Haven’t yet seen all the best old-school vintage naval combat epics? This color & ‘scope thriller has a terrific cast of Brit stars and up-n-comers, can boast excellent visuals and is historically accurate. Alec Guinness captains a ship during the Napoleonic Wars, and finds his duty complicated by a psychopathic top officer (Dirk Bogarde) who usurps authority and sees the crew as fresh meat for his sadistic ideas about discipline. All the tech and art credits are top-tier, plus we get nice supporting perfs from the likes of Anthony Quayle, Nigel Stock, Maurice Denham, Victor Maddern, Tom Bell, and Murray Melvin.
Damn the Defiant!
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 136
1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / H.M.S. Defiant / Available from Viavision / Australian 34.95 / and Amazon US / 34.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde, Maurice Denham, Nigel Stock, Richard Carpenter, Peter Gill, David Robinson, Robin Stewart, Ray Brooks, Peter Greenspan, Anthony Quayle, Tom Bell,...
Damn the Defiant!
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 136
1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / H.M.S. Defiant / Available from Viavision / Australian 34.95 / and Amazon US / 34.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde, Maurice Denham, Nigel Stock, Richard Carpenter, Peter Gill, David Robinson, Robin Stewart, Ray Brooks, Peter Greenspan, Anthony Quayle, Tom Bell,...
- 7/26/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s a Cold War thriller in the steamy tropics! The Reds are making their move in Malaya and four vibrant people are caught in the crosshairs: rich rubber planter William Holden, revolutionary strategist Tetsuro Tanba, peaceful teacher and activist Capucine, and adventurous Governor’s daughter Susannah York. Director Lewis Gilbert keeps a rickety script on its feet drama-wise and superb cinematography (Freddie Young) and impressive music (Riz Ortolani) do the rest. The show ended up being most noted for a nude swimming scene scooped in the pages of Playboy.
The 7th Dawn
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1964 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date January 4, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: William Holden, Susannah York, Capucine, Tetsuro Tanba, Michael Goodliffe, Allan Cuthbertson, Sydney Tafler, Maurice Denham.
Cinematography: Frederick Young
Production Designer: John Stoll
Art Director: Herbert Smith
Film Editor: John Shirley
Original Music: Riz Ortolani
Associate Producer: John Dark
Written for the...
The 7th Dawn
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1964 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date January 4, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: William Holden, Susannah York, Capucine, Tetsuro Tanba, Michael Goodliffe, Allan Cuthbertson, Sydney Tafler, Maurice Denham.
Cinematography: Frederick Young
Production Designer: John Stoll
Art Director: Herbert Smith
Film Editor: John Shirley
Original Music: Riz Ortolani
Associate Producer: John Dark
Written for the...
- 1/1/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Any WW2 action adventure involving the Norwegian resistance is Ok in my book, and this big-star saga about sabotage efforts to stop the Nazis’ atom research is a natural — much of what happens in the story is true. The show can boast marvelous locations and excellent action scenes but the script and characters aren’t very strong. Did Columbia curb epic director Anthony Mann’s greater ambitions, or did star Kirk Douglas interfere to enhance his leading character into a combo scientist, playboy and sure-shot action man? Also starring Ulla Jacobsson, Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave, and every over-fifty English name actor not nailed down.
The Heroes of Telemark
Blu-ray
Sony Home Entertainment
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 130 min. / Street Date January 8, 2019
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson, Michael Redgrave, David Weston, Roy Dotrice, Anton Diffring, Ralph Michael, Eric Porter, Karel Stepanek, George Murcell, Mervyn Johns, Barry Jones, Geoffrey Keen, Robert Ayres,...
The Heroes of Telemark
Blu-ray
Sony Home Entertainment
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 130 min. / Street Date January 8, 2019
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson, Michael Redgrave, David Weston, Roy Dotrice, Anton Diffring, Ralph Michael, Eric Porter, Karel Stepanek, George Murcell, Mervyn Johns, Barry Jones, Geoffrey Keen, Robert Ayres,...
- 9/11/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Sinister stabbings, women kicked and beaten, perverse hoodlums selling cocaine and murdering street-beat bobbies: what happened to civilized English crime? Cavalcanti’s vicious postwar Brit Noir shocked critics for The Times and was cut to ribbons for American distribution. A disillusioned, bored Raf hero turns to smuggling and skullduggery; this fully restored crime classic gives us Trevor Howard, Sally Gray and Griffith Jones in one of the best — and most brutal — crime pix of its day. Plus attractive Pi extras.
They Made Me a Fugitive
Region-free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1947 / B&w / 1:37 flat full frame / 102 78 min. / I Became a Criminal / Street Date September 23, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Griffith Jones, René Ray, Charles Farrell, Maurice Denham, Vida Hope, Peter Bull, Sebastian Cabot.
Cinematography:Otto Heller
Film Editors: Margery Saunders, Terence Fisher (uncredited)
Original Music: Marius-François Gaillard
Written by Noel Langley from a novel by Jackson Budd...
They Made Me a Fugitive
Region-free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1947 / B&w / 1:37 flat full frame / 102 78 min. / I Became a Criminal / Street Date September 23, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Griffith Jones, René Ray, Charles Farrell, Maurice Denham, Vida Hope, Peter Bull, Sebastian Cabot.
Cinematography:Otto Heller
Film Editors: Margery Saunders, Terence Fisher (uncredited)
Original Music: Marius-François Gaillard
Written by Noel Langley from a novel by Jackson Budd...
- 11/12/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
‘Mission impossible’ escapism about high-stakes wartime sabotage looks at an authentic, dramatic episode of WW2 — the onslaught of futuristic V-Weapons on London — and then veers into fictional fantasy (think big explosions). George Peppard toughs it out to get free of his MGM contract. Lili Palmer and Barbara Rütting do the heavy lifting, while Sophia Loren is in as a glamorous sidebar. Weirdly, the movie all but lionizes the Germans that develop, test and fire the V-Weapon rockets at England … exaggerating their scientific progress and giving them a strange kind of ‘Right Stuff.’
