I Just Watched...

[LsDoorMat]

How did you see this film?    My guess is that is why it isn't better known;   I.e.  there is no network that I know of, that features 30s Columbia films,  other then Get-TV  (and their rotation is very limited).  

 

PS:  Get-TV did feature the Lone Wolf serial with Warren William.   The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt featured Ida Lupino and Rita Hayworth.     They also featured the Boston B-l-a-c-k-I-e films with Chester Morris.

 

I wish TCM would feature more 30s Columbia films especially those with Jean Arthur.     

 

I got  "Let's Get Married" from a private collector. You collect a network of such people when you like rare old stuff like I do. I had to resort to making a DVD of "Coffee Tea or Me" from a youtube video though, because none of the collectors I deal with are into made for TV 70s stuff, and that film aired in 1973 and was pretty much a fossil by the beginning of the VHS era.

[JamesJazGuitar]

I got  "Let's Get Married" from a private collector. You collect a network of such people when you like rare old stuff like I do. I had to resort to making a DVD of "Coffee Tea or Me" from a youtube video though, because none of the collectors I deal with are into made for TV 70s stuff, and that film aired in 1973 and was pretty much a fossil by the beginning of the VHS era.

 

Thanks for the info,  but you did know why "such an inventive film,, is not better known":   Access to the film is very limited.    Us everyday folks don't have a network of such people like you do.    

[Sepiatone]

ONE STEP BEYOND

 

DECADES CHANNEL played old episodes of this long ago pre-"Twilight Zone" anthology series all afternoon and will into the evening.  So actually, I'm STILL watching. 

 

And "pre" Twiilight zone by about nine or ten months only, I do recall watching it "first run" as well.  But unlike ZONE, it centered more on the paranormal than TW did, the latter also venturing into phycho-drama and Sci-Fi more than OSB bothered to.  Still, very well done stories and a bit chilling at times.  I'm enjoying this drag of my sciatic legs though memory lane. 

 

 

Sepiatone

[LsDoorMat]

Thanks for the info,  but you did know why "such an inventive film,, is not better known":   Access to the film is very limited.    Us everyday folks don't have a network of such people like you do.    

 

When I asked why this film was not better known I was wondering why it isn't among Columbia's better known films of the 1930's and thus better known today. Obviously it never took off or was always meant to be a second bill film, and that is why I had to hunt to find it.

[JamesJazGuitar]

When I asked why this film was not better known I was wondering why it isn't among Columbia's better known films of the 1930's and thus better known today. Obviously it never took off or was always meant to be a second bill film, and that is why I had to hunt to find it.

 

Wow,  if it is one of Columbia's lesser known 30s films that means it really hasn't been seen by many people, especially TCM viewers, since TCM shows only a very limited number of Columbia 30s films (e.g. the Capra hits) and networks like Get-TV focus on Columbia serial series films. 

 

I assume that TCM is the primary source for most people to view studio-era American films and since TCM's programming is so MGM\WB\RKO centric,   'second billed films' from other studios get little to no coverage.     E.g. I dislike that MOVIES-TV has commercials and censors content but it does show 40s and 50s Fox films (especially noirs) that TCM doesn't show.

[LsDoorMat]

Wow,  if it is one of Columbia's lesser known 30s films that means it really hasn't been seen by many people, especially TCM viewers, since TCM shows only a very limited number of Columbia 30s films (e.g. the Capra hits) and networks like Get-TV focus on Columbia serial series films. 

 

I assume that TCM is the primary source for most people to view studio-era American films and since TCM's programming is so MGM\WB\RKO centric,   'second billed films' from other studios get little to no coverage.     E.g. I dislike that MOVIES-TV has commercials and censors content but it does show 40s and 50s Fox films (especially noirs) that TCM doesn't show.

