CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS (1962-color) Still

Despite much poo-pooing of the film over the years by critics, I actually find CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS to be a fairly gripping story about humanity coping with the rise of machines which threaten to replace us. In light of recent concerns, I'd argue the film has taken on a fresh tone that makes it worth a second look. Given his reviews of such movies, I'd be curious what Dave Cullen would say about it...

A Quick Look: FLIGHT TO MARS (1951 - color)

Often overlooked in the wake of DESTINATION MOON, ROCKETSHIP X-M, WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, and several other contemporary classics, FLIGHT TO MARS is a compelling, tightly-paced, emotionally complex and nuanced science fiction adventure story that makes the most of a modest budget and a fine cast of familiar faces. The script is incredibly strong, and should be studied by anyone interested in writing, with subtleness and directness almost unrecognizable in modern fiction (cinematic or otherwise). On the surface, the characters are fairly stock: the dedicated scientist so committed to his project that he remains coldy unaware of the affections of the woman who not-so-secretly loves him, the cynical reporter who has seen it all and remains unphased by momentous events, the lady scientist who has made a name for herself in a man's world through hard work and brains but secretly desires a more normal brand of life that even she has difficulty realizing, etc. But the film gives these characters dimension and motivation and arc you seldom run across in today's landscape of flat, unrelatable characters defined by nothing greater than self-importance. The plot is fairly simple, and thus kept to a tight pace: A team of scientists and a reporter embark on the first manned mission to Mars. This event is announced on it's eve, leaving the world little time to react but quickly divided along political lines. After an eventful journey, the crew makes it to Mars but damages their ship in the process. Then they discover the red planet is inhabited...    Just a dandy picture. Only about 70 minutes or so long, it packs a surprising amount of material into it's brisk runtime. What's more, it doesn't spell everything out for the viewer, but expects us to piece things together. On it's surface, it's a B picture just there to capitalize on the current craze, but it gives us enough credit to go along with it without talking down to us at any point. Just take a look at this level of writing, and you begin to understand why movies being made in more recent years are so lacking (and why they tend to run over two hours when their stories seldom justify that much footage). A great little picture sadly knocked aside into relative obscurity, it's worth a look if it falls into your scope.

A Quick Look: MOTHRA (1962-color)

   MOTHRA was one of those uniquely Japanese concepts, a film more fairy tale of the Atomic Age than outright science fiction. In the film, some shipwreck survivors are rescued from an area heavily contaminated by radioactive fallout from recent tests conducted by the mythical superpower of Rolisica. The survivors show absolutely no signs of exposure to radioactivity, and even tell of natives on the officially uninhabited island where they washed ashore. This prompts an investigation, and sure enough the island is found to be populated by primitive natives and killer plants. Most extraordinary is the discovery of twin girls, standing less than a foot high! Corrupt Rolisican showman/gangster Nelson returns to the island and abducts the girls to appear as a theatrical attraction. Unknown to Nelson, during the nightly performances the girls sing a song of rescue to Mothra -the indestructible giant insect the natives worship! Soon enough, Mothra is headed toward Japan, and no weapon of warfare seems able to stop it! Entertaining stuff, provided you never try to put too much thought into it. Mothra would go on to be one of the major players of the Toho monster universe, returning a couple years later to take on the Big Blue Dinosaur in GODZILLA VS THE THING. Following that, Mothra became a series regular through the end of the decade. Mothra was revived again for the 90's cycle of Godzilla movies, and was then spun-off into a colorful-but-goofy trilogy of it's own. Mothra seemed to re-surface periodically after that, even making it into the new American Godzilla series.

A Quick Look at Flint...

