Movie Reviews: Vincent Price Collection Vol. 1

Having received a box set of Vincent Price movies for my birthday, I eagerly watched the whole set! Here are the reviews. Some of the films I had reviewed before (thanks, local libraries for stocking cool, old movies!). He has been a favorite of mine since childhood, watching stuff on the 4:30 Movie and weekend films on television. Happy memories!

These reviews are in the order they are on the collection's discs. 

Pit and the Pendulum (1961) directed by Roger Corman

Vincent Price stars in this classic story by Edgar Allan Poe adapted for the screen by B-movie horror icon Roger Corman. Price is Nicholas Medina, a Spaniard living in the 1500s. His home is a castle by the seaside, though it is the creepy sort of shoreline. He is visited by his brother-in-law Francis Barnard (John Kerr) who wants to find out about the death of his sister. She married Nicholas many years ago and died a few months ago. Nicholas didn't give much detail on the death in his letter to Francis, hence the visit. Nicholas is borderline crazy with good reason. His dad was part of the legendary Spanish Inquisition and a torture chamber is still in the basement of the castle. The father conducted a lot of business at home, including the torture of his wife and brother (i.e. Nicholas's mom and uncle) because they had been having an affair. Young Nicholas witnessed the torture and is naturally super-sensitive. With Francis's arrival and his suspicion, Nicholas starts to hear his dead wife calling and even her playing the harpsichord. The problem is other people in the castle can hear her too. Something more nefarious is going on.

The movie is an interesting blend of Poe themes. There's the fear of being buried alive, the doomed house, the lost wife/lover who still haunts the living, etc. They make a nice, natural, cohesive, and disturbing whole. The movie has good atmosphere and some chilling moments. The actors are all good with Price doing what he came to be known best for (he plays the dad in flashbacks). Overall, it's a satisfying old-school horror film.

Recommended.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) directed by Robert Fuest

A string of grisly and bizarre murders are investigates by some hapless policemen as Doctor Phibes (Vincent Price) continues his killing spree. Phibes's wife had died at the hands of a medical team and he is out for revenge on all nine members of that team. Unfortunately, Phibes was in a car accident that left him unable to talk except by using a special machine attached to the side of his throat. Everyone thought he died, so he is not immediately the first suspect. He lives in a new, exotically decorated home with Vulnavia (Virginia North) who does his bidding with the same wordless grace and chill as Phibes.

The story is a fairly standard revenge/horror with many odd elements added. Phibes is also an organist and rises from his lower rooms to the main floor as he plays at a keyboard. The main room is a sort of ballroom, with a mechanical ragtime band on raised platforms and a wraparound balcony. Phibes dresses in long, flowing, shiny robes. His exotic murders are based very loosely on the Ten Plagues of Egypt from the biblical book of Exodus (though the plagues are called "Pharoah's curses" in the movie). The deaths are more odd than terrifying, though there are some pretty horrible results of Phibes's handiwork. In another surreal touch, his car has frosted windows with images of him sitting in the back seat. The police investigation is mostly plot exposition and an excuse to throw in some weird and often unfunny humor. The movie definitely looks like a product of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

While Price is always fun to watch, I found the movie a bit too odd even for my odd tastes. I appreciate the effort that went into the set designs and costumes. The plot needed something more than just the bare bones it has. Or the support characters needed more character. Or they could have gotten the Egyptian plagues right. Or made the comedy with the police work. The movie needs a lot of tinkering.

Not really recommended.

The Haunted Palace (1963) produced and directed by Roger Corman

In the 1700s, Joseph Curwen (Vincent Price) is burned to death in the New England town of Arkham. One hundred and ten years later, his great grandson Charles Dexter Ward (also Vincent Price) comes to town because he has inherited Curwen's property, a creepy old castle overlooking the town. The locals don't want to tell Ward where the place is and are very hostile. Their ancestors were cursed by Curwen, who promised to have revenge on the generations to come. The town is plagued with birth deformities. The locals blame the curse. Ward and his wife Ann (Debra Paget) move in anyway, only to find a caretaker (Lon Chaney, Jr.) getting the palace ready again for Curwen's descendant. Once Ward gets a look at a painting of Curwen, he sees the uncanny resemblance and starts to behave very differently.

