WOODY ALLEN'S CINEMATIC FANTASY 'THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GIRE09LCIqQ/YHax-oPLugI/AAAAAAABfXM/lI1uvmzRGcwweEQhRN1YWdmA66WTSznSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-04-13%25252Bat%25252B3.46.04%25252BAM%25252B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GIRE09LCIqQ/YHax-oPLugI/AAAAAAABfXM/lI1uvmzRGcwweEQhRN1YWdmA66WTSznSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-04-13%25252Bat%25252B3.46.04%25252BAM%25252B2.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Juliana Donald plays a theater worker who's very cute in THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO Year: 1985 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As creative as PLAY IT AGAIN SAM is, with Humphrey Bogart appearing to Woody Allen's movie-buff character with advice on dames, the Depression-era PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO goes much further, deeper, with Jeff Daniels as both the actor, Gil Shepard, who brought a character, Tom Baxter, to life, literally... </p><p></p><p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Written for the screen and having walked right through it, not only tired of being stuck in the celluloid purgatory and wanting to delve into the real world, he's smitten with Farrow's underdog cinefile, who he'd noticed in the audience during matinee screenings, again and again: Farrow's Cecelia lost her job  after her husband cheats right in front of her face: the theater is her only place to remain safe, and sane...</span></p><span></span>

danny aiello, deborah rush, dianne wiest, edward hermann, eighties, fantasy, jeff daniels, juliana donald, mia farrow, romantic comedy, woody allen

WOODY ALLEN'S CINEMATIC FANTASY 'THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO'

Juliana Donald plays a theater worker who's very cute in THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO Year: 1985 Rates: **** As creative as PLAY IT AGAIN SA...

VAL GUEST 'THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE' WITH JANET MUNRO

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GoOQ7dgQMVg/YHWWJXdERJI/AAAAAAABfW0/Np3P_rCDoDsvQlRik9ZlhtukLbpjYzAFACLcBGAsYHQ/s1903/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-13%2Bat%2B5.59.47%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1415" data-original-width="1903" height="297" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GoOQ7dgQMVg/YHWWJXdERJI/AAAAAAABfW0/Np3P_rCDoDsvQlRik9ZlhtukLbpjYzAFACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h297/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-13%2Bat%2B5.59.47%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE Released in 1961</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A rat-a-tat dialog hybrid of THE FRONT PAGE and the doomsday-anticipation of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, Val Guest's disaster opus THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE has ice caps melting decades before the standard trend...<br></p><p>And there's a fair amount of preaching (albeit far ahead of its time) like any cautionary science-fiction... but everything flows not only with the dire situation at hand but the hustle and bustle of a hustling/bustling newspaper office... </p><p>Where boozy yet intellectual veteran reporter Leo McKern and tattered, has-been, single father Edward Judd are in the nervy dilemma of figuring exactly what to write about — despite the fact both America <i>and</i> Russia tested nuclear weapons not only one day apart, but an entire week earlier, so, with <i>that </i>important game-changing aspect out of the way, the story begins as if the viewer arrived fifteen-minutes late as Judd's snarky, sarcastic reporter is a bit much to take so soon, all at once: Yet his obnoxious persona makes more sense the closer the slow-burn, possibly-apocalyptic future nears...</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FIUrWUb9g58/YGq-4aPprRI/AAAAAAABfAI/7gBzW7x-NaYPNan4U7S8qmegteFDpc-xQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1329/738329247997.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="909" data-original-width="1329" height="274" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FIUrWUb9g58/YGq-4aPprRI/AAAAAAABfAI/7gBzW7x-NaYPNan4U7S8qmegteFDpc-xQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h274/738329247997.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Top Half of The Day BLU RAY Rating: ****1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>That director Val Guest initially progresses with mild catastrophes, from a heat wave to a dense fog, ultimately leading to the primary flaw, which, in 1961, couldn't be helped... although, mainly set in a press-room, the starkly contrasting/randomly inserted film-aesthetic of actual storms, fires and floods <i>could</i> be attributed to news footage as opposed to stock footage...<br></p><p></p><p>And like any Disaster tale there needs a human angle... and Judd's romance with gorgeous and assertive Janet Munro, coinciding with each of nature's setbacks, is the true mainline... </p><p>Since, as a government secretary, she picks up on important information first, their heated chemistry... along with various eruptions of newsroom politics and deadlines... flows smoothly yet frantically, making DAY a counterpart to Val Guest's police procedural <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/HellisACity.html">HELL IS A CITY</a>: the underrated auteur (usually employed by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/hammer%20films">Hammer</a>) is key at moving an intense, suspenseful film's pace neatly in-step with the all-too-human characters, desperately trapped in-between. <br></p><span></span>

action, bernard braden, british, cult, disaster, edward judd, gene anderson, geoffrey frederick, janet munro, julie samuel, leo mckern, michael caine, nuclear, sixties, val guest

VAL GUEST 'THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE' WITH JANET MUNRO

THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE Released in 1961 A rat-a-tat dialog hybrid of THE FRONT PAGE and the doomsday-anticipation of THE DAY THE EART...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S 'THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT'

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_sbKgvIy6Ek/YGpTuM6ehNI/AAAAAAABe_E/E-e2vbLz9lgDiEjvg1KuCw7nRiVhnfLiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s541/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-04%2Bat%2B4.58.50%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="541" height="283" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_sbKgvIy6Ek/YGpTuM6ehNI/AAAAAAABe_E/E-e2vbLz9lgDiEjvg1KuCw7nRiVhnfLiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h283/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-04%2Bat%2B4.58.50%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for Quatermass Year: 1955 Rates: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>An episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE four years before THE TWILIGHT ZONE, Hammer went from Noir to Sci-Fi with Val Guest's THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT before their groundbreaking Classic Monster outing THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN... </p><p></p><p>And, right down to a little girl befriending a monstrous beast close to water, this XPERIMENT is basically James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN had he returned from a rocket ship sent up prematurely by our more impatient than mad scientist in title character Quatermass, played by American import Brian Donlevy, letting all the intrigue swirl around his usual mellow cadence... </p><p>And the more animated British co-stars, primarily token constable Jack Warner, wind up chasing the human creature that inevitably turns into a bigger alien creature. But the best scenes occur during the enigmatic buildup when the characters, and audience, aren't sure why of three astronauts only one returned in long-faced Hammer regular Richard Wordsworth who, beloved by an oblivious wife, is a lot more horrifying before he springs into town-trudging life... of the reanimated kind... in a neat and nifty hybrid of Science-Fiction and body count Horror. </p><p><span></span></p>

body count, brian donlevy, creature, fifties, gordon jackson, hammer, horror, jack warner, jane asher, richard wordsworth, science-fiction, val guest

VAL GUEST DIRECTS HAMMER'S 'THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT'