Operation Crossbow
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date November 12, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Richard Johnson, Tom Courtenay, Jeremy Kemp, Anthony Quayle, Lilli Palmer, Barbara Rütting (Rueting), Paul Henreid, Helmut Dantine, Richard Todd, Sylvia Sims, John Fraser, Maurice Denham, Patrick Wymark, Richard Wattis, Allan Cuthbertson, Karel Stepanek,...
Operation Crossbow
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date November 12, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Richard Johnson, Tom Courtenay, Jeremy Kemp, Anthony Quayle, Lilli Palmer, Barbara Rütting (Rueting), Paul Henreid, Helmut Dantine, Richard Todd, Sylvia Sims, John Fraser, Maurice Denham, Patrick Wymark, Richard Wattis, Allan Cuthbertson, Karel Stepanek,...
- 11/5/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A top horror title gets the Powerhouse Indicator treatment just in time for Halloween — it’s not a domestic release but it plays in our Region A players. You can shuffle the alternate versions like a deck of cards: one basic movie, but six separate encodings: by length, title sequence and aspect ratio. Plus fascinating extras and a killer versions comparison feature.
Night of the Demon / Curse of the Demon
Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1957 / B&W / 1:66 + 1:75 widescreen / 95 & 82 min. / Limited Edition / Street Date October 22, 2018 / available from Amazon UK / £47,42
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham,
Athene Seyler
Cinematography: Ted Scaife
Production Designer: Ken Adam
Special Effects: George Blackwell, S.D. Onions, Wally Veevers
Film Editor Michael Gordon
Original Music: Clifton Parker
Written by Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester
from the story Casting the Runes by M. R. James
Produced by Frank Bevis, Hal E. Chester
Directed by Jacques Tourneur...
Night of the Demon / Curse of the Demon
Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1957 / B&W / 1:66 + 1:75 widescreen / 95 & 82 min. / Limited Edition / Street Date October 22, 2018 / available from Amazon UK / £47,42
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham,
Athene Seyler
Cinematography: Ted Scaife
Production Designer: Ken Adam
Special Effects: George Blackwell, S.D. Onions, Wally Veevers
Film Editor Michael Gordon
Original Music: Clifton Parker
Written by Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester
from the story Casting the Runes by M. R. James
Produced by Frank Bevis, Hal E. Chester
Directed by Jacques Tourneur...
- 10/20/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Fred Zinnemann’s counter-assassination thriller remains topflight filmmaking, torn from reality and shot through with an unsentimental dose of political realism. Edward Fox’s implacable killer outwits the combined resources of an entire nation as he stalks his prey, and when bad luck forces him to improvise, he racks up more victims on his kill list. Step aside Bond, Bourne and Marvel — the original Jackal is the man to beat.
The Day of the Jackal
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1973 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 143 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig, Cyril Cusack, Eric Porter, Tony Britton, Alan Badel, Michel Auclair, Tony Britton, Maurice Denham, Vernon Dobtcheff, Olga Georges-Picot, Timothy West, Derek Jacobi, Jean Martin, Ronald Pickup, Jean Sorel, Philippe Léotard, Jean Champion, Michel Subor, Howard Vernon.
Cinematography: Jean Tournier
Film Editor: Ralph Kemplen
Second Unit Director: Andrew Marton
Original Music: Georges Delerue
Written...
The Day of the Jackal
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1973 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 143 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig, Cyril Cusack, Eric Porter, Tony Britton, Alan Badel, Michel Auclair, Tony Britton, Maurice Denham, Vernon Dobtcheff, Olga Georges-Picot, Timothy West, Derek Jacobi, Jean Martin, Ronald Pickup, Jean Sorel, Philippe Léotard, Jean Champion, Michel Subor, Howard Vernon.
Cinematography: Jean Tournier
Film Editor: Ralph Kemplen
Second Unit Director: Andrew Marton
Original Music: Georges Delerue
Written...
- 9/18/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Tim Greaves
The year is 1962. Aggrieved when Algeria is granted independence by President Charles de Gaulle, the militant underground alliance known as the Organisation Armée Secrète botches an attempt to assassinate him. Within months many of the conspirators, including their top man, have been captured and executed. The remaining Oas leaders, bereft of funds, take refuge in Austria and warily decide to contract an outside professional to do the job for them. They settle on a British assassin (Edward Fox), who chooses to be identified as Jackal. The Oas orchestrate several bank robberies to cover his exorbitant fee of half a million dollars whilst the mechanics of the plotting are left entirely to Jackal's discretion. After capturing and interrogating another alliance member, the French authorities learn of Jackal's existence and, suspecting another attempt on de Gaulle's life may be imminent, they set their best man – Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel (Michel Lonsdale) – on his tail.
The year is 1962. Aggrieved when Algeria is granted independence by President Charles de Gaulle, the militant underground alliance known as the Organisation Armée Secrète botches an attempt to assassinate him. Within months many of the conspirators, including their top man, have been captured and executed. The remaining Oas leaders, bereft of funds, take refuge in Austria and warily decide to contract an outside professional to do the job for them. They settle on a British assassin (Edward Fox), who chooses to be identified as Jackal. The Oas orchestrate several bank robberies to cover his exorbitant fee of half a million dollars whilst the mechanics of the plotting are left entirely to Jackal's discretion. After capturing and interrogating another alliance member, the French authorities learn of Jackal's existence and, suspecting another attempt on de Gaulle's life may be imminent, they set their best man – Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel (Michel Lonsdale) – on his tail.
- 8/27/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
An admiring nod to ’60s dream siren Daliah Lavi! American-International leaps into an epic Jules Verne comedy about a trip to the moon, a good-looking but slow and unfunny farce that must squeak by on the goodwill of its cast of comedians. Burl Ives is excellent casting as P.T. Barnum, promoting a Greatest Show Off the Earth.
Blast-Off
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1967 / Color/ 2:35 widescreen / 119 99, 95 min. / Street Date March 21, 2017 / Those Fantastic Flying Fools; Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon / available through Olive Films / 29.95
Starring: Burl Ives, Terry-Thomas, Gert Fröbe, Lionel Jeffries, Troy Donahue, Daliah Lavi, Dennis Price, Hermione Gingold, Jimmy Clitheroe, Graham Stark, Edward de Souza, Judy Cornwell, Allan Cuthbertson, Sinéd Cusack, Maurice Denham.
