The Story of Mankind (1957)

Mankind has invented the “Super H-Bomb”, and if they detonate it, the Earth and all men will be destroyed. Women too. A tribunal is held in Heaven to decide if mankind should be allowed to destroy itself. Advocate for the defense is The Spirit of Man (Ronald Coleman). Mr. Scratch (Vincent Price) advocates for destruction.

The “Master of Disaster” Irwin Allen assembled a large cast of stars by promising one day of work for $25,000. Several big names appear in cameos: Virginia Mayo as Cleopatra, Hedy Lamarr as Joan of Arc, Peter Lorre as Emperor Nero. The three main Marx Brothers appear and this is sometimes included as an official Marx Brothers film, but their screen time is brief and they don’t appear together. Scenes of action and of large set pieces were borrowed from better films.

The storybook version of world history is illustrated with Mr. Scratch pointing out the war, cruelty, and injustice, while The Spirit of Man points out the occasional scientific discovery or work of art. I’m glad they acknowledged the treatment of native americans, but much is still hand-waved away. The prosecution’s case is pretty air-tight.

The Story of Mankind is a cringy vanity project. It doesn’t earn its all star cast or grand scale. It’s a dull, tedious watch whose only real entertainment is to play spot the fading start. But that too gets tedious. AMRU 2.

Zero Hour! (1957)

Because a former war pilot (Dana Andrews) can’t get past a raid he led that went wrong, his wife leaves him. Despite being terrified to fly, he buys a ticket on her flight. When the pilot and co-pilot become incapacitated with serious food poisoning, our hero has to step up and land the plane.

Sound familiar? This is exactly the plot of Airplane! (1980), and that’s exactly why I watched it. Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers essentially remade Zero Hour! but with jokes. If you are as familiar with the classic ZAZ comedy as I am, you will spot every setup to every joke. I had to see it.

Pretty Linda Darnell plays Dana’s estranged wife. She seemed very familiar but I haven’t seen anything she was in. She would die in a house fire at age 41. Elroy ‘Crazylegs’ Hirsch, the just-retired star wide receiver for the NFL Rams, plays the sickened pilot. Gruff Sterling Hayden plays the gruff Captain Treleaven.

Despite its reputation as a forgettable aviation drama, Zero Hour! isn’t that bad. Perhaps not great but better than its reputation. Rotten Tomatoes gives it some disrespect. And if you have seen Airplane!, you by and large have already seen Zero Hour! But give it a watch anyhow. ASMR 3.5.

The Giant Claw (1957)

A civilian electronics engineer (Jeff Morrow) is flying an Air Force jet for some reason and witnesses a giant UFO. It is soon learned that the mystery object is a giant bird, as big as a battleship. Mitch and systems analyst Madam Mathematician (Mara Corday), team up to stop it.

1957 seems to be the year of the giant thing. It saw the release of Monster from Green Hell (wasps), Beginning of the End (grasshoppers), Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Monolith Monsters (rocks), The Deadly Mantis, The Black Scorpion, The Monster that Challenged the World (prehistoric mollusks), as well as two of Bert I. Gordon’s giant man movies. This trend would luckily slow down.

Longtime friends may remember Morrow as Exeter from This Island Earth, a movie I covered … holy crap, fourteen years ago! Our pretty mathematician was quite familiar with giant things that should be small, having also appeared in Tarantula and Black Scorpion.

The Giant Claw follows the convention of the genre. Threat is discovered, after initial disbelief, authorities scramble to neutralize it. A small team is assembled (including a pretty scientist), the threat appears to be invulnerable, Deus ex machina, roll credits. The acting, science, and dialog is all pretty standard, parts of it pretty good. One thing that falls short is the creature.

Filmmakers initially intended on hiring Ray Harryhausen, but budget considerations caused them to go in a different direction. That direction led them to a ridiculous looking marionette. And while it is a shame that the effects tainted what was otherwise an equal to many in the genre, it did make the film uniquely memorable. It would have otherwise been just another competent 50’s sci-fi film, not quite as good as Them!

The Giant Claw is a very watchable flick. The contrast between the seriousness of the actors and the loony puppet is quite amusing. The dialog varies between pretty good to pretty bad. It’s established that Mitch is an electronics engineer maybe a half dozen times, and characters make the battleship comparison I don’t know how many times. AMRU 3.

