text:
A place where everything is
in black & white
Doctor X Double Feature
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray and and Lee Taylor
Director: Michael Courtiz
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
A killer is stalking Gotham, butchering women--young and old--with a scalpel and surgeon-like precision. When the police turn their investigation toward the medical research institute operated by Dr. Xavier (Atwill), he hopes to prevent the entire institute from being tarred by scandal by conducting a scientific experiment that will identify the killer on his staff. With the moral support of his beautiful daughter (Wray) and a wisecracking crime-beat reporter (Taylor) standing by for the scoop of the decade, Xavier brings his colleagues to his isolated country house... where the murderer soon proves himself quite unwilling to submit to Xavier's experiments, but not so shy about stabbing the house guests.
"Doctor X" is a fun little film that mixes the mystery, comedy, romance, and horror genres into a bubbling cauldron of craziness. From the collection of four surgeons at Xavier's institute, each more suspicious and apparently crazy than the one before; to Xavier's creepy butler; to Xavier himself, the cast of characters here provide a rich pool of suspects. Wray and Taylor offer something attractive to look at amidst the strange collection of doctors and the bizarre, shadow-haunted scenery of the picture, with Wray presenting both radiant beauty and a very charming, very smart character. (In fact, Wray's beauty surrounded by the calculated ugliness of the rest of the film is a contrast that heightens just about every aspect of the film.
Something that will strike viewers coming to this film without foreknowledge--as I did--will be struck by the fact that instead of the expected greys and blacks, the film appears to be in sepia tones... until Wray makes her first appearance on screen, wearing a dress that's a startling, vibrant green in among the shadows and reddish-brown tones of the majority of the scenery. Later, there are other splashes of red and green; "Doctor X" was shot in an early version of Techicolor, and, while I found the reddish and/or greenish tint that was cast over everything generally tiresome, the bright splashes of concentrated color wow'ed me every time they appeared.
As a historical artifact in the development of film techniques, or just as a fun little comedy/thriller that's crammed to the brim with mad scientists, "Doctor X" is a movie that I think any lover of classic films will enjoy immensely.
The Return of Doctor X (1939)
Starring: Wayne Morris, Dennis Morgan, John Litel, and Humphrey Bogart
Director: Vincent Sherman
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
After being fired from his job for making up a false news story about finding a famous actress murdered--who shows up quite alive and intent on suing the paper--journalist Walter Garnett (Morris) turns to a close friend and surgeon (Morgan) in an attempt to figure out how he could have mistaken a live woman for a dead body. The answer he finds is stranger than anything he could imagine, and he soon finds himself up to his neck in creepy MDs, including the strange Dr. Quense (Bogart).
"The Return of Doctor X" has nothing in common with the original "Doctor X" film, except that they were produced by the same company. There is no character or story similarity, despite the presence of murderous medical professionals and a character with the last name of "Xavier", as well as a wise-cracking reporter character. However, where "Doctor X" was a comedy with heavy doses of suspense and a touch of horror, "The Return" is a straight-forward horror movie with a heavy dose of comedy. The first movie was also far more impressive in its camerawork and set design, and this film, while competently filmed, suffers greatly by comparison.
This is a decent enough flick, if completely forgettable. Big-time Humphrey Bogart fans may get a kick out of seeing him in a role quite different from anything else he did during his career, but otherwise, this is the kind of movie to load in a multi-disk DVD player for use as background noise during a Halloween party.
Posted by Steve Miller at 9:54 AM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: 1930s, Average Rating, Fay Wray, High Rating, Hollywood's Legends of Horror, Humphrey Bogart, Lionel Atwill, Pre-Code, Warner Bros
Lugosi is the dark, beating heart of 'The Invisible Ghost'
Invisible Ghost (aka "The Phantom Killer") (1941)
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Clarence Muse, John McGuire, and Polly Ann Young
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Rating: Four of Ten Stars
Charles Kessler (Lugosi) is a widely admired man who, known only to his faithful manservant Evans (Muse) and his daughter Virginia (Young) suffers minor bouts with insanity during which he thinks he is still living with his beloved wife, who vanished years ago. However, Kessler's insanity is far deeper and far deadlier than anyone imagines; his wife seemingly appears outside his window at night, and the sight of her sends him into a trance during which he committs horrendous strangulation murders. When Virginia's fiance (McGuire) is executed for one of the murders, his twin brother Paul (also McGuire) arrives in town intent on finding the true killer.
"The Invisible Ghost" is another one of those films where I can see lots of potential that buried under a badly written script. The idea of a decent man so filled with grief and rage that he goes into murderous trances is pretty neat, but in this case the question of exactly how crazy Kessler is undermind within the first ten minutes of the film. (There's a "big revelation" that should have been saved for much later on.) Further, the dialogue (and its delivery) feels more suitable for a stage play than a movie... and it's delivered by actors whose performances mostly leave a lot to be desired.
The two exceptions to my negative comments about the actors are Clarence Muse and Bela Lugosi.
In the case of Muse, he plays Kessler's butler and manservant, but he projects an intelligence, dignity, and sensitivity that is lacking in just about every other character in the film; he's also the one actor who never comes across as unintentionally funny in the film... his laugh lines are true laugh lines, and they're delivered with excellent timing.
Lugosi also gives an engaging performance. Although the man seemed to lack the ability to pick decent projects to perform in, he often managed to make the most of the roles he did. In this case, he shows his acting ability by going through several emotions, and even completely transforming himself by doing nothing but changing his facial expressions. On the downside of his performance in "The Invisible Ghost", Lugosi is unintentionally HILARIOUS when Kessler enters his murderous trances. It takes some of the horror and tragedy away from the story when giggling viewers are trying to decide what Kessler resembles most in his murderous state: Kharis the Mummy without his bandages, or a spastic retard shuffling home after riding the short bus.
One strong aspect of the film that I must mention is that it is beautifully lit. The technical crew who worked on it really knew their stuff--the many candle-lit scenes are very well-handled with spotlights that properly follow the actors carrying the candleholders, and lighting is used consistently with great effect to underscore the drama and tension. Further, there's some very creative camerawork on display. (On the downside, the drama and tension is undermind by a truly awful score and the aforementioned bad acting.)
I think "The Invisible Ghost" is worth watching for Muse and Lugosi's performances, but the bad definately outweighs the good.
Posted by Steve Miller at 9:37 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: 1940s, Bela Lugosi, Clarence Muse, Horror Classics collection, Low Rating, Monogram Pictures, Sam Katzman
Three horror greats and a novelty band in a time capsule
You'll Find Out (aka "Wild Wild Spookhouse") (1940)
Starring: Kay Kyser and His Orchestra, Dennis O'Keefe, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, M.A. Bogue, Helen Parrish and Ginny Simms
Director: David Butler
Kay Kyser (Keyser) and the wacky musicians and singers that make up his orchestra are booked to play at the 21st birthday party of their manager's heiress girlfriend (Parrish). Swing music, high-jinx, and attempted murder follow as Keyser must team with a renowned debunker of psychics also invited to the party (Lorre) who has also been invited to the event in order to reveal the true nature of a phoney spiritualist (Lugosi), who has been bleeding money from the young lady's gullable guardian.
"You'll Find Out" is interesting viewing for two reasons.
First of all, it's the only film where Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre appear together. The three actors don't have alot of screen time, but their parts are meaty and they get to show their best sides; even Lugosi has a decent part, something that was becoming increasingly rare for him at this point. (In a meta-critical sense, their appearance is an almost Three Fates and/or The Stages of Man sort of affair--Lorre is on the verge of acheiving super-stardom, Karloff is at the pinnacle of his career, and Lugosi is slipping from twilight and into darkness.)
Second, it's an example of the fleeting nature of fame. While Karloff, Lugosi and Lorre have some presence in the minds of virtually every movie fan--even if their names might be a bit vague--how many know who Kay Kyser is? And this despite the fact that Kay Kyser was every bit as big a star as Karloff and Lugosi in his time, the leader of a very popular novelty band that had numerous Billboard-charting hit records, was the centerpiece of their own weekly network radio show, and starred in seven movies, including this one. Some 65 years after retiring from show business during World War II, Kyser and his band are completely forgotten by all. You can watch this movie to see what place Slim Shadey will hold in the public conciousness in sixty years... not to mention what "8 Miles" will look and sound like.
As for the film itself, it's more corny than suspenseful, which is fitting given that it was not a vehicle for the three horror actors but for Kyser's orchestra. Some viewers might be dissapointed at this, but I've always enjoyed Bela Lugosi's comedic turns. Lorre also has some very funny scenes with Kyser, sometimes being the straight man, sometimes being the deliverer of the jokes... and doing an equally good job in either role. (You may notice by now that I've not said much about Karloff. That's because there isn't much to say. He plays a dignified, slightly sinister lawyer and he delivers his lines on cue. It's a decent part and it's key to the story, but there's not much else to say other than, "Look... Boris Karloff!"
Is "You'll Find Out" a classic? No, "Ghostbreakers" this is not. However, it holds up a little better than many other pieces of disposable cinema made for no purpose other than to cash in on a cross-marketing opportunity of a musician.
Labels: 1940s, Average Rating, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Comedy, Peter Lorre, RKO
Picture Perfect Wednesday:
A kiss is just a kiss...
unless there's a tentacle involved
A friendly Halloween kiss... H.P. Lovecraft style.
Posted by Steve Miller at 12:02 AM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Halloween, Picture Perfect Wednesday
Greatest chiller of the silent movie era?
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)
Starring: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher and Lil Dagover
Director: Robert Weine
Rating: Ten of Ten Stars
A sideshow performer (Krauss) and an eternal sleeper with prophetic powers (Veidt) engulf a small town in a wave of nightmarish terror and death.
Anyone who's taken a film history class has almost certainly seen "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". If you haven't seen it, and if you consider yourself a fan of horror movies, or a movie buff in general, you absolutely must see this movie. It is one of the most chilling horror movies ever made.
It might be a bit slow in the wind-up from the point of view of the modern audience, and you might be a bit amused by the Dr. Suess-like set design of the village in which the movie takes place... but you'll soon be rivited by the stark moods this film invokes through the sharp use of contrasts, the spooky appearance of the actors, and the brilliantly concieved sets. Dr. Suess will be very far from your mind, unless you want to view the film as "Horton Has a Psychotic Break and Hallucinates."
Although dating from 1919, this film still stands nearly unmatched it its ability to draw the audience into a disturbing, twisted world where ultimately nothing can be taken for granted or assumed to be true. And, depending on how you choose to interpert the very effective twist ending, it may well be a world from which there is no escape.
Every filmmaker has certainly seen this movie. It's too bad so few of them seem to have taken away any lessons from it.
Labels: 1910s, Greatest Movies Ever Made, High Rating, Horror, Silent Movie, Tales of Terror Collection
'Essential Tales of the Zombie' is an accurate title for a fine collection of comics
Essential Tales of the Zombie (Marvel Comics, 2007)
Writers: Steve Gerber, Tony Isabella, Doug Moench, Chris Claremont, et.al.
Artists: Pablo Marcos, Alfredo Alcala, John Buscema, Bill Everett, Gene Colan, et.al.
