Every Movie I Watch 2020 - Tumblr Posts
DATE WITH DISASTER (Dir: Charles Saunders, 1957).
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME to read a longer, more in-depth review of DATE WITH DISASTER.
Date with Disaster is something of a misnomer of a title, seemingly designed to appear more sensational. With no particular date or disaster to be found, the movie concerns two partners of secondhand car dealer Highgrade Autosales, who plan a safe robbery while third partner Miles Harrington (Tom Drake) is out of town. Engaging the help of professional criminal Tracey (William Hartnell) things, as you might expect, do not go according to plan. Mixed up in the dodgy doings is Miles' girl Sue (Shirley Eaton).
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
PORT OF ESCAPE (Dir: Tony Young, 1956).
Noir-ish British B-movie crime flick starring real life husband and wife John McCallum and Googie Withers. Based upon Barbara S Harper’s short story Safe Harbour.
Having just docked in London, seaman Mitch Gillie (McCallum) accidentally kills a man in a knife fight while protecting his pal Dinty (Bill Kerr). On the lam and needing an escape route they commander the houseboat of gossip columnist Anne Stirling (Googie Withers). At first fearing the men, Anne, her sister (Wendy Danielli) and their housekeeper (Joan Hickson) eventually try to help the pair when they learn of Dinty’s mental illness.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
THE HEADLESS GHOST (Dir: Peter Graham Scott, 1959).
The Headless Ghost is a comedy horror with the accent firmly on comedy.
Three exchange students Americans Ronnie (David Rose) and Bill (Richard Lyon) and Danish Ingrid (Liliane Sottane) spend the night in haunted Ambrose Castle. With the help of the spirit of the 4th Earl of Ambrose (Clive Revill) they must reunite the head and shoulders of Malcolm, the headless ghost of the title. Imagine, if you will, an episode of Scooby Doo Where Are You! sans the Great Dane but with real ghosts and you pretty much have The Headless Ghost in a nutshell.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME to read the full review. Link below.
TOP HAT (Dir: Mark Sandrich, 1935).
From RKO Radio Pictures, Top Hat was the 4th of 10 pairings of the inimitable Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Where to begin? The screwball plot is some trifle about mistaken identity (isn’t it always?), as Ginger, believing Fred is the philandering husband of a friend, rebukes his advances and marries her dress designer instead (or does she?). Topnotch support comes from familiar faces Edward Everett Horton and Helen Broderick are the real husband and wife, Erik Rhodes the cuckolded couturier and Eric Blore as an asinine but resourceful manservant. As convoluted as it sounds the whole thing works beautifully. But who in the audience is really here for the plot? What we are here for is Astaire and Rogers at their artistic peak dancing up a storm to one of Irving Berlin's greatest musical scores and happily that is what we get.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
SUN VALLEY SERENADE (Dir: H Bruce Humberstone, 1941).
Produced by 20th Century Fox, Sun Valley Serenade was conceived as a star vehicle for popular figure skating champ turned film star Sonja Henie. Of greater significance, it also provided Glenn Miller and his Orchestra with a rare feature film appearance.
As a publicity stunt, band pianist Ted Scott (John Payne) agrees to sponsor a Norwegian refugee. Expecting a child he is surprised when the emigre turns out to be attractive skating expert Karen Benson (Sonja Henie). Ted's band, including his fiancee Vivian (Lynn Bari) and bandleader Phil Corey (Glenn Miller) are due to begin a Christmas season at Idaho ski resort Sun Valley. Supposedly staying behind Karen, sneaks aboard the train to Idaho, with the plan to bust up Ted and Vivian and hook herself a husband to boot. Along for the ride is Milton Berle as the band's manager.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
MEET THE STEWARTS (Dir: Alfred E Green, 1942).
A domestic comedy from Columbia Pictures which provides an early role for future acting legend William Holden.
