Zombie

Zombie AKA "Zombi 2"
1979 - Italy
Directed by Lucio Fulci



SYNOPSIS

A seemingly abandoned sailboat drifts into the harbor of New York City. The Coast Guard boards to investigate when a zombie attacks kills one of them. The daughter of the boat owner (Tisa Farrow) and a journalist (Ian McCulloch) head to the remote island her father had visited to find him. There, they find a doctor (Richard Johnson) who is working on a cure for a local plague that's causing residents to waste away and die... only to return from the dead!



MY THOUGHTS

Zombies on the prowl usually make for a fun film, and this one is no different.

Unlike many Italian horror films, like those by Dario Argento, Zombie doesn't aim for anything remotely artsy. The plot is bare-bones simple and the flat characterizations make the film seem much like an old horror comic book or pulp story. That's not necessarily always a good thing on the big screen, but it works here.

The film was designed as a sort-of sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, yet pales in comparison to that 1978 classic. Dead was released in Italy as "Zombi," this film as "Zombi 2."

Like most great zombie films this is not for the squeamish. There's plenty of flesh feasting, blood oozing, maggots, and other gore. A woman gets her eye impaled on a splintered piece of wood too.

One of the most inventive sequences involves one of the female characters going for a swim (topless, naturally) to take pictures of a reef. A great white shark approaches. She ducks into a part of the reef where the shark can't get her and is attacked by a zombie (being dead, it doesn't need to breathe.) She gets away and that sets up an epic battle, zombie vs. shark.

Most of the rest of the film is much like any other zombie film. Hands come up through the cemetery grounds, people run from the slow moving undead, and all the other staples.

The big thing the film lacks is a sense of humor, which leaves the film dry (except all the blood.)
The dubbing from Italian into English is bad, but not Godzilla bad. Some of the lines seemed to be literal translations and not something someone would actually say.

Overall, it's a fun film, but not one of the most essential zombie films out there.

Saboteur

Saboteur
1942 - Universal
Directed By Alfred Hitchcock



SYNOPSIS

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane (Robert Cummings) is accused of sabotage when a fire at the plant kills his best friend. Instead of going into custody, Barry escapes and vows to find the real saboteur. Along the way he meets a model (Priscilla Lane) and convinces her of his innocence. Together they realize their opponent is much greater than one man... and the group plans to strike again!



MY THOUGHTS

A lesser known Hitchcock film is an exciting thrill ride from start to finish.


Saboteur is one big chase. The cops are always after Kane, and Kane is always pursuing the villains. The film starts off strong and the suspense builds and builds steadilly until the exciting conclusion.
The non-chase scenes in the film should by all means slow it to a crawl, but Hitchcock fills them with Kane meeting very colorful and unusual characters, like a truck with the cast of a circus sideshow, an old coot truck driver, and a kindly wise old blind man.

There a few corny parts to the film, mainly dealing with wartime patriotism, but they don't detract from the film and actually help hammer away at its themes.

The film is clearly an Alfred Hitchcock one. Many themes that run through his films appear here as well.
A good portion of his films feature an 'everyman' (average guy) caught up in something way over his head and is falsely accused of a crime who must prove his innocence. This along with 'The 39 Steps' and 'North By Northwest' fit that description to a 'T.' This film's climax on the Statue of Liberty's torch is also reminiscent of Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest. Other bits and pieces in the film also would pop up in his later films.
Inventive camera angles, his unique use of locations, and his dark sense of humor (the billboards) are also present.

Robert Cummings suits the 'everyman' role perfectly. He seems like your average Joe. Priscilla Lane's role was not a typical Hitchcock woman. There's usually something devious about them. Instead, Lane's role is more of a spunky sidekick. The two have decent chemistry.
The villains are the real treat. They're more three dimensional than most bad guys of the time and they're almost on the level with James Bond villains in their fiendishness. (is that a word?) It was very inventive to have one of the big bosses to be an older society woman.

