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Robert Mitchum made my skin crawl in The Night of the Hunter. I was so afraid he'd murder those kids.

He was fantastic as the neurotic yuppie Michael Harris on Newhart from 1984 to 1990. He and Julia Duffy worked very well together. Rest in peace.

The Bad Seed; that scene where Rhoda starts a fire and locks Leroy (Henry Jones) in his basement room was very scary.

Recently, TCM had Rodgers and Hammerstein night. I watched "Carousel" which I find to be one of the most interesting Oscar and Hammerstein movie musicals. The story is surprisingly dark and emotional for a musical with a story that includes domestic abuse and the death of a main character. I love the fantasy/dream sequence when the daughter is imagining her father (who she has never met) who she knows was a good-looking carousel barker. Ballet dancers become the carousel horses. It's beautifully done. The songs in Carousel (or almost any Oscar and Hammerstein musical) are nonstop fantastic. They are not musicals with just one or two great songs. My all-time favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein musical movie is "Oklahoma". I love the humor and choreography. The dance during "Everything's Up to Date in Kansas City" includes a dancer jumping on top of a moving train. The ballet sequence when Laurie is asleep after taking taking a sleeping medicine is so surreal. Rod Steiger is an interesting bad guy in this film. What are your favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musicals? Below are pictures from the ballet "Laurie's dream" sequence in Oklahoma.

You know, I've seen these movies for over 50 years but can still enjoy them. Just last week I was watching the Monster in an entirely different way, fully aware of the elegant handsome man underneath all that prosthetic make up and how he makes you believe he's a violent monster. Karloff uses his body & grunting sounds creating an eerie otherworldly villainous creature so unlike the man himself.

I hear many, many, MANY (way too many) people say how creeped out they were by the flying monkeys. So, I think that element of the film made it successfully scary for a large number of people.

Winding down my Mason retrospective with .. ...The Reckless Moment 1949 Directed by Max Ophüls Starring Joan Bennett, James Mason Film-noir 1 hr. 22 min. Synopsis: After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal. It dawned on me that I'd seen this before. "The Deep End" (2001) with Tilda Swintin and Goran Visnjic was a remake with some minor differences. In my opinion this was so much better, as originals often are. Joan plays a helicopter mom whose wealthy husband travels constantly, so she's left with their two children in a lakeside home with just a fulltime maid and her father-in-law. I guess I'm supposed to feel sorry for her, but when she frets about economizing to her maid, it's tough. This is because Mason is shaking her down for the murder and she can't come up with his cash demands so easily. Her attempt to control the situation from the beginning has only made it worse and now she's stressed to the max. Having a showdown with her teen's 40 year old boyfriend the day before, she now has to drag his dead body into a boat, tie on an anchor and dump it over the side before breakfast. This isn't easy for a small woman. Wasting no time, her blackmailer shows up at the house the same day. Getting turned down for a loan by lunch and pawning some jewelry still isn't enough. Luckily he's attractive and there's a spark, so he gives her a break, but the body count keeps going up along with the tension. Max Ophüls was another talented German director who fled the Nazis and made a handful of films in Hollywood before returning to Europe. Caught and The Reckless Moment were his last two here, both starred Mason, and were underrated. I love his camerawork and long tracking shots. Solid 8/10 Full movie on You Tube

TCM does not own the rights to any of the distributor's films. Especially MGM's. According to Charlie Tabesh, VP of Programming at TCM, they have to lease every film they show on the channel.

Great topic! The scene near the end of LAURA where Clifton Webb takes the rifle out of the clock and plans to shoot Gene Tierney was shocking and on some level, scary. Of course having him shirtless earlier in the movie was even scarier.

The King & I could just show the March of the Siamese Children, and I'd be happy. ☺️ (The wretched 1999 animated version offered a few good ideas for how to open the original up past Fox's style of just pointing a camera at the stage version, but we get Yul Brynner, World's Coolest Man, for the tradeoff.)

I've already given him up for James Mason, that's how fickle I am. James Mason was handsome, sexy and exuded intelligence.

ROKU is a brand of DiGITAL FLAT SCREEN TV (like ZENITH or....um.....whatever other companies used to make TVS), not too expensive they run between $200 and$400 mostly With a ROKU TV, you can then download DIGITAL CHANNELS, like PEACOCK and TUBI and PLUTO (if you like commercials) and A HUNDRED OTHER OPTIONS....most people who have a ROKU TV have HULU as their way to access regular old tv (it's how I watch TCM and MSNBC and THE FOOD NETWORK and such) I made the switch a few years back and was not sure, but I have to say, I like it better than old fashioned TV WITH CABLE...although sometimes ALL THE OPTIONS OUT THERE CAN OVERWHELM YOU. https://www.amazon.com/TCL-4K-Smart-LED-43S435/dp/B08DHDS4T3/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=FNYOWF60TNO8&dchild=1&keywords=roku+tv&qid=1634907065&sprefix=roku+tv%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExUjBOU1MzMU1UQVQ5JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDc0Nzk3MzRTR0xXMjhZQUFDUyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMjE2OTUwMVNMUVJWUkszOEhYSyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Mostly, but not quite. You buy the device and hook it up to your tv (takes 5-6 minutes, depending on your reach and cord clutter). It then acts exactly the same as a cable box. With the Roku (and I assume the others), there are a lot of free channels. TubiTV, PlutoTV, The Roku Channel, Filmrise, and Crackle are the best known. There are tons of others. The quality varies a lot with some of the smaller ones (no Closed Captioning, poor Public Domain prints, etc.). The number of ads you have to watch varies according to many arcane formulas. Several pay channels have a free section. You can watch some movies/tv programs on redbox, VUDU, peacock, etc. with ads rather than pay their monthly subscription fee.

