The last of the Ultimate Sci-Fi collection films, one thing that can be said for Tarantula! is that it is better than The Mole People. It’s actually a decent entry in the giant monster film genre. The quality of the tarantula special effects aren’t going to set the world on fire, but the visuals of a giant tarantula menacing the citizenry through the hills, valleys, and highways is lots of fun. Leo G. Carroll is particularly entertaining in his mad scientist role. One note from watching the entire series: I understand where the inspiration for MST3K and the like comes from. It is hard to watch these films without offering commentary on the ludicrousness.   

A Western that does not spend all its time in a ramshackle town or out in the open plains is the Western for me. Clark Gable is here in all his charismatic, womanizing glory here as the stranger looking to relieve four widows and their mother-in-law of ill-gotten fortunes. The double entrendres and manipulations of each individual woman is amusing to watch. All of the widows are great in their varied personalities and reflections on their marriages, as is their hard-as-nails mother-in-law. Eleanor Parker (whom I have to keep reminding myself was in more movies than The Sound of Music) is particularly wonderful as the widow who goes toe-to-toe with Clark. I had a lot of sympathy for Jo Ann Fleet’s mother-in-law, trying to hold together what little family she had left and holding out hope that one of her boys would return to her. 

There are about a half dozen different movies pushed together to make The Mole People and as a whole they aren’t that interesting, all take too long in the hour and twenty minute runtime. There’s the introductory lecture on hollow earth theory, the adventuring archeologists bit, meeting up with the underground Sumerians, and finally hanging with actual mole people. It’s best advised to not ask too many questions about the Sumerians, because it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Their costumes are nice and makes one wonder why men don’t wear dresses more often. I was surprised at the graphicness of some of the death scenes in a 1950s film. The mole people are the greatest part and not a lot of time is spent explaining anything about them. Their look makes it seem like someone found an extreme discount sale on a gross of rubber Creature from the Black Lagoon costumes. Spoiler Alert: when searching for ancient underground civilizations, don’t take the elderly and infirm. They’ll just hold you back and also rat you out as not being immortal.

So used I am to seeing Edward G Robinson as a crime boss, it took a few moments to get used to having him play a sensitive artist and emasculated husband. It is difficult to watch the world and the people around him torment him even when he occasionally is given a small win especially since the audience knows what’s going on behind his back. I wonder if at least the ending would have been kinder to him if it were a pre-Code film. I appreciate the complexity of Joan Bennett’s character, showing that she’s a victim falling for the wrong guy that is obviously going to lead to her demise while take the same advantages of Robinson’s character.

There is something entertaining in a film noir experiencing a criminal feeling the noose tightening around their neck. This is particularly true when the criminal is a crooked cop. Lee J Cobb carries this well, not giving two bits about anyone who might be in his way. Jane Wyatt as his murdering girlfriend goes far […]

Between this and the adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express that I’ve seen, I wonder if I should put some Agatha Christie on my To Read list. This one has a fairly similar structure to Clue though none of the madcap antics, which means it can’t possibly reach the status of that incredible film but is still an enjoyable story on its own. The entire ensemble worked well together with no one really trying to outshine anyone else. They kept me guessing as to who was being truthful and who was actually the murderer. The version on Amazon was unfortunately in color. For most of the film this didn’t matter, but was distracting during some of the low lit parts. It seems that some of this story, particularly the ending, were changed for the play version and most film adaptations take their cues from that. I’d love to see a version that is faithful to the book.