"Essential Tales of the Zombie" is one of an ongoing series of 500-page+ collections of reprinted material from the past 30-40 years of Marvel Comics' output. The material in this book originally appeared in some of Marvel's black-and-white magazines from the mid-Seventies. It presents dozens of tales of voodoo and walking dead, the majority of them taken from the 10-issue run of "Tales of Zombie." Also sprinkled throughout the book are some of the best text features from the magazine, such as reviews of zombie movies and articles about voodoo.
It should be noted that nowhere in "Essential Tales of the Zombie" will you find walking corpses of the flesh-eating, post-Romero kind. The undead here are mostly the result of voodoo curses and similar magics. For me, this classic feel is refreshing in this day and age of rampant splatter and dismemberment.
The most worthwhile material in the book is the ongoing saga of the Zombie from the title. It's the story of Simon Garth, a captain of industry and control freak, who is murdered and reanimated as a zombie. Painfully aware of his condition, yet helpless to do anything about it, he becomes the undead slave of a series of different masters, controlled by the mystical Medallions of Damballah.
The stories of Simon Garth are top-notch, classic horror comics, which is not surprising, given they were penned by Steve Gerber when he was at the height of his creative powers. The manage to present social commentary, tragedy, chills, and poetic justice to the bad guys, often-times within the confines of the same story. The narration may get a bit purple at times, but the power of the stories shine through. Plus, the two-part tale that sees Simon Garth finally gain the peace of the grave is an excellent bit of writing by Gerber's successor on the strip, Tony Isabella. It is a perfect end to the story of a man who was forced onto a journey of discovery and redemption.
Although Bill Everett and John Buscema drew the first three tales featuring the Zombie, the art on the Simon Garth saga is mostly by Pablo Marcos. Alfredo Alcala also handles the art on a couple of the stories. Despite the vast difference in styles between these four artists, the mood remains consistently oppressive, dark, and spooky, and all do a great job capturing the macabre atmosphere of the Louisiana swamps and Haitian back-woods that the Zombie spends most of his time. (Alcala, Buscema, and Everett happen to be three of my favorite artists, and they do fine work here.)
Aside from the stories chronicalling Simon Garth's journey, "Tales of the Zombie" contains two stories with Brother Voodoo (a superhero who, as his name implies, gains his powers from voodoo rites) and a couple dozen short horror stories. The Brother Voodoo stories are... well, they're Brother Voodoo stories. The character always seemed a bit goofy to me, and he's true to from in both stories. (One wraps up the plotline from his "Strange Tales" appearances, and it was nice to finally know how that all ended, but the character still doesn't do much for me.) The shorts are mostly your standard twist-ending sort of tales that have been around in comics since the 50s... the ones that once filled the pages of "Creepy", "House of Mystery" and "Psycho". Althoguh they are all excellently written and illustrated, these run the gamut of quality from ho-hum to masterful.
Rounding out the book is an interesting time capsule of table of contents from each issue of "Tales of the Zombie", selected text pieces about voodoo and the occult, a two-part short story from Doug Moench, and some reviews of movies featuring zombies. The movie reviews were of particular interest to me (big surprise there, eh?) and there were even a few mentioned that I hadn't heard of! These magazine articles made for surprsingly good reading... although I wished a few more of had been included. I would have liked to read the obit of Bill Everett that was mentioned on one of the ToCs.)
"Tales of the Zombie" is an unusual entry in the "Essential" series, but one that lives up to its title. Fans of horror comics won't regret spending money on this one.
Labels: Alfredo Alcala, Doug Moench, Gene Colan, Graphic Novel, John Buscema, Marvel Comics, Pablo Marcos, Steve Gerber, Zombies
Frankenstein returns to monster-making
in the far-away future of... 1970!
Frankenstein 1970
Starring: Boris Karloff, Don Berry, Rudolph Anders, Jana Lund, Charlotte Austin, Tom Duggan and Norbert Schiller
Director: Howard W. Koch
As his family fortune runs out, an aging and disfigured Baron Frankenstein (Karloff)gives a brash TV producer (Berry) permission to shoot a monster movie in and around his castle. However, when he improves upon his forebears old monster-making ways with atomic technology, the television crew and actors become an easy source of body parts.
"Frankenstein 1970" was made to cash in on the revived interest in the classic monsters generated by the beautiful color horror films from Hammer, most notably "Curse of Frankenstein." While it opens with great promise--with a shambling monster chasing a buxom peasant lass into a pond and then drowning her in what is one of the most intense openings to any monster movie of this vintage--it quickly starts showing its extreme low-budget roots, as well as settling into a pace that is just a little too slow for its own good.
That's not to say the film doesn't have some great moments, like the scene where lead camera man and the starlet are setting up a shot in the crypts under the castle while the monster lurks in the shadows, the scene when the Baron talks about what happened to an inquisitive commander in the Nazi concentration camp where he was tortured during the war, and the scene where the monster claims its first victim. But the material between these moments is a little drab and run-of-the-mill. Nothing is terribly bad, but, on the same note, nothing is exceptionally good.
Among the cast, Karloff is definitely the best, but there isn't anyone here who doesn't do a decent job. Karloff once again manages to take a sneering, leering character and imbue a little touch of humanity into him, with the Baron initially coming across as somewhat sympathetic. (Our sympathy for him quickly evaporates as he reveals himself to be utterly evil and homicidally insane.)
Although... as much as we recognize Baron Frankenstein's evil, we can't help but appreciate that he has created a monster that is disposing of some thoroughly annoying film industry stereotypes. We can also appreciate the Baron's frustration when the monster accidentally kills the one non-annoying member of the production crew.
A flawed, but still entertaining movie, it's a relatively obscure Karloff outing that makes the "Karloff and Lugosi Horror Classics" four-movie DVD collection worth the asking price almost by itself. It is also a great chance for Karloff and Frankenstein fans to see him play a Frankenstein instead of a Monster of Frankenstein.
Labels: 1950s, Average Rating, Boris Karloff, Frankenstein, Warner Bros
'The Corpse Vanishes' will make you appreciate your family
The Corpse Vanishes (aka "The Case of the Missing Brides") (1942)
Starring: Luana Walters, Bela Lugosi, Elizabeth Russell and Angelo
Director: Wallace Fox
Certifiable madman and scientific genius Prof. Lorenz (Lugosi) is placing beautiful, virgin brides into deathlike states at the altar with specially created orchids. He then steals the bodies and drains glandular fluids from them to create a concoction that keeps is even crazier wife looking youthful. His scientific fountain of youth is threatened when society columnist and wanna-be hardnosed reporter Patricia Hunter (Walters) grows suspicious and pays him a visit at his isolated home. Will she bring in the scoop of the year, or will she herself become a victim?
"The Corpse Vanishes" is a pretty standard mad scientist vs. plucky girl reporter lightweight horror movie... except for the bizarre group of characters that make up Lorenz's household.
From Lorenz's wife (who sleeps in a coffin for no apparent reason) to the house-keeper (a doomsaying withered old hag), her bestial son (who likes fondling the comotose brides Lorenz brings home, not to mention our heroine when she stays the night at the house), to her midget son (who serves as valet, butler, and Lorenz's chief henchman), to Lorenz himself (who at one moment refers to them as his "strange family" and the next moment is threatening to kill them... not to mention the whole abducting of brides thing), this is the weirdest household this side of the Manson Family.
No matter how freaky your family is, if you watch this film before going to celebrate a holiday with them, you will be able to say to yourself, "Eh... they could be worse."
Aside from the Lorenz household, everything else is pretty much stock here--including our heroine and the bland love interest she picks up--but the fast-paced story keeps things lively and moving.
Lugosi gives a standard performance. Although he has quite a bit of screen time, he doesn't have alot do to, except to be a centerpiece around which other, stranger characters orbit.
Labels: 1940s, Average Rating, Banner Productions, Bela Lugosi, Horror Classics collection, Luana Walters, Monogram Pictures, Newshounds, Sam Katzman
Top talent, bargain-basement comedy and thrills in 'The Black Cat'
The Black Cat (1941)
Starring: Broderick Crawford, Hugh Herbert, Anne Gwynne, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Gladys Cooper and Bela Lugosi
Director: Albert S. Rogell
Rating: Five of Ten Stars
When one of greedy relatives on an unpleasant--but exceedingly wealthy--old woman decides to help her into the grave through murder, it's up to a family friend and greasy real estate broker (Crawford) to unmaks the killer. But he better hurry, because it's a dark and stormy night, and the killer has more lives to claim....
Universal sure does love to throw random films into their DVD collections. In the marketed-as-a-horror-films "Boris Karloff Collection" there was the light mystery "The Night Key" and the historical drama "Tower of London," while the "Universal Horror: Classic Archive" features "The Black Cat." Sure, the film includes horror film regulars like Basil Rathbone, Anne Gwynn and Bela Lugosi, but it is actually a comedy that spoofs the Dark Old House genre that flourished in the early 1930s.
"The Black Cat" was the second film that the famous Poe short story "suggested" to Universal Pictures. It has more in common with the source material than the 1934 picture the story "suggested"--this one at least features a black cat that ends up unmasking a killer with its yowling--but it's nowhere near as good.
As comedies go, it's below average. The behavior of the comic characters--a real estate agent played by Broderick Crawford and a dishonested and scatterbrained dealer of antiques played by Hugh Herbert--is rarely all that funny, although the comparisons I've seen made to Abbott and Costello are unfair. Crawford's more-often-than-not straight man is far more respectable than most characters portrayed by Abbott, and Herbert's "Costello imitation" is more a reflection of the fact that both men started their carrers as comedians on the Vaudeville stage. It's not that Crawford and Herbert are ripping anyone off that viewers should be upset with, it's that they have such poor material and badly written lines to work with.
The overall thrust of the story is decent enough, although it is full of logic holes. I have the senese that someone, somewhere said, "Screw it... it's a comedy being made to just fill the release schedule; who cares the story doen't hang together?"
So, as is always the case when producers don't bother to get the foundation fo their film solid, we end up with an end product that is little more than a waste of talent and time. We have a comedy that's only mildly funny, featuring a mystery that's badly put together because the writers didn't put enough tought into it, and a film that squanders great talent like Rathbone, Gwynn and Lugosi.
In fact, no one is wasted more in this picture than Lugosi. He is relegated to a small and pointless role as the Italian groundskeeper, a role so small and pointless that he doesn't get to show his talent for dramatic or comedic acting. In fact, the role is so pointless that I think not even Lugosi took it seriously--or if he did, he added an attempt to do an Italian accent on top of his Hungarian one late in the shooting schedule because his accent is inconsistent between scenes. It has been written that Universal executives either did not respect Lugosi or didn't know what to do with him... and it's films like this that prove the truth of that. I still have to see one or two of Lugosi's Universal films, but this one has got to be close to the low point of his appearances in them.
That said, Gale Sondergaard does play one of the creepiest house keepers to ever grace the silver screen. Also, the scenes leading up to the end after the murderer has been revealed are very suspenseful and well paced. One can also add that the film is fast-paced, so no matter how dumb it gets at times, it never gets boring.
