Neglected Fantasy and Science Fiction Films
Film comment by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1994 Mark R. Leeper
One of the things I like to do occasionally in my film reviews is to make reference to some very good film that I doubt most of my readers have heard of and that I would like to call some attention to. There are a lot of decent films, and a handful of very good ones, that at this point may exist only in the film libraries of obscure television stations, and when these few prints disappear the films will be gone. I would like to generate some interest in four of these films, if not to help save them, at least to alert people that if you do get a chance to see these films, it is a rare chance and you should give them a try.
Of course, there are a lot of obscure films that are showing up on videotape today, many of them very poorly-made films, and it is ironic that some terrific films are being over-looked, but in each case I think I can understand why some producer would think the film would not sell well on tape. There are three science fiction films and one horror film. However, none of the film has special effects. Particularly for science fiction, people have come to expect visual effects. I guess they feel that if they do not really enjoy the story then at least there will be something interesting to watch. These films are just actors in front of a camera, perhaps with a very rudimentary make-up effect thrown in (but very little). Three of the films are in black and white and unfortunately that is also considered to be a strike against a film. I still recommend these films highly to watch for.
THE MIND BENDERS (1962) (directed by Basil Dearden)
This film combines Cold War thriller elements with science fiction and a compelling human story. A scientist working on sensory deprivation commits suicide and is discovered to have been passing secrets to the Soviets. Was he to blame or could his mind have been twisted while under the influence of the sensory deprivation tank? The government decides to experiment to find out. Another scientist working in the same field (played by Dirk Bogarde) is very devoted to his wife and family. Can they change that in his personality while he is in the tank? This film is well-acted, enthralling, and atmospheric.
UNEARTHLY STRANGER (1963) (directed by John Kirsh)
A secret project is working on space exploration right in the heart of London. The approach to exploration is a novel one. Rather than sending the whole human into space, they are working on a sort of technological out-of-body experience. Project your mind to another planet and there have it take on physical form ... invasion by mental projection. The rub is that scientists on the project are being killed in some mysterious way involving super-high energy. And the wives of some of the scientists seem to have no background that project security can trace. The script is tense and the acting is quite good, with a cast that includes John Neville (A STUDY IN TERROR, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN) and Jean Marsh (UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS). (This film is so obscure that Leonard Maltin's usually very complete MOVIE AND VIDEO GUIDE overlooks it.)
DARK INTRUDER (1965) (directed by Harvey Hart)
This film is only 59 minutes long and originally was intended as a television pilot, but was released to theaters to play with films such as William Castle's I SAW WHAT YOU DID--which it far out-classed. Leslie Nielson plays a detective in late 19th Century San Francisco whose foppish appearance hides a man very knowledgeable and adept in matters of the occult and the supernatural. A series of unsolved murders and a friend's blackout spells may be connected and have some occult significance. Mark Richman and Werner Klemperer also star. The latter, best known as the gullible commandant from HOGAN'S HEROES, does a terrific job in a sinister role.
QUEST FOR LOVE (1971) (directed by Ralph Thomas)
This film is loosely adapted from the short story "Random Quest" by John Wyndham. Colin Trafford (played by Tom Bell) is a leading scientist at Britain Imperial Physical Institute when one of his experiments goes wrong. Suddenly he finds himself in a parallel London in a parallel Britain that has not been to war since the Great War in the early part of the century. Trafford here is not a physicist, but a popular playwright. He is also now married to a beautiful woman (played by Joan Collins) whose life he has made miserable with his selfish ways and his philandering. Can Colin convince the world he is the playwright while convincing his new wife that he is different? Then there are plot complications that lead to a fast- paced climax across parallel worlds. Denholm Elliot also stars in the story which is part science fiction adventure and part love story.
Of these four films only the last is in color. At present, the only one available on video, UNEARTHLY STRANGER, is offered only by a tiny specialty house, Sinister Cinema. Of the four, only QUEST FOR LOVE has played on New York area television in the last fifteen years. I would much like to get my hands on copies of THE MIND BENDERS or DARK INTRUDER.
ADDENDUM FOR BOSKONE 31: ADDITIONAL FILMS TO LOOK FOR
FAUST (1926)
Director F. W. Murnau is better known for NOSFERATU, but there is a lot of good visual fantasy in this film version of the famous play by Goethe. There is a terrific image of the Devil spreading his cape over a village, and many other visual surprises throughout.
THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (1928)
The story could be better, but Conrad Veidt is terrific in the role of a man whose face is carved into a huge involuntary grin. Veidt conveys a full range of emotions through his eyes alone. The grinning Veidt was the visual inspiration for Batman's foe The Joker.
THE DYBBUK (1939)
At times this is very slow but also at times a very effective horror film. This was a low-budget film done in Yiddish. The "Dance of Death" scene had become an eerie classic. The story deals with a man's soul returning from the dead to possess the woman he loved.
THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943)
Other Val Lewton films get more attention but this film is blacker and bleaker than anything every done in film noir. This is a solid mood piece that stands above Lewton's other films. A woman searching for her sister runs afoul of murder and Satanists.
