FOR THE DEFENSE (1930)

William Powell is a defense lawyer known for getting his (mostly shady) clients found not guilty in court. The city fathers have a meeting at which Powell's tarnished reputation is discussed. There's nothing they can do but hope that one day, Powell will go too far, do something illegal, and be disbarred. For his part, Powell seems a bit tortured by his morality or lack thereof—he excuses being drunk after hours by saying, "If I didn't stay tight, how long do you think I'd last in this racket?" Meanwhile, Powell's mistress (Kay Francis) has been hoping for marriage, but when he says he's not the marrying kind, she considers accepting a proposal from a playboy boyfriend (Scott Kolk). One night, Francis is driving a drunken Kolk home when he starts pawing at her; she loses control of the car and hits and kills a pedestrian. Kolk tells her to leave and he takes the blame, winding up charged with manslaughter. Francis begs Powell to take the case and he does, but then discovers that a ring of hers was found at the scene in Kolk's car and figures out the truth. Addled by drink and desperation, and to save both Kolk and Francis (who is considering coming clean in the courtroom), Powell bribes a juror in order to get a hung jury. But the prosecutor finds out about it and soon Powell himself is on trial.

This pre-Code film lets at least one character off the moral hook at the end, and is fairly casual in depicting the sexual behavior of the characters. Otherwise, it's an average crime melodrama from the 1930s school of stories about shady lawyers who get a comeuppance or find redemption (or both). Powell plays a bit against type in terms of his morality, but his traditional personality (chipper, witty, likable despite his faults) is on full display and makes this rather thin drama worth watching. He even gets a drunk scene in which his usually well-kempt hair is mussed up, maybe the only time in movies when that happens to Powell. Despite the presence of other actors, this is basically a two-person show and Kary Francis (pictured with Powell) holds up her half of things nicely. However, the two cannot stop the movie from dragging a bit in the last reel when it becomes a slog of conversation scenes. Scott Kolk as the playboy lover hasn't much to do, and neither does anyone else. OK on balance. [TCM]

THE JADE MASK (1945) / THE SHANGHAI COBRA (1945)

Here I cover two more Charlie Chan mysteries from Monogram Studios. In The Jade Mask, Harper, a scientist, lives in a spooky old house and, with help from Meeker, his assistant, is developing a formula that can make wood as hard as metal. The formula is kept in a secret vault that can be filled with poisonous gas and can only be unlocked by saying a 2-word password. Harper is found murdered with a poison dart in the back of his throat, and Charlie Chan is called in on the case, with his #4 son Eddie and valet Birmingham Brown tagging along. Pretty much everyone else in the house didn't like Harper including his sister Louise and niece Jean, both of whom Harper made work as maids in the house. There are creepy life masks of the house's inhabitants on the walls, and a room of ventriloquist dummies (Stella, an assistant, can throw her voice). A new arrival, Lloyd Archer, claims that Harper stole the formula from his father. There are more deaths before Chan fingers the killer; the solution involves the masks and the puppets. In The Shanghai Cobra, New York police officer Davis calls on Chan to help solve a series of murders that seem to be caused by cobra bites. Back in 1937 Shanghai, Chan had tracked down a killer named Van Horn who used the same method—Van Horn was badly burned in a Japanese bombing and escaped. With some plastic surgery, it's possible that he is behind the recent rash of deaths, most of which have claimed workers at the Sixth National Bank, people who also frequented a nearby diner which has a remote jukebox—the patron inserts money and talks to a woman in remote office (who can see them on a TV screen) who plays their song. #3 son Tommy and Birmingham are along for the ride.

The fourth and sixth films in the Monogram Chan series show how the lower budgets were hurting these films. Sidney Toler is fine as Chan (though his age was slowing him down a bit) as are Benson Fong (Tommy) and Mantan Moreland (Birmingham). Edwin Luke, Keye Luke’s brother, is good as he makes his only appearance in the series as bookworm brother Eddie in The Jade Mask. As is becoming par for the course, the supporting players are generally weaker than in the Fox films. Hardie Albright (Meeker in Jade Mask) was an experienced character actor and stands out, as do James Cardwell and Joan Barclay in Shanghai Cobra, but that’s about it for the secondary actors. Though both films drag quite a bit, they both have their moments, often having to do with gimmicks, like the gas chamber and the masks in Mask (though there is no 'jade mask' in the movie), and the non-snake snake bites in Cobra. The remote jukebox in Cobra is fun, and it may have really been a thing as it's also featured in a 1942 mystery, X MARKS THE SPOT. The way the snake bites occur is clever. The first scene in Cobra has a nice film noir look, perhaps due to the director, Phil Karlson, who made his name in crime films, though that atmosphere is not carried over for the rest of the film. Most of the Toler films from here on out are similarly low-energy, though they are always watchable for Chan fans. Those new to Chan should probably start with some of the pre-1944 films, though I think the later Roland Winters movies got some of the old energy back. Pictured at top left are Edwin Luke and Mantan Moreland from The Jade Mask; pictured at right are James Cardwell and Joan Barclay from The Shanghai Cobra. [DVD]

NIGHT NURSE (1931)

A night in the life of a big city hospital: we ride in an ambulance as it arrives with a car crash victim. A big Chinese family is celebrating yet another baby. A dying man is being attended to. Finally we settle on Barbara Stanwyck, a tough cookie who is trying to apply for a position in a nurse training program. She is turned down for lack of a high school degree, but on her way out, she literally runs into a renowned surgeon (Charles Winninger). He apologizes, they chat, and he ends up getting her into the program. Her roommate is Joan Blondell, another tough cookie, and they hit it off well. Blondell warns her to stay away from romantic entanglements with interns and doctors and to try her luck with rich patients. One night, Stanwyck helps a bootlegger (Ben Lyon) with a bullet wound, and agrees not to call the police; he calls her his pal and says he'll never forget her. During her first surgery assisting, the patient dies and Stanwyck manages to hold it together until everyone is cleared out when she faints dead away. But she becomes a full-fledged nurse and is soon put on night duty at the home of a rich woman (Charlotte Merriam) whose two young children are ill and emaciated. Stanwyck suspects that the mother is guilty of neglect, but soon it becomes clear that the family chauffeur (Clark Gable, pictured with Stanwyck) is working with a corrupt doctor to slowly starve the kids to death in order to marry the mom and share in the money that would have been the kids' trust fund. With some help from Blondell, Winninger, and Lyon, Stanwyck saves the day.

This pre-Code film is rife with what would have been seen as adult material back then. Despite Prohibition, the drinking is constant at Merriam's home and people are frequently seen drunk. At one point, Merriam screams hysterically, "I'm a dipsomaniac and l like it!" Gable is said to keep Merriam "hopped up and full of booze." Despite her warning to Stanwyck, we discover that Blondell is sleeping with an intern (and not a likable one) who is also a drug addict. There are a couple of scenes of Stanwyck and Blondell in bras and slips. When Stanwyck is threatening to make trouble, she keeps being told that medical ethics won't allow anyone to help her out, and she rants to Blondell, "I'll kill the next one that says 'ethics' to me!" When Gable gets tired of her meddling ways, he socks her in the jaw (a fairly shocking scene even now). In the end, a sympathetic character murders someone and gets away with it. Directed by William Wellman (Beau Geste, Battleground), the movie has a fast pace and never stops moving, right from its opening ambulance ride to its closing ambulance ride. The stars are good, with Gable a standout in the kind of bad guy role he wouldn't be playing much longer. Along with Baby Face and The Divorcee, an archetypal example of the kind of movie that would come to an end with the establishment of the Production Code in 1934. [DVD]

FLASH GORDON’S TRIP TO MARS (1938 serial)

We pick up the story of Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Prof. Zarkov where the first Flash Gordon serial ended, with their return to Earth from battling Ming the Merciless on the planet Mongo. After celebratory headlines and ticker-tape parades, however, Earth is again menaced from space—this time, a powerful ray directed at our planet from Mars begins siphoning all the nitron out of our atmosphere, leading to more natural catastrophes and the concern that eventually all life on Earth will die. Flash, Dale and Zarkov take off once again to investigate, this time with a stowaway reporter named Happy Hapgood, and find that Ming, thought dead, is back with a vengeance, getting help from Azura, Queen of Mars. She also calls herself the Queen of Magic because, with the help of her White Sapphire, she can teleport across long distances in a flash. She's taken to using the Sapphire to transform her enemies into Clay People (with lumpy clay faces) who are forced to live underground, periodically melding into the walls of the caves where they live. Our Foursome vows to help the Clay People as they also attempt to sabotage the Nitron Lamp which is harming Earth. They head to the land of the Forest People, a brutish race who live in a dried-up forest of dead trees and worship a god called Kalu, to get the Black Sapphire of Kalu, which can block Azura's magic. In the forest, Flash meets up with Prince Barin, his ally from Mongo, who is being held captive by the Forest People. Barin joins Flash's group, and Dale is subjected to the Incense of Forgetfulness (aka letheium) which causes her to worship Kalu and stab Flash in the back (literally) before being given an antidote. Back at Azura's royal city, Flash is able to put the Nitron Lamp out of commission temporarily but must somehow convince Azura that 1) she should free the Clay People, and 2) she can't trust Ming who has gone batshit crazy with his "lust to destroy," in the words of his chief assistant.

