December at the Movie Morlocks

Links to my December 2014 posts at the TCM's Movie Morlocks: Holiday Greetings from The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come! Excerpt: "Dickens’ novella was first conceived as a political pamphlet designed to arouse the public’s compassion for the plight of the poor but to his credit, the writer realized his strength was in storytelling …

October & November at the Movie Morlocks

Links to my posts at the TCM's Movie Morlocks October - November. Ghost Stories: THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES (1946) Excerpt: "THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES is often referred to as an “Abbott and Costello movie for people who don’t like Abbott and Costello” but as a fan of the comic duo I find that …

Spies, Frankenstein & . . . Sports?!

I'm afraid that I've been too busy and preoccupied with home renovations, family matters and work to updated Cinebeats regularly. Most of my film writing is done at The Movie Morlocks now so it often seems redundant to re-post links to everything here. If you want to keep track of my weekly activities on a …

Interview with Marcus Hearn

This week I interviewed Official Hammer Films Historian, Marcus Hearn about his new book The Hammer Vault: Treasures From the Archive of Hammer Films for TCM's Movie Morlocks blog. We discussed many topics including Hammer's enduring legacy and their upcoming adaptation of THE WOMAN IN BLACK, which is scheduled for release in February of 2012.

Jacqueline Susann’s Love Machine (1971)

I recently got the chance to review the Warner Archive DVD release of THE LOVE MACHINE (1971) based on Jacqueline "Valley of the Dolls" Susann's book and naturally I jumped at the opportunity. I've mentioned the film at Cinebeats before during my farewell post to John Phillip Law, which was written after he passed away …

Mini Monday #6

Caroline Munro and a customized British Leyland Mini

Remembering Ingrid Pitt 1937-2010

Hammer Glamour girl, Ingrid Pitt has suddenly passed away at age 73 due to heart failure. Her unexpected death took me by surprise and my condolences go out to her friends and family. One of my fondest blogging memories occurred in 2007. After writing up a brief birthday tribute for Ingrid Pitt and receiving a …

A Little Night Music with Caroline Munro

Hammer Glamour girl Caroline Munro turned heads in the 1970s appearing in a number of noteworthy horror films including The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) and Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974) as well as popular genre films such as The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), At the Earth's Core (1976) and …

Gimme Gimme Glamour!

I didn't get the opportunity to write about all the films and actress I wanted to cover during my previously announced Hammer Glamour Week so I've decided to extend it through the month of December. I'll be posting about other topics as well since there's a a few more things I want to share here …

She Who Must Be Obeyed

Ursula Andress in She (1965) My favorite moment in She (1965) occurs about 90 minutes into the movie when Ursula Andress glides by Peter Cushing playing Professor Holy and Bernard Cribbins as his aspiring man servant Job. Cushing declares "By Jove!" at the sight of Ursula and Cribbins turns to his costar and utters the …

The First Leading Lady of British Horror

Like many of my fellow Americans, I'm enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday so I've been distracted by family, good food, and drink. But I wanted to take a moment to shine a spotlight on The First Leading Lady of British Horror, Barbara Shelley. Shelley (who shares her name with one of my favorite poets) starred in …

Me Loana. You Tumak.

Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. (1966) I love Raquel Welch. She's not a great actress but she did appear in some good films and when she's given the right material to work with she can be very funny. I've always thought that Raquel's natural appeal as a comedic actress had been overlooked due …

The Glamour of Hammer

Hammer Glamour cover girl Madeline Smith Hammer horror films were an essential part of my childhood and one of my favorite things about Hammer films was the glamorous female stars. While growing up I thought that the women in Hammer movies were incredibly beautiful and I still do. Big hair and big busts seemed to …

Hammer Glamour November 24-30th

This month marks the 75th anniversary of Hammer Films. In November of 1934 the failed comedian and successful jeweler William Hinds (stage name Will Hammer) formed Hammer Productions Ltd. that would later be known as "The Studio That Dripped Blood." I've decided to postpone Modern Mondays and all other activity at Cinebeats to spend the …

Happy 70th Birthday to Ingrid Pitt!

My favorite Hammer bad girl turns 70 today and I want to wish her a very happy birthday! The lovely Ingrid Pitt started acting in horror films in 1964 and she first appeared in the entertaining, but flawed Sound of Horror (aka El Sonido prehistórico) directed by José Antonio Nieves Conde with another horror legend, …