Movies

The Lady Vampire (1959) An uneasy mix of east and west directed by Nobuo Nakagawa. This director's greatest strength, from what I have seen, appears to be in staging calm, slow and beautifully chilling scenes of supernatural threat, and in creating elaborate spectacles out of an empty soundstage and minimal props. There is a bit of that here, with many elegantly framed and photographed tableaux, but when it comes to the climactic action sequences in the (male) vampire's underground castle - a painfully cheap looking expressionistic muddle of sets - that it becomes nonsensical and inane. It really seems as if it was handed off to an assistant, or used as a training ground for amateurs, like Corman's The Terror. Very unfortunate, but a job is a job and it had to get made and sent out the door by or before deadline. I did enjoy the nifty little two-tone Datsuns everybody was driving. Though it gets off to a nice start I really can't recommend this as anything but an exercise in schlock and inanity. 4/10

Wahan Ke Log (1967) Literally titled People from Mars - this is a very rare example of SF and technological motifs in Indian film. At almost 2 1/2 hours it has the requisite amount of chasing around and musical numbers in between the crazy sets and spy-type antics. It seems that people from Mars, aided by a power-crazed Mad Scientist, are coming to India to steal diamonds. There is a full-sized prop flying saucer, and quite a few space suits. The night club scenes are the best parts of course. It's a rather primitive production, looking more like an American film of ten years earlier. Notably, all the cars used are American, and they crash an old Dodge over a cliff. If you are as obsessed as I am with seeing every old science fiction film ever, you should see this. Otherwise just watch the clip below. 6/10