Meet the Stewarts' paper thin plot concerns the matrimonial problems of working class Mike Stewart (William Holden) and new bride Candy (Frances Dee). Juggling a limited budget and disapproving families, Candy is determined to prove herself a dutiful wife, without the help of Daddy's income.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT (Dir: Robert Rossen, 1956).
Richard Burton heads the cast in a historical drama chronicling the life and accomplishments of Alexander III of Macedonia. Part of the trend to entice audiences away from television, the lavish production was shot in glorious Technicolor and utilised the widescreen CinemaScope format.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS (Dir: Raoul Walsh, 1956)
With a title referencing star Clark Gable’s reputation as The King of Hollywood, The King and Four Queens is an offbeat western from legendary director Raoul Walsh.
Clark Gable stars as smooth talking drifter Dan Kehoe who rides into the ramshackle, lawless town of Wagon Mound with the intention of relieving Ma McDade (Jo Van Fleet) and her four widowed daughter-in-laws (Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes, Barbara Nichols & Sara Slade) of $100,000 worth of stolen gold. Romancing each of the ladies in order to learn the whereabouts of the stash, it become apparent that the queens are using him as much as he is using them.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
THE GHOST AND MR CHICKEN (Dir: Alan Rafkin, 1966).
The Ghost and Mr Chicken is a family friendly comedy/horror from Universal Pictures, with the accent firmly on smiles rather than shocks.
Something of a throwback to haunted house comedies of an earlier age - the Bob Hope vehicle The Cat and the Canary (Elliott Nugent, 1939) springs to mind - The Ghost and Mr Chicken finds nebbish newspaper typesetter Luther Heggs spend the night in a haunted house in an attempt to further his career as as a journalist. Becoming a local celebrity, he lands himself a subpoena when property owner Mr Simmons (Philip Ober) challenges Heggs' claims of ghostly goings on in the abandoned abode.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link in below.
THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG (Dir: Norman Tokar, 1975).
Comic western from Walt Disney Productions which provides a pre-Incredible Hulk Bill Bixby a rare opportunity as leading man in a feature film.
Three orphans, the unwitting wards of gambler Russell Donovan (Bill Bixby), attract the attention of prospective adoptive parents when they strike gold in former mining community of Quake City. To protect the kids from gold-digging townsfolk, Donovan arranges a sham marriage with stagecoach driver Dusty (Susan Clark) with a plan to adopt the youngsters; meanwhile the children's money grabbing legal guardian John Wintle (Don Knight) gets wind of their windfall. Determined to remain in the care of Donovan and Dusty, the trio, assuming the name The Apple Dumpling Gang combine forces with second rate bandits Amos (Tim Conway) and Theodore (Don Knotts) aka The Hash Knife Outfit. Together the gang plot to stage a bogus burglary which would allow Amos and Theodore to keep the nugget while deterring the self-serving Wintle. The clumsy crims are making a fine mess of thing when real life robbers turn up to alleviate the loot from the city bank.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
THE SHEEPMAN (Dir: George Marshall, 1958).
Glenn Ford had a terrific run of movies in the 1950s. Many of which were westerns, including this unusual oater with an excellent supporting cast.
Ford stars as Jason Sweet, a stranger who arrives in cattle country with a flock of sheep which he intends to graze on public land. The cowpoke townsfolk disapprove mightily of this and let Sweet know, in no uncertain terms, that they want him gone. But the tough talking, milk drinking Sweet means business. Picking a fight with town heavy "Jumbo" McCall (Mickey Shaughnessy) and making an enemy of shifty cattle baron "Colonel" Steven Bedford (Leslie Nielsen); meanwhile giving the glad eye to Bedford's intended Dell Payton (Shirley MacLaine).
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
STAN & OLLIE (Dir: Jon S Baird, 2018).