Though not a masterpiece, Saboteur should be more praised than it is, and remains a very exciting thrill ride.

The Great Ziegfeld

The Great Ziegfeld
1936 - MGM
Directed By Robert Z. Leonard



SYNOPSIS

The film chronicles the life of theater impresario Florenz Ziegfeld (William Powell,) from his days managing Sandow the Strong Man (Nat Pendleton) to producing lavish Broadway shows starring his wife Anna Held (Luise Ranier) and his triumph, the Ziegfeld Follies... which starred his future wife Billie Burke (Myrna Loy.)



MY THOUGHTS

A loose biopic of the life of a stage legend may have won a Best Picture Oscar... but it doesn't age as gracefully as others of the era.

MGM threw all it had at this film and it shows. Several popular stars of the day are on hand like the stars of the big Thin Man series (Myrna Loy and William Powell) along with others playing themselves like Fannie Bryce and Ray 'Scarecrow' Bolger. The film's nearly 3-hour run-time is nearly twice as long as the average movie of the era and tries to cram as much of the impresario's life in as possible, though not all of it was historically accurate.
It would probably be a better film if it lost at least 30 minutes. The musical numbers, though scant, add nothing to the film (odd for a musical.) Most of them are forgettable. I can't recall one song title while writing this, immediately after viewing the film.
In losing 30 minutes, the film would lose it's epic feel, but it would definitely give it a more personal feel.

William Powell provides a solid center for the actors. He really doesn't shine as Ziegfeld, but does an adequate job. His on-screen chemistry with Myrna Loy completely lacks any of the spark that their paring does in the Thin Man films (maybe the booze was the spark?)
Luise Rainer does shine and she won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Anne Held. (She's currently the oldest living Oscar winner at 99.)

Overall, it's not a bad piece of cinema, though it is certainly locked into the period it was created, and is very dated.

Rio Bravo

Rio Bravo
1959 - Warner Brothers
Directed by Howard Hawks



SYNOPSIS

The sheriff of the town of Rio Bravo (John Wayne) has the brother of a powerful rancher behind bars for murder. The rancher has dozens of men for hire and wants his brother free. It up to the sheriff, a drunk (Dean Martin,) a crippled old man (Walter Brennan,) and a young wannabe gunslinger (Ricky Nelson) to keep the criminal behind bars until the Marshall arrives. And to complicate matters further, the sheriff becomes smitten with a new woman in town (Angie Dickinson.)




MY THOUGHTS

A classic western looks better than ever on Blu-Ray.

Legendary director Howard Hawks apparently designed the film as an answer to High Noon, which he despised. The film holds up to that classic and is further added to by some excellent performances.

John Wayne is John Wayne. Love him or hate him, his screen presence dominates the film. There is NO ONE else who could have played the role of the sheriff. The film does find several moments to poke fun at his screen persona, like whenever he deals with Walter Brennan or Angie Dickinson's characters. Most of their interactions are very silly.

From his stage persona, Dean Martin would be a no-brainer as the drunk. He bring much more depth to the role than I would have expected and provides an unexpected heart and soul to the film as his character tries to conquer his alcohol addiction amid the action.

Being a young TV star and music phenom, Ricky Nelson is perfectly cast as the headstrong young gunslinger.

Angie Dickinson is also fun to watch, but her character is painfully too young to be interested in Wayne's. They practically look like grandfather and granddaughter.

From a lesser actor, Walter Brennan's part would be largely annoying. The character you would hope would get killed off quick, but Brennan's light touch brings hilarity to nearly everything his eccentric cripple has to say. His rapport with John Wayne is a delight every time.

The images on the Blu-Ray are outstanding. The daytime outdoor shots are such good quality it's almost as if you are looking out a window instead of at a television. (amazing for a 50 year old + film. Warner Brothers should be commended) Many of the indoor or nighttime shots do show some heavy grain, but that's the way they were shot. It's not a default in the disc.

The disc also offers an excellent documentary on the film, one on director Howard Hawks, and a brief one on the filming location.