Poster for Quatermass Year: 1955 Rates: **** An episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE four years before THE TWILIGHT ZONE, Hammer went from Noir to S...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN HAMMER'S 'HELL IS A CITY'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-toiQ-FK06uY/YE1kTZU5CqI/AAAAAAABeJY/eKGjxERtgHAow-jZ57jvI7EPEmIRE0olgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1201/z.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1201" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-toiQ-FK06uY/YE1kTZU5CqI/AAAAAAABeJY/eKGjxERtgHAow-jZ57jvI7EPEmIRE0olgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/z.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>John Crawford & Lois Daine Year: 1960 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The second and final Hammer feature with Val Guest directing his <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/YE.html">YESTERDAY'S ENEMY</a> leading man Stanley Baker, HELL IS A CITY is not only a Noir-like Police Procedural but an Escaped Convict Procedural as sinister John Crawford hops from various former colleagues and lovers while intense cop Baker, who'd originally put him away and is revenge-driven to nab him back, visits/questions the same people, from a bookie's cheating wife (Billie Whitelaw ignoring rich husband Donald Pleasence who employed doomed Lois Daine); a flirty waitress; a stubborn salesman with a gorgeous deaf/dumb daughter (Sarah Branch); and featuring various locales run by a shady gang with deliciously pulpy nicknames like Clogger Roach...</p><p>A gritty hybrid of action and thriller, CITY hits a slight wall <i>only</i> during the third act after Crawford's equally desperate and resilient and entirely scene-stealing menace vanishes for a bit, focusing more into Baker sweating-out the <i>real</i> accomplices aided by faithful young partner Geoffrey Frederick: But overall the tightly-wound cadence, juxtaposing the tough good and rough bad guy — shifting smoothly from busy Manchester to the outlying Moors to a brawling rooftop climax — features raw violence even for 1960 after Film Noir had ended... yet this kind of stylistic crime thriller was just reigniting it with the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/british%20new%20wave">British New Wave.</a> <br></p><p><span></span></p>

billie whitelaw, british neo noir, british new wave, donald pleasence, geoffrey frederick, hammer films, jazz score, john crawford, lois daine, sarah branch, sixties, stanley baker, val guest, vanda godsell

VAL GUEST DIRECTS STANLEY BAKER IN HAMMER'S 'HELL IS A CITY'

John Crawford & Lois Daine Year: 1960 Rates: **** The second and final Hammer feature with Val Guest directing his YESTERDAY'S ENEMY...

MICHAEL CRAIG KILLING IT FOR 'PAYROLL' AKA 'I PROMISED TO PAY'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OvvyLsNQ7xo/YFryL-5aOWI/AAAAAAABey0/TnyBrEab1DMr685DKrJwL3xcJTocAJ4FgCLcBGAsYHQ/s476/MV5BMDdhZjgxMDktZTJiZi00MjhlLTkxOTMtZWRkMTJhMDAzOWM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDUyOTUyNQ%2540%2540._V1_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="447" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OvvyLsNQ7xo/YFryL-5aOWI/AAAAAAABey0/TnyBrEab1DMr685DKrJwL3xcJTocAJ4FgCLcBGAsYHQ/w376-h400/MV5BMDdhZjgxMDktZTJiZi00MjhlLTkxOTMtZWRkMTJhMDAzOWM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDUyOTUyNQ%2540%2540._V1_.jpeg" width="376"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Originally titled PAYROLL Year: 1961 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Early example of girl power encroaching a manly action flick, or more like widow power in that Billie Whitelaw only initially <i>seems</i> the docile suburban wife/mother, married to the literally <i>driven</i> creator of an armored vehicle — whose invention thwarts a gang's plan to rob a factory safe, now mobile...<br></p><p></p><p>But the equally driven <i>and</i> dangerous Michael Craig (contrasting to the heroic <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/Misland.html">MYSTERIOUS ISLAND</a> role) is hell-bent on the blag going down... </p><p>And like the likely inspiration of Richard Fleischer's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/11/ACR.html">A</a><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/11/ACR.html">RMORED CAR ROBBERY</a>, there are four crooks and one of their wives is smitten for the vicious leader...</p><p>Making for a racy romance between killer Craig and French beauty Françoise Prévost, married to inside man <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/gimme-a.html">William Lucas,</a> one of the plan's two guilt-ridden weak links along with nebbish Kenneth Griffith, who, unlike the frantic/paranoid Lucas, doesn't really belong here (as an actor <i>or</i> character)... </p><p>Leaving the best for last in wild card Tom Bell, starting a career of edgy, argumentative, irritated young thugs and, like in another British heist thriller, A PRIZE OF ARMS, he even blindly rebels against the smarter, much stronger criminal boss: Their tension setting the unpredictable mood far more capably than widow Whitelaw, whose vengeful trail is not only contrived but sometimes laughably convenient... Morphing the sparse Noir-suited title of PAYROLL into I PROMISED TO PAY, sounding more Harlequin than Hardboiled.<br></p><p><span></span></p>

billie whitelaw, british, british neo noir, british new wave, françoise prévost, heist, jazz score, kenneth griffith, pauline shepherd, revenge, sixties, tom bell, william lucas

MICHAEL CRAIG KILLING IT FOR 'PAYROLL' AKA 'I PROMISED TO PAY'

Originally titled PAYROLL Year: 1961 Rates: ***1/2 Early example of girl power encroaching a manly action flick, or more like widow power in...

STANLEY BAKER IN 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND' WITH PETER CUSHING

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VUneStiZ3K0/YGCiO5CClyI/AAAAAAABe6Q/E9z5IDqpj30LfFZ8JPVyQTfXkZjAAnvhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s420/MV5BOTNkZjcxOTAtZDRkYS00ZTc4LTliMmMtMjJhODI5NjA5MTNhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI4MjA5MzA%2540._V1_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="420" height="314" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VUneStiZ3K0/YGCiO5CClyI/AAAAAAABe6Q/E9z5IDqpj30LfFZ8JPVyQTfXkZjAAnvhwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h314/MV5BOTNkZjcxOTAtZDRkYS00ZTc4LTliMmMtMjJhODI5NjA5MTNhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI4MjA5MzA%2540._V1_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>VIOLENT PLAYGROUND Year: 1958 Rates: ****</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A year after playing brothers in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a>, making Stanley Baker famous and putting cameo David McCallum on the map, they both starred equally in VIOLENT PLAYGROUND, with Baker as a detective reluctantly demoted to juvenile liaison because he couldn't close an arson case... </p><p>Little does he know McCallum's street punk leader, Johnny, is the fire-starter. And as the movie begins with a <i>Rock Around the Clock</i> ripoff, inspired by BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, this gang not only fights but dances to that new thing called Rock N' Roll...<br></p><p></p><p>And while Baker wields his usual square-jawed hero, he also displays a vulnerable side, keeping two children out of future trouble while falling in love with their hard-working, cop-hating sister Anne Heywood, who, like oldest brother Johnny, only trusts local priest Peter Cushing (channeling Dana Andrews from <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/08/EOD.html">EDGE OF DOOM</a>). The best scenes involve the trouble Baker gets into by pressing the truth after figuring it out. Leading to an overlong but still intense third act as gun-wielding Johnny holds a classroom of children hostage, morphing from James's Dean to Cagney i.e. rebel to psychopath. Yet here the picture mostly belongs to the ingenue, playing mind-games to calm her brother, at which point both McCallum and Baker turn from lead actors to audience members. With front row seats.  <br></p><p><span></span></p>

anne heywood, david mccallum, fifties, film noir or melodrama, music, peter cushing, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER IN 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND' WITH PETER CUSHING

VIOLENT PLAYGROUND Year: 1958 Rates: **** A year after playing brothers in HELL DRIVERS , making Stanley Baker famous and putting cameo Davi...