The big screen biopic has had a resurgence in popularity in recent years. From the stories of British rock stars Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018) and Elton John in Rocketman (Dexter Fletcher, 2019) to Hollywood's own golden age legends Judy Garland in Judy (Rupert Goold, 2019) and this biopic of beloved comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.
Movies about the movies have long been a staple in Hollywood, but Stan & Ollie has a somewhat different approach to many of the biographical titles which have preceded it. Most notably, it ignores the the duo’s well documented heyday, being with the stars’ falling out over a contractual dispute with producer Hal Wallis in 1937. From here we jump to the early 1950s when the pair, reunited but still nursing wounds over the quarrel, embark on a comeback tour of the UK and Ireland. Here the tour is initially mishandled by promoter Bernard Delfont and the pair are playing to largely empty venues, although the duo are eventually afforded the warm welcome they deserve. Stan & Ollie chronicles the stars' strained relationships with each other and their partners, while also detailing their attempts to reignite a movie career. Eventually Hardy's failing health brings an abrupt halt to the tour but also signals a renewed reconciliation between the pair.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME at the link below:
SCOOBY-DOO & THE CURSE OF THE 13TH GHOST (Dir: Cecilia Aranovich Hamilton, 2019).
Scooby-Doo Where are You! debuted on US TV network CBS in the late summer of 1969 and was an instant success for creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and producers Hanna-Barbera. This recent Warner Bros Animation effort is the continuation and conclusion of the 1985 series The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, a short-lived series which premiered in September 1985 in which Mystery Inc teamed up with the mystical Vincent Van Ghoul in order to capture 13 ‘real’ spirits accidentally released from a magic chest by Scooby. Drawing criticism from those who accused the show of endorsing the occult, the show was cancelled before the season end and the final pesky paranormal entities were never captured.
Here we find Mystery Inc on the verge of retirement following the bungling of a recent case when the gang are contacted, via a crystal ball, by old friend and associate Vincent Van Ghoul. Van Ghoul is eager to find the 13th missing spirit and the gang are once again on a ghost hunt. This time around there is no janitor in a rubber mask as the ghosts are real! Or are they? A skeptical Velma is out to prove to the gang that 'ghoul' is not always how it appears.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (Dir: John Hough, 1975).
A family friendly, sci-fi suspense from Walt Disney Productions. Based upon the 1968 novel by Alexander Key.
Tony (Ike Eisenmann) and Tia Malone (Kim Richards) are two orphaned kids with ESP. Where they got their powers and where they come from is a mystery but makes them outcasts among their peers in the children’s home. Their powers attract unwanted attention from powerful but crooked businessman Aristotle Bolt (Ray Milland) and his assistant Lucas Deranian (Donald Pleasence). Posing as the Malones’ uncle, Deranian adopts the pair with the intention of exploiting them. Escaping from the clutches of Bolt and Deranian the kids stowaway aboard the motor home of curmudgeonly widower Jason O’Day (Eddie Albert) who eventually warms to them and agrees to take them to Witch Mountain, a mysterious place which is somehow connected to Tony and Tia’s past.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
DR CYCLOPS (Dir: Ernest B Schoedsack, 1939).
Legendary King Kong (1933) co-directors and producers Ernest Schoedsack and Merian C Cooper reunite for this unusual shocker, based on a story by Henry Kuttner. Co produced by Dale Van Every, Dr Cyclops was released through Paramount Pictures.
Dr Alexander Thorkel (Albert Dekker) has been in the depths of the Peruvian jungle for some years working on a secret experiment. Fellow scientists Dr Robinson and Dr Bullfinch are duly dispatched to his remote lab as Thorkel's assistants. On arriving, they are dismayed when the less than welcoming Doc Thorkel asks them to leave. Eager to learn why the doctor is so secretive, the gang do some snooping and are surprised to learn he has discovered a rich vein of pitchblende ore, containing uranium and radium. The demented doc is using the ore to shrink living creatures and promptly downsizes his curious colleagues. The gang must return to normal size and thwart the doctor's evil plans, but not before battling with oversized jungle foliage and enduring some close calls with enormous crocodile and a kingsized kitty cat.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
SHOCKTOBER! Day 1: THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (Dir: Eugène Lourié, 1953).
