I Just Watched...

[Fedya]

So thanks for saving me 132 hours!

It is, of course, only 132 minutes; it just feels more like 132 hours.

[Fedya]

There is atonal singing in the Kabuki scenes,

At least those scenes didn't have Ricardo Montalbán!

[film lover 293]

"Blood and Black Lace" (1964)--Starring Cameron Mitchell and Eva Bartok, directed by Mario Bava.

 

One of the first slasher films.  A series of models who work in Bartok's fashion salon are killed.  The reason has something to do with a models' diary.

 

Film is beautifully shot, as almost all of Bava's films were.   The film's theme with a saxophone? clarinet? is memorable.  The film uses an imaginative color scheme, and the film's worth watching for the cinematography alone. The plot sees people tortured and killed in various horrible ways.  But the film gives the game away when a shot lingers too long on a killer.  Movie grows tiresome after a while; it does help that most of the characters are skunks.  The characters go against the rules of logic (they don't scream, try to run when they have the chance, etc.)  The end is fitting.

 

A good film I didn't care for.  2.8/4.

 

Edit--I just looked at film's webpage.  People really hated this one, going by tonights User Reviews.

[Fedya]

The characters go against the rules of logic (they don't scream, try to run when they have the chance, etc.)

 

[LornaHansonForbes]

"Blood and Black Lace" (1964)--Starring Cameron Mitchell and Eva Bartok, directed by Mario Bava.

 

One of the first slasher films. A series of models who work in Bartok's fashion salon are killed. The reason has something to do with a models' diary.

 

Film is beautifully shot, as almost all of Bava's films were. The film's theme with a saxophone? clarinet? is memorable. The film uses an imaginative color scheme, and the film's worth watching for the cinematography alone. The plot sees people tortured and killed in various horrible ways. But the film gives the game away when a shot lingers too long on a killer. Movie grows tiresome after a while; it does help that most of the characters are skunks. The characters go against the rules of logic (they don't scream, try to run when they have the chance, etc.) The end is fitting.

 

A good film I didn't care for. 2.8/4.

 

Edit--I just looked at film's webpage. People really hated this one, going by tonights User Reviews.

I watched this very casually while i did some chores around the house and while it's not fair for me to make this call having not seen all of the film, I agree with everything you write.

 

Really the only thing I can add is that I hope my neighbors didn't ovehear too much of this, they already think I'm a freak and the CONSTANT GRAPHIC sounds of women screaming probably carried through the air conditioner.

[MCannady1]

"Blood and Black Lace" (1964)--Starring Cameron Mitchell and Eva Bartok, directed by Mario Bava.

 

One of the first slasher films.  A series of models who work in Bartok's fashion salon are killed.  The reason has something to do with a models' diary.

 

Film is beautifully shot, as almost all of Bava's films were.   The film's theme with a saxophone? clarinet? is memorable.  The film uses an imaginative color scheme, and the film's worth watching for the cinematography alone. The plot sees people tortured and killed in various horrible ways.  But the film gives the game away when a shot lingers too long on a killer.  Movie grows tiresome after a while; it does help that most of the characters are skunks.  The characters go against the rules of logic (they don't scream, try to run when they have the chance, etc.)  The end is fitting.

 

A good film I didn't care for.  2.8/4.

 

Edit--I just looked at film's webpage.  People really hated this one, going by tonights User Reviews.

I just re-watched this one and it brought back memories. When I was 11 or 12 I saw this one for the first time. So scary (to me) that it gave me nightmares! I of course had never seen a slasher film at the time. It is well-done, but the gruesome aspects got to me still. Like you were saying, the cinematogography was well-done. There were some other scary movies like Peeping Tem and Psychomania I saw around the same time. This one does seem to drag on. The total lack of feeling for human life still gives me the shivers.

[MCannady1]

Thank you so much for the alert and review, I just watched it and I have to say I agree with pretty much everything you said, although I will say that Phillips Holmes, while not a good actor, was an utter dreamboat. The scene where he gives Sylvia Sydney THAT LOOK from behind the shelves was PALPABLE.

 

I will also say that the actors playing the attornies near the end are A LOT. Like too much. I actually skipped over some of their parts. I get that it was Sinclair Lewis's pillorying of small town politics and notion of justice with a healthy dose of Von Sternberg's MOODY mob mentality, but it was ALL AROUND TOO MUCH- and too much of it. I've often thought Raymond Burr was "too much" in  A PLACE IN THE SUN, but I was wrong.

 

sYLvia Sydney was beautiful and amazing.

 

i also add, it's similar in so many ways to A PLACE IN THE SUN, and yet so different. i know A PLACE IN THE SUN is one of Osborne's favorites, but I don't like it- at all. I think it makes tragic heroes of Clift and Taylor where it is not called for, and i don't care for Shelley Winters in it. as a film it really has its priorities screwed up.

