FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN

1967/Director: Terence Fisher/Writer: Anthony Hinds

Cast: Peter Cushing, Susan Denberg, Thorley Walters, Robert Morris, Duncan Lamont

Frankenstein Created Woman is the fourth of the Hammer Frankenstein films and sees the return of Terence fisher as director after a brief absence from the helm while Freddie Francis directed The Evil of Frankenstein. Anthony Hinds is back as script writer under the familiar pseudonym John Elder. We will get to The Evil of Frankenstein another day as I will eventually get all the Hammer Frankenstein efforts reviewed then move on to the Dracula films. But I did want to clear something up that puzzled me for a while regarding the film Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. In that film I made the error of stating in my review of that film that Baron Frankenstein shows the damage he received at the end of Frankenstein Must Be destroyed. I was recalling that from memory and I am far from an expert on the films but it would seem that in Frankenstein Created Woman Frankenstein already shows some damage to his hands. We may infer from this that the injuries were received at the end of 1964’s The Evil of Frankenstein when the castle burns down and then explodes (like in the James Whale version) though it not shown or explained. Anyway, I always wondered about his hands in that film and need to go back and rewatch Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, a fine Terence fisher film as well, and see if his hands are gloved in that one.

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THE LEECH WOMAN

1960/Director:Edward Dein/Writers: David Duncan (writer), Ben Pivar (story)

Cast: Coleen Gray, Grant Williams, Phillip Terry, Gloria Talbott, John Van Dreelen, Estelle Hemsley

The Leech woman is often given credit for being one of the better budget horror movies from the 50’s and 60’s and it frankly deserves it. It is well acted and the cast is led by two of the most beautiful faces from the time, Coleen Gray (Nightmare Alley, the Vampire) and Gloria Talbott (I Married a Monster from Outer Space). The story is not terrible by any stretch and the photography is above average except for some cheesy stock footage in the jungle sequences, but that is to be forgiven since most films from the period used stack footage. The story, while technically a horror or science fiction film, has no freaky rubber suit monsters or radioactive bugs menacing small town communities. What it has instead is a woman who finds herself getting older and less attractive while trapped in a loveless marriage desperately wants her life to change. The title of the film seems to suggest there will be some sort of mutation between a human woman and a leech but in fact what is sucked out of her victims (men, who all deserve it) is their life force.

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STAR 80

1983/ Director: Bob Fosse/ Writers: Teresa Carpenter (article), Bob Fosse (screenplay)

Cast: Mariel Hemingway, Eric Roberts, Cliff Robertson, Carroll Baker, Roger Rees, David Clennon, Josh Mostel, Lisa Gordon

Star 80 is the 1983 film by Bob Fosse that deals graphically and unflinchingly with the rise of Playboy Playmate of the year Dorothy Stratten to modest fame and her brutal murder by her controlling and fame obsessed husband Paul Snider. The film is done in a type of documentary style with actors playing the significant people in Dorothy’s life adding hindsight to the event. We know what the ending of the film will be and Fosse takes us directly right to the bloody scene itself in and then retells the story in various flashbacks and narrations. While perhaps not Fosse’s best movie it is a well shot and edited film that has actually been criticized for dealing with the subject matter in such a glossy and stylish manner. It is significant for Fosse as well in that it is the last film this great director ever directed. He went on to work in other areas of film making and production. This it too bad really as this is the same skilled director who also gave movie goers Lenny and All That Jazz.

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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 GIANT CLAW

1957/Director: Fred F. Sears/Writers: Paul Gangelin, Samuel Newman

Cast: Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday, Morris Ankrum, Louis Merrill, Edgar Barrier, Robert Shayne

The Giant Claw sports simply one of the worst, least frightening monsters in the history of movies. But don’t let that stop you from checking out this camp, schlock classic from director Fred F. Sears and producer Sam Katzman and starring Jeff Morrow and Playboy Playmate Mara Corday . The plot is not much different from the multitude of other big bug or animal movies coming out at the time. Mara Corday also starred in two other memorable big creature flicks, Jack Arnold’s Tarantula and The Black Scorpion (reviews coming eventually on both of these flicks). A bird as big as a “battleship” that comes either from the ice age of 17,000 BC or an antimatter universe hovers over the world and makes meals out of jets, airplanes and French Canadians. The giant “chicken” is one of the oddest looking beasts ever, and is simply a string controlled puppet whose wings always stay spread, even when it is nesting. My wife was utterly dumbfounded when she watched some of the film with me. I loved the movie and all its corniness and I am sure any regular reader of the Café will have a good time and more than a few unintended laughs at this movie full of quirky dialog and chessy special effects. One story tells of director Sears sneaking out of a screening of the film as the audience burst out in laughter each time the bird appeared on screen. The monster was added later and none of the cast had any idea what it was going to look like until they say the film themselves. Well we don’t watch this stuff to be wowed by the special effects or captivated by the story. I personally watch them to just escape and have a good time. And if you need a break from the routine I suggest you shake hands with The Giant Claw.

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No need to tell you who buxom Nancy’s daddy was I hope? She grew up around stars like Elvis and the Rat Pack and all sorts of stellar talent and was signed in the early 60’s to Ol’ Blue Eye’s Reprise label. Success eluded her in the states but she gained a popularity in Europe and Japan that is still strong. She struggled for a hit in the USA and Reprise was about to drop her when things began to change for her after she met songwriter, arranger and producer Lee Hazelwood. Svengali and business whiz, Hazelwood redid not only her image into a chic mid-60’sLondon look but even convinced her to change her singing style and in 1965 she hit the American charts with the sexy and catchy These Boots are Made for Walking (a line from a western with her dad and Dean Martin). She went on to have a string of hits all arranged and led by Billy Strange. Another really big hit from this period is the duet with Hazelwood called Some Velvet Morning and it is a truly unique and slightly psychedelic little pop song. It sounds more like something from the Pink Floyd period with Syd Barrett than a top-40′s radio hit from Frank Sinatra’s little girl.

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Brown eyed and demure brunette Mara Corday eventually became most remembered by her fans for her roles in three Universal science fiction, giant bug movies all made towards the end of her short acting career. Those films, Tarantula (1955), The Black Scorpion and The Giant Claw (1957) were slight departures from her previous roles which exploited her smoldering almost ethnic sex appeal such as Man Without a Star with Kirk Douglas and A Day of Fury. She acted in films for Paramount, Republic and Universal for only seven years before quitting altogether to become a house wife and mother with actor Richard Long who was most famous for his TV role in The Big Valley.

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Born Marilyn Watts in 1932 in Santa Monica California, Mara Corday was not only a actress whose career seemed to taking off just as quit, but was also one of the most popular and most photographed models of her time. She eventually would be Playboy playmate for October 1958. She did mostly the cheesecake pinup style photos of the time and some of the spicier black stocking type as well.

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