The Devil at Work (1939) (NTSC)

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     The Devil at Work is a three DVD, six film collection from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s. It should be said, however, that in a number of these films the devil is very much a peripheral figure, if in fact he has any part of the story at all! .

     The films are a mixed bag. The Devil’s Daughter was made in Jamaica with an all black cast, Devil Monster is a mess, Devil’s Partner a low budget B film that builds up a nice tension, Beast of the Yellow Night an entertaining film with a delicious sense of humour, How Awful About Allan a tense TV movie that stars the excellent Anthony Perkins and Good Against Evil was made as a pilot for an ABC-TV show that was not ultimately put into production.

     In all of the films the video is poor, ranging from adequate, to terrible, with Devil Monster being the worst. There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

The Devil's Daughter (1939) (NTSC)

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     On the death of her father, Silvia Walton (Ida James) returns from New York to Jamaica to inherit the family banana plantation that has been run by her half sister Isabelle (Nina Mae McKinney) and overseer Philip Ramsay (Jack Carter). Silvia falls in love with Ramsay and is in turn loved by adjoining plantation owner John (Emmett Wallace). Isabelle, who herself is in love with John, is determined not to give up the plantation so she enlists the help of practitioners of the local “obeah” superstition (the Jamaica version of voodoo) to commence a ritual and scare Silvia into returning to America. When Silvia is drugged, and the ritual starts, no-one can be quite sure what the end result will be.

     The Devil’s Daughter is interesting for both the Jamaican locations and the all black cast. It was made at a time when theatres in the US were segregated and films were made with all black casts for a black audience. When in mainstream Hollywood the only roles available to black women were as maids or field hands – see Gone With the Wind for a perfect example – these all black films gave actresses such as Nina Mae McKinney an opportunity that was denied by Hollywood. McKinney first appeared in Hallelujah (1929), the first all black sound musical feature, and went on to appeared in 19 films, including Saunders of the River (1935) with Paul Robson and Elia Kazan’s Pinky (1949). Playing opposite McKinney as the other sister, Ida James is dainty and beautiful. She was primarily a singer and in 1945 was voted one of the 20 most popular vocalists in America; she sang with Nat King Cole and also appeared in Hi-De-Hi (1947) with Cab Calloway (who made that memorable impact in 1980 in The Blues Brothers).

     The Devil’s Daughter is a loose remake of Ouanga (1936) sharing the same writer (George Terwilliger) and a similar plot. It is a very short film (at only 51 minutes) although apparently it originally ran 67 minutes (but no available DVD is this length, so I assume the footage is missing). Given this short running time, it has very little plot; even less than might be expected as a fair amount of the film is taken up with the “comic” antics of Silvia’s retainer Percy (Hamtree Harrington), who himself falls foul of local superstition and local beauty Elvira (Willa Mae Lang). There are also music numbers such as the opening that are interesting but have little to do with the plot. Yet the film is not without interest both as cinema and as a piece of history, and it features Nina Mae McKinney.

     The Devil’s Daughter is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s. The films are: The Devil’s Daughter (1939) and Devil Monster (1946) on disc 1, Devil’s Partner (1963) and Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) on disc 2 and How Awful About Alan (1970) and Good Against Evil (1977) on disc 3.

Video

     The Devil’s Daughter is presented in a ratio of 1.33:1, and is not 16x9 enhanced. The original ratio was 1.37:1.

     This is a 70 year old unrestored print. There are numerous scratches, and both positive and negative artefacts, but other than a few very obvious scratches (such as around 29:50), they are not as bad as I was expecting. The bigger problem is the sharpness. This is a very, very soft print, with detail very much lacking so that at times people are quite indistinct. Blacks are really gray and although there are no night scenes at times, especially during the last 5 minutes, shadow detail is non-existent. During that period at the obeah ritual, when the scene cuts to McKinney she almost cannot be seen. Contrast and brightness are also variable.

     A number of times, including 13:29, 26:13 and 37:56, a colour “Mill Creek” logo appears in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It is quite distracting.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps. Mostly the dialogue is OK, with some exceptions such as Ramsay at the races talking to Silvia, and effects are flat, dull and tiny. There is a hiss in most quiet sections as well as crackles.

