Impresario George White attained success on Broadway with his “Scandals,” annual revue shows similar to Ziegfeld’s “Follies,” and he brought the idea to the screen a few times, twice in the Thirties and a third time in 1945. As usual with such revues, the plot is pretty flimsy, with two couples bumping along the road …
Read the full post →“<em>George White’s Scandals</em> (RKO, 1945)”
The kindly and creepy giant statue of the god Majin once again comes to life to wreak vengeance in this movie from Daiei, also known as Wrath of Daimajin. This time around, much of the movie is a quest by a few young boys (and one’s sister) to rescue their fathers, who are being held …
John Barrymore tops the cast and makes the most of his opportunities to shine as Colonel Neilson in this Bulldog Drummond movie, the first with John Howard in the role of Drummond, supported by Reginald Denny as Algy and E. E. Clive as Tenny. Drummond is the target of a plot by villains out for …
Read the full post →“<em>Bulldog Drummond Comes Back</em> (Paramount, 1937)”
Masked wrestlers Blue Demon and Superzan come to the aid of a young woman trying to obtain a cursed treasure so that she can make restitution to the descendants of those harmed by her ancestor and thus break her family’s curse. To achieve her end, she must pass three tests, including finding a scepter and …
Read the full post →“<em>La mansión de las 7 momias</em> (1977)”
The third entry in Daiei’s Yokai trilogy, also known as Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts, is rather more action-oriented, with a gang in pursuit of a clever little girl who witnessed their murder of her grandfather, and a wandering swordsman (Kôjirô Hongô) taking a hand while the girl searches for her missing father. The supernatural …
The Yokai monsters (Japanese spirits and demons) return in the second of Daiei’s late-1960s trilogy, also known as Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare. Here, the creatures battle an invader, a powerful Babylonian vampire-demon that comes to Japan and slays and replaces a local nobleman. The viewers’ sympathies clearly lie with the defending Japanese creatures in this …
Local Japanese spirits — weird creatures such as an umbrella monster that range from the cute to the creepy — take vengeance on an evil official who even resorts to murder in order to acquire a tenement and a shrine to destroy for his own purposes. Some of the spirits, or monsters, are puppets, some …
Read the full post →“<em>Yôkai hyaku monogatari</em> (1968)”
Treasury agent Steve Waring (Charles Starrett) is looking to recover $100,000 hidden by deceased outlaw Lucky Thorpe (Al Bridge). Thorpe’s daughter (Virginia Hunter) is likewise hoping to find the money and return it, while Thorpe’s second wife, conniving Clara Brent (Mary Newton), seeks to recover the loot for herself. Fortunately, Steve’s alter ego, the Durango …
Read the full post →“<em>Last Days of Boot Hill</em> (Columbia, 1947)”
This entry in Spanish star Paul Naschy’s series of werewolf films, also known as The Beast and the Magic Sword, is set, unusually, in the sixteenth century. This time around, Count Waldemar Daninsky (Naschy), fleeing from the Inquisition, heads around the world to Japan in search of a release from his curse by means of …
Read the full post →“<em>La bestia y la espada mágica</em> (1983)”
Marshal Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton) is framed for the murder of town bigwig John Dodge (Jack Daley), and it’s up to the other two Rough Riders, Tim McCall (Tim McCoy) and Buck Roberts (Buck Jones) to clear him, aided in their efforts by Sandy’s niece (Luana Walters) and Dodge’s son (Dave O’Brien). An enjoyable entry …
Read the full post →“<em>Down Texas Way</em> (Monogram, 1942)”
