A House Is Not a Home (1964) ***
Best remembered these days as the debut film for Raquel Welch (One Million Years BC, 1966), the rest of the film is well worth a look. Hypocrisy had its heyday in The Roaring 20s when prohibition made bootleggers millionaires, helped bankroll other criminal activities like prostitution and encouraged cops and politicians to seek their share … Continue reading “A House Is Not a Home (1964) ***”
Black Widow (2021) ****
Like Skyfall, that rarity, an action film with a solid emotional core. Take away the action and you would still have an absorbing story of a loss, family tension, bickering siblings and an ego-driven pompous father. The action brings family together, initially the two girls, Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena (Florence Pugh) rescuing papa Alexei … Continue reading “Black Widow (2021) ****”
Istanbul Express (1968) ***
Calling this a by-the-numbers spy thriller does this movie no disservice since numbers are crucial to the complicated plot. On the one hand it’s quite a simple set up. Suave high-living art-dealer-cum-spy Michael London (Gene Barry) travels from Paris to Istanbul on the Orient Express to bid for secret papers in a secret auction. The … Continue reading “Istanbul Express (1968) ***”
Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) **
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be turning in his grave. Workmanlike at best, awful at its worst, or a “so-bad-it’s-good” candidate? Christopher Lee goes through the motions, there’s an oddly inserted heist, the continuity goes haywire, and the deduction would not have troubled a child. Even the great sleuth having to match nemesis Moriarty in … Continue reading “Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) **”
Selling Sherlock Holmes – The Pressbook for “A Study in Terror” (1965)
This is one of my favorite pressbooks because the marketing concept is so wacky and clearly an ill-advised attempt to cash in on the crime-busting efforts of television’s latest sensation Batman which had aired on the small screen in January 1966 and on the big screen in July of that year, a month before A … Continue reading “Selling Sherlock Holmes – The Pressbook for “A Study in Terror” (1965)”
A Study in Terror (1965) ****
Excepting Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) the world’s most famous fictional detective had been absent from the big screen for over two decades so it seemed an inspired decision to set him on the trail of the world’s most infamous serial killer – Jack the Ripper. … Continue reading “A Study in Terror (1965) ****”
Bestseller Hollywood, Part Two – Movie Tie Ins
The movie tie-in was such an obvious synergy you had to wonder why it was not employed in more significant fashion prior to the 1960s. The reason was that movie-making and publishing were generally viewed as completely separate entities, only crossing over when books were sold to Hollywood. And up to the mid-1950s, Hollywood had … Continue reading “Bestseller Hollywood, Part Two – Movie Tie Ins”
Go Naked in the World (1961) ***
Under-rated at the time and ever since, and overshadowed at the box office by MGM’s other venture into the world of the good-time-girl Butterfield 8 (1960), this raw slice of emotion delivers on every front and may be even more pertinent today in its unashamed depiction of paternal love. Spoiled brat Nick Stratton (Anthony Franciosca), … Continue reading “Go Naked in the World (1961) ***”
Behind the Scenes – “Cast a Giant Shadow” (1966)
If recruiting John Wayne is essential to getting your new picture off the ground, it would help not to have fallen out with him big-style previously. After every studio in Hollywood had turned down Cast a Giant Shadow, writer-producer-director Melville Shavelson turned to the Duke. The only problem was the pair had hit trouble on … Continue reading “Behind the Scenes – “Cast a Giant Shadow” (1966)”
Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) ***
In some respects a sequel to the film Exodus (1960) as Israel, on the eve of independence in 1948, prepares to repel invasion from neighboring Arabs. Colonel Mickey Marcus (Kirk Douglas) is recruited to help organise the Jewish forces even though he has little actual combat experience, having sat out the Second World War behind … Continue reading “Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) ***”
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