That's Incredible!

SAFETY LAST! (1923)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(One of my Top 20 Greatest Films Ever Made)

"Safety Last" is one of those rollickingly rickety, hysterically funny roller-caster rides that packs in the thrills with such delirium, you are often surprised at yourself. It is the Harold Lloyd movie-movie, the one that cemented his status as the physical comedian of the impossible. It is also one of those movies where you will literally need to hang on to something.

The Boy (Harold Lloyd) is an employee at the fabrics counter of the De Vore department store. His roots are from an unnamed small town where his hopeful future-wife-to-be (played by Lloyd's real-life wife, Mildred Davis) hopes he makes it big in the city. Well, he has a job but he is not a manager as he claims. Guess who decides to make a surprise visit in the city to see the Boy doing his managerial duties? This is the standard Lloyd comic routine where he works in his fast-paced physical comic timing, in this case proving to his fiancee that he is the manager. This includes last-minute exits and entrances into the manager's office, and the pressing of many alarm buttons for the various workers to enter the office.

When the Boy finds that his roommate, Bill (Bill Strother, his sole acting role), can scale a building like nobody's business, he comes up with a bright idea - convince the De Vore department store that hundreds of customers will show up for an event where his human fly friend will climb the De Vore building and reach the top floor. Plus, there is a 1000 dollars prize at stake!

"Safety Last" has plenty of terrific gags, most of them centered on Lloyd either making it to work on time or handling his customers in a timely fashion. There is nothing funnier than seeing Lloyd pretend he is a mannequin; control a crowd of customers (especially one indecisive customer that anyone who has ever worked in retail can relate to), or squeeze himself into a coat hanging on a rack! Still, the film is mostly iconic for the Lloyd set piece that none of his contemporaries (Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin) have ever attempted. Rumors have surfaced that Lloyd had the assistance of his human fly to scale the De Vore skyscraper. There are probably many trick shots here to emphasize scale or distortion thereof, but you almost always see the street of onlookers below so you have to believe (in a world where CGI and computers were not invented yet) that Lloyd is really putting his life on the line. No matter how he did it, he accomplished it with tactless skill. Whether it is a mouse running up his pant leg or seeing him dangling from a huge clock (the most iconic image and central to the film's theme) or a host of pigeons pecking him, the sequence is easily the most thrilling, hair-raising, goose-pimpling footage ever recorded in film history. Most of it seems real and death-defying enough  to make your skin crawl, your nerves jangle and your hands clammy (back in the day, it was rumored that some filmgoers fainted watching this sequence). Lloyd successfully recaptured the magic of this sequence in 1930's "Feet First" but it is this film that really packs on the thrills and chills. 

"Safety Last" is all about ambition for its hero to literally climb his way to the top and make his fiancee happy for him. Antiquated notions aside, the film is superior Lloyd entertainment with an emphasis on physical stunts that will astound everyone. He created a world of wonder and an iconic image of the hapless hero with trademark horn-rimmed glasses and we can be happy that it is forever captured on celluloid. 

Blood, Payroll and Bullets

NIGHT PASSAGE (1957)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Sometimes an old-fashioned western shot in Technirama (one of the first films to use this process) with James Stewart as capable of playing the accordion as he is firing a weapon is all one needs on a relaxing Saturday afternoon. You could do worse but there is something rather wonderful about James Neilson's "Night Passage" even though the movie is hardly one of the hallmarks of the Western genre. It is not just the richness of the Colorado vistas and sharpness of the widescreen format that make it often visually stunning. It is the performances, the gestures, the body language - James Stewart and Audie Murphy round out the cast and give the film an added measure of depth that is otherwise missing in the script.

As westerns go, there is only a wisp of a plot. Stewart is Grant McLaine, a skilled accordion player who is hired by his ex-railroad boss to hand deliver the railroad payroll to the workers. The trick is to deliver it without it getting in the hands of a few choice villainous thieves, one of them being the black-clad Utica Kid (Audie Murphy) who appears to be the kindest of the lot (plot twists allow him to be kinder). Nobody will suspect Grant has the payroll, nobody except for the Utica Kid. Of course, easier said than done as there are a couple of gunfights, a few brawls inside saloons and trains before lassoing the bad guys who try to harm the kid from "Shane" (Brandon deWilde), a thrilling shootout at an abandoned mine, you get the idea.

