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meanstreetspodcasts · 3 years ago

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Tired of the everyday grind?

Escape is often considered a “sister series” to CBS’ Suspense, but where “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills” had sponsorship dollars to attract the biggest names in Hollywood, Escape was a sustaining series without a sponsor. Since it couldn’t rely on the likes of Cary Grant and Gregory Peck, Escape made great use of the stable of Hollywood radio players (Stacy Harris, John Dehner, Virginia Gregg, Betty Lou Gerson, Parley Baer, Frank Lovejoy, and more). Radio legends William Conrad and Paul Frees were regularly heard in dramatic roles, and - as “the voice of Escape” - they also lent their voices to the ominous opening lines of each week’s show. Occasionally the show landed a big name and made the most of it. The best example of this may be Vincent Price starring in the chilling tale of ravenous rats “Three Skeleton Key.”

For much of the run, Escape was produced and directed by Norman Macdonnell, the man behind The Adventures of Philip Marlowe and Gunsmoke. Also at the helm was William N. Robson, who would go on to run Suspense in the late 1950s.

In honor of the anniversary of its July 7, 1947 premiere broadcast, here are some of my favorite episodes of Escape - examples of its variety of stories and why it still holds up as a taut, exciting adventure series so many years later.

“The Most Dangerous Game” - Richard Connell’s short story of a deranged hunter who preys on men has been filmed and retold many times over the years, including several radio adaptations. This version casts two radio legends and iconic voices. Paul Frees is the narrator and quarry of Hans Conried’s legendary - but bored - hunter and pits one man against the other in a deadly exotic jungle. (Originally aired on CBS on October 1, 1947)

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” - Another classic short story, this one by Ambrose Bierce, gets a memorable adaptation courtesy of Escape. A Confederate sympathizer tries to sabotage a bridge and ends up at the end of a Union noose. A twist of fate gives him a chance to escape…or does it? There are some problematic racial portrayals (a scene where the protagonist meets one of his slaves is particularly rough), but overall this is a great show with a cast of some of radio’s best voices - Harry Bartell, Bill Johnstone, William Conrad, and Frank Lovejoy. (Originally aired on CBS on December 10, 1947)

“Leiningen vs. the Ants” - A South American plantation owner refuses to run when an army of ravenous ants descends upon his homestead. The great William Conrad shines as the titular Leiningen - a man supremely confident in his dominance over nature. Lou Merrill is the government official who tries to persuade Leiningen to leave and later decides to stay and watch this titanic battle unfold. It’s a great example of the power of radio - the horde of ants comes to vivid life with only the narration and sound patterns. (Originally aired on CBS on January 14, 1948)

“Red Wine” - Jeff Chandler stars as a detective who travels to Borneo in search of a murderer. He finds several possible suspects working on a rubber plantation, and he’ll have to get creative to unmask the killer. (Originally aired on CBS on February 26, 1949)

“A Shipment of Mute Fate” - The passengers and crew of an ocean liner at sea have no place to hide when a deadly poisonous snake escapes from its case and stalks the ship. This classic thriller was performed several times on Escape; all of the versions are worth a listen, but this one features John Lund - a rare example of a big name starring in the show. (Originally aired on CBS on March 13, 1949)

“Three Skeleton Key” - One of the scariest old time radio dramas of all time, “Three Skeleton Key” features amazing performances and sound effects that will make your skin crawl. Vincent Price stars as a lighthouse keeper on a remote island. The daily bored existence of Price and his comrades is shattered when a derelict ship runs around and its passengers - thousands of carnivorous and very hungry rats - emerge with an appetite. Wine corks against glass create the illusion of gnawing rats, and your imagination does the rest to keep you on the edge of your seat. (Originally aired on CBS on March 17, 1950)

“The Time Machine” - H.G. Wells’ science fiction classic follows an inventor and his friend as they take a jaunt 100,000 years into the future. John Dehner and Larry Dobkin star in this adventure through time itself. (Originally aired on CBS on October 22, 1950)

“Earth Abides” - This two-part drama is hailed by many as the best story Escape ever produced. Adapted from George Stewart’s novel of the same name, it’s the story of a post-apocalyptic world following the outbreak of a deadly plague. Stephen King cited the story as an inspiration for his own post-apocalyptic epic The Stand. (Part One originally aired on CBS on November 5, 1950; Part 2 originally aired on CBS on November 12, 1950)

“Wild Jack Rhett” - John Meston adapted Ernest Haycox’s story of the old west, and it wound up being a test run for Gunsmoke for Meston and director Norman Macdonnell. John Dehner stars as an infamous gunfighter and “town tamer” hired to clean up the town of Red Mesa after its sheriff is gunned down. It’s an atmospheric adult western with great performances, and its influence can be felt on Gunsmoke which would launch less than two years later. (Originally aired on CBS on December 17, 1950)

“The Abominable Snowman” - William Conrad stars in this tale of adventurers who climb into the Himalayas to hunt for the legendary yeti. It’s a chilling (no pun intended) story as the men fight to survive in the snow and the hellish storm - never knowing for sure if they’re being stalked by their monstrous quarry. (Originally aired on CBS on September 13, 1953)

Check out this episode!

#suspense #old time radio #golden age of radio

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barbara-stanwyck-1907-1990 · 4 years ago

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Barbara Stanwyck (born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film and television star, she was known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional for her strong, realistic screen presence. A favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra, she made 85 films in 38 years before turning to television.

Stanwyck got her start on the stage in the chorus as a Ziegfeld girl in 1923 at age 16 and within a few years was acting in plays. She was then cast in her first lead role in Burlesque (1927), becoming a Broadway star. Soon after that, Stanwyck obtained film roles and got her major break when Frank Capra chose her for his romantic drama Ladies of Leisure (1930), which led to additional lead roles.

In 1937 she had the title role in Stella Dallas and received her first Academy Award nomination for best actress. In 1941 she starred in two successful screwball comedies: Ball of Fire with Gary Cooper, and The Lady Eve with Henry Fonda. She received her second Academy Award nomination for Ball of Fire, and in recent decades The Lady Eve has come to be regarded as a romantic comedy classic with Stanwyck's performance called one of the best in American comedy.

By 1944, Stanwyck had become the highest-paid woman in the United States. She starred alongside Fred MacMurray in the seminal film noir Double Indemnity (1944), playing the smoldering wife who persuades MacMurray's insurance salesman to kill her husband. Described as one of the ultimate portrayals of villainy, it is widely thought that Stanwyck should have won the Academy Award for Best Actress rather than being just nominated. She received another Oscar nomination for her lead performance as an invalid wife overhearing her own murder plot in the thriller film noir, Sorry, Wrong Number (1948). After she moved into television in the 1960s, she won three Emmy Awards – for The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1961), the western series The Big Valley (1966), and miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983).

She received an Honorary Oscar in 1982, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1986 and was the recipient of several other honorary lifetime awards. She was ranked as the 11th greatest female star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute. An orphan at the age of four, and partially raised in foster homes, she always worked; one of her directors, Jacques Tourneur, said of Stanwyck, "She only lives for two things, and both of them are work."

Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens on July 16, 1907, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the fifth – and youngest – child of Catherine Ann (née McPhee) (1870-1911) and Byron E. Stevens (1872-1919), working-class parents. Her father, of English descent, was a native of Lanesville, Massachusetts, and her mother, of Scottish descent, was an immigrant from Sydney, Nova Scotia. When Ruby was four, her mother died of complications from a miscarriage after she was knocked off a moving streetcar by a drunk. Two weeks after the funeral, her father joined a work crew digging the Panama Canal and was never seen again by his family. Ruby and her older brother, Malcolm Byron (later nicknamed "By") Stevens, were raised by their eldest sister Laura Mildred, (later Mildred Smith) (1886–1931), who died of a heart attack at age 45. When Mildred got a job as a showgirl, Ruby and Byron were placed in a series of foster homes (as many as four in a year), from which young Ruby often ran away.

"I knew that after fourteen I'd have to earn my own living, but I was willing to do that ... I've always been a little sorry for pampered people, and of course, they're 'very' sorry for me."

Ruby toured with Mildred during the summers of 1916 and 1917, and practiced her sister's routines backstage. Watching the movies of Pearl White, whom Ruby idolized, also influenced her drive to be a performer. At the age of 14, she dropped out of school, taking a package wrapping job at a Brooklyn department store. Ruby never attended high school, "although early biographical thumbnail sketches had her attending Brooklyn's famous Erasmus Hall High School."

Soon afterward, she took a filing job at the Brooklyn telephone office for $14 a week, which allowed her to become financially independent. She disliked the job; her real goal was to enter show business, even as her sister Mildred discouraged the idea. She then took a job cutting dress patterns for Vogue magazine, but customers complained about her work and she was fired. Ruby's next job was as a typist for the Jerome H. Remick Music Company; work she reportedly enjoyed, however her continuing ambition was in show business, and her sister finally gave up trying to dissuade her.

