MOVIE CAPSULES

A - D

Abbott and Costello Go To Mars (1953) Actually, they go to New Orleans and Venus.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) And Dracula and the Wolfman -- played by Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. themselves. Glenn Strange plays Frankenstein's Monster. Vincent Price makes an invisible cameo as the Invisible Man. Lenore Aubert plays the femme fatale who wants Lou. For his brain! You know the drill -- Lou sees something scary and pitches a fit. When Bud checks, it's gone. At least Bela finally picked up another paycheck from Universal.

Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) Self-explanatory.

Android (1982) Klaus Kinski stars as a spaced-out mad scientist tinkering with robots on his own space station. Shot using the oft-seen leftover sets from Roger Corman's Battle Beyond The Stars (1980). Manages to inject some individual quirks into the usual sci-fi cliches.

The Angry Red Planet (1959) A trip to Mars goes bad, and the tale is told in flashback by one of the survivors, played by vividly red-headed Nora Hayden. Scenes on the planet receive solarized color tints and the Martian monster designs are very tripped out -- check that bat-rat-spider thing! Otherwise, your standard space voyage nerd-fest.

Annie Hall (1977) Brilliantly witty New Yorkers with magically easy lifestyles fall in and out of love. But seriously, this does have some very clever elements and a bit of actual heart.

The Ape (1940) This time it's Boris Karloff's turn to play the mad scientist. He wears a gorilla skin when obtaining human spinal fluid without obtaining the donors' permission. I'm sure he had his reasons.

Around The World Under The Sea (1966) From the waterworks of Ivan Tors (Flipper) comes this sci-fi submarine adventure starring Lloyd Bridges, Brian Kelly, David McCallum, Keenan Wynn and Shirley Eaton (the gal who was painted gold in Goldfinger).

Arsene Lupin (1932) Lionel Barrymore plays a Paris police detective, John Barrymore plays a high society fop and Karen Morley toys with both of them -- one of them is the super-suave thief, Arsene Lupin. Very much of the era, an American version of the French Lupin cycle. Slick antique fun.

Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman (1958) Lovely Allison Hayes stars as a woman sadly mistreated by her gold-digging, sleaze-bag husband, a diamond-thieving alien giant and patriarchal lawmen. The subtexts in this one go as deep as you want to take them. Yvette Vickers plays the town tramp. The special effects are flimsy, but that only adds to the charm. Has a dream-like intensity and surrealism, complete with the sudden mood swings that go with that territory.

Autopsia de un Fantasma (1966) Aka: Autopsy Of A Ghost. Amazing Mexican horror/comedy/surrealist hybrid directed by Ismael Rodriguez. Basil Rathbone stars as a ghost who looks rather like Salvador Dali, whose skeleton often takes off on its own. John Carradine plays Satan, and Cameron Mitchell is a mad scientist with an eccentric household, including a female robot who develops a fondness for Basil. Opens with a puppet show title sequence and garage rock instrumental theme music and twists and turns from there on. With babes in bikinis, high-voiced Mexican comic actors (male), and music often reminiscent of The Mothers' Uncle Meat. One of those movies that you don't so much watch as experience. One of a kind.

The Battle Of The Sexes (1959) Peter Sellers, Constance Cummings and Robert Morley star in a pleasantly brisk British comedy about a Scottish clothing firm shaken to the core when modern American executive, Cummings, tries to modernize the operation -- driving senior accountant, Sellers, to desperate measures.

Beach Ball (1965) A beach movie from Paramount rather than AIP. Edd "Kookie" Byrnes stars as a beach bum trying to scam a university grant to support his fake-rock combo, The Wigglers. Features a larger than typical roster of real performers: The Four Seasons, The Righteous Brothers, The Hondells, The Supremes and The Walker Brothers. Also a custom car show and brief footage of the legendary, but now malled-over, Riverside race track.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) Directed by Eugene Lourie, this is the grand-daddy of all 'giant monster awakened by atom bomb' movies. A giant dinosaur attacks New York. A meeting of the rays, this adaptation of a story by Ray Bradbury features effects by stop-motion animation expert, Ray Harryhausen. Watch for Lee Van Cleef in a small role. Predates (and supposedly inspired) Godzilla.

Beat The Devil (1954) A low-key satire directed in Italy by John Houston from a script he co-wrote with Truman Capote. Features Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley and Peter Lorre as schemers out to make a bundle on uranium rights in Africa. Wonderfully casual -- almost feels like they were just hanging out and made this movie on the side. Of course, that's not true.

