Tag: Shirley Patterson

Batman (1943) ch06 – Poison Peril

Poison Peril actually fits a lot into the chapter. Narrative too, not just racism. Lots of racism this time around, with the screenwriters rushing to fit in slurs.

There’s the exceptionally weak cliffhanger resolution–it’s like they aren’t even cliffhangers as much as pauses in action–J. Carrol Naish plotting with a submarine, Shirley Patterson gets a couple scenes, an all-new supporting character (Charles Middleton), and William Austin getting some comedic moments. Austin (or his stuntman) even gets into some fisticuffs.

Oh, and Batman and Robin actually win a fight. When it’s two against three, they can win. Well, the first time. The second time it’s two against three, they lose miserably. Mostly because Douglas Croft (definitely his stuntman) never can take out his opponent.

Middleton’s got a cowboy hat and a prospector beard; he’s a prospector, so it’s appropriate he’s got said beard. He’s got a precious mineral Naish wants. Naish finds out about it through standard contrivances.

When the chapter’s moving fast enough–once Naish’s submarine intrigue is over–it’s not terrible. It’s not good, but Lewis Wilson and Croft are affable enough leads. Batman only works when there’s enough Bruce Wayne.

Batman (1943) ch05 – The Living Corpse

Shockingly, The Living Corpse actually doesn’t involve a living corpse. It’s far from the most dynamic living corpse in cinema history, but it’s at least present in the chapter it entitles.

The Corpse has most to do with J. Carrol Naish’s half of the chapter. He’s got two schemes, with one being his orders from Japan. Somehow, Batman’s government handler knows to contact him with information about that scheme so Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft are able to try to stop it.

The opening cliffhanger resolution is, once again, lame. The resolution to this chapter’s cliffhanger will undoubtedly be lame as well, but might even be the exact same resolution. Whoever was in charge of plotting out the chapter finishes did a terrible job.

The ending action is indoors–sort of, it’s on an airplane–and Hillyer’s direction is lacking. The set is way too big and Hillyer and cinematographer James S. Brown Jr. have a hard time keeping the shots tight enough.

The much older stunt double for seventeen year-old Croft also stands out. It’s like an entirely different person has entered the fist fight.

There’s some strong editing from Dwight Caldwell and Earl Turner here though. Stronger than Batman needs (or deserves).

Batman (1943) ch04 – Slaves of the Rising Sun

When the chapter title refers to Slaves of the Rising Sun, I guess it means J. Carol Naish’s traitorous American henchmen. They really don’t do anything; well, Robert Fiske argues with Naish about Japan’s chances in the war to ill result, but otherwise, they don’t really do anything. They don’t even get enough personality to be yes men.

After yet another weak cliffhanger resolution, Rising Sun sets up the chapter’s action. Shirley Patterson is going to a mystic to find her missing uncle. She asks Lewis Wilson to go with, but he acts the foppish playboy so he can secretly go as Batman and save the day. See, he’s realized it’s a trap for Patterson and he wants to find out more about Naish’s gang (even though he doesn’t know anything about Naish).

Doesn’t quite work out in Wilson’s favor so he and Douglas Croft end up chasing some bad guys.

It’s not a terrible car chase at the end; like much of Hillyer’s action direction, it goes perfectly fine until all of a sudden Hillyer fumbles on something and the serial can’t recover. The turning point in Rising Sun is when Batman climbs down into the cab of the bad guy’s truck and the driver just watches him without reacting. He must be a cautious driver.

Also of interest? Once again, the cliffhanger resolution establishes Batman has committed manslaughter in his derring-do. Wilson–though Croft too to some degree–are inordinately incompetent as crimefighters.

Batman (1943) ch03 – The Mark of the Zombies

Despite a tantalizing title, The Mark of the Zombies has nothing to do with zombies’ marks. If there is a zombie, it’s Gus Glassmire, who’s just been electronically brainwashed by J. Carrol Naish. Glassmire still refuses to sell out the U.S. to Japan–it’s inexplicable why Naish asks him again, as nothing’s changed other than Batman and Robin foiling Naish’s plans. Anyway, then there’s the electronic brainwashing sequence and a “zombie” Glassmire.