Getting a bit OT here, but I'll add just this. TCM has been getting more Universal/Paramount/Fox/Sam Goldwyn centric too. TCM's parent company now owns the distribution rights to Paramount's classic film library starting from 1950 to an end date I am not aware of, and also owns the distribution rights to just about everything in Sam Goldwyn's library. That is probably why Ronald Colman as SOTM was even possible since Colman was under contract to Goldwyn from 1929 into the 1930s. Also Fox Movie Channel decided to become "New Fox Movies Everybody has seen and the Dreck Fox made circa 1960 that Enabled Darryl F. Zanuck's Return" alias FX channel. Thus no more old FMC and thus so many Fox golden age movies are showing up on TCM. Finally Universal has made some kind of agreement with TCM, so more of their stuff is showing up on TCM, most obvious from this month's schedule.

 

TCM DID have access to Columbia's film library in the early 2000's up to about 2010. During that time TCM showed many rare old Columbias, but I do not think "Let's Get Married" was one of them.

[misswonderly3]

I just watched one of my absolute very favourite films of all time. Definitely right up there in the top ten. I love, love, this movie. What is it, you ask, that deserves not one but two "loves" in describing it?

 

Hannah and Her Sisters.

 

It's Thanksgiving in Canada, and I think of this Woody Allen film as a Thanksgiving movie - among many other things. It's punctuated by three Thanksgiving celebrations. And even though Hannah and Her Sisters is an American movie, and therefore the Thanksgiving event is in November, not October ( as in Canada), it's still fun to watch at Thanksgiving time. I used to watch it every year at this time, then gave it a miss for a while. This is the first time in a few years that I watched it again. And I'm glad to say, I loved it as much as ever.

 

Why do I like this movie so much? If I had to say it in one word, I'd say it was because it's one of the most joyous, life-affirming films I've ever seen. It just makes me feel so damn good.

 

All the characters are engaging and funny. Woody is hilarious as the neurotic hypochondriac  television producer who gets the idea he's got a brain tumour, and is almost as upset when he finds out he doesn't have one as he'd be if he did (have a brain tumour, that is.) He realizes that even if he is not going to die in the near future, he is going to die sometime, as are we all. He becomes obsessed with this idea, that death waits for us all, and if there's no God, no afterlife, what's the point of it all? So he embarks upon a quest to find Religion, a religion, any religion, that will satisfy him that there's something beyond human mortality. 

 

Of course there's no answer to this, but Woody's desperate odyssey to find some meaning to a life that inevitably ends in death, some kind of certainty, is both something we can all relate to (maybe without the desperation) and extremely funny. 

 

We don't find out till nearly the end of the movie how he resolves this. But there's no magic answer, no guru telling him some cosmic secret. Woody's epiphany is much more simple than that; it's that he discovers that life is sweet, and even if we only go around once and it all comes to an end, let's savour it while we're here. There's so much to savour.  I can't express this the way Woody's character does in the film, it's best if you just watch the movie and vicariously experience his joy in this revelation.

Oh, and by the way, this scene helps if you're a fan of the Marx Brothers.

 

There are lots of other delights in this film to enjoy along the way. All the actors are first-rate. Max von Sydow is especially  moving as the rejected lover of Lee, one of the three sisters the movie follows over a period of two years. Lee is charmingly played by Barbara Hershey,  while Mia Farrow as  the "settled" sister, captures the two sides of Hannah, as someone who's both almost annoyingly perfect (at least as perceived by others)  yet is actually as needy and vulnerable as everyone else.

 

But the most engaging character in Hannah and Her Sisters has got to be Holly, the quirky "off-beat" slightly edgy sister.  Dianne Wiest won a well-deserved Oscar for this role. She makes Holly funny, touching, sympathetic. 

 

I wanted to articulate why I find this movie so life-affirming, why it makes me feel so happy when I watch it, but the best way to understand this is just to watch it. To me the icing on this already delicious cinematic cake is the very last minute of the film, when Holly tells Mickey, who earlier in the film had been told that he had "weak" fertility, that she's pregnant. Pregnant by him, I hasten to add. I love the way this film, which is all about whether and why life is worth living, ends with the news of new life beginning. 

