Chamber of Horrors (1966)

Proprietors of a wax museum are hired to help capture a man who strangled a woman to death and then married her. Ministers are snitches.

More of a detective story than horror, the powerless police turn to amateurs to do what amounts to very basic police work. One of the police officers is played by Wayne Rogers of M*A*S*H fame. I thought this was a Vincent Price film, having a very Theater of Blood, House of Wax kind of title. But I think I was confusing it with The Haunted Palace.

Chamber of Horrors is a good looking, well executed, but fairly forgettable film. The investigation needed to be more inventive or the horror elements more horrible. An end scene hinted at a sequel or TV pilot but nothing came of it. What amounts to a fairly pedestrian horror film may have been a bit too suggestive for 60’s television. Hey, at least he waited until after the ceremony before asserting his conjugal rights. AMRU 3.

Blow-Up (1966)

Needing a few more photos for a book he is working on, a fashion photographer (David Hemmings) goes to a park and happens upon a couple making a romantic rendezvous. He is spotted and the lady (Vanessa Redgrave) insists he hand over the negatives. He refuses. When the film is developed, Thomas(?) believes he sees evidence of a murder.

I don’t know what to make of this film. So much happens at the outset that has no bearing on the rest of the film. It's almost to the halfway mark before he gets to the park. And Hemmings makes for an incredibly unlikable protagonist. He is rude, arrogant, and, well, worse. He behaves quite illogically and at no point even considers calling the police. I could continue with plot issues (I’ve developed 35mm film and made prints) but I might actually be getting into spoiler territory.

IMDb labels Blow-Up as Giallo, which I can see. That explains the tone. Perhaps it's Giallo-adjacent. The surface reading of this film is fairly confounding and the ending is unsatisfying, but there is more here. I may need to give it another try, but for now AMRU 3.

Eye of the Devil (1966)

Wealthy mansion dweller (David Niven) is called back to the family estate because the grape harvest has mysteriously failed. He tells his wife (Deborah Kerr) not to visit him there, and behaves all mysterious. She visits him here anyhow and finds people acting very mysterious. The more she tries to find out what’s going on, the more mysterious things become. So mysterious!

A tremendously troubled production, starting with the fact that Kim Novak, originally cast in Deborah Kerr’s role, fell from a horse and fractured a vertebra. Principle filming was nearly complete but she was unable to finish. They were forced to hire Kerr and reshoot nearly everything. Rumors that Novak was fired are likely false. Then the studio shelved the project for over a year, motivated by equal parts lack of faith and concerns over the subject matter.

Although she appeared uncredited in a couple films and appeared in fifteen episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, Sharon Tate makes her official debut here. She won praise for taking on a believable English accent, or maybe she was dubbed. David Hemmings received media buzz from Blow-Out, which became a surprise hit while Eye of the Devil sat on the shelf. Donald Pleasence is a creepy priest.

Eye of the Devil leans hard into the mystery, if I didn’t make that clear enough. The progression to reveal isn’t ineffective, but it was more than a little heavy handed. The attractive sets and creative cinematography are compromised by the thin, black and white film stock giving it a low budget feel. In the end it just didn’t work for me. AMRU 2.5.

El Dorado (1966)

Bad guy Bart (Ed Asner) tries to hire gunfighter Cole (John Wayne) to assist in stealing the MacDonald clan’s water, but Cole decides to take sides with his good buddy J.P. (Robert Mitchum), the drunken sheriff of El Dorado. After arresting Black Bart, our heroes hold up in the town jail while Bart’s gang threatens to make trouble.

El Dorado bears more than a passing familiarity with Rio Bravo, both directed by Howard Hawks. He denied this was a remake, and the inciting incidents differ, but the situation is identical and there is a one to one correlation between the principal characters of the two films.

Lou Grant playing the heavy was quite strange, but the role suited him. A young James Caan played the Ricky Nelson character. Arthur Hunnicutt (playing the Walter Brennan character) was actually three years younger than Wayne. Love interest Charlene Holt was slightly closer to Wayne’s age than Angie Dickinson. Wayne was uncomfortable about the age gap in the earlier film.