CAROL WHITE IN 'POOR COW' FEATURING TERENCE STAMP

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g5DBt8OE1vU/YGZxXmnOljI/AAAAAAABe-Y/S6WXEyyuK7sJTcZUWURHy64sxHoutmlzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1630/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-01%2Bat%2B4.19.48%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="1630" height="259" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g5DBt8OE1vU/YGZxXmnOljI/AAAAAAABe-Y/S6WXEyyuK7sJTcZUWURHy64sxHoutmlzwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h259/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-01%2Bat%2B4.19.48%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Carol White in POOR COW Year: 1967 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Since selections of POOR COW were used in the 1999 thriller THE LIMEY showing star Terence Stamp's younger self, and the plot involves crooks, there's an assumption this is another British crime flick... <i>starring</i> Terence Stamp... and both are far from the truth: In fact we only see the police or judge cleaning up each heist's aftermath...</p><p>An aftermath's aftermath that belongs entirely to Carol White, resembling one of several English blondes including Julie Christie, Judy Geeson and Susannah York only going far beneath the usual pretty actress performance... </p><p>In that POOR COW harbors a non-performance within a documentary-style, right down to title cards and narration as White's Joy, always with her baby (at various stages) nearby, goes from an idyllic tryst with Stamp's nice guy burglar Dave, ending abruptly in an arrest where she's on her own, working various jobs, from a cocktail waitress to a nude photo model. And with bad husband John Bindon imprisoned before Stamp, and with the laidback aura of a friend's cool little sister, she takes up with just about any man, at any age or make, for simply flirting in her direction: An uncomfortable, non-glamorous role where White, despite her perky cuteness, never poses or relies on looks, often seeming like a hardened woman past her prime, yet somehow narrowly optimistic... A part Julie Christie would never have dared to play, POOR COW is the tattered noose of The Swinging Sixties, and is another ultra-realistic art film too good for its own good to receive the awards, accolades and cult following it deserves. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Eue3zlu4iss/YGcTshnOMuI/AAAAAAABe-0/Qskyena7cFgImOVSsYO9vp-aotR9gKhKACLcBGAsYHQ/s1824/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-04-01%252Bat%252B11.41.11%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1824" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Eue3zlu4iss/YGcTshnOMuI/AAAAAAABe-0/Qskyena7cFgImOVSsYO9vp-aotR9gKhKACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-04-01%252Bat%252B11.41.11%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Carol White in POOR COW</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

british new wave, carol white, crime, drama, exploitation, john bindon, ken loach, pseudo documentary, romance, sixties, terence stamp

CAROL WHITE IN 'POOR COW' FEATURING TERENCE STAMP

Carol White in POOR COW Year: 1967 Rating: ***** Since selections of POOR COW were used in the 1999 thriller THE LIMEY showing star Terence ...

CLINT EASTWOOD STARS/DIRECTS DIRTY HARRY IN 'SUDDEN IMPACT'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HNTA8g1tcHA/YHRIMcfuAKI/AAAAAAABfQU/c8Dm6vJNqjM0dTl2OWrlef0uBsG8E_UfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s399/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-04-08%25252Bat%25252B7.06.21%25252BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="399" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HNTA8g1tcHA/YHRIMcfuAKI/AAAAAAABfQU/c8Dm6vJNqjM0dTl2OWrlef0uBsG8E_UfQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h276/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-04-08%25252Bat%25252B7.06.21%25252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clint Eastwood in Sudden Impact Year: 1983 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The penultimate Dirty Harry is an exploitation of slick, mechanized 1980's violence, body count style, twofold, as vengeful killers stalk Callahan while the mainline has artist Sondra Locke seeking her own revenge from a group of small town San Paulo locals that, years earlier, under a carnival pier, raped her and her sister, inspiring morbid gallery paintings, and, hiding in plain sight, she's restoring the same carnival's carousel while randomly killing off the rapists...<br></p><p>Meanwhile, Harry is, ironically, being punished for leaving a trail of dead villains who wanted <i>him</i> dead first... sent on what he thinks is a busman's holiday/nowhere murder case, also in San Paulo where the second act has an investigatory town-with-secrets noir vibe, connecting the picked-off perverts with a stern local sheriff. And while most of the fun's had during the rudimentary non-stop action involving Harry and Locke's Jennifer on their own, SUDDEN IMPACT remains worthwhile throughout, including the usual over-the-top lead antagonist. But it's "The Dyke" (Audrie Neenan), a wicked witch of cackling butch-lesbian bravado, who steals the evil side of things, and, despite mostly playing out in sunlight ("Make my DAY" after all).... and neatly directed by Eastwood while funky Lalo Schifrin provides a record-scratching theme as black regular Albert Popwell pops up again... IMPACT is an intensely dark entry in the iconic franchise that should have ended right here. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1g_o4-NM4lo/YHL00YHdX2I/AAAAAAABfQE/7nvx4f4cb0ATwaP9wfu7ZYRylaZVoSgAACLcBGAsYHQ/s1537/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B6.02.03%2BAM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="1537" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1g_o4-NM4lo/YHL00YHdX2I/AAAAAAABfQE/7nvx4f4cb0ATwaP9wfu7ZYRylaZVoSgAACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B6.02.03%2BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clint Eastwood in SUDDEN IMPACT</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, albert popwell, audrie neenan, body count, bradford dillman, clint eastwood, cop, dirty harry, eighties, exploitation, franchise, mara corday, pat hingle, sondra locke, thriller

CLINT EASTWOOD STARS/DIRECTS DIRTY HARRY IN 'SUDDEN IMPACT'

Clint Eastwood in Sudden Impact Year: 1983 Rates: **** The penultimate Dirty Harry is an exploitation of slick, mechanized 1980's violen...

STANLEY BAKER BONDS ESPIONAGE IN 'INNOCENT BYSTANDERS'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4lGAXpvE0r8/YFqytevhmQI/AAAAAAABevk/U0MRAsLEyTsVBPzpFfya61-j_UqG1NM7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s977/s-l1600.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="977" height="315" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4lGAXpvE0r8/YFqytevhmQI/AAAAAAABevk/U0MRAsLEyTsVBPzpFfya61-j_UqG1NM7ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h315/s-l1600.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Bond style poster art from 1972 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Square-jawed British actor Stanley Baker was "considered" for James Bond... ironically he resembles Sean Connery and <i>starred</i> in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/09/HellDrivers.html">HELL DRIVERS</a> where a young Connery began...<br></p><p></p><p>Skip to... fifteen-years later, after super-star Connery left the iconic spy role, Baker starred in a movie so Bondish that... just hearing the flaunting, jazzy, repetitive score, you'd think INNOCENT BYSTANDERS was yet another 007 entry, including power-hungry villains, led by the most famous of Bond foes, Donald Pleasence, danging a carrot to lesser corporate heavy Dana Andrews...</p><p>The first who Baker's agent/assassin John Craig works for, sent on what's basically a suicide mission to retrieve a rogue Jewish scientist, making the action-packed scenes when he's in the dark work best — and is where <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/01/wacky-action-heist-crime-for-englands.html">ITALIAN JOB</a> director Peter Collinson uses enough signature 1970's zoom shots to put a dozen Kung Fu flicks to shame... BYSTANDERS even includes karate fights between "Craig" and scene-stealing mercenary couple Darren Nesbitt and Sue Lloyd, who call him "old man" and needed more overall screen-time... Instead, forced, semi-likeable comic relief Warren Mitchell as an Australian con man and the INNOCENT character in Geraldine Chaplin's mousy ingenue, conveniently kidnapped and along for the ride — from England to Turkey — slows both the pace and Baker's no-nonsense tough guy, who becomes so pitifully vulnerable, anyone expecting daring-do adventure from a daring-do adventurer will eventually tire of the poor guy getting captured, tortured, and recaptured: What <i>Wouldn't</i> Bond Do.    <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, dana andrews, darren nesbitt, donald pleasence, espionage, geraldine chaplin, pauline chamberlain, peter collinson, seventies, spy, stanley baker, sue lloyd, warren mitchell

STANLEY BAKER BONDS ESPIONAGE IN 'INNOCENT BYSTANDERS'

James Bond style poster art from 1972 Rating: ***1/2 Square-jawed British actor Stanley Baker was "considered" for James Bond... i...

