STREETS OF SIN

 

The official UK ex-rental big box video of Streets of Sin (© Éduardo Molinaro/Gaumont International/Productions 2000 – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Just for a change, today's Shuker In MovieLand blog post is far less of a film review and much more of a cinematic detective story. Allow me to explain.

After being perplexed for some time by the film under consideration here, namely Streets of Sin, on 2 January 2021 I finally decided to throw the case open to the public, by posting the following account on my Facebook page, and also on several FB movie/video groups of which I'm a member, including my own FFTF group (click here to access it), in the fervent hope that someone could offer any information or welcome insights concerning this very mysterious movie on video:

Firstly, Happy New Year! Secondly, does anyone know anything about this mystifying ex-rental big box movie, Streets of Sin? I recently saw this pic of it online [i.e. the picture opening this present blog article], which brought back memories of seeing it in the rental shops back in the late 1980s/early 1990s, though I never rented it. I've also seen one on offer for £25 plus p&p online, but before I think about paying that much to get it, I'd like to know something about this movie in case it turns out not to be of interest to me, yet I can't find anything about it at all anywhere. It's like the movie doesn't exist!

I've checked out biogs of all four actors/actresses named on the cover, on IMDb, Wikipedia, etc, but this movie is not listed for any of them. I've googled its title, nothing, google-imaged it, nothing. No clips or trailer for it on YouTube or DailyMotion. I can't even find the year that it was released. The one on offer online includes a photo of the very brief description of it on its back cover [see below for it], but no other details (director, production company, release date, etc).

As all four actors/actresses are French or French-born (Michel Lonsdale = famous French-British actor Michael Lonsdale), I've even tried finding out if it was originally released in French under a different title, but again nothing.

So any info about this mystery movie would be very welcome - thanks very much in hopeful advance!

A few days then passed by uneventfully, my plaintive plea for assistance receiving no positive responses. Then longstanding FB friend Duncan Ingram weighed in with what proved to be the exceedingly unexpected but greatly welcomed solution to this very tenacious film-related riddle.

It turns out that the above-depicted video's front cover and title are what might be best thought of as highly imaginative interpretations of the movie itself. So too might the following short description of the movie present on the video's back cover:

A film of subterfuge and adultery set against a background of industrial intrigue. A grim picture of mental stress and unrest which could hardly be equalled in modern cinematography.

For in reality, and to my considerable surprise, this movie is in fact a 1989 English-dubbed version of the 1975 French film La Téléphone Rose (The Pink Telephone), which in turn is actually a stylish, fairly lighthearted comedy-drama directed by Éduardo Molinaro. Needless to say, therefore, it is very far removed indeed from the ostensibly hard-hitting, gritty action flick that the above video's front-cover artwork, back-cover description, and title might conceivably suggest.

I haven't watched this movie, but according to the short précis given for it on IMDb:

A small industrialist from Toulouse goes to Paris to negotiate the buyout of his company from an American financial group. During his stay, the representative of the large firm calls on a luxury call girl to facilitate their "business".

Just as you should always not judge a book by its cover, it may not always be wise to do the same with a movie video either, it would seem…

Finally, just for the sake of completeness, please click here if you'd like to view on YouTube an official trailer for La Téléphone Rose – very suave, very 1970s, and very French, but not a sinful street in sight!

My sincere thanks to Duncan Ingram for solving this quite bizarre cinematic conundrum.

And to view a complete 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!

 

KILL SLADE

 

My official ex-rental big box videocassette of Kill Slade (© D. Bruce McFarlane/Heyns Film Productions/RCA/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

How many of you have ever seen or even heard of the movie Kill Slade? The reason I ask is that it just so happens to be a longstanding favourite of mine, yet whenever I mention this film to anyone I am almost invariably met with a blank stare and a shake of the head. So here is my bold bid to bring what imho is yet another unjustly neglected 1980s movie out of the cold and into the limelight.