"Night Passage" is all about the exquisitely pretty pictures and this one (original director Anthony Mann dropped out and had a tiff with Stewart) is about as picaresque as you can imagine. But it is also about attitude and behavior - Stewart has a quick-as-a-trigger moment where he exchanges smiles with his ex-boss (Jay C. Flippen) after an awkward meeting. Also look at Stewart's scene with Charlotte (Dianne Foster) where they drink coffee together - there is an intimacy that is verbally unspoken. And we know Audie Murphy's Utica Kid intends to let Stewart get out of this ordeal alive. Look out for a sprightly turn by Olive Carey as Miss Vittles who suggests to Stewart that during the cold months, he will either need a woman or a good coat! For older film fans, let us not forget the amazing Jack Elam (when was he not amazing?) in a role he apparently hated playing. I wonder what he thought of his role in "The Creature From Black Lake" but I digress.

"Night Passage" is not a sumptuous John Ford type western, nor it is as complex as anything Anthony Mann might have made. Still, it is spirited fun and has a few minor surprises that elevate the material a little. 

The Duke abides in quickie, traditional western

THE LUCKY TEXAN (1934)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

At a brisk 53 minutes, "The Lucky Texan" is a rudimentary western that tells a tale of greed in the days of gold prospecting with humor and panache. It is hardly great filmmaking but it is exuberant in many ways, evoking a forgotten era where you could have fistfights, shootouts and plenty of humor to make up for loss of character depth. Besides, you got the larger-than-life the Duke, Mr. John Wayne himself, in some early 1 hour efforts before he made his bigger splash with "Stagecoach" five years later.

Wayne gives his character Jerry Mason the stalwart, braver-than-thou qualities that would later characterize Wayne as the mythic legend of the cinematic Old West. The fairly slim story has Jerry returning from college to work as a blacksmith with his father's old, gregarious friend Jake 'Grandy' Benson (George 'Gabby' Hayes, in a boisterous performance). They notice a horse's hoof may have come in contact with gold and seek the lake with the lucky strike. Once Jerry and Jake bring gold to be appraised at the assay office, the officers decide they want to strike it rich themselves, framing Jerry for murder and having Jake unknowingly sign his ranch away to them, post-Great Depression era.

"The Lucky Texan" has all the familiar trappings of any B-movie western and would more likely be forgotten had it not been for John Wayne's heroics (including sliding down a water chute to catch up with the bad guys) and George Hayes who even dresses in drag! This is one of the Duke's sixteen Lone Star B-movies before switching to Republic Pictures and eventually John Ford. Worth seeing for historical value and some quick fast-food entertainment, not to mention legendary Yakima Canutt in a small role and serving as stuntman. 

Boost up the morale with invisibility

INVISIBLE AGENT (1942)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Talk about a wildly tonal shift in a series that had no consistent formula, well except for the invisibility factor. "Invisible Agent" is the fourth entry in "The Invisible Man" series and one terminally strange sequel. This one, full of political, anti-Nazi propaganda, follows "The Invisible Woman," a sequel that was apparently more screwball than serious (still unseen by me). As for "Invisible Agent," it is a tremendously entertaining sequel that has a comedic middle that almost wrecks the narrative. Still, for a good B-movie night, you could do worse.

Dr. Jack Griffin's grandson (Jon Hall) works at a New York print shop under a pseudonym. The reason is clear: Griffin's grandson has got the invisibility formula and knows that under the wrong hands, it can be used in a time of war (Griffin's grandfather was in the first "Invisible Man" movie). Naturally, some Nazis show up at the print shop wanting that formula. Violence breaks out and Griffin escapes, almost suffering a near amputation by a paper cutting machine! As for the war effort, well, this is World War II and Griffin goes on a secret mission to Germany where he ingests the formula to be invisible to the Nazis. Only trouble is that Germany is rather cold and the invisibility only works if you have no clothes on (Yep, he is naked throughout this movie). The mission is to retrieve a list of Nazi and Japanese spies working in the U.S. with the help of a coffin-maker (!) and, in one of the film's most surprisingly good performances, Ilona Massey as Maria Sorenson, a German espionage agent who has a few tricks up her sleeve.

