Le poignard de bambou

Wow! For a relatively obscure late fifties programmer, this minor little film has gotten a lot of rave reviews in this forum. Thankfully, this film was not (apparently) ripped on an episode of MST3K. If that were the case, I'm sure this site would be filled with negative and mostly silly, smart-alecky comments by persons who would rather come across as sounding clever than providing informed opinions and interesting comments. I'll beat them to it; how about "The Four Numb Skulls of Jonathan Drake"?

Having seen this film for the first time since the early seventies, I can only say that most of the raves about this film are influenced by nostalgia. I should know, there are many unremarkable films that bring back fond memories to me as well. Its not an unsung classic, but it has it moments. The Jivaro witchdoctor with his mouth sewn shut because he doesn't have to breath or eat (apparently, he doesn't have to talk either) was rather creepy. Although a bit slow at times, the film is not cluttered with any extraneous material. Every scene in the film has to do with the supernatural goings on. There is a hint of romance between the police detective and Drakes daughter, but it is kept to a minimum. The writers seemed to have done their homework on shrunken heads, the process described in the film is correct, although it takes a lot longer than shown here.

The films direction is rather poor. Edward L. Cahn seemed only interested in getting the film done quickly. The cast looks as if they were on their own. Now, this doesn't matter to much for seasoned professionals like Henry Daniel or Ed Franz, but rest of the cast looks lost. The film is shot on only a handful of sets. Everyone wanders in and out of the house through out the film. Overall, THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE is a not bad programmer horror film, despite Cahn's direction. This film was paired with the Cahn helmed INVISIBLE INVADERS when it first came out. I would say FSKOJD was clearly the superior of the pair.

I'm always nearly stupefied when browsing through the career overview of director Edward L. Cahn. This man directed low-budget horror treasures at an incredibly immense pace; - sometimes up to eight or nine movies per year. No wonder he dropped dead at the age of 64! But unlike other people who directed hundreds of films, like Jess Franco or Cirio H. Santiago, the efforts of the sadly unknown and underrated Cahn were always reliable and competent B-movies. Like "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake", for instance, which is a short and straightforward (barely 70 minutes) but grimly compelling tale about tribal voodoo, shrunken head routines, floating skulls and ancestral curses! When, after his grandfather and father, also his brother unexpectedly dies from a sudden heart condition at the age of sixty, Jonathan Drake is convinced that the curse placed upon his great-great-grandfather by a witchdoctor in the Amazon jungle is still active. The floating skulls of his ancestors keep appearing in his nightmares, and there truly is a native tribesman (with his lips sewn shut) strolling around to kill the masculine Drake family members and cut off their heads to perform a voodoo shrinking rite. There's absolutely nothing to dislike about "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake". The plot is simple but effective, with a proper explanation regarding the family curse's origin and a good mixture of believer & non-believer characters. Several of the ideas and sequences were quite gruesome and explicit for their time (like the headless corpse in the coffin or the uncanny resemblance between the victims' faces and their shrunken potato versions) and there are many more and even nastier little gimmicks coming to the surface as the story unfolds itself further. The acting performances are more than adequate for a late fifties' B-movie, with particularly Henry Daniell stealing the show as the mean & vicious Dr. Zurich. Recommended and fun, just like other Edward L. Cahn horror efforts such as "Invisible Invaders", "It: The Terror from Beyond Space" or "Invasion of the Saucer Men"

I just recently viewed this film for the first time and was surprised at some of the more gory elements of this film. It was made in 1959, and it dealt with decapitation and shrunken heads. Although it didn't actually show the decapitation, it did show the skin being removed from a decapitated skull. By today's horror standards it was pretty mild (this picture was filmed in glorious black and white so you don't get the blood red effect of today's films) but nonetheless, it was pretty gory for it's day.

The story revolves around Jonathan Drake (portayed by Eduard Franz), the remaining male survivor of his family. His family has been cursed since his grandfather's time by a tribe of Amazon indians that were slaughtered by his grandfather and several other men.

Henry Daniell is just great as the creepy Dr. Zurich. There are several other strong supporting performances by Grant Richards as the stalwart Detective Jeff Rowan and Paul Cavanaugh as Kenneth Drake, Jonathan Drake's brother, who unfortunately loses his head to fulfill the "Drake Curse".

I did laugh a few times during the movie...Paul Wexler portrays Xutai, one of the Amazon indians, and he has to be seen to be believed. Even with his mouth sewn shut he looked more funny to me than menacing. Also you can tell that this movie was filmed on a very low budget. The sets are pretty substandard.

Despite these minor flaws I found this movie to be highly entertaining.

I was nine years old when i saw this film and it scared the crap out of me and i have never forgot how bad. I was so scared i had my face covered though half of the movie. My mother took me to the movies for the first time to see this movie and the admission price was 15 cents . There is some things in your life you just don't forget. Would love to see it again.

Bob

The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake is, by some miracle, a notch above the typical Robert E. Kent produced dross. Not just another Cahn catastrophe, it features what must have been some shocking scenes in 1959 involving decapitation, head shrinking, and, er, lip sewing, for want of a more technical phrase. Decent atmosphere and enough chills to give the little ones a fright.