"BRING ME THE HEAD OF KING KONG!" - FROM THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING TO A SCOTTISH PANTOMIME?

 

Vintage photograph of a man-made pantomime stage prop in the form of a giant primate head (but NOT derived from a real, dead animal) (public domain/Wikipedia)

Is there a connection between a certain giant movie ape that met its demise atop NYC's Empire State Building and an over-sized primate that appeared on stage in a Scottish pantomime? The visually-striking vintage photograph presented above leads me to suspect that there might indeed be one, as I'll now explain.

Needless to say, had I first chanced upon this picture only quite recently I would probably have simply assumed it to be an AI-generated image and therefore may not have investigated it, as the head is certainly far too big to be from any type of anatomically-feasible primate, even one of the cryptozoological kind.

In reality, however, I first encountered it online some years ago (on Wikipedia, if memory serves me correctly), and its arresting appearance was such that I decided to do whatever I could to identify exactly what it depicted and where it had originated. Here is what I discovered.

As indicated by this present blog article's tongue-in-cheek title, parodying the biblical Salome's imperious demand to King Herod Antipas for John the Baptist's head (served on a platter, which it duly was!), I had initially wondered whether this public-domain photo may have been in some way related to the original, classic King Kong monster movie released by RKO Radio Pictures in spring 1933, directed by Marian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and starring Fay Wray alongside this movie's titular stop-motion mega-star created by celebrated animator Willis H. O'Brien. Perhaps it was a spare giant ape head for close-up shots, or used for publicity purposes?

Although that idea ultimately proved false, I suspect that it nonetheless contains an element of relevance to the latter movie. For what I finally found out was that the object in this photo is actually a gaff, in this instance specifically a stage prop that had featured in a major pantomime performed just a few months after the release of King Kong.

 

Publicity photo-still of American actress Fay Wray promoting the 1933 film King Kong (public domain)

According to an unidentified, tantalizingly-brief newspaper report published on 11 December 1933 that had contained the photo, what it depicts is a 4.5-ft-tall giant ape or monkey head made from cardboard and paper (NOT from the remains of any real, dead animal) that had been specially constructed by a stage props company for a pantomime staged in Glasgow, Scotland, during the winter 1933/34 pantomime season. So it seems possible, even likely, that the prop was inspired by King Kong, which had proved such a massive hit worldwide earlier that very same year, especially as British pantomime tradition is famous for incorporating references to notable news stories that have occurred earlier on during the year in which the pantomime is being staged

Sadly, the newspaper report gave no further details, not even naming the pantomime in question or the theatre where it was staged. According to the Panto Archive website's comprehensive listing of Glasgow pantomime venues and productions (click here to view the entire list), however, the only pantomime staged in Glasgow during the 1933/34 season was 'Babes In The Wood', at the Theatre Royal, and featuring veteran Scottish music-hall comedian Tommy Lorne (1890-1935) as its principal star.

Perhaps, therefore, the giant monkey/ape head had appeared in it in the capacity of a guardian to the babes abandoned in the wood, or possibly as a comic bogeyman-type character. This is only speculation on my part, however, as I have been unable to discover any further information concerning either the head itself or the pantomime in which it appeared, but I did succeed in locating a second newspaper photo of it. Dating from the same period, but this time showing the head of a man inside the prop's gaping mouth and a woman standing alongside it, this second photo can be accessed here. I wonder if this eyecatching effigy still survives somewhere, stored away, perhaps, in the vaults of some theatre or stage props provider?

At any rate, we can all be reassured now by the comforting knowledge that somewhere deep within the cloud-shrouded Skull Island of make-believe movie-land, the real King Kong is still striding majestically through his stop-motion domain with his huge head held high, still firmly attached to his mighty neck and shoulders, whereas, tragically, the same cannot be said for John the Baptist's.

Speaking of Skull Island: be sure to click here to read my review of a more recent King Kong-starring monster movie Kong: Skull Island. Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

An original 1933 publicity poster for King Kong (public domain)

 

 

 

TRACK OF THE MOON BEAST

 

Publicity poster for Track of the Moon Beast (© Richard Ashe/Lizard Productions/Prism Pictures Ince – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 21 September 2024, my movie watch was a seriously oddball American sci fi/horror movie from the mid-1970s entitled Track of the Moon Beast, but it was rendered memorable for me by being the first film I can remember seeing that featured a were-lizard as its antagonist!