This is a very long serial (fifteen chapters over five hours) and, though it takes about three chapters to build momentum, it becomes involving and exciting. The first serial was a hit, but the budget for this was lower, though it doesn't really show. The sets and costumes are impressive, even if the shots of rocket ships flying and landing are used over and over again. The Queen's rockets are called stratosleds and the Martians wear bat-wing capes that function as small parachutes (pretty cool). There's a Healing Vapors room, a Paralyzing Ray, a Disintegrating Room, an underground vacuum tube which shuttles folks around, and nifty Light Bridges, rays of solid light which shoot out between buildings, giving people passage at great heights. At various times, Flash has to work with Ming and/or Azura to accomplish his goals, and Azura does end up realizing she's been used by Ming and frees the Clay People. You may notice I barely mentioned Happy, the reporter—he has very little of substance to do except get in trouble now and then, and provide mild comic relief. We meet some Clay and Forest people, but the only side character to get much traction is a Martian bomber pilot who goes over to Flash's side in the last three chapters and provides a fair amount of help.

Buster Crabbe, who was very good as Flash in the first film, is just as good here, being heroic but vulnerable (though sometimes he runs like Phoebe on Friends). Jean Rogers, returning as Dale, is more proactive here and does less screaming and more lending a hand. Charles Middleton, whom I found disappointing as Ming the first time around, is much improved, giving a fairly full-blooded performance. He has at least two great line readings, the first as the unconscious Flash is in great danger: "Nothing can save Flash Gordon now!" and the second as Azura wants to discuss her plans for the captured Flash: "Other plans? Our plan is to conquer the universe!" Richard Alexander is just fine returning as Barin. Frank Shannon, also back as Zarkov, is a little more active, and even gets to kick a little ass. Donald Kerr as Happy mostly just stays out of the way. Kane Richmond, later a serials star (SPY SMASHER is probably his best), is handsome and heroic as the bomber pilot. Beatrice Roberts as Azura is bland as she mostly strikes royal poses and vanishes in puffs of smoke. I like that the chapter recaps are presented as comic book panels. I had my doubts about this for a couple of chapters, but this is a rare case of a sequel being just about as good as the original. At top right: Shannon, Crabbe and Alexander. At left: Kane Richmond and Crabbe. [DVD]

THANK YOU, JEEVES (1936)

In London, we meet young playboy Bertie Wooster banging away at a drum kit in his living room, with Jeeves, his manservant—or "gentleman’s gentleman," as he puts it—standing by to replace drumsticks as Bertie tosses them aside in a frenzy. Bertie claims to need adventure in his life, perhaps even "the great adventure," but Jeeves wants to "live a little longer," so he gives notice. That evening, a young woman, whom we see is being followed by two men, comes to Bertie's door in the rain, asking if she can rest a while. Bertie, intrigued, lets her stay and retires to bed, with ever-vigilant Jeeves locking Bertie in his room so he isn't tempted to get romantic with this mysterious woman. At 3 a.m., Jeeves helps the woman leave through the servants' entrance, her pursuers waiting in the rain all night. Bertie finds a telegram indicating that the woman, Marjorie, is meeting a man named McDermott at the Mooring Manor Hotel, and Bertie and Jeeves head off to find her. Eventually we learn that she is in possession of half of a batch of stolen military documents and is meeting McDermott who has the other half. The two men following her the night before introduce themselves to Bertie as Scotland Yard men, but we find out they are actually criminals who are after the documents. Everyone winds up at the hotel where McDermott is missing and Manville, the gang leader, is waiting to get his hands on Marjorie's documents. Of course, Bertie, thinking that the gang are good guys, gets Marjorie in trouble, but with the able assistance of Jeeves, who used to be an amateur boxer, and a hitchhiking Black saxophone player named Drowsy, all is righted and, with Bertie planning his honeymoon with Marjorie, Jeeves once again gives notice.

There are two ways to approach this film. The first is as an adaptation of a P.G. Wodehouse novel or, more to the point, a version of Wodehouse's characters of Bertie and Jeeves. (There is a novel with this title, but the movie only uses two tiny plot strands from it.) Bertie is a rich but bubble-headed bachelor and Jeeves his unflappable valet who has to keep Bertie out of all kinds of trouble, mostly involving women and relatives. As such, this movie is a failure. Starting with the acting, David Niven is exactly right in both looks and demeanor as the likable doofus Bertie Wooster, but Arthur Treacher (pictured with Niven), though physically perfect as Jeeves, is far too bombastic in his delivery of dialogue. I wrote in my notes that he has "too much spunk." His action hero activity in the climax is completely wrong, though it's plausible that Jeeves might have had some boxing experience in his past. The mild troubles that Bertie gets into almost never involve much physical action, and he almost never actually falls for a woman, usually trying to get out of a mistaken entanglement. The opening scene shows some promise—it could have come right out of a Wodehouse story. Unfortunately, with the arrival of Marjorie, the film becomes a spy story with touches of slapstick and romance, and little of the verbal wit of Wodehouse. 

The second way to approach this film is as a spy story with touches of slapstick and romance, and as such, it's not bad. In fact, in the 1960s something like this featuring a civilian getting comically involved with spies and government agencies would have fit in the zeitgeist quite snugly. If, as a Wodehouse fan (as I am), you forget that Niven and Treacher are supposed to be Bertie and Jeeves, you may find yourself liking the two and their brittle chemistry. There's a fun car chase early on and the climax, in secret passages and cellars, is ass-whooping fun, with Bertie chained to a wall and Drowsy stuck in a suit of armor. Speaking of Drowsy, the usual warnings about cultural sensitivities apply to this slow and shuffling Black character, though Willie Best does a decent job popping in and out of the proceedings as needed and has a fun scene with Jeeves teaching him how to play an orchestral march on the sax. Virginia Field is good as Marjorie, but the bad guys, including Colin Tapley and Lester Matthews, are pretty much interchangeable. As I've noted, the Wodehouse wit is almost totally absent; when Bertie walks outside in the morning, he looks up and says, "What’s that bright light?" and Jeeves replies, "The sun probably, sir." That's it for anything even close to the Bertie and Jeeves feel. A sequel was made with Treacher but without Bertie and I don't think I’m up for it. But I can recommend this, with my above caveats. Pictured at left are Field, Niven and Treacher. [YouTube]

THE TRIUMPH OF HERCULES (1964)