The internal logic of traditional westerns can be pretty bonkers, this being a prime example. Bart is taken into custody because he is responsible for a non-lethal shooting, but the many other killings go completely unremarked. Our heroes must hide in the jail because it is too dangerous for them to venture out, even for food, until the story requires it. The grizzled Indian fighter uses a crossbow for stealth, but carries a bugle to announce the attack. And Cole uses his guns like Homer Simpson in that one episode.

El Dorado isn’t a terribly original film, and it doesn't help that it closely resembles a much better film. And it was something of a throwback at the time. Remember, this was contemporary to the Dollars trilogy. But that’s not to say it’s not enjoyable. It was box office success. Hawks and Wayne deliver, Chinese impression, aside. AMRU 3.5.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

A boozy couple (Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor) with a complicated relationship entertain a young couple (George Segal and Sandy Dennis) after hours. Mental games are played and secrets are revealed. Will love bloom? That’s not quite right. Everyone lived happily ever after? Let’s go with “It’s complicated”.

The film has only four credited actors, and all four were nominated for Academy Awards. Liz, believably playing a woman twenty years older than herself, won her second Oscar. Sex kitten roles, by design it seems, were in her rear view mirror at this point. Dennis also won as the ‘slim hipped’ young wife too drunk to understand what’s going on.

Taylor and Burton again made it difficult on set, refusing to start work until late, not working past 6, and taking extra long lunches. As they were in every scene, it’s a wonder the film was completed.

Quite engaging for a two plus hour film mostly of just people talking. Based on the Edward Albee play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? touches themes of expectations and reality. Both couples serve as foils for each other, and maybe a vision of the future for the younger. Much is going on and much is revealed over the course of the night. And, I expect, much more to be revealed on a second viewing. AMRU 4.

Queen of Blood (1966)

In the futuristic world of 1990, Earth makes contact with an alien race. The aliens send an ambassador, but they crash land on Mars. Our intrepid astronauts go on a rescue mission but a “sunburst” damages their vessel and they might not have enough fuel to return to Earth. So, a second rescue mission is dispatched with the only ship available: one that doesn’t carry enough fuel to land on Mars. I didn't get it either. Instead they land on Phobos, and from there they can take their escape vehicle to Mars. Problem is they find the alien ambassador, injured, on Phobos, and she (it’s a lady ambassador!) must take one of the two seats in the escape vehicle, while one astronaut remains behind.

Long story short, she’s some kind of green skinned alien vampire creature.

John Saxon is our heroic leading man. He had a long career of B movies and television guest appearances. His menacingly strong looks served him well in lead and villain roles. I most associate him with Enter the Dragon, which I haven not covered yet for some reason. Cub astronaut Paul is played by Dennis Hopper. I hardly recognized him.

The big name is Basil Rathbone, on the final hole of his storied career. He was very much in the “read lines while on camera for money” stage of his career. He was also roped into appearing in Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, which was ripped off from Planeta bur (1962). Peter Bogdanovich would later edit Basil out and make Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, because Mamie Van Doren.

Basil would pass a little over a year after the film’s release, but still had time to appear in the classics The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini and Hillbillys in a Haunted House. They sound dreadful. I must watch.

Long shots of the aliens and their world have a surreal appearance heightened by the trippy music. This contrasts in style and tone with the main story because those scenes were stolen from two higher budget Russian films, Mechte navstrechu (1963) and Nebo zovyot (1959). Was Roger Corman the producer? Of course he was. Much of the story comes from the first of the two, and the second was Americanized as Battle Beyond the Sun. After we meet lady ambassador monster near the midpoint, those sets are gone and we are left with the sparse Corman sets.

Queen of Blood is a watchable, if confounding film. Too convoluted for its own good (see paragraph one) and the action is facilitated by the characters being dumb. It's not without its charm, but much of that charm came from better films. AMRU 2.5.

