If the tenacious enemy the U.S. Marines tangle with in director Jonathan Liebesman’s “Battle: Los Angeles” (*** out of ****) didn’t come from another planet, then this above-average PG-13 rated Columbia Pictures’ release wouldn’t qualify as a science fiction shoot‘em up. As it is, “Battle: Los Angeles” amounts to marginal sci-fi. The guys who wrote and directed this suspenseful but straightforward 116-minute saga strive for adrenaline-laced realism. They aren’t out to imitate the outlandish audacity of “Skyline” with its “Cloverfield” style monsters trashing a coastal metropolis. Ostensibly, “Battle: Los Angeles” seems like a Marine recruiting video. The scarcity of memorable characters and scene-stealing aliens are offset by its splendid computer generated special effects and Aaron Eckhart’s bravura performance.
Like last year’s “Skyline” and many sci-fi films dating to 1951’s “The Thing From Another World,” “Battle: Los Angeles” shows aliens plunging into the Earth in meteors that turn out to be spacecraft. Unlike “Skyline,” Liebesman’s movie boasts aliens that lack reptilian features with tentacles galore. Instead, the enemy look like the “Star Wars” storm troopers. Herein lies the chief problem that “Battle: Los Angeles” faces. Since it doesn’t look like your typical sci-fi tale and the filmmakers give the extraterrestrials the short shrift, many moviegoers and critics are maligning it without mercy No, “Battle: Los Angeles” neither wallows in political allegories like “District 9” nor does it assemble a speculative arsenal of weapons to destroy the enemy as in “Independence Day.” “Battle: Los Angeles” looks more like “Black Hawk Down.” You wind up caring more about the human characters. Nevertheless, you develop considerable respect for the pugnacious aliens. They track down and kill both civilians and military alike by targeting mobile radio and telephone communication. Unlike “Skyline,” “Battle: Los Angeles” concludes with greater optimism. Basically, this movie celebrates male camaraderie as well as the indomitable human spirit of survival.
After a false start that depicts the devastation the aliens have wrought around the globe, the action flashes back to the hours before the catastrophic invasion. During this prologue, Liebesman and "The General's Daughter" scenarist Christopher Bertolini introduce a number of young Marines and their leaders. Except for a few high-ranking officers, the Marines here are grunts on the ground. Aside from their platoon commander, these Marines are the followers who wind up leading the way. As the protagonist, veteran Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart of "The Dark Knight") has served 20 years in the Corps. Nantz wants to retire because his last campaign in Iraq turned bittersweet when he lost several leathernecks but received a Silver Star for valor. Not surprisingly, Nantz doesn't care about the commendation. Moreover, the memories of the men that died under his command haunt him. Naturally, when the meteors start falling, the Pentagon deploys the Marines from Camp Pendleton, and Nantz finds himself reassigned to Echo Company, 2nd battalion, 5th Marine regiment. Predictably, there is a rumble in the ranks about Nantz's gung-ho attitude, and the young Marines believe that he will treat them like cannon fodder. Indeed, Nantz behaves like 'John Wayne' in one scene, and his company commander, 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez (Ramón Rodríguez of "Pride and Glory"), orders him to knock off the heroics.
Meanwhile, Liebesman and Bertolini parcel out only piecemeal information about the aliens. They crave water and exploit it as a source of energy. Their blitzkrieg blankets the globe, and they are aggressively trouncing mankind. Indeed, Los Angeles resembles Beirut. Television news bulletins provide the modicum of information that mankind knows about these pugnacious intruders. None of it is useful to the Marines who must eradicate these miscreants. Initially, Nantz and his platoon are dispatched to an abandoned Santa Monica police station to rescue a group of civilians and then escort them to a forward operating base to await evacuation. Martinez's superiors warn him he has 3 hours to complete his mission before the Air Force obliterates everything in sight. In some way, "Battle: Los Angeles" is like "Aliens" as these smug Marines lock and load for action. The attitude change that comes over them after their first encounter with the enemy is dramatic. Initially, they desperately lack cohesion. Only after they acquire cohesion do they come together as a unit and experience success.
“Battle: Los Angeles” differs from “Independence Day” and the “Transformers” movies because it shuns the multiple levels of characters that those films contain. Typically, sci-fi movies have scientists struggling to figure out how to kill the alien invaders while the politicians scramble to placate the public that everything is being done to accomplish this goal. Eventually, when the politicians and the scientists get a clue, they pass it along to the military and the killing commences. “Battle: Los Angeles” confines its action to the Marines on the ground. Since the Marines can only see what is around them, the film resembles a first-person shooter videogame. The aliens never get up close and personal as in a “Predator” movie. “Battle: Los Angeles” isn’t a horror movie. Occasionally, a soldier is dragged by the feet into foliage and killed. Primarily, these aliens are like marauding Apaches that rely on stealth to strike. Moreover, they can be killed. Eventually, when the Marines run into greater numbers of aliens, “Battle: Los Angeles” settles down to conventional close-quarters combat. Incredibly enough, most of "Battle: Los Angeles" was lensed on location in Louisiana!
CINEMATIC REVELATIONS allows me the luxury of writing, editing and archiving my film and television reviews. Some reviews appeared initially in "The Commercial Dispatch" and "The Planet Weekly" and then later in the comment archives at the Internet Movie Database. IMDB.COM, however, imposes a limit on both the number of words and the number of times that an author may revise their comments. I hope that anybody who peruses these expanded reviews will find them useful.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''A MAN TO RESPECT" (ITALIAN-WEST GERMAN-1972)
This entertaining 'crime-does-not-pay' European heist caper pits mastermind safe-cracker Kirk Douglas against his trapeze artist sidekick Giuliano Gemma as well as his former Teutonic criminal underworld boss Wolfgang Preiss. "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon" director Michele Lupo's suspenseful yarn boasts intrigue, betrayal, and a demolition-derby car chase in Hamburg, Germany, as our hero sets out to pull another one of those formulaic fool-proof last jobs. "Un uomo da rispettare" benefits from the terrific widescreen cinematography of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" lenser Tonino Delli Colli and his use of 'Dutch' tilt angles. Composer Ennio Morricone contributes a muted orchestral score and Lupo relies on a lively classical Mozart tune in two scenes. The twist here is that our anti-heroic protagonist stages one robbery but plans to be caught for another robbery so as throw the German police and the villains off the scent. Naturally, nothing goes quite as it is planned in this ingenious but familiar caper. Like director Richard Brooks' crime caper "Dollars" (1971), Lupo's film focuses on banks that contain ultra-sophisticated security systems to safeguard their assets.
"Un uomo da rispettare" (**1/2 out of ****) opens with marked police cars rampaging around the city while Detective Hoffman (Reinhard Kolldehoff of "Shout at the Devil") transports convicted career criminal Steve Wallace (Kirk Douglas of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral") home to his wife Anna (Florinda Bolkan of "The Last Valley") after having served three years in prison. No sooner does the police car leave Wallace in front of his house than a carload of thugs cruise up. One of the ruffians informs Wallace that their boss, Miller (Wolfgang Preiss of "Raid on Rommel"), wants to talk to him. Reluctantly, Wallace accompanies them to see the well-heeled Miller in his huge office above a casino. Miller surrounds himself with an array of electronic gadgets to present his proposition for a heist with a million dollar payday. "I've got a job only you can do," he explains. "Now, listen carefully, you must knock out this alarm system. It's called 'Big Ben.' If it goes off, the whole city can hear it." Miller shows Wallace the vault on the top floor where the International Insurance Company has stored a cool million. "Now I know you can handle this safe, Steve, but Big Ben is the problem. The buzzing of a fly, a footstep, a deep breath is enough to trip the alarm." Miller pauses and then observes in an effort to entice Wallace. "Nobody has ever thought of it before." Wallace refuses flatly to pull the job for Miller. Before he worked for Miller, Wallace never encountered trouble. He wound up serving three years in prison when he did his first job for Miller. Nevertheless, Wallace tours the building and finds the edifice decked out with surveillance galore. He heads up to the top floor to snoop around but the disembodied voice of a woman interrupts him. He tells her that he has an appointment with Mr. Schmitt. The woman at a central control desk tells him that Schmitt's office is located on the second floor. Miller's rough-hewn henchman (Romano Puppo of "Death Rides A Horse") spots him leaving the building. He tries to persuade Wallace to see Miller again. Wallace refuses. While they are talking, a young man in an old jalopy, Marco (Giuliano Gemma), pulls up behind the henchman and honks at him. The two tangle in a rough and tumble fight with Marco demonstrating his agility. Miller's man brandishes a pistol. Wallace intervenes and knocks the gun out of the thug's fist.
This chance encounter serves as an opportunity for Wallace and Marco to become friends. Sadly, Wallace doesn't pay enough attention either to his unhappy wife or his new friend. Wallace convinces Anna that he can steal millions without being held accountable if he stages one robbery but takes the fall for another lesser robbery. If everything goes according to plan, Wallace calculates that--under German law--he will only land in prison for 18 months from robbing a pawn shop. Unfortunately, Marco relies too heavily on his switchblade knife. Earlier, Wallace warns Marco sternly about this predilection. Director Lupo does a good job of staging the International Insurance safe-cracking job. Wallace decides to pull the job in the afternoon rather than at night. He slips into the building just after it has closed and looks like just another businessman with a bag that contains his instruments. Meantime, Anna makes appropriate phone calls at the precise moments to distract the uniformed guards while our hero sets up an array of gadgets to warn him when the guards are making their rounds. He uses Mozart music to skillfully distract the 'Big Ben' alarm system. Furthermore, after he gains access to the vault room, Wallace sprinkles powder on the push-buttons that must be punched according to a sequence to raise the circular vault out of the floor. He uses the powder to determine which buttons have fingerprints on them. Pretty savvy!!! Unfortunately, the best laid plans go awry when poor Marco kills the guard. You'd think after his knock down, drag-out brawl with Miller's henchman that Marco could have beaten the guard and left him unconscious. That isn't the point. The guard must be found down and at the last moment so that it comes as a complete surprise to Wallace.
