Movie Classic Films — Let's Discuss

[Asgardian]

Life in Danger a Pommy film made in 1964, directed by Terry Bishop, starring Derren Nesbitt.



Set in a little English village which has a top security asylum near by which tests its escape siren every Sunday at noon. Naturally a prisoner escapes, but the man in charge at the loony bin, an assistant, delays sounding the alarm, but does so, eventually with no great harm done. Anyway the village goes into a frenzy egged on by a retired army Major who is a bit too bloodthirsty & keeps his gun nearby. We catch up with a chap out of the woods with no money & looking for some casual farm work .... ahha, our escapee.

He comes across a teenage girl who is sick of her controlling Mum, & her young brother. The girl sees this man as a chance for a bit of adventure, so when he asks if he can have some water, & a barn to catch a nap in, she's all over him like a rash. His movements have been seen though so a village vigilante party, led by the Major, is on his tail and keen to use their weapons.

As usual I wont give away the ending, this is a virtually unknown film well worth finding, I gave it 8/10

Night of Terror made in 1933, directed by Benjamin Stoloff who also directed "Soup to Nuts" & "Destry Rides Again". Starring Bela Lugosi, Wallace Ford & Loretta Young's sister, Sally Blane.



Made after Dracula, it shows that even after only two years Bela was already down the path of "B" & even worse movies. "Night of Terror" is by no means a lousy movie, but it does fit firmly in the "B" ranks.

A scientist, who is sponsored by his uncle, has developed a serum allowing a man to survive several days without breathing. To demonstrate this serum he has arranged for the Academy of Sciences to send some representatives to view his demonstration, by injecting himself & then be buried alive overnight. Come the morning he is to be dug up & given the serum to revive him.

There's a problem though, prowling the foggy nights is a maniac killer, knifing anyone he comes across. The scientists mansion seems like a good place for victims to him so he remains lurking in the vicinity. As the night progresses, bodies start to accumulate, first being the wealthy uncle who it seems has several beneficiaries to his will keen to get more that their share.

Lugosi plays a foreign born servant of the uncle & a beneficiary of the will. He hams it up with dramatic pronouncements sounding like they have come from a grave, Ford is a reporter & Blane is the woman he wants, but he wants his stories a little more desperately.

There's some nice sharp bends in the action & plot making this hard to find sleeper a lot of fun. I gave it 6/10

 

[Asgardian]

Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard made in 1950 with a cast of regular "B" actors.



Secrets are being leaked out of a top secret facility and no-one has any idea how, that is until one of the government agents placed at the facility comes across something and leaves a message for his boss he's onto the bad guys. However this agent is killed and naturally his message from the night before left no clues. A mysterious bloke turns up who the new replacement agent captures, only to find out it's a Scotland Yard operative sent to help the Americans. Combined they start to unravel the tangled web, a secretary is seeing a doctor for emotional and mental problems, this "quack" is hypnotizes her, getting her to spill all kind of beans, then passes on the information by way of a courier who replaces water containers. The good guys can't figure out how it's being done, so they send an undercover guy to the doctor with his mission to get the information. Finally the action hots in in the last 10 minutes of the film.

It's a reasonable film to pass some time, I gave it 5/10

Dillinger made in 1945, with a screenplay written by Philip Yordan, who was nominated for an Oscar for his efforts. It starred Edmund Lowe & Lawrence Tierney as John Dillinger (fans of Quentin Tarantino would know all about Tierney, one of the original wild & tough guys).



It's a biography of the life & times of the depression-era crook, John Dillinger which, unfortunately, is rather loose & fast with the facts. This version tells of his early days as a punk with no regards for the law who is quickly arrested & sent to jail. Here he meets some real pro gangsters, who he idolizes, and learns from. When he is finally released he promises to break them out so they can become a gang robbing banks & whatever. Dillinger keeps his word & they go on a spree with Specs, Edmund Lowe, in charge who takes the biggest cut. This situation doesn't sit well with Dillinger who finally takes over & does away with Specs. He continues on with his crime spree until finally stopped by a hail of FBI bullets (wow, what a cliche).

This is a good gritty crime film, well acted and the tension is allowed to grow at an even flow, it's just a pity it's of no use historically, but as entertainment, well worth finding this movie. I gave it 7/10

Interestingly the bible bashers wanted this film banished because of it's brutality. Ultimately it was banned for 2 years in Chicago of all places.

