Ray Milland goes B-Movie!

Ray Milland was a fantastic, often overlooked actor who starred in some amazing movies. THE BIG CLOCK, MINISTRY OF FEAR, THE LONG WEEKEND (for which he got an Oscar), THE UNINVITED, THE MAJOR & THE MINOR and DIAL M FOR MURDER are just a few of the great films he made in his Hollywood player days. But as much as I love Milland's long list of credits from the 1930s through the 1950s I have to say that I prefer his late career plunge into B-cinema that started with the film he also directed- PANIC IN YEAR ZERO (1962). After that excellent apocalyptic tale he was in a number of great movies for Roger Corman and a few terrible ones as well. I mean- no matter how much of a kick I get out the mad sight of Milland's head grafted onto Rosie Grier's shoulder I can't call THE THING WITH TWO HEADS (1972) very good. I know it was supposed to be tongue in cheek but its still pretty bad! But PREMATURE BURIAL (1962) and THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES (1963) are brilliant horror films that are worthy of all the attention they can garner. Of course, I can't defend FROGS (1972) but I get such a kick out of it that I think it blows right past my normal critical objections. 'Today the Pond- Tomorrow the World!