Shamefully and Shamelessly funny

 SCARED TO DEATH (1947)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

What a shame that "Scared to Death" was not directed by Ed Wood because it might have been a bigger hit with the cult movie circuit and probably would've made more sense. Or not. "Scared to Death" might end up as the transcendental trashy Z movie that is so bad it is phenomenally good, kind of like Tommy Wiseau's "The Room." In both cases, they are actually not about anything yet they hold a certain attraction because, at least, they tried. Or maybe not.

This is the first movie to be narrated by a corpse (I thought the great and tantalizing "Sunset Blvd." was the first, but oh well). This may also be the only movie in history where the corpse is not only narrating beyond the grave but also from a slab at the mausoleum (every few minutes, the movie cuts back to her on the slab which is more than likely the same shot repeated ad nauseam). The story goes that a frustrated woman (Molly Lamont) died because she became literally scared to death of a floating green mask that reminded her of her magician husband (her second husband is someone she's seeking a divorce from). The question is who was wearing the green mask and who scared her? Is it an apparition? Was it Bela Lugosi as Professor Leonide, himself a magician, or his dwarf assistant named Indigo (Angelo Rossitto)? Was it the stoic doctor named Dr. Ee who was treating her (George Zucco)? Was it the inquisitive reporter or his girlfriend? Was it the comical cop at the asylum (Nat Pendleton, such a comically entertaining performance that is at odds with the rest of the movie) who is hoping for a homicide so he can solve it and get back on the police force? Will anyone care? Should I give away what happens? I suppose we can say that the green mask (and a green scarf) have something to do with this woman selling her first husband out to the Nazis! It is not clear if he has come back as a phantasm or does the woman only imagine him as a ghost, or who knows what. The disembodied voice travels through the walls and can be heard by others so I dunno.

"Scared to Death" is based on a one-act play called "Murder on the Operating Table," which was apparently based on a 1933 murder case involving Dr. Alice Wynekoop (this particular true-life case is far more fascinating than the farcical mischief of this movie). This movie's main distinction is that it is one of two or three films to have ever had Bela Lugosi appearing in color. The colors are from a Cinecolor process, which looks like the tinting process used by Ted Turner back in the 1980's to colorize B&W films. Shamefully bad movie, no matter how it looks, and shamefully and shamelessly funny in an idiotic good/bad movie way. 

Marginally exciting John Wayne/Johnny Mack Brown western

 HELL TOWN (1937)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I am a sucker for older black-and-white westerns from the 1930's and 40's. Anything to do with the frontier, the local town with a general store, cattle rustling and so on, I watch avidly. Not of all these one-hour long westerns of this period (before John Ford and Howard Hawks improved on them hundredfold) are terrific entertainments, and some are rather wobbly paced. "Hell Town," also known as "Born to the West," is not terrific but it is marginally exciting for what it delivers. Its got John Wayne wearing a 10-gallon hat and it has the sweet sugar on top with the added presence of the charismatic John Mack Brown (the only film they appeared in together).

Wayne is Dare Rudd, a penniless cowhand who travels with his partner, Dinky Hooley (Syd Saylor), an anxious lightning rod salesman who tries to sell lightning rods to anyone. The twosome ride into Montana with Dare hoping to make his way to Wyoming. After a gunfight during a cattle stampede in Montana, they come across Dare's own cousin, Tom Fillmore (Johnny Mack Brown), a cattleman and banker who Dare jokingly says, "he's half of Wyoming." Love comes calling when Dare is smitten by Judy (Marsha Hunt) who is Tom's girl. Well, gee, who would Judy prefer? 

"Hell Town" is not really a love story and in its 55-minute running time, we need room for poker games where the decks are switched by the bartender; a cattle stampede, which is practically par the course for any western landscape (directly lifted in the opening sequence from random stock footage); several gunfights; rattlesnakes; a double-dealing poker player who is "the best poker player west of the Mississippi," and the usual camaraderie between cowhands about who to trust. Since Dare is about to earn 10,000 dollars for delivering cattle, you know someone is looking to make a buck for themselves. 

John Wayne's role as a troublemaking gambler who needs protection, especially in poker games, is contrary to the type of tough cowboy he would famously play later on. Johnny Mack Brown has a certain kind of cool charisma that proved its worth in several low-budget westerns he appeared in. Syd Saylor is frontier comic relief and welcomed in this rudimentary western. "Hell Town" (its new title upon its first reissue) is an engaging enough western as a reminder of the genre's roots in simplicity before evolving into the grander, sometimes darker vision of John Ford and others that followed.

FOOTNOTE: Both John Wayne and Johnny Mack Brown played football in their early years.

Are we not men?

 ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When you watch the creepy, far too effectively haunting "Island of Lost Souls," you are watching a film that could've been made by a madman. By all accounts, director Erle C. Kenton ("House of Frankenstein") was no madman but he did make a maddening masterpiece of horror that went beyond anything else in theaters at the time. All masterpieces tend to have minor flaws (no film is really ever perfect though they may be perfectly realized) yet "Island of Lost Souls" is practically flawless in its unsavory atmosphere, restrained performances and execution of disturbing subject matter. It is a horror film yet I must say that in retrospect with all the released horror pictures of the 1930's including "Frankenstein" and "Dracula," it is quite horrific.