   There was a spy even cooler than Bond, and his name was Flint. Ask most movie spy fans which secret agent is our favorite, and the majority of us will tell you, without hesitation, Derek Flint. James Coburn scored his first major lead role as the strong-willed, unstoppable human computer known as Flint in 20th Century Fox's OUR MAN FLINT. In this adventure, a secret organization known as Galaxy has perfected a weather control machine and the only man who has a chance of saving the day is Flint! Coburn would return for the more elegant sequel, IN LIKE FLINT. (OUR MAN FLINT made Coburn a star, but he didn't want to get tied down a series.) In IN LIKE FLINT, Flint swings into action to help his former boss at Zonal Organization World Intelligence Espionage and happens onto a plot to replace the US President with a look-a-like, arm an experimental space platform, and shift the balance of power in favor of the female sex. During the course of events, Flint is assumed dead. (So, we have a thought-dead hero, an imposter president, and an armed space platform. I must wonder if that second G.I.JOE movie is officially a remake or not....) A little more elegant than the first film, IN LIKE FLINT is just as delightful. Unfortunately, saturation of the genre meant there wouldn't be a third film.* The two pictures have a breezy quality, a comic book mentality, that often has them written off as comedies. Unabashedly over the top, the films none the less deliver the goods. The two Flint films remain among my favorites in espionage entertainment. When I think of great spy music, it's Jerry Goldsmith's Flint theme that first comes to mind. For the tops in pop adventure, you can't go wrong with Flint!

(*Like Matt Helm, Derek Flint was revived for a TV movie in the 70's. While MATT HELM tried to capture the character played by Dean Martin, however, OUR MAN FLINT: DEAD ON TARGET shows absolutely no connection to the Coburn films. Ray Danton, who had played a Flint-like character in SECRET AGENT SUPER DRAGON, plays this Flint as a supposedly intelligent private detective in an adventure so bland and dull and poorly produced that it staggers the imagination. The action highlight is an exploding file cabinet, and the fireball might've at worst singed Flint's eyebrows. Really, the thing was terrible. And weirdly, Danton -with his dark greasy hair combed over his forehead- more resembles Harvey Lembeck than he does James Coburn.)

A Quick Look: ATRAGON (1965-color)

   Here's another import from Japan, and in my experience one of the rarer such films. ATRAGON tells of an attack on the surface world by the undersea kingdom of the Mu Empire. Mu, for all it's primitiveness, possesses futuristic technology, flying saucers, and the ability to control earthquakes. Mankind's only hope rests in an embittered former Imperial Japanese Navy Officer and his fantastic futuristic submarine, Atragon. Atragon was built at the end of the War to turn the tide of battle back in Japan's favor, but the Land of the Rising Sun surrendered before the ship could be sent into battle. Though the times have passed up her Captain, he must put aside his baggage and march into action against the Mu forces. Complex character study supports engaging adventure story, complete with Toho's customary giant monster -in this case a huge serpent worshiped by the Mu. Elements of the plot would be re-hashed several times over the next several decades. GODZILLA VS MEGALON was a more kiddie matinee version of the same story, while THE WAR IN SPACE re-purposed the plot for use in a space opera. Manda, the giant serpent, would wash back into the Godzilla series when the beast was selected to be one of the returning giants featured in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (the US posters for the film even named Manda among the major players). Though only as quick stock shots from that film, Manda would be seen throughout the remaining films of the original Godzilla cycle. Atragon itself was only one of numerous flying submarines with drilling cones in the nose section to be highlighted in Japanese pop culture! The film is finally available in a nice scope transfer on American DVD, but unfortunately the superior AIP release dub remains missing. Reportedly, the American DVD distributor wanted to include the better dub, but they were prevented from doing so by Toho itself!

A Quick Look: CASINO ROYALE (1967 - color)

 
   The one Fleming story EON didn't posses the rights to when they began making the books into a film franchise was the very first Bond story, Casino Royale. Instead, another company used the story as the base for a wild spoof of James Bond and the spy genre in general, resulting in 1967's CASINO ROYALE. David Niven plays Sir James Bond, the greatest spy to ever live. Sir James is a moral man, and none too thrilled that his name and number have been passed on to the promiscuous hero currently fighting the forces of evil. With the enemy organization SMERSH on the verge of taking over the world, M and some of his peers beg Sir James to come out of retirement and take charge. When an explosion kills M, Sir James must take control of MI6. His first move is to name all field agents James Bond 007, even the girls, in order to confuse the enemy. An amazing cast is assembled, which includes the likes of Peter Sellers, William Holden, Orson Wells, and Ursula Andress. Multiple directors and a slew of writers parody every aspect of international espionage and intrigue, but this gives the film great unevenness. While there are a few amusing bits sprinkled throughout, the bulk of the film is an unfunny mess. (An example of the film's humor -and actually one of the more amusing bits- is that Sir James stutters through the first few reels. When he takes control of MI6, he tells Moneypenny that he doesn't have time to stutter anymore, and speaks perfectly well for the rest of the picture.) The best the movie offers are some amazing special effects and the marvelous sets for SMERSH's underground headquarters. But it's all too random to really be very entertaining. The film flopped. On the plus side, Barbara Bouchet played Miss Moneypenny, as seen standing next to Sir James in the photo. "CASINO ROYALE is too much for one James Bond!" screamed the ads, parodied by OPERATION KID BROTHER's previews "Neil Connery is too much! OPERATION KID BROTHER is too much, for one mother!" Because of the slew of actors playing "James Bond" in CASINO ROYALE, ads for YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE proudly screamed "Sean Connery IS James Bond!" Around the turn of the century, EON finally secured the rights to the novel, and used a much straighter version of CASINO ROYALE to introduce Daniel Craig as the new 007.