The Face of Another (1966)

A man loses his face in an industrial accident, and his outlook and relationships are profoundly affected. His psychologist offers to create a lifelike mask, in effect a new identity.

The Face of Another is a horror film with an art house heart. It is an exploration of the self, who you are, how you are perceived, and how you believe you are. The sets of the Doctor’s laboratory are abstract, stripped down to the basic elements, and the dialog is laden with symbolism. The open question is will the mask allow Mr. Okuyama to become himself again and re-enter society or will he become what the mask wants him to be. Trippy stuff.

Emboldened by the mask, he tells his wife he is going on a business trip, and rents an apartment as his new identity. His behavior becomes more troubling.

The story essentially revolves around three characters: Mr. Okuyama, his estranged wife, and his doctor. There are, however, curious characters in the periphery. The Doctor’s nurse, a girl known only as “Yo-Yo Girl”, and the enigmatic “Girl with Scar”. They add texture to the narrative without distracting from it, and their purpose in the story is open for debate.

The Face of Another leaves me with questions. Questions I won’t explore here lest I spoil or influence interpretation. I doubt I will watch it again, but I think it will stick with me for a while. AMRU 3.5.

Death Curse of Tartu (1966)

An archaeology professor, his wife, and four students visit a forbidden native burial mound in the Florida everglades. There, the ghost of the witch doctor Tartu transforms into animals to kill them.

Let’s get this out of the way. This is a very amateur production. I cannot stress that enough. For context, it comes in just ahead of the almost unwatchable Manos: The Hands of Fate. But while I will not knock it for what it could not do, I will for what it should have been. And it should have been vaguely interesting. Want to build tension? Have the characters walk slowly through the tall grass. Excitement? Have them walk quickly through the tall grass. While the acting and dialog were poor, the film suffers because frequently the characters say nothing at all. There are plenty of spaces for robots to crack wise about the nonsensical story, which was sorely missing. This is a dull movie, a fault I cannot abide.

So, let’s get on with goofing on the film, shall we? The four students (conveniently, two couples) decide to “roast some marshmallows” away from professor square and his wife. Instantly, the two women are in bikinis and making out with their fully clothed partners. Then the women do that one dance that all young people in the 1960’s know, until Tartu, in the form of a shark, eats some of them. The remaining woman screams and is instantly back into her normal attire.

There are many examples of low budgets and poor storytelling, like when the characters hide behind Tartu’s plainly visible sarcophagus before finally seeing it. Also, night scenes are normally shot “day for night”, where they film in daylight then tint to add a nighttime illusion. This effect is frequently unconvincing in low budget films, but here they forgot the tinting step. You wouldn’t know it was night had the actors not said so. It’s telling when you learn that filming was completed within a single week and the script was written in an afternoon, and your reaction is, what took them so long?

Writer/director William Grefe would go on to make some pretty average films and even did work on Live and Let Die. Death Curse of Tartu was never going to be a good film, but there were lost opportunities to make it interesting, or at least make sense. And it should have been twenty minutes shorter. AMRU 2.

Torn Curtain (1966)

Professor Armstrong (Paul Newman) is going on a secret mission, but unfortunately his fiancee (Julie Andrews) decides to tag along. He tries to ditch her, but she follows him into East Berlin. Golly, I wonder how this will all play out.

Getting through the rest of Hitchcock’s CV is going to be a slog. This is film 28 out of I believe 53 and one of his least interesting. Think North by Northwest if nothing about the plot was engaging and the stars had no chemistry. Which is very sad because I really like Newman and Andrews. Remember, this is just one year removed from her being irresistibly charming in The Sound of Music. They felt out of place in a Hitchcock film and didn’t have much to do.

Also, some of the techniques accepted in earlier films, like extensive use of rear screen projection, seemed conspicuously dated for 1966. Furthermore, the script is devoid of the humor so common in earlier films. Everything just fell flat.

Torn Curtain is like a well crafted slice of dry toast. No matter how perfectly it is toasted, it’s still toast. AMRU 2.