 

and yet...AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY is a TOO searing indictment of almost all characters in it except for Sydney's, and by the end, the film's palpable disdain for near-everyone in it seems almost disrespectful to her memory

 

i did enjoy the far more unsettling scene of the Hero's arrest than what is done in the 1951 remake, it was bizarre...

 

a different editor could've really done something with the artfully directed footage; it's a film that would've benefitted from an unusual and less conventional three-act structure, revealing the whole story out of linear sequence...but then again, people had only been talking in movies for three years or so, asking them to accept a narrative with a bizarre structure would be too too much i guess.

An excellent review. I saw this one and thought Sylvia Sidney was very good in it. I do like Phillips Holmes whom I had seen in some other films. It seems that he usually was more effective in his roles. I think this is one of his first movies. He was very good in Great Expectations '34 and also starred with Sylvia Sidney in other films. I think A Place in the Sun while a good film, has too much empathy for the culprit and his lady love. Yes, it was pretty frightening in Raymond Burr's role as the District Attorney and how he re-enacted the murder. Here in An American Tragedy the story is presented in an impartial viewpoint initially. Our perspective is not clouded by empathy for the killer or pity for the society girl he loves. It does seem that the priorities are misplaced in the later version. Since seeing this film a few years ago I have found other Phillips Holmes and Sylvia Sidney films. They are always good to watch..

Anyway, I did like comparing the different aspects of this film to the newerone.

[hamradio]

The short subject "The Tanks Are Coming" (1941) with a question.  WHY is there a Yellow Cab in a shed in the middle of nowhere for a tank to run over?  Army has some kind of grudge?

 

[hamradio]

"Monster" (1925)  Loonies run the lunatic asylum.  Plot is too weak - not Lon Chaney's finest moment.

[hamradio]

"Blow Ups of 1947"   How comforting to know our future president can't put on his pants.

 

 

 

 

My favorite pick (gun won't fire)

 

Well the GD thing won't work!

[LornaHansonForbes]

An excellent review. I saw this one and thought Sylvia Sidney was very good in it. I do like Phillips Holmes whom I had seen in some other films. It seems that he usually was more effective in his roles. I think this is one of his first movies. He was very good in Great Expectations '34 and also starred with Sylvia Sidney in other films. I think A Place in the Sun while a good film, has too much empathy for the culprit and his lady love. Yes, it was pretty frightening in Raymond Burr's role as the District Attorney and how he re-enacted the murder. Here in An American Tragedy the story is presented in an impartial viewpoint initially. Our perspective is not clouded by empathy for the killer or pity for the society girl he loves. It does seem that the priorities are misplaced in the later version. Since seeing this film a few years ago I have found other Phillips Holmes and Sylvia Sidney films. They are always good to watch..

Anyway, I did like comparing the different aspects of this film to the newerone.

 

YES!

 

I will add that I rewatched many parts of AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY yesterday and it holds up better on repeat viewings, I was at least able to make it through the last third (which concerns the trial, which it's interesting to note, is a MUCH BIGGER DEAL in the 1931 version- it's a NATIONWIDE SCANDAL, whereas we don't get that sense (as i recall it, at least) in A PLACE IN THE SUN.

 

I also take this aside to note that the courtroom set, with the massive window behind Holmes which looks out onto a church steeple and mighty oak is at once impressive and distracting, and yet a welcome distraction from Holmes's shaky performance.

 

I again do note though that PHILLIPS HOLMES** WAS HOT and had his effective moments. 

 

I really think that, as is often the case with early talkies, the most effective moments were the silent ones.

 

**it's worth noting that Holmes died serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force some time in WWII.

[LornaHansonForbes]

 

[scsu1975]

YES!

 

I will add that I rewatched many parts of AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY yesterday and it holds up better on repeat viewings, I was at least able to make it through the last third (which concerns the trial, which it's interesting to note, is a MUCH BIGGER DEAL in the 1931 version- it's a NATIONWIDE SCANDAL, whereas we don't get that sense (as i recall it, at least) in A PLACE IN THE SUN.

 

The actual case was a national scandal ... you can read about it here:

 

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87093407/1908-03-30/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1908&sort=date&date2=1908&words=CHESTER+GILLETTE&sequence=0&lccn=&index=4&state=&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=chester+gillette&year=&phrasetext=&andtext=&proxValue=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=11

[film lover 293]

"Black Sabbath" (1964)--Uneven anthology film hosted and starring Boris Karloff, directed by Mario Bava.

