Showing posts with label Reginald Le Borg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reginald Le Borg. Show all posts
Archaeologist Robert Burton (William Lundigan, in a Richard Denning-type role) plans to hunt for the remains of a lost Mexican civilization. His magazine sends him a female photographer, Kathryn Williams (Peggie Castle), which brings out his not-so-latent chauvinism. Kathryn is not above using her sex appeal to get the very handsome rancher Juan Cervantes (Armando Silvestre) to guide them to the ruins. Cervantes owns a vanilla bean plantation that also boasts white orchids, and it isn't long before he's forsaking his lady love Lupita (Rosenda Monteros) and declaring undying devotion to Kathryn as an annoyed Burton looks on. During a fiesta scene, there's some business with men flying around a tall pole on ropes that is cleverly-edited, but the movie doesn't lead to anything too exciting, and doesn't amount to much, despite the heavy breathing. Silvestre was born in San Diego, and was a busy actor, mostly in Mexican productions. Lundigan was also in The Case of the Black Parrot and many others, and Castle starred in Beginning of the End. Le Borg also directed Voodoo Island, which was more interesting than this.
Verdict: Good-looking cast with little to do. **.
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| Irene Ryan sizes up hunky Jon Hall |
Virginia McCooley (Louise Allbritton of Son of Dracula) is so impressed with her widower-father, Phil's (Edward Everett Horton), lifeboat invention, that she's written to the government about it. The government is interested in talking to Phil and seeing his invention, but have by no means accepted it. Instead of waiting to see what they'll say, Virginia gets her father to quit his job and move the entire family -- four little brothers -- to San Diego, merely assuming the boat will be a success. Once you get past that idiotic premise -- I mean, why couldn't they just go to San Diego for a couple of days and see what happens? -- San Diego I Love You is a cute picture. Jon Hall [The Invisible Man's Revenge] plays a handsome, wealthy industrialist, John Caldwell, who might be interested in the lifeboat, and Eric Blore is marvelous as a weird butler who comes with the house the family moves into in San Diego; he and Horton have a funny scene together. Allbritton and Hall are fine in the leads, but the movie is nearly stolen by Irene Ryan [My Dear Secretary], who is hilarious as a woman who is looking for a cheap room and inadvertently thinks the McCooley's have one for rent -- and moves in! Buster Keaton shows up as a bus driver who is importuned to take the detour by the beach instead of his usual route when Virginia and John go on a date.
Verdict: Genuinely quite funny at times with a very spirited cast. ***.
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| Marcia Henderson and Craig Hill |
A down and out lawyer, Preston Morgan (Craig Hill), is hired by wealthy Lenora Spence (Irene Tedrow) to make an offer to her daughter-in-law, Sabena (Marcia Henderson of All I Desire): half a million bucks if she gives up all rights to her son, Billy (Peter Oliphant). Sabena has no intention of giving up her child, but her evil twin sister Dara (also Marcia Henderson) and her slimy husband, Jay (Robert Lowery of Batman and Robin) cook up a murderous scheme against the background of a studio lot "Acapulco." Tedrow is terrific as the no-nonsense Lenora, Lowery is suitably reptilian, and the others are competent enough if unexciting, and the picture holds the attention in the way of a cheap TV thriller. An interesting aspect of the film is that at first you get the impression that there are two different actresses playing the twins as the "double" business is handled quite well for such an inexpensive production. Marco Lopez makes an impression as the bellboy, Luis, who wants to show Preston the town. Henderson was also in The Hypnotic Eye and Le Borg also directed Bad Blonde, Voodoo Island, Weird Woman and many others. His surname was alternately spelled "Le Borg" or "LeBorg." Although this looks like a Bel-Air production it was actually made by United Artists.
Verdict: You can't go wrong with evil twins. **.