They (1974)

Dir-Prod: "Ito" (AKA- Bill Rebane). Scr: Barbara Rebane. Cast: Paul Bentzen, Debbi Pick, Nick Holt 

The film which Mill Creek presents under the generic title They is actually the head-spinning Grade Z masterpiece Invasion from Inner Earth. This movie was the first of the several Wisconsin-lensed fantasy films made by Bill Rebane.

His first foray into feature filmmaking was the early 1960s horror dud, Monster a Go Go. After its commercial failure, Rebane worked as an executive in charge of US productions filmed in Germany, but got tired of travelling abroad, and eventually settled into a farm property near Gleason, Wisconsin. Here is where his next, and most durable, phase of moviemaking began.

Like any regional filmmakers' work, Rebane's oeuvre is certainly evocative of the geographic location which produced it, lending an authenticity for a place and time that simply couldn't be replicated via the Hollywood star system. His movies are unique for their portraits of eccentrics, intellectuals and enterpreneurs cast amidst a bluish landscape of Wisconsin winter, in small towns with neon Pabst signs hanging in the windows. Rebane’s work is often ridiculed for its poor acting, scripting and special effects, but his films do have a unique atmosphere, with a feel for the narratives’ rugged isolated locations, and odd marriages of shifting tones.

The first “official” Bill Rebane feature is a bizarre science-fiction film which began in 1973 as The Selected (perhaps a more appropriate title), released the following year as Invasion of Inner Earth, which he co-produced, co-edited, and also directed under the oft-used pseudonym of “Ito” (to perhaps give the impression that one person didn’t do everything on the film). The script by his wife Barbara attempts thrills and allegory in equal measure, but the result is a mishmash that however has struck a chord with some viewers, this author included.

In the opening of Invasion from Inner Earth, we are bombarded with a pandemonium of images with people running, close-ups of eyeballs, red smoke rising from the swamp, a papier mache UFO, lens flares... what is going on? This question is never satisfactorily answered for the rest of the film. People everywhere are dying of a mysterious plague, however our five protagonists sit around a snowy lodge and talk (and talk!) about what it could be.

The film has a weak introduction to our main characters, as siblings Jake and Sarah Anderson tend to their lodge and see off their scientist guests: rich bitch Andy, stud Eric and bearded funny guy Stan. Jake is also a pilot who flies them back to the mainland, and here is where the movie has potential as a halfway decent thriller. They are shooed away from one hangar by an ill traffic controller, and seek refuge at another runway which is mysteriously deserted. Finally, Jake and the scientists return to the same lodge from which they came.

Meanwhile, they are menaced by a red light that shines on them, and a heavy-handed voice that speaks to them on the CB radio. (The inspiration for this alien menace may have been the monotonal creature that kept saying “You-have-two-seconds-left” in the “Corbomite Maneuver” episode of Star Trek.) Stan is convinced that the voice is of an alien, since it constantly asks for their location. (Wouldn’t the alien already know, if the humans are besieged by the red light?)

To show how global this epidemic is (or to save the viewer from the relentless tedium of seeing these people pontificate forever in the cabin), the Rebanes cut away to more scenes of people running down the city sidewalk, a drunk staggering out of a bar into a red cloud, a DJ ranting and raving, and even a late-night TV talk show that suddenly blacks out during their discussion of UFOs with some local yokels. In between all the talk, however, our protagonists individually get picked off by the red light: Andy when he selfishly tries to escape in the plane, Jake in his benevolent hunting for food, and Eric during their supposed flight to freedom once the survivors realize they’re sitting ducks in the cabin. Then, we cut back to the DJ still sweatily ranting, wondering aloud on the air if he’s the last one alive. Finally, Stan and Sarah walk (and walk and walk) through a snowy small town, and then mysteriously the film changes from its grey wintry locale to a vibrant green meadow in which an adolescent boy and girl hold hands and frolic off into the garden. Fleetingly in the background, we see a UFO. The end.

