cult film freak: edmund gwenn

Written by James M. Tate / 5/25/2026 / No comments / barton maclane , boris karloff , edmund gwenn , gangster , henry hull , horror , joe sawyer , marguerite churchill , michael curtiz , ricardo cortez , science-fiction , thirties

BORIS KARLOFF & MARGUERITE CHURCHILL IN 'THE WALKING DEAD'

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqIZDNsBF_0iGXOSVlx8Tr7LrPpmjmFTDiDJjKd_ci6yNGlJFwmyFDm8E-Fs2kmc_cabAqd-r9mc1bCBXMCa1Avg9wXU9KfuCmfdzhmMxznRH7WNI_cqE79s_IPsqb4koO6PnSCJAUGDQ5njfbNE8VtX-HgaEk9Z3P1r-adkfjgM6J8NBsb0qtXVC9c1g/s2106/Screen%20Shot%202026-05-26%20at%2010.08.42%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1396" data-original-width="2106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqIZDNsBF_0iGXOSVlx8Tr7LrPpmjmFTDiDJjKd_ci6yNGlJFwmyFDm8E-Fs2kmc_cabAqd-r9mc1bCBXMCa1Avg9wXU9KfuCmfdzhmMxznRH7WNI_cqE79s_IPsqb4koO6PnSCJAUGDQ5njfbNE8VtX-HgaEk9Z3P1r-adkfjgM6J8NBsb0qtXVC9c1g/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202026-05-26%20at%2010.08.42%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boris Karloff and Marguerite Churchill in THE WALKING DEAD Year: 1936 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>With all the ingredients of a 1930's Warner Brothers Gangster Flick including villain-actors Barton MacClane and Ricardo Cortez, here working in backrooms to set up murders and double-crosses to keep their crime syndicate from further courtroom bulwarks, the casting of Boris Karloff not only adds an element Universal Monster from his then-recent FRANKENSTEIN legacy, but after he's brought back to life from being falsely imprisoned and executed, scientist Edmund Gwenn actually utters the line, "He's Alive!" This while surrounded by two somewhat innocuous but perfect-looking lab assistants: insanely gorgeous ingenue Marguerite Churchill and handsome boyfriend Warren Hull, both backing Karloff's John Elman, originally a meek and not very crime-savvy musician that the mobsters set-up/wrongfully accused of killing their own targeted judge...

barton maclane, boris karloff, edmund gwenn, gangster, henry hull, horror, joe sawyer, marguerite churchill, michael curtiz, ricardo cortez, science-fiction, thirties

BORIS KARLOFF & MARGUERITE CHURCHILL IN 'THE WALKING DEAD'

Boris Karloff and Marguerite Churchill in THE WALKING DEAD Year: 1936 Rating: **** With all the ingredients of a 1930's Warner Brothers ...

Written by James M. Tate / 2/06/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , booth colman , creature , edmund gwenn , FBI , fifties , gordon douglas , james arness , james whitmore , joan weldon , leonard nimoy , science-fiction , sean mcclory , thriller , william schallert

JAMES ARNESS, JAMES WHITMORE AND EDMUND GWENN IN 'THEM!'

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSn5L2SfKtN5IGuJic2rKKzr7oJtyqEDDeodGxMzSOFBXiBMstCwfKJwq7aKUY0NbF10QsNdmPOULxEjDXsUYB298saCHrSixYx1KjcV56rgGNyviQYlDRuDVMFlMp6tJn3EQ7b2PCDGjTxzyLwYzWvnljnNCLlPU8UDpEUKfWbrjRGr0M9PFg8lXRCH4O/s2058/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-06%20at%206.41.21%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1284" data-original-width="2058" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSn5L2SfKtN5IGuJic2rKKzr7oJtyqEDDeodGxMzSOFBXiBMstCwfKJwq7aKUY0NbF10QsNdmPOULxEjDXsUYB298saCHrSixYx1KjcV56rgGNyviQYlDRuDVMFlMp6tJn3EQ7b2PCDGjTxzyLwYzWvnljnNCLlPU8UDpEUKfWbrjRGr0M9PFg8lXRCH4O/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-06%20at%206.41.21%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THEM! Year: 1954 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Director Gordon Douglas's THEM could have had three different lead perspectives: the investigation of FBI agent James Arness, not used to working in the scorching desert; scientist father and daughter in extremely quirky Edmund Gwenn and pretty yet resolute Joan Weldon; and workaday, everyman local desert cop James Whitmore investigating random deaths, including his own partner, wherein the story begins... Almost like a film noir (with many stylistic-auteur touches by the underrated Douglas)... then adding layers with the aforementioned characters developed from their occupation: Arness and Whitman acquire a government-agent-to-local-lawmen bond as Edmund Gwenn spouts the kind of scientific expository information that only he and his daughter (with a semi-attraction to Arness) understand, and that the law (and military) eventually have to defeat...

action, adventure, booth colman, creature, edmund gwenn, FBI, fifties, gordon douglas, james arness, james whitmore, joan weldon, leonard nimoy, science-fiction, sean mcclory, thriller, william schallert

JAMES ARNESS, JAMES WHITMORE AND EDMUND GWENN IN 'THEM!'

Title: THEM! Year: 1954 Rating: **** Director Gordon Douglas's THEM could have had three different lead perspectives: the investigation ...

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