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STAR PILOTS (1966) see Due + Cinque Missione HydraSTASERA SCIOPERO (1951/Colmamonici Montesi) Italy.
Credits: Dir: Mario Bonnard; Sc: Nicola Manzari &
Alberto Vecchietti; Ph: Sergio Pesce; Art: Alberto Boccianti; Mus: C.A. Bixio.
Cast: Marisa Merlini, Clelia Mantania, Laura Gore,
Virgilio Riento.
A strange psychiatrist combines two brains in an operation in order to make what he
believes to be the perfect brain.
A bizarre comedy.
STEREO (1969/Emergent) 65mins.
BW. 16mm. Canada.
Credits: Dir., Prod., Sc., Ph. & Ed: David
Cronenberg; Prod.Associates: Stefan Nosko, Pedro McCormick & Janet G.M. Good.
Cast: Ronald Mlodzik, Iain Ewing, John Messinger,
Clara Mayer, Paul Mulholland, Arlene Mlodzik, Glenn McCauley.
At the Canadian Academy for Erotic Inquiry, Doctor Stringfellow operates on his patients
to release their psychic energies and discovers that sexual activity results in a better
enviroment for psychic communication. However, in isolation his subjects become violent,
and one even tries to commit suicide with an electric drill.
An abstract study of telepathic surgery in Cronenberg's first film made at a cost of only
$3,500, but the seeds of his style are evident in a theme that has infused most of his
future successes. Elements of this story were further developed in Cronenberg's SCANNERS.
STING OF DEATH (1966/Thunderbird International/Essen
Prod.) 76mins.
Credits: Dir: William Grefe; Prod: Hank Rifkin; Sc:
Richard S. Flink; Ph. & Ed: Julio C. Chavez; Sfx: Harry Kerwin; Mus: Al Jacobs &
Lon Norman.
Cast: John Vella, Joe Morrison, Valerie Hawkins, Jack
Nagle, Sandy Lee Kane, Neil Sedaka, Doug Hobart.
A marine biologist's assistant experiments with Man-Of-War jellyfish in an underwater cave
to try and find a biological cure for his disfigured face, but the man turns into a
marauding monster that preys on coastal holidaymakers.
An unintentionally funny B-movie from the same team responsible for the equally ridiculous
Death Curse of Tartu.
STOP ME BEFORE I KILL (1960) see The Full Treatment
STORM PLANET (1962) see Planeta
Burg
THE STORY OF MANKIND (1957/Warner/Cambridge)
100mins. US.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Irwin Allen; Sc: Irwin Allen
& Charles Bennett; Ph: Nicholas Musuraca; Ed: Roland Gross & Gene Palmer; Des: Art
Loel; Mus: Paul Sawtell. From a book by Henrik Van Loon.
Cast: Vincent Price, Ronald
Coleman, Peter Lorre,
Dennis Hopper, Hedy Lamarr, John Carradine, Agnes
Moorehead, Cesar Romero, Anthony Dexter, Cedric Hardwicke,
Marie Windsor, Ziva Rodann, Henry Danielle, Angelo Rossitto, William Schallert,
Francis X. Bushman, Edward Everett Horton, Robert Watson, Reginald Gardiner, Groucho Marx,
Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Helmut Dantine, Virginia Mayo, Charles Coburn.
"Men and their women from the beginning of creation! Never so vast an
undertaking."
At a heavenly court the Spirit of the Human Race, (Coleman), defends mankind to the Devil,
(Price), in a debate that will determin if man should continue to exist. Scenes from
mankind's history are used as evidence featuring Nero, (Lorre), Cleopatra, (Mayo), Queen
Elizabeth I, (Moorehead), Napoleon, (Hopper), and Joan of Arc, (Lamarr).
A badly casted epic production filled with poor performances and hundreds of feet of stock
footage including some taken from LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.
This is the last time the Marx brothers appeared in the same film, but none of their
scenes are together. |
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LA STRAGE DEI VAMPIRI (1962/Mercury/Pacemaker) 84mins. BW. Italy.
Aka: CURSE OF THE BLOOD GHOULS (US); SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Roberto Mauri; Prod: Dino Sant
'Ambrogio.
Cast: Walter Brandi, Deiter Eppler, Alfredo Rizzo,
Graziella Granata, Paolo Solvay.
