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Reviews
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
I can't believe it's not Mel Brooks.
Hard to believe, when you watch this film and laugh yourself stupid at the gentle ridiculousness on display. But no, it's Gene Wilder showing us just how much he has learned from the comedy master. The major Brooks players are here: Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn...we only need Cloris Leachman to round them out. And guiding them, the more whimsical, but still devastating, comedic sensibilities of writer-director Gene Wilder. What Brooks did to Shelly in "Young Frankenstein", Wilder does to Conan-Doyle. He plays Sigerson Holmes of the title, dispatched as a decoy by his more famous brother in order to distract his arch-villain Professor Moriarty in one of his nefarious schemes against the British Crown. And again, like Brooks, Wilder allows for some incredible turns by the rest of the cast, including the brilliant Leo McKern, a.k.a. Rumpole of the Bailey, as a particularly frustrated Moriarty. I feel I've mentioned Brooks too much in my comments, because Wilder himself brings so much to the table, with his less caustic, more silly approach. This film, often overlooked, stands out as something pretty rare: a genuinely funny comedy.
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
Don Johnson in all of his pre-Crockett splendor.
While it sometimes seems that the SF movies of the 70's were just build up to Star Wars, stops like A Boy and his Dog make the journey almost more interesting than the destination.
Scripted by perennial SF bad-boy Harlan Ellison from his own novel, the story has a young Don Johnson (although he hardly seems a "boy") as Vic, scurrying through the near-future blasted remains of a post-nuclear landscape looking for his next meal, and sexual conquest, assisted by his canine pal Blood whom he can communicate with telepathically. He finally meets the woman of his dreams, who then promptly runs back to her society in the "down under" - a supposed underground utopia of marching bands and proper victorian manners. Vic follows her underground, and the bizarre realization of this "paradise" makes up for the pretty standard survival-among-the-ruins first half of the picture. Of course, this didn't prevent me from thinking of the Monty Python skit Salad Days through the whole sequence, waiting for the limbs to start flying off.
Johnson is charismatic, if unpolished, as the lead, but it is really Tim McIntire as the voice of Blood that steals the show. The dog comes off as a caustic intellectual, which is a rather interesting idea of what dogs would really be like if you could hear their interior monologue. And like others have said here, there is a twist right at the end that makes you appreciate the fringe nature of the film.
All in all, a movie that really shouldn't be missed by anyone with an appreciation for SF of the low-budget 70's variety.
Suspiria (1977)
Suspense is the word.
It is rare in this day and age for a film to work its way under one's skin, but this is exactly what you can expect from Suspiria. I imagine that the title is some form of an Italian translation of suspense, and you couldn't pick one more apt: the movie makes Alfred Hitchcock seem downright boring! Here we have a young American dancer joining a prestigious ballet school in Germany, who comes to discover that things are not right at her new digs. There are hints of witchcraft, but unfortunately this is dealt with only on the most esoteric level, and the menace manifests itself mostly in the more pedestrian form of a knife-wielding slasher. But a more evil presence lurking is the insidious film score, that truly takes on the role of unseen stalker and lends a sense of surreal terror to the proceedings. And director Dario Argento enhances this with his inspired direction, along with the creepy cinematography. Add to this some great viceral, but not disgusting, gore scenes and you have the makings of a truly great horror film.
Asylum (1972)
You could do worse.
While about as subtle as your average Night Gallery episode, the stories contained within this anthology film will still hold your interest quite nicely. The first is a rather standard revenge tale containing some fun special effects. In the second a tailor, wonderfully played by the always great Barry Morse, is asked to make a very unusual suit. Morse is paired up with the equally great Peter Cushing. The third is another fairly obvious entry with Britt Ekland and Charlotte Rampling, and everything is wrapped up with predictable and somewhat ridiculous results in the final installment featuring another fine performance by Herbert Lom. Along with the nicely done and well-placed music score, this collection of stories is worthy of attention.
Things to Come (1936)
Simply stunning.
While a bit preachy on the topic of progress as the saving grace of mankind, this is still a stunning film that presages the science-fiction special effects blockbusters that would take another 40 years to arrive on the silver screen. It predicts the global chaos of WWII, but expands on the premise by having the conflict last 30 years, and then tells the epic tale of man's struggle out from under the rubble and into the wilds of space. The acting seems wooden and strangely sterile, but this is perhaps a result of its contrast with the visuals which must have been utterly breathtaking at the time of the movie's release, and which still impress today. This is a film not to be missed by anyone at all interested in the SF genre.
The Trollenberg Terror (1958)
The Crawling Plot
When it comes to B movies, The Crawling Eye is pretty well-done. Of course, this is not always a good thing, as it means less fun in the form of derisive cat-calls available for the viewer to hurl at it. But in the case of this movie, it is just suspenseful enough to overcome its own quality. In it we have Forrest Tucker, long past his prime and career swirling down towards the inevitable Columbo episodes, as our hero, out to foil the nefarious plans of mist-dwelling aliens who take the form of huge, gelatinous eyes. Unfortunately for us, they only make their appearance in the final third of the film, but when they do the predictably cheesy SFX provides an ample cue for invective throwing on the part of us poor viewers. But as I said, the suspense story which leads us to the final confrontation, while leisurely-paced, is strong enough to carry us along for the ride. All in all, a competent B film experience.