Jweybrew Reviews

The Space Children (1958)

Children, go where I send thee...

[6/10 · 20 June 2012]

Somewhere on the California coast, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, a small group of scientists, engineers and technicians working in a secured base are preparing to test-launch a six-stage rocket carrying a satellite with a nuclear warhead: The Thunderer. The satellite is designed to be an immediate-response strike against enemy aggression, anywhere in the world. It is supposed that other nations are preparing similar satellites and weapons....

Unbeknownst to the powers that be, other minds have reason to want to see the project fail, and utilize an unsuspected resource to carry out their plans...

This small but effective little sci-fi tale is long on atmosphere, novel in viewpoint and execution, and well worth a couple of viewings for fans of the '50's sci-fi genre.

More than a few familiar cast members, and an impressive band of juvenile performers, under Jack Arnold's sure and spare directorial hand, give this a fresh and simple feel, and don't spend a lot of time hammering home its message (rare for the immediate post-Sputnik years).

Macabre (1958)

Lost in the Marble Forest

[4/10 · 12 January 2011]

It is one of the quirks of movie history that the main reason this pot-boiler of a mystery is remembered is because it was the first of producer/director William Castle's gimmick scare films. The gimmick?--A $1,000.00 life insurance policy issued by Lloyd's of London given to each lucky theater patron to insure them against death by fright. A safe bet, since the movie delivers only one brief shock moment in its 70-odd minute running time. The gimmick, aided by the movie's rivetingly eerie advertising poster (featuring a hooded grinning skull and the faces of three screaming gals) helped bring in droves of customers to theater box-offices all across 1958 America.

Based on a round-robin mystery, "The Marble Forest", written by members of the Mystery Writers of America, "Macabre" presents the dilemma of a small-town doctor whose three-year-old daughter goes missing, presumably kidnapped, and is possibly buried alive! Other characters include the doctor's office nurse, the unsavory sheriff, the attractive other woman, the creepy housekeeper, the creepy undertaker, the creepy but expendable cemetery-keeper, and the aging millionaire with a cardiac condition. There are flashbacks, hysterical outbursts, melodramatic utterances, frantic diggings in a very dark and overgrown cemetery, and anyone could be a suspect. That being said, it also follows that nobody in the movie is a very sympathetic character, and the movie doesn't show off director Castle's talents as a scare-meister to great advantage.

Still, it's worth a watch, to see what all the brouhaha was about. After all, it was made quickly and cheaply, and made back something like $5 million in box-office revenue. The DVD has just been made available by Warner Bros. on-demand, so why wait?

The Old Dark House (1963)

Oranges and lemons...

[6/10 · 1 June 2008]

Owing little to either James Whale's 1932 chiller, or to J.B. Priestly's original source novel, "Benighted", THE OLD DARK HOUSE is a small, off-beat and pleasantly daffy scare-comedy, a change-of-pace for director William Castle. Filmed and set in England, Tom Poston stars as a hapless American who, on a visit to a curious roommate's even curiouser family home, is caught up in a murderous merry-go-round of mayhem, nursery rhymes, love and (very possibly) the end of the world (including an Ark!). British stalwarts Robert Morley, Joyce Grenfell, Mervyn Johns, and Peter Bull have a charming good time playing the various members of the Femm family, along with Janette Scott and an unforgettably slinky Fenella Fielding as romantic interests. None of the usual Castle gimmicks for this release--just a bit of eccentricity and a pleasant, creepy, multi-murder mystery, with a puzzle to solve, a couple of surprises, and some good solid chuckles.

A note to fans of Charles Addams--the film's poster and its main titles contain some choice Addams artwork.

An additional note: the film was shot in color, but released in a very faintly tinted black-and-white version. The color version of the film was only seen on subsequent television release.

This movie really does deserve a DVD release, not only for its place in the William Castle canon, but for the performances and the fun.

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

"Where the women are strong, the men are good-looking..."

[10/10 · 11 June 2006]

At the finish of one of his Lake Wobegone stories, Garrison Keillor once admitted that the world of Lake Wobegone was real; the radio audience, and the PBS station carrying the show, A Prairie Home Companion, and the rest of the world, he was sorry to tell everyone, were all made up.

Robert Altman must agree with GK; A Prairie Home Companion, his marvelous film of Keillor's screenplay about the last broadcast of a Minnesota-based radio variety show, has its own sweet and true reality that stands honest and unassuming, ready to tell a joke, sing a song, sell Powdermilk Biscuits (made from wheat grown by Norwegion bachelor farmers so you know they're pure, mostly..), deal with age, closure, and even a kind and mysterious angel of death, with an even-handed equanimity and grace. The setting is timeless, so are the characters, their joys and their cares.