Though the title is taken from and Edgar Allan Poe poem, the story is from an H. P. Lovecraft novel. The producers didn't want to step away from the successful combination of Corman and Poe, so they marketed this film as another Poe flick. Lovecraft isn't so dramatically different from Poe. The movie has a lot of the same atmosphere, with foggy streets and the castle in ruins. Price does his usual fine job in the dual role and horror fans will delight in the small role Lon Chaney is given. The movie is another fun horror outing for Corman and crew.

Recommended.

The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) produced and directed by Roger Corman

Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) rides from Boston to the titular home in the middle of a boggy, foggy landscape. He demands entry because he is engaged to Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey). The butler (Harry Ellerbe) says Philip can't see her since she is bedridden. Philip insists on seeing her brother Roderick (Vincent Price). The butler reluctantly lets Philip in. Roderick says Madeline is too sick and the house is too doomed for Philip to stay and he should return to Boston. Philip resists. Madeline comes into the room, happy to see Philip. She begs Roderick to let Philip stay. The butler fixes up a room. Waiting for dinner, Philip discovers that the house is in terrible shape with quakes causing cracks in the walls. The bigger problem is the sinister history of the family and the doomed outlooks of both Roderick and Madeline.

The story moves at a good pace and manages to maintain a sense of dread, even with lighter or more romantic moments thrown in. The actors give good performances, selling the horrible history that looms over them. The house has a lot of odd paintings of the Usher ancestors, adding to the weirdness. Roderick is an artist and seems to be following in the family portraiture line with his own strange rendition of Madeline. The movie captures the spirit of Poe's work quite well.

Recommended.

The Masque of the Red Death (1964) produced and directed by Roger Corman

Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) goes to visit the local village where he takes all their crops and takes any pleasure (mostly sadistic) he can get from them. Gino (David Weston) and Ludovico (Nigel Green) protest his plunder so Prospero orders them executed. Francesca (Jane Asher) begs for mercy since she is the daughter of Ludovico and the girlfriend of Gino. Prospero at first says he will do nothing for them. A woman cries out and he orders her silenced. When she still screams, he goes to investigate. The woman is bedridden. When she roles over, Prospero sees she has contracted the Red Death, a horrible plague. He orders the town burned, Francesca taken to his castle for his entertainment, and the accused men imprisoned in the castle where he will come up with some amusing way for them to kill each other. 

At the castle, Prospero throws an elegant multi-day party for the nobility culminating in a masquerade ball. He is unaware of various other schemes going on--his partner Juliana (Hazel Court) wants to get rid of Francesca as a romantic rival and to fulfill the secret rites Prospero has introduced her to; nobleman Alfredo (Patrick Magee) is a second-banana bad guy who wants to hurt Prospero, or at least get his hands on Francesca; Hop-Toad (Skip Martin), one of the entertainers, wants to get revenge on Prospero for ill treatment of Hop-Toad's wife Esmeralda (Verina Greenlaw). And Francesca wants to free her father and her lover before they are killed or corrupted by the goings on in the castle. Prospero reveals that he worships Satan and his attitude toward other people reflects that disregard for human life and dignity.

The movie is surprisingly lavish. Corman was famous for making small-budget movies quickly but here the costumes and sets are top-notch. The art direction follows the color schemes from Edgar Allan Poe's story. The camera work captures the chaotic nature of the evil festival Prospero is hosting, with people behaving as literal animals and Satanic rites being enacted. Moments are nightmarish in their gaudy display of evil. Price gives a good performance, leading a cast who provides a mixed-bag of performances. 