A couple on their honeymoon attend an eerie ball at a castle in Vienna and both of them
gain a vampire lover. Eventually all the vampires are despatched with iron stakes by Dr.
Wolfgang, (Brandi).
A poorly made and unexciting vampire tale that was re-edited in 1969 and sold to American
television as CURSE OF THE BLOOD GHOULS. STRAIT-JACKET (1963/Columbia/Castle
Prod.) 93mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir. & Pro: William Castle; Sc: Robert
Bloch; Ph: Arthur E. Arling; Ed: Edwin Bryant; Art: Boris Leven; Sfx: Richard Albain; Mus:
Van Alexander. From a story by Robert Bloch.
Cast: Joan Crawford, Diane Baker, Leif Erickson,
Howard St. John, John Anthony Hayes, George Kennedy, Mitchell Cox, Edith Atwater, Rochelle
Hudson.
"When the axe swings, the excitement begins!"
Lucy Harbin, (Crawford), a convicted axe murderess, returns to her daughter Carol,
(Baker), on her brother's, (Erickson), farm after twenty years in an asylum for the
criminally insane. While trying to adjust to her new surroundings and get to know her
daughter, a slew of axe murders occur for which she naturally is blamed.
Despite some suspense and Crawford's hysterical performance, the ending is much too
predictable despite the cast doing their upmost to conceal the "surprise".
Castle makes little use of the opportunities available.
Theatre patrons were given a small cardboard axe at the box office.
THE STRANGE CASE OF DOCTOR JEKYLL AND MISTER HYDE (1967)
see Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde
THE STRANGE CASE OF THE MAN AND THE BEAST (1951)
see El Hombre y la Bestia
THE STRANGE DOOR (1951/Universal)
81mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Joseph Pevney; Prod: Ted Richmond; Sc:
Jerry Sackenheim; Ph: Irving Glassberg; Art: Bernard Herzbrun & Eric Obrum; Ed: Edward
Curtiss; Mus: Hans Salter & Joseph Gershenson. From "The Sire de Maletroits
Door" by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Cast: Charles Laughton, Boris Karloff, Charles Hovarth,
Sally Forrest, Edwin
Parker, Richard Stapley, William Cottrell, Paul Cavanagh, Morgan Farley, Michael Pate,
Alan Napier.
Seventeenth century French nobleman Alan de Maletroit, (Laughton), was driven to the
fringe of madness when his childhood sweetheart married another and then died in
childbirth. He imprisoned the woman's grieving husband in the dungeon and now raises their
daughter, purposely marrying her off to a known brigand as revenge on his dead
sweetheart's family. When the man of questionable character changes his ways for the love
of the young girl, Maletroit tries to crush them both in his room with moveable walls, but
Maletroit's butler, Voltan, (Karloff), rebels against his cruel master and saves them
both.
A contrived, but somewhat suspenseful melodrama made more tolerable by the good cast.
STRANGE INTRUDER (1968)
Aka: HOLLYWOOD HORROR HOUSE.
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Gale Sondergaard, Joe
Besser.
THE STRANGE OBSESSION (1966) see La
Strega in Amore
STRANGE TALES (1967) see Histories
Extraordinaires
THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X (1957/Eros/Artistes
Alliance) 74mins. BW. UK.
Aka: THE COSMIC MONSTERS (US); THE CRAWLING TERROR.
Credits: Dir: Gilbert Gunn; Prod: George Maynard; Sc:
Paul Ryder & Joe Amber; Ph: Joe Ambor; Ed: Francis Bieber; Art: Bernard Sarrow; Mus:
Robert Sharples. From the novel by Rene Ray and the BBC. television series "Strange
World Of Planet X".
Cast: Martin Benson, Alec Mango, Patricia Sinclair,
Forrest Tucker, Wyndham Goldie, Hilda Fenemore, Geoffrey Chater, Susan Redway, Catherine
Lancaster, Neil Wilson, Richard Warner, Gaby André, Hugh Latimer.
"Shock by incredible shock this ravaging death overruns the earth...menacing
mankind with overwhelming chaos."
