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Acolyte, v. 4, issue 1, whole no. 13, Winter 1946
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of his wife and child. When the daughter is grown he finally wangles a furlough from Agelterre to visit his family on earth. Comic complications are caused by his invisibility. Only his daughter can perceive the ghost of her father. Spook also sports a flute which releases people's inhibitions, a la The Nixie. Picture is consciously corny. Special spectral effects are well done, especially the street scene where traffic passes through Oakie's ectoplasm in a unique manner. Rating: indeterminate: not too hot, but not too bad. ---oo0oo--- MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS. This picture is not a fantasy; besides, it is only a "B". But it has "A" qualities of suspense and direction, and is heartily recommended to Acolyte readers who enjoy the theme (cf. Seven Footprints to Satan, Fully Dressed and in His Right Mind) of an individual caught up in a web of unknown circumstances and attempting to escape a dire fate. ---oo0oo--- WONDERMAN. If the editors of the Acolyte wish to pay my way to the theater to see this picture (plus a hot fudge sundae afterwards) I will grudgingly write a review of it. Otherwise, I will merely state that I am allergic to its star, Danny Kaye, and the prospect of seeing two Danny Kayes (in technicolor, yet!) is too much for my delicate constitution. The fantastic flavor, I believe, is slight anyway. ---oo0oo--- BEWITCHED. This "B" picture bears such misleading advertising as "She was the darling of society", but actually Phyllis Thaxter, as a split personality, is more an outcast from society. Adapted by the author, Arch Oboler, from his own successful radio drama, Alter Ego, Bewitched emerges as a good evening's entertainment for the fantaisiste. Miss Thaxter is adequate as the girl struggling with a second soul inside her, a malignant entity striving to dominate her body. It manifests itself as an imperative voice within her brain. The voice first forces her to leave home and take up a new way of life to the liking of the lurking soul-mate, eventually causes her to take the life of her lover. Miss Thaxter is at her best when shrieking with horror, an art difficult to accomplish convincingly. Tops is the scene wherein she is overpowered by her evil inner twin and, the slave of her sinister sister, stabs her sweetheart to death with a pair of scissors. Character actor Edmund Gwen is excellent as the psychiatrist who, and the picture's climax, exorcises the fiend within the victimized girl. Musical accompaniment adds much, and Oboler's direction, at times lewtonesque, is very effective. Rating: recommended. ---oo0oo--- YOLANDA AND THE THIEF. (Guest review by Charles Burbee.) This is lifted from a letter to us. Burbee stated, "This is not a letter to Vom" (which we edit) but he did not specify that it was not a letter to Acolyte, so we are taking the liberty of excerpting from it: After the slowest start since the Lubitsch days of intrigue in the Balkans in mythical kingdoms where everybody speaks six languages fluently and mysterious papers are always of vital importance and are carried around inside of bosoms where god knows how many hands will eventually probe, the picture continued to go slowly. I never saw such gaudy colors as in the beginning. Cheap lithography, it seemed like. And stupid dialog that I could have written myself. Well, about the middle of the pic things began to move and moved right well till the last half reel or so, when I got really disgusted because there were two scenes I was anticipating with some delight, and they were botched up most horribly. One of them was entirely omitted and the other one only hinted at. Some drastic pruning must have ta- -- 20 --
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of his wife and child. When the daughter is grown he finally wangles a furlough from Agelterre to visit his family on earth. Comic complications are caused by his invisibility. Only his daughter can perceive the ghost of her father. Spook also sports a flute which releases people's inhibitions, a la The Nixie. Picture is consciously corny. Special spectral effects are well done, especially the street scene where traffic passes through Oakie's ectoplasm in a unique manner. Rating: indeterminate: not too hot, but not too bad. ---oo0oo--- MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS. This picture is not a fantasy; besides, it is only a "B". But it has "A" qualities of suspense and direction, and is heartily recommended to Acolyte readers who enjoy the theme (cf. Seven Footprints to Satan, Fully Dressed and in His Right Mind) of an individual caught up in a web of unknown circumstances and attempting to escape a dire fate. ---oo0oo--- WONDERMAN. If the editors of the Acolyte wish to pay my way to the theater to see this picture (plus a hot fudge sundae afterwards) I will grudgingly write a review of it. Otherwise, I will merely state that I am allergic to its star, Danny Kaye, and the prospect of seeing two Danny Kayes (in technicolor, yet!) is too much for my delicate constitution. The fantastic flavor, I believe, is slight anyway. ---oo0oo--- BEWITCHED. This "B" picture bears such misleading advertising as "She was the darling of society", but actually Phyllis Thaxter, as a split personality, is more an outcast from society. Adapted by the author, Arch Oboler, from his own successful radio drama, Alter Ego, Bewitched emerges as a good evening's entertainment for the fantaisiste. Miss Thaxter is adequate as the girl struggling with a second soul inside her, a malignant entity striving to dominate her body. It manifests itself as an imperative voice within her brain. The voice first forces her to leave home and take up a new way of life to the liking of the lurking soul-mate, eventually causes her to take the life of her lover. Miss Thaxter is at her best when shrieking with horror, an art difficult to accomplish convincingly. Tops is the scene wherein she is overpowered by her evil inner twin and, the slave of her sinister sister, stabs her sweetheart to death with a pair of scissors. Character actor Edmund Gwen is excellent as the psychiatrist who, and the picture's climax, exorcises the fiend within the victimized girl. Musical accompaniment adds much, and Oboler's direction, at times lewtonesque, is very effective. Rating: recommended. ---oo0oo--- YOLANDA AND THE THIEF. (Guest review by Charles Burbee.) This is lifted from a letter to us. Burbee stated, "This is not a letter to Vom" (which we edit) but he did not specify that it was not a letter to Acolyte, so we are taking the liberty of excerpting from it: After the slowest start since the Lubitsch days of intrigue in the Balkans in mythical kingdoms where everybody speaks six languages fluently and mysterious papers are always of vital importance and are carried around inside of bosoms where god knows how many hands will eventually probe, the picture continued to go slowly. I never saw such gaudy colors as in the beginning. Cheap lithography, it seemed like. And stupid dialog that I could have written myself. Well, about the middle of the pic things began to move and moved right well till the last half reel or so, when I got really disgusted because there were two scenes I was anticipating with some delight, and they were botched up most horribly. One of them was entirely omitted and the other one only hinted at. Some drastic pruning must have ta- -- 20 --
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