carolsco

This is probably the best (or at least unique) of Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s film.

What sets this film apart is that the first third of the film, dealing with reincarnation, is genuinely interesting, with fairly good dialog, acting and a genuine sense of atmospheric strangeness. The dream sequences are unique for their time and are quite effective.

Sadly, once the film moves to Africa, the film grinds to a halt. Only the downbeat ending lives up to the promise of the first part of the film, but this film shows that Wood did have his moments.

Probably the best part of the film is its unique score by Les Baxter. The music combines Baxter's trademark exotica with a genuine vein of unhealthy, yet bittersweet, romanticism that is truly singular and very effective. It might be interesting to some to know that Baxter used two cues from this film in his landmark exotica album PORTS OF PLEASURE.

Mario Bava made many GREAT movies in his career, but this isn't one of them! This film is horrible -- the script stinks, the photography is bad (very unusual for Bava) and the staging of scenes is inept -- there is nothing good about this film.

I usually defend composer Les Baxter, but his score is also rotten, and the original Italian music is even worse... And finally, can there be a worse comedy duo than Franco & Ciccio? Not in this universe!

Edward Bernds THE STORM RIDER is a pleasant, unpretentious little western that revolves around the tried and true formula of the conflict between free-range ranchers and those who posted barbed wire. There's a surprising amount of action, romance, tragedy, heroism and even a little philosophy bandied about in this compact story which benefits from good actors, a literate script and a certain atmosphere of foreboding claustrophobia. The interesting story is well presented and composer Les Baxter creates a striking score of orchestral variations on the old English ballad "Greensleeves" which is uniquely different from most of the other Western scores of the '50s, with its heavy overtones of loneliness and an elegiac bittersweet quality.

This is a quiet but effective little western.