ROGER CORMAN & VINCENT PRICE: THE GROOVY GRUESOME TWOSOME

This post was part of my month-long celebration of Vincent Price–TCM’s October Star of the Month in 2013. Vincent Price will be headlining TCM’s terrific Halloween line-up tonight, which kicks off at 5PM PST/8PM EST with THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961) followed by THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963), THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964), THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971), TWICE TOLD TALES(1963), THE TOMB …

VINCENT PRICE’S SMALL SCREEN SUCCESSES

This post was part of my month-long celebration of Vincent Price–TCM’s October Star of the Month in 2013. Last week I wrote about Vincent Price’s early stage career and this week I’d like to focus some of his notable television appearances. As regular readers know, every month I try to spotlight a particular telefilm that …

IN THE KITCHEN WITH VINCENT PRICE

  This post was part of my month-long celebration of Vincent Price–TCM’s October Star of the Month in 2013. Since moving to the Napa Valley–one of America’s premiere ‘foodie’ capitols–three years ago I’ve been trying to teach myself how to cook. Decades of city apartment living had turned me into a takeout junkie and I …

SPY GAMES: Frank Tashlin & Doris Day Go Undercover

In the late 1960s Doris Day starred in two spy spoofs directed by Frank Tashlin; THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT(1967) and CAPRICE (1968). At the time Day was 43-years-old and one of Hollywood’s biggest stars but her career was in sharp decline. Critics seemed to relish taking potshots at the movies she appeared in while launching full-blown attacks on …

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DORIS!

She can sing, she can dance, she can act and she can make us laugh. She’s been directed by many recognizable talents including Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Curtiz, Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, Delbert Mann, Norman Jewison, George Seaton, and Frank Tashlin. And some of her most notable costars include famous names Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, James …

BARBIE GOES HOLLYWOOD

I have a confession to make. I like dolls. A lot. I’ve been a casual collector for many years and I’ve also written about dolls for a few publications. I usually keep my fascination with classic films and dolls separate but it’s not easy trying to compartmentalize your interests. The film fans I’ve met often …

Knock Down the House (2019)

Knock Down the House is a sobering and uplifting account of four formidable grassroots female candidates (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Paula Jean Swearengin, Amy Vilela and Cori Bush) running for office against Democratic incumbents during the 2018 primary. This intimate documentary illuminates the obstacles these working-class women faced on the campaign trail while trying to navigate a political …

ANIMAL PASSIONS: CAT PEOPLE (1942)

But black sin hath betrayed to endless night My worlds both parts, and both parts must die. - John Donne, Holy Sonnet V (as quoted in Cat People) This year marks the 75th anniversary of Cat People (1942). It is hailed as one of the most influential horror movies made during the 1940s and thanks to its vaunted reputation among film …

TELEFILM TIME MACHINE: HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS (1972)

Eleanor Parker in 1972 The holidays can be a very difficult time for some. I know from firsthand experience that when you don’t have any family to rely on or any kind of financial security to speak of Christmas can feel like a national nightmare inhabited by drunken revelers, crazed shoppers, and merciless merchants. This …

Geneviève Bujold is ISABEL (1968)

Paul Almond’s ISABEL (1968) begins with a train journey across a snow-covered landscape. We watch as the film’s star, Geneviève Bujold, sits awkwardly in her seat and squirms uncomfortably in front of the camera’s unrelenting eye. She is biding her time by shuffling through a small stack of books and papers in an effort to fend off …

TOSHIRO MIFUNE, JAPAN’S JOHN WAYNE

During Toshiro Mifune’s impressive career in front of the camera he was often referred to as the “John Wayne of Japan.” Like Wayne, Mifune was a powerful and commanding screen presence and one of his country’s biggest box-office stars. His rugged good looks and macho posturing seemed to represent a distinct kind of masculine ideal …

NIPPON NOIR: SNOW TRAIL (1947)

Senkichi Taniguchi’s Snow Trail aka Ginrei no hate (1947) begins with a bang. A montage of shadowy figures and fragmented images bombards viewers during the film’s opening credits while guns fire, alarms ring, windows break, trains whistle and sirens scream. We soon discover that three desperate men (Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura and Yoshio Kosugi) have just robbed …