Directed by Richard Ashe, and produced in 1972 by Lizard Productions Inc, Track of the Moon Beast was originally intended for cinematic release, but was unable to secure a distributor. Instead, its eventual public debut took place on the small screen, when it premiered as a TV movie on 1 June 1976, but in a much-censored shorter version from which certain particularly gory, gruesome scenes featuring the monster killing people had been deleted (the original, uncensored version is apparently no longer available).

Track of the Moon Beast opens with a young mineralogist named Paul Carlson (played by Chase Cordell) in some Albuquerque mountains studying a lunar meteor shower taking place over New Mexico when he is struck in the head by a fragment from one of the meteorites. The fragment lodges in his brain, with wholly unexpected but decidedly dire consequences.

For now, every night when a full moon appears, Paul transforms into a human-sized bipedal lizard-like entity with rampaging, murderous tendencies – this movie's eponymous moon beast – leaving gory carnage as well as very large clawed tracks in its wake. Moreover, it turns out that this bizarre phenomenon has been happening in this region since time immemorial, as revealed in local Native American legends and ancient paintings subsequently made known to Paul by his Native American mentor, Prof. John 'Jonny Longbow' Salinas (Gregorio Sala).

While human, however, Paul has no knowledge of being a lizard and killing people, and for much of the movie no-one else has either, determined though they are to expose the identity of the elusive killer in their midst. Ultimately, however, as is always the case in films like this, Paul's sinister secret is indeed exposed – although to be fair, had it not eventually become public knowledge there wouldn't have been much of a movie!

Yet even worse was soon to come for Paul. After a top-notch NASA brain surgeon x-rays his head prior to a planned operation in order to remove the fragment, Paul is shattered to learn from the surgeon that the operation cannot proceed because the fragment has disintegrated, but with its toxic, unstable extraterrestrial essence having permeated his entire body. Not only could Paul not be cured by conventional medical means, therefore, but also the fragment's deadly legacy would be death – those of further innocent, randomly-selected victims of Paul's reptilian alter ego, but also Paul's own, the latter via sudden self-combustion in the not-too-distant future.

Knowing that he cannot continue like this, Paul flees to the mountains on his motorbike, having made a stark decision, but one that devastates his loyal girlfriend Kathy (Donna Leigh Drake), as well as his friends and colleagues. So, will they reluctantly accept the inevitable, or will they do everything in their power to prevent it? Watch this movie and find out for yourselves!

Silly sci fi is a movie passion of mine, so whereas it was panned by most film critics, I absolutely loved Track of the Moon Beast, even if the on-screen lunar-influenced lizardman looks nothing near as imposing as the spectacular version depicted in this low-budget creature feature's striking publicity posters and official Prism Pictures VHS video's front cover illustration, as included in this present Shuker In MovieLand review. Even so, the make-up for it took 5-6 hours for make-up artist Joe Blasco to create each time that the actor playing the lizardman (Blasco himself) wore it (Blasco was  taller and therefore more visually imposing than Cordell – who only played it in one scene, when Paul transforms into the lizardman while strapped down for observation purposes in hospital).

If you'd like to watch an official trailer on YouTube for Track of the Moon Beast, please click here – or click here if you'd like to watch the entire movie free of charge on there.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

Full cover of the official Prism Pictures VHS video of Track of the Moon Beast (© Richard Ashe/Lizard Productions/Prism Pictures Ince – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

A THOUSAND WORDS

 

Publicity poster for A Thousand Words (© Brian Robbins/DreamWorks Pictures/Saturn Films/Varsity Pictures/Work After Midnight Films/Paramount Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 22 December 2024, I watched the bittersweet American fantasy/comedy movie A Thousand Words – a film that I might never have even known about, let alone watched, had it not been for my fortuitous finding a few weeks earlier at an English outdoor car boot sale of a discarded DVD case for this movie. Sadly, the disc itself was missing, but its back cover blurb so intrigued me that I purchased a disc for it online, and now, after watching it, I'm so glad I found that empty case and thereby learned of this delightful film's existence.

Directed by Brian Robbins, who was also one of its several co-producers (so too was American A-list actor Nicolas Cage), and released by Paramount Pictures in 2012 (although filmed in 2008), A Thousand Words stars motor-mouth mega-star Eddie Murphy in, incongruously, an almost silent lead role.

