After almost 120 posts I finally get to Ray Harryhausen and while that is a sad it took so long I also knew it was only matter of time before I began some posts on this great man and his work. I am sure he needs no long winded introduction and since this posts is a Quickie (bereft of original vidcaps, media or research that involves more than some skimming) I will just say I truly admire his film work. This one is certainly one of my favorites as far as his fantastic stop action animation technique goes. It was directed by Nathan H. Juran and produced by Charles H. Shneer for Columbia pictures, who collaborated with Harryhausen on many of his films. It stars William Hooper as the no bones, he man hero Col. Robert Calder. This type of ale lead was so prevalent at the time. Calder is take charge ex-quarterback type who though brimming with misogyny always wins the girl, in this case Italian medical student Marisa Leonardo, played by pretty Joan Taylor.

What I love about the films with Harryhausen’s animation is just that as the stories no not really rise too much higher than the rest of the science fiction-fantasy fare of the day, with some notable exceptions such as Jason and the Argonauts and The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. The story here is really pretty campy to the point of being a bad movie I love type film. However it is not really a bad movie , in my definition, though there are some sore spots. The acting is wooden and Calder is simply an asinine ape in ways and to see Marisa fall under his “charm” and promise him a candle lit dinner right after he denigrates her is too much to believe. The action takes place in Italy and was filmed in Rome where Harryhausen wanted to spend his vacation. One character is one of the most obnoxious I can recall since Omar the love spreading beatnik from The Flesh Eaters. Pepe, played by Bart Baverman with a horrible Italian accent, is simply grating on your nerves as he does whatever he can do to get a real cowboy hat “…like the cowboys in Texas wear”. This included selling a canister with some slimy substance inside to the local zoologist who lives in a little aluminum sided trailer, the type so popular in Italy in the 1960’s. The canister washed ashore after an American spaceship returning from Venus crashes into the Mediterranean Sea. Only two men survive but one of them soon die while being cared for in the local hospital by medical student Leonardo. No need to have a real nurse or doctor attend to injured astronauts, much less notify the American embassy, when you can have a student do all that.

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I CRIMINALI DELLA GLASSIS (WILD WILD PLANET)

1965/Director: / Antonio Margheriti/Writers: Renato Moretti, Ivan Reiner

Cast: Tony Russel, Lisa Gastoni, Massimo Serato, Carlo Giustini, Franco Nero

Antonio Margheriti

I will be honest and say that of all the countries whose films I watch regularly the one I struggle with the most and still have the most ambiguity about is Italy. While there have been some masterpieces like Vittorio de Sica’s The Bicycle Thief and Shoeshine and Fellini’s La Strada most of the stuff coming out of Italy leaves me a little confused and disoriented. For example some people find it amazing that I as a horror fan cannot really stand almost all of Dario Argento’s output. The are incoherent stories and all the ranting about his prowess with camera work and lighting is exaggerated. Then again Mario Bava ranks as one of my all time favorite directors and I have a folder on my hard drive full of Italian horror and giallo films just waiting for me. Now one area that I know basically zip about is Italian science fiction and in particular the genre films of the 1960’s. Other than Bava’s excellent Planet of the Vampires I know virtually nothing of Italian cinema’s visiosn of the future, until watching Wild Wild Planet, or I Crimialli della Gallassia (maybe Galaxy of Criminals). It was directed by Antonio Margheriti (who usually directed as Anthony Dawson and did films like Cannibal Apocalypse and Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein) and co-scripted by the man who brought The Green Slime to life Ivan Reiner. Spaghetti western star Franco Nero has a role as Commander Halstead’s second in command.

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HOMEMADE CLIP OF ACTION SCENES

FROM THE MACHINE GIRL

“This is one of the best movies ever made!

Upskirt karate rules!”

Ghidorah from Chainsaw Maintenance

THE MACHINE GIRL

2008/Director: Noboru Iguchi/Writer: Noboru Iguchi

Cast: Minase Yashiro, Asami, Kentaro Shimazu, Honoka, Nobuhiro Nishihara

Noburu Iguchi

The director of Sudakan Boy (which I have queued up to see soon) Noburu Iguchi basically delivers the gory goods in this TokyoShock science-fiction Yakuza revenge blood bath starring gravure model Minase Yashiro. Also in the mix are Japanese AV stars Asami and Honoka. Now I am far from an expert in these matters (though I have done ample research) but I am pretty sure the difference in the terms is that a gravure (a term for how photos are developed for glossy magazines) models pose provocatively but rarely nude or in explicit sexual situations. An AV (adult video) star on the other hand basically does everything you can image plus some things you never have and with the cutest, most innocent faces imaginable. Well there is no nudity in The Machine Girl so don’t get excited. What flesh we see is usually covered in blood and slimy internal organs. While the CGI effects have been criticized online here I have seen much worse and had no major problems myself. The film never looked like a video game to me. If more Japanese horror/action/school girl gore films were being done like this I would praise the genre more rather than berate it or struggle to find kinder words.

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Sometimes I run across a film so appallingly bad I fall in love with it immediately. The Creeping Terror is one such film. In fact The Creeping Terror will be the first film to share the opposing categories of Bad Film to Watch Bad film to Avoid. How can this be you ask? Well I am a fan of bad movies and as bad as The Creeping terror is it is still not the worst film I have ever seen. Some of the stuff promoted by Something Weird Video certainly is more dismal than this mess. However director, producer (credited as A.J. Nelson) and  star (as Deputy Martin Gordon) Vic Savage’s z-grade science fiction slice of cheese makes the works of Ed Wood Jr. and Ted V. Mikels look more like  Orson Welles at his peak. So, I recommend it to those out there who love to see a movie that makes their jaws fall open slack in disbelief. For the less refined or masochistic I would suggest taking a pass.

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KING KONG ESCAPES

1967/Director: Ishirô Honda/ Writer: Takeshi Kimura

Cast: Rhodes Reason, Mie Hama, Linda Miller, Akira Takarada, Eisei Amamoto

I was lucky that before all my BT download problems began a month or so back I downloaded a batch of classic Toho kaiju films. Kaiju is the term for Japanese monster films, and in particular those wonderful ones with guys in rubber suits judo flipping one another all over Tokyo. I was pleasantly surprised with King Kong Escapes, the 2nd King Kong film from Toho after King vs Godzilla. It has all the trademarks of a great Toho kaiju film, such as finely detailed miniatures,  and was directed by Ishiro Honda, who turned out some of the best monster films for Toho. One thing that makes this Toho monster film a little more enjoyable than some is the drama between the human being is better than usual.

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THE BRAIN EATERS

1958/Director: Bruno VeSota/ Writer: Gordon Urquhart

Cast: Ed Nelson (also producer), Leonard Nimoy, Alan Frost, Joanna Lee, Jody Fair, David Hughes, Robert Ball, Greigh Phillips, Orville Sherman

This not a film to write home about in any sense of the word-however it is film to do a post on The Uranium Cafe about obviously- but at a mere sixty minutes and featuring an early performance by Leonard Nimoy (billed as Leonard Nemoy) it is not a total waste of time. It was produced by and starring B-movie and TV staple Ed Nelson and directed by character actor Bruno VeSota (the sexually frustrated fat guy in Attack of the Giant Leeches) and so based on The Puppet Master by Robert A. Heinlein that AIP was sued for outright plagiarism. Roger Corman arranged to have the matter settled out of court for $5000 and the promise that Heinlein receive no credit for “inspiring” Gordon Urqhart’s lifeless screenplay. But as I said, the film is not really that bad that it cannot be seen and enjoyed if there is nothing else on.
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