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By Hank Reineke
All evidence suggests that Mark Robson was producer Val Lewton’s “go to” director. Or, at the very least, for his celebrated series of psychological horror and mystery films released by Rko Radio Pictures 1943-1946. Of the six thrillers produced, Robson would helm no fewer than four (The Seventh Victim (1943), Ghost Ship (1943), Isle of the Dead (1945) and Bedlam (1946). The latter two are perhaps the best remembered of the four as both would feature free-agent boogeyman Boris Karloff in a starring role. Though the first of the Lewton horrors, The Cat People (1942, directed by Jacques Tourneur) is likely the best celebrated of the six films overall, I’ve always held a special fondness for Isle of the Dead. Now, revisiting the film with this stunning Blu ray transfer, I’m as impressed as ever with Robson’s claustrophobic direction, the thoughtful...
By Hank Reineke
All evidence suggests that Mark Robson was producer Val Lewton’s “go to” director. Or, at the very least, for his celebrated series of psychological horror and mystery films released by Rko Radio Pictures 1943-1946. Of the six thrillers produced, Robson would helm no fewer than four (The Seventh Victim (1943), Ghost Ship (1943), Isle of the Dead (1945) and Bedlam (1946). The latter two are perhaps the best remembered of the four as both would feature free-agent boogeyman Boris Karloff in a starring role. Though the first of the Lewton horrors, The Cat People (1942, directed by Jacques Tourneur) is likely the best celebrated of the six films overall, I’ve always held a special fondness for Isle of the Dead. Now, revisiting the film with this stunning Blu ray transfer, I’m as impressed as ever with Robson’s claustrophobic direction, the thoughtful...
- 5/25/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
No, it’s not a the-day-after sequel to The Lost Weekend, but a class-act mystery-horror from 20th-Fox, at a time when the studio wasn’t keen on scare shows. John Brahm directs the ill-fated Laird Cregar as a mad musician . . . or, at least a musician driven mad by a perfidious femme fatale, Darryl Zanuck’s top glamour girl Linda Darnell.
Hangover Square
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1945 /B&W / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date November 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders, Faye Marlowe, Glenn Langan, Alan Napier.
Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle
Film Editor: Harry Reynolds
Original Music: Bernard Herrmann
Written by Barré Lyndon
Produced by Robert Bassler
Directed by John Brahm
Here’s a serious quality upgrade for horror fans. Although technically a period murder thriller, as a horror film John Brahm’s tense Hangover Square betters its precursor The Lodger in almost every department. We don...
Hangover Square
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1945 /B&W / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date November 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders, Faye Marlowe, Glenn Langan, Alan Napier.
Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle
Film Editor: Harry Reynolds
Original Music: Bernard Herrmann
Written by Barré Lyndon
Produced by Robert Bassler
Directed by John Brahm
Here’s a serious quality upgrade for horror fans. Although technically a period murder thriller, as a horror film John Brahm’s tense Hangover Square betters its precursor The Lodger in almost every department. We don...
- 11/28/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Next to Universal, few studios have had such a big impact on horror than Rko Radio Pictures. Started in 1927, Rko was the first studio founded to make exclusively sound films, a then-brand-new invention that served as a major draw for the studio. Rko’s life was relatively short (it was killed just 30 years after forming), but during their time, they put out a seriously impressive number of classics, including Top Hat, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Informer, and most notably, Citizen Kane.
Of course, Rko didn’t shy away from horror. While their output wasn’t nearly as prolific as, say, Universal’s, it was still quite impressive, boasting some of the most formative and important horror films of old Hollywood. Rko saw the release of a few all-time classics, including I Walked With a Zombie, The Thing From Another World, King Kong, and the topic of today’s Crypt,...
Of course, Rko didn’t shy away from horror. While their output wasn’t nearly as prolific as, say, Universal’s, it was still quite impressive, boasting some of the most formative and important horror films of old Hollywood. Rko saw the release of a few all-time classics, including I Walked With a Zombie, The Thing From Another World, King Kong, and the topic of today’s Crypt,...
- 11/17/2017
- by Perry Ruhland
- DailyDead
Mark Harrison Oct 31, 2017
Want to enhance your horror movie? Make sure you sign up a cat...
This feature contains broad spoilers for several horror movies featuring cats, including Alien, Cat People, Drag Me To Hell, Fallen, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Pet Sematary and The Voices.
The relationship between humans and cats over time has given way to a number of cultural impressions and outright superstitions. Ancient Egyptians associated them with gods. In the Middle Ages, they were linked with witches and killed en masse, which probably hastened the spread of the Black Plague through the rodent population. And in the modern day, it's interchangeably lucky or not if a black cat crosses your path.
Like anything with such a wide array of symbolic links, movies have presented cats as characters in different ways over the years. It's their abiding association with the supernatural – whether as an omen...
Want to enhance your horror movie? Make sure you sign up a cat...
This feature contains broad spoilers for several horror movies featuring cats, including Alien, Cat People, Drag Me To Hell, Fallen, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Pet Sematary and The Voices.
The relationship between humans and cats over time has given way to a number of cultural impressions and outright superstitions. Ancient Egyptians associated them with gods. In the Middle Ages, they were linked with witches and killed en masse, which probably hastened the spread of the Black Plague through the rodent population. And in the modern day, it's interchangeably lucky or not if a black cat crosses your path.
Like anything with such a wide array of symbolic links, movies have presented cats as characters in different ways over the years. It's their abiding association with the supernatural – whether as an omen...
- 10/29/2017
- Den of Geek
(Aotn) Turner Classic Movies is bringing the horror next month. Starting on October 1st the channel will be bringing back movies such as the original Cat People and Dracula. Fan’s of classic movies will surely not want to miss this.
If you have ever wanted to know where the band White Zombie got there name be sure to tune in on Halloween morning at 8:30 Am. The Universal Monster’s are sprinkled throughout this marathon and will hopefully delight old school horror fans.
Complete Schedule Below:
Sunday October 1, 2017
8:00 Pm Dracula (1931) 9:30 Pm Dracula’s Daughter (1936) 11:00 Pm Son Of Dracula (1943)
Monday October 2, 2017
12:30 Am Nosferatu (1922)
Tuesday October 3, 2017
8:00 Pm Frankenstein (1931) 9:30 Pm Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) 11:00 Pm The Mummy (1932)
Wednesday October 4, 2017
12:30 Am The Wolf Man (1941) 2:00 Am Island Of Lost Souls (1933) 3:30 Am The Black Cat (1934) 4:45 Am The Invisible Man (1933)
Sunday October 8, 2017
2:00 Am Night...
