Directed by George Stevens (Giant), the sagebrush classic Shane stars Alan Ladd as the titular character, a retired, laconic gunfighter who comes to the assistance of a homestead family when they are terrorized by a wealthy cattleman (Emile Meyer). As…
Read more →1950s Films
Take a Comedic Vacation with “Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki”
Alo-ha-ha! As you plan your summer vacation, we modestly request that you take a break from sorting out the logistics for your next getaway and check out one of the funniest travelogues ever committed to celluloid — 1955’s Ma and…
Read more →Richard Carlson Gets Caught in “The Maze” of 3-D Thrills
Originally released from Allied Artists Pictures Corporation, 1953’s The Maze is a spine-tingling thriller that has the distinction of being the last film directed by William Cameron Menzies (Things to Come). This in-your-face (sometimes literally given the movie’s mastery of…
Read more →Watch This: King Vidor’s Great Melodrama “Ruby Gentry”
“The story of a flame named Ruby who took a whole town apart…step by step, sin by sin!” – original tagline. 1952’s Ruby Gentry is an outstanding Southern melodrama from director King Vidor (Stella Dallas) that chronicled the exploits of…
Read more →Remembering Walt Disney’s “The Shaggy Dog”
In hindsight, The Shaggy Dog (1959) was a landmark Disney film. After all, this amusing comedy perfected the formula for the contemporary live-action family films produced by the studio for the next twenty years. It was also the first of Fred…
Read more →Humphrey Bogart Pursues Justice In “The Enforcer”
As time goes by, people realize more and more how unique of an actor Humphrey Bogart was. While his roles in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon are obviously cultural touchstones, he has plenty of performances which are equally great yet…
Read more →John Wayne and Sophia Loren Search for the “Legend of the Lost”
The 1957 John Wayne and Sophia Loren adventure Legend of the Lost comes to DVD and Blu-ray this week from KL Studio Classics. Originally presented in theaters in the short-lived “Technirama” format, this Italian/American co-production starred the Duke as grizzled…
Read more →Create-A-Caption: The Creature from the Black Lagoon
October’s fright-filled Create-A-Captions continue with this week’s entry based on my personal favorite of the Universal Monster flicks, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Regular readers may remember that we did one of these with the Gill Man back in…
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