Though stuck in a precarious situation, the cast of Rio Bravo shines against the evil they face, and make it a very entertaining ride.

Tribute To A Bad Man

Tribute To A Bad Man
1956 - MGM
Directed by Robert Wise



SYNOPSIS
A naive young man (Don Dubbins) heads west and finds work wrangling horses on a ranch run by Jeremy Rodock (James Cagney.) Rustlers are always threatening the ranch and Rodock strikes back with extreme force. The young man finds fault with Rodock's harsh methods... and falls in love with his woman (Irene Papas.)



MY THOUGHTS

One of Hollywood's greatest unsung and most versatile directors tackles the western genre.

Robert Wise was a director who could do anything. Sci-fi (The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain,) film-noir (The Set-up, Born To Kill,) musicals (West Side Story, The Sound Of Music,) as well as horror (The Haunting) and action (The Sand Pebbles.) His direction here is good, but doesn't stand up to his best.
The CinemaScope really adds much to the overall beauty of the cinematography. The film is nearly completely shout outdoors and the setting is beautiful.

The script doesn't offer up much originality. It seems like the screenwriter wasn't interested in putting anything new on the screen. It seemed like a perfectly average script... that was boosted by some good performances.

James Cagney delivers another strong performance as the hard-ass ranch owner. Cagney was always best at playing tough guys and this is no different, though the character itself isn't as interesting as others he played in his career. The film/his performance out succeeds his other notable western, The Oklahoma Kid, which is just about terrible.
Don Dubbins plays the naive Steve well and the role seems perfectly cast. Many familiar faces show up to fill small supporting roles like Vic Morrow and Lee Van Cleef.

Overall, not a bad film, but it's nowhere near the best film Robert Wise or James Cagney ever made.

This film is not available on DVD.

Swing Parade

Swing Parade (AKA Swing Parade of 1946)
1946 - Monogram Pictures
Directed by Phil Karlson



SYNOPSIS

After being evicted from her apartment, a struggling young singer named Carol (Gale Storm) gets a job working in a supper club run by Danny Warren (Phil Regan.) Warren's father (Russell Hicks) is a utilities magnate and is intent on shutting the place down before it opens because he believes his son can do better. It's up to Carol and three schlubs that work there (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard) to help keep the place open... and the elder Warren away. Meanwhile, the younger Warren falls for Carol.




MY THOUGHTS

A bargain basement '42nd Street' delivers on laughs and music.

'42nd Street was the tale of a Broadway show in the making. This is the 'B' movie version, a supper club variety show in the making. It never plans/expects to be anything better than it is and the down-home feel makes it feel genuine and endearing.

The music excels far beyond what I would expect in a low rent production. Monogram Studios were known for the lowest of the low in terms of production cost. You would imagine a 'B' movie musical would employ some hack songwriters to come up with second rate crap for the cast to sing, but with this film, the producers chose to use already familiar tunes. "Stormy Weather," "Caldonia," and "On The Sunny Side of The Street" are some of the well-known classics used to keep the audience entertained.

Gale Storm, as Carol, is a bright center to the film. She's very likable and this was near the beginning of her career, which would later lead to her starring role on TV as "My Little Margie." She passed away in the middle of the celebrity death march following Michael Jackson's death in June.

The Three Stooges are hilarious as always. The trio get to be dishwashers, waiters, and plumbers, all with disastrous results (naturally.) This was Curly's final feature film appearance with the group before his debilitating stroke which caused him to retire. He is maybe not as manic as his younger days, but still is the standout of the three, though Moe and Larry get some great lines/parts/slaps as well.

Phil Regan is suitable as are most of the other cast. It's always great to see comedic character actor Edward Brophy pop up, here as the manager of club and the Stooges' boss and feared nemesis.
Louis Jordan and his band add much to the overall fell to the film. Their brief musical appearances show their important influence as one of the main links between swing and rock and roll. Their performance of "Caldonia" (see above) is one of the band's most well-known songs.