If you have ever wanted to know where the band White Zombie got there name be sure to tune in on Halloween morning at 8:30 Am. The Universal Monster’s are sprinkled throughout this marathon and will hopefully delight old school horror fans.
Complete Schedule Below:
Sunday October 1, 2017
8:00 Pm Dracula (1931) 9:30 Pm Dracula’s Daughter (1936) 11:00 Pm Son Of Dracula (1943)
Monday October 2, 2017
12:30 Am Nosferatu (1922)
Tuesday October 3, 2017
8:00 Pm Frankenstein (1931) 9:30 Pm Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) 11:00 Pm The Mummy (1932)
Wednesday October 4, 2017
12:30 Am The Wolf Man (1941) 2:00 Am Island Of Lost Souls (1933) 3:30 Am The Black Cat (1934) 4:45 Am The Invisible Man (1933)
Sunday October 8, 2017
2:00 Am Night...
- 9/24/2017
- by Stephen Nepa
- Age of the Nerd
Back in the day, scary movies made frightened viewers cover their eyes. Today, younger audiences know better: They cover their ears.
Try it yourself: Find a trailer for a recent horror movie on YouTube, then watch it both with and without sound. Likely what you’ll find is as the trailer mounts toward a fright, so does the soundtrack until the scare, when it becomes a speaker-rattling blast of noise. Muffle the sound, and you’ve got a series of visuals that don’t say ‘boo!’ until the final moment.
Read More:‘mother!’: Why Darren Aronofsky and Jóhann Jóhannsson Scrapped the Original Score for a More Expressive Soundscape
However, this isn’t the sole domain of trailer editors. It’s also become a staple of modern horror movies, including the hit adaptation of Stephen King’s “It.”
“It” features a terrifying character/supernatural force, disgusting hard-to-look-at-gore, spooky atmospherics that...
Try it yourself: Find a trailer for a recent horror movie on YouTube, then watch it both with and without sound. Likely what you’ll find is as the trailer mounts toward a fright, so does the soundtrack until the scare, when it becomes a speaker-rattling blast of noise. Muffle the sound, and you’ve got a series of visuals that don’t say ‘boo!’ until the final moment.
Read More:‘mother!’: Why Darren Aronofsky and Jóhann Jóhannsson Scrapped the Original Score for a More Expressive Soundscape
However, this isn’t the sole domain of trailer editors. It’s also become a staple of modern horror movies, including the hit adaptation of Stephen King’s “It.”
“It” features a terrifying character/supernatural force, disgusting hard-to-look-at-gore, spooky atmospherics that...
- 9/12/2017
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWe are devastated by the death of performer and director Jerry Lewis this week at the age of 91, one of the 20th century's greatest—and most inspiring—artists. Dave Kehr for The New York Times has penned an excellent obituary, and it's worth revisiting Christoph Huber's 2013 coverage of the Viennale's epic retrospective of Lewis's work as an actor and a filmmaker. Last year, Adrian Curry published a selection of the international poster designs for Lewis's films.The Locarno Festival wrapped last week, with the top prize going to Chinese documentarian Wang Bing's Mrs. Fang. We were at the festival covering it day by day, including its retrospective of Hollywood genre director Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, Out of the Past). See all the awards and read our coverage from the Swiss film festival.Recommended VIEWINGThe...
- 8/23/2017
- MUBI
9 DoigtsThis year at the Locarno Festival I am looking for specific images, moments, techniques, qualities or scenes from films across the 70th edition's selection that grabbed me and have lingered past and beyond the next movie seen, whose characters, story and images have already begun to overwrite those that came just before.***The bracing discovery a one-act opera by Arnold Schönberg in Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet’s From Today Until Tomorrow (1996), which is playing in the festival's Pardo d’onore tribute to Straub. Encountering a film by the husband and wife duo of Straub-Huillet is always at double meeting: one, with the perspective of their filmmaking, but also with whatever source material they are transforming into cinema, whether Bach’s music, dialogues by Cesare Pavese, or in this case, a short opera from 1928 by Schönberg. Where most adaptations for the cinema smother their sources to supposedly be more optimized for the seventh art,...
- 8/11/2017
- MUBI
The Brazilian filmmakers Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra have been working together for over a decade now. After an award-winning career in short films, their feature debut Hard Labor (2011) world premiered at Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. Following this, the two writer-directors pursued their solo careers, continuing to explore the genre of horror and musical. I interviewed the duo about their long-awaited reunion for their new film Good Manners (2017), which will have its world premiere as part of the International Competition at the 70th Locarno Film Festival.Notebook: The two of you have been working together for over a decade now. How do you understand the development of this long time partnership?We met in film school when we were at the end of our teens. What first brought us together was our common interest in musicals, fantasy and horror films. These are the kinds of...
- 8/5/2017
- MUBI
This year Locarno International Film Festival celebrates its 70th anniversary. It is one of the most admired and respected film festivals in the world and historically a festival that has been combining tradition and innovation. We had the privilege to discuss some ideas on cinema, curatorship and festivals worldwide with its artistic director Carlo Chatrian, who has been running Locarno for 5 years now.Notebook: Can you share a few thoughts of what we can expect from the 70th edition of the Locarno Film Festival?Carlo Chatrian: Locarno reaches its 70th edition, but we do not want to make a simple celebration. Instead, we want to look ahead rather than look back to the great history of the festival. That's why we decided to have a special section called the Locarno70 which will show debut films that have premiered in Locarno all through its long history. For me, it’s a...
- 7/31/2017
- MUBI
If anyone wrote the book on complicated parental relations, it’s Anthony Perkins. While Mother is nowhere to be found, this time around Tony is having Daddy issues in How Awful About Allan (1970), an effective, low key TV thriller directed by Curtis Harrington (The Dead Don’t Die). As long as you can leave Norman up in his room, you should have a good time.
