2024-04-12 05:32
I remember the first time I saw Veronica Lake.It was in a 1943 Paramount picture called SO PROUDLY WE HAIL. The story, based on true incidents, was about a group of Army nurses serving the t… Read More
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2024-04-11 20:00
🎬 A while ago, I was looking up something on my Letterboxd page and I discovered that the last movie I saw in a theater was SOUND OF FREEDOM (2023) on July 6, 2023. It kind of surpri… Read More
2024-03-10 05:54
I've been obsessed with this film ever since I first saw it at the theater in 2018. After watching it multiple times, I'm convinced there's something, alive, something almost mystical about… Read More
2024-02-28 06:59
Full disclosure: One of my collecting obsessions is old magazines, including the movie magazines that were all over the newsstands back in the days of my lost youth, meaning the 1950s and 19… Read More
2024-02-25 06:21
Of all the Bette Davis pictures that I love to watch over and over again, and they are legion, THE STAR is close to the top of the list. Not only does it feature one of Miss Davis's most ene… Read More
2024-02-01 05:40
LADY IN A CAGE (1964)This intense, well-acted entry into the Horror Hag genre that began after the success of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? in 1962, is without a doubt one of the most thor… Read More
2024-01-27 02:40
Eight weeks of monsters. Vampires, werewolves, mummies, not to mention Karloff and Lugosi. What kind of a way is that to spend the last glorious days of Summer?The best kind, obviously. My n… Read More
2024-01-11 05:10
HOOTENANNY A GO-GO aka ONCE UPON A COFFEE HOUSE (1965)It's shocking to realize just how bad a movie can be. This was no doubt intended to cash in on the hootenanny music craze of the early 1… Read More
2023-11-28 01:08
Kris Kristofferson, in his film debut, stars as the title character, a struggling musician who has been dealing marijuana in order to survive. After getting busted several times by Sgt. Leo… Read More
2023-09-18 20:36
It's fun to be blindsided by a film you've never seen. With a title like THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE, I was expecting another sci-fi extravaganza with lots of cool special effects and enou… Read More
2023-09-10 07:10
This is the second, and final (Who am I kidding?) physical media haul for the season. As I diligently prepare for bankruptcy, I hope these additions to my burgeoning collection will offer so… Read More
2023-08-21 19:17
This year I showed even less restraint than usual. Such is the madness of collecting! I placed not one, but two orders with Kino. The first one was placed on July 22, and the second on Augus… Read More
2023-08-10 07:29
My brain has been filled with thoughts of Universal Pictures' classic monsters lately, as reflected in my two previous blog posts. After reconnecting with horror film culture at the Monster… Read More
2023-07-12 21:48
Major announcement! Your humble blogger is getting ready to go back to school!To learn all about monsters!!This morning, I registered for an eight-week non-credit course entitled, The Univer… Read More
2023-06-30 22:59
Sometimes in life, as in blogging, it becomes necessary to stop procrastinating and make a move, to jump in the car and go somewhere. Or sit down in front of the old computer and write somet… Read More
2023-03-31 04:26
Legendary actor Alan Ladd was certainly no stranger to B movies. Before he became an overnight sensation in the classic THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942), Ladd had been acting in the movies for ten y… Read More
2023-03-24 05:25
When I was growing up in the Golden Age of TV back in the 1950's-60's, we were primarily a CBS family, with occasional visits to NBC. The ABC network was little more than a mysterious, snowy… Read More
2023-03-13 20:38
I picked up a DVD copy of this film from my local Barnes & Noble not long ago after hearing some intriguing things about it. There is so much to like about this film, especially the incr… Read More
2023-02-22 04:23
In 1971, Tuesday Weld appeared on The Dick Cavett Show to plug her newest film, A SAFE PLACE, directed by Henry Jaglom. Cavett, in his usual way of letting loose with disarming questions and… Read More
2023-01-20 05:03
In celebration of Barbara Steele's recent birthday (She was born in Ireland on December 29, 1938. Some sources say 1937. Discretion is advised.), I would like to showcase this ABC Movie of t… Read More
2023-01-20 03:23
THE SILVER CORD is one of my favorite films from the 1930's pre-code era. I first saw it quite a few years ago when I still had Turner Classic Movies. It's not available on any commercial DV… Read More
2022-11-25 06:58
John Badham directed this remake of the classic French thriller LES DIABOLIQUES (1955) for the ABC Television Network. It was one of those dark, sordid Movie of the Week presentations that w… Read More
2022-10-24 06:23
"I think you knew her best when you understood that you didn't understand, when you realized that she was to everybody what everybody wanted her to be. She was a brilliant chameleon."Liza Mi… Read More
2022-09-30 09:16
Films about show business, especially focusing on the complicated lives of actors and actresses, are some of the most enjoyable films ever made, especially for those of us who are obsessed w… Read More
2022-09-26 07:21
Amicus, one of Hammer Films' chief rivals in the production of horror movies in the 1960's, combined the considerable talents of director Freddie Francis with that dynamic acting duo, Peter… Read More
2022-09-15 19:14
There were two legendary outdoor rock festivals in 1969. In August, there was the out-of-control, soggy, mystical mess known as Woodstock. And in December, there was Altamont, the anti-Woods… Read More