The blu-ray in this collection includes an extended cut of the film which adds about a minute and a half of content, one scene and some extended dialogue that does not add too much to the theatrical release.

Recommended--highly for Poe or Corman fans.

Witchfinder General/The Conqueror Worm (1968) co-written and directed by Michael Reeves

Price stars as Matthew Hopkins, a witchfinder in 1600s England. The English Civil War is raging, so Protestant and Catholic forces are occupied fighting each other. In the chaos, Hopkins roams freely from town to town, torturing and executing people accused as witches (and collecting bounties for his service). He has a lackey named Stearn (Robert Russell) who takes especial delight in the torture. Hopkins is more focused on rooting out what he thinks is evil, though he is willing to take advantage of young women before he condemns them to death. The pair come to a village where the local priest has been accused. The priest's niece Sara (Hilary Heath) tries to prevent the inevitable, even though she is engaged to Richard Marshall (Ian Ogilvy), a soldier away on duties. When Richard finds out what happened, he goes after the evil duo, even at the risk of his military career.

The movie is more like a thriller than a horror film. There are no supernatural powers or events on display. The drama plays out with a few unpleasant scenes of torture and one rather horrible burning. Hopkins is more cunning and ruthless than anyone in the film (maybe than anyone in Price's career), even turning on his own partner when it is to his own advantage. Price's restrained, focused performance is quite good, it is easy to see why he thought this was his best performance in the horror genre. The other actors are good. The production values are fine though they definitely have that late-1960s or early-1970s look. 

The movie was originally released as "Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder General." The extras on the blu-ray include alternate opening and final credits with Price reciting bits from Poe's The Conqueror Worm, clearly trying to justify changing the title to make it seem like another flick in the Poe cycle. This movie isn't as psychological or artistic as the Poe adaptations and it requires a big stretch to connect the poem's content and themes with the film's. The change is a bit of a shell game played on the viewers.

Recommended, but don't think this is a standard Price horror show.

Movie Reviews: Corman-ia

With the death of famed filmmaker Roger Corman in May, 2024, I decided to catch up on some of his famous and less famous works. He made a lot of B-movies in the 1950s and 1960s and helped to develop a lot of up-and-coming Hollywood talent, including people like Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, and numerous others. Here's a chronological rundown of quite a few (most available on Kanopy streaming service as I write this in August 2024)...

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) produced and directed by Roger Corman

A group of scientists land on a Pacific island to do research. A previous expedition has disappeared completely. The island was downwind of a hydrogen bomb experiment, so there has been lots of radiation exposure. The land is eerily quiet. No insects or animals have survived on the island other than land crabs. The scientists (and two Naval grunts) offload supplies from a navy airplane which takes off from the ocean. The plane bursts into flames as it ascends. The scientists race back to their one building where they try to radio the navy. A sudden storm has cut off communication to the outside world. And a sudden earthquake has opened a huge pit on the trail to the beach. Thing are not going to go well for this scientific research mission since you can guess by the title what's inside the pit.

The premise is fairly basic and the storyline follows a typical path. The monsters are only suggested by menacing scenes and maybe a gigantic claw here and there before the full display in the final third. Any caution about the problems of using nuclear weapons takes a backseat to the unfolding horror as the island starts falling apart and the scientists are picked off one by one. The story gets the job done and the giant crab puppet looks pretty decent for something from this era--there's no shots of a real crab superimposed on another image to make it look huge. The movie isn't particularly scary or outstanding in any way.

Mildly recommended--this is a very B-level B-movie.

