The Manitou

(1978) Directed by William Girdler; Written by: William Girdler, Jon Cedar and Thomas Pope; Based on the novel by Graham Masterton; Starring: Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens, Jon Cedar, Ann Sothern, Burgess Meredith, Paul Mantee and Felix Silla; Available on Blu-ray and DVD 

Rating: **½

A huge thanks to Rebecca from Taking Up Room for hosting another spectacular edition of the So Bad It’s Good Blogathon (https://takinguproom.com/2026/02/13/the-eighth-so-bad-its-good-blogathon-has-arrived/), a celebration of movies that probably never won any accolades, but they’re still winners in our hearts. Be sure to feast your eyes on all the wonderful posts!

“Your God won't help you. Nothing in your Christian world will help. Not prayers, not holy water. Not the weight of a thousand of your churches.” – John Singing Rock (Michael Ansara)

John Singing Rock (Michael Ansara): “Gitche Manitou? Harry, you don't call Gitche Manitou. He...”

Harry Erskine (Tony Curtis): “Oh yeah, well, he's going to get a person-to-person call from me... collect!”

Filmmaker William Girdler (Grizzly, Day of theAnimals), was known for his low budget flicks, featuring outlandish plots and ridiculous premises, yet oddly entertaining. Quite possibly his most “out there” premise, however, was reserved for The Manitou, adapted from a novel by Graham Masterton. */** With a $3 million budget, The Manitou was Girdler’s most expensive movie to date,*** which he touted as a cross between The Exorcist and Star Wars (although the results were much closer to the former film than the latter). 

* Fun Fact #1: According to Masterton, he had discussed a sequel with Girdler, but his plans never reached fruition due to the 30-year-old director’s untimely death. Regardless, The Manitou became a franchise in its own right, with six novels. 

** Fun Fact#2: Despite having penned more than 100 novels, The Manitou is the only feature film adaptation of Masterton’s work, to date. 

*** Fun Fact #3: According to film writer Troy Howarth, the film was financed under the auspices that the script was already written. After the deal was struck, Girdler and fellow writers Jon Cedar (who also appeared in the film as Dr. Jack Hughes) and Thomas Pope reportedly belted out a screenplay in three days.

Set in modern-day San Francisco,* the movie opens with doctors poring over X-rays of a 28-year-old woman, Karen Tandy (played by Susan Strasberg, who was nearly 40 at the time), who suddenly developed a large growth on her neck. To make matters curiouser and curiouser, Dr. Jack Hughes is perplexed to discover that within the growth, which only appeared a few days earlier, a fetus is developing where it shouldn’t be. When Karen reaches out to an old flame, Harry Erskine (Tony Curtis) for help, it turns out she’s carrying a reincarnated 400-year-old Native American medicine man (Talk about having a lot to carry on your shoulders!). After consulting with a professor of Native American culture and mythology (Burgess Meredith), Harry decides it’s time to fight fire with fire, enlisting the aid of reluctant medicine man John Singing Rock (Michael Ansara).** 

* Fun Fact #4: In the novel, the story was set in New York City. 

** Fun Fact #5: Although cast as a Native American medicine man, Ansara was of Syrian descent.

Harry Erskine is a likeable fraud, who makes his living cheating nice but naïve old ladies out of their money, with a fake tarot card routine. His world is turned on end when he’s forced to confront a genuine supernatural occurrence. Tony Curtis delivers a comic performance in a movie that is allegedly a horror drama – unsubtle but fitting for the character and context of the film, which is anything but subtle. Erskine is such a colorful character that he eclipses Karen by comparison. Despite her acting pedigree, Susan Strasberg isn’t given much to do but fret about the tumor on her neck for most of the film.

In addition to Curtis, The Manitou is enhanced (somewhat) by an assembly of veteran character actors. Most notable of these appearances is the always watchable Burgess Meredith, who obviously understood his assignment, in a performance that flirts with camp, but never quite crosses the line. As Dr. Snow, an expert in anthropology and Native American lore, Meredith provides the right balance of eccentricity and earnestness to what would have been a throwaway part in less capable hands. 

Believe it… or not.

One of The Manitou’s debatable charms is that it consistently stretches suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. During what seems like a routine meeting with one of Harry’s favorite clients, the frail old Mrs. Herz (Lurene Tuttle) becomes possessed, spouting invocations in an alien dialect before throwing herself down the stairs. If broad comedy is what Girdler was aiming for, he succeeded. Ratcheting up the terror? Not so much. In a later scene, where a medical laser (under the influence of the angry medicine man developing inside Karen) goes haywire, it appears more like a ray gun from Star Trek or Star Wars (Complete with “pew pew” sounds – Think of a similar scene in Logan’s Run) than a precision medical instrument. Of course, the film’s claim to fame is its depiction of a fully formed medicine man (in miniature) emerging from Karen’s back. The evil medicine man, Misquamacus (deformed by X-rays), is played, alternately, by Felix Silla and Joe Gieb. What follows is a cosmically confusing ultimate battle between good and evil, as Karen’s hospital room transforms into a portal to another realm of time and space where “The Great Old One” dwells (at least I think that’s what happened). The special effects-laden scene, which probably used up a sizable portion of the budget seems more tacked-on than essential to the story, producing more shrugs than “oohs” and “aahs.” If that wasn’t enough hokum for one movie, The Manitou ends with a dubious fact, that a similar incident occurred in Tokyo several years before.* 

* Fun Fact #6: A cursory search for the alleged 1969 Japanese incident yielded nothing, leading at least this reviewer to conclude that it’s nothing more than ballyhoo from William Girdler.  