And he promptly disappears from the chapter. Without a mark on him.

Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft try once again to trap Naish’s henchmen, but fail again. They actually fail twice. One thing about Batman and Robin… they’re really, really bad at their jobs. There’s a big fight sequence–where cowering William Austin has some great comedic moments–only it’s not like Wilson and Croft are any good at beating up the thugs.

The thugs escape and the heroes pursue, setting up the cliffhanger, which is another weak one. Sadly, it’s also when Mark gets its most exciting. When the action is on a sound stage and complicated–this time a train trestle–director Hillyer does a perfectly solid job. It’s exciting.

Until that weak cliffhanger.

Also interesting is how much more time is spent with the villains than the heroes. Shirley Patterson–rescued again, though no doubt soon to be in danger once more–isn’t even conscious this time out. It’s a shame since Wilson and Croft save her in costume, yet take her and wait with her at the doctor’s out of costume.

Logic isn’t one of the screenwriters’ competencies, much less strengths.

Batman (1943) ch02 – The Bat’s Cave

While the resolution to the previous chapter’s cliffhanger is extremely lackluster, The Bat’s Cave sort of recovers as it goes along. It just has to get through Batman Lewis Wilson terrifying butler William Austin with the radioactive laser gun.

Then it’s time for villain J. Carol Naish to order the kidnapping of Shirley Patterson and for Wilson and Douglas Croft to have to mount a rescue. Director Hillyer does all right, especially considering the budget, as Wilson and Croft investigate in disguise before suiting up in their long johns.

The finale has some strong action involving a power line (clearly shot on a set then cutting to James S. Brown Jr.’s underwhelming day-for-night photography) and a decent fight sequence where Wilson and Croft take on the kidnappers.

Hillyer does try to cover the budget deficiencies, but there’s only so much he can do. A nightclub scene, with recycled establishing shots, doesn’t impress and neither does the “Bat’s Cave”, where Wilson and Croft apparently hold criminals (without restraint) next to Batman’s brooding desk.

Sadly, despite the steady action in the second half, this chapter’s cliffhanger is even weaker than the last one. Though it will be interesting to see if everyone survives this one–the opening resolution apparently kills off a bystander as it rescues Wilson.

Batman (1943) ch01 – The Electrical Brain

The first chapter of Batman introduces the main cast–Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft as Batman and Robin (and their alter egos), villain J. Carrol Naish, damsel in distress Shirley Patterson–and establishes some of the ground situation. Naish is an evil Japanese agent (if Electric Brain is any indication, Batman is going to be exceptionally racist) who kidnaps Patterson’s uncle. He’s got a ray gun, a secret lair, mind control devices, all sorts of gadgets.

He’s also got henchman who can beat up Wilson and Croft without much trouble.

There’s not much establishing for Wilson and Croft; I’m not even sure they get their civilian identities. And Brain skips any Batman origin–there’s a quick line of dialogue suggesting Batman and Robin are unofficial domestic agents, trying to root out Axis evil on the home front.

Decent (enough) performances from Wilson and Patterson–and an amiable one from Croft–work in spite of the script. When he’s not in costume running around, Wilson’s mostly a boob. And Naish and his goons are pretty dim, so Wilson comes off as incompetent, which doesn’t help things.

There’s only the one big action sequence, setting up the cliffhanger. Wilson and Croft get mercilessly beat up. While problematic for the narrative, it is the only time the Batman costume looks all right. Dwight Caldwell and Earl Turner’s editing, both on the fisticuffs and an early car chase, is solid. There’s only so much they can do with the material though.

The teaser for the second chapter is particularly weak–and completely unrelated to the cliffhanger, like the filmmakers knew the cliffhanger wasn’t compelling.

