charliecotterman Reviews

Vanishing Point (1971)

Oh, they didn't...

[8/10 · 6 June 2006]

...no, they didn't...

Legend has it that the white Challenger came straight off the showroom floor at Mr Norm's Grand Spaulding Dodge in Chicago (a noted Midwestern performance car dealership).

If you know your cars, though, take a look at what crashed into the bulldozers after they put the fire out.

That's not a Dodge Challenger rear fender...it's a Chevy Camaro of similar vintage!

Other than that, it was a pretty good movie. Those who watch and get past the hot rodding can eventually pick up on the things that drive this man (pardon the pun).

The Vampire Bat (1933)

How dey do dat?

[5/10 · 1 April 2005]

I still haven't figured what sort of mesmerism is involved between the nefarious Master and his mentally-controlled Servant (who seems to recover his faculties just in the nick of time). I guess there were so many films with this sort of plot device around, the public was used to it...

I saw this film as part of a collection of classic horror films. Another one in the collection was 1933's 'The World Gone Mad'. One of the scenes in that film takes place on a street in front of a movie theater, which just happens to be plastered with posters advertising 'The Vampire Bat'. Small world...

Doomed to Die (1940)

Borrowing from reality...

[6/10 · 29 March 2005]

Yes, it's the standard 1940's mystery potboiler with borrowed clips from other 'Wong' films, and it's a bit tough following just who did what to who when...but the opening sequences depicting the burned ship 'Wentworth Castle' are actually newsreel sequences of the burned 'Morro Castle', which caught fire on September 9, 1934. She was truly a ship of mystery for her last cruise -- her captain died of a heart attack in his bathtub aboard ship the previous evening. Early the next morning, a fire spread quickly out of control as the first mate tried to move the ship to ease the effects of the wind -- yet no orders were given to send an SOS. The radio operator sent out one on his own initiative, just a few minutes before the ship lost power. She drifted and beached herself at Asbury Park NJ, where the gutted hulk came to rest only a few feet from the famed Boardwalk, making a gruesome tourist attraction. Heavy rumors of cowardice were laid on the crew -- of the first 98 people in lifeboats, 92 of them were crew members. 137 passengers and crew died in the tragedy.