This sci-fi classic from the heyday of the monster movies marked the cinematic pairing of fantasy titans and lifelong friends, author Ray Bradbury and stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen.
Based upon Bradbury's short story The Fog Horn, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms tells of the mighty Rhedosaurus, a 200 foot, disease-ridden, carnivorous dinosaur frozen in suspended animation for millions of years and unwittingly thawed by an experimental Arctic atomic explosion, Awakened from his frosty slumber, old Rhed proceeds south to North America's east coast and the warmer waters of the Atlantic. En route to New York he overturns a fishing boat and destroys an innocent lighthouse, before rocking up in the Big Apple to wreck havoc in the city, culminating in an awesome Coney Island showdown between monster and military.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
SHOCKTOBER! Day 2: HOUSE (Dir: Steve Miner, 1985).
From Sean S Cunningham, producer/director of Friday the 13th (1980) and Steve Miner, director of Friday the 13th Part II (1981) comes House, a shocker of a markedly lighter tone than the slasher movies for which either was known.
Promoted as a comedy horror, House stars William Katt as horror author Roger Cobb (presumably modeled after Stephen King) a Vietnam vet who is mourning the recent suicide of a beloved aunt and the mysterious disappearance of his young son. Both events are somehow connected to the creepy house which his aunt has left to Cobb in her will. Retreating to his aunt's abode to write a biographical novel based upon his wartime experiences, he is haunted by all manner of apparitions, included that of comrade Big Ben (Richard Moll) who died in Vietnam. Naturally folks think Cobb is crazy. Enlisting the help of amiable neighbour Harold (George Wendt), Cobb battles to overcome both inner-demons and the curse of the house of horrors.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
SHOCKTOBER Day 4: THE BLACK SCORPION (Dir: Edward Ludwig, 1957).
Swapping atomic ants for subterranean scorpions and the Los Angeles sewers for the caverns of the Mexico desert, The Black Scorpion shamelessly hitches a ride on the coattails of monster movie masterpiece Them! (Gordon Douglas, 1954).
An undistinguished B-movie cast of little charisma cannot help but be overshadowed by the giant scorpions rampaging the southern portion of North America. The second hand plot finds the enormous arachnids chowing down on the San Lorenzo locals. Luckily some US scientists are on hand to make sure the pesky critters do not hop the border. Yup, the plot really is as lazy as my description of it.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
THE DEAD DON’T DIE (Dir: Jim Jarmusch, 2019).
Writer/director Jim Jarmusch pays homage to George A Romero in the zombie comedy (zomedy?) The Dead Don’t Die.
Rural small town Centerville finds itself in the midst of of zombie uprising somehow linked to the altering of the Earth's rotation due to polar fracking (?). At the centre of the action are local police chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) and his partner, officer Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver), who must attempt to hold off the meat hungry horde from consuming the community.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (Dir: Nathan Hertz, 1958).
Proto-feminist text or trash classic? As much as some film historians claim it’s the former, I think sci-fi/horror Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is probably the later; a cheap and cheerful exploitation film aimed squarely at the drive-in, double feature market.
After arguing with her two-timing husband, heiress and owner of the world's most expensive diamond Nancy Archer (Alison Hayes) has a run in with an extra-terrestrial satellite, inexplicably inhabited by a 30 foot bald-headed behemoth (Michael Ross, doubling as Tony the bartender). Radiation exposure results in Nancy growing to a whopping 50 feet in height. Meanwhile husband Harry (William Hudson) takes the opportunity to steal her diamond and ensconce with fancy-lady Honey (Yvette Vickers). Soon the police are on their tail as, more worryingly, is Nancy who wants her diamond and her man back!
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
