Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Man Who Invented Christmas purports to tell the story of how Charles Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol. At the time (1843) the celebration of Christmas had been in decline, and it wasn’t even considered a major holiday. At this time in his career, Charles Dickens was 31, internationally famous thanks to Oliver Twist, and sufferingContinue reading “THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS: A Worthy Successor To A CHRISTMAS CAROL”

Of the countless versions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL that are out there from Reginald Owen to Bill Murray to Jim Carrey, this version from 1984 remains my personal favorite although I concede that the 1951 Alastair Sim movie is the best of the lot, I had just come through a rough patch when this versionContinue reading “A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984): The Foremost Film Version From My Perspective”

Following in the footsteps of Boris Karloff and his resurrected dead man films (THE WALKING DEAD, THEY MAN THE COULD NOT HANG, BEFORE I HANG), Paramount decided to try their hand at the gangster/horror genre with 1941’s THE MONSTER & THE GIRL. This time rather than bringing a corpse back to life, a doctor transplantsContinue reading “THE MONSTER & THE GIRL (1941): Oddball Movie Is Both A Gangster And A Horror Film”

After his career as a director ended in 1933 with the re-shot and heavily re-edited HELLO SISTER, Erich von Stroheim turned exclusively to acting where he was still much in demand. He had some good roles in the 1930s most notably in Jean Renoir’s GRAND ILLUSION but by the early 1940s he was typecast asContinue reading “THE LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944): Earlier Version Of DONOVAN’S BRAIN Is Just As Engaging”

Doing the Mid-1930s, producer Merian C. Cooper was involved in a number of big budget spectaculars for RKO Radio Pictures featuring then state-of-the-art special effects. The first and best known is the legendary, original KING KONG (1933) which allegedly saved the studio from bankruptcy during the Depression. This was followed by a quick sequel theContinue reading “LAST DAYS OF POMPEII: One Of Two 1935 RKO Spectaculars And A Precursor to GLADIATOR”

I realize that as far as film restoration priorities go, THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN is probably 10 to the power 4 on that list but I still have hopes of seeing it again looking the way it did when it was first broadcast on TV back in 1957 while I’m still around to appreciateContinue reading “PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN (1957): Still Waiting For The Restored Version”

It had been 14 years since audiences had seen Lon Chaney’s PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in its 1929 re-issue. Universal had been wanting to film a remake since 1935 but studio politics, unavailability of certain performers, and the outbreak of World War II intervened. It finally went before the cameras in the Spring of 1943Continue reading “THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943): The Emphasis Here Is On The Romance Not The Horror”

I was a classical music announcer for the local public radio station in Asheville NC for almost 40 years and it always comes as a surprise to people when I tell them that I don’t like opera. My standard reply is “I love the music, the costumes, and the staging, I just wish they wouldn’tContinue reading “THE CLIMAX (1944): This Sequel to the 1943 PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Is Rather Dull But Boris Karloff Shines”

At long last one of my favorite films has finally made it to DVD and I can throw my TV copy VHS away. O Henry has always been a favorite writer of mine and it just so happens that he is buried near me in Asheville, North Carolina. If you visit his grave you willContinue reading “O. HENRY’S FULL HOUSE : A Full House Indeed”

This DVD is not the director’s cut that won the top prize at the 1972 Berlin Film Festival. That version ran 140 minutes while this one clocks in at 112 minutes. That’s almost 30 minutes of missing footage which no doubt explains the choppy quality of the editing and the incoherent nature of some ofContinue reading “THE CANTERBURY TALES: NC-17 Version Is Not For The Prudish”