A Quick Look: THUNDERBALL (1965 - color)

   Even after several decades and numerous Bonds, it remains a fact that THUNDERBALL, Bond's fourth big screen adventure, is The Biggest Bond of All! Bond's producers at EON finally reached an agreement with Kevin McClory as James Bond became an international pop icon. GOLDFINGER had broken records, and all the stops were pulled out to make sure THUNDERBALL delivered to audiences what they expected. The result is breathless action from start to finish as Bond searches for a pair of nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE. The film was box office gold and shattered records. Bondmania was now in full bloom, and similar secret agents were quick in hitting the scene in THUNDERBALL's wake. A television special used clips from the previous films to whet appetites for the release. Merchandise (which included everything from official Bond toys to clothing) flew off shelves. When one speaks of major events in movie history, the release of THUNDERBALL is right up there! McClory retained the rights to many elements of the story and planned a remake of the film. That didn't happen until 1983, when Sean Connery returned to play the screen's most iconic spy in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. Though this film existed outside of the official EON releases, it was nonetheless a cause for excitement with fans. The film's release was also in competition with the official Bond film OCTOPUSSY. NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN managed to hit screens first, but Roger Moore's film ultimately did better at the boxoffice. There was talk of yet another remake around the turn of the century, but nothing came of it. Though subsequent films have featured even larger budgets and even wilder action, THUNDERBALL remains in many ways the definitive James Bond movie. I once screened GOLDFINGER and THUNDERBALL back-to-back and felt pummeled when it was over. Some entries may have better scripts, but few are this exciting! Other Bonds are movies, but THUNDERBALL remains an experience.

Timeless Christmas pix

 

A Quick Look: OPERATION KID BROTHER (1967 - color)

   One of the most notable, though sadly obscure, spy epics is OPERATION KID BROTHER. Sean Connery's brother Neil was talked into becoming an actor and his first major assignment was to play the brother of 007. Neil Connery plays Neil Connery, brilliant surgeon and hypnotist drafted into secret service when his skills are required to defeat a criminal organization. Although his name is Connery, he's the brother of you-know-who, and thus quickly falls into the pace of things. With Neil are Barnard Lee and Lois Maxwell, M and Moneypenny of the James Bond franchise. Clearly, they're playing the same parts under civilian code names (Miss Maxwell really enjoyed the chance to be a more active part in a mission than she ever got to be in the Bond films). The magic of OPERATION KID BROTHER is that the producers could've gone the cheap road and made a cheesy quickie to cash in on Bondmania, but instead produced a lush, legitimate spy adventure which is easily among the best Europe ever produced. When Sean Connery decided to leave the role of James Bond, Neil was suggested to EON as a suitable replacement. That would've been a pretty good idea, but as history shows, EON passed. Neil acted in a few other things, but never had another starring role in a major motion picture (his next, and next-best, part was as the hero's sidekick in THE BODY STEALERS). And because Italian pictures were shot MOS (minus optical sound), the finished film doesn't even feature Neil's voice! The actor fell ill and wasn't able to attend the recording session.

