Reviews (15)

Good Sunday Matinee
First let me say I own all of Harryhausen's movies. I love his work so if I seem a little critical on a couple it is only because I know how great he can be. This movie may not be Harryhausen's best stop motion animation, but it is still a fine film. The hair on the centaur seems to move a little odd and the motion in the Centaur and Griffon fight scene is not as natural looking as the skeleton fight scenes in "Jason and the Argonauts". Otherwise this movie is very well done and packed with creatures. I especially liked the job he did on the magicians familiars. It entertains and has good locations and a decent cast. Those fans of Tom Baker in Dr. Who will enjoy him as an evil magician. It is good Saturday afternoon fare for the entire family. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys movies like "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", "Clash of the Titans", "Willow", and "Krull". I bought this on DVD in the Sinbad Collection set and I am very happy with how well the transfer to DVD was done.

Tie up your camel!
Sinbad embarks on another adventure of magic and monsters. In the pre-George Lucas/Steven Spielberg days, the greatest fantasy adventure films were the ones that featured the eye-popping special effects of Ray Harryhausen. This 1974 movie recalls the halcyon days of the late '50s and early '60s when Saturday matinees at the local movie theater ruled the entertainment world of pre-teens. Although this flick suffers in comparison with the superior "7th Voyage of Sinbad," there is enough to like about it to recommend viewing and ownership. The monsters are good, especially the centaur/cyclops that threatens the delectable Caroline Munro. The sword fight with the multi-limbed statue of the goddess Kali recall's RH's previous work in "Jason and the Argonauts" with the hydra-headed dragon and the army of skeletons. The animation and non-computerized FX are eye pleasing enough that one wishes for more screen time for the monsters. The plot occasionally gets in the way of the action. Once the FX kicks in, things get livelier. John Phillip Law is okay, if a little bland, as Sinbad. Caroline Munro in a slave girl costume distracts the male viewer from quibbling over minor faults along the way. Sometime Doctor Who, Tom Baker, is effective as Koura, the evil magician. This is good "G" rated entertainment that pleases Ray Harryhausen fans and pre-teens of all ages. Suspend disbelief and have fun. ;-)

Not as Good as the 7th Voyage.
Second Sinbad movie in the Ray Harryhausen film series (although it is not a sequal to the much superior 7th Voyage), kind of drags on it's heels and never quite takes off largely due to a poor script, the wooden acting of Law in the title role, and the absense of Bernard Herrmann not scoreing the music. The absense of him as well as a different film crew working on the movie never acheives the magic and sense of wonder that made 7th Voyage a special picture.

A Decent Harryhausen Flick
Before proceeding with the reading of this review, I have a message for those reading it: If you haven't seen "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," go do that. Don't worry about this movie, just go buy that one right now. That is the best of the Sinbad movies (and, in my opinion, the best of the Harryhausen films, but I won't profess that above my own opinion.) It is worth owning regardless and you should own that before you even consider this installment.

With that out of the way, I will now begin the review of THIS Sinbad film.

This begins on a sunny day, when Sinbad's crew spots a little gargoyle monster flying over the ship, carrying a piece of gold. One man shoots the gold and Sinbad takes it, despite warnings of its evil, and wears it around his neck. That night, he has dreams of a woman with an eye on her hand, a man in dark clothing, the golden item, and the flying monster. There is also a storm that night, allegedly brought on by the bad luck of the gold. On shore the next day, Sinbad is confronted by Koura, an evil magician who owns the gargoyle creature and wants the gold piece back from Sinbad. The legendary sailor is chased into a keep, where he greets the golden-helmeted Vizier, whose face was burned by Koura's fire. He explains that the gold piece is one of the three that form a map to a place where they must be brought to recieve three powers. Koura listens in via one of the little monsters and hatches a plan to follow Sinbad and the Vizier to the island. Sinbad also picks up a lazy drunk and a slave girl who he sets free, who just happens to have an eye tatoo on her hand.

I'll let it be known now: aside from the homonculi (the flying gargoyle things), there really aren't any stop-motion monsters for a good 30-40 minutes, when the statue at the front of Sinbad's ship is controlled by Koura. The plot holds your attention throughout this, but just barely, as due to the complexities apparent, like the Vizier's face and Koura's aging with each spell he casts.