Cinematography: Reginald H. Wyer
Film Editor: Ann Chegwidden
Original Music: John Scott
Written by Dave Freeman, Peter Welbeck (Harry Allan Towers) inspired by the writings of Jules Verne
Produced by Harry Allan Towers
Directed by Don Sharp...
Blast-Off
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1967 / Color/ 2:35 widescreen / 119 99, 95 min. / Street Date March 21, 2017 / Those Fantastic Flying Fools; Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon / available through Olive Films / 29.95
Starring: Burl Ives, Terry-Thomas, Gert Fröbe, Lionel Jeffries, Troy Donahue, Daliah Lavi, Dennis Price, Hermione Gingold, Jimmy Clitheroe, Graham Stark, Edward de Souza, Judy Cornwell, Allan Cuthbertson, Sinéd Cusack, Maurice Denham.
Cinematography: Reginald H. Wyer
Film Editor: Ann Chegwidden
Original Music: John Scott
Written by Dave Freeman, Peter Welbeck (Harry Allan Towers) inspired by the writings of Jules Verne
Produced by Harry Allan Towers
Directed by Don Sharp...
- 6/9/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This French disc release of the Jacques Tourneur classic gets everything right — including both versions in picture perfect transfers. Devil debunker Dana Andrews locks horns with Niall MacGinnis, a necromancer “who has decoded the Old Book” and can summon a fire & brimstone monster from Hell, no election fraud necessary. Even fans that hate ghost stories love this one — it’s a truly creepy, intelligent highlight of the horror genre.
Night of the Demon
Region A + B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Wild Side (Fr)
1957 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 95 & 82 min. / Street Date November 27, 2013 / Curse of the Demon, Rendez-vous avec la peur / Available from Amazon UK or Foreign Exchange Blu-ray
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham,
Athene Seyler
Cinematography: Ted Scaife
Production Designer: Ken Adam
Special Effects: George Blackwell, S.D. Onions, Wally Veevers
Film Editor Michael Gordon
Original Music: Clifton Parker
Written by Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester
from the...
Night of the Demon
Region A + B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Wild Side (Fr)
1957 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 95 & 82 min. / Street Date November 27, 2013 / Curse of the Demon, Rendez-vous avec la peur / Available from Amazon UK or Foreign Exchange Blu-ray
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham,
Athene Seyler
Cinematography: Ted Scaife
Production Designer: Ken Adam
Special Effects: George Blackwell, S.D. Onions, Wally Veevers
Film Editor Michael Gordon
Original Music: Clifton Parker
Written by Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester
from the...
- 5/20/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
One of the best international thrillers ever has almost become an obscurity, for reasons unknown – this Blu-ray comes from Australia. Edward Fox’s wily assassin for hire goes up against the combined police and security establishments of three nations as he sets up the killing of a head of state – France’s president Charles de Gaulle. The terrific cast features Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig and Cyril Cusack; director Fred Zinnemann’s excellent direction reaches a high pitch of tension – even though the outcome is known from the start.
The Day of the Jackal
Region B+A Blu-ray
Shock Entertainment / Universal
1973 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 143 min. / Street Date ? / Available from Amazon UK / Pounds 19.99
Starring: Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig, Cyril Cusack, Eric Porter, Tony Britton, Alan Badel, Michel Auclair, Tony Britton, Maurice Denham, Vernon Dobtcheff, Olga Georges-Picot, Timothy West, Derek Jacobi, Jean Martin, Ronald Pickup, Jean Sorel, Philippe Léotard, Jean Champion,...
The Day of the Jackal
Region B+A Blu-ray
Shock Entertainment / Universal
1973 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 143 min. / Street Date ? / Available from Amazon UK / Pounds 19.99
Starring: Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig, Cyril Cusack, Eric Porter, Tony Britton, Alan Badel, Michel Auclair, Tony Britton, Maurice Denham, Vernon Dobtcheff, Olga Georges-Picot, Timothy West, Derek Jacobi, Jean Martin, Ronald Pickup, Jean Sorel, Philippe Léotard, Jean Champion,...
- 4/29/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
My favorite thing about taking these weekly trips to the Drive-In is my own selfish thirst for discovery. I need to patch up the holes of missing films on my personal movie screen; there is still so much to see, and sometimes the holes are so big that they obscure the view. Every once in a while though, a film comes along that not only mends the tears in the fabric but strengthens the whole. Such is the case with Night of the Demon (1957), Jacques Tourneur’s masterpiece of shadowy menace and dread, and a new personal favorite.
Released in its native U.K. in December and then stateside in July of ’58 under the new title Curse of the Demon (where 13 minutes were trimmed from an already lean 95 minute running time), this Columbia Pictures production was fraught with anguish before it even appeared to audiences, most famously producer Hal E. Chester...
Released in its native U.K. in December and then stateside in July of ’58 under the new title Curse of the Demon (where 13 minutes were trimmed from an already lean 95 minute running time), this Columbia Pictures production was fraught with anguish before it even appeared to audiences, most famously producer Hal E. Chester...
- 4/15/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
No, not a blind Sherlock Holmes, but a blind Van Johnson, who directs his butler, his girlfriend Vera Miles and the London police to thwart a crime based on something he overheard in a bar. Henry Hathaway directs a complicated murder mystery that plays like a combo of Rear Window and Wait Until Dark, with a cranky Van Johnson as the central character.
23 Paces to Baker Street
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Cecil Parker, Patricia Laffan, Maurice Denham, Estelle Winwood, Liam Redmond, Isobel Elsom, Martin Benson, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Milton Krasner
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Leigh Harline
Written by Nigel Balchin from the novel Warrant for X by Philip MacDonald
Produced by Henry Ephron
Directed by Henry Hathaway
In the 1950s the murder mystery thriller came of age, as creakier older formulas...
23 Paces to Baker Street
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Cecil Parker, Patricia Laffan, Maurice Denham, Estelle Winwood, Liam Redmond, Isobel Elsom, Martin Benson, Queenie Leonard.