Dr. Laird, (Mango), and his assistant Gil Graham, (Tucker), have been experimenting with
magnetism and accidentally blow a hole in the earth's ionisphere. The resulting
concentration in cosmic rays over an eighty mile radius causes some people to experience a
mild form of lunacy, but the insects mutate to a gigantic size and stalk the English
countryside feeding on the local populace. An alien named Smith, (Benson), from a union of
advanced worlds uses his flying saucer to eliminate Dr. Laird and the oversized insects,
declaring that mankind is too destructive to join their society of planets.
A surprisingly graphic monster film for it's time and enjoyable despite too much talk and
too few appearances of giant insects.
STRANGER FROM VENUS (1954/Rich
& Rich/Princess Pictures) 72mins. BW.
Aka: IMMEDIATE DISASTER; VENUSIAN; A VISITOR FROM VENUS.
Credits: Dir: Burt Balaban; Prod: Burt Balaban &
Gene Martel; A.Prod: Roy Rich; Sc: Hans Jacoby; Ph: Kenneth Talbot; Ed: Peter Hunt; Art:
John Elphick; Mu: Nel Taylor; Mus: Eric Spear. From a story by Desmond Leslie.
Cast: Patricia Neal, Helmut Dantine, Derek Bond, Cyril
Luckham, Marigold Russell, Willoughby Gray, Arthur Young, John Le Mesuriur, Kenneth
Edwards, David Garth, Nigel Green, Stanley Van Beers, Graham Stuart.
A man from Venus arrives on Earth to warn of the danger of nuclear weapons, but his
spaceship is ambushed by suspicious Earthlings. The stranded Venusian eventually dies and
nuclear testing continues.
A cheap, unchallanging and dull copy of The Day the Earth Stood
Still with no style or flair.
STRANGER IN THE NIGHT (1955/20th. Century Fox)
56mins. US.
From the novel "The Ghost of Captain Gregg and Mrs. Muir" by R.A. Dick.
Cast: Joan Fontaine, Michael Wilding, Elsa Lanchester,
Tom Conway.
A widow falls in love with the ghost of a sea captain haunting her home.
THE STRANGLER (1963/Allied
Artists) 89mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Burt Topper; Prod: Samuel Bischoff &
David Diamond; Sc: Bill S. Ballinger; Ph: Jacques Marquette; Ed: Robert Eisen; Des: Hal
Pereira & Eugene Lourie; Mus: Marlin Skiles.
Cast: Victor Buono, David McLean, Ellen Corby, Diane
Sayer, David Davidson, Russ Bender, Jeanne Bates, Wally Campo, James B. Sikking.
An obese lab technician, (Buono), who suffers from schizophrenia because his over
possessive mother has warped his personality, begins to murder the nurses who are helping
his aged mother stay alive.
A competent shocker heightened by Buono's excellent performance.
THE STRANGLER OF BLACKMOOR CASTLE (1960)
see Der Wurger von Schloss Blackmoor
THE STRANGLER OF THE TOWER (1966/Interopa) Germany.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Hans Mehringer; Ex.Prod:
Erwin C. Dietrich; Sc: Michael Thomas; Ph: Andreas Demmer; Mus: Bruno Sberri.
Cast: Charles Reginer, Kay Fischer, Hans Reiser,
Christa Liner, Ellen Schwiers, Gisela Lorenz, Ruth Jecklin, Adi Berber.
A murder mystery.
LA STREGA IN AMORE (1966/Arco)
103mins. Italy.
Aka: A WITCH IN LOVE; THE STRANGE OBSESSION (UK); THE WITCH (16mm).
Credits: Dir: Damiano Damiani; Prod: Alfredo Bini; Sc:
Damiano Damiani & Ugo Liberatore; Ph: Leonida Barboni; Ed: Nino Baragli; Art: Luigi
Scaccianoce; Mus: Luis E. Bacalov. From the novel "Aura" by Carlos Fuentes.
Cast: Richard Johnson, Rosanna Schiaffino, Gina Maria
Volonté, Sarah Ferrati.
A historian undertaking research in an old castle becomes embroiled in black magic and
witchcraft.
LE STREGHE (1965/DeLaurentis/UA.)
100mins. Italy/France.
Aka: THE WITCHES.
Credits: Prod: Dino DeLaurentis; Ex.Prod: Alfredo DeLaurentis; Art: Mario
Garbuglia & Piero Poletto; Sfx: Joseph Nathanson; Mus: Piero Piccinoi.
An anthology of five stories.