The cast is without exception excellent; I've never seen Meryl Streep so relaxed and at home in a part as that of Yolanda Johnson, the youngest of the Johnson Girls (originally a quartet, now reduced to two), "just like the Carter family except they were famous"; Lily Tomlin, equally fine as her older and somewhat more world-worn sister Rhonda; their rapport with each other is easy and real, and their singing is down-home harmonic pleasure. Their duet near the end of the film,"Goodbye to My Mama" can leave you misty-eyed. Lindsay Lohan, as Yolanda's teenage daughter, who pens poems about suicide in her school binder, is right and ripe and manages to belt out one of the most curious renditions of "Frankie and Johnny" you've ever heard. Kevin Kline as Guy Noir, private-eye turned theater security guard, is gently comic and, in more ways than one, on the side of the angels. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly are Dusty and Lefty, a pair of singing cowboys with a penchant for telling bad jokes, they are a hoot and a half, and will quickly wipe out any lingering associations with Brokeback Mountain and cowboy duos. And a host of others, as they say. Surprisingly, (or not, depending on your expectations) Garrison Keillor shines portraying a radio announcer named Garrison Keillor, who hosts, sings, tells stories, listens and obviously loves the show, the performers, the band, the technicians and radio folk in the world of the theater (many of whom are veterans and regulars of Keillor's actual Prairie Home Companion PBS radio show).

It's a nearly two-hour movie, that plays like a variety show, a well-loved radio family show, a comedy playhouse and a quiet, gentle sermon all at the same time, and when it ends you are sad to go.

Remember, friends, if you heard it on the radio it must be true, otherwise they couldn't put it on.

This is one of the best times I've had watching a movie in a theater. I'm taking friends and relatives the next time I go. I hope to see you there.

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

The Shadow of a Ghost

[6/10 · 4 May 2005]

Okay, so I've seen the movie at the theater, I've bought the soundtrack CD and the DVD; that's enough. I've been a Phan since 1962, when I read the original novel of The Phantom of the Opera in paperback and was captured by its blood-and-thunder melodrama, romance and chills. I've seen/collected most of the film adaptations of the novel- - -none of them have yet to capture the true Opera Ghost. The Weber/Rice musical comes closest in spirit (!), if not story, but has always erred in downplaying the Phantom's deformity as well as his insane genius. The novel's Phantom of the Opera is an angel with the face of death and the mind of a devil; the new film's Phantom is a petulant, whiny understudy of some nondescript Opera Ghost, who can't even hold his own in a sabre duel with a younger, dumber adversary. The other performers are equally vapid, if attractive and photogenic.

On the very positive side, this production is lavish, beautiful, orchestrally splendid, excitingly photographed, imaginatively staged, and is well worth the watching and re-watching for these qualities.

And yet, I can't help wishing that someone would actually film the novel and bring to life Erik (the Phantom), Raoul and Christine as they were meant to be portrayed. Alternately, that a way to magically integrate all the good qualities of all of the filmic Phantoms into one creation could be accomplished. If you're a film collector or Phan who's familiar with the novel, try watching Lon Chaney's 1925 Phantom using the Weber/Rice musical as a soundtrack and you'll get an inkling of what I'm talking about. This version, then, gets a six out of ten, for production values and music and an okay addition to the Phantom's filmic lore. That's enough, this time around.

The Third Man (1949)

Leave Death to the Professionals

[10/10 · 19 January 2005]

Here, in one of the best movies ever made, is a story of three grown-up children, playing games of love, death and betrayal in the ruins of post-war Vienna. Holly, the naive and trusting American, a writer of pulp-fiction Westerns, who comes to Vienna to write publicity for his old friend's charitable work, only to discover that he has died under mysterious circumstances; Anna, a play-actress who can only bear to work in comedies, who loved Holly's friend, because he was full of life and fun; and then Harry, the cherubic, amoral, full-of-fun companion, who miraculously returns from the dead, chuckling softly at the suckers and the mugs and excusing the death and misery caused by his racket in black-market penicillin by murmuring, "the dead are better dead...they don't miss much here, poor devils..."

Despite advice to "leave death to the professionals", Holly learns the truth of the mystery, the truth about Harry, about Anna, and ultimately, about himself. We share the journey with him and it is an unforgettable experience.

