Reviews

13 Ghosts ( 1960 ) is a classic scary tale of a man and his family who inherits an old mansion from his late uncle. Just one small problem; his late uncle dabbled in the occult and collected a menagerie of bizarre ghosts from around the world as residents. The family gets to make their acquaintance much to their dismay in a series of frightening encounters. There are 12 ghosts in the mansion, with the 13th revealed at the end. Very spooky and atmospheric; loved watching this movie while growing up. If you love horror movies from the 50s & 60s, this one makes a great addition to your frightfest library!

I have the Blu-ray version of 4D Man ( 1959 ) and was delightfully surprised with the premise. Dr. Scott Nelson ( played by Robert Lansing ) discovers the secret of fellow scientist and younger brother Tony ( James Congdon ) of stimulating the molecular structure of solid objects so that they are enabled to be joined or pass through one another! He carries the experiment further and discovers that he can pass through solid objects, such as doors and walls. However, the experiment has unforeseen and horrible side effects that affect his mind and actions! Robert Lansing was an outstanding character actor, with a commanding stage presence and stentorian ( powerful ) voice. His film credits include A Gathering of Eagles with Rock Hudson and Under the Yum Yum Tree with Jack Lemmon. He also appeared in a myriad of TV shows including Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bonanza, 12 O'clock High and Murder, She Wrote. The movie co-stars Lee Meriwether, a beautiful actress who was most remembered for her roles as Catwoman on Batman and Barnaby Jones with Buddy Ebsen. Produced by Jack Harris and directed by Irvin Yeaworth, Jr, who also made cult favorites The Blob and Dinosaurus! 4D Man features some outstanding special effects & is a very good sci-fi horror entry from the 50s & 60s.

Doing a review of Gunsmoke is a labor of love. 635 episodes over twenty years! Starred James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon, the steadfast beacon of Dodge City, dogged in his pursuit of killers, thieves and villains. Amanda Blake portrayed the beautiful, fiery Miss Kitty Russell, the proprietor of the Long Branch saloon, and Milburn Stone as the curmudgeon Doc Adams, always stroking his face and patching up countless wounds. Marshal Dillon's sidekick was first Dennis Weaver as Chester Goode, the loyal helper with a limp who always seemed to encounter trouble. Burt Reynolds was Quint Asper, the half-breed blacksmith who could fight with his hands or a gun. And in Season 9, the introduction of Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen, Matt's deputy, the tough, whiskered companion, whose running verbal feuds with Doc Adams ( you ole scudder! ) were always of great amusement. In the early seasons of Gunsmoke, the introductory soliloquy by Matt Dillon as he walked ruefully through Boot Hill cemetery, reflecting on the unfortunate inhabitants, and remarking that men were quicker to draw their guns than to draw upon their logic in the face of danger. The acting was hallmark, the stories exciting and a great cast of characters who appeared in each episode, such as John Dehner, Darren McGavin, Steve Forrest, Morgan Woodward, Lee J. Cobb, John Anderson, Richard Kiley, Ricardo Montalban, Betty Davis, Bruce Dern, Nehemiah Persoff and James Gregory to name a select few. The show's themes of courage, redemption, justice, honor, revenge, love and loyalty stand as timeless monuments to the greatness of each week's episode. Gunsmoke defines the western genre as none other ever will!

There were fourteen Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, and all but three were directed by Roy William Neill in Universal Pictures. The atmosphere, the suspense, the camera angles and shadows which capture all the details of the Sherlock Holmes series are simply magnificent. The colorized, restored version of the movie produces a stunning modernistic effect to this timeless classic, but if you prefer the original black and white version, it is available as well. There are no other movies I'd rather watch from the 40's era than our detective duo doing their thing. In Prelude to Murder ( aka Dressed to Kill ), there are three music boxes, each of which contain musical code which together reveal the secret to missing Bank of England currency plates. An evil socialite and her henchmen are desperately seeking the music boxes and Holmes and the trusty Dr. Watson haven't much time to find them first and solve their musical mystery. This was the last movie of the Sherlock Holmes series and every bit as enjoyable as all the others. I have completed my collection of Sherlock Holmes DVDs starring Rathbone and Bruce and will treasure them for many days to come!