Belle de Jour (1967) Directed by the legendary Luis Bunuel, this seems to be one of his more lauded films (I'm a bit more partial to his episodic films, myself). Catherine Deneuve plays a wife with emotional problems who takes a secret day job in a brothel. As always with Bunuel, wickedly droll, with some very surreal fantasy moments.

Beyond Belief (1976) A mid-70's pseudo-documentary occult exploiter. Good, cheap fun. Or good for inducing sleep. Your call.

The Big Heat (1953) A film noir standard, directed by Fritz Lang (M, Metropolis). Glenn Ford stars as a police detective driven over the line in his battle with gangsters and official corruption. Cast includes Lee Marvin, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Jeanette Nolan, Dan Seymour and Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams). How about a nice, hot cup of coffee?

The Big Knife (1955) Jack Palance plays an evil movie mogul in this Hollywood noir written by Clifford Odets and directed by Robert Aldrich. With Ida Lupino, Shelley Winters and Rod Steiger.

The Big Sleep (1945) Humphrey Bogart stakes permanent claim to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe character in this private eye classic directed by Howard Hawks. Co-stars Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, John Ridgely, Dorothy Malone and Elisha Cook, Jr. Bogie breezes along cool, taking in the facts (and a few lumps) and trading ornate flirtations with Bacall. And don't we all wish that our lines could could be even half as clever?

Big Trouble In Little China (1986) More John Carpenter wackiness. Kurt Russell, Dennis Dun and Kim Cattrall star in what amounts to a latter-day Fu Manchu flick with a heavy influence from contemporary Hong Kong cinema.

Blackboard Jungle (1955) The movie that featured Rock Around The Clock under the opening credits and supposedly set off riots. High school JD noir directed by Richard Brooks. With Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Vic Morrow, Sidney Poitier, Allison Hayes (Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman), Paul Mazursky and Jameel Farah (aka Jamie Farr).

The Black Cat (1934) Bela Lugosi vs. Boris Karloff in an ultra-stylish horror noir directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (Detour). Set in an art deco/moderne mansion built over the ruins of a WWI slaughterhouse of a fort (the soldiers having been sold out by Karloff's character). Karloff plays a Satan worshipping architect/engineer who built his mansion on the site of the slaughter he enabled. Lugosi plays a victim returning for revenge... Karloff also stole Lugosi's wife and daughter (Karloff preserves the now-dead woman in a vertical aquarium! He has a whole collection!). David Manners and Jacqueline Wells play a vapid American couple who stumble into the crossfire and complicate Bela's mission horribly. Not to be confused with other movies of the same title.

Black Orpheus (1959) Achingly beautiful adaptation of the Orpheus myth, set in contemporary Rio de Janeiro during carnaval. Directed by Marcel Camus. Sweet score by Luis Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Not so much a movie as a dream made real.

The Black Scorpion (1957) Giant scorpions released by a volcanic eruption run amok in Mexico. Nice stop-motion animation by Willis O'Brien (King Kong's daddy), though I could do without all of that drooling. With Mara Corday, Richard Denning and Carlos Riva.

Black Sunday (1960) Super-atmospheric horror film from director Mario Bava. The film that made his rep, as well as that of star, Barbara Steele. She plays two roles: a witch, put to death centuries earlier; and a latter-day princess, marked for use by her revived ancestor. Score (in the AIP print) by Les Baxter. The scene with the exploding crypt is a real corker.

Blacula (1972) The blaxploitation version of the vampire standard. Cheesy title, but interesting movie. Has some cool music and unexpected overtones of buddy cop movie. Give it bonus points as well for a slightly different ending than usual.

Blowup (1966) David Hemmings stars as a bored professional photographer, prowling Sixties London in this existential mystery directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Very stylish, with a cool soundtrack by Herbie Hancock. The Yardbirds appear in a very odd club scene. Also watch for Serge Gainsbourg's future gal, Jane Birkin, in a small role as an aspiring model.

Blue Velvet (1986) David Lynch does a Scooby Doo adventure. Or maybe it's an Encyclopedia Brown mystery gone horribly wrong. With Lynch's usual collaborators, plus Isabella Rossellini and Dennis Hopper.

The Body Disappears (1941) Wacky college professor, Edward Everett Horton, is trying to raise the dead, but creates an invisibility serum instead, with Jeffrey Lynn as the hapless pioneer. A predecessor to the flubbery campus sci-fi comedies. Jane Wyman, really cute here, plays the professor's good-humored daughter. Don't miss that gown with the neckline plunging right down to her waist! Nice score, with some wacky steel guitar effects, and a swell Hawaiian band in a bachelor party scene (nice hula dancer too).