While the film won't go down as one of the classic musicals of the golden age, Swing Parade remains a lot of fun.

Road House

Road House
1990 - MGM/UA
Directed By Rowdy Herrington



SYNOPSIS

Bar Bouncer/philosopher Dalton (Patrick Swayze) is hired to supervise the security at a particularly rough road house. He fires several members of the staff who also work for Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara,) who essentially runs the town. Wesley wages war against Dalton.



MY THOUGHTS

Guilty pleasures are things you like that you know are terrible. Road House is the perfect fit for that expression.
It's silly, cheesier than the cheese aisle at the grocery store, and the dialogue is beyond cringe-worthy. The result is a film a lot funnier than it set out to be.

Still, It's an ultimate guy's movie. The fights are fun, numerous, and action-packed... plus there's ample female nudity to keep you interested.

Swayze and Sam Elliot's characters are too cool to be believable, but are far less corny than the minor supporting roles.
Ben Gazzara (as the villain) is far better in most everything else he's been in, like 'Killing Of A Chinese Bookie,' but he plays the role a little over the top so he's more silly than completely ridiculous.

If you're in the mood for a serious film about serious topics, look elsewhere. But if you're in the mood for something fun, silly, and action-packed; grab a beer at the Road House.

Fallen Angel

Fallen Angel
1945 - 20th Century Fox
Directed by Otto Preminger



SYNOPSIS

A drifting con man (Dana Andrews) drifts into a small town between L.A. and San Fransisco. He falls for a waitress named Stella(Linda Darnell.) She plays hard to get and he comes up with a plan to get enough money to woo her. It involves marrying a church organist (Alice Faye) with a big inheritance. Stella doesn't want anything to do with him after he is married... and soon after, she turns up dead, but who killed her?



MY THOUGHTS

A middle of the road Film Noir, neither great nor terrible.

The acting is solid, but there really isn't a standout performance. Dana Andrews, in the lead, gives a very minimalist performance of his ambiguous character. It's hard to like him or hate him and he comes across as quite 'blah.'

Director Otto Preminger delivers but the film is missing something that his major films have in abundance like 'Laura,' 'Anatomy of a Murder' and 'The Man With The Golden Arm.'

The film has excellent cinematography. The shadowy world of noir is in full effect here.

The script is somewhat weakened by it's predictability. It's filled with scenes that are reminiscent of other films.

It's a solid film noir, but lacks the magic that would make it truly great.

College

College
1927 - United Artists/ Joseph M. Schenck Productions
Directed By James W. Horne



SYNOPSIS

It's high school graduation and nerdy Ronald (Buster Keaton) still hasn't won the heart of the most popular girl in school (Anne Cornwall) because she's interested in athletes. He enrolls at the same college and begins a series of disastrous attempts to master baseball and all the track and field events. The college dean pities him forces the rowing team to accept him... as their leader!



MY THOUGHTS

In my opinion Buster Keaton was the best of the comedic actors of the silent era. This isn't one of his best features, but still funny even for a modern audience.

Keaton's stunt work is excellent as always (including the clip above.) but his (literally) backbreaking work in his film 'The General' is far better. The very end, where he shows he isn't so bad an athlete when his girl must be saved, is an excellent stunt sequence.

His films Sherlock Jr., The Cameraman, and Steamboat Bill are funnier, but the entire sequence where he tries out for baseball and track and field are consistently hilarious. When he runs out to play third base in full catcher's gear is a delight, and then gets even funnier, when batting gets hit in the butt by a ball, and later causes a triple play on the basepaths.

The 'Great Stone Face' provides a great dramatic performance as well. It's amazing how much sympathy a character can get from the audience without even showing any emotion.

The supporting music does not draw too much attention towards itself. That is a good thing with silent films, as DVD distributors tend to tack on music that has no relevance to the action on screen and as a result it's very distracting.

Though not his best film, College remains an essential film for fans of the best of the silent comedians.

