Reviews (47)

Top Julie,Average Movie
Noel Coward said of this movie,"It will undoubtedly be a marvelous commercial film,and Julie Andrews and Danny will
be wonderful;so will all those nostalgic,unforgettable songs.
But it won't bear the slightest possible resemblance to the
Gertie we knew".Coward,who was one of Gertrude Lawrence's best
friends and wrote some of Daniel Massey's(who played him)dialogue,was so right!"STAR!" is two films in one.First,it's
basically nothing more than a routine Hollywood musical biogrpahy,full of more fiction than fact.Robert Wise,Saul
Chaplin, and Twentieth Century-Fox spent far too much money on
the sumptuous sets and costumes(which do look beautiful in
Ernest Laszlo's gorgeous Technicolor photography).They should
have spent it on William Fairchild's banal script.And who said
it had to be three hours?Wise and editor William Reynolds should
have cut it by at least one hour.
But secondly, "STAR!" is also a Julie Andrews star vehicle, and
on that level it works.Vocally and dramatically,this is one of
Julie's best performances.Although she was wrong for the part
due to differences in voice and personality, Julie is winning
and winsome here.And she's never looked better on film!And,oh,
that soundtrack!Gershwin,Porter,Weill,and the others have rarely
been perfromed so well(magnificent work by arranger/conductor
Lennie Hayton and his crew!).
All in all,though, this is just a typical big-budget 1960s musical-entertaining for an evening,but nothing more.Not the
horror most critics and fans called it,but not a classic,either.
For a much better musical bio,try Doris Day's "Love Me Or Leave
Me".

This "Star" definitely shines!
Julie Andrews received most of the blame for the critical and financial failure of this film. Critics were not kind to her because she sought to drop her so-called "wholesome" image with her performance of Gertrude Lawrence. Actually the problem, if there is one, is the script. With its integration of newsreel footage, both real and re-enacted, and the behind-the-scenes story of the star who was once the toast of the Broadway and London stages, the film takes on a rather disjointed look. But the technique is an original, innovative and generally successful one. The musical numbers are exceptional with "Berlington Bertie...", "Limehouse Blues" and the finale, "Jenny" among the highlights. Daniel Massey as Noel Coward nearly steals the show. But above all there is Julie! She is magnificent! Surely no one else could have taken on the enviable but difficult task of portraying Lawrence in a massive production like this one. Her work is on a par with MARY POPPINS, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, HAWAII, VICTOR/VICTORIA and DUET FOR ONE! The close-mindedness of the critics and audiences at the time of STAR!'s release does not diminish the fact that the acting, singing and dancing of Andrews is a monumental achievement and elevates the film to near greatness! If you can see this film in a letterboxed, surround sound edition or better still in a widescreen movie theatre it is even better. The truncated version that is the most widely seen runs around 120 minutes and should be avoided. Try and catch the 175 minute version. You will not be sorry!

Missing STAR!
I own the VHS version of STAR! and the Laser Disc too. Both are compete versions of the film. Now I purchased the DVD of STAR! and find it pales to both the VHS and Laser Disc. What happened to the intermission title and Enter-act music? We are talking about a minute and a half of music. The DVD even talks about the intermission music and how to control the presentation of the second act. This is totally unexceptable. I think I will return this DVD and get my money back. I'll stick to the beautiful complete version on Laser Disc.

THE BEST ANDREWS
Wow what a film.... But as a biography is falls short on information about Gertie. However; as a Julie Andrews-extravaganza it is pure GOLD! Her timing and talent is beyond Poppins, Maria Von Trapp and Victor/Victoria:-))))

COULDN'T MAKE UP THEIR MINDS........
This Lavish, Spectacular, and ultimately hollow version of Gertie's life says very little about everybody, exceot it shows that the gal had drive, passion, oooodles of talent [Gertie said something about herself "I know not to bump into the furniture and don't sing tooo well, but I do try"]... and that's basically what we get here. [It somewhat smatters of that lavish Shirley Maclaine/Gene Kelly musical, you know which one - she's always marrying the wrong man - Kelly directed, with Paul Newman, Dean Martin, etc.]