Labels: 1940s, Anne Gwynne, Average Rating, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Comedy, Old Dark House, Universal Horror Archive collection, Universal Pictures
'Horror Hotel' has lots of amosphere but few sparks
Horror Hotel (aka "City of the Dead") (1960)
Starring: Venetia Stevenson, Christopher Lee, and Patricia Jessel
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
When Nan (Stevenson) decides to spend her Winter Break working on a research project involving witches, her professor (Lee) urges her to travel to a small New England village that has a rich history of witchcraft. Once there, she discovers that the fog-bound hamlet is crawling with evil witches and Satanists (both alive and undead).
"Horror Hotel" has a few nice scares, a couple of genuinely chilling moments, and nice performances by its stars (with Jessel being particularly excellent in a dual role as innkeeper and evil undead witch), but the most constant feature of the film is tedium. The fog-shrouded village and its decaying cemetary are rich with atmosphere, but the pay-offs of that atmosphere are too few, and I often felt myself wishing that the film would get on with it.
In final analysis, "Horror Hotel" is a fabulously atmospheric movie, but the filmmakers are then unable to fully capitalize on that atmosphere.
Labels: 1960s, Average Rating, Christopher Lee, Ghosts, John Llewellyn Moxey, Witches
'The Monster Walks' is a mediocre early talkie
The Monster Walks (1932)
Starring: Rex Lease, Sidney Bracy, Mischa Auer, Vera Reynolds and Willie Best ("Sleep 'n' Eat")
Director: Frank Strayer
The night following the death of Earlton Manor's master, those gathered for the reading of his will are menaced by a killer who seems to move unseen through the sprawling house's shadow-filled rooms. Will Dr. Clayton (Lease) discover the identity of the killer in time to save the prime target, his fiance, Ruth (Reynolds)?
A slightly dull example of the "Dark Old House" mystery films that flourished in the early days of the talkies, "The Monster Walks" has a couple of respectable twists and tense moments. It's not the strongest example of this faded film sub-genre, but it's decent enough.
I wonder: Is this one of the first examples of an ape being the possible killer in a mystery film? It seems like by the late 30s, every fourth low-budget thriller or comedy featured an ape (or a guy in a gorilla suit). Is this where the trend started? (One of the sources of dread of the film is a large, violent chimp that's kept in a cage in the house's basement.)
Posted by Steve Miller at 10:23 AM 2 comments: Links to this post
Labels: 1930s, Apes and Ape Suits, Average Rating, Frank R Strayer, Horror Classics collection, Mischa Auer, Mystery, Old Dark House, Pre-Code, Vera Reynolds, Willie Best
Two Faces of Vampirella
One of the most longest lasting icons of horror is the comic book character Vampirella. She may have fallen on hard times of late--with publisher Harris instituting all sorts of arbitrary changes in a desperate attempt to reverse the trend of ever-dwindling sales figures--but some things stay pretty much the same.
Here's a drawing of Vampirella by the first artist to ever paint her 40 years ago, for the cover of "Vampirella" issue #1 in 1969, Frank Frazetta.
And here's a drawing by one of the artist who has painted some of the most celebrated modern portraits of her, Joe Jusko.
Happy 40th birthday, Vampirella! You don't look a day over 28!
Labels: Frank Frazetta, Joe Jusko, Picture Perfect Wednesday, Vampirella
'X the Unknown' is the dirtiest radioactive monster of all!
X: The Unknown (1956)
Starring: Dean Jagger, Leo McKern, Michael Ripper, Edward Chapman, John Harvey, William Lucas, Ian MacNaughton, and Anthony Newley
Directors: Leslie Norman and Joseph Losey
A routine military exercise on the Scottish moors brings draws forth a mysterious, formless mud-creature from the depths of the Earth. Research scientist Adam Royston (Jagger) and an assortment of law enforcement and military personnel work to discover the nature of the creature and figure out how to stop it, even as it gains strength and claims evermore victims.
"X: The Unknown" is a rarely seen and underrated monster movie from Hammer Films. Like so many horror/sci-fi films from the 1950, it features a radioactivity-driven creature that seems destined to destroy the world. The creature here is particularly well-conceived, particularly in light of the fact it's perfect for the limited effects budget and technology that the filmmakers were working with.
This is a well-crafted movie, where everyone both in front of the camera and behind it are doing their very best work. The script is suspenseful and perfectly paced, the creature is well-conceived and perfect for a film of limited budget, and the various model and special effects shots are better looking than in films with five times the budget. The actors give top-of-the-line, perfectly believable performances Heck, even James Bernard, whose music I often find overblown and inappropriately loud at all the wrong times, provided a score that works perfectly throughout the movie.
"X: The Unknown" is a film I recommend highly to lovers of 1950s sci-fi.
Labels: 1950s, Dean Jagger, Hammer Films, High Rating, Sci-Fi
'Things Happen at Night' is best viewed as sleep aid
Things Happen at Night (1947)
Starring: Gordon Harker, Alfred Drayton, and Gwynneth Vaughan
Director: Francis Searle
When his daughter (Vaughan) becomes the conduit for a fire-starting poltergeist, Mr. Prescott (Drayton) teams with an insurance adjuster (Harker) and a paranormal investigator to annoy the spirit and drive it out.
"Things Happen at Night" is a weak attempt at a horror comedy. It features a nice cast of actors who labor mightily with the bad script, but who ultimately can't overcome the material. There's very little reason to watch this film unless you're the world's biggest fan of comedian Gordon Harker... or you're looking for a drug-free sleep aid.
(I came across this film in the "Dark Crimes" 50-movie collection, and it was the odd-film-out, with its supernatural overtones in a set of crime dramas and film noir-type pieces.)
Labels: 100 Mystery Classics Collection, 1940s, Comedy, Dark Crimes Collection, Low Rating, Poltergeist, Supernatural Thriller
Dracula returns to menace small-town America
The Return of Dracula (aka "The Curse of Dracula" and "The Incredible Vanishing Man") (1958)
Starring: Francis Lederer, Norma Eberhardt, Ray Stricklyn, John Wyngraf, Virginia Vincent and Gage Clarke
Director: Paul Landres
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
Dracula (Lederer) escapes to America by murdering a Czech artist and assuming his identity. He settles in a small California town and sets his sights on corrupting pure-hearted young girls and turning them into vampires.
"The Return of Dracula" is a vampire movie that rises far above its low budget thanks to a good script, a decent cast, and some clever touches on the part of the director. Francis Lederer (who plays Dracula) may not be a Dracula in the class of Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi, but he holds his own here. He's comparable to--and even a little better than--Lon Chaney Jr.
While one is always hardpressed to describe a vampire movie as "realistic", this one comes close. The characters are all very real-seeming and performed with great skill by the actors. Particularly noteworthy are the high-school girlfriend/girlfriend characters of Tim and Rachel (portrayed by Norma Eberhardt and Ray Stricklyn), as their relationship and behavior reminded me of my own high school love-life... either things were really racy in this movie, my life was really tame in the 1980s, or things haven't change that much for active kids in the real world, despite what pop culture and politicians would have us believe. These characters seem very real throughout the picture, up and including the way in which they ultimately come face-to-face with the full might of the vampire.
The film also has several unexpected moments of artful creepiness, including one of the spookiest vampire seduction scenes ever filmed. Dracula's first victim is Jennie, a sick blind girl (Virginia Vincent) who can see him in her mind's eye as he corrupts her and devours her soul. Jennie also gets one of the creepiest vampire ressurection scenes ever filmed, as well as a very neat death scene. (The cinematography in this movie is its weakest element, but there is a shot of the vampiric Jennie flitting through the graveyard that's very beautiful. Jennie's death-by-stake moments later is also very startling, due to a bit of Hollywood trickery. I won't go into details, because the effect is one that has to be unexpected for it to have its full and starteling impact.)
Like in most vampire movies, the demise of the master vampire is somewhat anti-climactic, but Dracula's death in this film is not as embarrassing as some of the deaths he suffered in various Hammer flicks. At least here he is done in partially by his own evil deeds instead of by complete accident (like when Dracula dies by thorn bush in "The Satanic Rites of Dracula").
If you're a fan of classic horror films, I recommend you seek out "The Return of Dracula". Francis Lederer may not have been the best choice to play Dracula, but the great supporting cast makes up for his slight shortcomings.
Labels: 1950s, Dracula, High Rating, United Artists, Vampires
'The Devil Bat' is one of Lugosi's best
The Devil Bat (aka "Killer Bats") (1942)
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Dave O'Brien, Suzanne Kaaren, and Donald Kerr
Director: Jean Yarborough
Everyone loves the ever-smiling chemist Dr. Paul Carruthers (Lugosi), especially the investors in the cosmetics company he's been creating best-selling colognes and perfumes for. When the company owners make what they feel is a nice gesture to reward Carruthers' many years of service, he feels like he's been insulted and he decides to kill his bosses and their entire family. Revealing that he's as talented a mad scientist as he is a chemist, Carruthers transforms otherwise harmless bats into giant hunter-killers that hone in on a special cologne that he's given to his victims for "testing." Will Carruthers get away with his bloody schemes, or will a lazy tabloid reporter (O'Brien) and his photographer (Kerr) manage to stumble their way to the truth?
That's a long summary, but "The Devil Bat" is pretty convoluted. In fact, it's so convoluted that it's one of those films that you need to just watch without thinking too hard, particularly when it comes to Paul Carruthers, his killer bats, and his rambler house with its secret Mad Scientiest Lab and tower for convenient bat launches.
The film's got a decent cast (with Lugosi being particularly fun to watch) a story with plenty of humor (both intentional and unintentional), and a pace that is just fast enough to keep the viewers interested. It's by no means a masterpiece, and its low, low budget is painfully visible in some of the sets (although the bat effects are better than I expected), but it's a fun bit of viewing if you enjoy Bela Lugosi and the nonsense breed of plup fiction-style sci-fi/horror flicks that filled the B-feature slots at movie houses in the 30s and 40s.
By the way, I highly recommend getting the DVD version of the film that I've linked to below. Not because I recommend watching colorized classics, but because I think it's fascinating to compare a colorized version with the black-and-white version. Invariably, you will discover that colorizing saps a film of life rather than enhances it. (I used to think that it was only dramas that were ruined by colorization. Then I picked up the disc containing both the colorized version and original version of "My Man Godfrey." Actually, watching both versions close together changed my mind completely.)
Labels: 1940s, Bela Lugosi, Fabulous Forties Collection, High Rating, Jean Yarbrough, PRC, Suzanne Kaaren, Tales of Terror Collection
Not much mummy action
in this early horror film.
The Eyes of the Mummy (1918)
Starring: Pola Negri, Harry Leidtke, Emil Jannings and Max Laurence
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Albert Wendland (Leidtke) rescues Ma (Negri) from Radu (Jannings), a maniac who kidnapped her and who has been passing her off as a living mummy in an Egyptian tomb. The girl finds fame and fortune as the artist's model and a cabaret dancer in a major European city. However, Radu pursues them, intent on claiming what is his through any means necessary.
