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Eugene Lourie (pronounced Lure-YAY) was a Russian born French art director and production designer who worked with such directors as Jean Renoir, Charlie Chaplin, and Clint Eastwood. Out of the nearly 50 feature films he was associated with, he directed only 4 of them and they all had a science-fiction background. 3 of the 4Continue reading “THE GIANT BEHEMOTH: My Favorite Of The Eugene Lourie Dino Trilogy”

THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY is something of a Hammer anamoly for when it was made (1959). Instead of being exotic and colorful, it’s grim and monochromatic which is more suitable as it deals with the Thugee cult in India in the 19th century. This is certainly director Terence Fisher’s most brutal film as it containsContinue reading “THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY: Hammer Historical Drama Filmed In “Strangloscope”!”

Of the three original films that make up the FLY trilogy, 1965’s CURSE OF THE FLY is clearly my favorite. I even prefer it to the David Cronenberg/Jeff Goldblum FLY from 1986 and its unfortunate sequel. There are a number of reasons for this. I always found the first two FLY films to be onContinue reading “CURSE OF THE FLY Is My Favorite FLY Movie”

Although they are renowned today for the series of horror films made between 1954 and 1976, Hammer Films actually got their start back in the 1930s. They only made a few films before going on hiatus until after World War II when they reemerged with a series of low budget film noirs before embarking onContinue reading “THE PHANTOM SHIP (1935): Bela Lugosi Meets Hammer Films”

Charley Chase began his career as Charles Parrott (his real name) at Keystone in 1914 where he worked with Arbuckle, Normand, and Chaplin in small unbilled parts. He turned to direction at roughly the same time and eventually went to work for Hal Roach in the early 1920s where he met a young fellow namedContinue reading “CHARLEY CHASE: This Long Awaited Set Is Almost Perfect”

I love to discover something I know nothing about even if it doesn’t always work out. I have never heard of the Weiss Brothers or their production company Artclass Pictures before now. Disc 1 of this 2 DVD set features well known silent comedians Ben Turpin and Snub Pollard at the end of their careersContinue reading “WEISS-O-RAMA: Second Rate Material In A First Class Presentation”

Although formed back in the 1930s, Hammer Films didn’t really get things going until after World War II. Before hitting paydirt in 1954 with the science fiction saga THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (THE CREEPING UNKNOWN in the U.S.) to be followed by the worldwide success of their color Frankenstain and Dracula films, Hammer made a seriesContinue reading “HAMMER BEFORE HORROR: Part 1”

VCI’s second set of Hammer Film Noir contains 2 more movies (8 in all) but they are not as good as Volume 1 and the last one, A RACE FOR LIFE, isn’t even a noir at all. Having said that, this set is still worthwhile as you get to see more fading American stars (DanContinue reading “HAMMER BEFORE HORROR: Part 2”

Of the several different cinematic adaptations of ROMEO & JULIET that are out there, this version has always been my personal favorite since I first saw it in the early 1970s. Not the best, mind you, hence 4 stars instead of 5. The Franco Zefferelli production has that distinction but if you’ve never seen thisContinue reading “1954 ROMEO & JULIET Is Finally Available In A Beautiful Transfer”

This 1954 British color version of SVENGALI has always gotten the short end of the stick in my opinion. A lot of that has to do with the fact that it’s always compared to the legendary 1931 version with John Barrymore but it’s like comparing apples and oranges. This version has gorgeous color photography, isContinue reading “SVENGALI (1931 / 1954): Double Feature For The Price Of One”