Tag: Crime
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Hot Money Girl (1959)
You may have seen Hot Money Girl (1959) and not even have known it. It’s also called The Treasure of San Teresa and Long Distance. A late-50’s Euro-thriller by any other name… is still a late-50s Euro-thriller. Were it not for the fact that Christopher Lee appears in a small, but important role, you wouldn’t…
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The Walking Dead (1936)
For a film that runs barely over an hour but spends almost half that time setting up the story, The Walking Dead (1936) is a tight little thriller. Director Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Mildred Pierce) expertly weaves seemingly disparate plots together to tell an elaborate, yet simple, story. What does a…
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The Unholy Three (1925)
Having been awed and amazed by previous Lon Chaney films that I’ve seen, I was a little disappointed in the one I’d heard most about: The Unholy Three (1925.) Learning now that it was the first collaboration between Chaney and director Tod Browning at MGM, it stands to reason that each film would only become…
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The Monster & the Girl (1941)
Universal monster movies from the 1940s have a distinct look. Had I not seen the Paramount logo at the beginning of The Monster & the Girl (1941) from Shout! Factory’s The Universal Horror Collection Vol. 5, I still would have suspected something was different about it. Indeed, this is one of over 700 films that…
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Beast from the Haunted Cave (1959)
In addition to Universal, Roger Corman, Dean of the Poe films, made his mark on the man-monster genre. His contributions were mostly in terms of science fiction: Day the World Ended (1956), with its atom-spawned mutants, and Night of the Blood Beast (1958), an astronaut turned into a crusty tendrilled being by an outer space…
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The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
In his on-air introduction of The Hitch-Hiker (1953) on TCM, Ben Mankiewicz shared the kind of perceptions about the film that I wish I were smart enough to realize myself. The fact that it was directed by a woman (Ida Lupino), though, doesn’t impress me in and of itself as much as the fact that…
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4D Man (1959)
The fundamental requirement for enjoying an atomic age horror/sci-fi film is suspension of disbelief. It’s not usually difficult for me to not only accept, but to also embrace, ridiculous scientific actions and nonsensical reactions. However, every once in a while, I see a movie that strikes me as so silly, I can’t see beyond them.…
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The Raven (1935)
When I recently re-watched The Raven (1935), I didn’t remember liking it as much the first time I saw it. In fact, if comparing it to my memories of The Black Cat (1934), I might like The Raven even more. It’s a nasty little thriller, letting Bela Lugosi shine as an evil madman, while letting…
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Strange Illusion (1945)
Written by Adele Comandini, Fritz RotterDirected by Edgar G. UlmerStarring Jimmy Lydon, Warren William, Salley Eilers, Regis Toomey, Charles ArntReleased March 31, 1945RT 87 min.Home Video Alpha VideoClassic Horrors rating = 6 (out of 10) Not a horror movie, per se, Strange Illusion nevertheless revolves around a ghostly, perhaps supernatural, dream. Haunted by the mysterious death of his father, college…
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Invisible Ghost (1941)
Next off my stack of unwrapped, unwatched movies… Written by Helen Martin & Al Martin Directed by Joseph H. Lewis Starring Bela Lugosi, Polly Ann Young, John McGuire, Clarence Muse, Betty Compson, Ernie Adams Released April 25, 1941 RT 64 min. Home Video Kino Lorber (Blu-ray) Classic Horrors rating = 8 (out of 10) WHY I’VE NEVER SEEN IT In July,…
Classic Horrors Club 