The Old Dark House (1963)

A bizarre, and not entirely successful, collaboration between William Castle and Hammer, The Old Dark House is a remake of the 1932 movie of the same name, but with a number of changes bringing it closer to the likes of Carry On Screaming! or What A Carve Up.

Tom Poston plays Tom Penderel, an American car salesman who is invited by his room-mate (Peter Bull) to join him at his family estate, an old, dark house out in the middle of nowhere. When Tom gets there it seems that someone has raced to get there ahead of him, and that someone is death. Yes, Tom's room-mate has shuffled off the mortal coil by the time he arrives, leaving the poor man stuck amongst quite an odd selection of individuals, all of them making up the Femm family.

As endearing as it is bizarre and clumsy, The Old Dark House is certainly one of the stranger "horror" movies released by Hammer (and, yes, I know that is saying something). Unfortunately, it falls between two stools. I would have liked to see either more of the movie played straight or, at the opposite end, quirk piled upon quirk to create an even stranger atmosphere from start to finish.

Castle directs with his usual taste for the bombastic, and the script by Robert Dillon (based on the novel by J. B. Priestley) works fairly well for the tone of the piece, allowing the cast to roll their eyes and go over the top at every available opportunity while the house creaks and drips and enshrouds them.

As for the cast, Poston is just fine in the lead role, but it would have been fun to see a more talented comedic actor in the role, reacting to the strangeness around him. Robert Morley is as good as ever, but sorely underused as the head of the household, Joyce Grenfell is a delight, Janette Scott is also wonderful, and Fenella Fielding puts in yet another sultry performance. Mervyn Johns and Peter Bull also deserve a mention for their fun turns.

I'd advise most people to visit the original movie first, which is almost always the best advice anyway, but this movie is worth your time. Once.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Old-Dark-House-Tom-Poston/dp/B008SGVUN4/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1389125336&sr=1-2&keywords=the+old+dark+house

The Ladykillers (1955)

When, years ago, I was eagerly trying to communicate to someone just why I loved The Ladykillers so much I said the following: "imagine if the Reservoir Dogs were stuck in a house with a little old lady and they kept trying to get her out of their way, but failing." Now, that was perhaps a silly and flippant way to describe it, but I was trying to do two things. First, I was trying to describe the plot in one sentence while highlighting what a brilliant blend it was. Second, I was trying to show how truly timeless it was. I may have failed to do either of those things, but at least I tried.

The great Alec Guinness gets, arguably, his best ever role as Professor Marcus, a criminal mastermind with a new scheme that seems so stupid it could be a stroke of genius. He rents a room in the household of kindly Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) and then invites his gang along to join him, only they're masquerading as a musical quintet. Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers and Danny Green play his cohorts and not one of them puts a foot wrong. Unbeknownst to Mrs. Wilberforce, she is crucial to the whole plan. Will everything go smoothly? Well, that wouldn't be any fun now, would it?

It's hard for me to know where to begin in my praise for The Ladykillers. I want to mention every actor, every scene and every great line of dialogue, but I don't want to be some rambling bore (for anyone who rolled their eyes and thought that I'd already made that my specialty . . . . . . . . how dare you). For the sake of brevity, let's just assume that I've already heaped enough praise upon Guinness,  Johnson, Parker, Lom, Sellers, Green, Jack Warner (who plays a superintendent), Philip Stainton (who plays the sergeant) and Kenneth Connor and Frankie Howerd, who both have small, but memorable, roles. And let's assume that I mentioned the many wonderful scenes and the many wonderful exchanges in the script and then repeated myself for hours on end. There. I think that should do it.

The screenplay by William Rose really zips along from start to finish and the direction by Alexander Mackendrick takes each separate element and puts them together perfectly, but it's the cast that makes the movie the timeless classic that it is. If you don't believe me then just watch the remake by the Coen brothers. Actually, don't. I'd never forgive myself for recommending it to anyone, even as a joke.

People who know my taste know that I enjoy movies across a very, VERY broad spectrum, but watching a film like The Ladykillers serves as a wonderful reminder of why I have, and always hope to have, a passion for film. It's easy to pick a number of worthy films that people should see and enjoy for a variety of reasons (technical accomplishments, acting prowess, etc. etc.), but it's also just as easy to pick a number of films that people should see just to be provided with flawless entertainment from start to finish. Films like this one.

If you haven't seen it yet then rectify that oversight ASAP.

10/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ladykillers-Blu-ray/dp/B0042FPSLA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1361640680&sr=8-4

The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958)

From the wonderful opening strains of the bombastic score (by Bernard Herrmann) to the immediate entry into strange adventure to the colour and vibrancy of the whole thing, The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad is a real treat for fans of fantasy films.

It tells the story, of course, of Sinbad (played here by Kerwin Mathews) at a time when he rescues a powerful magician (Torin Thatcher) from a dangerous cyclops. Unfortunately, while being rescued the magician also ends up losing his magic lamp with a genie (Richard Eyer) inside it and so is determined to return to thedangerous island. Sinbad refuses. He is too busy making preparations to marry the beautiful Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant) to embark on such adventures. The magician then secretly casts a spell that turns the princess into a teeny tiny humanoid, thus making him the one person that Sinbad asks for help. There is a cure, but the ingredients won't be easy to get hold of. Can you guess where they have to go?

Directed by Nathan Juran, from a script by Ken Kolb, this is simply great fun from start to finish. My only complaint is that a couple of the creations (mainly the cyclops and the roc) aren't up there with the best that Ray Harryhausen could do. They are decent enough, however, and also joined by a dancing snake woman, a dragon and even another fighting skeleton (a precursor to the bony army that would prove so memorable in Jason & The Argonauts).

The acting is all fine. Mathews is decent, if rather uncharismatic, in the role of Sinbad, Thatcher is wide-eyed and entertaining enough as Sokurah the magician and Grant is lovely as the diminutive princess. Eyer isn't the most grandiose or impressive genie, being just a kid in a shiny turban, but he's not onscreen all that often and doesn't do enough to spoil the whole film, despite trying hard at the very end.

The Sinbad films are great pieces of escapist entertainment, as are most Harryhausen movies, and I recommend both this movie to people and also the boxset linked below as a bargain way to pick up three fun adventures.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sinbad-Eye-Tiger-Voyage-Golden/dp/B002JF3FU6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1369131376&sr=8-5&keywords=the+7th+voyage+of+sinbad