(1961)
Dir - William Witney
Overall: GOOD
American International Picture's Master of the World was their ambitious attempt at an epic adventure film to stand toe-to-toe with any others that were based on the works of Jules Verne. Written by Richard Matheson and taking elements from both Verne's novel of the same name and Robur the Conqueror, it is mostly admirable, if still unavoidably limited by its B-movie attributes. There is an over abundance of obvious recycled footage from other movies thrown in to try and up the production value, plus the special effects are barely passable even for the standards of the time. William Witney's direction is predominantly flat, but the set design is colorful and impressive, still making a striking visual impression at least. Surprising to no one, Vincent Price is excellent as the Albatross captain Robur, remaining a sympathetic "villain" in the gray sense as his actions are far more diabolical than his commendable intentions. In his first heroic lead, Charles Bronson is likewise a standout, turning in an unemotional and sound tough guy performance typical of many that he would give throughout his career.
(1965)
Dir - Jacques Tourneur
Overall: MEH
Though it stars Vincent Price, was made by American International Pictures, kind of takes its title from an Edgar Allan Poe story and bookends the film with quotes from it, City Under the Sea, (War-Gods of the Deep), is more of a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea knock-off than another proper Poe entry from the production company. The final directorial effort from Jacques Tourneur, it makes use out of some fetching sets, but there is really nowhere to go with the monotonous story. Basically, a few characters are captured by Price and spend a predominant amount of the running time standing in one room while talking to him, then sent to another room to talk about how to escape. This repeats until we get a long, dialog-less underwater scene that shows off the cheap yet humorously harmless gill men monsters. The biggest issue with the script though is how none of the characters are fleshed out, including Price's who is lazily smitten with a girl that looks like his dead wife, yet nothing is elaborated on and the two barely even have any scenes together. It is rather forgettable all around and pretty much every other AIP film with similar components is at least far more interesting.
(1966)
Dir - Mario Bava
Overall: WOOF
Doubling as the worst movie that both Mario Bava and Vincent Price ever made, (and sadly the only one that the two men were involved in together), Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, (Le spie vengono dal semifreddo), is a certifiable waste of celluloid. Put into production after the baffling success of the previous year's Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, the sequel was a joint production between American International Pictures and Italian International Film with Bava serving as director only because he was under contract to do so. Two versions of the movie were shot and released for each country's markets and Bava was even less involved in the American edit, meaning not at all. Amazingly, it is a worse abomination than the first Dr. Goldfoot debacle, largely due to the involvement of the Italian "comedy" team of Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia who are about as funny as a plague of testicular cancer. Price can do absolutely nothing with the wretched material, though he at least looks like he is making the best of a paycheck. When that is the only remotely positive thing one can say about a movie, you know you have a problem.
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