JACK THE RIPPER (1958/Hal Roach) 95mins. TVM.
Credits: Dir: David MacDonald.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Niall McGinnis, Harry Bartell, Clifford Evans, Morris Ankrum, Robert Griffin, Dorothy Allison, Gretchen Thomas, Paul Bryar.
"Jack the Ripper". A clairvoyant helps Scotland Yard to try and solve the Ripper murders.
"Summer Heat". A man, (Bartell), has a premonition of a murder.
"Vision Of Crime". The dead father of two rival brothers returns from the grave.
"Food On the Table". A scheming sea captain, (Karloff), poisons his wife, but she returns as a mischievous spirit.
The four episodes are from a never shown television series titled "The Veil" and bridged by Karloff.
Other features created from "The Veil" are The Veil and Destination Nightmare. Adding to the confusion, some of the same episodes are used in more than one feature.

JACK THE RIPPER (1959/Mid Century/Paramount) 84mins. BW. (with a colour sequence). UK.
Credits: Dir., Prod. & Ph: Robert S. Baker & Monty Berman; Sc: Jimmy Sangster; Mu: Stanley Black; Mus: Stanley Black. From a story by Peter Hammond & Colin Craig.
Cast: Lee Patterson, Eddie Byrne, Ewen Solon, Betty McDowall, John Le Mesurier, George Rose, Barbara Burke, Philip Leaver.
"He baffled the great Scotland Yard, the celebrated Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson!"
A surprisingly grim retelling of the famous Ripper murders providing a few red herrings, but basing little on the real case histories. The performances are played with conviction, and the last scene of the venereal-disease crazed Ripper being crushed under an elevator was originally shown in colour.
Distributor Joseph E. Levine spent thousands of dollars trying to promote the film in the United States, but despite Patterson's Canadian presence and the effectively morbid period atmosphere, the film failed at the US. box office.
The American print featured an inappropriate jazz score by Jimmy McHugh & Peter Rugolo.

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963/Columbia/Schneer) 104mins. UK.
Originally titled: JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
Credits: Dir: Don Chaffey; Prod: Charles H. Schneer; Sc: Jan Read & Beverly Cross; Ph: Wilkie Cooper; Ed: Maurice Rootes; Art: Geoffrey Drake; Sfx: Ray Harryhausen; Mus: Bernard Herrmann.
Cast: Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack, Nigel Green, Honor Blackman, Michael Gwynn, Niall MacGinnis, Douglas Wilmer, Andrew Faulds, Gary Raymond, Laurance Naismith, Jack Gwillim, Patrick Troughton, John Cairney, Gernando Poggi.
Watched closely by the Gods of Mount Olympus, Jason, (Armstrong), sets out to find the mythical Golden Fleece in his ship the Argo with a crew of Greece's finest athletes. During the quest Jason and his crew encounter winged Harpies, a giant statue of the god Talos that comes to life when one of the crew steal a gold pin from the giant's chamber, a seven headed Hydra, a skeletal army and Neptune himself.
Harryhausen creates his masterpiece with imaginative and outstanding stop-motion monsters and gods. An enthralling mythological adventure for $3 million. Beautifully filmed in Italy.

JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (1965/Circle) 82mins. Released by Embassy Picture Corp.
Credits: Dir: William Beaudine; Prod: Carroll Case; Ex.Prod: Sam Manners; A.Prod: Howard W. Koch Jnr.; Sc: Carl K. Hittlemann; Ph: Lothrop Worth; Ed: William Austin & Roy Livingstone; Art: Paul Sylos & Harry Reif; Mu: Ted Coodley; Mus: Raoul Kraushaar.
Cast: John Lupton, Narda Onyx, Cal Bolder, Estelita, Jim Davis, Steven Geray, Rayford Barnes, William Fawcett, Nestor Paiva, Roger Creed, Rosa Turich, Felipe Turich, Fred Stromsoe, Dan White, Page Slattery, Mark Norton.
On the run from the law, Jesse James, (Lupton), and his friend Hank Tracey, (Bolder), flee to a Mexican village where they meet Juanita, (Estelita), who is grieving for the loss of her brother when he mysteriously disappeared while working at the castle above the village. At the castle Maria Frankenstein, (Onyx), the infamous baron's grand daughter, is experimenting on the local population with artificial brains. In Hank she sees the possibility of another attempt, and operates on him creating a creature called Ygor who will do her bidding. Maria falls in love with Jesse and orders her creation to kill Juanita, but unable to do so, Hank slays Maria and Jesse has to shoot what remains of his friend.
Filmed in lurid colour, this juvenile mix of genres provides moments for bad movie fans, and is perfect for children's Saturday morning entertainment. The film plays as a bad western and as a poor horror film, neither genre being improved by combining the two. Watch for the ridiculous electro-helmet used to create the monster.
Beaudine also directed Billy the Kid Versus Dracula.

JOHNATHAN (1970) see Jonathan, Vampire Sterben Nicht

A JOLLY BAD FELLOW (1964) BW.
Credits: Dir: Don Chaffey.
Cast: Leo McKern.
A mad university professor disposes of people he believes are enemies of society with a poison he has developed that sends his victims into hysterics before killing them.
An obscure black comedy.

JONATHAN, VAMPIRE STERBEN NICHT (1970/Iduna Films) Germany.
Aka: JOHNATHAN.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Hans W. Geissendöfer; Ph: Robbi Mueller. From the characters created by Bram Stoker.
Cast: Jurgen Jung, Paul Albert Krumm, Oscar Von Schab, Hans Dieter Jendreyko, Ilona Grubel, Hertha Von Walther.
Jonathan Harker, (Jung), a member of the peasant resistance movement, is sent by an aging professor, (Von Schab), to rid the land of vampires and destroy their leader, a Count, (Krumm). The undead are eventually driven into the sea.
Here, vampire domination is equated with the rise of facism with Krumm even resembling Adolf Hitler.
Sex and gore scenes were added to the film after its initial release to try and make the film more marketable.

JOURNEY BENEATH THE DESERT (1961) France/Italy.
Original title: ATLANTIS.
Credits: Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer.
Cast: Haya Harareet, Jean-Louis Tritignant, Rod Fulton.
A helicoptor pilot makes an emergency landing near an atomic blast site where he and his companians discover an entrance to the lost city of Atlantis revealed by an atomic explosion and encounter the city's wicked queen.
Bad acting and terrible dialogue with ambitious intention.

JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME (1966) Czechloslovakia.
Credits: Dir: Karel Zeman.
Cast: James Lucas, Peter Herman, Victor Betral.
A group of youths sail down a river of time in their raft and encounter dinosaurs.
A charming mixture of live action, animation and puppetry that educates and thrills.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH (1959/Fox) 132mins.
Credits: Dir: Henry Levin; Prod: Charles Brackett; Sc: Walter Reisch & Charles Brackett; Ph: Leo Tovar; Ed: Stuart Gilmore & Jack W. Holmes; Art: Lyle R. Wheeler, Franz Bachelin & Herman A. Blumenthal; Sfx: L.B. Abbott, James Gordon & Emil Kosa; Mus: Bernard Herrmann. From the story by Jules Verne.
Cast: James Mason, Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, Diane Baker, Peter Ronson, Thayer David, Alan Napier, Alan Caillou, Ben Wright, Alex Finlayson, Frederick Halliday, Mary Brady, Robert Adler.
Professor Oliver Lindebrook, (Mason), receives a gift from his appreciative university students that gives him a clue to the whereabouts of an entrance that leads to the centre of the earth. Embarking on an expedition, the professsor's team enter an Icelandic volcano and follow the markings left by a previous explorer who never returned. A rival expedition led by Count Saknussemm, (David), is also following the same route to the inner world found to be populated by prehistoric creatures and giant mushrooms.
A well made adventure story with a memorable cast and characters to entertain both children and adults. This has the similar atmosphere of a Disney live action adventure.
Art Direction was nominated for an Academy Award.
Remade as VIAJE AL CENTRO DE LA TIERA.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF TIME (1967/Ember/Flamingo/Borealis-Dorad) 82mins.
Credits: Dir: David L. Hewitt; Prod: Ray Dorn & David L. Hewitt; Sc: David Prentiss; Ph: Robert Caramico; Ed: Bill Welburn; Des: Edward D. Engoron; Sfx: Modern Film Effects.
Cast: Scott Brady, Gigi Perreau, Anthony Eisley, Abraham Sofaer, Austin Green, Lyle Waggoner, Poupee Gamin,Tracy Olsen, Andy David, Larry Evans, Jody Milhouse.
"Caught in a fantastic time trap."
Scientists accidentally arrive in the future and encounter mutants and aliens. When they time travel to 1,000,000 BC. they are attacked by dinosaurs.
An entertaining science fiction film that can't hide its cheap effects.

JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN (1969/Century 21/Universal) 99mins. UK.
Aka: DOPPELGANGER.
Credits: Dir: Robert Parrish; Prod: Gerry Andersson; Sc: Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson & Donald James; Ph: John Read; Sfx: Harry Oakes & Derek Meddings; Mus: Barry Gray.
Cast: Ian Hendry, Roy Thinnes, Patrick Wymark, Lynn Loring, Herbert Lom, George Sewell, Ed Bishop.
Astronauts discover a planet hidden behind the sun that appears to be a duplicate of the Earth, but on the planet they find that everything is actually a mirror image of the Earth. One astronaut's double returns to Earth in his place.
An intriguing British science fiction film that unfortunately gives way to tedium after the planets discovery.

JOURNEY TO THE FOURTH PLANET (1959) see The Angry Red Planet

THE JUNGLE (1952/Lippert) BW. Some prints are tinted sepia.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: William Berke; Sc: Carroll Young.
Cast: Cesar Romero, Sulchana, Marie Windsor, Rod Cameron.
An expedition searches for the prehistoric Masterdon.
This follow up to Lippert's Lost Continent contains authentic scenery, documentary footage of fighting animals, and elephants with hair glued onto them as the Masterdons. Filmed in India.

JUNGLE HELL (1956) BW.
Credits: Dir., Prod. & Sc: Norman A. Cerf.
Cast: Sabu, David Bruce, George E. Stone.
An obscure film that features a flying saucer, a death ray and radioactive rocks.

JUNGLE JIM IN THE FORBIDDEN LAND (1952/Columbia) 65mins. BW.
Credits: Dir: Lew Landers; Prod: Sam Katzman; Sc: Samuel Newman.
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Angela Greene, Jean Willes, William Tannen, Zamba (the chimp), Lester Matthews.
Jungle Jim attempts to stop ivory hunters and encounters 1,000,000 year old "man-monsters".
After Weissmuller's success as Tarzan he went on to make several Jungle Jim features. This effective and exciting entry is one that features a tribe of giants with the characteristics and voices of lions.

JUNGLE MANHUNT (1951/Columbia) 66mins. BW.
Credits: Dir: Lew Landers; Prod: Sam Katzman; Sc: Samuel Newman.
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Bob Waterfield, Shelia Ryan, Lyle Talbot, Rick Vallin, Tamba (the chimp, not Zamba).
Jungle Jim, (Weissmuller), rescues a football hero, (Waterfield), from the jungle depths, encounters some crooks who are forcing the natives to make synthetic diamonds and engages in a battle with two dinosaurs.
Includes clips borrowed from One Million BC.

JUNGLE MOON MEN (1955) 70mins.
Credits: Dir: Charles S. Gould.
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Jean Byron, Bill Henry, Helene Stanton, Myron Healey, Billy Curtis, Angelo Rossitto.
Jungle Jim, (Weissmuller), delves into the secret world of the pygmy moon men and their eternally young high priestess, (Stanton).