Cat People Cat People, 9.05pm,BBC4 Thursday, June 2, and then iPlayer
This 1942 film about a woman (Simone Simon) who fears that so much as kissing her husband (Kent Smith) will awaken an ancient curse that will turn her into a man-eating cat, is worth watching for its beautifully constructed visuals alone. More noir than horror in nature - especially for a modern audience - cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca's use of shadows to evoke fear and ambiguity is masterfully done. A scene in a swimming pool, which relies on sound design and the eerie reflections of the water upon the world to generate atmosphere, is particularly worthy of note. Beyond the look, Jacques Torneur's exploration of the immigrant experience in America, though embedded within the film's genre trappings, is also subtly moving. Don't miss I Walked With A Zombie, which screens immediately after it.
The Darjeeling Limited, 9pm, Great Movies, Friday,...
This 1942 film about a woman (Simone Simon) who fears that so much as kissing her husband (Kent Smith) will awaken an ancient curse that will turn her into a man-eating cat, is worth watching for its beautifully constructed visuals alone. More noir than horror in nature - especially for a modern audience - cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca's use of shadows to evoke fear and ambiguity is masterfully done. A scene in a swimming pool, which relies on sound design and the eerie reflections of the water upon the world to generate atmosphere, is particularly worthy of note. Beyond the look, Jacques Torneur's exploration of the immigrant experience in America, though embedded within the film's genre trappings, is also subtly moving. Don't miss I Walked With A Zombie, which screens immediately after it.
The Darjeeling Limited, 9pm, Great Movies, Friday,...
- 5/30/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
New remastered restorations of Val Lewton pictures? We’re there. This terrific double bill gives us two Lewton shockers that are in no way ‘lesser’. The progressive psycho killer picture The Ghost Ship suffered a legal setback and disappeared for almost fifty years; it’s a masterpiece of taste and tone. Bedlam is a costume picture with an ideal role for Boris Karloff, and multiple eerie moments worthy of Edgar Allan Poe. Both movies exhibit interesting storytelling techniques, too. Rko should have promoted Lewton to A pictures, as they did his collaborators Jacques Tourneur, Robert Wise and Mark Robson.
The Ghost Ship + Bedlam
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1943 + 1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date October 12, 2021 / 24.99
Starring: Richard Dix, Edith Barrett; Boris Karloff, Anna Lee.
Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca
Art Directors: Albert S. D’Agostino, Walter E. Keller
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by Donald Henderson Clarke; Carlos Keith & Mark Robson...
The Ghost Ship + Bedlam
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1943 + 1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date October 12, 2021 / 24.99
Starring: Richard Dix, Edith Barrett; Boris Karloff, Anna Lee.
Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca
Art Directors: Albert S. D’Agostino, Walter E. Keller
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by Donald Henderson Clarke; Carlos Keith & Mark Robson...
- 10/30/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“If you ask me, M’Lord, he’s a stench in the nostrils, a sewer of ugliness, and a gutter brimming with slop.”
The Val Lewton Double Feature The Ghost Ship (1943) and Bedlam (1946) are now available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive
This double-feature disc brings together two of producer Val Lewton’s classic Rko horror films, newly restored and remastered. In 1943’s The Ghost Ship, Tom Merriam (Russell Wade), the young third mate on a freighter bound for Patagonia, witnesses the murder of a crewman by the ship’s captain, Will Stone (Richard Dix). Merriam realizes Stone is going insane, but the rest of the crew won’t believe him…or that he may be the mad captain’s next victim!
Boris Karloff reunites with Lewton for a third and final time in 1946’s Bedlam, set in 1971 at a London asylum. Karloff gives an unforgettable performance as the doomed overseer...
The Val Lewton Double Feature The Ghost Ship (1943) and Bedlam (1946) are now available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive
This double-feature disc brings together two of producer Val Lewton’s classic Rko horror films, newly restored and remastered. In 1943’s The Ghost Ship, Tom Merriam (Russell Wade), the young third mate on a freighter bound for Patagonia, witnesses the murder of a crewman by the ship’s captain, Will Stone (Richard Dix). Merriam realizes Stone is going insane, but the rest of the crew won’t believe him…or that he may be the mad captain’s next victim!