 

“I shall call him Mini-Misquamacus.”

Besides the well-worn trope of non-Native Americans playing indigenous people, The Manitou commits the sin of homogenizing Native Americans into one large group, with no distinguishing aspects between one tribe or another. I’m no expert, but considering there are currently 574 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States, it seems highly unlikely that the legend of an extinct Northern California tribe would be known to an indigenous man living on a South Dakota reservation.  

Many adjectives could be used to describe The Manitou: silly, misguided, bizarre, but also fun (if you don’t take it too seriously). In a horror film that has more (unintentional and intentional) laughs than scares, it manages to entertain in spite of itself. Lalo Schifrin lends more gravitas to the film than it probably deserves, with a score that conveys an appropriate balance of mystery and terror. While the movie is more miss than hit, there’s one genuinely frightening scene, involving a séance to summon the spirit of the ancient medicine man, with his head ominously emerging from a table. Critics of the time were less than enthusiastic about The Manitou, with one decrying it as “another Exorcist copycat” with “limited appeal.” But that seems a bit too harsh. While Girdler’s cinematic swan song* certainly isn’t a masterpiece by anyone’s definition (no matter how broad), it’s more than worth a look for anyone who appreciates a good old, strangely engaging, Hollywood misfire. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore, for better or worse. 

* Fun Fact #7: According to a 1977 Hollywood Reporter blurb, Girdler intended to follow The Manitou with three productions, Knights of Glory, The Deadly Jungle, and The Last of the White House. Whether any or all of them would have ever seen the light is lost to speculation.

 

Sources for this article: Shout Factory Blu-ray commentary by Troy Howarth; Interview with author Graham Masterton; “Girdler Slates Three to Follow Manitou,” The Hollywood Reporter (March 2, 1977); “Another Exorcist Copycat. Oke credits. Limited Appeal,” by Hege, Variety (March 1, 1978).

 

 

Battle Royale

 

(2000) Directed by Kinji Fukasaku; Written by Kenta Fukasaku; Based on the novel by  Koushun Takami; Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama, Takashi Tsukamoto, and Takeshi Kitano; Available on Blu-ray and DVD 

Rating: ****

“I had a horrible experience escaping air bombing and helping to pick up dismembered limbs of people who were killed. I realized later that I was told lies by the Japanese military government that told us we have to fight to save our country from the enemy. I felt cheated and isolated. This is what I wanted to portray in the movie.” – Kinji Fukusaku 

“Basically, the person who is outside the battlefield or someone who can calmly observe the whole situation has the most power. Below that level are the people who actually fight. That’s the nature of violence. The most frightening person is the one who is quiet and lets others be violent.” – Takeshi Kitano

Where does influence end and originality begin? Or perhaps this is the wrong question to ask. Film fans and critics alike often look for the mythical “first” movie that started it all, but that’s not as easy as it seems. The more movies I see, the more I realize it’s just one big continuum, with ideas constantly being recycled, regurgitated, and re-formed to fit the moment. Consider Battle Royale, one film that’s engendered the cinematic equivalent of the “chicken or the egg” debate since its release, and the subsequent franchises that drew upon it for inspiration (whether intended or not). The Hunger Games (2012), Ready or Not (2019), and Squid Games could arguably be considered direct descendants of Battle Royale, but Battle Royale didn’t exist in a vacuum, with the many books and films that preceded it encoded in its DNA (The Most Dangerous Game, Lord of the Flies, and The 10^th Victim, to name only a few). Veteran director Kinji Fukasaku,*/** best known for his controversial Yakuza films of the ‘60s and ‘70s*** prompted more controversy with his adaptation of Koushun Takami’s 1999 novel. 

* Fun Fact #1: Fukasaku celebrated two milestones with Battle Royale: His 60^th feature film and his 70^th birthday. 

** Not-So-Fun fact: Sadly, Battle Royale would prove to be his last completed project. Fukasaku died of cancer only a couple of years later, while filming Battle Royale II: Requiem (which was finished by his son, Kenta). 

*** Fun Fact #2: Kinji Fukasaku is probably best-known on these shores, however, for the kitschy space epic The Green Slime (1968).