In 1923, a few months before her 16th birthday, Ruby auditioned for a place in the chorus at the Strand Roof, a nightclub over the Strand Theatre in Times Square. A few months later, she obtained a job as a dancer in the 1922 and 1923 seasons of the Ziegfeld Follies, dancing at the New Amsterdam Theater. "I just wanted to survive and eat and have a nice coat", Stanwyck said. For the next several years, she worked as a chorus girl, performing from midnight to seven a.m. at nightclubs owned by Texas Guinan. She also occasionally served as a dance instructor at a speakeasy for gays and lesbians owned by Guinan. One of her good friends during those years was pianist Oscar Levant, who described her as being "wary of sophisticates and phonies."

Billy LaHiff, who owned a popular pub frequented by showpeople, introduced Ruby in 1926 to impresario Willard Mack. Mack was casting his play The Noose, and LaHiff suggested that the part of the chorus girl be played by a real one. Mack agreed, and after a successful audition gave the part to Ruby. She co-starred with Rex Cherryman and Wilfred Lucas. As initially staged, the play was not a success. In an effort to improve it, Mack decided to expand Ruby's part to include more pathos. The Noose re-opened on October 20, 1926, and became one of the most successful plays of the season, running on Broadway for nine months and 197 performances. At the suggestion of David Belasco, Ruby changed her name to Barbara Stanwyck by combining the first name from the play Barbara Frietchie with the last name of the actress in the play, Jane Stanwyck; both were found on a 1906 theater program.

Stanwyck became a Broadway star soon afterward, when she was cast in her first leading role in Burlesque (1927). She received rave reviews, and it was a huge hit. Film actor Pat O'Brien would later say on a 1960s talk show, "The greatest Broadway show I ever saw was a play in the 1920s called 'Burlesque'." Arthur Hopkins described in his autobiography To a Lonely Boy, how he came to cast Stanwyck:

After some search for the girl, I interviewed a nightclub dancer who had just scored in a small emotional part in a play that did not run [The Noose]. She seemed to have the quality I wanted, a sort of rough poignancy. She at once displayed more sensitive, easily expressed emotion than I had encountered since Pauline Lord. She and Skelly were the perfect team, and they made the play a great success. I had great plans for her, but the Hollywood offers kept coming. There was no competing with them. She became a picture star. She is Barbara Stanwyck.

He also called Stanwyck "The greatest natural actress of our time", noting with sadness, "One of the theater's great potential actresses was embalmed in celluloid."

Around this time, Stanwyck was given a screen test by producer Bob Kane for his upcoming 1927 silent film Broadway Nights. She lost the lead role because she could not cry in the screen test, but was given a minor part as a fan dancer. This was Stanwyck's first film appearance.

While playing in Burlesque, Stanwyck was introduced to her future husband, actor Frank Fay, by Oscar Levant. Stanwyck and Fay were married on August 26, 1928, and soon moved to Hollywood.

Stanwyck's first sound film was The Locked Door (1929), followed by Mexicali Rose, released in the same year. Neither film was successful; nonetheless, Frank Capra chose Stanwyck for his film Ladies of Leisure (1930). Her work in that production established an enduring friendship with the director and led to future roles in his films. Other prominent roles followed, among them as a nurse who saves two little girls from being gradually starved to death by Clark Gable's vicious character in Night Nurse (1931). In Edna Ferber's novel brought to screen by William Wellman, she portrays small town teacher and valiant Midwest farm woman Selena in So Big! (1932). She followed with a performance as an ambitious woman "sleeping" her way to the top from "the wrong side of the tracks" in Baby Face (1933), a controversial pre-Code classic. In The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), another controversial pre-Code film by director Capra, Stanwyck portrays an idealistic Christian caught behind the lines of Chinese civil war kidnapped by warlord Nils Asther. A flop at the time, containing "mysterious-East mumbo jumbo", the lavish film is "dark stuff, and its difficult to imagine another actress handling this ... philosophical conversion as fearlessly as Ms. Stanwyck does. She doesn't make heavy weather of it."

In Stella Dallas (1937) she plays the self-sacrificing title character who eventually allows her teenage daughter to live a better life somewhere else. She landed her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress when she was able to portray her character as vulgar, yet sympathetic as required by the movie. Next, she played Molly Monahan in Union Pacific (1939) with Joel McCrea. Stanwyck was reportedly one of the many actresses considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), although she did not receive a screen test. In Meet John Doe she plays an ambitious newspaperwoman with Gary Cooper (1941).

In Preston Sturges's romantic comedy The Lady Eve (1941), she plays a slinky, sophisticated con-woman who falls for her intended victim, the guileless, wealthy snake-collector and scientist Henry Fonda, she "gives off an erotic charge that would straighten a boa constrictor." Film critic David Thomson described Stanwyck as "giving one of the best American comedy performances", and its reviewed as brilliantly versatile in "her bravura double performance" by The Guardian. The Lady Eve is among the top 100 movies of all time on Time and Entertainment Weekly's lists, and is considered to be both a great comedy and a great romantic film with its placement at #55 on the AFI's 100 Years ...100 Laughs list and #26 on its 100 Years ...100 Passions list.

Next, she was the extremely successful, independent doctor Helen Hunt in You Belong to Me (1941), also with Fonda. Stanwyck then played nightclub performer Sugerpuss O'Shea in the Howard Hawks directed, but Billy Wilder written comedy Ball of Fire (1941). In this update of the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs tale, she gives professor Gary Cooper a better understanding of "modern English" in the performance for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

In Double Indemnity, the seminal film noir thriller directed by Billy Wilder, she plays the sizzling, scheming wife/blonde tramp/"destiny in high heels" who lures an infatuated insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) into killing her husband. Stanwyck brings out the cruel nature of the "grim, unflinching murderess", marking her as the "most notorious femme" in the film noir genre. Her insolent, self-possessed wife is one of the screen's "definitive studies of villainy - and should (it is widely thought) have won the Oscar for Best Actress", not just been nominated. Double Indemnity is usually considered to be among the top 100 films of all time, though it did not win any of its seven Academy Award nominations. It is the #38 film of all time on the American Film Institute's list, as well as the #24 on its 100 Years ...100 Thrillers list and #84 on its 100 Years ...100 Passions list.

She plays the columnist caught up in white lies and a holiday romance in Christmas in Connecticut (1945). In 1946 she was "liquid nitrogen" as Martha, a manipulative murderess, costarring with Van Heflin and newcomer Kirk Douglas in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Stanwyck was also the vulnerable, invalid wife that overhears her own murder being plotted in Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) and the doomed concert pianist in The Other Love (1947). In the latter film's soundtrack, the piano music is actually being performed by Ania Dorfmann, who drilled Stanwyck for three hours a day until the actress was able to synchronize the motion of her arms and hands to match the music's tempo, giving a convincing impression that it is Stanwyck playing the piano.

Pauline Kael, a longtime film critic for The New Yorker, admired the natural appearance of Stanwyck's acting style on screen, noting that she "seems to have an intuitive understanding of the fluid physical movements that work best on camera". In reference to the actress's film work during the early sound era, Kael observed that the "early talkies sentimentality...only emphasizes Stanwyck's remarkable modernism."

Many of her roles involve strong characters, yet Stanwyck was known for her accessibility and kindness to the backstage crew on any film set. She knew the names of their wives and children. Frank Capra said of Stanwyck: "She was destined to be beloved by all directors, actors, crews and extras. In a Hollywood popularity contest, she would win first prize, hands down." While working on 1954s Cattle Queen of Montana on location in Glacier National Park, she did some of her own stunts, including a swim in the icy lake.[49] A consummate professional, when aged 50, she performed a stunt in Forty Guns. Her character had to fall off her horse and, with her foot caught in the stirrup, be dragged by the galloping animal. This was so dangerous that the movie's professional stunt person refused to do it. Her professionalism on film sets led her to be named an Honorary Member of the Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame.

William Holden and Stanwyck were longtime friends and when Stanwyck and Holden were presenting the Best Sound Oscar for 1977, he paused to pay a special tribute to her for saving his career when Holden was cast in the lead for Golden Boy (1939). After a series of unsteady daily performances, he was about to be fired, but Stanwyck staunchly defended him, successfully standing up to the film producers. Shortly after Holden's death, Stanwyck recalled the moment when receiving her honorary Oscar: "A few years ago, I stood on this stage with William Holden as a presenter. I loved him very much, and I miss him. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. And so, tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish."

As Stanwyck's film career declined during the 1950s, she moved to television. In 1958 she guest-starred in "Trail to Nowhere", an episode of the Western anthology series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, portraying a wife who pursues, overpowers, and kills the man who murdered her husband. Later, in 1961, her drama series The Barbara Stanwyck Show was not a ratings success, but it earned her an Emmy Award. The show ran for a total of thirty-six episodes. She also guest-starred in this period on other television series, such as The Untouchables with Robert Stack and in four episodes of Wagon Train.

