- Here’s a list of the movies I’ve watched this year so far, as well as my thoughts on them.
- The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad (Ray Harryhausen) – Recommended
- The Day The Earth Stood Still – Recommended
- The Puppetoon Movie (George Pal) – Recommended
- 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Walt Disney, Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Peter Lorre) – Recommended
- The Living Desert (Walt Disney) – Recommended
- Steamboat Bill Jr. (Buster Keaton) – Not Recommended
- It’s A Gift (W.C. Fields) – Recommended
- The Vanishing Prairie (Walt Disney) – Recommended
- Ed Wood (Tim Burton, Johnny Depp) – Recommended
- The Princess & The Frog (Disney) – Recommended
- Greyfriars Bobby (Walt Disney) – Recommended
- Winning (Paul Newman) – Not Recommended
- Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) – Not Recommended
- International House (W.C. Fields) – Not Recommended
- Sabrina (Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden) – Recommended
- Up (Disney Pixar) – Highly Recommended
- The Adventures Of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Olivia DeHaviland) – Highly Recommended
- Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock) – Recommended
- Treasure Island (Walt Disney) – Recommended
- The Circus (Charles Chaplin) – Highly Recommended
- 20 Million Miles To Earth (Ray Harryhausen) – Recommended
- The Wolfman (Lon Chaney Jr., Universal Monsters) – Recommended
- Way Out West (Laurel & Hardy) – Recommended
- Sabotage (Alfred Hitchcock) – Recommended
- City Lights (Charles Chaplin) – Highly Recommended
- The Quiet Man (John Ford, John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara) – Recommended
- Back To the Future (Michael J. Fox, Robert Zemeckis) – Highly Recommended
- Duel (Stephen Spielberg) – Highly Recommended
- The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin) – Highly Recommended
- Les Vacances de M. Hulot (Jacques Tati) – Sort Of Recommended
- The Trouble With Harry (Alfred Hitchcock) – Highly Recommended
- Invictus (Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon) – Recommended
- The Simpsons Movie (Matt Groening) – Recommended
- The Wrong Man (Alfred Hitchcock, Henry Fonda)– Recommended
- Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein (Abbot & Costello, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Universal Monsters) – Highly Recommended
- The Third Man (Orson Welles) – Very Highly Recommended
- Mystery Of The Wax Museum – Recommended
- A Night In Casablanca (The Marx Bros.)– Recommended
- The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock) – Highly Recommended
- Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock) – Highly Recommended
- Avatar (James Cameron) – Very Highly Recommended
- The Return Of Frank James (Fritz Lang, Henry Fonda)– Recommended
- Clash Of The Titans (Ray Harryhausen) – Recommended
- The Incredible Shrinking Man – Very Highly Recommended
- Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Lawrence Olivier) – Highly Recommended
- Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock) – Recommended
- The Court Jester (Danny Kaye) – Highly Recommended
- Born Free – Highly Recommended
- Francis – Recommended
- Sailor Beware (Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin) – Recommended for Martin & Lewis fans only
- The Kid (Charles Chaplin) – Recommended
- Grease (John Travolta, Olivia Newton John) – Recommended
- The General (Buster Keaton) – Recommended
- Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Grace kelly) – Very Highly Recommended
- School Of Rock (Jack Black) – Highly Recommended
- Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson) – Recommended
- North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant) – Very Highly Recommended
- Bad Day At Black Rock (Spencer Tracy) – Highly Recommended
- Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis) – Very Highly recommended
- Flying High! / Airplane! – Very Highly Recommended
- The Pink Panther 2 (Steve Martin) – Not recommended as this film is shit
- It’s A Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, James Stewart) – Very highly recommended
- One Million Years B.C. (Raquel Welch, Ray Harryhausen) – Sort of recommended
- The Greatest Show On Earth (Cecil B. de Mille, James Stewart, Charlton Heston) – Very Highly Recommended
- Texas Across The River (Dean Martin) – Not Recommended
- Battle Of Britain – Recommended
- Ocean’s 11 (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford) – Highly Recommended
