LawrenceA

Dracula is my favorite of the source materials for the Universal monsters, but Dracula the film I consider to be the least of the Big Four. My preference is Frankenstein, then The Wolf Man, then The Mummy, and then Dracula. The Dracula film is not without its merits (I think Dwight Frye is the best Renfield out of any filmed version), but it's too clunky, with poor pacing, and, after the superior opening moments in Transylvania, the film shows its roots in the stage version with the confined settings of the England-set majority of the film.

1960 Letter Never Sent, Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR - 8/10 - Outstanding B&W cinematography highlights this man-vs-nature survival tale with a quartet of people who become lost in the vast Siberian wilderness. The Hands of Orlac, Edmond T. Greville, France/UK - Two versions of this oft-filmed horror tale were shot - one in English and one in French. I watched the French version. I liked Mad Love and the silent version more.

A guy who posts videos of himself playing video games is corporate whether he wants to be or not. He's still just a promotional tool for the game companies. BTW, he was signed with a media corporation (now part of Disney) before being let go by them for reported antisemitic remarks or some such scandal. I'm not usually one of those "Kids these days!" complaining old grumps like so many on here, but the first time that I heard watching videos of other people playing video games was a thing that people did, I knew I was officially old and out of touch.

You sure wouldn't want war films to be too violent, or people might get the wrong idea.

Wow, that cast is like my kryptonite. Guaranteed to keep me as far away as possible.

From what I've read, TCM did keep Tiffany Vasquez. She's no longer an onscreen host, but she was put in charge of their "social media presence."

A mysterious black-clad killer is targeting people within the proximity of reporter Julie (Marianne Hill, from High Plains Drifter and Messiah of Evil). Co-starring Klaus Kinski as a creepy psychiatrist, Donna Wilkes (from Angel) as his daughter, Christopher Lloyd as a creepy patient, Craig Wasson (Ghost Story, Body Double) as the friendly co-worker, Joe Regalbuto (Murphy Brown) and Richard Herd (V) as cops on the case, and various victims. This is more like an American version of a giallo than the other slasher flicks starting to proliferate at the time. It's supposed to be a mystery, but I guessed the culprit from their first scene. Kinski has a few sex scenes, which may be the scariest thing in the film. (5/10) Source: Scream Factory Blu-ray, on a disc with X-Ray/Hospital Masscre (1981).

I was confused by the mention of FilmStruck, as it has been defunct since November of last year, but then I noticed that the linked article is from July of 2018. So now it's even more difficult to (legally) find classic films in the streaming world.

They may have had a sale on it due to the date. Amazon put the disc sets on sale yesterday and they were on their best-seller lists as well.

DAMN...I wish I didn't know her.🎵

There's no accounting for taste when somebody would willingly watch The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins, period. Maybe once because they really didn't know any better, but twice....yikes.

Twilight Time has a "Christmas in September" sale going on, with discs as low as $5.95. It's a very good sale since their films usually sell for quite a bit. I bought four of 'em! https://www.twilighttimemovies.com/

No, not at all. In fact, there are few if any people I like less. Well, maybe you, but that's about it. If you notice in my quote that you posted, I didn't say anything about Steve McQueen's films or even his performances. I said that McQueen was an "actor that I liked more before I knew much about him". Since you seem to have difficulty with reading comprehension, I'll explain this more clearly - McQueen the person and his films/performances are two separate things. I can still watch and enjoy The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape or Bullitt, while not caring for McQueen the person. Oh, and I don't give a **** what you do with your Amboy Dukes records, although I'd have suggested never buying that garbage to begin with.

I caught most of an episode last night that was a noir pastiche, with Mike Connors (unreliably) narrating the circumstances of his own murder. It had Elizabeth Ashley, Andrew Prine, and Peter Haskell in it. The Hallmark Channel's editing seemed to leave a lot out of it. Incidentally, Ashley is a native of Ocala, Florida, a short way to the south of me, while Prine was a native of Jennings, which is the neighboring town to my northwest. I also just finished watching The Mirror Crack'd, with Lansbury as Miss Marple, and seen by many as the dry run for Murder, She Wrote. The movie wasn't very good, but Lansbury has a good time with her role, and the early appearance by Pierce Brosnan was amusing.

That's being adapted yet again (I think I've already seen 4 or 5 versions of it), this time for Netflix as a follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House. It will feature much of the same cast as that limited series, but it's an adaptation of the James book. The title is The Haunting of Bly Manor.

I just watched this one. It starts off pretty badly, with clumsy editing and bad acting. It picks up immeasurably when things move to the "pig stew" house, and the two man-hungry daughters show up. I'd say it's worth a look for fans of strange Euro-cult cinema.

The previously announced showing of Burn, Witch, Burn (1962) scheduled for last night was replaced by Witchboard (1986). I corrected the OP above.

1956 The Red Balloon, Albert Lamorisse, France - (short) 9/10 - I know we're focusing features with this thread, but I was really impressed by this short film. Early Spring, Yasujiro Ozu, Japan 1957 I also saw: The Aztec Mummy, Rafael Portillo, Mexico - This is the original Spanish-language version, and not one of the later English-dubbed movies that used footage from this. It's better than those, but not by much. I haven't seen any additional foreign language films from 1958 or 1959.

McQueen is one of those actors I liked a lot more before I knew much about him. Now, not so much.

Hey, I actually enjoy Rocky Horror Picture Show quite a bit! The Apple is also very entertaining, but for a lot of different reasons. Just imagine Biblical End-Times prophecy dramatized as a sci-fi disco musical set against a record-industry backdrop, and filmed in Berlin but set in the "US".

The Apple (1980) - The worst musical ever made, or the greatest musical ever made? You decide!

Up the River isn't a very good movie, but it's noteworthy for being the feature debuts of both Bogart and Spencer Tracy, as well as being directed by John Ford.

Up the River (1930) The Petrified Forest (1936) Dead End (1937) High Sierra (1941) The Maltese Falcon (1941) Casablanca (1942) The Big Sleep (1946) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) In a Lonely Place (1950) That line-up runs 15 hours and 6 minutes. It includes my favorites of his films, as well as his debut, and Dead End, which is a good movie and a prime example of his 30's string of supporting villain roles.

I think they may have inadvertently run a promo for the schedule from before the Peter Fonda memorial tribute was set. I think The Late Show had been previously scheduled for this Sunday, but it was dropped because of the Fonda films.