JULIE ANDREWS is exquisitely gowned and coiffed ... and surrounded by a stellar cast Daniel Massey as the wry Noel Coward [old time chum of Gertie's ~ we never delve into his life - which would have been an interesting counterpoint to Gertie's - slightly predatorial, but UTTERLY, UTTERLY charming]

The movie is sandwiched between old sepia [recreated] newsreel footage] so we constantly jump from small scarchy period screen to widescreen and TODD-AO constantly ~ This version is new to me - I originally saw the shortened, cropped version - and unless I blinked -the length does defy concentration I believe that PARIESSIENNE PIERROT is excised from this version ... this one contains the eleborate, East Indian "Patella Tune" - too technical - not an inch of fun.

BUT JULIE does look spectacular - of special note is the final scene from 'LADY IN THE DARK' - that problem musical. An odd recording of this original with Gertie is around, strangely only "My Ship" and "Jennie" remain on this disc - the rest is just dialogue between Gertie and the psychiatrist ......

No, it is a fine DVD to own, but Gertie deserves just something else - perhaps starting with THE KING AND I [her final Broadway show ~ and her rather dramatic passing away during the run] and working back INCLUDING Noel's PRIVATE LIFE????? ... Read more

Reviews (8)

He Was Her Man
A simple movie that can be enjoyed by all ages. (Which is rare today) The songs and great looks of Elvis make this one enjoyable.

Change of pace in time for Elvis!
"Frankie and Johnny" is based on the old song about two lovers where Johnny is on a losing streak and decides he can change his luck with Nellie Bly. A jealous Frankie shoots her man because "he was doin' her wrong". This movie is sort of based on the song. Everything is true except the shooting part in the end, but it comes very close to actually happening. "Frankie and Johnny" is quite enjoyable no matter how "obscure" you people might find it. It's a real top-notch and every Elvis fan must see it. By the way, we need more reviews on Elvis' movies and music please.

Frankie and Johnny
Elvis appeared in this lighthearted musical based on the folk song, "Frankie and Johnny". In the original song, the title characters are lovers whose romance goes awry when red-headed Nellie Bly steals Johnny away from Frankie. Frankie gets revenge by shooting Johnny dead. The movie lightens the tone of the tale by adding a few details and changing the downbeat ending. In the film, the song has been especially written for riverboat performers Frankie and Johnny, played by Donna Douglas (The Beverly Hillbillies) and Elvis Presley. Johnny is a gambler whose bad luck changes when dancer Nellie Bly, played by Nancy Kovak, joins the troupe aboard the riverboat. Each night, the three perform the number "Frankie and Johnny" onstage. As Johnny's interest in Nellie increases, so does Frankie's jealousy. One night, someone loads real bullets into Frankie's prop gun, and Johnny is shot during the performance. As luck would have it, Johnny is saved by a charm that he wears around his neck.

The film did benefit from the juicy secondary roles played by a seasoned cast of character actors which keep the film from being any less interesting. Harry Morgan, who later gained recognition on the TV series M*A*S*H played Cully the piano player. Robert Strauss, the burly villain in many crime dramas, played Blackie, the boss's stooge and Sue Ane Langdon portrayed Mitzi, the girl who is always edged out in the romance department.

Produced for United Artists by Edward Small. Released March 31, 1966. Color.

Boy what's wrong with you people?
Like other Elvis Presley movies, he gets into fights. But he seems to have lost his luck in most of the 60's then he had starting in the mid to late 50's. As the movie opens, Johnny (Elvis Presley) is a riverboat singer and gambler nad his sining partner named Frankie (Douglas) won't marry him until he gives up gambling. So Johnny decides to end his losing gambling ways by getting help from a fortune teller. She tells him to get a lucky red head. And Johnny does find one in a redhead (Nancy Kovack).

Typical mid-60s Elvis musical
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY is better than the previous two films (TICKLE ME and HARUM SCARUM), but that doesn't mean that it succeeds on all levels.

Elvis looks quite comfortable in the costumes he wears in this picture, but the lousy dialogue and dumb plotline are anything but brilliant.

The songs are okay, but nothing outstanding. Only "Please Don't Stop Loving Me" could succeed on it's own.

It's not as bad as some of the other Elvis pictures of the era, but it's not an essential addition to anyone's collection. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Until Sam Fuller came along, movies in the 1960s were stillbound by Hollywood's self-imposed and often hypocritical rules ofdiscretion. The crimes and misdemeanors of lurid pulp fiction remainedon drugstore spin-racks and newsstands, diluted on screen until Fuller,with his cigar-chomping audacity and confrontational style, liberatedmovies from artificial restraint and kicked them into the meaner,darker, but more honest maturity of the post-Kennedy era. ShockCorridor announced Fuller's brazen agenda a year earlier, butThe Naked Kiss is even more astonishing because its trashy,provocative plot dares to find depth and humanity beneath the hardenedshells of corrupted souls.