This mind-blowing conclusion comes out of left field, but in truth it’s no less baffling than most of what precedes it. Despite the way-out theory given by Stan (played by Paul Bentzen, who would soon return to Rebane’s universe) about how Martians are instead invading us from the earth’s core than their own planet, there is really no rhyme or reason given for the film’s strange occurrences. Perhaps Ms. Rebane’s screenplay was intended all along as an existential tome, much like Hitchcock’s The Birds. The conventions of a science fiction invasion story are used as a modern-day Biblical treatise, where the aliens are instead a deity using the plague much like the flood, systematically eradicating humankind so that Stan and Sarah can inherit the earth, as its new Adam and Eve. (Maybe the DJ is the snake.)

The movie fails in the acting and writing departments; the suspense is often drained by the slow pace, gaps of logic, and Rebane's customarily eccentric, juvenile approach to the adult material. This film is especially notorious for the "kid run amuck on a Casio" synthesizer score which lifts the theme from The Good The Bad and the Ugly!

However, this movie also has a strange appeal- I've revisited it several times over the years since my initial viewing of it way back in 1986, on CityTV in an unforgettable twin bill of late night movie badness (shared with the Dave Hewitt-James Flocker jawdropper, The Lucifer Complex.) Despite the incoherence and lethargy, it possesses a unique atmosphere and some fascinating ideas that one wishes were in a better film. Both the Genesis VHS and the Mill Creek DVD transfers are murky and red, however, I still remember the crisp print that City showed all those years ago. One hopes that some day, someone will restore this movie. In spite of its many faults, the film is still worthy of that effort.

MMM Rating: 1/5, or 5/5, depending on your point of view. (It's that kind of movie.)

Located on: Nightmare Worlds. (This movie pack is out of print, but you should have no trouble finding a copy. The film in question is also available by Mill Creek in packs other than the 50-movies.)

Track of the Moon Beast (1976)

Dir: Richard Ashe. Scr: Bill Finger, Charles Sinclair. Prod: Ralph T. Desiderio. Cast: Chase Cordell, Leigh Drake, Gregorio Sala.

Track of the Moon Beast is one of the countless regional films made during the last golden age of the drive-in. Produced in a location light years removed from Hollywood, seldom employing name talent, these films also had an authenticity for their time and place that any studio product would lack. Their down-home charm also affects us personally, as everyday people (like you or me) in drab everyday locations (like yours or mine) are seen encountering unusual phenomenon. And in many instances, we are further endeared due to the fact that with these same resources, we could have made these movies too.

To be sure, this drive-in filler would never win any awards for acting or direction, but it is charming for all the reasons mentioned above, and it is an absorbing low-key thriller that updates the Wolfman formula to the space age. Astronomer Paul Carlson (played by Chase Cordell), who maintains a lab in the rural American southwest, has the misfortune of being nearby the impact of a meteorite crash, as a stray fragment from the lunar rock lodges into his chest. Whenever there is a full moon, he turns into a murderous beast. This of course causes problems for him and his new girlfriend Kathy (played by Leigh Drake).

The makeup effects by Rick Baker and Joe Blasco provide for a decent lizard-like monster roaming around the arroyo. (In fact, the lizard suit is worn by Blasco, who would have just made the nifty parasite creatures for David Cronenberg's They Came From Within). However, even more fun to watch are the interesting visual effects of starscapes, and the trippy solarization used in the film's climax.

Yet like the old Wolfman pictures, the monster seldom appears. These filmmakers take a refreshingly old-fashioned approach to this formula by emphasizing character over body count. Instead the movie focuses on the doomed romantic leads, and Paul's growing realization that his alter ego is responsible for the strange deaths around town culminates in his conceding to destroy himself before more people die. On paper this sounds interesting, but unfortunately, this intriguingly fatalistic tone has to be delivered by two lead actors Whose. Delivery. Is. Much. Like. This.

