THE MUMMY'S SHROUD. Not seen it since I was a nipper. "Beware the Beat of the Cloth-Wrapped Feet"(!) Isn't that the one where Fred Clark christens Turkish Delight? On the subject of Chaney's mummy pictures; as much as I like Lon, they don't do him - or Universal - any favours. Reportedly, ...

Hammer's THE MUMMY is quite a sober little outing compared to THE MUMMY'S HAND from 1940 - my nomination for Universal's best mummy pic - and I'm not forgetting the Karloff movie from '32. The comic-book approach works. It's got a lot going for it. Eduardo Ciannelli, for one thing, and the great Geo...

I saw THE FLY (the remake) at a local cinema in December 1986. In my naivety I wondered who would play Inspector Charas. Of course, there is no Inspector Charas - it's a completely different yarn! In the original film the part is essayed by the wonderful Herbert Marshall; resplendent in a superbly c...

Back to Hammer's The Mummy . When the scene shifts from Egypt to England, there seem to be quite a few Irish characters - the two carters, Michael Ripper's poacher, even the police detective investigating the killings. It just made me wonder, was this portion of the film originally intended to be se...

RR, That's just it. The same thing applies to the remake of THE FLY too. A non-stop cavalcade of gruesome effects, just for the sake of it! Boris Karloff once said: "Anybody can show you a pailful of innards. The object of the roles I played is not to turn your stomach - but to make your hair s...

I remember watching The Thing from Another World (a top favourite with me) on Granada T.V. in the early '80s. After the end of the movie, the programme announcer, Charles Foster, shrugged his shoulders and said: "Ah well, at least they've remade it now." My brother, Jim, phoned me almost i...

Erik, You're right. And I'll admit that it's one of the very few films that scared me as a kid. I've only just learned that the critic, Tom Weaver, doesn't hold a very high opinion of the Hammer classics - referring to them as "snoozers"! The best of them are very well crafted, given the c...

Hammer's THE MUMMY? It's highly touted. Some call it their best. It does have that delightfully cosy Victorian feel that Hammer could do well, particularly in the late 50s. But, apart from one or two exteriors, doesn't it strike you as studio bound (and a bit cramped at that)? The dread of the inexo...

Crackers and cheese--a good idea! Then, Hammer's THE MUMMY.

Ray was a fine draftsman. He carefully story-boarded every project (his graphical style was influenced by Doré). That's a time honoured method--the way the old masters would work. I remember him saying, during an interview, the reason he preferred to work alone was simply the fact that he was the be...

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (reference from previous post). Great trick work by the late Ray Harryhausen. Every falling brick and piece of masonry suspended by it's own wire and animated by stop-motion photography! Ray made some colour test footage in about 1952 for a projected animated version of ...

W.G. Wrote: "Cushing could convincingly dislay a vain arrogance in many of his roles, but he was a dear, sweet, kindly gentle man." And one who, because he loved animals and hated cruelty, was vegetarian. I believe his favourite meal was marmalade on toast washed down with a pot of Indian ...

"...doesn't WAR OF THE WORLDS end with the narrator stating that despite all of man's efforts to halt the invasion they were defeated by earth microbes placed on our planet by God?" That it does, W.G. The mellifluous tones of Sir Cedric Hardwicke inform us that: "The Martians were def...

Yes, that's the Mr. Grimsdyke episode. I'd forgotten they were both in the same anthology! P.S. One of the best movie put-downs was delivered by Peter Cushing, and occurs in FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969). (I relate from memory) The baron discovers two of his fellow hotel guests, sniggering a...

" . . . THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. I do hope people enjoyed it." RR, I too, share your enthusiasm. A truly incredible picture, and one I haven't seen for years. The bleak ending is haunting, and quite unlike anything I've seen, in any other movie. The poor fella resigns himself to the f...