"Un uomo da rispettare" is one of those crime caper films made after the abolition of the Production Code. Earlier, Hollywood films and European films would never allow the criminals to escape with their ill-gotten gains. This would been a prescription for anarchy. Filmmakers could not make such a radical, anti-status-quo statement. The idea that 'crime could pay' would have been considered unethical! Cleverly, however, Lupo and scenarists Roberto Leoni, Franco Bucceri, Mino Roli, and Nico Ducci create suspense by letting Wallace get away with one robbery only to be nabbed for another one! After all, this is a testament to Wallace's brilliance as a safe-cracker. A handsome, well-tailored Kirk Douglas is shrewd throughout until he realizes that he has been sold out. As his immature pal, Giuliano Gemma looks like a European version of Paul Newman. He appears to be performing his own stunts in the circus scenes. The slam-bang car chase between Marco and Miller's lieutenant as a part of their feud is amusing. This isn't the kind of car chase that was usually found in Hollywood epics at the time. Surprisingly, this chase seems to have been filmed in chronological order since neither vehicle looks like it changes during the demolition.
"Un uomo da rispettare" (**1/2 out of ****) opens with marked police cars rampaging around the city while Detective Hoffman (Reinhard Kolldehoff of "Shout at the Devil") transports convicted career criminal Steve Wallace (Kirk Douglas of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral") home to his wife Anna (Florinda Bolkan of "The Last Valley") after having served three years in prison. No sooner does the police car leave Wallace in front of his house than a carload of thugs cruise up. One of the ruffians informs Wallace that their boss, Miller (Wolfgang Preiss of "Raid on Rommel"), wants to talk to him. Reluctantly, Wallace accompanies them to see the well-heeled Miller in his huge office above a casino. Miller surrounds himself with an array of electronic gadgets to present his proposition for a heist with a million dollar payday. "I've got a job only you can do," he explains. "Now, listen carefully, you must knock out this alarm system. It's called 'Big Ben.' If it goes off, the whole city can hear it." Miller shows Wallace the vault on the top floor where the International Insurance Company has stored a cool million. "Now I know you can handle this safe, Steve, but Big Ben is the problem. The buzzing of a fly, a footstep, a deep breath is enough to trip the alarm." Miller pauses and then observes in an effort to entice Wallace. "Nobody has ever thought of it before." Wallace refuses flatly to pull the job for Miller. Before he worked for Miller, Wallace never encountered trouble. He wound up serving three years in prison when he did his first job for Miller. Nevertheless, Wallace tours the building and finds the edifice decked out with surveillance galore. He heads up to the top floor to snoop around but the disembodied voice of a woman interrupts him. He tells her that he has an appointment with Mr. Schmitt. The woman at a central control desk tells him that Schmitt's office is located on the second floor. Miller's rough-hewn henchman (Romano Puppo of "Death Rides A Horse") spots him leaving the building. He tries to persuade Wallace to see Miller again. Wallace refuses. While they are talking, a young man in an old jalopy, Marco (Giuliano Gemma), pulls up behind the henchman and honks at him. The two tangle in a rough and tumble fight with Marco demonstrating his agility. Miller's man brandishes a pistol. Wallace intervenes and knocks the gun out of the thug's fist.
This chance encounter serves as an opportunity for Wallace and Marco to become friends. Sadly, Wallace doesn't pay enough attention either to his unhappy wife or his new friend. Wallace convinces Anna that he can steal millions without being held accountable if he stages one robbery but takes the fall for another lesser robbery. If everything goes according to plan, Wallace calculates that--under German law--he will only land in prison for 18 months from robbing a pawn shop. Unfortunately, Marco relies too heavily on his switchblade knife. Earlier, Wallace warns Marco sternly about this predilection. Director Lupo does a good job of staging the International Insurance safe-cracking job. Wallace decides to pull the job in the afternoon rather than at night. He slips into the building just after it has closed and looks like just another businessman with a bag that contains his instruments. Meantime, Anna makes appropriate phone calls at the precise moments to distract the uniformed guards while our hero sets up an array of gadgets to warn him when the guards are making their rounds. He uses Mozart music to skillfully distract the 'Big Ben' alarm system. Furthermore, after he gains access to the vault room, Wallace sprinkles powder on the push-buttons that must be punched according to a sequence to raise the circular vault out of the floor. He uses the powder to determine which buttons have fingerprints on them. Pretty savvy!!! Unfortunately, the best laid plans go awry when poor Marco kills the guard. You'd think after his knock down, drag-out brawl with Miller's henchman that Marco could have beaten the guard and left him unconscious. That isn't the point. The guard must be found down and at the last moment so that it comes as a complete surprise to Wallace.
"Un uomo da rispettare" is one of those crime caper films made after the abolition of the Production Code. Earlier, Hollywood films and European films would never allow the criminals to escape with their ill-gotten gains. This would been a prescription for anarchy. Filmmakers could not make such a radical, anti-status-quo statement. The idea that 'crime could pay' would have been considered unethical! Cleverly, however, Lupo and scenarists Roberto Leoni, Franco Bucceri, Mino Roli, and Nico Ducci create suspense by letting Wallace get away with one robbery only to be nabbed for another one! After all, this is a testament to Wallace's brilliance as a safe-cracker. A handsome, well-tailored Kirk Douglas is shrewd throughout until he realizes that he has been sold out. As his immature pal, Giuliano Gemma looks like a European version of Paul Newman. He appears to be performing his own stunts in the circus scenes. The slam-bang car chase between Marco and Miller's lieutenant as a part of their feud is amusing. This isn't the kind of car chase that was usually found in Hollywood epics at the time. Surprisingly, this chase seems to have been filmed in chronological order since neither vehicle looks like it changes during the demolition.
Monday, March 7, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU" (2011)
Hugo Award winning author Phillip K. Dick penned over 40 science fiction novels and more than 120 short stories. Dick forged a career out of writing about omnipotent corporations and dystopian governments that manipulated people like puppets. Even if sci-fi does not share shelf space with your mainstream literature, you should have heard about him from a number of film adaptations released since his death. For the record, Dick died in 1982, and Hollywood belatedly appropriated his creative output. Of course, “Blade Runner” (1982) ranks as the most celebrated of Dick adaptations. “Next” (2007) with Nicolas Cage, “A Scanner Darkly” (2006) with Keanu Reeves, “Paycheck” (2005) with Ben Affleck, “Minority Report”(2002) with Tom Cruise, “Impostor” (2001) with Gary Sinise, “Screamers” (1995) with Peter Weller, and “Total Recall” (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger followed. The thing that most of these films have in common is that they do little justice to his genius. Writer, producer, and director George Nolfi, whose writing credits include "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "Ocean's Twelve,” has tampered marginally with Dick’s 1954 short story "Adjustment Team” to augment the romantic angle. The short story had no romantic angle, but this alteration makes the movie with Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Terence Stamp into an entertaining opus. If you shun sci-fi sagas because of the gadgetry, terminology, and exotic creatures that dominate so many of these movies, “The Adjustment Bureau” may appeal to you. Damon doesn’t don a glittering space suit, and Blunt doesn’t sport a futuristic coiffure. Alien life forms neither invade Earth nor enslave humanity. What little gadgetry that is deployed is not emphasized because it plays such a peripheral part.
Aside from the earlier Dick adaptation “Paycheck,” “The Adjustment Bureau” (***1/2 out of ****) qualifies as the least sci-fi looking epic you’ll see. Nevertheless, it concerns a theme that obsessed Dick: alternate realities sometimes referred to as ‘simulacra.’ Damon plays young, single, unruly Brooklyn-born politician George Norris christened 'the GQ Congressman' for his sartorial elegance. Norris falls in love by a happy coincidence when he encounters a beautiful dancer in the men's room at the elite motel where he maintains his election campaign headquarters. Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt of "Gnomeo & Juliet") is hiding from motel security because she tried to crash a wedding. Norris struggles to organize his thoughts for a speech conceding his election to his opponent. Initially, he asks if anybody is in the restroom. Mind you, this is the kind of rest room where the toilet stall doors resemble front doors. When he gets no response, Norris mulls over the wording of his speech. Elise surprises him at the last moment and steps out, and they strike up a conversation that leads to a kiss. No sooner have they concluded their lip-lock than David's long-suffering campaign manager Charlie Traynor (Michael Kelly of "Law Abiding Citizen") enters and catches a glimpse of Elise as she strolls out. Afterward, David concedes defeat with a speech about the absurd lengths that his campaign went to so that he would draw diverse voters. He talks about his choice of shoes. The shoes have to look nice enough to attract the upper elite without alienating the middle class voters. Although he lost the election, David has proved so charismatic that he won't be overlooked during the next election.
Later, David and Elise meet again on a New York City Transit bus. As it turns out, an anonymous group of guys are monitoring everything that happens to our protagonists. They dress in elegant but unobtrusive grey suits, ties, and hats. They tote around books and haunt rooftops so they can survey the city and make plans. Actually, they don’t make plans. More appropriately, they follow plans. When they open their books to check the progress of these plans, we see what resembles a live ‘etch-a-sketch’ on paper with lines and circles. They report to a superior who they call ‘the Chairman of the Board.’ No, the Chairman of the Board is not Frank Sinatra with a harp, a halo, and a hat. In fact, we never see ‘the Chairman of the Board.’ Clearly, this ‘Chairman of the Board’ might be a supreme deity. Wisely Nolfi leaves this up to the imagination of moviegoers so that religion doesn’t become an issue. The problem is that the Chairman of the Board, who orchestrates the moves that mankind make, wants neither David nor Elise to hook up.
