Frank Capra knew his audience. This populist fantasy, released when the Great Depression was in full bloom, pitted a good-hearted but wealthy tenderfoot against the heartless oligarchs. Gary Cooper was born to play this simple but savvy country bumpkin and Jean Arthur is the cynical newspaper woman destined to fall for him. Douglass Dumbrille makes…
The last big gimmick of William Castle’s Golden Era was The Punishment Poll, where the audience ostensibly decided the fate of the rictus-faced heavy. It’s cheap, lurid and sensationalistic all the way, but Ray Russell’s source novel was a step up from the usual Castle material and the picture has remained a fan favorite.
This most beloved of all political movie classics has influenced generations of politicos and filmmakers, but Michael Lehmann has a surprisingly darker take on it in light of current events. Two-time Capra biographer Joseph McBride talks about his illuminating biographies here.
Director Abel Ferrara followed up his debut film, The Driller Killer, with this mini-budget cult classic. A gritty urban nightmare set in a hellish New York where a mute seamstress obsessively avenges her rapists in a series of gruesome tableaus that Charles Bronson could only envy.
Often exhibited in grindhouses and “art” houses under its original title Rope of Flesh, this was nudie-cutie auteur Russ Meyer’s second dramatic effort following his groundbreaker, Lorna. It’s a violent rough-and-tumble rural melodrama overflowing with lots of, um, pulchritude. The Meyer stock company (Stuart Lancaster, Hal Hopper, etc.) is back, along with various pneumatic lovelies…
When Hammer signed their deal with Universal they seemed prepared to enthusiastically slog their way through every horror property in the studio vault. This one combines all five Universal mummy pix into one, and it works pretty darn well–although it would work less well once the inevitable sequels ensued. Christopher Lee is a remarkably expressive…
Directed in 1932 by the brilliant Karl Freund (a year after he photographed Dracula), The Mummy remains one of the greatest horror films ever made. An appropriately cadaverous Boris Karloff plays the lovelorn title character (sporting not one but two uniquely disturbing make-ups by Jack Pierce), giving a superbly understated performance that is both malevolent…
Universal’s 1940 sequel to The Mummy is a breezy day in the park compared to the gloomy poetry of the 1932 original. The prolific Christy Cabanne directed in a quintessentially ‘40s style that thrived on easygoing humor and cut-to-the chase action scenes. Dick Foran plays the high-spirited hero, Wallace Ford provides the comedy relief and…
Vince Edwards plays a neophyte hit man who suddenly develops a conscience in this tense thriller from director Irving Lerner. This being a film noir, things are not quite what they seem as Edwards repeatedly tries to kill his latest victim and repeatedly fails. Blacklisted screenwriter Ben Maddow did uncredited work on the movie which…
Bob Clark’s melancholy thriller finds Sherlock Holmes once again on the trail of Jack the Ripper. The 1979 movie features a dream cast – Christopher Plummer as Holmes, James Mason as Watson and, as the woman who holds the key to the mystery, Genevieve Bujold, whose shattering performance is the heart of the film. Two…
Filmed previously in 1915, 1933 and 1935, this souped-up version of the Nordhoff & Hall maritime classic was the first movie shot and released in Ultra Panavision 70 (aspect ratio 2.76:1). The problem-plagued production was constantly being rewritten, and went through two directors plus an uncredited reshoot by another. Star Marlon Brando’s erratic behavior on…
The third film version of the historic tug-of-war between the tyrannical Captain Bligh and the stout-hearted Fletcher Christian starred Clark Gable, who brought his best leading-man chops, and Charles Laughton, whose legendary portrayal of the pompous dictator cemented his image in the public eye—for better and for worse. Director Frank Lloyd and his picture were…
Like the following year’s Cleopatra, the drama behind the scenes of Lewis Milestone’s Mutiny on the Bounty surpassed the film itself. Its reputation has inched upward after a rocky reception in 1962; Trevor Howard delivers a scathing take on the surly Captain Bligh, and as the foppish Fletcher Christian, Marlon Brando can’t help but be…
A young boy faces life by escaping it in Lee Sung-gang’s My Beautiful Girl, Mari, a Korean anime that veers between real-world struggles and a fantasy land where our hero meets his literal dream girl. An ambitious if modestly budgeted production, Sung-gang’s fable won the Grand Prix Winner at the 2002 Annecy International Animation Film…
With a title so good it was adopted as the namesake of a long-running Irish band, this brutal Canadian slasher movie received some cuts itself (totaling nine minutes) for its excessive violence. Hungarian-born director George Mihalka went on to a sturdy career including the Harry Palmer opus Bullet to Beijing starring Michael Caine.
The quintessential screwball comedy, Gregory LaCava’s wacky 1936 classic features Oscar-nominated Carole Lombard and real-life ex-hubby William Powell as a spoiled rich girl and her forgotten-man-turned butler. The ensemble cast is fabulous and the economic milieu is becoming all too recognizable.
Any movie that begins with John Carradine slicing off Rex Reed’s penis can’t be all bad… but this legendary disaster comes pretty close. One of the most bizarre major studio pictures ever.
Most film noirs are notable for their low budgets and scrappy attitude but producer Mark Hellinger’s hard-boiled detective drama is Tiffany-level moviemaking all the way. Jules Dassin, director of art house favorites like Rififi and Phaedra, is at the helm, Barry Fitzgerald stars and the Oscar-winning cinematography is by Hollywood veteran William Daniels (Camille, The…
Roger’s 1956 trip to Hawaii resulted in two movies (naturally) and this one was so well plotted by Chuck Griffith and Mark Hanna that he remade it several times under different titles and in different locations. Look for later leads Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze in supporting henchmen roles. Then- girlfriend Beverly Garland stars in…
Cornel Wilde directs and stars in this landmark survivalist thriller based on a historical incident originally involving a trapper being chased across country by Blackfoot Indians. Transposed to South African locations, it became one of the most popular films of its era, and was hilariously referenced in Carl Reiner’s Where’s Poppa?.
Art Gilmore’s breathless narration propels us through this classic trailer for the third collaboration between James Stewart and Anthony Mann, a rugged five-character psychological western with a great cast and gorgeous Rocky Mountain locations.
Sci-fi specialist Jack Arnold’s best Western casts Audie Murphy against type -or is he?- as a cold-blooded hit man who just might be Death personified and brings fear to a town full of guilty people. An underrated gem.
Middle-aged leading ladies from prior decades found new starring opportunities during the sixties in lurid horror followups to the successful Davis/Crawford vehicle Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. One of the best of these was this well-received Hammer suspense thriller starring Bette Davis in one of her most sinister yet touching late career roles.
Shot mostly in sequence with entirely on-set sound recording, this free-form metaphor for American society circa 1975 is one of Robert Altman’s most acclaimed and yet controversial projects. Susan Anspach was originally cast in the Ronee Blakeley role and Robert Duvall turned down the country star role that Henry Gibson played–the jury is out on…
Shot mostly in sequence with entirely on-set sound recording, this free-form metaphor for American society circa 1975 is one of Robert Altman’s most acclaimed and yet controversial projects. Susan Anspach was originally cast in the Ronee Blakeley role and Robert Duvall turned down the country star role that Henry Gibson played – the jury is…
It’s a rough road to country music stardom for a briefly virginal Loretta Lynn wannabe in this fast-paced rags-to-riches “hicksploitation” saga, New World style.