Boris Karloff reunites with Lewton for a third and final time in 1946’s Bedlam, set in 1971 at a London asylum. Karloff gives an unforgettable performance as the doomed overseer...
- 10/15/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Robert Mitchum intercedes in a range war in this ‘A’ western, and he’s got the pro team of director Robert Wise and cameraman Nicholas Musuraca on his side. All but one action scene plays out at night, which is why this is sometimes called a Noir Western. The dark visuals fit that mold but the story values are strictly traditional, starting with the hero’s laconic do-it-don’t-say-it sense of personal honor. Partly filmed in Arizona, the fine production further advanced the laid-back Mitchum persona, this time as an honest cowpoke, not a cool-dude hipster.
Blood on the Moon
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 88 min. / Street Date April 28, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter, Frank Faylen, Tom Tully, Charles McGraw, Clifton Young, Tom Tyler, George Cooper, Harry Carey Jr., Iron Eyes Cody, Chris-Pin Martin.
Cinematography: Nicholas...
Blood on the Moon
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1948 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 88 min. / Street Date April 28, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter, Frank Faylen, Tom Tully, Charles McGraw, Clifton Young, Tom Tyler, George Cooper, Harry Carey Jr., Iron Eyes Cody, Chris-Pin Martin.
Cinematography: Nicholas...
- 5/16/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“She was just in time to see the last tree split into two, as a man slipped from behind its trunk, and disappeared into the shadow.” – Ethel Lina White (Some Must Watch)
I had the glorious experience of sitting inside a 250-seat movie theater watching A Quiet Place all by myself on a Sunday morning a last year. The technique of stripping sound away from that film, utilizing silence as a narrative vessel, is completely obvious when you are the only person sitting in front of a giant movie screen with nothing but the glow of the film to illuminate the empty seats surrounding you. As the movie progressed I could feel myself moving anxiously in my seat, inching towards the front of the chair in anticipation of the next scare. The darkness and seclusion of the theater playing tricks on my senses as I turned around in my chair...
I had the glorious experience of sitting inside a 250-seat movie theater watching A Quiet Place all by myself on a Sunday morning a last year. The technique of stripping sound away from that film, utilizing silence as a narrative vessel, is completely obvious when you are the only person sitting in front of a giant movie screen with nothing but the glow of the film to illuminate the empty seats surrounding you. As the movie progressed I could feel myself moving anxiously in my seat, inching towards the front of the chair in anticipation of the next scare. The darkness and seclusion of the theater playing tricks on my senses as I turned around in my chair...
- 10/25/2019
- by Monte Yazzie
- DailyDead
More than a movie star: America’s one female Hollywood director working in the 1950s receives a four-title boxed set well worth the investment — one noir mini-masterpiece is accompanied by a pair of independent social issue movies better than what the studios were turning out. It’s all thanks to Lupino’s fine dramatic direction. She emphasizes basic human values: cooperation over competition, and interior conflict. Her company ‘The Filmmakers’ lasted only about six years, but as an independent experiment it consistently turned out ‘special’ pictures anybody could be proud of.
Ida Lupino Filmmaker Collection
Blu-ray
Not Wanted, Never Fear, The Hitch-Hiker, The Bigamist
Kl Studio Classics
1949-1953 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen (1) 1:37 Academy (3) / 91, 81, 71, 79 min. / Street Date September 24, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Leo Penn, Hugh O’Brian, Joan Fontaine, Edmond O’Brien, Ida Lupino, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman.
Cinematography: Henry Freulich; Archie Stout; George E. Diskant...
Ida Lupino Filmmaker Collection
Blu-ray
Not Wanted, Never Fear, The Hitch-Hiker, The Bigamist
Kl Studio Classics
1949-1953 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen (1) 1:37 Academy (3) / 91, 81, 71, 79 min. / Street Date September 24, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Leo Penn, Hugh O’Brian, Joan Fontaine, Edmond O’Brien, Ida Lupino, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman.
Cinematography: Henry Freulich; Archie Stout; George E. Diskant...
- 10/8/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
There’s a storm outside, the cook has drunk herself to sleep, the other servants are gone, the old lady is an invalid — and the helpless mute maid is trapped indoors with a murderous maniac. No, it’s not a Reality Show about the White House, but Robert Siodmak’s superior ‘old house whodunnit’ that is equal parts Americana, film noir and proto- slasher horror.
