CineSavant
The Deadly Mantis
It's big, it buzzes, and it screams like a banshee. So why is the Mantis monster so ho-hum? Universal-International tried to squeak…
Articles by Glenn Erickson
CineSavant
Detour
This is a big one, the restoration we long thought would never come. CineSavant tries to explain what makes Edgar G. Ulmer's…
CineSavant
The Tarnished Angels
Douglas Sirk took our heads off with this intense, thematically adult tale of love and obsession in a Depression-Era flying circus that's…
CineSavant
Jivaro 3-D
Verily, Blu-ray 3-D is better than most theatrical 3-D! Paramount's fourth and last 3-D production went out to theaters only in 2-D,…
CineSavant
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
With his exaggerated visuals, eye-popping color and frantic characterizations, Frank Tashlin has been promoted to a genuine 'fifties icon. This freewheeling comedy…
CineSavant
Der Hund Von Baskerville
Sherlock Holmes fans have another good version of a favorite Holmes tale to savor, a late German silent film in full expressionist…
CineSavant
The Doctor
William Hurt, Christine Lahti and Elizabeth Perkins do excellent work in this superior drama which delivers an important, unforced life lesson. An…
CineSavant
Phantom Lady
Robert Siodmak's first film noir is a visually expressive masterpiece in the lush romantic tradition that imposes a dreamlike mood on a…
CineSavant
The Mark of Zorro (Im Zeichen des Zorro)
Hollywood classics don't have to be stuffy -- this 1940 swashbuckling adventure has style, great action, laughs and one of the most…
CineSavant
The Third Secret
This moody, unsettling whodunnit benefits from sensitive cinematography, fine direction and a perfectly-cast group of players. Stephen Boyd gets a worthwhile starring…
CineSavant
Bedazzled (1967)
All hail the memory of Stanley Donen. We also appreciate the razor-sharp satire of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, whose genius Donen…
CineSavant
The Mole People
Not enough love is set aside for this ambitious, under-budgeted Lost Civilization epic. John Agar and Cynthia Patrick find love in an…
CineSavant
Mad Dog and Glory
What can you say about a hybrid gangster picture that generates a good feeling about people? We really like this show --…
CineSavant
Death in Venice
High class Italo filmmaking slips into the '70s with Luchino Visconti still on top. This handsomely appointed period drama recreates Venice of…
CineSavant
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
It's cold-blooded murder, I tell ya! Feisty Ruth Gordon goes undercover to find the evidence of homicide at Geraldine Page's desert home,…
CineSavant
The Vengeance of She
Olinka Berova is as sexy as Ursula Andress, but even with a new woman producer Hammer's She sequel doesn't give this new…
CineSavant
Ecco + The Forbidden
Those scurrilous Italian 'mondo' films are difficult to see in original versions; this Something Weird double bill yields an American hybrid of…
CineSavant
The Wrong Box
Director Bryan Forbes tries his hand at comedy. His nostalgic Victorian farce features an eclectic choice of Brit stars -- established greats…
CineSavant
Untamed
Fiery dame Susan Hayward carries this far-flung 'women's epic' to delirious romantic extremes, as her Irish heroine defies nature and exploits admirers…
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La vérité
Brigitte Bardot proved her mettle as a dramatic actress in H.G. Clouzot's strikingly pro-feminist courtroom epic, that puts the modern age of…
CineSavant
A Star Is Born
Last fall's audience-pleaser is indeed a pleasant surprise, not because it's a classic but because it isn't plain awful. An unnecessary third…
CineSavant
Private Snafu Golden Classics
Make way for the ribald, very non-PC adventures of the GI doofus Private Snafu -- demonstrator of the wrong way to do…
CineSavant
My Name is Julia Ross
Is this any way to treat a lady? Lovely Nina Foch just wanted a job, but she instead becomes the fall-gal in…
CineSavant
Horror Express
It's a spooky, snowy train ride across thousands of miles of Siberian rails -- trapped on board with a victim-possessing creature from…
CineSavant
The Midnight Man
Murder strikes a private college. In the new security guard's efforts to find the killer, he uncovers sordid secrets and multiple unsavory…
CineSavant
Beyond the Limit (The Honorary Consul)
Retitled from The Honorary Consul and sold in America with one of Paramount's sleaziest ad campaigns, John MacKenzie and Christopher Hampton's adaptation…