skjam | Entries tagged with adventure

Creatures the World Forgot (1971) dir. Don Chaffey

The Dark-Haired Tribe hunters have had a successful day, bringing down an antelope while only losing one of their number to its mate. But as the tribe is divvying up the meat, The Crone (Rosalie Crutchley) directs their attention to the nearby twin mountains--which turn out to be live volcanoes that erupt moments later. One of the hunters, Mak (Brian O'Shaughnessy) mercy kills the badly crushed old leader, and successfully defeats a challenger to become the new leader.

Their homes destroyed, Mak leads the remnants of the tribe across the desert in search of a new place to live. Despite much hardship and a few more deaths, the Dark-Haired Tribe eventually comes to the dwelling place of the Fair-Haired Tribe. Fortunately, the two tribes manage to establish peaceful relations, and several of the Dark-Haired, including Mak, are able to find mates among the Fair-Haired. (One unhappy couple want each other instead of the mates picked for them, which ends badly.

Mak's mates gives birth to fraternal twins before dying. During the ceremony to welcome the babies, another woman suddenly goes into labor when a lightning strike sets a nearby tree on fire. The tribe considers sacrificing the new girl baby, but the Crone intervenes.

The twins grow up into Toomak the Fair Boy (Tony Bonner) and Rool the Dark Boy (Robin John), who are very much rivals. Mak clearly favors the taller, stronger and more competent Toomak, leaving Rool feeling jealous and resentful. The girl baby has grown into the Mute Girl (Marcia Fox) who has unusual reddish hair and is something of an outcast in the tribe (neither of the twins treat her well) but becomes the apprentice of the Crone.

On one of their adventures, the brothers wind up bringing home The Girl (Julie Ege), the last survivor of her own tiny tribe. She winds up becoming the mate of Toomak. When the now-aged Mak dies, the stage is set for the brothers to battle for leadership of the tribe!

This was the last of Hammer Films' "caveman" pictures with outdoor scenes shot in South Africa and Namibia. It skips the anachronistic dinosaurs and fluent language skills of the previous entry for a slightly more "realistic" approach. Similarly, while the young women are certainly scantily clad, they're not usually posing like they're in a men's magazine.

Because there's no intelligible dialogue or narration, the characters have to express themselves mainly through facial expression and body language, and you absolutely do have to be paying attention to follow what's going on.

The scenery is excellent, and most of the animal bits look good, with the exception of a cave bear that is obviously a man in a fur suit because he has to do stuntwork. The lava towards the beginning also looks a bit low-budget.

The main problem of the movie for me is that it kind of meanders, and it's not until a good third of the way in that the primary conflict driving the rest of the plot is established.

Content note: Lethal violence, including the death of children and animals. Suicide. Attempted rape. Mak's favoritism towards Toomak is obvious; his parenting skills are dubious. Male and female nudity, and otherwise skimpy clothing for both sexes. I think it would get an "R" rating these days.

This is a decent movie that rewards the attentive viewer. Not recommended, however, for anyone who get bored or distracted easily. Most recommended for fans of "caveman" stories.

Current Location: cave

Captain Blood (1935) dir. Michael Curtiz

When he was a wild Irish lad, Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) fought for the French against the Spanish, the Spanish against the French, and learned to sail with the Dutch. But with his earnings, he got training in the medical arts and retired from action to become a doctor. In 1685 Dr. Blood is called out of his bed to treat a wounded man. Unfortunately, the man is a rebel against King James II (Vernon Steele). And under the king's proclamation, anyone who gives aid to a traitor is themselves a traitor. A cruel judge sentences Blood and the other rebels to hang, but the king is in need of cash, so the sentence is commuted to being transported to the West Indies and sold into ten-year slavery.

Peter's pride initially would condemn him to the sulfur mines, but his handsomeness and bearing attracts the attention of Arabella Bishop (Olivia de Havilland) and she buys him. Having no actual need for a slave, she loans him to her uncle Colonel Bishop (Lionel Atwill) to work on his plantation. Discovering that Governor Steed (George Hassell) of Port Royal, Jamaica, is having no luck with the local doctors in treating his gout, Arabella gets Dr. Blood permission to leave the plantation from time to time to use his medical skills.