He plays brash literary agent Jack McCall, who originally displays an unassailable ability to talk people into doing whatever he wants, which has resulted in him becoming a thoroughly obnoxious egomaniac, oblivious to the needs of his wife Caroline (Kerry Washington) and their young son Tyler (Emanuel Ragsdale) to receive his love, and those of his co-workers to receive the courtesy and respect that they deserve – especially his youthful, perpetually put-upon and put-down literary assistant Aaron (Clark Duke), and his faithful valet (John Gatins) who harbours aspirations as an author that Jack brusquely waves away.

But when Jack tries to con a New Age guru named Dr Sinja (Cliff Curtis) into selling him the rights to his self-help book, events take a very mystical, mortifying turn.

A supernatural Bodhi tree possessing exactly 1000 leaves magically appears in Jack's garden, and Jack swiftly discovers that every word he speaks (or even writes down) results in a leaf dropping from the tree. Consulting Dr Sinja, Jack is horrified to learn that once the tree loses all of its leaves, both it and Jack will die (clearly this particular guru knows more about spirituality than botany, or he would have been aware that deciduous trees lose all their leaves every autumn/fall, but simply grow a new set the following spring!).

Anyway, much of the movie from then on focuses upon the hapless Jack becoming helplessly and hopelessly but always hilariously caught up in all manner of outlandishly bizarre situations as he frantically strives to communicate without speaking or writing. But ultimately it all proves too much – he finally loses his job, and his wife moves out of their home, taking their son with her. Moreover, due to various unavoidable instances where he has had no option but to speak, there are virtually no leaves left on the tree.

Despondent and desperate, Jack visits Dr Sinja again, who tells him that he has to seek deep inside himself to repair the relationship that has brought him the most pain in his life. Jack's mother Annie (Ruby Dee), whom he does love very much, has dementia, so he visits her at the care-home on her birthday, even though he knows that she will not recognise him, and will mistake him for her deceased husband Raymond, Jack's father, who walked out on them when Jack was only a child, leaving Jack feeling unloved by Raymond and resentful toward him ever afterwards.

Sure enough, his mother once again mistakes Jack for Raymond, telling him how she wishes that their son Jack would forgive him for walking out on them as she knows how much Jack was always loved by him, and that nothing is more important than family.

Never realising until now that his father had indeed loved him, Jack visits his grave and whispers outloud "I forgive you" – and at that same moment the last three leaves fall from the tree, and Jack falls unconscious to the ground. But does he die, or has he found redemption and salvation? Watch this very funny but also very poignant, moving movie and find out.

Some of you know that for many years my beloved little Mom was my only family, so when she passed away eleven years ago, so too did my entire family, and I've been alone ever since. Consequently, when Jack's Mom told him that nothing is more important than family, I began to shed too, just like the tree, except that it wasn't leaves that I was shedding.

Although not a Christmas-themed movie, A Thousand Words exudes a similar festive, feel-good glow, making it perfect viewing for this time of year. It promotes a very important message too: your words are powerful, so never waste them, or use them unkindly – always use them wisely, and kindly, make them count.

Worth mentioning, incidentally, is the notable number of major stars who were variously considered or auditioned for this movie's lead role of Jack McCall that ultimately went to Murphy – they include, for instance, Richard Ayoade, Ice Cube, Will Ferrell (also considered for the role of Dr Sinja), Jamie Foxx, Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Will Smith, and Wesley Snipes. Moreover, Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith were among those considered for the role of Caroline McCall that ultimately went to Kerry Washington.

After I posted a much shorter, preliminary version of this review of A Thousand Words on Facebook earlier today, one reader mentioned to me that the film currently holds a 0% critics approval rating on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes (though it does also hold a 46% audience approval rating on there), which, quite frankly, is an absurd state of affairs. Having said that, I do tend to find that forums like those on Rotten Tomatoes and other sites that allow reviews to be posted by users tend to attract a disproportionate number of splenetic offerings, from deliberately provocative would-be critics trying to make a name for themselves, whereas more fair-minded users seem less incited or incentivized to post a review. This is a great shame, because it results in many perfectly good movies receiving unjustifiably low ratings, due to the pack-hunting feeding frenzy copycat approach that frequently occurs once a couple of bad reviews have been posted for a given film, with each subsequent reviewer attempting to outdo the previous ones in terms of the bile and venom that they can spill forth.