The acting is... it's ok. Nothing great, but not noticably bad. There are some very cheesy moments, mostly involving the above mentioned drunk whom Sinbad is paid to take on the ship as a sailor. The writing isn't all that great either, but it lasts enough for the stop-motion effects to take over. What I'm saying is, you won't be bored, but you'll be pretty near close.

As for the monsters, they're up to Harryhausen's usual calibur. This movie's grandiose feature is the six-armed Kali statue. The fight between the statue and the sailors is very impressive, especially with how the arms are constantly moving and fluctuating with the movements of the swordsmen. There's still a good 30 minutes to go after that, which are mostly taken up in pursuit of a cycloptean centaur who takes the slave girl away into the caverns of Marabia to eat, as she has been sacrificed by the natives due to the single eye on her palm.

The centaur is probably one of the few Harryhausen monsters (perhaps the only one) that I found mildly disturbing. It looks like it should have some form of speech, and it even sounds as though it could, but it makes the noise of monsters, as if it's a human shouting and screaming like an animal. It's a very creepy sound, and while Harryhausen wasn't responsible for it, he puts it to decent effect.

The centaur battles a griffin later on. The Vizier notes it that the two beasts had been battling eternally, symbolizing the endless struggle between good and evil. They had fought before, and the only reaosn the result changed from the two walking away neither winner or loser was because of the interference of humans.

This is a decent fim, but only worth buying if you are a Harryhausen fan. The DVD doesn't have many features compared to certain other Harryhausen DVDs (*cough*7thVoyage*cough*) but it's better than nothing, which is what many DVDs offer. The second best of the three Harryhausen Sinbad films.

The movie is hamperd by wooden acting and a bad script...
The casting of Law for the role was a bad choice. He really plays the sailor with little creditablity. Regretfully that is only one of a thousand things wrong with this movie in addition to the terrible music score and the below par effects work. Between the script and the bad acting by everyone, it shows that even a Ray Harrysausen film can not stand up with no one doing their best to make it look good. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

go buy it have it now!!!
i own both seasons 1 and 2 of kung fu and it was my favorite show when it came and it still is!now only do you get action with this show but it teaches you about life!have any younger folks out there? i highly recommended this show for all ages it is pure entertainment both physically and spiritually!go buy it now you will not be disappointed!!

It NEVER ceases to amaze me
This series, and something as innocent as the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series are American popular cultural TREASURES!It never ceases to amaze me how some people "go out of their way" to look for racism.These people keep agitating & will never let things die down, and put things behind us.

In this case, and the Little Rascals series, somereviewers are looking for a platform & an audience to preach to.

Buy this series (and the Little Rascals for your elementary schoold kids)YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!

I'm inspired to do a kung fu website
As the title of this says, I am inspired to create a Kung Fu website dedicated to the show (I've already started the design). There are some available, but none cover it from the perspective I have. There are many episodes where Caine shows his displeasure of eating meat, and in the first season he even converted two different characters to being vegetarian. And in the third season, Caine finally rides a horse in the very final episode, but only after he apologises to it. Thirty years later, the show still holds up and does not look dated.

Still A Great Show, Even After 30 Years
I remember watching this show religiously when I was a kid and thinking it was the best thing on TV. The philosophy of life exemplified by the character Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) had a real and lasting impact on me. Watching the same episodes all over again 30 years down the road, I find that they have not lost their original power. I would recommend watching this show with your children. If everyone learned to behave more like Kwai Chang Caine, the world would be a better place indeed.

bruce lee myths
It is a common myth that Bruce Lee was involved in the creation of the kung fu TV series. The myth that it was stolen from him is just a fabrication popularized by the seldom factual movie "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story". He did however audition for the role and was turned down and rightfully so. Bruce was too big for the role of a humble monk. Why would anyone complain about him NOT getting this role, if he did he wouldn't have made any movies and would not have become a cult hero. He would just be another used and abused series character actor of the 70's.... With that said, this series as worth anyones time and money and amazons prices can't be beat! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Low-budget movie
I love this movie! I have waited a long time for it to come to DVD. Here it is 2004 - watching a movie made in the 1970's, that takes place in 1873. I just love the philosophy of this film - avoid conflict when possible. This is in stark contrast to every action movie in the last 30 years, where the hero is just looking for an excuse to beat up / kill someone. With the above praise out of the way, the reason I didn't give it a 5 is that the production values are terrible. This was a tv show pilot, not a Hollywood blockbuster. While there is an explosion, that is the only "special effect". Bottom line, Get this movie, just be prepared for a very "low tech" experience. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