The film begins like no other before it: Kelly (Constance Towers) beatsher pimp with a handbag, grabs the cash he owes her, adjusts hertelltale wig and makeup, and sets out to begin life anew, free from theshame of prostitution. Two years later she's in Grantville, a typicallyRockwellian slice of Americana, working wonders with disabled kids andgaining distance from her miserable past. She's even engaged to thetown's most respected citizen, but dark clouds are gathering: a corruptcop knows Kelly's hidden secrets; a nearby brothel taints thecommunity; and a pedophile is lurking in the shadows. Through it all,Fuller calibrates The Naked Kiss with such precision thatsentiment and sordidness can run parallel without colliding, shiftingfrom outrageous vice to shameless tear-jerking with equal facility.With twisted tricks up his sleeve, Fuller can be accused of tabloidtackiness, but that would be missing the point: In Fuller's cruel andugly world, compassion still finds a way to survive. --JeffShannon ... Read more

Reviews (20)

CRIPPLED SOULS
Produced, written and directed by Samuel Fuller, THE NAKED KISS is a little jewel. Constance Towers, in a " à la Gena Rowlands " role, gives a performance you won't forget easily. A great thanks then to Criterion which allows us to rediscover this wonderful movie.

Samuel Fuller, from his 1940 debut in Hollywood until his last movies in France, deserves to be considered as one of the great american directors of the last fifty years. He mainly visited the western, war movies and film noir genres and gave us such masterpieces as FORTY GUNS, SHOCK CORRIDOR and UNDERWORLD, U.S.A. With no big stars but with a style of its own. Raw, violent and provocative, for the eyes and also for the intellect.

THE NAKED KISS is a movie destined to shock the audience. An emotionally ultra-violent first scene prepares us to a journey through Cinderella Land and the Garden of Evil. Samuel Fuller won't let anybody unharm. The Charming Prince, the Hooker with a heart big as the world, the Cop blasé : everybody will suffer in front of Fuller's camera.

It's the third time I watch THE NAKED KISS, the first time on DVD, and I like it even more now. Its atmosphere is one of the strangest you can find on film. Remember Charles Laughton's NIGHT OF THE HUNTER ? One can feel a bit of this dreamy atmosphere in Fuller's movie. The child song Constance Towers sings with the handicapped children will give you the chill.

Image is great, a few white spots now and then coming from a non-perfect copy. The sound is good but you'll have to turn your volume control. Scene access and theatrical trailer as bonus features.

A DVD for your library.

The double moral
Fuller gave us a ravishing work. plenty of kinetic energy, without anu pause, directly he engages the viewer, around a prostitute who refuses making that job, and to establish in another land with the illusion of reborn with a new name and profession.
She turns in nurse and works in a hospital. she's very pretty and soon she'll meet a man who ask for her to marry him.
Suddenly she finds out awful who'll give her life a twist of fate.
You are the judge and make your own opinion. But meanwhile her past is known by the little neighborhood and you can imagine what that means.
After inquiring her, she'll be free, but she'll let the town, because it doesn't deserve the efforts made for her.
Fuller established this bitter film just in the middle of the sixties in a world shocked by high tension : Vietnam's war, Kennedy's murder, and the racial issues.
May be this was the main reason why this film was underrated. Too much high point temperature in the social body of USA in that moment. Please notice the films awarded by the Academy in that age, there were elusive pictures, think it Mary Poppins, My fair Lady, Tom Jones , Irma la dulce , for avoid to remind the troubled state of things for that special moment.
However the film has prevailed and thanks to the efforts of Criterion it's possible to appreciatte this cult movie.
Don't miss this one.

Whatever you were expecting....
doesn't prepare you for the musical number halfway through the picture. Jarring is perhaps the best description. Just roll with it and enjoy the denouement.

an interesting and unusual film
This review is for the Criterion Collection edition

In this film a former prostitute who moves to a small town to try and get on with her life. She takes a job as a nurse in a children's hospital. She makes several friends in the town and later finds herself in trouble.

This movie has a very interesting plot and touching end but I don't want to give any spoilers

Criterion only added a theatrical trailer for special features making it kind of dull. The accompanying paper still has the standard essay on the film though.

So bad its...bad.
Don't get me wrong; I like trash. But this manages to be both very dull and very over the top at the same time. Constance Towers is ok (its no wonder she ended up doing soaps; she has that "almost convincing" way of acting). Anthony Eisley is fair. The movie has some of the absolute worst, terrible, shockingly bad child actors imaginable.