Milo, the king's unscrupulous nephew, has his men attack and burn down a village because the people haven't paid their taxes, though the villagers claim they have and that his real reason for the attack is to enslave the people to act as his personal guards. When the king arrives, he's fed up with Milo's tactics and exiles him, but Milo has him killed. With the king's dying breath, he asks his messenger Erione to send for his friend Hercules. Milo heads to a cave filled with pink smoke to visit his mother, the sorceress Pasiphae, who uses long-distance magic to cause the messenger to fall into quicksand. Hercules, himself a demigod (we discover that Jove can take away his powers if he misuses them), saves Erione and goes to answer the late king's call. But Mom also gives Milo a magic dagger that, when drawn from its sheath, conjures up seven invincible golden warriors, the sons of Jaio, Juno's sister. Realizing he can't have the king's daughter, Até, for himself, Milo arranges a competition event, the winner of which will have Até's hand. In theory, Milo fixes it so that his buddy Gordio will win and Milo will be the influence behind him, but when Hercules enters and has a horse vs. chariot race, guess who the winner is? Not only that, but Hercules then saves Até from death on a platform of spikes which "accidentally" falls toward her. Milo's next plot involves the killing of Erione and the apparently kidnapping of Até; Hercules goes nuts and kills an innocent villager and friend, and Jove takes his powers away. Can Hercules get his powers back and save Até from more metal spikes, this time on a torture device? And, of course, don't forget about the seven golden warriors of Jaio's dagger. This is generally a fun entry in the original Hercules cycle. I like the fact that Herc's demigod background is a plotpoint, and I really like the golden warriors. This does not seem like a big-budgeted film but it looks a notch better than the average peplum film of the era. Weightlifter Dan Vadis is not ridiculously muscled but makes for an impressive Hercules, though as other reviewers have noted, he does have a frat-jock face that seems a little out of place. Marilu Tolo (the damsel in distress) and Moira Orfei (the wicked goddess) are both attractive, and as usual in these films, it's the bad lady who is called upon to do more acting, and Orfei is fine. Pierre Cressoy is an OK bad guy. This is a decent sword and sandal adventure flick, with the usual caveat about seeing a widescreen print. Aka HERCULES VS. THE GIANT WARRIORS. [YouTube]

BLACK MAGIC (1944)

At a séance being held by psychic William Bonner and his wife Justine, William asks for questions and a male voice asks "What happened in London the night of October 5th, 1935?" The lights go out and Bonner falls forward, shot dead, though when the police arrive, no bullet is found. Because Charlie Chan's daughter Frances was present at the séance, Chan is called in to investigate. Among others present: a woman whose father was driven to suicide by Bonner; a couple who were being blackmailed by Bonner; a magician supply store owner; and Bonner's new valet, none other than Chan's buddy Birmingham Brown. Mrs. Bonner, apparently in a drugged trance, goes to the top of a downtown building and follows the orders of a voice that tells her to step off the ledge, which she does, plummeting to her death. Chan himself winds up a near victim of the same drug, but manages to outwit the killer and unmask him by the end, answering the question of what happened in London in October 1935. The third Monogram film in the Chan series has the nicely atmospheric setting of the séance, and a great scene of Chan being hypnotized by a combination of a drug and bright lights shining in his eyes, but is otherwise indicative of the low-budget slide the films were taking. Sidney Toler (Chan) and Mantan Moreland (Birmingham) are tolerable, but the supporting cast is bland, with the exception of Jacqueline DeWit as Mrs. Bonner. Charles Jordan and Claudia Dell, as Bonner's two confederates, are fine but don't have enough to do. Frances Chan (who plays Frances Chan) is awful, barely able to read her lines, let alone emote—though she is nice looking and, to be fair, there is nothing to her character. The writers still aren't quite sure how to handle the character of Birmingham, leaving Moreland (pictured) a bit at sea; his gimmick here, trying to vanish from sticky situations by snapping his fingers and saying "Abracadabra," is funny the first two times, but not so much the next ten times. Still like most of the Monogram Chans, it's entertaining. Later retitled for television and home video as MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. [DVD]

SUNNY SIDE UP (1929)

It's the Fourth of July on the Lower East Side of New York City as we see a long tracking shot of a tenement neighborhood with kids stealing food from Eric, the Swedish grocer. In one of the buildings, Molly (Janet Gaynor), who rooms with her friend Bea, is nursing a crush from afar on the wealthy playboy Jack Cromwell (Charles Farrell). Meanwhile, at a party at his family's mansion in Southampton, Jack is fed up with his girlfriend Jane constantly flirting with other men—she blatantly brags that getting married won't keep her "out of circulation"—so he drives off in a slightly drunken huff and winds up in Molly's neighborhood, having had a minor fender bender. Eric lets him stay at his apartment to rest up but he winds up with Molly instead. They hit it off and when he sees her sing at the street block party, he asks her to sing at a charity event in Southampton, in part to make Jane jealous. As rumors spread at the party that Molly is Jack's kept woman, the plan seems to work, with Jane suddenly becoming interested in marriage. The problem is that Molly's celebrity crush on Jack has turned into a real-life one. Will Jack ever see that it's Molly he should be with? Plotwise, this is an average romantic comedy of the era. But it's also a pre-code movie and has some risqué behavior. It's also a musical with one particularly sexy number, "Turn Up the Heat," performed poolside at the mansion. Despite some fun numbers, no one will mistake this for an Astaire-Rogers or Busby Berkley musical. Gaynor and Farrell, a popular film couple of the era, are fairly lightweight, as are their singing voices. Marjorie White and Frank Richardson are fine as friends of Molly's who pose as her servants at the mansion. El Brendel, the Swedish dialect comic who was inexplicably popular for a few years, is tolerable as the grocer, who also accompanies Molly to the mansion. Mary Forbes, a familiar high society face from movies like You Can't Take It With You and The Awful Truth, plays Jack's mother, and child actor Jackie Cooper has an uncredited role a few years before he hit the big time in The Champ. The best song is "I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All," which I actually know as a pop culture pun by Groucho Marx in ANIMAL CRACKERS ("I'm a dreamer, Montreal"). What I said about a later Farrell/Gaynor musical, DELICIOUS can go for this one, too: "Mostly worth watching as a historical oddity, a movie musical done as Hollywood was, by trial and error, inventing the genre." Pictured are Farrell and Gaynor. [TCM]

FLASH GORDON (1936 serial)

Professor Gordon has discovered that Earth is on a collision course with the previously unknown planet Mongo, sending cities into pandemonium, but Gordon hopes that Dr. Zarkov will be able to use his new rocket ship to reach Mongo and alter its course. Gordon's son Flash, a professional polo player, is flying home when his plane runs into dangerous conditions caused by Mongo's approach and the passengers are all given parachutes and told to bail out. Flash and Dale Arden, the young woman seated next to him, land in a field that just happens to be where Zarkov's ship is getting ready for takeoff. Zarkov takes the two with him to Mongo where they are taken to the throne room of Emperor Ming who has planned Earth's extermination. Zarkov plays up to Ming's egotism by suggesting he conquer the Earth rather than destroy it (allowing the earthlings to try and thwart his plans). Thus begins this 13-chapter serial from Universal which, based on a popular comic strip, is the granddaddy of science fiction serials. Along the way, Flash and his pals meet up with a number of colorful characters. Princess Aura, Ming's daughter, starts out as a villain with plans to claim Flash for herself and get rid of Dale, but after numerous plots of hers are foiled and she is betrayed by her father, she comes around to helping the earthlings out of various traps. Prince Thun, long-bearded leader of the Lion Men, who fly through the skies in small vehicles called gyros, becomes an ally. King Kala of the Shark Men (actually just humans who live in an underwater city) makes Flash battle a large octopus and might have turned into an ally, but after the underwater city is destroyed, his fate is left up in the air, so to speak. King Vultan and his Hawkmen, who have gigantic wings which appear to be part of their costumes rather than natural appendages, and live in a floating city in the sky, are enemies of the Lion Men. Vultan captures Dale, wanting her for his queen, and even subjects Flash to electrical torture, but eventually joins up with Flash and Thun and becomes very helpful (despite his bizarrely hearty laugh which sometimes sounds downright creepy). Finally, Prince Barin, rightful heir to the Mongo throne, throws in with our group to help, if Flash will help Barin get rid of Ming.

There are a number of fun things about this serial, and the fairly large number of characters is a definite plus. None of the men are allowed to be as handsome and hunky as Flash; Vultan and Barin are sort of beefy, in an out-of-shape way. The two women (in fact, the only women in the entire movie with speaking parts) are sexy—Dale is blond and innocent, Aura is dark and exotic. The action is non-stop; it all seems to be taking place in one long time period, as there are no day or night time markers except for one scene set at midnight. Unlike most later serials, there are few fistfights but several scenes of combat. In addition to the octopus, Flash grapples with an orangopoid (giant ape), wrestles mutants, engages in a Tournament of Death swordfight with a masked champion, tussles with a Sacred Tiger, and faces a giant lobster-clawed creature and a fierce Fire Dragon. He also gets drugged, has his memory wiped, is turned invisible, is stripped down to work in the atom furnaces (where he leads a mutiny), and is tortured by electric shock in the Static Room. 