 

[Asgardian]

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman made in 1951. Starring Ava Gardner & James Mason.



Another take on the Flying Dutchman legend, which is of a phantom sailing ship unable to make port. Mason is Hendrik van der Zee, the phantom, but no-one figures this out till the very end, Ava Gardner is the love interest, but this too is not figured out until the end. Many centuries ago van der Zee killed his wife because she was unfaithful, he was sentenced to die, and is actually sentenced to roam the seven seas until a woman is willing to die for him. The beautiful Ava is a copy of his murdered wife, but before finding that out she is a terrible flirt, only too happy to let men make a fool of themselves over her, and one who demands more from her men than she'll ever give in return. She is drawn to van der Zee, but maintains a facade of being with a different man.

All rather melodramatic, but overall the movies works quite well, I gave it a 6/10

Dark Streets of Cairo made in 1940, starring Cecil B. DeMille's adopted daughter, Katherine, who married Anthony Quinn. (none of that is germane to the movie).



A minor movie not really good enough to be called a "B" feature, plays for some laughs with a bit of mystery, fortune hunting, ridiculous crooks & murder. Archaeologists find the Seven Jewels of the Seventh Pharaoh, and the people wanting them start to queue up, but don't believe in playing fair. The cast of Hollywood minor movie regulars have some fun, some of it at our expense, that's about all there is to it.

It's an obscure hard to get movie, one that was not really worth my efforts to get it, I gave it a 4/10.

 

[JoondalupJ]

G'day Big Footiers,
Apart from my devotion to AFL via the 'mighty' Dees, my main area of interest is old, classic films. I'm a film producer and screen writer plus I do a weekly film review of classic films on a radio station and I'm always intersested in what people class as their 'classic films', not necessarily old films but also 'stand-out' films that are a special example of their type, or genre. It's always interesting to gauge other people's ideas on what they think are classic films and why. I've got a personal film collection of over 600 films but I'm interested to know about more great films, I may have missed. Perhaps we can get a group together who likes talking about old, and new, great films. It's always subjective and I'd never bag anyone's choice of what they think is a great film. I'm just interested to know what you people think are really great films.
Cheers,
Dees 31

Love movies. I saw an old spooky thing called the Innocents, it was black and white no blood no gore just extremely creepy . Classic , watch it at night. Its been a long while since I've seen it but it spooked me.
Debra Kerr. There are many more . So I will be interested to read other posts.

 

[JoondalupJ]

The National Film and Sound Archive is a place I would dearly love to visit. I own The Story of the Kelly Gang and actually sat down and listened to the commentary. Remarkable.

What shits me now is that studios like Warner Bros and Universal are now offering classic collectors a Video-on-Demand service. Old VHS masters are now simply burned onto DVD-Rs, a hefty price slapped on them and no international postage offered. I remember a time when I used to have three or four Fox or Warners boxsets arriving per month and maybe ten single releases, but this hasn't happened for over a year now. Pressed discs for classics are becoming a thing of the past sadly, which means studios won't be restoring many more of their classics. Everything is going Blu. Even Criterion are cutting back on their classic releases.

However, Eureka have picked up the bat for silents through their Masters of Cinema line. They restored Sunrise and gave it a Blu-ray release earlier this year. It is absolutely stunning. They are certainly heads above the rest in regards to the restoration of international silent films. Metropolis (rumoured to be receiving a Blu release next year), Spione, Tartuffe, Vampyr, Faust, Frau im Mond, L'Argent, Diary of a Lost Girl. Kino International are also still committed to silent film preservation.

I received the Dam Busters on Blu about a month ago and seriously, if you love British War films, it will blow you away.

You would enjoy the story of Douglas Bader , the fighter pilot in Reach for the Sky.World War 2 story , true.
I was in Mildura as a child when that pilot himself came to Australia to visit. I have no idea really who he was, I was pretty young, later I found out and saw the old movie about his life.
He was injured and went back to flying. Its worth a look if you like the English made war films.
Starred Kenneth More I think is his name. I think he was in the best version, for me anyway, of the movie "The 39 steps" These are not silent movies though.