This film was made in an era when movies had developed a sympathy towards Native Americans (seen in films like Little Big Man or Soldier Blue), and it is unique to see a major role for a native character, who even saves the day! Paul's scientist friend Johnny Longbow (played by Gregorio Sala, in his only film role, as far as we know), who joins Kathy to save Paul from himself, comes to the rescue with -ha ha- a bow and arrow(!), but this bit of cliché is actually integral to the plot. Throughout this minor character-driven drama, there is also a sly context of how the white race stereotypes the native people, and it is subtly satirical to see Johnny use those very clichés to rid the world of danger.

Track of the Moon Beast has an unfairly bad reputation, largely because it was included in the Mystery Science Theatre TV series. Granted, it is a slow picture because it relies so much upon two wooden leads to carry the narrative, but kudos to the filmmakers who tried to make a little picture with some substance. Considering how little you're going to pay to see it, you really can't go wrong with this picture on a slow night: it brings back nice memories of the drive-in or the late late show.

MMM Rating: 3/5

Located on: Chilling Classics

Twister's Revenge! (1987)

Dir: Bill Rebane

Scr: William Arthur, Larry Dreyfus, Bill Rebane

Prod: Larry Dreyfus, Bill Rebane

Cast: Dean West, Meredith Orr, David Alan Smith

Well, you can imagine the surprise gotten from the original pressing of Mill Creek's Drive-In Movie Classics set, where instead of Don Dohler's Fiend (listed on the back cover and the disk's individual sleeve inside), the film is actually this.... thing. 

In 1987, Bill Rebane gave the world another departure from his usual milieu of snowcapped Wisconsin-set fantasy films, with the release of Twister’s Revenge, a rural action comedy that perhaps was made a few years too late to capitalize on the fashionable trend of “good ole boy” hick flicks. The film’s title refers to the computerized, talking monster truck (just what we needed- a country and western version of Knight Rider), which is masterminded by the truck-rally circuit-traveling couple of Dave and Sherry. Sherry gets kidnapped on their wedding night (when the marriage is about to be consummated in a rig, no less), and so Dave and the truck speed to her rescue.

The culprits of this crime are three dorks with names like Bear, Dutch and Kelly, who wouldn't know how to steal water from Lake Superior. While obviously this zany rubber-limbed trio is played for laughs, their endless “comic” routines are even below what the Three Stooges’ gag writers would’ve thrown in the wastebasket (they spend minutes arguing over which way is left, right, north or south). And sadly, little is done with the novel talking monster truck premise, other than having its huge wheels roll over cars, which gets tiresome in the first five minutes. Whenever they do make use of the computer's sassy attitude, often its Cylon voice is unintelligible.

Hey- I like hick flicks, and while this was a genre seldom known for Shakespearian wit, this insipid affair even lacks the gall to at least do something with the clichés that were used endlessly elsewhere. Rebane’s earlier films were more clever satires of rural life when they were serious. (Really? It took three people to write this slop?) The film has exactly one clever running gag: when the truck ploughs down a shack owned by the girlfriend of one of the crooks, she runs away at top speed, and occasionally throughout the movie one will see her in the background still running... even during the end credits. This otherwise lifeless affair is simply a miserable film. People pick on Rebane's monster movies like The Giant Spider Invasion for their subpar production values, but at least those pictures still have some dignity and entertainment value.  Yes, this is worse, much worse, than any fur-covered Buick on eight legs.

MMM Rating: 1/5

Located on: Drive-In Movie Classics. Although on the original pressing of the set, Fiend was erroneously listed instead, subsequent releases properly list Twister's Revenge. Lucky us.

The Cold (1984)

Dir: Bill Rebane

Prod: Barbara Rebane

Scr: William Arthur, Larry Dreyfus

Cast: Tom Blair, Jim Iaquinta, Carol Perry

Although this film is better known as The Game, Mill Creek distributes it as The Cold. This isn't an entirely inaccurate title: in fact, it nicely sums up director Bill Rebane's filmography, involving scenarios in wintry Wisconsin settings. Ironically, the film with a title that represents most of Rebane's work is a change of pace from his usual milieu, and is nothing if not a mixed-bag of tone and style.

