The cherished screen team of William Powell and Myrna Loy met “cute” on their first film together, the gritty 1934 “Manhattan Melodrama.” According to TCM.com, first scene in the film required her to run out a building, maneuver through a crowd of people and jump into a car. The film’s director W.S. “Woody” Van Dyke, who was nicknamed “One Take Woody” because of his efficiency, didn’t bother to introduce the actress to Powell. So, when Van Dyke called “action “Loy recalled jumping into the car and landing “smack on William Powell’s lap. He looked up nonchalantly: Miss Loy, I presume?” I said, Mr. Powell? That’s how I met the man who would be my partner in 14 films.”
It was their next film, the smart screwball comedy/mystery “The Thin Man,” which opened May 25, 1934, transformed the couple into top stars at MGM. Directed by Van Dyke...
It was their next film, the smart screwball comedy/mystery “The Thin Man,” which opened May 25, 1934, transformed the couple into top stars at MGM. Directed by Van Dyke...
- 5/20/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
“I want friend like me.”
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider.
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider.
- 11/23/2020
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Fu Manchu Cycle—1965-1969
Blu ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1965 – 1969 / 96, 93, 91, 94, 92 min. / 2:33:1, 1:85, 1:66
Starring Christoper Lee, Tsai Chin
Cinematography by Ernest Steward, John Von Kotze, Manuel Merino
Directed by Don Sharp, Jeremy Summers, Jesús Franco
Arthur Henry Ward was born in Birmingham in 1883—at the age of 20 he adopted the pen name of Sax Rohmer, specializing in standard issue crime fiction and otherworldly tales of terror. In 1912 he folded both genres into one sinister figure from the East, a so-called “devil doctor” named Fu Manchu. The book covers alone were xenophobic horror shows and if there was any doubt the stories themselves were wildly racist, the author confirmed it in the description of his star villain: “the Yellow Peril incarnate in one man.”
An authority on philosophy, medicine, and idiosyncratic torture devices, Manchu made his debut in The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu which was quickly followed by The Return of Dr.
Blu ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1965 – 1969 / 96, 93, 91, 94, 92 min. / 2:33:1, 1:85, 1:66
Starring Christoper Lee, Tsai Chin
Cinematography by Ernest Steward, John Von Kotze, Manuel Merino
Directed by Don Sharp, Jeremy Summers, Jesús Franco
Arthur Henry Ward was born in Birmingham in 1883—at the age of 20 he adopted the pen name of Sax Rohmer, specializing in standard issue crime fiction and otherworldly tales of terror. In 1912 he folded both genres into one sinister figure from the East, a so-called “devil doctor” named Fu Manchu. The book covers alone were xenophobic horror shows and if there was any doubt the stories themselves were wildly racist, the author confirmed it in the description of his star villain: “the Yellow Peril incarnate in one man.”
An authority on philosophy, medicine, and idiosyncratic torture devices, Manchu made his debut in The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu which was quickly followed by The Return of Dr.
- 10/31/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
On this day in history as it relates to the movies...
1859 Billy the Kid, future legendary outlaw, is born. He's been played in movies and TV by actors like Buster Crabbe, Hugh O'Brian, Paul Newman, Clu Galager, Val Kilmer, and perhaps most famously by Kris Kristofferson, BAFTA nominated for Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973)
1887 Boris Karloff, villainous movie icon (Frankenstein, The Mask of Fu Manchu, Scarface, etcetera) is born
1888 Harpo Marx is born...
1859 Billy the Kid, future legendary outlaw, is born. He's been played in movies and TV by actors like Buster Crabbe, Hugh O'Brian, Paul Newman, Clu Galager, Val Kilmer, and perhaps most famously by Kris Kristofferson, BAFTA nominated for Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973)
1887 Boris Karloff, villainous movie icon (Frankenstein, The Mask of Fu Manchu, Scarface, etcetera) is born
1888 Harpo Marx is born...
- 11/23/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Hissable villain Bela Lugosi is in denial --- no, it's actually star Edmund Lowe who is in the Nile, deep-sixed in a sunken sarcophagus. Lugosi's up top trying to get his art deco death ray in running order -- opposed only by some nubile babes and a Great White Hypnotist from the Swami school of mind control. Chandu the Magician Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1932 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 71 min. / Street Date August 23, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Edmund Lowe, Irene Ware, Bela Lugosi, Herbert Mundin, Henry B. Walthall, Weldon Heyburn, June Lang, Michael Stuart, Virginia Hammond. Cinematography James Wong Howe Art Direction Max Parker Written by Barry Conners, Philip Klein, Guy Bolton, Bradley King, Harry Segall from a radio drama by Harry A. Earnshaw, Vera M. Oldham, R.R. Morgan Directed by William Cameron Menzies, Marcel Varnel
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Around 2008 Fox Home Video made a last big push with genre releases on DVD,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Around 2008 Fox Home Video made a last big push with genre releases on DVD,...
- 8/9/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Hunger makes men mad.”
The Good Earth (1937) screen this Friday through Sunday (May 13th-15th) at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 E. Lockwood, Webster Groves, Mo 63119). The film begins each evening at 8:00.
They just don’t cast enough Caucasian actresses in yellow-face drag anymore! Katherine Hepburn in Dragon Seed, Myrna Loy in The Mask Of Fu Manchu, and (my favorite) French Hammer starlet Yvonne Monlaur in The Terror Of The Tongs all proved that a little scotch tape behind the eyes is all it takes to change one’s ethnicity! German-born actress Luise Rainer won her second consecutive Oscar (her first was for The Great Ziegfeld) in 1937 for playing O-Lan in The Good Earth opposite Paul Muni as her husband Wang Lung. Producer Irving Thalberg had originally planned on casting Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong as O-Lan but once Muni was hired, he knew the Hays Office would not...
