[5] Jon Hall plays the grandson of the original Invisible Man, played by Claude Rains in 1933. In this third sequel, Hall is pressured to take his grandfather’s transparency potion to serve the United States as a secret agent in Nazi Germany. Once there, Hall falls in love with a fellow agent (Ilona Massey) and tries to obtain information on a rumored German invasion of …
[7] Producer Walt Disney brings Jules Verne’s adventure to the big screen in his first live-action feature, one that nearly bankrupted the studio and ended up being the most expensive movie ever made up to that time. James Mason stars as Captain Nemo, who uses his advanced submarine, the Nautilus, to destroy war-faring vessels. After one such attack, he picks up a sailor, a professor, …
[7] After success with House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, and Tales of Terror, Roger Corman further exploited Edgar Allan Poe’s name with The Raven. But this time, the film bears little resemblance to Poe’s story. Instead, legendary sci-fi scribe Richard Matheson wrote a fairly engaging comedic tale about three dueling wizards. Vincent Price plays the first wizard, mourning over the death of his …
[8] This one is often regarded as the first quintessential Alfred Hitchcock film, and what’s not to like? A little girl is kidnapped and her family are forced to go through the hoops for her safe return. Peter Lorre steals the show as the baddie, complete with a scarred brow and white streak in his hair. There are some wonderfully understated moments of horror, like …
[3] Clark Gable escapes the Devil’s Island penal colony and takes floozie Joan Crawford along for the ride. Along with a handful of other fleeing criminals, they rough it through the jungle and long days at sea to reach the mainland and freedom. Sounds like a great matinee movie, but then enters Ian Hunter, who plays a moralizing goodie-two-shoes escapee named Cambreau. At the height …
[7] A claustrophobic mystery featuring a career-launching performance from Humphrey Bogart. Characters like Sam Spade can often be played over the top, but Bogart keeps it grounded and accessible for me. I also like the ensemble of supporting players, including Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and Mary Astor — all greedy characters who can’t be trusted. The final act puts them all in a room together, …
[7] Peter Lorre gives a star-making performance as a child murderer running from both the law and the criminal underground in this stylish early ‘talkie’ from Fritz Lang (Metropolis). As much as I love both Lang and Lorre, M is a mixed bag for me. It starts off brilliantly, with the children singing and the villain’s shadowy introduction. But as the movie becomes more about …
[7] Peter Lorre stars as a doctor so obsessed with an actress (Frances Drake), that after a train wreck destroys her husband’s hands, Lorre offers to perform a transplant. Problem is, the new hands once belonged to a murderer, and old habits die hard… even for disembodied hands. Mad Love benefits from Lorre’s creepy performance and many exotic settings, including recreations of a famous Guignol …
[4] Around the World in 80 Days is a three-hour-long, episodic adventure that’s high on spectacle and low on story or character. I wager it played better to a 1950s audience interested in seeing a cliche-ridden “It’s a Small World”-like pastiche of world cultures. I wish leading actor David Niven had more to do in his role — it could have really helped the film …
[9] Everybody comes to Rick’s, and everyone loves Casablanca. What’s not to like? Humphrey Bogart turns in a commanding performance as Rick, the reluctant American exile who runs a popular nightclub in North Africa during early World War II. He says he sticks his neck out for no one, but he’s really just a softy who had his heart broken by Ingrid Bergman several years …
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