"The Eyes of the Mummy" has been touted by some as the first mummy movie. I can't help but wonder if those commentators actually bothered watching it, because there is even less mummy action here than there is in Universal's 1932 "The Mummy" and no supernatural element at all.
There are hints in the film that Radu is more than just a scammer, kidnapper and rapist. In one scene, he seems to appear in spirit-form in Ma's bedroom, and he later commands her through nothing more than the power of his mind. What might these scenes mean?
A generous and imaginative viewer could take these elements and combine them with the story Ma tells for having been dragged from the riverbank by Radu and waking up in the tomb as proof that the spirit of an ancient Egyptian queen dwells within the girl, brought back to life by Radu through magic--her being dragged away from the river was her being brought back from the spirit world to this one.
A less-generous viewer might say that the movie is the cinematic equvilent of an inkblot and little more than a poorly defined melodrama that features a loosely stitched-together selection of gothic fiction elements tossed in with no more thought beyond "well, this'll creep 'em out!"
Whatever the case, "The Eyes of the Mummy" is an unevenly paced movie that never quite manages to invoke enough horror or suspense to make it truly entertaining; some scenes become better when you run the DVD at 2x speed, a hidden advantage to silent movies. The acting is decent (even if you're one of the people who can't stand the acting styles of early cinema) and stars Emil Jannings and Pola Negri are especially fun to watch. Negri's exotic dances are more snicker-inducing to modern viewers than they are sexy, but she shows herself to be both a good actress, dancer and stunt woman--watch for that fall down the stairs near the end of the movie!
Labels: 1910s, Average Rating, Horror, Mummies, Pola Negri, Silent Movie
Lugosi and forgotten comedy team monkey around in 'The Gorilla'
The Gorilla (1939)
Starring: The Ritz Brothers, Lionel Atwill, Anita Louise, Bela Lugosi, Patsy Kelly, and Edward Norris
Director: Alan Dwan
When millionaire Walter Stevens (Atwill) receives a death threat from a vicious murderer and extortionist known as The Gorilla on the very eve his beautiful niece Norma (Louise) and her boyfriend (Norris) are returning to the States, he hires a trio of private detectives (The Ritz Brothers) to protect him and his family. Unfortunately, these detectives couldn't find their way around a well-lit, empty room, so things get hairy when The Gorilla strikes. They get even hairier when a REAL gorilla invades the house.
When I first put this movie in my DVD player, the opening credits took me by surprise. These days, it is being marketed as a Bela Lugosi movie (in so far as it was included in a ten-movie pack of Lugosi films), but when it was first released, the star attraction was a comedy team known as the Ritz Brothers and it was a vehicle first and foremost for them.
As a comedy, "The Gorilla" doesn't quite work, and it works even less as an intended showcase for the Ritz Brothers. Their "stupid detectives" schtick quickly becomes more annoying than funny, and the funniest bits are actualy performed by Patsy Kelly (the household's maid who wants nothing more than to quit) and Bela Lugosi as a creepy butler who seems to have the power to appear and dissapear at will. (This seems to be a minor theme in Lugosi flicks, as he plays a character with a similar talent in "Black Dragons"). It works when played for laughs, like it is here, but it is incredibly annoying when it is featured in a serious drama, like the awful "Black Dragons" was intended as.
As a mystery, the film is somewhat more entertaining. If one can tolerate the antics of the Ritz Brothers, there's actually a clever little story with some neat twists and turns and a Big Reveal that is actually somewhat surprising. (The fact that the gorilla suit featured is better than aveage also helps.)
Of primary interest, I think, is the fact that this film has ended up as an exhibit of the fleeting nature of fame. As mentioned above, I was a bit surprised when I learned this film was a vehicle for a comedy team I'd never even heard of. I did some research, and it seems that the Ritz Brothers may have bene more popular than the Marx Brothers at one time...yet the former are totally forgotten. Similarly, Lugosi and Atwill were big names in their day, but they too have sunken into obsurity. (Hardcore horror fans know Lugosi because he did "Dracula", but Atwill? Only real film geeks have even the slightest inkling about the full output of either actor. Yet, in the 30s and 40s, their names were major draws.)
"The Gorilla" is also worth watching because viewers will once again see that Lugosi was a far better comedic actor than he has ever been given credit for. His part is small here, but he shows perfect comedic timing in every scene he's in. It really is too bad that his career track was such that he didn't get to make more comedies.
In final analysis, howevery, "The Gorilla" is really only of interest to the biggest movie geeks among us... and possibly the truly hardcore fans of Bela Lugosi's work. The rest can safely pass this one by; it's not particularly bad, but it's also not very noteworthy.
(As for the Ritz Brothers, it seems their Main Funny was to be found in musical routines... of which they do none in "The Gorilla". Maybe this film is a case of the wrong vehicle for a particular group of performers. If the Ritz Brothers really were any good, it's a shame their movie legacy doesn't reflect that. This was just one or two films they starred in.)
Labels: 1930s, Apes and Ape Suits, Bela Lugosi, Comedy, Horror Classics collection, Lionel Atwill, Low Rating, Twentieth Century-Fox
Does evil or madness move 'The Blancheville Monster'?
The Blancheville Monster (aka "Horror") (1963)
Starring: Gerard Tichy, Joan Hills, Leo Anchorez, Richard Davis and Helga Line
Director: Alberto De Martino
A young noblewoman (Hills) returns to her family estate to find her older brother (Tichy) has replaced all the familiar servants with newcomers, including a suspicious new family doctor (Anchorez). She soon learns that her brother is attempting to hide the fact their father has gone insane and is now bent on murdering his own daugther before she turns 21 in a few days. Can her lover (Davis) stop the madman, or uncover the even darker truths about the Blancheville family before it is too late?
"The Blancheville Monster" is a straight-forward gothic romance with horror overtones and just enough twists to keep it interesting. Fans of Edgar Allen Poe stories like "The Oblong Box" (read it here ) and Roger Corman films like "The Terror" (review here) and "The Pit and the Pendulum (review here) will find this film enjoyable. However, it is far from perfect, as it suffers from a great deal of padding in the form of long walks through the haunted grounds of the Blancheville estate.
I'm giving the film a generous Six Rating, based to a large extent on the build-up to the end. I thought i had the story all figured out before the halfway mark, but I wasn't quite right. While the twist was nothing earthshattering, it was clever enough and in perfect keeping with the genre and everything that had happened previously in the film.
Labels: 1960s, Average Rating, Gerard Tichy, Gothic Horror, Helga Line
One of the better 'bad monster movies' you'll ever laugh at
Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
Starring: Anthony Carbone, Robert Towne, and Betsy Jones-Moreland
Director: Roger Corman
When a general flees Castro's revolution with most of the Cuban treasury, he hires notorious gangster Renzo Capetto (Carbone) to bring him and his aides to safety. Capetto intends to kill his charges and keep the gold for himself, but his plans go awry thanks to a tough-talking U.S. government agent who has infiltrated his gang (Towne), persistant bearded agents of Castro, and a sea-creature that starts killing before Capetto can get around to it.
I came to this movie without any idea of what to expect other than a made-on-the-cheap monster movie. But even before the pre-credit sequence--where a man having his tennis shoes shined and then is chased by killer beatnicks with murderous intent--I knew I was in for something strange. When the tough-talking, film-noir narrator introduced hims as having infiltrated Capetto's gang undercover, but assured us that his "real name is Agent XK150" I realized that I was in for a comedy ala "Little Shope of Horrors" or "A Bucket of Blood."
"The Creature from the Haunted Sea" is a strange, nonsensical litle movie that is performed by a collection of decent to average no-name actors who spout bizarre lines with great conviction and zeal. The movie spoofs monster flicks, spy flicks, pirate movies, gangster movies, and probably one or two genres I missed. The film is very disjoined, and I'm not sure this is intentional at times, but I loved the sort of freewheeling nature of the film and the way it kept getting stranger and stranger as it progressed. (It could have done with a few more appearances by the title creature--despite the utterly awful and giggle-inspiring design)and by the hot chicks living on the island where our cast of weirdos get stranded, though.)
This is by no means a great movie, but it has a certain charm about it. It is included in a wide range of different DVD multi-packs, and its presence should be at least partly a reason to pick one up. It's a strange little film that brighten the proceedings at any Bad Movie Party.
I've placed a link to an edition that includes both the original film and a colorized version, because I am increasingly fascinated by the way films are changed--usually not for the better--when the colorization process is applied. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT some purist that will rattle on about the integrity of a director's vision--I will put good money on many directors during the 1950s and 1960s shooting in black and white because their budgets didn't allow for color film--but most directors and their cinematographers understood how to make the most out of the black and white medium and their scenes are lit and filmed to make the most of it. In the vast majority of cases, colorization drains visual excitement from a film rather than adding to it.
Then again, I'm a guy who enjoys black and white movies so I could be biased. Anyone else have thoughts on the matter? Especially if you've seen the colorzied version of "Creature from the Haunted Sea"?)
Labels: 1960s, Antony Carbone, Average Rating, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Comedy, Cult Films of Roger Corman collection, Horror Classics collection, Low Rating, Robert Towne, Roger Corman, Sea Monster
The Addams Family was never as creepy as this father/daugher duo
Mark of the Vampire (aka "Vampires of Prague") (1935)
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Lionel Atwill, Elizabeth Allen, Jean Hersholt, Henry Wadsworth, Donald Meek, Bela Lugosi, Caroll Borland, and Holmes Herbert
Director: Tod Browning
When a local nobleman (Herbert) is found dead, his body completely drained of blood, the villagers are certain that the vampires Count Mora (Lugosi) and his daughter Luna (Borland) have returned to spread more evil. However, Police Inspector Neumann (Atwill) refuses to believe in such superstitious nonsense as vampires--it IS after all 1935--and he searches for a more down-to-earth culprit. But when the nobleman's daugther (Allen) and her fiance (Wadsworth) come under attack, and the vampires being to menace the home of Baron Zinden (Hersholt), Neumann has to reconsider his sceptical ways and joins forces with the Baron and occult expert Professor Zelin (Barrymore) to destroy the vampires.
"Mark of the Vampire" is a fairly lighthearted mystery/horror movie, with some genuine chills thrown in for good measure. (The scene with Luna Mora winging her way across the vampire gathering while turning from bat into human is creepy as all get-out. In fact, every scene featuring Luna is creepy as all get-out!)
The actors here all to a good job, and the sets and lighting are all well-done. Although Lugosi has top-billing here, he really doesn't do much. He has a nice transformation scene after which he chases some terrified servants down a hallway, and his closing scene is hilariously self-referential, but otherwise all he does is stand around and grimmace. Borland even gets to be scarier than Lugosi.
The overall story isn't anything surprising, even by 1935 standards, but the final-act twist was not one that I saw coming. Its presence was welcomed, and it actually made the movie far more entertaining for me. I would have liked to have gotten a bit more background on the Moras--why does the Count have a bullet wound in his head?--but that may have overburdened the simple story that is already having to bear the above-mentioned twist.
(Speaking of that twist, it probably wasn't all that surprising to the audiences in 1935. It was standard in those days to provide down-to-earth explanations of anything that appeared supernatural in a film. The Lugosi-starring and Browning-directed "Dracula" from 1931 was the first movie to break that standard.)