The Spiral Staircase
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 83 min. / Street Date October 2, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Gordon Oliver, Elsa Lanchester, Sara Allgood, Rhys Williams, James Bell, Ellen Corby, Erville Anderson, Myrna Dell.
Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca
Film Editor: Harry Gerstad, Harry Marker
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by Mel Dinelli from a book by Ethel Lina White
Produced by Dore Schary
Directed by Robert Siodmak
The handsomely produced The Spiral Staircase...
The Spiral Staircase
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 83 min. / Street Date October 2, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Gordon Oliver, Elsa Lanchester, Sara Allgood, Rhys Williams, James Bell, Ellen Corby, Erville Anderson, Myrna Dell.
Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca
Film Editor: Harry Gerstad, Harry Marker
Original Music: Roy Webb
Written by Mel Dinelli from a book by Ethel Lina White
Produced by Dore Schary
Directed by Robert Siodmak
The handsomely produced The Spiral Staircase...
- 10/23/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In its inaugural year, 2005, I began writing for the Muriel Awards, a year-end voting collective dedicated to summing up the year’s achievements which features accompanying essays by its members, and I’ve written for them every year since. Six years ago, Muriels creator Paul Clark initiated the Muriels Hall of Fame, a separate division which is, as Clark puts it, “an attempt to honor the finest achievements in classic cinema.” In order to be considered qualified for Muriel Hof induction, a film must be a minimum of 50 years old, based on the date of release recorded by IMDb, as of the end of the previous calendar year.
Well, the distinguished members of the Muriels Hall of Fame Class of 2018 have been announced. In fact, Clark and the Muriels started announcing them a little over a month ago, on August 11. So, I am only 33 days delinquent in passing along the news,...
Well, the distinguished members of the Muriels Hall of Fame Class of 2018 have been announced. In fact, Clark and the Muriels started announcing them a little over a month ago, on August 11. So, I am only 33 days delinquent in passing along the news,...
- 9/16/2018
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Next to Universal, few studios have had such a big impact on horror than Rko Radio Pictures. Started in 1927, Rko was the first studio founded to make exclusively sound films, a then-brand-new invention that served as a major draw for the studio. Rko’s life was relatively short (it was killed just 30 years after forming), but during their time, they put out a seriously impressive number of classics, including Top Hat, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Informer, and most notably, Citizen Kane.
Of course, Rko didn’t shy away from horror. While their output wasn’t nearly as prolific as, say, Universal’s, it was still quite impressive, boasting some of the most formative and important horror films of old Hollywood. Rko saw the release of a few all-time classics, including I Walked With a Zombie, The Thing From Another World, King Kong, and the topic of today’s Crypt,...
Of course, Rko didn’t shy away from horror. While their output wasn’t nearly as prolific as, say, Universal’s, it was still quite impressive, boasting some of the most formative and important horror films of old Hollywood. Rko saw the release of a few all-time classics, including I Walked With a Zombie, The Thing From Another World, King Kong, and the topic of today’s Crypt,...
- 11/17/2017
- by Perry Ruhland
- DailyDead
A breathtaking mansion becomes the backdrop of grisly murders in The Spiral Staircase, a 1946 thriller co-starring Ethel Barrymore and coming to Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Kino Lorber.
A release date, cover art, and special features for The Sprial Staircase Blu-ray and DVD have not yet been revealed, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on this release. In the meantime, you can check out the official announcement from Kino Lorber below, as well as the film's trailer.
From Kino Lorber: "Coming Soon on DVD and Blu-ray!
Oscar Nominee: Best Supporting Actress (Barrymore)
The Spiral Staircase (1946) Starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Elsa Lachester and Sara Allgood - Based on a Novel by Ethel Lina White (The Lady Vanishes) - Shot by Nicholas Musuraca (Out of the Past, Cat People) - Directed by Robert Siodmak (Criss Cross, Cry of the City)"
Synopsis (via Blu-ray.
A release date, cover art, and special features for The Sprial Staircase Blu-ray and DVD have not yet been revealed, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on this release. In the meantime, you can check out the official announcement from Kino Lorber below, as well as the film's trailer.
From Kino Lorber: "Coming Soon on DVD and Blu-ray!
