Category: Books & Novels

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Books & Novels Fantasy, Horror, & Science Fiction

(DEAN KOONTZ’S) FRANKENSTEIN, BOOK 4: LOST SOULS

Written by Dean Koontz

SUMMARY:

Released through Random House Publishing Group, this 350-page fourth installment in Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein saga was released in 2010.  In the two years since the seemingly immortal Victor Helios’ (aka Dr. Victor Frankenstein) death, five survivors of his diabolical wrath have scattered and moved on with their own lives. 

Deucalion (aka Frankenstein’s Monster) is hiding in a secluded California monastery where his intuition ominously senses that his insidious creator is somehow still alive.  Ex-New Orleans police detective partners Carson O’Connor and Michael Maddison have since married and are raising an infant daughter in San Francisco.  Unable to completely settle down, the duo partakes in dangerous assignments working in tandem as private investigators. 

Lastly, Victor’s last cloned wife, Erika Five, has assumed a new surname and has quietly relocated to rural Rainbow Falls, Montana, where she is eccentric Jocko’s surrogate mother. Her financial means stems from a hidden cache of money and jewels that she stole from Victor before fleeing New Orleans.

Meanwhile, the unsuspecting residents of Rainbow Falls are being systematically abducted, assimilated, and replaced by identical cyborg replicas intent on ultimately destroying the human race in favor of their own kind.  These helpless small-town victims, upon becoming expendable fodder, will face horrific fates from the ‘Builders’ in this cult dubbed ‘The Community.’  

Too few locals are able to elude these monstrous killers: among these ‘fugitives’ are jail escapees Mr. Lyss and mentally challenged ‘Nummy, along with hospital patient Bryce Walker. Unaware of the cult’s insidious scheme, Erika is mortified to observe that a fellow town motorist is Victor himself – somehow alive and intact (now referring to himself as ‘Victor Immaculate’). She soon realizes that one of Victor’s vile contingency plans has been initiated.

At Erika’s conscientious behest, Deucalion, along with Carson and Michael, descends upon Rainbow Falls to find and destroy this new Victor.  Yet, as even more of the townspeople are captured and replaced, Victor’s five enemies find that there may be no escape this time being both vastly outnumbered and outgunned.  More so, the town’s own bewildered resistance may come too little too late.           

Notes: This title’s other formats are paperback, audiobook, and digitally.  The novel’s immediate sequel, Dead Town, was released in 2011.

REVIEW:

Including some sporadically icky details, this next horror-fantasy thriller in the Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein franchise is likely for the established fanbase only.  While Koontz’s experienced writing style is easy to grasp, one may be skeptical of how necessary this contrived sequel is … when it amounts to ‘Frankenstein’s Monster Vs. The Body Snatchers, Part I.’ 

Readers might like Carson and Michael’s hard-nosed yet now-married repartee, as well as the presence of Deucalion and Erika. Unfortunately, other characters definitely diminish one’s reading enjoyment.  Let’s just say a little ‘Jocko’ goes a long way, and really the less said the better about the majority of Mr. Nyss & Nummy’s scenes – especially, in the town jail’s basement. As for other Rainbow Falls stock characters, Koontz’s writing conveys many of them with just enough depth, but their general expendability prevents readers from connecting with them.       

A fresh relocation in scenery to Montana and briefly San Francisco from New Orleans, if anything, is welcome progress.  Still, this asset doesn’t mask how the new storyline’s collection of tropes becomes too derivative of other ‘body snatcher’ genre capers.  Hence, readers are expected to rely upon the franchise’s core characters to escape the sci-fi/horror cliché-fest substituting for Koontz’s lack of originality.    

As a supplemental observation, growing suspicions of Koontz’s leisurely pace are confirmed at the novel’s end.   It’s then no surprise that Lost Souls is merely the first installment of this ‘stay tuned’ storyline, as opposed to acknowledging this helpful tidbit on the front cover.  Given a likelihood of skipping scenes (as the short chapters rotate among characters), Dean Koontz’s lukewarm Frankenstein, Book 4: Lost Souls is probably best perused as a library rental option first.        

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

There is a list of selected Koontz novels and an ultra-brief author biographical paragraph.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                   4½ Stars

Categories
Agatha Christie-Related Books & Novels Mystery & Suspense

SUPERINTENDENT BATTLE: TOWARDS ZERO

Written by Agatha Christie

SUMMARY:

First published in 1944, sporadic re-releases include this large-print, 316-page 1988 G.K. Hall & Co. paperback edition. 

Set in England during 1943-44, a series of seemingly unrelated and ordinary events unfold across several months. In September 1944, the participants subsequently converge at Lady Camilla Tressilian’s posh estate, Gull’s Point, at Saltcreek.  Among the scenes depicted are:

  • Retired criminal defense attorney Mr. Treves contemplates his ‘zero hour’ concept of crime (i.e. homicide) where a collection of individuals (the culprit, the victim, and possible witnesses) will inexplicably converge upon the same place at the same time.
  • After his botched suicide attempt, a despondent Andrew MacWhirter resentfully endures further indignity during his recuperation in a British hospital.
  • An unknown psychopath sets out sinister plans for a date later that year in September.
  • Scotland Yard’s Superintendent Battle ‘rescues’ his teenage daughter, Sylvia, from a private boarding school after she falsely confesses to a series of petty thefts.
  • Pro tennis player Nevile Strange tries coaxing his much-younger current wife, Kay, into establishing a friendship with his ex-spouse, Audrey.  Hence, he suggests that they holiday together that fall at his stepmother’s riverside estate, Gull’s Point.
  • The elderly Lady Tressilian is hostile towards Nevile’s (her late husband’s ward) likely self-serving intentions.       

Assembled that fall at Saltcreek are: Nevile and Kay Strange; Audrey Strange; Ted Latimer (Kay’s friend); Thomas Royde (Audrey’s cousin); and trusted family friend Mr. Treves, as proximity intermingles their vacations.  Lady Tressilian and her distant cousin/live-in companion, Mary Aldin, invite these guests for dinner a September night at Gull’s Point.  Jealousy and simmering old wounds reopen amongst them, as one person inexplicably dies before the next morning.

Far more shocking is a second death where the victim is brutally murdered in a locked-room mystery.  Soon called upon is Superintendent Battle, who is presently visiting his nephew: Saltcreek’s Inspector James Leach.  In their criminal probe, Battle and Leach recognize that the crime scene implicates Nevile Strange.  Yet, resolution isn’t so easy, as Battle suspects that someone is cleverly framing Nevile.

Once the preponderance of evidence shifts again, Battle must initiate his own decisive endgame to ensure justice prevails.

Notes: This title is Superintendent Battle’s fifth and final appearance in Christie’s works (though Poirot later mentions him).  Battle had previously appeared in 1925’s The Secret of Chimneys; its 1929 spin-off sequel, The Seven Dials Mystery; 1936’s Cards On The Table team-up with Poirot, Ariadne Oliver, and Colonel Race; and a cameo in 1939’s Murder Is Easy (aka Easy To Kill).      