The Wild, Wild Planet (1966)

People are disappearing in Capitol City at a ridiculous rate and this falls into the jurisdiction of Space Command, of course. Apparently Evil Corporation is miniaturizing people for reasons, with the help of creepy bald men and deflatable women, and Dashing Hero must bend the rules to save the day. Yea, none of this makes sense.

The kidnappers are unbelievably conspicuous, the evil plan is completely incomprehensible, the dialog confoundingly terrible, and the finale is predictable and stupid. Know that trope where the hero does one thing and the bad guy’s entire evil layer just blows up? Yea, that.

The story begins with people, we erroneously presume to be main characters, traveling to a space station. At lunch Dashing Hero character is dealing with Headstrong Female character who flirts with Obvious Villain character. Some scenes occur on the space station and some in Capital City, but we are never sure where and people appear to travel back and forth rather quickly. Bad visual storytelling, but the dialog is worse.

But let’s talk about the better points. The film makes heavy use of miniatures, which look like a pretty awesome toy set. The tiny cars match well the full size vehicles the actors drive but the flying vehicles swing wildly from an obvious string while the full sized units are completely stationary. Points for trying, though. Thing is, this story did not need to take place in space. Or the distant future. That is all window dressing. We just need Evil Corporation using advanced technology for whatever the point of this film is. That can be said for many science fiction films, but it is particularly obvious here.

The fatal flaw is how incomprehensible the story is. Bad Guys didn’t need an amazing plan, they just needed to have one that made sense. Filmed in Italian, I’ll forgive the dialog for being at least in part a poor translation and dubbing. But when the overall story arc is a mess, well, AMRU 2.5.

Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

A family on vacation gets lost and mistakenly stays at a cult leader’s compound. Low budget antics ensue.

Insurance salesman Harold Warren bet that he could make a film on an extremely small budget. Say what you will about this turd, it most definitely is a film. Low budget and no talent permeates all corners of it. The script, story, acting, score, and photography were all terrible. The actors didn’t seem to know how to react in dramatic scenes, or even where to look. Their community theater troupe would totally have fired them.

A classic amateur writing mistake is to have characters repeat points the writer feels are important. This happens throughout. Also, as the film was shot silent and dubbed later, some of The Master’s wives made exaggerated motions figuring dialog would be inserted later. Yea, that would have been a good idea. But probably most damning is the speed at which the film was edited. When it takes three hours to digitally edit a twenty minute youtube video, it is quite revealing that it took only “three to four hours” to edit a 70 minute, 16 mm film. Clearly Manos wasn’t as much edited as stitched together.

I was annoyed that the Dad character was easily twenty years older than his very pretty wife, but later realized he was the director, so that made sense. Also, he was a real dick, declaring he will stay at the cult compound despite the caretaker being against the idea, his wife's protests, and enough red flags to cancel the Nascar season. Then he orders poor Torgo around like he’s their servant. That man’s poor knees! Dad deserves to die, just saying.

But let’s not focus on the negative. What about this film wasn’t the absolute worst? Well, the narrative was understandable. That’s a plus. There was a theme. It’s hands! Also the ending was somewhat satisfying.

Manos: The Hands of Fate would have faded into obscurity had it not been featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. There really is no enjoyment to be had here other than to goof on it. That said, it wasn’t the worst film in the world. It’s fourth. AMRU 1.5.

One Million Years B.C. (1966)

Our story begins One Million Years B.C., or 1,001,966 years before the films release, which is an oddly specific date. As the narrator says, this is when the Earth was just beginning. The Earth is 4,543,000,000 years old, so this was when it was a mere 4,541,998,034 years old, which too is an oddly specific date. So, actually, the story begins with us completely dispensing with the idea of it making any scientific or logical sense.

The Rock Tribe, peopled with brunettes, is brutal and warlike. Our hero Tumak is cast out of the tribe during one of their nonsensical grunting and grabbing ceremonies. He finds a cave with water and some sort of indoor pine tree that produces edible fruit, but he has to leave when the Morlocks come. Later he stumbles onto another tribe. Not sure what they were called. The narrator had given up by then. They carried shells with them, so let's call them the SHELL tribe! Yea, that works.

