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)

Dick Van Dyke, James Garner & Ethel Merman in The Art of Love (1965)

Obscurity factor: 8

Paul Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) is a painter living in Paris. He rooms with his friend Casey (James Garner), a writer. Paul has become disenchanted with painting and has decided to go home to America and his rich fiance, Laurie (Angie Dickinson). Casey sees his meal ticket flying the coop, so he gets Paul drunk and they toy with the idea of faking his suicide to increase the value of his paintings. When Paul jumps off a bridge to save a girl, Nikki (Ekle Sommer) who jumps before him Casey thinks he's gone and done it. Of course Paul is fine and rescues the girl and they end up on a barge floating downstream. Casey is distraught, but not upset enough not to capitalize on the "posthumous" success of his paintings. When Paul turns up alive in their flat, Casey convinces him play dead and continue painting so they can rake in the loot. Things get more and more complicated as Nikki comes back and Laurie flies to Paris. Nikki falls in love with Paul and Casey and Laurie start to spark. Out of jealousy Paul decides to frame Casey for his murder.

This film is, by no means a great one, but there are moments of charm to be had. Ethel Merman plays Madame Coco, the owner of a nightclub where Paul hides out. She's her delectable self. James Garner throws a wonderful tantrum in a jail house scene, Carl Reiner plays a delightfully unctuous lawyer and there are historical and literary references threaded throuhgout - Toulouse Lautrec, Madame De Farge...

This film is available in its entirety on YouTube but has not been released on DVD. Above is part one, uploaded by jkcPhog2001.

Obscurity factor: 8 (largely forgotten, not on DVD, available on YouTube)