- The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin)- Very Highly Recommended
- Go West (The Marx Bros. )- Very Highly Recommended
- Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin)- Extremely Highly Recommended
- Bride Of Frankenstein (James Whale, Boris Karloff) – Highly Recommened
- Coraline – Highly Recommened
- Dumbo (Disney) – Highly Recommended
- The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis) – Highly Recommened
- This Is Spinal Tap – This is OK
- Superman And The Mole Men (George Reeves) – It’s OK
- Iron Man – Highly Recommened
- The Red Shoes – Recommened
- Pollyanna (Disney, Hayley Mills)- Recommened
- The Time Machine (George Pal) – Recommened
- Murder By Death (Peter Sellers, David Niven) – Recommened
- Around The World In 80 Days – (David Niven) Recommened
- Song Of The South – (Disney) Recommended
- The Thing From Another World (Howard Hawks) – Highly Recommened
- Shaft – Recommend
- BaadAsssss Cinema – Recommended
- Reach For The Sky – Recommened
- Gay Purr-ee (UPA, Chuck Jones, Judy Garland) – Recommened
- Toy Story (Pixar) – Very Highly Recommened
- Toy Story 2 (Pixar) – Very highly Recommened
- Cinderfella (Jerry Lewis, Frank Tashlin) – Recommened
- Toy Story 3 (Pixar) – Most Extremely Highly Recommened
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (George Clooney, Wes Anderson) – Recommened
- Epic Movie – Terrible, Horrible Rubbish
- Hold That Ghost (Bud Abbott, Lou Costello) – Highly Recommened
- Hatari (John Wayne, Red Buttons, Howard Hawks) – Recommended
- My Little Chickadee (W. C. Fields, Mae West) – Highly Recommened
- Just three more films until I reach my first century. Of course that means that there has been 90 days (3 months) in which I have not watched a film.
- Short Films
- Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad The Sailor (Popeye, Max Fleischer) – Highly Recommended
- You Nazty Spy! (Three Stooges) – Highly Recommended
- The Immigrant (Charles Chaplin) – Highly Recommended
- The Music Box (Laurel & Hardy) – Highly Recommended
- The Band Concert (Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck) – Highly Recommended
Daily Archives: July 9, 2010
Complete List Of Movies
My Little Chickadee
Directed by Edward F. Cline
Produced by Lester Cowan
Written by Mae West & W.C.Fields
Starring Mae West
W.C.Fields
Music by Frank Skinner
Cinematography Joseph A. Valentine
Editing by Edward Curtiss
Distributed by Universal
Release date 15 March 1940
Running time 83 min
Country USA
Language English
W. C. Fields and Mae West were two of the sharpest tongues in Hollywood with only Groucho Marx rivalling them for delivering the best one liners and double entendres. Whilst they do get a few great zingers into My Chickadee and there are a few laugh out loud moments, this film feels a bit odd. I think it’s because of the lack of chemistry between Fields and West. Whilst there are rumours of both the stars not liking each other and that they let their egos run rampant, trying to one up each other with the best lines, I don’t think any of this has been truly confirmed. I did read that Mae was a bit unhappy with Fields’ unprofessionalism and how he lived his drunken gimmick, but she still admired his comic abilities.
The film isn’t Fields’ or West’s best but it’s still a damn sight better than most other comedies.
My Little Chickadee is a part of the W.C. Fields Comedy Collection with The Bank Dick, You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man, International House and It’s A Gift. This DVD box set is available from Amazon for $46.99. You can purchase it by clicking here…
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Hatari
Directed by Howard Hawks
Produced by Howard Hawks & Paul Helmick
Written by Harry Kurnitz
Leigh Brackett
Starring John Wayne
Elsa Martinelli
Hardy Krüger
Red Buttons
Music by Henry Mancini
Cinematography Russell Harlan
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date October 6, 1962
Running time 157 min
Hatari is another manly John Wayne movie. It’s not as manly as The Quiet Man, but it is pretty close. Of course John Wayne is a man’s man, even if there are photos of him wearing women’s clothing which somehow hasn’t made it to the internet yet! (Perhaps he is so manly that the internet refuses to believe that he was into transvetitism!). Hatari is such a manly film that even the woman act manly, no matter how hot they are. In one scene that lasted about five minutes Elsa Martinelli smokes three cigarettes and drinks a beer. The film is just dripping with testosterone.
