An American romantic adventure directed by King Vidor.
An American boat arrives at an island in the south Pacific. The islanders greet them on canoes and when a shark approaches, one of the sailors tries to catch it but gets pulled into the water when caught in his fishing line. An island woman saves him who turns out to be the daughter of the chief and the two fall in love against the will of the tribe. They try to stay together, but continue to encounter difficulties.
For an old film, this looked alright. The acting and editing didn't seem weird at any points, but the quality of the audio and video definitely reflected the era. The plot was very traditional and the characters fit well into it's framework. I noticed that the American man was teaching the Pacific Islander woman English, but not learning her language. This is how it would happen in real life, but not the way that things should work. I actually liked the vintage style or flavor of the film, as it reflected 1930s American pop culture's romanticized notion of island life. I'm rating it adequate because I consider it to be well made and a reflection of the time in which it was created.
An American adventure directed by Robert D. Webb, starring Robert Wagner.
Competing families of sponge divers quarrel over territory while a young man from one side falls in love with a young woman from the other.
Romeo and Juliet has already been done, but with sponge divers? The plot was obviously lifted from Shakespeare and the characters were a little lame. The style was almost unique and not quite good enough, though there were some underwater scenes that looked cool. The sound was absolutely wretched. I'm rating this poor for lack of originality. The only thing that saved it from bad was underwater cameras.
An English adventure by John Huston starring Humphrey Bogart.
The leader of a crime gang and the owner of land rich in uranium meet with their wives in a port in Italy as they wait for the boat to be ready to leave. The wives get to know each other's husbands and seem to begin a simultaneous affair with these men, switching partners. When the boat leaves, the crime gang and the couples are on board when it sinks.
I liked the plot and thought it was interesting. Apparently, the script was written on a day-to-day basis while filming was taking place. The characters were good and the acting was adequate. There seemed to be something missing though, style. There was none. I'm rating this o.k. because it was mediocre and only slightly interesting.
An American film noir directed by Louis J. Gasnier.
A group of gangsters, tired of the same old crime, decide to start robbing banks. A pair of these gangsters intentionally get picked up for vagrancy and spend a night in a jail that is also a post office in order to steal some money. A detective, clumsy photographer and their lady friends try to catch the gangsters.
I think that this was very well made. The production, editing and acting fit the time period, but looked pretty alright. The plot was a little thin and didn't keep me very interested though. The photographer seemed to be used as comic relief, but in a film noir this seems out of place. For doing an alright job making a mediocre film, I rate this o.k.
A Japanese American science fiction directed by Teruo Ishii.
A superhero is sent from an alien planet to prevent another group of aliens from destroying the Earth. An Earth scientist who built a rocket is captured by the aliens, who want to force him to build a rocket for them.
This was a joke. The quality was sub-par in a good way. This includes simple plot, simple characters, lo-fi '60s style and all that jazz. The science of the film is what really made me laugh. When the superhero flies through space, there is wind and when he enters a spaceship, he just opens the door and walks in. No goddamn airlocks (Aliens) or anything. He just opens the door like it's a screen door on a sunny afternoon. Aircraft speed is another thing that had me in tears. Mach 120? 91267mph? Our fastest spacecraft today go mach 25 (19013mph) to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. This is the spacecraft with no airlock doing this AND THEN running into a space station! I have a feeling that there would be some serious problems if this was attempted with real-world laws of physics. Last bit of science fact, bending the satellite antennas on a spaceship will not cause it to explode. That would be like crossing the bunny ears on an old TV to blow it up. Ridiculous. I rate this adequate because it made me laugh. Only good for one viewing though. This picture looks too good to be true, so if it belongs to someone, let me know and I will take it down.
An American western directed by Bernard B. Ray a.k.a. Franklin Shamray.
A gang of outlaws is in conflict with settlers in an area and one of the outlaws shoots a settler in a bar. The sheriff tries to deal with the situation before everyone kills each other.
Clocking in at 47 minutes and 44 seconds, it didn't take long to get through. What was there was a little convoluted and murky of plot, unidentifiable of characters and totally lacking in style. The acting and editing was horrible and it featured only diegetic music when non-diegetic would have been better (my opinion). It seems to me that they focused all their energy on quantity of plot and characters rather than quality of anything at all. I'm rating it poor.
An Italian action film written and directed by Emimmo Salvi.
A new king is to be chosen from all the groups of people in an area. This contest brings a group of rebels into contact with the royalty against which they are rebelling. The leader of the rebels falls in love with a royal woman.
Lame, boring, poor quality, just another old movie. There was really nothing that stood out about this film to the positive or negative (and we all know how I despise mediocrity). The production value and editing were bad to the point where the video looked dirty (and not in an X rated way). The sound had similar qualities, but not as pronounced. The plot was a little murky at times and it was a little difficult to tell one gladiator from another in the ending conflict scene. The chariot action was as good as or better than Ben-Hur. I'm rating it o.k. because it was just a murky, scummy old movie.