My Darling Clementine

My Darling Clementine
1946 - 20th Century Fox
Directed by John Ford



SYNOPSIS
Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers are herding cattle when they pull into the lawless town of Tombstone for a shave. Upon their return to the herd, it is gone and their youngest brother is dead. Earp and his brothers take jobs as lawmen in the town and must deal with the Clanton Gang (led by Walter Brennan) and gunfighter Doc Holiday (Victor Mature) and await a showdown at the O.K. Corral.



MY THOUGHTS

John Ford was the greatest director of Westerns, and My Darling Clementine ranks among his best.
He began with his first western in 1917 (The Tornado) and was later responsible for Stagecoach, Rio Grande, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and dozens more.
He also helmed several World War II films as well as the Grapes Of Wrath and How Green Was My Valley, amassing nearly 150 films, most being westerns, and is widely considered the king of the genre.

Henry Fonda is the second most-associated lead actor of Ford's (John Wayne being #1.) He is strong and forceful, while retaining that charm that he always had.
A fine supporting cast including Ward Bond and Tim Holt (as the other Earp Brothers, Walter Brennan, and Victor Mature all shine in their roles.
The characters played by Linda Darnell and Cathy Downs (as the Clementine from the title) bring little to the film and are fairly flat 2-D characters, but they do great with what they have to work with.

The cinematography is beautiful. If this was shot in color it would rank right up there with The Searchers, but despite the black + white, it still looks great.

The film is apparently not very historically accurate, but who cares. The quality of the whole production far outweighs any need to remain true to life.
If you desire to head to the old west, this is a great ticket to get there.

Boys Of The City

Boys Of The City
1940 - Monogram
Directed By Joseph H. Lewis

SYNOPSIS

An excruciatingly hot day leads the East Side Kids to open a fire hydrant. Soon after assualting a street vendor and a cop, Muggs (Leo Gorcey,) Danny (Bobby Jordan) and the crew are sent to a judge's home in upstate New York to rehabilitate themselves. But that home is run by a very creepy woman (Minerval Urecal) ane the place may be haunted!



MY THOUGHTS

Despite the obvious shortcomings of the East Side Kids films, they remain entertaining nearly 70 years later.

This is the second film in the series and the first to deal with a haunted house scenario.
(Their third film "That Gang of Mine" is reviewed here)
This film suffers from the same problem as the subsequent one. A so-so script, the barest minimum of shooting time (about 6 days) and a budget that appears to be less than 25 bucks. But despite those hardships, the filmmakers are able to pull it off.

This is due mostly to the Kids performances. Leo Gorcey and Bobby Jordan continue what they started as Dead End Kids and build upon it. They are sly-er and funnier in their first appearance in the series, than in their previous adventures with the Dead End Kids.
Sammy Morrison also makes his first appearance and has a few good one-liners but not nearly as funny as later ones in the series.
Minerval Ureucal's role is reminiscent of Judith Anderson's in Hitchcock's 'Rebecca' (released the same year) and is just as creepy, though with a more comical bent.

It's great to see the East Side Kids escape the backlots of Monogram/MGM/Warner Bros./Columbia where they usually shot and go on location in the country. It adds a freshness that the series would miss later on.

In one of the funnier scenes the Kids smoke cigars for the first time. Even though the film is black and white, you can basically see them all turning green and ready to vomit from the experience, and many do run for the door.

One of the better lines: while trying to solve the mystery, Muggs asks Danny "What does the Thin Man got that I ain't got?" "Myrna Loy," Danny answers.

"Don't jump to confusions" is the first of dozens of malapropisms uttered in the series and would later be a staple of the Bowery Boys, though Jordan speaks this one instead of Gorcey, who would be king of them later.

The hi-jinks in the 'haunted house' help to make the film one of the East Side Kids' most entertaining films in the whole 22-film series.