Set in a dystopian near-future, Japanese society has eroded to the point where unemployment has reached 15%, youth violence has run rampant, and public schools can no longer manage their students. In response to these changes, the “BR Act” was created, to keep the young people in line. In the film, a classroom of 42 middle school students (traveling under the auspices of an end-of-year field trip) are brought to a remote island.* They soon learn they’re about to embark on a three-day life-or-death competition, with the object of killing each other off, until the last boy or girl is standing. Each student is subsequently provided with supplies (including a random weapon), and sent out meet his or her fate. To discourage any thoughts of escape, each student is equipped with necklaces that will explode if they disobey or attempt to tamper with the devices. Beyond the constraints of the island and necklaces, there are no rules. 

* Fun Fact #3: The island used for filming was Hachijō-kojima, a small island that has remained uninhabited (except for a population of goats) since the late 1960s.

Much like Lord of the Flies, some of the students form alliances, in the hopes that they will get through this together, but it’s merely delaying the inevitable. When “kill or be killed” is the only imperative, most of them do away with the pretense of friendship or teamwork. One such alliance is between “transfer student” Shôgo Kawada - Boy #5 (Tarô Yamamoto), who survived the game before, but at the expense of his girlfriend. He initiates a shaky truce with Shuya Nanahara - Boy #15 and Noriko Nakagawa - Girl #15 (Tatsuya Fujiwara and Aki Maeda, respectively). Kawada casts a shadow on his credibility when he continually changes his back-story (claiming at different times to be the son of a doctor, chef, and fisherman), leaving Shuya and Noriko to question his motives. While some choose to team up, others prefer to act alone. Another transfer student, Kazuo Kiriyama - Boy #6 (Masanobu Andô), operates on his own, mercilessly killing off the other students with maniacal glee. But at least everyone knows where they stand with Kiriyama. Less predictable is Mitsuko Sôma - Girl #11 (Kô Shibasaki), using every trick she knows to lull her fellow students into a false sense of security. A brief flashback to her early childhood provides a sympathetic view of an otherwise unsympathetic character, who vowed never to become a victim.

As disturbing as the students’ behavior may be, it pales in comparison to their teacher Kitano, played by comic actor Takeshi Kitano (aka: “Beat” Kitano). Kitano steals the show whenever he’s onscreen, with his deadpan delivery. In the opening scene, set a couple years before the government-ordained bloodbath, he’s stabbed by a student, resulting in his departure from the school. Now, bitter and estranged from his family, he returns to see his old class kill each other. Whatever status quo he’s preserving has done nothing to improve his life or set a model example for the younger generation. One nice little touch, illustrating Kitano’s amorality, is his munching on a bag of cookies (while he tracks the carnage from a control room) that was being shared by his students a only few hours earlier. One aspect that’s never fully explored is his soft spot for Noriko, who seems to fill the void (at least in his mind) of his broken relationship with his own daughter.

It would be a gross understatement to say that Battle Royale must have been a tough sell to any potential distributors (including its delay in getting a theatrical release in the States). It’s easy to see how it would be unpalatable to most audiences to depict a bunch of 9^th grade kids (most of whom were played by actors in their mid to late teens) murdering each other. Battle Royale was a lightning rod for its detractors, who focused on the content rather than the subtext. The satire was lost on members of Japanese parliament who decried the film as depicting violence for violence’s sake. When it was screened for the politicians, it evoked a knee-jerk reaction without analyzing what the film was attempting to say (Illustrated by the following selected quotes from two lawmakers on opposite ends of the political spectrum: “The movie is crude and it is tasteless.”; and “This movie is anti-social. It shows distinct acts of violence that have no place on the screen.”). In the context of the film, violence isn’t an end to itself, but a symptom of one of the main underlying themes – the breakdown in communications between the older and younger generations. Although Fukasaku’s interview quote referred to one of his earlier Yakuza films, it applies to his raison d'être for Battle Royale: “… I became interested in violence itself, its contagious, chaotic purposeless character.” When friends (or at least individuals that harbored no former animosity) are forced to fight for their survival, humanity is reduced to its most primitive state, where relationships in the outside world have no meaning. The adults’ answer, meeting the students’ violence with violence, is nothing but a dead end.

Battle Royale keeps many plates spinning as it follows the students’ individual personalities, and for the most part, it succeeds admirably. The message flew over the heads of well-intentioned, but misguided critics, politicians and concerned parents, but managed to reach audiences who appreciated its sardonic tone. The social commentary isn’t subtle, but then again that’s the point. Kinji Fukasaku’s film is at once a pitch-dark comedy, and a cautionary tale about what might happen if we ever grew accustomed to the wholesale slaughter of our fellow human beings. In its own way, Battle Royale recalls Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” taking a cartoonishly extreme stance, but with a wink and a heaping helping of stage blood. 