 

[Asgardian]

Love movies. I saw an old spooky thing called the Innocents, it was black and white no blood no gore just extremely creepy . Classic , watch it at night. Its been a long while since I've seen it but it spooked me.
Debra Kerr. There are many more . So I will be interested to read other posts.

The Innocents with Deborah Kerr & Michael Redgrave is always great viewing, if that is the period you are interested in try -----------

The Last Man on Earth (1964)
Peeping Tom (1960)
House of Usher (1960)
The Haunting (1963)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Village of the Damned (1960)
The Flesh and the Fiends (1960)
The Raven (1963)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
The Psychopath (1966)
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Children of the Damned (1964)

You would enjoy the story of Douglas Bader , the fighter pilot in Reach for the Sky.

Lots of great Pommy war movies from that period, including the very best,

The Cruel Sea (1953)

 

[Asgardian]

Suez made in 1938, directed by Allan Dwan, (Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)), starring Tyrone Power. his future wife, Annabella & Loretta Young.



A melodramatic costume drama of the creation of the Suez Canal, which unfortunately, bares little resemblance to the true history of the project. Power is a young French diplomat who is keen on Loretta, unfortunately for him Napoleon III also fancies her, so off he is sent to Egypt as a diplomat. Here he comes up with the idea of a damn big ditch, the Suez, but has trouble convincing others of the merits of the idea. Naturally he finally gets his way, but not before a revolution, a natural disaster & personal shame. I gave it 5/10

The Valiant made in 1929, directed by William K. Howard (The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932) & The Power and the Glory (1933)). Starring Paul Muni & Marguerite Churchill.



A very early talkie which still uses title cards to set the scene, has Paul Muni, in New York, kill someone off screen, then proceed to the local police station, pausing on the way to help a child who has fallen & hurt himself, to give himself up, declaring he just committed a murder, but refusing to divulge his true identity. He is sentenced to death, but still refuses to identify himself. The action (or lack thereof) switches to Ohio where an old lady, upon seeing a picture of the killer, wonders if he may be her son who left almost 2 decades ago. She is too sick to make the journey to the prison, so her daughter makes the trip, vowing to get to the truth. I gave it 7/10

This is an excellent picture to watch to see the techniques of the film-making process that was utilized during the change over from silents to talkies.

 

[JoondalupJ]

The Innocents with Deborah Kerr & Michael Redgrave is always great viewing, if that is the period you are interested in try -----------

The Last Man on Earth (1964)
Peeping Tom (1960)
House of Usher (1960)
The Haunting (1963)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Village of the Damned (1960)
The Flesh and the Fiends (1960)
The Raven (1963)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
The Psychopath (1966)
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Children of the Damned (1964)



Lots of great Pommy war movies from that period, including the very best,

The Cruel Sea (1953)

Rosemarys Baby had me totally paranoid , that was just reading it too.

 

[jacqui9]

It's hard to go past Visconti, he would be in my list of the ten greatest directors of all time, and ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS is one of his finest works, and a little under rated in my opinion. It often gets overlooked when talking about the "re-invention" of Italian cinema after the neo-realism period that followed for a decade or so after WWII. As good as Visconti early films were, for me RAHB was the start of his golden period, following with THE LEOPARD, then SANDRA, THE STRANGER and THE DAMNED all during the sixties. An amazing run of films that are highly regarded and cherished by all those who are fortunate enough to have seen them.

My introduction to Visconti were his films made with Bogarde (Death In Venice and The Damned). A fine way to meet such an interesting director.

 

[jacqui9]

Love German Silents. Also love European horror/giallo/thrillers of the 60's, 70's & 80's.

Speaking my language DEVO. My collection of European horror/giallo has exploded since Arrow DVD began to put them out on Blu ray. Love them. German silent tie in with modern expressionist history and politics.

 

[childeric]

A great little Brit war movie is Sea Of Sand about Western desert WW2

 

[Asgardian]

Assassin for Hire, a Pommy film made in 1951, where the sum of its rather modest parts (nondescript actors & director) equals a high quality movie.



A stamp dealer, with a loving wife & sponsored musician brother, is by night a killer for hire. He dotes on his wife & brother with all that money can buy, and is loyal & generous with his friends at the bar plus his card playing mates. He is also the police's prime suspect in a string of murders that have obviously been carried out by a professional. The only solid piece of evidence is the recovered bullets that have all come from the same gun. The killer takes on a new commission to kill a chap who will exit a restaurant wearing a distinctive coat. Unknown to him, so will his musician brother.