"Mark of the Vampire" isn't the greatest of the 1930s thrillers, but it's still worthwhile viewing. And it's one of the six movies included in the "Hollywood Legends of Horror" DVD collection, which does include several must-see classics like The Mask of Fu Manchu and Mad Love.
Labels: 1930s, Bela Lugosi, Hollywood's Legends of Horror, Lionel Atwill, Lionel Barrymore, MGM, Tod Browning
From NUELOW Games,
on sale at DriveThruComics:
Collections Edited by Your Host
AT SHADES OF GRAY, 2019 IS
THE YEAR OF THE HOT TODDY
Surveying films and photos featuring the talented Thelma Todd
The Once and Future Writer of Stuff.
Cinema Steve
NUELOW Games
The Bela Lugosi Collection
The Boris Karloff Collection
The Charles Band Collection
The Peter Cushing Collection
Movies You Should Die Before You See
The Universal Horror Archive
Watching the Detectives
Search Steve's Review Blogs
The Arabiantics of Felix the Cat
Arabiantics (1928) Director: Otto Messmer Rating: Nine of Ten Stars Felix the Cat trades a bottle of milk for a magic carpet that flies...
'The Electric House' will spark laughter
The Electric House (1922) Starring: Buster Keaton, Joe Roberts, Steve Murphy, and Virginia Fox Directors: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline R...
'Alum and Eve' brings chaos to the hospital
Alum and Eve (1932) Starring: ZaSu Pitts, Thelma Todd, and James Morton Director: George Marshall Rating: Eight of Ten Stars Thelma (To...
Princesses of Mars, Part 31
Portraits of Princesses Lounging Around Their Throne Rooms... By Fabinon Eves By Mahmud Asrar By Overlander By Jay Ancleto ...
Space Girl Adventures, Part Twenty-two
What Has Gone Before: Spacegirl is trying to get off Delta Moon Station before those on her trail catch up to her. SPACEGIRL By Travi...
'Two-Gun Gussie' is fun, but not remarkable
Two-Gun Gussie (1918) Starring: Harold Lloyd, William Blaisedell, Charles Stevenson, Harry Pollard, and Bebe Daniels Director: Al Goulding...
The Beauty and the Bomb: Sally McCloskey
During the 1950s, the people of Las Vegas, Nevada, decided to unite the two things the area was famous for: Atom bomb tests and showgirls. C...
Happy Independence Day to the U.S.A.
Little Known Fourth of July Fact: Dancer and actress Cyd Charisse is why fireworks are now labeled with safety warnings.
No cheers for 'Cheers of the Crowd"
Cheers of the Crowd (1935) Starring: Russell Hopton, Harry Holman, Irene Ware, Bradley Page, John Dilson, Wade Boteler, John Quillan, Rober...
Madonna Meets Metal on a Musical Monday
Here's some Monday morning madness with Moracchioli!
Shades of Gray Recommends
Film Noir Photos
Hold the Phone! Elsa Martinelli
EroticMadScience.com
Fruiting Bodies: Chapter 7, Page 22
Motion Picture Gems
Agnes Varda short films
It's The Pictures That Got Small ...
THE WEDNESDAY CANDID 15!
Barbara Stanwyck
From the Bygone
A Collection of Photos by André de Dienes
The World in Black & White
The Life and Breath of the Photographer...
Pocket War Comics
Stuka Sunday.
The InspiroBot Zodiac... help me collect 12 great ones!
Flapper Flickers and Silent Stanzas
LOST EMULSION
Post # 69 - "SQUISH THING" artwork by Berni Wrightson
The Amazing Deanna Durbin
Rare video clip of Deanna receiving her honorary Oscar
Joan, before coat hangers.
Post Index
100 Mystery Classics Collection (57)
150 Movies You Should Die Before You See (2)
A Little Color (16)
Abbott and Costello (16)
Abigail Spencer (1)
Acquanetta (3)
Addie McPhail (1)
Adele Jergens (1)
Adele Mara (3)
Adrienne Ames (3)
Aircel Comics (1)
Al Bigley (1)
Al Camy (3)
Al Feldstein (1)
Al Rio (2)
Al Williamson (2)
Alan Hale (1)
Alan Quadh (2)
Ale Garza (1)
Alex Nicol (2)
Alex Schomburg (2)
Alex Toth (3)
Alfredo Alcala (5)
Alice White (3)
Alix Talton (2)
Allison Hayes (1)
Alma Ruben (1)
American Native (4)
Among the 150 (4)
Amy Clark (1)
Andi Watson (2)
Andre Morell (1)
Andrew Pavlides (1)
Anita Garvin (4)
Ann Harding (1)
Ann Savage (1)
Ann Sheridan (2)
Anna Lee (4)
Anna May Wong (6)
Anne Gwynne (3)
Anne Jeffreys (1)
Anne Nagel (3)
Anthology Film (3)
Antony Carbone (2)
Antony Mann (1)
Apes and Ape Suits (10)
Arch Hall Jr (1)
Archie Goodwin (3)
Archive Footage Film (2)
Ariana Grande (1)
Arline Judge (1)
Art Saaf (2)
Arthur Adams (5)
Arthur Wontner (1)
Astrid Allwyn (2)
Astro-Zombies (1)
Average Rating (160)
Bad Girls of Film Noir Vol. 2 (4)
Banner Productions (2)
Barbara Kent (2)
Barbara Laage (1)
Barbara Payton (4)
Barbara Steele (3)
Barboura Morris (1)
Barry Blair (1)
Barry Nelson (1)
Barton MacLane (7)
BChing (1)
Bebe Daniels (11)
Bela Lugosi (42)
Ben Lyon (2)
Benny Rubin (1)
Bernard Baily (1)
Bert I. Gordon (2)
Bert Wheeler (1)
Berton Churchill (2)
Bessie Love (9)
Best of Abbott & Costello Vol. 1 (3)
Betsy Jones-Moreland (2)
Beverly Garland (1)
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (1)
Bill Kieffer (1)
Bill Madden (1)
Bill Woolfolk (1)
Black History Month (11)
Bob Forgione (1)
Bob Haney (1)
Bob Kane (1)
Bob Layton (3)
Bob Oksner (1)
Bonita Granville (4)
Boris Karloff (32)
Bosch Fawstin (2)
Bradley K McDevitt (1)
Bradley Page (2)
Brandon Peterson (1)
Bret Blevins (1)
Brian Ching (1)
Brian Donlevy (2)
Brigitte Helm (2)
Brittany Jo Sprinkle (1)
Bruce Cabot (2)
Bruce Timm (8)
Bryan Baugh (6)
Buck & Bubbles (1)
Bud Budiansky (1)
Bud Jamison (7)
Bulldog Drummond (8)
Burgess Meredith (1)
Buster Crabbe (1)
Buster Keaton (10)
Butch Burcham (2)
Carl Reiner (1)
Carleton Young (1)
Carmel Myers (1)
Carol Ohmart (2)
Carol Tevis (8)
Carole Landis (1)
Cary Bates (1)
Cedric Hardwicke (3)
Charles 'Chic' Sale (1)
Charles Lamont (8)
Charles Middleton (1)
Charles Starrett (3)
Charles Sultan (2)
Chesler (4)
Chester Morris (4)
Chesterfield Motion Pictures (2)
Cheyenne King (3)
Chick Chandler (1)
Chilling Classics collection (3)
Chrissie Zullo (1)
Christina Ricci (1)
Christy Cabanne (2)
Clara Bow (1)
Clarence Muse (1)
Classic Cinema series (11)
Claude Rains (2)
Claudia Dell (5)
Cleo Moore (4)
Clive Revill (1)
Coleen Gray (1)
Colin Clive (1)
Colleen Duran (1)
Columbia Pictures (22)
Complete Golden Age Oddballs (3)
Conan the Barbarian (5)
Constance Towers (1)
Creig Flessel (1)
Creighton Hale (2)
Crime Drama (10)
Cult Films of Roger Corman collection (9)
d20 System (2)
d6xd6 (1)
Daliah Lavi (1)
Dan Adkins (1)
Dan Duryea (2)
Dana Andrews (1)
Dancers (19)
Dane Clark (2)
Danny Elfman (1)
Dark Crimes Collection (36)
Darrel Miller (1)
Darro & Moreland Collection (5)
Darryl Banks (1)
Dave Cooper (1)
Dave Hoover (2)
Dave O'Brien (1)
Dave Stevens (2)
David Farley (1)
David Finch (3)
David Manners (6)
Dawn McTiegue (1)
Dean Jagger (3)
Dean Juliette (1)
Death Announcement (18)
DeForest Kelley (1)
Deloris Fuller (1)
Dennis Fujitake (1)
Denny O'Neil (1)
Diana Lorys (1)
Dick Briefer (2)
Dick Foran (3)
Dick Miller (2)
Dick Purcell (3)
Die Artwoort (1)
Dolores Brinkman (1)
Don Heck (1)
Don Hudson (1)
Don Newton (1)
Donald Woods (1)
Donna Barr (2)
Dorothy Granger (11)
Dorothy Hart (2)
Dorothy Lee (2)
Dorothy Libaire (2)
Dorothy MacKaill (2)
Dorothy Malone (1)
Dorothy Sebastian (3)
Dorothy Stone (1)
Douglass Dumbrille (3)
Dr. Mabuse (1)
Dwain Esper (2)
Dwight Frye (2)
E.E. Clive (7)
East Side Kids (1)
Eddie Borden (2)
Eddie Nugent (3)
Edgar G. Ulmer (5)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (32)
Edmond O'Brien (1)
Edna May Oliver (3)
Eduardo Barreto (2)
Edward D. Wood Jr. (3)
Edward G. Robinson (2)
Edward Van Sloan (5)
Elaine Stewart (1)
Eleanor Summerfield (2)
Elisha Cook Jr (3)
Ella Raines (2)
Elyse Knox (1)
Enemy Ace (1)
Ernest Thesiger (3)
Ernie Chan (3)
Estaban Maroto (2)
Etchika Choureau (1)
Ethan Van Sciver (1)
Evelyn Ankers (8)
Everybody Draw Muhammed Day (27)
Evil Heads (2)
Fabulous Forties Collection (18)
Faith Domergue (1)
Fantomah (3)
Fay Helm (1)
Fay Wray (4)
Feary Tales (1)
Felicia Farr (2)
Felix the Cat (2)
Film Fun Comics (3)
Film Noir (23)
Folkline (1)
Forgotten Comics (26)
Forrest Tucker (1)
Frances Dee (1)
Frances Drake (2)
Francine York (1)
Frank Brunner (6)
Frank Cho (8)
Frank R Strayer (4)
Frankenstein's Monster (2)
Frankie Darro (6)
Gangsters (8)
Gary Chaloner (1)
Gary Freidrich (2)
Gary Larson (1)
Gary Martin (2)
Gary Trudeau (1)
Gas Masks (3)
Gaumont British Pictures (6)
Gene Colan (8)
Gene Fawcette (1)
Gene Gonzales (4)
Gene Tierney (1)
Geoff Isherwood (1)
George 'Gabby' Hayes (4)
George Barr (1)
George Moliterni (1)
George Perez (8)
George Pollock (2)
George Raft (2)
George Romero (1)
George Sanders (3)
George Zucco (13)
Georges Méliès (1)
Geraldine Brooks (1)
Gerard Tichy (1)
Gerry Conway (1)
Gert Frobe (1)
Giant Animal (3)
Ginger and Snap (1)
Glenda Farrell (6)
Glenn Anders (1)
Glenn Strange (3)
Gloria Holden (1)
Gloria Stuart (3)
GoGirl (1)
Gothic Horror (12)
Grace Bradley (1)
Grady Sutton (8)
Grant Withers (1)
Greatest Movies Ever Made (7)
Greg Motafis (1)
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams (3)
Gus Ricca (1)
Guy Rolfe (1)
GW Pabst (1)
Gwen Lee (3)
Hal Roach (31)
Hammer Films (19)
Hannah Simone (1)