As far as Towards Zero’s recent TV adaptations go, there is a same-named 2007 TV episode of Agatha Christie’s Marple where Battle is replaced by a generic Superintendent.  A loose French interpretation is a 2019 TV episode from Les Petits Meurtres d’Agatha Christie (aka The Little Murders of Agatha Christie / Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games). 

At this time, a new BBC TV mini-series is in production.  The casting of Battle (or another surrogate) hasn’t been disclosed; given the announced cast, the actor is most likely Matthew Rhys.  Interestingly, still another Battle is in progress.  Currently, Netflix is filming a mini-series adaptation of The Seven Dials Mystery.  Sherlock’s Martin Freeman reportedly has been cast as Battle – a rare instance of the character appearing on screen.

REVIEW:

Considering this novel’s 80th Anniversary, one at least gets a decent read.  Yet, as to why Towards Zero frankly rates among Agatha Christie’s middling works, there are multiple reasons: 

  1. The potential for intriguing plot threads is undermined by a relatively bland whodunnit bearing too few actual surprises.    
  2. Towards Zero’s gimmickry suggests a Hercule Poirot-style mystery. As Christie fans know, Superintendent Battle’s low-key presence falls far short of her legendary Belgian sleuth’s star power.  More so, even substituting Poirot in for Battle can’t make the culprit’s devious methodology any less implausible. 
  3. Aside from a mostly dull Battle, the novel lacks memorable characters to make one sufficiently care about the mystery’s climax – let alone the fates of various players. 
  4. In reference to the above reasons, late plot contrivances will leave readers’ eyes rolling, regardless of generation. 

If anything, various plot elements (i.e. how Daniel Craig’s flamboyant sleuth, Benoit Blanc, comes off like an amalgam of Battle and Poirot), makes Towards Zero perhaps the closest Christie work resembling Rian Johnson’s 2019 Knives Out film.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

A table of contents is included.  The 18-point Plantin font, as expected, is easily readable.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                        5 Stars

Categories
Agatha Christie-Related Books & Novels Mystery & Suspense

HERCULE POIROT: AFTER THE FUNERAL (aka FUNERALS ARE FATAL)

Written by Agatha Christie

SUMMARY:

First published in 1953 in both the United States and the United Kingdom, this 286-page William Morrow paperback reprint was released in 2014.

After the sudden passing of elderly English millionaire, Richard Abernethie, a will reading is held by his trusted family attorney, Mr. Entwhistle.  Invited to the posh family mansion, Enderby Hall, are Richard’s surviving heirs, including his adult nieces and nephews; two sisters-in-law; and his youngest sister: the eccentric and middle-aged Cora Lansquenet.  Routine revelations by Entwhistle of Richard’s will inexplicably spurn Cora to opine that: one, that Richard was murdered; and two, that his homicide has been discreetly hushed up. 

Perturbed to varying degrees by Cora’s outlandish comments, Entwhistle and the various Abernethie family members go their separate ways in returning home.  Yet, the shockingly savage homicide of the reclusive Cora within forty-eight hours prompts Entwhistle to consult London’s premier sleuth: Hercule Poirot.  The Belgian private detective’s arsenal of ‘little grey cells’ must then determine how Richard’s seemingly natural demise correlates to that of his brutally murdered sister.  More so, the subsequent attempted poisoning of Cora’s best friend and live-in companion, Miss Gilchrist, adds further sinister complications. 

The truth may ultimately rest with one family heir, who had vaguely sensed something awry when Cora had blurted out her conspiracy theory at the will reading. That is, if the desperate culprit doesn’t eliminate this potential witness first to ensure the success of a shrewdly constructed crime.  

Note: This title has been released in multiple formats, including digitally and audiobook.

REVIEW:

For a cozy mystery, After The Funeral is more complex and slightly better than average within the genre – as far as ensuring readers a good night’s sleep. If compared to the Hercule Poirot franchise’s upper echelon, however, one merely gets an unremarkable whodunnit. 

In part, Agatha Christie’s intriguing premise becomes bogged down by a confusing overload of Abernethie family suspects, not to mention a somewhat languid pace. Though some engaging characters emerge (i.e. Entwhistle, Susan Banks, and Helen Abernethie), none shine brightly enough to surpass the ordinary ‘screen time’ that Christie has allotted them. It’s ironic that the welcome plausibility (and shades of ambiguity) After The Funeral’s guest characters imbue this storyline with doesn’t inspire a more meaningful enigma for Poirot to decipher.

Poirot’s own waning star power is problematic, too. Frankly, his low-key sleuthing makes one wonder about the supplemental efforts by Entwhistle, Inspector Morton, and a few of the Abernethies. For instance, might After The Funeral have been a better whodunnit without involving Poirot, i.e. along the lines of Crooked House or Ordeal By Innocence? With minimal tweaking (such as Inspector Morton and Entwhistle splitting Poirot’s contributions), a character like Susan Banks might have been an excellent addition to Christie’s collection of amateur sleuths.

Removing Poirot altogether, unfortunately, doesn’t fix the novel’s biggest weakness. Specifically, After The Funeral lacks exhilarating moments of suspense or unique plot twists that will reverberate with readers afterwards. That’s really the prime reason why this Poirot caper is all too easy to forget by mystery buffs.

The flip side is Christie still concocts a readable plot that diligently pecks away at self-involved aspects of human nature (i.e. greed) that any number of cozy mysteries so often explore. Hence, this subdued Poirot whodunnit is best found at the library or a discount book sale.         

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

This edition starts with a page-length Christie biography.  Sophie Hannah (who currently writes new entries in the Poirot franchise) pens a brief introduction.  Specifically, she teases this storyline’s ‘nontransferable motive,’ where only its culprit would commit the murder for a specific reason. 

Of more practical benefit (preceding Chapter One) is a brief Abernethie family tree establishing the surviving family members by name and relationship.    

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                    5½ Stars

Categories
Books & Novels General Non-Fiction History & Biographies (Books) Westerns

THE LAST OUTLAWS: THE DESPERATE FINAL DAYS OF THE DALTON GANG

Written by Tom Clavin

SUMMARY:

Released in 2023 by St. Martin’s Publishing Group, this Tom Clavin title is available in multiple formats: digital, hardcover, audiobook, large-print hardcover, and, presumably, paperback, at a later date. Per the photo below, the edition reviewed here is the large print edition — it is distributed through Thorndike Press and shares the same cover artwork as the St. Martin’s hardcover. 

The prologue begins in April 1931, as an aging Emmett Dalton briefly returns (with his wife) to Coffeyville nearly forty years after the infamously botched dual bank heist where multiple citizens and four Dalton Gang members were killed.  With mixed emotions, Emmett personally reflects upon the headstone he had purchased to adorn the shared gravesite of his brothers, Bob and Grat Dalton, and associate Bill Power. The somber departure of Emmett and his wife from the cemetery initiates Clavin’s narrative in flashback.