Indeed, these many mysterious men in hats do their best to keep our hero and heroine apart. Initially, they succeed after a guy-in-gray, Harry Mitchell (Will Smith lookalike Anthony Mackie of “Million Dollar Baby”), takes a nap on a city bench and misses his rendezvous with David. When he misses colliding with Norris, Harry accidentally allows our hero to run into Elise on the city bus. The men in grey scramble to make-up for this error by getting to David’s office ahead of him where they are erasing minds when he stumbles in on them. All of this stuff appears in the trailer. Richardson (John Slattery of “Iron Man 2”) divulges the entire set-up to David and warns him that they will zap his mind if he does not keep their secret. Specifically, they don’t want him to meet Elise because she is destined to become America’s greatest dancer. If they get together, David will destroy her career as well as sidetrack his own political ambitions. Predictably, David refuses to be manipulated, even if these enigmatic gentlemen threaten to erase his mind. Sounds a bit like “Men in Black" doesn't it? Nevertheless, he does everything within his power to thwart these people who would keep the woman of his dreams and he apart in this exciting romantic thriller. The closest movie to “The Adjustment Bureau” that seasoned sci-fi aficionados may recall is director Alex Proyas’s second film, the neo-noir “Dark City” (1998) where aliens recreated an Earth-like environment and conducted endless experiments to understand the essence of humanity. Unlike “Dark City,” “The Adjustment Bureau” prefers to be more cerebral than sci-fi. Nolfi makes our hero and heroine appropriately sympathetic, while the villains are immaculately shady without being hideous. The nearest thing to sci-fi here is the use of doors as short-cuts to get around New York City. Happily, Nolfi doesn’t clutter up the action with a surfeit of exposition that explains how going through different doors saves time. Altogether, "The Adjustment Bureau" qualifies as a lightweight but enjoyable "Twilight Zone" sci-fier that makes a great date movie.
Aside from the earlier Dick adaptation “Paycheck,” “The Adjustment Bureau” (***1/2 out of ****) qualifies as the least sci-fi looking epic you’ll see. Nevertheless, it concerns a theme that obsessed Dick: alternate realities sometimes referred to as ‘simulacra.’ Damon plays young, single, unruly Brooklyn-born politician George Norris christened 'the GQ Congressman' for his sartorial elegance. Norris falls in love by a happy coincidence when he encounters a beautiful dancer in the men's room at the elite motel where he maintains his election campaign headquarters. Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt of "Gnomeo & Juliet") is hiding from motel security because she tried to crash a wedding. Norris struggles to organize his thoughts for a speech conceding his election to his opponent. Initially, he asks if anybody is in the restroom. Mind you, this is the kind of rest room where the toilet stall doors resemble front doors. When he gets no response, Norris mulls over the wording of his speech. Elise surprises him at the last moment and steps out, and they strike up a conversation that leads to a kiss. No sooner have they concluded their lip-lock than David's long-suffering campaign manager Charlie Traynor (Michael Kelly of "Law Abiding Citizen") enters and catches a glimpse of Elise as she strolls out. Afterward, David concedes defeat with a speech about the absurd lengths that his campaign went to so that he would draw diverse voters. He talks about his choice of shoes. The shoes have to look nice enough to attract the upper elite without alienating the middle class voters. Although he lost the election, David has proved so charismatic that he won't be overlooked during the next election.
Later, David and Elise meet again on a New York City Transit bus. As it turns out, an anonymous group of guys are monitoring everything that happens to our protagonists. They dress in elegant but unobtrusive grey suits, ties, and hats. They tote around books and haunt rooftops so they can survey the city and make plans. Actually, they don’t make plans. More appropriately, they follow plans. When they open their books to check the progress of these plans, we see what resembles a live ‘etch-a-sketch’ on paper with lines and circles. They report to a superior who they call ‘the Chairman of the Board.’ No, the Chairman of the Board is not Frank Sinatra with a harp, a halo, and a hat. In fact, we never see ‘the Chairman of the Board.’ Clearly, this ‘Chairman of the Board’ might be a supreme deity. Wisely Nolfi leaves this up to the imagination of moviegoers so that religion doesn’t become an issue. The problem is that the Chairman of the Board, who orchestrates the moves that mankind make, wants neither David nor Elise to hook up.
Indeed, these many mysterious men in hats do their best to keep our hero and heroine apart. Initially, they succeed after a guy-in-gray, Harry Mitchell (Will Smith lookalike Anthony Mackie of “Million Dollar Baby”), takes a nap on a city bench and misses his rendezvous with David. When he misses colliding with Norris, Harry accidentally allows our hero to run into Elise on the city bus. The men in grey scramble to make-up for this error by getting to David’s office ahead of him where they are erasing minds when he stumbles in on them. All of this stuff appears in the trailer. Richardson (John Slattery of “Iron Man 2”) divulges the entire set-up to David and warns him that they will zap his mind if he does not keep their secret. Specifically, they don’t want him to meet Elise because she is destined to become America’s greatest dancer. If they get together, David will destroy her career as well as sidetrack his own political ambitions. Predictably, David refuses to be manipulated, even if these enigmatic gentlemen threaten to erase his mind. Sounds a bit like “Men in Black" doesn't it? Nevertheless, he does everything within his power to thwart these people who would keep the woman of his dreams and he apart in this exciting romantic thriller. The closest movie to “The Adjustment Bureau” that seasoned sci-fi aficionados may recall is director Alex Proyas’s second film, the neo-noir “Dark City” (1998) where aliens recreated an Earth-like environment and conducted endless experiments to understand the essence of humanity. Unlike “Dark City,” “The Adjustment Bureau” prefers to be more cerebral than sci-fi. Nolfi makes our hero and heroine appropriately sympathetic, while the villains are immaculately shady without being hideous. The nearest thing to sci-fi here is the use of doors as short-cuts to get around New York City. Happily, Nolfi doesn’t clutter up the action with a surfeit of exposition that explains how going through different doors saves time. Altogether, "The Adjustment Bureau" qualifies as a lightweight but enjoyable "Twilight Zone" sci-fier that makes a great date movie.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF "LEGION" (2010)
Freshman director Scott Stewart's high-octane apocalyptic actioneer "Legion" (*** out of ****) suffers somewhat from one contrivance after another, but this suspenseful secular saga conjures up more than enough thrills, chills and spills to keep audiences entertained with its outrageous audacity. A desolate greasy-spoon roadside diner in a sprawl of sun-baked hills in the middle of nowhere serves as the setting for an end-game showdown between mankind and its Maker. Gladiatorial archangels, demonic humans with a cannibalistic frenzy for flesh, mammoth insect swarms and other ominous symbols of Revelation appear in this old-school, souped-up, R-rated, gunfire meets fantasy smörgåsbord. The self-sacrificing Archangel Michael carves off his own wings for the occasion and opposes a dutiful Gabriel to protect an unborn child and preserve humanity from utter extinction. According to our winged wonder, God wants to grease humanity for the second time. Basically, the Supreme Being can no longer tolerate our "bullshit." Like he did to the heathen Egyptians in the Old Testament, God dispatches a legion of plagues, demons, and cannibals to polish off mankind. Non-religious audiences will crave the obstreperous battle scenes with their fusillades of gun-fire. Most of the violence staged outside against the aggressors resembles a first-person shooter video game. The adversaries hurl themselves futilely against the good guys in a hopeless frontal assault. Often, during lulls in the attacks as our appealing and clearly sympathetic characters let their guns cool off, they discuss philosophical and moral issues. Nevertheless, "Legion" illustrates the dictum that the meek shall inherit the earth. Stewart and his scenarist Peter Schink refrain from proselytizing, but their anti-abortion stance seems rather obvious.
"Legion" opens with an unmistakable homage to James Cameron's sci-fi classic "The Terminator." Archangel Michael plunges mysteriously from the night skies and lands in a dark back alley with blood on his face. He whips out a savage-looking knife, cuts off his wings, later sews the wounds shut, breaks into an armory, stocks up with an arsenal of lethal hardware, tangles with the L.A.P.D., and careens off in their cruiser. Meanwhile, the action shifts to the Paradise Falls Diner where the usual gallery of customers and employees huddle, among them the hard-bitten owner Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid of "Pandorum"), his simple-minded but conscientious mechanic son Jeep (Lucas Black of "Sling Blade"), gruff but friendly short-order cook Percy Walker (Charles S. Dutton of "Alien 3")who has one hand, an affluent couple, Sandra (Kate Walsh of "Bewitched") and Howard (Jon Tenney of "The Stepfather"), whose computerized BMW has broken down, their defiant teen daughter Audrey (Willa Holland of "Garden Party") and an enigmatic, pistol-packing African-American, Kyle Williams (Tyrese Gibson of "Death Race") who is caught up in a child custody quarrel. The most important character in "Paradise Falls" is a pretty, young waitress with the morals of an ally cat, Charlie (Adrianne Palicki of "Seven Mummies"), who has gotten herself in the family way. Ironically, she had toyed with the idea of abortion, but now only wants to hand her child off to a good family. Bob Hanson knows something about defeat. He opened a diner in the worst place in the world and hoped that a shopping mall would take root nearby. The mall took root but not nearby, so Bob's roadside restaurant Paradise Falls, (talk about theme!), never became the pot of gold that he had envisaged when he dreamed about opening it. His wife left him to raise son and Bob doesn't want Jeep to make a similar mistake with Charlie.