TRIPLE DISTILLED HORROR... maybe a little watered down
The Oblong Box - Not a bad movie...deals with voodoo, schemes, and revenge. Vincent Price plays Sir Julian Markham, an aristocrat who is charged with the care of his brother, Edward, who was horribly disfigured in a voodoo ritual as punishment for some apparent crime he committed against the native tribe. Edward's face is messed up, along with his mind, and creates a devious plan to escape from his brother, who keeps him locked away in the attic. Well, the best-laid plans and such...something goes wrong, and Edward gets buried alive, but manages to escape and plots revenge. Christopher Lee has a bit part as an unscrupulous surgeon who performs experiments on freshly dead and buried bodies. The movie seems a little long-winded, and I felt about ten or fifteen minutes could have been shaved off, but no matter. The movie was passable, even though I saw the surprise ending coming a mile away.
The second feature was much more difficult to watch. Scream and Scream Again was a big mess of a movie. The first hour of the movie jumps between three different plot threads, and finally gets around to trying to tying them together late into the movie. The first thread involves a man who wakes up in a hospital room and only to find a limb missing. He wakes up at some later point, another limb is missing, and so on...the second thread involves Vincent Price as a doctor and a serial killer...the third involves a plot within a military state (the solders look Nazi in the way they dress, but the insignia is different). I ultimately think this movie was about the creation of a super race of human beings, but the scope of the story was too wide to convey this accurately. As I said, it's difficult to follow this movie until about an hour in, when they start to try and tie the loose plot threads together, but not very successfully. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing make appearances, for like five minutes each, and Vincent price shows up early for a short bit and then at the end for like 15 minutes.
The quality on both pictures is pretty good and the audio is not too bad, although on Scream and Scream Again, I felt the dialogue got drowned out by the music at some points, causing it to become muddled. A couple of trailers, and that's it for extras. I like how MGM seems to now be releasing their 'Midnight Movies' in a two for one deal, as if I had paid full price for one of these movies, I would have felt ripped off.

late '60s Vincent
this DVD combines two of Vincent's under-rated horror films from this era. "Scream and Scream Again" is a great movie...but the people at AIP ruined the film's legacy by giving Vincent top billing. the reason? Vincent is only in maybe 20 minutes of the movie...and this isn't an uninterrupted 20 minutes either. his big scene is in the lab at the end of the film as he kills one of his own robots that have gone corrupt, only to be confronted by Christopher Lee's character in an eerie scene. Peter Cushing's role is two scenes, and he's killed by the main robot or "composite" as Vincent calls them. However, these three horror legends have no scenes together and each one has nearly a minute or two of on-screen time sandwiched between other scenes with the London police and the scientist/coroner on the case. this is a good movie...but beware that the three horror legends that get top billing ARE NOT the stars of the film! the other film, "The Oblong Box", IS a Vincent Price starring film. He plays the brother of a man who was mutated in Africa by a bunch of witch-doctors for a crime he didn't do. Price's character {Julian Markham} had killed a child {the victim of a horse trampling} but the natives grabbed the brother by mistake! forced to wear a crimson mask because of his scars, the brother {named Edward Markham} plots revenge on everybody. Christopher Lee plays a doctor named Neuhart who can't help the brother but nevertheless the brother demands satisfaction. later, when the insecure Edward {played by Alister Williamson} feels that the doctor is double-crossing him, a swift slice of the neck with a blade does the trick and Lee meets his demise midway through the film. Lee is wearing a grey wig for some reason!? it's rather funny seeing him in it and deliver his lines in that voice we all know and love! "The Oblong Box" is a mixture of voo-doo, cult, and African cultures very different from typical Price horror movies of the previous years by Roger Corman and William Castle. "Scream and Scream Again" is a good movie for what it deals with {1970, release} and "The Oblong Box" is also good {1969, release}.