Oscar Nominee: Best Supporting Actress (Barrymore)
The Spiral Staircase (1946) Starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Elsa Lachester and Sara Allgood - Based on a Novel by Ethel Lina White (The Lady Vanishes) - Shot by Nicholas Musuraca (Out of the Past, Cat People) - Directed by Robert Siodmak (Criss Cross, Cry of the City)"
Synopsis (via Blu-ray.
- 2/16/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Ida Lupino was the first woman to direct a classic noir film. In fact, she was the only woman working within the 1950s Hollywood studio system to direct a feature and she directed seven features and more than 100 TV episodes. She was the only woman to direct episodes of the original “The Twilight Zone” series, as well as the only director to have starred in the show.
She was born in London on Feb. 4, 1918, during a German zeppelin bombing. Her father’s forbears were traveling players and puppeteers in Renaissance Italy. Later generations migrated to England in the 17th century. Her father, Stanley Lupino, was a noted comedian, and her mother, Connie Emerald, was an actress who was also descended from a theatrical family. A cousin, Lupino Lane, was an internationally popular song-and-dance man.
As a child, she improvised and acted scenes with her younger sister, Rita, in a small...
She was born in London on Feb. 4, 1918, during a German zeppelin bombing. Her father’s forbears were traveling players and puppeteers in Renaissance Italy. Later generations migrated to England in the 17th century. Her father, Stanley Lupino, was a noted comedian, and her mother, Connie Emerald, was an actress who was also descended from a theatrical family. A cousin, Lupino Lane, was an internationally popular song-and-dance man.
As a child, she improvised and acted scenes with her younger sister, Rita, in a small...
- 11/10/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The AFI Fest is free! And it takes place in the heart of Hollywood at the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre, and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. All you need is a ticket!SydneysBuzz is proud to be the official presenter of “The Hitch-Hiker” directed by Ida Lupino, one of the rare women directors in Hollywood in the 1950s and today being brought back to our collective consciousness by AFI!“The Hitch-Hiker”Ida Lupino
A deranged hitchhiker takes two all-American Everymen as hostages in the gripping film noir classic, “The Hitch-Hiker” by Ida Lupino, a pioneering director, writer, producer and actress who became the first woman to direct a film noir. She is one of a trio of diverse female trailblazers being celebrated in the 30th edition of AFI Fest presented by Audi. AFI Fest will also spotlight Dorothy Dandridge, the first African American nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award® and Anna May Wong,...
A deranged hitchhiker takes two all-American Everymen as hostages in the gripping film noir classic, “The Hitch-Hiker” by Ida Lupino, a pioneering director, writer, producer and actress who became the first woman to direct a film noir. She is one of a trio of diverse female trailblazers being celebrated in the 30th edition of AFI Fest presented by Audi. AFI Fest will also spotlight Dorothy Dandridge, the first African American nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award® and Anna May Wong,...
- 11/1/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
This kitty needs no introduction: Simone Simon is the purring-sweet immigrant with a dark atavistic secret. It's Val Lewton's debut smash hit. The real hero is director Jacques Tourneur, who conveys a feeling of real life being lived that won over audiences of 1942 and drew them into his web of fantasy. Cat People Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 833 1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 73 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 20, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Jack Holt, Elizabeth Russell, Theresa Harris. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Art Direction Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller Film Editor Mark Robson Original Music Roy Webb Written by De Witt Bodeen Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Val Lewton never had to be 'discovered,' actually. Life magazine awarded him his own photo layout and the critics praised him as the maker of a new brand of psychologically based horror films.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Val Lewton never had to be 'discovered,' actually. Life magazine awarded him his own photo layout and the critics praised him as the maker of a new brand of psychologically based horror films.
- 9/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By John M. Whalen
All struggling young reporter Mike Ward (John McGuire) wants is a break. He needs money so he can move out of his crummy room in a three story boarding house, get his own place, and marry his girl, Jane (Margaret Tallichet). His break arrives when he becomes the star witness to the murder of Nick, the owner of Nick’s Coffee Pot, a neighborhood eatery right across the street from where he lives. The newspaper he works for gives him a raise and assigns him to cover the murder trial. At first he and Jane are elated about Mike’s turn of fortune, and they began planning their future. But soon Jane wonders if the young man Mike is going to testify against, a young cab driver named Briggs (Elisha Cook, Jr.), is really the killer. “He’s so young,” she says. Her attitude begins to...
