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Cry Danger (1951)
Excellent B-picture!
Terrific film debut from director Robert Parrish, who shows what he learned from working in the cutting-room with John Ford. The cast is good, the dialogue snappy, and the tension cranks appropriately. The characters aren't given much development, but with a 79-minute running time, that's forgivable. The best thing about 'Cry Danger' is how Robert Parrish ignores the low-budget restrictions and mostly shoots the whole thing on location in trailer parks, city streets, and dingy storefronts. Highly recommended for the film noir enthusiast.
Dèmoni (1985)
Yes and No...
I'll rate this film 6/10, mainly because it's merits are few, but solid.
MERITS: 1) The soundtrack. Great heavy-metal, some rock-and-roll, all pitched to the various chase scenes. Lamberto Bava definitely has an ear for music.
2) The effects. Great, gruesome makeup effects. There's stuff here that, technically, can rival Rob Bottin's work in 'The Thing' (1982) though Bottin had a wilder imagination.
3) The photography. There's plenty of shadows thrown about and a nice color scheme. Lamberto certainly learned a few things when he was an assistant to his father, Mario Bava.
DEMERITS:
1) The script. You don't learn a thing about the characters and, moreover, don't care about them. They're just served up on a 'demon platter' and if they get killed, so what?
2) The dubbing. The lines have no wit or smoothness when dubbed into English, and some of the dialogue delivery jars horribly. Example: when they break into the projection room, they have to break through two doors. After busting through the first door, the black pimp says "Shit! Another door! Give me a hand!" But whoever dubbed that line reads it like this: "SHIT! A-NOTH-AH DOAH! GIVE-ME-A HAY-UND!" Ugh.
So, 6/10. Not for everyone, but gore-fans will dig it. But for me, the best thing about this film is the poster--high marks for whoever designed it!
Deduce, You Say (1956)
A send-up of the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce series..
7 out of 10, mainly because the design is excellent, as is the script. For those who have watched and enjoyed the series of 'Sherlock Holmes' movies made from 1939 - 1946 (all starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce) then this animated short would be a 10/10. Daffy's prickly, know-it-all personality satirizes the Basil Rathbone interpretation of Holmes, and Porky Pig as 'Watkins' does pretty much what Nigel Bruce did in all the films--nothing. Though at one point a frustrated Daffy barks: "All right, Watkins--enough of your bumbling!" which is a reference to how Watson was portrayed as a clueless idiot by Bruce. And as a topper, writer Michael Maltese is able to insert the line "Elementary, my dear Watkins (Watson.)" in a perfect spot.
Terror by Night (1946)
Train films are hard to do, but this one does it well.
Good entry in the series. Roy William Neil frames and stages the action expertly on the train, and the repeated stock footage inserts don't distract too much. BIGGEST LIABILITY: Renee Godfrey as Vivian Vedder; her terrible British accent makes Dick Van Dyke in 'Mary Poppins' sound authentic. Everyone else in the cast is terrific, especially the woefully underused Skelton Knaggs in a bit part; he definitely puts the 'creep' in 'creepy.' Overall, a good example of what good, solid, studio craftsmanship could accomplish when a team worked together. In fact, Nigel Bruce once commented that he and Rathbone would be invited to see the rushes by Roy William Neil and allowed to make suggestions (sourse: basilrathbone.net.)
Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
Not Bad!
Sure, it's a Roger Corman quickie clocking in at 63 minutes, but it's 63 minutes of spy, gangster, and monster movie spoofing that's anchored by hilarious, deadpan narration written by Chuck Griffith. Add to it a dose of surrealism here and there (a phone booth on a deserted beach with someone who looks like Corman himself waiting to use the phone) and you have an idiosyncratic, low-budget winner. Corman was producing and directing films at such a furious pace during this time, he would take chances on trying something different as long as there was a script and a story. By the way, the animated opening credits sum up the tone perfectly!
Home of the Brave (2006)
Boy, this movie stunk.
Look before you leap. I watched this on the assumption that it was a re-make of the classic 1949 "Home of the Brave." Big mistake. If you want a more honest, emotional, homecoming movie, watch "Coming Home" (1978.) There's lots of war films better than this film--hell, "Halls of Montezuma" (1951) is better than this film. In "Montezuma" you at least get Richard Widmark chewing the scenery and Jack (Dragnet) Webb showing his stuff. As for 50 Cent...well, I hope to God no other producer suddenly decides they need him for name value because HE CAN'T ACT, for the love of Christ! And maybe someday Samuel L. Jackson will stop phoning in his performances, or at least work with a director who can bring out his best.