She stepped back into film for the 1964 Elvis Presley film Roustabout, in which she plays a carnival owner.

The western television series, The Big Valley, which was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1969, made her one of the most popular actresses on television, winning her another Emmy. She was billed in the series' opening credits as "Miss Barbara Stanwyck" for her role as Victoria, the widowed matriarch of the wealthy Barkley family. In 1965, the plot of her 1940 movie Remember the Night was adapted and used to develop the teleplay for The Big Valley episode "Judgement in Heaven".

In 1983, Stanwyck earned her third Emmy for The Thorn Birds. In 1985 she made three guest appearances in the primetime soap opera Dynasty prior to the launch of its short-lived spin-off series, The Colbys, in which she starred alongside Charlton Heston, Stephanie Beacham and Katharine Ross. Unhappy with the experience, Stanwyck remained with the series for only the first season, and her role as "Constance Colby Patterson" would be her last. It was rumored Earl Hamner Jr., former producer of The Waltons, had initially wanted Stanwyck for the role of Angela Channing in the 1980s soap opera Falcon Crest, and she turned it down, with the role going to her friend, Jane Wyman; when asked Hamner assured Wyman it was a rumor.

Stanwyck's retirement years were active, with charity work outside the limelight. In 1981, she was awakened in the middle of the night, inside her home in the exclusive Trousdale section of Beverly Hills, by an intruder, who first hit her on the head with his flashlight, then forced her into a closet while he robbed her of $40,000 in jewels.

The following year, in 1982, while filming The Thorn Birds, the inhalation of special-effects smoke on the set may have caused her to contract bronchitis, which was compounded by her cigarette habit; she was a smoker from the age of nine until four years before her death.

Stanwyck died on January 20, 1990, aged 82, of congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. She had indicated that she wanted no funeral service. In accordance with her wishes, her remains were cremated and the ashes scattered from a helicopter over Lone Pine, California, where she had made some of her western films.

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locke-writes · 5 years ago

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A View of The Unknown

Or rather here is a movie recommendation list made up primarily of underrated, unknown (or oft forgotten), and cult classic films as of: July 28, 2019.

Tagging: @panro-musiclover

1890′s

Boxing Cats (1894)

Boxing Kangaroo (1895)

The Sprinkler Sprinkled (1895)

A Hallucinated Alchemist (1897)

1900 - 1939

Going to Bed Under Difficulties (1900)

Fire! (1901)

The Man With the Rubber Head (1901)

Rip Van Winkle (1903)

The Infernal Cauldron (1903)

Antony & Cleopatra (1908)

Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1908)

The Cowboy Millionaire (1909)

Baseball & Bloomers (1911)

The Inferno (1911)

Robin Hood (1912)

At Midnight (1913)

Atlantis (1913)

The House of Darkness (1913)

The Wishing Rings (1914)

The Crazy Clock Maker (1915)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1915)

The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)

The Outlaw and His Wife (1918)

The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1918)

The Cinema Murder (1919)

Victory (1919)

Satan (1920)

Dracula's Death (1921)

The Fire Eater (1921)

The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (1921)

A Debt of Honour (1922)

The Grass Orphan (1922)

Håxan (1922)

When Knighthood Was In Flower (1922)

Ashes of Vengeance (1923)

Raskolnikov (1923)

Ballet Mécanique (1924)

The Dark Angel (1925)

Smoldering Fires (1925)

Zander the Great (1925)

Kid Boots (1926)

The Triumph of the Rat (1926)

The Drop Kick (1927)

London After Midnight (1927)

Midnight Taxi (1928)

Sweeney Todd (1928)

The Terror (1928)

The Viking (1928)

A Knight in London (1929)

Bride of the Regiment (1930)

The Girl Said No (1930)

Manslaughter (1930)

The Temporary Widow (1930)

Bought! (1931)

Night Nurse (1931)

The Beast of the City (1932)

Devil and the Deep (1932)

Freaks (1932)

Blood Money (1933)

Design For Living (1933)

The Ghost Camera (1933)

The Vampire Bat (1933)

Viktor und Viktoria (1933)

You Made Me Love You (1933)

The Black Cat (1934)

Death Takes A Holiday (1934)

Little Man, What Now? (1934)

Black Fury (1935)

Crime and Punishment (1935)

Mad Love (1935)

Werewolves in London (1935)

Mr Deeds Goes To Town (1936)

Pennies From Heaven (1936)

The Awful Truth (1937)

La Grande Illusion (1937)

Madame X (1937)

Maid of Salem (1937)

The Prince and the Pauper (1937)

Young and Innocent (1937)

Woman Against Woman (1938)

Each Dawn I Die (1939)

Four Feathers (1939)

In Name Only (1939)

It's A Wonderful World (1939)

The Spy In Black (1939)

1940 - 1969

Arise My Love (1940)

Crimes At The Dark House (1940)

Dead Man's Shoes (1940)

My Favorite Wife (1940)

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Man-Made Monster (1941)

Meet John Doe (1941)

One Night in Transylvania (1941)

American Empire (1942)

The Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942)

There Was A Father (1942)

Angels of Sin (1943)

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

Calling Dr Death (1943)

Edge of Darkness (1943)

Heaven Can Wait (1943)

The Leopard Man (1943)

Yellow Canary (1943)

The Children Are Watching Us (1944)

Crime By Night (1944)

It Happened Tomorrow (1944)

Melody of Murder (1944)

The Body Snatcher (1945)

Detour (1945)

The Lost Letter (1945)

A Royal Scandal (1945)

The Beast With Five Fingers (1946)

The Big Sleep (1945)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

The Razor's Edge (1946)

Gentlemen's Agreement (1947)

Devil in the Flesh (1947)

Kiss of Death (1947)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Monkey's Paw (1948)

Noose (1948)

The Red Shoes (1948)

Blue Swords (1949)

The Red Pony (1949)

The Secret Garden (1949)

The Black Rose (1950)

Death Is A Caress (1950)

Destination Moon (1950)

Edge of Doom (1950)

The Flame and the Arrow (1950)

Death of a Salesmen (1951)

The Idiot (1951)

The Thing From Another World (1951)

Your Day Will Come (1951)

The Quiet Man (1952)

The Beggar's Open (1953)

The Blue Gardenia (1953)

By The Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)

Escape By Night (1953)

From Here To Eternity (1953)

House of Wax (1953)

Man on a Tightrope (1953)

Shane (1953)

Tokyo Story (1953)

Robinson Crusoe (1954)

The Caine Mutiny (1954)

Sabrina (1954)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Battle Cry (1955)

Blackboard Jungle (1955)

East of Eden (1955)

Marty (1955)

Giant (1956)

Please Murder Me (1956)

Fear Strikes Out (1957)

Night of the Demon (1957)

The Quiet American (1958)

A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958)

The Death Ship (1959)

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959)

The Broken Pots (1960)

Circus of Horrors (1960)

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960)

Exodus (1960)

Eyes Without A Face (1960)

Girl of the Night (1960)

The Human Vapor (1960)

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

The Ninth Circle (1960)

Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)

Portrait in Black (1960)

Purple Noon (1960)

Testament of Orpheus (1960)

The Time Machine (1960)

The Village of the Damned (1960)

Antigone (1961)

A Bomb Was Stolen (1961)

The Children's Hour (1961)

Homicidal (1961)

The Human Condition (1961)

The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)

Mothra (1961)

Mysterious Island (1961)

Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

The Young Savages (1961)

Advise & Consent (1962)

Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962)

The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Experiment In Terror (1962)

The Exterminating Angel (1962)

Five Miles to Midnight (1962)

Knife in the Water (1962)

Long Days Journey Into Night (1962)

Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Moon Pilot (1962)

The Trial (1962)

A View From The Bridge (1962)

Charade (1963)

Diary of a Madman (1963)

Lilies of the Field (1963)

A Matter of Choice (1963)

Mother of the Bride (1963)

Passenger (1963)

The Raven (1963)

Sunday in New York (1963)

Take Her, She's Mine (1963)

Toys in the Attic (1963)

Walking the Streets of Moscow (1963)

First Men In the Moon (1964)

Of Human Bondage (1964)

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Chronicle of a Boy Alone (1965)

The Collector (1965)

Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

Lord Jim (1965)

Nightmare Castle (1965)

Tattooed Life (1965)

Alfie (1966)

Arabesque (1966)

Chimes at Midnight (1966)

Daisies (1966)

Come Spy With Me (1967)

Far From the Madding Crowd (1967)

The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967)

The Flim-Flam Man (1967)

Oedipus Rex (1967)

Paranoia (1967)

The Trip (1967)

Ulysses (1967)

