Special effects by Ray Harryhausen are the highlight of this epic tale of Jason’s quest to Colchis to find the Golden Fleece, but it proves an exciting adventure film as well. To rid himself of the rightful heir to the throne, the usurper Pelias (Douglas Wilmer) sets the young Jason (Todd Armstrong) an impossible task: …
Read the full post →“<em>Jason and the Argonauts</em> (Columbia, 1963)”
Santo is pretty much all that stands between Martian invaders who wish to compel all of Earth’s people to join together in a subservient peace, failing which, they plan to kill everyone. The invaders make a start by vaporizing folks at a baseball game, but they also clash with Santo, who they quickly decide will …
Space Chief (Shin’ichi Chiba), a superhero with a rocket car, aided (in part) by some Japanese youths, battles invaders from the planet Neptune in this simplistic, kiddie-friendly picture. Original title: Uchû Kaisokusen. Mildly recommended at best. Otto judiciously thinks this movie is OK, but not great. Movie 400 for 2021.
An ex-sheriff (Lee Van Cleef) who lost his job because he wouldn’t acknowledge a prisoner’s guilt helps that prisoner, Philip Vermeer (Alberto Dentice), foil his pursuers, bounty hunters and the Saxon brothers (Horst Frank, Klaus Grünberg, and Marc Mazza), as they all head toward a final battle and the revelation of just who murdered the …
The earnest charm of Guinn “Big Boy” Williams provides some appeal in this story of a young man out to avenge his rancher father’s murder and pursuing a black-hooded figure that would fit well in an “Old Dark House” mystery. Gaping plot holes (e.g., what was up with the servant’s apparent attempt to poison the …
Two sets of bad guys — Dr. Satan (Joaquín Cordero) is one, working for King Devil, and the other is Yei Lin (Noé Murayama), a wizard (but apparently a vampire) working for some unknown power — battle for possession of the formula of Dr. Sorensen (José Luis Llamas), which can be used to transmute base …
Read the full post →“<em>Dr. Satán y la magia negra</em> (1968)”
Aliens destroy a space station and then bring their attacks to the Earth’s surface as well, prompting the nations of the world to work together, first to send a scouting party to find the aliens’ base on the Moon, and then to battle the aliens’ attack force. A fair amount of action and some good …
Jungle movies get the Carry On treatment, with Sid James as a boozing safari guide and hunter who can’t seem to hit anything but one of his bearers; Terry Scott as Ugh, a Tarzan-like individual who finds his “June” in Jacki Piper, the companion to Lady Evelyn Bagley (Joan Sims), who has come on safari …
Read the full post →“<em>Carry On Up the Jungle</em> (1970)”
Kay Curtis (Glenda Farrell) and June Dale (Mary Brian) are two golddiggers left stranded in Florida when their mark (Guy Kibbee) gets wise that he’s not going to get any action. When a former fellow performer marries a millionaire (Ben Lyon) but disappears, perhaps kidnapped, on their wedding night, while a local gambler (Harold Huber) …
An attorney (Walter Brandi) is summoned to a castle only to find that the person who had sent for the senior partner of the firm has in fact been dead for nearly a year. On hand are the dead man’s daughter (Mirella Maravidi), his second wife (Barbara Steele), and an odd servant (Luciano Pigozzi). Strange …
Read the full post →“<em>Terror-Creatures from the Grave</em> (1965)”