It's a short film, just over an hour long, but one well worth searching for & buying, I gave it 8/10.

The Mysterious Island made in 1929, directed by Lucien Hubbard (the producer of Wings 1927), starring Lionel Barrymore & that incredible ham -- Montagu Love. Based on the Jules Verne book.



Essentially a silent film with bits of added dialogue, background voices & sound effects. Barrymore is a Count, who has his own island, and scientist building undersea vessels. He runs his island with great care & treats his subjects as equal partners. When he shows his creation to the Baron, Montagu Love, things start to go astray. Firstly the Baron sees a commoner kissing Barrymore's daughter & wants him whipped, Barrymore wont have a bar of that. Then the Baron is shown the undersea craft & exclaims they could take over the world with undersea vessels like that, again Barrymore doesn't want to know, he's a peaceful exploring scientist.

So the Baron invades the Count's island with armed troops, killing all in their way & taking captive the Count & his daughter. They are tortured to surrender the plans of the undersea craft, but are rescued by the daughter's lover. They then take off in the craft finding a new world in the vast ocean's depths, but the Baron wont give up easily as there is a 2nd vessel so he takes off after the 1st one.

There is a lot more to this prequel of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I gave it 7/10

Have a read of various sites about the background of this movie, all very interesting.

 

[DEVO]

Speaking my language DEVO. My collection of European horror/giallo has exploded since Arrow DVD began to put them out on Blu ray. Love them. German silent tie in with modern expressionist history and politics.

Thanks for the info, I didn't know about this. I had a look at their website last night, and there are literally hundreds of DVD's and Blu-Rays that I don't have that will ordered over the coming months.

 

[rayven]

You would enjoy the story of Douglas Bader , the fighter pilot in Reach for the Sky.World War 2 story , true.

He was a hero of mine when I grew up, saw this movie read his book and the unofficial one. I was a battle Britain nut as a kid. He was undisciplined,egotistical and unreliable in battle. His stubbornness showed through after his accident in his wish to spill blood and fight Germans. Sick really what he did to be able to legally kill people when he had no need to. Lied alot in his book about his escape attempts that saw him in the most securest of Stalags. Should of died that day he was showing off and lost his legs.

But having said all that he was a bloody legend...

 

[Asgardian]

Telephone Operator made in 1937, starring Grant Withers & Judith Allen.



Strictly "B" material & actors with a good idea. Two telephone linemen arrive in a new country town & immediately become pests, especially to the girls they now like who see them as fly by night Romeos. They prove to be better workmen than womanisers, but still their boss dislikes them because of their carousing ways. When one of the girls finds out the bosses wife has gone to a holiday cabin with a bloke other than the boss, she enlists Red, the lineman, to take her to the cabin to prevent her boss from finding out about his wife. However he too is on his way to the cabin the girl takes the boss' wife place, thusly earning herself an immoral reputation. She loses her job because of the scandal.

All the while the weather is closing in, the heavens open causing flash flooding & eventually proves too much for the dam causing a breach. Hearing of this our heroine breaks into the telephone exchange to warn as many people as she can of the impending flooding, naturally the linemen come to her aid. I rated it 6/10

The Steel Fist made in 1952, starring Roddy McDowall, Kristine Miller & Rand Brooks.



Essentially a "Red Scare" film, espousing the evil of communism & the lack of civil liberties in those countries now ruled & oppressed by Moscow. In other words one of the poster films inspired by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, described as a "French Resistance" behind the Iron Curtain movie.

Ignoring the times & events in America during the "Cold War" was an impossible task for Hollywood, where so many of its contributors were now under suspicion or even worse.

Anyway, onto the movie, which is very hard to find.

In a eastern European country, we are not told which one, which is ruled by Moscow, a student riot occurs protesting against a new forced labour program. Naturally the students are brutally repressed, but the organiser, McDowall, manages to escape, but the authorities are hot on his trail. He is given instructions on how to contact the underground & seek their assistance to escape. We follow him from contact to contact, each one knowing only their part of the route, until finally he reaches a boarder town where he is hidden at great risk. The authorities have strengthened all border checkpoints & patrols in search of this student leader. Because of the pressure of the situation both he & those hiding him start to make mistakes and the authorities become more exasperated & brutal.