The Boston Strangler (1968)

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

The Doll (1968)

The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)

High School (1968)

The Sea Gull (1968)

The Secret Life of an American Wife (1968)

Signs of Life (1968)

What So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)

The Assassination Bureau (1969)

The Color of Pomegranates (1969)

Don't Drink the Water (1969)

I'm An Elephant, Madame (1969)

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)

A Talent For Loving (1969)

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969)

1970-1999

Alex In Wonderland (1970)

Catch-22 (1970)

Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)

Dionysus in '69 (1970)

How Do I Love Thee? (1970)

I Never Sang For My Father (1970)

The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)

Michael The Brave (1970)

Of Gods and the Undead (1970)

The Phantom Tollbooth (1970)

There's A Girl In My Soup (1970)

The Traveling Executioner (1970)

The Beguiled (1971)

Bless the Beasts and Children (1971)

The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)

The Devil Has Seven Faces (1971)

Drive, He Said (1971)

Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)

The Panic In Needle Park (1971)

Straw Dogs (1971)

Villain (1971)

Willard (1971)

1776 (1972)

Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972)

The Assassination of Trotsky (1972)

Frogs (1972)

The Scientific Cardplayer (1972)

Solaris (1972)

The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972)

They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)

Badlands (1973)

Blue Blood (1973)

Cops and Robbers (1973)

The Day of the Dolphin (1973)

The Long Goodbye (1973)

Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973)

Soylent Green (1973)

Westworld (1973)

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

At Home Among Strangers (1974)

The Clockmaker (1974)

Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Rhinoceros (1974)

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Brother, Can You Spare A Dime (1975)

Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975)

Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975)

Deep Red (1975)

Graveyard of Honor (1975)

The Land That Time Forgot (1975)

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975)

Tommy (1975)

The Bricklayers (1976)

The Devil's Playground (1976)

Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976)

The Killer Inside Me (1976)

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)

Logan's Run (1976)

Backroads (1977)

The Prince and the Pauper (1977)

Death of a President (1977)

The Disappearance (1977)

Eraserhead (1977)

New York, New York (1977)

The Other Side of Midnight (1977)

Pete's Dragon (1977)

The Serpent's Egg (1977)

Wizards (1977)

The Big Fix (1978)

Coming Home (1978)

Days of Heaven (1978)

Germany In Autumn (1978)

Midnight Express (1978)

Remember My Name (1978)

Bloodline (1979)

City on Fire (1979)

A Perfect Couple (1979)

Skatetown, USA (1979)

The Dogs of War (1980)

Heaven's Gate (1980)

Rude Boy (1980)

Stalker (1980)

An American Werewolf In London (1981)

Escape From New York (1981)

Fever (1981)

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Time Bandits (1981)

Tuck Everlasting (1981)

Alone in the Dark (1982)

Android (1982)

Another Way (1982)

The Beastmaster (1982)

The Border (1982)

Butterfly (1982)

Cannery Row (1982)

Creepshow (1982)

Diner (1982)

Fanny and Alexander (1982)

The Flight of Dragons (1982)

Moonlighting (1982)

The Plague Doctors (1982)

The Pokrovsky Gate (1982)

Tex (1982)

The World According To Garp (1982)

Betrayal (1983)

The Big Chill (1983)

Brainstorm (1983)

Christine (1983)

Daniel (1983)

The Dead Zone (1983)

The Dresser (1983)

The Honorary Consul (1983)

The Illusionist (1983)

The King of Comedy (1983)

Rumble Fish (1983)

The Scarlet and the Pipe (1983)

The Survivors (1983)

Trading Places (1983)

The Ice Pirates (1984)

The Killing Fields (1984)

The Last Starfighter (1984)

Repo Man (1984)

Rhinestone (1984)

A Year of Quiet Sun (1984)

Better Off Dead (1985)

The Black Cauldron (1985)

Fletch (1985)

Fright Night (1985)

Mask (1985)

Re-Animator (1985)

A Room With A View (1985)

9 1/2 Weeks (1986)

The Adventures of Milo and Otis (1986)

An American Tale (1986)

Back to School (1986)

Bue Velvet (1986)

Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

River's Edge (1986)

Seize the Day (1986)

Sid and Nancy (1986)

Terrorizers (1986)

Voyage to Nowhere (1986)

Youngblood (1986)

Batteries Not Included (1987)

Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1987)

Cross My Heart (1987)

Deadline (1987)

The Hidden (1987)

Ishtar (1987)

Less Than Zero (1987)

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987)

The Lost Boys (1987)

Mannequin (1987)

Maurice (1987)

Number One With A Bullet (1987)

The Pick Up Artist (1987)

Roxanne (1987)

Wings of Desire (1987)

Withnail and I (1987)

The Year My Voice Broke (1987)

Biloxi Blues (1988)

Bright Lights, Big City (1988)

Dead Ringers (1988)

Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)

Johnny Be Good (1988)

The Music Teacher (1988)

Painted Faces (1988)

Permanent Record (1988)

The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988)

Stealing Heaven (1988)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

We Think The World Of You (1988)

Working Girl (1988)

Wuthering Heights (1988)

Young Guns (1988)

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

Chances Are (1989)

Dead Calm (1989)

Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

I Love, You Love (1989)

Loverboy (1989)

See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)

Signs of Life (1989)

UHF (1989)

Vampire's Kiss (1989)

Weekend At Bernies's (1989)

Darkman (1990)

Flatliners (1990)

The Freshman (1990)

Joe Versus The Volcano (1990)

Problem Child (1990)

Quigley Down Under (1990)

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

Vincent & Theo (1990)

King Ralph (1991)

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

The Babe (1992)

The Crying Game (1992)

Death Becomes Her (1992)

Encino Man (1992)

Howard's End (1992)

Jámon Jámon (1992)

School Ties (1992)

Toys (1992)

Benny & Joon (1992)

Dave (1992)

Dazed and Confused (1992)

Heart and Souls (1993)

In the Name of the Father (1993)

Malice (1993)

Money For Nothing (1993)

The Night We Never Met (1993)

The Piano (1993)

The Remains of the Day (1993)

Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993)

So I Married An Axe Murderer (1993)

Swing Kids (1993)

The Three Musketeers (1993)

Tombstone (1993)

The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (1994)

Airheads (1994)

Corrina, Corrina (1994)

Only You (1994)

The Pagemaster (1994)

Quiz Show (1994)

Stargate (1994)

When A Man Loves A Woman (1994)

The Arsonist (1995)

Babe (1995)

The Basketball Diaries (1995)

Before Sunrise (1995)

Demon Knight (1995)

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

Empire Records (1995)

Forgotten Silver (1995)

Four Rooms (1995)

Funny Bones (1995)

Hackers (1995)

Home For The Holidays (1995)

Kids (1995)

Mallrats (1995)

Powder (1995)

The Quick and the Dead (1995)

Sabrina (1995)

Crime that Changed Serbia (1995)

Tommy Boy (1995)

Before and After (1996)

The Birdcage (1996)

Bottle Rocket (1996)

The Crucible (1996)

The Fan (1996)

Fear (1996)

From Dusk till Dawn (1996)

Glory Daze (1996)

Marvin's Room (1996)

Michael (1996)

Mr Holland's Opus (1996)

Multiplicity (1996)

Primal Fear (1996)

Pusher (1996)

Shall We Dance (1996)

Sling Blade (1996)

Somersault in a Coffin (1996)

Swingers (1996)

That Thing You Do! (1996)

Trainspotting (1996)

Amistad (1997)

Anastasia (1997)

Boogie Nights (1997)

The Boxer (1997)

Chasing Amy (1997)

Dante's Peak (1997)

The Fifth Element (1997)

Fools Rush In (1997)

Funny Games (1997)

Gattaca (1997)

Lawn Dogs (1997)

Life is Beautiful (1997)

My Best Friends Wedding (1997)

The Postman (1997)

The Rainmaker (1997)

Romy and Michelle's High School Renion (1997)

Wag the Dog (1997)

American History X (1998)

Antz (1998)

Can't Hardly Wait (1998)

Godzilla (1998)

Great Expectations (1998)

Home Fries (1998)

The Interview (1998)

Meet Joe Black (1998)

Music From Another Room (1998)

A Night At the Roxbury (1998)

Of Freaks and Men (1998)

Overnight Delivery (1998)

Patch Adams (1998)

Phantoms (1998)

Pleasantville (1998)

Quest for Camelot (1998)

Return To Paradise (1998)

Rounders (1998)

Rushmore (1998)

Sliding Doors (1998)

Velvet Goldmine (1998)

What Dreams May Come (1998)

After Stonewall (1999)

All the Little Animals (1999)

The Astronauts Wife (1999)

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Big Daddy (1999)

The Bone Collector (1999)

But I'm A Cheerleader (1999)

The Cider House Rules (1999)

Dogma (1999)

