Michael Carreras Movies

Less than a month after the release of 20th Century-Fox's The Racers, Lippert Productions picked up the American distribution rights for the British A Race for Life. Richard Conte stars as Peter Wells, a onetime champion race-car driver whose career was interrupted by the war. Linking up with an Italian racing team, Wells hope to stage a comeback, while his wife Pat (Mari Aldon) wishes that he'd give up his dangerous profession. Pat finally walks out on her husband, but has a change of heart when he enters the prestigious Grand Prix. Much of A Race for Life is comprised of thrilling genuine race-car footage, culled from various English and European newsreels and documentaries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The swan song for director Seth Holt (who died shortly before filming was completed), this stylish Hammer production transcends its low budget thanks to lush photography, a stylish look, and fine performances from the leads. The plot, adapted from Bram Stoker's novel The Jewel of the Seven Stars, involves an expedition led by Professor Fuchs (Andrew Keir) to find the cursed tomb of an evil Egyptian princess. Upon discovery of her sarcophagus, Fuchs finds her perfectly preserved, still-bleeding severed hand -- which also sports a dazzling ruby ring. Several years later, Fuchs gives the pilfered ring to his voluptuous young daughter Margaret (Valerie Leon), whereupon she slowly begins to take on the malevolent traits of its original wearer, seeking revenge for the defilement of her tomb. Though Christopher Wicking's adaptation of Stoker's obscure novel is a bit uneven, it still provides ample suspense and the production has an overall richness that captures the flavor of Hammer's other mummy projects. Remade eight years later (with less effective results) as The Awakening; traces of the same story can also be found in Universal's 1999 mega-budget version The Mummy. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

A ruthless crook abducts the wife and child of a bank manager and then masquerades as an insurance company detective while scheming to rob the institution in this crime drama. Unfortunately, some of the manager's employees learn about the plot and the terrified manager must beg them to remain silent. Fortunately, the cops have been on the case all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

With an award-winning screenplay by director Val Guest, this is a first-rate cops-and-robbers crime drama about a dangerous escaped convict and the police inspector who goes after him. The gritty industrial town of Manchester and its outlying moors provide a somber backdrop to the action. Inspector Martineau (Steve Baker) suspects that the escaped thief, Don Starling (John Crawford) is going to return to Manchester to retrieve a cache of jewels he hid away before being convicted. The sudden, brutal murder of a woman and the missing money she was carrying, tips the Inspector off that his suspicions were right. He starts tracking down the killer and the gang of men he knows must be working with him, as suspense builds at every turn. The gang falls one by one, until only the killer is left. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This low-budget swashbuckling film is not in the same league with the Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn portrayals, but still fun if the viewer doesn't do comparisons. Standard Robin Hood plot. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

This romantic mystery involves a young lawyer whose old flame is accused of murdering his mistress. She takes his case and beats her adversary, a lawyer who wants to marry her, by disclosing her former relationship with him. Her reputation is ruined when it is found that the man really is guilty, but this enables her to marry the amorous lawyer. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an ex-WW II pilot leads a quiet life in Hong Kong when suddenly the US government asks him to do some spying. Reluctantly he accepts the request and begins helping a Chinese woman find her missing son, also a pilot. The American, assisted by a Russian pal, finds the boy, but then gets romantically entangled with an American agent trying to sell a secret formula. As he helps her escape, she is killed and he returns to Hong Kong where he refuses to do anymore work for American intelligence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Originally titled Quatermass II, Enemy from Space was the sequel to The Quatermass Xperiment (US title: The Creeping Unknown). Based on the British TV serial by Nigel Kneale (who reportedly disliked the finished product), the film stars Brian Donlevy, repeating the role of Professor Quatermass. This time, the good professor must contend with a "meteor shower" which turns out to be a secret alien invasion. The extraterrestrials arrive on earth in rocklike vehicles, then take over the minds and nervous systems of earthlings, the better to go about their business undetected. Subliminally a cruel satire of British bureaucracy and obfuscation, Enemy from Space also works on a pure-horror level, building slowly and methodically to a powerhouse finale. For many years a "lost" film due to legal tangles, Enemy from Space has recently become available again on video and cable TV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hammer Films co-produced this lavishly mounted adventure, the fourth adaptation of the novel by H. Rider Haggard. In Jerusalem, Leo Vincey (John Richardson) meets with a slave girl, Ustane (Rosenda Monteros), who has been charged with bringing him to an immortal queen, Ayesha (Ursula Andress). Ayesha, who desires Leo because of his resemblance to her long-dead lover, offers riches if he will travel to her lost city in the mountains, where a magical flame will also give him eternal life. Accompanied by his adventurous friend Major Horace Holly (Peter Cushing), Leo sets out for the fabled city across the desert, but along the way Ustane causes trouble when she decides she wants Leo for her own. She (1965) was followed by a sequel, The Vengeance of She (1968), although the follow-up did not star Andress. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Bill Fraser and Raymond Huntley star in the raucous British farce That's Your Funeral. Fraser and Huntley play Bullstrode and Holroyd, rival undertakers. The animosity between the two is amplified when drug traffickers attempt to use coffins and hearses to smuggle their wares. David Battley and John Ronane co-star in the sitcomish goings-on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This disappointing thriller from horror legend Terence Fisher (The Curse of Frankenstein) stars Alex Nicol as James Bradley, an America trumpet-player visiting London. Falsely accused of murdering a Spanish singer, Bradley can only prevent his own execution by finding the real killer. Not one of Fisher's more rousing films, this modestly-budgeted programmer co-stars Geoffrey Keen and Arthur Lane. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Curse of Frankenstein was the "breakthrough" picture for the fabled Hammer Studios. Told in flashback, the story centers around Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), a dangerously arrogant scientist who takes it upon himself to play God. Using portions of dead bodies, Victor fashions a synthetic monster (Christopher Lee) with a bad attitude. In a radical departure from the Frankenstein canon, it is the imperious Victor who orchestrates the film's two murders by "borrowing" the brain of a learned professor, then leaving his next victim at the mercy of the monster. In 1958, the film spwaned the sequel Revenge of Frankenstein. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After injecting new life into classic movie monsters Dracula and Frankenstein, Hammer Studios apply their Gothic touch to another monster genre with this excellent, stylish piece -- probably the best of the old school (i.e. pre-Rick Baker) man-to-wolf transformation films in the mold of Universal's The Wolf Man. The title curse surfaces when a mute servant girl bears a child on Christmas day after being raped by a bestial madman and first shows itself at the infant's christening, whereupon the holy water begins to boil. Things go downhill from there, as young Leon's development is marred by savage, violent behavior during a full moon. Upon adulthood, Leon's (Oliver Reed) only relief from his murderous impulses comes from the love of Christina (Catherine Feller)... but he soon begins to fear that this cannot contain the beast within. Liberally based on Guy Endore's The Werewolf of Paris (here relocated to Spain), this film represents Hammer at their early best, building tension through mood and character (Reed turns in a bravura performance) and saving the effective monster transformation for the climax. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide