DVD Review: Bombs Over Burma (1942, AKA The Devil’s Sister).

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Produced by Arthur Alexander & Alfred Stern
Screenplay by Joseph H. Lewis & George Wellington Pardy
Story by Milton Raison
Cinematography: Robert E. Cline
Edited by Charles Henkel Jr.
Music by Lee Zahler

Cast: Anna May Wong (Lin Ying), Noel Madison (Me-Hoi), Leslie Denison (Sir Roger Howe), Nedrick Young (Slim Jenkins), Dan Seymour (Pete Brogranza), Frank Lackteen (Hallam), Teala Loring (Lucy Dell), Dennis Moore (Tom Whitley), Connie Leon (Ma Sing)

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Several years ago, I kinda went nuts over Joseph H. Lewis — one of the best of the B movie directors, spurred on as much by his 50-plus episodes of The Rifleman as by films like Gun Crazy (1950), The Big Combo (1955) and A Lawless Street (1955). And I’m ecstatic that Film Masters has given us a decent-looking DVD of Bombs Over Burma (1942).

With the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the United States’ entry into World War II, as you’d expect, war was on everybody’s minds. It’d been going on for a while, but now it was here. As with most big topical stories, Hollywood saw potential in the war — and they got right on it. One of the first was PRC with Bombs Over Burma (1942), which went from announcement to theaters in just a couple of months.

Anna May Wong is a Chinese school teacher/secret agent who tackles a spy ring (lead by a traitorous English diplomat working with the Germans) that’s sabotaging the construction of the vital Burma Road.

Miss Wong is always fascinating to watch; there’s just something about her (she’s incredible in Sternberg’s Shanghai Express). She’s especially effective in the early scenes when a young boy is killed in a raid, and it’s cool to see her have a real lead for a change.

This being a Poverty Row war movie, you wouldn’t expect a lot of battle scenes, but they’re here — patched together from stock footage and really impressive editing (Lewis started out as an editor). Of course, this being a Joseph H. Lewis picture, you can expect a strong visual sense — even in a rush job like this (I doubt the shoot ran any more than a week).

Lewis’ visuals (like his habit of placing things in the foreground to add depth) is what makes this DVD from Film Masters such a nice thing to have. Chances are, Bombs Over Burma never really looked all that good. But this is the best transfer, by far, that I’ve ever seen.

Film Masters has done a lot for this film, removing dirt, stabilizing the picture and God knows what else —without giving it that weird, waxy, pixel-y look that comes from too much restoration knob-twiddling. For what was almost certainly a 16mm print, the detail is quite good and the contrast levels are fine.

They didn’t have as much luck with the sound, but that’s the fault of the material. PRC pictures almost always had muddy sound — at least they did by the time the 16mm prints and the VHS tapes and DVDs made from them came along. I’m sure the fine folks at Film Masters did what they could with what they had.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of cheap little movies like this that look just awful when you can find a copy of them to watch. I’m so thankful that Film Masters is going to the trouble to fix some of ’em up — and I recommend this one, especially to fans of the ever-inventive Joseph H. Lewis.

DVD News #383: Bombs Over Burma (1942).

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Starring Anna May Wong, Noel Madison, Leslie Denison, Nedrick Young, Dan Seymour, Dennis Moore

Here we go! Another PRC picture gets a little respect. Film Masters is bringing Joseph H. Lewis’ Bombs Over Burma (1942, AKA The Devil’s Sister) to DVD later this month. It’s a WWII story of a school teacher (Anna May Wong) helping stop the destruction of a crucial bridge by the Japanese and an English spy.

Blu-Ray News #378: Tormented (1960).

Produced & Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Starring Richard Carlson, Juli Reding, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders, Joe Turkel

Here comes another top-notch release from Film Masters — Bert I. Gordon’s Tormented (1960) on both DVD and Blu-Ray.

Richard Carlson’s dead ex-girlfriend (Juli Reding) reappears as a ghostly, disembodied head to screw things up between Carlson and his fiancée (Lugene Sanders). That’s not a huge undertaking since Carlson is pretty much to blame for the girlfriend’s death and a blackmail scheme is quickly underway.

One of the few Bert Gordon pictures that doesn’t feature giant (or tiny) stuff, Tormented has a strong cast — Carlson’s always great and Reding is both an eyeful and a hoot. There’s some nice location work shot in Malibu and Anacapa Island (is that lighthouse still there?) by Ernest Laszlo. And the special effects are up to Gordon’s typical hit-or-miss standards. Oh, and Paul Frees overdubbed one actor’s voice.

Tormented is one of those movies us monster kids saw a thousand times on TV — and some of its shock scenes are still nailed into our heads. After years of ragged TV prints and crappy PD VHS tapes and DVDs, it was brought out in a pretty decent DVD from Warner Archive.

