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Five Golden Dragons (1967) A typical Towers of London production. An exotic location, a bevy of gorgeous girls, action aplenty, an unfeasible great cast (Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski, Robert Cummings, Maria Rohm, Brian Donlevy, George Raft, Rupert Davies and Dan Duryea), a complex script that doesn't know what to do with them, overseen by a director who lacks that certain something. Having said that i always find there is a charm of sorts that all Harry Alan Towers movies possess. What it is i don't know but i may well have mentioned it in the first paragraph |
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Gave Odd Thomas a go last night on Netflix. I quite enjoyed it, considering I hadn't heard of it until very recently I was surprised to find it was made by Stephen Sommers, a director who's big budget cheesey summer flicks I'm quite partial too. |
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THE NEANDERTHAL MAN (1953) To prove a point about the evolution of the brain, a scientist invents a syrum that reverts people and animals back to the stone age. This film would make a good double bill with Monster On Campus(1958), both have similar themes. The only thing that lets this film down is the make up. It is and looks like a cheap rubber mask from a joke shop.Worth checking out if you are a fan of 'nutty scientists'. |
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1957: part 1 Legend of the Lost - John Wayne and Sophia Loren in the Sahara treasure hunting, flags a little in the middle but picks up towards the end. Funny Face - I liked this musical, first time seeing it. Pajama Game - I didn't like this musical, first time seeing it.....and last time. 12 Angry Men - Great movie Spooky Swabs - Popeyes last animated cinematic outing. The Prince and the Showgirl - Last time I saw this was years ago and although a Monroe fan I wasn't too impressed by this film. However having seen it again I really liked it. Le Notti Di Cabiria - I have to say I'm not a fan of Fellini, I've no doubt he's a cinematic genius but he's kind of lost on me. Quatermass II - Classic sequel The Bridge on the River Kwai - Another classic, a good movie for an afternoon. The Seventh Seal - Another classic but one to be seen with its original Swedish soundtrack and english subtitles and not with the English dub which is quite frankly bloody awful sounding. Doctor at Large - The third movie in the franchise, pretty much the same sort of thing really, although it does have a few laughs. |
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Still in the grip of noir fever The Chase - I used to make the mistake of thinking David Lynch took 40s movies and transformed them into something uniquely weird. Truth is a lot of these movies were out and out crazy to begin with. Exhibit A - 1946 effort The Chase, featuring Peter Lorre and Steve Cochran as two psychotic goons, a malarial plot which shimmers, cuts out then doubles back on itself and the atmosphere of a surrealistic fever dream. Track this one down folks. Christmas Holiday - (1945) No, really, and it features Gene Kelly - not as a tap dancing source of festive merriment, but a mommy fixated gambling addicted psycho. Said mommy is also pretty terrifying. The tonal shifts in this one are mind bending - what the hell did a post war audience make of this as a seasonal treat? The Narrow Margin - a brilliant Charles McCraw has to protect a floozy mob moll ('a 60 cent dame, cheap, glitzy, strictly poison under the gravy') from a host of would be assassins aboard a hurtling train. More like The Lady Vanishes than a typical noir - great fun. Pickup on a South a Street - that man Widmark again, great as a cocky hood caught up in a Commie microfilm foofera but upstaged by two great female turns especially Thelma Ritter as a stool pigeon with a nice sideline in ties. The ending is a bit of a letdown but overall, a winner from Sam Fuller. |
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Have you seen the Gene Hackman remake? I like it, it's a fast moving stylish action thriller. Deserving of a watch if you haven't done so already. |
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The wages of fear Seems like i've been on a Criterion high lately, this movie did surely not disappoint! What a nail biting ride. I'm afraid I must admit that this is my first foreign 50s movie, I was expecting something with a lot of overacting typical to those movies from that era,but Clouzot went the opposite direction and introduced me to this bleak realistic world filled with atypical characters, the slick guy who appears nice is a bit of a brute, the old man who looks like a mob boss is actually a mouse of a man, etcetera. No music, just you and 100 pounds of nitroglycerine. The first half does a terrific job of introducing 4 characters you will not at first sympathize with (except luigi), but in the second half when all the action begins you'll love each character doing his thing and you'll be rooting for all of them. I gave this movie 4.5 on Letterboxd. If you're into a tense slow burner of a movie then I highly recommend it
__________________ "I want to see it work on a person. I want to see a negative before I provide you with a positive." |
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