"The Girl from Sicily"
Credits: Dir: Franco Rossi; Sc: Franco Rossi & Luigi Mani; Ed: Giorgio
Serralonga.
Cast: Silvana Mangano, Pietro Tordi.
A woman uses witchcraft to have revenge on her seducer, but her actions cause a small war
in which all the men in her family are killed.
"The Earth as Seen from the Moon"
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Pier Paolo Pasolini; Ed: Nino Baragli.
Cast: Silvana Mangano, Toto, Ninetto Davioli, Laura
Betti, Luigi Leoni.
A pantomime in which a poor father and son enrich their lives by envisioning a strange
woman with green hair.
"A Night Like Any Other"
Credits: Dir: Vittorio De Sica; Sc: Cesare Zavattini, Fabio Carpi &
Enzio Muzii; Ed: Adriana Novelli.
Cast: Silvana Mangano, Clint Eastwood, Armando Bottin,
Gianni Gori, Paolo Gozlino, Angelo Santi, Piero Torrisi.
A bored housewife imagines her dull husband fighting various comic book characters
including Batman, (Torrisi), Flash Gordon, (Santi), Diabolik, (Gori), and Superman,
(Bottin).
The two other stories do not contain any elements of the fantastic. |
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SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER (1959/Horizon/Columbia) 114mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz; Prod: Sam Spiegel;
Sc: Gore Vidal & Tennessee Williams; Ph: Jack Hildyard; Ed: William W. Hornbeck &
Thomas G. Stanford; Des: Oliver Messel; Mu: David Aylott; Mus: Buxton Orr & Malcolm
Arnold. Based on a one-act play by Tennessee Williams.
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Kathrine Hepburn, Montgomery
Clift, Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge, Gary Raymond.
A homosexual sadist uses his beautiful unsuspecting cousin as a seductress to lure victims
to his home. Eventually the cousin becomes insane when she witnesses the man raped and
murdered by beach boys.
A ludicrous art film padded to interminable length from a one act play whose final
revelation is never that clear anyway.THE SUICIDE
CLUB (1959) see Curse of the Stone Hand
SUMPAH ORANG MINYAK (1958/Malay
Film Prod./Shaw) Malaya/Hong Kong.
Aka: CURSE OF THE OILY MAN.
Credits: Dir., Sc. & Art: P. Ramlee; Prod: Run Run
Shaw; Ph: A Bakar Ali; Ed: H.R. Narayana.
Cast: P. Ramlee, Sri Dewi, Salleh Kamil, Marion
Willis, Daeng Idris.
A hunchback is transformed into a handsome man, but when he commits an evil deed he is
changed into an oily man with magical abilities.
SUMPAH PONTIANAK (1958/Keris) BW.
Malaya.
Sequel to Dendam Pontianak.
Cast: Maria Menado Keris.
Features the vampire Pontianak, (Keris), some monsters and ghosts.
The third of the Malayan vampire series.
Sequel: Anak Pontianak (1958).
SUMURA (1967) see The
Million Eyes of Su-Muru
EL SUPER FLACO (1957/Columbia) Mexico.
Credits: Dir: Miguel M. Delgado; Sc: Carlos Orellana;
Ph: José Ortiz Ramos; Mus: Frederico Ruiz.
Cast: Evangelina Elizondo, Pompin Iglesias, Wolf
Ruvinskis, Daniel "Chino" Herrera, Alfredo Varela Jnr., José Jasso.
Fantasy superhero comedy featuring a monster.
SUPERARGO AND THE FACELESS GIANTS (1967)
see Superargo e i Giganti Senza Volto
SUPERARGO CONTRA DIABOLICUS (1966/Liber
SEC/Balcazar) 87mins. Italy/Spain.
Aka: SUPERARGO VERSUS DIABOLICUS.
Credits: Dir: Nick Nostro; Prod: Ottavio Poggi &
J.J. Balcazar; Sc: Giarda Balcazar & J.J. Balcazar; Art: Juan Alberto Soler; Mus:
Franco Pisano.
Cast: Ken Wood (Giovanni Cianfriglia), Gerhard Tichy,
Loredana Nusciak, Monica Randall, Francisco Castillo Escalona.
A villain who has discovered how to manufacture gold faces the wrath of Superargo who
saves the world with his powers of levitation and mind control.
Sequel: Superargo e i Giganti Senza Volto.
