There’s really no way to overstate how feeble Invisible Invaders is. Even genre stalwart John Carradine is smart enough to get blown up in the opening frames, reappear briefly as a zombie (he’s very convincing as a dead guy), then disappear entirely from things. Continue reading “Invisible Invaders (1959)”
Category: 1950s
Day the World Ended (1955)
Incredibly, this Roger Corman end of the world shocker was filmed in nine days. It was incredible because while watching it, I was thinking that they should have been able to do it in about a third of the time! Continue reading “Day the World Ended (1955)”
The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955)
The problem with these movies that were made in the 1950s about big sea monsters cavorting around in scenic coves is that the actors back then had no compunction about doing a swimsuit scene without the benefit of about three months of intense training. (Or at least cutting back on the Pabst about two weeks prior to shooting.) Continue reading “The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955)”
The Giant of Marathon (1959)
Supposedly, The Giant of Marathon was a relatively big budget affair and I thought that with Hercules emeritus Steve Reeves (Goliath and the Barbarians) in the title role and director Jacques Tourneur (War-Gods Of The Deep) behind the camera that I might just be in for something a little more special than the usual all-male grab ass that these movies usually flexed and posed their way into by the end. On the “jock is half empty” side of things though, I was concerned that since it was about famed Olympian Phillipides, I was going to be subjected to some old time Olympic action. Continue reading “The Giant of Marathon (1959)”
Picnic (1955)
As soon as I started watching Picnic, I knew that I was in for another one of these sweaty, desperate epics about how life in a small town is full of hypocrites, nosy old maids, and damp drifters who are drenched in the promise of something better than what the small town was offering up to its population of breathy starlets. Continue reading “Picnic (1955)”
Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
You ever have one of those days where you wish you could go back to bed and start it all over again like Bill Murray in that irritating Groundhog Day movie? I’m pretty sure that’s how Dave Walker felt in this movie about guys in black tarps harassing backwoods types. Dave is the lard ass who runs the general store that serves the tri-swamp area with all its food, bait, and gossiping needs. Continue reading “Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)”
Johnny Tremain (1957)
I always suspected that those snobby British goons who tried to stifle all our basic human rights by laying a big tax on our imported tea were defeated through the interference of some plucky kids.
Since the novel this movie is based on won a Newbery Medal, I have to assume that it’s the God’s honest truth and that the colonists were such great guys that after they stormed the ships in Boston Harbor and dumped all the tea overboard, that they then took time to swab the decks and generally cleaned up the boat when they finished with their consumer protest. Continue reading “Johnny Tremain (1957)”