I shan't say more because "Invisible Agent" is equal parts comedy, suspense and thriller. The comedy routine during a somewhat tiresome dinner sequence with Gestapo Standartenführer Karl Heiser (J. Edward Bromberg) and Sorenson manifests as something of the slapstick variety that would've been at home in a Marx Brothers movie. Also, one must escape the notion of a Japanese agent working in cahoots with the Nazis played by none other than Peter Lorre, a fine performance in a role that should've been played by an Asian actor (brings up memories of John Wayne playing Genghis Khan and Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's"). I will be honest - it did not occur to me that Lorre was playing a Japanese agent until his character, well, you will see during the finale.

What works in the movie is the sheer escapism of it all including a bunch of fight scenes with Nazis falling over each other, unable to see the titular character's punches. "Invisible Agent" is also equal parts silly and absurd yet it has the fantastic Cedric Hardwicke as an insidiously evil lieutenant general of the S.S., Stauffer, who has got his hands on that list. Massey is glamorously watchable as Sorenson and Jon Hall, only seen briefly in the opening of the film, has only his disembodied voice to carry us through the movie. It is not at the caliber of Vincent Price or Claude Rains but whose voice is?

Venusian women at your disposal

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS (1953)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Between the bumbling Lou Costello who always broke the fourth wall and his sidekick, the straight man Bud Abbott who frequently slapped and shouted at Lou, there were few genuinely iconic comedic duos that tickled the funny bone almost every time they were on screen. I say almost because "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" is one of their weakest comedic outings with far too many lulls and not enough gags. Even a lot of Lou Costello can go a long way in this one.

This time, Lou runs from the cops after smashing a store window with a remote-controlled rocket spaceship. Lou is apparently an orphan at the Hideaway Orphans Home but that is besides the point. During his getaway, he hides in a delivery truck headed for a top secret base where an actual spaceship is about to be launched to Mars. Of course Lou, who is initially mistaken for a scientist in a rather flat comic bit, ends up in the spaceship with Abbott and off they go to Mars after an accidental launch. Naturally, they get nowhere near there as they land back on Earth in New Orleans yet they both think they are in Mars. You see, it is Mardi Gras and everyone is partying in costumes with gigantic walking heads! Eventually, there is another launch with two bank robbers along for the ride. Oh, yes, and they all end up in Venus!

The movie spends an inordinate amount of time in New Orleans, so much so that the film should've been retitled "Abbott and Costello Go to Venus via New Orleans." Not much of that footage made me laugh and the two thieves (Jack Kruschen and Horace McMahon) are about as one-note as the gags. However, once the team arrives in Venus, the film perks up a little and has a little bounce to it with some terrifically eye-popping sets. Venus is populated by women and Lou is having a tough time impressing the Queen of Venus (Mari Blanchard) when all these other women are cavorting with him. Even Abbott enjoys some of the female action. Still, only the last twenty minutes has more laughs than the rest of the film (though some may scoff at the deliberately sexist humor). I can't really dislike a film too much when the spaceship nearly strikes the Statue of Liberty and the Female Icon of Freedom merely kneels to avoid getting hit. "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" needed more ballsy humor like that. 

Temporary Fountain of Youth Horror Noir Movie

THE LEECH WOMAN (1960)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Watching "The Leech Woman" reminded me of the various B-movies I used to watch on TV on a given weekday afternoon, usually after school. Some titles come to mind like "Legend of Hell House," "Mr. Sardonicus," or "The Creature from the Black Lake." "The Leech Woman" is full of surprises with a twist of tongue-in-cheek added for good measure. It is not terribly well-acted or filmed or fluidly edited, but it isn't meant to be. It is a movie-movie type entertainment with no frills and aimed to throw everything at the audience without regards to whether it will stick or not. The movie is the equivalent of bad wallpaper - it looks good at first but it starts to peel away rather quickly. Naturally, the movie is more than entertaining than watching wallpaper peel from the wall.