The bad acting, fake streets and sets, stereotypical characters and sheer length make this painful. Nothing rings true enough to take it seriously--but how can you laugh at crippled children and child molesters? Its like Roger Corman without the fun.

Worth seeing--maybe--but how people can attach such importance to imcompetant schlock..... ... Read more

Description

Cult director Al Adamson brings The kings of horror together in one film - they meet in a fight of fright! Judith Fontaine (Regina Carrol) is looking for her sister Joanie, who has apparently disappeared into the hippie community of Venice, California. As it turns out, Joanie has become the victim of Groton (Lon Chaney Jr.), an axe-wielding homicidal maniac. Dr. Durray (J. Carrol Naish), the last of the Frankensteins' bloodline, is now running a house of horrors by the beach and has been performing experiments on Groton's victims. One night, Count Dracula (Zandor Vorkov) visits the doctor, showing him the original Frankenstein creation that was buried in a nearby graveyard. With Dracula's help, the doctor painstakingly revives Frankenstein, and uses it to take revenge on his professional rivals.This entry in Troma Team Video’s Al Adamson collection comes with a commentary track by producer Sam Sherman and a featurette "Producing Schlock." ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Get a real buzz on.
Quickie-flick exploitation master Roger Corman produced and directed this epic example of schlock cinema. A forty-something cosmetics magnate takes experimental injections derived from royal wasp jelly to look twenty years younger. Impatient to achieve the desired results, she overdoses on the stuff. The massive jolt of wasp juice causes sporadic "insect girl" transformations that lead to murder. We doubt that Corman intended this little sci-fi thriller to be camp entertainment, but that perspective works best in viewing this film. The fright "makeup" consists of a bug-eyed head mask complete with antennae and goofy looking mittens with claws (or is it stingers?) that leave the human wrists conspicuously visible. Regardless of logic, the apparently wingless creature makes an insect wing buzzing sound, raised by several decibels. The acting, dialogue, and production values are typically low budget. The comic relief provided by Maureen "The Princess of Flatbush" is worth the purchase price alone. Die-hard fans of cheesy movies will recognize the slow-witted janitor as Yvette Vickers' slow-witted husband in "Attack of the Giant Leeches." This guy has very bad luck with women in both films. Collectors need this one, regardless. To others out there: get a buzz on. ;-)

A beautiful woman by day - a lusting queen wasp by night.
From Roger Corman, one of the most prolific director/producers in Hollywood, comes The Wasp Woman (1960), a film that was most probably influenced by 1958's The Fly, with Vincent Price. Hey, if Hollywood can turn a man into a fly, why not turn a woman into a wasp? Well, no one ever accused Corman of originality.

The movie opens up with a scientist getting fired from a company the produces honey as he is doing some strange experimentation. Seems the Scientist, Eric Zinthrop, played by Michael Mark, has been exploring the notion of using royal jelly to create a rejuvenation formula. After getting fired, Zinthrop contacts Janice Starlin, played by Susan Cabot, the head of Starlin Cosmetics. Starlin Cosmetics is losing sales due to the fact that Ms. Starlin was the only spokesperson for the cosmetics, and now that she is aging, sales are falling off.

After talking to Zinthrop and seeing his success on turning back time with various animals, she hires him on, sets him up in a lab, and they begin treatments on her. The process appears to be working, but Ms. Starlin becomes impatient, wanting more results quicker, so she secretly starts injecting herself with the formula. What happens? Take a guess...I mean, the movie is titled The Wasp Woman.

The acting wasn't bad, but we didn't even see the wasp woman until almost an hour into this rather talky feature. There are some bloody deaths, and the make up to create the wasp woman isn't all that bad, but the movie would have benefited from not making us wait so long in seeing the creature, filling up the 73 minute run time with nonsensical plot threads that don't develop.

Alpha Video provides an exceptionally poor print here, as the film has all kinds of blemishes and even drops out briefly at a couple of points. The picture appears washed out, and the audio is pretty poor. No special features here in this barebones release, not even a trailer, but for under ten bucks I wasn't expecting much. Now that I've experienced the quality of Alpha Video, I doubt I will buy any more of their releases. I would recommend someone interested in owning this movie on DVD to do a little research, as I have since found out a number of companies have released a version, some even on double bills with other movies. I will say the cover art on the Alpha Video release looks enticing, but, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for here.