The Brain (1969) David Niven stars as the mastermind of a train robbery in this swingin' 60's caper comedy. A little too clunky to be really swank. Cool opening, though. With Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eli Wallach, Silvia Monti and Bourvil.

The Brain Eaters (1958) Directed by character actor Bruno Ve Sota, this is the story of invaders who drill up from the earth's core and do the parasitic takeover thing to the humans. Based on Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters. Cast includes Joanna Lee, who denies having been in Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) Director James Whale's second and final Frankenstein movie, and it's a doozy. Harvests a strong vein of black comedy, with shots and cuts rather dynamic for the 1930s. Colin Clive returns as Dr. Frankenstein, trying to pull a cold turkey on mad science (to please his blushing bride), but still nursing a nasty jones for the god-game. Enter prissy Dr. Praetorius (Ernest Thesiger) as a bad influence and the Monster (Boris Karloff) with a grudge, and it's back to the lab to build a bride for Boris. Karloff gets to speak in this edition, and (I believe) gets the last word: "We belong dead."

Bullitt (1968) Sharp Steve McQueen stars as sharp police detective, Bullitt, untangling a messy assignment gone wrong while dodging flack from fishy superiors. Hip score by Lalo Schifrin matches hip visuals from director, Peter Yates. This includes the classic car-chase through San Francisco. Watching this movie, I realize that Willem Dafoe copped most of his licks from Steve McQueen.

The Caine Mutiny (1954) Humphrey Bogart as a naval captain who worries a little too much about ice cream and ball bearings. With Van Johnson, Robert Francis, Fred MacMurray, Jose Ferrer, Lee Marvin and more.

Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter (1973) A vampire movie with a fun, swashbuckling adventure attitude. Written and directed by Brian Clemens, an able veteran of The Avengers tv series. Includes music by another Avengers vet, Laurie Johnson.

Les Carabiniers (1963) A war story from Jean-Luc Godard... the tale of a pair of thuggish hicks lured into the military with promises of treasure and adventure. Cheap, crude, odd and artful.

Carnival Of Souls (1962) Legendary creepy film of a woman caught between life and death. The spook show organ music just drips off the frames. Low budget -- high atmosphere.

Casino Royale (1967) A big gun from the wonderful Swingin' 60s spy satire craze. David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress (in full-on, drop-dead gorgeous mode), Woody Allen, Joanna Pettet and a host of others are all James Bond 007, as this merciless flick bludgeons all cliches into sweet submission. Orson Welles plays a bad guy and does card tricks. Terrific, fun score by Burt Bacharach features Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass -- and sublime vocals by Dusty Springfield on The Look Of Love. Filmed by a committee of five directors, including John Huston (who also has a brief role). Some people feel it's just a big mess, and maybe it is. But I don't care. It's a big mess of fun. And a pretty artful mess of fun at that.

The Cat And The Canary (1927) This original silent version is the grandaddy of 'old dark house' movies. Heirs gather in a creepy old house one night for the reading of the old geezer's will and trouble ensues. With lots of shadowy figures sneaking about in secret passages, a few murders, creaky comic relief and a full bucket of red herrings. Starring Laura LaPlante, Flora Finch, Tully Marshall, Creighton Hale, Gertrude Astor (you just don't get great names like that anymore). Remade many times over the years, under various titles.

Catch-22 (1970) Alan Arkin stars in Mike Nichols' big budget adaptation of the book by Joseph Heller. Large cast even includes Orson Welles. It has a nicely non-linear style -- definitely not the sort of thing one sees coming out of Hollywood these days.

Caveman (1981) Pleasant prehistoric comedy starring Ringo Starr.

Citizen Kane (1941) I don't really have to say anything about this one, do I?

Clash Of The Titans (1981) Animated model expert, Ray Harryhausen, plays gods 'n' Greeks again. Laurence Olivier plays Zeus, with Harry Hamlin as his illegitimate son, Perseus. Zeus never was very good at family planning.

The Colossus Of New York (1958) A dead scientist's brain is transplanted into a large robot, but as usual, meddling in God's domain leads to complications. Cast includes Ross Martin (The Wild, Wild West), Otto Kruger and Mala Powers. Interesting score by Van Cleave uses only piano and a bit of celeste. Cheap, but effective -- gives it a very different atmosphere than the usual orchestral score.

