Three Underrated Movies: The Land Unknown

Here's something you don't see every day: a 1950s lost world movie from Universal that I was completely unaware of.

I can't figure it out. I must've seen or at least had a chance to see every sci-fi epic to come out of that studio, but Land Unknown was completely unknown to me until I came across it in a video store in the '90s, and even then I didn't realize it was a Universal.

(It's not like the Universal name is that stamp of greatness. It's just that, you know, an actual studio produced it. One with sets, cameramen, and a special effects crew--no matter how time-pressed or budget conscious--was employed in its production. Compare that to American-International and its ilk, where most of the budget went to letters begging the U.S. Army for copious stock footage. Again, it might be good. It's just that the odds are longer.)

Well, Land Unknown is good. Very good, in fact. It has one of those combos of escapist high adventure and good drama in which the two elements don't seem to be at odds with each other, like they are in Devil Girl from Mars, in which a perfectly credible drama is routinely interrupted by a woman in a giant rubber spacesuit.

Here the drama comes from one of the basic fictional conflicts, man Vs. nature. Okay, nature comes in the form of T-Rex played by a guy in its torso and a puppet for a head. It's still man Vs. nature.

The performances run from credible to damn good, and the cheerful camaraderie of the helicopter flyover the South Pole falls apart as soon as they get stuck in a prehistoric jungle in the middle of nowhere. One of the men does some stupid things, and then some bad things, but it's hard to hate him; his wife back home is expecting.

Then they encounter the ultimate man's inhumanity to man, Dr. Carl Hunter (Henry Brandon), a longtime survivor of a previous crash who has become an intelligent beast, looking upon the others as predators, pray, or (in the woman's case) procreation.

The only one who doesn't break is Cmndr. Harold 'Hal' Roberts, played by Jock Mahoney as guy who's both brave and morally decent, not just a wooden '50s hero. The part that most resonates for me as a modern viewer is when the others want to torture Hunter for information, but Mahoney stops them. He's not going to let them sink that far. (Roberts would not have made it far in Gitmo.) The act of decency pays off, as Hunter decides he can trust them. (This is generally how it operates in real life as well.)

And the effects? Well, they're unconvincing, but they're fun. What the effects crew lacks in realism they make up for in quantity. There's an abundance of monsters, one showing up every couple of minutes. It keeps the film going at a speedy pace, right up tot he climax.

The climax is the final thing that sold me on this movie. In most movies of this genre (I'm looking at you, Irwin Allen), the heroes are allowed to be pure and innocent, while a In Deux Machina device doles out a gruesome fate ti characters the audience wants to see suffer. Without giving things away, let's just say that the movie has heart.

Three Underrated Movies: Horror Island

If there had been a Great Dane in Horror Island, Universal could have sued the pants of Scooby-Doo.

HI is a typical low budget "B" picture of a double bill in which the "A" picture was almost equally low budget (and almost equally underrated) Man Made Monster. But "B" does not always equal bad. HI is an Old Dark House Movie that's breezy, fun, and fast paced. Dick Foran and Fuzzy Knight, who often played hero and sidekick in westerns, put on sailors uniforms here. Foran's character, Bill Martin, is down on his luck and about to lose his boat when an odd stranger (the colorful Leo Carillio) stumbles upon him and claims to have a treasure map leading to gold on an abandoned island castle Martin's been stuck with via inheritance. Martin's not sure about the treasure, but it gives him an idea to host a treasure hunt in the "haunted" castle at $50 a head. Martin and his pal Stuff (Knight) rig the place with spooky devices, but find a lot of unexpected scares along the way, not to mention bodies.

Sometimes a picture just knows what's it's doing. Almost half the running time is spent getting to the castle, but since it clocks at 60 minutes, you won't have to fidget. Nobody you really like buys it.

It's just a very fun caper. This is what I'd show someone who wanted to know where Scooby-Doo came from.

If only they had cast Rondo Hatton as the Phantom...

Oh, yeah. This movie was shot in an awful hurry, resulting in a single outrageous blooper. When Foran leads the guests into the castle, a crew member with a spotlight on Foran appears very prominently on screen before walking off without he or the cameraman ever noticing what happened.

Three Underrated Pictures: Meet the Baron

I like to watch a lot of old moves, especially from the '30s, '40s, and '50s. A lot are classics, a lot are overrated, and a lot just didn't age well. So I see a lot of stuff, but rarely get surprised. Here are three that surprised me.

Meet the Baron was designed as a showcase for radio comedian Jack Pearl, whose "Baron Munchhausen" character was the hit of the airwaves. Unfortunately for him, the showcase was MGM, which as I've said, became the burial ground for a lot of great comedians (Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, and eventually the Marx Brothers).

To its credit, MGM went all out with ta bog production and a great cast. The cast includes Jimmy Durante, Edna Mae Oliver, Zazu Pitts, and of course, Ted Healy and his Three Stooges. It's the latter trio who are now given top billing on the DVD.

That shouldn't put off Stooges fans. Moe, Larry, and Curly get plenty of good scenes, at least enough to fill up a good short, and there's plenty else to watch when they're not around, especially the jaw-dropping "Clean as a Whistle" scene, maybe the height of pre-Hays code licentiousness.



The comedy, overall, isn't brilliant. MGM never seemed to be able to distinguish "zany" from "wacky," or even "silly," but the bubbling escapist enthusiasm of the film wins you over. Things move quickly, and there's no interruption by a "serious" song or romantic duo. There is a romance, but in an admirable departure, it's between the title character and Zazu Pitts. Pitts, who is quite funny, shows she can also be serious without breaking character. Pearl, however, cannot be serious. He can't even break character, which you sometimes wish he would. That accent can drive you nuts.

I don't mean to sour anyone on this. It's just too lighthearted and well produced to dislike. A must for anyone who likes '30s character comedy.

The original trailer:

Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck

Yes, it's happened. That albino cartoon character with the squawking voice and raging short fuse meets..Donald Duck.

This is hands down the most brilliant mash-up I've ever seen, and brilliant satire to boot.

I wanted to post it as soon as I saw it, because Disney won't let this stay up for long, "fair use" claims or not.



In case the video has been removed, here's a story about it.

It's October!

Take it away, Frankie!

Thre Geniuses and Ringo

New Beatles bio by Paul, "Three Geniuses and Ringo." Funny.