Film Masters will surely blow that thing away, thanks to a 4K scan of original 35mm material in its original 1.85 aspect ratio and, of course, a terrific list of extras. I can’t wait. Highly recommended.

DVD Review: Convict’s Code (1939).

Directed by Lambert Hillyer
Produced by E.B. Derr 
Original Screen Play by John W. Krafft
Photographed by Arthur Martinelli
Film Editor: Russell F. Schoengarth
Musical Director: Abe Meyer

Cast: Robert Kent (Dave Tyler), Anne Nagel (Julie “Freckles” Warren), Sidney Blackmer (Gregory Warren), Victor Kilian (Bennett), Norman Willis (Russell), Maude Eburne (Mrs. Magruder), Ben Alexander (Jeff Palmer), Howard C. Hickman (Warden), Joan Barclay (Elaine)

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At the risk of becoming the Film Masters fan club, here’s another stellar release from the company — Lambert Hillyer’s 1939 crime picture Convict’s Code.

A football star (Robert Kent) is framed for robbery to keep him from playing in a big game. Out on parole after three years, he sets out to find out who set him up. As luck would have it, he finds the guy (Sidney Blackmer), unaware it’s him, and falls in love with his kid sister (Anne Nagel).

Meanwhile, when Kent goes looking for the witnesses who put him away, they’re gone — dead or disappeared. And you thought your life was complicated!

Convict’s Code is a cheap little hour-long Monogram crime picture. That alone is enough to recommend it. But it’s got great hard-boiled dialogue, a fairly unique approach to the gotta-find-the-guys-who-really-did-it plotline — and a good role for Anne Nagel. She was in some great stuff, from The Green Hornet serial (1940) and Man Made Monster (1941) to Never Give A Sucker An Even Break (1941) and Armord Car Robbery (1950, her last film).

Robert Kent was in some cool stuff, too, from Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto pictures to The Phantom Creeps (1939) and Gung Ho! (1943) to Rebel City (1953) and a couple of episodes of The Long Ranger. Of course, Lambert Hillyer made all sorts of B pictures, from the first Batman serial (1943) to a slew of late-40s Monogram Westerns.

Along with their stunning Blu-Rays of Roger Corman’s Filmgroup pictures, Film Masters has released a few Poverty Row films like this on DVD. There are no extras and the transfer doesn’t glisten quite like their The Terror (1963) does. But this is the best Convict’s Code has looked on home video — and is likely to ever look. It’s from a very, very clean 35mm print from the UK (with Monarch logos on it).

I hate to attach a lesson in Economics to this, but here it is: we have to support the companies still dedicated to the old films and physical media. If we do, there will be more. I don’t want to think of the alternative.

Convict’s Code comes highly recommended to fans of Poverty Row pictures like this. Can’t wait for the next one!

 

 

Blu-Ray Review: The Terror (1963) & Little Shop Of Horrors (1960).

Film Masters continues their Filmgroup releases with a stunning Blu-Ray of The Terror — with The Little Shop Of Horrors along for the high-definition ride. Both get a Cadillac 4K scan from nice 35mm material.

The Terror (1963)
Produced & Directed by Roger Corman (& Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill)
Starring Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight, Dick Miller, Dorothy Neumann, Jonathan Haze

Roger Corman’s The Terror is a patchwork quilt of a Gothic horror movie, done in bits and pieces — beginning with Boris Karloff walking around the sets for AIP’s The Raven as they were being torn down. A busload of writers and directors messed around with it for about a year. As you’d expect, the results don’t make a whole lot of sense (Leo Gordon’s original script was altered each time it was passed from one director to another), but there’s something oddly fascinating about the whole thing.

Jack Nicholson is a French officer who winds up at the castle of Baron von Leppe (Boris Karloff) after trying to locate a mysterious young woman he met on the beach (Sandra Knight). Things get convoluted and confusing from there, with a witch and her son, a deal with the devil, a ghost and a flooded crypt added to the mix. It was not based on a Poe story, but if someone thought it was part of Corman’s successful Poe Cycle, that was fine!

Footage from The Terror turns up in Peter Bagdanovich’s Targets

I once had a fairly-decent 16mm dupe print of The Terror, and have tried out several of its previous video releases, so I’m very familiar with the movie and what it looks like. NEVER thought it would look at good as it does here. The color is vivid and consistent, and the picture is surprisingly sharp — with allowances for the crazy way it was shot. The framing is perfect (Vistascope is just the standard 1.85.) and the sound is crystal clear. Film Masters has done a terrific job with The Terror.

The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960)
Produced & Directed by Roger Corman
Starring Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles, Dick Miller, Myrtle Vail, Jack Nicholson

Everybody knows the backstory on The Little Shop Of Horrors — another Corman movie shot on leftover sets (this time, from Corman’s own A Bucket Of Blood). Interiors were shot in a couple days (after a few days of rehearsal) with a budget of just $28,000. To keep things moving quickly, multiple cameras and fixed lighting were used, sitcom style.

