Wilkie Collins’ famed novel was brought to the screen as a fairly standard low-budget mystery movie by Monogram in 1934. The film is competent but nothing more, though it is enlivened a bit by Elspeth Dudgeon as a housekeeper and Gustav von Seyffertitz as a moneylender. Mildly recommended. Otto judiciously thinks this movie is OK.
Tarzak Against the Leopard Men (1964)
An imitation Tarzan known as Tarzak (in the Italian original, titled Tarzak contro gli uomini leopardo) or Zoltak (in the dubbed English version I watched) must rescue surviving members of a scientific expedition who ended up in the hands of a newly warlike tribe of “leopard men” intent on sacrificing them — a situation in …
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January Haul — Books, Magazines, and Movies
A library sale late in the month helped boost my acquisitions in January. I got 27 books in total (including one gift), as well as one magazine and 13 movies on DVD. Highlights include several of the Horatio Hornblower novels, which I’ve never read; Murray Leinster’s The Forgotten Planet, which I’ll be reading in March …
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Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935)
An evocative atmosphere blending mystery with horror is a highlight of this entry in the Charlie Chan series, as the sleuth (Warner Oland) travels to Egypt to investigate illicit sales of artifacts found in an excavation but encounters a disappearance and murder as well. Strong support is provided by Frank Conroy (as a professor connected …
Monogram Monday: Below the Border (1942)
Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and Raymond Hatton, old hands at movie-making whose audience appeal dated back to the silents, made an appealing western trio for Monogram as the Rough Riders. In this series entry, U.S. Marshals Buck Roberts (Jones), Tim McCall (McCoy), and Sandy Hopkins (Hatton) investigate a gang that has murdered a local sheriff …
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Lawless Valley (1938)
Former silent film star George O’Brien made the transition to sound chiefly performing in westerns, and he appeared in a well-regarded string of westerns at RKO at the end of the 1930s. Lawless Valley was one of these: an efficient little B picture with a helping of humor. The plot is based on a story …
Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
Radio star Larry Abbot (Gene Wilder), who is about to marry co-star Vickie Pearle (Gilda Radner), suffers from bouts of anxiety that threaten his career. His uncle (Paul L. Smith) undertakes to cure him during a weekend family reunion in an old dark house. The movie is just silly fun, with Wilder and Radner in …
Monogram Monday: Jungle Bride (1933)
Charles Starrett, best known for his long-running series as the Durango Kid, essays an early role in this rather soapy picture. A shipwreck strands a young woman (top-billed Anita Page), her fiancé (Kenneth Thomson), the man (Starrett) she believes guilty of a murder for which her brother was imprisoned, and that man’s sidekick (Eddie Borden) …
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Stoney (1974)
Incoherent action and a muddled plot fatally weaken this tale of rival groups of gun-runners out to obtain a fortune in gold and jewelry stolen during the Second World War and concealed beneath a swimming pool in the former home of the Japanese commander in charge of Surabaya (hence the original title, Surabaya Conspiracy). Michael …
Cat People (1942)
Engineer Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) meets and marries Irena, a Serbian immigrant (Simone Simon), who is fascinated by the big cats at the zoo and who worries that she herself may be descended from the were-panthers of her homeland. Although Oliver tries to help her, Irena’s beliefs put a strain on their relationship, as does …