FilmFanatic.org

Synopsis:
A platinum blonde (Mamie Van Doren) with an IQ of 268 faces prejudice, lust, and jealousy when she begins her new job as head of a college science department.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• College
• Comedy
• John Carradine Films
• Mamie Van Doren Films
• Robots
• Teachers
• Tuesday Weld Films

Review:
From the opening strains of its title song — “Sex-pot goes to co-llege!” chants a taunting male voice — Albert Zugsmith’s campy sex comedy reveals its misogynist attitude towards BBB (Brainy but Beautiful) women. Poor BBB Dr. West (Van Doren): despite her eminent intelligence and multiple (13!) college degrees, she can’t seem to get respect anywhere. Male undergrads (such as the painfully unfunny football star, “Woo Woo”) faint in her presence; married male colleagues invite her out for dance and drinks instead of academic conversation; and nearly all females (including beautiful undergrad Tuesday Weld) feel hopelessly threatened. Van Doren — who, fortunately, is a delight to watch — tries her best with the sub-par material, but is ultimately done in by the film’s hopelessly offensive gender politics. Not even a smattering of slightly amusing lines — “You make every woman in the world feel positively… flat-chested!” wails Weld — can rescue this clunker from its egregious failings, which include a dated subplot about a robot named “Thinko” accurately predicting the results of future horse races, and a blatantly offensive denouement. Whenever Van Doren’s not on the screen, this film sinks — and fast, daddy-o.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Mamie Van Doren as the brilliant sexpot professor with “13 degrees”
  
• Van Doren demonstrating “velocity” by shooting off two revolvers
  

Must See?
No. Although Peary lists this in the back of his book as a Camp Classic, it’s really only “must see” viewing for fans of Mamie Van Doren.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• SciFilm Review

Synopsis:
Four suburban women — a frigid widow (Jane Fonda), a sexually active divorcee (Claire Bloom), an aspiring sculptress (Glynis Johns), and an adulterous housewife (Shelley Winters) — find themselves questioning their sexual practices when they participate in a Kinsey-esque survey.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Claire Bloom Films
• Cloris Leachman Films
• Ensemble Cast
• George Cukor Films
• Glynis Johns Films
• Housewives
• Jane Fonda Films
• Sexuality
• Shelley Winters Films

Review:
Lambasted by most reviewers as “unforgivably cheap and trashy”, this star-studded melodrama — based on a novel by Irving Wallace — is actually a tame, thinly veiled attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Dr. Kinsey’s infamous sex reports. Ironically, despite Kinsey’s valiant attempt to make “sex” a household term, the word itself is rarely used in this film; characters instead refer to sex as “the physical act”, as when interviewer Efren Zimbalist Jr. says to Fonda’s character: “You’re not the first woman to be afraid — to find the physical act repellent.” Unfortunately, director George Cukor’s choice to cover the gamut of possible sexual issues facing “average” American women makes it difficult for us to care very much about any one of them. Yet the actresses do their best with the screenplay’s limited material: young Jane Fonda isn’t nearly as bad here as most seem to think:

Claire Bloom (always the consummate actress) gives a nuanced performance with hints of unrevealed depth:

and Glynis Johns provides welcome comedic relief.

Winters’ performance alone is rather half-hearted, but this seems to be primarily a function of her under-written character.

Indeed, the film’s worst scenes are those when the women aren’t present — nearly every interaction between the researchers themselves, for instance, comes across as dry and stiffly written.

At first glance, The Chapman Report appears to be preaching heavy-handedly against sex surveys in general — since, rather than remaining a “neutral” collection of data, Dr. Chapman’s work (as predicted by a concerned “member of society”) stirs up deeply uncomfortable feelings in each of its leading participants. Yet this moral attitude gradually shifts, once we realize that participating in the interviews simply pushed these women to confront what was buried not-so-deeply inside of themselves all along. By the end — in typical mid-century fashion — the ideal of marriage in America prevails, with sex put in its “rightful” place as an act of love between man and wife.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Jane Fonda’s unfairly maligned performance as the “frigid” widow
  
• Claire Bloom as the sultry, suicidal divorcee
  
• Glynis Johns in the film’s “comic relief” role
  

Must See?
No. This “infamously bad” melodrama now holds curiosity appeal, but is ultimately not must-see viewing.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
A mad scientist (Marcel Marceau) teaches a deaf-mute puppeteer named Malcolm Shanks (also Marceau) how to revive and manipulate the dead.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Deafness
• Horror
• Mad Doctors and Scientists
• Puppets and Ventriloquism
• William Castle Films
• Zombies