Cookieman108

CAMPY HORROR AT IT'S BEST!!!
THE WASP WOMAN, ORIGINALLY RELEASED IN 1959, IS A CLASSIC CAMP HORROR FILM.
IT'S PLOT AND ACTING WERE VERY GOOD.
THE SPECIAL EFFECTS WERE JUST LIKE MANY OTHER FILMS OF IT'S TIME, FOR EXAMPLE, THE FLY, WITH VINCENT PRICE.
VERY TAME BY TODAY'S STANDARDS, BUT FOR SOME GOOD CLASSIC HORROR ENTERTAINMENT, CHECK THIS ONE OUT!!
IT'S VERY GOOD!!

The Leech Woman
"The Leech Woman" with Colleen Gray (also Grant Williams and Gloria Talbot) was the film you saw. In it she plays a woman with a wish to grow younger and finds the answer in the necks of young men! She uses a ring with a sharp point to puncture (I think) the spinal cord and drink the fluid. In "The Wasp Woman" Susan Cabot finds the answer to youth by injecting wasp enzymes into her blood stream thus making her beautiful by day and not so beautiful by night! "The Wasp Woman" was released in 1959.

I was too young to see "The Leech Woman" in 1959/'60 at the theater but I saw it on tv in the late 60s or early 70s, and I loved it! I saw "The Wasp Woman," in the late '60s, on TV as well.

prepubescent horror
Ok, slipstream back almost a half century ago. A coupla boys (me an Donnie) each plunk down our quarters at the Aggieville Campus Theater and enter into the forbidden world of cinema. First stop: the concession stand where I choose the usual Mike & Ike jellys (it was a game to see what flavor you put in your mouth by the shape but really they mostly tasted the same). Donnie (died in 1969 from leukimia) always chose malted milk balls because he knew I hated them. Next stop: the drinking fountains, one for adults and one for kids. I wonder how many chipped teeth was the result of us kids trying to jump up and to hang on just to look grown up to our peers, not to mention getting a good face washing. Third stop: right next to the drinking fountains was an Art Deco statue of a naked lady. Full sized as I recall, black granite carved. I knew I wanted it but not sure why, perhaps it was her smile when she looked at me. Last stop: Wasp Woman, the movie. I was young and the memory fades into the unsure since. But if this "Wasp Woman" movie is about a woman killing people with a special ring and then drinking their blood to achieve youth let me tell you it scared the beejeesus out of me. This movie and "Invaders From Mars" was the reason I was a bedwetter. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

CRIPPLED SOULS
Produced, written and directed by Samuel Fuller, THE NAKED KISS is a little jewel. Constance Towers, in a " à la Gena Rowlands " role, gives a performance you won't forget easily. A great thanks then to Criterion which allows us to rediscover this wonderful movie.

Samuel Fuller, from his 1940 debut in Hollywood until his last movies in France, deserves to be considered as one of the great american directors of the last fifty years. He mainly visited the western, war movies and film noir genres and gave us such masterpieces as FORTY GUNS, SHOCK CORRIDOR and UNDERWORLD, U.S.A. With no big stars but with a style of its own. Raw, violent and provocative, for the eyes and also for the intellect.

THE NAKED KISS is a movie destined to shock the audience. An emotionally ultra-violent first scene prepares us to a journey through Cinderella Land and the Garden of Evil. Samuel Fuller won't let anybody unharm. The Charming Prince, the Hooker with a heart big as the world, the Cop blasé : everybody will suffer in front of Fuller's camera.

It's the third time I watch THE NAKED KISS, the first time on DVD, and I like it even more now. Its atmosphere is one of the strangest you can find on film. Remember Charles Laughton's NIGHT OF THE HUNTER ? One can feel a bit of this dreamy atmosphere in Fuller's movie. The child song Constance Towers sings with the handicapped children will give you the chill.

Image is great, a few white spots now and then coming from a non-perfect copy. The sound is good but you'll have to turn your volume control. Scene access and theatrical trailer as bonus features.

A DVD for your library.