From the start, something is afoot. A shipwrecked, unshaven survivor, Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) awakens as if he has seen something horrific. The following day, he's ready to embark on a voyage to meet his fiancee yet the captain doesn't want him on board and throws him out. Parker didn't like the way the captain treated M'ling (Tetsu Komai), a servant to a certain Dr. Moreau, yet notices a distinctive feature in M'Ling, a furry ear! So Parker ends up on Dr. Moreau's boat and they are off to Moreau's island. Big mistake because it turns out that the white-suited Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton, a devilishly undercooked performance) is a scientist who has an island full of half-men, half-animal hybrid creatures. They all speak and they know the Law (the laws include repeated phrases like "Are we not men?" and "Do not eat meat" and "Do not spill blood"), obeying their master as if he was some deity. There is much here that may remind some of the famous Joseph Conrad novel, "Heart of Darkness," which of course was later adapted into "Apocalypse Now."

There is also a timid woman on this island, Lota (Kathleen Burke), a former panther creature who is practically wholly human female. Moreau wants to do further experiments (changing animals through vivisection into humans) and hopes that Parker will impregnate Lota! And if that doesn't work, well, there is Parker's fiancee, Ruth (Leila Hyams), who locates Parker in this island and is more than dismayed by these hybrids. If Parker won't impregnate Lota, then perhaps one of the bulkier half-ape creatures will do their due diligence with Ruth!

As you can imagine, this movie's story (based on H.G. Wells late 1890's novel) was too much for 1930's audiences and certain scenes and lines of dialogue were censored for American audiences. "Island of Lost Souls" was also banned in nine different countries, including Great Britain. Though most of it might seem diluted compared to many other horror films of the last 80 years, few have the verve and outright manic tension of "Island of Lost Souls." Every scene, every nightmarish shot is maximized by a foggy atmosphere (par the course in those days) and an undercurrent of complete discomfort. The introduction of Lota by Dr. Moreau is underscored by tension, that somehow her very presence smacks of something unclean and perverse (which of course it is). Those are the quiet scenes, and then we have the House of Pain which is the lab where the nasty experiments occur. Noises, screams of agony are heard everywhere in the soundtrack, not just in the House of Pain. 

Everything is heightened in this movie except for the performances. Charles Laughton, one of the finest actors of the 20th century, exudes a great deal of reserve in his Dr. Moreau and no wonder - had the character been too colorful or too over-the-top, it would dilute the horror. Same with Richard Arlen, the straight man who is repulsed by what is happening on this island. Kathleen Burke is a stunningly agile actress, and her very movements sometimes seem panther-like (Burke actually retired from acting at the age of 25!) Only Leila Hyams as Ruth is generally wasted - I suppose the role of a blonde fiancee was needed amidst all the creatures since her role was invented and is not to be found in H.G. Wells' original novel. Let's not forget Bela Lugosi as one of the hybrids, the actual Sayer of the Law who famously repeats the phrase, "Are we not men?" He's got one horrifying close-up that has become part of the iconography of this film.

A few thoughts occurred to me while watching "Island of Lost Souls." If these animals become men, are they still animals? If they are men, do they have souls? The one true animal in "Island of Lost Souls" is Dr. Moreau, a sadist with no soul. Frightening thought, frightening and vital piece of horror cinema.

Sherlock Holmes is largely absent

 THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1939)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

It is unusual to see Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes in an abbreviated role as the famous grand sleuth - naturally his presence is barely felt throughout "The Hound of the Baskervilles." This is the first film to feature the iconically cast Rathbone as the violin-playing, cigar-smoking and occasionally needle-needing Scotland Yard detective whose powers of intuition surprise everyone except himself. If only there was more of him.

The opening scenes at the moors of the Baskerville estate in Devonshire suggest Universal horror imaginings, evoking something supernatural. An older man, Sir Charles Baskerville, runs through the foggy moors from a fierce and hungry dog or a wolf, falls over and dies. There is the legend of the Baskerville curse and the story goes that several centuries earlier, Sir Hugo Baskerville was killed by this devil dog, this alleged hound from Hell. Every since then, all generations of Baskervilles have been killed by the same dog including Sir Charles. What does this all mean? And will Sir Henry Baskerville (Richard Greene), the last of the Baskervilles, be the next intended victim or is there a grander scheme involving a huge family fortune?

Now how on earth is the witty Sherlock Holmes going to deduce anything worthwhile out of this except to prove that the hound theory is hogwash? Back at Baker Street, Dr. Mortimer (Lionel Atwill) who was good friends with Sir Charles, is trying to determine that Sir Charles died from heart failure following the prospect of an attack from the hound. So Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce), Holmes' assistant, is sent by Holmes to investigate the matter at Devonshire, although why send Watson packed with a gun for protection? Probably because the character's slight incompetence in determining a murder case's probable outcomes was not marked as a hindrance in this entry - Watson's weak analysis of details only progressed in subsequent Holmes films. Leaving dear Sherlock out of this story (as was the case with the book) is problematic and doesn't serve the narrative or build any real momentum either. The real truth is that author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had no intention to make this a Sherlock Holmes story, and I am sure that also meant leaving out Dr. Watson altogether.

This is the case where the book is far more fun to read than seeing the film adaptation. "Hound of the Baskervilles" is still one of the weaker Holmes stories and one of the weakest Basil Rathbone entries (just as weak is "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror" which had Rathbone's Holmes sans his deerstalker cap in a WWII scenario involving Nazis) yet it is still sort of fun to watch once Holmes is involved in the case towards the last twenty minutes (he disguises himself as an old coot selling various trinkets). For Holmes completists, check it out and for others, prepare to be bored by the first half of the movie.