A pair of boomer brakemen (Robert Armstrong and James Gleason) get jobs on a new railroad, planning to travel on after a spell of work, but the attractions of the eatery owner and her pal (Patricia Caron and Zasu Pitts) tempt them to settle down. This buddy drama / comedy includes a subplot related to …
Month: August 2021
The Drums of Jeopardy (Tiffany, 1931)
Brilliant doctor Boris Karlov (Warner Oland), driven mad by his daughter’s death and a thirst for vengeance against the family of the man responsible, and especially the man himself, pursues his mad schemes of destruction even after the passage of years and an intervening political revolution. Indeed, having made himself useful to the Communists, he …
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The Haunted House of Horror (1969)
Mod London and its environs are the setting for this tale of a killer stalking partiers who head out to an abandoned mansion and then try to cover up a murder and solve the crime themselves. Frankie Avalon heads the cast as a cool cat everyone wants to follow, with Jill Haworth as the premier …
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Sinister Hands (1932)
Jack Mulhall as the energetically talkative detective and Mischa Auer as a menacing swami are the chief features of this tale of the murder of a millionaire during a séance at his house. There’s the usual gang of suspects, all with motives for killing the victim, and no real surprises as the plot moves along. …
The Phantom Express (Mascot, 1932)
A veteran engineer (J. Farrell MacDonald) is fired in disgrace after he has a wreck while trying, he says, to avoid running into an oncoming train — yet there was no evidence of such a train on the tracks. His dismissal occurs despite the fact that other, similar instances have been happening. What is the …
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Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970)
Couples gather on one’s private island with the aim of gaining access to a chemist’s new formula, but a killer soon is stalking the party. This giallo, originally titled 5 bambole per la luna d’agosto, is filled with unappealing characters and has a rather disappointing ending, so even if the twists hold one’s interest, the …
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Destination Moon (Eagle Lion, 1950)
Solid science fiction story of the first journey to the Moon, co-scripted by Robert A. Heinlein and produced by George Pal with an eye toward technical accuracy (insofar as possible) in projecting a realistic account of such a trip. The story is fairly basic and at times a little slow, but it does eventually ramp …
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Sunday Fun: Them’s the Breaks
A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (1975)
A tough police inspector (Paul Naschy) tries to find the killer who is stalking the streets of Milan, leaving a fake dragonfly on each body. As the inquiry drags on, his wife (Erika Blanc) does some sleuthing, too. Overall the movie, originally titled Una libélula para cada muerto, is rather dull, albeit watchable. Mildly recommended …
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El pueblo fantasma (1965)
The Rio Kid (Fernando Luján) makes a habit of confronting those who claim to be the fastest with their guns; so far, he has vanquished every one. But the Kid has a secret, too: he is in fact a bloodthirsty vampire, and his drinking of the gunslingers’ blood improves his skill with a shooting iron, …