(1961)
Dir - Pat Jackson
Overall: MEH
An old dark house throwback and unofficial Carry On installment as all three of the top-billed actors appeared in said franchise, What a Carve Up!, (No Place Like Homicide), is largely humdrum despite one or two amusing gags. Taking inspiration from the novel The Ghoul, (just as the 1933, Boris Karloff-starred film of the same name did), the approach is exclusively comedic and lighthearted, with Kenneth Conner and Sid James serving as a poor man's Abbott and Costello where one of them lovably fumbles around as the other one stays perpetually irate with him. While nothing funny transpires from such a dynamic, there are some sly quips hidden in Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton's script as far as the dialog goes, taking the piss out of a sub-genre that had long since had its heyday. The "reading of the will" with a dash of a whodunit launching point had been utilized dozens of times before and the reveal here is predictable and ergo unsatisfying. Still, the cast does respectable work with the material since Donald Pleasence and Michael Gough alone are always a welcome addition to anything, plus Conner and James at least steer clear of being grating.
(1964)
Dir - Bernard Knowles
Overall: WOOF
The British/West Germany co-production Frozen Alive, (Der Fall X 701), was the first of two back-to-back science fiction films from Alfred Hitchcock cinematographer-turned director Bernard Knowles. Also serving as the only non-television credit from screenwriter Evelyn Frazer, it is a drab melodrama first and foremost, only venturing into thriller territory mildly within its final act. A pair of scientists have affection for each other without any hanky-panky and the one doctor's wife is a jealous and drunk pain in the ass, thus taking up the bulk of the narrative that also manages to shoehorn in some experiments with deep freezing monkeys, stuffy program directors, and eventually Mark Stevens putting himself in a freezing apparatus in the name of science or whatever. Aside from an unintentionally hilarious accidental shooting, there is no humor to be found and Knowles direction is pedestrian at best. The performers match the serious presentation, but it is that very presentation which comes off as so lackluster due to a story that barely registers a pulse throughout its seventy-four minute running time.
(1965)
Dir - John Gilling
Overall: MEH
Quirky yet sluggish, Night Caller from Outer Space, (The Night Caller, Blood Beast from Outer Space), is another science fiction effort from director John Gilling. Both Gilling and screenwriter Jim O'Connolly were well-versed in low-budget genre films by the time that they paired-up to adapt Frank Crisp's 1961 novel The Night Caller, bringing American John Saxon on board who does an inconsistent British accent in order to blend in. While the plot introduces the concept of a human-like extraterrestrial who arrives on our planet via an orb, (only to break free and set up an abduction scheme where he posts modeling adds in a magazine and takes whatever hapless females back to his home world for breeding purposes), such a wacky detail is hardly enough to elevate this anywhere beyond just another mild and overly-talky melodrama. Save for about three brief encounters, there are no other action set pieces anywhere to be found. Instead, scientists, police officers, and military personnel all talk in rooms while the camera stays motionless on them, creating a dull experience that never picks up momentum. With more agency and a less stuffy presentation, it could have delivered as a tweak on the alien takeover movie, but it is instead only interesting on paper.
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