     The score by John Killam also features some spiritual numbers.

     I did not notice any lip synchronization problems.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     None

     The film is available in Region 1 US in a double bill with Chloe – Love is Calling (1934); the video and audio appear to be similar.

     I cannot find any equivalent of The Devil at Work package in any other region.

     The Devil’s Daughter was made in Jamaica with an all black cast at a time when theatres in the US were segregated and films made with all black casts for a black audience. The video and audio are not as bad as one could expect from a 70 year old unrestored black and white, non-mainstream film.

     The Devil’s Daughter is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s from Gryphon for a RRP of $19.95.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Devil Monster (1946) (NTSC)

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     Six years after a boat goes missing in the south seas, some bodies are discovered on a remote island. Louise (Blanche Mehaffy), girlfriend of missing crew member Jose (Jack Del Rio), and his mother are convinced Jose is alive and prevail upon Robert Jackson (Barry Norton), who loves Louise, to search for Jose on his next voyage. With Robert’s father Captain Jackson (J. Barton) and ship’s cook/crewman Tiny (Terry Grey) they search the South Sea islands and succeed in finding Jose. However he is very happy living amid the natives and has fallen in love with the chief’s daughter Maya (Maya Owalee), so he refuses to leave. When the Jackson’s abduct Jose, of course they put him in control of the ship. In revenge he steers the ship into the waters of the great devil fish; a giant mantra ray.

     Devil Monster is a real mess. It is, in fact, a re-edited version of footage shot for The Sea Fiend (1936), itself not a particularly good film. Devil Monster uses recut and re-edited scenes from The Sea Fiend, travelogue footage of various natives, South Seas and otherwise, stock footage of islands and palm trees and natural history, such as sequences of seals and sea lions or a fight between an octopus and a moray eel that goes on for about 7 minutes and has nothing to do with the story. Not that there is much story anyway. A voiceover narration is used to link this diverse material and to tell us what is happening, which is just as well as the acting is poor. Director S. Edwin Graham has only these two titles on his resume; enough said.

     Devil Monster is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s. The full list is The Devil’s Daughter (1939) and Devil Monster (1946) on disc 1, Devil’s Partner (1963) and Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) on disc 2 and How Awful About Alan (1970) and Good Against Evil (1977) on disc 3.

Video

     Devil Monster is presented in 1.33:1, and is not16x9 enhanced. The original ratio was 1.37:1.

     This is a very poor print that shows evidence of just about every film or video artefact known! There are frequent scratches and both positive and negative artefacts, the image is very soft, lacking in detail with blacks gray and shadow detail non-existent. However, by far the most distracting aspect of the print is the macro-blocking and ghosting that effects most of the footage (see from 1:47 or the sea lions around 10:01 but you don’t have to look too hard for examples), as well as noise, grain and tape tracking errors. This DVD was mastered from an inferior analogue source, and it shows.

     A number of times, including 13:17 and 33:44, a colour “Mill Creek” logo appears in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It is quite distracting.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps. The voiceover narration is OK although effects are non-existent with music basically the only thing in the audio other than dialogue and narration. There is hiss, crackles and the odd drop out in the audio

     No composer is credited. The score is a mix of styles and sounds like newsreel music.

     Lip synchronization was sometimes badly off, as the original dialogue from The Sea Fiend was replaced in this re-edit.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     None

     The film is available in Region 1 US as part of a double bill with Bowanga, Bowanga (1941). I have no information about the audio and video of that release.

     I cannot find any equivalent of The Devil at Work package in any region.

     Devil Monster uses re-edited scenes from The Sea Fiend, travelogue footage of various natives, stock footage of islands and palm trees and natural history plus a voiceover narration to tell us what is happening. The video is very bad, the audio not much better.