Directed by (D.) Bruce McFarlane, and released in 1989, Kill Slade is a (very) little-known South African action/comedy film that falls fair and square into the Raiders of the Lost Ark/Romancing the Stone genre of adventure movie, and which I've watched several times and always thoroughly enjoyed. Yet because it was very low budget, it has never attracted a fraction of the attention that those above-noted blockbusters have done.

Kill Slade stars Patrick Dollaghan as the eponymous Slade, a former American mercenary now turned wildlife ranger, living and working in the (fictional) poverty-stricken central African country of Congella (filming actually took place in South Africa). Despite trying to lead a reformed, trouble-free existence, however, Slade remains still very much in the sights of various of his far from salubrious erstwhile associates, and one day he is contacted by just such an acquaintance, Flannigan (played by Danny Keogh), who is being troubled by a tenaciously nosey and seriously feisty female journalist named J.J., short for Jennifer Jameson. (Lisa Brady).

Because J.J. is due to arrive in Congella where Slade resides, in order for her to report upon a nefarious scheme to divert much-needed United Nations food aid from its intended legitimate source (a scheme that had already led to J.J.'s photographer partner being murdered after he'd attempted to snap pictures of some incriminating evidence), Flannigan calls in a favour. He offers to pay a financially embarrassed Slade handsomely if he will simply kidnap J.J. and keep her hidden for a few days. Although he fails to give Slade a plausible explanation as to why he needs this to be done, Slade is more than attracted by the sum of money being offered to avoid jeopardizing it by asking potentially awkward questions.

What Flannigan also fails to mention to Slade, however, is that he is covertly operating as the chief henchman of Mannie Kostas (Anthony Fridjhon), the shadowy mastermind who is heading the food aid scam, which will divert the United Nations funds into Kostas's own account. Moreover, Flannigan is the person who secretly murdered J.J.'s partner, once again at Kostas's behest.

Similarly, in order to save Kostas's scheme, and therefore himself as well, Flannigan will have no compunction in permanently removing Slade and J.J. too, once Slade has abducted her for him. Nothing personal, of course, but dead men (and women) tell no tales, and all that… Needless to say, however, as is true in all such movies, things do not go according to plan, especially when Slade realizes that he is being lethally double-crossed by his old compatriot.

Not only that, Slade and J.J., who initially loathe each other with a passion, soon discover that if they are to get out of this exceedingly dangerous situation alive, evading death at the sundry weapons of a deranged band of albino hunters on Flannigan's pay roll, not to mention the mixed ministrations of the local tribal shaman, they will actually need to work together and trust one another – which is when the sparks really begin to fly!

I don't ever recall seeing Kill Slade in the TV schedules here in the UK, but, happily, long after originally hiring it out from a video rental shop way back in the early 1990s when such shops were hugely popular in Britain, I succeeded in buying an ex-rental big box video of it at a closing-down sale of one such shop when the fad for renting videos ultimately passed. And as I still own a fully-functional VCR, every so often I play this and various other obscure videocassette-format movies that I own and enjoy. Time for another viewing of Kill Slade, methinks.

Speaking of which: is it just me, or have you also noticed that in the front cover illustration of the official Kill Slade video pictured here, J.J. inexplicably appears to lack a lower torso and legs, and the crocodile seems to be seizing hold of Slade's leg with a prehensile tail! All very weird...

Anyway, if you'd like to see an official trailer for Kill Slade, please click here (sadly, the reproduction quality is not too good, but you'll get the basic idea).

And to view a complete 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!

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH & IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA – A RAY HARRYHAUSEN DOUBLE-BILL!

 

My official Columbia Tristar VHS video containing a classic Ray Harryhausen movie double-bill – 20 Million Miles To Earth and It Came From Beneath The Sea - please click picture to enlarge it for reading purposes (© Ray Harryhausen/Nathan H. Juran/Morningside Productions/Columboa Pictures/Columbia Tristar Videos & Ray Harryhausen/Robert Gordon/Clover Productions/Columbia Pictures/Columbia Tristar Videos – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Down through the years, I've watched all of stop-motion animation maestro Ray Harryhausen's classic monster/fantasy movies many times – all but one, that is. For reasons that I simply can't explain (especially as I've owned it on an official Columbia Tristar VHS video since April 2000 – a double-bill video, in fact, that also includes another Harryhausen b/w classic, It Came From Beneath The Sea, which I've seen on TV), I've never watched it once, until 6 January 2021. The film in question is 20 Million Miles To Earth (also released with the title The Beast From Space).