Discovering that his fellow slaves contain several trained sailors, Blood conceives a plan of escape.
A fortuitous coincidence gives him and his crew the chance to seize a Spanish man of war, and the doctor becomes Captain Blood, one of the two greatest pirates in the West Indies. The other is his new partner, Captain Levasseur (Basil Rathbone). But Colonel Bishop has sworn to take Captain Blood down, and there's still the matter of that death sentence....

This 1935 movie based on the book by Rafael Sabatini was a return to full-on swashbuckler epics for Warner Brothers after a couple of similarly-themed but lower budget films had done well the year before. The leads were relative unknowns; this was Errol Flynn's first major American role, and Olivia de Havilland had only been in one big picture before, only a few months prior, A Midsummer Night's Dream. But they had a veteran director, a strong supporting cast, and an excellent composer for the soundtrack (though Erich Wolfgang Korngold lifted heavily from Liszt for lack of time and insisted on being listed as "musical arranger." And audiences saw the chemistry between the leads and loved it.

This is indeed one of the classic Hollywood movies. Good acting, excellent direction, swell music, and let's not forget the fight scenes! It's nearly two hours, but they're well-spent. There are fun supporting characters, like Honesty the man who isn't honest, and the Reverend Ogden, preacher turned pirate with a bible verse for every occasion.

There are, as always, a few quibbles. King James II is perhaps historically mischaracterized to make him more villainous. Captain Blood may object to himself and fellow Englishmen being enslaved, but his hatred of slavery isn't against the idea of it. (A few black people are seen in cameos, but none of them are relevant even though they too would be slaves.) There's period sexism towards Arabella, who largely shrugs it off.

Content note: Slavery, torture, whipping. The women we see in Tortuga are heavily implied to be prostitutes. A man deliberately mutilates himself.

Overall: A great movie for enjoying a night in, or if you can see it at a film festival. My DVD had "Warner Brothers Night at the Movies" with extra shorts to simulate the whole moviegoing experience in 1935.

Current Mood: hot

Hollywood Safari (1997) dir. Henri Charr

Two teenagers sneak away from a summer camp near Cedar Creek, California* to look at some better scenery. This is spoiled when one of them is mauled by a mountain lion. Two days later, a lioness named Kensho escapes from a poorly-secured trailer owned by "Hollywood Safari", a family-owned animal trainer operation. Kensho is promptly mistaken for the attacker and captured by the sheriff's department. Now the family must prove their animal's innocence before she is wrongfully destroyed!

Good: There's some nice scenery.

Less Good: This is the sort of story where all the characters must be simpletons to make the plot work. We can forgive the teenagers at the beginning because, well, teenagers who had no particular reason to think a crazed mountain lion was in the area. But then the Hollywood Safari employees fail to properly secure Kensho's trailer, then don't immediately check to make sure their animals are safe after a highway accident caused by a possibly drunk jackass driver.

Sheriff Todd (Kenneth Tigar) knows that Deputy Rogers (John Savage) is trigger-happy, not good at following orders, and is after his job. But he still leaves Rogers in charge while the Sheriff is out of town. Rogers immediately turns into a tinpot dictator, ordering the immediate execution of Kensho without waiting for any proof she's the killer, bullying animal control officers, and completely disregarding anything the Hollywood Safari folks have to say. When Rookie McLean (Benjamin King) meekly suggests that maybe they should do things by the book, Rogers threatens his job.

Mom (Debby Boone) gets arrested for delaying the execution, the sons go out to find the real culprit with evidence stolen from the police, and Dad has no luck finding a rational person to talk to Deputy Rogers. Plus, it turns out the mountain lion was turned killer by incompetent poachers. It's a good thing Muddy the dog is there to fix everything!

Bafflingly, this movie made enough money to spawn a short-lived TV spinoff series.