The Cyclops (1957)

A young woman (Gloria Talbott) hires a crew to sneak her into the mountainous forbidden zone in Mexico to search for her fiance who crashed there several years ago. Soon we learn that each crew member has their own reasons for going on the trip.

Writer/Director/Producer Bert I. Gordon made a bunch of films in the second half of the 1950s usually depicting creatures of unusual size. Here our heroes discover huge creatures and later a giant deformed man. I wonder …

Lon Chaney Jr. was squarely in the “take any job” segment of his career. Five years earlier he impressed in a small role in High Noon (1952) but would never repeat that success. Pretty Gloria Talbott had a long career in low budget genre pictures, starting when she was just four years old. Years ago I saw her interviewed for the underwhelming 100 Years of Horror (1996) and it was clear time was not good to her. She passed a couple years later at the age of 69.

Considering the humble budget, the effects for Cyclops aren’t that bad. Occasionally the monster would be transparent, but otherwise effective. Mr. BIG would again explore the giant man trope later the same year with The Amazing Colossal Man, which got a sequel the following. Oddly, the only cast member in common between the three films is Duncan 'Dean' Parkin, who played today’s Cyclops and Colonel Manning from the Colossal Man sequel.

The Cyclops almost feels like a proof of concept for Gordon’s later Giant movies. It’s the shortest of the three and while not without good story elements, the conclusion feels a little rushed. But it holds your interest and doesn’t overstay its welcome. AMRU 3.

The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)

The US military is testing a new “plutonium” bomb but it fails to detonate. Soldiers are ordered to stay put but when a civilian plane crashes inside the test site Colonel Manning leaves the safety of his trench to try and rescue the pilot. The bomb detonates and Manning is caught in the blast. He is not expected to live. Miraculously, his skin grows back overnight and doctors are stumped. Things escalate when he starts to grow and his behavior becomes erratic.

One doesn’t expect a “radioactive giant attacks Las Vegas” film to be rock solid with the science, especially when the title sounds like a sideshow attraction, but that low bar may have been too high of a hurdle. The most egregious error was that Colonel Manning’s erratic behavior was blamed on the fact that his heart was growing at a slower pace than the rest of his body because the heart was “only one cell”. Every part of the problem and proposed solution made no sense.

A bigger problem is the film’s reliance on exposition. The bomb test in the opening sequence was described by a man speaking over a loudspeaker, and each time the doctor needed to describe the current situation with Manning, they used the conference room with film strip trope.

On the positive side, the movie makes good use of its tiny budget. The sparse sets made sense in the context of the film. Also, the match cut (if I can call it that) when Manning is hit by the explosion was quite effective. And the heart of the film is about Manning’s feeling of disillusionment and dissociation. We see his attitude transform from anger at his predicament to disregard of the “little people”. Not exactly Oscar worthy, but better depth than you normally expect from the genre.

I kind of liked The Amazing Colossal Man. Producer/Director Bert I. Gordon only made 24 films between 1954 and 2015, and I saw a handful of them in my childhood. This, however, is only the second one during this fourteen year journey. I’ll likely see a few more. AMRU 3.

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Ambitious PR man Sidney (Tony Curtis) trades personal favors with influential columnist (Burt Lancaster) in exchange for getting his client’s names into his articles. The latest favor is to get Hunsecker’s kid sister away from a dirty jazz singer. This task proves harder than first seems.

Lancaster’s Hunsecker is a Walter Winchell type. Ruthless, manipulative, egomaniacal. Also with a suspicious infatuation with little sis. And Sidney is willing to do anything, use anyone, to succeed, consequences be damned. What transpires is a battle of and between two wholly unethical men.

At one level one can understand why someone would not want their little sister seeing an unsavory musician but not so much when he is played by Martin “Apple Pie” Milner (Adam-12). Susan Harrison (Little sis) had a rather short career despite being very charming here. Just three movies and eight episodes of TV over eight years. She married outside the industry and apparently moved on with life.

Sweet Smell of Success has an engaging story, a smart script, and excellent performances all around. It’s original, compelling, surprising, sometimes amusing, and thoroughly enjoyable. I should have watched it sooner. Much sooner. AMRU 4.5.

"Everybody knows Manny Davis - except Mrs. Manny Davis."

The Monster that Challenged the World (1957)

A minor earthquake shakes California’s Salton Sea and adjacent Navy base. Shortly thereafter some sailors go strangely missing. I wonder if some prehistoric mollusks were released by the earthquake and affected by radiation. It’s a reasonable hypothesis.

