The Bowery Boys, newly graduated from exterminator college (all save Sach), get their first job tackling pests in a reputed haunted house… and soon end up tangling with a mad scientist (Douglass Dumbrille) with designs on Sach’s brain. There are some good gags involving various members of the group. I tend to like the boys’ …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Spook Busters</em> (Monogram, 1946)”
Hugh Drummond (John Howard), together with Algy (Reginald Denny) and Tenny (E. E. Clive), and with Phyllis (Heather Angel) aboard his plane as a stowaway, dashes off to Morocco when he learns that Colonel Nielson (H. B. Warner) has been abducted by a ruthless spy (J. Carrol Naish). A hostile reception from the local British …
Read the full post →“<em>Bulldog Drummond in Africa</em> (Paramount, 1938)”
Female impersonator Akihiro Miwa stars as Black Lizard (also the English-language title), a notorious jewel thief who sets her sights on the Star of Egypt diamond and plots the kidnapping of its owner’s daughter to force him to hand it over. The owner turns to the famed detective Akechi (Isao Kimura) to protect his daughter …
Revolt of the Zombies begins during the First World War, but then the setting changes, as an expedition heads to Cambodia, where one of the party discovers the secret of making zombies and uses his evil knowledge to plot his punishment of those who oppose him. Unfortunately, it all plays out more as melodrama than …
A movie with a perplexing title, Exiled to Shanghai recounts how a newsreel reporter (Wallace Ford) gets involved with a contest winner (June Travis) and a company pushing television. There’s not a lot of substance here, but some use of real newsreel footage, and the action takes place entirely in the U.S. The leads are …
Read the full post →“<em>Exiled to Shanghai</em> (Republic, 1937)”
This thoughtful science fiction film deals with prejudice and what it means to be human, as a post-nuclear-war society struggles to determine just how cyborgs might fit in. Rather too much talk and an obvious twist keep this from being as good as it might be, but it’s nevertheless worth a look. Mildly recommended. Otto …
Read the full post →“<em>The Creation of the Humanoids</em> (1962)”
Singer Jimmy Wakely starred as a singing cowboy in a fair number of movies for Monogram Pictures in the 1940s. In this entry, in which he is teamed with Dennis Moore and Lee “Lasses” White, Wakely and his pals contend against a crooked town boss (Rex Lease) and his tame marshal while framed. Wakely’s smooth …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Springtime in Texas</em> (Monogram, 1945)”
Dr. Bill Foster (John Ashley) is back on Blood Island in this sequel to Mad Doctor of Blood Island, again confronting its horrors and finding new opportunities for romance as well (his love interest of the previous film having been killed at the start of this one). He’s investigating whether the deranged Dr. Lorca (Eddie …
A bride (Beverly Garland) abandoned by her new groom searches for him, hoping to learn the reason why he suddenly left her and went into hiding. Her investigation eventually leads her to a remote southern mansion, where she learns the horrifying truth, a truth connected with the title of the film. Entertaining overall, with Garland …
Read the full post →“<em>The Alligator People</em> (Twentieth Century Fox, 1959)”
More superhero action in Turkey, as “Spy Smasher” (the English title, an older comic book hero who also was the subject of a 1942 Republic serial), together with his girlfriend (top-billed Sevda Ferdag), battles an archcriminal, The Mask, and his minions. There are the usual violence and odd situations, but it’s not really worth a …
