I was fortunate enough to pick up a copy of the VHS tape of this film from a video store eliminating some of its stock. I believe it was released by Republic Home Video (I'm not home right now to go check), but agree that it needs to be out on DVD and could use some showings on TCM. It certainly qua...

I too would agree that Mary was ill-served by whoever designed her "look" in THE MALTESE FALCON. She is capable of looking the part of a femme fatale, but misses the mark in that movie. Chemistry between she and Bogart was ok, nothing notable, but I really enjoyed how they played off each ...

The movie isn't horrible, but Dewey's right about the film's sluggishness.

It's worth a look, but don't expect a classic.

Interestingly, it's based on one of the best of the Marlowe books.

Arkadin, I agree with the points you made about NOTLD and would concur with you that, of the original three films, it's the best made and had the most points to make about the nature of man, society etc. I think my problem with it lies more in what it says and not so much in how it says it, though i...

This subject has come up before, even on the "mother ship", and probably will again, but I think that the reason many modern day horror films don't fly with us here has a lot to do with why we love movies in the first place. I've done a bit of reading on that thread here and was struck by ...

One film which must surely hold some sort of record for its cast of future stars would be Ensign Pulver (1964). These include Larry Hagman, Peter Marshall, Jack Nicholson, George Lindsey, James Farentino, James Coco, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Dick Gautier, and, according to IMDB, Jerry Orbach (!), which...

Non-Fiction: I'm currently in the middle of two interesting books, Volume I of Raymond E. Brown's massive The Death of the Messiah , which is a commentary on the Passion narratives in the four Gospels in the New Testament. The other is Stephen W. Sears' To the Gates of Richmond , which is a study of...

In "good guy" roles, I enjoy Cagney in G-MEN, EACH DAWN I DIE and BLOOD ON THE SUN ("Sure, forgive your enemies. But first, get even!") In comedy, I liked his wise-guy Nick Butler in TORRID ZONE and his manic performance as MacNamara in ONE, TWO, THREE. In straight drama, I enjoy...

I too will have to go with Connery, although I will say that Daniel Craig brings a hardness to his portrayal of the character that we haven't seen in some time. I think he'll grow on me. As far as which of the Connerys is best, that's a tougher call. I'm partial to THUNDERBALL because of the Bahamia...

Klondike: TVOG may contain all of the elements you mention, but IMHO these are only attempts to camouflage the fact that this is a sub-standard remake of KING KONG, with a less appealing cast, plotline and special effects (sorry, RH!) In fact, although Gwangi may be a less appealing character than K...

I agree that this is an excelllent film. It makes good use of what may by now be the overly familiar plot device of introducing an appealing (in the sense of interesting) cast of characters, placing them in a remote and dangerous locale and then eliminating them one by one. In addition to the other ...

"Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed" is one of my favorite Hammer films (and horror films in general.) It is quite suspenseful and has a great momentum that builds and builds. I am always amazed when people dismiss it as "ordinary" or "out of date," as if people should hav...

I always felt that this film, stylistically and thematically, resembled the classic CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, right down to the camera angles and distorted sets.

Re Branded and Chuck Connors' broken sabre, I can attest that he did occasionally use it as a weapon. At least once that I can remember, he threw it like a regular knife at a villain, hitting him in the chest and killing him with it. He also occasionally used its handle to club deserving souls.

Moira & jdb1: I would certainly agree with you about the violent and their (possible) overcompensation for being impotent. But I still would disagree about Cagney in PUBLIC ENEMY because, the undeniably infantile aspects of his & Harlow's aspects relationship notwithstanding, I think her att...