This is one of my more pleasant discoveries in the MGM MIDNIGHT MOVIES series. It's the kind of movie that's a happy surprise to find on DVD, blending "so bad they're good moments" with genuinely creepy moments, and with a different approach to Voodoo (and shrunken heads . . .) than most genre pictures.
First of all the print is EXCEPTIONAL. (In fact, I'm sure the scene painters never realized that the spackle painting or faux marble paint jobs on the Drake's family's WOODEN CRYPT would ever be seen so clearly.)
Made in 1959, it was directed by Edward L Cahn who helmed a lot of my favorites such as Invisible Invaders (1959) Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) Voodoo Woman (1957) The She-Creature (1956) Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)
JONATHAN DRAKE's effects are surprisingly strong for the time . . . a headless corpse in a coffin, many "shrunken head" close-ups, a henchman with his lips sewn shut, the preparation of shrunken heads and a freezer to keep the heads in . . .
Effects are by Charles Gemora . . . who also played Gorillas and created the Martian for George Pal's WAR OF THE WORLDS.
The film is oddly shot . . . it feels like a B-movie TWILIGHT ZONE episode with all the action being shot on inside sets (cars always drive either five feet onto or off of the set and then the action cuts). If it wasn't shot for television (and given the level of the grue it probably wasn't) it sure feels like an extra long episode of THRILLER.
The story concerns the Drake family, whose great-grandfather led an expedition to free a Swiss trader in the Upper Amazon and, after a massacre of the natives there, were cursed for all eternity. At age 60 (it's a pretty benign curse) the Drake men die - of shock - their heads disappear, only to have their skulls show up later on in the family vault.
One of the joys of the film is that Jonathan Drake has to make a 2 day journey by train to his brother's house because "no planes fly there" but the cop who shows up to investigate the brother's death . . . a tough talking guy in a pork-pie hat . . . is clearly American, as is the brother's Doctor . . . though they seem to have a British Butler. Are they somewhere in South America . . . hmm, the plant life looks like a studio version of Maine. Frankly, the whole story is happening in some delirious alternate reality . . . somewhere between Ed Wood land and the Roger Corman continent . . . and that just makes things more fun.
Henry Daniell, as Dr. Zurich, chews up scenery and spits it out. He's creepy and great. (His greatest genre role was probably in the 1945 THE BODY SNATCHER.) And the ultimate revelation about the villain is just . . . well, very cool and . . . well, lets just say you'll probably have a hard time guessing what's going on even if you have been wondering about Dr. Zurich's gloves.
Katie found the film genuinely creepy at times, but this is balanced out by some earnestly played hokum that will probably have most people smiling more than they're cowering in fear.
So, put on the popcorn, settle back, and enjoy the kind of movie that "they just don't make like that anymore." It's double-billed with Karloff's VOODOO ISLAND on the MGM MIDNIGHT MOVIES DVD, a great thematic pairing but THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE is definitely the film that will bear repeated viewings.
BEST STan
First of all the print is EXCEPTIONAL. (In fact, I'm sure the scene painters never realized that the spackle painting or faux marble paint jobs on the Drake's family's WOODEN CRYPT would ever be seen so clearly.)
Made in 1959, it was directed by Edward L Cahn who helmed a lot of my favorites such as Invisible Invaders (1959) Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) Voodoo Woman (1957) The She-Creature (1956) Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)
JONATHAN DRAKE's effects are surprisingly strong for the time . . . a headless corpse in a coffin, many "shrunken head" close-ups, a henchman with his lips sewn shut, the preparation of shrunken heads and a freezer to keep the heads in . . .
Effects are by Charles Gemora . . . who also played Gorillas and created the Martian for George Pal's WAR OF THE WORLDS.
The film is oddly shot . . . it feels like a B-movie TWILIGHT ZONE episode with all the action being shot on inside sets (cars always drive either five feet onto or off of the set and then the action cuts). If it wasn't shot for television (and given the level of the grue it probably wasn't) it sure feels like an extra long episode of THRILLER.
The story concerns the Drake family, whose great-grandfather led an expedition to free a Swiss trader in the Upper Amazon and, after a massacre of the natives there, were cursed for all eternity. At age 60 (it's a pretty benign curse) the Drake men die - of shock - their heads disappear, only to have their skulls show up later on in the family vault.
One of the joys of the film is that Jonathan Drake has to make a 2 day journey by train to his brother's house because "no planes fly there" but the cop who shows up to investigate the brother's death . . . a tough talking guy in a pork-pie hat . . . is clearly American, as is the brother's Doctor . . . though they seem to have a British Butler. Are they somewhere in South America . . . hmm, the plant life looks like a studio version of Maine. Frankly, the whole story is happening in some delirious alternate reality . . . somewhere between Ed Wood land and the Roger Corman continent . . . and that just makes things more fun.
Henry Daniell, as Dr. Zurich, chews up scenery and spits it out. He's creepy and great. (His greatest genre role was probably in the 1945 THE BODY SNATCHER.) And the ultimate revelation about the villain is just . . . well, very cool and . . . well, lets just say you'll probably have a hard time guessing what's going on even if you have been wondering about Dr. Zurich's gloves.
Katie found the film genuinely creepy at times, but this is balanced out by some earnestly played hokum that will probably have most people smiling more than they're cowering in fear.
So, put on the popcorn, settle back, and enjoy the kind of movie that "they just don't make like that anymore." It's double-billed with Karloff's VOODOO ISLAND on the MGM MIDNIGHT MOVIES DVD, a great thematic pairing but THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE is definitely the film that will bear repeated viewings.
BEST STan