Aliens threaten Earth, and it’s up to a group of scientists and the revivified skull-headed Golden Bat to fend them off. The titular superhero got his start in a kamishibai (paper theater) back in 1931, and this kiddie-oriented movie (also known as The Golden Bat) delivers the goods in terms of action and effects, even …
La señora Muerte (1969)
Regina Torné stars as Marlene, a woman who turns to scientist Dr. Favel (John Carradine) when her husband suffers a heart attack. The mad doctor promises he can save her husband, but only via an experimental treatment, one that has dire side effects for Marlene. She then must take to killing in order to obtain …
Slalom (1965)
Lucio (Vittorio Gassman) and Riccardo (Adolfo Celi) visit a ski resort with their wives but devise a plan to shunt them away so they can try their luck with the snow bunnies they’re seeing all around. Unfortunately for Lucio, his efforts to woo a blonde he has seen (Beba Loncar) get him mixed up with …
Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam (1985)
This science fiction-comedy stars Jim Varney, initially as his character Ernest P. Worrell, but then as the evil mad scientist Dr. Otto, as well as an assortment of other characters across a variety of places and times, as hero Lance Sterling (Myke R. Mueller) and his much-smarter assistant Doris (Jackie Welch) attempt to foil the …
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Roamin’ Wild (1936)
Tom Barton (Tom Tyler) searches for his missing brother, a marshal who has been replaced by a fake, and helps the young woman (Carol Wyndham) whose family stage line is the target of crooks who may be responsible for his brother’s disappearance. As usual, Tyler is an engaging hero, and there are some reliable performers …
Ghost-Town Gold (Republic, 1936)
Max Terhune steps in as Lullaby in this, the second of the long-running series of Three Mesquiteers movies at Republic, and his character is soon joined by ventriloquist’s dummy Elmer, a fixture in Terhune’s performances both in this series and others, whom Lullaby wins in this film by beating a carny at three-card monte. The …
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Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)
Three guys who sneak aboard a yacht end up traveling with a criminal on the run and shipwrecked on a remote island after the vessel is attacked by a giant crustacean. One young man is searching for his brother, and the presence of crooks on the island, as well as Godzilla asleep in a cave, …
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Halfway to Shanghai (Universal, 1942)
A man is murdered aboard a train carrying an assortment of refugees and suspicious characters as it heads to Shanghai, after Nazi agents have evinced an interest in securing a map that the victim has stolen, one that shows important military facilities. Major Vinpore (J. Edward Bromberg) investigates, while two long-separated folks (Kent Taylor and …
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Cango Korkusuz Adam (1967)
The skeleton-garbed super-criminal is menacing the Old West in this Turkish movie, also known as Kilink vs. Django, and it is up to the popular western character Django to try to stop him. The performances are rather less than compelling, and the storyline no better than OK. It is always at least minimally entertaining to …
Goliath and the Sins of Babylon (1963)
Mark Forest, among the more charismatic of the strongmen in the swords-and-sandals epics, has the title role in this one, originally titled Maciste, l’eroe più grande del mondo, as he battles both to free a nation from the domination of Babylon and to help a friend (Giuliano Gemma) win the hand of a princess (José …
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