Radar Men from the Moon (1952)

Star Wars has reclaimed the position as the hottest franchise in the movie business, and fans will endlessly debate who is the best character or the pros and cons of various plotlines. Somewhat in the shadow of all the hype, you will sometimes find some discussion about George Lucas’ sources of inspiration.

A handful of Lucas’ sources can be found at the Internet Archive; I have previously written about the serials The Phantom Empire (1935) and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940). A third serial which inspired him was Radar Men from the Moon (chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12), as can be seen in the character Commander Cody (Star Wars Episode III), from the serial’s hero Commando Cody.

Cody in the serial, who was also one of the inspirations for the 1980s movie and comic hero The Rocketeer, constructed his own backpack rocket and helmet, which help him fly, so that he can better fight the bad guys. In this particular serial (Cody was to appear in one more), he learns that moon men plan to invade earth, so he goes there to fight them. Most of the serial, however, is set on earth where Cody and his associates do battle against the infiltrators from the moon.

Radar Men from the Moon was produced one or two decades after the other serials I have reviewed here, and in some ways it shows. In the 1950s, the serials had passed their peak, both in terms of popularity and quality. There is still plenty of action, excitement and adventure, but beyond the first episode, which has some interesting points, the story feels a bit tired.

Like most serials after the early 1930s, Radar Men from the Moon is stuck in some rather stale gender roles. Take the matter of women on board spaceships, for instance. “You will be very glad to have someone on board who can cook your meals,” is just too typical a comment. This delivered by the woman in question, incidentally.

This serial is best enjoyed by Star Wars fans who want to explore George Lucas’ sources of inspiration. For serial fans, or those who want an introduction to serials, there are several better options, such as the eleven years older Adventures of Captain Marvel.

Radar Men from the Moon
Downlad links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
Year: 1952
Running time: 2 h 47 min
Director: Fred C. Brannon
Stars: George Wallace
Image quality: Acceptable
Resolution: Medium (720×480)
Sound quality: Acceptable
Best file format: MPEG2

Scrooge (1951)

Christmas is rushing closer by the minute and the panic is definitely here. Bottle of spumante wine for mother-in-law, some nice book for daughter, no idea even what to get for wife (she claims she likes film, but never watches any, so DVDs are out of the question). And then we need to pack for the trip to the family, and we have not even had time to put up much in terms of decorations in our home.

Well, that is the way it goes, but in the middle of that rush, what could possibly be better than to grab a mug of mulled wine and sit down in front of a nice old film. A film like Scrooge.

Scrooge, sometimes released with the title A Christmas Carol, is a breathtakingly beautiful film. The actors are good, and Alastair Sim in particular is marevellous as the aging miser who is reformed through divine intervention. Special effects are simplistic, but that is not really a problem. Dobule exposure and effective lighting go a long way when it comes to creating ghostlike gosts.

Charles Dickens’ classic tale has been filmed a great many times, and many of the versions are good. The versions available at the Internet Archive are too many for me to list them all, but I would like to mention just two short silents. The very first film adaptation of the story, Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost (1901) is available. Like many early literary adaptations, it requires a good deal of knowledge about the original, or it will be completely impossible to comprehend. It is a truly historic film, especially considering that it has been said to be the first film with intertitles, and anyway it is only about three and a half minutes long. The other interesting silent is a really good ten-minute adaptation from 1910, titled simply A Christmas Carol. That one is a small masterpiece in compact story-telling and well worth the ten minutes it takes to watch it.

The 1951 film is best enjoyed around Christmas time, to get in the right mood. Pathetic? Why, certainly, but just a wee bit, and not so much as to ruin it.

Scrooge
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Year: 1951
Running time: 1 h 24 min
Director: Brian Desmond-Hurst
Stars: Alastair Sim
Image quality: Excellent
Resolution: High (978×720)
Sound quality: Good
Best file format: MPEG4 (1.0 G)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)

The hero who pretends to be a rich, useless fop by day, transforming himself into a vigilante fighting for justice by night is an important character template in modern popular storytelling. Batman and Zorro are perhaps the best known examples, but years before they were conceived, The Scarlet Pimpernel was perhaps the first popular hero to hide behind a secret identity.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is the alter ego of the English nobleman Sir Percy Blakeney in a play and novel from the early 20th century. Blakeney is secretly critical of the events in France, where many of his friends are being executed without proper trials and for no other reason than being nobles. As The Scarlet Pimpernel, he therefore leads a band of resistance fighters who try to rescue the victims of the cruel tyrant Robespierre.

The Scarlet Pimpernel was popular almost from the start, and many film adaptations have been made. One of the most popular (and the first with sound) was the 1934 British The Scarlet Pimpernel starring Leslie Howard in the title role.

I have seen none of the other film versions of this character, but I am guessing that most are considerably more focused on the action. In the 1934 version, the drama is set first, and much is made of Howard’s excellent ability to switch between his character’s real self and the dandy he plays in order to avoid suspicion. The character’s wit and intelligence are also prominent.

This film is best enjoyed for Leslie Howard’s performance. Though it is a well-made costume piece, the historical aspects are by themselves not enough to raise the film above average. Howard’s acting, along with the exciting and amusing story, elevates this into a classic masterpiece.

The Scarlet Pimpernel
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Year: 1934
Running time: 1 h 37 min
Director: Harold Young
Stars: Leslie Howard
Image quality: Good
Resolution: Medium (720×576)
Sound quality: Acceptable
Best file format: Cinepack (863 M)

The Private Life of Don Juan (1934)

Douglas Fairbanks was, first and foremost, an actor of the silent era. Like many other major silent stars, he failed to make the transit to sound film. He made only a handful of talkies, and it is symptomatic that his very last one, The Private Life of Don Juan, was filmed and produced in England.

The Private Life of Don Juan was directed by Alexander Korda, and is typical of Korda in the sense that very little can be taken for granted. Korda makes effective use of shadows and angles, and even though some scenes may be a bit overworked, they are nevertheless excellent examples of film artistry that can be reproduced in no other medium.

The story, briefly, is that the aging Don Juan is returning to Seville, but a young admirer and impersonator is killed, leaving everyone to believe Don Juan dead. The aged womanizer sees his chance to lead a life in peace, but finds that he can never quite live up to the legend of himself.

The film’s title was probably an attempt to capitalize on the previous year’s success with The Private Life of Henry VIII, also directed by Korda.

This film is best enjoyed for Douglas Fairbanks in his very last role. Talking or silent, Fairbanks still in his, relatively speaking, old age of 51 had enormous sex appeal and he could do acrobatics and stunts that most men half his age would envy him. He also showed his great qualities as an actor, and that he could handle spoken dialogue just as well as the exaggerated body language of a silent.

The Private Life of Don Juan
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Year: 1934
Running time: 1 h 27 min
Director: Alexander Korda
Stars: Douglas Fairbanks
Image quality: Good
Resolution: Medium (720×576)
Sound quality: Acceptable
Best file format: DivX (698 M)