Woman in the Moon (1929)

Crazy and disgraced college professor clings to his theory that there is gold in the mountains of the moon. One of his former students is in a position to actually go and find out. He’d bring his bestest buddy but it seems that our hero is the odd man out in a love triangle. Also, Evil Corp will stop at nothing to make sure the plan proceeds to their direction.

I started this film years ago but for reasons lost to time I did not finish it. I remember that it was pretty long but a quick check on IMDb says it was just over an hour and a half. Not too bad, so I started it. I became suspicious when I hit the hour twenty mark and had yet to see a spaceship. Apparently there are many edits of this film and TCM ran the director’s cut, reaching almost three hours. I had a three day intermission.

Silent film storytelling takes a while to get used to and I don’t know I would have been able to appreciate this film when I first attempted it. Fritz Lang is a master storyteller at the height of his abilities. But man, the pacing. He needs to communicate that the disgraced professor is poor and disgraced. The angry protagonist is angry. The evil antagonist is evil. The lovely love interest is … lovely, I guess. And he does. But once he hits his message, he needs to move on. But no, he just keeps hammering the point.

Many characters are introduced but there are five or six main people. The crazy old professor is pretty crazy and the primary comedic element. The antagonist has a very Hitler feel about him. Gerda Maurus plays the object of affection that motivates the sub-plot. She was weird looking. In real life, she was having an affair with director Fritz Lang. But before you feel too sorry for his screenwriter wife, know that when Fritz fled Germany after the Nazi’s took power, she stayed behind to make propaganda films.

Women in the Moon appears to be the first ever in the ‘saucer and spaceship’ subgenre. It was well researched and got a lot of things right. It got some wrong, but hey, a lot happened over the next four decades. It is important and well made. But man, it could use a little tightening. AMRU 3.5.

Marnie (1964)

A troubled woman (Tippi Hedren) robs her company, then jumps to a new job. Also, she is terrified of storms, the color red, and the embrace of a man. At her new job she catches the eye of the company president (Sean Connery). Can his machismo solve all of her problems?

Hey, look! It’s Alan Napier, Batman’s Alfred! He pops up in a number of films. Also here is a very young Mariette Hartley. I was unaware she was an actress. I thought she had a career simply as a guest on other people’s talk shows. She was quite pretty. A young Bruce Dern makes a small appearance.

I considered Marnie as part of Hitchcock’s continued slide after his masterpiece, but TCM introduced it as a film being reevaluated as a masterpiece itself. Maybe I dismissed Tippi’s acting talents too quickly after The Birds. So, clean slate. Is this a gem waiting to be rediscovered?

Nope. Hedren’s acting limitations stand out much more clearly in this very complex role. Especially next to Connery, who seems miscast. Showing all the smug confidence of his more famous role, it is hard to imagine him willing to risk it all for a profoundly damaged person. And, at best, the third most attractive woman in the film.

Hitchcock does well what Hitchcock does well, make no mistake. But at best Marnie is an uneven film with an uninteresting story. Full of pop psychology, poor acting, and a screeching score, it failed to charm me. And Connery’s Rutland “taking what’s his” scene does not age well. AMRU 2.5.

I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)

A woman marries a man who turns out to be a Monster from Outer Space. Spoiler alert.

What may have been intended as a by-the-numbers drive-in horror flick turned out to be something slightly better. Pretty Marge (pretty Gloria Talbott) is the focus of the story as she realizes she doesn’t know the man she married. This channels the fear of many newlyweds who truly don’t know their partner prior to tying the knot. But in this case it’s because, as previously mentioned, he’s a Monster from Outer Space.

Once her fears are confirmed she tries to get help, but few people are willing to take her seriously. Women, am I right? Always not being taken seriously by men. Here the plot dips slightly into Invasion of the Body Snatchers territory.

There are a few points that puzzled me. How well does the alien … sorry, the Monster from Outer Space understand human culture? How well does it understand it’s human target? Did the newlyweds … you know … do it? Their plan is pretty vague.

I Married a Monster from Outer Space is far from a good movie. The acting, cinematography, and creature effects are pretty good considering the budget and genre, but the story can be a little slow, nonsensical, and slightly lacking in horror. Also, equipment shadows are frequently noticeable. It is what it is, which isn’t altogether bad. Thanks for the recommendation, Jerome. AMRU 3.