Bloody Pit Of Horror (1965)

Starring Mickey Hargitay, Walter Brandi, Luisa Baratto, Ralph Zucker, Rita Klein
Directed by Massimo Pupillo
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A pulp fiction publisher brings a group of beautiful models to a castle for a photo shoot, unaware that it's the resting place of the legendary Crimson Executioner, who tortured victims centuries before.

Purportedly based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade, this Italian tale of innocents tortured by the supposed "ghost" of the Crimson Executioner, stars Hargitay, the famed bodybuilder who married Jayne Mansfield, and he's pretty over the top, but I felt that he didn't have the best dialogue to make his character's intentions and motivations clear.  There's not much depth to the other characters either, whom we don't really get to know before they're murdered or become objects of torture.  Colorfully photographed, the film is often beautiful to look at, despite the distasteful torture scenes, and goes through a few shifts in tone, with the footage of the photo shoot pretty light-hearted with some rather silly music before the violence begins.  Some care was taken in designing a number of tortuous death traps, with a giant spider web protected by deadly trip wires particularly impressive visually.  There's also some quality moments of suspense during the torture scenes, but I found these uncomfortable to watch, and not my kind of entertainment.  Overall, I think the film looks great and I enjoyed the music score, but think that the script and Hargitay's performance were not of the same quality.

SOS Coast Guard (1937)

Starring Ralph Byrd, Bela Lugosi, Maxine Doyle, Richard Alexander, Lee Ford
Directed by William Witney & Alan James
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Lt. Terry Kent of the Coast Guard makes it his personal mission to track down Boroff, the murderer of his brother, who is selling and shipping a destructive disintegrating gas to foreign powers.

This entertaining serial from Republic Pictures brings together perhaps the foremost hero and villain of serialdom, Ralph Byrd (best known for playing Dick Tracy), and Bela Lugosi (the classic horror film star who also dabbled in serials).  Lugosi and his men are armed with the disintegrating gas, which causes damage via the familiar Republic "melting mountain" special effect, allowing them to keep Kent and the Coast Guard at bay as they try to smuggle the gas out of the country.  Lugosi, puffing away at cigars and arranging death traps for his nemesis, is unsurprisingly a quality villain, and some have called this the best of Lugosi's serials.  Lugosi's henchman Thorg (Richard Alexander), a burly mute giant with lengthy eyebrows, adds a physical obstacle for Kent, and has a weird relationship with Lugosi's Boroff, loyal to him but also carrying a simmering hatred of the man.  Kent's assisted by a couple of stock serial characters, gutsy reporter Jean Norman (Maxine Doyle), and comic relief photographer Snapper McGee (Lee Ford).  For me, one of the most entertaining things about the serial is Kent's unorthodox fighting style, flailing away punches at his opponent's midsection in numerous sequences.  I also enjoyed the fun and lively music, which IMDB credits to Alberto Colombo, also used in Republic's Lone Ranger serials.  Co-director William Witney is one of the great serial directors and coincidentally later married leading lady Maxine Doyle.

A Journey To The Beginning Of Time (1955)

Starring Vladimir Bejval, Petr Herrman, Zdenek Hustak, Josef Lukas
Directed by Karel Zeman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Four boys journey through each of the prehistoric eras, encountering wild beasts and dinosaurs along the way.

Karel Zeman was a well-regarded Czech filmmaker, who used detailed backgrounds and animation to create fantasy films.  This film is one of his triumphs, using a cast of four youngsters that witness and interact with fantastic special effects, bringing creatures of the distant past to life.  Stop-motion animation is utilized, along with rear projection, full-sized creature models, and intricately drawn background images.  Although the movement of the animation isn't quite fluid, it is still accomplished and in many scenes quite realistic.  The showpiece of the film might be a gigantic stegosaurus, rendered in terrific detail, which the boys get up close to and climb over its sharp edged plates.  Although the film is more travelogue than narrative in some respects, the boys are frequently separated as they wander off in search of fantastic sights leading to dramatic situations.  The production is slow paced but there are new images to look forward to in each new setting and age the boys encounter.

Jack The Giant Killer (1962)

Starring Kerwin Mathews, Judi Meredith, Torin Thatcher, Walter Burke, Don Beddoe
Directed by Nathan Juran
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A young farmer comes to the rescue of a princess abducted by a giant, but after he dispatches the beast, finds she is under constant threat of capture by a powerful evil wizard.

