Articles by Charlie Largent

CineSavant

After Hours

“After hours” usually means a late night at the office, but it also portends the Witching Hour, a time of day when…

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The Puppetoon Movie Volume 3

Though separated by 73 years, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and George Pal’s Puppetoons were each created with stop-motion animation—an arcane process developed…

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Soundies: The Ultimate Collection

In 1940, The Mills Novelty Company introduced their newest brainchild—a vending machine that served up Duke Ellington instead of  Coca-Cola. It was…

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The Pied Piper

In 1897’s Dracula, Bram Stoker warned of a plague in human form, and it was Renfield who sounded the alarm: “Rats, rats,…

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King Solomon’s Mines

Thanks to an extravagant imagination (described by some as “lurid”) and his own experience in the African outback, H. Rider Haggard’s King…

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Mr. Wong Collection

Judge Dee may not be a household name in America, but in his homeland the Chinese magistrate was revered as a formidable…

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The Catman of Paris

Charles Regnier should have the world on a string—he’s a bestselling author with Paris as his playground and the town’s most desirable…

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Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941–1943

More than a few comic book enthusiasts got their first glimpse of Max Fleischer’s Superman thanks to the Fantastic Animation Festival, a…

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Mexico Macabre

Mexico Macabre shines a light on four unconventional shockers produced in Mexico City between 1958 and 1963. Each film is distinguished by its…

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I Was a Teenage Werewolf

CineSavant Revival Screening Review In 1953 a surge in juvenile crime unleashed a wave of panicked PTA meetings, chest-beating editorials, and finally,…

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Serpico 4K

Paramount’s posters for Serpico resembled ads for the Fillmore East or the Whisky a Go Go—and that was the point. Featuring a…

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If I Had a Million

John Doe hits the jackpot in Paramount’s If I Had a Million, an indispensable piece of Americana produced in the midst of…

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Never Say Die

Hold hands, you lovebirds, all four of you. Bob Hope and Martha Raye play John Kidley and Mickey Hawkins, both very rich…

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Third Man on the Mountain

CineSavant Revival Screening Review From Newbery Medal to amusement park thrill ride, James Ramsey Ullman’s Banner in the Sky climbed the ladder…

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Thrillers from the Vault – 8 Classic Films

In 1934 Boris Karloff was an unhappy actor, he was one of Universal’s most illustrious stars, yet good parts were scarce, and intelligent…

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The Lady from Shanghai

To those who know him, Michael O’Hara “… has got a lot of blarney in him.” That also applies to Orson Welles,…

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The Night of the Iguana

T. Lawrence Shannon looks more like a dock worker than a clergyman but to the women in his congregation he’s as soulful…

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The Blood Beast Terror

A serene British countryside is rocked by a series of brutal murders with a common thread; each victim has been mutilated and…

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Great Expectations

David Lean and Noël Coward made four films together in the space of just three years—it was one of the most consequential…

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The Count Yorga Collection

An aristocratic bloodsucker from the old country is the main attraction of Bob Kelljan’s Count Yorga, Vampire, but what drives the movie…

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Arsenic and Old Lace

Almost supernaturally handsome, Mortimer Brewster is quite the catch; a celebrated man about town and theater critic who saves his most acerbic…