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Movie Review

The Lost Continent (1968) Movie Review

The Lost Continent – Movie Review

Embark on a thrilling adventure in The Lost Continent. Join the captain and crew as they face mutiny, monsters, and a mysterious land full of danger and secrets.

ABC Film Challenge – Sci-Fi – L

Director: Michael Carreras, Leslie Norman

Writer: Michael Carreras, Dennis Wheatley (Screenplay)

Cast

Plot: The captain, crew, and passengers of an old freighter-all of them with dark secrets to keep-find themselves adrift in a mysterious land full of monsters, conquistadors, and killer seaweed.

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Lost Continent starts when Captain Lansen (Porter) leads a ship into dangerous waters and faces a mutiny from his crew. They have become scared of an incoming storm after learning about the explosives on board. After the crew abandon the ship, Lansen turns to the passengers to help with the ship.

However, they are forced to abandon the ship themselves. Captain Lansen must lead the survivors including Eva Peters (Knef), Unity Webster (Leigh) and Harry Tyler (Beckley) to safety. However, they find a strange land filled with monsters and conquistadors and must battle to escape and survive.

Verdict on The Lost Continent

The Lost Continent is an adventure sci-fi movie following a crew of a ship that stumbles upon a lost land. They become stranded and must fight against a host of different enemies to return to the life they were aiming for.

This movie uses the idea that the open ocean has many mysteries around it. It goes in a direction you wouldn’t expect, as we deal with a host of threats, from killer seaweed to Conquistadors forgotten in time. This fills the era of paranoia about the ocean and shows what could be out in the unknown. It is a bit cheesy but gets what it needs to out of the wacky discoveries made.

Where to Watch

JustWatch

Final Thoughts – The Lost Continent is a wacky journey into the unknown.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nominations – Z – Funny Girl (1968) Movie Review

This is going under Z because of the character Ziegfeld.

Director: William Wyler

Writer: Isobel Lennart (Screenplay)

Starring: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Allen

Plot: The life of Fanny Brice, famed comedienne and entertainer of the early 1900s. We see her rise to fame as a Ziegfeld girl, subsequent career, and her personal life, particularly her relationship with Nick Arnstein.


Tagline – Hello, gorgeous!

Runtime: 2 Hours 31 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Funny Girl starts when Fanny Brice (Streisand) looks to make an impact on Broadway, she will take any role in a show to get started, with her doing whatever she can to make an impact, catching the eyes Nick Arnstein (Sharif), who suggests her for Florenz Ziegfeld’s (Pidgeon) latest show.

As Fanny becomes a bigger star, she finds herself touring America, getting fleeting visit from Nick, but his vices for gambling leave the strain upon the relationship and her future in the business.

Thoughts on Funny Girl

Thoughts – Funny Girl is the Oscar winning movie from 1968 that shows the dreams of a star that will fall into the trap of stardom, leading to the struggle to remain on top of the game in the ruthless stage musical world. We get to see how love will drive people to make crazy decisions, ones that will see them put careers on the line for a maybe, with someone that is even more dangerous than they could imagine. When it comes to the films of a certain era, they do seem to lose a connection with the more modern audience, with the pacing, which this is a film that does suffer from that, it would have felt like the event when it got released, but now it is more of a musical about love and risk. The performances are wonderful and you can see why Barbra Streisand won best actress in the Oscars this year. This is one for the classic Hollywood fans to enjoy, one they can get plenty out of.

Final Thoughts – Funny Girl is one that fits into the classic Hollywood wonder years.

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Movie Review

Witchfinder General (1968) Movie Review

Director: Michael Reeves

Writer: Tom Baker, Michael Reeves (Screenplay) Ronald Bassett (Novel)

Starring: Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Rupert Davies, Hilary Heath, Robert Russell, Nicky Henson

Plot: A young soldier seeks to put an end to the evils caused by a vicious witch-hunter when the latter terrorizes his fiancée and kills her uncle.


Tagline – He’ll hang, burn and mutilate you.

Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Shock Horror 60’s Horror

Story: Witchfinder General starts in the middle of the English Civil War, where soldiers fight for and against Oliver Cromwell are travelling around the country. Matthew Hopkins (Price) leads a group of soldiers who play into the superstitions of small village, punishing women they believe to be witches, while Richard Marshall (Ogilvy) is preparing to marry Sara (Heath) the niece of a priest.

When Hopkins and his men arrive in the village, they continue their witch hunt, where they target the priest with John Stearne (Russell) the sadistic member continues to torture the people, until Richard decides to fight back for his people.

Thoughts on Witchfinder General

Characters – Matthew Hopkins is the man that believes he is right to be hunting for witches in towns, he will go to extreme lengths to get the witches giving them no chance of surviving the trials, letting his men do the more sadistic work for him, using his position of power to seduce women. Richard Marshall fights for the king, he sees the witchfinder come into his town and after what they do to his family, he risks his own life to hunt down the witchfinder to get revenge. Sara is the niece of a priest that is accused of witchcraft, she will do anything to save her uncle, being taken advantage of by Hopkins, while seeing her husband Richard going out for revenge. John Stearne is the man that enjoys performing the sadistic rituals to find out whether people are witches or not, though he can become paranoid about whether he will get captured or not.

Performances – Vincent Price is a horror icon and it shows how he could dominate the genre in his career here, easily be the star of the show, with the rest of the cast struggling to keep up with him.

Story – The story here follows a group of soldiers that travel around to small village to torture people claiming they are witches, only after they picked the wrong village, as one of the soldiers for the king goes in search for revenge against the witchfinder. This does play into the superstitions of the world with witch hunting which will become the main source of the story and how people would react to the hunting. It does fall into a standard revenge thriller and is more interested in trying for shocks over anything else.

Horror – The horror in this film comes from seeing how the world is treating potential witches and what Hopkins and his men do to them.

Settings – The film does use the locations to show us the English countryside with small villages that would live in fear.


Scene of the Movie – The final shot.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is too generic in how the story unfolds.

Final Thoughts – This is your typical 60s British horror that does everything right without being anything as ground breaking as it could have been.

Overall: Typical British Horror.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nomination – T – The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) Movie Review

Director: Norman Jewison

Writer: Alan Trustman (Screenplay)

Starring: Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke, Jack Weston, Biff McGuire, Addison Powell, Astrid Heeren

Plot: A debonair, adventuresome bank executive believes he has pulled off the perfect multi-million dollar heist, only to match wits with a sexy insurance investigator who will do anything to get her man.


Tagline – McQueen, together with this “Bonnie and Clyde” Gal…and the slickest gang that ever robbed a bank! 

Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Classic Heist

Story: The Thomas Crown Affair starts as Thomas Crown (McQueen) pulls off a daring robbery with his selected team which sees him team walk away with millions of dollars, which he will hand out slowly to cover up any unusual additions to bank accounts. The banks turn to insurance investigator Vicki Anderson (Dunaway) to search for answers and it isn’t long before her attention turns to Thomas himself.

Vicki will push the limits of the legal side of her job to get to the truth even if that means she clashes with her employer Eddy Malone (Burke) and the deeper she dives into the case, the more she learns about Thomas and his desires in the criminal world.

Thoughts on The Thomas Crown Affair

Characters – Thomas Crown in the businessman that always knows how to get the best deal, isn’t afraid to splash his cash and he also enjoys a good heist, with his latest one giving him even more money to spend, he knows how the build a team that will get the job done without needing to let them know who he is, only this time he might have met his match. Vicki Anderson is a sexy insurance investigator who is assigned to help get to the bottom of this latest robbery, she starts to investigate Thomas and learns more about him, but never enough to prove he was the mastermind behind the robbery. The two do clash on what they feel is right and will go to any lengths to try and stay ahead of each other. Eddy Malone is the man that hires Vicki to help get the money his company had to pay out to the bank for insurance, he wants things done clean.