All struggling young reporter Mike Ward (John McGuire) wants is a break. He needs money so he can move out of his crummy room in a three story boarding house, get his own place, and marry his girl, Jane (Margaret Tallichet). His break arrives when he becomes the star witness to the murder of Nick, the owner of Nick’s Coffee Pot, a neighborhood eatery right across the street from where he lives. The newspaper he works for gives him a raise and assigns him to cover the murder trial. At first he and Jane are elated about Mike’s turn of fortune, and they began planning their future. But soon Jane wonders if the young man Mike is going to testify against, a young cab driver named Briggs (Elisha Cook, Jr.), is really the killer. “He’s so young,” she says. Her attitude begins to...
- 8/17/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
I guess Howard Hughes wanted to go easy on Minnesota Nazis. William Cameron Menzies directs a Cold War thriller about an insidious germ warfare conspiracy -- it's an early paranoid suspense tale with apocalyptic consequences. But the story behind the movie's making -- and then remaking -- is even more fantastic. The Whip Hand DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 82 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 18.59 Starring Elliott Reid, Raymond Burr, Carla Balenda, Edgar Barrier, Otto Waldis, Michael Steele, Lurene Tuttle, Peter Brocco, Lewis Martin, Frank Darien, Olive Carey, George Chandler, Gregory Gaye. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Film Editor Robert Golden Original Music Music by Paul Sawtell Written by George Bricker, Frank L. Moss, Ray Hamilton Produced by Louis J. Rachmil Directed by William Cameron Menzies
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Film writers Bill Warren and Tom Weaver have reported extensively on the unusual production story...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Film writers Bill Warren and Tom Weaver have reported extensively on the unusual production story...
- 6/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
All hail Frank Tashlin! America's subversive secret weapon of the 1950s made incredible adult live-action cartoon movies that satirized all the sex and vulgarity denied by the mainstream. In Technicolor! Political incorrectness meets lollypop-sweet sentimentality in a farce that transcends good taste. Susan Slept Here Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date April 19, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis, Alvy Moore, Glenda Farrell, Horace McMahon, Herb Vigran, Les Tremayne, Mara Lane, Maidie Norman, Rita Johnson, Ellen Corby, Red Skelton. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Film Editor Harry Marker Original Music Leigh Harline Choreographer Robert Sidney Written by Alex Gottlieb from a play by Gottlieb and Steve Fisher Produced by Harriet Parsons Directed by Frank Tashlin
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Director Frank Tashlin has finally found an appreciative audience with adventurous film fans, but the charms of his glorious style of filmmaking are unknown to...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Director Frank Tashlin has finally found an appreciative audience with adventurous film fans, but the charms of his glorious style of filmmaking are unknown to...
- 3/29/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dalton Trumbo and Nathanael West contributed to the screenplay for John Farrow's suspense adventure about a plane crash in the Amazon jungle -- who will survive? Lucille Ball is the ranking castaway in a glossy Rko thriller that's been restored to a fine polish. Five Came Back DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1939 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 75 min. / Street Date June 30, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie, John Carradine, Allen Jenkins, Joseph Calleia, C. Aubrey Smith, Kent Taylor, Patric Knowles, Elisabeth Risdon, Casey Johnson, Frank Faylen. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Original Music Roy Webb Written by Jerome Cady, Dalton Trumbo, Nathanael West story by Richard Carroll Produced by Robert Sisk Directed by John Farrow
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When they list the 'big' pictures of 1939, the ones that we're told made that year Hollywood's best ever, there are some winning titles that don't get mentioned.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When they list the 'big' pictures of 1939, the ones that we're told made that year Hollywood's best ever, there are some winning titles that don't get mentioned.
- 12/5/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Special Mention: Dead Ringers
Directed by David Cronenberg
Written by David Cronenberg and Norman Snider
Canada, 1988
Genre: Thriller / Drama
Dead Ringers is one of David Cronenberg’s masterpieces, and Jeremy Irons gives the most highly accomplished performance of his entire career – times two. This is the story of Beverly and Elliot Mantle (both played by Irons), identical twins who, since birth, have been inseparable. Together, they work as gynecologists in their own clinic, and literally share everything between them, including the women they work and sleep with. Jealousy comes between the two when Beverly falls in love with a new patient and decides he no longer wants to share his lady friend with Elliot. The twins, who have always existed together as one, have trouble adapting and soon turn against one another. Unlike the director’s previous films, the biological horror in Dead Ringers is entirely conveyed through the psychological...
