Flickers in Time

The Giant Claw
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Written by Samuel Newman and Paul Gangelin
1957/USA
Clover Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Mitch MacAfee: Now if this thing of mine works, and we can get close, real close, and bombard that bird’s anti-matter energy shield with a stream of mesic atoms, I think we can destroy that shield. The bird would defenseless then except for beak, claws, and wings. You could hit it with everything but the kitchen sink.

Gen. Van Buskirk: We’ve got kitchen sinks to spare, son![/box]

Only a mother could love this movie’s monster.  And only if the mother were Big Bird or Gonzo …

Once again we are at a missile defense station in the Arctic. Test pilot Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow) sees something like a giant battleship moving at supersonic speed through his airspace.  But the mysterious flying object is not picked up on radar and jets sent to intercept it fail to encounter it.  Mitch, a civilian, is treated as a practical joker and ordered home.  Before he can leave,  other planes report seeing the same phenomenon and are destroyed.

All too soon, we learn that the phenomenon is a gigantic Muppet.  Mitch and beautiful mathematics whiz Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday) are sent to Washington to help strategize the destruction of the creature, which turns out to be protected by an anti-matter shield that is impervious to bullets and undetectable  on radar.

This is about average quality for giant creature films but might be worth seeing for laughs. Each time the monster appears, you just can’t help smiling.  Not only is its appearance ludicrous but it is very obviously a marionette moving by strings.  The complete film is currently available on YouTube.

IMDb trivia:  In an interview, star Jeff Morrow said that neither he nor anyone on the film saw the title “monster” until they went to the film’s premiere in Morrow’s home town. It turned out that producer Sam Katzman had contracted with a low-budget model-maker in Mexico City to construct the “Giant Claw” and no one in the cast or crew had any idea it would come out looking as bizarre and, frankly, laughable as it did. Morrow said that the audience roared with laughter every time the “monster” made an appearance, and he wound up slinking in embarrassment out of the theater before the film was over so that no one who knew him would recognize him.

Trailer

3:10 to Yuma
Directed by Delmer Davies
Written by Halsted Welles from a story by Elmore Leonard
1957/USA
Columbia Picture Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Ben Wade: What are you squeezin’ that watch for? Squeezin’ that watch ain’t gonna stop time.[/box]

I love this.  It may be Glenn Ford’s best performance.  It is certainly my favorite of his.

Courtly, slick outlaw Ben Wade (Ford) holds up a stage coach.  The driver gets too brave and is killed.  The robbery is witnessed by Dan Evans and his sons.  Wade scatters their cattle and steals their horses.  Dan puts up no resistance, humiliating his sons.  Wade and some of the men ride into the nearest town where Wade reports the robbery.  While the sheriff is off investigating, he seduces the bar maid at the local saloon.  While Wade is basking in his conquest, Dan tricks him into conversation and the sheriff is able to apprehend him.

Dan is in town because he is need of a loan to keep his drought-plagued ranch running. When he is denied the loan, he accepts the stage coach owner’s offer to escort the captive to the title train.  The plan is to fool Wade’s men into believing they are going to another location.

Dan and Wade arrive at the station hotel in good order.  They have a few hours to wait for the train.  Wade uses them to needle and cajole his captor and test his courage.

This movie has a High Noon-type theme (the ticking clock, the brave man deserted) without that film’s gravitas.  Ford’s performance as Wade is deliciously wicked and steals the film out from under the also-excellent Heflin. I was looking forward to this viewing and was not disappointed in the least.  My husband loves it as well.  Warmly recommended.

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Kanal
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Written by Jerzy Stefan Stawinski
1957/Poland
Zespol Filmowy “Kadr”
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Halinka: It’s easier to die when you’re in love.[/box]

Wajda gives us love, beauty, and horror in a Warsaw sewer.

It is September 1944 and we are witnessing the last days of the Warsaw uprising.  The resistance is down to the last few companies of its fighters.  The company commanded by Lt. Zadra is now reduced to the size of a platoon.  We are introduced to a number of men and women and watch their various reactions as they wait for the action they know will be their last.  Rather than being summoned to battle where they are holed up, however, they are ordered to proceed downtown where the populace is being summarily executed in the streets.  The only safe route is underground.

Unlike the Vienna sewers of The Third Man, the Warsaw sewers are a foul-smelling cesspool of excrement.  It is dark and the men struggle for most of the film to find an exit.  Meanwhile, the Nazis are introducing poison gasses and hanging booby traps.  The stories of the various characters continue to be followed.  One of the main stories concerns a wounded man who is being assisted by a woman who has consorted with the Germans for favors but who loves him.