I believe it is a "router". You have to buy it & attach it to your smart-TV via the HDMI port. Others of the same type are the Firestick (Amazon), AppleTV and (Google) Chrome. It seems whatever device you buy, you still have to pay for the subscription to view the devoted channel. Hope I've described it correctly, it's confusing.

Saturday, October 23/24 8 p.m. Bird (1988). Forest Whittaker does well as Charlie Parker. 2 a.m. The Beast Must Die aka La Bestia Debe Morir (1952). This Argentinian film is one of the highlights of the month for me.

None of these are "Horror" but HORRIFYING. GERMANIA ANNO ZERO (1948) TWO WOMEN (1960) I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978)

Janet0312, Roku is a wireless device (like the remote control device for your television) that enables you to watch streaming media on your TV. What is Roku and How Does It Work? The ROKU Channel is a free streaming channel. You don't need a Roku device to watch the channel. But, if your (I presume) cable TV provider does not offer Peacock and Tubi and you are unable to program those channels on your TV, you probably need a Roku device or some other streaming device.

Shakycam was a "thing" for a few years. I shot a ton of commercials during that period and it was indeed all over the place. Looks somewhat ridiculous now in many cases. However, done correctly (?) it could at least make some sort of narrative sense. For instance, I would do a snap zoom in when I thought a person was going to say something pithy. It was a cheat, but clients wanted it. The worse use of it was in theatrical releases. There was some Woody Allen movie that was just horrible. Can't remember the name right now. So, while it's bad on a the small screen it's REALLY BAD on the big screen. That said, at least there was some thought that went into it at the time. It's still used, though more sparingly, in crime shows and thrillers to give a sense of urgency. As to the The Robotic Slider? It must die!

The Wizard Of Oz...Margaret Hamilton scared the pants off me ..

This is apparently part of the display for NORTH BY NORTHWEST at the new film museum. While this sort of information/opinion is interesting, it has no place in a film museum (IMO) that's supposedly celebrating film. From what I've heard from others who have visited, the museum is filled with little PC nuggets like this..... Your thoughts?

All of 'Em. 😎

Excellent question! There's a couple I can think of right off hand. First is the supposed children's movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Kid's movie my tightly clinched ****! They may have marketed this towards kids but it's flat out balls to the wall horror! Gene Wilder's Wonka is a psychopath hell bent on gleefully making the children pay for their indiscretions in the unimaginable insidious ways. He turns a girl into a giant freaking blueberry for the offense of chewing gum?!? And then had his demonic hoard of slaves roll her away to be "juiced"!?! Mother of God! Who would ever think of this? This brightly colored Dante's Inferno terrified me as a young lad and even today the boat ride and Wonka's serial killer-like raving gives me the heebie-jeebies. The other film is one of the best coming-of-age movies ever made, Phillip Kaufman's 1979 the Wanderers. The majority of the movie is typical of the genre, a group of teens growing up in the early '60s while trying to find their place in the world, and very well done. But the scenes involving rival gang, the Ducky Boys, are something totally different. Kaufman uses lighting and sound to turn those scenes into some of the all time greatest horror put on film. I couldn't find any images that truly did the terrifying aspect of the Ducky Boys justice but trust me, those cats weren't human. This and Kaufman's amazing remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers from the year before make me wish he'd done more horror movies because he's one of the few who really get it

Man, you know your stuff. I’m trying to see the connection between an Irish actor that wasn’t born yet to a movie made in Argentina. I dug a bit and I should have figured it out - a pseudonym. Well hold on now, here it comes - Daniel Day-Lewis (acclaimed actor now retired) is the son of Irish poet Cecil Day-Lewis (b.1904 - d1972) who also wrote mystery crime novels under the pen name of Nicholas Blake.

Vincent Price Basil Rathbone Jack Nicholson

Lee Marvin in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) The scariest villain in a non horror film, you cringe every time he comes on screen.

And that they left out a key number that said wretched animated version restored: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7I4fHY5PiE

Remember what happened to JON-ERIK HEXUM back in late 1984. He put a gun loaded with 'blanks' to his head and pulled the trigger. It killed him at age 26. I remember when that happened. He was starring with Jennifer O'Neill in a series called COVER UP.

