cult film freak: robert armstrong

Showing posts with label robert armstrong. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 6/26/2026 / No comments / edward norris , film noir or melodrama , forties , heist , herbert rudley , jean gillie , marjorie woodworth , robert armstrong , sheldon leonard

JEAN GILLIE ALMOST REVIVING ROBERT ARMSTRONG IN 'DECOY'

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgskYcimO7ZyXrHvV5IdaA1A5l6IQM7m5-2T9jT2qCBRQatoppwuxodH3VibJDsMpRosMRnICwxg8q5Jp_T1Sd21z6Wpcim9ztQ-1lutpcUGApC5cAnEpoWbE2aMuIQbsaQlVto4NfGS1UzDPZva8BbGlxYXer54fHFi5zlDDP0aALsodHcLeakMZIHc_6b/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-06-20%20at%2012.59.37%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1137" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgskYcimO7ZyXrHvV5IdaA1A5l6IQM7m5-2T9jT2qCBRQatoppwuxodH3VibJDsMpRosMRnICwxg8q5Jp_T1Sd21z6Wpcim9ztQ-1lutpcUGApC5cAnEpoWbE2aMuIQbsaQlVto4NfGS1UzDPZva8BbGlxYXer54fHFi5zlDDP0aALsodHcLeakMZIHc_6b/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-06-20%20at%2012.59.37%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1946 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a kind of unwritten law in movies, that when a character gets extremely physically injured, and recovers, they most likely won't wind up dying later... since the audience already went through the ringer, their death would be both anticlimactic and tedious: which has never been truer than the bizarre film noir thriller DECOY that's equally science-fiction: involving a chemical that can bring someone back from being executed in the gas chamber...<br><br>An antidote that makes fourth-billed doctor Robert Hudley the male lead, despite two other fellas looking (and acting) too much alike: so weaselly crook Edward Norris and deceptively-tricky detective Sheldon Leonard really get in the way of who the ambiguously-driven doctor should have dealt with alone...</p><p><span></span></p>

edward norris, film noir or melodrama, forties, heist, herbert rudley, jean gillie, marjorie woodworth, robert armstrong, sheldon leonard

JEAN GILLIE ALMOST REVIVING ROBERT ARMSTRONG IN 'DECOY'

Year: 1946 Rating: **1/2 There's a kind of unwritten law in movies, that when a character gets extremely physically injured, and recover...

JAMES CAGNEY & HUMPHREY BOGART IN 'THE ROARING TWENTIES'

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyjrkzJL2si35iliFwjXaNgHLwtmynviuiHLIn2w51QKC42TQ4BbN7IKt-7ul_7SLhnwofpqUDcm5f8jnWVFqtjGsrS9_7DoR9jeL_PlaDbQAez4ZrT4kVmGGL0l2DQCiw-Wlxr9qLWBaBnIMz0X1gHhjjowQkHtlVUIjZfDZHxjZgAvKv3F-vsD-t9V3/s2166/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-09%20at%201.40.45%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1326" data-original-width="2166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyjrkzJL2si35iliFwjXaNgHLwtmynviuiHLIn2w51QKC42TQ4BbN7IKt-7ul_7SLhnwofpqUDcm5f8jnWVFqtjGsrS9_7DoR9jeL_PlaDbQAez4ZrT4kVmGGL0l2DQCiw-Wlxr9qLWBaBnIMz0X1gHhjjowQkHtlVUIjZfDZHxjZgAvKv3F-vsD-t9V3/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-09%20at%201.40.45%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE ROARING TWENTIES Year: 1939 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At one point, only fifteen-minutes in, when James Cagney shuffles across the cheap apartment room rented with buddy Frank McHugh, saying how he's tired of being pushed around, there's been at least two short films that already played out: beginning with a war story involving Cagney alongside a shifty yet dependable Humphrey Bogart and affable Jeffrey Lynn, leaping into exploding foxholes when not picking-off nameless Germans...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And it's hardly better back home, where there are no jobs, leading to the inevitable but far from rushed progression into the life of bootlegging liquor during the infamous anti-liquor law Prohibition, that the film itself... written/produced by Mark Hellinger with Raoul Walsh directing... is even more against than the law-breaking, often murderous shortcuts to make a lot of money by getting around it...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, depression-era, frank mchugh, gangster, gladys george, humphrey bogart, james cagney, jeffrey lynn, joe sawyer, priscilla lane, raoul walsh, robert armstrong, thirties, world war I

JAMES CAGNEY & HUMPHREY BOGART IN 'THE ROARING TWENTIES'

Title: THE ROARING TWENTIES Year: 1939 Rating: ***** At one point, only fifteen-minutes in, when James Cagney shuffles across the cheap apar...