The sets are spectacular, many of them recycled from earlier Universal horror movies. An impressive but utterly unnecessary scene of orgiastic dancing is pulled from the 1930 sci-fi comedy Just Imagine. The miniature effects involved in showing flight are primitive but charming, especially a short scene featuring the flying Hawkmen. There are a few weaknesses. It wasn't always clear to me where scenes were taking place, and the whole Shark Men sequence is a bit boring. Princess Aura, who toggles between good and bad, suddenly decides in chapter 12 that she's in love with Prince Barin, an unmotivated change that rings false. And Ming's plan to conquer Earth is never really brought up after the first chapter; mostly, he wants to force Dale to be his bride. [Slight spoiler: we are told that Ming basically commits suicide in the end—in a fairly effective scene—but this is left ambiguous so Ming can return in any sequels, which he does.]

Serials don’t require great actors. Best is Buster Crabbe as Flash; mostly, he looks either scared or uncomfortable, though he is an effective hero and looks good in his tight shorts (and even better in his shirtless scenes). Richard Alexander is quite good as Barin and Jack Lipson is fine as Vultan. The rest of the main cast is fairly weak. Some critics like Charles Middleton as Ming, but aside from his Fu Manchu-ish look, I found him artificial and somewhat low energy. Jean Rogers (Dale) is often reduced to shrill screaming, yelling Flash's name, and fainting; Priscilla Lawson has resting glower face as Aura. Frank Shannon is ineffectual as Zarkov, and it doesn’t help that the 62-year-old actor has to wear a shorty-shorts costume that makes him look pretty silly. Theodore Lorch deserves mention as Ming's high priest who skulks about a lot. Despite its age, this really is a high point of the serials genre; by the 1940s, budgets got cheaper, scriptwriters got lazy, and action scenes got repetitive. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the serials of the classic era, and cheap thrills can be had from even the worst ones, but if you're looking for the best the genre has to offer, this will do. BTW, the movie was given a subtitle, Space Soldiers, in the 50s when it was sold to TV, and that subtitle is on most of the home video versions, though never onscreen. In 1966, a condensed version called Spaceship to the Unknown was released to television, cutting the four hour serial down to 100 minutes, leaving out entire subplots like the Shark Men adventure, but it remains fairly coherent. [DVD]

SLIPPERY WHEN WET (1958) / BAREFOOT ADVENTURE (1960)

Bruce Brown broke into big time filmmaking with 1966’s THE ENDLESS SUMMER, a documentary which followed two young American men as they travel the world trying to keep summer alive by finding new places to surf. It was the rare documentary that became a commercial hit, and a few years later, Brown's ON ANY SUNDAY, a doc about motorcycle racing, was nominated for an Oscar. But Brown, himself a surfer, had made six short surfing docs years earlier and Turner Classic Movies showed some a while back. These aren't stuffy educational films with interviews, research, and a social agenda, they're just Brown showing surfers having fun devoting their summer days to going from beach to beach trying to catch the perfect wave. Shot silent with chatty casual narration provided by Brown, the bulk of the footage of both of these early short (70 minutes) films consists of watching surfers catch waves, fail to catch waves, and (quite often) wiping out. These films were not distributed theatrically, but shown in rented-out halls and theaters with Brown narrating live accompanied by a musical soundtrack playing on a tape recorder. These two make for enjoyable viewing. Brown never takes himself or his subject too seriously; SLIPPERY's narration starts by evoking the Bible's opening words, "In the beginning" with shots of sun, water, foam, and waves. Then we are told, "With civilization, there came the surfer with his urge to conquer these moving walls of water." A narrative of sorts follows, as Brown shows five young California men daydreaming about surfing in Hawaii. For example, Del Cannon pictures native women fanning him with palm fronds and feeding him grapes and bananas; and Henry Ford imagines himself cramming poi in his mouth and smearing it all over his face (as pictured below right). The five get to Hawaii and spend all their time surfing at various beaches. The surf footage is broken up with mildly humorous vignettes: two crabs carefully drag a cigarette butt on the beach down into a sand hole; the guys jump from waterfalls; when they rent a dilapidated beach shack, we see that all the cupboards and the refrigerator are filled with cans of baked beans. Despite the five being handsome WASPy types, they seem not at all interested in women. In fact, the only time we hear about women, they're called "Gidgets" and dismissed. Before the guys leave for Hawaii, they have a short misadventure with a would-be surfer named Mooks who wants to surf because a gidget has encouraged him to. He comically doesn't cut the mustard.

BAREFOOT ADVENTURE features a couple of the same guys and the same locations. It lacks a story throughline but has slightly more fleshed out fictional vignettes. The longest and weirdest one involves Del Cannon breaking into a surf shop to make his own board in the back room and completely mucking things up. Near the end, the guys drive across an abandoned military base to get to a beach and wind up hitting a buried landmine which blows their vehicle to pieces, after they get to safety, of course. The explosion and the gutted vehicle are certainly real but the story and most of the footage look fake. Women are similarly ignored here, though there are a few brief shots of a female surfer joining in with the boys in the surf. One sequence of the guys mocking some female tourists taking hula lessons could be borderline offensive today. Brown’s facility with a camera is impressive, as are the abilities of the surfers. The recorded narration for this film was lost, so Brown recorded new narration in 1990, which sounds just as laid-back as that in SLIPPERY. What sets both of these films a bit above being just elaborate home movies are the scores, written by jazz saxophonist Bud Shank (who released dozens of albums between 1954 and 2009) and recorded by his band. The music is used very well, and current-day viewers may be surprised that it's a jazz soundtrack, without a bit of what we think of as surf music (like that of the Beach Boys or guitarist Dick Dale). ENDLESS SUMMER is essentially a more polished, less humorous version of these two films. Incidentally, despite both films having shirtless guys getting wet and hanging out together 24/7, their behavior is about as un-homoerotic as you could imagine, with the possible exception of that boy with the poi on his face. [TCM]

BATTLE AT BLOODY BEACH (1961)

During WWII, American Craig Benson (Audie Murphy) and his wife Ruth were honeymooning in Manila when the Japanese attacked and they became separated. Desperate to find her, Craig volunteers to work with the U.S. Navy on a submarine as they set out to liberate prisoners and freedom fighters from the Philippine islands. On the coast of one island, Craig sees a signal from shore, a torch waved by Marty (Gary Crosby), a radio operator who has remained free and living on the wreck of a ship. Marty joins him in his cozy set-up with two native women, lots of supplies, banana leaf cigarettes, and meals of monkey stew and fried grasshoppers. Craig has brought arms for any bands of guerilla fighters he can find. The first group they make contact with, led by the ineffective McKeever, wind up being mostly bandits, but a group of fighters led by the Filipino soldier Julio (Alejandro Rey) and a Black American boxer named Tiger (Ivan Dixon) kill McKeever, and Craig promises to give Julio the arms. He also agrees to take a small band of American civilians to Australia, but then discovers that one of them is his wife, Ruth, and that she is also Julio's lover. She is torn between the two, telling Craig that she'd feel like a deserter if she left Julio. Eventually, the group winds up trapped on the wreck by a band of Japanese soldiers. Can they shoot their way to freedom and work out the love triangle?

