film lover 293

Cat Women of the Moon (1953) Next--Kansas

Princess of Tap--Fred Astaire is the dancer for all five: 1) "Easter Parade"--(1948)-He dances with a golf club in the "Drum Crazy" number. 2) "Royal Wedding" (1951)--When Jane Powell is late for a rehearsal. 3) "Royal Wedding" (1951)--The "Dancing on the Ceiling" number. 4) "You'll Never Get Rich" (1941)--The title song. 5) "Shall We Dance" (1937)--?

Federal Fugitives Next--ETH XLAAALPR IWEV

Decision At Dawn (1951)?

Thursday, Sept. 22nd--All times E.S.T.: 8:30 a.m. "Two Smart People" (1946)--Lucille Ball and John Hodiak directed by Jules Dassin--interesting sounding noir/comedy. 10:15 p.m. "The Secret Six" (1931)--Early Gable/Harlow movie.

We should--but one isn't up yet.

Our Dancing Daughters

"Red Dawn"?

"Journey Into Fear" (1943) Next--England

MY BLUE HEAVEN

Can--Can (1960)

"Die, Monster, Die! (1965)--Starring Boris Karloff, Nick Adams, and Suzan Farmer. Based on the H.P. Lovecraft story "The Colour Out of Space". The plot; Stephen Reinhardt (Nick Adams) is on his way from America to see his girlfriend (Suzan Farmer). He stops at the nearby British village of Arkham, whose residents seem terrified of the house he is going to visit. There's half of an excellent movie here. Boris Karloff, very good photography and Visual/Special Effects by Paul Beeson, Wally Veevers, and Ernie Sullivan (the one scene that Doesn't work is rapidly dispatched), an effective music score by Don Banks, and the intelligent half of the script are pluses. The minuses are; the Stupid half of the script, a hero (Nick Adams) I disliked, and a heroine who faithfully followed the horror movie cliche "If there's an intelligent course of action to take, do the exact opposite" for the Entire Film. There's more good than bad; film is worth seeing for Karloff and the Visual Effects alone. 2.3/4

Correct, starliteyes. Your Thread.

Irwin, Wes--Film Production ("The Seventh Sign (1988))

1976 Midnight Movie.

OK--The first of the other two films is "Nightwing" (1979). Film was a financial and critical failure, and starred Kathryn Harrold and David Warner. It drew on Pueblo Indian mythology, as well as Stoker's "Dracula", and stopping evil land developers/destroyers is an important plot point. "Nightwing" wasn't as bad as the critics thought. The other film is "Wolfen" (1981); it was a critical and box-office success, and starred Albert Finney and Diane Venora. Critics disagreed if the monsters were werewolves or Souleaters--the critics apparently missed two characters in the film using the term "Shapeshifter". I thought someone might pick up the phrase "Fort Apache" and connect it with another 1981 release, the Paul Newman film "Fort Apache...The Bronx--which is one of the films' locations. Wolfen has Excellent cinematography, to differentiate the human and wolves Point Of View--Wiki calls it "an early version of thermography" and "an in-camera special effect". DJBeacon, you got one third of the correct answer--Your Thread.

'The Story of Mankind" (1957)--Starring Ronald Colman, Vincent Price, Groucho Marx, and thirty odd other stars in cameos. Produced and directed by Irwin Allen. Before Allen was nicknamed "Master of Disaster" in the 1970's, he produced and directed this history lesson, based on Hendrik Van Loon's book. The plot; Man has discovered the "Super H Bomb" sixty years ahead of schedule. A court convenes in Outer Space as The Spirit of Man (Ronald Colman), Mr. Scratch (Vincent Price) and his apprentice (Nick Cravat) argue whether man should be saved or allowed to blow themselves up. A parade of characters from history, good and evil, appear to make various points. With the exception of Bobby Watson, who plays Hitler and brings a note of unwelcome reality to the movie after ninety minutes of comic book history, the "bad" characters get most of the good lines and laughs. The "good" characters, with two exceptions, get the dreary lines and slow down an entertaining show; in some cases, they bring the movie to a screeching halt. The entertaining: Vincent Price was inspired casting, and he carries off the role with admirable sarcasm, irony, and the occasional sneer. Nick Cravat acts with his eyebrows, and adds to the fun. Groucho Marx is a funny Peter Minuit, and Harpo Marx has maybe the best bit in the movie, as a harp playing Isaac Newton. Virginia Mayo's Cleopatra is amusing for the wrong reasons; she sounds like she came to Egypt by way of Atlanta. Agnes Moorehead, as Elizabeth I, roars and overacts her way through a badly written scene. Peter Lorre is a memorable Nero. In the three minutes allotted her scene, Marie Wilson sketches a brainless Marie Antoinette. John Carradine, as the pharaoh Khufu, cannot keep a straight face and grins at the camera in his first scene. The boring: In his last film, Ronald Colman as The Spirit of Man gets the dreary lines and seems to think he's in a Serious Film. Hedy Lamarr is a Viennese sounding Joan of Arc. Charles Coburn as Hippocrates lectures the camera. Cathy O'Donnell stops the film as an early martyr. Chico Marx got star billing, but I couldn't spot him in the film. As a "so bad it's good" film, "The Story of Mankind" rates a fun watch. On that scale, 2.7/4 Edit--I saw it on archive.org.

TopBilled--1) Listing two directors I forgot: COLIN HIGGINS--Foul Play (1978) RICHARD LESTER--Juggernaut (1974) 2) I see from my lists I've seen a LOT more films than I thought--I also see I don't know much about Foreign film--so check what Kurosawa/Bava/Argento films are online. 3)--See if there is a thread about favorite Bad films from every director? LOL

The Bishop Misbehaves Next--KNCAINHTO

DJBeacon--neither film is "The Manitou". Last Hint--one film flopped with critics and at the box office, the other was a critical and financial success--in the second film, critics disagreed with each other on what the monster(s) were supposed to be.

Hint #4--American Indian mythology is a plot element in the two unnamed films.

"The Undying Monster (1942)--Starring Heather Angel and James Ellison. A curse has been killing the men of Hammond Hall for centuries on cold nights. In 1900, Helga Hammond (Heather Angel) tells the butler that curses don't exist. There are screams from outside the mansion. Helga orders a carriage to be brought round for her while the servants wring their hands and worry. So begins this low budget film from 20th-Century Fox that moves at breakneck speed trying to get in all the plot in just over an hours running time. The movie is filled with behind-the-scenes talent that was two years away from peaking. Director John Brahm would hit his stride in 1944-45, when he directed "Guest In The House, "The Lodger (both 1944) and "Hangover Square" (1945) consecutively. Composer David Raksin, best known for the "Theme from "Laura" (1944) scored one of his first films here. Lucien Ballard, who did the atmospheric, skewed photography that plays with the viewers' sense of proportion and reminded me of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1919), filmed both "Laura" and "The Lodger" (both 1944). The sets were designed by Richard Day and Lewis Creber. "The Undying Monster" is an marvelous "B" movie that should be better known. A fun watch. 3/4. I saw the film on archivedotorg.

Bernard Herrman, "Psycho" (1960)?

Bullwinkle's Favorite Karloff Movie.

Nightmare Alley