 

Sources for this article: “Kinji Fukasaku: An Introduction,” by Keiko McDonald, Film Criticism (Fall 1983, volume 8, issue 1); “Japanese Pols Taking Aim at ‘Battle’ Over Violence,” by Jon Herskovitz, Variety (December 4-10, 2000); “More to Him than ‘Green Slime,’” by Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times (January 17, 2001); “A Battle Royal Over Movie Violence,” by Suvendrini Kakuchi, World Press Review (March 2001); Interview with Takeshi Kitano (included in 2014 Arrow Blu-ray) 

 

Japan-uary XV Quick Picks and Pans

 

The Red Angel (1966) Set during the second Sino-Japanese War in 1939, The Red Angel follows Sakura (Ayako Wakao), a young Japanese army nurse stationed in China. The soldiers who end up in the military hospital are regarded as nothing but expendable components of the machinery of war, while nurses are told to look the other way and not become attached to the sick and dying. In spite of everything, she does her best to keep the injured troops happy before they die or return to the front lines. Ultimately, she falls in love with a disillusioned, morphine-addicted doctor (Shinsuke Ashida), who spends most of his time deciding who lives and who dies. While Yasuzō Masumura’s bleak, unflinching film isn’t an easy watch, it’s superbly acted, and its theme of retaining one’s humanity in the most inhumane of circumstances resonates just as strongly today. 

Rating: ****. Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Kanopy

Tokyo Chorus (1931) When salaryman Shinji Okajima (Tokihiko Okada) stands up for a fired co-worker, he’s let go as well. Thus begins his search for a new job in a time when work is scarce. Contending with various financial setbacks (including a sick daughter and a son who wants a new bike), he struggles to keep his chin up. Shinji finds renewed purpose when he has a chance encounter with an old college professor, forcing him to reassess what’s most important. This early silent film by Yasujirô Ozu hits all the right notes, with moments of drama tempered by gentle humor - a bittersweet, albeit life-affirming portrait of family life in pre-war Japan. 

Rating: ****. Available on DVD (Included in Eclipse Series 10: Silent Ozu - Three Family Comedies)

Daimajin (1966) The first in a trilogy by Daiei (followed by Return of Daimajin and Wrath of Daimajin), set in ancient Japan, is a bit of an anomaly in the world of kaiju that somehow got lost in the shuffle over the years. A benevolent feudal lord is murdered by an outsider who covets his position. When the new despot takes over, enslaving the villagers, he endeavors to wipe out any remaining heirs to the former leader. Still loyal to the Hanabusa clan, Kogenta (Jun Fujimaki) takes the surviving son and daughter (Tadafumi and Kozasa) for refuge in an enchanted mountain nearby. Ten years later, they’re back to recapture the village, with the help of a giant statue/god, Daimajin. The movie takes a while to get going, but it’s worth the wait for the ensuing kaiju mayhem. The Daimajin itself is a sight to behold, with its stern face and all-too-human eyes, making it a unique and terrifying creation. 

Rating: ***½. Available on Blu-ray (The Daimajin Trilogy Arrow box set) 

Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands (1967) Don’t let the lurid title (the eponymous doll only has a cameo) mislead you. Writer/director Atsushi Yamatoya’s surreal neo noir about Shô, a hitman (Yûichi Minato) seeking revenge against those who murdered his girlfriend, is full of surprises. This unconventional film switches between reality and fantasy, depicting the hitman’s imagined revenge, versus the reality of the situation. Minato does a great job as the diminutive and unassuming cold-blooded killer Shô, who’s no better than his nemesis, Kô (Shôhei Yamamoto).   

Rating: ***½. Available on Blu-ray and Kanopy

Undertaker (2012) Writer/director Naoyoshi Kawamatsu’s low-budget, shot-on-video flick is set in an unspecified number of years after a zombie outbreak has devastated Japan. Ryouichi (Yoshito Kobashigawa) performs a service for family members grieving over their loved ones who have turned into zombies. He hunts down and dispatches the infected, so the families can experience a modicum of closure. His latest clients are parents whose grown daughter has succumbed to the zombie-creating virus. Undertaker makes the most of its brief running time, with animated butterflies representing the souls of those who have passed on (I think), and some appropriately gruesome practical effects. 

Rating ***. Available on Blu-ray and DVD

A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse (1975) In 1958 when brothels were officially outlawed in Japan, sex workers resorted to a workaround, the so-called Turkish bathhouse. One such worker, Yukino (Naomi Tani), is eager to leave her former life behind, with the promise of marriage to her boyfriend, Yûzô (Hideo Murota). Unfortunately for Yukino, her fiancé owes a large sum of money to a group of gangsters, forcing her to return to her previous profession. To add insult to injury, Yûzô’s not who he seems to be, running with criminals and scheming with the bathhouse madame. When deception turns to murder, Yukino’s younger sister, Mayumi (Misa Ohara) seeks revenge with the help of a cat demon. This (very) loose re-telling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” told through a traditional bakeneko mono (monster cat) lens features an entertaining mix of sex and violence with a supernatural twist. It’s probably not to everyone’s taste, but I’ll leave that to you to decide. 