Seriously it is an enjoyable, although overlong, film. There are lots of exotic animals and dangers in the African savannah and there is also a lot of good-natured humour. With John Wayne you always know what you are going to get as he always plays the same type of character. Perhaps he didn’t need much of an acting range since he was so manly?!
I should also mention the music and that at the end of the film we are treated to Mancini’s Baby Elephant Walk and the sight of three cute baby elephants running amok. All in all an enjoyable way to waste 2 1/2 hours and best thing is that you can get the DVD from Big W for less than ten bucks.
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Hold That Ghost
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Produced by Burt Kelly & Glenn Tryon
Written by Robert Lees, Fred Rinaldo & John Grant
Starring Bud Abbott
Lou Costello
Richard Carlson
The Andrews Sisters
Shemp Howard
Music by H.J. Salter Editing by Philip Cahn
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date August 6, 1941 (U.S. release)
Running time 85 min
Language English
Universal Australia are currently re-releasing a lot of their Universal classics onto DVD, but it seems that in this country anyway, they don’t want to release any of the classic Abbott & Costello movies of the 1940s. Before the end of the year some Laurel and Hardy films will be released (great) but no A&C. (Not even the classic A&C Meet Frankenstein) I am actually not entirely sure whether there have been any official A&C DVD releases in Australia, although I do know that Africa Screams is available on a cheap public domain DVD. It’s a shame as they are really good films.
Hold That Ghost is one of the earliest A&C films and their first foray into the comedy/horror genre that they would do to greater effect a few years later. One of the first things that I noticed with this film is just how abusive Bud is to Lou. There are occasions where he hits Costello with all the fervour of Moe Howard slapping Larry and Curly in the 3 Stooges shorts. It is quite uncomfortable to watch and I am glad that this element was toned down in later films as it doesn’t seem to have the cartoony humour of the Stooges. It just seems really mean.
It is a pretty funny film and it did provide quite a few laughs, although I found Lou to be a tad more annoying than he is in later films. Here he is a man/child rather than a proper, well defined character. I guess as this was just the third film that Abbott & Costello (but fourth released) made they were still honing their screen personas, even though they had been working together on the vaudeville circuit for many years. He also does that annoying whistle thing that Warner Bros. Babbitt and Catstello always parodied. Otherwise he does have a few golden moments, including the famed candle sequence and is quite funny.
It should be noted that Shemp Howard, one of the 3 Stooges appears briefly in this film as a bartender. He doesn’t really do anything of note but it’s always interesting to see Shemp pop up in non-Stooge films. This was in the years when Shemp was trying to make it on his own and Curly took his place in the Stooges. (Although Shemp would replace Curly a few years later after Curly’s stroke) He’s also in W.C. Fields’ The Bank Dick.
I enjoyed the film a lot and wish that this and other A&C comedies would be officially released in this country onto DVD. They have been released several times in the USA so it’s not that difficult for Universal Australia to do (hint, hint).
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Movie Posters
Here are some cool movie posters. (Well I found them interesting anyway.) It’s funny how a good poster can make you want to watch even the worst movie. (Not saying any of these movies are bad by the way.)
The Thing With Two Heads
I have seen The Thing With Two Heads before and if I could find a copy I would definitely watch it. How could I not want to watch it again?
Ebony, Ivory And Jade
Ebony, Ivory and Jade was the inspiration for Fox Force 5, the TV pilot that was talked about in Pulp Fiction.
I wonder why they never make any more interacial women in Filipino prison kung-fu movies any more.
Wasp Woman
Roger Corman’s Wasp Woman is a film I haven’t seen and I wonder if it is as comic booky as the poster looks.
Glen Or Glenda
People may say that Glen Or Glenda is so bad it’s good but they are lying. I found it quite boring, except for Lugosi’s bizarre ramblings about snails and puppy dog’s tails.