Cult Film Faves Not On DVD: The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956) review

THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN 1956

Guy Madison (Jimmy Ryan), Patricia Medina (Sarita), Carlos Rivas (Felipe Sanchez), Eduardo Noriega (Enrique Rios), Pascual Garcia Pena (Pancho), Mario Navarro (Panchito)

Directed by Edward Nassour and Ismael Rodriguez

The Short Version: The story of an American cowboy, his Mexican rival, a girl, and a sprint running Allosaurus. That's the gist of this standard US-Mexico romance western that goes full blown monster movie during its last twenty minutes. It's a bit of a trailblazer being the first stop-motion widescreen cowboys vs. dinosaurs movie. Those that can make it through the first hour are rewarded with an overzealous Allosaurus and his Gene Simmons worthy tongue that whips around wildly. A warm up for the similar THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969), this earlier monster oater lacks the ingenuity brought to the screen by Harryhausen. The cinematography is often stunning with a music score to match. Vintage monster movie fanatics will find this of the most interest.




An American cattle rancher living in Mexico investigates the disappearances of some of his herd. Believing it to be the work of a rival named Enrique Rios, the locals fear it's a legendary monster residing beyond the sinister Hollow Mountain. Surrounded by an impassable swamp, no one who goes there returns. Said to appear during times of drought, the legend of this mysterious monster turns out to be true.

This rarely discussed oddity from 1956 makes a nice co-feature with the much better THE VALLEY OF GWANGI from 1969. Additionally, the two films make a good comparative study with the handful of similarities they share. Both movies are westerns; both are based on an idea from Willis O'Brien; both feature an Allosaurus as their central creature; both have similar locales where their title beasts reside; the dinosaurs in both movies are animated via stop-motion; and both have cutesy Mexican kids as quasi-comedy relief. 



The big difference between the two is that GWANGI knows what it wants to be. Nassour's picture flirts with monster movie cliches, and never fully commits to them till the last reel. For nearly the entirety of the first hour the film resigns itself to a standard western; although it never embraces the tropes of that genre, either. There's a fist fight and a cattle stampede, but no shootouts of any kind. However, the love triangle between Ryan, Sarita and her devious husband-to-be Enrique provides opportunities for action, but it's not forthcoming. The monster footage is far more satisfying, even though it's poorly balanced over the course of the picture.




The opening narration unveils the Mexican folklore detailing the Hollow Mountain, but it's barely mentioned afterward. At the 45 minute mark, there's an attack on one of the supporting characters; but it's not till we're an hour in that the Allosaurus makes its belated appearance where it remains onscreen for the final twenty minutes.




As compensation for a veritably monster free first hour, Jorge Stahl Jr.'s cinematography makes great use of the vast expanse of the western landscape. A number of shots feature the actors in the foreground backed by some sprawling setting behind them. The filmmakers do go overboard with the tracking shots, though. Nearly every scene has one. They often work nicely, but the trick is over-used in the extreme.



Regarding the dinosaur itself, the directors animation of the beast is well below the efforts of Harryhausen. Even so, there's some creativity during the Allosaurus action that vindicates the floppy effects scenes. Nassour's dino is exceptionally energetic. During the finale, and after attacking Sarita and Panchito in a cabin, the beast chases our hero on horseback literally sprint running across the plains and down a mountainside! 

In an odd decision, somebody thought that giving the Allosaurus an elongated tongue was an innovative touch. It flaps around so ferally, it seems to take on a life all its own.

The film also benefits from an imaginative (if crazy) method of dispatching the title beast. It's a shame the first hour isn't more engaging, or even dotted with appearances by the dinosaur as opposed to cramming all the monster action into the finale.



Guy Madison was a modestly popular American actor who thrived in westerns; most notably of the TV variety where he played the lead in eight seasons of ADVENTURES OF WILD BILL HICKOK (1951-1958). Madison's movie career in the US never quite took off, but he later made a comfortable living in European cinema, particularly in western pictures.



Patricia Medina looks fetching as Sarita, the object of two men's desires. She didn't appear in much genre cinema during her career. Her only other major monster movie role was in the wacky world of the Japan-US co-production of LATITUDE ZERO from 1969 where she shared the screen with her husband at the time, Joseph Cotten.



Both Carlos Rivas (pictured at left below) and Mario Navarro (pictured at right above) turned up in the following years THE BLACK SCORPION (1957). Both actors essentially played the same roles under the directorship of Edward Ludwig in that far more satisfying monster movie with Willis O'Brien animated giant scorpions.

The ambitious Edward Nassour and his brother William ran their own production facility for a time, later partnering with the Mexican company, Peliculas Rodriguez on a few features. THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN was Ed Nassour's first time as director, although Ismael Rodriguez would act as co-director here. He also took on the animation duties reportedly shoving O'Brien out of the picture, but giving him a credit on the film. 



Most monster movie fans will have little tolerance for THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN. It does hold up better on multiple viewings, but knowing ahead of time just what to expect might ease the anxiety that the picture takes so long to deliver on its title. Still, the final twenty minutes are worthwhile, displaying what the movie as a whole could have been had the filmmakers invested more into the fantasy aspects of their production.