STANLEY BAKER & PETER CUSHING IN 'THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cGMmFUBEiQs/YFrXrcsOZUI/AAAAAAABexM/iqLeg7X6F2AiJ70SbyjnOhPw6G-KTWPlACLcBGAsYHQ/s348/Z.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="246" data-original-width="348" height="283" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cGMmFUBEiQs/YFrXrcsOZUI/AAAAAAABexM/iqLeg7X6F2AiJ70SbyjnOhPw6G-KTWPlACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h283/Z.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker on poster Year: 1963 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Not only is THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED the second movie where Niall MacGinnis has a gun drawn on a train during the climax following CURSE OF THE DEMON, but THE THIRD MAN has been knocked-off once again...</p><p>And this time it's a pretty good effort as former German child now adult British citizen/jazz pianist Stanley Baker returns to Germany after getting a mysterious call about his father, who he thought was dead twenty-years ago, and is now dead again, only it happened a week earlier...</p><p>And as this effective mystery thriller progresses, the dad, like Orson Welles's Harry Lime, could have been involved in some bad things, covered up by a doctor played by Peter Cushing (protecting widow Mai Zetterling and directed by Hammer's Quentin Lawrence), while also helping  gorgeous ingenue Georgina Ward, whose father was buried in the same grave that, well... there are too many twists to count or spoil, but Baker, donning Ray Charles-like sunglasses even indoors, goes from place to place in his usual strongarm, no-nonsense fashion, only a bit more vulnerable, and deliberately confused, like the audience. <br></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

georgina ward, mai zetterling, neo noir, niall macginnis, nigel green, peter cushing, sixties, stanley baker, thriller

STANLEY BAKER & PETER CUSHING IN 'THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED'

Stanley Baker on poster Year: 1963 Rating: **** Not only is THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED the second movie where Niall MacGinnis has a gun drawn ...

DANA ANDREWS & FALLEN ANGEL BRUCE CABOT IN 'TOWN TAMER'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XECDXzFiXFg/YG8cHYJHVoI/AAAAAAABfHM/a7xieuKHWssz0MNWbUNlVd5ChSqD0sYsgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/11.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="400" height="378" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XECDXzFiXFg/YG8cHYJHVoI/AAAAAAABfHM/a7xieuKHWssz0MNWbUNlVd5ChSqD0sYsgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h378/11.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews TOWN TAMER Year: 1965 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the Sixties, A.C. Lyles produced a cram-session of "Old Fogey Westerns" using aged movie stars as newly-revived leading men... </p><p>And it's D<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/dana%20andrews">ana Andrews</a> turn as vengeful gunman TOWN TAMER reignited after wife Coleen Gray's gunshot death that was meant for him...</p><p>Which was orchestrated by a casino-owning villain lording over another TOWN, using local loser DeForest Kelley to thwart Dana's mission to rid his decades-earlier <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/08/FallenAngel.html">FALLEN ANGEL</a> Linda Darnell rival Bruce Cabot: yet the real scene-stealer is the hired gun played by enigmatic rogue Lyle Bettger... </p><p>As the guilt-ridden wife-slayer, Bettger (posing as a Marshal) becomes a confidant to an oblivious Andrews, unaware who's on his side... <br></p><p>Except Terry Moore, providing a cocky love interest more interesting than most, along with familiar faces Barton MacClane (who hires Dana), Richard Arlen (doctor), Richard Jaekel (corrupt deputy), Lon Chaney Jr. (stable manager), James Brown (tough local), Pat O'Brien (crooked judge), Roger Torrey (a giant baddie providing the best fist-fight), all aptly directed by Lesley Selander, and, while not the existential, ultra-violent Spaghetti Western the genre had morphed into, TOWN TAMER — with sudden deaths and a mob-gathered gunfire finale — definitely isn't tame.  </p><p><span></span></p>

a.c. lyles, action, bruce cabot, coleen gray, dana andrews, deforest kelley, lesley selander, lyle bettger, michael landon, revenge, richard jaekal, roger torrey, sixties, terry moore, western

DANA ANDREWS & FALLEN ANGEL BRUCE CABOT IN 'TOWN TAMER'

Dana Andrews TOWN TAMER Year: 1965 Rates: **** In the Sixties, A.C. Lyles produced a cram-session of "Old Fogey Westerns" using ag...

WILLIAM SYLVESTER DIGS INTO 'OFFBEAT' AKA 'THE DEVIL INSIDE'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BmFvfBupRY4/YFknBSHYp0I/AAAAAAABesc/FBcZNPckxO4AMFRHpbzLGCI1wl4FaYD8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s393/OFFBEATHR.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="393" height="316" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BmFvfBupRY4/YFknBSHYp0I/AAAAAAABesc/FBcZNPckxO4AMFRHpbzLGCI1wl4FaYD8gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h316/OFFBEATHR.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>William resembling Chevy Affleck Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There was a reason American actor William Sylvester was available for an American director who filmed in England, where both he and Stanley Kubrick ala 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY literally felt right at home... </p><p>And OFFBEAT provides the usually cool/collected William Sylvester real edge and intensity: starting out in dark sunglasses while robbing a bank... then meeting with fellow cops for whom he's a resilient, somewhat roguish undercover agent. </p><p></p><p>Taking place mostly during one heist... a tunnel job on a quiet city street... the mission's to infiltrate a syndicate of criminals...</p><p>Yet this particular den harbors pool playing, working-class types so crooked they're almost normal, including by-the-numbers leader Anthony Dawson and affable everyman John Meillon, who, along with muscle-thugs Neil McCarthy and Harry Baird, pose as construction workers. But the gang's token ingenue Mai Zetterling <i>really</i> stands out... she's pretty, experienced and tough despite falling too hard too fast for our anti-hero, constantly dogged by his stubborn Scotland Yard boss... which, as he and we learn, could be for understandable reasons, and, directed by veteran Cliff Owen, who'd soon make his best heist thriller with A PRIZE OF ARMS, this is Sylvester's best role, juggling a kind of criminal/cop ambiguity like only Noir can. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

anthony dawson, british neo noir, british new wave, cliff owen, cop, harry baird, heist, john meillon, mai zetterling, neil mccarthy, sixties, william sylvester

WILLIAM SYLVESTER DIGS INTO 'OFFBEAT' AKA 'THE DEVIL INSIDE'

William resembling Chevy Affleck Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2 There was a reason American actor William Sylvester was available for an American...

REST IN PEACE BOND VILLAIN & ACTING LEGEND YAPHET KOTTO

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1Fua2t1PxU4/YFOBIXypW1I/AAAAAAABeic/OA_jzb7Uq1U6ODjLfD05As-j54576fAmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/161697547_4024577994253117_3570165528362675602_o.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1113" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1Fua2t1PxU4/YFOBIXypW1I/AAAAAAABeic/OA_jzb7Uq1U6ODjLfD05As-j54576fAmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/161697547_4024577994253117_3570165528362675602_o.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YAPHET KOTTO on his role as the first black Bond villain in LIVE AND LET DIE</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Roger Moore's first James Bond venture LIVE AND LET DIE, the 1973 spy blaxploitation throwing everything into the pot including pimp cars, voodoo, killer crocodiles, serpents, zombies, a boat chase and so much more, wasn't so beloved by actor Yaphet Kotto, who played the drug lord Kananga... a memorable performance as a groundbreaking Bond heavy, being the first black villain in the franchise...</p><p></p><p><u>YAPHET KOTTO</u>: There were so many problems with that script… I was too afraid of coming off like Mantan Moreland… I had to dig deep in my soul and brain and come up with a level of reality that would offset the sea of stereotype crap that Tom Mankiewicz wrote that had nothing to do with the Black experience or culture...</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XYv1DMFrtzg/YFHP8-iqFHI/AAAAAAABeX0/SA6uR1eOMMAMEr7sq4zx-Iomk1O2G0cwACLcBGAsYHQ/s847/title06_204014107.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="847" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XYv1DMFrtzg/YFHP8-iqFHI/AAAAAAABeX0/SA6uR1eOMMAMEr7sq4zx-Iomk1O2G0cwACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/title06_204014107.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Roger Moore, Jane Seymour and Yaphet Kotto in LIVE AND LET DIE</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p><u>YAPHET KOTTO</u> (CONTINUED): It was the first Black Bond villain, I wanted to be original… but there was nothing I could draw on from Tom’s script. It was a trap... <br></p><p></p><p>If I had played it the way it was written, every Black Organization in the world would have been on my case. I had to draw on a real life situation I was going through and that saved me…But the way Kananga dies was a joke… and… well… the entire experience was not as rewarding as I wanted it to be. There were a lot of pitfalls that I had to avoid, and I did.  </p><p><span></span></p>

blaxploitation, interview, james bond, jane seymour, roger moore, seventies, yaphet kotto

REST IN PEACE BOND VILLAIN & ACTING LEGEND YAPHET KOTTO

YAPHET KOTTO on his role as the first black Bond villain in LIVE AND LET DIE Roger Moore's first James Bond venture LIVE AND LET DIE, th...

