It seems like I’ve always known the story of Dorian Gray. I never paid it much attention, though, until I watched Penny Dreadful on Showtime and was a bit smitten by Reeve Carney. I’m certain that’s what caused me to finally watch the classic film for the first time, which I did a few years…

It was thrilling for me to learn that I could watch an Alfred Hitchcock film as one of the movies for this year’s #countdowntohalloween. Number 17 (1932) was his 21st film and the last one he made for British International Pictures. While it was a disappointment, there’s some comfort knowing that the master himself thought…

Captain Paul Onslow (Warner Baxter) has only 6 Hours to Live (1932) and it’s not because he’s ingested poison (he hasn’t) or that he’s the target of an assassination attempt (he is.) It’s because he’s been brought back to life and there’s a flaw in Professor Otto Bauer’s (George F. Marion) process. Oooh… sci-fi with…

Insurance salesman Albert L. Tuttle (Jack Haley) crashes the reading of a millionaire Cyrus J. Rutherford’s will because he’s had an appointment with him for a month and is not aware that he died. Conniving family members confuse him for the private detective hired to watch the body, and antics ensue.  Why do they need…

If you’re keeping track at home, you might expect today’s review to be The Ticket of Leave Man (1937.) I’m sorry to disappoint, but it’s virtually the same film as It’s Never Too Late to Mend (1937), and while I could barely stand watching the two so closely together, I certainly can’t fathom thinking of…

A title card before It’s Never Too Late to Mend (1937) reads, “Controlled and Presented by The Rev. Brian Hession, M.A., copyright Dawn Trust.” My puzzlement was reinforced when I learned that Hession, who was at the time a vicar, had created Dawn Trust Films to bring religious themes to mainstream cinema. So this was…

The fact that key roles in both movies are played by Tod Slaughter, Eric Portman, and D.J. Williams caused me to automatically compare The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936) with the trio’s earlier film, Maria Marten, or the Murder in the Red Barn (1935.) That further caused me to compare Slaughter’s two performances. My conclusions…