Rating: ***. Available on Blu-ray

The Box Man (2024) A reclusive man known only as “Myself” (Masatoshi Nagase) experiences the world from the perspective of his cardboard box. He photographs the people who pass by, logging notes and observing, but never interacting. He’s under surveillance by a doctor (Tadanobu Asano) who’s not really a doctor, and is assisted by a nurse (Ayana Shiramoto) who’s not really a nurse. As we eventually discover, whoever obsesses about the Box Man becomes the Box Man. The film might have worked better if it had been more succinct (it’s probably 30 minutes too long for its own good), starting off on a promising note, but becoming more muddled as it ambles on. 

Rating: **½. Available on Prime Video and Midnight Pulp

Short Take: The Bride from Hades

(1968) Directed by Satsuo Yamamoto; Written by Yoshikata Yoda and Enchô San'yûtei; Starring: Kôjirô Hongô, Miyoko Akaza, Kô Nishimura, Mayumi Ogawa, Takashi Shimura, and Michiko Ôtsuka; Available on Blu-ray (included in Daiei Gothic, Volume 1) and DVD

Rating: ****

“I’m being asked to do something immoral, so my family will prosper. If I refuse, they will disown me. Your father was cast out by a capricious lord. Why must we yield to their inhumanity? Abusing their power to get their own way like my father and that lord, I’ve lost all respect for the samurai…” – Shinzaburô Hagiwara (Kôjirô Hongô)

Love, at times, is a fickle, unfathomable beast that can just as surely lead one to contentment as it can end in ruin. According to Emily Dickinson, “The heart wants what it wants, or else it does not care.” Who or why we love reminds us that affairs of the heart have no mathematical formula or logic. The Bride from Hades, a classic tale of love gone awry, was based on the popular 17^th-century Yurei (ghost) story “Botan-dôrô” (or “The Tale of the Peony Lantern”),  

In the opening scene, set on the eve of the Obon Festival (a celebration of the spirits of the beloved who have passed on), Shinzaburô Hagiwara (Kôjirô Hongô) sits with the surviving members of his family of samurai. A year after the death of his older brother, Shinzaburô is offered his deceased brother’s wife. Despite Shinzaburô’s obligation to accept her hand in marriage, he refuses, much to the dismay of his family. That evening, during the village’s celebration, he and the villagers release dozens of floating lanterns in the local pond. When he frees two lanterns that were stuck in the weeds, two women, Otsuyu (Miyoko Akaza) and her servant Oyone (Michiko Ôtsuka), express their appreciation for his kind gesture. We soon learn that Otsuyu, once was a member of a samurai clan, but forced into a life as a concubine. She only has a few days of freedom, during the remaining course of the festival, before she must marry an older man she doesn’t love. Touched by her emotional appeal. Shinzaburô takes pity upon Otsuyu, but all is not as it seems. He soon discovers that both women met an untimely death, presenting him with a difficult decision: choosing between his commitment to the betterment of the village, which will only hasten his estrangement to his family, or his new love for Otsuyu, which means certain death. The villagers rally for his protection, but will it be too late? 

* Fun Fact #1: Although he made a name for himself in Daiei costume dramas, Hongô never aspired to be an actor, preferring the practice of judo.

Kôjirô Hongô does a terrific job as the conflicted young samurai Shinzaburô, who only wants justice in a society that rewards the wealthy and punishes the downtrodden. Unlike the rest of his family, Shinzaburô prefers to live among the poor craftsmen in the village, teaching their children how to read (this is frowned upon by the rest of his family, who think he shouldn’t concern himself with the affairs of people beneath his station). His patience and sympathy is constantly tested by his ne’er-do-well servant, Banzô (Kô Nishimura), who enjoys women and drink more than being a productive member of the community. Nishimura,* who made a career playing characters of questionable morality, provides some much-needed levity to the otherwise somber story as Banzô. Along with his equally scheming wife, Omine (Mayumi Ogawa), Banzô conspires to betray his master for 100 Ryo – his price for helping the ghostly Otsuyu and Oyone gain entry to Shinzaburô’s home, blocked by paper talismans.**   

* Fun Fact #2: Nishimura’s father Makoto was an early pioneer in Japanese robotics, having created an early example, Gakutensoku, in the 1920s. 

** Fun Fact #3: The talismans, known as ofuda, are consecrated slips of paper from Shinto shrines, used to ward off evil spirits or prevent harm.

While The Bride from Hades wasn’t typical fare for the politically charged director Satsuo Yamamoto, the film’s themes of social inequity in a society dictated by rigid class structure shines through. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Chikashi Makiura, with dreamlike art direction by Yoshinobu Nishioka, the film is a delight for the eyes. The story, based on a classic Japanese folk tale, proves the time-worn adage that no good deed goes unpunished (at least in Shinzaburô’s case), and neither the virtuous nor the unscrupulous prevail.

