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LarrupinLou
Reviews
Dead Men Walk (1943)
Not your typical PRC product.
Put me down in agreement with the reviewers here who enjoyed this film. No, it's certainly not remotely great and I have seen much better vampire flicks, but the terrific Zucco, decent writing, and competent acting from the rest of the cast make it slightly better than average.
In regard to Zucco, I have seen him in many films and he never fails to do a good job, regardless of what he has to work with. In this movie, he's the glue that holds this plot together from beginning to end. The way he makes the two brothers distinctive is to be lauded. Privately, he might have hated this genre of movie, but you wouldn't have known it from the gusto that he gives his dual role.
It's always good to see Dwight Frye, even though this wasn't his best performance. He played countless crazy or weird characters throughout his career, yet they usually differed due to his unique characterization he gave to each role.
Some here have complained about the sound and other defects in the quality of the film, which isn't fair since the vast majority of us have seen this film only from public domain copies. For example, the copies of "It's a Wonderful Life" that I saw as a kid weren't half the quality of the actual master that we now see around the holidays. Until a worthy copy shows up, I'll refrain making a judgment on that aspect of "Dead Men Walk."
All in all, the movie is entertaining. If you like horror movies from that era, you probably wont be disappointed.
Rambling 'Round Radio Row #3 (1933)
Fun short
Interesting curio from the early thirties. I got a kick out of seeing the young Guy Lombardo, Rose Marie (really young! :-) and Jay C. Flippen in this plot-less, but fun, short.
Flippen was surprising to see in this type of setting since I'm more used to seeing him in his more tougher persona from countless TV and movie roles. He also sports a hairstyle reminiscent of Cab Calloway from the latter's heyday! His Vaudeville chops are evident here, too.
Lombardo gets to show off his championship yachting skills (with his brothers) in one segment.
Is it great art? No, but it is important historically, while still being able to entertain seventy-plus years later.
By the way, this was one of the first productions for the famous Warner Brothers producer Jerry Wald.
Wonder Woman (1974)
Correction
I've been reading posts here concerning Wonder Woman's costume for this TV movie. It should be pointed out at the time the movie was made, she wasn't wearing her traditional outfit. The producers were actually sticking to the comic book writer's conception of WW for the early seventies.
As for the movie itself, I have to agree with many of the other posters here. Snoozefest! I was a kid when it appeared on ABC in 1974, so I was at the right age to have appreciated a movie about a comic book hero. Yet I was so "engrossed" with the plot, I stopped watching it three quarters into the movie.
Of course, I wasn't at the right age to appreciate Cathy Lee! :-)
Executive Action (1973)
Alternate reality cinema!
The major problem I have with "Executive Action" is it isn't believable (which is a HUGE problem when one is trying not just to entertain but to present factual-based information.) I sat through an hour of this movie not believing one word of it! How anybody can point to this film as the truth concerning JFK's assassination is beyond me. At least in Oliver Stone's pseudo-historical drama "JFK", the story-telling was top-notch. While the acting was fine, "Executive Action" was woefully directed and scripted poorly.
If this had been more on the line of a roman a' clef dramatization, I would have moved it a few points upward from the one I gave it. But I can't give credence to a dramatic offering where purported "facts" are thrown around as gospel. Since no credible historian trumpets the list of accusations that the film makers make, I have to declare the whole project suspect.
Judging from the talent (and they are talented!)in the movie, one would have to gather this movie is more of an effort to avenge their accused Hollywood colleagues during the Blacklist era of the late forties and early fifties. In fact, Dalton Trumbo and Will Geer are two names that were prominent members of that group that were either imprisoned or lost film work. I would have no problem with this effort if the creators of "Executive Action" tried to make an honest movie from reliable information. That they chose not to do this but to display a polemical drama as pure history might be their greatest film making error!