SINTHIA: THE DEVIL’S DOLL (1970) *

When Sinthia (Shula Roan) was just twelve years old, she caught her parents making love.  Since she had an unnatural sexual attraction to her father, she stabbed both of them to death and burned the house down.  Years later, a psychiatrist tries to help her before she gets married and potentially snaps again.  

 

Sinthia:  The Devil’s Doll was co-written and directed by one of my favorite cult directors, Ray Dennis Steckler.  After his career in campy B movies like The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies dried up, he was forced to make nudies like this.  At least his backyard bargain basement productions like Rat Pfink a Boo Boo had a certain charm about them.  This one is just torturous.  It’s not even fun in a cheesy way.  The repetitive scenes of Sinthia hysterically yelling, “Daddy.... Daddy… Daddy!” over and over again will be an endurance test for even the most jaded exploitation fan.

 

The poorly framed sex scenes make it hard to tell who’s doing what to whom.  Steckler also overdoes it on the psychedelic imagery, with all the blue, orange, and red lights only adding to the visual chaos on screen.  The long dream sequences get on your nerves too.  In most movies, they are usually there to help us understand the character’s psychosis, but here, it just feels like a cheap and easy way for Steckler (who was using his “Sven Christian” pseudonym, the tip-off that he was trying to pass this off as an “arty” Swedish movie) to pad out the running time.  (The repeated sequences are another tell-tale sign Steckler’s trying to milk the running time for all its worth.)  What’s worse, the constant roller rink music is enough to drive you certifiably insane.  There are also beach scenes that look like leftover footage from Incredibly Strange Creatures.  

 

We do get one good sequence where Sinthia goes to Hell and is forced to “love herself” and masturbates until she brings herself to a chest-heaving climax.  This scene is solid, but it’s way too brief, lasting only about a minute.  The other seventy-six minutes are often hellish.

 

AKA:  Where the Devil Tolls.  AKA:  Teenage She Devil.

PUSSYCATS PARADISE (1960) ***

I’ve seen plenty of American nudist colony movies in my time.  Here’s one from across the pond.  Pussycats Paradise was produced with the assistance of the “British Sunbathing Association”, and it features enough novel nude activities to make it worth a look.  We get:  Nude smoking, nude swimming, nude picnicking, nude men flipping other nude men in the air, nude swinging (not that kind of swinging, unfortunately), and the piece de resistance, nude synchronized swimming! 

Jane (Shelly Martin) is a well-to-do businesswoman who inherits her grandfather’s corporation.  To pay for the inheritance tax, she decides to sell off her grandfather’s nudist camp.  When the director of the camp learns of her intentions, he pleads with her to save the camp.  At first, she doesn’t want anything to do with the place, but he insists that she see it for herself.  Once Jane gets a taste of nudism, she eagerly becomes a member and eventually decides to keep the camp open.  Much to her chagrin, her prudish old aunt, the main shareholder in the company, wants no part of the camp.   

One memorable sequence occurs during the camp’s open mic night where members get up in front of everybody and sing corny songs.  This shindig is fully clothed, but that doesn’t detract from the fun.  Speaking of clothes, the men all wear shorts for some reason.  (Sometimes they are shown wearing a different pair of shorts from scene to scene.)  On the plus side, the women appear nude quite frequently, although they always seem to have a beach towel or a dish rag placed JUST in the right spot, so you won’t see their… ahem… Pussycats Paradise. 

The highlight though is the terrific nude shower fight.  It almost feels like a forerunner to the shower fights that would later be found in the Women in Prison genre.  If there was another sequence of this caliber, it would’ve been a classic for sure.  

As it is, the film has just enough plot in there to make it feel like a real movie.  (It certainly feels more authentic than most of its American counterparts).  No one will mistake it for gripping cinema, but I found it to be breezy and enjoyable.  In short, Pussycats Paradise is paradise for lovers of old nudie movies. 

AKA:  The Nudist Story.  AKA:  For Members Only.  AKA:  Five Acres.

MOVIE CRAZY (1932) ** ½

Harold Lloyd stars as a smalltown boy who moves to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a movie star.  While trying to break into the business, he falls madly in love with a starlet (Constance Cummings).  Naturally, her jealous ex (Kenneth Thomson) butts in and tries to keep the fledgling lovebirds apart.   

While Harold Lloyd transitioned from silent movies to talkies better than some of his contemporaries, much of his later work paled in comparison to his films from the silent era.  Movie Crazy isn’t exactly bad, but it lacks the panache and charm of his earlier pictures.  He was even recycling a lot of material at this point in his career.  The plot is essentially the same as Girl Shy, except this time out, Harold wants to be a movie star instead of an author.  The fight scene finale, while action-packed, owes a lot to the climax of The Kid Brother, too.  It also doesn’t help that there isn’t a lot of chemistry between Lloyd and his leading lady Cummings. 

