Carl Anthony Movies
- 1960
A series of pornography-related murders has Lt. Carson (Kenne Duncan) frustrated, not only because the killer remains at large but also because the smut peddlers are distributing their disgusting products to high school kids at ice cream shops. They raid illicit photography studios, but it's not enough; Gloria Henderson (Jean Fontaine) runs the racket from a comfortable distance, and she's funded by "the syndicate." With a steady stream of naive hopefuls arriving in Hollywood with stars in their eyes, casting is no problem and the desperate, shamed girls aren't quick to blow the whistle. The director of these dirty films, Johnny Ryde (Carl Anthony), warns Gloria that her henchman Dirk Williams (Dino Fantini) is seriously unhinged. He's the one responsible for all the sex crimes, which he commits after long, loving exposure to their pornographic pictures. Eventually Dirk gets sloppy and the cops find his fingerprints on some very sleazy evidence, which leads Gloria's mobster backers to demand his execution. The whole dirty scheme goes awry, though, and the police are finally able to purge the community of the smut gang. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
With its incoherent plot, jaw-droppingly odd dialogue, inept acting, threadbare production design, and special effects so shoddy that they border on the surreal, Plan 9 From Outer Space has often been called the worst movie ever made. But it's an oddly endearing disaster; boasting genuine enthusiasm and undeniable charm, it is the work of people who loved movies and loved making them, even if they displayed little visible talent. In Plan 9, alien invaders attempt to conquer the world by raising the dead, starting with an old man dressed in a Dracula costume (Bela Lugosi, in a few minutes of left-over footage grafted into this film), his much-younger and well-proportioned wife (Maila "Vampira" Nurmi), and a remarkably overweight police officer (Tor Johnson). Often funny and consistently entertaining (if almost always for the wrong reasons), Plan 9 From Outer Space is an anti-masterpiece if there ever was one, and as Criswell so brilliantly puts it, "Can you PROVE it didn't happen?!?" Its legendary director Edward D. Wood Jr. was played by Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's 1994 biopic, Ed Wood. One of the DVD releases of Plan 9 From Outer Space includes the documentary Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion, an exhaustive and entertaining look at the making of the film that runs a half-hour longer than the feature to which it pays tribute! ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bela Lugosi, Mona McKinnon, (more)