‘Act I: The Daltons’ summarizes the Daltons’ ancestral past and their maternal link as cousins to the Youngers: Cole, Jim, Bob, and John (who was killed years prior to the failed Northfield raid). More so, Clavin describes the Youngers’ criminal activities with brothers Jesse & Frank James dating back to the Civil War. By war’s end, the Youngers and the two James brothers had shifted from Confederate guerillas to professional criminals.  Upon the James/Younger Gang’s bloody failed 1876 bank heist in Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse and Frank James had fled back to Missouri.  The three wounded Youngers, however, were left behind to face capture and then be sent to prison for decades. 

In the years to come, Judge Isaac Parker and a vigilant division of U.S. Marshals would be hard-pressed protecting the Mid-South region from a seemingly unending reign of terror by roving criminals.  After the heinous murder of older brother Frank Dalton, as one of Parker’s deputy marshals, brothers Grat, Bob, and Emmett Dalton all briefly pursued careers as lawmen. 

Corruption and incompetence ended the three younger Daltons’ law-abiding aspirations and precipitated their escape to California.  Bungling their first train heist, Bob and Emmett’s antics implicated Grat, and much to his chagrin, another older brother: Bill.  Simmering with resentment, Bill’s subsequent attitude was that, if he was going to be unfairly branded an outlaw (by his surname), then he might as well become one.

Having fled back to Oklahoma and Kansas, now-professional thieves Bob and Emmett officially assemble their dubious gang in mid-1891, per ‘Act II: The Gang.’  Including Bill Doolin and a fugitive Grat, the gang’s notoriety over a series of train robberies soars – even if they were really more lucky than good making their escapes and evading capture. 

‘Act III: The Lawmen’ examines the U.S. Marshals, an assortment of local posses, and the train industry’s detectives, as they all join the hunt for the elusive Daltons and their cronies.  Among these determined manhunters are U.S. Deputy Marshals Bill Tilghman, Chris Madsen, and Heck Thomas – each of whom is profiled.

By early October 1892, the Daltons intend to make one last profitable score and then flee the region – all the way to South America, if necessary. As Emmett would readily acknowledge decades later, the relentless pursuit by Heck Thomas and his posse had expedited the gang’s decision-making. Specifically, they sensed that Thomas was only mere days away from catching up to them.

Opting to rob their hometown’s two banks simultaneously in broad daylight, the Daltons’ grisly demise in Coffeyville unfolds in ‘Act IV: The Shoot-Out.’  Left out of the Coffeyville disaster, the remaining gang members would soon reassemble under Bill Doolin and Bill Dalton’s shared command.  This spin-off group of desperadoes became known as the Doolin-Dalton Gang — this gang’s other monickers include the original ‘Wild Bunch;’ ‘The Oklahoma Long Riders,’ and, though Clavin doesn’t mention it: ‘the Oklahombres.’ 

Per the concluding ‘Act V: The Desperadoes,’ the two Bills (Doolin and Dalton) lead a more successful and evidently competent crew over the next few years.  Still, due to the persistence of Thomas, Madsen, and Tilghman, virtually all of the Doolin-Dalton contingent and various associates are ultimately killed or nabbed one by one.  Saved for last, Clavin reveals the fates of the surviving players and/or their families.  As far as Clavin is concerned, though long overlooked by history, he considers the wily Bill Doolin the Old West’s ‘last outlaw.’    

Note: Though Clavin makes a logical case for Doolin, two of this desperado’s old associates could make equally valid claims as the Old West’s ‘last outlaw.’ Including stints in prison and then Hollywood (I kid you not), these other two outlaws/killers would Roy Daugherty (aka ‘Arkansas Tom’ Jones) and Belle Starr’s distant nephew, Henry Starr – both of whom Clavin briefly profiles.

After years in prison and a failed try at Hollywood fame, Daugherty/Jones went back to bank robbing. As a fugitive from justice, he was ultimately killed in 1924 in a shootout with a Joplin, MO policeman.

Curiously reminiscent of Emmett Dalton, Starr’s post-prison life including a memoir and even starring in his own bio-pic. Per his own return to bank robbing, Starr updated to the 20th Century by switching to fast cars and automatic weapons for his getaways. He later suffered mortal wounds ‘on the job’ in 1921 during a Harrison, AR bank heist. Hence, Starr was a high-profile predecessor for the likes of John Dillinger, “Baby Face” Nelson, Bonnie & Clyde, and “Pretty Boy” Floyd.

REVIEW:

Aside from a few sporadic typos (which might be limited to the large print edition), Clavin pens another solid and insightful narrative.  That said, The Last Outlaws isn’t Clavin’s best work on the Old West – too often, his conversational style is somewhat languid and excessively constructed to fit his dramatic five-act storyline. 

For instance, the prologue depicting an aged (and semi-remorseful) Emmett Dalton and his wife revisiting Coffeyville comes off as a dialogue-driven sequence meant for historical fiction (or even a film).  Unlike Clavin’s other Old West works, readers will sense that he sometimes overindulges into theatrics vs. sticking to the reporting of historical facts.  Though intentionally hilarious, Clavin’s propensity for jibes (i.e. sarcastically discussing ‘unenviable’ names and nicknames in Act V) may also be a bit distracting to readers.  The flip side is that Clavin’s humor offers some welcome compensation for unavoidable monotony explaining the historical framework.   

It surely isn’t Clavin’s fault that the biographies of his primary subjects (Bob, Emmett, Grat, and Bill Dalton) are more pathetic than compelling in this ‘good brothers gone bad’ account.  Had Clavin instead structured his book around the ‘Three Guardsmen of Oklahoma:’ Heck Thomas, Bill Tilghman, and Chris Madsen (and thereby demoting the Daltons to secondary importance), that concept might have had intriguing possibilities. 

Nonetheless, Clavin’s research is reliable enough in spelling out the complete Dalton/Doolin gang activities and how law enforcement finally brought these cretins to justice.  The Last Outlaws, in that sense, likely presents one of the best contemporary analyses of this subject – especially the underrated efforts of ‘The Three Guardsmen.’

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

A table of contents is provided, where the book’s thirty-five chapters are divvied up within five ‘Acts.’  That’s not counting Emmett Dalton’s prologue and an epilogue further detailing the fates of some survivors and/or their families. 

Next up is a black-and-white map of the American Midwest in the early 1890’s.  Prior to the actual text, the author’s note readily acknowledges that his book’s title isn’t quite accurate – given the notoriety of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s ‘Wild Bunch’ out West had still yet to come.

Clavin includes an acknowledgments section, a bibliography, and a brief summary of his credits.  Though it would have been helpful, there isn’t an index.     

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                     7 Stars

Categories
Blu-Ray DVD/Blu-Ray Extra Fantasy, Horror, & Science Fiction Movies & Television (Videos)

THE TERMINATOR (1984)

SUMMARY:                  RUNNING TIME: 1 Hr., 47 Min.

Released in 1984 by Orion Pictures, James Cameron directed this Hemdale/Pacific Western production off a script he had co-written with his then-wife (and the film’s producer), Gale Anne Hurd.

In Los Angeles of 2029, a nuclear holocaust decades before has devastated humanity.  Eradicating the remaining pockets of human resistance is the monstrous artificial intelligence, Skynet.  Its high-tech, robotic army of ‘Machines’ include ruthless androids packing laser blasters are designed to infiltrate and destroy humanity from within by posing as one of them.  These superhuman and virtually indestructible cyborgs are dubbed ‘Terminators,’ as their kill-only programming can neither be bargained nor reasoned with. 

