Slaves in Bondage (1937)

Slaves in Bondage is one of the many ultra-low budget exploitation movies cranked out by independent producers in the US during the 1930s, 40s and 50. Since they were not destined for exhibition in major mainstream movie theatres and were not distributed by the major studios they were able to circumvent the Production Code and deal with otherwise forbidden topics such as prostitution.

This one deals with the dreaded white slave racket - innocent young country girls lured to the wicked big city with promises of jobs as manicurists only to find themselves forced into working at the Berrywood Roadhouse, a notorious (and apparently rather expensive and high-class) brothel. I must say that these poor unfortunates seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves and don’t seem to be terribly worried about their lost virtue.

An ambitious young reporter (now where would a crime film be without an ambitious young reporter) and his girlfriend find themselves unwittingly caught up in this racket and set out to bring the evil racketeers to justice, with some help from an idealistic crusading newspaper editor. Although the editor does seem to be more interested in this moral crusade as a way of selling newspapers. The reporter’s girlfriend is a real manicurist, working in a beauty salon that serves as a front for the white slave racket.

The subject matter is lurid enough, and while the treatment of the material is actually pretty tame (the most daring scenes feature ladies of easy virtue in their underwear) you have to consider that mainstream Hollywood movies were more or less entirely prevented by the Code from dealing with such topics at all. Audiences in 1937 undoubtedly found this hot stuff. And there are at least hints of genuine kinkiness.

Even at a mere 70 minutes this movie is a tad on the slow side. On the other hand it does have some truly bizarre touches - the two acrobats in the boarding house constantly practising a routine in which they kind of entwine themselves around one another just has to be seen to be believed. I still have no idea if it’s supposed to be vaguely kinky. The fact that it’s totally irrelevant adds to the weirdness factor. The night club acts are a little on the odd side as well.

I can’t honestly say that Slaves in Bondage offers great entertainment, but it’s different and it does have curiosity value (and some campy appeal as well). It’s in the public domain so it can be found on DVD very cheaply, or even legally downloaded. If you can download it or pick it up for a couple of dollars it’s worth a look. This was my first glimpse into the world of the low-budget exploitation flicks of the 30s and 40s, and it was interesting enough to inspire me to try to hunt down more examples of this genre.

The Invisible Dr Mabuse (1962)

The Invisible Dr Mabuse (1962) is one of the many many sequels to Fritz Lang’s original 1922 silent classic Dr Mabuse The Gambler. That film was not only a masterpiece of German Expressionism, it was directly and indirectly an influence on the development of countless movie genres - the film noir, the spy film, the science fiction film and the mystery thriller. Dr Mabuse became a legendary figure, a German equivalent of Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis Professor Moriarty, an evil genius sitting like a malevolent spider at the centre of a web of deception and corruption. No matter how many times it seemed that Dr Mabuse had finally been destroyed, he just kept coming back for the next sequel. The Mabuse movies, like the Edgar Wallace krimis with which they had much in common, were a staple of the German film industry in the 60s.

The Invisible Dr Mabuse has everything you’d expect in a Mabuse film and more. It has the great diabolical criminal mastermind himself, an evil clown, a top-secret scientific project of such importance that the fate of civilisation is at stake, a mad scientist, a beautiful actress, glamorous showgirls, unlikely gadgetry and some of the most gloriously silly technobabble ever committed to celluloid. The plot involves Operation X, an ingenious scientific invention that allows light beams to pass through the gaps between particles of matter, thus making an object (or person) effectively invisible. FBI agent Joe Como has battled Dr Mabuse before, and is convinced that he is still alive and plotting to get his hands on this invention. The FBI and the German authorities believe that Mabuse is dead, but Joe Como can recognise a Dr Mabuse plot when he sees one.

The cast includes plenty of faces that will be familiar to fans of 1960s German movies of this type, with Lex Barker as Joe Como, Karin Dor as the beautiful actress involved with the mad scientist, and Wolfgang Preiss playing two different roles. Harald Reinl had plenty of experience directing this type of movie and keeps the action moving along nicely. It’s not as good as the previous year’s The Return of Dr Mabuse but it’s still a great deal of fun.

The Arena (1974)

With women-in-prison movies like The Big Doll House and The Big Bird Cage proving to be nice little earners for New World Pictures the temptation was to just keep churning them out. But for The Arena in 1974 they decided to vary the formula a little. Instead of a women-in-prison movie, we have a women-slaves movie set in the Roman Empire. And with Pam Grier heading the cast, how could it lose?

The dynamics are very similar to the WiP genre (and somehow the producers even managed to work in the obligatory shower scene!) with the women initially fighting among themselves, then eventually having to learn to stand together in order to survive. The female slaves are intended as sex slaves for the male gladiators, but then their owner gets the bright idea of using them as women gladiators. So we not only get the standard female fight scenes, we get to see them fighting each other with swords and tridents as well. There’s also plenty of nudity and sex - in fact all the standard exploitation elements.