This funhouse of incident, perhaps done in the spirit of William Castle’s films 13 Frightened Girls or Let’s Kill Uncle, has a comic-thriller plot that could be called Hitchcockian, but one hesitates to use that term, so as to avoid any misconceptions that I’m attempting to equate this film to a work by The Master of Suspense. Rebane is no Hitchcock... but on the other hand, Hitchcock is no Rebane.

The premise is a labyrinth of double-crosses and put-ons, as three bored millionaires, George, Horace and Maude (Carol Perry, who played Mrs. Schultz in The Demons of Ludlow, back for another haughty character), stage their annual game of giving people chances to win a million dollars in cash if they conquer their fears. The nine contestants are put up in an abandoned hotel, and meet such obstacles as rats, spiders... and even the elements, as two people nearly freeze to death in a sauna (no doubt inspiring the alternate title, The Cold).

The characters who rise to the challenge of the game are truly an oddball lot: a blonde preppy guy; a female law student; four members of a rock band; a so-called stud with the stereotypical moustache; and a southern belle with a ridiculous accent and her friend. Now, imagine the scenes in 70’s porn where everyone has their clothes on, and you get an idea of the level of histrionics in this bunch (or so I'm told).

Imagine further the ridiculous dollar store props that are used to scare these people: from the slimy monster that pops out of a mattress, to the plastic shark fin in the pool. This skimpy art direction rather befits the whole cartoonish nature of the film. The berserk mixture of tone and shooting styles (right down to the millionaires prancing down hotel corridors in Halloween masks while tinny silent movie piano music plays), the one-dimensional characters and silly special effects all seem to work together: this seems to be a movie where everyone involved surrendered themselves to the reality that this is a cheap piece of nonsense.

It is difficult to tell if Rebane ignored the William Arthur-Larry Dreyfus screenplay and just decided to “wing it”, or that the script was so inept to begin with, that with each new scene where someone else turns the tables, the movie becomes increasingly incomprehensible, right up to the “huh?” of a climax with a ghoulish something or other looking out the window. Red herrings like a hunchbacked figure in white makeup lurking around remain unexplained, further adding to the haywire “plot”. But in truth, I liked this damn thing.

As the film progresses, the viewer receives as much of a put-on as the characters onscreen, and must surrender oneself to the game, or be left cold. Even so, there is some morsel of attempt at making this glorious mess look like something. The setting of an abandoned hotel is genuinely creepy (perhaps another theme of isolation that attracted Rebane to the project?). The millionaires’ control over even the hotel’s PA system and the television broadcasts (in one moment, we see one of the hapless characters being hanged right after the late night TV sign-off) is a novel gimmick reminiscent of Fritz Lang’s The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. And despite that the previous ninety minutes are silly, the ending of the lone figure on the bridge at night is rather haunting. Whatever his shortcomings, Bill Rebane still knows how to set a mood, despite if the tone is still disappointingly less adult than it should be. If there is one film in his career that can be classified as a “romp”, this is it.

MMM Rating: 3/5

Located on: Chilling Classics. (No pun intended.)

The Demons of Ludlow (1983)

Dir-Prod: Bill Rebane

Scr: William Arthur

Cast: Paul Bentzen (credited as Paul von Hausen), Stephanie Cushna,  Carol Perry

This tale of resurrection and revenge is set once again in familiar Bill Rebane territory: a snowy, godforsaken small town in Wisconsin where its eccentric characters battle a monster. The novelty is that the monster comes in the form of a piano!

On the bicentennial of the hamlet of Ludlow (population, 47), a harmonium is presented as a gift to inaugurate the celebration. However, Ludlow native and ambitious young reporter Debra (played by Stephanie Cushna, who is quite good in her only starring role), recognizes that the harmonium comes from a sordid period in the town’s history. This borough got its namesake from a pilgrim named Ludlow who was maimed and killed: his spirit is now planning revenge upon the descendants of his persecutors.