Anyhow, the Shell Tribe is peopled by blonds who make their cave comfortable and inviting. Totally interior decorators, these people are. They are nice and treat this injured new human. He can't stop his grunty and grabby ways, so off he goes with hot Loana (Raquel Welch) in tow. Have we heard this before? Why yes, as it is a remake of the 1940 One Million B.C., a film with basically no dialog, and the story was copied almost verbatim! They added a few more monster fight scenes, and had the talents of Ray Harryhausen, but the end result was amazingly similar.

So, the question is, did this film need to be remade? All it added was color, slightly better effects, and more cleavage. Otherwise it was quite dull. But let's hand it to Hammer Films. It was a HUGE money maker and movie poster is absolutely iconic. Although noticed in Fantastic Voyage, this was this film that made Raquel an international sex symbol.

Having seen the original, I felt I needed to see the remake. Maybe I would have liked it more had the order been reversed, but that's not what happened. Raquel's boobies not-with-standing, this is a fairly uninteresting movie. AMRU 2.5.

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

An attempt on the life of a diplomat has left him in a coma. The area of the brain damaged cannot easily be operated on. It's easier, apparently, to shrink down a submarine and crew to microscopic size to make the repairs.

I was mystified how poorly remembered this sci-fi classic is. Until I watched it, that is. It begins with all the techo-cheese of a 60's sci-fi TV show. White noise, spinning tape drives, and, oh yea, that high-tech typewriter. At one point the General walks from fuzzy CRT to CRT to ask a different person on screen what the patient's heart rate or temperature was. Star Trek had a much better grasp on that sort of thing. Still, it ventured into a new realm and showed us something never before seen in the genre: the miracle of the human body at microscopic scale. And what does that magical realm look like? A little like a low rent carnival funhouse.

We marvel at the cast marveling at the miracle of green screen. We gasp in excitement as Raquel Welch is attacked by white blood cells, and the men frantically try to tear them off, mostly from her ample breasts. Every turn a new unexpected challenge awaits. The script was researched well enough that parts were viewed in college medical classes for years.

Fantastic Voyage, while something of a snoozer, did attempt something new, and there is virtue in that. Even if it appears severely dated to modern eyes. Dated, cheesy, and a bit dull, but innovative and slightly smarter than most. AMRU 3.

Batman: The Movie (1966)

Four supervillans team up to take over the world. Their objective is to dehydrate world leaders at the United World Building then extort for their return: one billion dollars!

Wow, this was terrible. I grew up with the series and saw this movie at one point, but I really found this a chore to sit through. Yea, you are supposed to laugh at the stupidity (the plastic shark attack, the bomb scene, the lousy acting, the absurd plot, cheesy costumes, the works) but there is only so much I can take. Was there an actor who moved less like an action hero than Adam West?

The movie was supposed to precede the series as its introduction, but when the TV show was moved up, they delayed the film until after the first season. Recorded off of TV Land, this sat on my DVR for almost two months before I got the courage up to watch it. The host, Svengoolie, said the film was edited for length to run in the allotted two hour slot. The original 105 minutes would have only left 15 for commercials and terrible jokes. Thank god for small favors, I don't think I could have watched much more of this.

Here is a movie that cannot have EWW done on it. The video would be longer than the film. The story and dialog was a constant stream of absurdities. You do not buy into the plot, even for a moment. It's as if the filmmakers looked at every scene and asked "is it stupid enough?"

If you embrace it's campy appeal then you will disagree with me. I'm good with that. But would I have considered watching this had I known how bad it was? Nope. AMRU 2.

"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb"

Follow Me, Boys! (1966)

Over the hill travelling musician (Fred MacMurray) feels he needs to give up his vagabond life and set roots. When the band makes a quick stop in a small town, he makes the impulsive decision to stay. In order to impress the hot bank employee (Vera Miles) he steals her idea to form a Boy Scout troop to keep the youth from mischief. In doing so, he becomes the town's first Scoutmaster.