     Devil Monster is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s from Gryphon for a RRP of $19.95.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Devil's Partner (1963) (NTSC)

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     In the small, hot, mid-western town of Furnace Flats (pop. 1505) an old hermit sacrifices a goat and makes a pact with the devil before dying. Four days later, a handsome young man named Nick Richards (Ed Nelson) arrives in town claiming to be the hermit’s nephew. He is charming, good natured and helpful, friendly to Doc Lucas (Edgar Buchanan), his daughter Nell (Jean Allison) and Nell’s fiancé David (Richard Crane). In reality, however, Nick is the old hermit: he has sold his soul to the devil and received youth in return. He wants to use his charm and looks to drive a wedge between Nell and David, and to take Nell for himself. Nick can control animals and also change shape into snakes or horses to achieve his aim. But when David is attacked and disfigured by his own dog, and deaths start to occur, Sheriff Tom Fuller (Spencer Carlisle) becomes suspicious of the new man in town and begins to think the unthinkable. Can he prove his suspicions in time to save Nell?

     Devil’s Partner is a low budget B film that looks like a TV episode . Director Charles R. Rondeau was a long time TV director with episodes of F Troop, The Partridge Family, Mission Impossible and Get Smart on his resume and he does a workmanlike job with Devil’s Partner building up a nice tension. The cast are also mostly TV actors and on the whole they do a good competent job; Ed Nelson (Rawhide, Gunsmoke) looks good and provides a fine degree of charm and cold menace, Jean Allison, who had parts in a diverse range of TV episodes over a long period, is reasonable as the love interest and Edgar Buchanan (Judge Roy Bean, Petticoat Junction although he did have some film appearances such as in Pekinpah’s Ride the High Country (1962)) is also good. Perhaps Richard Crane (Lassie, Surfside 6) is the weakest link; he is lost in the more emotional scenes and does not convince.

     Devil’s Partner has some interesting ideas, the director builds the tension nicely and the cast do a workmanlike job. It is a piece of the early 1960s that is worth a look. And you just have to love the giant 1950s gas-guzzling American cars with huge tail fins!

     Devil’s Partner is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s. The full list is The Devil’s Daughter (1939) and Devil Monster (1946) on disc 1, Devil’s Partner (1963) and Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) on disc 2 and How Awful About Alan (1970) and Good Against Evil (1977) on disc 3.

Video

     Devil’s Partner is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and is not16x9 enhanced. The original ratio was 1.37:1.

     The print varies from terrible, to adequate. Some sections, of which the opening is a good example, are almost unwatchable with ghosting, macro-blocking, lack of detail and a wall that is half black, half gray and moves. The print does improve somewhat from there, but continues with numerous artefacts, scratches (some vertical but others at all angles and very prominent – see 18:00 for example), missing frames and heavy grain. Some of the inside shots have some detail, but most of the rest is very soft and indistinct. Blacks are not black, and shadow detail non-existent. Mostly the film is watchable but sections, such as the 90 seconds after 58:00, may test your resolve: in quick succession we have a major scratch (58:08), frames that go to black (58:16) and missing frames (59:38). This last is at a crucial plot point, and misses out some important dialogue.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps. The dialogue is fine, effects dull but acceptable. There is noticeable hiss in places, crackles and a few drop outs.

     The score by Ronald Stein is quite melodramatic and mostly works.

     I did not notice any lip synchronization problems.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     None

     There is a Region 1 US stand-alone version of the film which seems to have similar video and audio specifications to our release although I cannot find a review to compare the quality.

     I cannot find any equivalent of The Devil at Work package in any region.

     Devil’s Partner is a low budget B film that looks like a TV episode . However, director Charles R. Rondeau builds up a nice tension and the cast do a workmanlike job. The audio is poor, the video adequate. A reasonable period piece, with wonderful cars!

     Devil’s Partner is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s from Gryphon for a RRP of $19.95.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) (NTSC)

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     In 1946 Joseph Langdon (John Ashley), torturer, murderer, rapist and collaborator with the Japanese in WW2 during which he betrayed his friends, is on the run in the jungle. Starving and ill, he makes a pact with Satan (Vic Diaz) to preserve his life. In turn, Langdon will serve Satan in any way Satan chooses. Killed by the army, Langdon is revived by Satan and transported into the bodies of recently deceased men; the object is to create evil at every turn.