EDtv (1999)

eXistenZ (1999)

Galaxy Quest (1999)

Girl, Interrupted (1999)

The Iron Giant (1999)

Monkeybone (1999)

Mystery, Alaska (1999)

Mystery Men (1999)

Never Been Kissed (1999)

Notting Hill (1999)

Office Space (1999)

Snow Falling On Cedars (1999)

Summer of Sam (1999)

2000-Now

28 Days (2000)

Almost Famous (2000)

Bedazzled (2000)

Best in Show (2000)

Billy Elliot (2000)

Dracula 2000 (2000)

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

High Fidelity (2000)

Keeping the Faith (2000)

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Spring Forward (2000)

Unbreakable (2000)

Bubble Boy (2001)

Disco Pigs (2001)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Ghost World (2001)

Josie and the Pussycats (2001)

Kate & Leopold (2001)

The Others (2001)

Rock Star (2001)

Saving Silverman (2001)

Swordfish (2001)

The Musketeer (2001)

City of God (2002)

Equilibrium (2002)

The Pianist (2002)

Possession (2002)

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

The Quiet American (2002)

All the Real Girls (2003)

Danny Deckchair (2003)

Gothika (2003)

Green Butchers (2003)

A Guy Thing (2003)

The Room (2003)

School of Rock (2003)

Shattered Glass (2003)

The Station Agent (2003)

Timeline (2003)

Win A Date With Tad Hamilton (2004)

Hidalgo (2004)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

The Girl Next Door (2004)

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Garden State (2004)

The Village (2004)

Layer Cake (2004)

Raise Your Voice (2004)

Closer (2004)

The Wedding Date (2005)

The Island (2005)

Red Eye (2005)

Just Like Heaven (2005)

Shopgirl (2005)

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Aeon Flux (2005)

Grandma's Boy (2006)

Aquamarine (2006)

Failure to Launch (2006)

She's the Man (2006)

Thank You For Smoking (2006)

V For Vendetta (2006)

Slither (2006)

Just My Luck (2006)

The Omen (2006)

Little Man (2006)

My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

The Illusionist (2006)

Employee of the Month (2006)

The Prestige (2006)

Let's Go To Prison (2006)

The Fall (2006)

Disturbia (2007)

Hannibal Rising (2007)

Waitress (2007)

Bug (2007)

Eagle vs Shark (2007)

No Reservations (2007)

The Brothers Solomon (2007)

Sydney White (2007)

Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

The Martian Child (2007)

Margot at the Wedding (2007)

August Rush (2007)

In Bruges (2008)

Definitely, Maybe (2008)

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Charlie Bartlett (2008)

Paranoid Park (2008)

Funny Games (2008)

21 (2008)

My Blueberry Nights (2008)

The Foot Fist Way (2008)

The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

The Rocker (2008)

The House Bunny (2008)

Ghost Town (2008)

My Best Friend's Girl (2008)

RocknRolla (2008)

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Fanboys (2009)

Incendiary (2009)

Fired Up! (2009)

Ghost of Girlfriends Past (2009)

The Brothers Bloom (2009)

The Ugly Truth (2009)

Adam (2009)

Big Fan (2009)

Gamer (2009)

Splice (2009)

Bronson (2009)

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

The Road (2009)

A Single Man (2009)

The Collector (2009)

Fish Tank (2009)

Legion (2010)

Repo Men (2010)

The Losers (2010)

The Trotsky (2010)

Cyrus (2010)

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Salt (2010)

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Easy A (2010)

I Love You Philip Morris (2010)

Blue Valentine (2010)

Take Shelter (2011)

Sanctum (2011)

Paul (2011)

Limitless (2011)

Jane Eyre (2011)

Source Code (2011)

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2011)

Hanna (2011)

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Priest (2011)

Super 8 (2011)

Fright Night (2011)

The Ides of March (2011)

Anonymous (2011)

Warrior (2011)

Dream House (2011)

In Time (2011)

Young Adult (2011)

Premium Rush (2012)

Would You Rather (2012)

Chronicle (2012)

This Means War (2012)

Wanderlust (2012)

A Royal Affair (2012)

The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

Lawless (2012)

For A Good Time, Call (2012)

The Words (2012)

Looper (2012)

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Side Effects (2013)

Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

Stoker (2013)

Mud (2013)

Byzantium (2013)

The Kings of Summer (2013)

Bad Words (2013)

The Way, Way Back (2013)

Prisoners (2013)

Frank (2014)

Chef (2014)

Rosewater (2014)

The Equalizer (2014)

The Drop (2014)

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

Dracula Untold (2014)

Me and Earl And the Dying Girl (2015)

Chappie (2015)

Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)

The Gift (2015)

The End of the Tour (2015)

Burnt (2015)

Mr Right (2016)

Jane Got A Gun (2016)

Midnight Special (2016)

Everybody Want Some! (2016)

Green Room (2016)

Money Monster (2016)

The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)

Anthropoid (2016)

Loving (2016)

Frank & Lola (2016)

Paterson (2016)

Sleight (2017)

Table 19 (2017)

Dean (2017)

Brigsby Bear (2017)

You Were Never Really Here (2018)

First Reformed (2018)

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot (2018)

Blindspotting (2018)

Juliet, Naked (2018)

Hunter Killer (2018)

#movie recommendations #movie recs

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dweemeister · 6 years ago

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The Seventh Victim (1943)

As the only major classic Hollywood studio that no longer exists, RKO staked its reputation on two genres during the 1940s. After the end of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ respective associations with the studio, RKO was enriched by a string of horror films while becoming the spiritual home of film noir. Producer Val Lewton (it is often said that the early Hollywood executives and producers who built Hollywood were Jews and immigrants, and Lewton checks both boxes) and his unit specialized in wildly successful horror films armed with fewer resources than Universal – which had a bullpen of monsters (Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Phantom of the Opera, etc.) to produce multiple films for. In less stable financial shape than its Hollywood rivals, RKO also doubled down on film noir – atmospheric crime dramas surrounding tales of moral ambiguity and lustful passions that were often modestly budgeted. It gave the studio a perception that it relied on B-pictures, but these B-pictures boasted robust profits and greater quality compared to those at other studios.

Directed by Mark Robson in his directorial debut and produced by Val Lewton, The Seventh Victim is decidedly one of those many RKO B-pictures. Yet The Seventh Victim is a fusion of RKO’s specialties. There is a murder, a mystery, an urban setting lit in the requisite high contrasts between light and dark, and Satanism. Because of cuts made in its post-production, the film – co-written by DeWitt Bodeen (1942��s Cat People and 1948′s I Remember Mama) and Charles O’Neal (his film debut, later credits including 1959′s The Alligator People and 1963′s Lassie’s Great Adventure) – leaves certain motivations and plot developments unexplained, which can make The Seventh Victim difficult to follow halfway through. It is, however, a stylish amalgam of RKO’s most acclaimed genres for the 1940s.

At a Catholic all-girls boarding school, Mary Gibson (Kim Hunter in her debut) has learned of her sister’s disappearance. Jacqueline Gibson (Jean Brooks) has not been heard of some time; she is Mary’s only surviving family member and the source of her tuition. Mary takes leave from school, travels to that hotbed of Satanic activity known as Greenwich Village in Manhattan, and learns the Jacqueline had rented a room above an Italian restaurant called Dante’s. Relenting to Mary’s pleas to ignore residential policy, the proprietors unlock the door to Mary’s apartment – where there is nothing except a vacant wooden chair and a noose above it. In the ensuing investigation, Mary will contact physician-psychiatrist Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway); private eye (Lou Lubin); Jacqueline’s former co-worker, Frances Fallon (Isabel Jewell); one-armed pianist Natalie Cortez (Evelyn Brent); poet Jason Hoag (Erford Gage); Jacqueline’s husband, Gregory (Hugh Beaumont); and a fellow named Brun (Ben Bard).

Previous Lewton horror films at RKO contained mysticism or faux science to jumpstart their stories. In The Seventh Victim, the cultists are without apocalyptic intentions, never committing violence except when necessary. There is no final chase sequence, fantastical battle, or depiction of gruesome rituals. The Satanic worship occurs largely off-screen, as the members of the cult live their lives as normally as they possibly could. The male members particularly seem to be chasing lost loves and passions – was this vulnerability preyed upon by cult recruiters? This is not a horror film intended to frighten viewers at a given scene, but to inject foreboding after plot revelations – trapping the audience just as much as the Gibson sisters. Maybe screenwriters Bodeen and O’Neal could not delve deeply into the practices of the cult, lest they run into trouble with the Hays Code (a series of guidelines to censor American films, enforced by the Motion Picture Association for America, and replaced with the modern-day MPAA ratings system in the U.S. in 1968). Thus, the emphasis remains on Mary’s search for Jacqueline – which resolves in a more straightforward fashion than one might expect. Bodeen and O’Neal also settle for a thinly-veiled allusion to Dante and Beatrice from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. But once the audience sees Jacqueline for the first time, her presence is felt through the rest of the film, as if watching her sister from corners light does not seem to reach.

