What was the last movie you saw?

The Wild and the Wicked AKA The Flesh Merchant (1956)

Better than average low budget exploitation flick. Young woman hops a bus from her small town to visit her older sister in Hollywood Little sister wants to be a successful model, like she thinks big sister is. Big sister tries to warn her to forget about it and go back home. Little sister doesn't take the hint. She finds a business card with the address of an art studio in her sister's apartment and pays a visit to the place. In a few minutes she gets the job, which is posing naked for art students. (Cleverly filmed to show her taking everything off without revealing anything to the audience.) Her employers offer her the chance to earn bigger bucks if she'll go out to "the Colony." You can figure out that this is a ritzy brothel. After getting slapped around by the creep managing the place for running away when a customer tried to kiss her, she settles into her new profession, and actually seems pretty happy to be getting gifts from the clients. After a subplot involving an older working girl who gets kicked out of the place, to be sent to a much sleazier establishment, big sister shows up at the Colony and finds out that little sister works at the same place she does. Big sister, fed up with her way of life, gets a big speech near the end, where she chews out the workers and their customers. It ends suddenly with the cops busting the joint, and apparently little sister is saved from ruining her life. Decent acting, for the most part, and a fair amount of intentional comedy which actually works pretty well. Don't blink, or you'll miss the one scene of actual nudity, when one of the working girls pulls a towel off another, revealing her bare bottom for less than a second. Adults only!
 
Narcotics Squad AKA Hooked AKA Curfew Breakers (1957)

Dragnet-style crime drama. Starts with a striking scene, definitely the best in the picture. Guy gets off a plane, walks to a phone booth, bullets rip through the glass, killing him. Things slow down a lot after that, as we meet the cops working undercover on the case, the high school kids addicted to heroin, and the pusher supplying the stuff. Lots of earnest discussion of the drug problem, lots of narration about the desperation of addicts deprived of a fix. A couple of swinging jazz numbers, particularly from a rubber-faced, big-mouthed saxophone player, who does some wild scat-singing. Pretty talky and dull, for the most part. (The thing about breaking curfew is mentioned exactly once, and never plays any part in the plot.)
 
Creepers (1985)

Severely edited American version of the Italian shocker Phenomena from director Dario Argento. The original is half an hour longer, but this is the version I can watch for free online, so what the heck. Besides truncating the plot, the cuts supposedly remove the worst of the gore. What's left is plenty gruesome enough for me, thank you very much.

Starts in typical giallo style with a teenage girl brutally murdered. Cut to the arrival of an American girl (a very young Jennifer Connelly) at the private girls' school near the place of the killing, somewhere in Switzerland. She loves insects, and later turns out to have a telepathic connection with them. She sleepwalks one night, witnesses another murder, nearly gets killed on the road, winds up at the house of a Scottish entomologist (Donald Pleasence) who is confined to a wheelchair, his trained chimpanzee serving as his aide. Confused yet? Don't worry, it gets a lot more complicated. Eventually, after another murder, Connelly winds up playing detective with the help of an insect that feeds on corpses, leading up to a final sequence that moves at a lightning clip, with wild twists and turns every direction. Beautifully filmed, with the feeling of a nightmare, with all the lack of logic that implies. Notable for a heavy metal soundtrack; it's really odd to have a suspense scene with Iron Maiden screaming in the background.
 
Avengers: Endgame.

It was very good. There were a few bits that I missed because I hadn’t seen a couple of the recent movies. Still, I would go and watch it again. It tied up Phase One nicely.
 
Nightmare Alley (1947) Noir Alley. Muller's pre-film monologue really intrigued me, because he lumped preachers in with charlatans and psychics. The book of the same title was apparently used as a how-to guide on faking psychic powers. I ran that part twice, I found it so interesting. I had a rather bad experience with preachers claiming to have 'power' or some such thing. So, the guy who wrote the novel, also wrote Monster Midway, an expose of these psychics.

So, about the film, Stanton "Stan" Carlisle (Tyrone Power) is working in a traveling carnival, and weasels his way into a psychic act. Zeena Krumbein (Joan Blondell) and her husband Pete Krumbein (Ian Keith) had been big - time in Vaudeville, but have since, fallen. The one thing they have is a code, used to sneakily convey information about the chumps whom they trick into believing in their power. TP, wants the code, and, perhaps, acting on an unconscious desire, gave Pete a bottle of wood alcohol instead of grain. Pete dies, and TP ends up being trained in the use of the code, steals the act from JB, and becomes prominent. But, he meets a worthy foe in a female psychologist Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker), who from the crowd of beguiled suckers asks him a trick question. He suspects a trick, & answers correctly. He then goes to her as a patient, and ends up relying on her for information on people he intends to scam.

