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Nabob13
Reviews
The Dunwich Horror (1970)
Psychedelic '60's Loosely Lovecraft version
Pretty good flick for the usual Lovecraft completist list. Dean (the Boy with Green Hair) Stockwell as Wilbur Whateley is kinda cool casting, but his characterization could've been a little more elaborate (i.e., the short story character was literally "out of this world!"). Sandra Dee's casting was strictly camp (as a fellow critic remarked, "Gidget Goes To Hell"), but not unlikeable, given her character is Wilbur's love interest! Ed Begley, Sr.'s Professor Armitage was really strong, great protagonist for Wilbur's evil intentions. Sam Jaffee as Wizard Whateley is a very different character than his usual ones (The Day The Earth Stood Still, et Al.), but seemed to generate more compassion than menace.
The special effects generally lack enthusiasm, and Daniel Haller, a very fine production designer, could've insisted on stop-motion than in-camera opticals (Wilbur's "twin" looks like cut ribbons of paper or cloth!). The ending, with Sandie pregnant by Dean, is a real hoot.
More (1969)
Not Your Grandma's Typical '60's Drug Flick
I purchased this film somewhere around 6-8 years ago from Movies Unlimited, basing said purchase on The Pink Floyd soundtrack (which, as a teen, I saw in the local Record Bar, w/o any idea about the film) and Mimsy Farmer's role in it. I never watched it ...but then Friday night, Jan.13th,2012,my wife and I watched it. And I thought Mimsy's roles in "Road to Salina" or "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" were wild! If "Midnight Cowboy" won the Best Picture Oscar that year, "More" should've won the Best Foreign Film, hands down!!
Early Pink Floyd songs ("relics") include "Cymbaline", "The Nile Song", "Quicksilver", and "Cirrus Minor", very indicative of The Graduate's Journey to Tarturus. Ibiza locations, as well as Paris' Latin Quarter locales, invoke a false exoticism few drug-related films of the era(even "Easy Rider")can boast.
I recommend this film to '60's collectors as well as to drug-councelling services. It's certainly not typical or cliché'-ridden as "The Trip" or "Psych-Out", and not moralistic as "Days of Wine nd Roses" or "Go Ask Alice". Really blew my mind.