The double moral
Fuller gave us a ravishing work. plenty of kinetic energy, without anu pause, directly he engages the viewer, around a prostitute who refuses making that job, and to establish in another land with the illusion of reborn with a new name and profession.
She turns in nurse and works in a hospital. she's very pretty and soon she'll meet a man who ask for her to marry him.
Suddenly she finds out awful who'll give her life a twist of fate.
You are the judge and make your own opinion. But meanwhile her past is known by the little neighborhood and you can imagine what that means.
After inquiring her, she'll be free, but she'll let the town, because it doesn't deserve the efforts made for her.
Fuller established this bitter film just in the middle of the sixties in a world shocked by high tension : Vietnam's war, Kennedy's murder, and the racial issues.
May be this was the main reason why this film was underrated. Too much high point temperature in the social body of USA in that moment. Please notice the films awarded by the Academy in that age, there were elusive pictures, think it Mary Poppins, My fair Lady, Tom Jones , Irma la dulce , for avoid to remind the troubled state of things for that special moment.
However the film has prevailed and thanks to the efforts of Criterion it's possible to appreciatte this cult movie.
Don't miss this one.

Whatever you were expecting....
doesn't prepare you for the musical number halfway through the picture. Jarring is perhaps the best description. Just roll with it and enjoy the denouement.

an interesting and unusual film
This review is for the Criterion Collection edition

In this film a former prostitute who moves to a small town to try and get on with her life. She takes a job as a nurse in a children's hospital. She makes several friends in the town and later finds herself in trouble.

This movie has a very interesting plot and touching end but I don't want to give any spoilers

Criterion only added a theatrical trailer for special features making it kind of dull. The accompanying paper still has the standard essay on the film though.

So bad its...bad.
Don't get me wrong; I like trash. But this manages to be both very dull and very over the top at the same time. Constance Towers is ok (its no wonder she ended up doing soaps; she has that "almost convincing" way of acting). Anthony Eisley is fair. The movie has some of the absolute worst, terrible, shockingly bad child actors imaginable.

The bad acting, fake streets and sets, stereotypical characters and sheer length make this painful. Nothing rings true enough to take it seriously--but how can you laugh at crippled children and child molesters? Its like Roger Corman without the fun.

Worth seeing--maybe--but how people can attach such importance to imcompetant schlock..... ... Read more

Description

When a crazed arch villain (Michael Ansara) plots to overthrow all the world's governments by distributing bubonic plague-infected rats throughout the population, only The Doll Squad can hope to stop him - an elite band of female commandos who are as dangerous and deadly as they are beautiful! Maverick director Ted V. Mikels' tough-girl classic has never looked better than in this brand-new transfer made from the original negative. Starring Francine York, Rafael Campos, Sherri Vernon (Blood Orgy of the She-Devils) and Tura Satana (Faster, Pussycat...Kill! Kill!), the 1970s live again in Ted's opus of female action, full-body jumpsuits and shag carpet. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Guys And Dolls (And Rats)
This movie looks like Charlie's Angels, as envisioned by Russ Meyer, although it was directed by Ted V. Mikels (The Corpse Grinders, Girl In Gold Boots). Michael Ansara (Harum Scarum) plays Eamon O'Reilly, a villain worthy of a Bond movie. He first gets the government's attention by blowing up a rocket, with astronauts aboard it, that had just been launched. The doll squad is assembled to track him down and bring him to justice. Their curvaceous leader, Sabrina Kincaide, is played by Francine York. One of her squad members, Tura Satana (Faster, Pussycat...Kill! Kill!), first appears in an all too brief scene as a stripper. Along with the other deadly dolls, they track down the island empire where Eamon and his followers are hiding out. Unfortunately, Sabrina and some of the squad are captured there before their mission gets started. Sabrina is taken alive to see Eamon. It turns out he was a spy on the same side as her before he gave in to his lust for money and power. He tells her about his unique scheme for wealth and world domination. Eamon plans to overthrow the world's governments by unleashing rats infected with bubonic plague! He and his cohorts in crime will be inoculated against the disease, ready to seize control before the world's population knew what hit it. He tries to win her over with my favorite line in the movie. "All of this will make us rich, once my rats are nibbling on flesh throughout the world!" Predictably, she turns him down. Will the deadly dolls who avoided capture manage to save the rest of their squad and foil the villain? Watch the "The Doll Squad" and find out for yourself!