Cinematography: Milton Krasner
Film Editor: James B. Clark
Original Music: Leigh Harline
Written by Nigel Balchin from the novel Warrant for X by Philip MacDonald
Produced by Henry Ephron
Directed by Henry Hathaway
In the 1950s the murder mystery thriller came of age, as creakier older formulas...
- 3/25/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
No Highway in the Sky
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 99 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring : James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Janette Scott, Niall MacGinnis, Kenneth More, Ronald Squire, Elizabeth Allan, Jill Clifford, Felix Aylmer, Dora Bryan, Maurice Denham, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Bessie Love, Karel Stepanek.
Cinematography: Georges Périnal
Film Editor: Manuel del Campo
Original Music: Malcolm Arnold
Written by: R.C. Sherriff, Oscar Millard, Alec Coppel from the novel by Nevil Shute
Produced by: Louis D. Lighton
Directed by Henry Koster
A few years back, whenever a desired title came up on list for a Fox, Columbia or Warners’ Mod (made-on-demand) DVD, my first reaction was disappointment: we really want to see our favorites released in the better disc format, Blu-ray. But things have changed. As Mod announcements thin out, we have seen an explosion of library titles remastered in HD.
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 99 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring : James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Janette Scott, Niall MacGinnis, Kenneth More, Ronald Squire, Elizabeth Allan, Jill Clifford, Felix Aylmer, Dora Bryan, Maurice Denham, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Bessie Love, Karel Stepanek.
Cinematography: Georges Périnal
Film Editor: Manuel del Campo
Original Music: Malcolm Arnold
Written by: R.C. Sherriff, Oscar Millard, Alec Coppel from the novel by Nevil Shute
Produced by: Louis D. Lighton
Directed by Henry Koster
A few years back, whenever a desired title came up on list for a Fox, Columbia or Warners’ Mod (made-on-demand) DVD, my first reaction was disappointment: we really want to see our favorites released in the better disc format, Blu-ray. But things have changed. As Mod announcements thin out, we have seen an explosion of library titles remastered in HD.
- 1/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
One of the best-remembered dramas of the '70s gives us controversial actresses, a lavish production and a story by the even more controversial Lillian Hellman. Director Fred Zinnemann makes it into a suspenseful, deeply affecting experience. Julia Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1977 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 118 min. / Ship Date April 12, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Maximilian Schell, Hal Holbrook, Meryl Streep, Rosemary Murphy, Dora Doll, Elisabeth Mortensen, John Glover, Lisa Pelikan, Susan Jones, Cathleen Nesbitt, Maurice Denham. Cinematography Douglas Slocombe Film Editor Walter Murch Original Music Georges Delerue Written by Alvin Sargent based on the story by Lillian Hellman Produced by Richard Roth Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Fred Zinnemann was a cinema activist from way back, a filmmaker of uncompromising convictions. His most frequent theme is anti-fascism, although he began with a very Soviet-styled pro-union film in Mexico, Redes.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Fred Zinnemann was a cinema activist from way back, a filmmaker of uncompromising convictions. His most frequent theme is anti-fascism, although he began with a very Soviet-styled pro-union film in Mexico, Redes.
- 4/30/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Fans of this show know it as the It's a Wonderful Life of war movies, an intensely moving tale that restores feeling and tenderness to people crippled by loss and despair. The stellar pairing of top star Gregory Peck and Burmese unknown Win Min Than is unique in movies and not to be missed. The Purple Plain Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1955 / Color /1:66 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date April 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Gregory Peck, Win Min Than, Brenda De Banzie, Bernard Lee, Maurice Denham, Lyndon Brook, Anthony Bushell, Josephine Griffin Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth Art Direction Donald M. Ashton, Jack Maxsted Film Editor Clive Donner Original Music John Veale Written by Eric Ambler from a novel by H.E. Bates Produced by John Bryan, Earl St. John Directed by Robert Parrish
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How can one convey the way a picture grows on one? I liked The Purple Plain...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How can one convey the way a picture grows on one? I liked The Purple Plain...
- 3/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Horror comics and magazines filled my shelves as a kid, titles such as Creepy, Eerie, House of Secrets and The Witching Hour weakening my eyes and troubling my sleep. I simply could not get enough of them. However, when I discovered that there were films made in the same multistory, blood soaked spirit, well, I forgot about sleep altogether. My first stop was Creepshow (1982), and delighted with that, I made my way back through earlier (and gentler) excursions of terror. Step right up ladies and gentlemen! Enter the Torture Garden (1967), a carnival exhibit where the evils of man are laid before you…for a price.
Released by Columbia Pictures November ’67 in the U.K. and July ’68 in North America, Torture Garden was the second film of Amicus Productions (Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (’65) being the first) that followed the omnibus format. Amicus, started by producers Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky,...
Released by Columbia Pictures November ’67 in the U.K. and July ’68 in North America, Torture Garden was the second film of Amicus Productions (Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (’65) being the first) that followed the omnibus format. Amicus, started by producers Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky,...
- 11/7/2015
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Actor Aubrey Morris has passed away at the age of 89. The veteran star, who is known best for his role of P.R. Deltoid in 1971's A Clockwork Orange, died on Wednesday, July 15, his agent confirmed to the BBC. Morris started his acting career on the small screen before making his big-screen debut in the 1960s. The British thespian's early film work includes roles in Night Caller From Outer Space with John Saxon and Maurice Denham, The Sandwich Man with Bernard Cribbins and Dora Bryan, and [...]...
- 7/17/2015
- Us Weekly
Glenda Jackson: Actress and former Labour MP. Two-time Oscar winner and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson returns to acting Two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson set aside her acting career after becoming a Labour Party MP in 1992. Four years ago, Jackson, who represented the Greater London constituency of Hampstead and Highgate, announced that she would stand down the 2015 general election – which, somewhat controversially, was won by right-wing prime minister David Cameron's Conservative party.[1] The silver lining: following a two-decade-plus break, Glenda Jackson is returning to acting. Now, Jackson isn't – for the time being – returning to acting in front of the camera. The 79-year-old is to be featured in the Radio 4 series Emile Zola: Blood, Sex and Money, described on their website as a “mash-up” adaptation of 20 Emile Zola novels collectively known as "Les Rougon-Macquart."[2] Part 1 of the three-part Radio 4 series will be broadcast daily during an...
