Carnival of Souls (1962), Fall from Grace (2007), The Story of Mankind (1957), The Mortal Storm (1940)

Carnival of Souls

Kind of famous in the small circle of independently produced horror film aficionados; Carnival of Souls concerns a young woman (Candace Hilligoss) who mysteriously survives a crash off a bridge in which neither her fellow passengers or the car itself is recovered. Shortly there after instead of taking time to deal with her trauma, recent music graduate Candace heads off to a small community just outside of Salt Lake City where she has landed a job as the organist for a small (what I perceive to be Episcopal) Church. Candace has visions of a mysterious man as she travels at night to her new home, and once there develops a fascination with the abandoned Saltair to which she feels strangely drawn. Between organ practices and fending off the advances of her neighbor, Candace continues to have bizarre experiences including seeing the mysterious man and periods in which she can hear no noise and is apparently invisible. This stresses Candace out. She confides in a local Doctor, visits the Saltair, wanders around downtown Salt Lake (true guerrilla film making, I doubt they had permission to film on Temple Square) and basically goes crazy. When she returns to the Saltair she finds it inhabited by a group of ghosts who look like the somnambulist from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Film contains a creepy Twilight Zone type ending. Intriguing.

Verdict: Fair

Fall From Grace

Documentary about the Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church. These are the people that travel around protesting pretty much anything and claiming that all the bad stuff that happens to this country is because of societal tolerance of homosexuality. Their signs declaring 'God Hates Fags' and 'Thank God for 9/11' are infamous, as is there practice of protesting at the funeral and grave side services of fallen solders. This Kansas based congregation has only around forty members and most of them are decedent of the Rev. Phelps, who turns out is a disbared lawyer (many of the Phelps kids are lawyers, one wonders who hires them). In short the WBC hates everybody and everybody hates them, thus K. Ryan Jones is a brave man.

Jones started this project as part of his film studies courses at KU (home of the Jay Hawks). He established a working relationship with the Phelps's by striving for an intense objectivity, one which eventually produced a film that both pro- and anti- Phelps forces perceive as being fair, even supportive of their side; thus he is also good documentary film maker. There's a lot here, and even the special features are as interesting and reveling as the film its self. (Jones speaks about the awkwardness of having  the Phelps's be nice to him and call him by name when he's filming their protests.)  The members of the WBC seem to get off on offending people and think they are the center of the universe. The best example of the latter point is when a protesting Phelps girl asks an upset man if he thinks its a coincidence that U.S. solders are being killed by IED's given that an IED was set off on the Phelps's property in the 1990's (no one was injured). Well yes, I'm going to say that it was a coincidence. These people are morbidly fascinating though I'll give them that.

Verdict: Good

The Story of Mankind

Movie starts with two divine stars talking to each other (ala It's a Wonderful Life), followed by a celestial trail in space (ala A Matter of Life and Death) and winds up in an open ended cold war parable (ala The Butter Battle Book). Old Scratch (Vincent Price) and The Spirit of Man (Ronald Coleman) argue the nature of man in front of divine Judge Cedric Hardwicke. They are aided in making their arguments with hokey vinyets taken from (largely western) history and staring a cornucopia of (mostly B level) stars including Virgina Mayo, Peter Lorre, Dennis Hopper, Agnes Moorhead, and the Marx Brothers. Kind of reminiscent of vintage educational film.

Verdict: Fair


The Mortal Storm

Pro-Nazi Robert Young and Anti-Nazi Jimmy Stewart compete for the love of aging professor Frank "That's a Horse of Different Color" Morgan's lovely daughter Margaret Sullivan. Set in a snowy German mountain village in 1933 film does an admirable job of depicting the rise of Nazism and its effects on 'average' Germans. The Roth family is torn apart by this, Morgan's two step sons become Nazi's while his biological daughter and son do not. There is a reason for the dynamics of this particular split though the films 'afraid' to be too explicate; Morgan is never referred to as Jewish (which of course he is suppose to be) but simply as non-Aryan. Still a modestly impressive film which features a rare cross country sky chase.

Verdict: Good