The Demons of Ludlow owes a lot of its inspiration to John Carpenter’s The Fog, with the bicentennial revenge plot, and even a similar character of a preacher who knows that he must pay for the sins of his ancestors. To be certain, it never achieves the level of suspense or atmosphere of Carpenter’s classic. However, it is memorable for its isolated snowy setting (like many of Rebane’s films), and unusual take on the ghostly revenge formula. Instead of pirates from beyond the grave, this scenario offers... well, scenes of pilgrim ghosts dancing in the town hall at night!

Bill Rebane seems to have changed his approach from the typically glacial pacing where the rural characters blend into the bluish snowy backgrounds. The film has more panache with its rapid editing, and attention to unusual sound design, but still, despite the (admittedly minor) scenes of gore, and the unusual ways in which people get killed, the film seems more odd than creepy, which is perhaps the price it pays for attempting something different.

Despite that it is written by one William Arthur (his first of four screenplays for the director), it still has a distinctive Bill Rebane feel, with his economical storytelling (a simple voiceover over some exterior shots explains away a lot of the subplot), and in its slyly funny pokes at small town life (I love how the residents who attend the bicentennial harmonium recital all appear like they’ve been dragged there, and make no effort to disguise their boredom). With its tinny music and cartoon-like performances, once again this movie feels childlike, despite the adult material. Still, I like that for once these small townsfolk aren’t the stereotypical country bumpkins: despite the “down home” middle American demeanour, we are presented with a truly dysfunctional stock of characters (it’s no wonder the town is founded upon bloodshed). The reverend’s wife Sybil is a boozer (and a hottie); Mrs. Schultz the harmonium player has a mentally handicapped daughter Emily who talks to dolls (in one interesting scene, a tear falls down the doll’s porcelain cheek).

The film is also memorable for its low-key special effects, such as the fire poker that attempts to hit the

preacher by itself, and in the neat climax, where after running from house to house for help (only to encounter a ghoul at each front door), Debbie runs down the road and encounters a force field, as electrical bolts emit from her hands when she tries to breach it. (Once more the classic Rebane theme of isolation from the rest of the world takes form.)

The Demons of Ludlow is not a lost classic, but it is certainly better than its unfairly bad reputation. It gets points for attempting to be different from the usual fare that was offered in horror cinema of the time. While many films of the period had an open ending for a sequel to follow, the ambiguous finale of this one is actually troubling: did good win over evil?

MMM Rating: 3/5

Located on: Chilling Classics.

The Alpha Incident (1978)

Dir-Prod: Bill Rebane

Scr: Ingrid Neumayer

Cast: Ralph Meeker, Stafford Morgan, John F. Goff, Carol Irene Newell, George "Buck" Flower, Paul Bentzen, John Alderman.

One of several regional genre films by Wisconsin auteur Bill Rebane (whose work is generously featured in these movie pack sets), this low-budget cousin to The Andromeda Strain and The Petrified Forest  has the old B movie gimmick of top-billing a name actor (Ralph Meeker) who is otherwise given little to do. Instead, the focus is on stalwart leading man Stafford Morgan as Dr. Sorenson, who holds disparate people hostage in a train depot, although the novelty in this scenario is that he’s doing it for their own good.

Sorenson was recruited to supervise a shipment of some micro-organisms from a Martian space probe, to be delivered by train to Denver, Colorado. However, a railroad employee who couldn’t resist snooping, cuts himself on one of the microscope slides containing the cells, and perhaps affects people by touch once the train stops over in Moose Point! Therefore Sorenson must quarantine everyone at this depot while the scientists race to find an antidote.

The snoopy employee Hank is played by George “Buck” Flower, who made a career playing various drunks, bums and hillbillies in the 1970s and 1980s. His sleepy, folksy drawl fits well with the local colour at the depot. The unlikely romantic lead is the beefy, sweaty, bearded Jack Tiller (played by John Goff), who fashions himself as a sex machine to all the chicks. Throughout this scenario, he makes amorous advances to the receptionist Jenny (played by Carol Irene Newell, who would later become a director for theatre). Ralph Meeker is Charlie, the depot manager who has little to do except peer through glasses and smoke.