I'll leave it there, some reviews are not complimentary, however I really enjoyed this film, I gave it 7/10.

 

[Asgardian]

The Lost People is a Pommy film made in 1949, starring Dennis Price, Mai Zetterling, Richard Attenborough & Siobhan McKenna (fresh from her triumph in Daughter of Darkness).

.

Set in a theatre holding displaced persons in post WW2 Europe. A British officer is ordered to help these people return to their homelands, but with no understanding of their problems, politics or ethnicity, he soon comes up against various brick walls. Many from what will soon become "behind the Iron Curtain" have no desire to return to their homelands, afraid of being persecuted by the communists just as they were by the Nazis. Others still feel centuries old antagonism towards those who were near neighbours, and still more are anti-Semitic. However they all fear those in authority because of their experiences throughout the war & hence soon turn against those trying to help them, the Allied forces. This is a very hard to find film worth the effort, I gave it 7/10.

Mad Dog Coll made in 1961, starring John Davis Chandler, Telly Savalas & Jerry Orbach, plus Gene Hackman made his debut in this film.



A child who is brutalised by his father grows up to be the hardest, toughest, meanest SOB alive who sees no reason why he cannot take over running the city, killing anyone in his way & raping any girl he likes. It's a step up in brutality from the 1930's gangster films minus the class & quality. John Davis Chandler lets loose in his role as Mad Dog Coll, reminiscent of Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death (1947). Coll runs things in his own psychotic way, seeming to always have luck on his side, but that cannot last forever.

If you want to watch a gangster movie which is mental from go to woe, this is your movie, I gave it 7/10.

 

[Asgardian]

The Last Command made in 1928, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Emil Jannings, William Powell & Evelyn Brent.

What an important film. For this & The Way of All Flesh (1927) Jannings was the first actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. It's a silent movie, as were all of Jannings American movies, his very German voice was unsuitable for early American talkies.

The Last Command is essentially about a broken down old man trying to scrape together a living as an extra for the movies. The story is told in 3 parts, the 1st is about Jannings' character getting a bit part job in a movie portraying an elderly Russian General. The 2nd part is told as a flashback of Jannings former life when he actually was a Russian General & a cousin of the Czar. This is set place just before the Russian Revolution, while the General is busy as chief of the Army in WW1. Many revolutionists are starting to make their voices heard, 2 of them (man & woman) are players in the Russian theatre. The General has an eye for the girl, the bloke he whips and sends to jail (the point of this man appearing is that he later becomes the Hollywood director who employs the General for the bit part as a General). She grows fond of the General, when he proves himself to really care for his men & country, to the point of helping him escape Russia when the Revolution starts and he is taken captive, The 3rd part is what happens on the set of the movie & the old General is given his direction by the man he once whipped.

Naturally there is more to it than this, but you get the idea, I gave it 9/10. A point should be made about Emil Jannings. He was a thoroughly awful person who went back to Nazi Germany as a big supporter of the Nazis and made several films for them, and was a proponent of all of their ideologies.

Walk the Dark Street made in 1956, starring Chuck Connors & Don Ross.



Dan Lawton (played by Don Ross) is a soldier in Korea who gets a promotion that his former friend wanted and who now holds a grudge & hates his former mate. He sends his brother back in the States all these details, unknown to Lawton, but unfortunately doesn't survive the war. Lawton, being a nice bloke, figured he'd visit his ex-buddy's brother to tell him how he bought it in the war. However the brother Frank Garrick is full of hate for Lawton, but he keeps this a secret. Garrick just happens to be a big game hunter, who has a wonky heart, and wants to get even for his brother against Lawton. So he proposes a special hunt, man against man, using camera guns, the winner to get $10,000. Lawton, being broke, thinks this is fantastic & is all for it, so the hunt begins, but unknown to Lawton, Garrick is using a real gun with real bullets.

Strictly B grade fare with a neat idea, but fairly wooden acting & uninspired directing, because of the idea I gave it 5/10.

 

[Asgardian]

They Gave Him a Gun made in 1937, directed by "A" grader W.S. Van Dyke (Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), The Thin Man (1934), San Francisco (1936), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Marie Antoinette (1938), It's a Wonderful World (1939), Northwest Passage (1940)). Starring Spencer Tracy, Franchot Tone & Gladys George.



