monster, and the unique design of the colorful spacesuits.  However, there seemed to be some holes in the narrative, and perhaps some dialogue lost in translation, as the film was lensed in Denmark and is clearly dubbed.  Yet, it's still a very watchable movie with some memorable imagery and music.