- 7/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Nicholas and Alexandra': Movie starred Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman 'Nicholas and Alexandra' movie review: Opulent 1971 spectacle lacks emotional core Nicholas and Alexandra is surely one of the most sumptuous film productions ever made. The elaborate sets and costumes, Richard Rodney Bennett's lush musical score, and frequent David Lean collaborator Freddie Young's richly textured cinematography provide the perfect period atmosphere for this historical epic. Missing, however, is a screenplay that offers dialogue instead of speeches, and a directorial hand that brings out emotional truth instead of soapy melodrama. Nicholas and Alexandra begins when, after several unsuccessful attempts, Tsar Nicholas II (Michael Jayston) finally becomes the father of a boy. Shortly thereafter, he and his wife, the German-born Empress Alexandra (Janet Suzman), have their happiness crushed when they discover that their infant son is a hemophiliac. In addition to his familial turmoil, the Tsar must also deal with popular...
- 5/7/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Marc Allégret: From André Gide lover to Simone Simon mentor (photo: Marc Allégret) (See previous post: "Simone Simon Remembered: Sex Kitten and Femme Fatale.") Simone Simon became a film star following the international critical and financial success of the 1934 romantic drama Lac aux Dames, directed by her self-appointed mentor – and alleged lover – Marc Allégret.[1] The son of an evangelical missionary, Marc Allégret (born on December 22, 1900, in Basel, Switzerland) was to have become a lawyer. At age 16, his life took a different path as a result of his romantic involvement – and elopement to London – with his mentor and later "adoptive uncle" André Gide (1947 Nobel Prize winner in Literature), more than 30 years his senior and married to Madeleine Rondeaux for more than two decades. In various forms – including a threesome with painter Théo Van Rysselberghe's daughter Elisabeth – the Allégret-Gide relationship remained steady until the late '20s and their trip to...
- 2/28/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Reviewed by Kevin Scott, MoreHorror.com
Torture Garden (1967)
Written by: Robert Bloch
Directed by: Freddie Francis
Cast: Burgess Meredith (Dr. Diablo), Jack Palance (Ronald Wyatt), Beverly Adams (Carla Hayes), Peter Cushing (Lancelot Canning), Maurice Denham (Uncle Roger), Robert Hutton (Bruce Benton), John Standing (Leo Winston), John Phillips (Eddie Storm), Bernard Kay (Dr. Heim), David Bauer (Mike Charles)
It goes without saying how much I love the Amicus and Hammer anthology films. So elegantly terrifying with a prim and proper British flair, I would love to see a film like that today. Not saying that there aren’t good anthologies made now, but I haven’t seen any that mined that perfect blend of EC comics pulp horror and some solid style as classically trained actors and actresses bring it to life. I can even look past all the neckerchiefs and high 1970’s fashion, in fact I kinda like it.
“Torture Garden...
Torture Garden (1967)
Written by: Robert Bloch
Directed by: Freddie Francis
Cast: Burgess Meredith (Dr. Diablo), Jack Palance (Ronald Wyatt), Beverly Adams (Carla Hayes), Peter Cushing (Lancelot Canning), Maurice Denham (Uncle Roger), Robert Hutton (Bruce Benton), John Standing (Leo Winston), John Phillips (Eddie Storm), Bernard Kay (Dr. Heim), David Bauer (Mike Charles)
It goes without saying how much I love the Amicus and Hammer anthology films. So elegantly terrifying with a prim and proper British flair, I would love to see a film like that today. Not saying that there aren’t good anthologies made now, but I haven’t seen any that mined that perfect blend of EC comics pulp horror and some solid style as classically trained actors and actresses bring it to life. I can even look past all the neckerchiefs and high 1970’s fashion, in fact I kinda like it.
“Torture Garden...
- 12/13/2014
- by admin
- MoreHorror
'Henry V' Movie Actress Renée Asherson dead at 99: Laurence Olivier leading lady in acclaimed 1944 film (image: Renée Asherson and Laurence Olivier in 'Henry V') Renée Asherson, a British stage actress featured in London productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Three Sisters, but best known internationally as Laurence Olivier's leading lady in the 1944 film version of Henry V, died on October 30, 2014. Asherson was 99 years old. The exact cause of death hasn't been specified. She was born Dorothy Renée Ascherson (she would drop the "c" some time after becoming an actress) on May 19, 1915, in Kensington, London, to Jewish parents: businessman Charles Ascherson and his second wife, Dorothy Wiseman -- both of whom narrowly escaped spending their honeymoon aboard the Titanic. (Ascherson cancelled the voyage after suffering an attack of appendicitis.) According to Michael Coveney's The Guardian obit for the actress, Renée Asherson was "scantly...
- 11/5/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
★★★★☆Celebrating its sixtieth anniversary, the classic animated interpretation of Animal Farm (1954) by British studio Halas and Batchelor, captures perfectly the timeless message of George Orwell's bestselling political satire. Voiced by Maurice Denham, with a sparse, minimalistic style of hand drawn animation, the film is as magical today as when it was first released. Having endured a lifetime of mistreatment at the hands of the tyrannical landowner Mr Jones, the animals of Manor Farm stage a revolution, taking the ownership and running of the farm into their own hands. It's not long however before the pigs, led by the authoritative Napoleon, begin to take over, heading a regime even harsher than before.
- 10/28/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
The Late George Apley
"If I am remembered at all, it will be as the swine who rewrote Scott Fitzgerald," said Joseph L. Mankiewicz on numerous occasions, and though he does rate a mention in any Fitzgerald bio for his work revising Fitzgerald's screenplay of Three Comrades, he is also getting a sidebar retrospective, The Essential Iconoclast, at the New York Film Festival. Apart from including his several acknowledged classics, this also shines a light on some of the less celebrated movies in the distinguished Hollywood auteur's body of work.
