Hoping to cure his violent seizures, a man agrees to a series of experimental microcomputers inserted into his brain but inadvertently discovers that violence now triggers a pleasurable response!
This is a film by writer, and director Ranald MacDougall who wrote screenplays for such films as The Unsuspected 1947, Possessed 1947, Mildred Pierce 1945, and The Naked Jungle 1954.
With writing credits to M.P. Shiel from their novel “The Purple Cloud”, Ferdinand Reyher’s “End of The World” and co-written by MacDougall. Harry Belafonteis an uncredited producer of the film.
With an incredibly evocative score by Miklós Rózsa (Spellbound 1944, Double Indemnity 1945) and a Noirish framework by cinematography Harold Marzorati, it’s an edgy adventure for Noir and Sci-fi fans alike.
This could be considered a Socio-Noir experience, as it deals at times frankly with the issue of race and gender, while not as critically as it might be dealt with today, for its time, it approaches the subject matter with a narrative that starts the conversation.
Filmed with gritty realism, set in an urban milieu with characters who are flawed and in conflict with each other and their surroundings.
Harry Belafonte plays Ralph Burton a miner trapped under the city for several days as a result of a cave-in. After days of isolation and deprivation, he manages to dig himself out of his underground grave.
Soon after he discovers that the entire population of Earth has been destroyed by nuclear holocaust.
He ventures to New York City and stumbles upon a once thriving metropolis that is now a desolate urbane wasteland, not unlike the landscape that Charlton Heston’s Neville faced in post-apocalyptic L.A.
Much like Neville, Ralph sets up a home for himself but is suddenly thrown into flux by the discovery of Inger Stevens as Sarah Crandall, the last surviving female on Earth.
The World, The Flesh and The Devil is an allegorical journey about desolation, survival, human nature, sacrifice, and the evolution of men and women trying to define themselves.
Thrown into the mix of this newly formed friendship between the only living black man and white woman, intrudes a third character Mel Ferrerwho plays Benson Thacker a white entitled privileged male who has somehow navigated a small boat into the NYC harbor.
The triangle is formed and the tensions play out in a script that might have been penned by Rod Serling, who often took on the issue of race, class, and at times, but less so, gender with his thoughtful philosophical Sci-fi television show The Twilight Zone.
The two men struggle over who will be the dominant male suitor… who will take ownership of Sarah as if she weren’t already the last female on earth, her sexuality becomes amplified, her body thus systematically objectified to the nth degree, and does she even have a say in choosing neither of the men at all…white or black!
Try and catch this lesser-known post-apocalyptic tale filmed way back in the late 50s!
“The only problem we have is that there are two of us and only one of her!”“Why don’t you toss a coin!”
“This is New York, as no man has ever seen it. Empty, deserted, it’s teaming millions gone…! This is the setting for the most unusual picture ever filmed. The most daring idea or attempted in motion picture entertainment. The last three people alone in the world. What are the emotions of this girl? Facing a future that no woman before her has ever known. What of the man torn by basic human emotion as they stand on the brink of the unknown? Here is the film that crashes through time and the future. It may stun you, and shock you, but above all, it will grip your imagination as no film has ever done!”
“What would you do if you were one of the last three people on earth!”
(Anthony Perkins) plays Dennis Pitt, a mentally disturbed young man recently released from an institution, who tells a pretty All-American girl Sue Ann Stepanek (Tuesday Weld) that he’s a secret agent working for the CIA.
She’s thrilled to feed into Dennis’ fantasy world and that’s when all hell breaks loose and subterfuge Folie à deux and murder ensue, in this dark thriller from the 1960s. Co-starring Beverly Garlandas Mrs. Stepanek and John Randolph as Morton Azenauer
Directed by Noel Black and written by Stephen Geller based on his novel, and screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr.
“…Wait till you see what they did to his aunt – the night watchman – to her mother.”
Francois Truffaut named it as his favorite American film.
The film stars Tony Lo BiancoandShirley Stoleras Ray Fernandez and Martha Beck. Doris Roberts has a part playing Bunny. Also starring Mary Jane Higby as Janet Fay.
This is an intense, often grotesque film based on the true story of serial killers Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck who meet through a lonely-hearts correspondence club. Director Leonard Kastle creates a sickening atmosphere of acute sexual psychosis in The Honeymoon Killers , that forces you to feel repulsed by this pair’s Folie à deux.