 

I realized, watching Hannah and Her Sisters tonight, that it's not only one of my very favourite Woody Allen films, it's one of my favourite films, period. It's intelligent, moving without being in the least sentimental, moral without being preachy, engaging, wise, and very funny. It's also, as I know I've already said several times, one of the most life-affirming films I've ever seen.

[TomJH]

I just watched one of my absolute very favourite films of all time. Definitely right up there in the top ten. I love, love, this movie. What is it, you ask, that deserves not one but two "loves" in describing it?

 

Hannah and Her Sisters.

 

Thank you for your uplifting review of a film so uplifting, MissW.

 

I was a Woody Allen "nut" for many years, seeing virtually all his movies (a practice I ended around 2000, I guess). Hannah and Her Sisters was the last Allen film I saw at the show. I haven't seen it in years (your review makes me feel I'm due for a re-visit) but, in the midst of a great ensemble cast I recall being as attracted to Barbara Hershey's character as was Michael Caine. Speaking of which, I would like to give a plug to Caine's Oscar winning performance as one of the best in the film.

[Sepiatone]

MissW, you've pointed out what makes Allen's films often a joy to watch.  Not only his deft ability to bring out the best work of any cast members,  but his ability to create characters that while being off-beat and often "over the top" are also so incredibly REAL.  Without going into boring and personal blather, I can honestly state that my wife, the 2nd oldest of SIX sisters, has at least TWO that could be closely associated with  some of HANNAH'S sisters.  I mean, it's almost as if Woody used THEM as templates for the movie's characters.

 

And WHO doesn't have at least 2 or 3 "Woody Allen movie" type characters in THEIR family?

 

And I too, think HANNAH is one of Woody's top 3 (IMO) and have too, often stolen his character's Father's "I don't know how the toaster works" analogy when discussing religion and also other matters in personal conversations. 

 

 

Sepiatone

[LornaHansonForbes]

I honestly think RADIO DAYS is a masterpiece, maybe one of the 10 Best films of the 80's, and there's some other good stuff Allen did along the way...

 

But as with Polanski, I've gotten to a point with Woodrow where I can't separate the maker from the work...and I see dark undercurrents in things I'd find charming coming from anyone else.

 

...even in his best works, and in all of his worst, there is this running theme that people who are artists or "genuine" intellectuals are allowed to operate beyond the norms of convention and it's ok.

 

And at this stage, I just can't help but get squicked out by it all.

[film lover 293]

"Berserk!" (1967)--Starring Joan Crawford, Diana Dors, Judy Geeson, and Ty Hardin.  Directed by Jim O'Connolly (1969's "Valley of the Gwangi").

 

Enjoyable British, circus-set horror/thriller.

 

Plot--A high-wire act is going on as the film opens.  The wire snaps, and Gaspar The Great is victim #1.  Ringmaster Monica Rivers (Crawford) sends out clowns to distract the audience as the body is carried off.  Later that night, Rivers is going over box-office receipts, which upsets her manager Dorando (Michael Gough).  He accuses her of not having a heart.  The rest of the film is a whodunit, spiced with occasional killings. red herrings, and animal acts (the French poodle act was my favorite).

 

The Billy Smart Circus of Britain did the animal acts and the most difficult stunts.  They also participated in an earlier British horror film, "Circus of Horrors" (1960).

 

Joan Crawford has a marvelous time chewing the scenery and outacting her costars.  Diana Dors is fine as Matilda, the woman whose partner "does nothing in bed but snore".  Hardin is the hunk who replaces Gaspar on the wire and in Monica's bed.  Geeson is the girl who gets herself expelled from a private school and goes to work as the target in the knife throwing act.

