Reviews

I just bought "Scream, Blacula, Scream" from '73 at Wal-Mart for $5.00 dollars. I LIKE IT! I already bought the original Blacula several years ago but, I had never seen the sequel until today. I thought it was done rather well. I fully enjoyed the film. William Marshall is VERY convincing as a scary vampire who is evil as sin. In a way, two films of this nature is enough for William Marshall; no need to drag-it-out and over-stay your welcome. I feel two movies was enough. In considering that the film is that of the early 70s with little special effect abilities, I still say it was done well enough for any horror fan to admire. I am STOKED that I bought this DVD.. Prince Mamuwalde / Count Blacula is kool... He's a strange, scary dude... Cheers....

MR.BILL, Raleigh

NOTE:

I do, however, think that the ending scene in the original film was more satisfying than that of the sequel...

I taped "The Black Sleep" off cable TV a couple years ago. I have only sat through this film two or three times.. I find it okay at best even with a stellar cast of great horror film figures like Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney, John Carradine, Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson in the film... The great Basil Rathbone actually saves this film from utter doom in my view. I say this because the rest of the cast are merely just in it for visual purposes.. Basil Rathbone is the only notable star who has a decent role here... I've seen far worse low-budget horror films in my time, but this here is pretty bad for the sake of stating the obvious... I only keep this film on file because of the very few / rare times that all these great horror film actors actually worked together all at once on the same set... BUT! By 1956, it was more than clear to me that all actors were long in the tooth and past their glory days without a doubt in my mind....

MR.BILL

Once again Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce deliver the goods in "Sherlock Holmes in Washington." I like this film from 1943.... A great cast that includes Henry Daniell, George Zucco and some other fine actors of note......

If I have any gripe at all about the series of 'Holmes' films that Rathbone and Bruce made is, they are all between 60 to 75 minutes long.... To me, that means rather short... I'd prefer longer scripts and films that run at least 80 to 90 minutes long.... For the 1940s, that is a normal run......

I love these old-time co-stars like "Henry Daniell, George Zucco, Lionel Atwill & Dennis Hoey." All them guys were pluses for the series of 'Holmes' films produced from 1939 to 1946...... Good quality there...

MR.BILL

Whoever claimed "The Two Mrs Carrolls" was Bogie at his worst in terms of movie making is nuts; Bogie's worst film is either "Swing Your Lady" or "The Return of Doctor X." Them films were horrid and I can barely sit through them.. I found "Carrolls" quite interesting and somewhat freaky...

I do admit, as far as explaining Bogie's character (Geofrey Carroll) with being mentally ill, the story is vague there... Their really is no reason or explanation as to why he tires of his wife / wives and decides to kill them off one by one after painting a morbid portrait of them....

Anyway, regardless of what critics think of this film effort from 1947, I think Bogie, Stanwyck, Alexis Smith and Nigel Bruce made a good cast and crew... Even the young Ann Carter was good as Bogie's daughter 'Beatrice' in the movie....

I have noticed that the excellent network TCM rarely ever shows this picture...... I myself had to wait for over a year to finally record and obtain it for my collection here recently.... I rate the film a 7 out of a possible 10 points...... I never hand out 10s, either..... 9 is usually my top digit number given..... Cheerio....

MR.BILL Raleigh

Folks, It doesn't get much better than "Each Dawn I Die" with James Cagney and George Raft... This is one of my top-5 all-time gangster / prison films from the golden era of Hollywood film-making...

I thought James Cagney, George Raft, George Bancroft and Jane Bryan were just terrific in this film... I can watch this movie three or four times a year, depending on my mood and state of mind... I never seem to grow tired of this film... Probably never will, either....

I am much more into the tough guy and mobster roles' actors like Cagney, Bogie, Robinson & George Raft made in their peak years in Hollywood... I never was big on Musicals' or Song and Dance films..... The years between 1930 to 1950 are no doubt my favorite years of classic film-making..... "Gangster & Horror" were at their best....

MR.BILL Raleigh

I know the '49 film "Johnny Allegro" was late in George Raft's career and he was at or near age 54 when he did this picture in Los Angeles, but since the film is in black and white it also hides a lot of aged looks on an actor's face, etc..... However, "Johnny Allegro" is still one of his better starring efforts.....

Odd as it seems, George Raft is one of my top classic gangster figures from the golden age of Hollywood. However, I must admit, George Raft was usually better when he was the supporting actor and not so much as the lead.. I guess the reason is, as a supporter in a film, George Raft had the opportunity of working with guys like James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Paul Muni and Humphrey Bogart... Even if the script was below par, with the aide of an all-star cast it often can lift a poor film up a bit because of the cast of actors appearing in the scenes together.... I noticed that when George Raft was the lead actor, he often was forced to carry the film alone and was working with good but "Lesser" actors who weren't as popular with film viewer's.... Thus, those type of films get reduced to "B" quality.....

I guess that George Raft's peak years in Hollywood was more than likely between 1938 to 1945...... By '45 George Raft was age 50 and fully wearing some upper hair-piece to cover the horse shoe.... Cheers to George Raft....

MR.BILL Raleigh

I recorded the film "Background To Danger" on TCM a while ago and I like this movie. I like George Raft, too... I also thought that the other cast members were excellent as well. You know, Peter Lorre, Turhan Bey & Sydney Greenstreet were all very good or great actors of our past... I admit, this film doesn't generally get the credit that I feel it deserves, but it was a good effort on the part of Hollywood. George Raft may not have had the same impact that a "Humphrey Bogart" had as a full on star, but I thought George Raft held his own pretty good in this 1943 film. After this film, George Raft kind of slipped into the "B" rated feature film roles of Hollywood, and that was kind of sad to see. Again, I thought the late George Raft was a good/decent actor and I liked his work. To my knowledge, George died back in 1980 of some form of cancer, however, he was at or about 85 years old at the time of his death.... Cheerio...

MR.BILL

EXTRA:

Many of the "Golden Era" film greats like "Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart & George Raft" slipped down a notch or two by the late 1940s/early '50s... I, always enjoyed it most when some of these stars teamed up to do a film like they use to back in the 1930s... Basically, to me, it was best when they teamed up or squared off against one another in the same film..... Again, last but not least, "Background To Danger" was a good 1943 picture, and I'm glad I have it on video.... Peace....