A Bucket of Blood (1959) produced and directed by Roger Corman

Walter (Dick Miller) is busboy at a beatnik bar/coffee shop, the sort of place that artistes hang out at. The in-house poet Maxwell (Julian Burton) spouts a lot of profound-sounding non-sense on the stage while the patrons listen. Walter absorbs it quite well, repeating Maxwell's words back to him. Maxwell doesn't recognize it because "repetition is death." Carla (Barboura Morris) is impressed with Walter, even though he's a bit klutzy and dimwitted. Walter lives in a walkup apartment with a mildly intrusive landlady who is always losing her cat. Walter wants to be part of the art scene and tries to sculpt Carla's head from a picture but he can't concentrate. Besides not having talent, the cat is meowing pathetically. It's stuck in Walter's wall, so he decides to get the cat out. He stabs a knife into the wall and hits the cat. Distraught at the accident, he decides to cover it up by covering the cat up with clay. He brings the "sculpture" to bar where the patrons go gaga over it. He starts to build a reputation as an artist, but his skill as an artist is dependent on an increasing body count.

The movie works as a satire of the beatnik art scene. A lot of self-important people show that they are more or less self-centered. Walter is ignored at first as a busboy with impossible dreams. Then the "in crowd" gets in to his work. The owner suspects Walter's source material, but when he's offered five hundred dollars for the "cat with a knife" statue, he forgets about calling the police. The nagging of conscience does not quite leave him. Walter is delighted with his new-found fame and friends, though even he can't quite escape from his conscience. The ending is melancholy but suits the story, even with its strong comedic elements. And it makes a nice twist on the "Wax Museum" horror sub-genre.

Recommended as a fun satire.

The Wasp Woman (1959) produced and directed by Roger Corman

Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot) is the head of her own cosmetics company. More than the head, she is also the only model, the very face of the company. But the company has been in business for nearly twenty years and Janice can't stop the changes that come with age. Business is starting to go down but she puts her hope in Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark), an eccentric insect scientist who thinks he has a secret formula based on queen wasp jelly. He's just been fired from a beekeeping outfit and is looking for someone to fund his research. Janice jumps at the chance for and age-defying or age-reversing product...maybe not just for her company. But what will the cost be?

The movie stays as a straightforward drama for a long time. Zinthrop is a bit batty but his formula works on guinea pigs and other small animals. He's not ready for human testing but Janice can't wait. Her ambition is balanced by the other members of her company, who want what's best for the corporate bottom line, but also what's best for her. They try to stop the situation or at least get information out on the table so it can be discussed. The story showcases a lot of side conversations about beauty and youth, especially how they are used in our culture. One of the secretaries always puts on a sultry voice when she answers the phone, even though she is married with a boring (according to her) husband. People play a lot of superficial games, but what is the cost in interpersonal relationships? By the last third of the film, Janice is transforming (temporarily) into an insectoid predator, just like the movie's title promises. The bigger issue underneath the horror drama is surprisingly well-developed and an interesting commentary.

Recommended.

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) produced, co-written, and directed by Roger Corman

Klutzy Seymour Krelborn (Jonathan Haze) is on the verge of being fired from his florist assistant job at Mushnick's Flowers when he brings in a plant he's cross-bred at home. The plant is very unusual and starts to draw business. Mushnik (Mel Welles) is excited for the profits. The situation becomes problematic because the plant is crossed with a venus fly trap and has an insatiable appetite for blood. At first, Seymour just pricks his fingers to feed it but he runs low pretty quickly. The plant starts talking, demanding to be fed. After an accidental death provides nourishment, Seymour starts going down a dark road to keep his fame (a horitcultural society wants to give him an award) and his new-found love with co-worker Audry (Jackie Joseph).

The movie is a famous low-budget cult film made over a weekend. The story is very outlandish as is almost every character in it. The movie starts with a "Dragnet" style voiceover by a local cop describing the situation. The cops are played for laughs with deadpan patter and flat-footed investigations that don't really get anywhere. Mushnik is a stereotype of the overbearing boss who lets the sound of sales drown out the deeper problems. There's even a sadistic local dentist who, naturally, gets fed to the plant, but not before some comedy horror drilling and a cameo by Jack Nicholson as a masochistic patient. The story wanders a bit, seemingly to fill the time to get a full length picture. But it is entertaining in a B-movie style. Considering its micro-budget and two-day film shoot, the picture is an amazing accomplishment. I'm glad I watched it but don't feel the need to ever watch it again.