Directed by Nathan H, Juran, produced by Charles H. Schneer (famed for his many feature film collaborations with Ray), and released in 1957, this superb b/w monster movie deals with a creature brought back in eggcase form from the first-ever manned return journey to Venus. However, it soon hatches while unattended, and duly grows ever bigger and more ferocious when constantly threatened by humans and other Earth species. Eventually it goes on the rampage in Rome, causing mayhem and wholesale destruction, including turning the famous Colosseum from ancient Roman times into an even bigger ruin than it already was!

Featuring William Hopper (as the Venus spacecraft's pilot Colonel Robert Calder), Frank Puglia (elderly zoologist Dr Leonardo), and Joan Taylor (Dr Leonardo's adult granddaughter Marisa, aka Calder's love interest) as its human stars, 20 Million Miles To Earth is an engrossing movie. Certainly, it kept me thoroughly entertained for its entire 83-minute duration – which is more than I can say for many modern-day CGI-laden flicks.

Moreover, the alien creature is, as ever, designed and animated superbly by Ray. One scene, showing it battling an elephant, is very reminiscent of a more graphic version that appears in a later, full-colour Harryhausen movie, The Valley of Gwangi (1969), where it is the titular dinosaur that slays the poor unfortunate pachyderm.

Speaking of the alien creature: I've long been intrigued that it is always referred to in documentations of this film as the ymir, and especially so after now discovering that this term is never used for it anywhere in the movie. In fact, the creature is not referred to by any specific name at all in it. However, I have since been informed that Ray had originally planned to call the movie The Giant Ymir. So that is where the name is derived from, even though it was never ultimately used in the movie itself.

If you'd like to learn more about the ymir, please click here to access a detailed online account of this alien entity. And click here for an official 20 Million Miles To Earth trailer on YouTube to whet your appetite. Also worthy of note is that a colorized version of this movie now exists (in which the ymir is green in hue), produced with Ray's assistance in 2007 and released later that same year on DVD – definitely one for me to look out for!

 

A gif of the ymir in 20 Million Miles To Earth (© Ray Harryhausen/Nathan H. Juran/Morningside Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

A few days after watching 20 Million Miles To Earth on my Ray Harryhausen double-bill video, I watched its other classic b/w monster movie by Ray, It Came From Beneath The Sea, because many years had passed since I'd last watched this cryptozoology-themed film, on TV.

Directed by Robert Gordon, again produced by Charles H. Schneer, and released in 1955, the 'it' in It Came From Beneath The Sea is a gargantuan octopus, one that as a result of nearby hydrogen bomb activity has been forced out into open waters from its previous deepsea seclusion within the Philippine Trench at the bottom of the western North Pacific Ocean. Moreover, it is now not only a physical danger to swimmers and vessels in the area, but because of said hydrogen bomb activity it is also radioactive. Step forward the US Military, led by Commander Pete Mathews (played by Kenneth Tobey), in conjunction with a team of marine biologists headed by Prof. Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue), in a bold bid to dispatch the maritime menace before it lays waste to San Francisco Bay and the city itself.

So far so good, but unfortunately much of this promising movie is devoted to what soon becomes very tedious, long-drawn-out romantic interplay between the two lead characters, not to mention what by today's standards includes some jaw-dropping male chauvinism and patronizing behaviour by the (not so) good Commander to the besotted Prof. Speaking of whom: despite being supposedly the world expert in her field, she seems almost incapable of offering any response other than "I don't know" when asked for her opinion concerning anything remotely marine biological or for her prediction as to what the tentacle-brandishing behemoth is likely to do next. So it is the Commander who makes all of the brave, vital decisions instead, whereas the Prof. tends merely to shriek a lot when faced with danger.