Harold Lloyd (9)
Harry "Snub" Pollard (8)
Harry Langdon (1)
Harry Sahle (1)
Harry Sweet (2)
Harvey Comics (3)
Harvey Kurtzman (1)
Heather Angel (8)
Hedda Hopper (2)
Helen Broderick (1)
Helen Chandler (1)
Helen Westcott (1)
Helga Line (2)
Henry Daniell (2)
Henry Levin (1)
Herb Trimpe (2)
Herbert Rawlinson (2)
Herge (1)
High Rating (189)
Hillary Brooke (3)
Hollywood's Legends of Horror (5)
Honey Starchilde (1)
Horror Classics collection (20)
Horst Frank (2)
Hotel California (2)
Howard Bretherton (4)
Howard Duff (1)
Howard Hawkes (2)
Howard Marion Crawford (1)
Howard Vernon (1)
Hugh Beaumont (3)
Hugh Wiley (1)
Hugo Haas (1)
Icons of Adventure collection (1)
Icons of Suspense collection (4)
Ida James (2)
Ilona Massey (2)
Inner Sanctum series (4)
InspiroBot (1)
Irene Ware (5)
Iris Adrian (1)
Irish McCalla (5)
J Caroll Naish (5)
J. Scott Campbell (1)
J. Skipper (1)
Jack Haley (2)
Jack Hill (1)
Jack Mulhall (4)
Jack Nicholson (1)
Jack Palance (2)
Jacqueline Pearce (1)
James Beaver (1)
James Burke (1)
James Finlayson (6)
James Gleason (7)
James Hogan (3)
Jan Shepard (1)
Jan Terri (1)
Jane Wyatt (1)
Janice Rule (1)
Janis Carter (1)
Japs Quit blogathon (3)
Jason Mettcalf (2)
Jay Ancleto (1)
Jay Fife (1)
Jean Arthur (2)
Jean Parker (3)
Jean Rogers (1)
Jean Yarbrough (6)
Jeanne Carmen (1)
Jeff Donnell (2)
Jeffery A. Dobberpuhl (1)
Jeffrey Moy (1)
Jeffrey Nye (1)
Jerry Bingham (2)
Jessiqa Pace (1)
Jesus and Mo (7)
Jim Balent (1)
Jim Mooney (3)
Jim Ordliss (2)
Jim Steranko (2)
Jimmy Durante (1)
Joan Barclay (5)
Joan Bennett (3)
Joan Davis (1)
Joan Taylor (1)
Joan Vohs (1)
Joan Woodbury (3)
Joe Albano (2)
Joe Benitez (1)
Joe E. Brown (1)
Joe Jusko (8)
Joe Kubert (4)
Joe Paradise (1)
Joe Sinnott (2)
John Agar (1)
John Barrymore (5)
John Beal (1)
John Broome (3)
John Buscema (9)
John Carradine (5)
John Carter of Mars (24)
John Darrow (1)
John Gielgud (1)
John Harron (2)
John Hoyt (4)
John Ireland (2)
John King (3)
John Llewellyn Moxey (1)
John Loder (2)
John Miljan (2)
John Richardson (1)
John Romita (1)
John Wayne (1)
John William Sublett (1)
John Wray (1)
Jon Malin (1)
Jose Gonzalez (2)
Jose Luis Garcia Lopez (7)
Joseph Cotton (1)
Josh Howard (5)
Joyce Chin (1)
Judy of the Jungle (2)
Juli Reding (2)
Julie Adams (1)
June Brewster (7)
June Brigman (1)
June Clyde (2)
June Collyer (13)
June DuPrez (1)
June Haver (1)
June Kenney (3)
June Knight (1)
June Lang (1)
June Lockhart (2)
Jungle Girls (3)
Junji Ito (6)
Karl Freund (1)
Karl M (16)
Kay English (1)
Kay Francis (2)
Kay Harding (1)
Kay Johnson (1)
KBS Productions (2)
Ken Clark (1)
Kenneth Tobey (1)
Kerry Callen (1)
Kevin Nolan (1)
Keye Luke (2)
Kim DeMulder (2)
Kim Hunter (1)
Kodansha (1)
Kosuke Fujishima (2)
Krazy Kat (1)
Krysta Rodriguez (1)
Kurt Westergaard (1)
Lady Satan (2)
Larry Elmore (3)
Laura La Plante (2)
Lee Elias (5)
Lee J Cobb (2)
Legacy Collection (2)
Leila Hyams (1)
Lena Malena (2)
Leo Moracchioli (5)
Leonard Kirk (2)
Les McClane (1)
Lev Gleason (2)
Lew Ayres (1)
Lew Landers (5)
Lili Taylor (1)
Lilian Bond (2)
Lilian Harvey (1)
Lillian Gish (1)
Lillian Roth (1)
Linda Christian (2)
Linda Lawson (2)
Lindsey Stirling (1)
Lionel Atwill (13)
Lionel Barrymore (1)
Little White Mouse (1)
Lloyd Bridges (2)
Lola Lane (4)
Lon Chaney Jr (13)
Loretta Young (3)
Lorna Gray (1)
Lotus Long (1)
Louise Allbritton (1)
Louise Campbell (3)
Louise Currie (2)
Low Rating (93)
Lowell Sherman (2)
Luana Anders (2)
Luana Walters (3)
Lucien Prival (1)
Lucile Browne (2)
Lucille Lund (1)
Lucy Liu (1)
Lupita Tovar (1)
Lyle Talbot (6)
Lynn Bari (2)
Lynne Bagget (1)
M.W. Kaluta (5)
Mac F Huizinga (1)
Mad Science (4)
Mad Scientist (18)
Madeleine Carroll (2)
Madge Bellamy (1)
Madge Evans (2)
Mae Busch (3)
Mae Clarke (2)
Maggie Kimberly (1)
Majestic Pictures (2)
Male Call (4)
Malibu Graphics (2)
Mandroid (1)
Mantan Moreland (8)
Marc Laming (1)
Marian Marsh (1)
Marianne Koch (1)
Marie Severin (1)
Marie Windsor (2)
Marilyn Hanold (1)
Mario Bava Collection Vol 1 (2)
Marjorie Lord (2)
Marjorie Reynolds (3)
Mark Brooks (1)
Mark Daniel (1)
Mark Morales (1)
Mark Schultz (2)
Mark Stevens (1)
Martha Hyer (1)
Martine Beswicke (1)
Marty Nozz (1)
Marvel Comics (33)
Mary Ann Mobley (1)
Mary Astor (5)
Mary Beth Hughes (3)
Mary Brian (1)
Mary Carlisle (4)
Masquers Club (5)
Master Key (1)
Matt Baker (2)
Maureen O'Sullivan (3)
Mayo Methot (1)
McBess (1)
Melvyn Douglas (2)
MGM (22)
Michael Dooley (1)
Michael Fleisher (5)
Michel Simon (1)
Midnight Marquee (1)
Mike Deodato Jr (2)
Mike Friedrich (1)
Mike Grell (2)
Mike Hoffman (19)
Mike Mayhew (1)
Mike Ploog (5)
Mike Sell (1)
Mike Weringo (1)
Milla Jovovich (30)
Milton Caniff (5)
Mischa Auer (8)
Miss Marple (2)
Mitch Foust (4)
Modesty Blaise (1)
Mohammed Mondays (32)
Mojo Nixon (1)
Molly Lamont (1)
Monica Vitti (1)
Monogram Pictures (27)
Monster Madness Collection (1)
Monte Collins (4)
Movies About Movies (3)
Mr. T (1)
Mr. Wong (2)
Ms. Marvel (4)
Murphy Anderson (4)
Muslim Maniacs (4)
Myrna Dell (1)
Nan Grey (4)
Nancy Carroll (1)
Nancy Porter (1)
Naomi Chance (2)
Nat Pendelton (4)
Nazis Quit Blogathon (14)
Neal Adams (2)
Ned Sparks (3)
Nedor Comics (1)
Neil Hamilton (1)
Nero Films (2)
New Adventures of Frankenstein (1)
Newshounds (18)
Nick Fury (2)
Nick Grinde (2)
Nigel Bruce (2)
Nightmare Worlds Collection (5)
Nina Leen (1)
Nina Mae McKinney (2)
Nine Days of the Ninja Blogathon (8)
Ninjas (11)
Noel Niell (1)
Norm Breyfogel (3)
Nova Pilbeam (4)
NUELOW Games (64)
OGL Modern (11)
Old Dark House (14)
Olga San Juan (3)
Oliver Hardy (3)
Pablo Marcos (4)
Pamela Britton (1)
Pamela Green (1)
Paramount Pictures (18)
Parker Posey (1)
Pat Clark (1)
Patric Knowles (3)
Patty Shepard (1)
Paul Gattuso (2)
Paul Muller (1)
Paul Renaud (1)
Paul Sizer (1)
Peggy Castle (1)
Peggy Cummins (1)
Peggy Dow (1)
Peggy Lipton (1)
Peggy Moran (1)
Penny Edwards (1)
Perla Cristal (1)
Peter Boyle (1)
Peter Lorre (11)
Phil Rosen (6)
Philo Vance (1)
Phyllis Barrington (3)
Phyllis Crane (2)
Picture Perfect Special (210)
Picture Perfect Wednesday (308)
Pine-Thomas Productions (5)
Piper Laurie (4)
Poltergeist (1)
PRC (14)
Pre-Code (75)
Pretty Little Maids (1)
Pricilla Lawson (1)
Princess Pantha (1)
Princesses of Mars (33)
Progressive Pictures (2)
Proto Slasher Flick (1)
Pure Terror collection (8)
Purple Tigress (1)
RA Jones (1)
Race Picture (5)
Rachel Ward (1)
Ralph Bellamy (3)
Ralph Byrd (1)
Ralph Graves (1)
Ralph Mayo (6)
Ralph Morgan (2)
Ramen Empire (1)
Ramsay Ames (2)
random table (2)
Randy Green (2)
Raquel Torres (2)
Rare Cult Cinema collection (1)
Ray Harryhausen (1)
Raymond Burr (2)
Raymond Massey (1)
Real American No. 1 (1)
Reginald Denny (9)
Reginald Le Borg (6)
Republic Pictures (6)
Review Index (1)
Rex Lease (1)
Ricardo Cortez (1)
Ricardo Villamonte (1)
Rich Buckler (1)
Rich Larson (1)
Richard Attenborough (1)
Richard Basehart (1)
Richard Boone (1)
Richard Carlson (3)
Richard Crenna (1)
Richard Derr (1)
Richard Dix (1)
Richard Gallagher (2)
Rico Rival (1)
RKO (36)
RKO Comedy Classics Collection Vol. 2 (1)
Rob Ruth (1)
Robb Phibb (1)
Robert Alda (1)
Robert Cummings (1)
Robert Donat (2)
Robert E Howard (5)
Robert Frazer (1)
Robert Lippert (11)
Robert Towne (2)
Robert Ullman (1)
Robert Woolsey (1)
Rochelle Hudson (3)
Roddy McDowall (1)
Roger Corman (10)
Roger Delgado (1)
Ron Adrian (2)
Ron Lim (1)
Ronald Howard (1)
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (1)
Rose Hobart (1)
Rosemary La Planche (1)
Rowland V. Lee (4)
Rudolph Anders (2)
Rudy Nebres (1)
Russ Heath (6)
Russ Manning (3)
Russell Hopton (3)
Russell Wade (2)
Ruth Atkinson (1)
Ruth Selwyn (1)
Sal Velluto (1)
Sally Blane (1)
Sally O'Neil (1)
Sam Katzman (12)
Sam Newfield (4)
Sam Wood (1)
Sandy Plunkett (2)
Sanjulian (3)
Sara Pichelli (1)
Sci-Fi Invasion Collection (2)
Science Sleuths (4)
Scott Fischer (1)
Scott Hedlund (1)
Sea Monster (3)
Secret History (1)
September 11 (1)
Seth Holt (1)
Sgt Rock (2)
Shaolin Death Squad (1)
Sheila Terry (3)
Shemp Howard (2)
Shirley Grey (2)
Shirley Knight (1)
short film (79)
Silent Movie (32)
Silly Symphony (2)
Simon & Kirby (1)
Skywald (3)
Soledad Miranda (2)
Something Weird (2)
Sondra Locke (1)
Sorceress of Zoom (3)
Sordet Romain (1)
Space Girls (32)
Space Hooker (1)
Stan Laurel (3)
Steve Gerber (2)
Steve Lightle (1)
Steve Rude (1)
Steven Butler (2)
Strange Tales collection (8)
Supernatural Thriller (2)
Susan Cabot (1)
Susan Strasberg (1)
Suso (1)
Suzanne Kaaren (1)
Sybil Seely (6)
Sydney Greenstreet (1)
Sydney Toler (1)
Taboo Tales Collection (1)
Tales of Terror Collection (5)
Terence Fisher (7)
Teresa Wright (2)
Teri Garr (1)
Terry Beatty (1)
Tess Gaerthe (1)
The Beauty and the Bomb (2)
The Bulldog Drummond Series (8)
The Dead Walk Collection (2)
The Hildegarde Withers series (6)
The Munsters (1)
The Three Stooges (1)
The Torchy Blane series (7)
The Unifying Theme (19)
The Werewolf Hunter (1)
Theda Bara (2)
Thelma Todd (34)
Thelma White (3)
Tim Webster (1)
Timeless (2)
Tom Conway (4)
Tom Hodges (1)
Tom Kennedy (10)
