Film Review-The Monolith Monsters (1957)

Starring Grant Williams, Lola Albright, Les Tremayne

Directed by John Sherwood

By Roger Crow

There’s an effects shot in ‘It Came From Outer Space’ which proved invaluable for the makers of this little remembered sci-fi yarn. Made on a tight budget, re-using Clifford Stine’s effects shots save the production a fortune. 

That familiar scene involves a giant meteor which crashes to Earth and the fragments begin to spread – turning everyone they come into contact with to stone. 

Aside from the now familiar tropes used in many similar movies, there’s also a chance to see one of the most famous fictional towns in film history. Not only did the Universal town square eventually turn up in Gremlins, but most famously in Back to the Future. 

The yack track with Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby is rather splendid, featuring plenty of top trivia and gentlemanly banter, which is a welcome change from some experts who talk 10 to the dozen, or even worse, just state the obvious (Arnold Schwarzenegger on Conan the Barbarian being a prime offender). 

The subtext of course, as with a lot of 1950s US sci-fi movies such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, is that these are communist rocks, as suggested on the commentary.

The cast is as solid as the antagonistic rocks, with the dreamy Lola Albright adding a much needed softer appeal to all the macho heroics. 

The Blu-ray version looks terrific, with Ellis Carter’s crisp monochrome cinematography a treat for the eyeballs. 

Made during a golden era for US sci-fi, such films used to be on TV all the time back in the day. That said, I’m amazed I’ve never seen The Monolith Monsters until now. Though it might not be up there with the best of the era, The Day the Earth Stood Still, it’s still a great watch. Just a shame the villainous rocks don’t do much, expert grow and then fall over, and like so many films of that era, don’t live up to the thrills of the poster. (Fans of the original Superman movie will no doubt wonder if the crystalline entity later inspired the Fortress of Solitude, while the dam burst later feels like the third act of Richard Donner’s 1978 masterpiece).

It’s also a shame that ELO’s classic track Turn to Stone wasn’t included as a soundtrack extra, so feel free to turn the sound off at a key moment and add that via your smart speaker. 

Cast 7

Script 7

Cinematography 8

Editing 8

Score 7

Film Review- Monster on the Campus (1958)

Starring Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt

Director Jack Arnold

By Roger Crow

For as long as there are colleges and monsters there will be the ‘monster at college’ movie. The location is ideal for providing swathes of information about the creature in question, or have obligatory scenes of said beast stalking innocent students or teachers. 

The set-up here is a boffin has a prehistoric fish delivered to his campus, and also gets the chance to dispense vast amounts of exposition while a lovable dog licks at the obviously dangerous run-off from said fish. Before long, the hound has grown huge canines and is barking like a crazy thing. Hmm, do you reckon it has something to do with the ancient fish?

Obviously as this was made decades ago, we’re a far more sophisticated band of movie lovers, (though you’d think Moonfall was written with the same 1950s audience in mind). 

The dialogue here is pretty pedestrian, linking scene A to B with chunks of humdrum science stuff. 

Remarkably the head boffin has no first aid kit, which is a shocking state of affairs when dealing with million-year-old fish. And when he scrapes his hand and gets the wound infected with ancient fish juice, there’s no prizes for guessing what Donald Blake will turn into. (Whether by coincidence or design, four years later the hero’s name was used as the Mighty Thor’s alter ego trivia fans). 

Thrills are predictable, and probably were even in 1958; just wait for that scary hand creeping round the door moment and inevitable screaming heroine scene.

The moral of the story: “Really old fish from Madagascar are bad, okay?” America’s fear of anywhere foreign during the era is a reminder that those pesky overseas fish (aka Commies) were ready to transform upstanding members of society into brutish creatures. 

Director Jack Arnold helmed some of the best genre movies of the 1950s, and although less memorable than It Came From Out of Space, and Creature from the Black Lagoon, this is still an intriguing curio. Just a pity the science stuff gets in the way of some decent thrills.

