Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

 "The're going to kill you, and then dissect you. In that order."

This is, perhaps, a mainly predictable sequel in which another human astronaut- Brent- arrives on the tail of Taylor and discovers the same society in a slightly more ecomomical manner. It seems, at first as though we're getting a rerun of the first, but with a B-movie actor (James Franciscus, of the splendid Valley of Gwangi) instead of an A-list one- although Charlton actually has a significant role here.

Yet ultimately, as the apres invade the Forbidden Zone, after a nice bit of gorilla vs chimpanzee conflict, we learn more, as it now seems the Zone is inhabited by telepathic humans (I love how we don't hear their voices as they interrogate Brent, but his responses are carefully worded so we can follow...) who feel very futuristic and worship a nuclear bomb.This is all delightfully twisted, especially the extended fifty megaton version of "All Things Bright and Beautiful", culminating firstly in all of them removing their suspiciously convincing masks to show their ravaged faces, then a scuffle, then sudden armageddon, which makes me rather interested in how come we shall be getting several more sequels. It's all delightfully bonkers.

The underground bomb worshippers were a definite influence on The Face of Evil, fellow Doctor Who fans. And we get no fewer than two former foes of Adam West's Batman in Maurice Evans and Victor Buono. The latter plays a character calls "Fat Man." Although Don Pedro Colley plays a character called "Negro"which is... yeah, 1970 was a different time. Fortunately.

Batman: The Puzzles Are Coming & The Duo Is Slumming

The Puzzles Are Coming

"Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens!"

One thing that's been very noticeable this second season has been the absence of Frank Gorshin's magnificent Riddler, the best and most frequent villain during the first season and indeed the standout baddie from the movie. I understand this was because  of a behind-the-scenes dispute but, whatever, it's been unfortunate, and no story illustrates that as much as this one.

I don't blame Maurice Evans; his performance as the Puzzler reflects the character as written- a cut-price Riddler (although one known to the police), with ridiculously random obsession with aviation and Shakespeare. He has nothing like the charisma or menacing air of Gorshin's Riddler, but it's difficult to be either when one's dialogue consists mainly of context-free Shakespeare quotes.

It's not just the villain that' rubbish, either- the story plods. And not even the joke of a game of monopoly with billionaire Atremus Knab, owner of several monopolies, can save it. After a fairly traditional opening there's little in this episode to interest us until the admittedly good balloon-based cliffhanger, although the Dynamic Duos' ridiculous leaps of logic with the word "fence" are admittedly amusing.


The Duo Is Slumming

"This should teach that crook to be a litterbug. He should put trash in a proper waste container."

Hmm. I usually watch a two parter and then blog them both immediately but this time, being uber busy juggling working from home, Little Miss Llamastrangler being at home while I'm doing this and Mrs Llamastrangler having possible symptoms of you-know-what (nothing that need alarm us), I haven't had enough free time to watch more than one episode a night so, for once, having written the above review of the first part last night... I'm not sure I'm quite of the same view.

Oh, these episodes are still a bit of a failure, make no mistake. But imagine the previous episode with Frank Gorshin's Riddler, dial down the Shakespeare quotes a bit, and have aviation as just a theme of the week, as silent films were last time. I suspect we'd suddenly have something quite decent. Puzzler is just a shallower character and Maurice Evans is just on luvvie autopilot rather than acting as such.

The script to this second part is actually quite decent, rubbish baddie aside. The escape from the balloon is gloriously silly, and I love the fourth wall-breaking cameo with Santa Claus, which we Doctor Who fans will inevitably compare to The Feast of Steven, also in 1966...

I'm afraid this story is still rubbish; it's no good trying to do an ersatz Riddler. But all that's needed to raise it from rubbish to good is Frank Gorshin, whose absence haunts every minute.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

"The vet's going to geld him."

Wow. I know this film is famous, but I wasn't expecting it to be so good. So good, in fact, that I'm going to ignore the awkward fact that all the apes speak English. I can be nice that way.

The opening of the film both sets up the premise and gives us a bit of misdirection; we expect the film to be about Taylor and the two surviving crew members, but in fact they both die early on- Dodge first, of course. We expect this: he's black.

Our three astronauts have travelled in an interstellar craft to another star system, it seems. Incredibly from our vantage point we have dialogue establishing that they're from the twentieth century: Landon graduated in the "class of '72". Still, although only eighteen months have passed for the crew, time dilation now means that the year is now 3978. Everything and everyone they ever knew or lived is dead, as Taylor delights in telling his crewmates.

I had to raise an eyebrow that the female character was essentially put there to be a brood mate(!), but both the set-up and the establishment of world are good. Taylor is a fascinatingly nuanced character, a cynic on the surface but with some high ideals hidden deep down.The real depths of his character are a real credit both to the script and to Charlton Heston's superb performance.

The plot unfolds slowly before the big reveal: this is a world where sentient apes rule and humans are mere beasts. Technology and social mores, it seems, are about a century behind the world which Taylor left. Powered flight remains unknown and theories of evolution are controversial. 

The ideological contrasts between the apes are shown through the characters of Zaius- a fundamentalist anti-evolutionist with a real contempt for human "beasts", the scientifically curious Zira and Cornelius, who holds heretical theories about humans being more advanced in the past. The big reveal at the end- and Heston's performance makes it pack a punch even though popular culture has long since spoiled it for all of us- is, of course, that this is Earth. Humans destroyed themselves in some sort of self-inflicted (nuclear?) disaster, and the senior apes know this. Zaius's speech to Taylor at the end is crushing: humans are warlike and murderous while apes are not,and paid a just price. Suddenly we can no longer see Zaius as straightforwardly prejudiced. This links back cruelly to Taylor's speech in the first scene as he speculates on whether humanity has become less warlike and cruel. This is a masterly piece of structuring.

Everyone should see this film. It's certainly the best I've seen this year.