Despite the appearance of name actors, this movie still feels like a regional production with casting of Goff and Newell, who don’t have conventional matinee looks. (The shaggy Paul Bentzen, the unlikely romantic lead in Rebane's previous Invasion From Inner Earth, also makes an appearance, as one of the men rushing to find a cure.) An attribute of regional films is the casting of local everyday people, lending authenticity that a glossy Hollywood production would not.  This special quality can also be its undoing, if the inexperienced unknowns can't act in front of the camera. As such, this film is neither the best nor the worst example of regional moviemaking.

Plague-themed science fiction films work when they don't feature extraneous extreme close-ups of organisms, scientists peering through microscopes, or weird music, and instead concentrate on the human drama. As such, Ingrid Neumayer’s screenplay is tough going for the first half hour, with far too many scenes of scientists babbling about who knows what, and of Hank spending too much time babbling about who knows what between gulps of booze. However, the film gets in motion once the drama unfolds at the depot.

Once Sorenson learns from his superiors that he and his “hostages” (Hank included) must stay awake until an antidote is found, tensions further ensue, as these sleep-deprived people begin to wear each other down. This genial thriller does have one showstopping moment when Charlie falls asleep, and we witness the effects of the organism: his head shrivels, causing his eyes and brain to pop out!  While Rebane’s direction is nothing special, he cleverly depicts the government soldiers rather mysteriously, as it is unclear whether they are there to rescue or exterminate our protagonists. The surprisingly pessimistic ending leaves a haunting impression with its oblique freeze frame.

Those who dislike Rebane's other Wisconsin-lensed films (Invasion From Inner Earth; The Giant Spider Invasion) usually consider The Alpha Incident his best work. This movie is honourable and inoffensive, but still rather bland.

MMM Rating: 2.5/5

Located on: Chilling Classics.

Shock (1946)

Dir: Alfred L. Werker

Writers: Eugene Ling (screenplay); Albert deMond (story); Martin Berkeley (additional dialogue)

Prod: Aubrey Schenck

Cast: Vincent Price, Lynn Bari, Frank Latimore, Anabel Shaw, Stephen Dunne, Reed Hadley

While under contract for 20th Century Fox, Vincent Price was receiving good notices for his supporting work in historical pictures, as well as for his "cads" in Laura and Leave Her To Heaven. Producer Aubrey Schenck thus decided to give the actor a leading role in this modest picture, which, despite the appearance of Price and the psychoanalysis theme, isn't a horror film, but a film noir with psychological overtones. (Screenwriter Eugene Ling would also pen the classic noirs, Scandal Sheet for Phil Karlson, and Behind Locked Doors for Budd Boetticher.)

In his first top-billed role, Price plays Dr. Richard Cross, who kills his wife during an argument over an impending divorce. His deed is witnessed from a neighbouring hotel window by Mrs. Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw). Already in a weakened mental state, she is discovered by her husband the following morning in a catatonic state. As coincidences in film noir would have it, she is treated by Cross himself, who has her committed to his own sanitarium in an effort to convince her that she is truly insane, having only imagined the murder scene.

According to the highly enjoyable but typographically challenged book Vincent Price Unmasked (by James Robert Parish and Steven Whitney), Shock received some bad notices upon its initial release for its negative portrayal of psychiatrists! Well, such stirring controversy has receded over the years, but time hasn't been kind to this little film due an early, laughably bad dream sequence early where Janet is hearing the voice of her long-lost husband, and dashes to a giant doorknob (how Freudian): she is clearly seen running on one spot!