Set in WW1, Fred (Tracy) is a knockabout tough guy drafted into the Army where he meets fellow draftee Jimmy (Tone) who is an innocent sensitive mummy's boy. They undergo basic training whick toughens them up, then are shipped to France where they learn to be killers. Jimmy is badly wounded whilst being a hero knocking out a German machine gun nest, he is nursed back to health by the prettiest nurse, Rose Duffy (Gladys George). Fred visits Jimmy in the hospital as often as he can, not only for Jimmy, but also to see Rose. Fred & Rose fall in love, but unknown to them, Jimmy also loves Rose. Fred is sent back into action where he is killed, so Rose & Jimmy hook up planning to be married at the first chance. However Fred is not dead, he was merely captured and has now escaped, going back to Rose, but meeting Jimmy before he can find Rose, Jimmy tells Fred all about his plans for him & Rose to wed & how he'd die without her, so Fred lets her go saying he is actually already married, which is a lie. Once the war is over & everyone is back to civilian life Fred catches up with Jimmy, who is now married to Rose, and learns he is actually a hitman for the "Gang". The army gave him a gun, taught him how to use it, encouraged its use and gave him medals for killing with it.

fred, who is a carnival barker, goes to jimmy's house and begins to tell Rose off, but she has no idea what Jimmy's real occupation is. When she learns the truth she informs on him, Jimmy is arrested, he fights the charges until Rose tells him to be a man and accept responsibility, which he does initially, but then he breaks free, looking for Rose. There's more to it, but I'll stop here.

This is a top of the tree movie with top class production values & high class talent throughout. I gave it 8/10.

Minesweeper made in 1943, starring Richard Arlen & Jean Parker.



A deserter who was once a Naval officer rejoins the Navy, under an assumed name, when WW2 breaks out. He originally deserted because of gambling debts and supposedly missing unit funds. He soon becomes friendly with a Chief Petty Officer and even more friendly with his sister. However things go astray when he is injured in a diving operation & his false identity discovered, so he takes it on the lam again, only for his mate to be killed. When the alarm goes to begin action he resumes his post to become a hero. All pretty standard fare, I gave it 4/10

 

[Asgardian]

Battle of Paris made in 1929, directed by Robert Florey (The Cocoanuts 1929), starring Gertrude Lawrence, Charles Ruggles & Walter Petrie.



This is an early talkie with Gertie playing up to the camera at every opportunity. She's a street musician along with Ruggles, who is not above the odd pick-pocketing to help with their finances. Her latest victim, Petrie, is out of the ordinary though, so she seeks him out to return his wallet. He's impressed with her & asks her to model for him, he's a part-time painter, but not a very good one. By the end of her modelling they are madly in love, but the war starts, WW1, so he enlists & she becomes a nurse. She makes good as everyone's favourite nurse.

There's lots of singing & dancing, as you would expect with a Gertie film, & the sound element is very primitive, which again is expected for 1929, I gave it 6/10

Night Beat made in 1931, directed by George B. Seitz (The Last of the Mohicans 1936 & A Family Affair 1937 - the 1st of the Andy Hardy movies). Starring Jack Mulhall, Patsy Ruth Miller & Walter McGrail.



Made in the Al Capone, gangsters & prohibition-era America, this short movie, just over an hour long, is a creation of the times. Small time business owners have to pay protection, or they'll be bombed or murdered out of business. The cops are next to useless, as most of them are on the gangsters payrolls, & the DA's find it hard to prosecute anyone as the judge's are also suspect.

An Italian immigrant sets up his own cleaning business, Benito Mussolini is his hero, which we are told several times, but that doesn't save him from the crooks when he refuses to pay up. Luckily for him the DA hires a new gangsters in town to become new cops in town, and they like the role, they save the Italian businessman, who is called all the common ethnic names. The new crusading cops set out to bust the local gangsters which lead to a big warehouse shoot-out. I gave it 5/10

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

There was a movie / telemovie that I saw years ago. It was a re-enactment of Orson Welles', 'War Of The Worlds' radio broadcast.

It was on tv back in the late 70s early 80s and I've never seen it anywhere again. I loved it. I was sure that it was actually Orson Welles in it doing the broadcast.