The Salton Sea is a pretty interesting place. An inland saltwater sea was created by accident, became a tourist attraction, then dried up. At the time of this film it was a tourist hot spot and apparently had a naval base.

Anyhow, the navy investigates, discovers the creatures (note, many of them), and fights them with their latest weapons: sticks. And fire extinguishers. Whatever’s handy. The story is essentially an aquatic version of Them! (1954), in that a population of somewhat larger than man-sized creatures, created by radiation, must be destroyed by the military authority, before they escape to (ahem) challenge the world. And if you swap 1950’s radiation with general scientific hubris, some of the Jurassic Park films fit this mold pretty well.

Leading the fight is Commander Twillinger, played by Tim Holt. Old friends will remember him from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). He was in a bunch of films, mostly westerns, before walking away from Hollywood. He returned after five years for this film then two more spread out over the next fourteen, before retiring for good. Two years after that, bone cancer would take his life. He was 54. So it goes.

The Monster that Challenged the World is unoriginal, low budget, silly nonsense. But despite that, it works. The monsters looked pretty good, and many background characters were fully flushed out. Specifically, some quirky scientists and especially map guy Lewis Clark Dobbs. The script gave them something to do and the actors did it. Not saying I am eager for a rewatch, but it deserves every bit of AMRU 3. But, dude, the ax was right there!

The Cat Girl (1957)

Pretty Leonora is summoned by her uncle to his country mansion regarding her inheritance. She is told to come alone, but traumatized by her time there she brings her husband and some friends. On her way she crosses paths with her old Dr. flame for whom she still has feelings. Turns out Leonora also inherits the family curse, where she is somehow connected to this leopard that kills when she is angry. Good thing Dr. flame is a shrink.

Cat Girl has a certain Cat People feel but it isn’t a direct remake. There is a pretty girl, a curse, a cat, and violence, but the story is very different. And not to Cat Girl’s credit. While the former is taught and compelling, this is quite plodding.

Our good doctor Marlowe is our hero analog, but he is a poor one. He has science and wants to help poor Leonora but he does a terrible job. He is pretty harsh to her and makes terrible decisions. Then, at her darkest time, he decides she should leave the sanitarium and spend time with his wife, alone, even though she has been openly hostile towards her. What the hell, man! Plus actor Robert Ayres mumbles all of his dialog. And, it seems their romantic backstory occurred when she was a teen and he was in his mid-thirties.

I try not to impose Hollywood values on English films, but they can be so stiff and formal that they feel like a TV adaptation of a stage play. This being a prime example. Everyone here is pretty rude and even our protagonist turns into the monster. Also, much of the dialog is downright wonky. Cat Girl has a fair amount of atmosphere, some good ideas, and is pretty short, but that doesn’t keep it from being dull. AMRU 2.5. Watch Cat People instead. Not the Nastassja Kinski one.

Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)

A clean cut teen couple, after making out in a car parked on a local farm, accidentally hits a space alien. The cops dismiss the alcohol-soaked kid’s story and the Air Force tries to cover up the flying “saucer”.

Initially intended as a straight sci-fi, they added comedic music and cool daddy-o dialog in an attempt to garner the ha-ha’s as well. This worked out about as well as expected. It’s a problem that we never get a good look at the Morbo-inspired aliens and the so-called saucer better resembles the bat mobile. Speaking of which, Frank Gorshin of Riddler fame plays a drifter trying to profit off of the LGMs. He may have been the best part of the film.

These low-budget, straight to drive-in films are a guilty pleasure of mine. I gave sub-3 scores to a couple I watched recently but truth be told, I enjoyed them. They are dumb, poorly acted, and sometimes racist, but I love them. The problem here is that the attempt at humor undercut any tension making the film pretty much pointless. There is little story outside of “Look! Aliens!” and they spent time introducing the Air Force characters to only stick in front of the ship with the direction “Act silly”. This doesn’t work.

I’m giving this thing only a half point lower than the others, but the difference in enjoyment is vast. The comedy isn’t funny, the aliens aren’t scary, and most damningly, the movie isn’t interesting. AMRU 2.

The Seventh Seal (1957)

Upon his return from the Crusades, Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) is greeted by Death. Unafraid to die, he challenges Death to a game of chess to give him time to find answers. The game is played over several days while Block questions his faith and meets up with other travelers on his way home. Plague has ravaged the countryside and Death’s influence is everywhere.