That said, there are a couple of funny sequences here that make it worthwhile for die-hard fans of Lloyd.  I liked the scene where he gets a job as an extra and ruins take after take with his constant bumbling.  Another funny moment finds him trying to retrieve his shoe from a storm drain during a downpour.  The best sequence though is the extended dinner party scene where Lloyd inadvertently winds up wearing a magician’s coat and wreaks havoc among the stuffy socialites.  These moments help to keep the movie afloat and make up for its occasional detours into the creaky romantic subplot.  Also, there’s some pretty impressive camerawork to be found, especially during the scenes set on the studio lot.  

Overall, I can’t say I was crazy about Movie Crazy, but there’s enough laughs here for me to give it a marginal recommendation.

THE KID BROTHER (1927) *** ½

Harold Lloyd stars as the youngest, scrawniest son of a burly sheriff.  He gets himself into a predicament when he falls in love with a pretty dancer (Jobyna Ralston) from a medicine show, who mistakes him for his father.  When dear old dad is accused of theft, it’s then up to Harold to clear his name and bring the real crooks to justice.  

The Kid Brother typifies what made Harold Lloyd so beloved.  The big physical comedy routines contain a lot of laughs, but it’s the little character moments that really make the audience root for him.  It’s amazing how with the minimum of effort, he creates a likeable underdog character that you can automatically love.  

There are some great set pieces, like when Lloyd tries to fetch his father’s best shirt from the clothesline.  Heck, even some of the throwaway bits (like his ingenious method of doing the dishes) are a marvel of comedic mastery.  Of course, his physicality is second to none, which is wonderfully portrayed during the awesome moment where Lloyd scales (and subsequently fall from) a large tree just to get a glimpse of Ralston as she’s walking away.  

While The Kid Brother has some fun stretches, not all the sequences yield big laughs.  The scene where Lloyd’s brothers try to keep out of sight from Ralston while she’s staying in their home goes on a bit too long and is a little repetitive.  There are also some unfunny shenanigans involving a comic relief monkey that could’ve easily been scrapped.   

These ho-hum bits don’t really detract from the overall sense of fun.  Besides, the great character work that Lloyd does throughout the film more than make up for its assorted shortcomings.  The ending where Harold mans up and does the right thing against nearly impossible odds is quite rousing and will have you grinning from ear to ear.  Also, the chemistry between Lloyd and Ralston (who was also his leading lady in Girl Shy) is winning, and their final moments together ends the film on a pitch perfect note.  

STORM OF THE CENTURY (1999) ***

With Storm of the Century, Craig R. Baxley directed one of the better Stephen King TV mini-series.  It’s not perfect, as it’s a little slow to start (it played better when it was strewn over three nights when it originally ran on television as opposed to trying to watch it on home video in one sitting), but there are some legitimately great moments here.  The ending is rather terrific, too.  It just takes a while to get there.

Storm of the Century is similar in many ways to King’s less successful Needful Things.  It’s set in another little Maine town where gossip gets around at lightning speed.  A stranger then waltzes into town who somehow knows everybody’s secrets and uses it against them, causing mistrust, chaos, and eventually death.

Colm Feore is the mysterious stranger, Andre Linoge, who arrives just ahead of a big snowstorm.  His first order of business is to murder an old woman.  As he’s being arrested, he tells constable Mike (Tim Daly), “Give me what I want, and I’ll go away”.  He takes him into custody and soon, Linoge begins manipulating the townsfolk into committing suicide and/or murdering their loved ones.  Finally, Linoge reveals his purpose, and much to Mike's horror, the town is all too eager to go along with it.

King’s screenplay might’ve worked better as a two-parter than a three-parter.  That said, when it cooks it really cooks.  There are passages that unfold like one of King’s novels (the script was written directly for television).  He always saw himself as a “putter-inner” than a “taker-outer”, so even though some of these stretches are a little on the slow side, most of them have their moments and/or payoffs.  Sure, there are some eye-rolling sequences here and there (like when Linoge is flying around the clouds with the town’s children like a cross between Superman and the Pied Piper), but then again, so do a lot of the King mini-series from the era.  Whenever Feore is front and center and turning the screws to the hapless citizens, it’s some damned fine stuff.

Daly (whose Wings’ co-star Steven Weber was in another King TV adaptation, The Shining) is quite good.  He gives one of his best performances, and capably holds down the fort whenever things threaten to spin out of control.  It’s Colm Feore who steals the movie as the icy cold evil entity who holds the town hostage and demanding a sacrifice.  He also gets all the best lines, and while his catchphrase “Born in sin?  Come on in!” is a bit repetitive, it’s a lot of fun to watch him chew the scenery.

