The Devil’s Partner/Creature from the Haunted Sea (Blu-Ray Review)
**The Blu-Ray/DVD from Film Masters of “The Devil’s Partner” will be available on January 16, 2024. This is a review of not just the feature, but the Blu-Ray edition. The grade for this will be for the main movie itself; the set grades will be featured in the body.
“The Devil’s Partner” (1960)
“The Devil’s Partner” is a solid supernatural drama that builds off of its premise in straightforward ways that are good for a 73-minute feature. One should never expect from a film like this except to be entertained if you like a good low-budget B-movie. The story is set at the outset, and we see how things unfold. They will unfold exactly as you expect, and I think you’ll appreciate how director Charles R. Rondeau makes it work.
We begin with a good bit of animal sacrifice. No, we do not see the goat get killed by old timer Pete Jensen (Ed Nelson), but its blood is shown on Pete’s hands as he spreads it on a hexagon on the floor, and then scrawled on a pelt which he signs, along with a dark hand that is clearly intended to be the devil. The next thing we know, someone named Nick Richards (also played by Nelson) is coming into town, claiming to be Pete’s nephew, and mysterious deaths begin to happen in town.
The screenplay by Stanley Clements and Laura Jean Mathews lays everything out quite plainly, and even the supernatural aspect of the story is handled well. At first, we definitely feel like something is off about Nick, but may not entirely understand until later. As far as B-movie horror goes, Rondeau makes a very good one, with a sense of atmosphere and dread that is palpable, and enhanced by the music by Ronald Stein. “Devil’s Partner” is a good discovery for fans of genre from the period.
Blu-Ray Presentation
Film Masters continues their run of double feature presentations with another entry presented by Roger Corman. I love that I’m starting to get into this era of Corman more, and you can see how his tastes have changed over the years, and how they’ve stayed the same. This film has been restored with great care, both a 4K restoration for its theatrical version as well as the TV framing some people might have first seen the film in. The black and white is sharp and has a dynamic quality to it, and the sound- especially the score- sounds great. The extras continue their model with Film Masters, starting with restored classic trailers, as well as a newly-edited one. On this disc, we get a commentary on the film from the members of the Monster Party Podcast- Larry Strothe, James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan and Matt Weinhold; the third part of their documentary, “Hollywood Intruders: The Filmgroup Story”; as well as an interview with Corman himself, “Roger Corman: Remembering Filmgroup.” We also get a companion essay, The Devil’s Partner, written by author Mark McGee. If you know Film Masters, at this point, you know these will be worth it.
Film Grade: B+
Audio & Video: A-
Bonus Features: A
“Creature from the Haunted Sea” (1961)
When Roger Corman directed horror, he definitely feels more in his element. Nominally, “Creature from the Haunted Sea” is horror, but much like “Ski Troop Attack,” this film from his “Puerto Rico trilogy” is a spy movie with monster movie ideas thrown in. It barely makes a lick of sense, but it is goofy and- at an hour long- doesn’t really overstay its welcome. That’s always a plus.
The film begins with animation telling the story of a Cuba that is in the midst of revolution. That is a perfect opportunity for people to make off with a fortune, which a crook and his crew try to do. On the sea, they formulate a plan to attempt to get rid of the dead weight of the crew, and blame it on a mythical monster. When an actual creature rears its head, though, what then?
I think Corman has stretched financial resources better in other films over his long career, but one cannot deny he manages to tell a story in this film that feels complete, if not incoherent. The screenplay by Charles B. Griffith is economical and has a solid progression, even if some conceits (like the criminal who basically speaks in either obnoxious voices or animal sounds) are absurd. There is some fun to be had when the crew is marooned, and two of the criminals fall in love with native women; the disconnect between the English dialogue and the native Puerto Ricans whom we only understand through subtitles is very funny. And the monster is wonderfully silly. Overall, though, “Creature from the Haunted Sea” doesn’t have a lot to really commend it for.
Blu-Ray Presentation
For the first time in one of their releases, Film Masters gives us a peak behind the curtain of their restoration process. This was a film that did not have a lot of great film elements available to pull from, but they were able to track down a 35mm print of it. In their extras for this film, we see before and after footage of this restoration and it’s fantastic seeing what they were able to do with this film. The movie was well restored visually and on the soundtrack, so that, while it still looks schlocky, it also looks like care has been taken in keeping it around. There’s not a lot of other extras to this film- restored original trailers as well as a modern one, and an essay by Tom Weaver in the disc’s color booklet- but I will look forward to checking out Weaver’s audio commentary, which also includes excerpts from interviews of cast and crew, as well as thoughts shared by Roger Corman, Kinta Zertuche and Larry Blamire. That should be a great listen.
Film Grade: C+
Audio & Video: A
Bonus Features: A-
As long as Film Masters’s continues to churn out double feature disc sets like this, my B-movie appreciation will go through the roof. And my appreciation for Roger Corman will only get stronger.