Content note: While the lion attack looks staged to the point even small viewers should have no problems, the aftermath is shown and a bit gory. There's some fisticuffs late in the movie. Kensho is threatened by guns and lethal injection, and presumably the guilty mountain lion is euthanized after the story is over.

Overall: A pretty bad movie. Skip unless it's a part of your childhood nostalgia or you're looking for the tiny role played by Don "the Dragon" Wilson.

*This may or may not be the Cedar Creek, California from the 1995 film Outbreak.

The 13th Warrior (1999) dir. John McTiernan

Ahmed ibn Fahdlan (Antonio Banderas) was not always a warrior. Once he was a poet, esteemed for his skill with words. But then he fell in love with another man's wife, and to avoid scandal, Ahmed was sent as an ambassador to the far north. There, he happened on the funeral of a Viking chief, and the succession of Buliwyf (Vladimir Kulich) as the new king. Buliwyf had little time to celebrate his ascension, as a messenger comes from King Hrothgar calling for aid against a menace that must not be named. The oracle cast the bones, and declared thirteen warriors must go on this quest. Buliwyf himself is the first, followed by eleven of his best fighters, including Herger the Joyous (Dennis Storhoi). But the thirteenth warrior must be no Northman, hey, Ahmed isn't a Northman, he's drafted!

On the long journey north, Ahmed learns the language of his new captors/comrades. Once at the village of Hrothgar, it's learned that the enemy is the Wendol, the Eaters of the Dead. They're mysterious beings that appear half-man, half-bear, striking at night in the fog, their corpses vanishing, and apparently in control of the "fire worm." Ahmed may be no warrior, but he's going to have to learn fast to survive!

This movie is based on a novel by Michael Crichton (who also reshot some scenes), which takes much of its structure from the legend of Beowulf. There are no monsters in this version, with rational explanations for almost everything that happens. (Except that the Wendol seem to have appeared out of nowhere recently, but their lifestyle is conspicuous enough that their neighbors would logically have known about their presence years before.)

There's good music, individual scenes are well-shot, and the handful of main characters are well-acted. I teared up during the sequence just before the final battle when the defenders of the village give their funeral oration. Omar Sharif is good in his extended cameo at the beginning.

On the other hand, several of the thirteen warriors only get one line and then barely appear before dying, so we only learn their names and special characteristics from the closing credits. And in general, the editing seems rushed, leaving out scenes and characterization, dropping at least one subplot mid-film, and suddenly introducing a new victory condition our heroes must accomplish to permanently defeat the Eaters of the Dead. Apparently this was caused by the studio not liking the original cut and too many fingers being in the pie in post-production.

As often with Crichton products, there's a mix of well-done research and just making stuff up, but with the legendary base of the story, this works well.

Content note: Gore, implied cannibalism, implied extra-martial sex. Northmen and Arabs alike show ethnic prejudice.

A good popcorn movie for people who don't mind plot holes.

The Armour of God (1986) dir. Jackie Chan

Jackie (Jackie Chan) used to belong to a pop singing group called The Losers. But his best friend Alan (Alan Tam) and sweetheart Lorelei (Rosamund Kwan) fell in love and the group broke up. Jackie switched careers entirely and became a soldier of fortune codenamed "Asian Hawk." Recently, Jackie stole a large sword from an African tribe to sell to the highest bidder.

It turns out that this sword is special; it's known as The Sword of God, part of the regalia known as The Armour of God. On this alternate Earth, King Arthur led the Crusades against the Satanists, supposedly using this set of armor to vanquish the dark forces. A remnant of the Satanists, posing as a monastery in Yugoslavia, have two of the pieces, and based on Jackie's success with the sword, decide he's a good candidate to acquire the remaining pieces so that they can plunge the world into darkness again.

One of the Satanists sensibly suggests simply paying Jackie a large sum of money for the task, but this approach is immediately shot down as not evil enough. Instead, the Satanists will kidnap Lorelei and force Jackie to fetch the armor for them.