Performances – Steve McQueen does have all the swagger to make this rick criminal come to life effortlessly through the film, while Faye Dunaway brings her character to life, playing into her strengths to get the truth. The rest of the cast are great through the film, letting the leads take full control.

Story – The story here follows a slick businessman that enjoys committing robberies on the side, he has been doing it for years and now he will meet his match trying to catch him. This is a new spin on the heist genre because instead of being just a criminal wanting to complete his latest job, this turns somebody who never needs to commit the robbery into a man that believes he can get it done. There are elements of the cat-n-mouse between the two which is entertaining to watch, while we do focus more on the aftermath of the crime, rather than the actual crime itself, which is also different because we spend too much time watching the preparation of a crime.

Crime/Romance – The crime side of the film does show how one man believes he can get away with the perfect robbery and does fall in love with the woman that is sent to try and capture him.

Settings – The film uses the settings to show the high rolling life Thomas has been living both before and after the robbery, making it hard to pinpoint him as the mastermind.


Scene of the Movie – The robbery.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It does seem to easy for them to fall in love.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun heist film that does take us into a new direction that we don’t normally see, with some wonderful leading performances.

Overall: Heist film with a twist.

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Movie Review

Ice Station Zebra (1968) Movie Review

Director: John Sturges

Writer: Douglas Heyes, Harry Julian Fink (Screenplay) Alistair MacLean (Novel)

Starring: Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown, Tony Bill, Lloyd Nolan

Plot: USN nuclear sub USS Tigerfish must rush to the North Pole to rescue the staff of Drift Ice Station Zebra weather station.


Tagline – “Ice Station Zebra”… Remember The Name — Your Life May Depend On It!

Runtime: 2 Hours 28 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Sizzling Tension Filler

Story: Ice Station Zebra starts after a British research facility in the North Pole gets into a position where it requires help, with the snow stopping any flights, Cdr James Ferraday (Hudson) is assigned to captain his nuclear submarine, with specialist David Jones (McGoohan) who is on his own mission to the research facility.

On route to the station the crew pick up Boris Vaslov (Borgnine) and Captain Leslie Anders (Brown), learning that somebody might be trying to sabotage the mission, once they hit the North Pole, the four are joined by a crew to finish the mission on foot across the cold arctic conditions.

Thoughts on Ice Station Zebra

Characters – Cdr James Ferraday is the man assigned with taking the submarine on the rescue attempt, he knows what he needs to, only he is joined with somebody who knows more, he must figure out how to get more information, while become suspicious of everything that he learns along the way, including the extra guests who join the mission, he wants to do the right thing and tries to make sure nobody gets in his way. Boris Vaslov is a Russian that joins the mission, he is friendly to everybody while looking to find the answers. David Jones is the man that joins the mission from the start, he knows what they are looking for and doesn’t want to give away everything unless it will get to a stage of life and death. Captain Leslie Anders joins the mission and is stricter in how he runs the soldiers onboard the submarine.

Performances – Rock Hudson in the leading role is strong, while we do have a well known cast in Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan and Jim Brown that all do a great job with their characters through the film.

Story – The story here follows a crew of a submarine that must travel to the North Pole to rescue a group of survivors that are in need of rescue, while also waiting to see why other nations are so interested in getting there first. This starts of looking like it is going to be a standard rescue mission, only to turn into a story that revolves around the different nations that are all interested in what could be at the base, while it could have something much bigger for the world’s control over everything. We are kept guessing on who to trust through the film, which is interesting and does keep us on edge, even if most of the moments focus on the almost moments.

Adventure – The film does make us see this as an adventure with the characters needing to go on a journey to rescue people in need, even if not everybody is on the same page.

Settings – The film is set in two primary locations, first the submarine, which is contained, then the arctic with the station which might be open, but is isolated.


Scene of the Movie – Showdown on the ice.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Doesn’t give us enough answers.

Final Thoughts – This is an interesting thriller that feels like it is just ready to burst, only for it to end up fizzling out without getting to the top level we would look to expect it to.

Overall: Fizzling Thriller.