Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson & Stefanie Powers in Love Has Many Faces (1966)

In this, the last of Lana Turner's super soapers, she plays an heiress, ex pat living in Acapulco with a beautiful trophy husband (Robertson). When we meet her, one of her boy-toys has committed suicide and the police are investigating. The seamier side of the tropical paradise is on full display in this glamorous, if highly overdramatic tome. Hugh O'Brian is the beach's ruling giglio and he hooks Ruth Roman. Meanwhile, Stefanie Powers (looking very strange and pixie-like in perky short hairdos) has come to see about the death of her former fiance, the aforementioned boy-toy.

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Though not as well known as Lana's other starring vehicles like Imitation of Life (1959) or Madame X (1966), this film is fun to watch for several reasons. It's thick with manufactured drama that can be and is spread on toast on a regular basis. It also has a delightful theme song, sung by the incomparable Nancy Wilson, and Lana Turner's wardrobe, designed by Edith Head has its own, deserved starring role. Look for an absurd climax featuring bull fighters.

This film is available on DVD, and can be rented to watch instantly at Amazon.com. It's hard to find footage online. Above is a clip from the beginning of the film from TCM's website.

Obscurity factor: 8 (on DVD and Amazon.com, not as well remembered as other Lana Turner epics)

Robert Morse, Stefanie Powers & Phil Silvers in The Boatniks (1970)

Disney made a lot of live action, family oriented films in the 60's and 70's. Many of them became quite well know, or are at least somewhat remembered. This is not one of those. The Boatniks is set in Balboa Bay in Southern California - a very popular boating hub where mishaps frequently happen because of the traffic. That chaos is a big part of the plot, which has several sub-plots, including romance between a green harbor master (Morse) and the owner of the local rent-a-boat operation (Powers), and the attempted dash to Mexico by a group of inept jewel thieves (Silvers, Norman Fell and Mickey Shaughnessy).

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Though not exactly memorable (while watching the film again I had distinct sense memories, though had totally forgotten having seen it as a child) it is a pleasant diversion and it's fun to pick out the popular character actors. Look for Don Ameche as Morse's boss, Wally Cox as a libidinous harbor resident always surrounded by a gaggle of gorgeous girls and Joe E. (Ooh! ooh!) Ross as a hapless boat pilot.

The Boatniks is available on DVD. Above is the trailer for the film, uploaded to YouTube by TheCinemastudio.

Obscurity factor: 9 (on DVD, hard to find online, largely forgotten)

Dean Stockwell & Stefanie Powers in Paper Man (1971)

Since computers started taking over tasks from humans in the 1950's we've seen films with varying degrees of the fear of technology as their theme. Examples include the Matrix films as well as comedies like Desk Set (1957). This little thriller can be counted among them. When Joel Fisher (Elliott Street) receives a credit card by mistake and decides to keep it, he and his friends (Powers, Tina Chen and James Stacy) need the help of a graduate student in computer sciences (Stockwell) to help keep the account open. All is going swimmingly until the computer starts to systematically murder them!

This delightful little film was both released in the theaters and on television. It's well crafted and has some extremely creepy moments in it. Look for a beautifully shot scene where the lights are turned out as a girl runs up a corridor. There have been several low budget DVD releases of this film, and you can see it above, uploaded to YouTube by TVTERRORLAND.

Obscurity factor: 8 (on DVD & YouTube, almost totally forgotten)

Robert Foxworth, Stefanie Powers & Elke Sommer in The Astral Factor (1976)

Roger Sands (Frank Ashmore) hates his mother so much... He was put away for murdering her and after a spree as a strangler of celebrity women six years ago. In the intervening time he's studied up on psychic phenomena for which he has quite a talent; he's learned to make himself invisible. He uses this skill to escape from the locked ward he's been kept in and goes about the LA basin wreaking havoc on the witnesses who put him away. On the case is Lt. Charles Barrett (Foxworth, looking very foxy) and Detective Holt (Mark Slade) a newbie detective Lt. Barrett takes much pleasure in breaking down. They have quite a time tracking Sands down because of the invisible thing, eventually witnessing a killing right before their eyes. As the witnesses are picked off one by one, can Barrett and Holt stop Sands before he kills Chris (Elke Sommer)?

This film is one of the wackiest I've featured this month. It's chock full of cliches, questionable acting, bad special effects and general camp - in short, it's wonderful! Barrett is from the Starsky and Hutch mold of detectives - blustery, sarcastic and quirky. He's shacked up with Candy (Powers) who refers to herself in the third person, calls Barrett "teddybear" and sees him off to the murder investigations with a cheery "have fun!" It has a very TV movie vibe to it, which is only mitigated by the nudity of both Foxworth and Powers in a scene where they're awakened by Det. Holt. If you're a fan of movies that are so bad they're good, then this is for you. It's, oddly enough, available on DVD under this title and it's alternate title (Invisible Strangler) in two separate releases. It's also available in full on YouTube thanks to an upload by FlixUniverseMovies2.

Obscurity factor: 8 (on DVD & YouTube, largely forgotten)

Sandra Dee & Bobby Darin in If A Man Answers 1962

For those of you who are fans of the Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedies, I have a treat for you. In 1962 Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin took a stab at the genre with this cute film. Free spirit Chantal Stacy (Sandra Dee) finds romance with photographer Eugene Wright (Bobby Darin), and after a whirlwind courtship, they're married. The course of love is never smooth in this genre, however, and Chantal soon finds herself neglected by her husband. So, advised by her French mother, she sets about to solve this using a series of deceptions and is, of course, eventually deceived herself. As in all these films, all is well in the end. The cast also includes a young Stefanie Powers and veteran Caesar Romero. The production values are top of the line with beautiful color photography and lush sets and costumes. It's a frothy bonbon, but a fun way to spend an evening.

I was completely unaware of this film until I stumbled across it on Netflix. It's been pretty much forgotten and is rarely seen on TV. There is a DVD of it available and you can find the trailer, uploaded to YouTube by bobbyfan64 above.

Obscurity factor: 5 (largely forgotten, rarely on TV, DVD available)