By the time Jackie learns of the kidnapping from Alan, he's already sold the Sword. But he knows the other two pieces are in the possession of millionaire antiquities collector Bannon (Bozidar Smiljanic), so he and Alan head there to try to persuade that man to help them. It turns out Bannon's daughter May (Lola Forner) is the one who bought the Sword on her father's behalf. After some silliness, Bannon agrees to lend his parts of the Armour of God to our protagonists in hope of capturing the missing pieces for himself, so May is now on the mission too.

Can this unlikely trio infiltrate the monastery, rescue Lorelei and secure the Armour of God?

This is a lighthearted action film, full of spectacular stunts, including a chase scene with a tricked out Mitsubishi Colt. The full on martial arts scenes are concentrated at the end.

Good: Spectacular stunts and self-deprecating comedy are still Jackie Chan's strong suits. Jackie's directing skills are well-shown. Oh, and professional singer Jackie Chan gets to sing the song over the closing credits!

Less good: Seeing the movie again after many years, it occurs to me that Jackie's character is an outright thief. He's not even collecting for a museum, just money! And the opening sequence treats Africans poorly for what is supposed to be "the present day"; I can only assume they were deliberately dressing down and not using modern weaponry because it was a religious ceremony.

Lorelei is a useless damsel in distress type; May is bossy but not actually competent as a sidekick, as her marksmanship medals turn out to mean nothing when the targets are moving. May's only consolation is that the cowardly and weak Alan is no more use than she is. Some actual competent women, black women at that, do show up towards the end, but they have no actual lines and their outfits are impractical. And yet, this movie still feels less hostile towards the female characters than the sequel, Operation Condor.

There's a waiter who's a pretty obvious gay stereotype, but other than being comical he's not treated negatively.

Overall, a fun movie with a lot of good points, but it is sorely dated, which may make it less attractive to younger audiences.

Current Mood: hot
Current Music: "Flight of the Dragon"--Jackie Chan

The Devil with Wings by L. Ron Hubbard

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Full Disclosure: I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway in the expectation that I would review it. Presumably this was influenced by my review of an earlier book in the series, "If I Were You."

This volume is part of the "Golden Age Stories" reprints of L. Ron Hubbard's pulp writing. A lot of effort has been put into making the book physically attractive, and the appearance is of very high quality. I wish some other authors got the same treatment!

The short novel within is set in 1930s Manchukuo, a part of northeastern China set up as a puppet state by the Japanese invaders. The Japanese are being battled by a man they call "Akuma no Hane", which the author translates as "the devil with wings." (A closer translation would be "The Devil's Feather." Most of the names of Japanese people are likewise suspect.) This mysterious black-clad aviator has been harrying their troops for the last three years.

But now it seems Akuma no Hane has gone too far, killing the American civil engineer Robert Weston. Now, not only is Captain Ito Shinohari of Japanese Intelligence after the aviator, but Bob's sister Patricia is also out for blood. Now the pilot and his faithful sidekick Ching must race to discover the truth and head off a Russian-japanese war!

This is an exciting pulp story, foll of action and gunplay. The centerpiece is a fierce dogfight told from Patricia's confused viewpoint in the back of Akuma no Hane's plane. The period racism is toned down considerably; Shinohari isn't evil because he's Japanese, but because he cares more about his own advancement than the good of his country. The Japanese in general are in the wrong, but that's because they're invaders, not the color of their skin.

The story does less well with Patricia, whose bravery and determination are emphasized in her first confrontation with Akuma no Hane, And then...she accomplishes absolutely nothing in the story, becoming a tagalong for the Devil. There's a romance angle, but it's badly shoehorned in towards the end. A woman with agency Patricia is not. If that sort of thing bothers you, take off half a star.

The volume comes with a glossary, which will be helpful for readers who are unfamiliar with 1930s history, plus the same introduction and potted hagiography of L. Ron Hubbard that comes with every volume in the series, plus a several page preview of "The Green God," another volume in the series.

This is a very quick read, and with the recycled material, I cannot recommend paying full price for this one. If you enjoy daring tales of aviation and the Far East, check to see if you can get The Devil--with wings from your library, or wait until it shows up used.

View all my reviews