Fulvue Drive-In.com
Current Reviews
In Stores Soon
 
In Stores Now
 
DVD Reviews, SACD Reviews Essays Interviews Contact Us Meet the Staff
An Explanation of Our Rating System Search  
Category:    Home > Reviews > Science Fiction > Drama > Gangster > Action > Crime > Murder > Germany > Euro-Fantastico Double Feature: No Survivors Please (1964)/The Black Cobra (1965/VCI DVD)

Euro-Fantastico Double Feature: No Survivors Please (1964)/The Black Cobra (1965/VCI DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+/C     Extras: D     Films: C+/C

 

 

Two German films made around the same time and issued in English version with some decent distribution in their time are finally on DVD and some older viewers who watch them might be surprised to find them familiar as they made the TV rounds in the 1970s as well.

 

No Survivors Please (1964) is a very junior answer to the likes of Dr. Strangelove or Fail Safe (all the same year) as aliens plan to take over our home planet by talking over other human bodies and even using nuclear weapons to complete their mission.  Unfortunately, as interesting as some of the shots, editing, ideas and acting is, too much is left unexplained, disconnected and it does not pay off at all in the end, so never think of this as if Kubrick stayed with his alien ideas for Strangelove, but as a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode that would never make the cut.

 

The Black Cobra (1965) is a tale of gangsters (so pre-Godfather it is not funny) stealing narcotics and the people they battle (cops, by-standers, someone to frame) to keep the goods.  However, this gets too silly, Film Noir ended seven years earlier and they apparently did not get the message on that either.  Then the title creature shows up during some of the murders.  Klaus Kinski also shows up as a clown.  Interesting, but dated.

 

The 1.33 X 1 black and white image in both cases has good Video Black for the format and for their age, but detail is sometimes not there and you get some expected flaws in the shots.  Guess that German monochrome helped make these look good.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is good for its age on Survivors, but noisier and more distorted throughout on Cobra, which can be trying to sit through.  There are sadly no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


Marketplace


 
 Copyright © MMIII through MMX fulvuedrive-in.com