Review:
This odd curio — William Castle’s final directorial effort, and Marcel Marceau’s lone starring role — is a disappointment with patches of brilliance. Marceau and his fellow mimes (Tsilla Chelton and Philippe Clay as his manipulative sister- and brother-in-law) aren’t very good as “straight” actors; but once their characters have died and are forced to perform as puppets, they’re simply wonderful. Unfortunately, the sloppy screenplay is a distraction, with poorly written characters, a weird friendship between Shanks and a young girl (Cindy Eilbacher), and the inexplicable arrival of a motorcycle gang in the final fourth of the film (which does nothing but show off Castle’s seeming desire to have “marionettes” fighting hoodlums). The concept behind Shanks is a clever one, but ultimately too limited in narrative scope; the story would have worked better as either a ballet or a short film. Watch for a cameo by Castle as the grocery store owner.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Many cleverly choreographed and performed “live action” puppet sequences
  
• A truly bizarre — albeit disappointingly executed — premise for a horror film
  

Must See?
Yes, simply for its historical relevance as Castle’s last movie and Marceau’s only leading role in a film.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Roger Ebert’s Review
• TV Guide Capsule Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
The daughter (Kathy Dunn) of an American diplomat (Hugh Marlowe) acts as a spy in order to protect the job of her secret agent crush, Wally (Murray Hamilton).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Amateur Sleuths
• Cold War
• Hugh Marlowe Films
• Spies
• Teenagers
• William Castle Films

Review:
Three years after directing the gimmicky horror flick 13 Ghosts (1960), schlockmeister William Castle returned to the selling power of this infamously unlucky number with his 13 Frightened Girls — strictly a marketing ploy, since the “13 girls” (beautiful daughters of diplomats from around the world) don’t make a meaningful appearance en masse until the final moments of the film, at which point they’re giddy rather than frightened. Instead, 13 Frightened Girls turns out to be an unrealistic yet fluffily enjoyable tale of a teenage Mata Hari — code name “Kitten” — who is conveniently able to discover one valuable state secret after the other through her friends.

Kathy Dunn — Louisa in the original Broadway version of “The Sound of Music” — is excellent in the lead role: her cheery good looks, blonde tresses, and all-around pluck are reminiscent of her more famous counterpart, Hayley Mills. Though she finds herself in a heap of trouble again and again — and some scenes are genuinely tense — the film’s cartoonish score fortunately reassures us that our heroine won’t ever suffer serious harm. If you’re able to accept the improbable details of the story (why are all the diplomats’ children teenage girls of the same age?); awful performances by the “girls” (most of their acting careers went nowhere after this film); and occasionally stilted dialogue (“Candy, you must go– There is much danger!”), you might find yourself guiltily enjoying this innocuous Cold War trifle.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Kathy Dunn’s appealing, energetic performance in the lead role
  
• A fun, if highly unrealistic, “Nancy Drew” premise
  

Must See?
No. It’s not clear why Peary includes this enjoyable yet minor title in the back of his book, other than its status as a film directed by William Castle.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review (scroll down)

Synopsis:
Three college buddies plan a casino heist as a lark, intending to give back the money immediately. But when one of them — damaged Korean War veteran Brick (Brian Keith) — decides he wants to keep the money, it’s up to his friend Al (Guy Madison) to stop the entire scam.

Genres:

• Brian Keith Films
• Casinos
• Heists
• Kim Novak Films
• Phil Karlson Films
• Veterans

Review:
This unusual caper flick (directed by Phil Karlson) effectively draws upon the theme of veterans struggling to live “normal” lives in mainstream society. While Al (Madison) is on the fast track to success as a lawyer, and desires nothing more than to marry his sweetheart (Kim Novak) and settle down, his friend Brick (Keith) represents the opposite extreme: a man so broken by his experiences as a soldier that no amount of schooling or friendship can erase the damage that’s been done. Meanwhile, their young, carefree buddies Ronnie (Kerwin Matthews) and Roy (Alvy Moore) serve as a telling contrast: they are content with simply having fun, scoring with chicks, tormenting a naive freshman (Jack Dimond), and (for Ronnie at least) proving their genius against the seemingly impervious machinations of a casino.

Karlson maintains genuine tension and interest throughout the movie, thanks to fine performances by most of the actors, clever dialogue, and a nicely shot casino heist. The emphasis on character and friendship is refreshing — rather than watching seasoned crooks hoping to make “one final score” (an overused trope if there ever was one), we see a drama which may revolve around a heist, but is ultimately about pride (Ronnie), survival (Brick), and loyalty (Madison).