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1969) Clever Cold War techno-paranoia piece -- U.S. and U.S.S.R. supercomputers put their heads together and decide to do something about those pesky human users. Human stars are Eric Braeden, Susan Clark and Patty Duke's pop, William Schallert (who appears in many worthy b-movies, actually).

Compulsion (1959) Directed by Richard Fleischer, Orson Welles breezes into the last act as the defense attorney for a pair of young thrill killers. Based on the 1920's Leopold and Loeb case (also see Rope and Swoon). Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman do a creepy job as the killers. Diane Varsi, E.G. Marshall (The Defenders) and Martin Milner (Adam-12) also appear.

The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954) Crazy gringo scientists (Richard Carlson, Richard Denning, Whit Bissell) and their crusty boat captain (Nestor Paiva) travel up remote South American waters to track down a legendary underwater beast. They find him, he finds Denning's wife (Julie Adams) charming, and many skirmishes follow. These crazy gringo scientists are awfully hard on an ecosystem. Champion swimmer, Ricou Browning, does the Creature's swimming scenes -- Ben Chapman wears the rubber suit on land. Originally shown in 3-D. Followed by two sequels: Revenge Of The Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us.

The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) The third installment in the Creature From The Black Lagoon series. Rogue scientists burn off the Gill-man's scales, jab a tracheotomy tube in his neck to inflate his vestigial lungs and ship him off to a prison farm in California. To top that off, the head scientist is a spouse-abusing sociopath. I guess the producers wanted to cut back on the underwater cinematography. Leigh Snowden (Mrs. Dick Contino in real-life) plays the unfortunate wife. Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason play the bickering scientists (they had recently worked together in This Island Earth). Ricou Browning plays the Gill-man in the water, Don Megowan plays him on land.

The Crimson Kimono (1959) Low-key, character-driven study of two L.A. police detectives investigating a stripper's murder, directed by the redoubtable Sam Fuller. Includes a generous amount of L.A. street location footage.

Cry-Baby (1990) John Waters' latest take on 50's J.D. movies. Cast includes Johnny Depp (as Cry-Baby), Amy Locane, Ricki Lake, Traci Lords, Kim McGuire, Susan Tyrell, Iggy Pop (watch for his al fresco bath in the washtub), Polly Bergen, Willem Dafoe, Susan Lowe, Mary Vivian Pierce, Patti Hearst, Joey Heatherton, Joe Dallesandro, Troy Donahue and Mink Stole. Includes a batch of musical numbers -- the ones by the square kids are really scary. Rachel Sweet is featured on the soundtrack.

The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957) Hammer Films' take on the old Universal standard. Stars Peter Cushing as Dr. Frankenstein and Christopher Lee as the creature. Hammer went on to do many more variations.

Damnation Alley (1977) Post-apocalypse movie, mid-70's variety (meaning no mohawked quasi-punk villains). Jan-Michael Vincent, Dominique Sanda and George Peppard ride around in an armor-plated mobile home from hell while dealing with big bugs and other post-cultural perils.

Dark City (1950) Charlton Heston's first starring role, as a Chicago gambler who gets in a pickle when he and his friends fleece the wrong patsy in poker. With Lizabeth Scott and Viveca Lindfors as the female leads. But better yet, future Dragnet partners, Jack Webb and Harry Morgan have secondary roles as a wiseguy player and a punch-drunk ex-boxer, respectively. They don't get along at all.

Deadline U.S.A. (1952) Humphrey Bogart stars as a crusading newspaper editor fighting to expose a mobster, save the paper and win back his ex-wife. All in the space of a couple of days. And to think I usually have trouble getting out of bed in the morning. Also in the cast are Ethel Barrymore, Ed Begley, Kim Hunter and Jim Backus (Mr. Magoo).

The Deadly Mantis (1957) From the 1950s 'giant bug' cycle comes this tale of a gigantic mantis out for trouble.

Detective Story (1951) Kirk Douglas as a wound-too-tight police detective having a real bad night. Cast includes William Bendix, Eleanor Parker, Joseph Wiseman and Lee Grant. Directed by William Wyler.

Detour (1945) Bleak, bleak, no-exit, bleak film noir classic from prolific director, Edgar G. Ulmer. Down on his luck piano player, Tom Neal, hitchhikes cross-country to meet up with his girlfriend in LA. One rainy night, one thing leads to another (and a meeting with dangerous dame, Ann Savage) in the most unfortunate ways, and his life changes forever. Careful with that extension phone, Eugene! Minimal and hopeless in the extreme.