When one of the women has to kill one of her friends in the arena they decide enough is enough, and start making plans to escape. This leads to much mayhem an considerable action, and it’s done pretty well despite an obviously very limited budget. Pam Grier has a much more rewarding role in this one compared to The Big Doll House, and she makes the most of it. Margaret Markov is her chief rival who becomes her chief ally, and she’s pretty impressive as well. It’s all great fun, the gladiatorial scenes in the arena are splendid, and it’s really a must-see for exploitation fans, and of course for fans of Pam Grier.

It would be nice to be able to say something positive about the Region 4 DVD release, but I can’t. It’s just awful. It’s a grainy pan and scanned print and it looks fairly terrible. It sounds like it’s the same transfer as the Region 2 release. If you can pick it up cheaply though it’s a highly entertaining little movie.

Devil Doll (1964)

Devil Doll is an almost forgotten 1964 British horror movie, one of that intriguing sub-genre of horror movies dealing with ventriloquists and ventriloquists’ dummies. The classic of this sub-genre is of course the memorable sequence in the 1945 omnibus film Dead of Night, with Michael Redgrave as the ventriloquist. Devil Doll adds its own unique twist to the sub-genre.

The Great Vorelli has a spectacularly successful stage act involving both ventriloquism and hypnotism. His dummy, Hugo, seems much more human than any dummy has a right to be, even appearing to walk around on his own during the act. He also seems to be engaged in a battle of wills with Vorelli. This is of course all part of the act – or is it? The Great Vorelli uses his exceptional hypnotic powers for other purposes besides show business – seducing beautiful women being one of those purposes. When Vorelli starts to take an interest in an attractive heiress, Marianne Horn, his aim is not merely to seduce her, but to get his hands on her money as well. Her boyfriend is a nosy reporter, already suspicious of Vorelli, and becoming steadily more suspicious as Marianne falls under the hypnotist’s spell. His suspicions lead him to Berlin where he uncovers the bizarre story behind the relationship between Vorelli and his dummy.

Devil Doll is rather slow-paced even for 1964, there’s no action and little overt horror. Given that it’s also in black-and-white it’s probably not surprising that it’s been overshadowed by the more sensational and more colourful films being made at that time by studios such as Hammer. In fact Devil Doll in its own unassuming way is quite a good horror film. Bryant Haliday is creepily charismatic as Vorelli, William Sylvester is solid as the inquisitive reporter boyfriend, and Yvonne Romain is delightful as Marianne. The effects are very simple but those involving the dummy work extremely well, but this is a movie that relies mostly on a slow build-up of tension and psychological horror as the truth behind the Great Vorelli is slowly revealed. Made on a very low budget, but with great care and considerable skill, this movie delivers the goods.

The Region 4 DVD includes two versions of the movie, one of them being the “racier” continental version including a striptease sequence that was probably quite hot stuff in 1964. It also includes an entertaining commentary track with film historian Tom Weaver talking to producer Richard Gordon. If you’re a fan of ventriloquism horror then Devil Doll is an absolute must-see, and even if you’re not it’s still most definitely worth a look.

Malpertuis (1971)

Malpertuis was Belgian director Harry Kümel’s follow-up to his gothic horror masterpiece Daughters of Darkness. It’s more in the tradition of the cinema fantastique rather than a pure horror film, but it certainly has elements of horror. It’s an exploration of dream, and myth, and the power of belief.

Jan, a young sailor, follows a woman, believing her to be a woman he is searching for. He finds himself in the red light district, gets into a fight with a pimp, and receives a savage blow on the head. When he awakes he is in Malpertuis, a mysterious rambling house belonging to a old man named Cassavius (played by Orson Welles). Cassavius is dying, and a strange assortment of eccentric relatives and hangers-on have gathered for the reading of the will. What they get is the answer to their dreams, and a living nightmare as well. To say anything further about the plot would reveal far too much.

Malpertuis is a triumph of visual style, with cinematographer Gerry Fisher doing marvels with colour. That’s not to say that the movie lacks substance. Based on a novel by Belgian writer Jean Ray, it’s a strange, enigmatic and fascinating film. Welles is terrific as Cassavius, but it’s strictly a supporting role. The real star is Susan Hampshire. She doesn’t just give the best performance of her career, she gives the three best performances of her career, in three different roles. In fact she plays a total of five roles, three of them being crucial ones. And she’s magnificent.

The DVD release from Barrel Entertainment contains two different versions of the film. There’s the version originally shown at Cannes in 1971, in English, and there’s a longer version in Dutch completely recut by director Harry Kümel. Both versions are worth watching, with the English version making the performances of Orson Welles and especially Susan Hampshire even more impressive since we hear their own voices. There are generous extras, including a commentary track by Harry Kümel, an interview with Susan Hampshire and a documentary. I recommend this one very very highly.

