The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

One of my all time favorites.

Awesome Movie

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Jonathan Drake, while attending his brother's funeral, is shocked to find the head of the deceased is missing. When his brother's skull shows up later in a locked cabinet, Drake realizes an ancient curse placed upon his grandfather by a tribe of South American Jivaro Indians is still in effect and that he himself is the probable next victim.So far the reviews on this seem to be average, or just above average. I would actually place it much higher. Though not a well-known film by any means, I would argue it is among the best horror films of its time, and certainly on par with the work Vincent Price was doing in this period.While the subject matter could easily be comedy (ala Scooby Doo), it is treated seriously and has a creepy vibe to it. Tame by today's standards, I imagine it was actually rather shocking in its own way once upon a time.

Jonathan Drake (Eduard Franz) and his brother Kenneth (Paul Cavanagh) are the latest in the line of Drake men and as such must suffer the curse placed upon the men of their family for ages. This curse dates back for centuries and involves heads being severed and shrunken. This is an effective touch in the screenplay by Orville H. Hampton, which is fairly strong and violent stuff for 1959. Capable B movie director Edward L. Cahn, whose credits include the sci-fi thriller "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" that served as a basis for "Alien", is at the helm of this decent programmer. It's nothing special, but not bad, either. As one can see, it's not without its creepy elements, although it's awfully talky for much of its running time. It's clearly not too concerned about functioning as a mystery, as our villain is revealed much sooner than we expect, and it becomes a matter of waiting for our protagonists to get caught up to speed. It benefits from a pretty strong cast. Franz, usually a supporting actor or bit player in features (such as the classic "The Thing from Another World") is wholly believable in a lead role. Grant Richards co-stars as the intrepid police detective Jeff Rowan, who goes through the biggest character arc in the story, as a hard headed man who believes in rational and sane explanations who's forced to acknowledge some truly unreal things. Valerie French is Franz's worried daughter, Paul Wexler the most memorable character in the film as the Jivaro Indian henchman who's had his lips sewn shut, and Henry Daniell is lots of fun as the intense archaeologist Dr. Emil Zurich. A short running time (71 minutes) ensures that the story go on no longer than it needs to, while a thunderous score by Paul Dunlap plays in the background. Those shrunken heads, designed by Charles Gemora, are really quite convincing; in general, the special effects, what little there are, are well done. In the end, this little film does have some potency going for it as well as some entertaining climactic action and revelations. Fans of the B movies of the era should find this a reasonable diversion. Six out of 10.

When the death of his brother puts him next in line to succumb to a strange curse that leaves the men in his family strangely decapitated shortly after death, a man races to find the source of the events and put a stop to them before he becomes next.Not that bad of an effort, as this one happened to be quite enjoyable despite it's utterly brief running time. That brevity is really the only true flaw here since it moves along a lot quicker than it really should as it brings up the fact that there's really not a lot offered about the curse or what's going on with the different figures that are trying to enact the curse. That said, there's some fun stuff to be had here with the Gothic atmosphere of the shrunken heads and flesh-stripped skulls, the hulking henchman who has his mouth sewn shut is eerily creepy and the sprawling estates this takes place in are all pretty much standard for a Gothic horror effort, and those are the most fun in here. There's a decent enough plot twist that keeps things moving along and it's definitely got some pretty entertaining brawls thrown into the mix, but otherwise it's just a short, mostly decent Gothic horror entry.Today's Rating-Unrated/PG: Violence.

I was expecting to give THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE (1959) a *** rating but I had to reduce it by 1/2 a notch because the performances of the two younger leads were pretty lifeless in my opinion: the girl did nothing but lounge around in furs all through the picture, even as her father was having his spells and assassination attempts and the detective was rather ineffectual, particularly in his first meeting with the assassin. But then, in the climax, after he is shown in one shot to be way behind Henry Daniell, in the next one he's on the roof of a cabin ready to jump on Daniell! That was rather silly, in my opinion, which is a pity because, on the whole, I found it to be quite good and enjoyable; the head-shrinking scenes were particularly effective.