STOMPING THROUGH THE LEGENDARY ORIGINAL 'KING KONG'

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLV6tnJ0lfGdUx_R0lC8u3Ifksk9Do0tmIfZmuNxgCkZRuVonNu95vSCGd28ueLStXxyBo83wN1YRvy4C6ZzqQD0PEYgIQ0LzRU-ychZIRbAIhB1jMUujlbILMfT-rkHqMHWOlmOLCkOp5/s1600/33%252B1.06.07%252BPM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="813" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLV6tnJ0lfGdUx_R0lC8u3Ifksk9Do0tmIfZmuNxgCkZRuVonNu95vSCGd28ueLStXxyBo83wN1YRvy4C6ZzqQD0PEYgIQ0LzRU-ychZIRbAIhB1jMUujlbILMfT-rkHqMHWOlmOLCkOp5/s400/33%252B1.06.07%252BPM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Fay Wray as Ann Darrow in KING KONG Year: 1933</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If
 you discovered prehistoric/extremely instinct dinosaurs roaming on an uncharted island, would
 a giant gorilla really matter? Well in this case it’s personal as the 
legendary simian is ticked off with brutal fists flying, razor-sharp
 teeth, and he’s captured Ann Darrow, the street girl turned makeshift 
actress hired by maverick cinema auteur Carl Denham to star in his next 
picture shot entirely at Skull Island, a location that doesn’t even 
appear on the map and, shrouded by a wall of thick, ominous, forbodeing fog, it's 
place you don’t want to spend your vacation…<br>
<br>
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<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphVylFKEkYuav_a_S1g04fCFwDN2MR4lovuPhVD3TuQBBs7USxAVz1iYgfMMPo-fEK7SK3OpUnamyiINaYbWv_SWe8W7qnEzbQw_jYKPHWiGFtCsRdBZ-EW7lemGgLHU3X9-dVn-IvTZN/s1600/MPW-28028.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="307" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphVylFKEkYuav_a_S1g04fCFwDN2MR4lovuPhVD3TuQBBs7USxAVz1iYgfMMPo-fEK7SK3OpUnamyiINaYbWv_SWe8W7qnEzbQw_jYKPHWiGFtCsRdBZ-EW7lemGgLHU3X9-dVn-IvTZN/s320/MPW-28028.jpeg" width="152"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>King Kong Rates: *****</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Natives dot the shoreline and 
reside mostly behind a giant fortress protected from the unseen god they
 live to fear… And King Kong Kong might not be 
impressively aesthetic to today’s standards. His hair moves with each movement, but we can suspend cinema disbelief by blaming wind. In reality, Willis O’Brien moved Kong by hand, and those are their very own imprints.<br>
<br>
<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia6wXlNcb0Oc3JMNxS1r1q373r6k0RZKQERKKDBFim2AD4RxF3YgCTXigx1fwWgz9ssO4lpHx8i27NmN7yZg-a-gq7uGl-cx2Qs_H8483eSzZO_VgGN9BB4oCr19qDOgFYPr9b6kLvRy3u/s1600/35705343540_fa13e7375b_b.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="871" data-original-width="692" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia6wXlNcb0Oc3JMNxS1r1q373r6k0RZKQERKKDBFim2AD4RxF3YgCTXigx1fwWgz9ssO4lpHx8i27NmN7yZg-a-gq7uGl-cx2Qs_H8483eSzZO_VgGN9BB4oCr19qDOgFYPr9b6kLvRy3u/s320/35705343540_fa13e7375b_b.jpeg" width="254"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Timeless beauty Fay Wray as Ann</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As later on, the famously fake looking shark in JAWS 
didn’t matter or distract from the well-told story, either does a 
model-clay gorilla... There's enough build-up to get to know the 
characters, beginning with a middleman telling Robert Armstrong’s 
headstrong director no studio will allow an actress to risk such a 
venture: So Denhman hits the New York Depression-era streets and finds 
his dame in the form of Faye Wray’s Darrow…<br>
<br>
With pale 
skin, longing eyes, a windswept countenance and an almost primal, 
haunting beauty, Wray, who even at the time was no stranger to horror 
film roles, was given her big break – she's the perfectly suited scream 
queen and boy can she holler… After the forty-five minute mark, when 
she’s kidnapped by the natives and sacrificed to a giddy Kong, her 
wailing never really ceases and, unlike the two remakes, the human 
ingénue doesn’t fall in subliminal love with her giant captor… It’s an 
unrequited, one-sided obsession, and that makes the titular ape even 
more formidable and sinister. <br>
<br>
<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypU-_xWBSsP0U5VhfJ0GvGPDlTT-QCWXbKsqq95QpiYZsxW3kvpftiD4-_RTVERDoCINPcgO7Wc0gjmmWiUZ6WDsyZ_rg6cPpIP8IWafvoyxvOWtInWJYGjQBXSebFj54YTfz0fMDDSc/s1600/6.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypU-_xWBSsP0U5VhfJ0GvGPDlTT-QCWXbKsqq95QpiYZsxW3kvpftiD4-_RTVERDoCINPcgO7Wc0gjmmWiUZ6WDsyZ_rg6cPpIP8IWafvoyxvOWtInWJYGjQBXSebFj54YTfz0fMDDSc/s320/6.jpg" width="228"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Terrific Pulpy Artwork</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As Kong battles a giant snake, a menacing pterodactyl
 and a  romping and raging, tail-wagging T-Rex to protect his new 
discovery, he becomes a savior/bodyguard, but most likely for 
territorial reasons...<br>
<br>
Although, Bruce Cabot’s John 
Driscoll is perpetually shadowing Kong to get his lady back... One great
 camera-gliding visual has Driscoll and a weary Darrow running for 
safety as an unseen Kong approaches... And although Cabot is the heroic 
lead, Armstrong’s Denham is the main male character...<br>
<br>
<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTl4kU2RbpONAO-fzZIkM2yXc2M2s72lU1_1LkgMucTWLdF5n7FWiwpRdejuh6F4g5a5fjvj7nG_OmC9IdrcywlRgn33E36_jh4CnHd9QS_3WQrL291cz-DiPofPGygM31lUBrvXYMioW0/s1600/king-kong-poster-1933-granger.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="617" data-original-width="380" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTl4kU2RbpONAO-fzZIkM2yXc2M2s72lU1_1LkgMucTWLdF5n7FWiwpRdejuh6F4g5a5fjvj7nG_OmC9IdrcywlRgn33E36_jh4CnHd9QS_3WQrL291cz-DiPofPGygM31lUBrvXYMioW0/s400/king-kong-poster-1933-granger.jpeg" width="246"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Original King Kong Poster Art </u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the modern era, never would a man responsible for 
capturing and exploiting an extremely rare species be considered a hero 
of any kind… In fact, Charles Grodin and Jack Black, basically playing 
the same guy in both sequels, were villains and/or jerks. Either way, 
“It was beauty that killed the beast" lends more cruel irony than 
anything else. But perhaps this line can be explained when, on the 
Island, Kong breaks down the native's wall that, most likely, couldn't 
be 
penetrated under normal circumstances...<br>
<br>
It took Darrow
 to give him the 
extra strength to fulfill his tragic destiny. And despite ravaging the 
native village and following the Americans to shore with loathsome 
vengeance, Kong is no match against gas bombs being hurled at his feet, 
cutting quickly from Skull Island back to New York, where Kong’s on 
display for a theater of impatient sophisticates, resulting in a barrage
 of the city leading to the famous Empire State Building standoff where 
Kong battles airplanes with machine guns, the unfair slaying of an 
iconic creature beloved by audiences, still, even though, in the 
original movie and in his original form, KING KONG was a lethal monster 
to both respect and fear.<br>