Note: Ronnie’s cool, calculated plotting is reminiscent of John Dall’s character in Hitchcock’s Rope (1948) — though ultimately Five Against the House is more concerned with the veterans’ stories than with Ronnie’s potential psychopathy.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Brian Keith’s sympathetic performance as the damaged war veteran
  
• Kim Novak in one of her earliest roles
  
• The tense casino heist (especially well-played by Eric Berg as the cash cart man)
  
• A clever script with many memorable lines:
  

  “I think you two are going to like marriage… I’ve heard it described as something like tennis, played with 40-mm cannons.”

  

Must See?
No, but it’s a nifty caper flick, and definitely worth watching if you can find a copy.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
On the 100th anniversary of his family’s watchmaking company, Charles De (Francois Simon) experiences a midlife crisis and runs away from home. His family hires a private investigator (Walter Schochli) to look for him; in the meantime, Charles enjoys his new life with a young Bohemian couple (Marcel Robert and Marie-Claire Dufour) he has met by chance.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Counterculture
• Midlife Crisis
• Search
• Swiss Films

Review:
Swiss director Alain Tanner’s feature debut isn’t quite as accessible as his later masterpieces — such as Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976 — but nonetheless effectively showcases his signature style and themes. The smart, literate script is primarily concerned with showing us the inner transformation of the title character (well-played by Francois Simon), doing so through an insightful, sometimes humorous presentation of divergent lifestyle choices. While it may not be for all tastes, Charles… remains recommended viewing for all film fanatics.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Francois Simon as the soul-searching businessman
  
• Effective b&w cinema verite camera work
  

Must See?
No, though it’s certainly worth a look as Tanner’s feature debut, and for holding a special place in the history of Swiss cinema.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
Yvette (Joanna Shimkus), a repressed clergyman’s daughter in 1920s England, lusts after a swarthy gypsy (Franco Nero) and befriends an unmarried couple (Honor Blackman and Mark Burns) who have been shunned for “living in sin”.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Coming of Age
• Cross-Class Romance
• Gypsies
• Historical Drama
• Morality Police

Review:
Christopher Miles’ adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s posthumous novella is an unassuming, lushly photographed tale of sexual awakening and coming-of-age. Joanna Shimkus is perfect in the title role, playing a young woman who longs to break free from the moral restrictions of her uptight family. Even more impressive, however, is the way in which Miles deftly evokes the details of life for various classes in 1920s England: we see the minutiae of both the gypsy camp (an unidentifiable stew boils over an open fire on the hillside) and Yvette’s upper-middle-class family (a servant carefully doles meat and potatoes onto each member’s shiny plate). While the movie is perhaps overly metaphorical during its final climactic moments, this somehow seems to fit with the overall tone of the fable-like tale.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Beautiful Joanna Shimkus (Sidney Poitier’s wife) as “the virgin”
  
• Meticulously rendered period detail of both upper-middle-class and Gypsy life in 1920s England
  
• Lush cinematography of northern English landscapes
  
• Effective use of imagery to evoke Yvette’s sense of inhibited freedom
  

Must See?
No, but it’s recommended.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
A young man known as “Speedy” (Harold Lloyd) loses one job after the other, but keeps his spirits up by going to Coney Island with his girlfriend, Jane (Ann Christy). Meanwhile, he helps Jane’s grandfather, “Pop” (Bert Woodruff), save his horse-drawn trolley — the last one in New York — from being bought by nefarious railroad business tycoons.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Comedy
• Harold Lloyd Films
• New York
• Silent Films

Review:
Harold Lloyd’s final silent film features many amusing segments and sight gags, a fascinating peek at 1920s New York (including an extended cameo by Babe Ruth), and an overall air of infectious gaiety. Unfortunately, however, the movie doesn’t hold together very well as a cohesive narrative, and the final chase scene — while certainly well-executed — devolves into an uninteresting slapstick brouhaha. For those seeking their first exposure to Harold Lloyd’s immense talents, check out Safety Last! (1923) or The Freshman (1925) instead.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• A fascinating “time capsule” glimpse of 1920s New York (especially Coney Island)
  
  
  
• The fun subway sequence
  
• Speedy using donuts and pretzels to signal baseball scores to his workmates
  

Must See?
No, though it’s certainly a “must see” for fans of Harold Lloyd and/or silent comedies.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Movie Diva Review
• Time Out Capsule Review