This film has one of the truly great endings ever.  It is exquisitely shot and lit and the character portraits are telling.  The film celebrates the heroism of Poles without ever feeling propagandistic.  Highly recommended.

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20 Million Miles to Earth
Directed by Nathan Juran
Written by Robert Creighton Williams, Christopher Knopf, and Charlotte Knight
1957/USA
Morningside Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Contino: Fascinating. Horrible, but fascinating.[/box]

Ray Harryhausen does it again.

Some Sicilian fishermen witness a huge rocket splash down off the shores of their village. They investigate and find dead and injured men inside.  They are able to rescue two before the rocket sinks.  Precocious little Pepe finds a capsule with a strange object inside and takes it to sell to the local zoologist for money to buy a cowboy hat.  In the meantime, the zoologist’s medical student daughter is treating Col. Robert Calder (William Hopper), who was injured in the crash.  They have the antagonist relationship that we all know will blossom into romance.

The object turns out to be an egg, which hatches into a baby beast known as a Ymir.  The creature grows quickly and exponentially to giant size.  We then learn that the spaceship was returning from a mission to Venus.  They brought the creature back to discover how it survived in an atmosphere toxic to humans.  Now the Americans are desperate to recover the Ymir alive.  That is much easier said than done.

This is not strong on plot but is packed with awesome, intricate stop-motion animation courtesy of Harryhousen.  A second unit filmed many of the settings in Italy and it is fun to watch the monster lay waste to the Temple of Saturn and Coliseum in Rome.

The Blu-Ray I rented contains a worthwhile commentary by Harryhousen and a couple of visual effects artists and both the B&W and colorized versions of the film.  I stuck with the B&W but Harryhousen seemed to be very fond of the color, which he said he would have used if he had the budget.

Trailer

Desk Set
Directed by Walter Lang
Written by Phoebe and Henry Ephron from a play by William Marchant
1957/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] [Richard gives Bunny a personality test] Richard Sumner: Now what is the first thing you notice in a person?

Bunny Watson: Whether the person is male or female.[/box]

It is 1957 and Katharine Hepburn once again plays a desperate old maid.  Fortunately, Spencer Tracy is one of the men in her life in this romantic comedy.

Richard Sumner’s (Tracy) baby is an “electronic brain” named EMERAC.   Sumner’s friend, the CEO of a television network has brought Sumner in to install EMERAC as part of a top-secret plan that Sumner is forbidden to discuss.  Sumner heads to the research department where he finds department head Bunny (!!!) Watson (Hepburn) has a brain as impressive as his machine’s.

In the meantime, Bunny spends much of her time agonizing about whether her long-time boyfriend Mike Cutler (Gig Young) will ask her to a dance and waiting impatiently for a marriage proposal.

Naturally, it is Richard and Bunny who are made for each other and the rest of the movie details their comic courtship and Mike’s growing jealousy.  The entire time the research librarians are positive they will be out of a job once the machine is up and running.  They try to prove that they are irreplaceable.  With Joan Blondell and Dina Merrill as Hepburn’s subordinates.

I felt embarrassed for Hepburn for much of the film.  She is required to act really silly and to play below her age.  Once the romance with Tracy properly gets going, things are much better.  The computer angle is interesting.  I couldn’t help thinking about how computers and the Internet did end up winning the research game after all.

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The Black Scorpion
Directed by Edward Ludwig
Written by David Duncan and Robert Blees; story by Paul Yawitz
1957/USA
Amex Productions/Frank Melford-Jack Dietz Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Hank Scott: [after watching two scorpions fight] That’s how they kill each other – that weak spot in the throat![/box]

This movie is all about the stop-motion animation effects by Willis O’Brien, who gave us King Kong.  They are pretty amazing for the time and lift the movie above its now-standard giant creature plot.

Geologist Hank Scott (Richard Denning) and his Mexican sidekick are studying a huge volcanic eruption and earthquake in the Mexican jungle.  Inevitably, nature has awoken prehistoric beasts, in this case a nest of gigantic scorpions.  Mother scorpion is a drooling behemoth with about 50 babies.  These promptly begin attempting to sting each other to death.  The scorpions emerge from their underground home after dark to feed on human blood.

The geological mission personnel are enlisted to combat the scorpions.  They are assisted by beautiful local cattle rancher Teresa Alvarez (Mara Corday) and an annoying small boy named Juanito.  The authorities go into high alert as the army of scorpions starts moving toward Mexico City.

The effects in this movie go above and beyond standard fare with several battles among multiple monsters.  Mama does not look so much like an actual scorpion as her offspring but makes up for it with copious bodily secretions and a ghastly face.  Recommended to fans of the genre.