Just googling the main contender for it seems to be The Night America Trembled (I always thought it was just called War Of The Worlds) made 9th September 1957 and in B & W. It's saying that it only ran for 50mins, I was sure that it went longer but I can't think of anything else it would have been that I watched.

I see that another one was done in 1975 called The Night That Panicked America, it's in colour so I know it wasn't the one that I saw. It also finishes saying that it has never been released to video or dvd.

Twilight's Last Gleaming with Burt Lancaster from 1977 is another I enjoyed many years ago but have never been able to find it anywhere to re-watch it. A rogue General escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM missile silo. Loved it.

 

[Asgardian]

The Day That Panicked America is available on DVD

Twilight's Last Gleaming is also available on DVD

 

[Asgardian]

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse made in 1938, directed by Anatole Litvak ( The Snake Pit (1948) & twice Oscar nominated). Starring Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Claire Trevor, Ward Bond, Allen Jenkins & John Litel.

Obviously an A grade production from Warner Bros.



Dr Clitterhouse (Robinson) is a Park Ave. doctor to the wealthy & powerful, he also happens to be a very clever jewel thief. What he is actually doing is researching how a criminal element affects the mind and body, since he cannot get any live subjects in the middle of their crime spree, he uses himself as a guinea pig. He decides to take the experiment to the next level by joining up with an established gang of thieves, he does this by contacting a fence, the lovely Jo Keller (Claire Trevor) & her organiser, 'Rocks' Valentine (Bogart). Keller has a heart & falls for the Dr., who is keeping his identity secret, Valentine has no heart at all & remains a vicious killer who'll go to any length. Throughout the gang's new crime spree the Dr. is busy taking notes of the gang members physical & emotional responses throughout the process of committing the various crimes. The Dr. finally comes to an end of his research, so he tells the gang he is finished & retires from his life in crime. Valentine refuses to accept this because, despite his hatred for the Dr., he knew the Dr. was a smart operator who could plan foolproof heists. Thus Dr. Clitterhouse is forced into the ultimate crime, and again he uses this experience to expand his research. But not even he can get away with murder, or can he come out of his trial free?

This is a superior movie on every level, I gave it 9/10.

Pride of the Marines 1936, starring Charles Bickford, Florence Rice & Ward Bond.



The only real distinguishing factor about this movie is its scarcity. A group of tough old marines come across a young boy travelling by himself on a train. They take to him when he is caught trying to steal some food, as he has had none for days. The sarge decides to take him to his uncle, who is supposed to be his destination in California, but once the sarge & kid arrive there, the uncle has left for parts unknown, but the new tenant, an attractive girl, is right up the sarge's alley. Well he's old & she aint, but this is the movies, plus he has competition, but back to the kid who is taken by the sarge to the marine barracks where he fits right in as a midget mascot.

All very cute & slightly sickening, I gave it 6/10

 

[Asgardian]

Moscow Nights (aka I Stand Condemned) is a Pommy film made in 1935, directed by Anthony Asquith (Pygmalion (1938), The Way to the Stars (1945), Fanny by Gaslight (1945), The Winslow Boy (1948) & The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)). Starring Laurence Olivier, Harry Baur, Penelope Dudley-Ward and a very young Anthony Quayle in his film debut.



Set in WW1 Russia, a Russian officer (Olivier) is wounded & nursed back to health by a lovely nurse (Dudley-Ward), they fall in love however she is promised to an elderly wealthy commoner industrialist (Baur). Tensions rise and the officer insults the industrialist, seeking revenge, the businessman takes on the officer at the casino where he wins a huge amount of money from the officer, who is broke. He is given 3 days to repay the debt, or honour binds him to commit suicide. Hearing about all of this an elderly lady offers to get the money for him as a loan, however when he is given the money he finds out it has strings attached, the lady is an Austrian spy. Being honourable, he is about to phone the military police when they burst into the house to arrest the lady and because he is also there, him too. The lady quickly takes poison so they can get no information from her, and also to avoid torture. The officer is put on trial for treason.

It's not really one of Asquith's better efforts, however the cast & acting all makes it worthwhile to seek out, I gave it 6/10

The Thirteenth Chair made in 1929, directed by the incomparable Tod Browning (The Unholy Three (1925), West of Zanzibar (1928), Dracula (1931) & Freaks (1932)). Starring Conrad Nagel, Leila Hyams, Margaret Wycherly & Bela Lugosi as the police inspector.