Seymour Krelboined (Jonathan Haze) develops a man-eating plant he names Audrey, after a coworker he’s sweet on (Jackie Joseph). The plant becomes an attraction at the little flower shop where Seymour works, so his boss looks the other way when Seymour feeds it a bum who was hit by a train. Things escalate from there. Oh, and it’s all played for laughs. The picture is known for Jack Nicholson’s scene, but Mel Welles is terrific as Haze’s boss. (Of course, it spawned a musical play and a film based on that play.) 

The Little Shop Of Horrors went out in a double feature with Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, then again with Corman’s Last Woman On Earth (both 1960). Then it became a staple on the late show and cheap VHS tapes. Again, Film Masters has come through with a small miracle — though it doesn’t glow quite like The Terror, this is the best I’ve ever seen The Little Shop Of Horrors look. It’s clean and sharp with nice, solid blacks. I saw things I’ve never noticed before, giving new life to a film I’ve seen a couple dozens times. And the proper framing makes a huge difference.

Film Masters has given us some nice extras, with the prize going to the second part of Ballyhoo’s documentary on Corman’s Filmgroup, his independent production company he operated while he was doing the Poe pictures for AIP. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I’ve written this a thousand times: an upgraded transfer can transform an old film. Film Masters proves that here, twice, showing that The Terror and The Little Shop Of Horrors weren’t as raggedy-looking as we once thought. I was blown away. This two-disc set comes highly, highly recommended.

Blu-Ray Review: The Giant Gila Monster & The Killer Shrews (1959).

It was the late 70s, and I was 11 or 12, when I first saw The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster (both 1959). It was on some faraway UHF station that we could pick up because we lived in the sticks and had a great big antenna. The station ran ’em back to back on a Friday or Saturday night. Already a movie nut, I knew Ken Curtis from The Searchers (1956) and James Best from The Andy Griffith Show and a few Westerns. And I knew the name Ray Kellogg from the poster for The Green Berets (1968) hanging in my bedroom.

Gordon and B.R. McLendon were big-time Texas radio men who decided to get into the movie business — to go with their drive-in theater business. Taking a cue from Roger Corman and AIP, they made a cheap monster movie double feature. They could promote their films on their radio stations and run them at their drive-ins. This closed loop helped them rake in the money.

However, their business acumen didn’t include keeping up with the copyrights, and they fell into the public domain. Because of this, The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster have turned up on every home video format that’s come down the pike — usually looking terrible.

That is, until Film Masters came along. Working with new 4K scans of original 35mm film elements, they’ve assembled an outstanding package.

The Killer Shrews
Directed by Ray Kellogg
Produced by Ken Curtis & Gordon McLendon
Written by Jay Simms
Cinematography: Wilfred M. Cline
Film Editor: Aaron Stell
Music by Harry Bluestone & Emil Cadkin

Cast: James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis, Gordon McLendon, Baruch Lumet, “Judge” Henry Dupree, Alfred DeSoto

The Killer Shrews uses a classic cheap-movie setup — a small cast trapped in a remote place with something bad waiting to get them. Here, it’s a team of scientists trapped in their research facility on a tiny island — with scads of horrible, mutated shrews eating through the walls to tear the cast to shreds.

Not a bad premise, and some of the shrew scenes work pretty well. When they’re done using puppets, things are aces, and suspense builds pretty well. But when we get long shots of dogs wearing masks and wha6 looks like the rugs in your grandmother’s bathroom, whatever tension that’s been built is quickly gone.

But there are folks out there among us who love made-in-a-week horror movies, who prefer them to $200 million blockbusters. I’m one of those people, and I have a real soft spot for The Killer Shrews.

The Giant Gila Monster
Directed by Ray Kellogg
Screenplay by Jay Simms
Story by Ray Kellogg
Produced by Ken Curtis, B.R. McLendon & Gordon McLendon
Cinematography: Wilfred M. Cline
Film Editor: Aaron Stell
Music by Jack Marshall

Cast: Don Sullivan, Lisa Simone, Fred Graham, Shug Fisher, Bob Thompson 

The Giant Gila Monster takes the teenager movie and the monster movie, staples of 50s drive-in cinema, and nails them together — with the kind of results you’d expect from a week’s shooting outside Dallas. And, of course, with the prerequisite teenagers who appear to be pushing 30.

Some young hot-rodders tag team with the local sheriff to take on a giant gila monster after it kills a couple of their friends and eventually threatens their town. The monster is of the put-a-real-lizard-on-a-miniature-set variety, and it looks like somebody’s pet lizard (a Mexican bearded lizard) got loose on an HO train layout. And there’s some Rock N Roll in the teen hangout and a bit of “comic relief” from Shug Fisher.

