As 2025 draws to a close, Flicker Alley closes out their restorations of the silent films of Laurel & Hardy with LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR 3: THE NEWLY RESTORED 1929 SHORTS. This completes a project that began almost 10 years ago. The goal was to find and restore all 33 of the shorts that L&H madeContinue reading “LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR THREE – THE 1929 SHORTS Completes Their Silent Era Legacy”
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MOULIN ROUGE (1928): E.A. Dupont’s Penultimate Silent Movie Is Worth Rediscovering
E.A. Dupont (1891-1956) was one of the top directors during Germany’s Weimar years (1919-1933). Two of his noteworthy films during that time were THE ANCIENT LAW (1923) about the son of a Rabbi who becomes an actor and is shunned by his father (which became the basis for THE JAZZ SINGER 4 years later) and VARIETY (1925)Continue reading “MOULIN ROUGE (1928): E.A. Dupont’s Penultimate Silent Movie Is Worth Rediscovering”
MAN OF ARAN (1934): Robert Flaherty’s Controversial Irish Docudrama Remains Visually Stunning.
With my viewing of MAN OF ARAN (1934), I have now worked my way through all of the major works of filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty (1884-1951). In addition to ARAN, they are NANOOK OF THE NORTH (1922), MOANA (1926), and LOUISIANA STORY (1948). Two movies, TABU (1931) and ELEPHANT BOY (1937) were collaborative efforts with traditionalContinue reading “MAN OF ARAN (1934): Robert Flaherty’s Controversial Irish Docudrama Remains Visually Stunning.”
HE, WHO GETS SLAPPED (1924): Strange Initial Offering From The Newly Created MGM
HE WHO GETS SLAPPED has got to be the strangest initial offering from any major studio in early Hollywood history. It’s not what you’d expect from MGM which quickly became THE major Hollywood studio known for its glamour and huge roster of stars. What’s perhaps even stranger is the fact that the movie was a box office hit.Continue reading “HE, WHO GETS SLAPPED (1924): Strange Initial Offering From The Newly Created MGM”
THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER / HORROR (1963): Italian Faux Poe Is Wonderfully Evocative
While the Arrow Films GOTHIC FANTASTICO boxset does contain 4 Italian tales of terror, the title is somewhat misleading as only two of the films are truly Gothic. Of the two that aren’t Gothic, one (THE THIRD EYE) is a ripoff of Hitchcock’s PSYCHO while the other (THE WITCH) takes place in a modern setting.Continue reading “THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER / HORROR (1963): Italian Faux Poe Is Wonderfully Evocative”
CASTLE OF BLOOD / LA DANZA MACABRA (1964): One Of Italian Gothic Cinema’s Finest Offerings
Having recently written a review for WEB OF THE SPIDER (1972), Antonio Margheriti’s color remake of his 1964 CASTLE OF BLOOD (LA DANZA MACABRA), I should also write one for CASTLE. As mentioned in that earlier review, CASTLE is one of the most important and highly regarded examples of Italian Gothic cinema, second only to MarioContinue reading “CASTLE OF BLOOD / LA DANZA MACABRA (1964): One Of Italian Gothic Cinema’s Finest Offerings”
THE MAD EXECUTIONERS (1963): One Of The More Notable Examples Of The German “Krimi”
The European phenomenon of the German crime film or Krimi lasted from 1959 until 1972. The vast majority of these films were inspired by the works of British mystery writer Edgar Wallace (1875-1932), and most of the rest focused on the writings of his son Bryan Edgar Wallace (1904-1971). Two production companies were involved in theContinue reading “THE MAD EXECUTIONERS (1963): One Of The More Notable Examples Of The German “Krimi””
WEB OF THE SPIDER (1972): Antonio Margheriti’s Color Remake Of His 1964 CASTLE OF BLOOD
THE WEB OF THE SPIDER (1972) is director Antonio Margheriti’s color remake of his 1964 DANZA MACABRA (CASTLE OF BLOOD) which, along with Mario Bava’s LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO (BLACK SUNDAY) is considered one of the twin pillars of Italian Gothic Cinema. This genre flourished from 1957-1972 making SPIDER one of the last examples to beContinue reading “WEB OF THE SPIDER (1972): Antonio Margheriti’s Color Remake Of His 1964 CASTLE OF BLOOD”
NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND (1972): The Last Movie Produced By Tigon Films
NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND (1972) is a very obscure film that predates THE WICKER MAN and Bob Clark’s celebrated cult offering DEATHDREAM yet it contains elements of both. It also borrows from W. W. Jacobs’ THE MONKEY’S PAW and Edgar Allan Poe’s story THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR. It wasContinue reading “NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND (1972): The Last Movie Produced By Tigon Films”
BLUE BLOOD (1973): “You May Own This House, But Do You Possess It?”
That’s the question butler Oliver Reed asks of aristocrat Fiona Lewis in Andrew Sinclair’s BLUE BLOOD (1973), one of the oddest movies you’ll ever encounter. Novelist Sinclair had just come from doing his interesting but quirky adaptation of Dylan Thomas’ UNDER MILK WOOD with Richard Burton & Peter O’Toole. This time around Sinclair adapted aContinue reading “BLUE BLOOD (1973): “You May Own This House, But Do You Possess It?””
The Capsule Critic 