Curse of the Demon ( aka Night of the Demon, which was released in the UK ) is an under-the-radar horror film but definitely not to be overlooked. Starring Dana Andrews,an underrated actor, as Prof. John Holden, who travels to England to attend a parapsychology symposium and to expose a devil-worship group led by Dr. Julian Karswell (played by Niall MacGinnis, who also played Zeus in Jason and the Argonauts). Dr. Karswell tries unsuccessfully to get Prof. Holden to desist, and subsequently invokes an ancient curse upon Holden, where in two weeks time he will fall victim to a horrible death at the hands of a frightening fire demon. Fear of the unknown is the central theme of this film, and is masterfully employed by director Jacques Tourneur. Tourneur builds upon Holden's impending doom throughout the film and slowly Holden's skepticism turns to anxiety of his fate. The film is well-acted by Andrews and MacGinnis primarily and the terror builds as the film progresses. This film would be an excellent candidate for a remake with today's special effects and CGI. One of the better horror flicks of the fear-laden 50s.

The Night Gallery episode "The Waiting Room" on the complete second season is my definitive favorite. Written by Rod Serling, and presented with an incredible cast featuring Buddy Ebsen,Steve Forrest, Albert Salmi,Jim Davis, Lex Barker and Gilbert Roland,the episode is an eerie, supernatural visit to a nameless saloon where each of the characters,known for their mastery with the six-gun, await their fate. Steve Forrest portrays the antagonist with a hair-trigger temper Sam Dichter, who wanders in from the cold for some warmth and whiskey,and when he engages the others in conversation he gets a hell of a lot more than he bargained for. The suspenseful dialogue between the actors is intense and the acting performances are hallmark. Mr. Serling originally had plans for a show of the same genre called the Wax Museum, but it became the Night Gallery after a conflict over storylines and content. A must-see for Rod Serling fans!

The Great Escape is undoubtedly the finest war/prison movie ever made. Directed by John Sturges,whose film credits include Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Ice Station Zebra (1968). In World War II,Mr. Sturges made documentaries and training films while enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. His exhaustive research and attention to detail are certainly on display in this film. Because of his success with The Magnificent Seven,he was able to convince MGM to undertake this monumental project. After much negotiations, he was able to convince his star from The Magnificent Seven, Steve McQueen,to come aboard for this film. McQueen was reluctant to do another war movie, and only accepted the part if a motorcycle chase was wrote in exclusively for him. Sturges agreed, and the chase toward the end of the movie became one of the signature highlights of the film. A little known fact is that during the chase McQueen, through the magic of editing, was also used as one of the German motorcycle riders,thereby creating the unique circumstance of McQueen being pursued by himself during the chase scene! An all-star collection of American and British actors, McQueen as Hilts,the Cooler King, James Garner as the Scrounger,Richard Attenborough as Big X, Charles Bronson as the Tunnel King, James Coburn as the Manufacturer and Donald Pleasance as the Forger,to name a few.

Thrown together in the German prison camp Stalag Luft III, the Air Force prisoners use their creative talents to dig three tunnels( Tom,Dick & Harry) and get as many men out as quickly as possible, and to create as much confusion for the German SS as they can in trying to find and recapture them. Based on a true story, this film combines the components of suspense, ingenuity, adventure and the triumph of the human spirit to attain freedom no matter the cost. Screenwritten by James Clavell (Shogun) and W.R.Burnett (Little Caesar), a wonderful music score by Elmer Bernstein,beautiful scenic filming near Munich, Germany, this magnificent film captures all the elements of a timeless classic!

