Three Films Make A Post: MONSTER MACHINE VS. HELPLESS BEAUTY!

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956): Despite its climax in a pretty awesome battle for and semi-destruction of Washington (effects by the glorious Ray Harryhausen, of course), and its status as a demi-classic I've never been that fond of Fred F. "The Giant Claw will forever overshadow all those decent movies I made" Sears's Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. I think it's actually some of the film's virtues that drag its entertainment value down for me. The comparative lack of nonsense science (apart from a bit of "that's not how time works, guys!"), the avoidance of the usual horrifying romance by letting hero Hugh Marlowe and heroine Joan Taylor already be married, and other elements like them do look good on paper but the film doesn't offer much that's interesting or entertaining in their stead before it's time to destroy Washington DC. Sure, there's the usual "the aliens are communists" subtext, but that's neither interesting nor commendable - and worked better in much crazier films.

The Haunted Sea (1997): The only remarkable things about this decidedly boring horror movie are a) the curious fact it needed two directors b) its idea that cursed Aztec gold can turn a man into a were-snakeosaurus c) the clear enthusiasm with which its early scenes look for pretences for Krista Allen to take her shirt off, and d) the appearances of James Brolin and Joanna Pacula who are slumming even below their usual slumming standards. The rest is an especially uninteresting case of corridor horror that can't even be saved from the tedium and stupidity of its plot by those scenes of Krista Allen taking her shirt off.

The Haunter of the Dark (2011): One of the most pleasant aspects of keeping track of Lovecraft fandom is that one will again and again stumble upon decidedly awe-inspiring pieces of fan-driven art like this computer animated short movie adaptation of Lovecraft's final story (freely available to watch here). There's so much obvious love and passion oozing out of every minute of the film it seems somewhat churlish to criticize it for anything; helpfully, there really isn't much about the short to criticize. The animation gets a bit rough from time to time, and not every voice actor is doing quite as good a job as Richard Grove does as Robert Blake, but that's the sort of minor complaint a film like this transcends by doing so much right.

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The Werewolf (1956)

A stranger (Steven Ritch) steps into the diner/bar combination of Typical Nameless American Smalltown-ville (I'm still on the fence if I shall call all places like this "Bucksnort" in future reviews). The man doesn't look too well and seems disoriented, but not disoriented enough not to remember what a bar is for. After making his mind even more unclear, he stumbles out again, this time followed by a rather unfriendly guy who would very much like to make his money his own. The following friendly chat in a nearby backstreet doesn't go like the would-be mugger intended, though. Instead of a richer mugger and a dead or unconscious victim, the local police end up with a mugger who has literally been torn to pieces. The snarling sounds from the alley and the subtle hint of the film's title make clear: yes, the stranger is a werewolf. He is - as will later turn out - one of these poor pathetic werewolves which aren't responsible for their condition and really unwilling monsters at heart. Since it's 1956, he isn't victim of a gypsie curse, magic having been displaced by mad science quite some time ago. Two rather suspect scientists have injected him with a serum that's the base of their plan for survival of the big atomic war that's surely coming. What exactly this has to do with making a werewolf, I'm not at liberty to tell.

Sheriff Haines (Don Megowan, perfectly fit for playing monsters from Black Lagoons, less fit for speaking roles) doesn't need much time to start believing in monsters. After the town doctor (Ken Christy) is visited by the stranger who takes some time out of his busy schedule of growling and being hairy to ask the doc for help, the Sheriff is even reluctantly willing to try and take the poor guy alive, arresting people instead of shooting them a police tactic seemingly unheard of in 1950s America.

It could all end so well, if not for the arrival of the mad scientists who are responsible for the whole mess in town. Both are more than intent on destroying all traces of their misdeeds.

The Werewolf is a surprisingly competent little film, at least when one keeps in mind that it was made by the same people who would go on to be responsible for that classic of High Hilarity we know and love as The Giant Claw. I'd even go as far as calling the film "classy", up to the point when we first meet the mad scientists, that is. From then on the combination of the usual mad science silliness, werewolf melodrama and "philosophical" discussions gets a little grating, mostly thanks to dialogue that is less clever than it thinks it is and actors whose capabilities aren't high enough to rescue anything.

But it's still not a bad little movie. Fred F. Sears direction has some moments of surprising creativity with a certain amount of cleverly framed shots and even scenes that are quite effective at establishing mood, nothing his other films would prepare one for. The script might not be that good, but it moves along with comparable speed and even has something akin to internal logic.

One could do a lot worse when it comes to 50s monster movies.

 

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