On the Twelfth Day... (1955)

A Sugarplum for the Season

[10/10 · 21 November 2004]

This is a treasure of a short, long missing from TV, and rare on video; a bringing-to-life of the old and familiar carol, illustrating in delightful detail just what can happen when one's Truelove gets carried away with Christmas gift-giving. Set in a blissfully picturebook corner of Edwardian London, the smitten Miss Tilly (in a charming performance by the film's creator, Wendy Toye) is be-gifted over the Twelve Days of Christmas by her natty, nifty and adoring Truelove, to the tune of partridges in pear trees, calling birds, french hens, turtledoves, gold rings, geese-a-laying, boys-a-singing, maids-a-milking (complete with multi-colored cows), dancing ladies, lords-a-leaping, pipers piping and drummers drumming! The mounting and resulting havoc becomes increasingly comic as this little film works toward its magnificent and uplifting conclusion.

Those of you who know and love the work of cartoonist and illustrator Ronald Searle will rejoice to learn that he created the visual design of the film, and his touch is apparent in every moment.

This has been an annual Christmas favorite of my family and friends for over forty years- -search for a copy diligently, because I guarantee it will be a favorite of yours.

Halloween (1978)

"...As a matter of fact...it was..."

[3 September 2004]

What is it about Halloween? What makes it the unique and haunting scare film that it is? No other modern horror film comes close to its power, its simplicity and its ability to walk into your dreams and go, "Boogah-Boogah!" Other flicks have more shocks, more blood, more carnage, more disturbing imagery- - -what is it about Halloween?

Halloween is about Halloween. It is the only movie that's ever captured Halloween. It is a story about the night the bogeyman comes. It is set in a world of cool night breezes, autumn leaves, costumes and masks, popcorn and candy, old scary movies on TV, carved and candle-lit jack o'lanterns, old haunted houses in your neighborhood, footsteps in the dark, night-terrors, of dressing up like a ghost in an old bed sheet, of the clown at midnight, of the tombstone that becomes your pillow...It defies rational explanations- -- there is only the Shape, coming for you...coming for your friends...

By the end of the film, you understand how protagonist Laurie's (Jamie Lee Curtis') perceptions have changed so much in the course of the night that she can ask Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) in tearful earnest, "W..was it the bogeyman..?" and you can only swallow and nod in silent agreement as he replies..."As a matter of fact...it was..."

One of the great ones. Not for kids. For people who remember their own Halloweens...

March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934)

A Dreamland Journey- -You Can Come Back Again

[10/10 · 22 April 2004]

Babes in Toyland was the first movie I saw on a big screen- -a holiday presentation in my grammar school auditorium, circa 1957- -uncut, unlike the many subsequent presentations I saw on TV in after years. I fell in love with Stan and Ollie, with Toyland, with the magic of the movies, all at once- -all of us watching laughed and thrilled to see all of the characters we had heard of in nursery rhymes come to life- -even the Three Little Pigs (with "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" on the soundtrack, courtesy of Uncle Walt Disney's studio!)- -we trembled with ecstatic terror at Silas Barnaby and his army of Bogeymen and cheered the house down when Stan and Ollie discovered the Perfect way to rout them and save the day!- -and yes, many of us, watching Charlotte Henry and Felix Knight as Bo-Peep and her plucky suitor Tom-Tom (the Piper's Son), found awakening within ourselves the realization of what romantic love might be about.- -and Stan and Ollie?- -a funny, wonderful duo, children like ourselves, joyously silly and giddily amazing. I dreamt of Toyland that night, and many nights after- -sweet dreams, scarey dreams, dreams of Ollie and Stannie as wonderful friends- -and once I woke crying, realizing that once I was grown up, Toyland would fade to a distant memory. Well, I was wrong. You can go back to Toyland, that Childhood's Dreamland, any time you watch this movie. I love it. You may, too. Note: current video versions are mostly also uncut, some are colorized, which in this instance (perhaps the only one)improves the presentation!

13 Ghosts (1960)

If You Believe...

[6/10 · 5 April 2004]

William Castle set out to make a fun, spooky, scarey picture for anyone who ever believed (or wanted to believe) in ghosts, and the result, 13 GHOSTS, is a marvelous and memorable little picture, that even after 40-odd years, still has creeps, scares, thrills and fun galore.

If at all possible, see it the way it was meant to be seen- - -with proper Ghost Viewers-(available with the DVD edition) -so you can experience Illusiono, by which you can actually see the ghosts in Ectoplasmic Color!

The plot, acting and production values may be unsophisticated, but what matter?- -The important thing is THE GHOSTS- -and they are all there as promised, including the mysterious thirteenth ghost- -and a wonderfully familiar witch (who was delighted to play the part)- -

This is a great movie for kids (and adults) who love ghosts and spooky stuff, but are not at all ready (or desirous) of watching a movie full of gore, putrescent language or non-stop violence.

You'll remember the ghosts, the fun and the thrills, for years to come.