A Bit More Than Meets the Eye
There are serveral good reviews of this DVD and I'll not go over ground that's been extensively covered. However, there are a couple of things not mentioned that should be. First, Scream and Scream Again, when it appeared in theaters, was spooky as hell. At least I thought so as a 13 year old. Second, the thread mentioned by several reviews of the runner who wakes up missing parts actually is not a separate thread at all, but background to the main story. You see, Price is making people out of spare parts and well . . . you have to get them from somewhere, don't you? Third, the movie is an adaptation of a book by the same title, written by Peter Saxon--a well respected English writer of gothic horror and mysteries.

The book's better, by the way.

The Oblong Box is sloooooooow. Not terribly interesting and the end of the film is telegraphed well in advance. Price isn't at his best and I had the feeling this was one film he wasn't terribly interested in, himself. If you like Price, though, it's worth watching.

Closed Captioning on the DVD is available, though the CC'ing on The Oblong Box is slightly late some of the time. You find yourself looking at someone talking, get about 2 seconds of CC'ing and then the scene will shift to another view, often of someone else and you're still reading the CC'ing. Annoying.

Buy it for the Box
Heres one that i have to give only three stars as Scream and Scream Again is so very terrible. The Oblong Box on the other hand is a great Price horror flick and on its own would recieve 4 stars. You have Voodoo, a premature burial, lots of murder and mayhem and an ending that makes one shiver. At the low price these Midnight Movies are the best deals on DVD, and the double features are nothing less than a steal. The extras are next to none but the picture quality is great.

Bored And Bored AGAIN!!
SCEAM AND SCREAM again was something I saw a lot as a child and I never understood what was going on but I watched it anyone because it was VINCENT PRICE and it seemed to be a horror film. Well I watched it recently and on this very disc and still could not be able to tell you what the sub-plots in the movie are about. I could give you a vague guess and then tell you most of the movie is about a crazy scientist who is making super beings who live on blood. But it is SO BORING!! I don't know how I watched it so many times as a child. THE OBLONG BOX is my least favorite VINCENT PRICE movie so I cannot reccommend this under any circumstances when I refuse to own it myself. I immediately sold it after I watched it because I was so mortified by it's total lack of entertainment value. ... Read more

Amazon.com

"In your satin tights / Fighting for your rights / And the old Red, White, and Blue!... / Wonder Woman!" Could anyone who grew up in the '70s ever forget that super-catchy theme song? Originally packaged as the female version of the Batman TV show (producer Stanley Ralph Ross penned 32 of the caped crusader's episodes), Wonder Woman ended up redefining the campy, comic book genre. The primetime show immediately became a social and cultural phenomenon, attracting a wide audience that continued to tune in to America's favorite socially progressive superheroine.

Looking back on it now, it is easy to see the attraction of this unique show that oozed '70s culture, but was set in the 1940s. While trying to stop a Nazi plane from reaching the U.S., Major Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner) is shot down, landing on mythical Paradise Island.The uncharted island is the hidden home to the lost tribe of eternally young Amazon women. The Amazons take in the Major and nurse him back to health. During his recovery he attracts the sympathy and interest of Princess Diana (Lynda Carter, former Miss USA 1973) who is intrigued by the man from the mainland and his tales of the evil Nazis.She decides she must follow the Major back to the U.S. and join the forces of good against the tyranny of evil.So begins the saga of the beautiful Amazon Wonder Woman, armed with super strength, bulletproof bracelets, and the unbreakable, "truth-telling," golden lasso. What sets season 1 apart from the two subsequent seasons is that the pilot and each of the 13 episodes take place during World War II, corresponding to the original comic stories.In this season we see Wonder Woman battle spies, uncover Fausta the Nazi Wonder Woman, stop thieves trying to steal the secret substance of Amazonian power (Feminum), wrestle a Nazi-trained circus gorilla, and rescue an interplanetary visitor held captive by the Third Reich--all of which are priceless.