A Quick Look: ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969 - color)

   Following the smash success of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Sean Connery decided he'd finally had enough of playing 007. The Bond producers began a massive search for the right actor to fill the most famous role in movie history, finally selecting a young unknown Australian by name of George Lazenby. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE would become one of the very best films in the franchise, following Bond as he hunts down SPECTRE head Blofeld and falls in love with a likable gangster's beautiful daughter. Lazenby was basically hired to play Sean Connery, and many critics have been pretty hard on his performance. He handles himself well, however, and boasts the best fight scenes of the entire run. When Lazenby throws a punch, he throws his whole body into it! Not until the rough-and-tumble style of Daniel Craig would there be another Bond this physical. To play the woman who finally tied down 007, the producers cast Avengers starlet Diana Rigg. Telly Savalis plays a physically imposing Blofeld, out to destroy the world with a gaggle of glamorous girls armed with poison Christmas presents and under hypnotic suggestion to unleash a new strain of plague if SPECTRE's ransom is not met. Unfortunately for George and the producers, his agent fed him some bad advice. Basically, George was instructed to go after counter-culture roles and leave such a square role as Bond to others. Before the film had even been finished, Lazenby made it known that this would be his only assignment as 007. As result, Lazenby quickly plummeted from one of the most famous actors in the world to one of the most obscure. (Interestingly, Neil Connery was suggested as a replacement for Sean, but EON felt a bit ill toward OPERATION KID BROTHER, which the company saw as competition.) The producers paid Sean Connery an enormous sum to return for DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER -which Connery subsequently donated to a charity he'd founded. George Lazenby would later make a semi-career out of spoofing his James Bond image, such as his turn as "J.B." in THE RETURN OF THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.: THE FIFTEEN YEARS LATER AFFAIR -which, sadly, I haven't seen yet.

A Quick Look: A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959)

   A BUCKET OF BLOOD was one of Roger Corman's experimental pictures. Presumably assigned a title and told to run with it, Corman crafted a hysterical comedy all about murder. Dick Miller plays Walter Paisley, loser hanger-on to a group of beatniks. He desperately seeks their approval and takes up sculpting as a way to fit in. He's terrible at it, however, until he accidentally kills a cat and then covers the kitty corpse with clay. This creation is heralded as a masterpiece and Walter finds himself coating further grisly leftovers as he becomes the toast of the art world! In a sense, this is a comical take on HOUSE OF WAX/MYSTERY IN THE WAX MUSEUM, and the plot would later be tweaked to fit painting in the early gore flick COLOR ME BLOOD RED. The film is a sharp parody of the art world, as well, and probably does a better job of detailing the hypocritical motivations of the beat scene than any other film on the subject. Dick Miller didn't headline too many movies, sadly, but this one stuck with him. His numerous bit parts since the 80's have more often than not been named Walter Paisley! Corman would follow this triumph with two more black and white horror-comedies, CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA and the infamous THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.

A Quick Look: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967 - color)

   Coming in the wake of the massively successful THUNDERBALL, the lackluster spoof CASINO ROYALE, and the better-than-you'd-think OPERATION KID BROTHER, right at the very height of the spy craze, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE was a pull-out-all-the-stops, give-the-audience-everything-it-wants-and-more grand scale adventure. An adventure Connery decided would also be his last as the world's most popular spy (such was his desire at the time, anyway). YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE follows Bond as he goes up against SPECTRE's scheme to trigger atomic war by stealing American and Russian space rockets from orbit and concealing them in their secret headquarters housed inside a Japanese volcano! Behind the whole plot is SPECTRE no.1 Ernst Stavro Blofeld, memorably brought to life by Donald Pleasance. The image of Pleasance, clad in his grey uniform, bald head, and ragged scar across his eye, became one of the most iconic of screen villainy. It was this enemy that Mike Meyers famously parodied as Dr. Evil some 30 years later. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE contains some of the biggest action the series ever produced, not the least of which includes a commando raid against SPECTRE's most impressive secret lair. "Sean Connery IS James Bond!" the ads read in response to the same year's spy spoof. Nancy Sinatra provides the title tune, which, while sweet, seems a bit lounge for the series after the surging hits of the previous films (it foreshadowed perfectly the breathy ballads that defined the Moore era, however). Though the script isn't the strongest of the series, this one, like THUNDERBALL, makes up for it by being an out-and-out experience. Plus, this one has Ed Bishop and Shane Rimmer in the same shot, so it's automatically the coolest Bond film of all.

