THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963): Roger Corman’s Take on H.P. Lovecraft Disguised as Poe
THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963) was the sixth of the 8 films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe made by producer-director Roger Corman for American International Pictures between 1960 and 1964. It may be the best of the lot after THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964) which is usually considered the number one…
The 1962 TOWER OF LONDON Has Its Moments
In 1962, director Roger Corman and actor Vincent Price were riding high. Corman, after making several low budget black and white movies, hit it big in a series of color films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. These movies were inspired by the success of England’s Hammer Films who were remaking, in color,…
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930): The “Silent” Version
I first encountered the 1930 ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT in 1970 when I was a freshman at the University of South Carolina. They had an excellent film series there that offeredd a different movie to students every day. I was already a fan of older movies by that time and had read about the film in…
PHANTOM LADY (1944): The Return Of Robert Siodmak’s First Film Noir
One of the more fascinating Film Noirs to come out of the 1940s, Robert Siodmak’s PHANTOM LADY (1944) is an interesting movie on many levels. It is based on pulp novelist Cornell Woolrich’s book of the same name. Woolrich (1903-1968) was a treasure trove of mystery/crime material in the 1940s being the source of several classic Noirs…
THE GREAT WHITE SILENCE (1924): Stunning Silent Documentary of Scott’s Ill-fated 1912 Attempt To Reach The South Pole
It has been well over a century since the ill fated Terra Nova expedition to Antarctica (191-12). Since that time, expedition leader Robert Falcon Scott has gone from being labeled a tragic hero to a self-centered bungler whose poor decisions doomed his attempt to reach the South Pole first and finally to someone who was…
FOCUS ON LOUISE BROOKS: 4 American Films (1925-1927)
Ever since her rediscovery in the 1950s, while she was still very much alive and able to benefit from it, Louise Brooks has become a cinematic icon. Her reputation originally rested on the 3 European films (PANDORA’S BOX, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, PRIX DE BEAUTE’) that she made in 1929-1930 and her later book,…
36 HOURS / TERROR STREET (1953): Hammer Films Before They Discovered Horror
It wasn’t very often that Dan Duryea got the opportunity to play the good guy but when he did, he made the most of it. After appearing as an Air Force pilot in the very low budget SKY COMMANDO (1952) which was shot in only 8 days, Duryea went to London to appear in another…
MADEMOISELLE FIFI (1944): An Unusual Offering From Producer Val Lewton
Along with the 9 horror films on which his reputation rests, Val Lewton produced two other movies during his 1942-46 tenure at RKO. One was YOUTH RUNS WILD about contemporary juvenile delinquency and this adaptation of two short stories by 19th century French author Guy de Maupassant. The stories re BOULE DE SUIF (BALL OF…
SANTA CLAUS (1925) And Much More
Most of the selections in this DVD collection, A CHRISTMAS PAST, are short films that were originally made by the Edison Company. These include a 1905 version of THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS and a 1910 version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL which are quite good considering their age and length. Unfortuntaely the transfer speed for both…
BEAU GESTE (1926): The First And Best Movie Adaptation
I first encountered BEAU GESTE as a 1966 movie which I saw when I was 14 at a local cinema. At that age I was already familiar with several 19th century action-adventure/fantasy novels such as those by H. Rider Haggard and Jules Verne but somehow I missed out on P.C. Wren’s story of three British upper…
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The Capsule Critic 