#vera ralston

[vintage-old-hollywood]

John Wayne and Vera Ralston

[hellooldsmelly]

[weirdlookindog]

The Lady and the Monster (1944) - Trade ad

[fitesorko]

Vera Ralston

[rwpohl]

[silveragelovechild]

[spryfilm]

Blu-ray review: “Angel on the Amazon” (1948)

[hollywoodcomet]

Musical Monday: Murder in the Music Hall (1946)

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. This week’s musical: Murder in the Music Hall (1946) – Musical #750 Studio: Republic Pictures Director: John English Starring: Vera Ralston (billed…

[brokehorrorfan]

Republic Pictures Horror Collection will be released on May 21 via Kino Lorber. The two-disc set features four horror films produced by Republic Pictures: The Lady and the Monster, The Phantom Speaks, The Catman of Paris, and Valley of the Zombies.

1944's The Lady and the Monster is directed by George Sherman and written by Dane Lussier and Frederick Kohner, based on Curt Siodmak's 1942 novel Donovan's Brain. Vera Ralston, Richard Arlen, and Erich von Stroheim star.

1945's The Phantom Speaks is directed by John English and written by John K. Butler. Richard Arlen, Stanley Ridges, Lynne Roberts, Tom Powers, Charlotte Wynters, and Jonathan Hale star.

1946's The Catman of Paris is directed by Lesley Selander and written by Sherman L. Lowe. Carl Esmond, Lenore Aubert, Adele Mara, Douglass Dumbrille, Gerald Mohr, and Fritz Feld star.

1946's Valley of the Zombies is directed by Philip Ford and written by Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E. McGowan. Robert Livingston, Adrian Booth, Ian Keith, Thomas E. Jackson, Charles Trowbridge, and Earle Hodgins star.

All four films have been have been scanned in 4K by Paramount Pictures. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

The Lady and the Monster audio commentary by film historian Stephen Bissette (new)

The Phantom Speaks audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas

The Catman of Paris audio commentary by film historians David Del Valle and Miles Hunter (new)

Valley of the Zombies audio commentary by film historians David Del Valle and Miles Hunter (new)

Valley of the Zombies audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas

The Lady and the Monster interview with film historians Tim Lucas and Steven Bissette

In The Lady and the Monster, a scientist (Erich von Stroheim) and his two assistants (Vera Hruba Ralston, Richard Arlen) keep a dead criminal's brain alive. In The Phantom Speaks, the vengeful spirit of an executed killer takes possession of a scientist to take revenge on those who wronged him, and a newspaper reporter becomes suspicious. In The Catman of Paris, an amnesiac Frenchman (Carl Esmond) blames himself for deeds done with the mark of a beast. In Valley of the Zombies, a woman falls under the hypnotic spell of a resurrected madman.

Pre-order Republic Pictures Horror Collection.

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Suspense

Monogram Pictures swung for the fences with Frank Tuttle’s SUSPENSE (1946, TCM, YouTube), their first million-dollar picture, Spurred by the success of DILLLINGER (1945), they gave the King Brothers a larger than usual budget, which allowed them to bring in top-tier talent like cinematographer Karl Struss, composer Daniele Amfitheatrof and choreographer Nick Castle. The Kings also found a place for two up-and-comers, actor Barry Sullivan and writer Philip Yordan, along with former Warner Bros. starlet Bonita Granville and fading character actor Eugene Pallette (in his last film). Throw in Belita, Monogram’s answer to Republic’s Vera Hruba Ralston (though a much better actress), and you get one of the world’s few ice-skating films noirs, a picture with some striking images but a plot that seems to go on forever.

Sullivan is an ambitious drifter who left New York under a cloud. He gets hired to sell peanuts at Albert Dekker’s L.A. ice show, where his suggestions get him quickly promoted to a management position under Pallette. There’s only one catch. Sullivan wants to seduce the show’s star, Belita, who happens to be the boss’ wife, and before long she starts falling for him, which is understandable as Dekker is consistently coded as a gay man. Still, Dekker doesn’t want to lose his wife and star, so the rink is set for deadly conflict, though it sometimes seems to take a long time getting there.

The Kings spent a lot of money on sets, including a large ice-skating rink and an impressive two-story mountain getaway. Struss fills the film with shadowy images that often promise more suspense than the story generates. In a subplot, Sullivan is pursued by Granville as a former love from his time in Chicago (the man got around). She goes to some trouble to dig up damaging information about his past only to never use it. You could grow a beard waiting for her to do something that contributes to the plot.

At least the ice-skating numbers move and generate some real interest. Castle stages a nice jitterbug number at the start with Belita as a skating streetwalker so hot you half expect the ice to melt and leave her doing the breaststroke. There’s a daredevil routine with a hoop surrounded by threatening swords. But there’s also a Cuban number featuring “Mr. Babalu,” Miguelito Valdez, singing as the blonde leading lady does an icy version of Cuban dancing. It’s so deliriously edited it borders on high camp, something of which the rest of the film could use a lot more.

[vintage-old-hollywood]

Vera Ralston

[quiltedthunder]

RIP unity ralston (death at morning house- Maureen Johnson ) you would’ve loved Vera claythorne (And then there were none-Agatha Christie)

[gatutor]

Odette Myrtil-Vera Ralston "El luchador de Kentucky" (The fighting kentuckian) 1949, de George Waggner.

[fitesorko]

Vera Ralston

[travsd]

The Roles of Vera Reynolds

Celebration today of silent star Vera Reynolds (1899-1962) — not to be confused with Vera Ralston! Reports conflict about where Reynolds was originally from Nebraska or Richmond Virginia. Steve Massa’s Slapstick Divas reports that she graduated Polytecnic High in L.A. She seems to have gone directly into films in 1917, skipping the larval stage in live theatre that was more conventional back…

[agrpress-blog]

Auguri a Vera Miles L’attrice americana, interprete di Wich... #veramiles https://agrpress.it/auguri-a-vera-miles-2/?feed_id=6542&_unique_id=66cd1e9fef39b