More interesting is the relationship between Cross and his lover, Nurse Elaine (Lynn Bari). After five decades of roles in which Vincent Price commits many ghastly, vengeful acts onscreen, it is refreshing to see that this lead role features him not as a monster, but rather a remorseful man who nonetheless attempts to cover up his fatal mistake. However, he still has a moral centre dictating to what measures he will carry out his deeds: "There is a limit beyond which even I can't go". It quickly becomes clear that Elaine is pulling his strings, convincing him to perform even more insidious things like shock therapy to drive Janet beyond the brink.

This modest programmer is also helped along by some moody photography (which I'd perhaps attribute to Joe MacDonald, as the deep blacks are similar to those in My Darling Clementine, released the same year), and some effective mise-en-scene (where it conveniently rains and storms during suspenseful moments). The supporting performances by some familiar players are decent if unspectacular. Anabel Shaw's smallish frame captures the essence of the victimized Janet, although the actress is largely given little to do but hyperventilate and stare slack jawed. Still, it is Vincent Price's movie all the way: his solid performance carries this inoffensive second-feature. While Shock is a minor time killer, it is however an interesting footnote in his developing screen career- it would be among the few lead roles where he plays a human monster that still has a heart.

MMM Rating: 3/5

Located on: Chilling Classics, Drive-In Movie Classics, Legends of Horror, The Fabulous Forties. So yeah, you should have no trouble seeing this movie.

The Manipulator (1971)

Dir: Marino Girolami

Prod: Stanley Norman

Scr: Ralph Anders, Mike Conda, Eugene Walter (based on Anders' book, "Dangerous Holiday")

Cast: Stephen Boyd, Sylva Koscina, Michael Kirner, Marie du Toit, Guido Lollobrigida.

It says on the back of Mill Creek's Suspense Classics in the listing all of the movies found within, that The Manipulator stars Mickey Rooney. That is incorrect. Actually, what is inside is another film with the same title released at roughly the same time. Their mistake is our gain, as this movie exemplifies everything that we love about collecting these sets: you never know what obscure goodies you might find. And boy, this one is worth the price of the set itself. (By the way, the other movie entitled The Manipulator, starring Mickey Rooney, is featured on another Mill Creek set, and the review for it will appear here eventually.)

Alternatively known as African Story, this Manipulator film is about singing sensation Rex Maynard, who has just finished taping a big television special for his record producer Arnold Tiller (Stephen Boyd), and is going on vacation to South Africa. Unbeknownst to Tiller, Rex is eloping with the man's daughter. While on vacation, Rex gets kidnapped.... not once, but twice(!) by two different parties, and for different reasons. Oh. Just one more thing. Before his career as a singer, Rex Maynard used to be a stuntman! This of course makes life difficult for his captors as he successfully gets out of one jam after another.

Although Stephen Boyd and Sylva Koscina (as a rival record company owner who somehow figures into this caper) are top-billed, the movie really belongs to the charismatic, open-faced Michael Kirner, who plays Maynard. This guy is just awesome! He is perfectly credible in an unusual role requiring an action hero and a teen idol!  (Prior to seeing this film, I've never heard of the actor, but am interested to see this talented man's other work.)

Forget that Marino Girolami (director of the infamous Zombie Holocaust, and father of genre director Enzo Castellari) may not have been the best filmmaker around, and that somehow Maynard takes an Air Italia plane from L.A. to Capetown (this movie was an Italian co-production)- this breezy escapism is a must for any fan of capers or Euro-genre films. The movie is consistently entertaining alone for the numerous twists, action scenes and great stunts, but there is much more to enjoy. The witty script also features some colourful supporting characters, like Tiller's sister (played by Marie du Toit), who seems more on the ball, and capable of running the business than her brother. Plus, as is befitting of a movie whose central character is a crooner, the song and music score by the reliable Francesco De Masi is just great. You'll be humming "Man, You Need a Hand" (the opus performed in the opening credits) for days afterwards.

What more can we say? This is a winner. See the movie! Buy the soundtrack album!

MMM Rating: 4/5

Located on: Suspense Classics- now out of print, but should be easily found for sale online.