Unlike God, Michael has never lost his faith in mankind. He has come to defend Charlie and her unborn baby. He brings the firepower that he looted from a warehouse and arms Percy, Kyle, Charlie, and the others some pretty, heavy-duty hardware in the form of assault weapons. Initially, Michael has been assigned to slay the baby. When he confronts Gabriel, they have an argument about obedience. The obsequious Gabriel wants nothing more than to do the Lord's work, while Michael prefers to be insubordinate. Michael's argument is that God gave him a heart to love and he cannot turn his back on mankind. Michael argues that Gabriel isn't doing what a good son should do. Says Michael: "You gave Him what he asked for. I gave Him what He needed." Director Scott Stewart stages everything like a Rob Zombie showdown movie. Happily, Stewart and "Gotham Café" co-scripter Peter Schink never take themselves or the storyline seriously. The first time that we meet Bob Hanson, he is slapping around a television monitor, trying to get a decent signal. The old black & white movie that is being broadcast is the James Stewart classic "It's A Wonderful Life" and the scene where an angel, Clarence, informs Stewart that he is an angel who is trying to earn his wings. This foreshadowing of Michael and his wingless arrival is appropriately tongue-in-cheek. The first demon that enters the diner is an elderly "Golden Girl" type named Gladys Foster (Jeanette Miller of "The Truman Show") who uses a wheeled walker. The "Legion" trailer shows her warning Charlie that the waitress' baby will burn. Gladys turns demonic after acting so sweet to everybody, rips a hole in Howard's neck, scuttles across the ceiling like a human fly, and recovers after momentarily being stunned by a flying frying pan. Later, in another amusing surprise, our heroes thoughtlessly save a moppet-headed elementary school age child who turns out to have a genuine bloodlust for Charlie's newborn. Says the Minivan child with a huge steak knife in his clutches to Charlie: "Don't be afraid. I just want to play with the baby."
No, "Legion" doesn't qualify as scriptural, despite its Bible-themed message of redemption. This energetic epic not only serves as an anti-abortion tract but also as anti-cigarette propaganda. This movie reminded me of those larger-than-life Arnold Schwarzenegger science fiction sagas from the 1980s. Everything about "Legion" is gloriously low-tech, even down to the hardware. When Gabriel and Michael tangle, the former wields a multi-purpose mace while the latter brandishes a shotgun. The drawback here is that neither really die because they are immortal so suspense takes a hit. The performances are uniformly excellent, and the cast maintains a straight face through this riotous nonsense. Paul Bettany excels as Michael and Kevin Durand stands out as Gabriel. Lenser John Lindley, whose credits include "The Serpent and the Rainbow," "Field of Dreams," and "Pleasantville," generates considerable tension and suspense with his darkly-lighted cinematography. The surprise ending and the changes that Jeep and Charlie experience along with the adrenalin-fueled shoot-out sequences make "Legion" into entertaining hokum.
"Legion" opens with an unmistakable homage to James Cameron's sci-fi classic "The Terminator." Archangel Michael plunges mysteriously from the night skies and lands in a dark back alley with blood on his face. He whips out a savage-looking knife, cuts off his wings, later sews the wounds shut, breaks into an armory, stocks up with an arsenal of lethal hardware, tangles with the L.A.P.D., and careens off in their cruiser. Meanwhile, the action shifts to the Paradise Falls Diner where the usual gallery of customers and employees huddle, among them the hard-bitten owner Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid of "Pandorum"), his simple-minded but conscientious mechanic son Jeep (Lucas Black of "Sling Blade"), gruff but friendly short-order cook Percy Walker (Charles S. Dutton of "Alien 3")who has one hand, an affluent couple, Sandra (Kate Walsh of "Bewitched") and Howard (Jon Tenney of "The Stepfather"), whose computerized BMW has broken down, their defiant teen daughter Audrey (Willa Holland of "Garden Party") and an enigmatic, pistol-packing African-American, Kyle Williams (Tyrese Gibson of "Death Race") who is caught up in a child custody quarrel. The most important character in "Paradise Falls" is a pretty, young waitress with the morals of an ally cat, Charlie (Adrianne Palicki of "Seven Mummies"), who has gotten herself in the family way. Ironically, she had toyed with the idea of abortion, but now only wants to hand her child off to a good family. Bob Hanson knows something about defeat. He opened a diner in the worst place in the world and hoped that a shopping mall would take root nearby. The mall took root but not nearby, so Bob's roadside restaurant Paradise Falls, (talk about theme!), never became the pot of gold that he had envisaged when he dreamed about opening it. His wife left him to raise son and Bob doesn't want Jeep to make a similar mistake with Charlie.
Unlike God, Michael has never lost his faith in mankind. He has come to defend Charlie and her unborn baby. He brings the firepower that he looted from a warehouse and arms Percy, Kyle, Charlie, and the others some pretty, heavy-duty hardware in the form of assault weapons. Initially, Michael has been assigned to slay the baby. When he confronts Gabriel, they have an argument about obedience. The obsequious Gabriel wants nothing more than to do the Lord's work, while Michael prefers to be insubordinate. Michael's argument is that God gave him a heart to love and he cannot turn his back on mankind. Michael argues that Gabriel isn't doing what a good son should do. Says Michael: "You gave Him what he asked for. I gave Him what He needed." Director Scott Stewart stages everything like a Rob Zombie showdown movie. Happily, Stewart and "Gotham Café" co-scripter Peter Schink never take themselves or the storyline seriously. The first time that we meet Bob Hanson, he is slapping around a television monitor, trying to get a decent signal. The old black & white movie that is being broadcast is the James Stewart classic "It's A Wonderful Life" and the scene where an angel, Clarence, informs Stewart that he is an angel who is trying to earn his wings. This foreshadowing of Michael and his wingless arrival is appropriately tongue-in-cheek. The first demon that enters the diner is an elderly "Golden Girl" type named Gladys Foster (Jeanette Miller of "The Truman Show") who uses a wheeled walker. The "Legion" trailer shows her warning Charlie that the waitress' baby will burn. Gladys turns demonic after acting so sweet to everybody, rips a hole in Howard's neck, scuttles across the ceiling like a human fly, and recovers after momentarily being stunned by a flying frying pan. Later, in another amusing surprise, our heroes thoughtlessly save a moppet-headed elementary school age child who turns out to have a genuine bloodlust for Charlie's newborn. Says the Minivan child with a huge steak knife in his clutches to Charlie: "Don't be afraid. I just want to play with the baby."
No, "Legion" doesn't qualify as scriptural, despite its Bible-themed message of redemption. This energetic epic not only serves as an anti-abortion tract but also as anti-cigarette propaganda. This movie reminded me of those larger-than-life Arnold Schwarzenegger science fiction sagas from the 1980s. Everything about "Legion" is gloriously low-tech, even down to the hardware. When Gabriel and Michael tangle, the former wields a multi-purpose mace while the latter brandishes a shotgun. The drawback here is that neither really die because they are immortal so suspense takes a hit. The performances are uniformly excellent, and the cast maintains a straight face through this riotous nonsense. Paul Bettany excels as Michael and Kevin Durand stands out as Gabriel. Lenser John Lindley, whose credits include "The Serpent and the Rainbow," "Field of Dreams," and "Pleasantville," generates considerable tension and suspense with his darkly-lighted cinematography. The surprise ending and the changes that Jeep and Charlie experience along with the adrenalin-fueled shoot-out sequences make "Legion" into entertaining hokum.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''DRIVE ANGRY 3D" (2011)
Although the latest Nicolas Cage epic surpasses his previous potboiler “Season of the Witch,” “My Bloody Valentine” director Patrick Lussier’s “Drive Angry 3-D” (**1/2 out of ****) qualifies as little more than a campy, white-trash, B-movie about a gun-toting fugitive fresh out of Hell who struggles to save his infant granddaughter from a Satanic cult set on slaughtering her. Blood-splattered, babe-strewn, and bullet-riddled, this half-grilled collection of grindhouse clichés delivers non-stop action that you’ve seen before in better movies like “Race with the Devil," "Shoot’em Up,” “Crank,” and “Machete.” The only shred of originality in this hard-boiled, hare-brained hokum is a go-for-broke motel room massacre. A half-clad Cage in sunglasses, clutching a fifth of Jack Daniels in one fist and an automatic pistol in the other, mows down a mob of murderous miscreants as they migrate into his room without invitation. Just to show how incredibly cool that our hero is under fire, Lussier and co-scenarist Todd Farmer have his adversaries storm in on him in the middle of a tryst with a totally naked cocktail waitress astride him. Of course, the deafening gunfight traumatizes the poor dame. Meantime, our imperturbable protagonist misses nary a stroke until his pistol clicks on empty and the last thug stands poised to polish him off. This is as good as this beer & pizza movie gets. “Drive Angry” amounts to a second-rate, supernatural saga with cars flying through flaming hoops in “Dukes of Hazzard” fashion without a modicum of realism. Nevertheless, despite all its audacious abandon and above-average 3-D photography, this contrived, R-rated fantasy lacks a shred of genuine suspense. Since our hero is immortal, nothing the villains do can harm him. Sure, they kick him when he is down and put bullets into him, but Milton suffers no long term damage. In other words, we don't have to worry about his safety. As far as that goes, we don't have to worry about the safety of the child that rests in the arms of these vicious thugs. Hollywood would never sanction a film where a helpless child would get burned up. Entirely predictable as well as pedestrian from start to finish, this contrived road rage serves up drivel for dialogue and muscle car stunts that pale by comparison with the “Fast & Furious” franchise.
