What was the last movie you saw?

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Night Caller AKA Night Caller from Outer Space AKA Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965)

The alternate titles of this British science fiction flick are appropriate, as it's rather a mixed bag itself. It starts off in the Quatermass tradition. A small sphere from outer space lands near London. A team of scientists, including John Saxon as the token American, and the military deal with the thing in a professional manner. This segment of the film is quite realistic. The thing turns out to be a matter transmitter. An alien from Ganymede, seen at first only as a claw-like hand, is zapped to Earth and escapes the soldiers. (He drives away in a stolen vehicle, our first clue that the alien is very human.) We suddenly shift gears, as the police investigate the disappearance of several young women. It seems they all answered an ad in Bikini Girl magazine for modeling jobs. (Despite the salacious title, it's a beauty and fashion publication for women.) Yep, the alien is taking women back to his home world to repopulate it. This part of the movie is more of a crime story. The ending is pretty anticlimactic. Starts off pretty well, but tapers off as it goes on. Some good character actors show up.

 

[J Riff]

Head is F Zappa's 1st actual movie appearance as well, I thimk...
Jack the Giant Killer 1962, is still a bit of fun, with some nifty 60s FX-
some of them in actual 'Fantascope' which is fairly glittery but
somehow still cool to look at. A giant is indeed killed, a magic elf in
a bottle helps the cast out, great costumes and photographic tricks
make this worth a rewatch 50+ years later.
Spoiler ----> Happy ending!

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

House of Evil AKA Dance of Death original title Serenata macabra ("macabre serenade") (1968)

One of four Mexican films Boris Karloff made near the end of his life. His scenes were filmed in Los Angeles, the rest in Mexico. The year is 1900. A couple of women have been murdered and their eyes removed. Cut to Boris Karloff and his young doctor friend. They talk about similar murders committed many years ago by Karloff's insane brother, who had an obsession with eyes, eventually tearing out his own. Karloff gathers a bunch of his relatives to his mansion, including our young heroine and her uninvited husband-to-be, our hero, who also happens to be one of the officials investigating the murders. It seems that the family business was making life-size automatons as playthings for kings. They were also used to kill their enemies. You can see where this is going. Karloff dies, everybody wants to inherit his wealth, folks get killed, sometimes by the automatons (very obviously actors in costumes and masks), sometimes other ways. There's a twist ending that isn't too surprising. Cheaply made and glacially slow. The night scenes are so dark you can't tell what's going on. Lots of scenes where dialogue has to explain the confusing complications of the plot. Despite all that, the elderly and ailing Karloff does his usual professional job, and there are some good scenes.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Atomic War Bride original title Rat ("War") (1960)

Black-and-white Yugoslavian drama with touches of satire. Takes place in an unnamed fictional nation. (We see a map that doesn't look any any known country, the flags are solid white -- a bit of irony? -- and the insignia on military uniforms are odd.) Our hero is John Johnson. (All the men have names like that; Pete Peters and so on. More satire?) We first see him getting his nice new apartment ready for his bride-to-be. Pretty soon, he finds out war with an equally unnamed, fictional nation is declared. We get our first taste of the movie's absurdist take on militarism when folks in the street are told to put on flimsy plastic raincoats as protection from radiation, with a repeated drill on taking the hood on and off. Johnson gets away from the city to his fiancee. The first (non-atomic) bombs start dropping right before he says "I do." Dragged off into the army, he undergoes ridiculous questioning and training. An odd set of circumstances get him back together with his intended and a bunch of anti-war citizens. Don't expect a happy ending. The near-comedy of the satiric sequences contrasts strongly with the bleakness of the war scenes. There's a strong anti-government feeling to the film as well. Not only is the nation's leader blamed for the disaster, but also the 55% of the citizenry who supported him. It's implied that the unseen enemy is equally at fault, and equally a victim. Quite interesting, overall.

 

[Jeffbert]

Oops! I thought I posted this two weeks ago, but there it was, still awaiting the click.

Can you believe I actually just watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? Had never realised it was written by Ian Flemming and produced by Albert Broccoli. Must have fancied a change from James Bond.

Not only that, but Gert Fröbe, best known for portraying the title character in Goldfinger, was the spoiled brat Baron Bomburst in CCBB!

 

[Happy Joe]

Venom ... Another Marvel/Disney comic book movie; starts slow with excessive character development, then perks up With some decent & unrealistic chase sequences... good digital effects (they usually are anymore).
Worth renting/streaming, if you like; comic book/action/chase movies... would be a good snowy Saturday afternoon popcorn movie.
This one went into the movie library simply because I liked Venom (as a villain); more moons than I care to think about, ago...