→ Are there not enough "historical museums" around to present the above info in an environment where it belongs? It's not as if the entirety of the movie takes place at Mount Rushmore. Just the very end . . . but I guess that's enough to add "PC nuggets" to any exhibit on NORTH BY NORTHWEST.

Inspired by tragic typhoon that destroyed much of the fishing industry of the Roku Islands in '38.

Performing their hit song ROKU LIKE A HURRICANE...

IT'S A FLOOR WAX, YOU COW!!!!

Colin Clive Dwight Frye Lou Costello Bud Abbott

One of our most beloved forum members is visiting there right now as part of her vacation. Let's hope she posts here (with lots o'pix) upon her return.

Invisible Stripes

late SAT., 10-23 NOIR ALLEY........... 2:00 am (ET) La Bestia Debe Morir (1952) Drama When his child is hit by a car, a writer of thrillers is desperate to avenge his death and goes in search of the murderer. Director Roman Vinoly Barreto Cast Narciso Ibanez Menta, Laura Hidalgo, Guillermo Bat... ".....It's a moving and atmospheric story with terrific performances by the entire cast. ..........The story sounds dark, and it is, but it's also absorbing and rewarding, building to a "wow" ending. ........ see: http://laurasmiscmusings.blogspot.com/2020/03/tonights-movie-beast-must-die-1952-at.html & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_Must_Die_(1952_film) ========================================= -really hard to find ANY info on THIS online

Trouble in Paradise

Patrick Macnee Next: Who worked with Bob Newhart, Suzanne Pleshette, and Bill Daily?

Me too! I was really scared as a kid of Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch - particularly the scene where Dorothy is locked in the room in the witches castle watching the hourglass and Auntie Em's face turns into the face of the Wicked Witch. Thank goodness Toto came through to help save Dorothy!

KNIVES OUT (2019)

Jerry Lewis

Last year during this exact month, TCM aired DRACULA A.D. 1972, and the theme song/closing credits song stuck in my head for weeks. This afternoon, I watched it again and I have a feeling it will be with me for another few weeks at least. Very 1970's!

Not sure I would consider it a war film; more like a revenge film set during wartime. But no matter how you characterize it, what Hobart Bosworth does to Wallace Beery is pretty raw!

I must admit that for me, this face suggests not "classically handsome" but "vacant." He is surprisingly not bad in a number of films, but I will pass on this one and let those who are inclined have extra helpings.

I remember watching that made-for-tv film and thought it was highly overrated. For whatever reason, it had little effect on me. But the next day, one of my students asked me if she could be excused from an exam because she has found the film too upsetting.

You're right. I'd forgotten that. Professor Linder's wife started getting antsy and called the police. And she must have told them where her husband had gone that evening ( I'm sure she did, I just don't remember ). So yes, the cops would have already known where Al Walker and Co. were holed up. Still, knowing that, it seemed to take them a long time to get there. But then of course they had to allow time for Lee J. Cobbs to "cure" Al.

Horrors of Malformed Men (1969) Japan/Dir: Teruo Ishii - Completely bonkers horror?/mystery?/thriller? based on a book by Edogawa Rampo. A medical student (Teruo Yashida) in an insane asylum escapes, is framed for murder, and then decides to take the place of a recently deceased guy who he looks exactly like. He soon learns that his identity comes with some strange obligations, like searching out his long-missing scientist father (Tatsumi Hijikata) who disappeared on a island filled with deformed murderers. Also featuring Yukie Kagawa, Teruko Yumi, Mitsuko Aoi, Michiko Kobata, Kei Kiyama, and Mie Hanabusa. This notorious oddity was banned in Japan for many years due to its unkind depiction of people with physical deformities. In the film's defense, all of the "deformed" characters were actors in make-up, and no actual handicapped people appear to have been exploited, like say was the case with Freaks (1932). The plot is incoherent at times, but the cinematography is good, and there are several truly bizarre moments that won't be easy to forget. (6/10)

If you spot Rita Hayworth one day in some roadside restaurant, I don't mean to spoil the thrill but it could be that you're wrong.

In season one episode seven Warning: Live Blueberries, Mannix is out to find someone missing daughter. The cast for this episode are Brooke Bundy, Tom Skerritt, Robert Emhardt and Valora Noland. What made this episode special it had the classic rock group Buffalo Springfield in it. Neil Young, Richie Furay and Stephen Stills were all were playing their music in this episode.

D.O.A. (Edmond O'Brian ) comes to mind.. off the top.

THE DAY AFTER (1983). With the real threats from the Cold War hitting headlines daily, this movie struck too close to home for many people, and at the time received a large viewing audience. When the behemoth ICBMs launch from their silos and heave slowly into the air towards their targets halfway across a world, it's a dreadful and vivid picture of Armageddon.