Mildly recommended, though the musical version that came out in the 1980s was much better.

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) directed by Roger Corman

See my previous review here.

The Raven (1963) produced and directed by Roger Corman

Country wizard Craven (Vincent Price) lives a quiet life with his daughter, still mourning over the death of his wife Lenore two years before. A raven shows up at his house, but this is not just any raven. This one talks (voiced by Peter Lorre) and begs to be returned to his rightful form. Craven only practices magic by gesture and does not know how to restore the bird to manhood. The raven knows a formula that requires several magical ingredients. Craven's father was master of the Brotherhood of Wizards and had a laboratory in the basement. Craven and the raven go to the basement and come up with a cure. The raven is actually Bedlo, a member of the Brotherhood who was turned into a raven by Scarabus (Boris Karloff) during a magical combat earlier in the evening. Scarabus and Craven's father were bitter enemies twenty years before. Bedlo wants Craven to come help him get revenge at Scarabus's castle. Craven demurs until Bedlo spots a portrait of Lenore and claims he saw her in Scarabus's home. Craven suspects her soul was captured by Craven (since her body is entombed in Craven's house). He wants to free his beloved wife and agrees to help Bedlo deal with Scarabus. When they get to the evil wizard's castle, not everything is as it seems.

Obviously, Edgar Allen Poe's poem The Raven is too short to fill an entire movie plot. Script writer Richard Matheson crafts an interesting story that encompasses most of the poem with plenty of extras attached. Corman gives the film his usual sense of whimsy and horror. The horror is never too gruesome and is often played for laughs. The magic is fun and I am mostly sure the visual effects were state-of-the-art back in the day. The whole thing is a fun romp with some classic horror actors.

Recommended.

The Haunted Palace (1963) produced and directed by Roger Corman

In the 1700s, Joseph Curwen (Vincent Price) is burned to death in the New England town of Arkham. One hundred and ten years later, his great grandson Charles Dexter Ward (also Vincent Price) comes to town because he has inherited Curwen's property, a creepy old castle overlooking the town. The locals don't want to tell Ward where the place is and are very hostile. Their ancestors were cursed by Curwen, who promised to have revenge on the generations to come. The town is plagued with birth deformities, which is blamed on the curse. Ward and his wife Ann (Debra Paget) try to move in, only to find a caretaker (Lon Chaney, Jr.) getting the palace ready again for Curwen's descendant. Once Ward gets a look at a painting of Curwen, he recognizes the uncanny resemblance and starts to behave very differently.

Though the title is taken from and Edgar Allan Poe poem, the story is from an H. P. Lovecraft novel. The producers didn't want to step away from the successful combination of Corman and Poe, so they marketed this film as another Poe flick. Lovecraft isn't so dramatically different from Poe. The movie has a lot of the same atmosphere, with foggy streets and the castle in ruins. Price does his usual fine job in the dual role and horror fans will delight in the small role Lon Chaney is given. The movie is another fun horror outing for Corman and crew.

Recommended.

X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963) produced and directed by Roger Corman

See my previous review here.

The Terror (1963) produced and directed by Roger Corman

See my previous review here.

Check out a more thorough review of Roger Corman's life and works in podcast form at Hypnogoria!

Movie Review: The Bat (1959)

The Bat (1959) written and directed by Crane Wilbur

Crime novelist Cornelia van Gorder (Agnes Moorehead) rents an old house called "The Oaks" for the summer. It's owned by local banker John Fleming (Harvey Stephens) who is out hunting for an extended period with a doctor friend (Vincent Price). Lots of rumors and history mark the house as one where tragedy happens. In the last year, a killer known as "The Bat" committed murders there. As a writer of murder mysteries, van Gorder is nonplussed. Her staff from the city are less aloof and most of them leave her after a day or two. They heard noises and saw a faceless man wandering the back stairs. All she has left is her chauffeur and her lady's maid.