With someone with the art house/film school reputation of Bergman, I find it surprising how lighthearted much of his films are. Surely there are themes that warrant extended thought and discussion, but The Seventh Seal, like Wild Strawberries, is very watchable. His squire, the travelling performers, the unfaithful wife, the jealous husband, all serve both as comic relief and as foils to our dour Crusader. Block, unlike his companions, needs answers. Answers that even Death himself cannot give.

Also surprising is how low budget the film appears. The period costumes have the reductive appearance of quickly made cosplay garb and the sets were almost nonexistent. Still, this does not detract from the narrative. In fact it lends to the desolate feel of the film.

Younger viewers will remember von Sydow as the Three Eyed Raven and older viewers will remember him as the old priest in The Exorcist, but he appeared in a ton of stuff. Seriously, look him up. His CV is amazing.

At once haunting and comical, simple yet enigmatic, The Seventh Seal (a reference to the book of Revelations) almost demands a second watch and discussion with friends. Had I any that's exactly what I would do. AMRU 4.

Paths of Glory (1957)

During the first world war a general (George Macready) is convinced by central command (Aldophe Menjou) to attack a strategic position despite the casualties and futility. When things fall apart, three men stand trial as scapegoats. Their Colonel (Kirk Douglas) defends them.

Aldophe Menjou is just as much of a scoundrel as he was twenty five years earlier in The Front Page, if somewhat less charming. He has been in a ton of stuff and I’m surprised we haven’t crossed paths more. He would have made an excellent Hercule Poirot. Speaking of path crossing, this is only the second film I’ve seen George Macready in, the first being Gilda.

Joe Turkel (The Shining, Blade Runner) plays a private, but I don’t remember him. A young Richard Anderson (Forbidden Planet, Six Million Dollar Man) is here. I saw him at ComiCon just before he passed. He wanted $100 for an autograph and wouldn’t even look up to engage the fans. This is the other Kubrick film with Timothy Carey. He was disruptive, faked his own kidnapping, and was fired. They used a body double in some scenes. So, yea, my opinion of him hasn’t changed.

Half war film, half courtroom drama, Paths of Glory is spectacular. Kubrick brought the script to Kirk Douglas who knew he must make the film. Studios, being all about the Benjamins, weren’t so hot on the property. In the end everyone was right. Kirk for how good and important the film would be and the studios on how much it would make. TCM host Ben Mankiewicz called it Kubrick's greatest film, and one could make an argument. It's definitely Kubrick's first great film and stands well with the rest. I have The Killing a 4 so I feel compelled to bump Paths of Glory to 4.5. It was the best film I saw in a long while. At least for the blog.

From Hell it Came (1957)

The film begins with a tasteful and culturally sensitive depiction of a pacific island ceremony. The actors all appear to be of Polynesian descent, that is to say, brunettes. They are selecting a new chief in the traditional manner, by killing the old chief’s son after framed him for murder. The son curses the new chief and as you know, these things are binding.

There are also Americans here. They are trying to cure the natives of a plague that has gripped the island. Also, checking out the nuclear fallout that drifted there, which isn’t a real problem and totally not their fault! Anyhow these backwards and simple natives distrust the fine, upstanding Americans, blaming them for their troubles.

The film introduces Linda Watkins in only her seventh feature film appearance. She sports an English accent that is totally spot-on. Spot-on, I tell you! It’s unclear why she’s even there. The team is led by Doctor Arnold who is in love with the pretty Terry (also a doctor, but a woman). She doesn’t want to settle down and live a traditional life, instead opting to do her silly doctor research stuff. Will she ever learn and catch a man? She should marry the elderly and alcoholic Doctor Arnold so she can wash his skid marks while he does his doctor research stuff. You know, tradition!

Anyhow, back at the grave, there is a strange tree stump. Strange because it wasn’t there the day before. Also because it has a face and a human heartbeat. Anyhow, our heroes decide to cut it free from its roots and take it back to the lab for study. It seems to be dying, maybe because it was cut from its roots. So, Terry pretends to be a doctor, because she is, and gives it an IV of her special formula X-37. That’s right. They gave a tree stump an IV. I would have top dressed it with compost, but what do I know. Anyhow, it crashes out of the lab and terrorizes the natives, who call it Tabanga, Creature of Revenge. Our heroes use the scientifically appropriate term ‘Monster’. Can the white people save the day?

