W.C. Fields once famously remarked one should never work with children or animals. Not sure if I would include cockroaches in the latter. I doubt he could envision a future where somebody would want to use the insects in a film. Judging from the numerous tales told about them in the documentary Just Desserts: The […]
Movie: The Galloping Major (1951)
I’m not up to it anymore, but I have camped out on sidewalks overnight for many of the past years’ Record Store Days. In 1951’s The Galloping Major, Basil Radford is much older than I am now, and yet he should have camped out overnight at a horse auction that is essential to the plot. […]
Movie: Appointment with a Shadow (1957)
On October 3, 2027, I will have gone twenty years without a drink. I look forward to celebrating that anniversary with a round of shots. I kid! Well, about the shots, at least. About the temperance, not so much. I guess since I write under an alias, I really put the “anonymous” in Alcoholics Anonymous. […]
Movie: The Black Cat (1941)
I am increasingly wondering what qualifies as “horror” in selections chosen for the Universal Horror series of blu-ray sets Scream Factory has been issuing. Tower of London, to cite one example, was entirely a history drama, with the only trappings of the genre being the castle’s torture chamber. 1941’s The Black Cat is a comedy […]
Movie: One Way Street (1950)
Many movies stumble to some extent in their second acts. On rare occasions, a picture might hit its stride in the second half, only for me to be let down by the third. Such is the case with 1950’s One Way Street. This curious noir stars James Mason as a doctor who flees gangster Dan […]
Movie: Moonfall (2022)
How strange it is that, with studios creating any and all kinds of spectaculars to lure audiences back to theatres, we don’t have many big, loud and stupid sci-fi blockbusters anymore (emphasis on stupid). Mind you, I always found films like Armageddon laughable, at best. Today, it is rare for there to even be another […]
Movie: Undercover Girl (1950)
Except in melodramas, women were rarely top billed in features in 1950. Alexis Smith is the lead of that year’s Undercover Girl, as the title character. That this is a female-led noir is a reason to seek this out, but there is more of interest here than that. When we first meet Smith, at the […]
Movie: Angel Face (1952)
It is often hard to decide whether a film is noir or not. In many regards, the 1952 feature Angel Face has the trappings of that genre. On the other hand, it is very heavy on the melodrama. That doesn’t automatically disqualify a film from being noir but, in my mind, it makes it more […]
Movie: David Lynch: The Art Life (2016)
Despite being a fan of most of the David Lynch’s films, I have always found him a tad suspect. As time goes on, I increasingly find something off-putting about him. This, despite his aw-shucks demeanor and Jimmy Stewart voice. Or, it may be because of it. I felt the same after watching the 2016 documentary […]
Movie: Lady Frankenstein (1971)
Rasalba Neri plays the title character in 1971’s Lady Frankenstein, a role that is mad scientist-y enough for a man but made for a woman. She is obviously solidly of Italian descent, but is inexplicably the daughter of that deeply American staple of cinema Joseph Cotten. He will be out of this picture before too […]
Movie: Flight to Mars (1951)
The mock-religion The Church of the SubGenius employs as its primary symbol a clip art image of the stereotypical ideal of the 1950’s American male, complete with pipe clenched between teeth. I kept thinking of this image every time the eerily similar Arthur Franz appears on screen during 1951’s Flight to Mars. He is like […]
Movie: Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
I grew up with video games, though with the first wave of arcade games and home consoles. I still feel some nostalgia for those. My current outlet for that is my collection of arcade game flyers, and I have never met anybody else who collects those. This lead-in is my way of saying I am […]
Movie: Man-Made Monster (1941)
Those who have seen enough of Universal’s horror and sci-fi b-movie fare will know roughly what to expect before watching 1941s Man-Made Monster. What is interesting is how well the movie hits the expected beats, and then does a number of things which were unexpected. Lon Chaney, Jr., stars as the sole survivor of a […]
Movie: Death on the Nile (2022)
It was startling when Kenneth Branagh helmed Thor, a Marvel film, in 2011. I don’t necessarily dislike the actor/director, but I have always found him to be smug and pretentious. His association with Shakespeare doesn’t help dissuade that opinion. And yet it now seems he always wanted to do “big” productions, as evidenced by his […]
Movie: Scream of the Demon Lover (1970)
This 1970 movie has an identity crisis. The case said it was titled Scream of the Demon Lover. The title card for the movie said it is The Killers of the Castle of Blood, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Among other titles it has gone by are Castle with the Gates of Fire […]