I personally feel that A Thousand Words is definitely one movie that has suffered from this. Now had it been The Adventures of Pluto Nash (click here to read my thoughts concerning this Eddie Murphy movie), I could have understood it more!

So whereas some professional critics dismissed A Thousand Words back in 2012 as formulaic and outdated, and more recent unprofessional ones have attacked it from all sides, I loved it (as is so often the case with films that critics have disparaged), and I'm sure that plenty of you will too if you get the chance to watch this film, and give it a chance when doing so.

If you would like to view an official trailer for A Thousand Words on YouTube, please click here.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

FROM A MILLIONAIRESS AND A MILLION POUND NOTE TO A GOOD LOOKIN' BAKSHI MOVIE AND MORE!

 

My DVDs and video of some of the movies mini-reviewed by me here (photograph © Dr Karl Shuker – see photos of individual DVDs etc below for their films' respective credits)

Time for another collection of mini-reviews of movies watched by me of late – and just for a change none of them is a sci fi, fantasy, or musical movie (but there is an animated one!).

 

 

Publicity photograph for Cold Comfort Farm (© John Schlesinger/Thames Television/BBC – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

COLD COMFORT FARM

On 3 March 2024, I thoroughly enjoyed the eponymous British film version of the satirical Stella Gibbons novel Cold Comfort Farm, published in 1932. Directed by John Schlesinger, produced by Thames Television and the BBC, and released in 1995, it stars Kate Beckinsale as city-sophisticated but newly-orphaned young lady Flora Poste, who accepts an invitation to spend some time with her eccentric rural relatives the Starkadders on their ramshackle homestead Cold Comfort Farm, which is supposedly overshadowed by a family curse. And as if that were not off-putting enough, it is also ruled with a fist of iron by Great-Aunt Ada Doom (Sheila Burrell), who has lived a Miss Havishamesque existence cocooned inside her bedroom there for countless years after seeing "something nasty in the woodshed" when a child. It's up to prissy but prescient Flora to drag the Starkadders out of their crazy, gloom, doom (and Doom!)-laden existence into the modern era and enable them to fulfil their various long-harboured but hitherto-repressed ambitions. Packed with famous names, including Joanna Lumley (as Flora's ditzy high-society friend Mary Smiling), Eileen Atkins (dread-filled and dreadful Starkadder matriarch Judith), Rufus Sewell (lusty youngest Starkadder brother Seth), Ivan Kaye (diligent middle Starkadder brother Reuben), Ian McKellen (hellfire-preaching eldest Starkadder brother Amos), Stephen Fry (irritating upper-class twit Mybug), Miriam Margolyes (the Starkadders' helper Mrs Beetle), and Freddie Jones (the delightfully-named Adam Lambsbreath), this is a thoroughly delightful and very amusing movie watch that is guaranteed to cheer and charm even the most downbeat of viewers. Please click here to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube.

 

 

My official DVD of D.O.A. (© Rudolph Maté/Harry Popkin Productions/Cardinal Pictures/United Artists – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

D.O.A.

My movie watch on 3 November 2023 was a double-bill of 1950s b/w films, but that's where their similarities end. One of them was the sci fi comedy movie The Twonky, which I've already reviewed here. The other was the original film version of D.O.A. (its title's initials standing for Dead On Arrival). Directed by Rudolph Maté, and released in 1950 by United Artists, D.O.A. is a film noir mystery/thriller in which LA-based accountant and notary Frank Bigelow (played by Edmund O'Brien) is surreptitiously poisoned while visiting San Francisco. Moreover, the poison is lethal as there is no known antidote for it and will therefore kill him in a week, possibly less. So although Bigelow is presently still alive, he is already functionally murdered. Consequently, he decides to spend his final week alive tracking down his unknown killer and uncovering the cryptic reason why the latter has visited upon him this death sentence. With a compelling plot, full of twists and turns as well as a massive ongoing red herring, D.O.A. duly engaged my interest and attention throughout its 84 minutes running time. I own it on DVD, but please click here if you'd like to watch this entire movie free of charge on YouTube.

 

 

Publicity poster for Help! (© Richard Lester/Walter Shenson Films/Subafilms/United Artists – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

HELP!

