Remembering Barbara Shelley 1932-2020

"This world is the nurse of all we know,This world is the mother of all we feel,And the coming of death is a fearful blowTo a brain unencompass'd by nerves of steel:When all that we know, or feel, or see,Shall pass like an unreal mystery."- Percy Shelley, 'On Death' (1816) I was deeply saddened to …

FRANKENSTEIN CREATED SUSAN DENBERG

Susan Denberg (aka Dietlinde Ortrun Zechner) was blond, beautiful, and unapologetically curvaceous. A German-Austrian Kim Novak look-alike with strong sex appeal and an endearing screen presence. Like Novak, Denberg dated Sammy Davis Jr. while some of her other romantic conquests included Stuart Whitman, Sidney Poitier, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, and director Roman Polanski. Following a …

MUMMY DEAREST: BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1971)

Hammer Films produced four Mummy movies between 1959 and 1971 and one of my favorites is Seth Holt’s BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1971). This unabashedly sexy horror extravaganza was the last Mummy movie made by the Studio that Dripped Blood and thanks to a great cast and some creative directing choices it turned out to be one of …

PARANORMAL POLICE PROCEDURAL: NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT (1972)

Nothing But the Night (1972) opens with a series of puzzling homicides. Each one is meant to look like an accident or suicide but in the tradition of Italian giallo thrillers, the murders are carried out by a mysterious black-gloved assailant. We soon learn that the victims were all elderly members of the private and …

“Nothing can eat your soul!” – THE WITCHES (1966)

Few things invoke autumn and the Halloween spirit in me as strongly as the stylized gothic horror films made by Hammer. The diversity and sheer volume of the studio’s output was impressive and this has occasionally led to some of their lesser-seen films being overlooked because they didn’t live up to critic’s expectations or they …

Remembering Oliver Reed @ 80

Today should have been Oliver Reed's 80th birthday but he left this world in 1999 at age 61. To celebrate the occasion I decided to compile a collection of links to various things I've written about the man and his work. Some are just bits and bobs while others are more thoughtful considerations of films …

Sept. & Oct. at The Movie Morlocks

It's that time again. Time to collect & share links to the writing I've published on TCM's Movie Morlocks blog in the past few months. In September I spent a lot of time obsessing over TCM Star of the Month Susan Hayward. I reference her in at least three of the pieces I wrote that …

WINE & WOLVES: THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (1961)

I can’t let Halloween pass without talking about a Hammer film. They go hand-to-hand in my home and one of my favorites is Terence Fisher’s The Curse of the Werewolf (1961). The film features some sumptuous color photography, incredibly sophisticated make-up effects for its time and a powerful central performance from Oliver Reed. It also happens to …

6 Months of Film Writing

I'm afraid I've been neglecting Cinebeats again but I've been busy with various personal projects and obligations. I've also recently started writing for Publishers Weekly but I thought I'd finally update with some highlights from TCM's Movie Morlocks. Here's some of the more interesting (in my estimation) film related writing & entertaining babble I've produced …

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 …

June & July at the Movie Morlocks

I haven't been online much the last few months for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I've been having some medical problems with my left eye and spending lots of time on my computer reading, watching vids and writing can often be problematic. My eyes get easily irritated and I'm prone to headaches, etc. …

Oh dear! What can the matter be?

“Oh dear! What can the matter be? Dear! Dear! What can the matter be? Oh Dear! What can the matter be? Johnny’s so long at the fair.” – Author unknown, 1793 British director Terence Fisher is best known for his work with Hammer Films but before he started making movies for the studio that dripped …

Celebrate Halloween with TCM’s Movie Morlocks

All month long I've been writing about spooky movies and terrifying thrillers at the Movie Morlocks. Here's a brief rundown of the various topics I tackled that should appeal to my fellow goblins & ghouls.

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 …