Despite the rather generic title, this is an interesting small-scale war film which focuses on a small band of people, mostly civilians and guerillas, trapped in a limited space rather than using a more traditional war movie template featuring a military platoon traversing a lot of ground. This allows some expanded character development—we get to know the soldier buddy, Marty, better than we might otherwise, though Ruth remains mostly just a plot point. However, as other viewers have pointed out, the romance triangle plays out against expectations: jealousy does not turn into violence, and Ruth's feelings aren't just about love but also about self-determination and loyalty. Murphy is his usual low-key reliable self and Rey, perhaps best known as Carlos on The Flying Nun, is fine as Julio, though Dorothy Michaels isn't able to make much of her role as the wife. The surprise for me in the cast was Gary Crosby, son of Bing (pictured with Murphy). He's quite good in a role that is part buddy and part comic relief. Though he's less important in the latter half, he helps spark the narrative in the first half. He's also not bad looking in a blond bear kind of way, though every so often, a camera angle will emphasize how much he looks like his dad which works against his mild sex appeal. In the finale, the fates of some of the characters are genuinely surprising, even if the resolution of the main romance story is not. Recommended. [DVD]

MARRIED TOO YOUNG (1962)

High school student Tommy, who works at Miltie's Garage, wins an auto race and is congratulated by his boss Miltie and his girlfriend Helen. A slick but slimy guy named Grimes tells him he deserves a better job but Tommy, rightfully suspicious, ignores him, even though Grimes says he'll be back one day with a solid offer. Tommy hopes to go to college when he graduates even though his working-class parents don't do much to encourage him. That night, Tommy takes Helen, from an upper-class background, out to a classy night spot, but when she insists on taking the floor for a solo sexy dance and is accosted by a drunk, the two leave. Helen keeps nuzzling Tommy, distracting him from his driving, so they go parking at a lover's lane. Leaping into the back seat, they make out forcefully (the most realistic scene in the movie) but Tommy stops himself from going any further. They impulsively decide to cross the state line and elope. Both are still living with their parents so they try to keep the marriage a secret. At the garage, Grimes and his hotsy gal pal Marla stop by; Grimes asks Tommy to take the car (with Marla in it) for a spin to check out the carburetor. While he's gone, Grimes flirts (unsuccessfully) with Helen, while Marla (somewhat more successfully) smooches on Tommy, leading to the couple's first fight. Helen's mom, over the moon about being accepted by the local country club, finds her daughter's marriage license, calls Tommy a nobody, and gets together with Tommy's equally disapproving folks to complain to the justice of the peace who married them. He tells them it is a perfectly legal marriage and criticizes the parents for fighting against the couple's happiness. At the parents' insistence, the two have a public wedding at City Hall, then move in with his parents, then her parents, but when they feel hemmed in by parental rules, Miltie gives Tommy a raise and encourages them to buy a house, which they do. But things don't get much better, and soon Tommy reluctantly agrees to do extra work for Grimes to do retouch jobs on stolen cars. This leads to fights, a cop chase, and a car accident. But improbably, with the help of a sympathetic judge, there's a happy ending for Tommy and Helen.

This teen melodrama was clearly made on the cheap and would be forgotten today but for two things: 1) Ed Wood, though not credited, is rumored to have rewritten the end of the screenplay (though the daughter of the credited screenwriter insists that isn't true); 2) the leading role of Tommy is played by Harold Lloyd Jr., son of the famous silent movie comic actor. Lloyd Jr. had a spotty acting career and did some work for his father on a couple of compilation films. He was gay and is rumored to have had a thing for rough sex which occasionally left him bruised up, though to be fair, I can find no authoritative source for this even though it's mentioned several places on the Internet. He eventually took to drink, had a stroke at 34 and died at 40. He was 30 when he played a 17-year-old here; he passes for younger than 30 but he's certainly no teenager. He's actually quite good, putting a lot of energy into his performance, perhaps realizing that something had to distract from the cheap production and weak screenplay. Jana Lund (pictured with Lloyd) is fine as Helen, also acting with conviction—she was good a few years earlier in HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS. Their car make-out scene, as I noted, looks awfully real, and their married relationship also feels real—they're two kids who don't really understand what a marriage is all about, and are navigating blindly with no help from adults, except for well-meaning Miltie. 

Anthony Dexter started at the top playing Valentino in a much-ballyhooed 1951 film and it was downhill from there. His role here as Grimes is important to the plot but minor, and he walks through it like an android set to "bland villainy," and his villainy seems unmotivated. Marianna Hill, who wound up with eighty acting credits, is Marla, who is likable when she's necking with Tommy's pal Mike (Cedric Jordan) and less likable when she’s with Grimes (she winds up back with Mike by the end). The mothers of Tommy and Helen seem youngish and energetic, but both of the fathers come off as drab and lifeless, not even able to work up any depictions of toxic masculinity. I enjoyed this largely due to Lloyd's committed performance. I watched this first mocked on Rifftrax, then I tracked down the original version on YouTube in a pristine widescreen print, which always helps. It's apparently available on Blu-ray, but I'm not sure I'd go so far as to purchase it. But I do recommend it to fans of the 60s teen exploitation genre. [YouTube]

THE CHINESE CAT (1944)

A businessman named Manning is in his study, playing a game of chess with himself when someone sneaks out of a secret passage and shoots him dead, but not before he can deliberately knock some chess pieces off the board, as though leaving a message about his killer. The door to the study was locked and the police make little progress with the case so it is declared closed. Months later, mystery author Paul Recknik publishes Murder by Madame, a thinly fictionalized account of the Manning case that singles out the widow as the killer. Manning’s daughter Leah is dating police detective Dennis, but his hands are tied by the DA, so she visits detective Charlie Chan and his son Tommy, who are only in town for 48 hours, for help in reopening the case. Chan runs into taxi driver Birmingham Brown, whom he encountered on his previous case and with Dennis in tow, they're off. The affair involves jewel thieves, a pair of twin brothers, a shuttered amusement park fun house, a bombing, a poisonous gas, some statuettes (including one of a cat), and the chess pieces from the opening scene. Chan and Tommy even endure getting beaten up and Tommy faints from poison gas before they wrap up the case. With all the incidents that take place, this one, the second in the series from Poverty Row studio Monogram, moves at an acceptable pace, but the low budget and uninspiring supporting cast hurt a bit. Sidney Toler (Chan) and Benson Fong (Tommy) are OK, and Mantan Moreland begins to make himself indispensable to the series as the scared but helpful Birmingham Brown. Joan Woodbury, Ian Keith, and Cy Kendall are the most familiar faces in the cast. The comic relief is fairly mild, and Tommy has a line that Charlie could use in his advertising: “When Chan takes the case, pop goes the case!” Pictured is Mantan Moreland freaked out by a funhouse skeleton. [DVD]

MY GUN IS QUICK (1957)

Private eye Mike Hammer stops in at a small diner and befriends Red, a young girl from Nebraska who came to LA to seek her fortune only to find a job as a stripper at a cheap club called the Bluebell (and, we suspect, some side work as a hooker; as she chats up Mike, the chef says to her, "Say, would you stop using this joint as your office?"). When tough guy Louis bothers her, Mike kicks his ass a little bit, then gives Red enough money to buy new clothes and take the next bus back to Nebraska. As they part, he notices she's wearing a large, ornate ring with the letter V. It's stuck on her finger but she assumes it's cheap costume jewelry. The next morning, Mike learns that Red was killed overnight, a hit-and-run victim, but when he finds out that her ring is missing, he suspects foul play. Police captain Chambers discourages Mike from getting involved, but they soon learn that the ring was part of a stash of jewelry called the Vanucci Jewels, stolen in Germany from the Nazis by Colonel Holloway. He got a jail sentence for his crime, but some of the jewels were not recovered. Hammer, ignoring Chambers, soon visits Red's roommate Maria, who introduces him to Jean, the Blue Bell's mute janitor and the man who gave Red the ring. He also runs across Louis again and chases him to the beach house of the wealthy Nancy Williams, just returned from a long stay in Paris due to an adulterous scandal. Louis works as her butler but she fires him and becomes friendly with Mike. While trying to dig up information on Holloway, Mike discovers that he rented Nancy's house while she was gone, and they both wonder if the jewels might be on or around her property. Eventually, Mike runs into Holloway (in a meeting clearly engineered by Holloway) and soon Holloway has hired Mike to find the jewels. However, a gang of French thugs are also looking for them, and things get quite complicated before Mike find the jewels, avenges Red, and makes sure the guilty parties get what they deserve.