Originally airing as an ABC Movie of the Week (because of course) on Tuesday, September 22nd, Allan had to contend with Hee Haw/All in the Family on CBS and the NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies. At the time however, ABC had this format on lockdown with audiences, and for good reason – they always brought in top shelf talent to display on the small screen, and How Awful About Allan is certainly no exception.
Let’s dig out our trusty and totally unreal TV...
Originally airing as an ABC Movie of the Week (because of course) on Tuesday, September 22nd, Allan had to contend with Hee Haw/All in the Family on CBS and the NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies. At the time however, ABC had this format on lockdown with audiences, and for good reason – they always brought in top shelf talent to display on the small screen, and How Awful About Allan is certainly no exception.
Let’s dig out our trusty and totally unreal TV...
- 7/23/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSOver the weekend we lost two greats: Filmmaker George A. Romero, best known for inventing the modern version of all things zombie, and actor Martin Landau. Patton Oswalt has pointed out that a 19-year-old Romero worked as a pageboy on North by Northwest, Landau's second movie.The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has again added more names to its membership, and this latest batch includes even more unexpected additions from the world of international art cinema, including directors Pedro Costa, Lav Diaz, Ann Hui, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Kira Muratova, Johnnie To and Athina Rachel Tsangari.Did you see that the lineup of the Locarno Film Festival has been announced? With a huge retrospective devoted to Cat People director Jacques Tourneur and a competition including new films by Wang Bing, F.J. Ossang, Ben Russell,...
- 7/19/2017
- MUBI
Fourth of July movies: A few recommended titles that should help you temporarily escape current global madness Two thousand and seventeen has been a weirder-than-usual year on the already pretty weird Planet Earth. Unsurprisingly, this Fourth of July, the day the United States celebrates its Declaration of Independence from the British Empire, has been an unusual one as well. Instead of fireworks, (at least some) people's attention has been turned to missiles – more specifically, a carefully timed North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile test indicating that Kim Jong-un could theoretically gain (or could already have?) the capacity to strike North America with nuclear weapons. Then there were right-wing trolls & history-deficient Twitter users berating National Public Radio for tweeting the Declaration of Independence, 140 characters at a time. Besides, a few days ago the current U.S. president retweeted a video of himself body-slamming and choking a representation of CNN – courtesy of a gif originally created by a far-right Internet...
- 7/5/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Turner Classic Movies continues with its Gay Hollywood presentations tonight and tomorrow morning, June 8–9. Seven movies will be shown about, featuring, directed, or produced by the following: Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Farley Granger, John Dall, Edmund Goulding, W. Somerset Maughan, Clifton Webb, Montgomery Clift, Raymond Burr, Charles Walters, DeWitt Bodeen, and Harriet Parsons. (One assumes that it's a mere coincidence that gay rumor subjects Cary Grant and Tyrone Power are also featured.) Night and Day (1946), which could also be considered part of TCM's homage to birthday girl Alexis Smith, who would have turned 96 today, is a Cole Porter biopic starring Cary Grant as a posh, heterosexualized version of Porter. As the warning goes, any similaries to real-life people and/or events found in Night and Day are a mere coincidence. The same goes for Words and Music (1948), a highly fictionalized version of the Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart musical partnership.
- 6/9/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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
Here’s a real gem — a ‘classic’ Chekhov story turned into a compelling tale of lust and murder. George Sanders and Linda Darnell shine as a judge and the peasant girl who intrigues him; Edward Everett Horton is excellent cast against type in a dramatic role.
Summer Storm
DVD
Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker
1944 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 106 min. / Street Date October 20, 2009 (I’m a little late) / available through Sprocket Vault / 14.99
Starring: George Sanders, Edward Everett Horton, Linda Darnell, Anna Lee, Hugo Haas, Lori Lahner, Sig Ruman, Robert Greig, Byron Foulger, Mike Mazurki, Elizabeth Russell.
Cinematography: Archie Stout, Eugen Schüfftan
Art Direction: Rudi Feld
Collaborating Editor: Gregg G. Tallas
Original Music: Karl Hajos
Written by Roland Leigh, Douglas Sirk (as Michael O’Hara), Robert Theoren based on the play The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov
Produced by Seymour Nebenzal
Directed by Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk, born Hans Detlef Sierck, had a pretty amazing career.
Summer Storm
DVD
Sprocket Vault / Kit Parker
1944 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 106 min. / Street Date October 20, 2009 (I’m a little late) / available through Sprocket Vault / 14.99
Starring: George Sanders, Edward Everett Horton, Linda Darnell, Anna Lee, Hugo Haas, Lori Lahner, Sig Ruman, Robert Greig, Byron Foulger, Mike Mazurki, Elizabeth Russell.
Cinematography: Archie Stout, Eugen Schüfftan
Art Direction: Rudi Feld
Collaborating Editor: Gregg G. Tallas
Original Music: Karl Hajos
Written by Roland Leigh, Douglas Sirk (as Michael O’Hara), Robert Theoren based on the play The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov
Produced by Seymour Nebenzal
Directed by Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk, born Hans Detlef Sierck, had a pretty amazing career.
- 3/18/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A breathtaking mansion becomes the backdrop of grisly murders in The Spiral Staircase, a 1946 thriller co-starring Ethel Barrymore and coming to Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Kino Lorber.
A release date, cover art, and special features for The Sprial Staircase Blu-ray and DVD have not yet been revealed, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on this release. In the meantime, you can check out the official announcement from Kino Lorber below, as well as the film's trailer.
From Kino Lorber: "Coming Soon on DVD and Blu-ray!
Oscar Nominee: Best Supporting Actress (Barrymore)
The Spiral Staircase (1946) Starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Elsa Lachester and Sara Allgood - Based on a Novel by Ethel Lina White (The Lady Vanishes) - Shot by Nicholas Musuraca (Out of the Past, Cat People) - Directed by Robert Siodmak (Criss Cross, Cry of the City)"
Synopsis (via Blu-ray.
A release date, cover art, and special features for The Sprial Staircase Blu-ray and DVD have not yet been revealed, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on this release. In the meantime, you can check out the official announcement from Kino Lorber below, as well as the film's trailer.
From Kino Lorber: "Coming Soon on DVD and Blu-ray!
