Category Archives: Uncategorized

I vaguely remember seeing a few Mexican horror films on my local TV channel when I was growing up. The quality of the prints weren’t great and, even to an 8 year old, the dubbing was atrocious. This one and a Russian (Soviet) film called THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE stuck with me because theyContinue reading “THE WITCH’S MIRROR Has Everything But The Kitchen Sink”

When this Steven Spielberg produced effort came out in 1985, it came and it went fairly quickly. I missed it entirely and this is a movie that would have been right up my alley. It just goes to show that the name of Steven Spielberg doesn’t always mean gold at the box office although officiallyContinue reading “YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES: Ideal for Fans of Holmes AND Harry Potter”

My parents had a collection of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories in our home library. I first read all of them when I was 12. Like many others in my generation (I was born in 1952) my first encounter with Sherlock Holmes was on TV in these classic B&W movies with Basil Rathbone & NigelContinue reading “SHERLOCK HOLMES (1939-1946): The Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Films Restored”

After watching RICHARD III, I found the film endlessly fascinating. Part of the fascination lies in the age of the film itself. You rarely get to see a film from 1912 much less one in excellent condition. I felt as if I had gone back in time to a 19th century theatre which in effectContinue reading “RICHARD III (1912): America’s Earliest Surviving Feature Is Primarily For Film Scholars”

As you can see by reading the other reviews here, people either love, like, or loathe Olivier’s performance. I’m definitely in the like category. I don’t love it but neither do I hate it. I don’t have a problem with the black make-up in view of the overtly theatrical nature of the film (Olivier’s ArabContinue reading “OTHELLO (1965): Olivier’s Now Politically Incorrect Version Is Not For All Tastes”

I was looking forward to this release of OTHELLO with the same sort of anticipation that I had reserved for Kino’s RICHARD III. Therefore I must confess that I found this DVD something of a disappointment which has nothing to do with the film itself but rather with the presentation. My biggest complaint is withContinue reading “OTHELLO (1922): German Silent Film Is Good But Could Have Been Better”

This is the last of my reviews concerning cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare that I saw during my college years. It concerns one of the most notorious film versions of all, Roman Polanski’s & Kenneth Tynan’s adaptation of MACBETH. It was Polanski’s first film after the murder of Sharon Tate and it was heavily criticized atContinue reading “MACBETH (1971): Hammer Horror Meets Shakespeare”

This is another one of those titles that I missed the first time around and that I have waited for years to see. Now that I have finally caught up with it, I’m glad I did. There are no other theatrical releases (as opposed to made for TV versions) of ANTONY & CLEOPATRA out thereContinue reading “ANTONY & CLEOPATRA (1972): Good Not Great But Definitely Worth Seeing”

Don’t get me wrong. I love ANONYMOUS as a movie because of the remarkable ensemble acting and the astonishing recreation of Elizabethan London. I found the basic premise that Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeare’s plays quite compelling. I didn’t mind the blatant historical inaccuracies as that is usually the caseContinue reading “ANONYMOUS Is An Engrossing Period Drama Hampered By A Confusing Storyline & A Deliberate Inaccuracy”

Seeing these four films again, which were TV staples when I was growing up, makes me realize just how much I miss the drive-in theatres that they were made for. They not only provided cheap entertainment and a place to be alone with your certain someone but they also gave filmmakers the opportunity to makeContinue reading “ICONS OF HORROR: SAM KATZMAN – 4 Sci-Fi “Classics””