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Black Scorpian (1957) "In Mexico, volcanic emissions release a horde of gigantic deadly scorpions, causing mayhem, death, and chaos for a nearby town. Can the rampaging arachnids be stopped?" (From rottentomatoes.com.) Tarantula (1955) "When the radiation-spawned giant ants of Them! swarmed over American screens to become one the most successful films of 1954, it didn't take long for the rest of the insect kingdom to follow suit. The best of these mutant bug movies is Jack Arnold's giddy Tarantula, with Leo G. Carroll as a scientist whose experimental, radiation-treated nutritional supplements transform the title creature into a rampaging monster. The hungry arachnid graduates from rabbits to cattle to people as it grows and creeps across the barren countryside in search of food, dwarfing the desert hills in simple but unsettling special effects shots. John Agar plays the square-jawed doctor who tries to warn the local populace of the impending menace and Clint Eastwood has a bit as an Air Force pilot called in to bomb the now mountain-sized spider. It's an essentially silly story with plenty of heroic dashing about and monster-movie tropes ("See its mandibles crush cars like a tin cans!"), but Arnold, one of the most talented and thoughtful genre directors of the 1950s (It Came From Outer Space, The Incredible Shrinking Man), creates a surprisingly eerie mood with his austere visual style and winds the film up with his tension-building rapid pacing. Composer-playwright Richard O'Brien liked the film so much he immortalized it in the Rocky Horror Picture Show: "Leo G. Carroll was over a barrel when the Tarantula took the hills." The film still straddles the line between nostalgic goofiness and smart sci-fi thrills." (By Sean Axmaker, amazon.com.) Man Without a Star (1955) "King Vidor borrows a page from one of his depression-era films when Kirk Douglas, starring as roving cowboy Dempsey Rae, arrives at the extensive spread of rancher Reed Bowman (Jeanne Crain), fresh from riding the rails. Along with enthusiastic yet inept young sidekick Jeff Jimson (William Campbell), he signs on at Bowman's, attracted as much by his tart-tongued boss as by the job. At her behest, the cowboys begin work on a fence, but as the truth dawns on Rae--that they've been hired to fence off land that smaller ranchers need to graze their herds--he decides to stop digging postholes and join the other side. But Bowman's new foreman, Steve Miles (Richard Boone), who enjoys wrapping recalcitrant enemies in barbed wire, aims to give Douglas all the trouble he can handle. Douglas is perfectly cast as a tough, humorous, charismatic drifter who loves nothing more than his freedom. A solid supporting cast, including Claire Trevor as a generous madam and Jack Elam as a knife-wielding heavy, gives texture to the film, as does the arresting camerawork of Russ Metty. In all, the fast-paced film makes for an entertaining 90 minutes." (From yahoo.com.) Francis Joins the Wacs (1954) ". . . the fifth in Universal's comedy series about a talking Army mule and his hapless human companion. Thanks to a bureaucratic snafu, ex-GI Peter Sterling (Donald O'Connor) is called into acitive duty and assigned to a WAC unit, headed by Major Simpson (Lynn Bari). It is Sterling's task to train the women to be camouflage experts, but the ladies resent his presence, assuming that Peter has been sent to discredit their unit. But with the help of Francis, the WACs manage to win the annual War Games, and to flummox misogynistic General Kaye (Chill Wills, who also provides Francis' voice). Julie Adams, then billed as Julia, provides the love interest. ZaSu Pitts also appears . . ." (From msn.com.) Bid on Mara Corday Peek over my shoulder & spy My Favorite Ebay Searches All text (unless otherwise cited) copyright J. W. Turner, 1997-Present. All rights reserved.