The Hollywood Sign has been blown up, toppled, set ablaze, and swallowed by the earth—so naturally, our fearless leader Joe Dante got there first. On the latest episode of Locationland, Joe joins host Harry Medved to discuss the cinematic legacy of L.A.’s most famous landmark. As a first-time co-director (with fellow TFH Guru Allan Arkush),…
The Warner Archive Collection comes through with a splendid restoration of this great pirate picture. Paul Henreid is a superb Dutch colonial-turned buccaneer, Maureen O’Hara devastating in Technicolor, and Walter Slezak a marvelous villain, given dialogue by Herman J. Mankiewicz. Errol Flynn may still be king but he’s also not missed; every frame of this…
The Undead A CineSavant Revival House Review 1957 – 75 Min. Starring Pamela Duncan, Val Dufour Cinematography by William A. Sickner Written by Charles B. Griffith Directed by Roger Corman Roger Corman began directing movies in 1955 and almost immediately his ambitions were at war with his budgets—films with apocalyptic titles like The Day the…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, we pair wines with catcalls for films featuring feline fur. The Cat Man of Paris was Republic Pictures’ contribution to the horror of 1946. The story involves an author whose writing…
The 3-D Archive continues its quest to revive our heritage of stereoscopic features with Arch Oboler’s obscure romantic travelogue. That the movie falls short of most of its aims won’t make a difference to connoisseurs of the process. Two Americans in Japan fall in love while seeing the sights, but the real interest is in…
Clark Gable and Doris Day shine in an overlooked, bright romantic comedy: Kay and Michael Kanin’s elegant screenplay gets in some punches for education and good journalism, and overcomes most dated story aspects. A crusty news editor is forced to attend night school, and discovers that his teacher knows things about newspaper work he didn’t…
Katharine Hepburn gets one more first-class filmic go-round, in James Goldman’s highly entertaining story of home life with those wild and crazy Plantagenets … how do three angry sons, one imprisoned Queen, the King of France and a frustrated paramour decide who gets the throne? Peter O’Toole is likewise excellent under the fine direction of…
Hatari! Kino Lorber 4K UHD Blu-ray 1962 – 157 Min. Starring John Wayne, Red Buttons, Elsa Martinelli Cinematography by Russell Harlan Directed by Howard Hawks Watching the animals of Hatari! in full flight is a politically incorrect thrill—though they’re running for their lives they have a majesty in motion that make the rampaging dinos of…
I am a fan of writer/director Leigh Whannell. It gets somewhat lost now under the weight of the attenuated franchise, but Whannell’s first feature (he co-wrote and co-starred), Saw, was a brutally clever low-budget surprise hit that announced new talents had arrived on the genre film scene. 2010’s Insidious breathed fresh life into the supernatural…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, we mourn the loss of another film icon. So far, 2025 really sucks. We have some wine pairings to help you get through it. Descriptions cannot do 1977’s Eraserhead justice. You…
While gearing up to take on the hypocrisy of the Production Code, producer-director Otto Preminger hired out for Milton Sperling & Gary Cooper’s ode to an aviator-warrior who fought against the War Office. To air his grievances and promote Air Power, General William Mitchell forced a military trial that destroyed his career; his superiors almost…
Los Angeles bursts into flames, total disaster, no mercy …. but it’s not a firefighting problem. Steve De Jarnatt’s classic apocalyptic thriller comes back in a remastered edition, with an entire disc devoted to the writer-director’s career story. Anthony Edwards’ and Mare Winningham’s ill-fated 24-hour romance in the City of the Angels is more poignant…
Whoa — RKO’s wartime hit is a bright spot for mainstream filmmaking: major studio talents turn an unpromising idea into a sweetheart film everyone loved. Cary Grant has total control of his ‘bad’ gambler-grifter, while the unsung but wonderful Laraine Day gives him a reason to reform. The Damon Runyon-inflected tale is frequently hilarious, with…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, we remember a guy who was hard to forget. We have wine pairings, too, for the inevitable toasts to his name. The late film exec and TFH guru Michael Schlesinger was…
What at first seems a plain-wrap generic western is actually anything but; Borden Chase’s circular storyline pulls in a bit of every theme the genre had going before 1950. This first James Stewart – Anthony Mann collaboration is one of their toughest; something violent or despicable happens in every reel. Mann gets to adapt Shakespearean…
It’s an excellent ‘thinking man’s safari picture’: Bob Rafelson’s beautifully produced epic examines the partnership of two of the 19th century’s greatest explorers. They jointly found the source of the Nile, but after their amazing adventure, London politics and malicious interference broke them up. Patrick Bergin and Iain Glen are the truly intrepid explorers and…
Wow, this time we review a picture just a couple of months old. Good director Edward Berger guides some fine performances in a drama about backroom deals and dark secrets in the voting to elect a new pope. The movie looks lavish in 4K — entire Vatican chapels were duplicated at Cinecittà — and the…
What a great picture to see bumped to 4K … when that grinding Elmer Bernstein cue launches the titles, we know we’re in for a hardboiled experience. Roy, Lilly and Myra are highly attractive ‘poison’ people in their own cheap rackets — hooking, fixing racetrack odds and grifting, aka practicing petty con-man ripoffs on unsuspecting…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, we deal with wine pairings for three films featuring le roi de la comédie, Jerry Lewis. The two faces of Jerry Lewis. There is the lovable loon, the frantic, crazy clown…
It’s another intense film noir with a strong woman dealing with a weak man. Ann Sheridan comes through with a great performance in her most promising Warners star vehicle. ‘Accidental Homewrecker’ Nora is the anti-femme fatale, who can only watch as her doctor-lover Kent Smith throws away his practice, his family, his upscale lifestyle and…
It’s one of Tarantino’s best: Arrow Video repackages his celebration of absurd wartime action thrillers with a battery of new featurettes and interviews. We take the opportunity to revise a review that still gets mail. Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender and Diane Kruger star in a genre wish-fulfillment fantasy that…
Whoa! What was once ‘raw adult’ fare now plays as quaint — yet still hot. Voyeurism becomes entertainment — America’s mammary-obsessed independent filmmaker Russ Meyer did as much for naughty male daydreams as did Hugh Hefner. The entire ‘Vixen trilogy’ is being released, but we concentrate on Meyer’s breakthrough picture with Erica Gavin, the one…
aka Le faille. Radiance comes up with yet another exotic Eurothriller. Author Antonis Samarakis’ first-person experience informs this sophisticated study of the psychology of detectives operating in a police state. An apparently ordinary guy is snatched from the street and accused of being a subersive; two cops take him ‘for a ride’ in hopes that…
The Ten Best Horror Films of 2024 2024 has been many things, pro and con, but one of those things was a strong year for horror cinema. There were so many good options that my top ten list may not even include any of the other films on some other critic’s list of favorites. In…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, we get back to a little good ol’ fashioned horror, with some, hopefully, not-so-horrible wine pairings for our three films. If you’re looking for a hotbed of horror, 1984 is probably…