NIGHT OF THE DEMON (a.k.a. CURSE OF THE DEMON) (1957)
This film has gotten some attention because of an allusion in a song in the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW but it is rarely seen. That is a pity because it is quite a nice little supernatural thriller. It suffers a little from showing the audience too much too soon, but it still is suspenseful and well-written.
NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (a.k.a. BURN, WITCH, BURN) (1962)
When Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont co-write a screenplay based on a novel by Fritz Lieber, you just naturally expect a good thriller. This story about an empirical college professor discovering that his wife and several other professors' wives around him are actually witches is very well-produced.
DEVIL DOLL (1963)
This is a wildly uneven film, but it has many very good moments. There have been several attempts to do the stories of ventriloquist dummies who have lives of their own. This is the most intriguing treatment of the theme. For once the secret of the dummy is not a let-down.
CRACK IN THE WORLD (1965)
The first and last ideas of this film are pretty silly, but in between this is a fairly exciting super-disaster film. Some of the visuals are spectacular. There is also some complexity to the characters.
QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (a.k.a. FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH) (1968)
This film is finally getting a cult following and some recognition. It is much better known in Britain. The model of what a science thriller should be, it unfolds like a science fiction detective story uncovering a discovery that has greater and greater implications about the nature of mankind. This is one of the great idea films of science fiction cinema.
THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (a.k.a. THE DEVIL'S BRIDE) (1968)
Richard Matheson's adaptation of the black magic novel by Dennis Wheatley takes a science fiction-like approach to Satanism. It is fast- paced and at times fairly intelligent. Also worth seeing is Hammer Films' other adaptation of Wheatley black magic, TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER.
WITCHFINDER GENERAL (a.k.a. CONQUEROR WORM) (1968)
A vital and well-made historical fringe-horror film about one of the great villians of English history, Matthew Hopkins. Even Vincent Price does a reasonable acting job. The original musical score is actually quite beautiful, though there is a version with an entirely different and much less enjoyable score.
SATAN'S SKIN (a.k.a. BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW) (1970)
In some ways an imitation of the style of WITCHFINDER GENERAL. A 17th Century English ploughman turns up the remains of a demon and the artifact exerts satanic influence on the children of the region. This is a very atmospheric film with an authentic historical feel.
COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE (1973)
This low-budget horror film redefined the concept of the vampire. As a reaction to the staid, hypnotic, and slow vampires of British horror films, this film makes most vampires fast moving predatory deadly animals who hunt in packs. At the time this was pretty scary stuff and the film still has a lot of its impact.
PHASE IV (1974)
Two mutually alien intelligences in the beginnings of a serious war. It is really more about how each side collects information about the other and uses its physical differences against the other. Ants somehow develop a gestalt mind and prepare to make themselves the masters of the world. Visually very impressive with direction by visual artist Saul Bass (best known for creating striking title sequences for other directors' films). There is also some terrific insect photography.
WHO? (1974)
This fairly accurate adaptation of Algis Budrys' novel had film stock problems (!) and could not be released to theaters. That is a genuine pity. Cold War story of its near future has a scientist important to military defense in a bad accident. The East Germans get ahold of him and return him to the West more prosthetic than living matter. Now the problem is, how do you prove that he is who he says he is?
THE LAST WAVE (1977)
Australian Peter Weir build his reputation on this strange, mystical film about a lawyer who finds he might be the fulfillment of an Aboriginal prophecy. Images of nature out of balance and an intriguing story make this story a real spellbinder. This is a hard film to pigeon-hole and the intelligence of the writing never flags.
DRAGONSLAYER (1981)
Lots of films try to do Medieval high fantasy, but this is probably the best. With the death of a great magician, his young apprentice must see if he has mastered enough of his master's art to destroy a terrific dragon who is ravaging the countryside. There are lots of nice touches in the script and the dragon is the best ever created on film.
KNIGHTRIDERS (1981)
George Romero says he got this out of his system and never has to make another film like KNIGHTRIDERS. What a pity! This was one of the best films of its year. Superficially this is the story of a traveling Renaissance Fair that features jousts on motorcycles. But it has some terrific characters and a theme of the struggle between integrity and commercialism and between idealism and practicality. And late in the film the viewer realizes that the film has also been doing something else all along.
LIFEFORCE (1981)
Very few fans are willing to look beyond the naked woman and the zombies to see what is one of the most bizarre and audacious concepts for any science fiction film. Vampires, we learn, are really beings that leak lifeforce into the atmosphere like a tire with a slow leak leaks air. They must replenish the force regularly or they die. Much as we put bacteria into milk to multiply and make yogurt or cheese, some huge, incomprehensible, amoral, alien race seeds earth with vampires. The numbers of these numbers will increase exponentially, leaking more and more lifeforce into the environment so the aliens can vacuum it up.
A CHINESE GHOST STORY (1987)
Hong Kong is making their own horror film movement for their own audience. There films are fast-paced, usually liberally laced with comedy and martial arts, but also having some interesting horror concepts. No one such film is all that terrific (at least among the films I have seen so far) but some are astonishing and full of unexpected touches. Look for the CHINESE GHOST STORY films, WICKED CITY, and MR. VAMPIRE (which must have a different name in China since it is really about Chinese "Hopping Ghosts").
Mark R. Leeper
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