Oscar Nominee: Best Supporting Actress (Barrymore)
The Spiral Staircase (1946) Starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Elsa Lachester and Sara Allgood - Based on a Novel by Ethel Lina White (The Lady Vanishes) - Shot by Nicholas Musuraca (Out of the Past, Cat People) - Directed by Robert Siodmak (Criss Cross, Cry of the City)"
Synopsis (via Blu-ray.
- 2/16/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
This years Locarno Film Festival will be dedicated to French filmmaker Jacques Tourneur (1904-1977), featuring a complete retrospective of this work.
Tourneur was the son of director Maurice Tourneur, a pioneer of French cinema. The family moved to the U.S. before the outbreak of World War I.
After the war, the younger Tourneur returned to France to launch his film career, but after four films went back to the States. After working on the second unit of David O. Selznick’s A Tale of Two Cities, he partnered with producer Val Lewton at Rko, collaborating on milestone films including Cat People (1942), The...
Tourneur was the son of director Maurice Tourneur, a pioneer of French cinema. The family moved to the U.S. before the outbreak of World War I.
After the war, the younger Tourneur returned to France to launch his film career, but after four films went back to the States. After working on the second unit of David O. Selznick’s A Tale of Two Cities, he partnered with producer Val Lewton at Rko, collaborating on milestone films including Cat People (1942), The...
- 1/19/2017
- by Ariston Anderson
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Something Wild
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 850
1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 17, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock, Jean Stapleton, Martin Kosleck, Charles Watts, Clifton James, Doris Roberts, Anita Cooper, Tanya Lopert.
Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan
Film Editor: Carl Lerner
Original Music: Aaron Copland
Written by Jack Garfein and Alex Karmel from his novel Mary Ann
Produced by George Justin
Directed by Jack Garfein
After writing up an earlier Mod disc release of the 1961 movie Something Wild, I received a brief but welcome email note from its director:
“Dear Glenn Erickson,
Thank you for your profound appreciation of Something Wild.
If possible, I would appreciate if you could send
me a copy of your review by email.
Sincerely yours, Jack Garfein”
Somewhere back East (or in London), the Actors Studio legend Jack Garfein had found favor with the review. Although...
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 850
1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 17, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock, Jean Stapleton, Martin Kosleck, Charles Watts, Clifton James, Doris Roberts, Anita Cooper, Tanya Lopert.
Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan
Film Editor: Carl Lerner
Original Music: Aaron Copland
Written by Jack Garfein and Alex Karmel from his novel Mary Ann
Produced by George Justin
Directed by Jack Garfein
After writing up an earlier Mod disc release of the 1961 movie Something Wild, I received a brief but welcome email note from its director:
“Dear Glenn Erickson,
Thank you for your profound appreciation of Something Wild.
If possible, I would appreciate if you could send
me a copy of your review by email.
Sincerely yours, Jack Garfein”
Somewhere back East (or in London), the Actors Studio legend Jack Garfein had found favor with the review. Although...
- 1/10/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.Hector BabencoArgentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of
We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.
Hector Babenco
Argentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.
He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of The Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned a best director Oscar nominee and William Hurt earned an Oscar win for best actor.
Babenco went on to direct Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in Ironweed (1987) and Tom Berenger and John Lithgow in At Play In The Fields Of The Lord (1991).
After undergoing cancer treatment in the 1990s, he returned to the director’s chair for films including Brazilian prison...
We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.
Hector Babenco
Argentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.
He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of The Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned a best director Oscar nominee and William Hurt earned an Oscar win for best actor.
Babenco went on to direct Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in Ironweed (1987) and Tom Berenger and John Lithgow in At Play In The Fields Of The Lord (1991).
After undergoing cancer treatment in the 1990s, he returned to the director’s chair for films including Brazilian prison...
- 12/31/2016
- ScreenDaily
“Claws, Lust, And Lewton”
By Raymond Benson
Sometimes brilliance in Hollywood comes in very modest packages. Who would have thought that a string of horror films made on shoestring budgets, with no star power, and little attention from the studio, would become classics in style and cinematic poetry?
That’s what happened when, in 1942, producer Val Lewton was put in charge of a division at Rko Radio Pictures with the directive to make a series of ridiculously inexpensive movies intended to be competition for Universal’s successful franchise of monster flicks. Lewton—a former novelist and poet—had previously worked for MGM and, in particular, David O. Selznick, before being hired by Rko. He brought this experience along with his literary background to the table when he was told he could do anything he wanted as long as the budget for each film did not exceed $150,000.
Thus, there wasn’t...
By Raymond Benson
Sometimes brilliance in Hollywood comes in very modest packages. Who would have thought that a string of horror films made on shoestring budgets, with no star power, and little attention from the studio, would become classics in style and cinematic poetry?
That’s what happened when, in 1942, producer Val Lewton was put in charge of a division at Rko Radio Pictures with the directive to make a series of ridiculously inexpensive movies intended to be competition for Universal’s successful franchise of monster flicks. Lewton—a former novelist and poet—had previously worked for MGM and, in particular, David O. Selznick, before being hired by Rko. He brought this experience along with his literary background to the table when he was told he could do anything he wanted as long as the budget for each film did not exceed $150,000.
Thus, there wasn’t...
- 10/12/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
★★★★★ Hollywood producer Val Lewton was known for taking B-grade movie concepts handed to him by studio executives and elevating them to become more than the sum of their parts. Being both a taut psychological melodrama and highly effective chiller, Cat People is arguably Lewton's best known and most lauded film. Its masterstroke lies in a constant awareness of its audience, using their expectations of its B-movie horror title to draw out the film's tension.
- 9/27/2016
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
NEWSJackieThe Toronto International Film Festival has wrapped and its winners (such as they are) have been announced, including Damien Chazelle's La La Land (read our take) and Pablo Larraín's Jackie. Our full index of coverage, as well as our favorite films, can be found here—stay tuned for director interviews! Meanwhile, if you want the truly best and most comprehensive review of the many, many films that played in Toronto, we highly recommend Cinema Scope's coverage.Director Curtis Hanson, best known for L.A. Confidential, has died at the age of 71.Netflix is going to produce a 10-episode version of Spike Lee's debut film, She's Gotta Have It, with Lee returning to direct.Recommended VIEWINGThe trailer for a movie we hadn't realized existed: Costa-Gavras's Missing, Palme d'Or and Best Actor Winner—for Jack Lemmon—at Cannes in 1982. Also starring Sissy Spacek, the film is newly restored and ripe for our ignorant re-discovery.