SUPERARGO E I GIGANTI SENZA VOLTO (1967/
G.V. Film/ SEC./ Izaro/ Fanfare) 95mins. Italy/Spain.
Aka: SUPERARGO AND THE FACELESS GIANTS; SUPERARGO EL GIGANTE; IL RE DEI CRIMINALI.
Sequel to: Superargo Contra Diabolicus.
Credits: Dir: Paul Maxwell (Paolo Bianchini); Sc:
Julio Buchs; Ph: Godofredo Pacheco; Art: Jaim‚ Perez Cubero; Mus: Berto Pisano.
Cast: Ken Wood (Giovanni Cianfriglia), Liz Barrett
(Luisa Baratto), Guy Madison, Tom s Blanco, Diana Lorys, Aldo Sambrell.
A mad scientist is turning athletes into bloodless, mummified robots. Special Agent
Superargo and his aide, an ex-lama who has mastered mind control, defeat the scientist and
save the world.
SUPERARGO EL GIGANTE (1967) see Superargo
e i Giganti Senza Volto
SUPERARGO VERSUS DIABOLICUS (1966) see Superargo Contra Diabolicus
SUPERMAN (1960/Mukul Pictures) India.
Credits: Dir: Anant Thakur.
Cast: Nirupa Roy, Neeta, Jairaj, Tiwari.
Special drugs grant a man invisibility and superhuman powers.
SUPERMAN AND THE MOLEMEN (1951/Bernard
Luber & Robert Maxwell/Lippert) 67mins. BW.
Aka: SUPERMAN AND THE STRANGE PEOPLE; UNKNOWN PEOPLE (US. tv).
Credits: Dir: Lee Sholem; Prod: Barney A. Sarecky; Sc:
Richard Fielding; Ph: Clark Ramsey; Art: Ernst Fegt‚; Sfx: Ray Mercer; Mu: Harry
Thomas.
Cast: George Reeves, Phyllis Coates, Jeff Corey,
Walter Reed, Billy Curtis, Stanley Andrews, Noel Neill, J. Farrell MacDonald, Frank Reicher.
Reporter Clark Kent alias Superman, (Reeves), and Lois Lane intervene when a subterranean
race of furry creatures are disturbed by oil drilling and threaten to use their radiation
ray guns on the townsfolk. The caped crusader stops everyone fighting and prevents the
town from being destroyed.
A dreary tale that would have been better as one of the shorter "Adventures Of
Superman" television episodes this film was made to promote. Later the film was
broadcast as a two part adventure for the television series.
SUPERMAN AND THE STRANGE PEOPLE (1951) see Superman and the Molemen
SUPERMAN FLIES AGAIN (1954/National Comics
Publications) 77mins. 16mm. US.
Credits: Dir: Thomas Carr & George Blair; Prod:
Whitney Ellsworth; Sc: David Chantler; Ph: Harold Stine; Ed: Harry Gerstad.
Based on the comic strip in "Action Comics" and "Superman" by Jerome
Siegel & Joe Schuster.
Cast: George Reeves, Noel Neill, Jack Larson, John
Hamilton, Robert Shayne, Elisha Cook Jnr.
Three stories.
Superman, (Reeves), uncovers a jewellery racket.
Superman rescues a private detective.
Superman is rescued from Kryptonite that weakens him.
A theatrical release of three episodes from the television series "The Adventures of
Superman"
SURF TERROR (1965) see Beach
Girls and the Monster
SURVIVAL (1962) see Panic in
the Year Zero
SVENGALI (1954/Alderdale/Renown)
82mins. UK.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Noel Langley; Prod: George
Minter; Ph: Wilkie Cooper; Ed: John Pomeroy; Art: Fred Pusey; Mus: William Alwyn. From the
novel "Trilby" by George du Maurier.
Cast: Donald Wolfit, Hildegarde Neff, Terence Morgan,
Derek Bond, Paul Rogers, David Kossoff, Hubert Gregg, Noel Purcell, Alfie Bass, Harry
Secombe, Peter Illing, Hugh Cross, Toots Pounds, Michael Craig. Voice of Elizabeth
Schwarzkopf.
Notorious Parisian hypnotist Svengali, (Wolfit), has sinister designs on his pupil,
(Neff).
A badly scripted and colourless remake of the 1931 version. |