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

With Easy Rider having made bucketloads of money for Columbia in 1969 Universal must have thought they were going to enjoy a similar bonanza with Two-Lane Blacktop. With a plot involving drifters challenging each other to a cross-country road race across America, with a cast headed by major youth culture icons (singer James Taylor and Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson), and with a director who’d started his career making movies for Roger Corman it seemed to have all the credentials to clean up in the exploitation, youth and counter-culture markets. The only trouble was, director Monte Hellman was not interested in delivering a movie packed with spectacular car crashes and explosions. Two-Lane Blacktop has no explosions, no shoot-outs, on fact no violence at all, no nudity, and the only sex takes place off-screen. The movie Hellman actually made is a bleak and incredibly austere existential road movie.

James Taylor (The Driver) and Dennis Wilson (The Mechanic) have no interests in life outside of their 1955 Chevy coupe, a car that they have turned into an awesomely fast racing machine. They make a living by racing and by challenging suckers who think they can beat their car. They are in effect car hustlers. At a diner The Girl (Laurie Bird) joins them. They keep encountering a bright yellow Pontiac GTO, whose driver (known to us only as GTO and played by Warren Oates) seems anxious to take them on. Eventually a formal challenge is issued - a race to Washington DC, with the winner to get the loser’s car.

That might make it sound like the plot is fairly important, but it isn’t. In fact the race scarcely matters, and neither side seems to take it very seriously. At times they’re more like allies than rivals, united perhaps by the understanding that they’re all outsiders and they’re all equally in love with the road. You might also expect a major romantic sub-plot involving The Girl, but again Hellman defies our expectations. All three male characters have at least a passing interest in sleeping with her, and one of them does, but the romantic angle ends up being as vague as the race itself. Nothing really matters except the road. None of the characters knows where the road is taking them, and they don’t seem to care. One moment they’re heading for Florida, the next it’s Arizona. The road is in fact a road to nowhere, and the characters seem aware of this.

Using non-actors for three of the four main roles (Laurie Bird was a photographer who only appeared in two further movies before her tragically early death) works extremely well. The performances are disconnected and detached, and devoid of emotional content. Which is exactly as it should be. We know nothing at all about the four characters. We don’t know their names, or where they come from. And they tell us nothing bout themselves. The only one who talks about himself is GTO, and we soon realise that we cannot believe a single word he says. His stories about himself are simply stories about other people that he’s picked up on the road from passengers he’s picked up. The lack of any kind of characterisation would be a flaw in most movies, but this movie is about the road, not the people on it.

It’s a movie that succeeds in being quintessentially American, and yet the sensibility behind it is European rather than American. Although made by Americans it has the feel of a film by a Bergman or an Antonioni or a Godard. Hellman and his screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer manage to view America in the kind of dispassionate way that is generally possible to outsiders. And they succeeded in making one of the greatest American movies of the 70s, the greatest decade in the history of American cinema. A magnificent film.

Super Fly (1972)

Priest, the hero of the 1972 blaxploitation classic Super Fly, is a coke dealer who who wants to make one last big score and then get out. He doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, but he knows this is not it. He appears to have it all. He has the fancy car, the flash apartment in New York city, the cool threads, and two beautiful girlfriends - one white and one black. But as he says, he’d like to get out of this life before he finds himself having to kill someone, or someone kills him.

There’s a serious political edge to Super Fly. The life Priest leads is not one he would have chosen willingly, but as a black man he has few options. Blaxploitation movies were also among the first American movies to show the corruption and casual brutality, and the racism, of the police.

Made on a shoestring budget, this movie oozes style and energy and features a great soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield. Ron O’Neal plays Priest absolutely straight, and it works. This is not a cartoonish or campy movie. It’s also nowhere near as violent as you might expect. The impact of the film comes from the sense of people being trapped in lives that are slowly destroying their humanity, rather than from overt violence. The threat of violence is always there however.

First-time director Gordon Parks Jr does a fine job. His tragically early death in an air crash robbed American cinema of a very promising talent. The acting is terrific, with Carl Lee providing both menace and amusement in his over-the-top portrayal of Priest’s business partner. Shiela Frazier is impressive as Georgia, who loves Priest and struggles to understand his sense of alienation and frustration. There’s a very well-done love scene between Priest and Georgia that serves as a telling illustration of the way that sex was done so much better in the movies of the 70s compared to today.

And then there are the clothes! They’re truly amazing. Yes, they’re outrageously 70s, but they’re fun and they’re a great example of fashion being used as an expression of growing sense of confidence among urban blacks. And Nate Adams, who was responsible for the costumes, still has most of them (much to the horror of his wife) and proudly shows them off in one of the extras! We also get a brief interview with the guy who did the customising on the Caddy that Priest drives. In fact the extras are superb. Although it’s a budget-priced DVD Warner Brothers have given us premium selection of extras. It’s great to see a cult or exploitation movie getting such a respectful DVD release! Super Fly is both an important film and an outrageously entertaining movie.