     Twenty four years later after a number of different identities, Langdon becomes Philip Rogers, an American businessman. Rogers was an unpleasant man, disfigured and killed in an industrial accident. His “revival” is a shock to his doctor, who promptly dies of a stroke, as well as to Rogers’ neglected wife Julia (Mary Wilcox) and his brother Earl (Ken Metcalfe). More of a pleasant shock to Julia is her husband’s renewed interest in her and their revitalised sexual and personal relationship. But Satan is not prepared to allow Langdon / Rogers to have feelings for Julia and become “human”; so when Rogers starts to feel “human” he transforms into a powerful, hairy beast, with a thirst for human blood and entrails. As the bodies pile up, and the police begin to suspect Rogers, perhaps only a blind man (Andres Centenera) may have the key to his fate.

     Beast of the Yellow Night is a wonderfully evocative title for a B film made in the Philippines by producer / star John Ashley. Ashley had a long career in B films, including teen dramas (Motorcycle Gang (1957)) and beach party films (How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)) and he teamed with Filipino director Eddie Romero for a number of B films made in the Philippines including Beast of the Yellow Night. Ashley was also producer of The A-Team TV series and associate producer of Apocalypse Now (1979), so he perhaps deserves to be better known than he is.

     Beast of the Yellow Night is an entertaining film. It wastes no time in going about its business and has a quite delicious sense of humour, such as when Satan, who has all the best lines anyway, laments to Langdon that there are so few truly evil men and that “human nature is so ambiguous that the propagation of evil is left entirely to chance”. Much of the rest of the dialogue in the film is stiff and stilted, and indeed the acting generally is bland to poor, with Vic Diaz as Satan and Andres Centenera as the Blind Man by far the best. In contract, Mary Wilcox as Julia is unconvincing and Ashley, as an actor, makes a good producer.

     Beast of the Yellow Night is a fun film spoiled by a poor DVD presentation. Many of the issues are outlined in the video section below, yet the most important plot-wise is the non-existent shadow detail. For example, when Rogers transforms into the beast, the facial makeup is so indistinct that we cannot see what Langdon has become and in a scene towards the end when Rogers on the run returns to the Blind Man, we cannot see what happens. Scratches and artefacts may be distracting, but they don’t necessarily mean we are unable to follow the plot.

     Beast of the Yellow Night is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s. The full list is The Devil’s Daughter (1939) and Devil Monster (1946) on disc 1, Devil’s Partner (1963) and Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) on disc 2 and How Awful About Allan (1970) and Good Against Evil (1977) on disc 3.

Video

     Beast of the Yellow Night is presented in a ratio of 1.33:1, and is not 16x9 enhanced. The print is NTSC format. The original theatrical ratio was 1.85:1, and this is only the start of the problems.

     First, the good news. While there are occasional dirt marks and scratches, they are infrequent and hardly noticeable. From there it gets worse. For most of the first half of the film there is edge enhancement and a prominent halo effect around characters. There is also occasional macro-blocking (see the fire 79:27 but it also occurs earlier), chroma noise, reel changes, missing frames and a red tinge to many of the skin tones. Colours are dull. Brightness also varies, but the real issue is the detail, which is indistinct to non-existent and, as noted in the review, it is sometimes impossible to see what is happening. Try also freezing the film on the caption at 10:37 and trying to read what it says.

     A number of times, including 10:05, 32:15, 54:14 and 75:14, a white “Mill Creek Entertainment” logo appears in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It is quite distracting.

     There are no subtitles, not even for a lengthy section of Filipino dialogue.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps. The dialogue is fine, effects dull but acceptable and my system redirects some music to the surrounds. There is no sub woofer use. There is noticeable hum in quiet moments, the occasional drop out and a loud crack at 60:27.

     The score by Nestor Robles sounds more like TV themes but is quite melodramatic and mostly works.

     Lip synchronization issues were sometimes evident, but not overly so.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     None.

     The Region 1 US version is 1.85:1 non-anamorphic. It does have some extras, including a trailer, “Remembering John Ashley” featurette, and a John Ashley Photo Gallery. Reviews indicate that the video is in good shape but with dull colours. There is also a US double feature available with Keep My Grave Open (1976). I can find no information about the audio or state of the video on this release.

     I cannot find any equivalent to The Devil at Work package in any region.

     Beast of the Yellow Night is an entertaining film spoiled by the DVD presentation. The video is poor, the audio acceptable and there are no extras. If you enjoy this type of film, and there is certainly much to enjoy here, you are better off sourcing the US edition.