“Drive Angry” opens in Laughter, Colorado. Our enigmatic hero, John Milton (Nicolas Cage of “Face/Off”), has miraculously managed to escape from perdition. We're given a brief glimpse of Hell with its charred landscape, but none of the action takes place on those fried premises. Guess we'll have to await either for the prequel or the sequel to learn more about Milton's shenanigans in Hades. Meanwhile, we’re neither told how Milton broke out of Hell nor where he was imprisoned, except that he was confined in 'a dark place' that he didn't relish. When we see him for the first time, Milton is behind the wheel of a hot rod with an automatic shotgun. He runs down three repellent ruffians who work for wicked satanic cult leader Jonah King (Billy Burke of “Twilight”) so he can learn the whereabouts of his infant granddaughter. We're told that King murdered Milton’s daughter and son-in-law and King kept her femur as a trophy and turned it into a walking stick. King makes a relatively bland villain in the greater scheme of things when compared to such monsters as either Dr. Hannibal Lecter from "Silence of the Lambs" or Clarence J. Boddicker from "Robocop." He is leading his minions to a derelict prison in southern Louisiana to sacrifice the child during a bizarre full moon ritual. Chalk up points for Lussier and Farmer for giving the action a deadline. Just to show that he is serious about his aims; Milton blows one thug’s hand off with a blast from his shotgun. That scene looks good in 3-D. He shoots another thug in the leg and threatens to turn his thigh into ground chuck if he doesn’t talk. Naturally, the wounded man divulges King’s destination. Of course, no scene like this one would be complete without our hero igniting a stream of fuel leaking from the smashed up pick-up truck that the villains trundled around in and then walking away as the vehicle blows up in a fireball.
During the opening gunfight, our hero crashed his car and wound up afoot. He trudges no farther than a greasy spoon roadside diner where he spots a nubile waitress, Piper (Amber Heard of “Pineapple Express”), who has just quit her job. Piper's lecherous boss, Fat Lou (Jack McGee of "Basic Instinct") got fresh with her so she cleared out. Our heroine is cruising home to her out-of-work boyfriend when her sleek 1969 Dodge Charger overheats and coasts to a halt. As if on cue, Milton walks out of the woods, takes a gander under the hood, and then tweaks something. In no time flat, they are heading to see her sweetheart. Earlier, Piper had boasted to another waitress about how she had deprived her boyfriend of sex with her until he proposed marriage. It seems that he has been out of work and Piper has been paying the bills on the Charger. Imagine Piper’s surprise when she finds Frank (Todd Farmer of “Jason-X”) in bed with a dark-haired beauty. A bare-knuckles fistfight between Piper and Frank’s slut ensues and later Frank steps in and punches Piper out. He is about to carve her face up when Milton intervenes and decks Frank with several devastating blows. A grateful Piper agrees to drive Milton to Louisiana.
Along about this time, another mysterious individual makes his entrance. A well-tailored man in a suit and tie who calls himself 'the Accountant' (William Fichtner of “Heat”) is trailing Milton and plans to take him back to Satan. Milton and the Accountant engage in a game of cat and mouse throughout “Drive Angry.” Although they appear to be adversaries, the Accountant helps Milton out of some pretty tight predicaments, particularly a sheriff’s roadblock where an army of lawmen yearn for an excuse to blow our hero and heroine to smithereens. The Accountant likes to toss around a magic coin that can either change into the credentials of an FBI agent or a deadly weapon. Indeed, he hurls the coin at one bad guy and it sinks half-way into the brute’s forehead and kills him.
“Drive Angry” comes by its R-rating naturally. The f-word is uttered about 75 times in a variety of variations. When loose women aren’t displaying ample cleavage, they are parading around as naked as jaybirds without a qualm. The violence is somewhat extreme. At one point, we see the villainous Jonah brandish a straight razor and slash at a man’s throat. Although the blade is never shown penetrating flesh, the filmmakers show a geyser of blood splashing a nearby wall. Hands are obliterated. Heads are cut off. A baseball bat is used to skewer a man’s torso and the poor hooligan writhes in agony as he is pinned to a wall. The ultimate act of violence occurs when a heavy is disintegrated by a so called ‘god gun’ that deprives the individual of his soul so he can neither enter Heaven or Hell. Our triumphant hero drinks a cold beer from the dead man’s shattered cranium. Ghoulish as all this seems, Lussier and Farmer play everything for macabre laughs. Indeed, nothing in “Drive Angry” is remotely realistic. Unfortunately, virtually everything is so phony that it provides little in the way of catharsis. You know an action movie is in trouble when the demise of its chief villain yields no satisfaction. “Drive Angry” steps on the gas but winds up going nowhere in the long run.
“Drive Angry” opens in Laughter, Colorado. Our enigmatic hero, John Milton (Nicolas Cage of “Face/Off”), has miraculously managed to escape from perdition. We're given a brief glimpse of Hell with its charred landscape, but none of the action takes place on those fried premises. Guess we'll have to await either for the prequel or the sequel to learn more about Milton's shenanigans in Hades. Meanwhile, we’re neither told how Milton broke out of Hell nor where he was imprisoned, except that he was confined in 'a dark place' that he didn't relish. When we see him for the first time, Milton is behind the wheel of a hot rod with an automatic shotgun. He runs down three repellent ruffians who work for wicked satanic cult leader Jonah King (Billy Burke of “Twilight”) so he can learn the whereabouts of his infant granddaughter. We're told that King murdered Milton’s daughter and son-in-law and King kept her femur as a trophy and turned it into a walking stick. King makes a relatively bland villain in the greater scheme of things when compared to such monsters as either Dr. Hannibal Lecter from "Silence of the Lambs" or Clarence J. Boddicker from "Robocop." He is leading his minions to a derelict prison in southern Louisiana to sacrifice the child during a bizarre full moon ritual. Chalk up points for Lussier and Farmer for giving the action a deadline. Just to show that he is serious about his aims; Milton blows one thug’s hand off with a blast from his shotgun. That scene looks good in 3-D. He shoots another thug in the leg and threatens to turn his thigh into ground chuck if he doesn’t talk. Naturally, the wounded man divulges King’s destination. Of course, no scene like this one would be complete without our hero igniting a stream of fuel leaking from the smashed up pick-up truck that the villains trundled around in and then walking away as the vehicle blows up in a fireball.
During the opening gunfight, our hero crashed his car and wound up afoot. He trudges no farther than a greasy spoon roadside diner where he spots a nubile waitress, Piper (Amber Heard of “Pineapple Express”), who has just quit her job. Piper's lecherous boss, Fat Lou (Jack McGee of "Basic Instinct") got fresh with her so she cleared out. Our heroine is cruising home to her out-of-work boyfriend when her sleek 1969 Dodge Charger overheats and coasts to a halt. As if on cue, Milton walks out of the woods, takes a gander under the hood, and then tweaks something. In no time flat, they are heading to see her sweetheart. Earlier, Piper had boasted to another waitress about how she had deprived her boyfriend of sex with her until he proposed marriage. It seems that he has been out of work and Piper has been paying the bills on the Charger. Imagine Piper’s surprise when she finds Frank (Todd Farmer of “Jason-X”) in bed with a dark-haired beauty. A bare-knuckles fistfight between Piper and Frank’s slut ensues and later Frank steps in and punches Piper out. He is about to carve her face up when Milton intervenes and decks Frank with several devastating blows. A grateful Piper agrees to drive Milton to Louisiana.
Along about this time, another mysterious individual makes his entrance. A well-tailored man in a suit and tie who calls himself 'the Accountant' (William Fichtner of “Heat”) is trailing Milton and plans to take him back to Satan. Milton and the Accountant engage in a game of cat and mouse throughout “Drive Angry.” Although they appear to be adversaries, the Accountant helps Milton out of some pretty tight predicaments, particularly a sheriff’s roadblock where an army of lawmen yearn for an excuse to blow our hero and heroine to smithereens. The Accountant likes to toss around a magic coin that can either change into the credentials of an FBI agent or a deadly weapon. Indeed, he hurls the coin at one bad guy and it sinks half-way into the brute’s forehead and kills him.