An endocrinologist Dr. Paul Talbot (Phillip Terry) is none too surprised that his alcoholic wife, June (Coleen Gray, "The Killing"), wants a divorce. He won't allow it, especially after a 140-year-old African woman named Malla (Estelle Hemsley) tells him that there is a specific orchid pollen from the Nando Tribe that will make any woman young again! The catch is that the doctor and his wife have to travel to Africa to witness this fountain of youth. Dr. Talbot is ready to love his wife all over again when he discovers that she could be the young and lovely woman he married, and could get rid of those wrinkles and single gray hairs (the character is not any older than her mid-30's though maybe any woman's hair might turn white after dealing with that turd of a husband). Though the youthfulness is temporary, there is another catch. The orchid pollen is not enough to complete the transformation; a male has to be sacrificed by having his pineal gland secretions extracted from the back of the neck! A special ring is needed to pierce the neck thus causing imminent death. Of course, June, oblivious at first that she is a test subject, becomes young and lovely (I will not dare say who the male sacrifice is). In fact, she gets a complete makeover (funny how the African woman, Malla, never mentioned that a makeover without the help of QVC would occur. By the way, Malla becomes young again too).

Despite lapses into silliness and moronic stock footage of elephants and hippos underwater coupled with Dr. Talbot and June walking in the jungle to their destination, "The Leech Woman" has an unusual structure that could conceivably be divided into three movies. One is a domestic marriage squabble that evolves into some odd jungle adventure with African tribal dances and the lot (much of it reminded me of "King Kong" or any standard Tarzan adventure) that finally evolves into a noir crime story with June seeking to stay young and luring and trapping men in the path of that glorious piercing ring. The plot doesn't always make sense (can the powder-ring combo make men younger too? And why is this a temporary fountain of youth?) and the jungle footage seems to go on for an eternity. Still, a movie like this is not meant to make much sense or be considered anything other than schlocky art - it is a shambles but so much damn fun to watch that it doesn't matter if the acting and writing are just a bit better than subpar. The movie has a little bit of everything, including dynamite explosions, stirring African tribal dances, mambo music clubs, shriveled-looking women, lots of imbibing of alcohol, a few murders and some abrupt romantic groping and kissing. It is a fervently misanthropic picture that evolves into some sort of twisted feminist statement. Of course, like most of these pictures in the 40's, 50's and 60's, the women suffer the most. 

Beware of Fog Hollow

THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Resembling a diabolical Gothic melodrama more than a survival picture, 1932's
The Most Dangerous Game" is still a stunning, magnetically potent tale of man's inhumanity to man. The inhumanity comes in the form of Russian Count Zaroff who has ideas for his beleaguered guests stranded on his island, and hospitality is not high on that list.

As the film opens, a shipwreck occurs where one survivor, a big game hunter named Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea), manages to make it safely on a remote Portuguese island. Lo and behold, an isolated Gothic-like mansion owned by Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks) is seen on the horizon, resting on a hill. The menacing guards are not very welcoming yet Zaroff is nothing if not charming yet charmingly devious. He is the type of Count that welcomes one with good food and good wine yet has something up his sleeve - (HINT:  Zaroff  loves to hunt but is growing bored of hunting animals). Other shipwrecked guests are staying with Zaroff (apparently this happens a lot on this island), including a hard-drinking Robert Armstrong and the one and only Fay Wray, playing Armstrong's sister. There is something askew about this place, and it is not just Zaroff's facial scar. There are hungry hunting dogs right outside the entrance. A peculiar trophy room does not contain the heads of animals. I think you can see where this is going.

Zaroff traps his shipwrecked guests, wines and dines them, and then sets them up as his latest sport for hunting and killing. He gives his guests a head start through the thick of the jungle, always with the intention of using their hides to decorate his trophy room. Just beware of Fog Hollow, and steep mountainous crevices.

At a fast-paced 63 minutes from directors Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack, "The Most Dangerous Game" is unrelenting and thick with tension. What is most remarkable is how much suspense is accomplished in such an extremely tight running time. And the cardinal rule in this type of survival-of-the-fittest-tale is having not only protagonists you care about (though Fay Wray's character has less to do than in 1933's "King Kong," which was shot simultaneously) but also a deliciously quick-witted, eerily charming, suave villain like Banks' Zaroff (he also played the role on stage, though notes on the Broadway production are vague on which role he played). When Zaroff and Rainsford finally square off against each other, your pulse will quicken and your heart will beat at a buffalo stampeding rate. "The Most Dangerous Game" is a thriller in more ways than one.