Bedlam (1946, Mark Robson)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 29, 2013
Bedlam is about a third of a good picture. It’s like writers Val Lewton and (director too) Robson didn’t quite know how to make it work, what with having to have Boris Karloff in it. Karloff’s the villain, the head of a mental institute in the eighteenth century. Karloff’s s read more
The Storybook Review (1946, Ray Harryhausen)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 26, 2013
The Storybook Review consists of four nursery rhymes told in stop motion animation. Director and animator Ray Harryhausen has a varying degree of success with the four, usually due to storytelling. For example, the Mother Hubbard entry goes on way too long even though it’s shortened from the read more
The Terror (1963, Roger Corman)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 20, 2013
It might be too easy just to call The Terror terrible or to go into the various puns one could make with “terrible” and the title. It’s not a surprisingly bad film at all. It’s an expectedly bad film, given it opens with a pointless scare attempt. Boris Karloff shows up in t read more
Dementia 13 (1963, Francis Ford Coppola)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 15, 2013
The first half of Dementia 13 is surprisingly good. From the first scene–pre-titles even–Coppola establishes some great angles to his composition. He keeps it up throughout with close-ups jump cutting to different close-ups; excellent photography from Charles Hannawalt makes it all work read more
A Bucket of Blood (1959, Roger Corman)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 6, 2013
Until the unfortunate deus ex machina finish, A Bucket of Blood is a small wonder. Even with the finish, the film manages to succeed; the performances are just too strong. Dick Miller plays a simple, well-meaning bus boy–who also takes drink orders, apparently for no tips–at an art café read more
Boomerang! (1947, Elia Kazan)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 1, 2013
Boomerang! is a mess. The first half of the film is a misfired docudrama, the second half (or so) is a fantastic courtroom drama. Richard Murphy’s script is such a plotting disaster not even beautifully written scenes and wonderful performances can make up for its problems. And director Kazan read more
Nightshift (1985, Philip Noyce)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 31, 2013
The big problem with Nightshift, an episode of “The Hitchhiker,” is how William Darrid’s teleplay handles the protagonist. Margot Kidder plays a retirement home nurse who preys on her charges–little mean stuff, stealing their jewelry. The script isn’t playful with its read more
The Curse of the Cat People (1944, Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 30, 2013
The Curse of the Cat People is apparently Kent Smith. Well, him and writer DeWitt Bodeen. Smith and Jane Randolph return from the first film, this one set over six years later. They have a daughter–Ann Carter in an almost perfect performance–who’s a lonely child. She eventually im read more
Red’s Dream (1987, John Lasseter)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 25, 2013
Red’s Dream sure is depressing. It’s wonderfully depressing, actually, since the second act is so profoundly upsetting one almost hopes for the happy ending. The short is only four minutes, so I think the first act basically consists of the tracking shot through the bike shop. The titul read more
Bunco (1977, Alexander Singer)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 23, 2013
One of the best parts of Bunco–and there’s actually a lot of good stuff in it–is how director Signer composes his shots of “leads” Robert Urich and Tom Selleck. Even though Urich’s top-billed and has a little more to do, Singer makes sure to get both men in each read more
Best Seller (1987, John Flynn)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 18, 2013
Best Seller either isn’t sleazy enough or it isn’t glitzy enough. Larry Cohen’s script about a cop who writes true crime books teaming up with a hitman desperate to be the subject of such a book needs something distinctive about it. Leads Brian Dennehy and James Woods are okay, bu read more
The Phantom of Crestwood (1932, J. Walter Ruben)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 16, 2013
When the politics of a murder mystery are more interesting than the mystery, there’s a bit of a problem. The Phantom of Crestwood involves a woman of the world (Karen Morley) blackmailing her former lovers so she can get out of the professional mistress life. Why’s it so easy to blackma read more
What Do You Think? (1937, Jacques Tourneur)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 15, 2013
Well, What Do You Think? is one bland short film. There are some definite strengths to it. Tourneur’s direction of the actors is outstanding, especially at the beginning at a Hollywood party, when he’s cutting between various actors. All of Think is told in narration (from Carey Wilson) read more
Diner (1982, Barry Levinson)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 14, 2013
I’ve probably seen Diner ten times but I still don’t know where to start with it. Barry Levinson sets the present action between Christmas and New Year’s, so one probably could sit down and chart out what happens on each day. There’s a big basketball bet driving some of the read more
Smile (1975, Michael Ritchie)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 11, 2013
Smile is the story of the week of a regional beauty pageant in a northern California town. It’s not exactly the story of the pageant, though it does look at some of the contestants, but it also looks at how the event affects the locals. Bruce Dern gets top billing and he does tie most of the read more
The Passover Plot (1976, Michael Campus)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 9, 2013
For the first few scenes, Alex North definitely composes The Passover Plot like a big Biblical epic of the fifties. It’s not, of course, and not just because Plot’s from the seventies. It’s cheap and director Campus uses that reduced budget interestingly. Maybe not well, but defin read more
Killer-Dog (1936, Jacques Tourneur)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 3, 2013
Killer-Dog is the story of a dog on trial. Really. It’s a courtroom short concerning a farm dog accused of being a sheep killer. Tourneur and producer Pete Smith take a while to get to that detail though, just referring letting the sensational title do the work of riling the viewer’s im read more
The Devil and Miss Jones (1941, Sam Wood)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 2, 2013
The Devil and Miss Jones has three or four stages in the narrative, but director Sam Wood basically has three. The first phase–covering the first two narrative stages–feature this singular composition technique. For close-ups, Wood either gives his actors a lot of headroom (fifty percen read more
Knight’s Gambit (1964, Walter Grauman)
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 19, 2013
Knight’s Gambit plays a little like a serious, American James Bond variation. Roger Smith is a former CIA agent–he inherited hundreds of millions and quit–out to seduce Eleanor Parker for information. Parker is a disgraced politician’s secretary; they’re living in Spai read more
Third from the Sun (1960, Richard L. Bare)
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 17, 2013
Third from the Sun suffers from a far too obvious ending. The episode forecasts it a few minutes early and then it all falls into line. However, it’s an obvious twist ending and it is a “Twilight Zone” after all, so who knows if it’s just predictable now because of the serie read more