“Drive Angry” comes by its R-rating naturally. The f-word is uttered about 75 times in a variety of variations. When loose women aren’t displaying ample cleavage, they are parading around as naked as jaybirds without a qualm. The violence is somewhat extreme. At one point, we see the villainous Jonah brandish a straight razor and slash at a man’s throat. Although the blade is never shown penetrating flesh, the filmmakers show a geyser of blood splashing a nearby wall. Hands are obliterated. Heads are cut off. A baseball bat is used to skewer a man’s torso and the poor hooligan writhes in agony as he is pinned to a wall. The ultimate act of violence occurs when a heavy is disintegrated by a so called ‘god gun’ that deprives the individual of his soul so he can neither enter Heaven or Hell. Our triumphant hero drinks a cold beer from the dead man’s shattered cranium. Ghoulish as all this seems, Lussier and Farmer play everything for macabre laughs. Indeed, nothing in “Drive Angry” is remotely realistic. Unfortunately, virtually everything is so phony that it provides little in the way of catharsis. You know an action movie is in trouble when the demise of its chief villain yields no satisfaction. “Drive Angry” steps on the gas but winds up going nowhere in the long run.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''SCARS OF DRACULA'' (British 1970)
"A Night to Remember" director Roy Ward Baker helmed the liveliest “Dracula” sequel, “Scars of Dracula,” (***1/2 OUT OF ****) with Christopher Lee reprising the role for the fifth time in the Hammer Films franchise. “Scars of Dracula” followed “Taste the Blood of Dracula” but preceded the modern day epic “Dracula, 1972 A.D.” For the record, Dracula's groveling custodian bears most of those titular scars. Whether he went by his real name Anthony Hinds or his pseudonym John Elder, Hinds/Elder penned a screenplay far more ambitious and audacious in its scope, violence, horror, and sexuality. Mind you, despite its cheesy bat massacre, "Scars of Dracula" qualifies as the bloodiest Hammer film. Moreover, "Scars of Dracula" was the first to receive an R-rating in the United States. Dracula punishes his lowly caretaker Klove by applying the red-hot blade of a sword to his back. Further, the caretaker accepts his punishment as if he approved of being punished. Can we say masochism? Of course, the bats are hopelessly phony. Nevertheless, the scene where the bats maul the face off the priest in the church like piranha gorging themselves is terrific. The clergy came under increasing attack in 1970s movies. This scene alone should have landed the film on the video nasties list in Great Britain. Indeed, "Scars of Dracula" is the most supernatural of the "Dracula" franchise. Ultimately, it is the one "Dracula" film from Hammer where the Count boasts more screen time than usual. He also has a fiery death scene that suggests greater powers were at work to vanquish him because mere mortals could not finish him off. Inevitably, this quasi-invincibility adds stature to Christopher Lee's immortal creation
The opening gambit could easily have provided material for an entire movie. Although it somewhat picks up the narrative thread from the previous London-based Dracula opus, “Scars of Dracula” takes place primarily in rural Europe as earlier “Dracula” movies. Dracula’s resurrection scene has got to be the most outlandish of the franchise. A blood-dripping vampire bat shows up (whether by devilish designs or otherwise we never learn) at a remote castle, flies into a chamber that can only be reached by scaling the castle walls, and pukes blood on the Count's remains left over from “Taste the Blood of Dracula.” Presto, Count Dracula is reconstituted into an immaculate, smartly-groomed Christopher Lee. Let the blood-sucking begin! Dracula’s first victim is a farmer's daughter. The introductory credits roll as her sad father totes her lifeless remains to the nearby village. The landlord (Michael Ripper of “The Creeping Flesh”) of the inn assembles the villagers. “This evil must be destroyed,” he vows with feeling. They load up both sufficient fuel and timber, march to Dracula's castle through the woods, trick Dracula’s custodian into letting them within the confines of the castle so that they can set fire to the premises. Of course, their well-intentioned efforts avail them little because Dracula rests in a chamber that nobody can reach.
Ironically, before he allowed them to approach the castle, the priest uttered a prayer to protect his flock. When they return triumphantly from Dracula’s castle the priest congratulates them on the success of their mission. “We must give thanks,” the priest rejoices, “thanks to our savior for his protection.” The villagers agree. The priest turns to leave with them. “Let us go to our church and tell our loved ones they are safe.” Initially, before he supervised their departure, the landlord ordered his wife Marie (television actress Margo Boht) to gather the rest of the village into the church. The last thing that the landlord could imagine has happened. No sooner have they opened the church doors than four vampire bats swoop out past them. The men discover that the rest of the villagers lay blood-splattered and dead in the house of worship. Never have so many people been slaughtered during the first ten minutes in a Hammer “Dracula!” The transition from this scene of slaughter to a faraway birthday party is handled with considerable finesse. As the blood of a victim drips onto the white candles, director Roy Ward Baker dissolves to the red candles at the birthday celebration.
Sarah Framsen (Jenny Hanley of “Undercovers Hero”) and her lover Simon Carlson (Dennis Waterman) wonder where his errant brother, Paul Carlson (Christopher Matthews of "Scream and Scream Again"), is as everybody toasts Sarah. Paul has been sleeping with another woman when he learns that he is going to be late getting to Sarah’s party. When he dresses to leave her, Alice (Delia Lindsay of "The Devil's Widow") is convinced that Paul is leaving her for another woman. A wrapped and tied gift falls out of Paul’s suit jacket, and Alice threatens to scream. Ignoring her threats, Paul retrieves the present and heads downstairs. Alice pursues him with only a bed sheet concealing her breasts and vagina. However, her buttocks are bare for all-to-see in two shots as she follows the recalcitrant Paul down the stairs. As he is making for the door, Paul encounters Alice’s imperious father, the Burgomaster (Bob Todd of "Burke & Hare"), and Alice accuses Paul of wantonly having his way with her. The Burgomaster and Paul struggle briefly before Paul escapes his clutches. The Burgomaster's men chase Paul, and he makes a momentary appearance at Sarah’s birthday party and then leaps from a high window to escape the authorities. Crashing through the roof of a carriage parked below the window, Paul spooks the steeds and they plunge off into the night. Paul finds himself trapped in a runaway carriage. Desperately, he tries to rein in the animals but low-hanging tree limbs knock him off the vehicle.
Paul has no luck finding anybody who will take him in after dark. The landlord of the inn in the village has no room for him and turns him out into the cold night. Predictably, things get worse for Paul. He wanders aimlessly through the woods until he finds another parked carriage drawn by quartet of horses. Climbing into the carriage, Paul falls into a deep sleep. What he doesn’t know is that the carriage belongs to Count Dracula. Dracula’s custodian, Klove (Patrick Troughton of “The Omen”), has been out hunting game, and he drives the carriage back to Castle Dracula without realizing that the carriage contains a passenger. Dracula is very civil to Paul when he meets him. Paul is admiring a knife from a wall mounting and stands with his back to Dracula. Dracula’s first words to Paul are: “The blade is very sharp.” Dracula refuses to let Paul leave.
Klove escorts Paul to a sumptuously appointed bedroom. Meantime, Dracula takes a bite out of his dark-haired hostess, Tania (Anouska Hempel of “Black Snake”) and Baker shows the vampire sinking his fangs into her neck. Later, she comes knocking at Paul’s door in her undergarments. She pleads for Paul to save her and explains that she is being her prisoner against her will by Dracula. No sooner has she told Paul that she is a prisoner than she implores him to sleep with her. Tania and Paul consummate their lust for each other. While Paul lies sleeping, Tania admires his throat. The Count catches Tania staring at Paul’s neck, and his rage at seeing Tania with Paul, prompts Dracula to stab her "Psycho" style repeatedly. Afterward, he quenches his lust for her blood. This is the first time that Dracula has behaved in this manner. In "Horror of Dracula," Dracula drove a vampire woman from Jonathan Harker because she had wanted to feast on him. One interpretation for Dracula murdering Tania is that Tania betrayed him when she had sex with Paul. Presumably, Dracula punished Tania for her infidelity. More probably, Dracula didn’t want sloppy seconds, that is, having to dine on Paul after Tania had done the initial damage. Surprisingly, Dracula does nothing to Paul who sprawls unconsciously on the floor. When Paul recovers, he removes the drapes from the bed canopy and lowers himself down from the bedroom window to the only open window below. Talk about getting out of one frying and then getting into another! Paul has descended into the chamber where Dracula hides his coffin! “Help,” Paul cries as the evil Klove reels up the drapery, “there’s no way out!”
Meanwhile, two uniformed policemen with an arrest warrant question the landlord about Paul’s whereabouts, but he tells them nothing. When Julie (Wendy Hamilton) confides in them that Paul went to the castle, they decide that they want nothing more to do with the case. Eventually, Simon sets out to find Paul with an indefatigable Sarah tagging along despite Simon's protests. They experience the chilly hospitality that the landlord provides at his inn when they inquire about Paul’s whereabouts, too, and are treated like persona-non grata. Simon and reach visit Castle Dracula. Dracula welcomes them and sets aside rooms for them. Dracula’s hospitality turns out to be a ruse. He separates Simon from Sarah. They escape after Dracula tries to sink his fangs in Sarah’s neck. The crucifix that Sarah wears around her neck repulses Dracula. Sarah and Simon manage to get away and return to the village. The priest allows them to sleep in the violated church that nobody attends any more after the bat massacre. The priest explains to Simon that Dracula is not simply a man but the incarnation of all things evil. He compels Simon to wait until dawn before he goes back to the castle to search for his brother. Simon offers Klove the small picture of Sarah so that he can get into the castle again. This time Simon is determined to kill Dracula. He shattered the wooden contraption that holds a wash basin and takes one of the legs to serve as a stake. Locking the door to his room, Simon descends by rope to the window beneath the bedroom where Paul and Tania indulged in carnal pleasures before Dracula interrupted them. This time Simon learns the ugly truth about Paul. He discovers Paul impaled and stuck on a wall. Sarah shows up in time to lower the rope to Dracula’s window.
Earlier, Klove explained that the Master sleeps where nobody can get to him. Baker stages a neat scene where we see Dracula leaving through the window of his room and scaling the architecture to the windows above. Indeed, Bram Stoker wrote about Dracula's uncanny ability to scale walls. Dracula clashes with Klove about Sarah, and the vampire throws him off the top of his castle. Simon appears with an iron spear and hurls it at Dracula so it lands in his stomach. Dracula removes the object from his body without suffering. Nevertheless, Dracula is surprised when lightning strikes the metal stake and kills him.
Christopher Lee’s memories of "Scars of Dracula" aren’t particularly fond. In his 1977 book “The Lord of Misrule: The Autobiography of Christopher Lee,” Lee describes the Baker film as “truly feeble.” Lee elaborated: “It was a story with Dracula popping in almost as an afterthought. Even the Hammer make-up for once was tepid. It’s one thing to look like death warmed over, quite another to look unhealthy. I was a pantomime figure. Everything was over the top, especially the giant bat whose electrically motored wings flapped with slow deliberation as if it were doing morning exercises. The idea that Dracula best liked his blood served up in a nubile container was gaining ground with the front office and I struggled in vain against the direction that the fangs should be seen to strike home, as against the more decorous (and more chilling) methods of shielding the sight with the Count’s cloak.” Nevertheless, “Scars of Dracula” qualifies as one of the best of the Hammer "Dracula" films.