2022-08-30 07:42
Patty Duke was a gifted actress who accomplished some important milestones in her long career. In 1963, at the age of sixteen, she became the youngest person to win an Oscar, for her role as… Read More
2022-07-16 06:44
The Kino-Lorber Spring into Summer Sale is currently going on. (Also known as the Spring into Bankruptcy Sale.) Here are the titles I picked up.TARNISHED ANGELS (1957) Starring Rock Hudson… Read More
2022-06-30 21:25
In the same year he made the classic Film Noir DETOUR, Edgar G. Ulmer also made this 87-minute programmer at PRC. The film was intended to be a mystery, but instead resembles an Andy Hardy p… Read More
2022-06-28 22:23
Humphrey Bogart had a long apprenticeship as a movie actor. Between his screen debut in 1930 in A DEVIL WITH WOMEN and his breakthrough into major stardom with HIGH SIERRA (1941), Bogart act… Read More
2022-06-17 05:16
This biography of legendary prize fighter Rocky Graziano is in many ways a typical by-the-numbers Hollywood biopic. However, expert direction by Robert Wise and a super-energetic performance… Read More
2022-06-16 22:03
Colorful diversion from Hammer Pictures involving a scientist who has discovered the secret to eternal youth. The one minor problem is that he must kill someone every ten years in order to o… Read More
2022-06-01 08:56
Legendary actress Bette Davis did the television talk show circuit quite frequently during her long career, even during her last years when her health was seriously compromised. One of her b… Read More
2022-06-01 03:21
Some very strange things happened to Anne Bancroft during the years before she achieved stardom and won an Oscar for Best Actress for THE MIRACLE WORKER (1962). As a contract player at… Read More
2022-05-22 21:49
Sometimes negativity can be extremely healthy. Not to mention loads of fun. Here are some one-star movies I managed to sit through. Comments are always welcome. Let me know if I trashe… Read More
2022-05-22 01:40
Just in time for Halloween, this excellent package has arrived from Severin Films, bringing glad tidings to Barbara Steele fans everywhere. Miss Steele's final Italian Gothic film, AN ANGEL… Read More
2022-05-22 01:38
This is the kind of bright, funny, fast-moving movie musical I fell in love with during countless afternoons watching the "early show" after school in the 1960's. The rather thin plot has si… Read More
2022-05-22 01:37
With the release of THUNDER ALLEY, American-International Pictures was continuing its movement toward more adult themes and characterizations. Since its inception in the 1950's, the st… Read More
2022-05-21 21:21
This commentary was posted on my Letterboxd page on January 22, 2015. It was not only a film review, but a reflection of my state of mind at the time. I'm reprinting it here, with a fe… Read More
2022-05-21 21:19
This box set of eight Blu-ray releases of films directed by Woody Allen between 1994 and 2003 is a welcome addition to my collection. I'm a big fan of Woody's films and own most of them on D… Read More
2022-05-21 21:17
It's the old familiar story: A couple of sociopaths meet at a hamburger stand, become partners in crime, and live neurotically ever after. OK, maybe it's not quite that simple.PRETTY PO… Read More
2022-05-21 21:16
MONDO CANE (Dog World or Doggish World) is a notorious, groundbreaking documentary showing bizarre examples of human and animal behavior in various locations and societies of the world, the… Read More
2022-05-21 21:06
SWEATER GIRL is the perfect B-movie. It has everything: singing, dancing, comedy, romance, mystery, and murder. Not to mention sweaters. The film opens with top-billed Eddie Bracken singing… Read More
2022-04-16 00:43
The cold, dark, rainy month of March provided an ideal environment to relax in the movie room and indulge in cinematic fantasy. I focused on three very dissimilar show business legends… Read More
2022-04-09 03:36
The fine folks at Kino-Lorber are at it once again, extending their cinematic tentacles into my wallet. Here is my most recent journey into Blu-ray hoarding.THE ROAD TO SALINA (1970)Starring… Read More
2022-04-05 07:56
Bruce Weber's excellent documentary about the life and career of jazz trumpeter/singer Chet Baker is filmed in dark, moody black & white, giving the entire film the ambience of a typical… Read More
2022-04-05 07:48
The first time I ever saw Greta Garbo in any of her films was in 1984 when I went to see the comedy/drama GARBO TALKS, directed by Sidney Lumet. Anne Bancroft plays a New Yorker who is dying… Read More
2022-03-20 02:11
For collectors of DVDs and Blu-rays, Dollar Tree has become a popular source for picking up mostly obscure titles as blind buys. Like many of my fellow collectors, I admit to having a seriou… Read More
2022-03-07 09:11
It's hard to say goodbye to old friends and childhood heroes, even if you've never actually met them. Friends we know through books, films, and TV shows can have as much meaning in our lives… Read More
2022-02-16 01:56
Another amazing (?) discovery at Big Lots.Get out your modern horror movie checklist while attempting to sit through DARKNESS. It will give you something constructive to do and may also stop… Read More
2022-02-13 20:04
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (Universal 1935), starring Claude Rains, Douglass Montgomery, Heather Angel, David Manners, and Valerie Hobson. THE CHEAT (Paramount 1931), starring Tallulah… Read More
2022-02-13 19:37
All films are first watches unless marked with *.*BLOODY PIT OF HORROR (1967)Bodybuilding champion Mickey Hargitay stars as a deranged recluse who imagines himself to be the reincarnat… Read More
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