- 9/21/2016
- MUBI
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
Blood Simple (Joel and Ethan Coen)
For as accomplished as Joel and Ethan Coen’s debut Blood Simple comes across as to a viewer, like any director, they can’t help but recognize their flaws. That’s not to say their newly restored debut, now available on The Criterion Collection, doesn’t look and sound gorgeous — every bead of sweat dripping down M. Emmet Walsh’s face and every gun blow feels like you’re right there in...
Blood Simple (Joel and Ethan Coen)
For as accomplished as Joel and Ethan Coen’s debut Blood Simple comes across as to a viewer, like any director, they can’t help but recognize their flaws. That’s not to say their newly restored debut, now available on The Criterion Collection, doesn’t look and sound gorgeous — every bead of sweat dripping down M. Emmet Walsh’s face and every gun blow feels like you’re right there in...
- 9/20/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The third week of September has a lot of fantastic horror and sci-fi home entertainment offerings coming our way, including an incredible pair of Criterion Blu-ray releases—Cat People (1942) and Blood Simple—as well as the 30th Anniversary Edition of Labyrinth and the Special Edition of Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Dead End Drive-In. Other notable titles being released on September 20th include the horror doc The Blackout Experiments (which premiered earlier this year at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival), Sacrifice, The Rift (1990), Beware! The Blob, and a Blu-ray set featuring all kinds of Twin Peaks goodness.
Beware! The Blob (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray & DVD)
Newly Re-mastered in HD! The Blob returns... more outrageous than ever in this 1972 sequel to the popular sci-fi classic! Plenty of familiar faces, including Robert Walker Jr. (Ensign Pulver), Larry Hagman (Dallas), Sid Haig (Busting), Burgess Meredith (Rocky), Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough), Godfrey Cambridge...
Beware! The Blob (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray & DVD)
Newly Re-mastered in HD! The Blob returns... more outrageous than ever in this 1972 sequel to the popular sci-fi classic! Plenty of familiar faces, including Robert Walker Jr. (Ensign Pulver), Larry Hagman (Dallas), Sid Haig (Busting), Burgess Meredith (Rocky), Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough), Godfrey Cambridge...
- 9/20/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
This kitty needs no introduction: Simone Simon is the purring-sweet immigrant with a dark atavistic secret. It's Val Lewton's debut smash hit. The real hero is director Jacques Tourneur, who conveys a feeling of real life being lived that won over audiences of 1942 and drew them into his web of fantasy. Cat People Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 833 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 73 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 20, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Jack Holt, Elizabeth Russell, Theresa Harris. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Art Direction Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller Film Editor Mark Robson Original Music Roy Webb Written by De Witt Bodeen Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Val Lewton never had to be 'discovered,' actually. Life magazine awarded him his own photo layout and the critics praised him as the maker of a new brand of psychologically based horror films.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Val Lewton never had to be 'discovered,' actually. Life magazine awarded him his own photo layout and the critics praised him as the maker of a new brand of psychologically based horror films.
- 9/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This time on the Newsstand, Ryan is joined by David Blakeslee and Keith Enright to discuss the September line-up from Criterion, a number of the phantom pages that have gone up recently, and a few other pieces of news.
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Topics Criterion Completion Podcast September 2016 Criterion Collection Line-up John Waters’ Multiple Maniacs Tarkovsky Blu-rays from Artificial Eye Phantom Pages Galore Cameraperson Night Train To Munich Night Train to Munich (1940) Night Train to Munich Episode 85 – Carol Reed’s Night Train To Munich June 2010 Criterion Collection New Releases Announced! Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman The November 2013 Criterion Collection Line-up: … The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939) Kenji Mizoguchi – Explore Watch The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum | Hulu The Boland Design Co. Wacky New Years Drawing Hints At The Criterion Collection’s...
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Contact us with any feedback.
Topics Criterion Completion Podcast September 2016 Criterion Collection Line-up John Waters’ Multiple Maniacs Tarkovsky Blu-rays from Artificial Eye Phantom Pages Galore Cameraperson Night Train To Munich Night Train to Munich (1940) Night Train to Munich Episode 85 – Carol Reed’s Night Train To Munich June 2010 Criterion Collection New Releases Announced! Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman The November 2013 Criterion Collection Line-up: … The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939) Kenji Mizoguchi – Explore Watch The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum | Hulu The Boland Design Co. Wacky New Years Drawing Hints At The Criterion Collection’s...
- 6/23/2016
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSAnton Yelchin in Green RoomUnexpected and tragic news at the end of the weekend was that actor Anton Yelchin (Star Trek, Only Lovers Left Alive, Joe Dante's Burying the Ex, Green Room) was accidentally killed at his home.French New Wave director Éric Rohmer was intensely private, so details of his long, productive life have generally been slim. But now, as Richard Brody writes at the New Yorker, a 2014 biography by Antoine de Baecque and Noël Herpe has been translated into English, and makes for essential reading about one of cinema's greats.We won't get properly excited until, first, the cameras are rolling, and second, there's a hope of some kind of release date, but The Film Stage has gathered enough evidence to point towards what Terrence Malick's next film will be: Radegund,...
- 6/22/2016
- MUBI
September will be an epic month for the Criterion Collection and home video enthusiasts alike. The big release is probably Krzysztof Kieślowski's epic 10-part masterpiece, Dekalog, which will be out on Blu-ray and DVD and is also getting a theatrical release. Fans of the sleazy Valley of the Dolls and Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls will also be treated to new Blu-ray and DVD editions. I first saw the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple on television and I'm sure I won't recognize it on a Criterion Blu-ray. My personal pick of these releases, though, is Jacques Tourneur's Cat People, which remains a vital and vibrant thriller and should look quite amazing on Blu. There's also Kenji Mizoguchi's The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums,...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 6/17/2016
- Screen Anarchy
September will be an epic month for the Criterion Collection and home video enthusiasts alike. The big release is probably Krzysztof Kieślowski's epic 10-part masterpiece, Dekalog, which will be out on Blu-ray and DVD and is also getting a theatrical release. Fans of the sleazy Valley of the Dolls and Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls will also be treated to new Blu-ray and DVD editions. I first saw the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple on television and I'm sure I won't recognize it on a Criterion Blu-ray. My personal pick of these releases, though, is Jacques Tourneur's Cat People, which remains a vital and vibrant thriller and should look quite amazing on Blu. There's also Kenji Mizoguchi's The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums,...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 6/17/2016
- Screen Anarchy
September tends to be the time of year that movie studios start busting out the big guns, and 2016 finds the Criterion Collection following suit, as the boutique home video label will be releasing one of the most significant cinematic landmarks on which they’ve yet to put their stamp.
