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  • Hammer Prime: The Best of Bray Horror

    The history of Hammer Studios is fascinating but convoluted; a production company in the 1930s, then a distributor, then a production company again that subsisted on a series of low-budget comedy, drama, and science-fiction pictures partially financed by U.S. producer Robert L. Lippert, who also supplied second-tier American stars like Brian Donlevy and Cesar Romero in return for American distribution rights. Hammer got UK rights to Lippert films, and the sci-fi offerings, including Rocke...

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  • Trick or Treat: Nine Classic Horror Films

    Halloween rivals Christmas in terms of the amount of films one can consume in celebration. Each year in October I do my best to take in as many chilling, spooky, and frightening films as I can. I've done it so often I've instituted themes, just so I can try to find newer films to add to the canon. In this inaugural discussion, I'll list nine mainstays of my Halloween viewing that, I hope, you'll enjoy. Now you won't see the requisite Dracula's and Frankenstein's; these will take you off the b...

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  • Dark Cinema: Fatal Noir Femmes

    There's a lot to love about film noir. The oh-so-quotable dialogue. The shadowy, rain-swept, urban locales. The edge-of-your-seat plot twists.But one of the best things about noir is the femme fatales. Beautiful, mercenary, conniving, intelligent, sexy, and always out for number one, the femmes of film noir were -- as my mother would say -- a whole 'nother thing. Film noir is practically brimming with these fierce femmes; like any noir lover, I have my favorites, and I have my rea...

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  • The Old Corral: The Career of Dick Foran

    It's with great pleasure we welcome Warner Bros.'s Dick Foran Western Collection, a terrific, long overdue four-disc, 12 feature film DVD box set. Produced in 1935-1937 these B-Westerns are not only entertaining but historic in that they were made simultaneously with the man who began the singing cowboy craze at Republic, Gene Autry.Because Gene was just beginning his meteoric rise to fame, Foran's westerns aren't so much in competition with Autry's, even though they run ...

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  • Strange Science Serials, Chapter III: Maniacs from Space!

    After three attempts by Ming the Merciless to either enslave the Earth, destroy all human life on it, or otherwise make a nuisance of himself, our planet was relatively safe for the next several years (WW2 notwithstanding) until 1945, when -- no doubt suspecting we would be an easy target following the worldwide conflict that had just ended -- Mars invaded the earth led by one of Ming's successors in The Purple Monster Strikes (1945).A famous astronomer, Dr. Cyrus Layton,...

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  • Norma Shearer 101: The Overview

    Norma Shearer is on the short list of MGM's iconic actresses, sharing a rarefied stratum with Garbo, Crawford, Harlow, and Garland, but she is the least remembered out of all them. Non-buffs know little or nothing about her. For decades her films were seldom screened or broadcast. Yet she was a top box office draw in early sound and had one of the best-managed careers of the studio era. TCM and DVD reissues have brought her triumphs back to us, and her fans today are as ardent as those who id...

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  • TV TIME: 50th Anniversary of Television's Best Season

    We often hear how brilliant television is today, but this is the 50th anniversary of one of the most remarkable years the medium ever had. The 1965-1966 season was loaded with classic programs, legendary performers, and memorable characters. While it's certain that nothing like Game of Thrones was around in 1965, I sure don't see anything like My Mother the Car right now.In retrospect, 1965 was a significant year in television history for two main reasons. One is...

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  • Uncovered Classics, Vol. 2: Musicals

    Here's another collection of movies which may not be especially well known but provide a great deal of viewing enjoyment.This time around my list is focused on musicals. You won't find Singin' in the Rain (1952), The Band Wagon (1953), or other beloved top-shelf classics on this list, but instead a collection of titles which are either not as well known or are deserving of reappraisal.These may not be perfect films, but they all deliver tremendous ent...

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  • Silent Cinema: Essential Shorts 1896-1914

    About one hundred years ago, the American film industry experienced an upheaval that was arguably more important and game-changing than the switch to sound which came over a decade later. Since the beginning, motion pictures had been, well, short. From a few seconds in the 1880s to 10-30 minutes in the 1910s, the movies were slowly getting longer but they were not yet commonly feature-length.(The first feature film is generally reckoned to be The Story of the Kelly Gang, ...

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  • Dark Cinema: Character Spotlight - Mae Clarke in Waterloo Bridge

    I would venture to say all movie fans have their favorite screen performances. Mae Clarke's portrayal of Myra Deauville in 1931's Waterloo Bridge is one of mine. In this first-rate feature directed by James Whale, Clarke infuses Myra with equal parts moxie, pathos, and charm, creating a character who is, for my money, one of cinema's most memorable.Set in England during World War I, this pre-Code film tells the story of Myra -- a chorus girl who turns to prostitution when...

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