Directed by David Cronenberg
Written by David Cronenberg and Norman Snider
Canada, 1988
Genre: Thriller / Drama
Dead Ringers is one of David Cronenberg’s masterpieces, and Jeremy Irons gives the most highly accomplished performance of his entire career – times two. This is the story of Beverly and Elliot Mantle (both played by Irons), identical twins who, since birth, have been inseparable. Together, they work as gynecologists in their own clinic, and literally share everything between them, including the women they work and sleep with. Jealousy comes between the two when Beverly falls in love with a new patient and decides he no longer wants to share his lady friend with Elliot. The twins, who have always existed together as one, have trouble adapting and soon turn against one another. Unlike the director’s previous films, the biological horror in Dead Ringers is entirely conveyed through the psychological...
- 10/29/2015
- by Ricky Fernandes
- SoundOnSight
After The Seventh Victim‘s disappointing returns, Val Lewton and Rko clashed over their next project. Lewton wanted a comedy, provisionally titled The Amorous Ghost, as a change of pace; studio boss Sid Rogell, Lewton’s bete noir, insisted on a sequel to Cat People, which Lewton resisted. Then Rko suggested a Universal-style monster rally, They Creep By Night, reuniting villains from past Lewton pictures. Charles Koerner rescued Lewton from this absurd prospect by pitching a maritime thriller. “Call it The Ghost Ship,” Koerner ordered. Lewton also scored a big, though past-his-prime star in Richard Dix, an Oscar nominee for Cimarron (1931).
The result is equal parts The Sea Wolf and M, with a dash of Edgar Allan Poe. Tom Miriam signs on as third officer on the ill-starred freighter Altair, ruled by Captain Stone (Richard Dix). At first Stone merely seems strict, but his homilies about authority take on a...
The result is equal parts The Sea Wolf and M, with a dash of Edgar Allan Poe. Tom Miriam signs on as third officer on the ill-starred freighter Altair, ruled by Captain Stone (Richard Dix). At first Stone merely seems strict, but his homilies about authority take on a...
- 10/29/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
Val Lewton’s third horror film, The Leopard Man (1943) initially seemed promising. Based on Cornell Woolrich’s novel Black Alibi, it had more pedigree than Lewton’s previous movies. He reunited his previous team: director Jacques Tourneur, writer Ardel Wray, even Dynamite, the black leopard from Cat People. Forced again to film on the Rko lot, he sent Wray to photograph Santa Fe, New Mexico and crafted meticulous sets around her snapshots. Despite this attention to detail, The Leopard Man is one of Lewton’s weakest efforts.
The plot is simple enough. Nightclub entertainers James (Dennis O’Keefe) and Kiki (Jean Brooks) arrive in Santa Fe with a leopard in tow; Kiki’s rival Clo-Clo (Margo) scares the cat, which escapes into the city. The leopard kills a Mexican girl, sending the city into a panic. Several other women die, but James grows convinced that the leopard isn’t behind them.
The plot is simple enough. Nightclub entertainers James (Dennis O’Keefe) and Kiki (Jean Brooks) arrive in Santa Fe with a leopard in tow; Kiki’s rival Clo-Clo (Margo) scares the cat, which escapes into the city. The leopard kills a Mexican girl, sending the city into a panic. Several other women die, but James grows convinced that the leopard isn’t behind them.
- 10/13/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
Val Lewton, Russian émigré turned horror master, was a reporter, pulp novelist and MGM publicity writer before moving into film. He spent the 1930s as David O. Selznick’s story editor, directing second unit work on A Tale of Two Cities (1935) and script doctoring Gone With the Wind (1939), warning Selznick it would be “the mistake of his life.” While not Hollywood’s most prescient man, Lewton’s professionalism earned Selznick’s respect, and their collaboration led to Rko offering Lewton a producing job in 1942.
