FLIGHT TO TANGIER (1953)

I was not sure what to make of this Paramount Pictures film with the established and respected Joan Fontaine co-starring with newcomer, Jack Palance. How could this possibly work? Thanks to a sleep-inducing, confusing screenplay, it does not. The audience may have been disappointed with Palance's 180-degree pivot from his signature role in Shane. Paul Sawtell's score, periodically, is grounded in adventure but I think even he was not that inspired. Not too relevant to mention but the film was produced in Dynoptic 3D. You will not miss it or figure out where it was used. There is a lot of camera crew action at times yet it still just lays there. Just enjoy the thespians doing their thing and the thick Technicolor. 

Joining Fontaine and Palance are Robert Douglas and Corinne Calvet. We have little clue as to their relationship yet they all seem to know each other. It made me wonder if I missed the opening. Like the cast, the audience is on their own self-discovery adventure. Fontaine first appears distracted, wondering how to get out of this project or what were those papers she signed at the studio. Calvet, with her legit, yet sounding like a clichéd French accent, may never have looked better than in light green. Douglas has the condescending tone of a scoundrel so we gather his intent in this movie. We find them all looking skyward from the Tangier airport for a DC-3's arrival. Though a plane can fly on auto-pilot it cannot land with it. To their surprise, authorities find no one in or around the crashed plane. Missing in action is a courier, a briefcase with contents worth $3 million, and the pilot.

Everywhere Fontaine, Palance and Calvet go in search of the plot...er...pilot and the courier, Douglas and his unethical entourage follow. In fact, more often than not, within eyesight of each other. Pretty funny when it is obvious they are on the same set or the studio camera only needs to pan to find either party. This “action” repeats itself with hardly a hint of excitement or any chase defining the word. Sooner or later you are back with two groups devising their next plan. If you miss seeing the first half, just make sure you are there for the last fifteen minutes. The script allows Fontaine to reunite with the pilot, the courier and the millions for a sudden ending. None of which explains why the film is ninety minutes long.

NOT OF THIS EARTH (1957)

This sixty-seven-minute, independently released sci-fi implausibility film was produced and directed by Roger Corman for his Los Altos Productions. Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation, Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna write a compelling and fast-paced story about an alien who comes to Earth in an attempt to save his planet. However, his methods are anything but legal. The film's interesting opening title graphics have an avant-garde appearance while an equally appropriate music score is in support. It is a worthy alternative to the typical alien invasion films of this era. Using a meager one hundred grand with a Corman draw, the film pulled in approximately one million dollars. It is a creepy performance by Paul Birch. Pretty spine-tingling for late Fifties audiences, I imagine. 

The people of a distant planet have developed an incurable blood disease. One of its citizens, Birch, is sent to Earth to extract the blood of humans (that's not nice) which may help cure his planet's dying race (good intentions). Birch's subtle, uneven robotic monotone speech pattern makes it hard to pinpoint his origin, whether earthly or planetary. No one seriously questions his constant companion, an aluminum briefcase, stereotypically used by gangsters for money laundering. A more logical inquiry might be why he wears “polar expedition” sunglasses day and night, though obviously not needing mobility assistance. The audience is way ahead of the cast as the opening scene reveals the death behind those shades. If considered, the audience will find implausibility in how the alien got enough cash to buy an upper-class house or how he survived his background credit check. He may have had to secure a home improvement loan, as well, to install a teleportation device needed for transporting blood by the palette. This surely added to the home's value.

To be his chauffeur and errand boy, Birch hires a young, unemployed hood, Jonathan Haze. A guy the audience does not have much invested. I assume the well-paid miscreant was useful in selecting the pre-owned Cadillac for his “blind” boss. Eventually joining the two is Beverly Garland, who is assigned as the alien's in-home nurse. Her boss, William Roerick, lets Birch hire her because of the latter's telepathic power over him. Garland thinks nothing of Birch's odd countenance or the arrangement. Throughout most of the movie, she does not take much of anything seriously or suspiciously. To her, nothing could possibly be a problem or dangerous, dismissing concerns that could be attributed to more astute individuals. A somewhat annoying, flippant, character interpretation. 

A dose of Corman's humor pops up via Dick Miller as a vacuum salesman. He is about to close his sales pitch when he catches a glimpse of Birch's eyes. Feeling his demise imminent, he pauses, stares directly into the camera, shakes his head from side to side, then does a double-take. Miller's product is put to shame by the blood-vacuuming power of the alien's briefcase. Less humorous is Birch's super-sensitive hearing on Earth. Even an inter-office buzzer sends him into convulsions and gives him an unearthly migraine. Like when you hear modified Harley-Davidson motorcycles with noise-polluting exhaust pipes piloted by an “in your face” rider constantly tweaking the throttle. I digressed there, a bit.

Feeling his behavioral pattern may be suspect, Birch reaches for a tube of last resort from his briefcase. Out pops an “umbrella cabbage.” It is truly a laughable special effect prop. It slowly dangles through an open window (no one installs screens in these movies) and encompasses Roerick's entire skull. Birch then plans to “dispatch” Garland back to his planet as an example of what Earth blood can do. Va-va-va-voom! His pursuit of her up the staircase, white eyes glaring, is menacing. Her loud scream temporarily debilitates him as it might any other male. She escapes. He tracks her in his bulbous, waffling Cadillac, sometimes only a few feet away, navigating among the trees. The period Cadillac going off-road is scary enough, seemingly impossible. It is cleverly unsettling. With several traffic violations pending on his home planet, as well as parking in a No Parking Zone on the opposite side of the street on Earth, it is no surprise Birch is not a driving enthusiast. An in-pursuit police car's blaring siren zaps his concentration and he dies in a crash. His death releases the hold on Garland, who finally has her suspicions about Birch, giving her pause while collapsing in hysteria. The final scene results in an unresolved ending.

Note: In the opening hospital scene, there is another male (alien) actor standing in for Paul Birch. It is Birch who exits the Cadillac but it is someone else in the waiting room, though it is clearly Birch's voice. During the hypnotism of the doctor, the out-of-focus close-up looks more like an overweight Gene Hackman than Paul Birch. The soft focus and backlighting are suspicious. Birch returns to the scene when Garland monitors his vitals. This stand-in appears briefly throughout the first half of the film. Only Corman would be able to explain this. Perhaps he needed transition or filler scenes and Birch was shooting another film elsewhere. He was simply asked to do the dialgue in a studio. The above photo comparisons help support my observation. Note the down-sloping mouth and lips, and the location of the crease in the cheek of the mystery actor when compared to Birch. In addition, the side profile of this actor has more slope from chin to neck. And note the different ear lobes.