Mike Hammer is a tough guy PI, created as a pulp fiction character by author Mickey Spillane. I won’t go into detail here about the character (go to Google), except to say that, for my money, Ralph Meeker gave the definitive Hammer performance in the 1955 noir classic KISS ME DEADLY. Robert Bray (pictured) takes on the role here and compared to Meeker, he gives a kind of made-for-TV performance. He looks more like a chemistry teacher or vanilla businessman than a tough dick; he's fine in fisticuffs scenes and he gets beaten hard enough at the halfway point of the movie that his black eye remains visible right up to the end (like Jake's nose in Chinatown). But mostly, he just comes off as awfully mild—and not nearly as sexy as Meeker was. He never really gets tougher than in the opening scene: when he calls his secretary Velda, she starts to bitch at him about being gone so long, and he snarls back, "Off my back, chick!" A noir atmosphere is attempted on occasion, most effectively in the opening scene and later ones in the club. We're made aware that Hammer has a moral code (he's against murder and casual sex) but unlike in genuine noir, nothing here really comes into conflict with his morals. It's strictly a B-production, with cheap sets that look a notch above Ed Wood's sets, except for the beach house which is fabulous. Other performers run the gamut from pretty good (Whitney Blake as Nancy, Jan Chaney as Red) to so-so (Pamela Duncan as Hammer's secretary Velda) to forgettable (Booth Colman as the cop, Donald Randolph as Holloway). There’s a long, long scene of a fairly low-key freeway car chase through LA. Still, adjusting expectations, I liked it OK. If nothing else, you do wind up wanting to know who has the jewels and who killed Red. Cast note: Later, Whitney Blake played Hazel's boss on the Hazel sitcom of the 1960s, and co-created the TV show One Day at a Time. She was also the mother of Meredith Baxter. [TCM]

COSTA AZZURRA aka WILDCATS ON THE BEACH (1959)

The literal translation of this Italian title is azure (blue) coast, and is idiomatic for the French names Cote D’Azur or the French Riviera. It was apparently never released theatrically in the United States, but the English title given to this Italian film for television showings in 1967 is WILDCATS ON THE BEACH which leads one to think this will be an entry in the teen beach comedy genre. It is not. It is a romantic comedy of sorts, but not a lot of time is spent on beaches with people in bikinis or with muscles. It's concerned with the misadventures of four grown-up couples visiting the French Riviera. In lieu of a detailed plot summary, a roster of characters will suffice. 1) Rita is an American movie star who is in the middle of getting a divorce while her longtime lover Maurizio is leaving his wife for her, though he grows irritated when she asks him to stay out of sight during her constant encounters with the paparazzi. 2) Adelina is with her wildly jealous husband Leopoldo, a short guy with a big chip on his shoulders, always taking offense to anything that happens around him. The handsome Nicola, whose sister is friends with Adelina, flirts a bit with her, not particularly threatened by her ineffective husband. 3) Giovanna and Alberto are fruit vendors on the beach; she decides to try and get an audition with a famous director, only referred to as the Maestro though her husband is sure she won’t get it. They are both surprised when the director becomes interested in signing Alberto for a small part in the film, saying he looks like a young Jean Gabin—neither seems to notice that the director's constant companion is a young bleach-blond man who is always in a bikini. 4) The rich Carsoli (who may be an arms dealer) is having troubles with his wife Doriana, and Gino, a reporter assigned to do a story on Carsoli, flirts with her; eventually, Carsoli seems to agree to let her go, but there are strings attached to his offer.

Though there are times when the proceedings slow to a crawl, this is basically a fun comedy of sexual matters, though don’t expect any onscreen sex. There are some bodies in bikinis in the background, and at a strip club, we see a skinny drag queen named Bambi tease the audience. Despite the titillation we get in each story, traditional morality wins out in the end for all the couples. Things remain light, with the story of Rita and Maurizio being the most serious. The highlight of the film was watching the totally clueless Alberto (well known Italian comedy actor Alberto Sordi) get courted by the older, overweight gay director. The story manages to play out without getting too homophobic. The American actress Rita Gam (Rita), a familiar face in 70s TV shows, is quite good, as is Georges Marchal (Maurizio), whom I mostly know from peplum movies like SIGN OF THE GLADIATOR though in his youth he was very fetching in LUMIERE D’ETE. Franco Fabrizi is charming as ever as Nicola. I should also mention Elsa Martinelli, who made a number of Hollywood movies in the 60s, who is fine as Doriana, and Tiberio Murgia who is successful at making Leopoldo obnoxiously unlikable yet also a little sympathetic. Not as fizzy as its American title would have it, but not as melodramatic as it could have turned out. But with good looking people, colorful costumes, and the Riviera setting, it's fun. Pictured are Marchal and Gam. [YouTube]

THIRTY DAY PRINCESS (1934)

In the kingdom of Taronia, American banker Richard Gresham has a chance meeting with King Anatol XII at a mud bath. Anatol is searching for a solution to the country's economic woes. Gresham agrees to set up a $50 million bond loan, but he says the country needs to initiate a major public relations campaign in the United States to get enthusiastic backing. Anatol sends his daughter Princess Zizzi who is happy to leave the country for a while as she is engaged to Prince Nicholaus, a man she doesn't love. Upon her arrival in the States, shepherded by Gresham, Zizzi faints while being introduced to the press. Gresham says she is exhausted, but it turns out she has the mumps and can't travel. A small team of investigators is sent out on the streets of New York to hunt for a young woman who resembles Zizzi to take her place on the PR tour. Meanwhile, penniless actress Nancy Lane, who looks exactly like the princess, steals a sandwich from an automat. When she is accosted by two men, she thinks they're police but they are really Gresham's men. Gresham offers her $10,000 to pose as the princess for a month, and a bonus if she can pull off one extra twist. Newspaper publisher Porter Madison III has been running stories opposing the bond loan, so Nancy is expected to do some extracurricular work and charm Madison into backing the loan. The tour is a success as is Nancy's charm offensive with Porter. Meanwhile, complications pile up. An actor who knows Nancy recognizes her as Zizzi; Nancy's landlord suspects that Nancy has been kidnapped; the drippy Nicholaus shows up in the States, catches on to the ruse, and plants suspicions in Porter's mind. This being a forerunner to the screwball comedy genre, we know happy endings are in store.

Sylvia Sidney, not known for comedy, is the reason to watch this. She is charismatic and energetic in the dual role of Zizzi and Nancy (pictured above in both roles). Edward Arnold does a fine job as Gresham; given his persona in other films and the fact that he's playing a banker during the Depression, we might expect him to be unlikable (he tells Anatol, "We don't boast about being bankers these days; we're all in the doghouse!") but he's almost as appealing as Sidney. Reliable character actor Henry Stephenson is fun in the small role of the King (he does get to reappear briefly at the end) and Vince Barnett is fine as Nicholaus. The script is fairly solid and the repartee fun. The only minus is, surprisingly, Cary Grant as Porter. His character is one-dimensional—we don't even know why he is against the loan—and Grant seems uncomfortable in the role, never quite finding his footing. This was still early in his career, and he was apparently not happy to take the part in the first place and I think that shows a bit. There is a very amusing scene at a party where a slightly drunken Sidney starts toasting the past kings of Taronia, leading the partygoers to smash drinking glasses with each toast. An amusing trifle which Sidney makes worth watching. [TCM]

CHARLIE CHAN IN THE SECRET SERVICE (1944)

Detective Charlie Chan is currently in Washington D.C, engaged in wartime service for the government. Melton, an inventor working on a bomb that will be effective against German U-boats, opens a closet door during a cocktail party and drops dead, and his plans go missing. A secretive master spy named Manlich is suspected and Chan is on the case. Among the suspects: a wealthy matron, a war refugee, an unpopular economist, and a brother and sister pair; he uses a wheelchair but we discover that he can get around without it if need be. Two Secret Service agents are also present, as are Chan's son Tommy and daughter Iris who want to help out but, as usual, are mostly in Dad's way, despite extolling themselves as "hip cats of the younger generation." It's discovered that Melton was killed by a set-up that electrocuted him when he grabbed the closet light chain. But who did it and where are the plans?  Though the title promises adventure, this is basically an old dark house mystery set in a house that is not dark enough to generate much atmosphere.