With World War II coming to an end, what will Amazonian Diana Prince do for Wonder Woman's second season?Sporting the biggest continuity jump in TV history, Wonder Woman's new network (now on CBS from ABC) decided to catapult the show 35 years into the future into "modern day" Los Angeles, 1977.Not surprisingly, the 35 years haven't aged the immortal one bit. In fact, she seems to have gotten stronger, her super powers have increased, and her mind is sharper and focused on fighting the evils of the modern world: nuclear weapons, terrorists, aliens, and the mind controlling influences of rock music. Season 2 kicks off with the awesome hour-and-a-half season premiere, "The Return of Wonder Woman."Returning once again from Paradise Island, Diana Prince teams up this time with former colleague Major Steve Trevor's son (still played by Lyle Waggoner) to protect humankind and to keep Paradise Island hidden from the free world.In the 21 episodes that follow, Wonder Woman will take on a nuclear facility planning to build near Paradise Island, a mad scientist plotting against the super heroine with telekinesis, mind-stealing aliens from outer space, an evil toymaker's demented androids, and a rock star (Martin Mull?!) who is using hypnosis to control the minds of his fans. In this new millennium, Wonder Woman may seem a bit cheesy to some, but to others this show and Lynda Carter represent the pinnacle of '70s television culture.Wonder Woman: The Complete Second Season is a completely satisfying guilty pleasure for those who want to indulge. --Rob Bracco ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Wonderful Series
I admit it.Even as a kid, I always like Wonder Woman the best.And for the silliest reason.I love her ability to change from Diana Prince to Wonder Woman by spinning.I always thought that was so cool.Naturally, this was one of the few shows I was going to buy if it ever came out on DVD.

So my list of shows I'm allowed to buy has grown, but this show remains a great one to have on DVD.This set is for the first two of the three seasons.As of today, that's all that's been released.

Season one finds Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter) leaving Paradise Island to help America fight the Nazis in World War II.The set includes all 13 of the WWII episodes, including the extended pilot.I'll admit to never having been a super fan of this season.To this day, it seems cheesy to me.I think one problem is that they give Wonder Woman too many "love will solve everything" lines.

Season two finds our heroine on a new network and in a new decade.Wonder Woman is called to the world of men once again to fight the evils of the "modern" 70's.Teaming up with the son of the original Steve Trevor (still played by Lyle Waggoner), she joins the Inter Agency Defense Command and finds plenty of danger to keep her busy.I much prefer the modern episodes because they allow Diana and Wonder Woman to develop a personality.I find her a fun character to watch.And she takes on the bad guys head on, more concerned with catching them then transforming them.

These DVD sets are great for fans.Both sets are two sided discs to keep the price down.With three episodes per side, you get a sharp picture and clear sound.Presented like they were on TV 30 years ago, there's nothing here that will blow you away, but there doesn't have to be.Season 1 has a commentary on the pilot and then a "how the series came to be" documentary.Season 2 has a documentary as well.

So the series is slightly (ok, greatly) dated.It's still fun for the nostalgia crowd.And Lynda Carter will always be Wonder Woman to me.I'm thrilled to have these, and can't wait to get my hands on season 3.Long live Wonder Woman! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Start the insanity
This movie is quite possibly the best movie ever made. Right from the start when he sticks his gun up that one guys butt to the end when he's jumping over cars, the action never stops. Sho Kosugi has one of the most expressive faces I've ever seen, from anger to fear to sadness he is able to portray any emotion. I'm deducting one star from this movie because of the scene when he throws the plastic toy wheel at the man in the truck like a throwing star it hit him slightly lower in the neck than I would have liked but overall this is an outstanding movie and I recomend it to anyone in the mood for action. ps Ray was on to something ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Ugly, the Bad, and the Good
When you buy one of those DVDswhich include several films for acheap price, you often get whatyou pay for; PRAY FOR DEATH is anoutstanding case in point. THE UGLY: One reason why I gotthis one is NIGHT OF THE DEATH CULT, which is the fourth of theBlind Dead series, and I'm sorry to report that the picture qualityis atrocious. It clearly came froma substandard videotape source, and is full of the sort of hideous artifacts that plagued budget VHStapes. Let's hope for a bettercopy of this title someday soon. THE BAD: The prerelease infoindicated that the notorious MARKOF THE DEVIL PART 2 was part ofthis package, but if you orderedit for that reason, you're goingto be bumming, as DEATH CULT is the only announced title which isactually included...come on, guys! THE GOOD: As to the movieswhich ended up being included,THEWEREWOLF VS THE VAMPIRE WOMAN is acampy Paul Naschy vehicle which isentertaining in its goofy fashion.SISTERS OF DEATH features an oddperformance by 1950s Sci-Fi heroArthur Franz as he menaces, amongothers, the ill-fated Playboy model Claudia Jennings...this oneoffers better acting than usuallyseen in such low-budget fare. Andlastly we have the ubiquitousSATANIC RITES OF DRACULA in apretty decent letterbox print. Iguess that Hammer must really notcare about this title, judgingfrom the number of cheap DVDs onwhich it can be found. All threeof this group are watchable, if not exactly DVD demo material. VERDICT: All in all, it's OKfor the price, but I'll be morewary in the future.

Excellent martial arts action. Villains are evil.
This movie is a classic martial arts gem. The fight scenes are well done, and the main villain is extremely evil which makes the ending even more appealing. This is a must see, if you like good martial arts scenes, and like to see really bad villains get theirs in the end. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

excellent
This is not a documentary, but it is an excellent example of historical fiction.
Flawed, but still very engrossing and perhaps the most intriguing take on the legendary character.
You may be dissapointed if you want porn and sadism.
If you want a character study that provides insight into the heart, mind, and spirit of a tortured soul this is an excellent film.

Dull Sade
Don't be fooled by the AIP pedigree of "De Sade." If you expect something like the inventive charge of Roger Corman's low-budget Poe adaptations, you will be seriously disappointed. For this misguided effort is both expensive and serious enough to manage the dubious achievement of making the Marquis de Sade boring.

It is by no means an ordinary failure. Visible talent went into it, and in fact the most interesting thing about the film is trying to figure out what went wrong. No doubt Richard Matheson's script, which has de Sade dropping in and out of fantasies and memories that may or may not be part of theatrical performances (there's a lot of "may or may not" in this movie) is part of the problem. This complex structure does nothing to add coherence to an opaque character, but in the right hands, say a Roger Vadim or a Mario Bava, it might at least make for a lushly fruity, passably entertaining movie.

I've seen only one other film by "De Sade's" director, Cy Endfield, the outpost-of-Empire adventure film "Zulu." It's a conservative, occasionally handsome bit of film making. Here, he tries all too obviously to make the film "visual," and "stylish," with complex camera movements, shock cutting, disorienting filters, and overripe decor. In the effort to be freewheeling, buxom beauties tumble in and out of de Sade's bed, dwarves deliver his toys on cue, a lot of bric-a-brac gets broken, curtains slashed, paintings burned, repeatedly and endlessly until you can't help wondering if de Sade's problem is simply having too much time and money on his hands. This trash heap of elaborately empty mannerisms proves only that Endfield has no sense at all of what to do with the material.

Keir Dullea turns in as creditable a performance as possible under circumstances that include his total miscasting. That he isn't convincing for a moment is almost a compliment. It's difficult to imagine how he could be any better when you can't think of anyone who *would* be suitable for the part.

When writer, director and cast exhibit the same symptoms of distress, that's a pretty good sign that the film should never have been made. There may be a good movie somewhere in the life of de Sade, but this strained, overcooked mishmash certainly isn't it.

Did we ever really know you Desade?
To quote the man himself "I have spanked a few bottoms" Pretty well somes up this film. The review preceeding mine somes up what I have to say about this film. If youn are interested in other films I reconmend marat/sade play set in a bathhouse and Quills a pretty strong work of fiction about the man.

from Fringe Video Fanzine Issue #005
Screen writer Richard Matheson [Stir of Echoes (1999); Omega Man (1971)] tells the tale of an elderly Marquis de Sade [played by Keir Dullea / Black Christmas (1974); 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)] laying in his death bed thinking about his life and his struggles for freedom. Twenty-eight of his seventy four years were spent in prison, as he was often "...hounded by the police on charges of inflammatory writings..." Telling the story of de Sade from childhood to manhood through flashbacks and surreal theatre sets; the movie gives a look at the innocent boy who was too often a victim of the "perverse brutality" of others. As he grows, so do his tastes. "...He exacts his sexual pleasure from the tender flesh of the women of France..." Filmed under heavy German guard at the royal palace of Charlottenburg and Saint Nikola's Cathedral in West Berlin the movie's sets and costumes are incredible. Like the Hammer Studios horror films, the movie is more a period piece than pure exploitation, yet it's subject matter alone is irresistible trash for any collector of bad movies. Uniquely a 1960's film, it was aimed at the Samuel Z. Arkoff produced Roger Corman [The Trip (1967) / Wild Angels (1966)] drive-in crowd. Surprisingly low on violence and / or nudity, and any that still remains has been filtered with an annoying purple jel over the camera lens to avoid censorship from the higher ups. Little xtras on the disc besides a trailer and short interview with Richard Matheson. A commentary track would have been interesting, but still grateful that MGM dusted this one off the shelf in the first place. Collectors should be on the lookout for Peter Brook's Marat / Sade (1966) also released on the under the Avant-Garde Cinema collection. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Cry in the Wilderness
This TV movie first aired in 1974, but it is not in the least bit dated. It's the story of a family of three who have just moved from their comfortable life in Chicago to a run-down farm in the wilds of Oregon. When the father, played by George Kennedy, is bitten by a rabid skunk, he chains himself to a post in the barn and sends his wife (Joanna Pettet) in the pickup truck to bring back a doctor...if it's not already too late! In the meantime, young son Gus (Lee H. Montgomery) is charged with keeping up the chores and bringing food to Dad in the barn. Mom has all sorts of problems getting to a doctor, and it's in this part of the story that we meet a range of secondary characters, mostly bad guys, and it seems like she will never make it. Not helping things any is the fact that heavy rains are building up a huge volume of water behind a tangle of trees and rocks upstream from the farm, putting Dad and Gus in mortal danger. But Gus has previously been told in no uncertain terms not to believe anything his chained up father says to him because of the possibility of madness brought on by the rabies, and so Gus doesn't believe his father about the flood danger.

