Category Archives: Uncategorized

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””

Sony’s ICONS OF SUSPENSE sets the highwater mark for releases in their ICONS series so far. This is the third in the series after ICONS OF ADVENTURE and ICONS OF HORROR to feature releases from England’s Hammer Films. Two other sets, ICONS OF SCIENCE FICTION, feature Japanese movies from Toho Studios and low budget offeringsContinue reading “ICONS OF SUSPENSE: Sony’s Best Collection Yet”

The 4 films collected on this double disc set were made by Hammer Films between 1960 and 1964. In fact, 2 are from 1960 and 2 are from 1964 yet they are not coupled together on their respective DVDs which would have made sense not only chronologically but thematically as well. The 2 1960 features,Continue reading “ICONS OF HORROR: THE GORGON / TWO FACES OF DR JEKYLL & 2 Others”

ICONS OF ADVENTURE is a two DVD set from Sony Pictures (current owner of Columbia Pictures who released the films included here) that offers 4 action/adventure movies from Hammer Films made in the early 1960s. They are making their first DVD appearance. Other DVDs available in the ICONS series of Hammer films include ICONS OFContinue reading “ICONS OF ADVENTURE: TERROR OF THE TONGS / STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY”

Most of the reviews I have read concerning this movie trash it without reservations. I found it to be a lot better than those reviews indicated especially if you are familiar with the source material which is Bram Stoker’s 1903 novel THE JEWEL OF SEVEN STARS. I first saw the film before most of thoseContinue reading “LEGEND OF THE MUMMY: Better Than Most Of The Reviews”

Mention the name Bram Stoker and everyone thinks DRACULA. There are a few other novels such as THE LADY OF THE SHROUD and THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM (made into a movie by Ken Russell with Hugh Grant in 1988) and a series of superior short stories like THE JUDGE’S HOUSE and THE BURIALContinue reading “THE AWAKENING: Why So Serious?”