Ray is a swarthy playboy, rough around the edges and a devious sociopath. Martha is ‘morbidly’ obese (and I use the term specifically tailored to her character), obsessive, paranoid and maniacally possessive of Ray.
The two concoct a dangerously horrific plot to lure lonely women into going out with Ray, until he proposes marriage. All the while pretending that Martha is his sister, a nurse. The plan is to con the women’s into turning over their entire savings, and then make them disappear. Neither Ray, nor Martha show any remorse of trace of humanity, within their claustrophobic narcissistic love affair. They are ruthless and brutal to no end.
The film is bleak, grimy and unashamed to show the ugliness of human nature. While it is unrelenting in it’s frankness, it’s oddly compelling to watch Lo Bianco and Stoler do their thing.
“One of the most bizarre episodes in the annals of American Crime.”
Mel Brooks‘ brilliant Gothic farce about the legend of Dr Frankenstein, with a humorous spin on it that only Brooks could do! I’m sure Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is smiling down upon Brooks and Wilder’s adaptation of her iconic contribution to literature, culture and film!
In the early 20th century, a Gorgon takes human form and terrorizes a small European village by turning its citizens to stone. This Gothic Hammer Horror of mythic proportions is directed by Terence Fisher and stars those British titans of terror Christopher Lee, as Prof. Karl Meister, Peter Cushingas Dr. Namaroff, and Barbara Shelley as Carla Hoffman.
European Director/Provocateur Roger Vadim(And God Created Woman 1956, Barbarella 1968, Spirits of The Dead 1968, Pretty Maids All In A Row 1971) adapts Sheridan Le Fanu’s tale of sensuality, jealous Obsession, and Vampirism.
The Gorgeous Annette Vadim is ‘Carmilla’ Karnstein who is jealous of her cousin Leopoldo de Karnstein’s (Mel Ferrer) upcoming engagement to the beautiful Georgia Monteverdi (Elsa Martinelli).
Carmilla’s fixation manifests itself in the form of a female ancestor who is a vampire, which possesses her thus beginning a siege of terror at the family estate, culminating in a surreal and stunning bloodbath.
Stumbling onto the ancestral tomb! Is it real or imagined?
This is a beautiful cinematic horror film… a surreal journey that is at times told in dream-like sequences that are utter visual feasts for the Gothic soul. Blood and Roses has some of the most memorable imagery, and tastefully lensed eroticism, especially for ‘Lesbian Vampire’ aficionados. One of my favorite classic Euro horror films of the 1960s.
Directed by Robert C. Dertano(Gun Girls 1957, Girl Gang 1954) Also known as Pin Down Girls!
Timothy Farrell (The Devil’s Sleep 1949,Jail Bait 1954)plays Umberto Scalli a gangster who manages women wrestlers as a front for his bookmaking, drug, and prostitution rackets.. Introducing… Peaches Page! ???
The strange love-life of a wrestling gal!
SHE WAS ONLY “18” AND EAGER FOR HER “NEW PROFESSION”
“He’s the kind of a guy who would change a girls evening stroll from recreation into an occupation!”
KINO VIDEO’s colorized version of H.Rider Haggard’s fantastical tale of immortality and passions literally on fire!~ Directed by Lansing C Holden and Irving Pichel
I am planning a more in depth overview of this beautiful film that plays like a surrealist opera, with extravagant choreography and fantastic art and visual design. Massive quasi Sumerian /Deco sets by Art Director Van Nest Polglase and set direction by Thomas Little. A stunning score by Max Steiner
 Costume Design by Aline Bernstein and Harold Miles
Randolph Scott plays Leo Vincey the descendant of his identical looking ancestor who claims to have visited an ancient lost land over 500 years ago, where exists the secret of immortality within the eternal flames of a mystic fire. Over seen by an immortal Queen called ‘She’ the entrancingly beautiful Helen Gahagan
Vincey sets out with family friend Horace Holly, the wonderful Nigel Bruce to discover this mysterious legend, taking along with him as well, the beautiful Tanya Dugmore (Helen Mack), a guide’s daughter.
They struggle through the frozen terrain of the Russian arctic, until they stumble upon Kor, the hidden civilization brutally reigned over by the vicious Queen She. Once She sets her sights on Leo, she believes that it is her beloved John Vincey, her long lost lover who left her behind 500 years ago!
“From H. Rider Haggard’s weird, wondrous story of the beautiful woman who bathed in flame and lived 500 years .. at last to find her first love at this very hour!”