In particular, The Late George Apley (1947) and Escape (1948) are seldom-screened dramas with suave English leading men, Ronald Colman and Mankiewicz favorite Rex Harrison, both supported by the delightful Peggy Cummins.
The Late George Apley supplements the emotion with a good portion of the wit Mankiewicz was so famous for. I spoke briefly on the telephone to co-star Cummins, best known...
"If I am remembered at all, it will be as the swine who rewrote Scott Fitzgerald," said Joseph L. Mankiewicz on numerous occasions, and though he does rate a mention in any Fitzgerald bio for his work revising Fitzgerald's screenplay of Three Comrades, he is also getting a sidebar retrospective, The Essential Iconoclast, at the New York Film Festival. Apart from including his several acknowledged classics, this also shines a light on some of the less celebrated movies in the distinguished Hollywood auteur's body of work.
In particular, The Late George Apley (1947) and Escape (1948) are seldom-screened dramas with suave English leading men, Ronald Colman and Mankiewicz favorite Rex Harrison, both supported by the delightful Peggy Cummins.
The Late George Apley supplements the emotion with a good portion of the wit Mankiewicz was so famous for. I spoke briefly on the telephone to co-star Cummins, best known...
- 10/9/2014
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Hammer have had something of a renaissance on Blu-ray recently, with StudioCanal releasing a number of classic titles in new hi-def editions. And now, released as part of Network’s ‘The British Film’ collection, comes two of Hammer’s “sexier” films of the 70s: the infamous Twins of Evil, starring Playboy Playmates Mary and Madeleine Collinson; and Countess Dracula, which features a career-defining performance from Ingrid Pitt in the titular role.
Despite being made during Hammer early-70s fallow period, where the studio was running out of stories, out of budget and were being left behind by more “extreme” horror films and exploitation movies emanating from the Us (after all this was just after the release of Night of the Living Dead which ultimately changed the face of the genre forever), both Twins of Evil and Countess Dracula are beloved by fans of the studio, and with good reason.
Twins of Evil
Stars: Peter Cushing,...
Despite being made during Hammer early-70s fallow period, where the studio was running out of stories, out of budget and were being left behind by more “extreme” horror films and exploitation movies emanating from the Us (after all this was just after the release of Night of the Living Dead which ultimately changed the face of the genre forever), both Twins of Evil and Countess Dracula are beloved by fans of the studio, and with good reason.
Twins of Evil
Stars: Peter Cushing,...
- 9/16/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Digital Spy presents Doctor Who Week - seven days of special features celebrating the return of the world's favourite sci-fi series, and the arrival of a brand new Doctor - on August 23.
We've known he was coming since August 2013 - and he's officially been our Doctor since Christmas - but in a mere three days, Doctor Who fans will finally get the chance to size up Peter Capaldi's debut as a new, "more mysterious" Time Lord.
Between 1963 and 2014, the show's had 11 stabs at introducing a new Doctor - so before Steven Moffat's 'Deep Breath' is unveiled to the general public, let's take a look back at those other attempts - from the awesome to the audacious to the seriously misjudged.
The musical world of Doctor Who: From Ron Grainer to The Klf
An Unearthly Child
Aired November 23-December 14, 1963
Doctor Who fans accustomed to David Tennant...
We've known he was coming since August 2013 - and he's officially been our Doctor since Christmas - but in a mere three days, Doctor Who fans will finally get the chance to size up Peter Capaldi's debut as a new, "more mysterious" Time Lord.
Between 1963 and 2014, the show's had 11 stabs at introducing a new Doctor - so before Steven Moffat's 'Deep Breath' is unveiled to the general public, let's take a look back at those other attempts - from the awesome to the audacious to the seriously misjudged.
The musical world of Doctor Who: From Ron Grainer to The Klf
An Unearthly Child
Aired November 23-December 14, 1963
Doctor Who fans accustomed to David Tennant...
- 8/20/2014
- Digital Spy
Synapse Films has a new release heading our way in May that fans of classic 70's horror are sure to want to take note of. Hammer's dark and underrated Countess Dracula, starring the voluptuous Ingrid Pitt, will be available in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack on May 6th.
The film was directed by Peter Sasdy and co-stars Nigel Green, Lesley-Anne Down, Sandor Elès, Patience Collier, and Maurice Denham.
Synopsis:
The beautiful Ingrid Pitt (The Wicker Man, Where Eagles Dare) stars as Elisabeth Nádasdy, an aging Hungarian Countess who discovers she can reverse her aging by bathing in the blood of young women.
While in her youthful state, the Countess falls for the handsome Lt. Imre Toth (Elès) and impersonates her own daughter (Down) to win his affections. Soon girls in the village go missing… kidnapped and murdered by the Countess and her steward, Julie (Collier), to satiate her horrifying bloodlust.
The film was directed by Peter Sasdy and co-stars Nigel Green, Lesley-Anne Down, Sandor Elès, Patience Collier, and Maurice Denham.
Synopsis:
The beautiful Ingrid Pitt (The Wicker Man, Where Eagles Dare) stars as Elisabeth Nádasdy, an aging Hungarian Countess who discovers she can reverse her aging by bathing in the blood of young women.
While in her youthful state, the Countess falls for the handsome Lt. Imre Toth (Elès) and impersonates her own daughter (Down) to win his affections. Soon girls in the village go missing… kidnapped and murdered by the Countess and her steward, Julie (Collier), to satiate her horrifying bloodlust.
- 4/1/2014
- by Debi Moore
- DreadCentral.com
My aunt, Margery Mason, who has died aged 100, was an actor, writer and theatre manager. She was a founder member of the Actors' Company and made appearances in diverse productions, from Midsomer Murders to a Harry Potter film.
Born and brought up in Hackney, east London, she came from a modest background, and after rudimentary education left school at 15. Her parents ran a semi-professional dramatic company, from which Margery's acting career developed. Initially she performed in their company at working men's clubs in the East End of London, starting as principal boy in pantos, then succeeding to adult parts, sometimes competing with her mother for the starring female roles. Her father ran an early cinema, the Hackney Bioscope, and subsequently established the Impartial Film Report, which distributed weekly film reviews to the then many independent cinemas. Margery attended film trade showings, wrote reviews and helped produce the Report.