 

Sources for this article: Blu-ray commentary by Jasper Sharp; Yurei Attack: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide, by Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt

Documentary December Quick Picks and Pans

Monterey Pop (1968) Before there was Woodstock, there was the Monterey Pop Festival, held over three days in June 1967. D.A. Pennebaker’s groundbreaking Monterey Pop features an impressive lineup of artists, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, and many more, providing an unprecedented snapshot of the era. While many of the audience members appear to be under the influence of one substance or another, they seem to be having a great time. Some highlights include Hendrix burning his guitar, Otis Redding working the audience like no one else can, culminating in a mesmerizing performance by Ravi Shankar. It’s hard not to enjoy this snapshot of a complex time that somehow seems simpler to modern eyes. 

Rating: ****½. Available on Blu-ray and DVD

 

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) On November 27, 1978, openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk was assassinated, along with Mayor Moscone, by disgruntled political rival Dan White. The film chronicles the events leading up to the incident, as well as the miscarriage of justice that followed. Interviews with friends and colleagues, interspersed with archival footage of Milk, provide a fascinating portrait of the unique politician. The most striking thing about Rob Epstein’s documentary is how contemporary it seems, with attitudes and issues that are just as relevant today. Sadly, it also reveals how little things have changed in the ensuing decades. If this film doesn’t make you angry, you’re not paying attention. 

Rating: ****½. Available on Blu-ray and DVD

Capturing the Friedmans (2003) What secrets dwell just beneath the surface of a seemingly perfect upper-middle-class family living in upstate New York? Director Andrew Jarecki uncovers the horrible truth, layer by layer, starting with family patriarch Arnold Friedman. As an accomplished jazz musician, schoolteacher, and family man. He seemingly had it all. Through the family’s home movies, we see the celebrations and the anguish, revealing details about their dysfunctional relationship. With its themes of incest, pedophilia and child pornography, Jarecki’s purposely ambiguous film is often difficult to watch but impossible to look away, exploring the gray areas about who knew what, and how much. 

Rating: ****. Available on DVD 

 

Our Body (aka: Notre Corps) (2023) Claire Simon’s profile of a gynecological ward in a French public hospital provides a compelling fly-on-the-wall view of the wide range of patients and cases that come through its doors on a daily basis. Simon’s lens doesn’t shy away as we witness the entire life span represented by the hospital’s patients, with teenage pregnancy, birth, gender-affirming care, and cancer patients. Thanks to the brave individuals who agreed to be filmed (including the film’s director), we see some of them at their worst or most physically and emotionally vulnerable moments (one especially touching moment involves a doctor’s conversation with a terminal cancer patient who must end her chemotherapy). Anyone wishing to enter the medical profession or just wanting to know what goes on behind the scenes at a public hospital should find this documentary engaging. Don’t be dissuaded by the film’s almost 3-hour running time; it’s time well spent. 

Rating: ****. Available on Kanopy 

Catfish (2010) New Yorker Nev Schulman forms an online friendship with Megan, a young woman and her family in Michigan. As their relationship progresses, he begins raising questions about the veracity of the people and events in her life. His attempt to track her down leads to more questions and startling answers. It could have been someone’s idea of a sick joke, but the reality is far from black and white, as the truth behind the deception is surprisingly poignant. With each twist and turn, filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman illustrate how fabrication becomes more important than fact. As others have observed, it’s best to go into this movie cold, allowing the details of the story to naturally unfurl. 

Rating: ***½ . Available on Blu-ray and DVD

Spooktacular! (2023) Director Quinn Monahan and writer Gail Jorden explore the rise and fall of the first-of-its-kind horror-themed amusement park, Spooky World, in Berlin, Massachusetts. We learn about the park’s brief but memorable run through interviews with former employees and celebrities, as well as its charismatic proprietor, David Bertolino (described as a “cross between Walt Disney and Stephen King”). Despite friction from the rural community, Spooky World remained a wildly popular fixture, hosting many members of horror royalty, including Tom Savini, Linda Blair, Kane Hodder, and Elvira, to name just a few. It’s enjoyable, if a bit superficial, glossing over many details (We don’t really hear much from its detractors). 

Rating: ***. Available on Prime Video

Moana (1926) Not to be confused with the animated Disney film with the same name (although it could have easily influenced it), filmmakers Frances and Robert J. Flaherty (who previously directed 1921’s Nanook of the North) turn their camera on the South Pacific island community of Safune, located on the Samoan island of Savaiʻi. The sound version, recorded in the same location 50 years later, was presented by Flangan’s daughter, Monica. The film presents an idealized profile of island life, focusing on the title character, a young man entering adulthood. Not unlike Nanook, Moana perpetuates the “noble savage” stereotype, with staged scenes of the characters playing versions of their real-life selves. 