This is the first in a series of seventeen Charlie Chan films made by Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures after 20th Century Fox ended their series. The phrase Poverty Row is a bit misleading. Basically, these studios made low budget B-films which often wound up as second features to A-films from bigger studios. The films are not necessarily poor in quality, as the word "poverty" might imply, but their cheaper budgets are in evidence. In this film, the bland sets, the stark lighting, the haphazard plotting, and a lack of star talent are all marks of a Monogram production. However, there is still Sidney Toler as Chan to help make the movie worth watching, though I also think this is the beginning of Toler's decline. For the first time, Chan seemed to be getting old. Toler turned 70 the year this film was released—his pace is slower and he seems less invested in the role, understandably perhaps as this is his twelfth outing as Chan. (It's noted in this movie that Chan has 14 children which could be a reason for the character's weariness.) Benson Fong made his first of six appearances in the series as Tommy. One other character is introduced who would appear in most of the Chan films that followed: the Black chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland, pictured with Toler above). Here, he works for the wealthy matron; in his next film, he's Chan’s taxi driver, and later, Chan would hire him as a valet. The comic relief antics of Birmingham, usually in conjunction with whatever Chan son was present, are high points of the films. He introduces his trademark "Good gracious me!" remark here, often uttered almost directly to the camera. I admit the identity of the killer was a surprise to me. No one in the lackluster supporting cast is worth pointing out. [DVD]

COMMANDO CODY: SKY MARSHAL OF THE UNIVERSE (1953 serial)

Mr. Henderson, government official "in charge of all operations in outer space," is at Commando Cody's office and meets Cody's new assistants Ted and Joan, who have been hired to work on a top secret project: an atomic powered rocket ship capable of reaching any planet in the solar system. (I was pleased to see more security here than in the previous Cody serial RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON; in fact, Cody now wears a domino mask to hide his identity. Also, who the hell appointed Cody "sky marshal of the universe," which seems to be an official title?) When missiles were being fired at Earth from outer space, Cody developed a "radioactive cosmic dust layer" which was put in place above our planet to burn up any object heading toward Earth. As we later learn, a robed villain called The Ruler is creating this havoc from his headquarters on Venus, with some help from a band of henchmen on Earth. Cody has created a dispersal ray that allows his rocket to pass through the dust layer, and the bulk of this serial involves the Ruler's attempts to get his ships through the dust to invade. Over the twelve chapters, Cody and his team have to face an earth-melting ray (using footage from KING OF THE ROCKET MEN), destructive floods, germ warfare weapons, a lumbering robot, explosions intended to knock the moon out of its orbit, climate changes, hydrogen hurricanes, and a trip to visit the Queen of Mercury (!) before their final showdown with the Ruler. 

First, let's deal with the Cody character problem. Though the same Rocket Man suit is used in four Republic serials (ROCKET MEN, RADAR MEN, ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE, and this one), only this and RADAR have a hero named Commando Cody, and he's played by two different actors. Here, he’s Judd Holdren who played Rocket Man Larry Martin in ZOMBIES. I like to think of all of them as Cody, but technically they're not, or depending on your viewpoint, technically they are. Next, there's the definition problem: is this really a serial? It was shot to be a 12-episode television show, but contractual problems obligated Republic to release it in theaters as a serial first. Later, it was shown on television during the summer of 1955. Some serials fans maintain that this is not really a serial, mostly because there are no cliffhangers—each episode is more or less self-contained, though there is an overarching arc story. (And the last two episodes are more directly linked.) My opinion: of course it's a serial. It was one long narrative shown in weekly chapters in theaters; the chapters are numbered and titled, though the word 'chapter' is not used onscreen. 

How does it stand up to the other Rocket Man serials? Even though I sometimes complain about cliffhangers—their predictability, their cheating visuals—I admit I miss their presence here. There are cliffhanger moments at the ends of some chapters, continuing characters, and plenty of fistfights. The sets are pretty much the same as in the other films, as is, of course, Cody's flight suit. Judd Holdren is at a bit of a disadvantage in the domino mask but I guess he's heroic enough. Aline Towne (Joan) was in three of the other serials and, as always, has little to do. Willam Schallert as Ted is surprisingly tentative and low energy. After a break in filming between chapters 3 and 4 (to film ZOMBIES), he was replaced by Richard Crane (as Dick, pictured at top left with Towne and Holdren), handsome and energetic, and well versed at decent comic relief (he played space ranger Rocky Jones in a 1954 TV show). Many episodes end with a sort of punch line delivered by Crane, my favorite being one in which he fantasizes about using the Ruler as a houseboy and having him whipped. Crane is definitely a plus. Gregory Gaye (The Ruler) has little to do except give orders to his thugs. He's pictured at right with Gloria Pall, credited only as The Moon Girl.

Our heroes have to face some interesting situations. One involves a second sun appearing in the sky (then a third and a fourth), causing Earth temperatures to skyrocket. In the following chapter, the Ruler puts our planet into a tilt, aligned with Saturn, causing the threat of a new Ice Age in the Northern Hemisphere. In addition to the Venus HQ (the same sets used by the villains in the other serials), the moon, Saturn and Mercury are involved in plotlines. The good guys use "insignia radios" pinned to their outfits to communicate. The bad guys use a huge machine which decodes secret messages from the Ruler to the chief Earth baddie (Lyle Talbot in a thankless and repetitive role). Of the three Rocket Man actors, I think I still like George Wallace (RADAR MEN) the best. I did miss the rough-and-ready feel of the other Republic serials—to call this production glossy is misleading, but it is on the shiny and clean side—but it’s fun to watch. [Blu-ray]

PLAYING AROUND (1930)

On his ship, Blackbeard the pirate is about to engage in a fight with a rival when a chorus line appears, a woman begins singing, and the camera pulls back to reveal that we are watching an elaborate production number called "You're My Captain Kidd" in a nightclub called the Pirate's Den. At a side table, low-level gangster Nickey Solomon (Chester Morris) is asked by the club's owner to judge a women's leg contest called the Pageant of Knees just as young Jack (William Bakewell) brings his long-time gal Sheba (Alice White) in for dinner. Jack is shocked at the prices—for a drink, he wants her to order buttermilk because it's the cheapest thing on the menu—and wants to leave, but Sheba enters the Pageant. Nickey chooses her as the winner and instead of giving a speech, she sings a song. Jack, a soda jerk who works for her father at a tobacco store, remains irritated the entire evening, but Nickey decides he's going to get her attention, and when the couple leaves, Sheba is impressed by Nickey's fancy car (with a goofy air-horn sounding horn that Nickey uses frequently and obnoxiously). The next day as Sheba tries to hail a taxi, Nickey pulls up and she hops right in. Angry at Jack partly because he hasn't asked for a raise, she starts going around Nickey, and doesn't care what Jack thinks about it. One night Nickey takes her out for a spaghetti dinner. Despite his fine clothes and lounge lizard manner, Nickey doesn't have the three dollars to pay for their meal, so he finagles it out of the diner owner, and even gets a hundred extra bucks to take Sheba out to see George White's Scandals on Broadway. Jack is waiting at her dad's apartment (where Sheba lives) to talk to her, but midnight rolls around and she is still out, giving Jack the occasion for the movie's best line, "Midnight doesn't mean anything to Sheba since she started skating around with this new sheik!" Eventually Jack is all washed up with Sheba, who accepts a proposal of marriage from Nickey, but needing more money, Nickey robs the cigar store and shoots the employee who is, unknown to Nickey, Sheba's dad. Jack witnesses the shooting and though he didn't see Nickey's face, he heard Nickey's car horn right afterward. Now can he get the police to believe that Nickey is guilty?