Jean Brooks was contracted to RKO during the 1940s, playing largely bit roles and working as supporting characters in Universal serials. Her role as Jacqueline in The Seventh Victim is probably her most famous work today – with no small assist from her haircut and dark wardrobe. As Jacqueline, she plays the role like a half-willing hostage – serene, quiet, making deliberate gestures subtle enough to suggest ulterior motives yet just a hair short of conspicuousness as if not to anger something or someone. Brooks’ mysteriousness is not sexual like the many femme fatales of film noir; instead, it is more like a young person knowing that she has been led astray, but nevertheless playing games because the answer to the puzzle before her is currently unknown. As the embodiment of the film’s primary dilemma, Brooks is excellent here. Elsewhere, Tom Conway reprises his character from Cat People (1942) – there is debate whether Cat People and The Seventh Victim are set in the same reality, or if RKO could care less about continuity – and is serviceable in perhaps too robustly championing his character’s unorthodox ways.

Seemingly arbitrary asides – sudden character appearances, several minutes spent establishing the centrality of a location in Greenwich Village, grisly imagery or actions never recalled again or without rhyme or reason – contribute to a clunky film that makes the pre-climactic narrative extremely difficult to describe. Thankfully, The Seventh Victim is swift, clocking in at seventy-one minutes. Add another twenty or so minutes to the film without credible exposition, and that almost certainly results in an incomprehensible mess (then again, 1946′s The Big Sleep is almost two hours of incoherent plot that has been redeemed over the decades because of its exceptional flirtatious dialogue).

The Seventh Victim is a film where all the lurid details occur in the dark, or out of view of the protagonists. One of Val Lewton’s favored cinematographers, Nicholas Musuraca (1946′s The Spiral Staircase, 1947′s Out of the Past), inundates The Seventh Victim with alternately eerie and harsh lighting – suggesting that a Manichaeistic worldview is impossible in film noir, a genre where reasonings are bound to desire, impulse, and power.

In this fascinating experiment melding RKO’s film noir expertise and Val Lewton’s horror groundings, The Seventh Victim feels like a rough draft of a genre mash-up that did not spawn any successors, nor inspire filmmakers to combine the genres for themselves. The film should be sought for those who have seen ‘40s horror and plenty of film noir; for general audiences, this is not an ideal introduction to RKO’s wheelhouses or to any of the brilliant creative minds behind The Seventh Victim. Mark Robson and Val Lewton left an incomplete sentence, perhaps an ellipsis, on this venture of horror noir (noir horror?). One must wonder if – in an era where noir is no longer produced – someone might be willing to add their perspective, several decades after the most recent attempt.

My rating: 7/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

NOTE: This is the 666th write-up I have published on tumblr. Off to work on the next one because I can’t end on this number.

#The Seventh Victim #Mark Robson #Tom Conway #Jean Brooks #Kim Hunter #Isabel Jewell #Evelyn Brent #Ben Bard #Erford Gage #Hugh Beaumont #Val Lewton #DeWitt Bodeen #Charles O'Neal #Nicholas Musuraca #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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gatutor · 4 months ago

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Budd Abbott-Cathy Downs-Lou Costello "Con la soga casi al cuello" (The noose hangs high) 1948, de Charles Barton.

#Cathy Downs #Budd Abbott #Lou Costello #Charles Barton

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elcinelateleymickyandonie · 4 years ago

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STANLEY HOLLOWAY.

Filmography

Performances in Film and Television

1921: The Rotters: Arthur Wait

1929: The Co-Optimists

1933: Sleeping Car: Francois

1933: The Girl from Maxim's: Mongicourt

1934: Love at Second Sight: PC

1934: D'Ye Ken John Peel? : Sam Small

1934: Lily of Killarney: Father O'Flynn

1934: Road House: Donovan

1934: Sing As We Go: Police

1935: Play Up the Band: Sam Small

1935: Squibs: Charley Lee

1937: Sam Small Leaves Town: Richard Manning

1937: Song of the Forge: Joe / Sir William Barrett

1937: The Vicar of Bray: The Vicar of Bray

1937: Cotton Queen: Sam Owen

1939: Sam Goes Shopping: Sam / Narrator

1941: Major Barbara: Police

1942: Salute John Citizen: Oskey

1944: This Happy Breed: Bob Mitchell

1944: The Way Ahead: Pvt. Ted Brewer

1944: Champagne Charlie: The Great Vance

1945: The Way to the Stars: Mr. Palmer

1945: Brief meeting: Albert Godby

1945: Caesar and Cleopatra: Belzanor

1946: Wanted for Murder: Sgt. Sullivan

1946: Carnival: Charlie Raeburn

1947: Meet Me at Dawn: Emile

1947: Nicholas Nickleby: Vincent Crummles

1948: Snowbound: Joe Wesson

1948: One Night with You: Tramp

1948: Hamlet: Gravedigger

1948: The Winslow Boy: Comedian

1948: Noose: Insp. Kendall

1948: Another Shore: Alastair McNeil

1949: Passport to Pimlico: Arthur Pemberton

1949: The Perfect Woman: Ramshead

1950: Midnight Episode: Professor Prince

1951: One Wild Oat: Alfred Gilbey

1951: Gold Bars (The Lavender Hill Mob): Alfred Pendlebury

1951: The Magic Box: Broker's Man

1951: Lady Godiva Rides Again: Mr. Clark

1952: The Happy Family: Henry Lord

1952: Meet Me Tonight: Henry Gow: Fumed Oak

1953: Fast and Loose: Mr. Crabb

1953: The Titfield Thunderbolt: Valentine

1953: The Beggar's Opera: Mr. Lockit

1953: A Day to Remember: Charley Porter

1953: Meet Mr. Lucifer: Sam Hollingsworth / Mr. Lucifer

1955: An Alligator Named Daisy: The General

1956: Jumping for Joy: Captain Jack Montague

1959: Alive and Kicking: MacDonagh

1959: No Trees in the Street: Kipper

1960: The Mikado (TV): Pooh-Bah

1960: An Arabian Night (TV): Ibrahim

1961: On the Fiddle: Mr. Cooksley

1961: No Love for Johnnie: Fred Andrews

1961: Meet Mr Holloway (TV)

1962: Our Man Higgins (TV): Higgins (1962-63) (unknown episodes).

1964: My Fair Lady: Alfred P. Doolittle

1965: In Harm's Way: Clayton Canfil

1965: Ten Little Indians: Det. William Henry Blore

1966: The Sandwich Man: Park Gardener

1968: Thingumybob (TV series): Bob Bridge

1968: Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter: George G. Brown

1969: Target: Harry: Jason Carlyle

1969: Run a Crooked Mile]] (TV): Janitor

1970: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes: Gravedigger

1971: Flight of the Doves: Judge Liffy

1972: Up the Front: Vincento

1973: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (TV): Poole

1975: Journey into Fear: Mr. Mathews.

Stanley Holloway acted in the following musicals:

1919: Kissing Time

1920: A Night Out

1921 - 1926: The Co-Optimists

1927: Hit the Deck

1928: Song of the Sea

1929: Coo-ee

1929 - 1930: The Co-Optimists

1932: Savoy Follies

1934: Three Sisters

1936: All Wave

1938: London Rhapsody

1940: Up and Doing

1942: Fine and Dandy

1956: My Fair Lady, Broadway production

1958: My Fair Lady, production in London.

Créditos: Tomado de Wikipedia

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Holloway

#HONDURASQUEDATEENCASA

#ELCINELATELEYMICKYANDONIE

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giorginodj · 4 years ago

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#Repost @oldhollywoodfans • • • • • • Remembering Carole Landis (January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948). She worked as a contract-player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakthrough role was as the female lead in the 1940 film One Million B.C., with United Artists. Landis appeared in a string of successful films in the early 1940s, usually as the second female lead. In a time when the singing of many actresses was dubbed in, Landis's own voice was considered good enough and was used in her few musical roles. Landis landed a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox and began a sexual relationship with Darryl F. Zanuck. She had roles playing opposite fellow pin-up girl Betty Grable in Moon Over Miami and I Wake Up Screaming, both in 1941. When Landis ended her relationship with Zanuck, her career suffered and she was assigned roles in B-movies. Her final two films Noose and Brass Monkey were both made in Great Britain. .. #carolelandis. https://www.instagram.com/p/CCRg7XWqNbM/?igshid=1b6xwmt88e65s

#repost #carolelandis

0 notes

aion-rsa · 5 years ago

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Watchmen: The Real History of Hooded Justice

https://ift.tt/2WqCj6Y

HBO's Watchmen moves away from the work of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons with the real story of Hooded Justice.