Before the...
Born and brought up in Hackney, east London, she came from a modest background, and after rudimentary education left school at 15. Her parents ran a semi-professional dramatic company, from which Margery's acting career developed. Initially she performed in their company at working men's clubs in the East End of London, starting as principal boy in pantos, then succeeding to adult parts, sometimes competing with her mother for the starring female roles. Her father ran an early cinema, the Hackney Bioscope, and subsequently established the Impartial Film Report, which distributed weekly film reviews to the then many independent cinemas. Margery attended film trade showings, wrote reviews and helped produce the Report.
Before the...
- 2/18/2014
- The Guardian - Film News
DVD Release Date: Jan. 28, 2014
Price: DVD $59.99
Studio: Acorn
The Agatha Christie Hour: Complete Collection collects ten tales of intrigue and romance from renowned mystery writer Agatha Christie, produced by England’s Thames Television back in 1982-83 and broadcast in the U.S. on PBS’s Mystery!
In these suspenseful stories set in Art Deco-era, lesser-known Christie protagonists—including “happiness expert” Parker Pyne—find themselves embroiled in illicit love affairs, supernatural mysteries, false accusations, life-changing encounters, and murder.
The ensemble casts feature names that are very familiar to fans of British television. They include John Nettles (Midsomer Murders), Amanda Redman (New Tricks), Christopher Cazenove (The Duchess of Duke Street), Ralph Bates (Poldark), Cherie Lunghi (Secret Diary of a Call Girl), Maurice Denham (All Passion Spent), James Grout (Inspector Morse), and Stephanie Cole (Doc Martin).
The four-disc, 10-hour-long collection includes the following ten mysteries:
-The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife
-In...
Price: DVD $59.99
Studio: Acorn
The Agatha Christie Hour: Complete Collection collects ten tales of intrigue and romance from renowned mystery writer Agatha Christie, produced by England’s Thames Television back in 1982-83 and broadcast in the U.S. on PBS’s Mystery!
In these suspenseful stories set in Art Deco-era, lesser-known Christie protagonists—including “happiness expert” Parker Pyne—find themselves embroiled in illicit love affairs, supernatural mysteries, false accusations, life-changing encounters, and murder.
The ensemble casts feature names that are very familiar to fans of British television. They include John Nettles (Midsomer Murders), Amanda Redman (New Tricks), Christopher Cazenove (The Duchess of Duke Street), Ralph Bates (Poldark), Cherie Lunghi (Secret Diary of a Call Girl), Maurice Denham (All Passion Spent), James Grout (Inspector Morse), and Stephanie Cole (Doc Martin).
The four-disc, 10-hour-long collection includes the following ten mysteries:
-The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife
-In...
- 1/24/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Network Distributing is pleased to announce the next batch of titles within “The British Film” range which will be available in the UK later this year. Each feature once again benefits from a new transfer, an instant play facility and will be presented in special slim-line space-saving packaging. Some of the highlights from October are a documentary about the body narrated by Vanessa Redgrave with music from Roger Waters, more gems from the vaults from Ealing Studios, classic horror, British musicals and a courtroom drama starring Richard Attenborough.
7 October
The Body £9.99
Vanessa Redgrave and Frank Finlay narrate an intimate and innovative documentary from the seventies about the human body cut to music from Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. Commentary by poet and playwright Adrian Mitchell.
The Final Programme £9.99
Cult director Robert Fuest’s dystopian sci-fi thriller. Robert Finch stars as Jerry Cornelius, a Nobel Prize winning physicist and playboy who...
7 October
The Body £9.99
Vanessa Redgrave and Frank Finlay narrate an intimate and innovative documentary from the seventies about the human body cut to music from Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. Commentary by poet and playwright Adrian Mitchell.
The Final Programme £9.99
Cult director Robert Fuest’s dystopian sci-fi thriller. Robert Finch stars as Jerry Cornelius, a Nobel Prize winning physicist and playboy who...
- 10/28/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Bette Davis movies: TCM schedule on August 14 (photo: Bette Davis in ‘Dangerous,’ with Franchot Tone) See previous post: “Bette Davis Eyes: They’re Watching You Tonight.” 3:00 Am Parachute Jumper (1933). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Harold Huber, Leo Carrillo, Thomas E. Jackson, Lyle Talbot, Leon Ames, Stanley Blystone, Reginald Barlow, George Chandler, Walter Brennan, Pat O’Malley, Paul Panzer, Nat Pendleton, Dewey Robinson, Tom Wilson, Sheila Terry. Bw-72 mins. 4:30 Am The Girl From 10th Avenue (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Ian Hunter, Colin Clive, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Phillip Reed, Katharine Alexander, Helen Jerome Eddy, Bill Elliott, Edward McWade, André Cheron, Wedgwood Nowell, John Quillan, Mary Treen. Bw-69 mins. 6:00 Am Dangerous (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Dick Foran, Walter Walker, Richard Carle, George Irving, Pierre Watkin, Douglas Wood,...
- 8/15/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Alec Guinness: Before Obi-Wan Kenobi, there were the eight D’Ascoyne family members (photo: Alec Guiness, Dennis Price in ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’) (See previous post: “Alec Guinness Movies: Pre-Star Wars Career.”) TCM won’t be showing The Bridge on the River Kwai on Alec Guinness day, though obviously not because the cable network programmers believe that one four-hour David Lean epic per day should be enough. After all, prior to Lawrence of Arabia TCM will be presenting the three-and-a-half-hour-long Doctor Zhivago (1965), a great-looking but never-ending romantic drama in which Guinness — quite poorly — plays a Kgb official. He’s slightly less miscast as a mere Englishman — one much too young for the then 32-year-old actor — in Lean’s Great Expectations (1946), a movie that fully belongs to boy-loving (in a chaste, fatherly manner) fugitive Finlay Currie. And finally, make sure to watch Robert Hamer’s dark comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets...