Ah well, as I've said elsewhere, it's pointless criticizing the content of movies from long-bygone times by referencing present-day mores and niceties. The world has changed since then, and will continue to change for as long as it exists. Far better simply to acknowledge the truth of what is succinctly stated in a famous quote from L.P. Hartley's celebrated 1953 novel The Go-Between: "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there".

Unsurprisingly, by far the best thing in It Came From the Sea is the monster that did. Namely, Ray's giant octopus, which is why it is so frustrating that this colossal cephalopod barely makes an appearance until the second half of the movie. Actually, I call it an octopus, but technically it is a hexapus, because it only sports six tentacles instead of the eight that are obligatory for an octopus to live up to its name. However, its limited limb count was due not to an unfortunate oversight but rather to a deliberate decision by Ray, who rightly felt that it would be difficult enough to animate six independently moving tentacles by stop-motion techniques, let alone eight. And to be fair, the scenes in which the octopus, or hexapus, is most clearly visible are more than sufficiently action-packed for any but the most zoologically-pedantic of viewers (i.e. moi) to notice that there are only six tentacles flailing about in the fray.

Of the two movies on this Ray Harryhausen double-bill video, in my opinion 20 Million Miles To Earth is by far the superior one. Even so, It Came From Beneath The Sea is well worth watching too, especially the octopus scenes, which show Ray's genius at work in classic, inimitable style as ever. Moreover, as with the former movie, there is now a colorized version of it to look out for too. Finally, if you'd like to watch an octopus-featuring excerpt from this monster movie, just click here to view a colorized one on YouTube.

And to view a complete 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! 

 

A dramatic photo-still from It Came From Beneath The Sea (© Ray Harryhausen/Robert Gordon/Clover Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

 

MAX STEEL

 

Publicity banner for Max Steel (© Stewart Hendler/Dolphin Films/Mattel Playground Productions/Ingenious Media/Open Road Films – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Courtesy of the British TV channel Film4, on 21 January 2021 I watched the live-action super-hero movie Max Steel (as opposed to the animated TV series and movie featuring this same character), which was directed by Stewart Hendler, released in 2016, and based upon the eponymous action figure toy line produced by Mattel.

It's not often that a movie receives a rating of 0% on the Rotten Tomatoes website. Consequently, I was expecting a total disaster, but was pleasantly surprised – although in view of the fact that I almost invariably love the movies that critics hate, I suppose that I really shouldn't have been.

Max Steel is all about a teenager named Max McGrath (played by Ben Winchell) who begins emitting powerful, unstable tachyonic energy (no, me neither), but he is stabilised by a small yet exceedingly garrulous flying machine-like alien named Steel, who very fortuitously lives exclusively upon tachyonic energy (as you do). He also wants to bond with Max and protect him, which he does, creating during their bonding sessions the armour-clad dual entity Max Steel – so that's where the movie's title comes from. Never say that this blog isn't educational!

Moreover, it's just as well that Steel has turned up, because it now turns out that Max is being hunted down by immensely powerful, tornado-engendering aliens called ultralinks, but which just so happen to look exactly like Steel... Plus Max's father Jim, who died in mysterious circumstances when Max was just a baby, is directly linked to all of the mysteries now threatening to encompass him.

Who can Max turn to for help? Neither his mother nor his girlfriend – they just wouldn't undrstand...or would they? How about Dr Miles Edwards (played by Andy Garcia), his father's friend and co-worker? Hmmm….

True, Max Steel is hardly Avatar, nor indeed Gone With The Wind or Citizen Kane, but neither does it deserve the immense amount of opprobrium that has been heaped upon it. On the contrary, Max Steel passed 90 minutes or so very enjoyably for me, which is what I look for in a film (and which in turn is why I have since purchased it on DVD). So call me easily pleased, I can take it!

And if you're interested in finding out for yourself what Max Steel is like, please click here to view an official trailer for it on YouTube. You can thank me later.

And to view a complete 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!