This is a typical TV movie -- entertaining but not a great classic. You can tell it's made for TV by the periodic fade outs for commercial breaks. These do not detract from enjoyment of the DVD. Best thing about this DVD is the superb picture quality. It's full frame, and that's the way it was photographed, so you get lots of nice sharp detail and excellent color. Anyone who is a fan of George Kennedy, Joanna Pettet, or Lee H. Montgomery will love this DVD.

Unintentionally hilarious
This is a hokey, dated, low-budget quasi-drama which crumbles despite a potentially interesting premise: a possibly rabid man ties himself to a post. Unfortunately, high jinx ensue, and whatever drama could have existed is obscured by child anti-star Gus' stereotypically bad acting and shaggy (anti)haircut. My favorite scenes are when Gus brings blankets (for no apparent reason) and gets socked in the kisser. The hallucinatory scene where the guy gets attacked by a Davy Crockett hat takes the cake though. Truly one of the funniest bits ever captured on film. Inconsequential sideplots abound, naturally... and what a conclusion! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Cry in the Wilderness
This TV movie first aired in 1974, but it is not in the least bit dated. It's the story of a family of three who have just moved from their comfortable life in Chicago to a run-down farm in the wilds of Oregon. When the father, played by George Kennedy, is bitten by a rabid skunk, he chains himself to a post in the barn and sends his wife (Joanna Pettet) in the pickup truck to bring back a doctor...if it's not already too late! In the meantime, young son Gus (Lee H. Montgomery) is charged with keeping up the chores and bringing food to Dad in the barn. Mom has all sorts of problems getting to a doctor, and it's in this part of the story that we meet a range of secondary characters, mostly bad guys, and it seems like she will never make it. Not helping things any is the fact that heavy rains are building up a huge volume of water behind a tangle of trees and rocks upstream from the farm, putting Dad and Gus in mortal danger. But Gus has previously been told in no uncertain terms not to believe anything his chained up father says to him because of the possibility of madness brought on by the rabies, and so Gus doesn't believe his father about the flood danger.

This is a typical TV movie -- entertaining but not a great classic. You can tell it's made for TV by the periodic fade outs for commercial breaks. These do not detract from enjoyment of the DVD. Best thing about this DVD is the superb picture quality. It's full frame, and that's the way it was photographed, so you get lots of nice sharp detail and excellent color. Anyone who is a fan of George Kennedy, Joanna Pettet, or Lee H. Montgomery will love this DVD.

Unintentionally hilarious
This is a hokey, dated, low-budget quasi-drama which crumbles despite a potentially interesting premise: a possibly rabid man ties himself to a post. Unfortunately, high jinx ensue, and whatever drama could have existed is obscured by child anti-star Gus' stereotypically bad acting and shaggy (anti)haircut. My favorite scenes are when Gus brings blankets (for no apparent reason) and gets socked in the kisser. The hallucinatory scene where the guy gets attacked by a Davy Crockett hat takes the cake though. Truly one of the funniest bits ever captured on film. Inconsequential sideplots abound, naturally... and what a conclusion! ... Read more