DENISE GALICK GETS ATTACKED IN 'HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xyk8egsAgRk/YFJFdGgXwTI/AAAAAAABebE/TUFMQMTtwBkYybOsWO2DVZlIIjHT3fNFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1518/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-03-16%252Bat%252B4.48.57%252BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1207" data-original-width="1518" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xyk8egsAgRk/YFJFdGgXwTI/AAAAAAABebE/TUFMQMTtwBkYybOsWO2DVZlIIjHT3fNFwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h318/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-03-16%252Bat%252B4.48.57%252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Denise Galick in Humanoids of the Deep 1980  ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Not only did Roger Corman produce a JAWS-clone (directed by Barbara Peeters) where sexy young women are raped by mutated fish-humans, but there's a scientific excuse that's all Darwin's doing...</p><p></p><p>And as bad as HUMANOIDS OF THE DEEP seems as an exploitation horror, it actually fails only when going too far and showing too much... </p><p>Not of the lady victims, but the creatures who, resembling ALIEN superglued with seaweed, pilage a local seaside town that, like the JAWS mayor wants business flourishing during shark attacks, goes one step further as Vic Morrow, in order to provide bigger fish for his in-coming cannery, has unintentionally created these monstrosities... </p><p>Making this an Eco-Horror Creature-Feature but thankfully, unlike the previous years' howler PROPHESY, which also includes an idealistic Native American aiding the man/woman heroes (fisherman Doug McClure and scientist Ann Turkel), there's no sermonizing involved: just the stalking and tormenting of beauties that include super-cute girl-next-door Denise Galick; voluptuous, sexed-up Lynn Theel; housewife Cindy Weintraub; and Linda Shayne as the town's carnival beauty queen these monsters crash in an overboard finale that needed more an implied approach, which actually kinda worked for a good fifty-minutes there.  </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLq7-D9TS1E/YFJG4l72KbI/AAAAAAABebI/pT5KbvvwodctwIf1AfnN6XT3ylf_Jt_DwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1556/0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1327" data-original-width="1556" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLq7-D9TS1E/YFJG4l72KbI/AAAAAAABebI/pT5KbvvwodctwIf1AfnN6XT3ylf_Jt_DwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/0.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Denise Galick in HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2dD_ESCCT_c/YFFCXJRp34I/AAAAAAABeW4/ZPNKFEMbp8kLGaExvulqg5EyMazMwkBlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1931/11.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1321" data-original-width="1931" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2dD_ESCCT_c/YFFCXJRp34I/AAAAAAABeW4/ZPNKFEMbp8kLGaExvulqg5EyMazMwkBlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/11.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Breck Costin and Denise Galik in HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

ann turkel, anthony pena, barbara peeters, body count, cindy weintraub, denis galick, doug mcclure, eighties, exploitation, greg travis, horror, jaws-clone, lynn theel, roger corman, vic morrow

DENISE GALICK GETS ATTACKED IN 'HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP'

Denise Galick in Humanoids of the Deep 1980  ***1/2 Not only did Roger Corman produce a JAWS-clone (directed by Barbara Peeters) where sexy ...

STANLEY BAKER & MICHAEL CAINE BATTLING THROUGH 'ZULU'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Se40D3ucifM/YFHogkl72kI/AAAAAAABeYI/ATqUPZNcSp0eAd18PjDyGWkSsxRAPWv5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s693/caine1.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="693" height="271" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Se40D3ucifM/YFHogkl72kI/AAAAAAABeYI/ATqUPZNcSp0eAd18PjDyGWkSsxRAPWv5ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h271/caine1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker & Michael Caine Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A cross between LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and THE ODD COUPLE, Cy Endfield's cast-of-thousands ZULU was directed by an American and features a crop of great British actors about their own history, and the first of several problems is it feels more American than British... </p><p>The performances catered more to Oscar nominations (particularly Jack Hawkins as a ridiculously passive yet hammy priest) than moving the story forward about a South African outpost of <span>Rorke's Drift, following a massive Little Big Horn style defeat of the British by Zulu warriors...</span></p><p><span>Where two polar opposite lieutenants, Stanley Baker's tough, weathered bridge-builder and Michael Caine's young, classy military-lifer, learn those same victorious Zulu warriors are well on the way, providing surprisingly little suspense, urgency or doom. Instead there are stage-like sequences like it's <i>just another day </i>at the outpost: both inside a barrack of wounded misfits including endearing born loser James Booth, and outside with the lieutenants and their stern third Nigel Green. Then when the Zulus are heard, shield-pounding in the distance, Caine mentions "There's that train again," like it's just another affable observation. Meanwhile, the much quieter and brooding Baker steals the show by being the only actor not trying to. His subtle strength and determination carries ZULU through the deliberately slow build-up and the inevitable non-stop action of African warriors piling in, getting stabbed, shot, and stabbing and shooting. Which pays off after all the work's been done... far more than you'll see in most war pictures. Like the men, you'll be exhausted. </span></p><p><span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ribF-Oy3Ss/YFH9Y0_4GfI/AAAAAAABeYo/ks2_xWWuS_wgKn2Ke4mdWzgph93QUUvzACLcBGAsYHQ/s1807/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.52.26%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1807" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ribF-Oy3Ss/YFH9Y0_4GfI/AAAAAAABeYo/ks2_xWWuS_wgKn2Ke4mdWzgph93QUUvzACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.52.26%2BAM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michael Caine and Stanley Baker in ZULU</u><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y9AUyXeDc78/YFH9ZK4BqaI/AAAAAAABeYw/d7YYCkZcGOsJPU3TbkBHszPIUbVd21oBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1841/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.52.58%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="1841" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y9AUyXeDc78/YFH9ZK4BqaI/AAAAAAABeYw/d7YYCkZcGOsJPU3TbkBHszPIUbVd21oBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.52.58%2BAM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><u>Nigel Green in ZULU</u></span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6XDRhKcEJ98/YFH9aTxettI/AAAAAAABeY0/P_s--bjHt_gm2MlT7cod8mhI4ODfHGV0wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1839/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.53.42%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1839" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6XDRhKcEJ98/YFH9aTxettI/AAAAAAABeY0/P_s--bjHt_gm2MlT7cod8mhI4ODfHGV0wCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.53.42%2BAM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><u>Michael Caine in ZULU</u></span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IgV-bTFRkGg/YFH9aal4xOI/AAAAAAABeY4/_epuaWX8Tfccko5kqYj16e4U1nSG11CgACLcBGAsYHQ/s1869/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.55.05%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1869" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IgV-bTFRkGg/YFH9aal4xOI/AAAAAAABeY4/_epuaWX8Tfccko5kqYj16e4U1nSG11CgACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.55.05%2BAM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><u>Action sequence in ZULU</u></span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W_XpHWGNmig/YFH9auUrvnI/AAAAAAABeY8/M7ln03eHA4cLIw3pThKo2mstXTHsZbuxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1522/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.55.19%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1522" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W_XpHWGNmig/YFH9auUrvnI/AAAAAAABeY8/M7ln03eHA4cLIw3pThKo2mstXTHsZbuxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.55.19%2BAM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><u>James Booth is basically the Cooler King of ZULU</u></span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zHZrsawM16M/YFH9cVveMvI/AAAAAAABeZA/KVOIGpclhAgZ-mqn7dMP0N_J-txzveTZACLcBGAsYHQ/s1855/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.52.18%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1855" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zHZrsawM16M/YFH9cVveMvI/AAAAAAABeZA/KVOIGpclhAgZ-mqn7dMP0N_J-txzveTZACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-17%2Bat%2B5.52.18%2BAM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><u>Jack Hawkins in ZULU</u></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </span> </p>

action, adventure, british, cy endfield, epic, history, james booth, michael caine, nigel green, sixties, stanley baker, war

STANLEY BAKER & MICHAEL CAINE BATTLING THROUGH 'ZULU'

Stanley Baker & Michael Caine Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2 A cross between LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and THE ODD COUPLE, Cy Endfield's cast-of...