...Found myself wondering if Marvel/Disney will digitally insert Stan Lee into future movies since his demise.

Enjoy!

 

[Jeffbert]

I want to watch VENOM, but currently, my DVR is about to burst at the seams. Watching The Mark of ZORRO (1940) right now. This is a great film, but I think the silent version had the best Zorro, as a character, that is. Basil Rathbone is the villain, same as he was in Robin Hood. Great antagonist! Likewise, Eugene Pallette, as the hero's friar sidekick.

Night Must Fall (1937) Robert Montgomery as Danny, the newly hired man servant of an elderly woman, whose only companions were young women. Before his makes his first appearance, he is suspected of being a criminal. But, once he works his wiles on the elderly woman, Mrs. Bramson (Dame May Whitty), she disregards any objections her companions have to his presence. In the end, she regrets her trust in him.

Though he had been in films for over a decade before this one, he seems very young. I was surprised to see his filmography. I have seen him in more than a few films, he seemed so young here.

Watched a few of those pre-code gangster films:

Emergency Call (1933) Ambulance drivers and physicians go out to help injured people long before the days of paramedics. But, gangsters are involved. I forgot the details.

Beast of the City (1932) Walter Huston as Jim Fitzpatrick, a cop good who is transferred to a boring precinct where next to nothing ever happens. When crime goes out of control in the busy precinct, they transfer him there, and make him captain. Wallace Ford as Detective Ed Fitzpatrick, WH's kid brother, who is also a cop, but yearns for promotion, and becomes involved in a robbery, which results in a fatality. WH learns of it, and must deal with it.

Doorway to Hell (1930) Louie (Lew Ayres) as the boss, Mileaway (James Cagney), apparently before coming to prominence, as his #2. LA convinces the city's gangs to form one large organization, with him as boss. Peace results, but not for long. So, LA decides to retire from crime, moves away, and the gangs all resume hostilities against one another. The gang bosses want LA to return, and must abduct his kid brother from the military academy to convince him. But things go wrong, & etc.

Midnight Mary (1933) young teenage girl, (Loretta Young) in wrong place at wrong time, is sent to juvenile detention. years later, she kills a mobster Leo Darcy (Ricardo Cortez), to prevent him from killing Tom Mannering, Jr. (Franchot Tone) a lawyer.

Framed (1930) Story of revenge, long desired, but ultimately, declined. Rose Manning (Evelyn Brent) long seeks revenge on Inspector McArthur (William Holden; not that William Holden), and in pursuit of that goal seduces his son, Jimmy McArthur (Regis Toomey), but actually falls in love with him. The Inspector, is not buying it, and is certain she means harm.

The Fall Guy (1930) opens with Dan Walsh (Ned Sparks) in his brother-in-law's living room, 'playing' his saxophone, though not well. Both he, and his brother-in-law, Johnny Quinlan (Jack Mulhall), are unemployed; though NS is not particularly worried about finding a job. JM is newly unemployed, and ends up, taking a job for a local bootlegger. All he is to do, is keep a certain suitcase for Nifty Herman (Thomas E. Jackson). But, he is unaware that this suitcase has been watched by the police, and contains not booze, but other drugs. soon, cops, including the bumbling Detective Burke (Tom Kennedy, who often plays such characters) come calling, and he is feeling the heat.

Fog Over Frisco (1934) Arlene Bradford (Bette Davis) is the stepdaughter of a prominent broker, and uses that relationship to gain access to securities, which she swaps for stolen ones for gangster Jake Bello (Irving Pichel). But, things happen, rather unexpected to so prominent an actress. Very well done.

 

[dask]

Wow! Busy guy. Ever eat or sleep?

 

[Anthoney]

Glass (2019). 90% of the relevant parts are seen in the trailer. Every superhero scene for sure. We spend more than half the movie in the asylum. We spend a bunch of time listening to the doctor lady try to convince the characters that they're nothing special. Since we the audience know the truth it feels like a waste of time.

I hated the way the characters stories were tie up. There were a few tiny bright spots throughout the film. The postscript part of the film was the brightest part in an mostly dull movie. It's also the only part that's not given away in the trailer.

 

[Mouse]

Wonder Woman. Loved it.

 

[svalbard]

A Field In England directed by Ben Wheatley.

This is another mind boggler from Wheatley. If you have seen any of his other movies such as Kill List then you know what to expect. Interestingly this was filmed in black and white and it adds to the unsettling nature of the movie.