 

The first film story is about the ghost of a woman coming back and stealing things back from her former maid.  The second tale is about a woman terrorized by a telephone caller.  This one's a twist on "Diabolique" (1955) and is the best part of the film.  The third episode is about a family that thinks their father (Karloff) has become a vrdolak (vampire).  This episode is weakest because the hero is excessively stupid;  the animals in the film, as well as the viewer can tell what's going to happen, but the light never dawns in the protagonists' brain.

 

Film is worth seeing for the first two stories, Karloff's performance, and Bava's cinematography.  2.6/4.

[LornaHansonForbes]

"Black Sabbath" (1964)--Uneven anthology film hosted and starring Boris Karloff, directed by Mario Bava.

 

The third episode is about a family that thinks their father (Karloff) has become a vrdolak (vampire). This episode is weakest because the hero is excessively stupid; the animals in the film, as well as the viewer can tell what's going to happen, but the light never dawns in the protagonists' brain.

 

Film is worth seeing for the first two stories, Karloff's performance, and Bava's cinematography. 2.6/4.

Really?

i think the third segment is the best by far.

[Janet0312]

"Black Sabbath" (1964)--Uneven anthology film hosted and starring Boris Karloff, directed by Mario Bava.

 

The first film story is about the ghost of a woman coming back and stealing things back from her former maid.  The second tale is about a woman terrorized by a telephone caller.  This one's a twist on "Diabolique" (1955) and is the best part of the film.  The third episode is about a family that thinks their father (Karloff) has become a vrdolak (vampire).  This episode is weakest because the hero is excessively stupid;  the animals in the film, as well as the viewer can tell what's going to happen, but the light never dawns in the protagonists' brain.

 

Film is worth seeing for the first two stories, Karloff's performance, and Bava's cinematography.  2.6/4.

 

 

Years ago this flick played on Creature Double Feature on Channel 56 in Boston. My sister and I never missed it, as it scared the you know what out of us. I love all the segments. A very spooky film.

[NickAndNora34]

Hired Wife (1940); starring one of my favorites, Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, & Virginia Bruce. This film was more enjoyable than I had previously anticipated it to be. I was quite pleasantly surprised. Roz is one of my favorite actresses from Hollywood's "Golden Age." Needless to say, she basically carried the whole film. She continues to amaze me in her fantastic humor and timing and interpretation of her lines & the storyline of movies, in general. I'm not kidding, I will fight anyone who says she didn't have talent. 

 

That being said, the movie is basically about Aherne, a prominent businessman who has to get married in order to win some kind of legal battle (it wasn't all that clear to me). And guess who he picks? That's right, Kendall Browning (Russell), his always-loyal secretary.

 

Source: YouTube 

[RoyCronin]

The concept reminds me of a TV show from my youth, "Occasional Wife". In order to advance at his job a young man's boss wants him to be married. So he finds a girl to act as his wife, "occasionally". She lives in an apartment two floors above him, the boss is coming to dinner....well, mayhem ensues. Late 60s pleasantness.

[MCannady1]

"Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing" (1954)--Directed by Bin Kaido (or Kado--have seen two different spellings of the name).

 

This Japanese horror film is poky and obvious to my Western eyes.  A Kabuki Theatre actress is killed by those jealous of her; she comes back to avenge herself on the ones who wronged her/killed her.

 

Film has several problems.  It takes half the film to set the situation, and the villains have all the subtlety of Snidely Whiplash when they're about to commit dastardly acts against the poor, fragile flower of a heroine.  The main female villain is amusingly bitchy, and the main male villain is boringly so.  People stand around and talk..and talk...and Talk about what they're going to do, and the victim just listens and weeps, instead of doing something constructive, like defending herself, or Leaving.  She continues to trust everyone she shouldn't, for some unfathomable reason.

 

There is atonal singing in the Kabuki scenes, and listening to it made me wince.

 

The negatives out of the way, the last half hour of the film is fun to watch and see the heroine get Revenge. The special effects are ok, nothing more.

 

I found the film on archive.org; it's worth searching out, especially if you know about Japanese culture.  I'm sure I missed cultural subtleties; others may enjoy the film more than I did. 2.6/4.

 

Film is subtitled; however, credits are not.

Thanks. Would like to try this one. It will probably puzzle me in places too, as I don't know much about Japanese culture.

[MCannady1]

The concept reminds me of a TV show from my youth, "Occasional Wife". In order to advance at his job a young man's boss wants him to be married. So he finds a girl to act as his wife, "occasionally". She lives in an apartment two floors above him, the boss is coming to dinner....well, mayhem ensues. Late 60s pleasantness.