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This article contains major Watchmen spoilers.

The first episode of Watchmen focused primarily on establishing the 2019 of its world, and making certain new characters got sufficient introductions, and as unencumbered by the legacy elements of the comic as they could possibly be. But with each episode that follows, the larger history of this universe starts to get explored, whether it's by the introduction of legacy characters like FBI Agent Laurie Blake or Adrian "Ozymandias" Veidt, or the redefinition of a foundational character from the book like Hooded Justice in the context of his relationship to a new character like Angela "Sister Night" Abar.

American Hero Story: Minutemen (which, according to HBO's official supplemental materials, is the second season of the American Hero Story show, by the way) puts the spotlight on Hooded Justice, who is canonically the first officially recognized masked vigilante adventurer in the Watchmen universe and a founding member (alongside the original incarnations of Nite Owl and Silk Spectre, Captain Metropolis, a young Edward “The Comedian” Blake, and others) of the Minutemen, the first superhero team. Of course, it was pretty clear from the outset that American Hero Story: Minutemen was a ridiculous, exaggerated portrayal of historical events, but Watchmen episode 6, "This Extraordinary Being" points out just how wrong they actually are. And in the process it retcons an important piece of the book, as well.

Of course, Watchmen episode 6 reveals that none of the events of AHS is anywhere close to the truth. Instead, it turns out that Angela Abar's grandfather Will Reeves was the man under the hood and tights of Hooded Justice, adopting the identity to mask his investigations into a vast, white supremacist conspiracy in New York City that had even infected the police department. The general look was inspired by Trust in the Law, the movie about Bass Reeves we see the young Will watching in the opening moments of episode one, with the addition of the hood and noose after Will is the victim of a racist attack by his NYPD colleagues. The episode dramatizes key moments in the career of Hooded Justice, from his two earliest adventures (which deviate from how they're described in Under the Hood), to his joining of the Minutemen (and his relationship with Captain Metropolis), to the moment he uncovers the true plan of the Ku Klux Klan's mysterious "Cyclops" subset to incite violence among the black community via hypnotic suggestion.

So let's try and resolve the events of Hooded Justice's life as seen in this episode with what we know of him from the comics. Every change made to Hooded Justice on screen lines up with something that can be verified from the book, which remains the only "official canon" that this show draws from. Hooded Justice did indeed become active in 1938, and his first public act was stopping a mugging in Queens, described in Under the Hood in much the same way as what we see in the episode.

"A man and his girlfriend, walking home afer a night at the theater, had been set upon by a gang of three men armed with guns. After relieving the couple of their valuables, the gang had started to beat and physically abuse the young man while threatening to indecently assault his girlfriend. At this point, the crime had been interrupted by a figure 'Who dropped into the alleyway from above with something over his face' and proceeded to disarm the attackers before beating them with such severity that all three required hospital treatment and that one subsequently lost the use of both legs as a result of a spinal injury."

That lines up exactly with the events of "This Extraordinary Being" with one exception, Will Reeves ran into the alley, and didn't "drop" into it "from above." But even this is explained in Under the Hood by pointing out that "the witnesses' recounting of the event was confused and contradictory," a nod to how tricky eyewitness accounts of traumatic events can be.

read more: Watchmen Episode 6 Easter Eggs Explained

But it's the next event where things deviate from the accepted story in the text. In his first fully costumed outing, Hooded Justice tracks the members of the KKK's Order of the Cyclops to the stockroom of a grocery store, confronts/beats the absolute crap out of them in the back, before the fight spills out into the store itself. After getting shot at by the proprietor (who was allowing the KKK to operate out of the back room), he escapes by crashing through the shop window. But here's how it's described in Under the Hood...

“A supermarket stickup had been prevented thanks to the intervention of ‘A tall man, built like a wrestler, who wore a black hood and cape and also wore a noose around his neck.’ This extraordinary being had crashed in through the window of the supermarket while the robbery was in progress and attacked the man responsible with such intensity and savagery that those not disabled immediately were only too willing to drop their guns and surrender.”

That's certainly the version of events we saw in the American Hero Story segment glimpsed back in episode 2. The most likely scenario here is that since so many of those involved in this fracas were police officers, it was easy to change the official story by the time it made it to the press. And there's no reason that Hollis Mason would ever know any details about this that weren't in the papers, unless Hooded Justice confided in him during a Minutemen meeting. As of now, there's no evidence of that, especially considering that Mason also chose to amplify the theory that Rolf Muller was Hooded Justice. Unless, of course, Mason knew the truth about Hooded Justice and Will Reeves and used his book to help throw suspicion off his teammate and fellow police officer, but that may be something of a stretch.

"This Extraordinary Being" takes place over the span of nearly a decade, from 1938 to approximately 1947. Not depicted in the episode is the beating Hooded Justice administered to the Comedian after he sexually assaulted Silk Spectre. A note in the book from Sally Jupiter's husband (and Minutemen publicist) Laurence Schexnayder dated Feb. 3, 1948 indicates that Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis were still romantically involved, albeit as we see in the episode, their relationship had been on the rocks for some time.

The Minutemen disbanded in 1949, and various costumed adventurers were called by notorious historical scumbag Senator Joseph McCarthy and his odious House Un-American Activities Committee to unmask so that they could be investigated more thoroughly. Hooded Justice declined their invitation "on the grounds that he was not prepared to reveal his true identity to anyone. When pressed, he simply vanished." according to Under the Hood. It's easy to see why a black man who had barely escaped the Tulsa Race Massacre with his life as a boy and who by this point had devoted the last 15 years of his life vainly trying to draw attention to a white supremacist conspiracy that stretched into high levels of public life, wouldn't want to unmask before a biased and bloodthirsty committee like the HUAC.

In other words, nothing presented on screen in Watchmen episode 6 conflicts directly with verified accounts of Hooded Justice's life in the book. It's only where the book (specifically the Under the Hood chapters) veers into speculation that you can spot inconsistencies. In the book, it was heavily implied that Rolf Müller, a circus strongman with ties to Germany, was secretly Hooded Justice. A decomposed body presumed to be Müller's, that had been shot execution style, washed up on the shores of Boston Harbor roughly a year after Hooded Justice stopped appearing in public and Müller had disappeared (an event dramatized, inaccurately, by American Hero Story). While never stated outright in the book, the implication certainly seems to be that Müller was Hooded Justice. Apparently, that connection was drawn by right wing publication New Frontiersman in a 1956 article, paraphrased in Under the Hood, reproduced here:

“The author mentioned the disappearance of a well known circus strongman of the day named Rolf Müller, who had quit his job at the height of the Senate Subcommittee hearings. Three months later, a badly decomposed body that was tentatively identified as Müller’s was pulled from the sea after being washed up on the coast of Boston...The inference of the article was that Müller, whose family was East German, had gone on the run for fear of being uncovered by while the Communist witch hunts were at their most feverish. The piece also implied that Müller had probably been executed by his own Red superiors.”

The New Frontiersman was roughly the Watchmen universe's equivalent of reactionary quackery like InfoWars or any given evening program on Fox News, so it's understandable why they could draw the wrong conclusion here. However, there's evidence to support the idea that Watchmen co-creator Alan Moore did indeed intend for Rolf Müller to be the true identity of Hooded Justice, specifically in the form of two Watchmen "adventure modules" that were supplements for the DC Heroes roleplaying game shortly after the release of the book.

The supplements are by Dan Greenberg and Ray Winninger, but were created with Alan Moore's knowledge and approval. One of those, an adventure called "Taking Out the Trash" is a wealth of information about the Watchmen universe, from bios (complete with birth dates) of various heroes to a timeline that fleshes out the world from the turn of the 20th century through the events of the book. In there, it's revealed that not only was Rolf MüllerHooded Justice, but that he was murdered by the Edward "The Comedian" Blake as revenge for the beating HJ had administered after the Comedian sexually assaulted Sally Jupiter at Minutemen headquarters.

If you take DC’s Before Watchmen: Minutemen prequel into account (note: this writer does not, and it seems that neither does the HBO series), yet another story emerges. In it, Hooded Justice (whose identity is still never revealed) is killed by the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason, believing him to be responsible for the deaths of several children, while the actual perpetrator of those murders was Rolf Müller, a Nazi on the run who was ultimately killed by the Comedian (who had helped engineer the case of mistaken identity in the first place as revenge on Hooded Justice). DC’s Before Watchmen prequels are generally regrettable exercises, though, and even the legendary Darwyn Cooke couldn't really make the convoluted story presented in that Minutemen story work.