To eliminate its greatest threat: the pivotal resistance leader, John Connor, Skynet’s experimental technology sends a Terminator (Schwarzenegger) back to the Los Angeles of 1984.  Its mission is to exterminate Connor’s unsuspecting, future mother: Sarah (Hamilton).  For a seemingly one-way suicide mission, Connor’s best and most trusted friend, commando Kyle Reese (Biehn), volunteers to follow and protect Sarah, as best he can. Once marooned in 1984, both the Terminator and Reese must then rely upon present-day weaponry in battling one another.  

It’s up to Reese to desperately improvise a fleeing defense in saving an incredulous Sarah from her worst possible nightmare.  Caught up in this mass-homicide showdown are civilians and Los Angeles cops, unaware that the first sign of the nuclear apocalypse has arrived in the form of the Terminator.  

                                       Primary Cast

Sarah J. Connor: Linda Hamilton

The Terminator: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Kyle Reese: Michael Biehn

Lt. Ed Traxler (LAPD): Paul Winfield

Vukovich (LAPD): Lance Henriksen

Dr. Peter Silberman: Earl Boen

Ginger: Bess Motta

Matt: Rick Rossovich

Nancy: Shawn Schepps

Gun Shop Clerk: Dick Miller

2nd Terminator (2029): Franco Columbu

Sarah Connor # 1: Marianne Muellerleile

LAPD Desk Sergeant: Bruce M. Kerner

LAPD Patrol Officer: William Wisher (who contributed dialogue and later co-scripted 1991’s T2: Judgment Day)

LAPD Cops: Ken Fritz, Tom Oberhaus, & Ed Dogans

LAPD Station Cops: Uncredited

Derelict: Stan Yale

Gas Station Attendant (Mexico): Tony Mirelez

Mexican Children: Anthony J. Trujillo & Philip Gordon

Sarah’s Mother (voice only): Uncredited

Resistance Members (2029): Uncredited

Punks: Bill Paxton, Brad Rearden, and Brian Thompson.

REVIEW:

For the Terminator’s 40th Anniversary, there probably isn’t anything new to be said applauding this game-changing 1984 film for standing the test of time – pardon the expression. 

In comparison to the franchise’s innumerable and mostly unnecessary sequels (not to mention, a sub-genre of inferior imitators), the phrase, ‘simple yet sophisticated,’ comes to mind.  Working off a modest budget (an estimated $6.4 million), virtually every vital component of The Terminator’s production ranges from above-average to superb for its era: special effects; Brad Fiedel’s pulsating, metallic-like score; acting; and, above all, the story’s cohesive structure. 

While the film’s VFX limitations are occasionally exposed (i.e. distorted close-ups depicting the Terminator’s damaged face; and the hokey puppetry passing for Stan Winston’s Terminator metallic endoskeleton), the ensemble cast’s efforts selling the plot easily makes up any difference.  Beyond the immense credit that writer/director James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger deserve, Linda Hamilton herself puts forth an MVP-caliber performance. 

Along with a game Hamilton, an underrated Michael Biehn certainly merits recognition for a job well done. Biehn effectively imbues his sole franchise appearance (aside from Reese’s discarded T2 scene) with an aura of plausible desperation the film needs and takes full advantage of.  Additional kudos go to Earl Boen’s ultra-cynical psychiatrist and, ever subtly, Paul Winfield’s low-key cop for further pushing The Terminator’s outlandish premise into believable sci-fi. 

Understandably, the film’s surplus of grisly and glamorized violence will be a turn-off to some viewers.  Yet, the messiah-inspired storyline that Cameron and his then-wife (and producer), Gale Anne Hurd, devised is still brilliantly implemented.  In his most menacing and iconic on-screen persona, Schwarzenegger (buoyed by Hamilton and Biehn’s terrific support) visualizes the Cameron/Hurd story into one of the best sci-fi/horror thrillers ever made.  It’s simple as that.       

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

This High-Definition Blu-Ray’s technical specifications are: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; alternatively, the options are Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and French DTS 5.1.  Subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish, and French.  The viewing perspective is Widescreen 1.85:1.

Among the seven deleted scenes provided, two are particularly intriguing.  One entitled “Lt. Traxler’s Arc” is a montage of quick Paul Winfield scenes excluded from the theatrical cut, including a final exchange between Sarah, Reese, and a wounded Traxler.  More so, the “Sarah Fights Back” explores material that foreshadows Sarah’s preemptive attack against Cyberdyne Systems (Skynet’s precursor) prior to 1991’s T2: Judgment Day.

There is also a vignette: Creating The Terminator, which discusses the creation of its visual effects and Brad Fiedel’s instrumental score.  Evidently produced prior to the 1991 sequel, the Terminator: A Retrospective vignette intercuts footage from the original film with clips of Cameron and Schwarzenegger casually reminiscing in a sit-down discussion and a separate Cameron interview.    

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                  9 Stars

Categories
Blu-Ray DVD/Blu-Ray Extra Fantasy, Horror, & Science Fiction Movies & Television (Videos)

PREY (2022)

SUMMARY:               RUNNING TIME: 1 Hr., 40 Min.

Released by 20th Century Studios in 2022, Dan Trachtenberg directed this Lawrence Gordon/Davis Entertainment Company production off a script by Patrick Aison.  Aison and Trachtenberg had co-written the original story devised as a prequel to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original 1987 Predator film.

In the Great Northern Plains of 1719, a Predator (DiLiegro) is dropped off on Earth seeking local adversaries worthy of battle.  Unlike its future successors, this Predator’s technology appears somewhat less sophisticated; nonetheless, such alien weaponry still far surpasses arrows, spears, and rudimentary guns.  In addition to a metallic shield, other devices this Predator deploys include a laser targeting device and a stealth cloaking field to generate invisibility.    

Meanwhile, the Commanche Nation’s young Naru (Midthunder), a young medicine woman in her late teens or early twenties, desires to prove her equality.  Foremost, she prefers being a hunter despite the scoffing male peers of her tribe.  Helping retrieve a wounded tribal member overnight, a wounded Naru is the first to sense that something fearsome and evil is lurking out there on the Plains.  Her instincts determine it’s neither a lion nor a bear, but something infinitely more dangerous.  Yet, even Naru’s solder brother, Taabe (Beavers), dismisses such vague suspicions as likely a figment of her imagination.        

Naru seeks her culture’s ancient hunting rite reserved for males: to be both predator and prey against a formidable quarry.  Intending to protect her tribe, Naru and her faithful canine, Sarii (Coco), set out on her fateful destiny to find and destroy the monster.

On her quest, she survives a quicksand bog and later evades a mauling death from a ferocious bear.  Yet, both the bear and previously a wolf are no match for the Predator’s own intense savagery.  Located by Taabe’s search party, Naru’s extraordinary claims of what she has recently witnessed are again dismissed and/or met with wary skepticism. 