- 8/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Paul Henreid in ‘Casablanca’: Freedom Fighter on screen, Blacklisted ‘Subversive’ off screen Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013, Paul Henreid, bids you farewell this evening. TCM left the most popular, if not exactly the best, for last: Casablanca, Michael Curtiz’s 1943 Best Picture Oscar-winning drama, is showing at 7 p.m. Pt tonight. (Photo: Paul Henreid sings "La Marseillaise" in Casablanca.) One of the best-remembered movies of the studio era, Casablanca — not set in a Spanish or Mexican White House — features Paul Henreid as Czechoslovakian underground leader Victor Laszlo, Ingrid Bergman’s husband but not her True Love. That’s Humphrey Bogart, owner of a cafe in the titular Moroccan city. Henreid’s anti-Nazi hero is generally considered one of least interesting elements in Casablanca, but Alt Film Guide contributor Dan Schneider thinks otherwise. In any case, Victor Laszlo feels like a character made to order for Paul Henreid,...
- 7/31/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
From the sublime to the ridiculous. The Caves Of Androzani – one of the finest examples of Doctor Who – was always going to stand tall when compared to the following story. But when that story's The Twin Dilemma, it's like comparing the Bfg with Ronnie Corbett.
The Twin Dilemma has – um – not exactly been welcomed by open arms with the fans of Doctor Who. It's frequently languishing at the bottom of Most Popular Story polls and has been subjected to the sort of scorn that a simpleton yokel would have got in the stocks back in the days of yore. So feel free to hurl a rotten tomato at the following. The lousy script. The tacky production. The weak direction. The monsters. The twins. It's a complete and utter disaster, but the problem is it shouldn't be, since it's the first story for the brand new Doctor.
Oh, god, that outfit.
The Twin Dilemma has – um – not exactly been welcomed by open arms with the fans of Doctor Who. It's frequently languishing at the bottom of Most Popular Story polls and has been subjected to the sort of scorn that a simpleton yokel would have got in the stocks back in the days of yore. So feel free to hurl a rotten tomato at the following. The lousy script. The tacky production. The weak direction. The monsters. The twins. It's a complete and utter disaster, but the problem is it shouldn't be, since it's the first story for the brand new Doctor.
Oh, god, that outfit.
- 2/4/2011
- Shadowlocked
Some comments on my review of the Doctor Who Christmas Special 'A Christmas Carol' got me thinking about how it came to be that everyone's favourite Time Lord can never seem to get any 'action', romantically speaking. It's not been for want of attention or admirers; even back in the William Hartnell days, The Doctor was capable of flirting and even having a matrimonial 'near-miss' in the 1964 Who outing 'The Aztecs', so Matt Smith's Doctor is breaking no new ground in running away from connubial bliss with the 1957 version of Marilyn Monroe in 'A Christmas Carol'.
Can 47 years of sexual tension ever be released without killing the fundamental dynamic of the show? I've come to believe that it probably can't - which, if true, puts the Gallifreyan rogue at least neck-and-neck with Star Trek's Mr. Spock in terms of 'attractive unavailability'.
When the show...
Can 47 years of sexual tension ever be released without killing the fundamental dynamic of the show? I've come to believe that it probably can't - which, if true, puts the Gallifreyan rogue at least neck-and-neck with Star Trek's Mr. Spock in terms of 'attractive unavailability'.
When the show...
- 12/27/2010
- Shadowlocked
You see some odd things looking at web-stats for a site, but there's usually a reason if you dig in a little. The other day I was curious why one of John Bensalhia's excellent thrice-weekly Doctor Who reviews had a peculiar hit-spike. Looking into how it was listed at Google News provides the likeliest answer...
All I can say is that it ought to be true, at least at some or other 'geek' site. The eccentric singer-songwriter was a very public TV and movies geek decades before the term 'geek chic' was invented. A huge swathe of Kate Bush's work is either based directly on movies, TV or books, includes references to such things or actually has a strong cinematic ambition.
The 1978 No.1 'Wuthering Heights' was inspired by the last ten minutes of Robert Fuest's 1970 adaptation of the Emily Bronte classic; the 1979 single 'Hammer Horror' is...
All I can say is that it ought to be true, at least at some or other 'geek' site. The eccentric singer-songwriter was a very public TV and movies geek decades before the term 'geek chic' was invented. A huge swathe of Kate Bush's work is either based directly on movies, TV or books, includes references to such things or actually has a strong cinematic ambition.
The 1978 No.1 'Wuthering Heights' was inspired by the last ten minutes of Robert Fuest's 1970 adaptation of the Emily Bronte classic; the 1979 single 'Hammer Horror' is...
- 12/24/2010
- Shadowlocked
Night Of The Demon (1958)
Stars: Dana Andrew, Peggy Cummins, Niall McGinley, Maurice Denham | Written by Charles Bennett, Hal E Chester | Directed by Jacques Tourneur
This of you who watched Mark Gatiss’ excellent three part documentary The History of Horror will have seen the nod he gave to Jacques Tourneur’s excellent movie Night of the Demon (Curse of the Demon in the Us), recently released on DVD.
The film deals with eminent parapsychologist Dr John Holden (Dana Andrews) who comes to England for a conference on the paranormal and finds himself embroiled in and victim to a demonic curse. The curse has been placed by Julian Karswell, who runs a demonic cult at risk of exposure at the conference.
It’s easy to see why this movie is held in such esteem; Martin Scorsese has listed it as one of his top horror films. Tourneur (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie...
Stars: Dana Andrew, Peggy Cummins, Niall McGinley, Maurice Denham | Written by Charles Bennett, Hal E Chester | Directed by Jacques Tourneur
This of you who watched Mark Gatiss’ excellent three part documentary The History of Horror will have seen the nod he gave to Jacques Tourneur’s excellent movie Night of the Demon (Curse of the Demon in the Us), recently released on DVD.
The film deals with eminent parapsychologist Dr John Holden (Dana Andrews) who comes to England for a conference on the paranormal and finds himself embroiled in and victim to a demonic curse. The curse has been placed by Julian Karswell, who runs a demonic cult at risk of exposure at the conference.
It’s easy to see why this movie is held in such esteem; Martin Scorsese has listed it as one of his top horror films. Tourneur (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie...
- 11/14/2010
- by Sarah
- Nerdly
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