This very early talkie, shot in 1929, highlights the best and worst of that short era. There are some impressively fluid camera shots, including the opening pull-back into the club and a later scene when Sheba goes running for a taxi, but the acting is stiff with actors still not comfortable with sound. (A silent version was produced but may not have been distributed widely.) Worst is the leading lady, Alice White, who doesn't deliver a single line with anything like depth or meaning. William Bakewell, playing a sort of juvenile role as the innocent pup who is always in the middle of a mild hissy fit, is only slightly better, but as peeved is his default emotion, he got on my nerves by the halfway point of the movie. Chester Morris, who was in his heyday (he was nominated for an Oscar for ALIBI that same year), is much better, but he doesn't display the slightly oily charm that would serve him well in other early talkies, and it's difficult to see what Sheba sees in him besides his nice clothes and slicked-back hair. The only other substantial part is Sheba's father, played competently by Richard Carlyle. A couple of other fun lines: Jack to Sheba, when she expresses sorrow that she failed to see through Nickey's facade: "Women can't be expected to judge human nature like us men"; Sheba referring to herself as "becoming a big league girl"; Sheba's insult to Jack, "Don't be an eggnog!" (I'm dying to use that one myself). Directed a bit unevenly by Mervyn LeRoy who would go on to a long career at MGM. Pictured are White and Bakewell. [TCM]

THE TROJAN HORSE (1961)

We're nine years into the fabled Trojan War, nine years after Paris from Troy abducted Helen from Sparta, and the Geeks have held Troy under siege since then. The Greek hero Achilles (I'll be including place name adjectives just to keep things clear for myself) has killed the Trojan hero Hector and disrespectfully dragged the body in the dirt behind his chariot. Aeneas, who has brought a wounded soldier back to Troy, believes that this war over Helen has dragged on far too long. When he is told that Helen is a symbol of Troy's prestige and glory, he replies "Helen is our gravedigger," which is hard to dispute. King Priam learns that Hector's body is to be left for the vultures, and decides to go to the Greeks to ask for the body. Aeneas plans to join him, but Paris, a bit of a passive jerk, is jealous of the respect that Aeneas has built up in Troy, so he orders Aeneas not to go, but Priam insists. At the Greek camp, Priam is given Hector's body, but in order to get Hector's weapons to give to his widow Andromache, Aeneas has to fight the Greek strongman Ajax. Aeneas wins, a victory which just adds to Paris's jealousy. Paris sends Aeneas off to build up an army, then sends his sister Creusa, pregnant by Aeneas, to Greece as a hostage to be held for a temporary truce. The Greek king Agamemnon also asks for chariots, gold, and a large quantity of wood for building purposes. If you've read Virgil (or have seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail), you know what's coming. Aeneas and his troops battle the Greeks, with Paris shooting an arrow into the Achilles' heel, killing him. The Greeks retreat, leaving behind a giant wooden horse, supposedly built to honor the god Poseidon. Priam's daughter Cassandra, known as a seer, warns that the horse contains the seeds of Troy's destruction, but it is brought into the walled city anyway. As we know, inside the horse is a group of Greek warriors, led by Menelaus (the legit husband of Helen), who, late at night, break out of the horse, set fire to the city, open the gates, and let in the Greek troops who wreak total destruction.

Despite having read some Virgil and Homer in my youth, I've never been clear about the Trojan War, but this adventure film presents its climax in a way that is easy to understand, even as it leaves out any mention of the meddling Greek gods. The budget for this peplum must have been higher than average, with spectacular sets, decent battle scenes, and huge numbers of extras—you often see the phrase "a cast of thousands" used in publicity for these kinds of films, and in this case, I'd believe it. The director, Giorgio Ferroni, made several sword-and-sandal movies (though his real classic is the small scale horror film MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN. He is clearly in his element here. Barry Atkinson, peplum expert, considers this film to be superior to the Brad Pitt TROY from 2004. The horse is impressive and the climactic fall of Troy is particularly well handled. Acting, rarely a strong area in peplum films, is adequate here. It's a little strange to have muscled hero Steve Reeves playing a character who doesn't prevail (Aeneas), though he does escape the destruction at the end and goes off with others to help found Rome. Actually, except for Paris, there really are no traditional peplum heroes and villains—there is good and bad in the actions of both populations. John Drew Barrymore has the relatively small role of Ulysses; Mimmo Palmara makes an impression in his few minutes as Ajax. For the record, Edy Vessel is Helen and Warner Bentivegna is Paris. The print I watched on YouTube is widescreen and in pretty good shape. Pictured are Palmara and Reeves. [YouTube]

CHARLIE CHAN AT MONTE CARLO (1937)

Detective Charlie Chan and his oldest son Lee are in Monte Carlo on their way to Paris where Lee is exhibiting a painting. French policeman Joubert is happy to (literally) run into them and takes them to the casino where he points out Savarin and Karnoff, bitter enemies in business as well as gambling. Gordon Chase, secretary to Karnoff, reveals to Joan, Gordon’s sister and Karnoff’s wife, that $25,000 of metallurgic bonds (the movie's MacGuffins) are missing, and he knows she took them to get out of some trouble. The problem is that Karnoff is sending his bonds by messenger to Paris in a deal to dump them and wreck Savarin. That night, the messenger is found dead in his car on the way to the airport, the bonds gone. Evelyn, Savarin's mistress, was seen near the car and falls under suspicion as does Savarin and, eventually, Al Rogers, a bartender at the casino to whom Joan was selling the bonds. Al also happens to be Joan's secret husband, separated but never divorced. Joubert gets Chan to help him track down the killer. This is the last Chan movie starring Warner Oland, who passed away just months after its release, and it's par for the course. The business with the bonds gets convoluted but the supporting actors make it fun to stick with. Oland and Keye Luke (as Lee) are the central attraction, of course, but just as good are Harold Huber, giving a pleasantly light-toned performance as Joubert, and Sidney Blackmer as Karnoff who walks a nice line between likable and suspicious. Robert Kent is handsome but bland as Gordon; George Lynn as Al is a standout, displaying a bit more personality than Kent in a smaller but important role. Virginia Field as Evelyn and Kay Linaker as Joan are almost interchangeable but they both give adequate performances. Sometimes the reveal of the killer is disappointing if it's a minor character with little screen time but here the reveal is surprising and satisfying. Pictured are Lynn and Linaker. [DVD]

MERRILY WE GO TO HELL (1932)

At a cocktail party, Joan (Sylvia Sidney), a young heiress who escapes to the balcony to avoid a masher, meets Jerry (Fredric March), a drunk reporter who really wants to write plays and who is still not quite over his previous relationship. They hit it off and she invites him to a party at her home the next day, but he arrives so late that everyone else has left. Joan’s father isn’t impressed with Jerry, and when he proposes to Joan, Dad offers Jerry $50,000 to leave her alone. The bribe doesn’t work, and at the engagement party, Jerry shows up late and very drunk. Despite the warning signs, the wedding occurs. For a time, Jerry gives up drinking and manages to write a play. It is accepted for production, but the leading lady is Jerry’s ex, Claire. On opening night, Jerry flirts a bit with Claire, gets very drunk, and back home as he passes out, calls Joan Claire. Her father calls Joan a doormat, and indeed Jerry puts the onus on Joan for stopping him from having an affair with Claire. Joan starts doing a fair amount of drinking herself, and surprisingly, at a party, Joan announces that they should have a modern marriage: “Single lives, twin beds, and triple bromides in the morning,” and she leaves with Charlie, a friend of the couple. The rest of the film is predictably melodramatic, with separation, a pregnancy, and a rushed and ambiguous ending that can be read as either hopeful or depressing.

The "modern marriage" aspect of this film seems to have been at least partly inspired by 1930's THE DIVORCEE in which Norma Shearer suggests a similar arrangement, though she goes farther by kicking her husband out of her love life. But this pre-Code romantic melodrama adds the complication of alcoholism, and at one point, it feels like it's anticipating the 1950s DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES about a couple who both fall into drink. That plot strand is dropped when Joan discovers she's pregnant and stops drinking. If you're familiar with domestic melodramas of the 1930s, there will be few surprises in how this plot plays out, though the ending is not exactly straightforwardly "happy." [Spoiler: while separated, Joan has the baby—Jerry hears about it from a newspaper column—but there are complications that leave the baby dead and Joan very ill. Jerry shows up demanding to see her, and in her delirium she has been calling for him. They are reconciled in the hospital room, but we are not necessarily confident that enough has changed for them to work things out.] The lead actors, as directed by Dorothy Arzner, are very good. Sidney does not, in fact, act like a doormat most of the time; despite her petite frame, she is strong and solid. March is especially good at being both charming and (sometimes) repellent, and his drunk scenes are not overdone, possibly thanks to Arzner's direction. The supporting cast is adequate, though no one is given the opportunity to shine. Skeets Gallagher is fine as a peppy pal of Jerry's and Cary Grant, in a very early role, has the small part of Charlie. Given the focus on drinking and extramarital sex, this could not have been made after the Production Code went into effect in 1934. The title comes from a snarky farewell greeting of Jerry's that grows more ominous throughout the movie. Pictured are March and Sidney. [TCM]