STANLEY BAKER & LAURENCE HARVEY IN 'THE GOOD DIE YOUNG'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lps93Xusq5c/YFl0F-d-iQI/AAAAAAABetU/4K1JDdEs4DcsfIdpryRySGEGHsw3-A2XgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/22632939126%252B10.31.36%252BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="400" height="339" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lps93Xusq5c/YFl0F-d-iQI/AAAAAAABetU/4K1JDdEs4DcsfIdpryRySGEGHsw3-A2XgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h339/22632939126%252B10.31.36%252BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lawrence Harvey's the gun here Year: 1954 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Lewis Gilbert's London-set Noir Melodrama would lack some of the Melodrama without the two Americans countering the two Englishmen, although Stanley Baker's working class boxer does get theatrical, but only outside the ring...</p><p>Staring out with four men in a car, guns drawn, about to commit a robbery, we experience backstories of each: With John Ireland, a broke, whiny GI married to cheating movie star Gloria Grahame — a horribly unbelievable, mismatched couple to begin with. And Richard Basehart with pregnant Joan Collins and a crazy mother-in-law, attempting suicide every time they attempt flying stateside: So one American needs airfare while the other needs a divorce... making both weak candidates for crime, and saving the best for last... </p><p>And the only character lacking the title's idealistic GOOD and in that, the equally charming and weaselly Laurence Harvey, married to a glamorous artist and trying to squeeze inheritance out a very living father <i>after</i> wifey kills his allowance, makes a fantastically deceptive, unashamedly hedonistic, cruel and cutthroat manipulator, especially towards Baker's crippled boxer (he'd lost his hand), needing cash the most. The two polar opposite Brits would have created a tighter, edgier tale. But the highly anticipated postal-truck heist leads to the kind of collective action the story had been begging for. Making one forgive all the soap operatic fluff that's still pretty entertaining. As soaps can very often be. </p><p><span></span></p>

boxing, british, british film noir/melodrama, fifties, gloria grahame, heist, joan collins, john ireland, laurence harvey, lewis gilbert, richard basehart, romance, stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER & LAURENCE HARVEY IN 'THE GOOD DIE YOUNG'

Lawrence Harvey's the gun here Year: 1954 Rating: ***1/2 Lewis Gilbert's London-set Noir Melodrama would lack some of the Melodrama ...

CUSHING/HAMMER'S 'FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAV58u7eqAM/YE21G-xsdSI/AAAAAAABeLI/FOJPHa3nhcU2C6Ka3gaplELSiIXYy1oRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1844/25.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1246" data-original-width="1844" height="270" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAV58u7eqAM/YE21G-xsdSI/AAAAAAABeLI/FOJPHa3nhcU2C6Ka3gaplELSiIXYy1oRQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h270/25.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Madelyn Smith Year: 1974 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before STAR WARS, Peter Cushing and David Prowse, Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, appeared in Hammer's final FRANKENSTEIN titled AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL, with Prowse the monster and we know — directed by veteran Terence Fisher — who Cushing plays: Although he's Dr. Victor, working in a prison-like insane asylum with his new assistant, pretty boy Shane Briant, technically the second assistant to Hammer ingenue Madeline Smith. And the monster, resembling Al Capone trapped in a bad Neanderthal costume, is far too brooding and reluctant to be the movie's worthwhile creature unlike Briant's fitfully game cohort... </p><p>So the best scenes are before the creation since the asylum, while lacking the colorful Victorian glory of past Hammer horrors, is a dark, gloomy, Gothic setting that feels very lived-in and palpable... Cushing, meanwhile, is as cool, collected and darkly humorous as ever, and beginning his extremely emaciated, gaunt-faced look (legendary in STAR WARS), this is the best Frankenstein since <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/second-frankenstein.html">REVENGE</a>, getting right down to business as opposed to the campy hippie-era distractions. For like Alfred Hitchcock was finally allowed to show realistic nudity in a murder during the 1970's, we see the surgery's brain, all gooey and gross and right up front, making this Hammer Frankenstein's very own free-for-all <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/04/bobs-your-uncle.html">FRENZY</a>. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_POjIL49i2U/YEy1o9l0CHI/AAAAAAABeIg/RIfJi4kQzNsRqw1k0B-gfjfKKy2ZYMjjACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-13%2Bat%2B4.52.00%2BAM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1195" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_POjIL49i2U/YEy1o9l0CHI/AAAAAAABeIg/RIfJi4kQzNsRqw1k0B-gfjfKKy2ZYMjjACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-13%2Bat%2B4.52.00%2BAM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>David Prowse in FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

creature, david prowse, exploitation, frankenstein, hammer films, horror, madeline smith, peter cushing, prison, seventies, shane briant, thriller

CUSHING/HAMMER'S 'FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL'

Madelyn Smith Year: 1974 Rating: **** Before STAR WARS, Peter Cushing and David Prowse, Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, appeared in Hamme...

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0wf0oCcdRlk/YE5vfSmdW7I/AAAAAAABeOk/OhkRwt1zcbINzhfaKoTeVIIIQ7rSixDRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1936/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-13%2Bat%2B11.41.52%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1386" data-original-width="1936" height="286" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0wf0oCcdRlk/YE5vfSmdW7I/AAAAAAABeOk/OhkRwt1zcbINzhfaKoTeVIIIQ7rSixDRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h286/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-13%2Bat%2B11.41.52%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hound of the Baskervilles Year: 1959 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Perfect that Hammer, after Terence Fisher's Dracula and Frankenstein, would chose Sherlock Holmes THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES story being basically about a werewolf... so to speak... deliberately killing Moor-ruling Baskerville family members that Christopher Lee plays the surviving heir of... cursed not only with a heart condition and the fact the legendary howler might get him next, there's a tarantula in his shoe and he's constantly in danger, especially the closer he gets to ingenue Maria Landi. </p><p>In the lead, Cushing plays Holmes as slightly effeminate, intentionally snooty and fitfully snoopy, but awkwardly vanishes from the story during the first act, leaving André Morell's faithful Dr. Watson and an aloof Lee to converse in scenes that fail to build enough culprits for a genuine mystery yarn. Meanwhile, an escaped convict roaming the Moors comes to as little as that ferocious hellhound, making this, for Hammer and Conan Arthur Doyle fans, a collective disappointment plot-wise. And yet it visually sustains Hammer's vivid Victorian aesthetic and the locations make you really feel<i> there</i>. But ironically, while the DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN films seem like reading a book on screen, BASKERVILLES, the most famously adapted from source literature, lacks that page-turning cadence. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-diNtOWUgrEQ/YE3UcDONaSI/AAAAAAABeN0/3vP5f_ParA0f3ucejo_LZc8QWsbKpA_6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-03-13%252Bat%252B11.43.56%252BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-diNtOWUgrEQ/YE3UcDONaSI/AAAAAAABeN0/3vP5f_ParA0f3ucejo_LZc8QWsbKpA_6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-03-13%252Bat%252B11.43.56%252BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Peter Cushing and André Morell as Watson in The Hound of the Baskervilles</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span></span></p>

andre morell, christopher lee, fifties, hammer films, horror, maria landi, mystery, peter cushing, sherlock holmes, suspense, thriller

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES'

Hound of the Baskervilles Year: 1959 Rating: **1/2 Perfect that Hammer, after Terence Fisher's Dracula and Frankenstein, would chose She...