     Beast of the Yellow Night is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s for a RRP of $19.95.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

How Awful About Allan (1970) (NTSC)

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     Allan (Anthony Perkins) has spent 8 months in a mental institution after a fire in the family home killed his professor father and disfigured his sister Katherine (Julie Harris). He feels guilty about the fire (he may have deliberately lit it but we are never sure) and suffers from psychotic blindness, only able to see blurred images. He is allowed to return to the family home to be looked after by Katherine and Olive (Joan Hackett), his old girlfriend across the road. But when Allan gets home he starts to hear voices and believes that the mysterious lodger is trying to harm him. Is this all in his head, or is someone really out to get him?

     How Awful About Allan has a reasonable pedigree. It is an Aaron Spelling TV production which first aired in the US on 22 September 1970, and as Spelling held the Guinness World Record for the “most prolific TV producer” he certainly knows a thing or two about entertainment. Director Curtis Harrington was to have a range of low budget horror films to his credit as well as TV episodes including Dynasty and he is in good touch here. The construction of the film is tense, aided by the blurred images showing Allan’s POV. The film is based on a novel by Henry Farrell (who also wrote the screenplay). Farrell also wrote Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) and Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte (1964) so knows his thrillers. And then of course there is the star Anthony Perkins who made his name with Hitchcock’s Psycho in 1960 and can play mentally troubled with the best of them. The film is essentially a two hander; Perkins is seldom off screen and delivers a controlled and compelling performance. Harris is also good in a role that does not give her too many opportunities but she plays off Perkins very well.

     How Awful About Allan is a well made, well scored, well written and well acted TV movie that builds the tension to an interesting climax. And Anthony Perkins is well worth watching.

     How Awful About Allan is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a collection from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s. The full list is The Devil’s Daughter (1939) and Devil Monster (1946) on disc 1, Devil’s Partner (1963) and Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) on disc 2 and How Awful About Allan (1970) and Good Against Evil (1977) on disc 3.

Video

     How Awful About Allan is presented in 1.33:1, the original ratio and is not 16x9 enhanced. It is an NTSC print.

     This is an unrestored 70s TV movie that looks its age. There are frequent positive and negative artefacts, although none are so large as to be distracting. The colours are dull, and brightness, contrast and skin tone vary considerably. Blacks and shadow detail are not the best, but are acceptable, detail is often indistinct. The main issue is that the print has a significant number of compression artefacts, macro-blocking (the fire sequence at the beginning is bad), frames wiggle or are off sync (37:07), and noise reduction is evident, such as the moving picture on the wall at 68:09. While there are certainly issues, the film is not unwatchable by any means.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps that does a reasonable job. The dialogue is fine, effects acceptable. My system redirected some music to the surrounds and fire and storm effects to the sub woofer. There is noticeable hum in quiet moments and the occasional drop out.

     The score by Laurence Rosenthal is another highlight of the film. It is creepy when it needs to, but does not overdo it and helps the build up of tension very well indeed.

     Lip synchronization was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     None.

     There is a stand alone Region 1 US release that is reported to have a poor transfer. The also appears to be a Region 0 UK release but I can find no further details.

     I cannot find any equivalent to The Devil at Work package in any region.

     How Awful About Allan is a well made, well scored, well written and well acted TV movie that builds the tension to an interesting climax.

     The audio is acceptable, the video has issues but the film is not unwatchable and there are no extras.

     How Awful About Allan is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s for a RRP of $19.95.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Good Against Evil (1977) (NTSC)

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     New York 1955. A woman about to give birth pleads with “them” not to take her baby. A baby girl is born, and whisked away to a gathering of people, led by Mr. Rimmin (Richard Lynch), who vow to protect the baby until she grows up and, a virgin, is ready to bear the child of Astaroh (another name for the devil). The baby’s mother dies in an “accident” after the birth. The scene then switches to San Francisco, 1977. The baby has grown up to be Jessica (Elyssa Davalos), a successful fashion designer. When her parked car is hit by freelance writer Andy (Dack Rambo) a mutual attraction starts to form. This is something the watching devil worshippers fear and Andy only just survives a riding accident. Jessica reveals that twice before men with whom she had formed an attraction have died in accidents and tries to push Andy away. But her love is too strong; they decide to marry and approach Father Wheatley (John Harkins) to perform the ceremony. But when Jessica enters the church to talk to Father Wheatley, darkness falls and it becomes freezing, which naturally arouses Father Wheatley’s suspicions. On the night before the wedding, Jessica is hypnotised and abducted by Mr. Rimmin and taken to New Orleans. Andy comes to her apartment to find it empty and abandoned, the fashion business premises closed and the church desecrated with the sign of a pentagram on the floor and walls.

