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Post by ripper on Nov 2, 2023 14:04:21 GMT
Yeah, a fan with whom I'm friendly in the UK did a whole book on Agutter, and it was frankly baffling to me. I'd seen some of her work in the Seventies and she just never registered for me. I'd forgotten she was the nurse/girlfriend in American Werewolf. Hel. Not quite sure what it is about her. To me she has a kind of innocence. She's the kind of girl whom your mum would want you to bring home for her to meet, or that's how she seems to me at least. My Halloween viewing this year was: The Scarlet Claw from 1944 with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. One of my favourite of the Universal dozen of Sherlock Holmes B movies. I like the atmosphere generated and the uncertainty of who or what is doing the killing. My dad is old enough to have seen some of the Universal SH series at the cinema and he told me that there was always excitement among his friends when a new SH film was to be shown. Assault from 1971 starring Suzy Kendall, Frank Finlay and a young Lesley Anne Down. A maniac is assaulting and murdering young girls at a private school. Kendall plays a teacher determined to stop him. I have always liked this sleazy little thriller since first seeing it on my old B+W portable late one night around 1980. It has a good cast and just enough sleaze for the early 70s. I think it was also Lesley Anne Down who suffered similarly in the opening minutes of the Out of the Unknown episode 'To Lay a Ghost' the same year. |
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Nov 2, 2023 15:53:35 GMT
I watched Killdozer, which features a possessed bulldozer. There is a battle with a steam shovel, a sort of monster battle with vehicles, but it's in general poor stuff, as nothing is developed. The main lead Clint Walker is muscular and incredibly wooden; he seems to have been a Western actor, who probably played the granate chinned hero, that required little acting ability. Apparently later in life he co-wrote a Western novel with Kirby Jonas called Yaqui Gold.
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Post by ripper on Nov 2, 2023 18:45:02 GMT
I watched Killdozer, which features a possessed bulldozer. There is a battle with a steam shovel, a sort of monster battle with vehicles, but it's in general poor stuff, as nothing is developed. The main lead Clint Walker is muscular and incredibly wooden; he seems to have been a Western actor, who probably played the granate chinned hero, that required little acting ability. Apparently later in life he co-wrote a Western novel with Kirby Jonas called Yaqui Gold. He will always be remembered by old codgers like me as Cheyenne Bodie in the western series Cheyenne. Killdozer was a made-for-TV movie. I saw it when ITV screened it in the mid-70s. I was maybe 13 at the time so thought it was great, only, of course, it is hokum. lol So many of those made-for-TV movies were shown on ITV in the 70s, often on Saturday nights. Walker was also in one called Scream of the Wolf, though I can't recall if it is a real werewolf or a Scooby. |
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Post by helrunar on Nov 2, 2023 19:42:35 GMT
Clint Walker had a spectacular body, and for that, he is fondly remembered by some men of my generation and older. His acting, from what I can recall of it, is of the type often called "reliable."
Some of the 1970s TV films are really worth spending time with, such as Crowhaven Farm, The Devil's Daughter, and The Cat Creature. Those are examples from the Gothic supernatural horror genre; there were other ones that were very good in various other genres. And a lot of them were just an excuse to switch your brain off for 75 minutes, which is mostly what telly in the 2020s seems to be.
Hel.
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Post by ripper on Nov 2, 2023 20:16:09 GMT
Clint Walker had a spectacular body, and for that, he is fondly remembered my some men of my generation and older. His acting, from what I can recall of it, is of the type often called "reliable." Some of the 1970s TV films are really worth spending time with, such as Crowhaven Farm, The Devil's Daughter, and The Cat Creature. Those are examples from the Gothic supernatural horror genre; there were other ones that were very good in various other genres. And a lot of them were just an excuse to switch your brain off for 75 minutes, which is mostly what telly in the 2020s seems to be. Hel. Those are good ones. Agree that a lot were just time-fillers, but often entertaining. They covered all the usual genres and sometimes 'borrowed' ideas from well-known films of the time. They even covered social issues, sometimes well, sometimes not so. Yes, also agree that they are worth seeking out, just don't expect too much. They usually had decent casts with actors who would have been familiar to viewers of the time, but the odd star would turn up such as Bette Davis. |
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Nov 2, 2023 20:37:24 GMT
I think it was also Lesley Anne Down who suffered similarly in the opening minutes of the Out of the Unknown episode 'To Lay a Ghost' the same year. It was, indeed, and for a while it looked like she was forever doomed to play 'schoolgirl attacked in woods'. Thankfully she moved into other roles quickly enough. By coincidence, she was in my Hallowe'en night viewing, not being molested in the woods but in danger of being trapped in an impossible room behind an antique door, in From Beyond the Grave, the last - and, to my mind, best - of the Amicus anthologies. Four terrific tales in a delightfully macabre framing story. |
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Post by ripper on Nov 2, 2023 21:28:31 GMT
I think it was also Lesley Anne Down who suffered similarly in the opening minutes of the Out of the Unknown episode 'To Lay a Ghost' the same year. It was, indeed, and for a while it looked like she was forever doomed to play 'schoolgirl attacked in woods'. Thankfully she moved into other roles quickly enough. By coincidence, she was in my Hallowe'en night viewing, not being molested in the woods but in danger of being trapped in an impossible room behind an antique door, in From Beyond the Grave, the last - and, to my mind, best - of the Amicus anthologies. Four terrific tales in a delightfully macabre framing story. Thanks. I think I first saw her in Upstairs Downstairs and admit I had a bit of a crush on her in that. She was also in a good Sweeney episode called Chalk and Cheese--series 2 I believe, where she played a 'posh bird' stringing along one of George Carter's ex-boxer mates. I really like From Beyond the Grave. You can tell Cushing is having a good time, and Ian Bannan and Diana Dors are so good as the unhappily married couple. The door and mirror stories are a bit samey, but it is all done in such style that I can forgive it anything. |