Both the Commanche search party and a nefarious French hunting expedition are subsequently decimated in battle.  Witnessing the Predator destroy wave after wave of human challengers, Naru realizes that sheer numbers and conventional weapons aren’t the answer.  It’s up to her to improvise an unexpected yet insightful means of attack.  Naru’s fate will be decided by a last desperate showdown after nightfall with her prey. 

                                     Primary Cast:

Naru: Amber Midthunder

Taabe: Dakota Beavers

Predator: Dane DiLiegro

Aruka: Michelle Thrush

Wasape: Stormee Kipp

Sarii: Coco

Waxed Moustache: Nelson Leis

Big Beard: Mike Paterson

Raphael: Bennett Taylor

Sumu: Stephany Mathias

Chief Kehetu: Julian Black Antelope

Commanche Tribal Members: Corvin Mack; Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat; Skye Pelletier; Samiyah Crowfoot; Seanna Eagletail; Tymon Carter; Ginger Cattleman; & Samuel Marty

Additional Commanche Tribal Member: Uncredited

Additional French Trappers: Uncredited.

REVIEW:

Starting with 1990’s Predator 2, the franchise’s bloodthirsty formula became increasingly unimaginative over the next three decades.  These lazy thrill rides (much like Schwarzenegger’s other iconic franchise, The Terminator) opted to peddle convoluted shoot-em-up’s where grisly, sci-fi action was evidently the sole justification.  Yet, writer-director Dan Trachtenberg would ingeniously devise an ideal follow-up to 1987’s Predator.  In this instance, his prequel re-imagines the ‘thrill of the hunt,’ as an instinctive urge to overcome one’s own worst fears surpasses macho glory.      

With actress Amber Midthunder as his reliable lead, Trachtenberg’s Prey fulfills a void few filmmakers would have imagined: a sci-fi/horror thriller set inside a historical period piece.  Perhaps it isn’t coincidental that the Canadian forest scenery and a vaguely similar instrumental score are often reminiscent of 1992’s Last of the Mohicans.  This same kind of timeless adventure vibe works for Naru’s hunt.  

Off-note is some fairly obvious CGI enhancing the scenic Canadian backdrops.  The Predator’s fight choreography also appears too predictably intricate.  Hence, Prey continue a dubious franchise tradition of demonstrating a cool multitude of ways the alien can easily eviscerate its victims.  Trachtenberg at least tactfully keeps much of this icky carnage at a distance or partially off-screen.  Lastly, Midthunder’s impressive martial arts scenes come off as implausible for a petite woman’s self-defense versus multiple attackers three centuries ago.  Given the film production’s complexities, such minimal quibbles mean Trachtenberg’s well-structured and mostly original plot succeeds, as intended.

Ultimately, Trachtenberg and a game Midthunder ensure that their Prey is mighty good for the story it tells.  

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

This High-Definition Blu-Ray’s technical specifications are English 7.1. DTS-HDMA, 2.0 Dolby Digital Descriptive Audio, Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital.  Subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish, French; additionally, a full-length Commanche audio track is included.  An optional audio commentary track includes director Dan Trachtenberg; actress Amber Midthunder; film editor Angel M. Catanzaro; and the film’s director of photography, Jeff Cutter.  

The bonus features consist of:

  • a “Making of Prey” vignette;
  • three deleted scenes (including an alternate opening scene), with Trachtenberg’s voiceover explanations;
  • reminiscent of Comic-Con, there is a Prey “FYC (For Your Consideration)” Panel Discussion including Trachtenberg, Midthunder, and other key production members.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                     8½ Stars

Categories
Agatha Christie-Related Books & Novels Mystery & Suspense

TOMMY & TUPPENCE BERESFORD # 3: N OR M?

Written by Agatha Christie

SUMMARY:

Released in both the U.S. and the U.K. in 1941, N or M? is Agatha Christie’s third novel depicting married British adventurers Tommy & Tuppence Beresford.  Among its subsequent reprints, Penguin Group, Inc.’s Signet imprint released N or M? as a mass market edition in 2000.  In terms of the franchise’s continuity timetable, N or M? is set approximately twenty years after the episodic events of Partners in Crime.      

Note: The “Tommy & Tuppence” series also consists of: The Secret Adversary (1922); Partners in Crime (1929); By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968); and, lastly, Postern of Fate (1973). 

Aside from successfully raising twins, Derek and Deborah, into adulthood, it isn’t revealed what else Agatha Christie’s patriotic detective couple has pursued in the interim.  With World War II raging on in Western Europe, Tommy & Tuppence Beresford (now in their mid-forties) have been rejected from the British war effort, essentially due to age discrimination.  With a new generation (including their own children) fighting this war, Tommy and Tuppence find they have too little to do fulfilling their ‘empty nest’ phase in life.   

A British spy’s unsolved homicide necessitates a back-channel invitation to Tommy to rejoin British Intelligence.  Aware that the Nazis are systemically infiltrating the United Kingdom to organize a subsequent invasion, the British Secret Service’s upper echelon senses it, too, has likely been breached. 

Needing a trusted face who has been ‘off the grid’ for years, the Service’s Mr. Grant sends in an undercover Tommy to probe a low-key seaside village, Leahampton.  It is suspected that two shadowy Nazi conspirators dubbed ‘N’ and ‘M’ (one man and one woman) are somehow linked to the local Sans Souci Hotel.  Covertly overhearing what Grant and Tommy intend to do, Tuppence opts to make this mission a joint invitation. 

Posing separately as the widowed ‘Mrs. Blenkensop’ and widower ‘Mr. Meadowes,’ the Beresfords infiltrate the middle-class Sans Souci Hotel. Their new neighbors include: a middled-aged couple – The Cayleys; an embittered German refugee – Carl von Deinim; Mrs. Sprot and her playful toddler, Betty; crochety Major Bletchley; a spinster – Miss Minton; and the hotel’s manager, Mrs. Perenna, with her outspoken daughter, Sheila.  All too predictably, the hotel’s residents exhibit varying degrees of patriotic antipathy towards Germany. Also, living nearby is retired Commander Haydock, who gladly shares tales of how his cliffside home had once housed a German spy ring.       

Accumulating evidence of ransacked rooms, eavesdropped phone calls, a woman’s violent death, and a missing girl, Tuppence and Tommy uneasily conclude that their sting operation is rattling their unknown adversaries.  More so, it’s apparent that eliminating pesky nuisances is a task that neither ‘N’ or ‘M’ have any qualms with. After Tommy ominously disappears from sight, a worried ‘Mrs. Blekensop’ must rely upon an old friend for some emergency help. With time now running out, Tuppence redoubles her efforts to bring the Sans Souci enigma to a definitive end. 

REVIEW:

N or M? initially presents an intriguing whatever-happened-to-Tommy & Tuppence? premise.  More so, this storyline is consistent with the Beresfords’ established personalities, as to why they would jump at the chance to rejoin British Intelligence, if and when called upon.  Amidst wartime spy games, Christie has imbued the middle-aged Beresfords with a plausible sense of real-time evolution.  It’s a commendable literary trait that neither of Christie’s most famous creations, Hercule Poirot and Ms. Jane Marple, ever attained.     