Krzysztof Kieślowski’s mammoth “Dekalog” makes the company’s September lineup something of a bumper crop in and of itself, but — lucky for us — it’ll be accompanied by an essential Kenji Mizoguchi classic, two ample doses of Jacqueline Susann-inspired campiness, some old school Coen brothers and much more. Check out the full release slate below, listed in rough order of our excitement for each title.
1.) “Dekalog” (dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1988), Spine #837
This would be at the very top of the list regardless of what else Criterion is releasing in September. One of the greatest achievements in all of film (though...
Krzysztof Kieślowski’s mammoth “Dekalog” makes the company’s September lineup something of a bumper crop in and of itself, but — lucky for us — it’ll be accompanied by an essential Kenji Mizoguchi classic, two ample doses of Jacqueline Susann-inspired campiness, some old school Coen brothers and much more. Check out the full release slate below, listed in rough order of our excitement for each title.
1.) “Dekalog” (dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1988), Spine #837
This would be at the very top of the list regardless of what else Criterion is releasing in September. One of the greatest achievements in all of film (though...
- 6/16/2016
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
The Criterion Collection’s monthly line-ups are never a let-down, but every so often one comes along that truly drops your jaw. That’s the case in the just-announced September slate as we will finally get a restoration of Krzysztof Kieślowski‘s 10-part epic The Decalogue, as well as Coens‘ debut Blood Simple, a Valley of the Dolls double feature, Jacques Tourneur‘s Cat People, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum by Kenji Mizoguchi, and Carol Reed‘s Night Train to Munich.
Notable bonus features include restorations of A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love in the Kieślowski set, new interviews with the Coens and cast & crew for Blood Simple, Kent Jones‘ documentary Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows with Cat People, and more. Check out the line-up below and click each for full details.
Note: Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman will also be getting a Blu-ray only release.
What’s your most-anticipated Criterion release of September?...
Notable bonus features include restorations of A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love in the Kieślowski set, new interviews with the Coens and cast & crew for Blood Simple, Kent Jones‘ documentary Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows with Cat People, and more. Check out the line-up below and click each for full details.
Note: Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman will also be getting a Blu-ray only release.
What’s your most-anticipated Criterion release of September?...
- 6/16/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A few years ago the editors of Shadowlocked asked me to compile a list of what was initially to be, the ten greatest movie matte paintings of all time. A mere ten selections was too slim by a long shot, so my list stretched considerably to twenty, then thirty and finally a nice round fifty entries. Even with that number I found it wasn’t easy to narrow down a suitably wide ranging showcase of motion picture matte art that best represented the artform. So with that in mind, and due to the surprising popularity of that 2012 Shadowlocked list (which is well worth a visit, here Ed), I’ve assembled a further fifty wonderful examples of this vast, vital and more extensively utilised than you’d imagine – though now sadly ‘dead and buried’ – movie magic.
It would of course be so easy to simply concentrate on the well known, iconic,...
It would of course be so easy to simply concentrate on the well known, iconic,...
- 12/28/2015
- Shadowlocked
Before he would be forever marked by the Hollywood Blacklist, Edward Dmytryk churned out a succession of B movies in the late 1930s and early 1940s, averaging a handful of projects a year (he had six films in 1941 alone). Right before his first major breakthrough with 1944’s film noir classic Murder, My Sweet, he’d churn out a quintet of wide-ranging projects the year prior. In between a monster movie for Universal (Captive Wild Woman starring Acquanetta), Dmytryk completed four war related items, including Tender Comrade with Ginger Rogers dealing with a new living situation while Robert Ryan serves overseas, the noir-ish The Falcon Strikes Back which concerns a phony war bond operation, and then an exploration of the rise of militarism in Japan as experienced by a returning veteran with Behind the Rising Sun. But none of these hold a candle to another title he unleashed that year, the sensational Hitler’s Children,...
- 12/22/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider. His big...
No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider. His big...
- 11/23/2015
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Special Mention: Dead Ringers
Directed by David Cronenberg
Written by David Cronenberg and Norman Snider
Canada, 1988
Genre: Thriller / Drama
Dead Ringers is one of David Cronenberg’s masterpieces, and Jeremy Irons gives the most highly accomplished performance of his entire career – times two. This is the story of Beverly and Elliot Mantle (both played by Irons), identical twins who, since birth, have been inseparable. Together, they work as gynecologists in their own clinic, and literally share everything between them, including the women they work and sleep with. Jealousy comes between the two when Beverly falls in love with a new patient and decides he no longer wants to share his lady friend with Elliot. The twins, who have always existed together as one, have trouble adapting and soon turn against one another. Unlike the director’s previous films, the biological horror in Dead Ringers is entirely conveyed through the psychological...
Directed by David Cronenberg
Written by David Cronenberg and Norman Snider
Canada, 1988
Genre: Thriller / Drama
Dead Ringers is one of David Cronenberg’s masterpieces, and Jeremy Irons gives the most highly accomplished performance of his entire career – times two. This is the story of Beverly and Elliot Mantle (both played by Irons), identical twins who, since birth, have been inseparable. Together, they work as gynecologists in their own clinic, and literally share everything between them, including the women they work and sleep with. Jealousy comes between the two when Beverly falls in love with a new patient and decides he no longer wants to share his lady friend with Elliot. The twins, who have always existed together as one, have trouble adapting and soon turn against one another. Unlike the director’s previous films, the biological horror in Dead Ringers is entirely conveyed through the psychological...