 

The film does slow down after a fast moving first half hour.  The finale is too abrupt, unconvincing, and badly staged.  Despite these faults, film is still worth a watch.  2.7/4.

 

Source--archive.org.  Film is miscatalogued.  Search "Berserk", and click on the picture of Joan Crawford.  Information on film says it's in the Malay language.  It's in English, with no subtitles.

[Janet0312]

ONE STEP BEYOND

 

DECADES CHANNEL played old episodes of this long ago pre-"Twilight Zone" anthology series all afternoon and will into the evening.  So actually, I'm STILL watching. 

 

And "pre" Twiilight zone by about nine or ten months only, I do recall watching it "first run" as well.  But unlike ZONE, it centered more on the paranormal than TW did, the latter also venturing into phycho-drama and Sci-Fi more than OSB bothered to.  Still, very well done stories and a bit chilling at times.  I'm enjoying this drag of my sciatic legs though memory lane. 

 

 

Sepiatone

 

I watched some of that too. Good stuff.

[cigarjoe]

Ride in the Whirlwind (1966), first viewing, can't believe I'd never caught this before, I did see Hellman's The Shooting which I didn't think much of it so I probably shied away from seeking this out. It's way better with some decent cinematography. 7/10

[Sepiatone]

I watched some of that too. Good stuff.

 

Yeah.  And today it was a full afternoon of "Life With Elizabeth"  Starring BETTY WHITE.   And in the middle of it all, a younger person in the family dropped by to see my wife and was "shocked" not only to learn how long Betty has been in the "TV biz", but at how beautiful she was when that young.  This person was only familiar with Betty since she turned 90.

 

 

Sepiatone

[cigarjoe]

The Violent Years (1956) Juvenile Delinquent Noir

 

 

Like Jail Bait (1954) This film fits the JD exploitation, "C-Z" Noirs popular with the Beach/Surfer/Horror/SiFi movie demographic of the late 50s early 60s.

 

Directed by William Morgan, written by Ed Wood, and cinematography by William C. Thompson. Music by Manuel Francisco

 

The film stars Jean Moorhead as Paula Parkins, Barbara Weeks as Jane Parkins, Arthur Millan as Carl Parkins, Theresa Hancock as Georgia, Glen Corbett as Barney Stetson, Joanne Cangi as Geraldine, Gloria Farr as Phyllis, Lee Constant as Sheila, I. Stanford Jolley as Judge Clara, Timothy Farrell as Lt. Holmes. F. Chan McClure as Det. Artman, Bruno Metsa as Manny, and Harry Keaton as the Doctor.

 

Paula Parkins (Moorhead) rich brat. A female Eddie Haskell. Devious daughter of newspaper editor father and a high profile blueblood mother. As soon as mater leaves for some charity event Paula is on the phone organizing her posse, her bullet bra wearing girl gang, Georgia (Hancock), Geraldine (Cangi), and Phyllis (Farr). For kicks the gang knocks over filling stations. The gang's M.O. is driving up to a full service gas station in an very conspicuous black four door 1954 Caddy series 62 sedan, pulling a gat on the attendant and emptying the cash drawer.

 

The Violent Years is an interesting example of a film that's achieved cult status as an Exploitation Juvie Noir, 6/10. Screencaps are from a Youtube stream. Full review with more screencaps here in Film Noir/Gangster 

[EricJ]

 

The Violent Years (1956) Juvenile Delinquent Noir

The Violent Years is an interesting example of a film that's achieved cult status as an Exploitation Juvie Noir, 6/10.

 

And for completist fan-association with its screenwriter, even though it wasn't covered in his bio movie.

[scsu1975]

 

The Violent Years (1956) Juvenile Delinquent Noir

 

 

Like Jail Bait (1954) This film fits the JD exploitation, "C-Z" Noirs popular with the Beach/Surfer/Horror/SiFi movie demographic of the late 50s early 60s.