Trailer

The Astounding She-Monster
Directed by Ronnie Ashcroft
Written by Frank Hall
1957/USA
Hollywood International Picture
First viewing/Netflix rental

Nat Burdell: The way you keep puttin’ your foot in your kisser, it’s a wonder you don’t get athlete’s mouth!

The title character is neither astounding nor a monster.  Blech.

A couple of thugs and their alcoholic moll kidnap a society heiress.  They witness an explosion and hole up in the cabin of a geologist until daylight.  All engage in not-so-witty repartee until they see another light and one of the men goes to investigate.  He is slain by the radiation emanating from an apparently terrifying lady in a leotard and tights.  We know she is an alien because she is always double-exposed.  Things proceed until right conquers evil.  Or does it?

This movie’s only redeeming quality is that it was 62 minutes long.  Worth a miss.

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Witness for the Prosecution
Directed by Billy Wilder
Written by Billy Wilder and Harry Kurnitz; adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus from the play by Agatha Christie
1957/USA
Edward Small Productions/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

Sir Wilfrid: If you were a woman, Miss Plimsoll, I would strike you.

I don’t know how this missed the 1001 Movies List.  Maybe there were too many Billy Wilder films on it already?

Irascible barrister Sir Wilfred Roberts (Charles Laughton) has just been just been released (make that expelled) from the hospital following a heart attack.  He is under strict instructions to refrain from tobacco and alcohol, get plenty of bed rest, and avoid too much excitement.  Nurse Miss Plimsol (Elsa Lanchester) has come home with him to enforce the doctor’s orders, mostly with heaping helpings of baby talk.  Sir Wilfred makes it his mission to foil her at every turn.

“Too much excitement” definitely includes working on his beloved criminal cases. Then a friend comes in with Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power). It looks like Vole is the prime suspect in the murder of the middle-aged woman who was his friend. Things look very bad for the unemployed Vole who was with the victim that evening. His only alibi is his wife. At first, Sir Wilfred refers him to one of his firms other lawyers. After questioning the man and deciding he is innocent, Sir Wilfred can’t resist the challenge. When it is discovered that the victim died having left Vole most of her estate in a will written only a week before the murder, he is arrested. Then Christine (Marlene Dietrich) comes in and gives a most half-hearted and unconvincing alibi.

The story is full of Agatha Christie’s clever use of twists and surprises and I will not explore it further.  With Una O’Connor as the victim’s suspicious maid.

The cast is like old home week from the 30’s and 40’s and could not possibly be any better.  My favorite part of the film is the banter between Laughton and Lanchester.  This film was my introduction to Tyrone Power way back when.  He is very good and very far from his swashbuckling origins.  Dietrich is also perfect.  I could go on and on about my love of this totally entertaining romp.  Highly recommended.

Witness for the Prosecution was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of:  Best Picture; Best Actor (Laughton); Best Supporting Actress (Lanchester); Best Director; Best Sound, Recording; and Best Film Editing.

Trailer

China Gate
Directed by Samuel Fuller
Written by Samuel Fuller
1957/USA
Globe Enterprises
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win. – Ho Chi Minh to the French, late 1940s[/box]

Sam Fuller keys in on many familiar Viet Nam tropes years before America was in the war.

An international mercenary force is backing the French in the Indochina War.  The USSR is smuggling supplies to the Viet Cong through a network of tunnels near the China Gate. The French call on “Lucky Legs” (Angie Dickinson), a boozy mixed-race entertainer to use her seductive talents and connections to find out the exact location of the tunnel.  She refuses the mission for any amount of money but agrees to do it for a guarantee that her five-year-old son can be sent to the U.S.

She is not happy when she finds out that Sgt. Brock (Gene Barry) will lead the Foreign Legion patrol.  She and Brock were married but he deserted her when their son turned out to look Chinese and not white like his wife.  Now everybody in the movie thinks Brock is a complete louse and tells him so whenever possible.

We soon discover that the couple’s love has not diminished, though it will take the rest of the film for Brock to accept his son.  Lucky Leg woos Viet Cong leader Maj. Cham (Lee Van Cleef), who is also of mixed race origins for info on the tunnels.  The film ends with some heavy combat and explosions.  With Nat King Cole, who also sings the title song a couple of times, as one of the patrol and Marcel Dalio as an aged one-legged French priest.

From the small boy clutching the puppy at the beginning of the film (the dog is the last edible animal in Hanoi) to other larger-than-life situations later, this film could be by none other than Samuel Fuller.  Another trademark is his anti-racist theme and hard-hitting combat dialogue.  I may not have been in the mood for weirdness when I saw it, though, as the film kind of dragged for me.

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