B-movie heaven (1)

Away from the arthouse and the blockbusters and the current releases and interesting revivals, we also like an enjoyable B-movie, either something trashy or so bad its good or just one of those interesting movies from that late-'50s/early-'60s era, where cheap production values and/or an interesting cast make for a fascinating view. Here are a few recent ones, from a session of swops with IMDB pal Jerry ast week ...

BLUEBEARD'S 10 HONEYMOONS, 1960 - The Bluebeard story has also been fascinating and has fascinated the movies. Chaplin's MONSIEUR VERDOUX in 1947 may be the best. I reviewed the 1963 French version, LANDRU by Chabrol, a while back (French label), where he polishes off a mixed bag of French ladies including Danielle Darrieux, Juliette Mayniel and Michele Morgan. His stove at his lonely house in the woods, where he always bought a single ticket for the ladies, was working overtime! So it is in this 1960 British version, ploddingly directed by W. Lee Wilder (a brother of Billy Wilder!). This is deliciously downbeat as George Sanders is ideally cast as the penny-pinching murderer who is obsessed over worthless and faithless chanteause Corinne Calvet, whose career was also on the slide here.

A bevy of British B girls also head out to that lonely house in the woods ... Jean Kent, Maxine Audley, Patricia Roc, Greta Gynt .... George is suitably sardonic throughout, and like the Chabrol, it ends in a prefunctory guillotine scene. Both are immensely superior to the dreadful Richard Burton version from 1972, review at Burton label. I really must do an "appreciation" on George soon, I like so many of his movies from classics to '50s costume dramas and some good '60s ones too; whether sparring with Susan Hayward or Anne Baxter, toying with Sophia or Gina, or being condesending to Tony Hancock or Peter Sellers or in drag in Huston's THE KREMLIN LETTER (one to review), George is perfection, and not only as Addison de Witt!

SHE WALKS BY NIGHT - A rather good expolitation movie about a real-life call girl murder that rocked Germany in the '50s the way the Profumo affair did Britain almost a decade later. There was also a German version THE GIRL ROSEMARIE with Nadja Tiller which was more of a commentary on the booming German industrial scene of the time - this version by Rudolph Jugert (?) sticks to the routine story of the call girl, Rosemarie Nitbritt - her rise and fall. Rather like the English BITTER HARVEST in 1963 (also Trash label) it shows the emptiness at the heart of the heroine's existance. The reason for watching this though is another terrific performance by Belinda Lee, that Rank Organisation starlet of British movies, who became a peplum goddess in Europe (APHRODITE, MESSALINA etc) before her untimely death in a car crash in 1961. (See Belinda label for more appreciations on her).

This rather forlorn memorial (right, click to enlarge) is her final resting place in a cemetry in Rome (left) - appropriate as she was part of the Italian La Dolce Vita crowd of the time, late 50s/early-'60s. It is a vivid performance by Belinda, rather in Anita Ekberg mode here with that mane of hair; Belinda also excelled in that recent re-discovery of mine THE LONG NIGHT OF '43, a stunning Italian drama by Vancini. SHE WALKS BY NIGHT has that deliciously sleazy late '50s look in spades as Rosemarie rises from walking the streets (below) to good time girl but who can she really trust .... we do not see her final visitor, but it is someone she knows ...

LOOK IN ANY WINDOW - I really liked this one, with a good role for Ruth Roman, looking great here in 1961. Ruth was a '50s gal*, (perhaps a 'B' Susan Hayward?) at home in routine westerns and jungle fare like TANGANYIKA - some good main roles were in Hitch's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and with Burton in Ray's BITTER VICTORY. Here she is the bored dissatisfied wife of a heavy drinking salesman, and their sulky teenage son is pop star Paul Anka. The title refers to Paul's habit of being a peeping tom, scaring the neighbours in his mask as he spies on them. It is all really a variation on that 1957 drama NO DOWN PAYMENT (Jeff Hunter label), showing suburban living with pool parties, and bored couples with various problems, not least infidelity. Paul gets it on with nice Gigi Perreau next door, whose parents are on the point of separating. Father is Jack Cassidy, slimy as ever, as mother gets involved with nice widower George Dolenz (fathers of 2 future pop stars: David Cassidy, and Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees). The police are on the case though and closing in on the peeping tom as things get out of hand at the annual pool party.

Ruth is excellent here, in a selection of numbers for lounging by the pool while drinking a lot - I like her too in the 1966 Lana Turner classic LOVE HAS MANY FACES, as that ritzy dame in Acapulco paying for her pleasures ... Anka though is the drawback here - he does not radiate much personality, Elvis and Pat Boone got better films, and Fabian and Ricky Nelson had more going for them in the looks department .... but he kind of suits the role of the lonely troubled teen. It all tries to be hip and shocking (cue sax and bongo drums, and lots of drinking) like others of the era like A COLD WIND IN AUGUST, SOMETHING WILD or LADY IN A CAGE. Director is one William Alland.

(* Ruth's rivals included Virginia Mayo, Yvonne de Carlo, Dorothy Malone, Rhonda Fleming, Arlene Dahl, Linda Darnell)

ENCHANTED ISLAND - back to the South Seas for this turgid 1958 adventure, from Herman Melville if you please, his "Typee".  The selling point here is the poster: "He dared to love a cannibal princess". My friend Jerry loved that! The flick though does not live up to it, directed by Allan Dwan on an off day,  mind you he is lumbered with a too-old Dana Andrews and Jane Powell (yes, that Jane Powell, who began the '50s with Fred Astaire in ROYAL WEDDING, and went on to SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, and was fun in the 1948  A DATE WITH JUDY before ending her movie career with this and that delicious trash classic THE FEMALE ANIMAL in 1957 (Jane Powell label). Jane is made up to look south seas island maiden but does not have too much to do and the cannibal angle is played down for too long as Dana and his pal leave their ship and settle among the natives .... Matinee or drive-in audiences must have got restless. I certainly did ....

KINGS OF THE SUN - not a B-movie as such, it must have cost quite a bit, but this laughable saga has been out of sight for far too long. When I first arrived in London (11 April 1964) aged 18, the first thing I saw at the London railway station was a poster for KINGS OF THE SUN, then on general release. Who I wonder at the Mirisch Corporation thought that this mini-epic about the Mayans (one of the most mysterious civilisations ever) and their conflict with Native Americans would make an interesting movie? It features some of the best-known non-actors of the time, as George Chakiris and Shirley Anne Field remain expressionless throughout, even as King George witnesses a human sacrifice at the beginning - perhaps the Mayans did not express any emotions?. It looks good in Scope and Colour with those odd custumes but the story is banal in the extreme as our good Mayans flee from the bad ones across the gulf of Mexico and set upon building a new village and a (rather small) pyramid. Enter Yul Brynner perfecting his noble savage act as the leader of the natives whom the Mayans kidnap and keep for human sacrifice to ensure they have a good harvest. Mayan girl Shirley Anne – seemingly the only female among the Mayans – and Yul develop feelings for each other. Will the human sacrifice go ahead? Will the bad Mayans turn up? Will the native Americans defend the village? This is all resolved to Elmer Bernstein’s generic western score – the final battle-scene is rather a mish-mash. This was surprisingly directed by old action hand J. Lee Thompson but I imagine he was having an off day here …. A fascinating oddity to see now though, Richard Basehart as the sacrificing priest wears an amusing hairstyle ...

Next B-movies to include: FLESH & FURY (an early Tony Curtis), TIGHT SPOT, 99 RIVER STREET, THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK, THE PHENIX CITY STORY, VERBOTEN ...