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Mystery of Marie Roget (1942) Extremely loose (as in, they use the title only) adaptation of the Poe story. Paris, late 19th century. Musical comedy star Marie Roget (Maria Montez, with Hispanic accent) vanishes for several days. A woman's body is found, her face torn to pieces. Could it be...

I'll bet you're right! Good eye! Hard to tell, since every issue has a boat on the cover. From Mystery of Marie Roget (1942) La Gazette de Paris has an edition in English, it seems. "Liquid Gas Discovery" is different, at least.

No Time To Be Young (1957) Drama that turns into a heist film at the half way point. Our three main characters are: 1. Robert Vaughn in his first leading role. (Before MST3K favorite Teenage Cave Man.) Hot-headed guy kicked out of college and about to be drafted. He's fooling around with...

From No Time To Be Young (1957): It's hard to make out any detail on the cover, but it might be this issue:

Guttersnipe: A thought-provoking fable of what makes our creations part of us.

Bloody New Year (1987) Not the holiday-themed slasher you'd expect, but a truly weird science fiction/supernatural everything-but-the-kitchen-sink oddity. Starts with scenes of a New Year's Eve party in 1959. This prologue shifts from black-and-white to color as a young woman gets sucked into...

The Body Stealers (1969) Dreary little science fiction film. NATO skydivers vanish from midair after flashing red and white lights surround them. Our skirt-chasing hero investigates, immediately hitting on our film's beautiful lady scientist. Meanwhile, he meets a mysterious woman on the...

Troyzan787: A thoughtful look at the heavy responsibility of power over the fate of another.

Rafellin: An inspiring blending of ancient wisdom and advanced technology.

For Singles Only (1968) At first glance, this should be a brainless, frothy little comedy, similar to the beach movies of the time. There's quite a bit of that, to be sure (lots of musical acts, plenty of women in bikinis, etc.), but one aspect of it goes to a different place entirely. Two...

I'll See You In Hell (Ti aspetterò all'inferno, 1960) Moody crime film with a touch of Gothic horror. Three guys (Al, who plans the heist but doesn't actually take part in it; Sam, who wants the money to buy land in Israel; and Walter, a sociopath who is obviously trouble from the start) steal...

Luiglin: An intriguing prediction of changed roles.

Berserk! (1967) Joan Crawford had her penultimate feature film role in this shocker. She's the owner/ringmaster of a circus. Right away, a tightrope walker has his wire break. He doesn't fall to his death, but the wire somehow gets around his neck and he's hanged. Handsome young tightrope...

bretbernhoft: A mysterious tale of an extraordinary transformation.

Starbeast: An absurdist spoof of multiple speculative concepts. emrosenagel: A sardonic cautionary tale about carelessness. Daysman: A provocative account of endless struggle.

Secrets of a Model (1940) Cheap exploitation film. Nice young woman from the Midwest goes to Hollywood in an attempt to be a model, but winds up as a carhop. Nice young milkman romances her a bit, but her slightly more worldly roommate, also a carhop, convinces her to accept an offer from a...

Bowler1: A provocative look at what the future might promise, and threaten.

We bought a DVD set of ten random episodes of Red Skelton's TV show, dating from 1951 to 1961. (The series lasted a lot longer than that.) Besides the very broad comedy, these things were notable: 1. In the very early episodes, promotion of the sponsor (in this case, Tide detergent) was...

During my time away from the computer, I read a couple of collections of pieces by James Thurber. Credos and Curios (1962) -- assembled by his widow soon after his death. Stories, essays, and profiles on other writers. Thurber on Crime (1991) edited by Robert Lopresti. Stories, articles, and...

Cat's Cradle: A powerful indictment of the cruelty of those abandoned by society, with an all too plausible look at the near future. Astro Pen: An imaginative combination of one of the great tragedies of our time with magic realism, resulting in an extraordinary image of loss. THX1138: An...