Det Jim McLeod

Hold That Ghost DVD 6/10 Abbott and Costello are gas station attendants who inherit a spooky house from a dead gangster. This was A&C's last movie with the Andrews Sisters, though their appearance here seemed tacked on. They sing one song at the beginning (some beautiful close harmony on "Sleepy Serenade") and one at the end (Latin flavored "Aurora'). Joan Davis is a great supporting character as a professional radio screamer. She ends up an unwilling guest with the boys in their new spooky place. Richard Carlson and Evelyn Ankers supply the superfluous love story. Bud and Lou don't have many routines but there is some funny moments. There is the moving candle gag and scenes where Costello keeps getting scared but Abbott is never there to see it. Funniest scene is a hilarious comic dance scene with Costello and Davis.

Wallace Beery was in Treasure Island (1934) with Douglas Dumbrille

The King Of Comedy (1983) achieving fame with no talent

I met Bela Jr years ago at an autograph show. He was just walking around and he signed a book I had just bought (called "Bela Lugosi" by Gary J and Susan Svehla), didn't even charge me anything for the autograph. He was nice and personable and very tall, I am 5'11 and he towered over me.

In The Navy (1941) DVD 6/10 Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are two sailors who help a radio singer (Dick Powell) enlist in the navy so he can hide from fans. A&C second film with the Andrews Sisters. They sing a few songs, the best one is the fun "Gimme Some Skin My Friend" about how to shake hands in Harlem. They get speaking parts in this as well, though Patty gets most of the lines. Costello was sending her love letters telling her he was a 6'2 big shot in the navy. When she meets him she says "So the big shot is just a blank cartridge!" Dick Powell sings a couple of songs as well, this is just 3 years before he changed his image to noir tough guy in Murder My Sweet. A&C have some of their funniest routines including the shell game and where Lou proves 7 X 13= 28. Another very funny scene is when Lou is being initiated into a club where he is asked what branch of the service he would pick, the air, the land or the water. When he says the water a bunch of guys spit a mouthful of water in his face. He tries it on Bud, but it doesn't work out. Funniest moment is when both have a mouthful of water but you can see they are breaking up and they spit it out. It was a blooper left in the film.

Thunderball (1965)

Lon Jr since he was one of my favorite horror film stars. Next- John Carradine or David Carradine?

8. He appeared in all the original Planet Of The Apes movies, except for Beneath the...

Little Children (2006) HBO Signature 9/10 Brad, A married stay at home dad has an affair with Sarah, a woman in a troubled marriage while Ronnie, a sex offender is released into their neighborhood. This is an excellent, unique film about suburban lust, angst and indecision. It has narration by the Frontline TV show narrator. It gives us insights into the minds of the characters, it should not work but it does. Other films would probably handle the subject matter in a more broad comic or judgmental way, this film has humor but it is more subtle and ironic. The characters are all flawed but all are sympathetic. Even Ronnie (Jackie Earle Haley) is portrayed in a human way. He was arrested for indecent exposure to a minor and now on parole. He lives with his doting mother and while he is sick he is not shown as a monster. The Brad character (Patrick Wilson) is a loving dad with a beautiful successful wife (Jennifer Connelly) but he can't get his career choices going as he keeps failing the bar exam. Sarah (Kate Winslet) is married to guy obsessed with an internet porn queen. She also has to deal with some snooty fellow suburban moms. One of them Mary Ann (Mary B McCann) is the most judgmental of them all, she is so uptight that while in a Book Club she calls "Madame Bovary" a s-l u-t and says "She cheats on her husband and takes rat poison! Did I really need to read this?" Adding to the mix is Larry (Noah Emmerich) as an ex cop who is obsessed with harassing Ronnie the "pervert' as he calls him. All of the characters cross paths and ends with one of the most shocking moments I have ever seen on film. The acting is brilliant by every member of the cast right down to the minor characters. Patrick Wilson is an underrated actor who done some incredible work including the box office hits The Conjuring and it's sequel. I will go out on a limb and say this is Winslet's best performance ever, which is saying a lot since she has been excellent so many times before. Haley has the most difficult part since there are times you are disgusted by him and times you are feeling sorry for him. The sex and nudity is pretty graphic in this so it not recommended for anyone offended by that.

Blondie's Big Moment (1947) Movies! TV Network 5/10 Dagwood returns from vacation and finds Mr Dithers sold the business and the new boss is the even stricter Mr Radcliffe. #19 in the series and just an OK entry. Radcliffe is played by Jerome Cowan and he has a run in with Dagwood even before he knows he's the new boss. Dagwood is demoted. Blondie goes to talk with Radcliffe and he is charmed by the pretty and sensible Mrs Bumstead. She invites him to dinner and introduces the bachelor to Alexander's pretty school teacher (Anita Louise). There is a subplot with Alexander's new friend Slugger, a bespectacled kid who never speaks. He drives Radcliffe crazy after he gets hit with a baseball hit by Slugger.

For the 80th Anniversary of John Lennon's birth- played a tape I made years ago of songs of each year he recorded Beatles- Baby It's You I Should Have Known Better Girl I'm Only Sleeping Strawberry Fields Forever Revolution Don't Let Me Down Solo- Instant Karma Imagine New York City Mind Games Scared Stand By Me Woman

7) Kirk Douglas wrote in his autobiography that many people though he would have an affair with Lana Turner during the filming. But he says nothing happened since her jealous boy friend Fernando Lamas was "always around'.

I love this. They were great together but my eyes always go straight to Patty. Her facial expressions are adorable.

House Of Wax (1953)

Wanda Hendrix in Ride The Pink Horse (1947)

Buck Privates (1941) DVD 7/10 Abbott and Costello's first starring film, they are unlicensed sidewalk salesman who run from a cop and end up enlisting for the army. The first time I saw this from start to finish in many years. I watched a documentary on Youtube about the Andrews Sisters and it made me nostalgic for this one. There is a lot of music in this and Patty, Maxene and LaVerne do some of their best songs. There is the wistful ballad "I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time" and the jumping "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". Patty is the youngest and cutest of the trio and shows off her brassy, energetic personality in her solos. As for A&C, they have some of their best routines such as the dice game and hilarious drill routine where Abbott has to drill bumbling Costello who I read has quite a few ab libs during this. The team had perfected their routines after years in vaudeville and radio and they are fast and furious with the verbal gags. Nat Pendleton provides good support as the cop who first chases them and turns out to be their sergeant in the army. There is some flaws in the boring subplot of playboy Lee Bowman forced into the service due to the draft.

One of Lugosi's dullest was Genius At Work (1946) he is stuck with small, uninteresting role as Lionel Atwill's servant. The stars of the film are Wally Brown and Alan Carney, an Abbott and Costello imitation comedy team but these guys are not funny at all. The film is supposed to be a comedy/mystery but there are no laughs and zero suspense.

8. There were only a few shots of Florida in the film, it was mostly filmed on Warner Brothers sets.

delete, moved to Lugosi thread

Peter Cushing was in Star Wars with Alec Guinness who was in The Bridge On The River Kwai with William Holden who was The Towering Inferno with Paul Newman next- Anissa Jones

Joe (1970)

6) He has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame for television.

It was re released in the early 1960s under this title. It was done t0 capitalize on the success of Allen Sherman albums like My Son The Folk Singer. Sherman even made a song called My Son The Vampire and did a promotional trailer for the movie when it was re released. No mention is made of Old Mother Riley or Bela Lugosi (who had died 6 years before).

He was in one of my favorite juvenile delinquent films Key Witness (1960),appearing with Dennis Hopper as the nastiest j.d. on film.

Let's Scare Jessica To Death (1971)