I liked the show too! It brings back memories of when I was in my early teens and watched it. Later I read somewhere that Occasional Wife would like to make it legal; meaning that Patricia Hardy and Michael Callan were married to others in real life and were contemplating divorce to marry. I liked the show very much. I did think the mix-ups were really funny.

[MCannady1]

Hired Wife (1940); starring one of my favorites, Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, & Virginia Bruce. This film was more enjoyable than I had previously anticipated it to be. I was quite pleasantly surprised. Roz is one of my favorite actresses from Hollywood's "Golden Age." Needless to say, she basically carried the whole film. She continues to amaze me in her fantastic humor and timing and interpretation of her lines & the storyline of movies, in general. I'm not kidding, I will fight anyone who says she didn't have talent. 

 

That being said, the movie is basically about Aherne, a prominent businessman who has to get married in order to win some kind of legal battle (it wasn't all that clear to me). And guess who he picks? That's right, Kendall Browning (Russell), his always-loyal secretary.

 

Source: YouTube

I like Rosalind too. She was equally skilled in comedies or melodramas. She was quite good as a young girl in danger in Night Must Fall and later in Auntie Mame as the madcap aunt of Patrick Dennis. She was outstanding in this role. I would like to see Hired Wife too.

[MCannady1]

Years ago this flick played on Creature Double Feature on Channel 56 in Boston. My sister and I never missed it, as it scared the you know what out of us. I love all the segments. A very spooky film.

My big sister and I loved the scary horror features too! I recall Black Sabbath was very scary. We had Channel 56 here in Los Angeles too. We watched many entertaining features on it when we were kids. In the mid-50's we would come home from school and there would be some old movies on like Lady on a Train with Deanna Durbin or The Bat with Agnes Moorhead. Always a very good channel.

[MCannady1]

My big sister and I loved the scary horror features too! I recall Black Sabbath was very scary. We had Channel 56 here in Los Angeles too. We watched many entertaining features on it when we were kids. In the mid-50's we would come home from school and there would be some old movies on like Lady on a Train with Deanna Durbin or The Bat with Agnes Moorhead. Always a very good channel.

Oops! I goofed. I mean in the mid 60's we would come home from school and watch old movies on Channel 56.

[MCannady1]

Speaking of scary movies, Halloween puts me in mind of a marathon of scary movies they would show on Channel 13 here in Los Angeles. The thing is, it was summer in '63 and they had the greatest films. Every weekend there would be a host who was called Jeepers Creepers and he would tell us about the upcoming scary film. My big sister and I never forgot the fun we had that summer! And we had such a neat time watching Night of Terror, Topper Returns, The Mad Ghoul, etc. The only thing my sister and I did not like were the interminable commercials for Worthington Dodge, We'd leave the room to get a snack and then Mark of the Vampire or Return of the Vampire would return. Spooks Run Wild was another one enjoyed but had a scary build-up and touches of Humor with Bela Lugosi scaring the East Side Kids. Does anyone else remember the host that summer? I remember that we looked forward to Night Monster, but were disappointed in that one. The woman that hosted the show next was Ghoulita (I just remembered). A couple of years later it was Elvira

.

 

I thought it would be fun to share our experiences. The best one I recall was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, which we still love.

 

Hope everyone has a happy Halloween! There aren't many Trick or Treaters anymore, so we shall have to eat the candy!.

[Dargo]

Speaking of scary movies, Halloween puts me in mind of a marathon of scary movies they would show on Channel 13 here in Los Angeles. The thing is, it was summer in '63 and they had the greatest films. Every weekend there would be a host who was called Jeepers Creepers and he would tell us about the upcoming scary film. My big sister and I never forgot the fun we had that summer! And we had such a neat time watching Night of Terror, Topper Returns, The Mad Ghoul, etc. The only thing my sister and I did not like were the interminable commercials for Worthington Dodge, We'd leave the room to get a snack and then Mark of the Vampire or Return of the Vampire would return. Spooks Run Wild was another one enjoyed but had a scary build-up and touches of Humor with Bela Lugosi scaring the East Side Kids. Does anyone else remember the host that summer? I remember that we looked forward to Night Monster, but were disappointed in that one. The woman that hosted the show next was Ghoulita (I just remembered). A couple of years later it was Elvira

.

 

I thought it would be fun to share our experiences. The best one I recall was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, which we still love.

 

Hope everyone has a happy Halloween! There aren't many Trick or Treaters anymore, so we shall have to eat the candy!.

 

MC, you might have already found the following on the net, but just in case you haven't, I thought you might like to visit this link to a nicely written webpage about those old SoCal horror hosts we old native Angelenos used to enjoy back in the day...

 

https://terrordaves.com/2011/06/05/the-real-horror-hosts-of-southern-california/

 

(...and I was quite a fan of Sinister Seymour back then, myself)