Movies

The Week In Review - I have fallen behind in meticulously chronicling every damn thing I see, which I know is a real disappointment to my two or three occasional readers. I will here catch up.

Four Sided Triangle (1953) is a nice British example of genuine Science Fiction packaged as a mainstream melodrama. The science aspect is the creation of a matter duplicator, the human problem addressed is two scientists but only one girl. What could go wrong? Slightly ridiculous concept but very nicely done. 6/10

Zombie and the Ghost Train (1991) is a Finnish film by Mika Kaurismaaki, less stylized than the work of younger brother Aki. Not a story that solves a problem, it follows the decline of an aimless fringe character (Zombie) following his encounter with a mysterious rock band with lots of gigs, but which nobody has heard (The Ghost Train). Interesting to see, if you need to see a kind of Euro-art film. 6/10

The Ghost Train (1941) is quite the opposite, a British wartime light mystery thriller at a haunted railway station, with halfpint comic Arthur Askey there to keep everyone in a constant state of irritation. (If anyone who ever reads this has the slightest idea who Big Hearted Arthur Askey and Richard "Stinker" Murdoch are, leave a comment so I will not feel so terribly alone.) I will just tell you right now because you will never see this movie, that if it is wartime and there are ghosts, it is Nazis. 4/10

The Secret of the Telegian (1960) Japanese thriller in which a teleportation device is used to effect vengeance. Seems kind of pointless since the guy ends up in prolonged foot-chases after every bayonet murder anyway. So why not just drive. Kind of boring. 3/10

Lotosbluten fur Miss Quon (1967) Is a slow, cheap, German-made unthrilling thriller set somewhere in Asia, involving diamonds. Also kind of boring. My IMDB review is the first and only one. See that for more details. 3/10

From Hell it Came (1957) Dying man's curse + radiation = TABONGA, the walking tree monster. One of those monsters it is nearly impossible to escape from because they walk so slowly. Nice "monster carrying a woman" scenes, and there is quicksand as well. I liked how someone would come running into the village saying they saw Tabonga, and someone would say "Are you SURE it was Tabonga?" like there are all these other walking tree monsters out there. Also, the blonde female scientist who gets carried by Tabonga is one of the worst screamers I have ever heard, a harsh grating AAAAKH AAAAKH scream, not the clear piercing EEEEEE so necessary to a good monster scream. Almost stupid enough not to be boring but still pretty boring. 5/10

Made it halfway through the 1961 Edgar G. Ulmer version of L'Atlantide, Journey Beneath the Desert, and it amazes me that one can make something like the discovery of a lost civilization so damn tedious. Big colorful cheesy Italian sets and soundtrack do not enliven it much. 1/10