Manuel Lopez Movies
- 1962
Hampered by a quickie conclusion, this routine melodrama by Reginald LeBorg features twin sisters, Sabena and Dara (Marcia Henderson) who are identical in physical appearance but about as alike as night and day. The evil twin learns that her good-hearted sister is about to come into some money and so she plots to get her hands on the lucre instead. What can be so difficult since the two of them look alike? She poses as her angelic counterpart but then runs into a series of problems that lead up to the abrupt ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Hill, Marcia Henderson, (more)
- 1959
In this dreadful Mexican sci-fi horror outing, a shipful of aliens including a robot, the Prince of Mars, and a vampy vampire make a pitstop on Earth to collect specimens and abduct a cowboy. ¡Ay Carumba! ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Maracaibo was actor Cornel Wilde's second directorial effort. Wilde casts himself as troubleshooting oil man Vic Scott, who has arrived in Venezuela to help put out a fire at an offshore well. It's a ticklish situation: if Scott fails, not only will he die in the blaze, but all of Maracaibo will likely be destroyed. When he isn't risking his life, Scott romantically pursues ice-princess journalist Laura Kingsley (played by Jean Wallace, at the time Mrs. Cornel Wilde). Joe E. Ross of Car 54 Where are You fame provides a few welcome laughs as a Brooklynese oil rigger. Filmed partially on location, Maracaibo was based on a novel by Stirling Silliphant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, (more)
- 1958
Widow Grace Wheeler (Joan Weldon) tells Bart (Jack Kelly) and his friend Big Mike (Leo Gordon) about a gold mine in Mexico. She even offers to guide them South of the Border and lead them to the treasure's hiding place. Unfortunately, the Mexican government is also interested in laying claim to the gold--as is a quartet of bandits who have a cute habit of killing anyone who gets in their way. Ruta Lee delivers another bravura guest performance as a brassy dance-hall gal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Producer/director Bert I. Gordon began his career-long devotion to movies about giant-sized people and animals with this low-budget chiller, which has a surprisingly strong cast of onetime Hollywood leading men. Gloria Talbott plays Susan Winter, a young American woman who hires soldier-of-fortune Russ Bradford James Craig to lead an expedition into a remote valley in Mexico where her fiance, Bruce Barton, was lost in a plane crash two years earlier. Also along are greedy speculator Martin Melville (Lon Chaney Jr.) and pilot Lee Brand (Tom Drake). They get to the valley and discover that it is, as was rumored, rich in deposits of uranium, but also dangerously radioactive -- the immediate threats include giant insects and spiders and huge mutated lizards, but Susan is positive that they're being watched by an unseen observer. The title creature, 25 feet tall with a disfigured face, a single eye, and motivated by the most bestial of impulses, shows himself by trapping them inside of a cave, and quicker than you can say Polyphemus, the rescue mission becomes a fight for survival that has a particularly nasty, bitter ending. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Craig, Gloria Talbott, (more)
- 1956
The ineluctable Sam Katzman pounced upon the "cha-cha" craze with the musical quickie Cha-Cha-Cha-Boom! Recording stars Perez Prado, Helen Grayco, Luis Arcaraz, Manny Lopez and the Mary Kaye Trio play themselves in this hurriedly assembled melange. The wafer-thin plot concerns the efforts of talent scout Bill Haven (Steve Dunne) to scare up some genuine Latino talent for his own recording company. To make a long story short, he coerces bandleader Perez Prado out of his native Cuba, whereupon Prado rallies his cha-cha'ing cohorts to assemble en masse in Haven's studio. The film is stolen by lissome dancer Sylvia Lewis, who later appeared on such TVers as The Dick Van Dyke Show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dámaso Pérez Prado
- 1955
Phil Karlson, well-regarded by film buffs for his tough, no-nonsense crime dramas, directed this adventure story shot partially on location in the Caribbean. Mike Cormack (John Payne) was once a District Attorney, until his fiancée, Janet Martin (Mary Murphy), left him to marry another man. Depressed, Mike began drinking heavily, and eventually his alcoholism cost him his job. Trying to pull himself back up after hitting bottom, Mike gets a job as a bouncer at a casino in Las Vegas. Barzland (Francis L. Sullivan), a handicapped criminal, approaches Mike with an unusual offer. Barzland will pay Mike $5,000 if he can locate a ruby that went missing following the disappearance of a plane in the West Indies. Mike discovers that the reason he was picked for this job is that the pilot of the plane, Eduardo (Paul Picerni), is the man Janet chose to marry, and Barzland and his men believe that she might have clues as to the ruby's whereabouts that Mike could uncover. However, when Mike arrives to meet with Janet, he discovers that Eduardo is now in jail, and Janet begins to snare Mike in a web of lies and deceit. Hell's Island was rereleased in 1962 under the title South Sea Fury. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, Mary Murphy, (more)