Rko was reeling from Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons, an expensive flop forcing a refocus on low budget films. Charles Koerner headed the studio’s B Unit, envisioning a horror series inspired by Universal Studio’s successful franchises. Where Universal culled from established literature (Dracula, Frankenstein), Rko worked from Koerner’s whim: he created a title and left the filmmakers to handle trivia like plot and characters.
Rko was reeling from Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons, an expensive flop forcing a refocus on low budget films. Charles Koerner headed the studio’s B Unit, envisioning a horror series inspired by Universal Studio’s successful franchises. Where Universal culled from established literature (Dracula, Frankenstein), Rko worked from Koerner’s whim: he created a title and left the filmmakers to handle trivia like plot and characters.
- 10/6/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
Our weekly feature in which a writer answers the question: if you could force your friends at gunpoint to watch one movie or TV show what would it be? Why do I love film noir? Why does anyone? After all, it's a genre that seems to confirm that people are horrible, that the world is painful, and that we will let each other down given any opportunity. Film noir has a world-weary worldview, but I would stop short of calling it cynical. I am many things as I reach the halfway point of my fourth decade on Earth, but I am not cynical. I love film noir because while it may reflect a cynical world view, the reason it hurts is because there is still some small light, some tiny hope, some sense of optimism. If you're truly cynical, there's nothing the world can do to disappoint you. Me, I...
- 4/6/2015
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Cat People' 1942 actress Simone Simon Remembered: Starred in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic (photo: Simone Simon in 'Cat People') Pert, pouty, pretty Simone Simon is best remembered for her starring roles in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie Cat People (1942) and in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938). Long before Brigitte Bardot, Mamie Van Doren, Ann-Margret, and (for a few years) Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm in a film career that spanned a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both sides of the Atlantic – at times, with fatal results. During that period, Simon was featured in nearly 40 movies in France, Italy, Germany, Britain, and Hollywood. Besides Jean Renoir, in her native country she worked for the likes of Jacqueline Audry...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Just try and keep up: the good folks at Cinema Scope are doing their epic annual Tiff capsule review marathon. Dive in. Martin Scorsese will be returning to Shutter Island to make a prequel for a new television series. For Film Comment, our very own Neil Bahadur has a conversation with Pedro Costa about his award-winning Horse Money:
"Bahadur: I remember you mentioned yesterday [at the press conference] how you’re only just starting to like the movie now. Is it usually that way with your films? Or is it specific to this one?
Costa: I think I like this more now. I only like some of the others, or small moments in the other films. This one came out so tense—I see a kind of tension that was very difficult to get. That’s because of Ventura too. Some people can do it like that [snaps fingers] like Straub. Well, not like that [snaps fingers again] because they work a lot.
"Bahadur: I remember you mentioned yesterday [at the press conference] how you’re only just starting to like the movie now. Is it usually that way with your films? Or is it specific to this one?
Costa: I think I like this more now. I only like some of the others, or small moments in the other films. This one came out so tense—I see a kind of tension that was very difficult to get. That’s because of Ventura too. Some people can do it like that [snaps fingers] like Straub. Well, not like that [snaps fingers again] because they work a lot.
- 9/3/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Movies such as Out of the Past are what movie blogging should be all about. While it's undoubtedly important to keep up with the new titles hitting theaters, finding hidden gems within the glut of watered-down, mass audience studio releases, it's just as important to look into the past and find the movies that have shaped cinema into what it is today... or, at least a reminder of what great cinema used to be, and is now mostly (un)seen within the confines of independent releases. As someone who only started delving deep into cinema's rich history about eleven years ago I still pay attention to a variety of sites and bloggers, hoping to hear of films I've never heard of or seen, something to shake up the monotony. Typically this comes in the form of a Criterion Collection release, the gold standard (at least domestically) in ensuring classic cinema remains alive,...
- 8/25/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Every year, we here at Sound On Sight celebrate the month of October with 31 Days of Horror; and every year, I update the list of my favourite horror films ever made. Last year, I released a list that included 150 picks. This year, I’ll be upgrading the list, making minor alterations, changing the rankings, adding new entries, and possibly removing a few titles. I’ve also decided to publish each post backwards this time for one reason: the new additions appear lower on my list, whereas my top 50 haven’t changed much, except for maybe in ranking. I am including documentaries, short films and mini series, only as special mentions – along with a few features that can qualify as horror, but barely do.
Come Back Tonight To See My List Of The 200 Best!