My movie watch on 2 July 2024 was Help! – the 'classic' Beatles movie that I'd never previously viewed but had lately purchased in video format. Directed by Richard Lester, and released in 1965 by United Artists, it's all about a Kali-worshipping death cult heavily into human sacrifice who need a precious ring currently (and aptly) being worn by Ringo to place on the finger of their next victim – who may well be Ringo himself if he can't remove the tenaciously-attached item of jewellery from his finger! All manner of madcap chases and pursuits duly ensue, as the ring is being sought not only by the cult's maniacal head priest Clang (played by Leo McKern) but also by megalomaniacal mad scientist (is there any other sort??) Professor Foot (Victor Spinetti) and his clot of a cohort Algernon (Roy Kinnear). And yes, this movie is indeed every bit as barmy as it sounds, albeit imho not necessarily in a good way, filled as it is with disjointed nonsense and deadpan humour that was more dead and panned than humorous. Perhaps the most amazing thing about this movie, I feel, is that someone somewhere somehow felt that it was a good idea at the time. They clearly needed Help! The Beatles choosing to become musicians rather than actors was definitely music's gain – and acting's too! Please click here to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube.

 

 

My official big-box video of Hey Good Lookin' (© Ralph Bakshi/Bakshi Productions/Warner Bros – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

HEY GOOD LOOKIN'

After rewatching the live-action/animation mash-up movie Cool World a few days earlier (click here for my full review of that movie), on 6 July 2024 I rewatched another film conceived and directed by Ralphi Bakshi, this time the fully-animated flick Hey Good Lookin', released in 1982 by Warner Bros after an earlier 1970s version that had been a previous attempt by Bakshi to create a live-action/animation mash-up movie had remained (and still remains) unreleased (but click here to view a very rare promo for it, showing how the four principal animated characters interacted with the live-action world that they inhabited in this earlier version). Set mostly in early 1950s Brooklyn, NYC, its central characters are Vinnie, the cool but cowardly Fonzie-lookalike leader of a greaser gang named The Stompers, and his aptly-named psychotic sidekick Crazy, and culminates in a violent rumble between the Stompers and rival gang the Chaplains, earning the movie an 18 certificate. It contains very slick animation throughout, and is accompanied by some excellent foot-tapping rock'n'roll songs (including the title number), but I found none of the characters in it to be even remotely likeable. I had previously watched this movie only once, about 30 years previously, soon after buying it as a big-box VHS video (pictured here), and which is what I watched again five months ago in July (though I do now own it on DVD too), and experienced a mystifying 'false memory' moment. I would have sworn that during the rumble, Vinnie turns ugly and stabs someone to death, yet watching it this second time, on the same video that I'd watched it on before, no such event takes place. On the contrary, Vinnie cowers behind a car and leaves his gang to do all the fighting. Very curious indeed – a veritable Mandela Effect instance, perhaps (click here for details of what may be another animated film-related Mandela Effect experience of mine, and here for a very famous non-animated movie example of this phenomenon), or just a bad memory on my part? You decide! Please click here to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube.

 

 

My complementary promo full-length movie DVD of The Millionairess given by London's Daily Express newspaper – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

THE MILLIONAIRESS

My movie watch on 9 July 2024 was the British rom-com film The Millionairess. Directed by Anthony Asquith, inspired by the eponymous play by George Bernard Shaw, and released in 1960 by 20^th Century Fox, it stars Italian screen goddess Sophia Loren (Ava Gardner had been Fox's first choice) as Epifania Pererge, the egocentric wealth-obsessed richest woman in the world, and iconic British comic actor Peter Sellers as Dr Ahmed el Kabir, the wealth-indifferent selfless Indian doctor whom she is determined to ensnare as her husband. Several other famous British thespians appeared in supporting roles, such as Alastair Sim, Alfie Bass, Miriam Karlin, Dennis Price, and Graham Stark. Even so, I have to confess that I found it to be nowhere near as funny as I'd been led to believe, probably due to the highly unpleasant, brattish nature of Loren's character, making it very difficult to warm to her. Earlier plans to film Shaw's play with Katharine Hepburn and Alec Guinness in the leading roles never came to fruition. Worth noting, incidentally, is that contrary to numerous claims, the hit Loren/Sellers song 'Goodness Gracious Me' (click here to listen to it on YouTube with scenes from the movie), in which they feature as their characters from this movie (and which contains dialogue from one particular scene in it in which he is medically examining her), never actually appears in the film. It was meant to, but the producers changed their minds about including it, and it was instead released separately, as a means of publicising the film, which it did very effectively as this song went on to become a smash hit in the UK music singles chart. Please click here if you would like to watch this entire movie free of charge on YouTube.

