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#530 – Bruce Gentry (1949)
Bruce Gentry (1949)
Film review #530
Directors: Spencer Gordon Bennet, Thomas Carr
SYNOPSIS: Bruce Gentry, a charter pilot, has gone to see his friend is Dr. Benson, but the scientist is kidnapped by a mysterious gang led by a man known only as “The Recorder,” who wants Dr. Benson to work on their “flying disc” machines to unleash an attack on the country. Bruce teams up with Paul Radcliffe, an industrialist, alongside ranchers Juanita and Frank, in order to rescue Dr. Benson and put The Recorder’s gang out of action…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Bruce Gentry is a 1949 film serial based on the comic strip centred around the character of the same name. The film opens up with Bruce Gentry, a charter pilot, who gets into a fistfight with a gang of henchman less than a minute into the runtime. When Gentry’s friend Dr. Benson is kidnapped by a criminal gang to work on their inventions. Bruce teams up with Paul Radcliffe, an industrialist, and ranchers Juanita and Frank, whose land contains a mine where materials where Plutonite can be found, which the gang need to complete their machines. Together, they all try to rescue Dr. Benson and stop the criminal gang, led by the mysterious “Recorder.” The fifteen part serial has all the components that are very typical of the format, with each chapter revolving around the back-and-forth between the good guys and bad guys as they scheme and counter-scheme one another. It’s formulaic, but no less so than any of the other serials of the time. The use of airplanes as one of the focal points of the serial, and the main character being a pilot was again a popular choice of serials, as they were firmly in the public’s imagination after the second world war, and were seen as heroes. Unfortunately, there’s not much plane action in this; merely travelling from one destination to another, and usually not making it, as Bruce typically has to jump out of the plane at the last second to avoid being killed in typical cliffhanger fashion. There’s no dog fights or combat in the skies, which is something other serials do, so it is going to pale in comparison to others, and it feels like more could have been done instead of the forgettable schemes we get. The plot barely moves forward at any point, and is stuck at the initial stalemate between the heroes and villains until the final chapter.
The cast of characters is pretty bland: Bruce Gentry is a typical male lead (as with nearly all of these serials), but he doesn’t have anything special or interesting to set him apart: he just flies a plane occasionally. The rest of the characters are also unimportant: Paul Radcliffe, who hires Bruce to investigate the criminal gang, wants the secret of the flying disc’s that the gang uses for himself, but keeps that a secret. This could have led to an interesting side story, but it’s never really followed up. There’s Juanita, the one female character (apart from Paul’s secretary) who has some fight in her, but usually just falls into the role of being kidnapped every other chapter. Frank is completely ineffectual, and just serves as another pair of hands, and the henchmen are completely unremarkable. The Recorder, the mysterious villain who leads the criminal gang, is only heard through voice recordings (hence the name I guess), and while his identity is kept secret throughout the serial, his eventual reveal comes long past the point of being invested in this serial.
As mentioned, the serial does little to try anything new, and the lack of action that isn’t just fistfights makes everything very predictable and dull. One noteworthy element is that this serial is the first time a “flying saucer” was featured on screen, with the criminal gang’s “flying discs” being their main weapon. They are mostly seen as a traditionally animated object flying towards the screen, which does look a bit out of place, and could probably achieved without resorting to animation and creating something so distractingly different to the rest of the serial. This technique was done in other serials, most notable in the Superman serials, but this was typically for when Superman had to fly, which would have been difficult to film in such low budget, low-tech conditions. In Bruce Gentry, I’m sure they could have just used a model to the same effect. Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, who directed by so many similar serials, Bruce Gentry has all the pieces of a typical serial, but fails to offer anything in terms of an exciting plot, interesting characters, or unique sci-fi premises. I’d rank it below average, but definitely not the worst of the movie serials (only because there are some really bad ones).
