Daily Archives: May 19, 2018

First Men in the Moon
Directed by Nathan Juran
Written by Nigel Kneale and Jan Read from a story by H.G. Wells
1964/UK
Ameran Films
First viewing/Amazon Instant

The Grand Lunar: Men enjoy to make war?
Joseph Cavor: No. No, they detest it!
The Grand Lunar: Then if they make war, they are defective.

Ray Harryhausen goes Georges Melies one better!

At the time of the first UN moon landing, the astronauts discover evidence that the Victorians got there first.  We then segue into a long steampunk flashback of the adventures of those astronauts.  Apparently, in the 1890’s the moon was inhabited by fabulous creatures and had plenty of oxygen to breath underground.  By the end of the movie we will learn the reason all this passed away.

This is fun popcorn viewing.  Not as impressive as some of Harryhausen’s other work but good for what it is.

A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari)
Directed by Sergio Leone
Written by Victoria Andres Catena, Jaime Comas Gil, Sergio Leone et al from Akira Kurosawa’s screenplay for Yojimbo
1964/Italy/Spain/West Germany
Constantin Film/Jolly Film/Ocean Films
First viewing/Amazon

[box] Joe: When a man’s got money in his pocket he begins to appreciate peace.[/box]

The Spaghetti Western is born.

The man with no name (Clint Eastwood) is referred to as “Joe” here so I’ll call him that.  He wanders into a Mexican town that is plagued by the violent feud between two corrupt families, the Baxters and the Rojos.   Strangers are not welcome but Joe earns respect by quickly dispatching four of the Baxters.  He also befriends the local innkeeper and undertaker.

Joe is smart and enjoys playing the two sides against each other for fun and profit.  He rescues a damsel in distress while he’s at it.

The story comes almost straight from Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and translates well to the Western setting.  I enjoyed the film, especially Eastwood’s iconic performance and the music.  Recommended for Western lovers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ_7br_3y54

Clip

Awesome rendition of Ennio Morricone’s themes for the film