Yet, the Beresfords are hampered by a surplus of unsurprising irony.  Spry, tongue-in-cheek entertainment emanating from the couple’s youthful, post-World War I escapades remains timeless – a century ago, Tommy & Tuppence became the genre template for romantic detective duos.  After stoking a few promising chapters, N or M?, unfortunately, initiates their franchise’s slide towards midlife tedium.    

Such disappointment mostly lies with N or M’s far too methodical take on espionage capers.  The plot’s machinations, in other words, unnecessarily unfold at a tortoise’s pace.  One could argue that Christie’s patient storytelling isn’t cheating her readers, as opposed to churning out a fast-paced, shallow potboiler leaving no impact.  The problem is really more such dull execution of this mystery where long stretches go by with little to no progress.      

For instance, far too much ink is allotted to the Beresfords’ cover identities: how many times does Christie really need to address Tuppence by her ‘Mrs. Blenkensop’ alias?  Or how often must Tuppence discuss her cover story’s fictional sons with various Sans Souci housemates?  For that matter, how many jabbing reminders of the Beresfords as restless empty-nesters are sufficient?  Aside from the British Intelligence contact, Mr. Grant, an absence of interesting suspects merely exacerbates a slow read.

One component, however, that N or M? excels at is depicting Tuppence’s remarkable competence as a veteran detective.  Her undercover sequences subtly deploying traps baiting Sans Souci’s possible moles implies someone with formal spy training.  The same applies to a late sequence where she grimly stares down the threat of excruciating torture by a Nazi captor.  The fact that she is the same Tuppence previously defined by flighty impulsiveness, intuitive reasoning, and a flamboyant hat collection makes such scenes a treat to read.  As the novel’s MVP, Tuppence’s climatic heroism compensates for her husband’s bland characterization and minimal plot contributions.

Lastly, in addition to a nice introduction, Christie ensures that readers are bookended by a satisfying climax and conveniently happy epilogue.  It just leaves one with a shrug or sigh that a lackluster mystery is stuck in between them.  For that reason, the middling N or M? makes a practical bedtime read, as far as facilitating drowsiness.        

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

There is a sparse, single-page Christie bio.   

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                    4 Stars

Categories
Books & Novels Fantasy, Horror, & Science Fiction STAR TREK-Related

STAR TREK # 47: THE KOBAYASHI MARU

Written by Julia Ecklar

SUMMARY:

Released in 1989 by Pocket Books, Julia Ecklar penned this 254-page paperback, which became the forty-seventh entry in Pocket’s ongoing series. The book’s title is taken from the Starfleet Command simulation depicted in 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. 

Set shortly after the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the U.S.S. Enterprise’s latest assignment is to reestablish contact with a research team evidently lost somewhere in the vicinity of the remote planet, Hohweyn VII.  Ongoing cosmic interference prevents the Enterprise from approaching close enough to utilize its transporters. 

The Halley’s shuttlecraft team consists of: Captain James T. Kirk, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy.  A freak collision with a gravitic mine, however, soon disables the Halley, leaving both Kirk and their pilot, Sulu, injured.

Unable to contact the Enterprise, the Halley’s stranded crew anxiously awaits rescue, with time slowly running out on the craft’s remaining power supply and life support.  Attempting makeshift repairs to stay alive, the shuttlecraft’s crewmates (with the exception of Dr. McCoy) each divulge his own closely guarded experience as a cadet years before facing a similar life-or-death experience.  In turn passing time, they recall Starfleet Command School’s dreaded ‘Kobayashi Maru’ scenario, as the shuttle crew helplessly endures the longest day of their lives.     

  • As only alluded to in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk reveals the brazen contempt he has for the simulation by defying its seemingly unfair rules. 
  • Having spectacularly failed the simulation, Chekov’s narrative reluctantly divulges his ingenuity and ruthlessness in a subsequent training scenario.  Specifically, inside an abandoned industrial station on Earth, his cadet class must competitively evade elimination by an imaginary assassin where it is every cadet for himself/herself.
  • Anguished by his beloved great-grandfather’s terminal illness, Sulu’s non-confrontational attitude may end his hopes of any future command.
  • Reluctantly attending Command School to appease his family, Scotty‘s umbrage at the simulation’s relentless Klingon assault precipitates a fateful pivot in his destiny.

With evidently no other options left to help Spock find the lost Halley, Kirk’s refusal to succumb to ‘no-win scenarios’ is desperately tested.  As Star Trek fans all know, he doesn’t like to lose.

Notes: This title is also available digitally and as an audiobook.

REVIEW:

Though her set-up for multiple extended flashbacks is ultra-formulaic, writer Julia Ecklar devises a very readable Star Trek adventure.  The intrigue permeating Chekov’s spy games; Sulu’s poignant bond with his great-grandfather; and Scotty’s fuming ‘don’t mess with my ship’ retaliation are all well-played.  As with the flashbacks, the intervals shifting to and from the ongoing Halley crisis contribute plausible layers to each character’s personal depth. 

The only less-than-compelling component is Kirk’s flashback.  Ecklar’s answer explaining his legendary triumph over the seemingly unbeatable test, though amusing, is something of a letdown.  Still, her take on Kirk’s ‘Kobayashi Maru’ test preceded the 2009 Star Trek film’s version by two decades — yet, both depictions are consistent with Kirk’s ego.  If anything, Cadet Kirk’s unique solution is perhaps a Star Trek mystery best left to be satisfied by a reader’s own imagination.

Note: Ecklar’s story implies that, afterwards, Kirk will relate his ‘Kobayashi Maru’ tale once more, (this time, to a curious Spock) for consistency with their subsequent discussion, as depicted in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

In spite of its predictable lulls, Ecklar’s novel should be commended for concocting an otherwise worthwhile read for Trekkers.  Specifically, her believable characterizations and low-key sci-fi jargon makes The Kobayashi Maru a welcome find for readers of any age.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

There is a single page of the author’s acknowledgements.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                   6 Stars

Categories
Blu-Ray Digital Movies & TV DVD Movies & Television (Videos) Sherlock Holmes-Related The Ratings Game

THE RATINGS GAME: BEST & WORST OF BASIL RATHBONE’S SHERLOCK HOLMES FILMS

In tribute to Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce’s Sherlock Holmes movie legacy, Odd Moon Media Reviews offers its candid assessment of their 1939-1946 movie franchise. 

Twentieth Century Fox produced the first two films in 1939 with first-caliber budgets allowing reasonably close adherence to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s storytelling.  Curiously, the second entry (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) shares the name of an actual Conan Doyle short story anthology; however, the movie is really a loose adaptation of William Gillette’s popular 1899 same-named stage play.    

Contractual issues with the Conan Doyle estate stalled the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce franchise for three years until Universal Pictures revived it with cost-effective changes.  Due to streamlined budgeting (and a practical nod to war propaganda), the films’ setting was updated to the wartime 1940’s.  Further, these subsequent Rathbone/Bruce films lifted various elements from Conan Doyle’s tales rather than freely adapting a Holmes title like The Hound of The Baskervilles.  In a few instances (i.e. Sherlock Holmes in Washington), the original screenplay is even devoid of Doyle’s work.         

