Articles by Charlie Largent

Audie Murphy Collection

Audie Murphy Collection Blu ray  Kino Lorber 1952, 1958, 1959 / 242 min. Starring Audie Murphy, Stephen McNally, Walter Matthau, Charles Drake Cinematography by Irving Glassberg, Harold Lipstein Directed by Don Siegel, Jesse Hibbs, Jack Arnold “My temper was explosive… perhaps I was trying to level with my fists what I assumed fate had put…

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Blu ray  Kino Lorber 1944/ 87 min. Starring Maria Montez, Jon Hall Cinematography by George Robinson Directed by Arthur Lubin Thanks to George Robinson’s Technicolor photography and Vera West’s kaleidoscopic costumes, death and destruction look pretty as a picture in 1944’s Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Director Arthur Lubin’s…

Slave of the Cannibal God

Slave of the Cannibal God Blu ray  Code Red 1978/ 99 min. Starring Ursula Andress, Stacy Keach Cinematography by Giancarlo Ferrando Directed by Sergio Martino At the same moment the Korean War was ending and Eisenhower entered the White House, illustrator Samson Pollen found his niche; illuminating the fever dreams of suburban dads for action…

The Lady Eve

The Lady Eve Blu ray  Criterion 1941/ 94 min. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, William Demarest Cinematography by Victor Milner Directed by Preston Sturges In The Lady Eve a wealthy ophiologist named Charlie Pike and a sexy card shark named Jean Harrington fall in love. It’s a rapid-fire romance fueled by equal portions of love and lust…

The Flesh and the Fiends

The Flesh and the Fiends Blu ray Kino Lorber 1960 /95 min. Starring Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence, George Rose, Billie Whitelaw Cinematography by Monty Berman Directed by John Gilling The Flesh and the Fiends lives up to its name and then some. The setting is Scotland but the squalid streets and charnel houses suggest Dickens’…

The Thief of Baghdad

The Thief of Baghdad Blu ray – All Region Colosseo Film 1961 /100 min. Starring Steve Reeves, Georgia Moll, Arturo Dominici Cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli Directed by Arthur Lubin When he shuffled off this mortal coil in 1995, Arthur Lubin’s New York Times obituary was titled “Arthur Lubin, 96, Director Of ‘Mr. Ed’ TV…

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break Blu ray  Kino Lorber 1941 /77 min. Starring W.C. Fields, Franklin Pangborn, Leon Errol Cinematography by Charles Van Enger Directed by Edward Cline If Larsen E. Whipsnade ever laid eyes on Harold Bissonette, his mouth would water. Bissonette, a mild-mannered grocer for whom no good deed goes unpunished,…

Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection

Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection  Blu ray  Severin Films 1965 – 1989 / 2841 min. Starring Russ Tamblyn, Regina Carrol, Lon Chaney Cinematography by Gary Graver, Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács Directed by Al Adamson, David Gregory The titles grab you by the collar like a desperate carny barker – Psycho A Go-Go, Blood of Ghastly…

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland  Blu ray  Kino Lorber 1933 / 1.33:1/ 76 min. Starring Charlotte Henry, W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper Cinematography by Bert Glennon, Henry Sharp Directed by Norman Z. McLeod Written by Harvey Kurtzman with art by Jack Davis, Mad‘s 1954 parody of Alice in Wonderland stands as a succinct critique of Paramount Pictures’s 1933…

Destry Rides Again

Destry Rides Again  Blu ray  Criterion 1939 / 1.33:1/ 95 min. Starring Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart Cinematography by Hal Mohr Directed by George Marshall America’s favorite boy next door meets the Weimar Republic’s preeminent vamp in George Marshall’s Destry Rides Again. James Stewart plays Tom Destry, the self-effacing straight-shooter who cleans up a lawless backwater…

The Bat

The Bat  Blu ray  The Film Detective 1959 / 1.85:1/ 80 min. Starring Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead Cinematography by Joseph Biroc Directed by Crane Wilbur Released during the dog days of summer in August of 1959, The Bat was an air-conditioned summer treat for the  eight year-old unprepared for a blood and thunder horror movie –…