OLIVER REED IN HAMMER'S 'THE PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4eVv2QjKAUg/YEmymlVYABI/AAAAAAABeA8/GM9ruM21-cgy_yMrhHKuyXr2dTkF0Nb_gCLcBGAsYHQ/s444/lf%2B2.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="444" height="308" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4eVv2QjKAUg/YEmymlVYABI/AAAAAAABeA8/GM9ruM21-cgy_yMrhHKuyXr2dTkF0Nb_gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h308/lf%2B2.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Neither of these are in the movie from 1961 Rates: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The twist ending of Hammer's THE PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER is not only given away in the prologue when a town zealot's free-spirited son Kerwin Matthews loses his married lover, but in the title itself, making only half sense since these PIRATES, led by Christopher Lee with subordinates Michael Ripper, Peter Arne and Oliver Reed, are hardly ever on a pirate ship, having landed upon an island sanctuary of Huguenot farmers that, as the story commences, is attacked by those land-roaming scoundrels, thinking there's gold nearby... </p><p></p><p>It's a shame when BLOOD RIVER reaches the point where the Huguenots and Pirates have an overlong Mexican standoff since, earlier on, Matthews — too old for the role yet still attempting his SINBAD energy — is sent to prison, then escapes, during which this Hammer adventure is very adventurous and action-packed... Sadly the villains take over in Christopher Lee's worst role, dressed for a bad Halloween party, added to which Peter Arne kills off a far cooler Oliver Reed... Hammer just didn't know their potential... This misleadingly advertised swashbuckler buckles under the weight of its own unambitious limitations, and with a "younger male hero" in Glenn Corbett afraid to fight, and Marla Landi pretty but weak in the ingenue department, PIRATES is more sunken than treasure. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, hammer films, michael ripper, oliver reed, peter arne, pirates, sixties

OLIVER REED IN HAMMER'S 'THE PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER'

Neither of these are in the movie from 1961 Rates: **1/2 The twist ending of Hammer's THE PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER is not only given away ...

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JUc_f4kd1xI/YEi-KA61lTI/AAAAAAABd_U/_KzJDCpuuowI4iz1y--hQ-a63vIcV1bQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s757/the-revenge-of-frankenstein-australian-daybill-1969-original-film-poster-4304-p.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="757" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JUc_f4kd1xI/YEi-KA61lTI/AAAAAAABd_U/_KzJDCpuuowI4iz1y--hQ-a63vIcV1bQQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/the-revenge-of-frankenstein-australian-daybill-1969-original-film-poster-4304-p.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Revenge of Frankenstein Year: 1959 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The first and best sequel of the Hammer/Peter Cushing FRANKENSTEIN franchise is also the most faithful to Mary Shelley's novel as the monster isn't initially monstrous... but is simply a tall, vulnerable, formerly living male who speaks with intelligence, and for a reason... </p><p>Beginning with Peter Cushing's "Dr. Stein" working in a town where, despite avoiding a conceited doctors union, has the most patients and respect, and, hiding in plain sight his secret operations remain intact as this movie's "Igor" wants to rid his mangled body for a new one... </p><p></p><p>Added to the cast is a young distinguished doctor played by Francis Matthews as Hans, who figures out Stein's real identity, and is more of an equal than an enslaved assistant, ridding REVENGE of some timeworn horror clichés that, while lacking the colorfully Gothic vibe of other Hammer entries, only falters once the New Creature turns into the inevitable murderous beast in a contrived, rushed fashion... or several, actually. Meanwhile, the ingenue isn't altogether necessary: an unrequited romance sparked when she met the original mangled assistant turned reanimated man comes to nothing in a lackluster final that still remains edgy, and does have Cushing getting more desperate, and with more to lose. He's often best that way. </p><p><span></span></p>

anna walmsley, creature, eunice gayson, fifties, franchise, francis matthews, frankenstein, gothic, hammer films, horror, monster, peter cushing, science-fiction, sequel, thriller

PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN'

The Revenge of Frankenstein Year: 1959 Rating: ***1/2 The first and best sequel of the Hammer/Peter Cushing FRANKENSTEIN franchise is also t...

DAVID PEEL & PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE BRIDES OF DRACULA'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C3aQiFE1YeI/YEi-as9iYTI/AAAAAAABd_c/arTC3V-8QO4MtaLsmZUyh-QVnk0qDFZVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-03-07%25252Bat%25252B8.54.49%25252BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="400" height="323" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C3aQiFE1YeI/YEi-as9iYTI/AAAAAAABd_c/arTC3V-8QO4MtaLsmZUyh-QVnk0qDFZVgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h323/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-03-07%25252Bat%25252B8.54.49%25252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Brides of Dracula Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A pretty boy Hammer DRACULA works since David Peel has such little screen-time, and it's not that he's unsuited for the role. In fact, dealing with the titular BRIDES, which is really a singular character played by Yvonne Monlaur, a younger, more apparently-attractive neck-sucker fits...</p><p>Having been held captive by his mother in the family castle, Monlaur's Marianne, a teacher on her way to working at an all-girl's school, has only to look at this particularly vulnerable, chained-up Dracula to fall in love — hypnotic eyes aren't needed, at least not up front... </p><p>But the true lead is Hammer legend Peter Cushing in what's a separate case file for Van Helsing: During scenes without him, there's wasted potential in that girl's school replete with beautiful, virginal maidens: If only they'd ALL have been brides, Van Helsing's task would garner more urgency, which this second Hammer Dracula needed more of. Although, the two or three bitten babes do look terrific, and there's an attempted lesbian seduction till Cushing cuts in and saves the day... or rather, night. Damn him! The movie, though, under 90-minutes, is entertaining enough to fill the absence of Christopher Lee, who'd return a few years later — and let it be noted that some of those entries aren't as good as this one.</p><p><span></span></p>

body count, david peel, dracula, exploitation, franchise, hammer films, horror, peter cushing, sixties, thriller, vampire, yvonne monlaur

DAVID PEEL & PETER CUSHING IN HAMMER'S 'THE BRIDES OF DRACULA'

Brides of Dracula Year: 1960 Rating: ***1/2 A pretty boy Hammer DRACULA works since David Peel has such little screen-time, and it's not...

SUSAN STRASBERG & RONALD LEWIS IN HAMMER'S 'SCREAM OF FEAR'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMm6oLz69tU/YEd8fCTevjI/AAAAAAABd9I/-_KPeflddrYW1uYMz5MOMepL0Wl0_AmTACLcBGAsYHQ/s1740/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-08%2Bat%2B11.57.51%2BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1498" data-original-width="1740" height="344" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMm6oLz69tU/YEd8fCTevjI/AAAAAAABd9I/-_KPeflddrYW1uYMz5MOMepL0Wl0_AmTACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h344/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-08%2Bat%2B11.57.51%2BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Susan Strasberg in Scream of Fear Year: 1961 Rates: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Hybrid of Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW about a crippled protagonist stuck in what could be impending danger, and Hammer Films <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/ru-from-my-brain.html">PARANOIAC</a>, their second Hitchcock-style thriller after this one, SCREAM OF FEAR... </p><p>Trading in the usual classic monsters building suspense and slowburn thrills with chaste and completely vulnerable Susan Strasberg who, as the daughter of an absent rich man, returns to the family's seaside manor... that sporadically haunts and scares her silly... </p><p></p><p>Yet the surrounding characters are quite friendly: a professional-minded Christopher Lee as a German doctor, handsome Ronald Lewis as a stalwart chauffeur, and a <i>much too</i> friendly and helpful Ann Todd as the relatively new mother-in-law...</p><p>Making FEAR a Mystery <i>only in</i> what Strasberg's wheelchair-bound Penny doesn't know... Is she or isn't she really seeing her dead father turning up within darkened portions of the already dark house? And because it's intentionally upfront/obvious that she's being toyed with, as well as, like in PARANOIAC, goaded into insanity because of a future inheritance, the terrific finale is an unpredictable twist of a twist.<br></p><p><span></span></p>

ann todd, british neo noir, british new wave, christopher lee, hammer films, hammer neo noir, ronald lewis, sixties, susan strasberg, suspense, thriller

SUSAN STRASBERG & RONALD LEWIS IN HAMMER'S 'SCREAM OF FEAR'

Susan Strasberg in Scream of Fear Year: 1961 Rates: ****1/2 Hybrid of Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW about a crippled protagonist stuck ...