     It seems that, due to Jessica’s love, the devil worshippers cannot now just kill Andy so Mr. Rimmin decides to rekindle Andy’s love for a past flame. Andy sees a newspaper report that a child in New Orleans has gone into a coma after drawing a pentagram so he hurries there to see if he can find any connection between the child and Jessica’s disappearance. Instead, he finds that the child’s mother is his old flame Linda (Kim Cattrall), now a widow and very pleased to see Andy. Also arriving is Father Kemschler (Dan O’Herlihy) who, believing the child is possessed, persuades Linda to allow an exorcism. There, Father Kemschler battles Satan and expels the devil from the child. Mr. Rimmin feels that Jessica is at risk and decides to move her to another city. Andy rejects the love of Linda, and with Father Kemschler sets out to find Jessica. The end.

     Good Against Evil was made as a pilot for an ABC-TV show that was not ultimately put into production. As a result, the major plot strand remains unresolved at the end of the film. As well, this is definitely a film with two halves. The prologue sets up the “child of destiny” theme well enough, before the San Francisco section establishes the relationship between Andy and Jessica. But then Jessica is spirited away and disappears from the film and the exorcism section kicks in with Father Kemschler. As an introduction to Father Kemschler it works well enough, but of course it leaves the main plot strand unresolved. Will Andy find and rescue Jessica before Satan has his way with her? Only the unmade TV series, or perhaps End of Days (1999) when the devil turns into Gabriel Byrne and fights Arnold Schwarzenegger will tell!

     Good Against Evil does have its moments. The opening is nicely staged and the film features the music of Lalo Schifrin, who created many a decent soundtrack including the original Mission Impossible TV theme as well as scores for films such as Bullit (1968) and Dirty Harry (1971). And while Dack Rambo is not very charismatic, Elyssa Davalos is acceptable and Richard Lynch and Dan O’Herlihy (excellent in the original Robocop (1987)) quite good. And, of course, the film features a very early performance from Kim Cattrall, later to make her mark in Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and Sex and the City.

     Good Against Evil is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s. The full list is The Devil’s Daughter (1939) and Devil Monster (1946) on disc 1, Devil’s Partner (1963) and Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) on disc 2 and How Awful About Allan (1970) and Good Against Evil (1977) on disc 3.

Video

     Good Against Evil is presented in a ratio of 1.33:1, the original ratio, and is not 16x9 enhanced. It is an NTSC print.

     This is an unrestored 70s TV movie. There are frequent positive and negative artefacts, although few are so large as to be distracting. The print is very soft, and lacking in detail. The colours are dull, and brightness, contrast and skin tone vary considerably. Blacks are fine generally but shadow detail is not the best. The main issue is that the print has a significant number of interlacing errors plus compression artefacts, macro-blocking and noise reduction. Every so often, around 8:39, 22:08, 29:45, 47:15 and 54:18, three white circles flash up on the bottom right of the screen and are quite distracting. But while there are issues, the film is not unwatchable by any means.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps. There is a hum during quiet moments plus an occasional crackle and drop out. Dialogue is mostly fine but on a couple of occasions developed a noticeable hiss. Effects acceptable. This is a mono track and there is no surround or sub woofer use.

     The score by Lalo Schifrin is an effective adjunct to the film.

     Lip synchronization was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     None.

     There is a stand alone Region 1 US release of Good Against Evil as well as two double bills; one with Satan’s School for Girls and the other with The Severed Arm. I can find no details of the transfers.

     I cannot find any equivalent to The Devil at Work package in any region.

     Good Against Evil was made as a pilot for an ABC-TV show that was not ultimately put into production. As a result, the major plot strand remains unresolved at the end of the film.

     The audio is acceptable, the video has issues although the film is not unwatchable, and there are no extras.

     Good Against Evil is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s for a RRP of $19.95.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall