[6] Margot Kidder (Superman: The Movie) and Jennifer Salt star in director Brian De Palma’s blatant love letter to Alfred Hitchcock. De Palma starts the movie off in a Psycho-like fashion, introducing us to an actress (Kidder) who takes a man home for a one-night stand. After we spend a good twenty minutes or so with the lovers, a woman in an apartment across the …
[6] Civil War soldiers escape capture in a hot air balloon only to become stranded on an uncharted island inhabited by mutant creatures. Mysterious Island is more than just another showcase for effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen. I enjoyed the survival aspect of the storyline, which throws disparate personalities together and forces them to depend on each other for survival (a notion I always tend to …
[7] Gregory Peck plays a prosecutor terrorized by Robert Mitchum, a recently released convict Peck sent to prison eight years ago. Director J. Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone) takes his cues from Hitchcock and crafts a film that can compete with much of Hitch’s work (it helps to have Bernard Herrmann doing the music.) The censors put just enough of a damper on the film …
[6] A composer suffers from frequent black-outs and begins to wonder if he’s not responsible for a series of murdered women in the area. Hangover Square is a very good dark drama featuring a great performance by Laird Cregar. Some say this movie is a remake of 1944’s The Lodger (also starring Cregar), which is in turn a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 film The …
[8] Sinbad must rescue his wife-to-be from the clutches of an evil sorcerer who takes her away to an island full of dangerous monsters in this ebullient fantasy adventure from director Nathan Juran and pioneering effects artist Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation combine with Bernard Herrmann’s music to give this romantic adventure wings. You can see and hear the passions of both men in the …
[9] A young, lonely widow gains her independence by moving into a seaside cottage where she begins a supernatural relationship with the ghost of a crusty sea captain. As the two begin to fall in love, a flesh-and-blood suitor rivals for her affection. Time goes by and the woman begins to wonder if the old ghost was just a figment of her imagination. As far …
[10] William Dieterle’s adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benet’s The Devil and Daniel Webster is a winning combination of rustic Americana and dark fantasy. A cautionary tale of greed and power, the narrative centers around the character of Jabez Stone (James Craig), a down-on-his-luck farmer who is barely able to support his family in 1840s New Hampshire. When the nefarious Mr. Scratch (Walter Houston) appears during …
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