The opening gambit could easily have provided material for an entire movie. Although it somewhat picks up the narrative thread from the previous London-based Dracula opus, “Scars of Dracula” takes place primarily in rural Europe as earlier “Dracula” movies. Dracula’s resurrection scene has got to be the most outlandish of the franchise. A blood-dripping vampire bat shows up (whether by devilish designs or otherwise we never learn) at a remote castle, flies into a chamber that can only be reached by scaling the castle walls, and pukes blood on the Count's remains left over from “Taste the Blood of Dracula.” Presto, Count Dracula is reconstituted into an immaculate, smartly-groomed Christopher Lee. Let the blood-sucking begin! Dracula’s first victim is a farmer's daughter. The introductory credits roll as her sad father totes her lifeless remains to the nearby village. The landlord (Michael Ripper of “The Creeping Flesh”) of the inn assembles the villagers. “This evil must be destroyed,” he vows with feeling. They load up both sufficient fuel and timber, march to Dracula's castle through the woods, trick Dracula’s custodian into letting them within the confines of the castle so that they can set fire to the premises. Of course, their well-intentioned efforts avail them little because Dracula rests in a chamber that nobody can reach.
Ironically, before he allowed them to approach the castle, the priest uttered a prayer to protect his flock. When they return triumphantly from Dracula’s castle the priest congratulates them on the success of their mission. “We must give thanks,” the priest rejoices, “thanks to our savior for his protection.” The villagers agree. The priest turns to leave with them. “Let us go to our church and tell our loved ones they are safe.” Initially, before he supervised their departure, the landlord ordered his wife Marie (television actress Margo Boht) to gather the rest of the village into the church. The last thing that the landlord could imagine has happened. No sooner have they opened the church doors than four vampire bats swoop out past them. The men discover that the rest of the villagers lay blood-splattered and dead in the house of worship. Never have so many people been slaughtered during the first ten minutes in a Hammer “Dracula!” The transition from this scene of slaughter to a faraway birthday party is handled with considerable finesse. As the blood of a victim drips onto the white candles, director Roy Ward Baker dissolves to the red candles at the birthday celebration.
Sarah Framsen (Jenny Hanley of “Undercovers Hero”) and her lover Simon Carlson (Dennis Waterman) wonder where his errant brother, Paul Carlson (Christopher Matthews of "Scream and Scream Again"), is as everybody toasts Sarah. Paul has been sleeping with another woman when he learns that he is going to be late getting to Sarah’s party. When he dresses to leave her, Alice (Delia Lindsay of "The Devil's Widow") is convinced that Paul is leaving her for another woman. A wrapped and tied gift falls out of Paul’s suit jacket, and Alice threatens to scream. Ignoring her threats, Paul retrieves the present and heads downstairs. Alice pursues him with only a bed sheet concealing her breasts and vagina. However, her buttocks are bare for all-to-see in two shots as she follows the recalcitrant Paul down the stairs. As he is making for the door, Paul encounters Alice’s imperious father, the Burgomaster (Bob Todd of "Burke & Hare"), and Alice accuses Paul of wantonly having his way with her. The Burgomaster and Paul struggle briefly before Paul escapes his clutches. The Burgomaster's men chase Paul, and he makes a momentary appearance at Sarah’s birthday party and then leaps from a high window to escape the authorities. Crashing through the roof of a carriage parked below the window, Paul spooks the steeds and they plunge off into the night. Paul finds himself trapped in a runaway carriage. Desperately, he tries to rein in the animals but low-hanging tree limbs knock him off the vehicle.
Paul has no luck finding anybody who will take him in after dark. The landlord of the inn in the village has no room for him and turns him out into the cold night. Predictably, things get worse for Paul. He wanders aimlessly through the woods until he finds another parked carriage drawn by quartet of horses. Climbing into the carriage, Paul falls into a deep sleep. What he doesn’t know is that the carriage belongs to Count Dracula. Dracula’s custodian, Klove (Patrick Troughton of “The Omen”), has been out hunting game, and he drives the carriage back to Castle Dracula without realizing that the carriage contains a passenger. Dracula is very civil to Paul when he meets him. Paul is admiring a knife from a wall mounting and stands with his back to Dracula. Dracula’s first words to Paul are: “The blade is very sharp.” Dracula refuses to let Paul leave.
Klove escorts Paul to a sumptuously appointed bedroom. Meantime, Dracula takes a bite out of his dark-haired hostess, Tania (Anouska Hempel of “Black Snake”) and Baker shows the vampire sinking his fangs into her neck. Later, she comes knocking at Paul’s door in her undergarments. She pleads for Paul to save her and explains that she is being her prisoner against her will by Dracula. No sooner has she told Paul that she is a prisoner than she implores him to sleep with her. Tania and Paul consummate their lust for each other. While Paul lies sleeping, Tania admires his throat. The Count catches Tania staring at Paul’s neck, and his rage at seeing Tania with Paul, prompts Dracula to stab her "Psycho" style repeatedly. Afterward, he quenches his lust for her blood. This is the first time that Dracula has behaved in this manner. In "Horror of Dracula," Dracula drove a vampire woman from Jonathan Harker because she had wanted to feast on him. One interpretation for Dracula murdering Tania is that Tania betrayed him when she had sex with Paul. Presumably, Dracula punished Tania for her infidelity. More probably, Dracula didn’t want sloppy seconds, that is, having to dine on Paul after Tania had done the initial damage. Surprisingly, Dracula does nothing to Paul who sprawls unconsciously on the floor. When Paul recovers, he removes the drapes from the bed canopy and lowers himself down from the bedroom window to the only open window below. Talk about getting out of one frying and then getting into another! Paul has descended into the chamber where Dracula hides his coffin! “Help,” Paul cries as the evil Klove reels up the drapery, “there’s no way out!”
Meanwhile, two uniformed policemen with an arrest warrant question the landlord about Paul’s whereabouts, but he tells them nothing. When Julie (Wendy Hamilton) confides in them that Paul went to the castle, they decide that they want nothing more to do with the case. Eventually, Simon sets out to find Paul with an indefatigable Sarah tagging along despite Simon's protests. They experience the chilly hospitality that the landlord provides at his inn when they inquire about Paul’s whereabouts, too, and are treated like persona-non grata. Simon and reach visit Castle Dracula. Dracula welcomes them and sets aside rooms for them. Dracula’s hospitality turns out to be a ruse. He separates Simon from Sarah. They escape after Dracula tries to sink his fangs in Sarah’s neck. The crucifix that Sarah wears around her neck repulses Dracula. Sarah and Simon manage to get away and return to the village. The priest allows them to sleep in the violated church that nobody attends any more after the bat massacre. The priest explains to Simon that Dracula is not simply a man but the incarnation of all things evil. He compels Simon to wait until dawn before he goes back to the castle to search for his brother. Simon offers Klove the small picture of Sarah so that he can get into the castle again. This time Simon is determined to kill Dracula. He shattered the wooden contraption that holds a wash basin and takes one of the legs to serve as a stake. Locking the door to his room, Simon descends by rope to the window beneath the bedroom where Paul and Tania indulged in carnal pleasures before Dracula interrupted them. This time Simon learns the ugly truth about Paul. He discovers Paul impaled and stuck on a wall. Sarah shows up in time to lower the rope to Dracula’s window.
Earlier, Klove explained that the Master sleeps where nobody can get to him. Baker stages a neat scene where we see Dracula leaving through the window of his room and scaling the architecture to the windows above. Indeed, Bram Stoker wrote about Dracula's uncanny ability to scale walls. Dracula clashes with Klove about Sarah, and the vampire throws him off the top of his castle. Simon appears with an iron spear and hurls it at Dracula so it lands in his stomach. Dracula removes the object from his body without suffering. Nevertheless, Dracula is surprised when lightning strikes the metal stake and kills him.
Christopher Lee’s memories of "Scars of Dracula" aren’t particularly fond. In his 1977 book “The Lord of Misrule: The Autobiography of Christopher Lee,” Lee describes the Baker film as “truly feeble.” Lee elaborated: “It was a story with Dracula popping in almost as an afterthought. Even the Hammer make-up for once was tepid. It’s one thing to look like death warmed over, quite another to look unhealthy. I was a pantomime figure. Everything was over the top, especially the giant bat whose electrically motored wings flapped with slow deliberation as if it were doing morning exercises. The idea that Dracula best liked his blood served up in a nubile container was gaining ground with the front office and I struggled in vain against the direction that the fangs should be seen to strike home, as against the more decorous (and more chilling) methods of shielding the sight with the Count’s cloak.” Nevertheless, “Scars of Dracula” qualifies as one of the best of the Hammer "Dracula" films.
