Daily Archives: November 21, 2016

Plan 9 from Outer Space
Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.
Written by Edward D. Wood Jr.
1959/USA
Reynolds Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Colonel Tom Edwards: This is the most fantastic story I’ve ever heard.

Jeff Trent: And every word of it’s true, too.

Colonel Tom Edwards: That’s the fantastic part of it.[/box]

When the extremely weird meets the utterly inept, you have a classic, my friends.

Cockpit made of cardboard, a shower curtain, and a microphone

Earthlings refuse to admit the existence of flying saucers so aliens are forced to resort to “Plan 9”. Plan 9 involves resurrecting the dead to attract our attention. Ultimately, our visitors aim to prevent our “juvenile minds” from destroying the universe. I think.

The ineptitude of this movie must be seen to be fully appreciated. It cannot be topped for chutzpah. For example, Bela Lugosi supposedly plays one of the zombie creatures. Inconveniently, he had died several years earlier. This did not deter Ed Wood. He simply combined footage taken of Lugosi with film of a much shorter, younger actor holding a cape across his face. Gravestones are obviously made of cardboard and shake when the actors walk by although how hard could it have been to film in an actual cemetary?

That said this was a lot of fun and don’t forget: “We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHRq80QNnJM

Classic clips

Return of the Fly
Directed by Edward Berends
Written by Edward Berends from the short story “The Fly”
1959/USA
Associated Producers
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] [first lines] Francois Delambre: [voice over] Here passes from this earth Helene Delambre, widow of my brother, Andre, whom I loved deeply, hopelessly. She was destroyed in the end by dreadful memories, a recollection of horrors that did not dim as the years went on, but instead grew monstrously, and left her mind shocked and unsteady, so that death, when it came, was a blessed release.[/box]

Along with the color, this sequel removes a certain oomph from the original.  It’s very watchable though.

Philippe, the son of star-crossed inventor Andre Delambre and his beloved wife Helene, is left an orphan at the beginning of the film.  Kindly uncle Francois (Vincent Price) takes him under his wing.   Not even the most doting uncle can keep the boy out of his father’s lab, however.  Fate has a double-whammy in store.

This is quite OK.  The effects are good but nowhere near as creepy in black-and-white.

Trailer

The Hound of the Baskervilles
Directed by Terence Fisher
Written by Peter Bryan based on the novel by Arthur Conan Doyle
1959/UK
Hammer Films
First viewing/YouTube rental

[box] Sherlock Holmes: This is, I think, a two-pipe problem.[/box]

Peter Cushing gives my beloved Basil Rathbone a run for his money in the Sherlock Holmes department.

The plot is a spiced up version of the Arthur Conan Doyle story.  The movie starts in the distant past when a vicious dog gets revenge on the sadistic Sir Hugo Baskerville after he rapes and murders a servant girl.  Some believe that the Baskerville descendants are cursed to die in the same savage manner.

Centuries later, Sir Charles Baskerville apparently dies from either a heart condition or fright depending on the belief of the diagnostician.  His heir Sir Henry (Christopher Lee) comes to England from South Africa to claim his title.  It is immediately apparent that the nobleman’s life is in grave danger.  Who better to call on than Sherlock Holmes (Cushing)?

Hammer did a great job all-around with the gothic atmosphere in this one.  Cushing had Holmes’s intelligence and supercilious attitude nailed.  It was nice that the filmmakers did not choose to make Watson a comic relief character as in the Rathbone series.  This is a very strong issue in the Hammer catalogue.  Apparently, the public expected monsters with its gothic thrillers and Hammer stopped after its first Holmes title.

Trailer