Extras include an exhaustive yack track by Kim Newman and Stephen Jones, who spend a lot of time trying to outdo each other with their vast knowledge about the movie, which of course is just what you need to get the most out of the creature feature.

Clocking in at around 76 minutes, MOTC still needed 10 minutes trimming, but for all its faults, it’s still worth at least one look. And if this leaves you hungry for another movie in the same vein, check out Ken Russell’s bonkers Altered States, which was no doubt inspired by Monster on the Campus, or a very bad acid trip. Probably both. 

Cast 7

Script 6

Direction 7

Cinematography 7

Film review – Man-Made Monster (1941)

Starring Lon Chaney, Jr, Lionel Atwill, Anne Nagel

Directed by George Waggner

By Roger Crow

As a kid I always felt robbed when Ready Brek suggested that eating their cereal would generate an orange aura. Given the turmoil poor Dan McCormick goes through in this movie, I’m pretty glad that glow was never a thing.

If you have a passion for vintage monster movies, then there’s little danger of this offering outstaying its welcome. Clocking in at an hour, there are times when Man-Made Monster feels like a glorified TV episode, though the Blu-ray version is so crisp, it’s hard to believe this is now 80 years old. 

It opens with a bus crashing into a power line – the sort of model work which would later become synonymous with Gerry Anderson projects. 

The only survivor is McCormick, whose resistance to electricity makes him perfect for what unfolds. His sideline as Dynamo Dan, the Electric Man, makes him a fascinating carnival performer.

Step forward a mad scientist (essential for any 1940s Universal chiller) who transforms Dan into a murderous monster. 

The off-camera violence, such as the hero being sent to the electric chair, means there is far more left to the imagination than subsequent offerings such as Wes Craven’s Shocker, and more recently Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which is referenced in the commentary.

So it’s pretty simple, but beautifully put together with a great cast, including Lon Chaney, Jr in his horror film debut; glorious cinematography and those Frankenstein-style props are a delight. (Give me old fashioned valves and machines with dials over digital shenanigans any day of the week). Oh, and it also has one of the most adorable dogs since Toto in The Wizard of Oz

Living encyclopaedias Kim Newman and Stephen Jones deliver the sort of yack track that defies belief. Their knowledge of every element of the production, cast and effects is inspiring to say the least  

So I’d recommend watching it once as a standalone movie, and then again with the commentary as you’ll get so much more out of it. 

Cast 7

Script 7

Cinematography 8

Editing 8

Film review- The Bezonians

Directed by Savvas D Michael

Starring Andreas Karras, Lois Brabin-Platt, Vinnie Jones

By Roger Crow

The gangster thriller is basically a revamped Western, and if you needed further proof, this new offering from writer/director/actor Savvas D Michael ticks many of the regular boxes. There’s the gang, the card game gone bad, the femme fatale, and the debt that must be paid before that High Noon-style pay-off. 

Michael’s previous offerings, including Original Gangster and Red Rage, featured a great look, stylish cinematography and some interesting characters, but failed to really strike cinematic gold. 

I had a feeling he would one day create a classic, and though rough around the edges, this is easily his best film to date, even if it strays into the pretentious Guy Ritchie-style arena of Revolver. 

It centres on Plato (a terrific Andreas Karras), who runs the Bezonians Social Club in North London, where generations of Greek immigrants have gambled away their savings and partied over the decades. 

When Plato makes the mistake of playing poker with devious Lola, the fate of the club, as well as his life, is threatened. 

Only the suave Achilles, bruiser Costas, hardhead Buster, wily Mike and neurodiverse Anthony will stand by Plato as he faces an intimidating threat from Lola’s boyfriend—the fearsome Willard Greb. 

Vinnie Jones has a gloried cameo as the latter, but is as menacing here as his breakthrough role in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. 

Though the opening scene could have done with some judicious pruning, The Bezonians is a strangely compelling yarn with some genuinely touching moments. 

The integral card game is beautifully handled, especially for someone who finds such things on film a bit dull – probably because I never understand any game more complicated than Snap. 

