The Moon-Spinners

The Moon-Spinners
by James Neilson

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DVD Reviews of The Moon-Spinners

DVD Review: "Moon-Spinners" a welcome DVD release
Summary: 4 Stars

The folks at Disney apparently don't think their "lesser" live-action titles merit any special presentation...and, consequently,their fans are let down.

"The Moon-Spinners" was a very good summer release in 1964 based on a mystery novel by Mary Stewart and starred the always appealing Hayley Mills who made a mint for Disney when its animation unit was only so-so, despite "Mary Poppins."

The location of Crete, alone, should have warranted a widescreen presentation. The video is crisp and clean and the sound is fairly good throughout. The video bears the Dolby Digital trademark. Aside from subtitles, there are no audio choices.

Greek actress Irene Pappas, though way too underused, lends an authenticity that is not too severely distracted from by Eli Wallach in one of his patented bad-guy-in-dark-makeup roles. He doesn't chew the scenery, but he stops just short of doing it. The ever-delightful Joan Greenwood is appropriately British with a touch of ditz as Mills' aunt who is collecting folk tunes. Mills is very good as Nicki Ferris, a gal with a 60s sensibility who thinks nothing of doing the twist at a Greek wedding, and Peter McEnery is first-rate as a British man of mystery with a dangerous secret that Mills tries to unravel as she helps him elude some dangerous men.

This is a movie that resonates for me on many levels, not the least of which is that it perfectly captures some of the flavor of the Mediterranean with its evocative photography and music. The location is a very important character in this tale. Key, too, is the part of Alexis played by Michael Davis as an earnest, ostensibly Greek, boy with a Disneyesque tendency to throw Americanisms into every situation for comic relief. The comments are more than transparent if not annoying. He helps move things along, though, and that's a plus.

There are a couple of wonderful small parts: John LeMesurier passes himself off as a consul; he and Joan Hancock, whom he identifes as his wife, are extremely convincing. Hancock has quite a nice under-the-influence scene that hints at dipsomania.

Last but not least is silent screen legend Pola Negri as "Madam Habib" -- a wealthy woman who buys rare jewels and who is the target of Wallach, LeMesurier and McEnery. Negri is wonderful as the rich woman with a conscience but with a greater love for rare jewels. She more than holds her own in her scenes with Mills and Wallach and should have been making films on a regular basis. A showdown on her yacht "Minotaur" -- with all turning out well for the hero and heroine -- ends the film.

This film features a very impressive music score by Ron Grainer -- intensely atmospheric, moody, evocative and definitely among the best for the mystery genre of the 1960s....and given John Barry's James Bond entries for that period, that's saying something!

As for the ratio, there is a specific scene where it is quite obvious the theatrical presentation was wider than it is on DVD.

Hayley is following a blood trail in a church on Crete. As she spots each drop of blood, there is an orchestral punctuation (Grainer uses his main theme and each punctuation is on the first note of a melodic line). As she goes down some stairs, you get the punctuation before the blood spot enters the frame, and if you watch it over and over (as I did), you see that someone was thinking, "Oops, gotta get that blood spot in there."

I remember seeing it in a wider perspective in a theater. It may not have been much wider, but we might have been given what the director intended us to see.

This is a no-frills release that could have been exceptional with more care from the studio. I think it's a lot of fun and a good story. It's not mindbending or thought-provoking, but it's a good entertainment for almost any time of day or night.

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