Die, Monster, Die! (1965) Nick Adams arrives at the remote Whitley estate to see his sweetie, Suzan Farmer. But her wheelchair-bound daddy, Boris Karloff, is performing experiments with a radioactive meteor -- and, uh, he really doesn't know what he's doing. Fairly routine. Or maybe quaint. Patrick Magee has a small role as a village doctor.

Diva (1981) A Paris mailman makes a bootleg recording of an opera star and is drawn into coincidental nastiness. A very stylized early 80's neon-noir trip.

D.O.A. (1949) A poisoned man races against time to solve his own murder. Starring Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, Neville Brand and Beverly Campbell (Garland). Score by Dmitri Tiomkin. Shot on location in L.A. and San Francisco.

Doctor Of Doom (1962) Aka: Las Luchadoras contra el Medico Asesino. The opening round in Rene Cardona's Las Luchadoras (wrestling women) series. Lorena Velazquez and Elizabeth Campbell star as famous wrestlers, Gloria Venus and Golden Rubi, pitched into battle against a mad scientist performing brain transplants without the subjects' permission. With gorillas, geek assistants and plenty of ring action. The mad scientist makes a career change to masked wrestler manager by the end.

Double Indemnity (1944) Fred MacMurray as a rogue insurance salesman drawn into dark doings by bad girl, Barbara Stanwyck. Also starring Edward G. Robinson. Based on the novel by James M. Cain, and directed by Billy Wilder from a screenplay written in collaboration with Raymond Chandler. What would Uncle Charlie say?

Dracula (1931) Tod Browning's version of Dracula -- the standard setter. Bela Lugosi owns the role forever with a quietly bizarre performance. Dwight Frye gets to chew the scenery as the madman, Renfield. Plot capsule... Count Dracula decides on a change of scenery and moves to England (after putting the bite on his real estate agent -- an interesting reversal). Browning's direction is indeed not very dynamic, but has its low-key charms. Odd little details too -- like those misplaced armadillos in the Count's castle.

Dracula (Spanish Version) (1931) Shot concurrently with the Browning version, using the same sets, but a different cast and director. In many ways a better movie -- director George Melford does a rather more dynamic job, including some scenes that don't appear in the Browning version (see a tense verbal sparring match between Renfield and Van Helsing). The women are more torchy also, especially after falling under Dracula's spell. Unfortunately, Carlos Villarias' performance as Dracula is a bit iffy. He's fine when in nasty mode, but when in charming mode, he gets a big goofy grin that looks more like an Andy Kaufman character. Definitely worth seeing, though it does lack the atavistic quirkiness of Browing's version (not to mention Bela).

Dr. Cyclops (1940) Albert Dekker stars as a mad scientist hidden away in the South American jungle, who shrinks intruders down to tiny stature. Surprisingly for the time and genre, this is in Technicolor, which makes for some great looking lab scenes. Directed by Ernest Schoedsack (King Kong).

Dr. Goldfoot And The Bikini Machine (1965) Vincent Price vs. Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman in a goofy comedy/horror film from AIP. And put the accent on goofy in that string of adjectives. Price plays the title character, another in his long line of megalomaniacs -- out to take over the world using strategically placed robot women. They tend to wear bikinis, thus the title.

Dr. Goldfoot And The Girl Bombs (1966) Aka: Le Spie Vengona dal Semifreddo. The Italian produced sequel, directed by Mario Bava (Black Sunday). Vincent Price and his femme-bot assassins are at it again. Fabian replaces Frankie and Dwayne, with backup from a tormented Italian comedy team. Many reviewers pan this heavily, but I dunno -- its flat-footed "dumbness" has a certain surrealistic appeal.

Dr. No (1962) The launch of the 007 franchise, starring the one true James Bond, Sean Connery. Directed by Terence Young and set in Bond's favorite haunt over the years: the Caribbean. Iconic music by John Barry. Grittier than later 007 films, but still a heavy dose of that early 60's pop hedonism. Also starring Ursula Andress as Honey, Joseph Wiseman as Dr. No and Jack Lord as CIA man, Felix Leiter.

Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors (1964) The British horror anthology flick with the title that launched a thousand parodies. With the obligatory Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, also Michael Gough, Max Adrian, Donald Sutherland, Ursula Howells and Neil McCallum.

Duck Soup (1933) The Marx Brothers at the peak of their powers in this wild rip on nationalism and war.

Duel (1971) Steven Spielberg's highway paranoia tv movie. Later remade as Jaws (I'm only half kidding). Not bad, but Killdozer tops my list of possessed vehicle movies.

Descriptions © 1998 to 2001 M.Ace