Lois Brabin-Platt‘s lethal antagonist Lola commands every scene she’s in, and Jamie Crew’s achingly sad moments as Anthony are utterly compelling. 

Star Trek fans should look out for a fine turn from Marina Sirtis, whose retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice legend over the breakfast table is as memorable as it is unlikely. 

The study of alpha males is a little over the top at times, as is the over-egged examination of hero worship. However, full marks to cast and crew for making a refreshingly different entry in the well-worn London gangster thriller genre. 

Oh, and a terrific score too, packed with some classical gems and brisk incidental music that keeps the drama ticking over. 

Cast 8

Cinematography 8

Direction 8

Rewatchability 8

Score 8

Stingray – The Blu-Ray review

By Roger Crow

For decades Stingray has been that Gerry and Sylvia Anderson Supermarionation series usually mentioned after Thunderbirds (the gold standard by which all such series were judged). But Team Anderson couldn’t have got to one without the other, and watching it again after all these years, it’s amazing to see how much of a beta test Stingray was for Thunderbirds.

The pilot also shares elements with James Cameron’s 1989 blockbuster The Abyss: a submarine is attacked by an enemy force, although in this case it’s a large mechanical fish rather than a glowing entity; the hero is taken to an undersea base and tries to reason with his captors while water is kept at bay by some weird force field.

But that’s where the similarities end. However, there are also inevitable comparisons with The Spy Who Loved Me, and given the fact effects genius Derek Meddings and actress Lois Maxwell worked on both, that’s hardly surprising.

Anyway, the series is a delight for newcomers and nostalgia fans alike. I can only imagine the amount of 1960s kids who must have spent ages playing with Stingray submarines at bath time.

Key player is Troy Tempest, who looks like a constipated James Garner. (An excellent making of documentary on the latest Blu-ray set reveals that Garner was used as a shorthand guide for the model makers).

Troy is a member of WASP, a sort of oceanic police force, and he pilots a submarine called Stingray. What are the chances?

The episodes usually consist of Troy and his good old boy sidekick Phones (because he wears headphones) investigating weird goings on while glamorous alien Marina is usually a damsel in distress without saying a word, as she’s mute. Which must have been a blessing for the puppeteers and the scriptwriters.

(Female protagonists in Stingray sadly aren’t as proactive as Anderson’s later masterpiece Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons).

Even for a kids’ show of the time, the dialogue is pretty ropey, but when I first saw the series in black and white during the early 1970s, I couldn’t have cared less about the script. “Just look at those effects!” I’d say to anyone who would listen.

As a side note, this was shot in colour for the American market, but of course we in Blighty got the black and white version as such colour sets were few and far between.

The heroes’ HQ, Marineville, which looks like a Disney theme park hotel, has the ability to submerge via the sort of hydraulic system usually reserved for a Grand Designs episode warning about the dangers of flooding.

Anderson and his colleagues were always far better as technical wizards rather than tellers of compelling tales. And when the eponymous sub unleashed hell via its torpedo tubes, the result is explosive in more ways than one.

In an age when everything has been rejigged either as a live action movie or a CG series, or in the case of Thunderbirds, both, it’s amazing that Stingray has never been remade. Because as bonkers as some of the episodes are, they’re 99% less barking than the first Aquaman movie, so one day we may see Troy and company given a 21st-century makeover. However, this is the next best thing as the latest Blu-Ray revamp has been remastered in HD from original 35mm film elements. For a show nearly 60 years old, it looks fabulous.

Blessed with one of the most exciting opening themes and titles in TV history, not to mention that dreamy closing titles ballad, Stingray is far from sub-standard entertainment. Sorry/not sorry.

As it’s tricky to judge any Gerry Anderson series without considering the rest of his work, the following ratings are contentious. Fans who grew up with the show will no doubt rate it higher than latecomers to the party, and obviously the models and effects became more sophisticated as Gerry and his tech team evolved on all fronts. Anyway, here goes…

Show: 7

Effects 8

Theme/Music: 9

Rewatchability: 7

Blu-Ray Extras: 8

Script: 7