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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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Showing posts with label William Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William Smith. Show all posts

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Invasion Of The Bee Girls (1973)

Starring William Smith, Anitra Ford, Victoria Vetri, Cliff Osmond, Wright King
Directed by Denis Sanders
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A government agent investigates deaths of men by sexual exhaustion in a small community, and follows the evidence to a female scientist who has been experimenting with bees.

Written by Nicholas Meyer, better known today for writing and directing his Star Trek films, the movie's sci-fi angle would have been interesting if further developed, but the story is really just an excuse to show off the bodies of numerous naked women, including Anitra Ford, a former spokesmodel on The Price Is Right.  We never really get an explanation of what motivated the murders, or why the recruiting of women to become "bee girls," although the dark black pupils they take on when aroused are certainly eerie. I think it would have been a more effective thriller emphasizing the idea that women were taking over for men's transgressions against them, but if that message exists anywhere in the film, it's buried under a misogynistic approach of exploiting its female cast members as sex objects.  I'm not saying that there's not any enjoyable content in the film, or that the actresses aren't used effectively, but less skin and more dialogue for the ladies would have gone a long way.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Atlantis: The Lost Continent (1961)

Starring Anthony Hall, Joyce Taylor, John Dall, Bill Smith, Edward Platt
Directed by George Pal
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A Greek fisherman rescues a shipwrecked woman, who reveals she's a princess of Atlantis, and guides him to her advanced but cruelly ruled kingdom.

Producer/director George Pal's follow-up to the better regarded The Time Machine, this picture isn't quite of the same quality, but is still a fun adventure.  Shaping the fall of Atlantis as a cautionary tale for the power hungry, the film doesn't focus too much on the benefits of Atlantis' advanced civilization in favor of presenting its excesses, like the slavery of foreigners and the transformation of its slaves into literal beasts of burden.  As a consequence we don't really get to see enough of the world that Pal and his crew have created before it's destroyed, but the romance of the young people at the heart of the story works well enough, and there's thrills a plenty from young hero Demetrios' battle to win his freedom and free his fellow captives.