Monday, February 14, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''SON OF DRACULA" (1943)
Although I'm a super big fan of Lon Chaney, Sr., I've never admired his son Lon Chaney, Jr. While Junior fared better as the sympathetic Lawrence Talbot in "The Wolf Man," this big lug of a lout is woefully miscast as the urbane, sophisticated Count Dracula in Robert Siodmak's "Son of Dracula." Okay, I'll give Chaney credit for being the first Dracula with a mustache. Was it Chaney's idea or Siodmak's? Other than John Carradine and Christopher Lee, most Draculas are smooth-shaven gents, but Junior needed more than a mustache to make a menacing bloodsucker of himself in this otherwise imaginative but flawed chiller. Junior constitutes the chief flaw. His delivery is stiff beyond belief. When he utters 'decadent' as de-kay-dent, you want to chuckle. He doesn't radiate that evil Bela Lugosi glint in his eyes. Moreover, he doesn't send a chill either up or down your spine. The lack of aristocracy in his appearance doesn't help. Odd enough, Dracula comes off as somewhat of a chump in “Son of Dracula.” Moments of atmosphere, particularly the off-beat setting for this second sequel, and the strange nature of the screenplay compensate for some of the weird things about “Son of Dracula.” The sight of Dracula and his bride going to a Justice of the Peace is faintly amusing. On the other hand, the Count’s emergence from the swamp is a nice touch.
Appropriately enough, “Son of the Dracula” (**1/2 out of ****) opens with a pair of hands clearing out cobwebs. Remember eight years had passed since the release of “Dracula’s Daughter.” The Southern Gothic setting and the swamp is wonderfully sinister. Initially, Frank Stanley (Robert Paige of “Flying G-Men”) and Dr. Harry Brewster (Frank Craven of “Barbary Coast”) arrive at a railroad depot to greet Count Alcuard. The Transylvanian nobleman, however, is nowhere in sight. They spot the railway luggage cart that is stacked with three trunks bearing the family crest. Immediately, Brewster notices that Alucard spelled backwards reads Dracula. Dracula (Lon Chaney, Jr.) makes his first appearance outside ‘Dark Oaks,’ the antebellum house where Katherine ‘Kay’ Caldwell (Louise Allbritton of “Parachute Nurse”) eagerly awaits his arrival. She plans to marry Dracula.
Katherine’s elderly father, Colonel Caldwell (George Irving of “Coquette”), is Dracula’s first victim. When the Colonel’s will is read, Katherine inherits Dark Oaks. Frank is madly in love with Katherine, but she only has eyes for Dracula. She met Dracula initially in Budapest. Meanwhile, Dr. Brewster summons a renowned vampire hunter, Professor Lazlo (J. Edward Bromberg of “Invisible Agent”) from Memphis. Like Van Helsing, Lazlo knows everything about Dracula. Frank shoots Dracula with a revolver after he learns that Kirby has married them. He cringes in horror when his first bullet penetrates Dracula and kills Kay. Kay was standing behind Dracula when Frank fired his first shot at the Count. Frank fires two more shots, discards the gun, and charges through the dark swamp. Later, he turns himself into the authorities and takes the blame for Kay’s murder. Dr. Brewster visits Dark Oaks but finds Kay alive.
Dracula’s first rendezvous with Kay in the swamp is truly atmospheric. The Count’s coffin emerges from the watery depths like a submarine. A mist percolates out of it and turns into Dracula. Literally, Dracula levitates himself across the water to Kay. They drive off to the Justice of the Peace with a jealous Frank shadowing them. The special effects transformation where Dracula turnS his back to the camera and then turns into a flying bat is impressive for its day. It looks cool when the lady vampire dematerializes as a fog bank in the jail cell. The burning of Dracula's coffin as a way to destroy him was a new one on me. Mind you, every studio that has ever made a vampire movie tampers with the formula. The premise that a woman would flirt with Dracula to obtain immortality then double-cross him is interesting. Dracula cuckolded!? Indeed, "Son of Dracula" seems more like film noir than horror. Things get pretty complicated and these complications make "Son of Dracula" worth watching.
The gimmick of spelling Dracula's name backwards is clever. Anybody but Lon Chaney, Jr., would have made a serviceable Dracula. The guy looks like he ought to be stuffing baloney into his big hammy jowls instead of draining bodies of blood with his fangs. Incidentally, you never see his fangs, but then you never saw Lugosi's fangs or Carradine's fangs. The Production Code Administration probably ruled out such a toothy display on the grounds that it was too repellent. George Robinson's black & white photography is textbook excellent. He takes a two-dimensional format and gives it a three-dimensional look by bringing out the foreground from the background and the mid-ground.
Altogether, "Son of Dracula" surpasses “Dracula’s Daughter.” Nevertheless, you have to overlook the obvious lapse of continuity in “Phantom of the Opera” scenarist Eric Taylor’s screenplay that he derived from Siodmak’s story. Basically, the studio maintained no continuity for Dracula. Siodmak and Taylor make no references to previous "Dracula" movies. Universal Studios observed far greater continuity in the "Frankenstein" and "The Wolfman" franchises. Doesn't it say something when the second sequel to "Dracula" appeared eight years after “Dracula’s Daughter?” The latter in-name-only sequel without Lugosi and only a glimpse of the infamous Count in a coffin with a stake driven into his heart amounted to a letdown compared with the vintage original. The change in the character of Dracula is even more apparent in “Son of Dracula.” Perhaps they simply couldn't conjure up a reasonable excuse about how to keep reviving the count. Of course, Universal should have brought back Lugosi. Presumably, studio politics kept Lugosi from encoring in the role until "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." "Daughter's Daughter" and the remaining "Dracula" movies qualify as stand alone sequels. Remember, Countess Zaleska burned Dracula’s body in “Dracula’s Daughter.” In “Son of Dracula,” however, the vampire expert states the Dracula died in the 19th century.
Appropriately enough, “Son of the Dracula” (**1/2 out of ****) opens with a pair of hands clearing out cobwebs. Remember eight years had passed since the release of “Dracula’s Daughter.” The Southern Gothic setting and the swamp is wonderfully sinister. Initially, Frank Stanley (Robert Paige of “Flying G-Men”) and Dr. Harry Brewster (Frank Craven of “Barbary Coast”) arrive at a railroad depot to greet Count Alcuard. The Transylvanian nobleman, however, is nowhere in sight. They spot the railway luggage cart that is stacked with three trunks bearing the family crest. Immediately, Brewster notices that Alucard spelled backwards reads Dracula. Dracula (Lon Chaney, Jr.) makes his first appearance outside ‘Dark Oaks,’ the antebellum house where Katherine ‘Kay’ Caldwell (Louise Allbritton of “Parachute Nurse”) eagerly awaits his arrival. She plans to marry Dracula.
Katherine’s elderly father, Colonel Caldwell (George Irving of “Coquette”), is Dracula’s first victim. When the Colonel’s will is read, Katherine inherits Dark Oaks. Frank is madly in love with Katherine, but she only has eyes for Dracula. She met Dracula initially in Budapest. Meanwhile, Dr. Brewster summons a renowned vampire hunter, Professor Lazlo (J. Edward Bromberg of “Invisible Agent”) from Memphis. Like Van Helsing, Lazlo knows everything about Dracula. Frank shoots Dracula with a revolver after he learns that Kirby has married them. He cringes in horror when his first bullet penetrates Dracula and kills Kay. Kay was standing behind Dracula when Frank fired his first shot at the Count. Frank fires two more shots, discards the gun, and charges through the dark swamp. Later, he turns himself into the authorities and takes the blame for Kay’s murder. Dr. Brewster visits Dark Oaks but finds Kay alive.
Dracula’s first rendezvous with Kay in the swamp is truly atmospheric. The Count’s coffin emerges from the watery depths like a submarine. A mist percolates out of it and turns into Dracula. Literally, Dracula levitates himself across the water to Kay. They drive off to the Justice of the Peace with a jealous Frank shadowing them. The special effects transformation where Dracula turnS his back to the camera and then turns into a flying bat is impressive for its day. It looks cool when the lady vampire dematerializes as a fog bank in the jail cell. The burning of Dracula's coffin as a way to destroy him was a new one on me. Mind you, every studio that has ever made a vampire movie tampers with the formula. The premise that a woman would flirt with Dracula to obtain immortality then double-cross him is interesting. Dracula cuckolded!? Indeed, "Son of Dracula" seems more like film noir than horror. Things get pretty complicated and these complications make "Son of Dracula" worth watching.
The gimmick of spelling Dracula's name backwards is clever. Anybody but Lon Chaney, Jr., would have made a serviceable Dracula. The guy looks like he ought to be stuffing baloney into his big hammy jowls instead of draining bodies of blood with his fangs. Incidentally, you never see his fangs, but then you never saw Lugosi's fangs or Carradine's fangs. The Production Code Administration probably ruled out such a toothy display on the grounds that it was too repellent. George Robinson's black & white photography is textbook excellent. He takes a two-dimensional format and gives it a three-dimensional look by bringing out the foreground from the background and the mid-ground.
Altogether, "Son of Dracula" surpasses “Dracula’s Daughter.” Nevertheless, you have to overlook the obvious lapse of continuity in “Phantom of the Opera” scenarist Eric Taylor’s screenplay that he derived from Siodmak’s story. Basically, the studio maintained no continuity for Dracula. Siodmak and Taylor make no references to previous "Dracula" movies. Universal Studios observed far greater continuity in the "Frankenstein" and "The Wolfman" franchises. Doesn't it say something when the second sequel to "Dracula" appeared eight years after “Dracula’s Daughter?” The latter in-name-only sequel without Lugosi and only a glimpse of the infamous Count in a coffin with a stake driven into his heart amounted to a letdown compared with the vintage original. The change in the character of Dracula is even more apparent in “Son of Dracula.” Perhaps they simply couldn't conjure up a reasonable excuse about how to keep reviving the count. Of course, Universal should have brought back Lugosi. Presumably, studio politics kept Lugosi from encoring in the role until "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." "Daughter's Daughter" and the remaining "Dracula" movies qualify as stand alone sequels. Remember, Countess Zaleska burned Dracula’s body in “Dracula’s Daughter.” In “Son of Dracula,” however, the vampire expert states the Dracula died in the 19th century.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)