A very early talkie set in Calcutta during the British rule, none of which is important, a gathering at a mansion is focused on the stabbing murder of a friend of the people there. It seems that the host has asked a well known medium to attend, with the idea of asking to spirits to answer the question of who was the murderer. The medium turns up and entertains the guests with demonstrations of how fake spiritualists cause many of their effects, Eventually they get down to the seance, in the complete dark, when the spirit of the dead man is contacted & uses one of the men there to speak to the other participants. Just before the secret is revealed, the guy being used by the spirit is also stabbed to death, people scream & the lights come on, one is dead, the remaining 12 look at each other not knowing which is the murderer. The police are called & Bela makes his entrance, complete with all the mannerisms we come to love in his portrayal of Dracula. After many accusations they finally decide to have a reenactment, again in the dark, when the once dead body seems to come to life to point out his murderer, well, not quite.

This is set in just a couple of rooms & the filmmakers seem unsure how to properly use this new invention of sound, plus at times it is very poorly edited. Despite all of this, it's a must see as an early talkie, also to see Browning & Lugosi work at their craft, I gave it 7/10

 

[jacqui9]

Only if they are negative reviews, which I'm more than happy to do.

Casablanca - Over rated, melodramitic mush full of terrible acting and atrocious one-liners that failed when originally released. There was a reason it failed, it is crap.

Citizen Kane - Revolutionary and groudbreaking (my big hairy butt) film that apparently changed cinema forever, but was really nothing more than homage to the greatly superior German silents of 1920's. A classic example of Hollywood hyping up one of it's own and totally ignoring the true groudbreakers.

Gone With The Wind - Frankly my dears, I don't give a damn.

Oh good god - give the man a beer!! Testify!

 

[Asgardian]

La battaglia di Algeri (aka The Battle of Algiers), an Italian / Algerian film made in 1966. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo (Kapò (1960) & Queimada (1969)), who was nominated for his direction & screenplay for this film. Starring Jean Martin & many unknowns who were cast to type, or because they looked the part. Music by Ennio Morricone.

Set in part of the long Algerian War for independence (1954–62) against the French. Revolving around the desperate attempts by the guerrilla fighters to organise, regroup & systematically take & keep control of significant areas vital to both sides. Plus the attempts by the French to use paratroopers to brutalize & crush the resistance fighters, all so unbelievable when considering what happen in WW2 France. The civil war, prior to French military action, is depicted as the cause of the escalation. Extreme violence was perpetrated by all sides, resulting in terrorist acts, sanctioned torture, lynch mobs, rioting & murder. All from the point of view of a a petty criminal who is pushed so far he is recruited by the National Liberation Front (FLN). As in all wars, the civilians are in the middle and pay for their non-violence neutrality. The film ends many years prior to independence, this is fitting as 2 hours of intense unrelenting brutality is enough.

A must see film, I gave it 10/10.

Blockade made in 1938, directed by William Dieterle, Oscar nominee for best director, The Life of Emile Zola (1937) (also directed The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) & Portrait of Jennie (1948)). Starring Henry Fonda, Madeleine Carroll & Leo Carrillo.

A couple of Spanish peasant farmers have a happy meeting with an aristocratic lady who was driving to fast & had an accident. They get her to her destination, in her beat up car, by oxen, using the journey to strike up an infatuation by Fonda the farmer, and fondness by Carroll, the aristocrat. But this is just a chance meeting so they go their different ways, the farmers back to their property where the rumblings of cannon are soon heard, the introduction of the Spanish Civil War. All the farmers are being driven out of their valley by the Fascists until Fonda organizes his friends to make a stand, stopping the advance of the Fascists. The farmers are drafted into the ranks of the Nationalists, who desperately try to defend their properties and local city, which is soon encircled and blockaded by fascist submarines. There are spies galore, who if caught are executed quickly, but their are also plenty of traitors who are much harder to find, Carroll becomes one, bring a message to the spies of an impending ship trying to break the blockade to bring in supplies for the starving populace. The ship is sunk & Carroll is beset with guilt seeing all the starving children, so she turns into a reformed traitor, all the while Fonda is running around killing spies & traitors, including Carroll's father.

This is a fantastic little film, well worth finding, I gave it 7/10.