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Having been successful with their Gothic horror film BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE, Robert S. Baker & Monty Berman next attempted to produce a black & white science fiction movie patterned after Hammer’s QUATERMASS series. Those movies dealt with alien invasions from outer space and how they were successfully thwarted. Once again they hired Hammer freelanceContinue reading “TROLLENBERG TERROR/THE CRAWLING EYE Is Pretty Good Until The Very End”

After the success of their Hammeresque Gothic horror film BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE, Robert S. Baker, Monty Berman, and their Tampean Productions decided to tackle the story of Jack The Ripper. The story had been cinematically told a number of times before most notably in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 THE LODGER and John Brahm’s 1944 remake.Continue reading “JACK THE RIPPER (1959) Is Still Solid Entertainment”

British filmmakers Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman were among the first to try and duplicate the success of Hammer Films’ horror pictures and they did quite well. One of the reasons is that they used Jimmy Sangster, the same screenplay writer that Hammer did. He would write four of their five genre films. AnotherContinue reading “BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE: Ersatz Hammer Horror From The Baker/Berman Team Is Surprisingly Good”

SPARROWS is the third of three recent releases from The Mary Pickford Foundation. The other two are LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY (1925) which has been around for years in substandard public domain copies and FANCHON THE CRICKET (1915) which was only recently discovered. All three have been beautifully restored and have been issued with newly commissioned Continue reading “SPARROWS: Mary Pickford’s Gothic Melodrama In Its Best Looking Incarnation”

I first saw THE LONG GOODBYE when it first came out in 1973 and I didn’t like it. I REALLY didn’t like it. As a fan of Raymond Chandler and Philip Marlowe I found THE LONG GOODBYE to be an insult to the character. It wasn’t the fact that the movie was given a contemporaryContinue reading “THE LONG GOODBYE: My Least Favorite Philip Marlowe Movie”

Like most of the other reviewers, I saw FEAR NO EVIL when it was first broadcast on NBC back in 1969. I must have been impressed at the time but all I could remember was Carroll O’Connor’s final scene with the mirror. So when I watched the movie again after 50 years it was likeContinue reading “FEAR NO EVIL / RITUAL OF EVIL: Made-For-TV Double Feature Is Still Entertaining 50 Years Later”

Although I have been a fan of British cinema for over 50 years, it was primarily of the horror films made by Hammer and others from the 1950’s through the mid 1970’s. Only in the last 10 years have I begun exploring earlier British movies from the 1930’s and 40’s and this includes those byContinue reading “GAINSBOUROUGH TRIPLE FEATURE: British Melodramas From WW II”

1958 was a busy year for Boris Karloff. Thanks to the sale of his old Universal horror movies to TV as part of the 1957 SHOCK package, he was in demand once again as a horror actor. He signed a two picture deal with producer Richard Gordon’s Amalgamated Productions which meant travelling to England toContinue reading “CORRIDORS OF BLOOD (1958): One Of Boris Karloff’s Best 1950s Efforts”

Having just re-watched and enjoyed Richard Greene’s ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD series, my wife and I decided to check out some of the other 1950s British historical adventure series. As my father’s family had immigrated from Switzerland around the turn of the 20th century and established themselves in America, the logical choice was WILLIAM TELL.Continue reading “WILLIAM TELL – The 1958 TV Series: Not As Good As It Should Have Been”

Is Love stronger than Death? DESTINY provides a unique answer that has haunted moviegoers for over 80 years. Fritz Lang, one of the world’s great directors, launched his career with this 1921 German silent epic known in Germany as DER MUDE TOD (Weary Death). It’s one of the most important silent films influencing future moviesContinue reading “DESTINY (1921): A Hauntingly Beautiful Silent Movie (2005)”