It's hard not to think of this production as a retread of The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad, utilizing that film's hero (Kerwin Mathews), it's villain (Torin Thatcher), it's director (Nathan Juran), and stop-motion creatures closely resembling Ray Harryhausen's from the Sinbad film.  Jim Danforth, Gene Warren, and Wah Chang, talented effects artists in their own right, provide the animation in this film, but the creature design and execution is clearly a notch below Harryhausen's excellent work.  Nevertheless, the film is not without its charms and an element of fun, and the wide variety of creature makeups for the human actors are beguiling and memorable.  Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter provide an entertaining music score, there are several likable characters, and it's well-paced with plenty of action.  Apparently, a musical version of the film also exists with characters breaking into song.

The Abominable Snowman (1957)

Starring Forrest Tucker, Peter Cushing, Maureen Connell, Richard Wattis, Robert Brown
Directed by Val Guest
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A scientist joins up with an expedition searching for the legendary Abominable Snowman, only to find out later the rest of men are hunting the creature, but the beasts themselves aren't exactly defenseless. 

Peter Cushing excels as the thoughtful scientist in one of his earliest roles for the Hammer studio, serving as the intellectual counterpoint to the men hunting the Yeti for profit.  Based on a television production by Nigel Kneale, the film is a wonderful exercise in employing the audience's imagination to define the look of the creature, with only limited makeup and special effects.  It would have made a marvelous audio drama for that reason, but there's some strong visuals too, especially in displaying the trek of the expedition up the icy Himalayan alps.  Accompanied by some memorable music from composer Humphrey Searle, the scenery is first rate, with the Pyrenees in France standing in for the Himalayas, according to IMDB.  A fine prologue to the adventure finds Cushing and his wife and assistant living on the grounds of a Tibetan monastery, successfully captured on film by Hammer's imaginative craftsmen, with Arnold Marle giving a good performance as the lama with mysterious prophetic gifts.  Although slow paced and for the most part lacking the action or horror sequences modern audiences might expect, I've always been entranced by the picture.

Poor Devil (1973)

Starring Sammy Davis Jr., Christopher Lee, Jack Klugman, Adam West, Gino Conforti
Directed by Robert Scheerer
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Sammy, consigned to the lower levels of hell, tries to convince Lucifer to give him the chance to sign a disgruntled accountant's soul to a contract, in order to move up from his lowly position.

Per Wikipedia, this was a television movie intended as a pilot for a TV series, and it's easy to see why the network passed, as its humor is not sharp enough for a comedy, and there's too many absurdities in the film to succeed as a drama.  Nonetheless, Davis is charming, and I liked the filmmakers' vision of hell as in the style of a 1970s discotheque, and the catchy theme music.  The movie is amiable despite its failings, with a good performance by Klugman as the accountant convinced he's been passed over after a 25 year career.  Lee plays Lucifer, the devil himself, in familiar casting for the Dracula veteran, clad in a turtleneck and sports jacket in a hip rendition of the dark lord.  He's fun to watch but fans may be somewhat disappointed he's not more integrated into the storyline.  Davis and Klugman keep things interesting if not amusing, so I enjoyed the film on that level, but it's still quite lacking.

Bedlam (1946)

Starring Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House, Richard Fraser, Glen Vernon
Directed by Mark Robson
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

In 18th century England, a cruel and vindictive man runs an asylum for the insane, and maneuvers an intelligent and sharp-tongued lady who scorns him into being committed there. 

Karloff stars as Master Sims, the operator of the asylum known as "Bedlam" in this fine period drama from producer Val Lewton.  He and co-star Lee, who both give excellent performances, are gifted with a fine script from Robson & Lewton, giving them poetic dialogue befitting the lords and ladies of the period.  Lee's character of Nell Bowen, the protege of a powerful lord, who loses her position and her freedom, is very unlike most leading ladies of cinema in her frankness and her independence, and is a favorite of my friend Dominique Lammsies, who calls her a memorable anti-heroine of cinema.  The scenes within the asylum, in which Bowen encounters the poorly cared for inmates are well done, with many of the patients clearly misunderstood by the standards of the time, and well-acted by the likes of Ian Wolfe, Jason Robards, Joan Newton, and Robert Clarke.  The art direction, costuming, and set design are equally fine at capturing the period and its excesses and cruelties.