The Flying Serpent is a film from 1945. It concerns the titular Flying Serpant, and the insane archiologist which induces it to kill anyone who might uncover the treasure he is hiding in an ancient Aztec temple. I purchased the film expecting it to be about a giant monster. I was perplexed because the film is from the 40s, not the 50s. The flying serpent is actually quite small, but still deadly. The protagonist of the film is a mystery writer hired to solve the mystery surrounding the death of one of the monster's victims. The audience knows the solution to the mystery, and watches to see how the protagonist arrives at it. The effects are sub-par, even for the 40s, but the film disguises that fact by using them sparingly. The performances are what one would expect from a low-budget movie of it's time, not terribly subtle, but getting the job done. What makes the film is the atmosphere. The setting is cinematography is sinister if not very lavish, and the music compliments it perfectly. The movie is advertised as camp, but in my opinion does not really fall into that catagory. This movie isn't silly enough to end up on Mystery Science Theater 3K, for example. I'm not sure whom to recommend this movie to. One of the characters describes the Aztec Temple as "like a fairy tale". That's the best analogy I can think of to this movie, Hansel and Gretel. Full of interesting imagery, but not especially exciteing or frightening. If you found this commentary interesting, look for another review sometime next week.
24 Aug 2009, 1:44 am