A Quick Look at Matt Helm

   If James Bond is the Sinatra of the spy world, Matt Helm is the Dean Martin. Fittingly, Dean Martin played Matt Helm in a series of movies for Columbia Pictures in the 60's. The film Helm bears little to no resemblance to the ruthless assassin detailed in the books of Donald Hamilton, but it's hard to complain against such a wonderful series as THE SILENCERS, MURDERERS' ROW, THE AMBUSHERS, and THE WRECKING CREW. Unfortunately, Dino bowed out before he could make the promised fifth film and Tony Franciosa was groomed into a Dean-A-Like for a 70's TV pilot movie called MATT HELM, and the short-lived teleseries that followed. The movies are lighter in tone than the Bonds, but aren't outright spoofs. Really, they're near perfect 60's pop spy vehicles, and Martin's casting is so obvious you can't escape it. Fun stuff.

   THE SILENCERS finds Matt pulled away from his swinging bachelor pad (and day job as a girlie rag photographer) when ICE (Intelligence Counter Espionage) detects that enemy organization BIG-O is up to something on US soil. And indeed they are, as Victor Buono's Chinese madman Tung Se has arranged for a missile launch and underground atomic test to be conducted simultaneously -a combination which will destroy the States if BIG-O's missile controls can't be stopped! 

   In MURDERERS' ROW, Matt must track down a missing scientist who has developed a powerful laser beam that can wipe Washington off the map in one sweep! His main suspect is industrialist Julian Wahl, played by the great Karl Malden. Ann-Margret is the scientist's go-go dancer daughter who teams up with Helm to find that Wahl has her father on his private island. From the opening notes of the film's driving main theme, this one never stops delivering. The Helm series gets it's own Odd Job-like henchman in the form of Tom Reese's ruthless BIG-O assassin Ironhead. The climax features a hovercraft chase! While the Helms were never quite as opulent as the Bonds (or even the Flints), they remain relentlessly enjoyable pop fun.

   My first Helm was THE AMBUSHERS, the third in the series. This time around, Matt must team up with a female agent suffering amnesia after being tortured nearly to death -she the pilot of an experimental flying saucer. The saucer gives off a form of radiation harmful only to males, so female pilots are required. A Latin dictator captures the saucer and holds it ransom to the highest bidder, and BIG-O agent Senta Berger is among those looking to bid. It wasn't until this entry that we finally learned what BIG-O stands for: Bureau for International Government and Order. Matt, of course, works for I.C.E. -Intelligence Counter Espionage, and the opening of the film finds our hero at an I.C.E. training facility.  The film's titles are accompanied by a title tune that's plenty catchy and a whole lot of lounge. Unfortunately, the 45 version sounds completely different! By the way, a very similar flying saucer also turned up in an episode of I Dream of Jeannie as an experimental "jet-plate" and some have confused the two props as being the same. The TV saucer, however, isn't as wide. Oddly, though, what I'm pretty sure is Wahl's crane scoop from the second film can be glimpsed in a junkyard in another Jeannie episode.

   The last Helm movie is in kind of an odd position. Though it was a well-mounted effort, THE WRECKING CREW did lackluster business at the boxoffice. Dino also lost interest and the film would be his last as the swinging secret agent. The plot concerns an aristocrat who hijacks a billion dollar gold shipment and threatens to destroy the world economy. Matt blasts into action, despite his helpful fellow agent Sharon Tate causing him more trouble than good. The cast on this one is simply amazing, and the fight scenes are a step up from the previous films (in which Dino's stunt double handled much of the heavy action several yards away from the camera). Small wonder, since Bruce Lee helped choreograph the action. One of the henchmen is Lee student and future action superstar Chuck Norris! Unfortunately, the casting is also part of the problem. John Larch replaces James Gregory as Matt's boss, MacDonald. He's fine, but the change is jarring. He should've had one more film in order to make the transition smoother. And of course, Sharon Tate hangs over the film like a specter, given her brutal murder at the hands of the Manson family was not far off. Finally, the film's casting of Tina Louise as a gypsy henchgirl is more trivia than anything else. It was her first post-Island job, and her appearance didn't impress the critics. 

   The end of the movie promises a fifth adventure to be titled "The Ravagers." I like to think the 70's TV pilot film MATT HELM holds this slot. In MATT HELM, Tony Franciosa plays a Helm who has broken from the spy world and settled into the position of private dick. A short-lived series followed. Tony did an incredible job of playing the Dean Martin Helm, even copying expertly the same mannerisms. Still, a private Eye is quite a come down from a globe-trotting super spy.

TV's MATT HELM, 1975

Goodies from my movie still collection