This Drive-In fodder is little different from others in the sub-genre but seems more hostile than most towards the natives. Also, it’s interesting how they want to use nuclear fallout (“devil dust”) as a possible cause while tip-toeing around Americans taking the blame. In the end the actual nature of the creature is not resolved. Maybe the filmmakers wanted the viewer to decide for themselves, or maybe they didn’t care.

From Hell it Came is fun nonsense. Full of continuity errors, bad acting (sometimes horrible acting), and outdated attitudes. But at least if you become confused, the characters will drop into exposition mode to explain it all. Our heroes don't behave at all logically, the natives make Tarzan appear sophisticated, and the monster, while cool in a retro 50's way, was utterly unfrightening. And as far as this film is concerned, AMRU 2.5. Sadly, more enjoyable than anything I've seen recently.

Untamed Youth (1957)

Sisters Penny and Jane (Mamie Van Doren and Lori Nelson) are travelling to Hollywood when they stop to skinny dip in a small pond, because of course they do. Stock creepy sheriff type arrests them for vagrancy. They are given the choice to spend 30 days in jail or be slave labor for a cruel cotton farmer. They choose the latter.

Down on the farm they meet up with the other inmates, a bunch of honkey beatniks. It seems that boss man Tropp has made a deal with the lonely judge lady to funnel cheap labor to his farm while others farms struggle to find workers. But Judge lady’s adult son returns from the Navy and starts to figure out what’s going on.

Life on a cotton farm is hard and relentless. When the kids get back to the barracks they barely have enough energy left to throw a rocking dance party all night long. Mamie became the first actress to sing Rock and Roll in an American film. Eddie Cochran played one of the insundry youths. He was an actual Rock and Roll star and would die in a car wreck three years later. And so it goes.

Probably the worst part of this film is the horribly forced youth dialog. The only trustworthy adult is a cook who only speaks in beatnik riddles that even our heroes find hard to swallow. Second worst thing might be that all of the singers seem to be doing a bad Elvis Presley impersonation, Mamie included. Not a big fan of the Pelvis on the best of days, so off brand Elvis is a non-starter.

Despite the insipid plot, poor acting, the exploitative direction, the cringe-worthy pseudo-teen lingo, the terrible songs … I’m sorry, I lost my train of thought, where was I again? Oh, yea, Untamed Youth. Actually, it wasn’t all that bad. The story, such as it is, made sense in it’s own way. The character’s motivations and actions were consistent and the story resolved itself satisfactorily. Maybe that sounds like a low bar, and it is, but it’s a bar many exploitation films fail to reach. Untamed Youth was designed for the youth drive-in crowd, and by all accounts it was a success. It was even endorsed by the Catholic League of Decency by condemning it. Those guys! I can’t say I’m sorry I watched it, but it did evoke many groans and eye rolls. AMRU 2.5.

“Here me out, my friend. I am a just man. Even a philosopher, of parts. Possibly the most erudite bum for miles around. But, in this day of crass materialism, with dog eat dog, and man bite man, I claim that the laborer is worthy of his hire and the artist of his doom.”

The Black Scorpion (1957)

Geologists studying a volcanic eruption in Mexico discover that earthquakes have released giant prehistoric scorpions that were entombed in obsidian (or Dragon Stone). The process of holding a living creature in suspended animation inside a volcanic rock is known to scientists as bull shit (Bovem de Stercore to be scientific about it). Our heroes fight the monsters, find love, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Not many good films begin with voice over narration, and this is no exception. Here we cover all the elements that worked in better giant bug movies (Them!, Tarantula) and do it for a fraction of the cost. What we have is a formulaic, predictable, and reasonably pleasant waste of 81 minutes.

And the lack of a budget is on clear display. Most of the movie appears to be done with rear projection. A train is barrelling down the tracks towards a giant scorpion. The scene is tediously lengthened to increase suspense (spoiler, scorpion eats the train) so we see the train miniature (literally named Lionel Lines) pass by the same rock face at least three times. Another shot of a series of stop motion scorpions crawling out of a cave or crevasse is reused several times throughout the film. But this isn’t the worst of it. Money completely ran out before they could finish the major fight scenes so the scorpions appear as black silhouettes. Downright confounding.

I saw this one as a kid on Creature Double Feature way back when. I didn’t think much of it at the time but at least it wasn’t yet another ‘zilla film they were always throwing at us. With adult eyes I found it likable for what it was. Yet another bug film but with a certain charm. Set in Mexico, gringos got most of the lines, but I felt they were respectful of the culture, at least by 50’s standards. Under the best conditions nobody is frightened by scorpions when they have already been menaced by tarantulas, so don’t go looking for scares.