What follows are various heartwarming stories about his trials and tribulations with the boys and in love. I woke refreshed two hours later.

I've been a scout leader for many years, and this is the first on a short list of feel-good Scout movies. It was high time I watched it. I encouraged my three sons (no smart cracks, people!) to watch it, as they too have logged many hours in the scout community. They opted to skip this one. Good move.

It was a little awkward watching the pushing 60 MacMurray woo the much younger Miles (still living). As the story moved forward in years, they didn't need to age his character much. The elderly town millionaire-with-a-heart-of-gold was played by Lillian Gish, fifteen years Fred's senior. She would outlive him by two.

Many of the vignettes seemed unnecessary. I thought we were still in 1932 when the troop has an amusing run-in with the US military on training maneuvers. With Scoutmaster Lem captured as a member of the enemy team, the boys are left to their own devices. Here is a good place to shorten the movie. I was crying anachronism what with all the high tech army gear, but apparently this segment was set in the 40's.

Side stories include Scoutmaster Lem's wooing of the Miles character, the troubled son of the town drunk (Kurt Russell), the land grab, the mountain climbing controversy, all culminating with a parade.

High Disney production, mildly amusing melodrama, too long (two hours thirteen). As a scout leader, I need to have seen it. So, therefore, AMRU 3, and mission accomplished. Not too painful, but it should have been shorter and 60's Disney family dramady isn't exactly in my wheelhouse. Nice to see Lillian Gish in a soundie.

"Young man, you are a popinjay."

Kill Baby, Kill (1966)

Inspector Kruger (Piero Lulli) orders the autopsy of an apparent suicide victim against the wishes of the townsfolk, who wants her body in the ground as soon as possible. Dr. Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) is called in to perform the operation. Hot chick Monica (Erika Blanc), returning home after many years, serves as witness. Together they find gold coins inside the victim's heart. Strange indeed!

Well, apparently when the ghost of a little dead girl appear to people, they will die soon. The village witch (Fabienne Dali) and the Burgermeister (not Yul Brynner) do their best to save them. Story has it that years ago the little girl died and the horrible townsfolk didn't stop to help her. Doctor Eswai and hot Monica investigate.

I realize Mario Bava is a legend, and this is among his more respected movies, and that Hollywood insisted on tinkering with movies for the American release, and that acting performances are at best muted by the dubbing process, but I have to review what I see on the screen. And what I saw was rather lackluster. The story came across as convoluted and uninteresting. Sorry Bava fans.

Here's what was interesting. The creepy looking girl ghost was played by a creepy looking boy. There is no credit for him. The producers ran out of cash less than half way through so Bava and the cast finished it without being paid. The original title in Italy was "Operazione paura" which appears to translate to "Operation Fear". Not a very good title, so you can see why they went with the completely stupid Kill Baby, Kill.

This marks the third "Imperative, Noun, Imperative" film titles I've done, and I imagine it'll be a while before I do another (Scream, Blacula, Scream won't be watched anytime soon). Without giving too much away (there really is a lot more to the story), I have to admit the title is functional. AMRU 2.5.

What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)

Secret Agent tries to help a nation get a spot on the globe by stealing an egg salad recipe. Fastest summation ever.

What this REALLY is, is a convoluted Japanese spy movie that an American studio bought the rights to but decided they couldn't do anything with it. So, they gave it to Woody Allen to play with. What he did was dub the voices to completely change the plot to something completely foolish. Mission accomplished.

Along the way the studio fattened the movie up by including scenes with crappy 60's band The Lovin' Spoonful.What we are left with is an amusing diversion with a very MST3K feel to it. What needs to be known is that the original movie was Key of Keys and was quite popular in Japan, and this was Allen's first directorial credit. Not bad. Keeps your interest. Not going to fall to the floor laughing, but worth an occasional snicker. AMRU 3.

"Woody, since the story is a bit difficult to follow, would you mind giving the audience and myself a brief rundown on what's gone on so far?"
"No."