Rating: ***. Available on Blu-ray and DVD

 

Elliott Smith – Heaven Adores You (2014) Nickolas Dylan Rossi covers the life of the brilliant singer/songwriter whose life was cut tragically short. Consisting largely of talking-head interviews with Smith’s friends and associates, interspersed with short clips of the artist, the film takes a by-the-numbers approach, keeping the musician at arms’ length. With only snippets of his songs throughout the soundtrack, there’s little left to illustrate his music to fans or the uninitiated. Outside of the predictably grim portrait of a troubled musician, the documentary has about as much depth as an old episode of VH-1’s “Behind the Music,” providing little insight about what made him tick, or the mystery surrounding his untimely demise. There must be a better story left waiting in the wings about this complex musician, but for now, this will have to do. 

Rating: 3 stars. Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Prime Video

South

 

(1919) Directed by Frank Hurley; Starring: Ernest Shackleton, Frank Worsley, J. Stenhouse, Leonard D.A. Hussey, James McIlroy; Available on Blu-ray and DVD 

Rating: **** 

“We have been compelled to abandon the ship, which is crushed beyond all hope of ever being righted, we are alive and well, and we have stores and equipment for the task that lies before us. The task is to reach land with all the members of the Expedition. It is hard to write what I feel.” – Ernest Shackleton (excerpted from Shackleton’s journal) 

As one of the last (mostly) unspoiled frontiers on Earth, Antarctica remains an icy enigma, too remote and inhospitable for permanent residence, yet oddly irresistible for those intrepid enough to test their mettle against the elements. South (1919) chronicling the travails of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton and his crew, is as close as many of us might care to get to the South Pole. This was Shackleton’s third attempt to conquer Antarctica (his previous unsuccessful attempts were in 1907 and 1909). When Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team reached the South Pole in December 1911, they raised the bar for Shackleton, for what would be the most ambitious expedition to date – an overland crossing of the Antarctic continent.* The 28-man crew** of the Endurance*** set out for Antarctica from Buenos Aires, Argentina in October1914. Although they never reached the continent, stopping just shy of their initial goal, what followed was a testament to Shackleton’s leadership and his crew’s fortitude. Thankfully for the rest of the world, Australian photographer Frank Hurley was there to capture the voyage for posterity, through motion picture footage and stills.*** 

* Fun Fact #1: Described by Shackleton as “the last great polar journey that can be made,” he intended to start in Vahsel Bay and after a hike across the continent, end at the Ross Sea. 

** Fun Fact #2: The 28^th crewmember was a young Welsh stowaway, Percy “Perce” Blackborow, who had been rejected due to inexperience. When he was discovered three days into the voyage, Shackleton angrily confronted him, stating “On missions like this, stowaways were the first to get eaten.” 

*** Fun Fact #3: Built in Norway in 1912 and originally named Polaris, the ship was purchased by Shackleton for £14,000 and re-named Endurance. 

**** Fun Fact #4: The world almost missed the opportunity to see photographic evidence of Shackleton’s voyage. When the order was given to abandon ship, Frank Hurley was forced to leave all his photographic plates behind. He later returned to the Endurance, wading through icy waters and broken timbers inside the doomed ship to retrieve his photographic plates. Because of their considerable bulk, he could only take 120 of the 550 recovered plates, while the others were destroyed. 

Long before the immersive experiences of IMAX movies or state-of-the-art theme park attractions, South was the next best thing to exploring the seventh continent first-hand.  From scenes depicting the crew awkwardly setting up a tent atop an ice floe, to retrieving biological specimens from the frigid waters without gloves, you can practically feel the bitter cold permeating every image. Perhaps the most haunting imagery involved still photos of the Endurance, trapped in the ice for 11 months, before succumbing to the elements and sinking into the Weddell Sea.* Seeing the once proud ship becoming one with the landscape is surreal and painterly. 

* Fun Fact #5: In 2022, the wreck of the Endurance was located at a depth of 10,000 feet (3 kilometers), remarkably intact. 

The crew’s struggle for survival under the harshest possible conditions, often required desperate measures. To supplement their dwindling food supplies, the crew’s diet included seals and penguins.* With the exception of frozen strips of seal meat being harvested, the audience is spared most of the gory details. One of the biggest omissions was an explanation why the expedition’s 69 sled dogs disappeared about two-thirds of the way in. Considering the film was intended for a broad audience, it was probably the most sensible decision, if not the most truthful.** 

* Fun Fact #6: At least one crew member, Thomas McLeod, refused to eat penguins, due to an old mariner’s superstition that the birds’ bodies contained the souls of dead fishermen.   

** Not-So-Fun-Fact: With food running out and no viable way to support the dogs, the expedition leaders made the difficult decision to have them shot and subsequently eaten (Sorry, fellow animal lovers).

