(1960)
Dir - Edgar G. Ulmer
Overall: MEH
Thematically different and unrecognizable production wise from its counterpart The Amazing Transparent Man, (which was shot in Dallas, Texas at the same time and within a two week period), Beyond the Time Barrier blows a promising first act that eventually settles into sluggish dialog sequences done ad nauseam. Written by frequent sci-fi peddler Arthur C. Pierce and distributed by drive-in experts American International Pictures, whatever budget was available for both movies was clearly prioritized here, with expansive/Expressionistic/triangular sets, several extras, matte paintings, and goofy costumes to play with. Also because B-movies, bookending stock footage of military jets is thrown in there, though the crossing of the titular "time barrier" looks as low-rent as you would imagine. Director Edgar G. Ulmer's daughter Arianne Arden plays a lady from the future who because of a virus, is part of a mute society, (except for others in that society who are not mute, but whatever), yet the story here spins in circles when Robert Clarke's military pilot first tries to figure out where the hell he is even though the audience has already pieced it together, then spending a lot of time in denial, and then having silly makeup on his face.
(1966)
Dir - Francis D. Lyon
Overall: WOOF
An old dark house melodrama already seems dated for 1966, but all parties involved figured that they could just throw a robot version of a recently departed, physically deformed mad scientist into the mix to make the resulting Castle of Evil stand out from the mountains of other "reading of the will" horror movies that had been made at that point. The film was shot back-to-back with the conceptually different Destination Inner Space, with the same crew and "star" Scott Brady returning in the lead, but it is a similarly problematic offering. Once again, it seems as if somebody just hit "play" on a record of Paul Dunlap's music and let it run both continuously and randomly throughout scenes, plus the plot affords for little else than bland actors delivering a series of redundant monologues. Everyone stays in a house because dead guy's money, no one trusts the housekeeper until she also turns up dead, and people repeatedly check to make sure that characters are dead, only for them to disappear from the room that they died in. The android monster's make-up is fun, but this is otherwise a hopelessly dully and poorly executed rush job.
Dir - Charles Jarrott
Overall: MEH
Hardly necessary yet professionally done, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the first of several tradition horror adaptations from producer Dan Curtis for ABC. Filmed in Toronto, Canada, the project was originally set to be shot in England with a script by none other than Rod Serling and Jason Robards in the lead. Such a proposed production fell through and Jack Palance came on board, who would also play the title monster in Curtis' Dracula interpretation six years later. Here, Palance is his usual intense, smirking self, handing the duel role as well as should be expected by capturing Jekyll's initial scientific determination as well as Hyde's increasingly ruthless hedonism. Denholm Elliott and Billie Whitelaw get some adequate scenery-chewing as well, but the presentation belongs to a towering Palance and his garish Hyde make-up, as well as the impressive period set design which brings the late 19th century London to the small screen on a hefty sound stage. Director Charles Jarrot can only do so much with the SOV aesthetic though and Ian McLellan Hunter does not offer up a fresh angle to tackle material that had already been cinematically done nearly two dozen times, plus the two hour length fails to clip along as steadily as one would hope.
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