 

 

My official DVD of The Million Pound Note (© Ronald Neame/J. Arthur Rank Organisation/Group Film Productions/General Film Distributors – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

THE MILLION POUND NOTE

On 10 July 2024, my movie watch was, like The Millionairess that I viewed on the previous evening (see mini-review above), a classic but nowadays not so famous British comedy film – The Million Pound Note (aka Man With A Million), which was directed by Ronald Neame, released in 1954 by General Film Distributors, and based upon a Mark Twain story. Set in the late 1800s, it stars Gregory Peck as Henry Adams, a penniless jobless American stranded in London who is presented by two wealthy gamblers with a genuine one million pound banknote, to see whether he can last a month without spending any of it yet still prosper simply by the respectability that possessing it brings to him, or whether he will need to spend at least some of it in order to survive. Henry finds the former prospect to be the one that works very well for him, at least to begin with, but matters become ever more complex, farcical, and hilarious as the month progresses. A host of famous British stars feature in this film, not least of whom are Joyce Grenfell, Wildfrid Hyde-White, Bryan Forbes, Laurence Naismith, Joan Hickson, and Hugh Griffith. Sumptuous decor, sparkling dialogue, and with Joyce Grenfell as a delightfully dotty duchess, how could any such movie possibly go wrong? And it doesn't – it's a total joy throughout. I vaguely remember watching this movie just once before, at least 50 years ago in b/w on TV when I was a teenager, but I had scarcely remembered it at all except for its title, so it was like watching a totally new film when I played my recently-purchased DVD of it. Please click here to watch this movie in its entirety free of charge on YouTube.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

Screen-shot from the original unreleased 1970s live-action/animation mash-up version of Hey Good Lookin' (© Ralph Bakshi/Bakshi Productions/Warner Bros – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

THE GIANT CLAW, AND SO MUCH MORE! MINI-REVIEWING ANOTHER SIX SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY MOVIES

 

Publicity poster for The Giant Claw (© Fred F. Sears/Clover Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Here are another half-dozen mini-reviews of science fiction and fantasy movies that I've watched of late, or very late!

 

 

Another two publicity posters for The Giant Claw (© Fred F. Sears/Clover Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

THE GIANT CLAW

On 19 July 2023, after a mere 64 years since first showing my face in this weird world of ours, I finally watched (in the shape of a very decent colorized version) that classic 'so bad that it's good' 1957 monster movie The Giant Claw, directed (and also narrated) by Fred F. Sears, and released by Columbia Pictures. To be fair, the actual storyline (gigantic alien bird from an antimatter galaxy attacks and destroys numerous military aircraft over North America) and acting (lead star was Jeff Morrow, as civil aeronautical engineer Mitch MacAfee) are decent enough for a 1950s B-movie of this genre. Instead, the problem lies almost entirely with its metaphorical elephant in the drawing room or, to be more literal, its giant bird in the skyline! Owner of this movie's titular talon(s), the bargain-basement model bird utilised is not just fowl but foul – it resembles the kind of tawdry, rubber-necked, bent-beaked ultra-cheapo 'prize' that you might find yourself taking home (or dropping into the nearest garbage bin) after successfully shooting a series of floating plastic ducks at a downtown funfair! Once it makes its first appearance, any hope of taking the movie even remotely seriously thereafter is entirely lost, its mad glazed gaze staring into the camera through a pair of enormous white ping-pong ball-like eyes, and its scrawny plumage recalling an irredeemably clapped-out feather duster! In other words, The Giant Claw is precisely the kind of monstrously crazy creature feature that I just had to review here in my movie blog, especially as I'd previously read so much about it (Morrow confessed in an interview, for instance, that he had crept incognito into a cinema screening this film at its premiere and was so ashamed at the laughter and jeers that arose from the audience each time that the bird appeared on screen that he lost no time in creeping back out in case someone recognised him!; and Ray Harryhausen had originally been selected to create the bird but the movie's budget was so low that they had to use a cut-price alternative model creator in Mexico City instead). And now, finally, I've actually viewed it in all its horrendous glory. A total turkey that's strictly for the birds? Please click here to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube and decide for yourselves! Or click here if you'd like to watch free of charge on YouTube the entire colorized movie version that I watched on there.