The Black Scorpion is what it is. Unoriginal, forgettable, and predictable. But I kinda liked it. AMRU 3. I suppose I have to see The Deadly Mantis now.

The Astounding She-Monster (1957)

A rich socialite is kidnapped by a band of misfit criminals and taken to a cabin in the woods where a hunky geologist lives. But unbeknownst to them, a glowing hot chick from space with outrageous makeup is stalking them. Yea, that just about sums this one up.

I was no more than ten minutes into this film before I realized that I was in for a treat. No, not treat. The opposite. Torture? Yea, lets go with that. For starters is the smarmy narration and clearly dubbed voices. I thought I was watching the second coming of the film which mustn’t be named. I was somewhat relieved when it progressed to actual dialog. Somewhat.

This low budget release is mostly six actors in one location. The dog, actually, is one of the actors actual dog. Apparently our glowing dominatrix ripped her costume in the back and had to walk backwards out of some scenes because they couldn’t fix it. Her costume was supposed to make her appear naked for sexually frustrated 1950’s audiences. Sadly for sexually frustrated modern audiences, the effect wasn’t very successful. She just slowly walks around, appears out of nowhere when the plot requires it, and kills with one touch of her glowing, radioactive hand.

Not original, poorly acted, not terribly interesting, and ladened with high-minded exposition. The lack of budget and creativity is apparent in every frame. A definite skipper. AMRU 2.

An Affair to Remember (1957)

While solo on a cruise, engaged playboy Nicky (Cary Grant) tries to make the acquaintance of Terry (Deborah Kerr), who is in a long term relationship herself. Despite her rejection and mutual bickering, they fall in love. So, they make a pact. If after returning to their existing paramours they still feel the same way about each other, in six months they will meet at the top of the Empire State Building and live happily ever after. Roll credits, only not really.

An important plot point that had escaped me for a bit was that our romantic leads had no financial means of their own, but were accustomed to the lifestyle afforded them by their respective loves. Guess I wasn't paying that close attention. So, not only did they have to say goodbye to their partners, they had to say goodbye to their way of life. This raises the stakes. They’ll need to get jobs! So, if they can, and they do, then they will. Maybe.

I had some issues with this film, at least initially. I wasn’t entirely buying our hero’s chemistry. Also I didn’t buy Grant as a struggling artist. Not the type. This passed, however, as the story progressed. Super-saturated Technicolor is a bit of a double-edged sword. Something about Kerr’s makeup looked strange, but the set pieces really popped. It was nice to see the elder statesmen of ladies men dogging a woman way past 30. Casualty of 2016 Marni Nixon did Kerr’s singing voice once more. She actually acted in another film I saw last year, but you’ll hear more about that soon.

In the end, I don’t have much to say about An Affair to Remember. Not bad. Parts didn’t click for me, but I liked it in the end. AMRU 3. No wait, I decided to widen my ratings a bit. 3.5.

“Aw, this is just a rip off of Sleepless in Seattle”
“Which was in itself a ripoff of An Affair to Remember”
“Which wasn’t that good of a movie to start with!”

12 Angry Men (1957)

A young kid with a court appointed attorney is tried for the murder of his father. When the jury retires, the jurors are certain of his guilt. Well, eleven of twelve are certain.

Shot almost entirely in one room, this is a character study of perspective, personality, and circumstance. Each of the unnamed jurors bring their own prejudices and they are revealed as Juror 8 forces them to examine the evidence piece by piece.

The cast features some fantastic character actors. E.G. Marshal, Lee J. Cobb, a young Jack Klugman, Jack Warden. No "superstars", excepting Fonda himself, who also produced. Ed Begley Jr's dad had a wonderful tirade trying to explain what "those" people were like and that's know he knows the boy is lying. He even goes on to say "Oh, sure, there are some good things about 'em, too!" putting it a border fence reference away from a Trump speech. Nice to see how far we've come in almost sixty years.

I've had jury duty three times, and sat on two juries. Even though one was a murder case, never did it approach the drama seen here. Never-the-less, 12 Angry Men rings true. Courtroom dramas (this not actually being one) are notoriously inauthentic. But here little things and big were handled true to life. Used to illustrate team dynamics in teamwork training, this character study is claustrophobic, intense, and authentic. It failed to turn a profit or win an Oscar, but it succeeded in excellence. AMRU 4.