Mike Mazurki portrays Bruno, the strong man, and TP steals his woman Molly Carlisle (Coleen Gray), and MM, being the large guy he is, nearly twist off TP's head.


Princess from the Moon (1987) Toshiro Mifune without a sword, seems out of his element as a peasant bamboo harvester, who finds an infant girl in the woods. His own daughter had just died, and his wife assumes that this new child is from Heaven, etc. The "eggshell" in which he found her, turns out to be gold, but the purest gold anyone, including the experts has ever seen. So, now he & his family are wealthy, and move into an estate.

Oh, the infant girl in a matter of minutes, grown into an apparently 5 year old. Days later, she is an adult, and the upper class guys are asking to marry her. She gives them impossible tasks to complete, saying the one who does, she will marry. Apparently this was based on the woodcutter's tale.


Her Brother
(1960) a Japanese film about a troubled teenage boy whose elder sister must deal with him, because stepmother has arthritis.
 
The Woman in White (1948) This was my 2nd viewing, and though I knew I had seen it before, I had forgotten much. Walter Hartright (Gig Young) is an art instructor in this period piece, set mid 19th century. While walking from the town to the estate where he is to be employed, he is confronted by the title character Anne Catherick (Eleanor Parker, in one of two roles), who begs him not to mention he has seen her. She had escaped from the asylum, though nowhere near as unpleasant as the one in the film Bedlam, her freedom had been taken from her, and she had been locked-up contrary to her wishes etc. Count Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet, my main reason for the 2nd viewing), a guest in the estate, and Sir Percival Glyde (John Emery, do not recognize this guy), had had her committed. GY knows next to nothing about the thing, but will eventually find out.

Anyway, the man of the house Frederick Fairlie (John Abbott, 1st time I ever saw him was on Lost in Space), is in very poor health, at least he complains incessantly about this or that. Laura Fairlie (Eleanor Parker, in the other of two roles),is betrothed to Sir Percival, who was away until recently. She certainly does not love the guy, but marries anyway. Oh, there is a will in the story, and Laura is the beneficiary, unless she dies, in which case, her husband gets the money.

Countess Fosco (Agnes Moorehead) does not appear until later, and she had taken the title character into the secret passage, and attempted to restore her to health, but she refuses to eat.
So, the woman in white dies, & Greenstreet & Sir P decide to pass her as Laura Fairlie , so SP can get the money, and put the guy's wife in the nut house. All they need do, is convince her that she is the other woman. So, AM, is mother to both, Greenstreet is the father of the WiW, etc. Sorry, I flubbed this one!

:confused: I know I have done an awful review here, but this is well worth watching, especially for Greenstreet fans.
 
Nevada Smith (1966) - Excellent western that covers many views about revenge. Stars STEVE MCQUEEN. First time I've seen this.

Aquaman (2018) - Not bad. Predictable, but, not bad. I like the Black Manta character most of all.
 
White Heat (1949) I have seen this too many times to count, but as a NOIR ALLEY film, much more appreciated. BTW, Key Largo will be on NOIR ALLEY this coming Sunday. I cannot recall what Muller said before running the film, but after, it was all about Cagney's dread that he would be remembered for this film, rather than the song & dance film about George M. C. Also along the negative lines, apparently, they showed this in prison, & the comments were all negative.

Oh, just remembered, before the film, Muller was talking about the changes that had taken place in what content was acceptable. During the 30s, they would show how poverty affects decisions to become a criminal, and such. Example is The Public Enemy, & Angels with Dirty Faces. But in 1949, that was out. Cody Jarret was simply bad. He had not been pushed into crime by poverty, etc. Yet, the film made clear that Jarret's father was a nut, who died in the loony bin.

About the film: Cody Jarret (James Cagney) is a ruthless killer, but a mama's boy. Muller talked about this, too. He is the leader of a gang that robbed a train just as it emerged from a tunnel. He murdered two men in the process, in California. strangely, he goes to Illinois, confesses to another crime, to establish an alibi for the murder. He could have remained free, and on the run. so, the police and FBI send in a man to become friends with Jarret, hoping he can infiltrate the gang. Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien), poses as Victor Pardo, a newly imprisoned man, and succeeds in befriending Jarret while in prison. Before agreeing to the assignment, Fallon reviewed photos of other men in that prison, and had the ones who had known him from previous assignments transferred to other prisons; all except one man, who was scheduled for release prior to the date of Fallon's entry. But this man, would drive the tanker rig into the refinery, and would recognize Fallon!

