Search - SciFi Classics: 50 Movie Pack on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 2004 DVD Release: 03/23/2004 Format: DVD - Letterbox for TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 12 Number of Discs: 12 Studio: Digital 1 Stop Total Copies: 11 Genres: Horror, Thriller See Also: Bride of the Gorilla, Bride of the Gorilla, Bride of the Gorilla

This silly, stagebound but entertaining little monster-mash from Universal horror writer/director Curt Siodmak stars burly Raymond Burr as a steward on a rubber plantation whose romantic tryst with the boss' wife (Barbara Payton) eventually leads to the employer's murder. When one of the voodoo-practicing servants of the ex-boss learns of this, he concocts a magic potion which transforms Burr (apparently) into a "sukaras" -- a kind of were-ape which roams the village by night, savaging the locals and sparking a plodding investigation by the local constable (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Enjoyable if only for its relentless goofiness, with an ending that will have most viewers wondering if Siodmak forgot to include a reel or two in his final edit. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Barbara Payton - Mrs. Dina Van Gelder
Lon Chaney, Jr. - Taro
Raymond Burr - Barney Chavez
Tom Conway - Dr. Viet
Paul Cavanagh - Klass Von Gelder

This is a lot of sci-fi to bite off in one gulp (and not all of it is actually sci-fi), but the prospect of 50 movies in one budget-priced 12-CD package that's smaller than a cigar box isn't easy to pass up. Needless to say, quality control is not a long-suit with a package like this -- the 12 discs were all present, but there were additional copies of two of the discs (which leads one to suspect that somewhere out there is a copy missing those two discs) Also, some of the annotation on the thin individual sleeves is comically wrong, most notably the 1961 horror-sci-fi chiller The Atomic Brain being listed with Bradford Dillman as its star -- in point of fact, one of its producers was Dean Dillman. That said, the presentations of the movies are not bad or, at least, not terrible; they're about on par with what Alpha Video delivers at five- to eight-dollars a title. The prints are intact and clean, the '60s vintage color movies are washed out to varying degrees (Hercules and the Captive Women, which is actually sort of Greco-Roman sci-fi, is not much more pale than it looked on local TV in 1964 or on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 in the '90s; Battle of the Worlds looks bleached quite a bit and tinted toward green in some shots but just fine in other places). The framing is off on some of the older films such as Unknown World, that were certainly shot 1.33:1, indicating that at some point in mastering their images were blown up slightly -- the latter is also one of the relative handful of films here in which the sound is a bit muddy and the image whited out, as though too much light was being pumped through it; and even on recent movies such as The Astral Factor (sort of Scanners meets Manhunter done way too early), with Robert Foxworth and Stefanie Powers, has minor blemishes in its source print. Some of the movies are just bad, such as Galaxy Invader, and others have a camp value that makes them enjoyable on that level, and several few are interesting and entertaining; others, such as Planet Outlaws, are recut episodes of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Each disc opens with the same simple menu offering the films and a chapter selection for each (and every movie gets four chapters). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide