Two inept reporters get mixed up with an invasion from space, as alien women land their flying saucer in the environs of Istanbul and use their technology, including a robot, to pursue their goal of finding Earthmen to take back with them. Part of the plot involves the reporters trying to sell the aliens’ elixir …
Read the full post →“<em>Uçan daireler Istanbul’da</em> (1955)”
Personable Johnny Mack Brown is a ranger called in to help Sheriff Ed Lowery (Lyle Talbot) and Wells Fargo agent Ben Williams (Marshally Bradford) by investigating the robbing and murder of Wells Fargo riders carrying gold. He clashes with town tough guy Chet Murdock (Myron Healey, who also penned the screenplay). After he is targeted …
Read the full post →“<em>Colorado Ambush</em> (Monogram, 1951)”
Rogelio (Armando Silvestre) battles criminals as the masked wrestler La Sombra Vengadora (“the Avenging Shadow,” played by Fernando Osés). The bad guys are led by La Mano Negra ( “the Black Hand”), who is trying to force scientists to decipher a formula that he wants to use. This early luchador film is fairly undistinguished but …
Inspector Crane (Thurston Hall) turns to Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf (Warren William), for advice about safeguarding some jewels that are intended to finance a foreign nation’s war effort, but his trust turns to suspicion when the goods are targeted by thieves. Crane’s less-than-brilliant assistant Dickens (Fred Kelsey) is on hand again, as is Lanyard’s …
Read the full post →“<em>Secrets of the Lone Wolf</em> (Columbia, 1941)”
Darna, the Philippine equivalent of Wonder Woman, battles the alien Planet Women, who have come to Earth to figure out a way to bring the whole planet across the galaxy to use it to house their excess population, coincidentally killing all people on Earth along the way. The colorful Planet Women (each is a different …
Read the full post →“<em>Darna vs. the Planet Women</em> (1975)”
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 …