 

[Boaz]

The Wild Bunch (1969). If you're looking for the artistic father of Reservoir Dogs, this is it. I thought the violence was too gratuitous and the character motivations too unrealistic. But it strives to be a character study of hard men in tight spots... and thus the tension, in and of itself, is kinda fun. I wondered how long William Holden and Ernest Borgnine would put up with Warren Oates and Ben Johnson... and how long Strother Martin would last with Robert Ryan. Oh, I must mention there are lots of bare breasted Mexican women throughout the flick.

Swingers (1996). Jon Favreau brings painfully embarrassing to a whole new low... in the best way possible. Vince Vaughn plays the best possible incarnation of an adult Stiffler... but he's still Stiffler.

 

[Jeffbert]

Wow! Busy guy. Ever eat or sleep?

I watched those over a period of about a week; but I am retired, so I have an abundance of free time.

The Wild Bunch (1969). If you're looking for the artistic father of Reservoir Dogs, this is it. I thought the violence was too gratuitous and the character motivations too unrealistic. But it strives to be a character study of hard men in tight spots... and thus the tension, in and of itself, is kinda fun. I wondered how long William Holden and Ernest Borgnine would put up with Warren Oates and Ben Johnson... and how long Strother Martin would last with Robert Ryan. Oh, I must mention there are lots of bare breasted Mexican women throughout the flick.

About the motivations, I just do not understand why they decided to throw away everything at the end.

Spoiler

Friendship is one thing, but the guy was dead, & fighting the Mexicans then and there was suicidal.

It seems to me that Borgnine always chuckles in a certain way, no matter what film he is in. When he leaped into the pit filled with mad dogs in The Vikings, he knew death was certain, but laughed anyway. Die with gusto. The Dirty Dozen, chuckles. Bad Day at Black Rock, etc. Was it in all those contracts, that he chuckles?

Ryan portrayed psychos long before they were popular.

 

[REBerg]

IO (Netflix)
What about the people who stay behind when Humankind executes a mass exodus from the Earth they've destroyed? This film offers virtually none of the action and suspense one might expect from the premise.

 

[Happy Joe]

The Marine 6 Typical WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) movie; a little plot lots of fights , a knife, more fights, some gunfire, some chasing, more fights, more chasing, more gunfire....
Might make it into the movie library; why?... because I can...

Enjoy!

 

[Jeffbert]

Two from NOIR ALLEY:
LURED (1947) & MURDER MY SWEET (1944). Muller covered both in great detail. I had seen both several times, but watched them again.

LURED (1947) was shown 01/13, MURDER MY SWEET 01/20; and to get the most from Muller, I watched Lured 1st.

LURED (1947) was originally titled Personal Column (Wiki says this was the US title) Sandra Carpenter (Lucille Ball)'s friend had suddenly disappeared. She goes to Scotland Yard, & from Chief Inspector Temple (Charles Coburn), learns that she was likely the victim of a serial killer. Lucy ends up working as bait to catch the villain. Karloff is a lunatic who imagines he is putting on a fashion show for royalty, whose ad Lucy regrettably answers. But he is just added for his name on the posters. In a high class environment, she meets Robert Fleming (George Sanders), and falls in love with him, though she initially suspects him. I do not know if a thriller or mystery, but Muller calls in Noir.

MURDER MY SWEET (1944) gave Dick Powell the type of role he had been wanting, having long ago tired of the singing roles. I noted several of those roles earlier. So, he had really wanted to play Walter Neff in Double Indemnity, but Fred MacMurray was cast, instead. See post #15,917. Powell does not seem the kind of PI that either Bogart or Robert Mitchum.

So, Powell is Philip Marlowe, and is physically no match for most opponents, most notably Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki), who hires him to find his ex-girlfriend. Actually, he just grabs him and tells him what he is to do. This guy was big!

Oh, the film is in flashbacks, In the beginning, DP eyes are bandaged and is being interrogated by the police. We only learn why his eyes were bandaged at the end. So the 1st assignment was to accompany a man who is going to ransom some jade jewelry. Things go badly, & that is just the beginning of Marlowe's troubles. Mazurki makes things much worse. He was just released from prison, and wants his old girlfriend. But she had already found a new love, & he ain't none too understanding about such things.

Worth seeing more than once!

 

[Toby Frost]

Presumably it's an adaptation of Farewell My Lovely, which is a great novel.

I watched Jabberwocky by Terry Gilliam (1978). It's extremely silly but shot very well. The jokes are slightly hit and miss, and the plot meanders terribly. But there are some great moments. The royal family (Max Wall, Deborah Fallender and John le Mesurier) are all very good. I can't help wonder if it was an influence on the look of Warhammer (or maybe Bosch and Bruegel influenced both). I really enjoyed it, but I'd be wary of generally recommending it.