Pride Of The Yankees

Pride Of The Yankees
1942 - Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Directed by Sam Wood



SYNOPSIS
Lou Gehrig (Gary Cooper) heads off to Columbia University to become an engineer, but his talent and passion for baseball has him on a different path. Soon he is playing alongside boyhood idol Babe Ruth (himself) for the New York Yankees. He finds love with Eleanor (Teresa Wright) and becomes a legend, but a mysterious illness cuts his tremendous career short.



MY THOUGHTS

One of the greatest sports films live up to the hype.

The biographical story is typically reverential of it's subject matter like many bio-pics of the era, though this one is different. Gehrig was in fact a level-headed, well-mannered gentleman just as he is portrayed, whereas films like the 'Spirit Of St. Louis' and 'The Benny Goodman Story' are altered to make their subject matter more saintly than they really were in real life.

Gary Cooper is excellent as Gehrig. The role suited his quiet, cool, upstanding screen image to a 'T' and received an Oscar nomination. He, however, does look WAY too old to be playing Gehrig as a college student and as a rookie. He does make Gehrig seem real and you definitely feel emotional when he delivers that final speech at Yankee Stadium.
Teresa Wright was also nominated for her role as his wife, and is great. Although his screen time is short, it was a great highlight to see Babe Ruth as himself. A few other real Yankees also are on hand as well.

It was great to see the late, great Yankee Stadium in action, along with Los Angeles' minor league ballpark, Wrigley Field, which filled in for some of the other American League parks (and later was home for TV's Home Run Derby and the debut season of the California Angels.)

The film is occasionally very cheesy. Some parts of the love story and the now cliche 'boy in the hospital' scene are so corny you're waiting with butter and the corn-on-the-cob tongs in hand while you watch.

Despite the flaws, the film is a great tribute to one of the greatest first baseman to ever play the game.

The Lost World

The Lost World
1925 - First National
Directed by Harry O. Hoyt



SYNOPSIS

In order to win over the heart of his fiancee, newspaperman Ed Malone (Lloyd Hughes) must do something death-defying. He hears a lecture by the possibly crazy Professor Challenger (Wallace Beery) who claims that dinosaurs are alive and well on a remote plateau in the jungles of South America. Challenger assembles a team, including Malone, to go in search of the beasts and the missing explorer who discovered them. The expedition soon finds the beasts but are threatened by them and a volcano ready to erupt.



MY THOUGHTS

The father of all cinematic stories of giant beasts threatening man. King Kong, Godzilla, Jurassic Park and countless other films all owe a huge debt to this classic.

The film is based on the book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who appears at the beginning to introduce the film. It would be interesting to hear what he had to say, but the film is silent.

The story was clearly lifted (with few minor changes) for King Kong. The expedition in Kong featured one woman, a possible crazy man in charge, a square-jawed hero, just as The Lost World does. This film's end, complete with a dino running amok through the streets of London, mirrors Kong as well.

The special effects still hold up reasonably well. The dinos were done with stop-motion animation, like 'King Kong' and the countless classic special effects films by Ray Harryhausen like 'Jason And The Argonauts' and 'Mysterious Island.' Rarely do the effects look ridiculous, but they are clearly not 2009-era quality, but they do have some charm.
The dinosaur models are very well done, they breathe and I think I even saw one blink. The film features a dinosaur-greatest hits collection. The Brontosaurus, Triceratops, Pterodactyl, Stegosaurus, and the Allosaurus (close cousin of the T-Rex) duke it out in the prehistoric paradise.
The most ridiculous part was the man/monkey/beast creature that pursued the expedition. The monkey suit was somehow even faker looking than the 'gorillas' that would torment the Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, or the Bowery Boys.



The film moves at a brisk pace and never creeps along like many silent films do to modern audiences.
The acting is more realistic/ naturalistic than the average silent film as well.
Wallace Beery, as Prof. Challenger, is his usual strong self in a role where he could have easily played it way over the top, but he keeps the character real. He won an Oscar 6 years later for the title role in "The Champ."
Overall the film is an important to the history of film and still remains fun to watch nearly 85 years later.