200th Post

Based on a 1956 UK television series, the 1958 film, The Trollenberg Terror was directed by Quentin Lawrence. Distributed by Distributors Corporation of America, it stars Forrest Tucker, Laurence Payne and Jennifer Jayne. It was also the first film to be mocked by Mystery Science Theater 3000.

At the remote Alpine village of Trollenberg, something is killing off mountain climbers, which journalist Philip Truscott (Payne) is investigating. He finds an army of one-eyed, tentacle aliens who hide themselves in a radioactive cloud which must be taken care of by American scientist Alan Brooks (Tucker).

This is everything you’d ever want in a B-Movie. It’s got bad acting, a plot that tries to come off as complex but ends up being incredibly simplistic, and sets that seem borrowed from a pre-war silent film.

The acting is naturally terrible. Honestly though, this seems odd on Tucker’s part since he had roles in good films and television shows like F-Troop, Sands of Iwo Jima, and The Yearling. However, that could possibly be attributed to the bad, bad writing by Jimmy Sangster. But there is one good aspect. Jayne was able to halfway pull off terror and screaming. Maybe she knew the prospects of the film beforehand.

The plot tries to be complex. Aliens enveloping a mountain in radioactive air to hide themselves and killing their foes by freezing them in fog. Meanwhile they’ve mentally enslaved some of the locals and a journalist and scientist have to find out what’s going on. Problem is, they’re taken out in a relatively simplistic way: firebombing. Could be worse. They could have water as their one weakness.

And then there’s the sets. It’s set in Switzerland, but obviously filmed on a backlot in the UK. There’s the oft returned to shot of the mountain that the aliens are on. But since the production company didn’t have the funds to get a shot of a real mountain, they constantly show a matte painting of one.

The Milestone category is starting anew. The 100^th post was a classic film, but now, the milestones are going to be just B movies. It doesn’t make sense to have Seven Samurai in the category anymore as it’s in a completely different league. So, The Trollenberg Terror is the new #1 for the category, but since it toes the line between plain ol bad and so bad it’s good, it just narrowly misses the Edge of Satisfaction.  

Milestone Rundown

1. Seven Samurai

Update

Recently, I've been going through a crisis. Just what am I going to do after I finish the Disney animated films? I said in my review of Seven Samurai that I was going to wipe out the categories as a whole and just do movies and rate them on my enjoyment of them. 

But sooner or later, I'm going to be stuck in a cage holding myself in a vice grip headlock while my I pound me over the head with a steel chair so I can pin him for the title and I think I got carried away with the analogy. 

Basically, sooner or later I'm going to be arguing with myself whether I not I think X movie is better than Y and put it at #1056 or worse than it and put it at #1057.

There's a lot of movies out there. A lot of movies I enjoy and love. Seven Samurai, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Empire Strikes Back, The Great Mouse Detective, Sailor Moon R: The Movie : The Promise of the Rose.... 

When I set out to do this blog, I knew my favorites would change. What I didn't know is that I would eventually realize the error of favoritism. Since I begun, I've gone through a few Best Picture Winners, tons of Disney films, a milestone, and started reviewing new releases. So many of these movies I've enjoyed immensely. 

When I did Seven Samurai, I decided I was going to throw away the old Top 10 and start from scratch, putting the film at #1. And I furthered it with the new releases. I said I was going to do away with categories after Disney. 

I rescind that statement. 

I'm not only going to keep doing categories, I'm going to go further. 

Seven Samurai is now #1 in the Milestone Category

Edge of Tomorrow and Maleficent are #1 and #2 in the New Release Category 

The other two categories remain the same. 

I'll give myself a Top 10, based on whatever is the top film in the category. But right now, I've got a Top Four because there aren't ten categories. And after I pass that number, it'll just grow to reflect how many categories I have. And they'll all be equal. 

I won't tell you I have a favorite movie. 

I'll tell you my love of film is too great to have a favorite. 

The categories that are coming after Disney Animated Films:

Sergio Leone

Disney Channel Original Movies

Studio Ghibli

Other Anime 

Watched for the Hell of It