In town, the bankers have discovered that the vault has been robbed of a million dollars in securities. The only ones with access are Fleming and Victor Bailey (Mike Steele), the assistant manager. Victor is chucked in jail. Meanwhile, Fleming and the doctor have a conversation in their isolated cabin. Fleming did steal the money and has hidden it. He wants the doctor to return to town with a mangled corpse that he will pretend is Fleming's dead body. Now that Fleming has revealed his plan, the doctor needs to play along or get shot. One of them returns to town and gets pulled into the investigation at "The Oaks," where The Bat has returned and is back to his old tricks.

The premise is interesting and the actors do a good job with their roles, throwing suspicion around on just about everybody. The story itself is a little bit too convoluted and occasional bits of dialog don't make sense, turning the tension into confusion (and not the good kind of confusion). It's a fun movie, but not as fun as I was hoping for. It's a standard B-movie thriller with a couple of surprises but nothing outstanding.

Mildly recommended.

Movie Reviews: Invisible Man-ia

I finally watched all of the Invisible Man movies on the DVD collection I've owned for years and years. Here's the good, the bad, and the crazy...

The Invisible Man (1933) directed by James Whale

A heavily bandaged and goggled man shows up at the Lion's Head Inn, a countryside pub where the local populace is hanging out during a snowy winter night. The stranger is Griffin (Claude Rains). He demands lodging with a sitting room and a fire. He sets up a lab where he works to reverse his great scientific success--he's made himself invisible! The bar patrons are curious as are the bar owners. Griffin does not welcome their curiosity and hides his problem from them. Once Griffin can't pay the rent, they are ready to kick him out. By this time, the frustration of not finding a solution gets to Griffin, who is ready to kill and cause havoc to get his way. His scientist mentor (Henry Travers), the other mentee (William Harrigan), and the mentor's daughter (Gloria Stuart--the character is going to marry Griffin) come to help but Griffin has become too crazy and ambitious to listen even to his fiancee.  

The story is full of speculation on how to catch an invisible man, along with various attempts at the more practical ideas. The movie has a good sense of humor and the effects are amazing consider the movie was made over ninety years ago. A few of the floating items are clearly on strings, which often gets the focus of reviewers, but a lot of other effects are impressive for the time. Rains gives a great performance, especially considering he is almost entirely just a voice. He sells the pathos and madness of his character. Una O'Connor reprises her role as the shrieking female comic relief from Bride of Frankenstein, overdoing it even more this time as wife of the innkeeper.

Recommended--This is an entertaining story with some impressive visual effects. It doesn't have the thematic depths of other Universal horror classics.

The Invisible Man Returns (1940) co-written and directed by Joe May

Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price) has been convicted of killing his brother and waits for execution. His best friend is Frank Griffin (John Sutton), brother of the guy in the first movie. Frank is also a scientist and works at the Radcliffe coal mine as a doctor. Frank visits Geoffrey on the eve of his execution. Geoffrey then makes a fantastic escape because he is now...the Invisible Man! Geoffrey was falsely accused and wants to find the true killers. He hides at a lodge with his girlfriend Helen (Nan Grey) and plans his next move. Meanwhile, the police are out in force at the Radcliffe estate. Geoffrey goes back to the coal mine where Frank works on a cure. Frank is not as brilliant as his brother and the madness slowly takes over Geoffrey, but not before he discovers the true culprit.

The movie plays itself as both an "innocent man" drama and as an "invisible man" thriller. Geoffrey is depicted as a good fellow driven to desperation by his predicament. As he goes about in his invisible state, he realizes all that he can do. Price has a great madman speech in the middle of the film where he tells how he can take over the country and have followers rather than friends. The speech seems like it's taken from the Gyges' Ring section of Plato's Republic, which is much less about desperation than about opportunism. The speech doesn't really fit Geoffrey's character though, even if it is well-delivered by Price. The filmmakers quickly get back to the "innocent man" plot and bring things to a satisfactory conclusion.