Without their ship or a means of communicating to the outside world, the crew were left stranded on Elephant Island. How Shackleton’s crew were rescued was an ordeal that could have merited its own documentary.* Shackleton, along with five crew members, made the arduous 800-mile journey in the 22-foot lifeboat, “James Caird,” from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island to seek help, braving tremendous storms, immense waves, and continual ice build-up (which someone had to break up by hand, while sitting on the edge of the boat). Once they arrived on its shores, Shackleton and a couple of his more able-bodied men made a 36-hour trek over miles of uncharted mountainous terrain to reach the whaling village of Stromness. In August 1916, help finally arrived on Elephant Island, with Shackleton on the Chilean navy ship Yelcho. 

* Fun Fact #7: Because Hurley did not accompany Shackleton on the trek to South Georgia, all footage of the island was filmed after the fact, in 1917.

Although we’re introduced to the names of many of the crew members, we never get more than a cursory description. The only exception was meteorologist L. Hussey, who entertained the crew with his banjo (described as the ship’s “vital mental tonic”). South focuses on the romance of adventure, rather than many of the nasty bits in-between. After describing Shackleton’s adventure on South Georgia Island, the film spends a little too much time (filmed after the fact) depicting the wildlife that managed to thrive there. With most modern viewers already accustomed to decades of nature documentaries (Thanks, Marlin Perkins and David Attenborough!), it’s important to remember that the world was a much more mysterious place in the early 20^th century, and South afforded audiences the opportunity to see animals they had never seen before. As imperfect as South may be, we’re fortunate to have this window into another time and place. It’s almost miraculous that the entire crew survived their ordeal under tremendous hardship and South remains a tribute to human persistence and resilience in the face of adversity, serving as a reminder that there are still some places left on Earth we haven’t managed to conquer. 

 

Sources for this article: Blu-ray commentary by film historian Luke McKernan, “Endurance: Shackleton’s Lost Ship is Found inAntarctic,” by Jonathan Amos, BBC (March 8, 2022); “Endurance: The Newport Stowaway on Shackleton Shipwreck,” by Neil Prior, BBC (February 26, 2022); “Shackleton’s Endurance,” Falklands Heritage Maritime Trust (website) 

 

 

November Quick Picks and Pans

 

The Bigamist (1953) Ida Lupino directs and co-stars in this unusual drama about a man with two wives. By all appearances, Harry Graham (Edmon O’Brien) has it all, with his loving wife Eve (Joan Fontaine), a good job, and a pending adoption to make their life complete, but as we soon learn, he’s been keeping a big secret from her. When an official (Edmund Gwenn) from the adoption agency suspects something’s not on the up and up with Harry, he makes a shocking discovery. Not only is he leading a separate life with Phyllis Martin (Ida Lupino) in another city, but they’re married and have an infant child. The film takes a surprisingly even-handed approach, depicting the lurid subject matter with sensitivity and intelligence. It doesn’t paint Harry as a villain, nor does it depict the two women as adversaries, once they learn his secret. 

Rating: ***½. Available on DVD, and Prime Video

 

The Amazing Mr. X (1948) Turhan Bey stars as the fake medium Alexis, who claims to possess the ability to converse with the dead. He targets wealthy widow Christine Faber (Lynn Bari) and her impressionable younger sister, Janet (Cathy O’Donnell). Richard Carlson plays Christine’s fiancé Martin, who throws a monkey wrench into Alexis’ plans when he hires a private investigator to debunk the con artist. John Alton’s moody, atmospheric cinematography, elevates the film to a whole other level, and Bey is effective as the charismatic charlatan Alexis.    

Rating: ***½. Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Kanopy

The Locket (1946) Dr. Harry Blair (Brian Aherne) crashes a wedding to warn John Willis (Gene Raymond) about the woman he’s about to marry. Thus begins a flashback within a flashback within a flashback, which traces Nancy’s (Laraine Day) sordid past. One of the flashbacks features Robert Mitchum as Norman Clyde, her original suitor, who falls into her web of lies and deception. As the film digs deeper into Nancy’s history, we learn how a seemingly perfect young woman harbors a kleptomaniacal streak, which could be traced to a childhood incident. As each layer is revealed, another facet of Nancy and her dysfunctional relationship with men comes to light.   

Rating: ***½. Available on DVD and HBO Max

In My Skin (2002) After Esther (played by Marina de Van, who also wrote and directed) suffers a nasty leg injury, she begins a dangerous obsession, inflicting new cuts to her skin. As the compulsion and cuts get deeper, she gradually alienates her exasperated boyfriend and co-workers. While Marina de Van deserves kudos for her bold, unflinching performance as a woman overcome by her unstoppable impulse for self-destruction, perhaps she wore one hat too many. The film escalates as Esther follows her horrific trajectory, but without a distinct third act, it just fizzles out in the end, with no solid conclusion. The makeup effects are appropriately stomach-turning, but they do service to an underbaked story which never manages to rise above obtuse social commentary. 

Rating: **½. Available on Blu-ray and DVD