Tom Mandrake (1)
Tom Sutton (5)
Tom Yeates (7)
Tone Loc (1)
Tony DeZuniga (9)
Tor Johnson (1)
Travis Charest (22)
Trina Robbins (1)
Turhan Bey (2)
Twentieth Century-Fox (3)
United Artists (7)
Universal Horror Archive collection (5)
Universal Pictures (52)
Val Lewton (7)
Val Mayerik (2)
Valerie Hobson (3)
Valerie Leon (1)
Valerie Valusek (1)
Valerio "Pupato" Gomez (1)
Vampirella (29)
Veda Ann Borg (1)
Vera Ellen (4)
Vera Reynolds (1)
Vernon Dent (1)
Veronica Lake (4)
Victor Jory (1)
Victor March (1)
Victor McLaglan (1)
Victor Trivas (1)
Victory Pictures (3)
Virginia Belmont (1)
Virginia Bruce (1)
Virginia Fox (3)
Virginia Grey (1)
Vivienne Osborne (1)
Viz (5)
Wallace Ford (2)
Walter Brandi (1)
Walter Geovani (2)
Walter Pidgeon (1)
Wanda McKay (4)
Warner Oland (3)
Warren Douglas (1)
Wayne Morris (1)
Webb Wilder (1)
Weird Al (3)
Wheeler & Woolsey (1)
Will Meugniot (1)
William Bendix (1)
William Boyd (1)
William Cagney (1)
William Castle (1)
William Frawley (2)
William Gargan (2)
William Nigh (7)
William Powell (4)
William Stout (3)
Willie Best (5)
WS Van Dyke (1)
Wynn Gibson (1)
Yellow Peril (7)
Yvette Vickers (1)
Yvonne Craig (2)
Zasu Pitts (13)
Zita Johann (2)
Other Blogs and Sites of Interest
Steve Miller's Domain of Fun and Games
Doctor Macro
Starlet Showcase
Lugosi is the dark, beating heart of 'The Invisibl...
Three horror greats and a novelty band in a time c...
Picture Perfect Wednesday:A kiss is just a kiss......
'Essential Tales of the Zombie' is an accurate tit...
Frankenstein returns to monster-making in the far-...
'The Corpse Vanishes' will make you appreciate you...
Top talent, bargain-basement comedy and thrills in...
'Horror Hotel' has lots of amosphere but few spark...
Picture Perfect Wednesday: Two Faces of Vampirella...
'X the Unknown' is the dirtiest radioactive monste...
'Things Happen at Night' is best viewed as sleep a...
Not much mummy action in this early horror film.
Lugosi and forgotten comedy team monkey around in ...
Does evil or madness move 'The Blancheville Monste...
One of the better 'bad monster movies' you'll ever...
The Addams Family was never as creepy as this fath...
Images are copyright their respective owners and are used here under the Fair Use provisions of the United States of America's copyright laws.
Text is Copyright Steve Miller 2003 - present. All Rights Reserved.
Contact Steve Miller at stevemillermail@gmail.com with questions or concerns.


A well-shaped 1430m2 one of a kind parcel of absolute beachfront land is now available. This is a great opportunity to build your dream beachfront home. The block of land is surrounded by million dollar homes and is located in a gated community with power and security. The land boasts views of Sanur, the east coastline of Bali and overlooks Lembongan Island.
Don't miss this opportunity as it wont be available for very long.


OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Police investigators on Monday were trying to determine whether a decaying human head found in an Oakland backyard belongs to a recently discovered headless corpse.
"They come into my house while I'm eating dinner — they come in and tell me something about a head. I don't know nothing about no head," Manul Adrow told the station about police.


Want to quit apps on iPhone X? Maybe an app is misbehaving or draining your battery, or maybe you don't want to updating or doing things in the background. If you need to quit running apps on iPhone X, you may have noticed that the traditional swipe up gesture does not work to close the app and instead sends you back to the home screen.
Instead, iPhone X has a new method of quitting apps that uses a two part method composed of both a gesture and then a tap and hold. It may take a little bit of getting used to, but the end result is the same; you can close out of running iOS apps.
* Once the red buttons appear, you can then swipe up on the preview cards to quit the apps. You can also tap multiple red minus buttons concurrently to quit multiple apps at the same time on iPhone X.
That's it, just swipe up to access the multitasking screen, then tap and hold, then tap the red button to quit apps on iPhone X. Or, tap and hold, then swipe up once you see the red buttons appear on the app previews. The tap and hold action is a bit like what you use to delete iOS apps quickly from the Home Screen too, so it should be familiar to iOS users. Of course here we're just quitting the app rather than deleting it, however.
Note that if you simply swipe up on an app preview card, like how you quit apps on prior iOS devices, you'll wind up back at the home screen of the iPhone X. But, you can swipe up after the red minus buttons appear on the app preview cards, that will close the apps as well.
How to quit apps in iOS has always been evolving, from what you see now on iPhone X (which perhaps will carry over to other devices, or change on iPhone X), to changing slightly just on iPad with iOS 11, to the swipe up movement on iOS 11, iOS 9, and iOS 10, to slight adjustments in appearance with iOS 8 and 7 but an otherwise familiar swipe up gesture, to… wait for it…. swiping up to access the multitasking bar and then tapping and holding on an app icon to quit the app… way back in good old iOS 6. In some ways we've come full circle when it comes to quitting apps now, but it goes without saying that the necessary actions change fairly frequently, so don't be surprised if it changes yet again for iPhone X.


What First Impression are YOU making?
More recently I've been fascinated by branding, as is evident in our last guest blog and wanted to find out more from the experts exactly what impact your profile picture has upon your business brand. So, this weeks guest blogger is Alistair Marshall. He's a proven Business Development guru, specialising in showing people how to attract more clients and win new business, particularly within the Professional Services arena.
Remember a brand is a collection of perceptions about you and your company. That means first impressions are hugely important. As an individual, people are judging you based on your appearance and your actions well before you get chance to open your mouth. What image is it you wish to portray to potential clients and are you delivering it?
Pictures save you a thousand words and that is why Top Quality High Resolution photographs are a must for both online and offline marketing materials.
How about all your marketing materials, what do they say about you? In these online times this is particularly true of your website. Any one who meets you at a networking event or via LinkedIn etc will go and check your online presence and gain an initial impression of who you are and what you do. Websites should not be an area where you look to make budget savings. Is yours a good reflection of the value you can offer clients?
So, as I said, what do your current images say about you?
As well as your personal appearance have a look around at your environment. Do you see a crumbling car park, peeling paint on the walls or a poor toilet and hand washing facilities?
Consider how visitors react to your initial contact in your reception area, do they have to endure rude service or have to wait a long time to be seen to? Anyone who has to suffer queueing in a High Street bank will know how this feels. What about your phone message? I recently contacted a law firm where I encountered a telephone answering machine, where I had to choose option 6 to get through to a very unhelpful human being, having been forced to listen to options for injury, disease and goodness knows what else. A very unfriendly first impression.


Nina Alrahbani is a Arab model. She is most rising well-known model in this time. Arab model Nina Alrahbani is very fashionable. She starts her primary career in modeling. Nina Alrahbani looks gorgeous. She is now one of the best choice Arab model girls. Nina Alrahbani is one of the most elegant and attractive personality with a voluptuous figure which sets her apart from other models. No doubt she is one of the most elegant and pretty woman in Arab modeling industry. In a very few time she is very popular in Arab model sector. Nina Alrahbani is intelligent, sweet, cute and pretty girl. Her positive attitude is the biggest strength in her life. She loves modeling and traveling. Arab model girl Nina Alrahbani is one of the Arab popular model and face girl. She is so cute and attractive Middle East lovely modeling girl. She wants to see herself being a celebrity. Nina Alrahbani is Arab top model girl and beauty queen. Nina Alrahbani also set up on many magazines and she is one of maxim cover girl. She also stars for some video as an actress. Nina Alrahbani has appeared on many TV shows. Here Enjoy Arab model Nina Alrahbani high quality picture. She is full of excitement and wants to see herself as a successful model.