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#529 – Evil Bong 888: Infinity High (2022)
Evil Bong 888: Infinity High (2022)
Film review #529
Director: Charles Band
SYNOPSIS: Rabbit has opened up a new restaurant to try and go legit after his many weed-related adventures, with the evil bong, Ebee, working in the kitchen. However, many mishaps ensue, and tempt Rabbit to return to his old ways…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Evil Bong 888: Infinity High is a 2022 film and actually the ninth film in the Evil Bong series (if you’re counting Evil Bong vs. Gingerdead Man). The film opens up with series regular Rabbit preparing to open a new restaurant and attempting to go straight without smoking weed. Meanwhile the evil bong, Ebee, is helping out in the kitchen. If you’ve seen any of the other Evil Bong films, then you’ll know what to expect: a bunch of one-note characters come through the doors, and do their predictable humour, while the next characters come in and add to the scene. Everything that I have written about the previous Evil Bong films essentially just applies to this one: it is not a complex film, the plot is barely a plot, but the audience is people that are high and probably only aren’t going to follow any complexities, and just want to see some stupid, sexy or trippy stuff on screen. With a runtime of around an hour, at least the film does not overstay it’s welcome.
The film is, in some way, a return to basics (if you think the series ever evolved beyond “basics”), and takes out a lot of the characters and concepts that had driven the last few films, such as Lucy Furr, the Gingerdead Man, and Sexy Hell (yes, I did just write all of those things, and yes, they did happen). Although it’s unclear whether this is just because they couldn’t get any of the other actors to return; even though this hasn’t stopped them before from simply recasting a lot of roles. As such, we are left with Rabbit and Ebee, who became the only ones to appear in all the previous Evil Bong films. The “I tell you what” rednecks return doing their regular shtick, and even though they have been doing the same thing over numerous films, it’s strangely comforting to see them back doing the same thing, as it probably wouldn’t feel like an Evil Bong film without them at this point. The film also manages to bring back Larnell, one of the original characters, for the final few minutes, but he literally does nothing other than smoke a joint. The Gingerdead/Gingerweed man also make a brief cameo at the end, so there was at least some effort to acknowledge some of the other key characters of the series.
The film does try to be up to date with some it’s characters: you have a “Karen” who comes into the restaurant to complain, two teenagers who don’t know how to act in public post-Covid pandemic, and “Joe Exotic” (not actually him, in factm it doesn’t even look like him) It’s very little, and hardly biting social commentary, but it helps set the scene a little, and make the characters seem a bit more relatable (even though they are never anything more than clichés.) To balance this out as well, you also get the German chef named Sal Monella, whose personality is simply being German (you can probably imagine what that means). Again, it’s all simple stuff that doesn’t need to be anything more than what it is, but that doesn’t necessarily make it good.
Like most (all) of the Evil Bong films, the film has two sets: the restaurant, and the kitchen. Even then, quite a few of the scenes are obviously completely green-screened. It cuts back on trying to use CG and trippy special effects, and just sticks to having a laugh with the characters and tropes they have. Being as this is supposed to be the final Evil Bong film, it doesn’t really have a definitive ending or resolution, but at least it didn’t end on a cliff-hanger like Evil Bong 777 did (and which this film pretty much ignores). Overall, Evil Bong 888 is, as all of the films in this series are, crude, low budget, and without a plot. But as always, these films are meant to target an audience of people who are probably so high they are devoid of sense, so anything more complex than semi-nudity and weed jokes isn’t going to be truly appreciated. I think cutting a lot of the characters and lore it had built up helps the film in some regards by focusing on the characters that work, but it doesn’t offer anything new, or a definitive, satisfying ending to the series. I don’t think it’s the worst film in the series, as it attempts some relevant jokes, and returns some of the more memorable characters, but there’s still plenty of dull moments and flat jokes that would remain flat no matter how high you are. If you are familiar with Full Moon’s low budget films, you’ll recognise this as more of what they do, but if you’re expecting something entertaining that delivers something truly unique with its concept, you’ll be sorely disappointed: that ship sailed long ago.