Regardless of that, the only “official canon” this show acknowledges is what is in the original book, and with that in mind, none of the CONFIRMED facts about Hooded Justice as presented in the Watchmen comic conflict with the revelation that Will Reeves was the man in the tights. With one exception. Under the Hood paints an unflattering picture of political views that Hooded Justice held. "Before Pearl Harbor, I heard Hooded Justice openly expressing approval for the activities of Hitler's Third Reich."

read more: How HBO's Watchmen Was Brought to Life

It's difficult to imagine a black man in 1940, especially one who had witnessed the atrocities that young Will had, and who was devoting his life by this point to fighting institutionalized racism in New York City, could approve of Hitler. The most likely scenario is that Mason misheard Will stating a version of claims from the propaganda leaflet his father had picked up in World War I and which Will carried for much of the rest of his life, and conflated that with "approval" of Hitler and Nazi Germany.

This is the sole loose end remaining in lining up Will Reeves' story with the Hooded Justice of the book. In a further bit of coincidence, that pamphlet was shown to be written by a "fraulein Mueller," a call back to the Rolf Müller identity that had long been considered the truth of Hooded Justice's identity. Instead, it may have just been a red herring to keep audiences off of Will's trail a little longer. But in any case, there's still lots more of Will's story to uncover, and Watchmen has three more episodes to reveal it all. Still, there’s little to indicate that Watchmen writer and executive producer Damon Lindelof would allow anything this accidental to slip by.

Mike Cecchini is the Editor in Chief of Den of Geek. You can read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @wayoutstuff.

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Mike Cecchini

Nov 24, 2019

Watchmen

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metamodel · 5 years ago

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Piss, Bread and Circuses

Hello again. I recently visited the Australian Film, Television and Radio School for their latest Re:Frame event, which was about audience engagement in the attention economy. After just ten minutes, I wanted to stab my eyes with a pencil.

Station ident: After returning to design after a year away, I find that Everything Now Looks Very Strange Indeed™. This is another one of my updates on restarting a creative practice (which I’m calling Studio Thing), plus a dose of cultural and design commentary.

Ah yes, the eye-stabbing. I can imagine many interesting conversations about attention in a post-broadcast media world, but when this event opened with a keynote from self-proclaimed “Data Whisperer” Elisa Choy, they were almost occluded in advance. Choy’s talk represented everything that might be dubious about the meeting of Big Data and creative strategy: figuring her audience as a bunch of panicked TV executives, she opined about the declining ratings of big tentpole shows like MasterChef. As a panacea for this non-problem, Choy offered her data-whispering “methodology”: ambulance-chasing the public’s roiling opinions on social media, which we can then mirror by creating the Right Content™. Pet-swapping is hot, so we should make shows about pet-swapping! I kid you fucking not.

[caption align="alignnone" width="980"]

The death spiral of bread and circuses[/caption]

Look, I know, feedback loops have the potential to enable many things, but they’re not necessarily positive, and here I have to take a stand: this particularly impoverished approach to data and culture represents the tightening of a noose around society’s neck. Rather than opening up possibilities in cultural production, the weaponisation of social media metrics to slavishly create What the Public Wants only serves to narrow our focus to that of a cybernetic Id: the collective embodiment of the prototypical addict, reduced to drinking their own toxic urine from a tube. (Having myself sought professional help over poisonous feedback loops involving substances that amongst other things included, uh, Netflix, I don’t use such metaphors lightly.)

Of course, I’d merely shrug if such an approach weren’t already so sadly emblematic of where we’re at as a society. The dream of a perfectly closed loop of reactive idiocy won’t ever fully “work”, of course, but in this era of insta-populism and habit-forming media apparatuses that feed on our own bile, we’re nonetheless currently living the damage wreaked by such attempts. As strategists, designers and producers of culture, we should be doing everything we can to avoid this spiral into doom.

Georgia Rowe, a service designer at the ABC, slyly mentioned at the same event that being sensitive to the breadth of people’s lived contexts would be, you know, essential to any kind of useful loop of engagement. Her respect for that universe of possibility within the pores of everyday life, rather than its reduction into more yet grist for the mill, has always been the progressive horizon of Human-Centred Design. But I’m not sure that this is enough to counterbalance the spectre before us: media landlords, populist strongmen and other disreputables, busily instrumentalising our data into some kind of zombie-reptilian autonomic nervous system of anti-culture. And it’s not Georgia’s individual responsibility to create a stronger antidote to such tendencies, either; shouldn’t we collectively be pushing harder in other directions?

In fact, I wonder these days if the “human context” we so often highlight has become a fig-leaf or alibi for our underlying zombie-reptile tendencies. Is the very popularisation of Human-Centred Design in the current juncture, which correlates so strongly with the rise of our current digital product overlords, itself a symptom of our predicament? As someone who cut their teeth as a Director of Design at Australia’s first social-purpose-focused Human-Centred Design studio, it’s not easy for me to say this, but our obsessive focus on fashioning usable, desirable products, and thus the methods we use to do this — including HCD — are imbricated in this short-circuit of desire, and exploited by the profiteers of our attention. Perhaps some spanners need to be thrown into the works, lest design is sucked into its own black hole.

Beneath the pavement: the rave

The second keynote at Re:Frame was from Seb Chan, the Chief Experience Officer at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Seb’s work is thankfully all about creating the conditions for reigniting curiosity and community, rather than death-spiralling. (He’s also an exemplary citizen of the Republic of Newsletters; Fresh and New is essential reading for anyone interested in culture and technology, as well as having an interesting “pay to access the archives” business model. Go and subscribe, immediately. Seb’s also responsible for giving me the kick in the pants to post a new issue: “I like your newsletter,” he told me after his talk as I blushed prettily, “… WHEN IT COMES OUT.” Ahem.)

Seb said a couple of slightly cryptic but suggestive things in his keynote that I think can help loosen design’s tendency to auto-asphyxiate under capitalism. Firstly, he noted that his design approach isn’t focused on reactively addressing “user needs”. (And he was also clear that neither is it about narrowly focusing on transactional interactions, as experience design so often is.) Secondly, he acknowledged that his current work in experience design inevitably draws from his background in organising electronic dance parties in the distant 20th Century — a different but related kind of “experience”. (No doubt some of you also remember going to Frigid in ‘90s Sydney. Good times!) Moreover, he provocatively described those events as “utopian, elite and exclusionary”.

It might be surprising to hear a senior figure of a public cultural institution use terms that could be interpreted as “anti-democratic”, but that’s not really the angle here. Seb’s approach certainly isn’t about disregarding the needs of ACMI’s visitors, or making it the sole preserve of over-educated latté-belters. Rather, going beyond “user needs” opens up possibilities that would be foreclosed by seeing visitors as simply customers who need to be mechanically serviced. And by being underground, 20th Century electronic dance culture created pockets of safety that enabled sexual minorities to have space to flourish, outside the panopticon of the dominant culture. Subcultures therefore serve as an alternative model for conceiving of how we might experience public institutions and infrastructures. The upshot is not how to make museums more obscure, but how we can use this insight to create spaces of conviviality across our social terrain.

In a recent newsletter, Seb put it this way:

When people in the cultural sector talk about museums or libraries as aiming to become ‘town squares’ or similar, I wonder if they are missing a trick. A town square is where only the loudest voices can be heard. Perhaps a town square is not what is needed, but an ecology of smaller niches where smaller voices thrive? And the institutional role lies in being a facilitator of the connections between niches?

Essentially, this is about a different way to be public.

Beneath the pavement: limestone caves

Thinking about this thought-bomb, I’m reminded of nothing less than W.H. Auden’s magnificent 1948 poem “In Praise of Limestone”, which contrasts the gentle affordances of limestone caves with other, less forgiving geological spaces:

“Come!" purred the clays and gravels,

“On our plains there is room for armies to drill; rivers

Wait to be tamed and slaves to construct you a tomb

In the grand manner: soft as the earth is mankind and both

Need to be altered."

Against a totalising, scorched-earth concept of public space, Auden yearns for his sensual pockets of limestone. He’s not uncritical — like anybody who’s grappled with the limits of the identity politics that sometimes come with subcultural niches, the poem is ambivalent about the indulgence and narcissism that such spaces can engender, but it’s suggestive of something much more interesting to me than the flattened, data-whispered zombie dystopia of The Public (Opinion) that appears to be all the rage these days.

More on publics and counterpublics next week! I’m currently in Melbourne for the sometimes-provocative SDNOW conference, and there’s too much to write about…

A sustainable portion of all my love,

Ben

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meanstreetspodcasts · 4 years ago

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“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” - Another classic short story, this one by Ambrose Bierce, gets a memorable adaptation courtesy of Escape. A Confederate sympathizer tries to sabotage a bridge and ends up at the end of a Union noose. A twist of fate gives him a chance to escape...or does it? There are some problematic racial portrayals (a scene where the protagonist meets one of his slaves is particularly rough), but overall this is a great show with a cast of some of radio’s best voices - Harry Bartell, Bill Johnstone, William Conrad, and Frank Lovejoy. (Originally aired on CBS on December 10, 1947)

#Escape #Old Time Radio #Golden Age of Radio

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