- 1954
Based on a novel by Gwen Bristow, Jubilee Trail is a sprawling, all-star western from the Republic Studio mills. Despite is vaunted budget, the plot is strictly B-picture material. Ambitious California landowner Charles Hale (Ray Middleton) hopes to add to his riches by marrying off his brother Oliver (John Russell) to a wealthy Spanish family. But when Oliver weds a gal named Garnet (Joan Leslie) instead, Charles vows revenge against the new bride. Later, Oliver is killed, leaving Garnet to raise their baby alone. Charles intends to claim the baby for himself, but Garnet, who has subsequently fallen in love with John Ives (Forrest Tucker), isn't about to let that happen. Top-billed Vera Ralston plays saloon-hall chirp Florinda, a Woman With a Past who is peripherally involved in the plot proper, while Richard Webb, TV's "Captain Midnight", fills the obligatory "disgruntled suitor" role. The film is stolen hands down by Pat O'Brien as a drunken doctor who serves as last-minute problem-solver. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vera Ralston, Joan Leslie, (more)
Its wartime setting notwithstanding, the fast-paced Warner Bros. B-picture Adventures in Iraq is a remake of the 1930 George Arliss vehicle The Green Goddess, with much of the original dialogue intact. Forced to making a landing in the Syrian desert, pilot Doug Everett (Warren Douglas) and his passengers George and Tess Torrence (John Loder, Ruth Ford), find themselves the unwilling guests of Sheik Ahmid Bel Nor (Paul Cavanagh, in the George Arliss role). The civilized but deadly Sheik intends to hold the threesome as hostages to prevent the execution of his three Nazi-spy brothers by the British. After several desperate escape attempts, the trio is prepared for human sacrifice by the ruthless Shiek. The ending is substantially the same as in The Green Goddess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Loder, Ruth Ford, (more)
Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls is a romantic drama set against the turbulent tapestry of the Spanish Civil War. Gary Cooper plays Robert Jordan, an idealistic American fighting with a Spanish guerilla band. He is assigned to blow up a crucial bridge in order to halt the enemy's progress. He falls in love with Maria (Ingrid Bergman), a young peasant girl who's joined the fight after being ill-used by enemy troops. Pablo (Akim Tamiroff), the eternally drunken leader of the guerillas, resents Jordan's attentions toward Maria, and he refuses to help Jordan in his sabotage work. Pablo's wife Pilar (Oscar-winner Katina Paxinou) takes over command of the guerillas and helps Jordan by arranging horses for the band's departure after their job is done. The man supplying the horses (Joseph Calleia) is killed, and Jordan is left to finish his task minus a means to escape. For Whom the Bell Tolls was a long, faithful adaptation of the Hemingway novel, with excellent performances, torrid love scenes, and first-rate Technicolor photography. Available for many years only in the 130-minute reissue version, it was restored to nearly its full original length of 168 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, (more)
Torrid Zone star James Cagney once described the film as "The Front Page among the bananas." Indeed, the screenplay diligently follows the Front Page plot device of a tough boss (Pat O'Brien) pulling every underhanded trick in the book to keep his top man (Cagney) from quitting. This time the setting is a Central American plantation owned by O'Brien, which supervisor Cagney would dearly love to leave behind. Complicating the plot is a nightclub singer (Anne Sheridan) over whom O'Brien and Tracy do battle; a bored married woman (Helen Vinson) with eyes for Cagney; and a gang of Latino bandits, led by George Tobias (providing comic relief). What Torrid Zone lacked in originality it made up for in sheer energy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, (more)
Although released after The Shadow of Silk Lennox, this ultra low-budget mystery thriller was the first film in which Creighton Chaney used the billing Lon Chaney, Jr. The actor was persuaded to change his name by producer Ray Kirkwood, who promised to make 24 action melodramas with him as the star. Only two were actually made, however, and Scream in the Night did not enjoy a wide release until 1943, when Chaney had become Universal's newest horror sensation. Detectives Jack Wilson (Chaney) and Wu Ting (Philip Ahn) are tracking the famous jewel thief Johnny Fly (Manuel Lopez) to Singapore, where Fly has stolen a priceless ruby belonging to lovely Edith Bentley (Sheila Terry). Wu Ting is murdered by one of Fly's underlings, the deformed Butch Curtain (also Chaney), and Edith gets herself kidnapped. Bearing some resemblance to the killer, Wilson manages to infiltrate the gang and free the girl. Kirkwood and director Fred Newmeyer obviously counted on Chaney, Jr. to deliver the goods as the deformed Butch Curtain, but Lon was not in a league with his legendary father no matter how hard he tried. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lon Chaney, Jr., Sheila Terry, (more)