- 10/29/2015
- by Ricky Fernandes
- SoundOnSight
After The Seventh Victim‘s disappointing returns, Val Lewton and Rko clashed over their next project. Lewton wanted a comedy, provisionally titled The Amorous Ghost, as a change of pace; studio boss Sid Rogell, Lewton’s bete noir, insisted on a sequel to Cat People, which Lewton resisted. Then Rko suggested a Universal-style monster rally, They Creep By Night, reuniting villains from past Lewton pictures. Charles Koerner rescued Lewton from this absurd prospect by pitching a maritime thriller. “Call it The Ghost Ship,” Koerner ordered. Lewton also scored a big, though past-his-prime star in Richard Dix, an Oscar nominee for Cimarron (1931).
The result is equal parts The Sea Wolf and M, with a dash of Edgar Allan Poe. Tom Miriam signs on as third officer on the ill-starred freighter Altair, ruled by Captain Stone (Richard Dix). At first Stone merely seems strict, but his homilies about authority take on a...
The result is equal parts The Sea Wolf and M, with a dash of Edgar Allan Poe. Tom Miriam signs on as third officer on the ill-starred freighter Altair, ruled by Captain Stone (Richard Dix). At first Stone merely seems strict, but his homilies about authority take on a...
- 10/29/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
The jump scare is a uniquely horror movie convention. Where some movies use it as an excuse to play peekaboo and assault you with noise, others use it as a way to shatter your complacency as a viewer. It’s the purest form of scare: something bursts out of a dark corner, a loud noise cuts the tension, or a jolt to the plot comes on so unexpected, you don’t know what hit you. It may just be a momentary fright, but a good horror movie will put you on edge and keep you there.
****
Alien (1979)- No blood, no Dallas
Horror purists are of the mind that jumps are cheap, and, for the most part, they are. Yet, in those nerve-wracking scenes, when a director knows exactly what they are doing, it’s riveting. I’ve always prided myself on not being one of those people who gets jumpy during a horror movie,...
****
Alien (1979)- No blood, no Dallas
Horror purists are of the mind that jumps are cheap, and, for the most part, they are. Yet, in those nerve-wracking scenes, when a director knows exactly what they are doing, it’s riveting. I’ve always prided myself on not being one of those people who gets jumpy during a horror movie,...
- 10/28/2015
- by Staff
- SoundOnSight
Val Lewton’s third horror film, The Leopard Man (1943) initially seemed promising. Based on Cornell Woolrich’s novel Black Alibi, it had more pedigree than Lewton’s previous movies. He reunited his previous team: director Jacques Tourneur, writer Ardel Wray, even Dynamite, the black leopard from Cat People. Forced again to film on the Rko lot, he sent Wray to photograph Santa Fe, New Mexico and crafted meticulous sets around her snapshots. Despite this attention to detail, The Leopard Man is one of Lewton’s weakest efforts.
The plot is simple enough. Nightclub entertainers James (Dennis O’Keefe) and Kiki (Jean Brooks) arrive in Santa Fe with a leopard in tow; Kiki’s rival Clo-Clo (Margo) scares the cat, which escapes into the city. The leopard kills a Mexican girl, sending the city into a panic. Several other women die, but James grows convinced that the leopard isn’t behind them.
The plot is simple enough. Nightclub entertainers James (Dennis O’Keefe) and Kiki (Jean Brooks) arrive in Santa Fe with a leopard in tow; Kiki’s rival Clo-Clo (Margo) scares the cat, which escapes into the city. The leopard kills a Mexican girl, sending the city into a panic. Several other women die, but James grows convinced that the leopard isn’t behind them.
- 10/13/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
Val Lewton, Russian émigré turned horror master, was a reporter, pulp novelist and MGM publicity writer before moving into film. He spent the 1930s as David O. Selznick’s story editor, directing second unit work on A Tale of Two Cities (1935) and script doctoring Gone With the Wind (1939), warning Selznick it would be “the mistake of his life.” While not Hollywood’s most prescient man, Lewton’s professionalism earned Selznick’s respect, and their collaboration led to Rko offering Lewton a producing job in 1942.
Rko was reeling from Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons, an expensive flop forcing a refocus on low budget films. Charles Koerner headed the studio’s B Unit, envisioning a horror series inspired by Universal Studio’s successful franchises. Where Universal culled from established literature (Dracula, Frankenstein), Rko worked from Koerner’s whim: he created a title and left the filmmakers to handle trivia like plot and characters.
Rko was reeling from Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons, an expensive flop forcing a refocus on low budget films. Charles Koerner headed the studio’s B Unit, envisioning a horror series inspired by Universal Studio’s successful franchises. Where Universal culled from established literature (Dracula, Frankenstein), Rko worked from Koerner’s whim: he created a title and left the filmmakers to handle trivia like plot and characters.
- 10/6/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
As far as Hollywood was concerned, hardboiled pulp author Raymond Chandler was big news in 1944 and 1945, working with Billy Wilder on the Production Code breakthrough hit Double Indemnity, and getting two of his popular Philip Marlowe books transposed to the screen -- and not completely shorn of their racy content. Savant Blu-ray Review The Warner Archive Collection Warner Archive Collection 1944 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date September 15, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger, Mike Mazurki. Cinematography Harry J. Wild Art Direction Carroll Clark, Albert S. D'Agostino Film Editor Joseph Noriega Original Music Roy Webb Written by John Paxton from Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler Produced by Sid Rogell, Adrian Scott Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Many films noirs seem to come from the same stylistic universe, in terms of themes and visuals. But a few of the...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Many films noirs seem to come from the same stylistic universe, in terms of themes and visuals. But a few of the...
- 9/1/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In the history of soggy underwater adventures, none have been been soggier than this A.I.P. Panavision curiosity from England. Four out of five insomniacs agree: it has the most awkwardly mis-matched cast of players in fantasy film history... starting with a chicken. Kl Studio Classics Savant Blu-ray Review 1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 84 min. / City in the Sea / Street Date August ll, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Vincent Price, Tab Hunter, David Tomlinson, Susan Hart, John Le Mesurier, Harry Oscar, Derek Newark, Roy Patrick, Herbert the Rooster. Cinematography Stephen Dade Film Editor Gordon Hales Original Music Stanley Black Written by Charles Bennett, Louis M. Heyward, David Whitaker based on City in the Sea by Edgar Allan Poe Produced by Daniel Haller Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
By 1965 American-International Pictures was looking in all directions, trying to hit on new themes to replace the monsters...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
By 1965 American-International Pictures was looking in all directions, trying to hit on new themes to replace the monsters...
- 8/25/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Few comics sit at the intersection of “fan beloved,” “industry defining,” and “absolutely impossible to acquire” the way the EC Comics library does. For a while they almost felt like Comics’ very own Holy Grail. On one hand, you’ve got the Tales From The Crypt brand itself, which has left an indelible mark on pop culture with films, cable TV series, Saturday morning cartoons, and a line of revival graphic novels from Papercutz — a proud legacy, to be sure. But on the other hand, you enter into the more nebulous region of pop cultural osmosis, and it’s there that the legend of Bill Gaines’ little comic line that could grows to gargantuan levels. The baby boomers that ate his ghoulish “mags” up in the early ‘50s eventually grew into the genre fiction movers and shakers of the ‘70s and ‘80s — from cult directors like George Romero and Joe Dante,...
- 6/23/2015
- by Luke Dorian Blackwood
- SoundOnSight
African-American film 'Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day.' With Williams and Odessa Warren Grey.* Rare, early 20th-century African-American film among San Francisco Silent Film Festival highlights Directed by Edwin Middleton and T. Hayes Hunter, the Biograph Company's Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913) was the film I most looked forward to at the 2015 edition of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. One hundred years old, unfinished, and destined to be scrapped and tossed into the dust bin, it rose from the ashes. Starring entertainer Bert Williams – whose film appearances have virtually disappeared, but whose legacy lives on – Lime Kiln Club Field Day has become a rare example of African-American life in the first years of the 20th century. In the introduction to the film, the audience was treated to a treasure trove of Black memorabilia: sheet music, stills, promotional material, and newspaper clippings that survive. Details of the...
- 6/16/2015
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
Evan falls hard for Louise after arriving in Italy. He doesn't know that much about her, but he's in love with her just the same. The more he discovers about her, though, the more he realizes just how different Louise is from anyone he's known before. Lovecraftian love abounds in Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's Spring, coming out on Blu-ray and DVD as a Best Buy exclusive on June 2nd before hitting other stores on August 11th, and we have the film's home media release details and cover art:
Press Release -- "A young American in a personal tailspin heads to Europe to escape his past and falls for a beautiful woman with a dark and deadly secret in the unique and unforgettable Spring. From Drafthouse Films, FilmBuff and Anchor Bay, the genre-bending horror romance that's been described as a brilliant cross between Before Sunrise and An American Werewolf in London...
Press Release -- "A young American in a personal tailspin heads to Europe to escape his past and falls for a beautiful woman with a dark and deadly secret in the unique and unforgettable Spring. From Drafthouse Films, FilmBuff and Anchor Bay, the genre-bending horror romance that's been described as a brilliant cross between Before Sunrise and An American Werewolf in London...
- 4/16/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Simone Simon: Remembering the 'Cat People' and 'La Bête Humaine' star (photo: Simone Simon 'Cat People' publicity) Pert, pretty, pouty, and fiery-tempered Simone Simon – who died at age 94 ten years ago, on Feb. 22, 2005 – is best known for her starring role in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic Cat People (1942). Those aware of the existence of film industries outside Hollywood will also remember Simon for her button-nosed femme fatale in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938).[1] In fact, long before Brigitte Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, Ann-Margret, and Barbarella's Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm – with a tad of puppy dog wistfulness – in a film career that spanned two continents and a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both...
- 2/20/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Stars: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone | Directed by Jacques Tourneur
If you are anything like me and were told that the cast of a film was Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone you’d be handing over your money to see it without question. Add to this cast a director like Jacques Tourneur famous for films like The Cat People and Night of the Demon and this has classic written all over it. Arrow Video have released Comedy of Terrors on Blu-ray and DVD, while it may not be a perfect film, there is a charm that is undeniable and infectious that make it hard not to fall for.
In Comedy of Terrors Vincent Price plays the role of Waldo Trumbull who partners with Peter Lorre’s Felix Gillie as funeral directors who have come upon a drought when it comes to work. When...
If you are anything like me and were told that the cast of a film was Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone you’d be handing over your money to see it without question. Add to this cast a director like Jacques Tourneur famous for films like The Cat People and Night of the Demon and this has classic written all over it. Arrow Video have released Comedy of Terrors on Blu-ray and DVD, while it may not be a perfect film, there is a charm that is undeniable and infectious that make it hard not to fall for.
In Comedy of Terrors Vincent Price plays the role of Waldo Trumbull who partners with Peter Lorre’s Felix Gillie as funeral directors who have come upon a drought when it comes to work. When...
- 2/17/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Cat People' 1942 actress Simone Simon Remembered: Starred in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic (photo: Simone Simon in 'Cat People') Pert, pouty, pretty Simone Simon is best remembered for her starring roles in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie Cat People (1942) and in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938). Long before Brigitte Bardot, Mamie Van Doren, Ann-Margret, and (for a few years) Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm in a film career that spanned a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both sides of the Atlantic – at times, with fatal results. During that period, Simon was featured in nearly 40 movies in France, Italy, Germany, Britain, and Hollywood. Besides Jean Renoir, in her native country she worked for the likes of Jacqueline Audry...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Welcome to another horror/thriller round-up! This time around we have details on Backstreet Boy Nick Carter’s in-the-works zombie western movie, release details for Arrow Video’s UK Blu-ray / DVD of the Vincent Price-starring The Comedy of Terrors, and an update on Warner Bros.’ and Team Downey’s in-development film based on the real-life sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the subsequent shark attacks on the surviving crew members.
In an interview with Noisey, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter revealed that he will be directing and starring in a zombie western called Dead West (not to be confused with Joe R. Lansdale’s 1986 zombie western novel, Dead in the West) for Asylum this March. Carter also co-wrote the script and has a couple of potential cast members in mind (excerpts from Noisey via Shock Till You Drop):
“It’s called Dead West. [Laughs.] It’s a zombie horror western movie.
In an interview with Noisey, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter revealed that he will be directing and starring in a zombie western called Dead West (not to be confused with Joe R. Lansdale’s 1986 zombie western novel, Dead in the West) for Asylum this March. Carter also co-wrote the script and has a couple of potential cast members in mind (excerpts from Noisey via Shock Till You Drop):
“It’s called Dead West. [Laughs.] It’s a zombie horror western movie.
- 2/1/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
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