 

 

A couple of publicity posters for The Hidden (© Jack Sholder/Heron Communications, Inc./Mega Entertainment/New Line Cinema – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

THE HIDDEN

On 25 October 2024, I finally watched a classic 1980s sci fi movie that I'd long intended to see – The Hidden. Directed by Jack Sholder and released in 1987 by New Line Cinema, it's all about an evil half-insect/half-slug alien that physically occupies a human host to make him/her do its violent will, thereby turning its victim into a homicidal killer before exiting when the host is killed by police etc, and then surreptitiously entering a new human host. Its ultimate goal is to enter and control the next President of the USA, but on its trail is an indefatigable alien law enforcer in the human guise of fake FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher (played by Kyle MacLachlan), assisted by cynical LAPD cop Detective Tom Beck (Michael Nouri), who for much of the film has no idea what on Earth (literally!) is happening. He is particularly perplexed as to why hitherto law-abiding citizens are abruptly turning into mass murderers, until Gallagher eventually has no option but to tell him the jaw-dropping truth. The Hidden is a very tense, thrilling movie that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout, thereby fully justifying this claim as made in one of its posters included here, culminating in a literally explosive climax that at long last publicly exposes the alien villain in its revolting true form to an astonished, horrified human audience, followed by a most unexpected but very moving, touching finale. Highly recommended!! A follow-up film, The Hidden II, was released in 1993, in which it is revealed that the bug/slug alien from the original movie had secretly laid some eggs before being killed, and these are now beginning to hatch – uh-oh… I'll have to seek out this sequel and watch it at some stage. Meanwhile, please click here to watch an official trailer for the original movie on YouTube.

 

 

A publicity poster and an official VHS video of Curse of the Crystal Eye (© John Tornatore/New Horizons – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

CURSE OF THE CRYSTAL EYE

My movie watch on 27 March 2024 was Curse of the Crystal Eye. Directed by Joe Tornatore and released in 1991 by New Horizons, this is one of a seemingly countless number of action/adventure movies spawned by other studios in the wake of Paramount's immensely-successful Indiana Jones blockbusters, in which a rebel character seeks ancient treasure and faces untold life-threatening challenges during his daring quest. In this particular offering, the rebel in question is ex-mercenary Luke Ward (played by Jameson Parker), who is gifted a sizeable priceless crystal that acts as an eye to guide him and his romantic-interest sidekick, namely diplomat's daughter Vickie Philips (Cynthia Payne in her final big-screen role), to the fabled long-hidden treasure of none other than Arabian Nights thief-leader Ali Baba. And guess what? Before you can say "Open Sesame", he and Vickie plus their back-up team of brawny mercenaries duly find the cave in which the ancient temple containing the treasure is concealed – but this is just the beginning, as the cave does not relinquish its splendorous contents quite so easily. Nor are they alone and unchallenged in their mission to relieve the cave of said contents... Curse of the Crystal Eye is an innocuous and mildly entertaining but instantly-forgettable adventure flick that passes 90 minutes' worth of time during a rainy spring afternoon or chilly winter evening, but signally lacks the much-vaunted fiery dragons promised in its publicity material. Shucks! Please click here to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube, or click here to watch the entire movie on there, free of charge..

 

 

French publicity poster for Pitch Black plus this movie's alien life-form the bioraptor (© David Twohy/Grammercy Pictures/Interscope Communications/Universal Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

PITCH BLACK

On 11 August 2024, I watched the sci fi movie Pitch Black, directed by David Twohy and released in 2000 by Universal Pictures. Pitch Black is the first entry in the Chronicles of Riddick film franchise, and it stars Vin Diesel as dangerous, taciturn, and thoroughly enigmatic criminal Richard Riddick. He is one of several passengers to survive the crash-landing of their space-craft on a mysterious desert planet seemingly devoid of all life forms – until an eclipse blocks out its suns. Then the terrifying bioraptors emerge from their caves – very large winged horrors that slaughter most of the passengers as they bid desperately to survive these nocturnal nightmares. A reluctant Riddick decides to help the other passengers, equipped as he is with specially-modified eyes that now possess perfect night vision – very useful during an eclipse where darkness brings forth monstrous entities of the murderous kind, Mercifully, however, these killer creatures are physically wounded by bright light, so the passengers strive frantically to equip themselves with any kind of light source (even capturing tiny bioluminescent creatures inside transparent glass jars to use as living lanterns – these creatures are actually the bioraptors' larvae), and pray that the eclipse will only be of short duration. The bioraptors are superbly designed, totally alien in form, and are seen clearly enough (even in dark scenes), frequently enough, and long enough for my interest to be maintained throughout. So much so, in fact, that I now intend to watch the other three entries (one of which is actually an animated featurette) presently in this series, with a fifth due out in 2025. Very enjoyable. Please click here to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube.

