RIP Cameron Boyce.

RIP Cameron Boyce.

Movie number 59: The Neptune Factor aka The Neptune Disaster (Daniel Petrie, 1973). Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Hanna-Barbera’s 1972 animated tv series Sealab 2020, The Neptune Factor is a underwater adventure with an all star(ish) cast.

Subsurface research base Oceanlab is hit by an undersea earthquake, damaging the lab and leaving crew members stranded. Project head Walter Pidgeon enlists the help of submarine captain Ben Gazzara and chief diver Ernest Borgnine along with scientist Yvette Mimieux to survey for damage and rescue any survivors. However, the Oceanlab now lies at the bottom of an ocean trench and all manner of menacing sea creatures stand (swim?) between it and the rescue team.

Although partly filmed in the sea off Nova Scotia and in the Caribbean, it would appear that most of the trick photography was achieved in a studio; the effects are a mix of obvious model work and blown up footage of marine life. Edited in such a way that it is never completely convincing that men and monsters inhabit the same plane, as such, any sense of excitement that these sequences should have generated is lost.

Despite which, I feel it would be unfair to label the movie a total wreck. The earthquake scenes are impressive and Ernest Borgnine is always worth watching. As a whole, I did enjoy it but found parts of it rather dull, largely due to Daniel Petrie’s uninspired direction and a Jack DeWitt script which is short on thrills. This, more than anything, proves to be the movie’s undoing.

In an attempt to cash in on the then current craze for disaster movies the film was retitled The Neptune Disaster in some territories. However, it feels much closer to schlocky 70’s sci-fi than to the disaster genre. Sadly, The Neptune Factor is one of those movies where the poster art is more impressive than the actual movie; an ambitious underwater sci-fi ultimately waterlogged by a pedestrian screenplay and average special effects.

THE MAN IN THE SKY aka DECISION AGAINST TIME (Dir: Charles Crichton, 1957).

In 1955 the Ealing Studios were sold to the BBC for use as a production facility. Production of Ealing Films was moved to the MGM British Studios at Borehamwood and a distribution deal with MGM was secured. The deal was short lived; only 6 films were released through MGM and Ealing’s days as a production company were numbered.

The first movie to be released under the new deal was The Man in the Sky, retitled Decision Again Time for US audiences.

Ealing regular Jack Hawkins stars as a test pilot who must make a difficult, life threatening decision when the engine of his aircraft fails. Elizabeth Sellars co-stars as his wife who believes her husband puts himself at unnecessary risk.

Hawkins does well in one of his many stoic action hero roles and is ably supported by a fine supporting cast including Brit acting legends Lionel Jeffries, Donald Pleasence and Megs Jenkins. Charles Crichton, better known for helming comedy classics Hue and Cry (1947) and The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), proves adept at combining highflying thrills with the earthbound familial trails in what might have been an uneasy mix of domestic drama and disaster movie.

The suspense is held to the final reel in this fairly tense and absorbing drama which, while perhaps not quite top drawer Ealing, is still a quality product with much to recommend it. Aircraft connoisseurs will enjoy the location footage shot at Pendeford Airfield and the Bristol Freighter plane which Hawkins pilots.

Check out my blog jinglebonesmovietime.blogspot.com for more reviews of vintage Ealing Studios classics!

Movie number 65: The Silent Passenger (Reginald Denham, 1935).

Dorothy L Sayers’ amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey makes his big screen debut in this original story, written by Sayers with screenwriter Basil Mason.

When a man in wrongly accused of murdering his philandering wife’s lover Lord Peter Wimsey steps in to prove his innocence. The action largely takes place on board train from London to Dover and benefits from location shot on actual stations.

Made three years before another great train bound mystery, The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938), The Silent Passenger pales in comparison to the later movie. Yet this slightly creaky thriller actually surpasses its obvious ‘B’ movie origins and really isn’t bad at all. Admittedly, it’s not much of a mystery as the audience know the identity of the murderer from the outset. But its climactic chase through a locomotive repair shop and into the pathway of an oncoming train is genuinely exciting. Peter Haddon hams it up nicely as Wimsey and it has its share of humorous moments as well as minor thrills. It is no classic by any means, but does have an old fashioned charm nonetheless.

LADY AND THE TRAMP (Dir: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske, 1955).

The first half of the 1950s was a fairly prolific time for Disney animation. Although production of shorts was dwindling, 1955’s Lady and the Tramp was the fourth feature film released that decade.

The movie draws upon Walt Disney’s love of turn of the century small town America (Disneyland’s loving recreation of the era, Main Street USA, opened the same year) and after Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, 1941) is the only other Walt-era animated movie to feature an (almost) contemporary US setting.

The tale of pampered Cocker Spaniel Lady (voiced by Disney regular Barbara Luddy) and street mutt Tramp (Larry Roberts) who fall in love over a plate of spaghetti is a fairly conventional one. However, the novel use of canine protagonists, witty dialogue and inventive scenes, such as the famed pasta-fuelled kiss, lift the familiar story above the mundane.

The artists’ extensive research of real life dogs neatly captures the movement and personality of our furry friends, displaying the most realistic animation in a Disney movie since Bambi (David Hand, 1942).

The first animated feature produced in the new widescreen CinemaScope format, this provided some problems for the artists. With less opportunities for character close-ups and the need to fill otherwise empty space with scenery, the Disney artists created a beautifully detailed, idealised recreation of late Victorian era America. Viewed entirely from a dog’s perspective, the elegant backgrounds and superior character animation combine to make Lady and the Tramp one of Walt Disney’s most visually attractive feature films.

Equally a treat for the ears are a handful of songs co-written by Peggy Lee and Sonny Burke. Lee adds her considerable vocal talent to showstoppers He’s a Tramp and The Siamese Cat Song in one of the greatest Disney musical scores.

Lady and the Tramp is a warm-hearted, intelligent romance with first rate animation, vocal performances and music; a lovely and lovingly crafted jaunt into America’s (idealised) past.

Read the full-length version of this review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.

YOUNG MAN’S FANCY (Robert Stevenson, 1939).

Young Man’s Fancy is a very early comedy from the Ealing Studios. Released in what was producer Michael Balcon’s second year as studio head, the movie has few of the hallmarks later associated with Ealing.

Griffith Jones stars as aristocrat Lord Albarn who is to be wed to a brewery heiress. Unhappy with the marriage of convenience he rebels, visiting a music hall and falling for human cannonball Ada (Anna Lee).

Ada agrees to help Albarn out of the forthcoming wedding but soon the pair are caught up in the Siege of Paris and the events of the Franco-Prussian War.

Such an odd dramatic turn in an otherwise frothy rom-com is slightly jarring but don’t let that put you off of this surprisingly entertaining movie. Not only are there plenty of laughs but it also has a social conscious rare in 1930s British cinema outside of the Documentary Movement.

The talented Robot Stevenson only directed three films at Ealing before decamping to Hollywood where he gained critical and commercial success with Jane Eyre (1943). Late in his career he worked almost exclusively for Walt Disney Productions where he was responsible for number of excellent family drama and fantasy films including Old Yeller (1957) and Mary Poppins (1964). Young Man’s Fancy is probably the best of Stevenson’s Ealing output, a somewhat frivolous but enjoyable ‘B’ picture from his and the studio’s formative years.

Check out my blog jinglebonesmovietime.blogspot.com for more reviews of vintage Ealing Studios classics!