The Original Charlie's Angels
Female CIA agents perform as sanctioned assassins in this Action-Adventure. Starring: Michael Ansara, Francine York, Sherri Vernon, Tura Satana, Anthony Eisley, Rafael Campos and guest stars. Produced and Directed by Ted V. Mikels. A heartless arch villain plans to overthrow all the world's governments, by distributing RATS, infected with a test tube bubonic plague virus. Enter "THE DOLL SQUAD," an elite band of female commandos who are as dangerous and deadly as they are beautiful. (Where does Ted get all these girls?) The Doll Squad is skilled in martial arts and guerrilla warfare, and they use every trick in the book when they confront the evil madman on his isolated island fortress. As the forces of good and evil collide, all hell breaks loose in this explosive action adventure thriller! See if you can spot Ted V. Mikels in a cameo role as a murderous guard. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The secrets of time travel revealed
Thanks to the 1967 low-budget film Journey to the Center of Time, I now know the secrets of time travel. I'm even willing to share them with you and spare you the burden of actually having to sit through this film. Now all of this is going to sound more expensive than it really is; if you follow the designs laid out in this movie, I think you're probably looking at less than a hundred bucks for the whole thing (except for the giant ruby power source - maybe you can steal one somewhere). You're going to need a "time vault" but that can be any room with an automatic door. Then you need a time lab to go inside the vault - this should be a circular room filled with all sorts of dials and gizmos that serve no purpose whatsoever; make sure some of them are housed behind cardboard-like control panels. You must paint the walls of the lab the ugliest burnt orange color you can find - that's important. Now take your big old ruby (no, I don't even want to know where you got it), put it inside a birdcage, and rest it on a stand in the middle of the lab. Buy a camera and put a TV screen on the wall somewhere (black and white, not color) - this is for the benefit of the folks in the "control room" (an even cheaper version of the time lab set); they, naturally, can see whatever your camera shows no matter how many millennia you travel in time away from them. Next, find some scientists; one should look a tad like Henry Kissinger if you want to do this right, but any young man and woman off the street will do for his assistants. Make sure they refer to the space-time continuum, stabilizers, and other fancy words like that all the time. You won't actually need a burly, antisocial misanthrope reluctantly funding the project, but if you have one handy go ahead and throw him in there with the scientists just to shake things up a little bit. There you go. Turn a few knobs, count down from ten, and enjoy your travels back and forth in time.

I'm quite sure your own time travel experience will exceed that of the characters in this film. Imagine traveling five thousand years into the future just to meet Lyle Waggoner (if you do meet him, though, try to spell his name right in the credits next time). The sight of a pasty-faced alien Lyle Waggoner is so repellant, that this film's characters travel millions of years backward in time just to get away from him. This also serves the purpose of introducing a dinosaur into the film; as we all know, any time travel movie simply must have a dinosaur in it. I understand the dinosaur union is very insistent on that.

Journey to the Center of Time basically exists to be made fun of, but the thing that bothered me most about this exceedingly low-budget flick was the fact that the writer started making stuff up at the end. I mean, he went way beyond paradox and half-baked theory and just threw in something completely impossible without even bothering to explain it (which he could not have done if he had tried). That rubbed me the wrong way and ruined the whole effect of the one decent plot twist he had just pulled off.

This is not the 'Time' travel movie to see
I purchased this movie for a measly sum of money, and since I'm a fan of bad movies, I wasn't really disappointed. Made in 1967, this film offers nothing new or interesting to the idea of time travel or science fiction.
The plot? "I just inherited all this money from my daddy, and I want to know what you deranged scientists are doing with it." and they respond thusly; "We're travelling through time with it, here we'll show you right after we bore you with Einstein quotes. Whoops!" etc.
Disappointingly long and oft-times mistaken dialogue, this movie joureys to an extremely boring future that does include, as a highlight, an attractive alien spacecraft and its attractive female leader. This is subsequently destroyed by the low-brow humans of the future. The crew then attempts to go home, but overshoots into the far past with dinasaurs. The film-makers should have taken the cue from 'Journey To The Center Of The Earth' with Pat Boone, and not used a pet lizard to play a dinosaur. It always looks ludicrous, and it is no exception in this film. I won't give anymore spoilers, just don't pay good money to purchase it with out prior knowledge.

This must have been the Canadian prototype for ¿Time Tunnel.
To say this was low budget would be too kind. The stereotype acting is not stereotype enough. The stereotype actors are not stereotype enough. Let's face it; this whole stereotype project is not stereotype enough. If the budget was just a tad lower maybe this would never have been made.

Basic premise is an attempt to look into the future and into the past actually forces the lab to go into the future into the past. The lab is stuffed with good guy, bad guy, and screaming girl. The good guy does good things. The bad guy does bad things. The girl screams a lot. While back at the ranch, they talk of a lot about how they've lost the lab.