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Post by andydecker on Nov 3, 2023 13:58:51 GMT
It was, indeed, and for a while it looked like she was forever doomed to play 'schoolgirl attacked in woods'. Thankfully she moved into other roles quickly enough. By coincidence, she was in my Hallowe'en night viewing, not being molested in the woods but in danger of being trapped in an impossible room behind an antique door, in From Beyond the Grave, the last - and, to my mind, best - of the Amicus anthologies. Four terrific tales in a delightfully macabre framing story. Thanks. I think I first saw her in Upstairs Downstairs and admit I had a bit of a crush on her in that. She was also in a good Sweeney episode called Chalk and Cheese--series 2 I believe, where she played a 'posh bird' stringing along one of George Carter's ex-boxer mates. I really like From Beyond the Grave. You can tell Cushing is having a good time, and Ian Bannan and Diana Dors are so good as the unhappily married couple. The door and mirror stories are a bit samey, but it is all done in such style that I can forgive it anything. Unforgettable woman. I noticed her first in North and South and The First Great Train Robbery which was slight but fun. |
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Post by ripper on Nov 3, 2023 17:36:45 GMT
Thanks. I think I first saw her in Upstairs Downstairs and admit I had a bit of a crush on her in that. She was also in a good Sweeney episode called Chalk and Cheese--series 2 I believe, where she played a 'posh bird' stringing along one of George Carter's ex-boxer mates. I really like From Beyond the Grave. You can tell Cushing is having a good time, and Ian Bannan and Diana Dors are so good as the unhappily married couple. The door and mirror stories are a bit samey, but it is all done in such style that I can forgive it anything. Unforgettable woman. I noticed her first in North and South and The First Great Train Robbery which was slight but fun. I've not seen either North and South or First Great Train Robbery. I did remember she came to a nasty end in the last of the Bronson Death Wish films: getting her face smashed into a mirror and later being shot in the back, but that's what you get for being Paul Kersey's wife or girlfriend. |
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Post by sadako on Nov 4, 2023 23:44:34 GMT
Unforgettable woman. I noticed her first in North and South and The First Great Train Robbery which was slight but fun. I've not seen either North and South or First Great Train Robbery. I did remember she came to a nasty end in the last of the Bronson Death Wish films: getting her face smashed into a mirror and later being shot in the back, but that's what you get for being Paul Kersey's wife or girlfriend. Lesley starred opposite Harrison Ford in Hanover Street (1979)! |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Nov 9, 2023 17:06:31 GMT
I watched A HAUNTING IN VENICE, Kenneth Branagh's "adaptation" of Agatha Christie's HALLOWE'EN PARTY. It has absolutely nothing to do with Christie's novel. Nor with Christie's work in general. It is, however, quite entertaining in its own right. It is atmospheric, and the plot is quite audacious in its ridiculousness. Plus Kelly Reilly reminds me of Marina Malfatti, so it is possible to see something of those crazy Italian films of the 70s in this. Recommended.
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Post by kooshmeister on Nov 25, 2023 20:30:23 GMT
Recently: The Night Flier (1997)  Bad Moon (1996)  Also got the DVD for 1980's Night of the Demon. |
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Post by andydecker on Nov 27, 2023 11:58:37 GMT
Death on the Nile, 2022, directed by Kenneth Branagh. Finally got the opportunity to see this. After suffering through Murder on the Orient Express with Branagh's Action!Poirot I knew I wouldn't like this, but all I could muster about all the nonsense and meddling here on screen was a lot of apathy. I have seen the Ustinov version often, same goes for the Suchet, even read the novel. So the story can't surprise me; my interest was more to compare the versions.
Still this was surprisingly dull and flat, never mind the horrible (and needless) CGI. In these kind of movies I really don't mind if they re-invent the characters any longer, regardless if it makes any dramatic sense or not. The worst offence was changing Poirot from a elderly Belgian fugitive from the war into a trench soldier, but if the director thinks that todays audience desperatedly needs to have some action scenes, it his good right to do so. Who cares if this version of Poirot has not much to do with the original and is mostly reduced to catch phrases (which seldom make sense any longer for a new audience because of the missing context).
But it doesn't quite explain how uneven this movie is in every regard. Every important plot point of the story was ticked off, but often so clumsy it left me wonder if the screenplay was so bad or if it was the direction. Now and then some scenes sparkle and give an impression of what could have been, but then the movie sinks again in lifeless mediocrity.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Nov 27, 2023 14:57:42 GMT
I might try the Arthur Wontner Sherlock Holmes films. Anyone seen any of them?
From wiki:
Title Year Based on
The Sleeping Cardinal(US title: Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour) 1931 "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Final Problem"
The Missing Rembrandt (still considered lost) 1932 "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton"
The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case 1932 The Sign of the Four
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes 1935 The Valley of Fear
Silver Blaze (US title: Murder at the Baskervilles, release 1941) 1937 "The Adventure of Silver Blaze"
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Post by Michael Connolly on Nov 27, 2023 16:00:38 GMT
I might try the Arthur Wontner Sherlock Holmes films. Anyone seen any of them? From wiki: Title Year Based on The Sleeping Cardinal(US title: Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour) 1931 "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Final Problem" The Missing Rembrandt (still considered lost) 1932 "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case 1932 The Sign of the Four The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes 1935 The Valley of Fear Silver Blaze (US title: Murder at the Baskervilles, release 1941) 1937 "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" I saw Silver Blaze about a month ago. It's antiquated. |
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