 

Directed by William Morgan, written by Ed Wood

 

Wood is responsible for such hard-hitting dialog, such as:

 

Cop: "Pretty bad, huh?"

Doctor: "Pretty bad."

 

Fourteen seconds later:

 

Reporter: "Another one, huh?"

Cop: "Pretty bad one this time. How about it, Doc?"

Doctor: "Pretty bad."

 

This dame learned how to erase a blackboard from four rows back.

[Sepiatone]

And a kind of advanced "lead-in" to '61's THE YOUNG SAVAGES.

 

Anyway, today, local channel THIS showed the Poitier/Darin film PRESSURE POINT. The '62 psyco-drama has long been a favorite since seeing it with the folks when it came out.  Been a long time since my last viewing.  Made my day.

 

 

Sepiatone

[cigarjoe]

The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) Directed by Coleman Francis starring Tor Johnson as Joseph Javorsky / The Beast.  A very cheapo production, what did it take a few hours of a rented airplane, a handful of extras, two or three cars, a couple of houses, a filling station, and the landscapes just North of Los Angeles. Lots of narration, say 80 - 90%, a lot was shot MOS rather than actual sound recording.

 

The nuclear scarred Beast carrying around a woman like a Raggedy Anne doll under his arm across the desolate countryside is my personal take away iconography of this film.

 

I liked the obvious out of left field (most likely post MPPC) cheesecake insert at the beginning, they probably wanted to spike up the box office with a bit of exploitation in a later re-release, and then later the in comparison rather tame original one with the deputy's wife at their house. It's one of the quirks of these low budget productions, i.e. squeeze as much bucks out of their product as possible. Quite a few films in this early 60s -70s time frame were re cut with exploitative insertions, some B&W films even with Color insertions, some with and some without the original directors input. 

 

Again, what makes these low budget films worthwhile, to quote V. Vale & Andrea Juno in Incredibly Strange Films, is the "unfettered creativity. Often the films are eccentric-even extreme-presentations by individuals freely expressing their imaginations..." To quote Picasso "Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."

 

I give it about a 5/10.

[cigarjoe]

A Thunder Of Drums (1961) Finally was able to catch up with this film today, enjoyed it. I bought the cast, a mix of new and up and coming new talent and some old Western Genre hands. I like Richard Boone a lot, but there's not a whole lot of his Western films that I can point to and admire. The Tall T, his small bit part in The Alamo, Rio Conchos, and his menace oozing Cicero Grimes in Hombre, and now this one. I'll go a 7/10, some great Western landscapes also.

 

[scsu1975]

The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) Directed by Coleman Francis starring Tor Johnson as Joseph Javorsky / The Beast.  A very cheapo production, what did it take a few hours of a rented airplane, a handful of extras, two or three cars, a couple of houses, a filling station, and the landscapes just North of Los Angeles. Lots of narration, say 80 - 90%, a lot was shot MOS rather than actual sound recording.

 

The nuclear scarred Beast carrying around a woman like a Raggedy Anne doll under his arm across the desolate countryside is my personal take away iconography of this film.

 

I liked the obvious out of left field (most likely post MPPC) cheesecake insert at the beginning, they probably wanted to spike up the box office with a bit of exploitation in a later re-release,

A classic in every sense of the word.  As I once wrote, if that is indeed Tor strangling the woman at the beginning of the film, he is not disfigured yet, so here he is strangling somebody, then landing in the desert, then becoming disfigured, then strangling people, then ...

 

Oh, and the script is sensational.  "Flag on the moon ... how did it get there?" W T F?

 

 

Had Moses spent most of his time eating on Mt. Sinai, he would have come down from the mountain looking like this:

[TomJH]

Had Moses spent most of his time eating on Mt. Sinai, he would have come down from the mountain looking like this:

 

But he might have also come down looking like this.

 

 

"And the Lord told onto me the 11th Commandment, 'Thy shalt not touch my Twinkie.'"