This movie is much more upbeat, with a likable hero in an unlikely predicament. Price is as solid a voice actor as Rains and carries the film through some rough plot patches. The special effects are the equal of the first film.

Recommended--There's a little more thematic depth and personality to this movie, making it an interesting companion to the original.

The Invisible Woman (1940) directed by A. Edward Sullivan

The invisibility gag gets played for laughs in this feature. Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore) has developed a machine to make people invisible but needs a human test subject. He puts an ad in the paper; unfortunately his financial backer, Richard (John Howard), has lost too much money as a playboy and can't finance him anymore. Instead of offering $3000 in a newspaper ad, Gibbs offers the treatment for free. A lot of crackpots send joking replies (like "make my husband vanish, please!"). Kitty Carroll (Virginia Bruce) is a dress model who's harried by her boss and seriously wants to be invisible to give him what for. She replies as K. Carroll and the befuddled scientist assumes she's a man. When she shows up, he has to sort out a way to take away her visibility without seeing her "in the all together," as he puts it. The experiment is a success. Just as the professor calls Richard over to see, Kitty sneaks off to pester her boss. When she gets back, she discovers some mafia thugs ready to get the invisibility machine so their boss, who is stuck in Mexico, can sneak back into the country unseen. She foils their first plan but all the pieces are in place to have lots of comedic incidents.

Virginia Bruce is fun and adventurous, providing her character with a lot of charm. There's no angst or world-domination plans; the story is played for laughs and, of course, a romance develops between Kitty and Richard. The rest of the cast is good (Shemp Howard from The Three Stooges is one of the thugs!) but the script is very corny and occasionally too silly for its own good. The special effects are a bit sloppy at times and were a bit distracting. This movie watches like a B-movie sci-fi comedy.

Slightly recommended.

Invisible Agent (1942) directed by Edwin L. Marin

Frank Griffin (Jon Hall), grandson of the original Invisible Man, is recruited to infiltrate Nazi Germany and get valuable information back to the Allies. But not before Japanese and German agents (Peter Lorre and Sir Cedric Hardwicke) try to steal the invisibility serum from him. Frank agrees to go to Berlin. They fly him in, he takes the serum, and he parachutes into the outskirts of town. Evading the local Nazis is fairly easy. Frank meets up with his contact who sends him to Maria Sorenson (Ilona Massey) a fabulous blonde who happens to be the paramour of Hardwicke. Hardwicke's flunkie Heiser (J. Edward Bromberg) is trying to get both the girl and his boss's job. Frank breaks up Heiser's clumsy attempt at a romantic dinner with Maria. Maria and Frank work together to get the info he needs before escaping back to England.

The movie was made in the middle of World War II and it looks like second-rate propaganda to stir up anti-Axis sentiments. The Germans have properly despicable attitudes and are just as likely to turn on each other as to fight against Griffin. Any chance to make them look bad is taken, regardless of how much sense it does or does not make for the plot. They are depicted as buffoons and sadists, a sharp contrast to the heroic Frank. This film is one of those propaganda pieces that you'll agree with but also find tedious. The visual effects are not too convincing, plenty of wires are visible. 

Not recommended unless you are into propaganda films. Or want to be an Invisible Man completist. 

The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) directed by Ford Beebe

Jon Hall is back, but as Robert Griffin--no relation to the other Griffins in the series. Robert sneaks back into England from South Africa. He was part of an expedition five years ago to a diamond mine. He lost his memory when he was hit on the head by a branch and did not recover his memory until two months before returning. He looks up his old partners, Irene and Jasper, who are now well-to-do aristocrats. Robert wants his share of the money but the couple claims they lost most of the money through bad investments. They offer half of what's left of their wealth. Robert wants more. Irene drugs Robert's whiskey and they try to get rid of him. Robert winds up at the home of Doctor Drury (John Carradine) who has been experimenting in, you guessed it, invisibility formulas. He's made his pets disappear but nothing larger than a dog. Robert is on the outs with the gentry and thus with the law, so he's willing to be the first human test. After he turns invisible, he leaves the doctor and goes for revenge against his old partners.