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#528 – The Three Fantastic Supermen (1967)
The Three Fantastic Supermen (1967)
Film review # 528
Director: Gianfranco Parolini
SYNOPSIS: FBI agent Brad hires two “supermen” who fight crime in their bullet-proof suits. The three of them join forces to become the “three fantastic supermen,” to investigate an evil plot concerning counterfeit money and bad guys turning people into precious jewels…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Three Fantastic Supermen is a 1967 film. The film opens up with FBI agent Brad testing two superhero crimefighters, Tony and Nick, to see if they are up to joining forces. The two pass the test, and the three work together to investigate a counterfeit money ring and an evil scheme. The film is very much one of the many, many comedy spy films that parody the likes of James Bond-style films, and were especially in abundance in Italy at the time. It also has this superhero element too, with the characters dressing in skin-tight spandex and capes that serve as “bullet-proof suits.” The plot of the film is pretty standard for a spy film parody, but it at least has direction and some twists, with the somewhat uneasy alliance between the FBI and the two vigilante heroes leading to some conflict between them. The main aspect of the film is the comedy though, so everything is done in a silly, slapstick way. Any sense of peril is faced by Tony’s cheeky smile, and Nick’s expressive facial expressions and motion (accentuated by the fact he is mute). Things get even more silly when a machine that turns people into precious jewels gets introduced, as well as the machine eventually being able to clone people, but it also gets a bit sinister, when a class of schoolkids are kidnapped and nearly killed (the cloning machine works properly on children, but not adults apparently). Regardless, it’s a standard bit of comedy and parody, with plenty of scantily-clad women and chauvinism to appeal to its young male target audience.
The three main characters, Tony, Brad and Nick are different enough to make them distinguishable and interesting: as mentioned, Brad is the straight-laced FBI agent who has an uneasy alliance with the other two, although this typically ends with them playing practical jokes on him as he tries to get their secrets from them. Tony is the suave cheeky chap who laughs off any threats, and Nick as the expressive mute gives the scenes a different kind of energy. The supporting cast is a fairly typical bunch, with the evil criminal mastermind, the scientist, and his attractive daughter who serves as the love interest, so it’s unremarkable, but it has the staples of the films it is attempting to parody. The three “fantastic supermen” are also played by trained acrobats, so they can pull off some good stunts and performances, which again give the scenes a unique energy and appeal. There’s also plenty of props and variety in the scenes to make it feel busy and engaging, so while it’s a bit low budget and all over the place, it is still entertaining, although the music consisting of one of about three pieces of music played every other minute does get annoying quite fast. Overall though, The Three Fantastic Supermen is a very typical spy comedy of the time, with the added superhero element adding in a bit of a twist, and the acrobatics giving the stunts a bit more energy. It’s nothing too special or memorable, but it was apparently successful enough to warrant a number of sequels, which we will have to look at at some point…
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#527 – A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell (1990)
A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell (1990)
Film review #527
Director: Brett Piper
SYNOPSIS: In a post-apocalyptic Earth, a young woman has to survive in a world infested with dinosaurs, mutants, and barbarians.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell is a 1990 post-apocalyptic sci-fi film. The film opens up the same way as nearly every post-apocalyptic film does: with a montage of the world being essentially destroyed by nuclear war. What is left is a world filled with dinosaurs, mutants, lizard people…just a mish-mash of any and all typical things you’d find in other films. There’s not much rhyme or reason to the setting. The plot is…basically non-existent: there’s hardly any dialogue, any motivation, or any direction. With post-apocalyptic films you can definitely make the lack of dialogue or story work: in a world where society has collapsed, sometimes the only goal is to survive, and films like Mad Max 2, which also uses minimal dialogue and focuses on action, works extremely well. Here, that is not the case, as the action is sub-par and without any spectacle. The film just consists of some wandering about and scrappy fights, with a few stop-motion monsters as well. There’s no sense of character, world or development to maintain interest, and it certainly doesn’t live up to the hyped up title, which is probably the only reason anyone would be drawn to this film.
But we shouldn’t perhaps be so disparaging about the film because it was made by the company Troma; who are known for making low-budget sci-fi horror films that rely on comedy and satire to make fun of the genre. Even by Troma’s standards though, this is bad. This film just doesn’t have any amount of self-awareness or satire that would make you think it is poking fun at the genre: it’s just dull, and the lack of any substance means you really have no idea what to take from it. The title promises much, but delivers very little: there’s not really any dinosaurs, the barbarian isn’t a nymphoid (in fact nymphoid isn’t a word), and you’re not missing out on anything if you skip this film.