****
Special Mention:
Wait until Dark
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Robert Carrington
USA, 1967
Directed by Terence Young,...
Come Back Tonight To See My List Of The 200 Best!
****
Special Mention:
Wait until Dark
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Robert Carrington
USA, 1967
Directed by Terence Young,...
- 10/31/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Throughout the month of October, Editor-in-Chief and resident Horror expert Ricky D, will be posting a list of his favorite Horror films of all time. The list will be posted in six parts. Click here to see every entry.
As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.
****
Special Mention:
American Psycho
Directed by Mary Harrron
Written by Mary Harron
2000, USA
Bret Easton Ellis’s dark and violent satire of America in the 1980s was brought to the big screen by director Mary Harron. Initially slapped with the MPAA’s kiss of death (an Nc-17 rating), American Psycho was later re-edited and reduced to a more commercially dependable “R”. Perhaps the film works best as a slick satire about misogyny,...
As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.
****
Special Mention:
American Psycho
Directed by Mary Harrron
Written by Mary Harron
2000, USA
Bret Easton Ellis’s dark and violent satire of America in the 1980s was brought to the big screen by director Mary Harron. Initially slapped with the MPAA’s kiss of death (an Nc-17 rating), American Psycho was later re-edited and reduced to a more commercially dependable “R”. Perhaps the film works best as a slick satire about misogyny,...
- 10/25/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Part I: Super Chiefs — Calley, Evans, Zanuck and the Passing of the Studio Torches
From the 1960s into the 1980s, one by one, the legendary studios of old – MGM, United Artists, Warner Bros., Paramount, Columbia, 20th Century Fox — were gobbled up by conglomerates, some of which had had almost no previous interests in the entertainment business, such as Paramount’s acquirer, Gulf + Western (a motley collection of properties ranging from Caribbean sugar companies to auto parts), and Kinney National Service (a hodgepodge of funeral homes and parking lots which bought up Warner Bros.). This corporatization of the major studios – the once mighty fiefdoms of the old moguls subjugated by invaders with little or no practical or emotional affinity for movies – is often viewed disparagingly as a sea change signaling the end of the grand Old Hollywood; the Hollywood of Gable and Garland, of Casablanca (1942) and Gone with the Wind (1939).
Factually,...
From the 1960s into the 1980s, one by one, the legendary studios of old – MGM, United Artists, Warner Bros., Paramount, Columbia, 20th Century Fox — were gobbled up by conglomerates, some of which had had almost no previous interests in the entertainment business, such as Paramount’s acquirer, Gulf + Western (a motley collection of properties ranging from Caribbean sugar companies to auto parts), and Kinney National Service (a hodgepodge of funeral homes and parking lots which bought up Warner Bros.). This corporatization of the major studios – the once mighty fiefdoms of the old moguls subjugated by invaders with little or no practical or emotional affinity for movies – is often viewed disparagingly as a sea change signaling the end of the grand Old Hollywood; the Hollywood of Gable and Garland, of Casablanca (1942) and Gone with the Wind (1939).
Factually,...
- 11/18/2010
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Roman Polanski’s second feature film, Repulsion (1965), is considered a classic of the slow-burn, first-person psychological-study genre. Just out on a special-edition DVD and Blu-ray from Criterion, it messily observes and records the unraveling of the sanity of an unbalanced young woman (played by an especially delicate Catherine Deneuve) when she’s left home alone for the weekend by her older sister.
That’s really it for plot, folks; this is more of a non-narrative character study than a densely plotted thriller. But if you hook up with the film’s wavelength, settle in with it and allow the flow of images to lead you along, you’ll find yourself taking an interesting and disturbing journey.
The movie is expertly photographed by Gil Taylor (who would reunite with Polanski a year later on Cul-de-sac), who imbues the first half of the movie with a rather natural look. But once the long,...
That’s really it for plot, folks; this is more of a non-narrative character study than a densely plotted thriller. But if you hook up with the film’s wavelength, settle in with it and allow the flow of images to lead you along, you’ll find yourself taking an interesting and disturbing journey.
The movie is expertly photographed by Gil Taylor (who would reunite with Polanski a year later on Cul-de-sac), who imbues the first half of the movie with a rather natural look. But once the long,...
- 7/29/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Scooter McCrae)
- Fangoria
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