The premise starts off ambiguous. Robert is fairly unstable and broke out of a mental hospital in Africa, killing some people along the way, so he seems a bit unsympathetic. His partners are upright until they drug him and try to dump him literally on the side of the road. Robert then goes down the madman's path, losing some of the sympathy he gained when the partners turned on him. The movie winds up as a standard b-movie sci-fi thriller with not a lot new to offer.

Mildly recommended.

Movie Review: The Last Man on Earth (1964)

The Last Man on Earth (1964) directed by Sidney Salkow

Doctor Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) is the titular last man on Earth. A highly contagious airborne plague has wiped out most of humanity all over the globe. Morgan lives alone. He follows a monotonous routine of eating, gathering resources, and killing those who continue living after falling to the plague. When the plague started, rumors also started of the dead coming back to life. Is that the reason the government burned the infected dead rather than bury them? Morgan, as a man of science, scoffed at the idea and thought the burning was the best way to stop spreading the disease. Now that he is alone, he carves wooden stakes and hangs crosses and garlic on his doors. The undead know where he lives and come each night to get him and can't get past the defenses. They are too unintelligent to do more than throw sticks and stones at the house. By day, Morgan roams the city, killing the vampiric people as they rest and hide from the sun.

The story is based on Richard Matheson's I Am Legend (which was also remade as Omega Man with Charlton Heston and I Am Legend with Will Smith). The story is a classic with a long, slow burn for Morgan and an interesting twist at the end. This telling is fairly faithful to the text. Unfortunately, the version I watched is a very low quality transfer to streaming on Hoopla. The grainy footage and occasional mismatches between the video and the audio are quite distracting. The production didn't look like it had a big budget, either. Even so, a few moments of genuine shock happen. Price is good as always and carries most of the film. He has a voice-over that isn't entirely necessary, though the opening is slow enough that it does need something to help it along.

Slightly recommended--for fans of Vincent Price or the story who can handle a grainy old black and white film. I checked quickly on the Amazon Prime streaming version, which is much better quality for the first five minutes that I skimmed through. Watch there if you can (though probably avoid the colorized version)!

Movie Review: Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

Pit and the Pendulum (1961) directed by Roger Corman

Vincent Price stars in this classic story by Edgar Allan Poe adapted for the screen by B-movie horror icon Roger Corman. Price is Nicholas Medina, a Spaniard living in the 1500s. His home is a castle by the seaside, though it is the creepy sort of shoreline. He's visited by his brother-in-law Francis Barnard (John Kerr) who wants to find out about the death of his sister. She married Nicholas many years ago and died a few months ago. Nicholas didn't give much detail on the death in his letter to Francis, hence the visit. Nicholas is borderline crazy with good reason. His dad was part of the legendary Spanish Inquisition and the torture chamber is still in the basement of the castle. The father conducted a lot of business at home, including the torture of his wife and brother (i.e. Nicholas's mom and uncle) because they had been having an affair. Young Nicholas witnessed the torture and is naturally super-sensitive. With Francis's arrival and his suspicion, Nicholas starts to hear his dead wife calling and even her playing the harpsichord. The problem is other people in the castle can hear her too. Something more nefarious is going on.

The movie is an interesting blend of Poe themes. There's the fear of being buried alive, the doomed house, the lost wife/lover who still haunts the living, etc. They make a nice, natural, cohesive, and disturbing whole. The movie has good atmosphere and some chilling moments. The actors are all good with Price doing what he came to be known best for (he plays the dad in flashbacks). Overall, it's a satisfying old-school horror film.

Recommended.