"Baltimore? That's like being hit in the head with a crowbar once a day."

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

The good doctor (Peter Cushing) is in prison waiting execution when he tells his story to a priest, and it goes something like this: Young Victor is rich, becomes an rich orphan, is brilliant, hires a tutor, somehow grows older than his tutor, then starts playing with things God did not intend. Then he goes to jail ...

The original took serious liberties with the source material, and Hammer films were threatened with a lawsuit if any of it's story or images were copied. So, we are left with the elements brilliant and privileged scientist, taking science too far, creation of a monster, and bad consequences. Mix elements thoroughly and bake for 45 minutes and you get a new version of Frankenstein. Or Jekyll and Hyde. Same deal.

TCM played a pile of Christopher Lee films a couple weeks after his passing. Because interesting films on TCM come in waves, I had filled my DVR with good stuff and had to be very selective what I saved. This was the lone Lee film that made the cut.

Formal, stilted acting, mostly unoriginal story, and a complete lack of actual scares or surprises is mostly saved by decent set design and photography, and Lee's performance. Very much a Hammer production. AMRU 3.5.

Christopher Lee: "I've got no lines!"
Peter Cushing: "You're lucky. I've read the script."

Wild Strawberries (1957)

An elderly doctor (Victor Sjostrom) travels to the town where his son lives to receive an honorarium. Along the way he passes places from his youth, and reevaluates his life now that it's near the end.

I was hesitant at first to watch this because, well, Ingmar Bergman. His reputation for confoundingly symbolic movies is legendary, but I found this very accessible. Old Doctor Borg's journey is both physical and spiritual as he explores his life and loneliness. His relationship with his son, mother, and daughter-in-law, his dead wife, his live in housekeeper, with society at large, as with life itself.

He has dreams that trouble him, as they did 1950's literalistic American audiences, no doubt. He sees and interacts with images of his past and maybe seeing the error of his ways. In this manner it feels like a version of A Christmas Carol, similar to The Phantom Carriage (directed by and staring a young Sjostrom). The people he crosses paths with provide a real world illustration of his past mistakes.

One cannot go into all of the meanings and metaphors of a Bergman film here (certainly not with a Philistine at the helm), but suffice it to say Wild Strawberries leaves you thinking. While also being very watchable. AMRU 4.

"As professor emeritus, you ought to know why it hurts. But you don't know. You know so much, and you don't know anything."

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)

The Navy brings researchers to an island with an abandoned research facility. The previous occupants disappeared with no trace. What could have happened to them? Spoiler alert: they were eaten by crab monsters.

Well, the island experiences strange earth quakes, giant holes in the ground open up, and they start to hear the ghostly voices of their departed colleagues. It seems that when the crabs eat people, they gain their knowledge. How did they get so mutated? Atomic radiation. Oh, yea. That old chestnut.

I watched this for one reason only. On my way home from work I heard of the death of Russell Johnson, the great Professor from Gilligan's Island. Dedicated readers will also remember him from This Island Earth and It Came from Outer Space. He was a hard working actor, all around nice guy, and a bone fide war hero, earning the purple heart during World War II. But enough about Russ, back to the movie.

If goofs are your thing, then you are in luck, because goofs are this movie's thing. It would be tedious to mention them all (IMDB lists only seven). Let's take an early scene as an example. Within a yard and a half of shore, one of the Navy doofs falls out of the boat into very deep water. There he sees a giant crab monster and swims frantically to the surface. When the other doofs bring the obvious mannequin back on board, they discover it has no head. Forgetting for the moment that it should have been his feet that got chopped, the rest of the cast act as if this was a regrettable accident and don't find his decapitation all that shocking. Maybe the crabs get stupider as they eat them.

Typical Roger Corman material. Mediocre acting, terrible accents, clumsy scenes, substandard script, forgettable story, but otherwise watchable. Corman is famous for spending $100,000 and grossing a million. But if he could spend $110,000, still earn that million, and make something worth remembering, he wouldn't hesitate to pocket the ten grand. I have a hard time respecting that. Still, maybe because of my fondness for Johnson's Professor, I enjoyed Crab Monsters. Foreshadowing his later role, Johnson even makes a radio out of the unlikeliest of materials: radio parts. Go figure!

Watchable, short, and dumb. Today I give it an AMRU of 3. Rest in peace, Russ.