But, Ma (Margaret Wycherly) visits Cody, and tells him that one of his subordinates Big Ed (Steve Cochran) is trying to take over the gang, but Ma will take care of him. Cody tries to dissuade her, but she walks away, and is killed.

So, there is a big lunchroom scene, with hundreds of extras, when Cody learns that ma is dead. He freaks out. I recall something about Bogart being distressed that he would be remembered for Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of Sierra Madre more than Rick in Casablanca, or some similar thing. Verna Jarrett (Virginia Mayo), Cody's wife, for whom he had little affection, had gone with Big Ed, and was the one who actually killed Ma; worse, she shot her in the back, when ma confronted Big Ed. So, Cody escapes, takes new BFF Vic along, and returns to get Big Ed.

I suppose damn near everybody has seen this film, so, is there any point in using the spoiler tags?
Oh, before I forget, "Top o' the world" is a frequently used catch phrase that both Cody & ma use when speaking to one another.
MADE IT, MA-- TOP O THE WORLD! (WHITE HEAT 15827 SMALL).jpg

"Made it, Ma; top o' the world!"​
 
Robin Hood (2019) a bit too dissociated/unrelated to reality/history etc, for me.
Required a level of suspension of disbelief equivalent to fairy tails or comic book movies. I constantly found myself thinking"that's not right..."
Otherwise a pretty good movie; good effects, acting, writing, action (unrealistic) etc... I kind of expect to see sequels...
Worth purchasing the DVD, IMO (If you are OK with the lack of realism in nearly every aspect of the movie)....At least stream this one.

Enjoy!
 
Robin Hood (2019) a bit too dissociated/unrelated to reality/history etc, for me.
Required a level of suspension of disbelief equivalent to fairy tails or comic book movies. I constantly found myself thinking"that's not right..."
Otherwise a pretty good movie; good effects, acting, writing, action (unrealistic) etc... I kind of expect to see sequels...
Worth purchasing the DVD, IMO (If you are OK with the lack of realism in nearly every aspect of the movie)....At least stream this one.

Enjoy!
I had a course in medieval myth when in college/university; wrote a paper on Robin Hood. Men & tall tales, folklore, etc., lent to the RH we know. As I recall, very little actual history.
 
Red Headed Woman (1932) pre-code. Jean Harlow as the woman who sets her sights on one married man after another. Social advancement, etc. Goes from employee to wife. Never satisfied.

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) presented as a WWII inspiring or some such thing, type of film.
Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) wants to dance with the GIs who are about to go overseas, but her papa Constable Kockenlocker (William Demarest) forbids it. She so strongly wants to do her part for our boys, that she convinces Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken) who could not qualify for military service, to pretend to take her to the triple feature at the movie theater, while actually lending her his car, so she can go to the dance. He finally agrees. Next scene, it is 8 AM and she is just now pulling up to the theater, where he is still waiting. His car is covered in hay, various parts are damaged, and a "just married" sign falls off the rear bumper, as he drives home. She cannot remember a thing, after dancing with a few guys. Nothing but trouble for the poor guy, ensues. :ROFLMAO: Oops, a few weeks later, she discovers she is pregnant. So, they try to marry, using the name she remembers, or thinks she remembers, because he wants to protect her from the consequences. But, while he tells the Justice of the Peace the assumed name, he signs his real name. :eek:

Ben M had a guest with him, and they discussed how Preston Sturges was able to get away with such a film at such a time! I guess modern ethics make this film dated, as people may wonder why it is such a scandal? I thoroughly enjoyed it! So, the miracle part comes into play when she delivers
6 count 'em, 6 boys. A whole platoon! she did her part for the war effort!
 
I had a course in medieval myth when in college/university; wrote a paper on Robin Hood. Men & tall tales, folklore, etc., lent to the RH we know. As I recall, very little actual history.

I wasn't expecting much history but the laughable distortions in this movie and its characters are beyond fantasy, IMO (though I wouldn't expect most of today"s audiences to notice)... Crossbow machine guns...awww, come on! (and they weren't even steam (punk) powered....)

Don't be mislead the movie over all is good (as a semi modernized (trying to be politically correct) comic book/utter fantasy version of the RH characters/story) if you can suspend your sense of reality that far; (even Costner's RH was closer to "realistic" (and had a better Sheriff of Nottingham).

On the other hand at least there were no stop motion flying horses or giant transforming robots...

Enjoy!
 
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