Released in quick succession, Universal’s twelve entries are of a generally consistent caliber.  For instance, Universal’s rotating stock ensemble where character actors inhabit different roles throughout the series (i.e. three different actors portray ‘Professor Moriarty’) might give observant viewers a sense of déjà vu.  Hence, judging these films objectively becomes somewhat harder than it sounds. 

Gauging their current watchability, the entire roster of films are ranked below in reverse order. 

ANALYSIS:

14. Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)   71 minutes.  Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: At England’s behest, Holmes and Watson go to Washington, D.C. to help retrieve missing microfilm that the Allies can’t dare let fall into enemy hands.  Their ruthless opposition is an international spy ring that will readily eliminate anyone getting in their way.  

Apart from Holmes & Watson’s chauffeured tour of the city’s national landmarks, the film is merely a wartime espionage caper without an actual mystery to solve.  Quoting Winston Churchill, Rathbone’ Holmes supplies one of the franchise’s many poetic tributes to England’s allies.  Though Rathbone & Bruce are easy to watch, their Washington, D.C. adventure is forgettable. 

13. Dressed To Kill (1946)   72-76 minutes.   Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: A femme fatale is at the center of a murderous counterfeiting scheme involving stolen British engraving plates. 

Franchise fatigue is personified by Rathbone’s phoned-in effort, as he subsequently quit the series.  It’s no wonder, considering this tired cliché-fest pitches multiple elements (i.e. a brunette femme fatale, an elaborate treasure hunt, etc.) weakly recycled from previous installments.  Dressed To Kill isn’t necessarily horrible viewing, but its unimaginative plotting fails to conjure up anything worthwhile or even new for fans.         

12. Pursuit To Algiers (1945)   65 minutes.    Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: After faking his death in an airplane crash, Holmes rejoins Watson and a prince under their protection on an overseas voyage to the nation of Algeria.  Plotting against them onboard, of course, is a murderous ring of foreign spies, who don’t want the handsome, young king-in-waiting making it back to the city of Algiers alive.

Hampered by minimal plotting, Pursuit To Algiers resorts to several musical numbers to obviously pad its running time.  Still, routine cast performances led by Rathbone and Bruce only worsen the storyline’s dull and eye-rolling predictability (i.e. a formulaic romance subplot).     

11. Sherlock Holmes and The Voice of Terror (1942)   65 minutes.    Universal Pictures (Director: John Rawlins). 

Premise: In wartime London, Holmes & Watson are recruited to aid British Intelligence in thwarting a Nazi cell group from decimating England one insidious terrorist attack at a time. Meanwhile, the group’s unseen leader issues ominous taunts and threats to the public via live radio. 

The movie’s purpose is again war propaganda, as the arch-villain is meant to resemble real-life British traitor/Nazi war propagandist, ‘Lord Haw-Haw.’  Packing a few intriguing surprises (including Evelyn Ankers’ great performance), The Voice of Terror is by no means unwatchable.  It’s just that this package, as a whole, is a middling endeavor, as compared to Rathbone & Bruce’s better installments. For instance, Holmes’ climatic deductions are pulled seemingly out of nowhere and depriving viewers a fair chance to guess the ringleader’s identity.

Of interest, a deliberate nod to the franchise’s new setting has Watson gently scolding Holmes into donning a contemporary fedora vs. his iconic deerstalker cap before they depart from their Baker Street lodgings.

10. Terror By Night (1946)   72 minutes.    Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: During an overnight train ride, a mysterious killer searches for an elusive prize hidden onboard.  All that stands in the culprit’s way is Holmes, Watson, and Dennis Hoey’s befuddled Inspector Lestrade.  

Even if this whodunnit falls far short of Murder on The Orient Express, using a train as the primary crime scene is at least a welcome change of pace for this series.  More so, deploying a different Conan Doyle villain (instead of a fourth Moriarty) helps Rathbone and Bruce make Terror By Night easily watchable.  

9.  Sherlock Holmes and The Secret Weapon (1942)   68 minutes.    Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) has abducted a pivotal Swiss scientist for the Allied cause.  Parts to construct his captive’s experimental bombsight, however, are hidden in multiple locations.  Hence, Moriarty races Holmes to decipher a baffling code first to unlock their whereabouts one by one.  After being taken prisoner himself, Holmes risks a torturous death to thwart Moriarty’s scheme. 

Crisp and well-played, the film’s plotting makes for solid entertainment.  Atwill’s chemistry as the second ‘Moriarty’ matching wits with Rathbone proves just as good as he had been as ‘Dr. Mortimer’ in The Hound of The Baskervilles three years earlier.

8. Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)   68 minutes.    Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: Watson is the on-call physician at the Musgrave family’s posh British manor, which is serving as a convalescence home for mentally disturbed war veterans.  As the Musgraves are brutally killed off one by one, Holmes, Watson, and Dennis Hoey’s Inspector Lestrade stumble upon an ancient family ritual possibly spelling doom for all involved.

For a routine whodunnit, neither the culprit nor the motive is much of a surprise.  Still, Sherlock Holmes Faces Death makes for worthwhile viewing, as its sense of campy suspense rides first-class.      

7. The Woman in Green (1945)   68 minutes.  Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: Reminiscent of Jack The Ripper, a fiendish serial killer is targeting women and then sending each victim’s severed finger to taunt the baffled authorities.  Holmes suspects that a series of subsequent suicides committed by guilt-ridden prime suspects is an extortion scheme hatched by Professor Moriarty (Henry Daniell).  A complication is Moriarty’s alluring blond accomplice, who uses hypnosis to reel in expendable victims.  

Daniell’s performance as the franchise’s third-and-final Moriarty coldly mirrors Rathbone’s Holmes, making them ideal on-screen foes. Daniell might have made a decent Holmes himself, but his Jeremy Irons-like acting style lacks Rathbone’s timeless panache.  As for the film’s contents, be forewarned that its grisly shock value (much like The House of Fear) somehow bypassed the era’s strict censors.  With most of the plot’s nastiness inferred and/or occurring off-screen, The Woman in Green effectively injects film noir into the Holmes/Moriarty rivalry.            

6.  The Spider Woman   (1944)   62 minutes.    Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: Having faked his own demise, Holmes subsequently goes undercover to probe a suspicious series of deaths plaguing London.  As he suspects, the common link is a cold-blooded female ‘Moriarty’ and her use of a lethal spider venom. 

Often overlooked, The Spider Woman’s best noir asset is Gale Sondergaard’s devious criminal mastermind, making her an intriguing new foe for Holmes & Watson.  By far, Sondergaard prevails as the franchise’s signature femme fatale.  Including the shooting gallery sequence, there is a welcome aura of unpredictability percolating in the plot.  Though the film’s running time is perhaps a few minutes too short, The Spider Woman merits a chance for rediscovery. 

5. The Pearl of Death   (1944)   69 minutes.    Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: A criminal gang’s deadly ransacking search of London for an elusive pearl includes a giant-sized, silent henchman.  Dubbed ‘The Creeper,’ this behemoth brutally kills prey with his bare hands.  Holmes and Watson may realize too late that they are facing more than one adversary.