Sure, some of the CGI effects have aged poorly.  Sure, there are some lulls in the action.  However, the final half-hour is about as good as King TV gets.  It may be a little wonky here and there, but Storm of the Century’s final act contains some truly chilling stuff.

ACT OF VENGEANCE (1986) ** ½

Charles Bronson stars as a union worker who represents coal miners in this made for HBO drama based on a true story.   When eighty men lose their lives in a mining accident, the union president (Wilford Brimley) doesn’t do a damned thing to help.  Bronson gets fed up with his bullshit and decides to run against him in the next election.  Brimley knows everyone is going to vote for Chuck, so he rigs the election.  Bronson finds out and sets out to expose Wilford, who then puts a hit out on Chuck and his family. 

Chuck doesn’t have his trademark mustache in this one, which is the tip-off he’s really acting in a serious movie.  Because of that, Act of Vengeance lacks the fun of a Death Wish 3 or a 10 to Midnight.  Despite that, the strong supporting cast keeps you watching.  In addition to Brimley, who plays a solid heavy, we have Ellen Burstyn (as Bronson’s faithful wife), Hoyt Axton (Brimley’s crooked cohort), Ellen Barkin (Axton’s daughter), and a young Keanu Reeves (whose name is misspelled in the credits).  It’s pretty amusing seeing Reeves in this, mostly because his Bill and Ted co-star, Alex Winter starred alongside Bronson in Death Wish 3 the year before.   

Director John Mackenzie is best known for The Long Good Friday, but he’s a legend to me for directing Apaches, a demented PSA about the dangers of children playing on abandoned farm equipment.  I readily admit that union dramas aren’t my cup of tea.  Usually, the only way to get me to watch one of these is if you have someone like Stallone (F.I.S.T.), Nicholson (Hoffa), or DeNiro (The Irishman) in them.  Luckily for me, the presence of Charles Bronson made it worth a look.   

Act of Vengeance is watchable for the most part.  Bronson’s compelling performance keeps you invested for an act and a half.  However, things start to slide once the focus shifts to the gunmen Brimley hires to take out Bronson.  These sections just aren’t as dramatically involving and feel more like a cheap true crime reenactment than anything.  On the other hand, this movie answers the age-old question:  Who would win in a contest between Paul Kersey and John Wick?  Because of that, it gets a marginal recommendation. 

Brimley gets the best line of the movie when he says, “I don’t care who you pray to or if you’re a Catholic, Methodist, or a Republican!”   

AKA:  Local 323.  AKA:  Act of Vengeance… A True Story.

MOONSHINE COUNTY EXPRESS (1977) ** ½

An old moonshiner is murdered, and his still is blown sky-high.  In his will, he leaves his daughters (Susan Howard, Claudia Jennings, and Maureen McCormick) his secret stash of Prohibition Era whiskey.  It’s then up to the ladies to sell off the lucrative hooch before their greedy competitor (William Conrad), who also happens to be the one who murdered their pappy, gets wind of it.  They then turn to a hotshot race car driver (John Saxon) to help run the shine, avoid the cops, and get revenge. 

Moonshine County Express is a moderately effective hicksploitation drive-in flick that features a couple of decent car chases and/or wrecks.  It’s really nothing more than an assemblage of the genre’s usual action beats and cliches, but it at least has the benefit of a great cast.  Saxon is cool as a cucumber as the likeable Good Ol’ Boy romancing the foxy Howard.  Conrad makes for a suitable villain for this sort of thing, and in the film’s most bizarre scene, he hires a prostitute to help him explore his fisherman fetish.  While the quality overall is a bit spotty, I still maintain that any movie in which Claudia Jennings and Maureen McCormick play sexy white trash sisters is A-OK in my book. 

Though directed with assurance by Gus (The Sidehackers) Trikonis, Moonshine County Express feels like a first draft in search of a polished screenplay.  Someone really needed to punch up the weak one-liners and define the characters a little more sharply.  While the finale is fine, it pales next to the likes of the classics of the genre.  That said, I’m a sucker for a good moonshine running movie, and this one gets the job done, albeit in unremarkable fashion.  If you’re like me, and you’re a fan of the genre and/or cast (there are bits by Dub Taylor, Jeff Corey, and Candice Rialson), you’ll certainly take a shine to it.

Jennings and Saxon later appeared together in David Cronenberg’s Fast Company.

AKA:  Shine.  AKA:  County Express.  AKA:  Moonshine Express.  AKA:  Blood Whiskey.