 

[Al Jackson]

Recently came across a showing of the 1950 movie Treasure Island. I remember seeing this at the kiddie matinee about ten times (that was a fluke for some reason the theater keep it as their Saturday kid film for weeks!) So famous for Robert Newton's Long John Sliver. New really chews the scenery and set the gold standard for 'pirate talk'!
You know Newton a classically trained Shakespearean actor , he had been good in many films in the 40s, found a niche with this movie. His performance seems over the top, but there are sequences in the film, like when he is negotiating a stand off when he turns on the acting chops and really , you think, this guy can act!!

This was a new venture for Disney and it was a good adaptation for the Robert Lewis Stevenson story. It was out of Disney studios in England and they made a few others.

 

[Randy M.]

Two from NOIR ALLEY:
LURED (1947) & MURDER MY SWEET (1944). Muller covered both in great detail. I had seen both several times, but watched them again.

LURED (1947) was shown 01/13, MURDER MY SWEET 01/20; and to get the most from Muller, I watched Lured 1st. ...

I also watched both last week. Lured, an old-fashioned mystery that might be stretching it a bit to call noir. On the other hand, I enjoyed it so I'm fine with it.

My second time, far as I recall, watching Murder, My Sweet, and I think Powell captured Marlowe about as well as anyone has. Recently read The Annotated Big Sleep and the editors noted how often Marlowe is on the edge of hysteria and Powell's reactions to being drugged and having to find a way to escape capture seemed to capture that. It's also one of the few movies I recall where Chandler's purposeful mockery of his hard-boiled roots is left intact.

Fun movies, both.

Randy M.

 

[Jeffbert]

Recently came across a showing of the 1950 movie Treasure Island. I remember seeing this at the kiddie matinee about ten times (that was a fluke for some reason the theater keep it as their Saturday kid film for weeks!) So famous for Robert Newton's Long John Sliver. New really chews the scenery and set the gold standard for 'pirate talk'!
You know Newton a classically trained Shakespearean actor , he had been good in many films in the 40s, found a niche with this movie. His performance seems over the top, but there are sequences in the film, like when he is negotiating a stand off when he turns on the acting chops and really , you think, this guy can act!!

This was a new venture for Disney and it was a good adaptation for the Robert Lewis Stevenson story. It was out of Disney studios in England and they made a few others.

View attachment 49523

I know nothing of this actor, & cannot recall seeing him other than in this film, but he does seem to have the character just about right.

I also watched both last week. Lured, an old-fashioned mystery that might be stretching it a bit to call noir. On the other hand, I enjoyed it so I'm fine with it.

My second time, far as I recall, watching Murder, My Sweet, and I think Powell captured Marlowe about as well as anyone has. Recently read The Annotated Big Sleep and the editors noted how often Marlowe is on the edge of hysteria and Powell's reactions to being drugged and having to find a way to escape capture seemed to capture that. It's also one of the few movies I recall where Chandler's purposeful mockery of his hard-boiled roots is left intact.

Fun movies, both.

Randy M.

Hmm. As much as I would like to read those detective mysteries, I had an unpleasant experience with Kindle for PC, & reading a physical book is awkward, with just 1 hand. Might get around to 1 or 2 of them before I die, though.

The Finger Points (1931) is a somewhat overly simplified story of a newspaper reporter becoming corrupted by organized criminals. He takes a very large payoff to dissuade him from doing his job, & begins living luxuriously despite his meager salary. Breckenridge Lee (Richard Barthelmess) is that reporter, and Louis Blanco (Clark Gable) is the mobster who 1st introduces him to the lucrative business of reporting some crimes, but not others.

This occurs because he initially did do his job, and was beaten because of it. Emerging weeks later from the hospital, he found his $35 / week salary insufficient to pay the medical bills. Asking the paper to cover them, gave him a brutal surprise: he was on his own; these were not considered expenses related to his job.

King Rat (1965) A POW film, but very different from others I have seen, such as Stalag 17, The Great Escape, or Bridge on the River Kwai. The difference is that the conflicts are near 100% prisoners Vs. prisoners. Corporal King (George Segal) is running a black market business, and has customers on both sides. He is about the only POW whose uniform is not in tatters, he has plenty of cigarettes, he eats as well as can be expected, etc. Some other POWs despise him, including more than a few who outrank him.

As the film nears it ending,

Spoiler

the war is over, and the captors surrender to the captives. The Australians liberate the camp, etc. The men rejoice, and go their separate ways. but 1 Brit thought King was his friend, and wanted to stay in touch. King saw the relationship as purely business, and wanted nothing to do with the other guy, whose arm would have been amputated if not for King's resourcefulness in obtaining the medicine needed to fight gangrene.

It seemed an unusual ending to this type of film