A Northern Irish man has shared his weight loss secrets after losing a whopping 14 stone.
Eoin Coyle had ballooned to 28 stone and was consuming 3-4000 calories a day when he finally decided enough was enough.
The 30-year-old halved his body weight by researching nutrition and finding an exercise regime that suited him.
"By the time I was 19, I had hit 24 stone," he told Belfast Live.
Eoin dropped an amazing 14 stone in just 16 months and went on to train for a half marathon, losing a further two stone.
However he has since regained this and maintains a healthy weight.
"I was really lucky because I managed to escape serious illness as a result of my weight," he went on.
The North West Regional College employee now starts every day with a 5am gym session and drinks at least four litres of water.


text:
Bootnotes
Mad Max: Fury Road – two hours of nonstop, utterly insane fantasy action
This is not a film, it's an assault on your senses
By Brid-Aine Parnell 16 May 2015 at 11:00
Film Review The one thing you can definitely say about George Miller's revival of his post-apocalyptic Aussie outback petrolhead Mad Max is that it stays true to the original films.
There's no Mel Gibson this time around, of course, instead the mantle of the monosyllabic, mentally-compromised desert drifter is worn by Tom Hardy. Mad Max: Fury Road could be read as a re-imagining or a sequel, with Max once more alone in his car, driven batshit crazy by memories of those he's tried and failed to help.
Max is quickly captured by the latest band of crazed zealots, under the cult leadership of King Immortan Joe (played by original Mad Max baddie, Hugh Keays-Byrne). Like many a classic sci-fi villain in a post-apocalyptic world, Immortan Joe is utterly grotesque, obsessed with his familial bloodline and enjoys various kinds of quirky behaviour, such as milking women to drink and bathe in their breast milk (as you do).
This obsession provides Max with a way out of his forced captivity as a "blood bank" for Immortan Joe's many sickly lesser offspring, when his harem of beautiful, healthy women is freed by Imperiator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). Furiosa, once a captive herself, has worked her way up to the trusted position of Imperiator and driver of the encampment's war rig, before deciding to take her chance to return home to the "green place" she remembers from her childhood, liberating Joe's "breeders" along the way.
Pursued by Joe and his War Boys, including the rather inept Nux (Nicholas Hoult), the whole thing quickly turns into an exceedingly loud, violent and explosive high-speed car chase that pretty much lasts the entire movie. Like the Mad Max films of the past, Fury Road is low on plot, exposition, narrative structure and dialogue. This is all about landscape, rabidly capering extras, costume design and, of course, vehicles tricked out in every conceivable fashion and flipping, crashing and exploding all over the screen.
It's like a relentless video-game-mash-up of Grand Theft Auto and The Last of US or an endless death metal music video, an impression helped by the fact that the War Boys travel with one truck loaded with huge kettle drums and another with a guitar-linked deck of around 20 amplifiers.
But there are a few incongruous moments that pull you back from the fantasy a bit. A two-hour running time is about half an hour too long for this kind of movie.
Oh, and the scene where Max rounds a corner to come upon the bevy of beautiful breeders for the first time, gathered around a giant water hose, washing in a most salaciously suggestive manner in the skimpiest of garments, is unintentionally quite hilarious. Or perhaps it was intentional, as Max's face is quite a picture.
Finally, I couldn't help thinking that for a society that's low on gasoline, water and bullets, everyone seemed as keen as mustard to waste as much as possible of each one. Firing live weapons at fuel tankers they hoped to capture, throwing water over themselves when they barely have enough to drink and punctuating their rage with random machine gun fire into the sky.
However, if you can suspend your disbelief, if you loved the old films, or if you can buy into two whole hours of this high-octane assault on the senses, you'll probably love it. ®
Title Mad Max: Fury Road
Director George Miller
Cast Courtney Eaton, Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Riley Keough, Zoe Kravitz, Abbey Lee, Charlize Theron
Release date 14 May (UK/US)
More info Movie website
You're not Boeing to believe this, but... Another deadly 737 Max control bug found
Sim uncovers code-triggered hardware failure that pitches jetliner nose down
Marvell's Avengers, er, Aquantia Endgame: Biz gobbled up for $452m in robo-ride Ethernet bid
Self-driving cars are gonna need a decent amount of internal networking
'Software delivered to Boeing' now blamed for 737 Max warning fiasco
Engineers knew of problem in 2017. Management didn't until after fatal crash
Boeing... Boeing... Gone: Canada, America finally ground 737 Max jets as they await anti-death-crash software patches
Mad Max airline grudgingly backs decision 'out of an abundance of caution'
Facebook and Max Schrems back in court again, both pissed off at Ireland's data regulator
If you had made a decision in 2013, we wouldn't all be here
Airlines in Asia, Africa ground Boeing 737 Max 8s after second death crash in four-ish months
Software may have played a grim role in both fatal accidents
Boeing boss denies reports 737 Max safety systems weren't active
If it's Boeing, I'm not going
Node your customer, right NetApp? It's only gone and hooked up MAX Data to HCI
Analysis PMem software hustle for the hyperconverged – if all goes to plan...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Is this tax credit really for low income families?
The short answer is no. Hypothetically, you get the maximum amount if you make $35,000 or less in a year, but it doesn't really matter, because no modest income family could afford to pay the fees and then wait until tax time for the credit. The tax credit is competing against the existing program of subsidies for low income families, and Ontario's subsidy is the most generous in Canada.
Figure 1 shows the situation in Toronto, where median infant fees are $1,685 a month, or $20,220 a year. Mathematically, a family making $35,000 could spend two-thirds of its income on child care alone and then get $6,750 back at tax time, but this would be crazy. You still have to feed and house your children. Even after the rebate, the net cost of child care is $13,470, still a third of your income.
What a family making $35,000 is actually going to do is apply for a low income subsidy. With the subsidy their out-of-pocket cost for their Toronto spot is just $125 a month, or $1,500 a year. So if you make $35,000 a year, you're clearly going to try for a low income spot, and if you don't get it you're just not going to use child care, credit or not.
Now, Toronto infant fees are the highest of any fees in the country; commonly it will cost around $1,000 a month for a licensed preschool space. In Ottawa, the fee for a median preschool space is $1,007 a month, or $12,084 a year. Figure 2 runs the same calculations as Figure 1, but at Ottawa's lower fee level. Even in this scenario, families making $35,000 or less will still seek out a subsidized space, which is far cheaper ($125 a month, or $1,500 a year).
While the new program may be pitched as a low income aid, no low income family would ever use the full value, since fees are just too high: they'd go for a subsidy or avoid the system altogether. The low income portion of this credit isn't for low income families. It might as well be for unicorns.
Have large child care tax credits been tried elsewhere?
Quebec has a growing for-profit child care system financed by exactly the type of tax credit proposed in the Brown plan/maybe Ford plan. In most of Quebec's big cities about a third of spaces are not within the vaunted $8/day system, but are rather at market rates against which the tax credit is applied.
It is an interesting controlled experiment to see which system provides better outcomes, the public capped fee or the for-private market rate. Even taking the tax credit into account, the for-profit system ends up being more expensive for parents. Moreover, quality is lower in that for-profit system, which I suppose shouldn't be that surprising: you have to generate those profits somehow, often by compromising on quality.
Will tax credits reduce wait lists?
Tax credits don't build quality child care spaces. They also don't reduce wait lists. In the larger Ontario cities, wait lists are essentially universal at all child care centres. Given that places like Toronto are already the most expensive cities in the country for child care, just having higher fees for spaces does not mean you'll have fewer or shorter waiting lists.
The market, left to its own devices, will not build enough spaces. Only public policy does that. If anything, a new tax credit program in Ontario will merely push up demand, making wait lists even longer.
There are not nearly enough spaces as it stands in Ontario, which ranks 8th out of 13 provinces and territories in this respect. Ontario has three non-school-aged kids vying for every licensed space. Several Some Ontario cities do even worse than the average. In Brampton, 95% of children live in a child care desert (a postal code with more than three kids per licensed space). Kitchener is not far behind with 87% of kids in a child care desert, and Hamilton with 71% of kids in deserts. Click on the map below to see child care coverage by postal code. As you can already see below, if you don't live downtown, there probably aren't enough child care spaces.
On balance, a tax credit approach will likely be expensive and have little positive effect on child care affordability or availability for most. If anything, other provinces are moving in the opposite direction, towards a set-fee approach like in Quebec's $8/day system, with B.C., Alberta and Newfoundland attempting to control fees directly. Without a boost in child care spaces, families will continue to wait.
Ontario is not open for business if women don't have the opportunity to work Or rather Ontario is open for business but only for a privileged few .


UNLIMITED GROUP CLASS PACKAGE $50/mo.
BIWEEKLY PRIVATE SESSION PACKAGE $75/mo.
WEEKLY PRIVATE SESSION PACKAGE $125/mo.
Integrative support packages are designed to make whole-person healing accessible, and to promote consistent practice in order to optimize mental health and wellness benefits. As such, unused services do not carry over to subsequent weeks or months.


If you're wondering, chances are someone else is too. Below are answers to some frequently asked questions.
More often than not, we're working on a project during studio hours, so unless we have a scheduled call we keep our fingers on the keyboard. We check email twice a day and do our very best to reply within two business days.
You'll find us in the studio Monday through Friday from 9am – 4pm ET; we're closed Saturday, Sunday, and most U.S. Holidays.
We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover credit cards as well as bank transfers through our secure invoicing platform. Business checks may be accepted with pre-authorization.
Cost and turn around depend greatly on the needs and complexity of your project. While it's always best to discuss the details of your project, it's good to know logo design starts at $1250, and websites at $3250.
Nota Bene: All products and services are subject to our Terms of Service.
Remember: there are no stupid questions. We're more than happy to discuss your unique situation and needs. Drop a line and let us know what you're thinking.


By: JGI Adam Arkin, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, at the 9th Annual Genomics of Energy & Environment Meeting on March 20, 2014 in Walnut Creek, Calif.
This textbook represents the entire catalog of Noba topics. It contains 80+ learning modules covering every area of psychology commonly taught in introductory courses. Each module starts with learning objectives and content sections and is followed up with discussion questions, outside resources, vocabulary, and a reference list.
The hunt is on among the world's airlines for faster and more efficient ways to keep jet engines in tip-top condition. Could the answer be tiny robots that inspect and fix them from the inside? Also, a new study shows that birds deliberately weave cigarette butts into their nests to help keep parasites away. And is it right to relinquish control of our identities to private companies? Jason Palmer hosts.
Today's project comes to us from Marc Drossaers who teaches us a good bit about jitter, what it is and best of all how we can add a jitter filter to our next Kinect project. This is a smaller piece of a bigger project he's working on, one that I'm sure we'll be highlighting soon..
give examples of how the establishment of Bedfordshire Mencap has offered support to parents of children with learning difficulties.