jaguar-4 Reviews

The Golden Horde (1951)

Good role for Ann Blyth

[27 March 2003]

I saw this about five years ago and don't remember the specifics, but I thought that Ann Blyth, whom I've always liked a lot, was very interesting in this role, as a very strong and forthright princess. She also looked beautiful in the costumes. I think she was far superior to the generally frazzled and annoyed Maureen O'Hara, and of course a better actress than campy Maria Montez, and should have been in perhaps a couple more costume dramas/exotic fantasies since she showed here that she had the capabilities of bringing such a character to life.

Attack of the Eye Creatures (1967 TV Movie)

THE LEADING LADY'S HAIRDO

[12 July 1999]

The leading lady of this film has quite a hairdo, like the backside of an inky wasp. I actually thought the acting in this movie was pretty good; at least it was lively and had interaction to it, moreso than many other low-low budget movies. A couple of the actors were rather handsome, too.

Isle of Forgotten Sins (1943)

GAIL and VEDA

[9 March 1999]

John Carradine and Frank Fenton drink a lot and get in fist fights, some over Gale Sondergaard who's a bar owner/madam (?) of a bunch of American bar girls/hookers(?) on a little south sea island. A scene at the beginning when Gale wakes up the girls fascinates me for some reason. Veda Ann Borg is very campy as a two-faced "native" girl. Gale -- that big kitty -- does a great acting job in this silly, fun mishmosh.

Lure of the Islands (1942)

A 1940's Gilligan's Island

[9 March 1999]

A couple of bozos get in trouble with Nazis on a south sea island. Margie Hart

(an exotic dancer of the day) is ultra campy -- dig those lips and the deadpan delivery! Lots of fun burlesque-style dialogue. Kind of a '40's "Gilligan's Island," but with sexual tension. Gale Storm, adorable... "Hawaiian" music and dancing.

Natural Born Killers (1994)

a leviathan

[8 March 1999]

NBK is a leviathan of a film rendered cartoonish/less meaningful-seeming by exploitative techniques, yet this is what makes it uniquely watchable. Owes something to David Lynch, I think. Memorable scenes, enjoyable acting.

Clash by Night (1952)

Marilyn

[7/10 · 19 February 1999]

Marilyn's acting is very good in this film, and she has a nice tomboyish quality. As usual, Clifford Odets'script is too phonily philosophical and repetitive while supposedly being hard-hitting. Tallulah starred in the play on stage. Barbara and the rest of cast are good, but it's a little too stagy. Robert Ryan is a lot of fun, quite outrageous and enraged.

Numbered Men (1930)

some camp value

[4/10 · 17 January 1999]

silly, very hammy, kind of annoying prison flick has some campy lines here and there; not a Warners pic, therefore not striving for realism. the leading lady is cute.

The Caretakers (1963)

polly's crackers

[4 January 1999]

I find this one of the most difficult films of its era to sit through; it is truly nerve-bending, asinine, and infuriating. if you look upon it as camp, it still is difficult to take unless you like the sight of bizarre creature polly bergen constantly throwing fits and screaming (it's truly horrific) and can tolerate the posturing hero and a story and scenes which purport to shed light on mental illness but is totally phony in every particular. diane mcbain is gorgeous and smug; joan crawford and constance ford as butch as they come; janis paige gives the most enjoyable performance in the film, or at least creates a somewhat believable character till she phonies out toward the end. it's pathetic that maltin and others would even consider taking this film seriously. it is a fairy tale put together by fly-by-night producers for a quick buck who wanted to make it look like one of those 50's/early 60's "message" social reform pictures, and people were dumb enough to accept that.

The Female Animal (1958)

bizarre, calculated piece of camp

[3/10 · 31 December 1998]

offbeat bit of insanity with Jane Powell far too mature to be playing the "adopted daughter" of Hedy Lamarr -- though pert, she has the voice and manner of a seasoned broad. Hedy Lamarr can barely say her lines, she acts like a confused Pekingese. Some may find George Nader a pretty decent hunk; he spends much of the film shirtless. this film tries to imitate sunset boulevard in its way. lines are mock-sophisticated fast-talk delivered in throwaway style. Jan Sterling does a good job as usual. film is not believable in its depiction of gigolos and gigolees in any realistic sense. this film tries for both drama and humor (hedy makes humorous remarks which fall flat due to the fact that she doesn't appear to understand english), but it only succeeds as camp -- jane powell is a raving alchy who acts like she's playing a susan hayward "Oscar" role, george lovable and passive as a lamb somehow incredibly is in love with her after she acts like a non-stop banshee and he has to sober her up by throwing her in the shower. The finale is right out of "Sunset Boulevard" with hedy slipping into drunken madness and almost plunging to her death. The hatred of jane for her mom hedy is kind of interesting, the vitriol, the emotions. hedy is supposed to be a very shallow movie star who comes to her great moment of enlightenment only when her daughter steals her latest boytoy. One other thing to mention-- this film is in a gorgeous looking black and white, and all the shots are beautiful.

Boogie Nights (1997)

worst dialogue ever

[2/10 · 18 December 1998]

when I say "worst dialogue ever," I mean worst!! Ed Wood's dialogue is oblique, wooden and fun, the dialogue on an average TV show like say "Cannon" is functional; the dialogue in "Pulp Fiction" is pretentious and occasionally good. The dialogue in Boogie Nights made the dialogue of the Brady Bunch tv show look pretty good. No one in the 70's would even be capable of making those beyond banal remarks. they sound more like the brain-dead me-good-boy rantings of a 90's illiterate.

Vampyros Lesbos (1971)

the score and the star

[8/10 · 18 December 1998]

The score of this film is unforgettable, as is the film's star, Soledad Miranda, who died about a year after this film was made in a car/racing accident.

Slightly Scarlet (1956)

confused whirlpool of high camp

[6/10 · 18 December 1998]

Two red-headed sisters, wild colors everywhere (?), no nonsense gangster pol lets himself be dragged around by the manic nympho sister (he dates the busty mature book-on-her-head walkin' sister). Camp, would do well restaged by a drag group (if it hasn't been already) except that I don't think too many people know the original. Arlene DAHL was never like this! No filmic nympho is quite as fruity as she. It's a rare sister vs. sister pre Baby Jane. It's a scream-with-laughter surprise of a film -- please watch it with a bunch of friends. It has been shown on AMC; don't know if it's on tape.

Railroaded! (1947)

Actress Jane Randolph

[18 December 1998]

Compare Jane Randolph in her role in "Cat People" or "Curse of the Cat People" with her role in this film. I think she did equally well as Kent Smith's perky, caring, white bread wife in the Cat People films as she did as Clara, the hard-bitten alcoholic criminal in "Railroaded". She showed a special sensitive quality in both roles, I thought.

High School Hellcats (1958)

Jana Lund

[5/10 · 3 December 1998]

Jana Lund is probably the best reason for seeing this film. She's gorgeous and exciting. And Yvonne Lime is adorable. The first ten minutes or so are a riot, with a classroom scene that must have inspired John Waters for his classroom scene in "Female Trouble." The rest of it goes downhill and lacks any credible "teenage" reality. Also Jana unfortunately gets killed off halfway through the film.