Special effects man Ray Kellogg makes his directorial debut with these two pictures, both shot by Wilfred Cline. So, even though they’re clearly cheap, both look better than you’d expect.  This is more obvious than ever with the Blu-Ray set from Film Masters, as these things haven’t looked this good in ages. 

Since most of us know these films from TV, we’re treated to the 1.85 theatrical aspect ratio, along with the 1.33 look we’re probably more familiar with. (Each film is on its own disc.) Whatever shape you want it to be, it looks exquisite, some might say better than they deserve. There are commentaries, radio spots, a trailer for Gila Monster and a cool Ballyhoo documentary on Ray Kellogg. From shooting footage of the Nuremberg Trials to special effects at 20th Century Fox to co-directing The Green Berets with John Wayne, Kellogg had a helluva career in the movies — and it’s nice to see him get the spotlight for a bit. And there are some terrific essays in the booklet. 

So many of us have  soft spot for pictures like this, and it’s wonderful to see them all spiffed up and packed with extras. Thanks to Film Masters, a company certainly worth keeping an eye on, this set comes highly, highly recommended.

Blu-Ray News #360: The Devil’s Partner & Creature From The Haunted Sea (1961).

As the major studios abandon their classic films on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K, smaller, independent firms are coming along to take up some of the slack — loading up collectors’ shelves and showing the majors how to treat a film, ANY film, with respect. One of the companies to watch is Film Masters. They’re announcing titles at a rapid pace (“like the Russians are in Jersey,” to quote Gene Hackman in The French Connection), with the latest being an actual double feature from 1961, The Devil’s Partner and Creature From The Haunted Sea.

The Devil’s Partner
Directed by Charles R. Rondeau 
Starring Ed Nelson, Edgar Buchanan, Jean Allison, Richard Crane, Byron Foulger

This tale of devil worship and demonic possession in a small town in New Mexico was produced in 1958. Gene and Roger Corman bought it release in a twin bill (from their company Filmgroup) with their own picture, Creature From The Haunted Sea. It’s a pretty solid little movie, with some terrific character actors like Edgar Buchanan and Byron Foulger.

There’s a reason the ads don’t show you the real Creature From The Haunted Sea

Creature From The Haunted Sea
Produced & Directed by Roger Corman
Starring Antony Carbone, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Edward Wain

Written by Charles Griffith in a week (so Corman could get some tax incentives while making a couple films in Puerto Rico) and shot in five days, Creature From The Haunted Sea is part crime picture, part monster movie — and a total hoot all the way through. A few years later, Corman had Monte Hellman shoot some additional scenes to pad it out for TV.

Film Masters is pulling out all the stops, again. You get both versions of Creature From The Haunted Sea (theatrical and TV), commentaries, an essay and a documentary from Ballyhoo on Filmgroup. Coming in January 2024.

Knowing these films, and knowing what to expect from Film Masters, this comes highly recommended.

Blu-Ray News #357: The Terror (1963).

Directed by Roger Corman (& Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill)
Starring Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight, Dick Miller, Jonathan Haze

Roger Corman’s The Terror (1963) is a patchwork quilt of a Gothic horror movie, done in bits and pieces — beginning with Boris Karloff walking around the sets for AIP’s The Raven as they were being torn down — by a busload of writers and directors over about a year. The results don’t make a lot of sense (Leo Gordon’s original script was altered each time it was passed from one director to another), but there’s something oddly fascinating about the whole thing. And with it coming to Blu-Ray from Film Masters in December, we can count on it looking terrific.

Film Masters is promising a dungeon full of extras, including another Corman/Nicholson/Haze feature, The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960). This is gonna be a great package. Can’t wait.

DVD/Blu-Ray News #353: The Giant Gila Monster & The Killer Shrews (Both 1959).

After the demise of Olive Films, it’s great to have the premiere release from Film Masters, a new company from Phil Hopkins, on the way. It’s a two-disc set of The Giant Gila Monster with bonus film The Killer Shrews, which played drive-ins as a twin bill back in 1959. 

The Giant Gila Monster 
Directed by Ray Kellogg
Starring Don Sullivan, Fred Graham, Lisa Simone, Shug Fisher

A small Texas town finds itself duking it out with a giant gila monster. This is coming from a new 4K scan of original 35mm film elements.

The Killer Shrews
Directed by Ray Kellogg
Starring James Best, Ken Curtis, Ingrid Goude

A handful of folks find themselves stranded on a remote island where they’re menaced by shrews.

Expect a slew of extras: Ray Kellogg: An Unsung Master, a Ballyhoo Motion Pictures documentary;  interviews; commentaries; original, vintage radio spots; and a full-color booklet.

Coming in September. This is gonna be a nice release for sure.