A pair of boomer brakemen (Robert Armstrong and James Gleason) get jobs on a new railroad, planning to travel on after a spell of work, but the attractions of the eatery owner and her pal (Patricia Caron and Zasu Pitts) tempt them to settle down. This buddy drama / comedy includes a subplot related to …
Jungle Man-Eaters (Columbia, 1954)
A diamond smuggler works with one tribe to war against another tribe and thereby gain unfettered access to the diamond mine whose owners he has killed. It’s up to Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller), working with Inspector Bernard (Richard Stapley), and with the dubious assistance of the chimp Tamba, to put an end to the scheme …
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The Superbug Rally (1971)
The success of Disney’s The Love Bug appears to have inspired writer-director Rudolf Zehetgruber in the creation of a German competitor (fittingly, given the Beetle’s origin), and through the 1970s he directed five films starring Dudu, the extraordinary Beetle (or Käfer) and himself as the car’s owner/customizer/builder, with his wife (Kathrin Oginski) appearing in a …
The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
A blind masseur who happens to be a marvelously skilled swordsman is hired by a crooked official for a battle against a rival gang. Zatôichi monogatari, the first of more than two dozen movies about the character, is a character-driven drama in which the viewer comes to know not only the title character, who is …
She (Hammer / MGM, 1965)
H. Rider Haggard’s grand fantasy-adventure novel She has been interpreted for film multiple times, with varying degrees of faithfulness, and in the mid-1960s Hammer Films produced this appealing version, released in the U.S. by MGM. Screen siren Ursula Andress plays the title character, and she is a fine choice for the beautiful Ayesha, “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.” John …
The Golden Idol (Allied Artists, 1954)
Everyone is after a golden Watusi idol that Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) has taken from the evil Ali Ben Mamoud (Paul Guilfoyle), who had stolen it. Among those after the treasure are a crooked ivory hunter, Joe Hawkins (Lane Bradford), who is brought into the matter by Mamoud but has plans of his own, and archaeologist …
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Killer Ape (Columbia, 1953)
Middling entry in the Jungle Jim series is another with the air of the fantastic, as mad scientists testing animals as part of germ warfare research intrude into the lands of a giant apeman that begins a rampage. Enjoyable for what it is, but not the place to start with the films. Mildly recommended. Otto …
San tou mo wang (1988)
In this wild fantasy (also known as Ginseng King and Three-Head Monster), a boy tries to get help from the Ginseng King to save his dying mother, who has been bitten by a Nazi zombie, even as a group of malicious monsters seek to capture the Ginseng King on behalf of a three-headed demon. A …
Tôkaidô obake dôchû (1969)
The third entry in Daiei’s Yokai trilogy, also known as Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts, is rather more action-oriented, with a gang in pursuit of a clever little girl who witnessed their murder of her grandfather, and a wandering swordsman (Kôjirô Hongô) taking a hand while the girl searches for her missing father. The supernatural …
Valley of Head Hunters (Columbia, 1955)
Bad guys use attacks, purportedly by headhunters, to get their ally, whom the ringleader has rescued from a murder conviction, into power over a native tribe so that he can sign away the tribe’s mineral rights and the villains can exploit the oil that is there. Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) works with a young military …
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