 

 

Three publicity posters for Synchronic (© Justin Benson/Aaron Moorhead/XYZ Films/Patriot Pictures/Rustic Films/Well Go USA Entertainment - – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

SYNCHRONIC

My movie watch on 8 May 2024 was the sci fi thriller Synchronic. Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Benson also wrote and co-produced it), and released in 2019 by Well Go USA Entertainment, it stars Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan as New Orleans paramedics Steve and Dennis. They are also best friends, and are dealing with a series of grisly deaths linked to a mysterious new designer drug after which this movie is named. When Dennis's teenage daughter Brianna vanishes without trace, however, Steve learns from the drug's guilt-ridden creator its top-secret but shocking unexpected side-effect. Whereas adults with a calcified pineal gland who take a tablet of Synchronic can visualise the past and appear in it as ghost-like entities that can be injured or even killed there but physically remain in the present, youngsters with a non-calcified pineal who take a tablet are bodily transported into the past, and without a second tablet they are stuck there, forever! Steve has recently learnt that he has a pineal cancer, which has prevented his pineal gland from calcifying – and so, unlike most adults, if he takes a Synchronic tablet he can actually visit the past physically. Consequently, he uses a stash of tablets to search for Brianna in the past, but will be find her before his stash runs out, especially as Synchronic's creator has meanwhile bought up every available supply of it and destroyed them all before committing suicide? The film would have been interesting were it not so remorselessly bleak, and dark – in every sense. Not only was it overwhelmingly depressing, but also it seemed to have been shot almost entirely at night, filling the screen with shadows and near pitch-black vistas for far too much of its 102-minute running time. Even when Steve visited the past it was almost always at night. Did the studio forget to pay their electricity bill, I wonder? Synchronic offers an unusual premise, certainly, and provides a very poignant ending, but overall it was far too depressing for my tastes. Please click here to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube.

 

 

Two publicity posters for The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (© Henry Levin/George Pal/George Pal Productions/Avernus Productions/MGM – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM

On 12 April 2024, I sought out and, after owning it for many years, finally watched my sell-thru video of the classic 1960s fantasy movie The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, which was co-directed by Henry Levin and George Pal (with Pal also producing it), and also extensively featured marionettes created by Pal for the fairytale segments. Filmed in spectacular curved-screen Cinerama, and released in 1962 by MGM, it is basically a largely imaginary, highly romanticised history of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the two 19th-Century German brothers who famously collected and chronicled many of their homeland's traditional folktales. In the present movie, however, only Wilhelm (played by Laurence Harvey) is portrayed in this way, with Jacob (Karlheinz Böhm) presented as a highbrow law scholar who initially has neither time nor patience for his brother's fairytales, but is eventually won over to his cause, helping Wilhelm with his collating and preserving of them in published book form. Interspersed between the film's biographical storyline are three of their collected fairytales – 'The Dancing Princess' (a constricted version of 'The 12 Dancing Princesses'), 'The Cobbler and the Elves', and 'The Singing Bone', the latter two featuring some wonderful Pal puppetry/stop-motion animation, especially the dragon in 'The Singing Bone', and all three of them are sumptuously staged. A host of famous names also appear, including Russ Tamblyn, Barbara Eden, Jim Backus, Terry-Thomas, Claire Bloom, Martita Hunt, and Yvette Mimieux. This is a delightful movie very reminiscent in execution and whimsical treatment of its two sibling subjects' lives of the 1952 movie musical Hans Christian Andersen with regard to its own titular storyteller (played by Danny Kaye). Grimm by name but certainly not grim by nature, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is definitely a fun-filled, thoroughly enchanting film for all the family to enjoy. Please click here to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

George Pal's stop-motion dragon model from The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (© Henry Levin/George Pal/George Pal Productions/Avernus Productions/MGM – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)