This DVD is perfect for testing the fast forward option. ... Read more

Description

Judith Fontaine (Regina Carrol) is looking for her sister Joanie, who has apparently disappeared into the hippie community of Venice, California. As it turns out, Joanie has become the victim of Groton (Lon Chaney Jr.), an axe-wielding homicidal maniac.Dr. Durray (J. Carrol Naish), the last of the Frankensteins' bloodline, is now running a house of horrors by the beach and has been performing experiments on Groton's victims. One night, Count Dracula (Zandor Vorkov) visits the doctor, showing him the original Frankenstein creation that was buried in a nearby graveyard. With Dracula's help, the doctor painstakingly revives Frankenstein, and uses it to take revenge on his professional rivals. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Groundbreaking science fiction
This double feature DVD includes one of the best science fiction films, an adaptation of H.G. Wells' story "The Shape of Things to Come." This melodramatic tale, released in 1936, foresees a second World War beginning in 1940 and continuing into the 1970s, devastating the Earth. Eventually, mankind rebuilds, constructing a new and better civilization, culminating in the beginning of space travel in 2036. The film's striking production design, first rate photography, literate, intelligent script, and fine performances (especially by Raymond Massey) make this an essential film for science fiction fans.

Unfortunately this DVD is a low-budget, no-frills disc, made from a smudgy print. The audio has not been cleaned up; it's scratchy and dialogue is not always intelligible. Hopefully a remastered version will be released someday, with perhaps a few extras.

The less said about the second film, "Journey to the Center of Time", the better; it's worthwhile only as an example of how not to make a movie.

This DVD is worth buying for "Things To Come"; at least until a remastered version is available.

What are they thinking?
This is a review of the combined product and the rating has no relationship to the individual movies. Some one is getting over zealous they just tied a Sci-Fi Classic "Things to Come" to a lackluster dud "Journey to the Center of Time". Just incase some one has not pointed out the differences. I figure there was room left over on the DVD and instead of adding extras they would fill the space with no cost fluff. You will want to look at the reviews for the individual movies before buying this hybrid or low-breed.

This must have been the Canadian prototype for "Time Tunnel"
To say this was low budget would be too kind. The stereotype acting is not stereotype enough. The stereotype actors are not stereotype enough. Let's face it; this whole stereotype project is not stereotype enough. If the budget was just a tad lower maybe this would never have been made.
Basic premise is an attempt to look into the future and into the past actually forces the lab to go into the future into the past. The lab is stuffed with good guy, bad guy, and screaming girl. The good guy does good things. The bad guy does bad things. The girl screams a lot. While back at the ranch, they talk of a lot about how they've lost the lab.
This DVD is perfect for testing the fast forward option.

Gave 1 star because I can't give a zero.
Poor quality film. Poor DVD transfer. No Extras. Waste of time. At least I didn't throw a lot of money away on it. Terrible film.

Things To Come: Good film, bad copy
“Things To Come” is one of those intelligent sci-fi films that you dream about. It is an adaptation of H. G. Wells book of the same name. Filmed in 1936, it traces the history of a (fictitious) world war that begins in 1940, and is continually fought until the 1970’s. The film show life before the war, life during the apocalypse, and finally traces world society into 2036, with a planned space mission, and a group of futuristic luddites who are opposed to the plan.

The sets and cinematography is pure eye-candy, and remind me of a rough Fritz Lang, and life during the apocalyptic war has become chilling, considering the possibilities that may happen in this war on terrorism.

It is an anti-war film. However, Wells naively thinks that scientific endeavor can save humanity. Contrast this with the idiotic statements that we got when the genome was cracked:

“Perhaps most surprising, two analyses released this month suggest that the entire human genome may contain fewer than 40,000 genes - about half the number that scientists have presumed (no more than a worm and a fly combined, Collins quips).”

Would you want scientist Collins, who can’t see the difference between a fly, a worm, and a human, to operate on you? And we are to build humanity on this foundation? Science had given us many trinkets, but she has failed to give us any meaning—due to the Naturalistic Fallacy. How do you get from “E=mc2” to “Love your neighbor?” The scientific endeavor, therefore, would just be a type of busy-work.

The copy is very rough and blurry at times, and the dialogue fades in an out, and the DVD has no frills that we love and use. But this rough copy is better than no copy at all! This is a perfect classic, and a must for an sci-fi junkie.

“Journey to the Center of Time” is bad. But I think it should be mandatory viewing for people who think that Star Trek: The Original Series was bad, since “Center of Time” makes Kirk look like Shakespeare! ... Read more