CHRISTOPHER LEE IN HAMMER FILMS 'THE TERROR OF THE TONGS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PdX4OOz9Q8c/YEXKhqRajGI/AAAAAAABd6w/C_286H-NLdQD82SFFbz0E36ujfSwrFH_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1137/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-07%2Bat%2B9.42.24%2BPM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1137" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PdX4OOz9Q8c/YEXKhqRajGI/AAAAAAABd6w/C_286H-NLdQD82SFFbz0E36ujfSwrFH_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-07%2Bat%2B9.42.24%2BPM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for Hammer's TERROR OF THE TONGS with Christopher Lee Year: 1961</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Geoffrey Toone, as the hero in Hammer's THE TERROR OF THE TONGS, is an extremely passive one, and displays extremely sparse emotion, even after his daughter's killed by the titular menace played by an "Asianized" Christopher Lee, who also does surprisingly little except for — like many mob chieftains — sitting in a large chair giving orders...</p><p></p><p>It's Marne Maitland's undercover Beggar... providing Toone's British captain in Hong Kong expository information of what to do and when... working the hardest. That's if you don't count the also British-turned-Asian Yvonne Monlaur, who headlined Hammer's previous years' <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/03/richie-ramone-of-hammer-dracula.html">BRIDES OF DRACULA</a> and becomes Toone's faithful, lovely yet equally tough/resilient Geisha girl; and future NIGHT CREATURES bald giant Milton Reid as a precursor to the James Bond GOLDFINGER henchman Oddjob...   <br></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uk0srJpF7Do/YEW9ApXLy7I/AAAAAAABd50/3qEVygqitzIvuTKF91WBxzyr2RTsqaX2ACLcBGAsYHQ/s909/158721804_1193817904380717_1715005062622510856_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="909" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uk0srJpF7Do/YEW9ApXLy7I/AAAAAAABd50/3qEVygqitzIvuTKF91WBxzyr2RTsqaX2ACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/158721804_1193817904380717_1715005062622510856_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Milton Reid as a Tong Henchman in TERROR OF THE TONGS Movie Rates: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In fact, there's a Bond vibe a year before Bond movies existed, but with Toone's sophisticated aura it's more Moore than Connery and, despite the flaws, TERROR is a worthwhile action-packed experience, lacking the thriller-style of the non-horror Hammer entries, replacing suspense with a myriad of fist fights...</p><p></p><p>With little downtime, our intrepid dandy wanders throughout Hong Kong, avoiding various murder attempts from Lee's Tong henchmen while showcasing the terrific looking sets that bring the Asian port-town to splendid reality, the same way Hammer made Victorian-era Europe it's own colorful, timeless playground. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, christopher lee, espionage, geoffrey toone, hammer films, milton reid, sixties, yvonne monlaur

CHRISTOPHER LEE IN HAMMER FILMS 'THE TERROR OF THE TONGS'

Poster for Hammer's TERROR OF THE TONGS with Christopher Lee Year: 1961 Geoffrey Toone, as the hero in Hammer's THE TERROR OF THE TO...

DIANA DORS IN THE HAMMER FILMS FILM-NOIR 'MAN BAIT'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S1r4i9pGlIo/YETIEMzJnsI/AAAAAAABd34/kiTvel3b0okMwO4S5hY3-rs_IMLq8F6PACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="400" height="314" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S1r4i9pGlIo/YETIEMzJnsI/AAAAAAABd34/kiTvel3b0okMwO4S5hY3-rs_IMLq8F6PACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h314/0.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1952 cast: Diana Dors, George Brent rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>With blonde beauty Diana Dors’ full-full lips, any expression wields a pout. And it's a seductively vicious pout as the story, centering on blackmail at a high-end English bookstore, unfolds...</p><p></p><p>Dors plays Ruby Bruce, whose stunning appearance alone turns men into jelly. Although her rich boss, with a lucrative insurance policy, is tougher than most...</p><p>So Ruby teams with ex-convict con artist Jeffrey Hart to collect the money, and the deliberately slow nature in which the plot pans out is intriguing... </p><p>As Jefferey coaches Ruby from the sidelines (at a posh bar), she becomes more and more guilt-ridden (a Noir staple) and desperate, proving Dors, known as the “British Marilyn Monroe,” had more ability to carry a storyline than the American bombshell... </p><p>Without her presence, MAN BAIT becomes your typical "wrong man" melodrama; although the talented cast of Brits (including Marguerite Chapman and Raymond Huntley as the manipulative secretary and boss), and a few neat surprises, will keep your interest. Especially the last ten minutes when the antagonist gets really wicked.</p><p><span></span></p>

british new wave, diana dors, exploitation, fifties, film noir or melodrama, george brent, hammer films, hammer noir, jeffrey hart, marguerite chapman

DIANA DORS IN THE HAMMER FILMS FILM-NOIR 'MAN BAIT'

year: 1952 cast: Diana Dors, George Brent rating: ***1/2 With blonde beauty Diana Dors’ full-full lips, any expression wields a pout. And it...

STANLEY BAKER BATTLES THROUGH HAMMER'S 'YESTERDAY'S ENEMY'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yh3eM3Ekf_s/YESB6EuUSlI/AAAAAAABd2k/jA6Fiv16eY8EGHJR9exCLgr0zX9r0FMhACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/lf.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2044" data-original-width="2048" height="399" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yh3eM3Ekf_s/YESB6EuUSlI/AAAAAAABd2k/jA6Fiv16eY8EGHJR9exCLgr0zX9r0FMhACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h399/lf.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker in Edwina Carroll Year: 1959 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This Hammer WWII b-movie was originally a stage-play, and with the contained setting and tons of dialog it's apparent.. but Stanley Baker turns in his greatest performance... a one-man show despite being surrounded by character-actors like faithful sergeant Gordon Jackson countered by idealistic reporter Leo McKern and priest Guy Rolfe, driving the central moral-quandary plot-line...<br></p><p></p><p>Beginning with their troop of disheveled British soldiers, lost and trudging through the Burmese jungle, happening upon a two-hut village where Baker's no-nonsense captain figures he MUST scare an informer by killing two elderly locals... </p><p>The best scenes occur during this first half when Baker's lethal, cold-blooded methods start becoming more clear and, because of the vital information gained, somewhat logical, and he never wavers to the ethical humanity in a village foreshadowing future Vietnam films (and their tropes) about murderous white soldiers...  </p><p>These include Brian De Palma's CASUALTIES OF WAR and Oliver Stone's Oscar-winning PLATOON, each paling to this low budget, obscure gem mostly thanks to Stanley Baker, keeping up the same stubborn, determined intensity when the Japanese — led by a philosophizing Philip Ahn — turns the tables, and the adaptation becomes even more stagey and yet with tight, edgy suspense by Val Guest, one of Hammer's best directors, YESTERDAY'S ENEMY keeps the audience as locked-in and tightly-wound as its unflappable leading man.  </p><span></span>

action,