The Land Unknown (1957, Virgil W. Vogel)

The Land Unknown has it all—a guy in a Tyrannosaurus Rex suit (the dinosaur’s roar is suspiciously similar to Godzilla’s), lizards standing in for dinosaurs, awful rear screen projection of those lizards to make them seem large, CinemaScope, misogyny, torture, a homicidal rapist being portrayed as a sympathetic character and a cute little tarsier. The poor tarsier gets eaten by a tentacle plant, which also attacks the girl. It’s tragic when the tarsier is eaten (Land Unknown actually has some really good ideas, just no way of executing them). It’s sad when the girl survives.

Shirley Patterson plays that girl and thanks to her incredibly bad performance, some of the other weak performances are tolerable. Protagonist Jock Mahoney, for example, isn’t awful. Neither is his sidekick, played by William Reynolds (though Mahoney is far better). The film’s opening suggests the two men will be competing for Patterson’s affect (it also implies she’s going to sleep with 800 sailors… it’s a special film when it comes to how it portrays women), but it never happens. There’s just her lame romance with Mahoney.

It’s hard to find an adjective to accurately describe the awfulness of Patterson’s performance. But… even if she weren’t in the film, there’s still Henry Brandon and Phil Harvey. Both of them are atrocious too.

Vogel’s incapable of composing for CinemaScope.

Besides the surprising potential in the script, both events and concepts, the miniature settings look great. Too bad the models look bad.

It’s a laughably terrible picture.

0/4ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

CREDITS

Directed by Virgil W. Vogel; screenplay by László Görög, based on an adaptation by William N. Robson and a story by Charles Palmer; director of photography, Ellis W. Carter; edited by Fred MacDowell; produced by William Alland; released by Universal Pictures.

Starring Jock Mahoney (Cmndr. Harold ‘Hal’ Roberts), Shirley Patterson (Margaret ‘Maggie’ Hathaway), William Reynolds (Lt. Jack Carmen), Henry Brandon (Dr. Carl Hunter), Douglas Kennedy (Capt. Burnham) and Phil Harvey (Steve Miller).

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It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958, Edward L. Cahn)

I watched It! The Terror from Beyond Space because I understood it’s widely considered (look at that passive voice) a precursor to Alien. Any such connection is tenuous at best. I also thought Ray Harryhausen did the special effects.

No, no, he did not.

If It! were a production of a middle school theater department–I kept thinking of Kesey’s favorite Cuckoo’s Nest adaptation, with the machine off to the side, a moving feature–it might be impressive. It’d work as a play, multiple levels, all connected through the same central staircase. It’d need a rewrite, of course. Bixby’s script would be laughable if one could muster the enthusiasm.

There are there major problems with It!, not including the script (the plotting isn’t bad, just the dialogue).

First, the direction. I’m not sure I’ve seen a director less enthusiastic about a space adventure than Cahn. Budgetary limitations aside, there’s a lot he could have done, maybe angled some shots, but he doesn’t.

Second, the alien. The costume is atrocious (it looks like a green sweatsuit over a bunch of padding) and the mask is lame. Ray Corrigan, playing the monster, moves with the grace of a dump truck.

Finally, the acting. Of ten actors–we’re supposed to remember all their characters, following a painfully weak introduction to them–only Marshall Thompson gives a good performance. Kim Spalding, as his antagonist, gives one of the worst performances I’ve seen lately in a theatrical release.

It! is a painful waste of time.

0/4ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

CREDITS

Directed by Edward L. Cahn; written by Jerome Bixby; director of photography, Kenneth Peach; edited by Grant Whytock; music by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter; produced by Robert E. Kent; released by United Artists.

Starring Marshall Thompson (Carruthers), Shirley Patterson (Ann Anderson), Kim Spalding (Van Heusen), Ann Doran (Mary Royce), Dabbs Greer (Eric Royce), Paul Langton (Calder), Robert Bice (Purdue), Richard Benedict (Bob Finelli), Richard Hervey (Gino), Thom Carney (Kienholz) and Ray Corrigan (It).

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