[scsu1975]

Witchcraft (1964) FXM Retro

 

Decent little thriller about a witch who is resurrected when a land developer plows up a cemetery. Lon Chaney (as a descendant of the witch) is top-billed, but plays more of a supporting role. When he is onscreen, he yells a lot. He is the only one in the cast who doesn’t speak with a British accent, which is probably a good thing. The rest of the cast does a fair job, with Yvette Reeves creepy (and somewhat sexy) as the witch. The film is predictable, and could have used a higher body count. The finale is well-staged. I had not heard of this film, but it is definitely worth a look.

 

Mr. Bill goes for a car ride.

[film lover 293]

"The Giant of Metropolis" (1963)--Starring Gordon Mitchell, Roldano Lupi, and Bella Cortez.

 

An Italian remake of Flash Gordon serials, Fritz Langs' "Metropolis" (1927), mixed with a good dose of "sword and sandals" film, with plenty of cheesecake and beefcake.

 

Setting--Atlantis.  Obro (Mitchell) is on a quest to Metropolis, to warn its king Yotar (Lupi) that his misuse of science will cause the downfall of Metropolis and all its residents.  Suddenly, Obro and companions are hit with a "magnetic death ray" that only Obro survives, the others being turned into skeletons.  Obro is then taken by soldiers to the King, who has him selected for a brain transplant for his son, because Obro is of "superior blood".  The whole film plays like a Flash Gordon serial.

 

Mitchell is a suitable hunk of beefcake, who throws soldiers and bouders around like they were toys.  Lupi bears a resemblance to Charles Middleton, who played Ming the Merciless in at least one Flash Gordon serial.  Bella Cortez's Mesede resembles Princess Aura; here she is redeemed by her love for Obro. 

 

The futuristic Art Direction is by Giorgio Giovannini, who worked with Mario Bava on 1965's "Planet of the Vampires", and other Bava films.  The sets and set decoration borrow from the Mayans, Aztecs, Egyptians, and Chinese, depending on the scene. 

 

The cinematography is by Mario Sensi.  The wild color scheme resembles that of "Planet of the Vampires" (1965) and "Hercules in the Haunted World" (1961), except the dominant color is red instead of orange. 

 

The script is wonderfully stupid.  My favorite line; Obro to Mesede : "We're made alike!"  Not really, although they both have big chests.

 

Watch for the wedding dance, and the swords that look like canoe paddles.  Last half hour of the film must have used a ton of dry ice.

 

I saw a copy that had been restored, not one of the dingy copies that are unwatchable.  Film is great fun.  3/4.

 

Source--archive.org.  Click on the copy that was uploaded 5/5/2017, the one with the brightest color.  The other copies are unwatchable.

[scsu1975]

Man-Made Monster (1941) youtube (but for how long?)

 

One of the best of the Universal 1940s horror flicks, moving rapidly along at just under an hour. Lon Chaney stars as sideshow entertainer whose act features him working with electricity. When he is the only survivor of a bus crash where the other passengers are electrocuted, scientist Samuel S. Hinds invites him to participate in a few experiments to determine his immunity to electricity. So far so good. Hinds has an associate, played by Lionel Atwill. Now you know something will go wrong. Atwill has the idea that he can create a species of beings powered by electricity, and Chaney is his perfect subject. Pretty soon Chaney is glowing like Chernobyl and kills Hinds. Chaney is sentenced to die in the electric chair, but the execution does not go as planned.

 

This is my favorite Chaney film. He gives a very relaxed performance early on as just a simple, likable, trusting soul, before the **** hits the fan. Atwill, as usual, is superb as a nutjob, and the supporting cast is fine as well. A bonus is Hans J. Salter’s score, which features his themes that were used over and over in many other Universal films. There is also a very touching relationship between Chaney and Hinds’ dog, which runs throughout the film. Highly recommended.