This review is representative of an MGM HD airing. THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN is currently only available overseas on DVD.

Reel Bad Cinema: The Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960) review

THE CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS 1960

Scott Peters (Tom Wright), Linda Connell (Sally Markham), Jason Johnson (Hauron), Katherine Victor (Nadja)

Directed by Phil Tucker

The Short Version: Phil Tucker's last directorial effort has him returning to the type of alien invasion SciFi scenario that made his 1953 muckus, ROBOT MONSTER, so hilariously memorable. In full on Ed Wood mode, Tucker's last bad movie hurrah actually has a pretty decent story behind it about grumpy alien invaders covertly wrecking the US space program. Much stock footage of missiles launching and crashing into the Earth ensues. And that's not all! There's bad acting, virtually non-existent special effects, endless SciFi jargon for chemistry lovers, and a fascination with all sorts of trinkets, radio waves, and laboratory equipment -- all for what looks like a $99 budget. The most shocking thing of all is that Tucker's movie seems to have inspired the opening credits of the James Bond series with the white dots zigzagging across the screen. Bullshit, or not?




Two specks of light from an alien planet hitch a ride with a couple leaving the beach and cause them to die in a car accident. In what could be called 'Plan 10 From Outer Space', the two bickering beings possess the mangled bodies using the corpses as vessels to sabotage the nations space program to pave the way for an impending invasion.

The mastermind responsible for the lovably schlocky ROBOT MONSTER (1953) was the brains behind this forgotten SciFi sleaze. It's just as kooky as the Ro-Monster and his bubblicious antics, if taken far more seriously -- at least it seems the intention was to be serious here; even if the frazzled shoestring budget is always front and center. Aside from the dime-store production values, the 69 minute flick has a bit of a mean streak running through it, which is unusual for the time.

"Got a little Captain in you?"

The trashiness is evident right from the start, actually. Once the alien Hauron is host to the now zombiefied corpse, he notices his arm has been ripped off! Nadja tells him she'll sew it back on. In the span of five minutes, Hauron is out of surgery and wandering around in the dark. An MP, apparently with a little Captain in him, empties his pistol into Hauron's host body as the officers attack dog tears his arm off again! The MP takes the arm back to headquarters where he says in all seriousness, "Intelligence told me to bring this straight over to you, sir." In response, one of the scientists says, "Leave this with me. I'll see it gets back to intelligence."



Nadja is one helluva surgeon, though. She's able to sew on arms, chins, and whatever other body part is lying around in a matter of minutes without any anesthesia; or even any operating equipment outside of a scalpel and a giant fork looking thing. These two argumentative aliens have some highly advanced technological gadgetry, too. With a simple hand motion, a spotlight shines on a wall holding whoever is caught in its beam tightly in place; and dig those intimidating weapons they carry that fire no lasers, but make laser sounds to let us know something is definitely coming out of them; and with all this hi-tech wizardry, the aliens are ultimately defeated by a wrist watch and some Pig Latin uttered by one of the young scientists. Little things truly do mean a lot.

The feeble attempts at comparing the older and younger generation in Tucker's movie die quickly amidst the Ed Woodian level of craftsmanship afforded the production. While the elder scientists at the cardboard box set masquerading as Cape Canaveral seem entirely helpless as to how to find out just why all their missiles go down in a blaze of stock footage, their younger equivalents are on the ball. The deluge of scientific gobbledygook comes fast and furious from both sides, though. One riotous scene at the end has the cops and scientists in the aliens flimsy strong-hold trying to figure out how to escape. They spend what seems like an eternity discussing Hydrogen, Sodium Chloride, polyethylene and litmus paper, when four minutes could have easily been saved by stating, "Hey, we've got what we need right here to make an explosive. Let's get the hell outa' here, fellas!"

 

Speaking of location, the bulk of this brain-melting knee-slapper takes place on two rather cramped sets -- one represents a Cape Canaveral control room; and the other is a cave where the intergalactic Ralph and Alice Kramden solemnly argue amongst themselves -- bemoaning having to work together. In between interminable repartee-free dialog, they talk to their "Great Guidance" via a compact contraption that's Ro-Man's communicator and bubble machine all rolled into one. There's also a corner of a room that acts as a police station.



While THE CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS (1960) has no pedestal with which to sit where the annals of awful cult movies are concerned, it does have some points of interest that turn up in other movies and television shows. The plot device of disembodied alien beings taking up residence in human hosts for their own purposes turned up in a season two episode of the original STAR TREK -- 'Return To Tomorrow'. The aliens in Tucker's movie are visualized as small dots (referred to as green-colored by one of the characters) backed by annoying sound effects. In the Trek episode, the aliens reside in larger, but likewise spherically shaped orbs.



In a more striking comparison, the opening scene (and closing shot) of the zigzagging dots entering the background of the screen, making their way into close up, looks scarily similar to the famous opening of the James Bond movies! Only instead of a surf rock motif, we get what sounds like radio distortion.

If you're looking for a good time with a bad movie, Tucker's impoverished alien invasion flick is a great option. Or make it a combo with his earlier ROBOT MONSTER (1953) for a juicy, overly greasy double cheeseburger.