I first saw Jack the Giant Killer at a movie theater in '67 and have loved it ever since. The magic which Nathan Juran ( screenplay & direction ) and Ray Harryhausen ( special effects creator) captured are a sword & sorcery lover's delight. Starring Kerwin Mathews as Jack, Judi Meredith as the princess Elaine, and Torin Thatcher as the evil wizard Pendragon, the movie is chock full of stop-motion animation delight. The miniature jester in the music box, the ghostly witches attacking Jack's ship,the dragon guarding Pendragon's lair, the valley of the Cyclops,all this and more provide a Panavision vista of the wonderful special effects which Ray Harryhausen summoned from his creative talents in this movie, and numerous others such as Jason and the Argonauts, 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Clash of the Titans,to name a few.

The chemistry between Kerwin Mathews and Judi Meredith is alive, and Torin Thatcher is delightful in his supporting role as the evil wizard Pendragon,who stops at nothing to kidnap the princess and hold her as ransom to force her father the King to give Pendragon the land and riches he so desperately craves. A wonderful story, music score, the direction of Nathan Juran and the creative stop-motion effects artistry of Ray Harryhausen make this movie a fantasy feast for the senses.

Take a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, add a red convertible with one of the finest character actors of his era, Charlton Heston, driving it, add a machine gun, show him cruising down the boulevard and then abruptly coming to a stop and firing off a burst of gunfire at a shadowy mutant in a building window, and you have the start of a classic sci-fi action thriller.

Charlton Heston portrays Doctor Robert Neville, an ex-Army doctor who was working on a vaccine for a virus caused by biological weapons employed in a final war in which the remaining survivors are reduced to half-human, psychotic mutants known as the Family. Led by Brother Matthias ( brilliantly portrayed by actor Anthony Zerbe, who has a long list of television and movie credits ),they wage a non-stop agenda in destroying any vestiges of modern society,and constant attacks against our hero, Dr. Neville. And Neville answers with frequent use of his Smith and Wesson M76 submachine gun and Browning automatic rifle with an early nightscope to retaliate against the Family's nightly attacks.

The movie is ripe with irony and sarcasm, such as when Neville wrecks his car at the start of the movie and then replies "there's never a cop around when you need one." The scene with Neville in the movie theatre watching Woodstock is priceless, as is his running monologue with Caesar, his bust statue in his apartment, undoubtedly to try and maintain his sanity. After an attack by the Family, he turns to Caesar while playing chess and quips "was it your move or mine?" The movie also has racial overtones which fit into the context of the 70s when the movie was made. This comes into play when Neville discovers Lisa,( Rosalind Cash ) a black female, is actually alive and tries to communicate with her. She finally accepts him and comes to his apartment and the dialog takes on the sexual and racial innuendos.

The constant conflict with Brother Matthias and the Family provide a nonstop thrill ride throughout the movie as Neville seeks to find "the nest" which the Family inhabits by day while they wage their unholy war by night against Neville in his last domain, the apartment where he lives. Aside from Planet Of the Apes, this was one of Charlton Heston's better sci-fi roles and should be thoroughly enjoyed by fans of the science-fiction genre.

I watched "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" during its one-year run and currently own the "Night Stalker" and Night Strangler" movies and the 20-episode season on DVD. Aside from being a low-budget production, the show was a success because of the great horror atmosphere and the acting talents of Darren McGavin. As the loudmouthed,sarcastic, crusading investigative reporter Carl Kolchak, Mr. McGavin set the tone for the audience as he took on the incredible gamut of horrific creatures that he encountered in each gripping episode. A vampire, a Jack the Ripper serial killer, a witch,a doppelganger, a zombie, a headless motorcycle rider,and a Mexican bird god are among the smorgasbord of creepies that Kolchak encountered each week. McGavin was a tremendous character actor and his acting acumen was on display and captured our imagination in each episode. The story lines, the suspense, the music score and the tour-de-force acting talents of Darren McGavin created the magic which made the show a horror genre classic. One of my all-time favorites.