The Good Earth (1937) screen this Friday through Sunday (May 13th-15th) at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 E. Lockwood, Webster Groves, Mo 63119). The film begins each evening at 8:00.
They just don’t cast enough Caucasian actresses in yellow-face drag anymore! Katherine Hepburn in Dragon Seed, Myrna Loy in The Mask Of Fu Manchu, and (my favorite) French Hammer starlet Yvonne Monlaur in The Terror Of The Tongs all proved that a little scotch tape behind the eyes is all it takes to change one’s ethnicity! German-born actress Luise Rainer won her second consecutive Oscar (her first was for The Great Ziegfeld) in 1937 for playing O-Lan in The Good Earth opposite Paul Muni as her husband Wang Lung. Producer Irving Thalberg had originally planned on casting Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong as O-Lan but once Muni was hired, he knew the Hays Office would not...
- 5/9/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
By 1934 Boris Karloff was certainly no stranger to great movie entrances. In 1931, under the direction of James Whale, he seared his image, and that of the monstrous creation of Dr. Henry Frankenstein, into the collective consciousness by shuffling on screen and staring down his creator, and of course the terrified audience, embodying and fulfilling unspeakable nightmares. Frankenstein, an instant phenomenon, was one of 16 pictures Karloff made that were released in 1931.
And in the following year, 1932, in addition of Howard Hawks’ Scarface, Whale’s The Old Dark House and Charles Brabin’s The Mask of Fu Manchu, Karloff had another terrifying entrance in cinematographer-turned-director Karl Freund’s horror landmark The Mummy. As the title fiend, Imhotep, Karloff is first glimpsed in full bandage, sarcophagus laid open behind an unfortunate archaeologist who, engrossed in the parchments he’s discovered, doesn’t notice the mummy’s arm slide down from its bound position.
And in the following year, 1932, in addition of Howard Hawks’ Scarface, Whale’s The Old Dark House and Charles Brabin’s The Mask of Fu Manchu, Karloff had another terrifying entrance in cinematographer-turned-director Karl Freund’s horror landmark The Mummy. As the title fiend, Imhotep, Karloff is first glimpsed in full bandage, sarcophagus laid open behind an unfortunate archaeologist who, engrossed in the parchments he’s discovered, doesn’t notice the mummy’s arm slide down from its bound position.
- 3/27/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider. His big...
No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider. His big...
- 11/23/2015
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"Charlie Brackett summed it up beautifully, I think, when he said that in Europe you could open a picture with clouds, dissolve slowly to clouds, and dissolve again to more clouds. In America, though, he said, you open with clouds, you then dissolve to an airplane, and in the next shot the airplane's gotta explode." —John Sturges
“The black sky was underpinned with long silver streaks that looked like scaffolding and depth on depth behind it were thousands of stars that all seemed to be moving very slowly as if they were about some vast construction work that involved the whole universe and would take all time to complete. No one was paying attention to the sky.” —Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
Who'd be a haruspex? In ancient Rome, members of this holy profession pored over the entrails of freshly slaughtered animals, seeking portents among blood and guts. Divination as a...
“The black sky was underpinned with long silver streaks that looked like scaffolding and depth on depth behind it were thousands of stars that all seemed to be moving very slowly as if they were about some vast construction work that involved the whole universe and would take all time to complete. No one was paying attention to the sky.” —Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
Who'd be a haruspex? In ancient Rome, members of this holy profession pored over the entrails of freshly slaughtered animals, seeking portents among blood and guts. Divination as a...
- 12/1/2014
- by Neil Young
- MUBI
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider. His big...
No other actor in the long history of horror has been so closely identified with the genre as Boris Karloff, yet he was as famous for his gentle heart and kindness as he was for his screen persona. William Henry Pratt was born on November 23, 1887, in Camberwell, London, England. He studied at London University in anticipation of a diplomatic career; however, he moved to Canada in 1909 and joined a theater company where he was bit by the acting bug. It was there that he adopted the stage name of “Boris Karloff.” He toured back and forth across the USA for over ten years in a variety of low-budget Theater shows and eventually ended up in Hollywood. Needing cash to support himself, Karloff landed roles in silent films making his on-screen debut in Chapter 2 of the 1919 serial The Masked Rider. His big...
- 8/1/2012
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Robert Benayoun, in his essay "Zaroff, or, The Prosperities of Vice:""Authentic sadistic cinema is not that which, through a vulgar display of brutality solicits the sadism of the spectator. It is a cinema in which discomfort, vague misgivings, a fascinated paralysis of mind and a twitching of the limbs exceed the frontiers of expectation, a cinema whose elective, even ceremonious climate remains, venomous and intoxicating, that of total perdition."
The essay's title is from the name of the lead villain in Cooper/Schoedsack's The Most Dangerous Game. The genre films Benayoun cites throughout the essay are among the choicest slices of surreal atmosphere-benders one could hope to have evoked. Game, Ulmer's The Black Cat, Brabin's The Mask of Fu Manchu, and more. And, of course, this film, a von Sternberg vision of unusual ferocity and oddness. The simple tale of a powerful man (Walter Huston), his spoiled, petulant, gorgeous daughter Victoria,...
The essay's title is from the name of the lead villain in Cooper/Schoedsack's The Most Dangerous Game. The genre films Benayoun cites throughout the essay are among the choicest slices of surreal atmosphere-benders one could hope to have evoked. Game, Ulmer's The Black Cat, Brabin's The Mask of Fu Manchu, and more. And, of course, this film, a von Sternberg vision of unusual ferocity and oddness. The simple tale of a powerful man (Walter Huston), his spoiled, petulant, gorgeous daughter Victoria,...
- 4/20/2010
- MUBI
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