bruce cabot, classic, creature, ernest schoedsack, fay wray, franchise, king kong, merian cooper, robert armstrong, sequel, stop-motion, thirties

STOMPING THROUGH THE LEGENDARY ORIGINAL 'KING KONG'

Fay Wray as Ann Darrow in KING KONG Year: 1933 If you discovered prehistoric/extremely instinct dinosaurs roaming on an uncharted islan...

ROBERT ARMSTRONG RETURNS IN 'SON OF KONG' WITH HELEN MACK

action, adventure, classic, creature, dinosaur, ernest schoedsack, fantasy, helen mack, king kong, merian cooper, monster, robert armstrong, sequel, thirties

ROBERT ARMSTRONG RETURNS IN 'SON OF KONG' WITH HELEN MACK

Artwork for SON OF KONG Year of Release and Capture: 1933 Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Skull Island… But why return t...

KING KONG'S SISTER PRODUCTION 'THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME'

action, adventure, cult, ernest schoedsack, fay wray, joel mccrea, leslie banks, merian cooper, noble johnson, robert armstrong, thirties

KING KONG'S SISTER PRODUCTION 'THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME'

The opening credit doorknob in Most Dangerous Game Year: 1933 Based a short story by Richard Connell, the GAME template has been used m...

REVIEW OF THE ORIGINAL KING KONG

<span style="font-size: x-large;">KING KONG<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/11/classic-kong.html"> REVIEW HAS MOVED HERE</a></span><br /><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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3NTGGy86e7PolsG3Hcyy1BuJhlNSCqLkz0hblt-JiBCi0m9cW7n8QmtAABE-UTf6IuwIl564Mj5q1r4m1caL7gqC-ivmR_dNv7t-0GMOplka9OBLtRACGA2Se_1eSF2CdfhuzjV502Ko/s1600/1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3NTGGy86e7PolsG3Hcyy1BuJhlNSCqLkz0hblt-JiBCi0m9cW7n8QmtAABE-UTf6IuwIl564Mj5q1r4m1caL7gqC-ivmR_dNv7t-0GMOplka9OBLtRACGA2Se_1eSF2CdfhuzjV502Ko/s320/1.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Fantastic King Kong poster</span></u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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