Category Archives: Uncategorized

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”

DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS (1919) was one of a series of films produced in Germany immediately after World War I that dealt with various aspects of sexuality. It was the only one to deal specifically with homosexuality and is groundbreaking in that sense. The film was heavily censored shortly after its release and today survivesContinue reading “GAY THEMED FILMS FROM THE GERMAN SILENT ERA: A Trio Of Films Which Are DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS”

If you’re looking for something really lurid as the title suggests than you are going to be very disappointed. And it’s a silent film to boot. On the other hand don’t shy away from this film because of the title which is a literal translation from the German. A better title would be “Sex Imprisoned”Continue reading “SEX IN CHAINS (1928): Don’t Be Misled By The Title”

Being one of only two movies (as opposed to stage productions) based on the works of Christopher Marlowe (the other is the Richard Burton 1967 DOCTOR FAUSTUS), Derek Jarman’s 1991 film of EDWARD II would be important for that reason alone. However there is more to the film than that. It’s not only what meetsContinue reading “EDWARD II (1991): The Text Not The Subtext Is The Key”