Though this comic book-style ‘Creeper’ should be facing off vs. either Batman or James Bond, this Universal movie monster is a potent challenger for Rathbone’s Holmes.  Despite its otherwise formulaic plotting, The Pearl of Death concocts an underrated gem (pardon the pun) for viewers.

4. The Scarlet Claw (1944)    74 minutes.    Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: During an occult convention visit to Canada, Holmes & Watson are recruited to help snare a ghostly serial killer utilizing a bloody claw-like weapon for vengeance.  Reaching a remote Canadian village where the murders are accumulating, the two detectives must pursue their elusive quarry in a nocturnal fog. 

Along with director Roy William Neill, Rathbone and Bruce are at the top of their deductive game in a gothic chiller worthy of Universal’s other movie monsters.  A terrific Holmes hat trick would be viewing The Pearl of Death, The Scarlet Claw, and The House of Fear together – arguably, they are Universal’s three best mystery-thriller entries in this series.

3. The Hound of The Baskervilles   (1939)   80 minutes.    Twentieth Century Fox (Director: Sidney Lanfield). 

Premise: The storyline is a relatively close adaptation of Conan Doyle’s iconic novel, as Holmes and Watson pursue a bloodthirsty ‘apparition’ stalking members of the Baskerville clan on the Scottish Moors.

In terms of first-class production values, this gothic Hound meets all expectations.  Its only limitation is, as with the novel, the plot’s mid-section drags without Holmes present.  For anyone seeking a faithful black-and-white rendition of Doyle’s most celebrated Holmes tale, this one is highly recommended.

2. The House of Fear (1945)   69 minutes.    Universal Pictures (Director: Roy William Neill). 

Premise: In a secluded Scottish village, the local castle’s residents are being gruesomely killed off one by one.  Each grisly murder is foretold by the receipt of an ominous packet of orange pips.  The insidious rub is that each victim’s life insurance policy is subsequently split amongst their housemates – calling themselves ‘The Good Comrades Club.’  Hired by the suspicious insurance company, Holmes and Watson’s subsequent arrival (along with Scotland Yard) only accelerates the culprit’s haunted-house scheme.   

Deftly blending ghoulish off-screen carnage with well-played humor, this macabre cinematic cocktail nearly equals the classic And Then There Were None from that same year.  As long as one doesn’t ponder a gaping plot hole, The House of Fear’s sheer Halloween entertainment value is tough to beat.    

and at Number # 1 …

1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)   81 minutes.    Twentieth Century Fox (Director: Alfred L. Werker). 

Premise: Set in the mid-1890’s, Holmes is frustrated that Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) escapes the British court system’s death penalty on a legal technicality.  Subsequently, with their young female client being stalked by vicious killers, Holmes & Watson try to protect her and the woman’s family.  Worse yet, Holmes senses that an elaborate ruse is masking Moriarty’s most audacious heist ever.  

Exceptionally well-played!  Including Holmes’ undercover turn on a British vaudeville stage, this film’s entertainment value assembles a timeless Holmes mystery worthy of Conan Doyle.  With Rathbone and Bruce in peak form, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the franchise’s crown jewel. 

Notes: Four of these films: The Secret Weapon; The Woman in Green; Terror By Night; and Dressed To Kill have long since shifted into the public domain, with colorized versions subsequently released.  However, all fourteen black-and-white films are now available in remastered DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital formats.

  • Rathbone and Bruce also performed a weekly New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes radio series from 1939 to 1946.  After Rathbone’s 1946 departure, actor Tom Conway replaced him on the radio show. Universal Pictures evidently considered hiring Conway as Rathbone’s live-action replacement, but the studio instead opted to retire the franchise as is.  As for the radio show, Bruce and Conway left the program in 1947.  The New Adventures relied upon character actors afterwards to fill the void before ending its eleven-year run in 1950.
  • For trivia’s sake, though perhaps briefly mentioned once, Irene Adler never appears in these films.
Categories
Collector's Magazines General Non-Fiction History & Biographies (Books) Reference & Science Westerns

THE WILD WEST: TRUE TALES AND AMAZING LEGENDS – 2017 (by Time Life)

SUMMARY:

Released in 2017 by Time Life Books, this 96-page magazine reflects upon the American West throughout the 19th Century.  Between text and an assortment of photos (mostly black-and-white), along with artwork, the American West’s evolution is encompassed.  After a two-page introduction, five chapters cover the following: 

  1. “An Expanding Nation.” Discussion is focused on ramifications of 1803’s Louisiana Purchase, as to how Lewis & Clark’s expedition became the first step towards a gradual mass migration westward.  Daniel Boone, John Colter, Jedediah Smith, Joseph Walker, Kit Carson and John Charles Frémont are among those explorers highlighted.     
  • “The Great Trek.”  Shifting towards mid-century, initial generations of Western pioneers faced weeks, if not months, of dire reality traveling cross-country.  As much life-ending risk was involved, so, too, were the potential rewards for opportunistic men and women alike.  Case in point: the California Gold Rush, aided in part by the railroad industry, would spike migration numbers enormously. 
  • “Cattle Barons and Cowboys.”  Heralding the Old West’s most famous occupation, fortune awaited this industry’s most successful individuals.  Predictably, those doing the actual labor faced a far more tumultuous daily life.
  • “Law and Disorder.”  Enforcing justice upon outlaws and ruthless killers would prove, at best, an inconsistent, if not hypocritical, terrain for law-abiding citizens.  1881’s ‘Gunfight at the O.K. Corral’ in Tombstone, Arizona, is reviewed, along with glimpses of Wyatt Earp, Jesse James, Pat Garrett, and Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch.  Also examined is the illicit creativity involved with gambling.
  • “The Original Americans.”  Native American tribes and their traditional means of survival are confronted with genocide once encroached upon by settlers in search of land and gold.  Skirmishes between Native Americans and U.S. soldiers would climax in June 1876 at the gory Battle of the Little Bighorn.  After this pivotal loss, U.S. forces re-doubled its efforts in forcing Native American compliance with the government’s changing yet self-interested political stance.  It would also signal that the U.S. had at last conquered the West by the end of the century.           

As its postlude, the brief “Taming of the West” explains how, at the 20th Century’s onset, few pockets of the Old West remained.  The ease of cross-country travel and 1901’s oil discovery in Texas would become signs of the country’s imminent industrial revolution.               

REVIEW:

Providing a thorough history lesson in magazine form, Time Life’s production values are stellar.  With gruesome details kept to a minimum, Time Life’s The Wild West lets its vintage photography brings historical truths to life.  The balanced text stays on task and acknowledges that hyperbole often sparked familiar legends. 

As for younger audiences, it’s best to understand that the details Time Life’s text discuss aren’t necessarily exciting, but they are insightful.  More so, the magazine’s text doesn’t play favorites keeping its narrative consistently objective. Intended for both historical buffs and casual readers, this magazine makes a welcome treat.  Highly recommended!    

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

A table of contents and photo credits are included.  

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                     9 Stars