Film Writing Nov. 2016 – April 2017

It’s been awhile. Work obligations, as well as personal projects and other responsibilities, have taken precedence over updating my blogs. Of course, you can always find me on my Tumblr as well as Twitter & Facebook. Before I let another month get away, I thought I’d finally share an update to the film writing I’ve done for the last 6 months.

I’ve broken topics up into 4 categories (Horror Cinema, British Cinema, Japanese Cinema and Other) since I tend to focus on 3 subjects more than any others. Hopefully, it will make it easier for readers to find what they’re looking for. As always, I write about film every week for FilmStruck’s Streamline blog and you can find my latest updates here: http://streamline.filmstruck.com/author/cinebeats/

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Horror Cinema:
– Devil’ Advocate: Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
– Venomous Snakes & Poison Ants: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
– A Double Dose of Boris Karloff
– The Devil Made me Do It: La Main Du Diablo (1943)
– An Actor’s Revenge: Theatre of Blood (1973)

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

British Cinema:
– Angry Cinema: The British New Wave
– Losey Let Loose: The Criminal (1960)
– Margaret Lockwood is The Wicked Lady (1945)
– Equal Shares For All: The League of Gentlemen (1960)

Belladonna of Sadness (1973)

Japanese Cinema:
– Screen Sorcery: Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
– Nippon Noir: Celebrate #noirvember with FilmStruck
– Everyone’s Gone Crazy: Violent Cop (1989)
– Tokyo Gone Gagaga: Otaku (1994) The film is actually an international production directed by French filmmaker Chris Marker but the focus is on Japan

Red Desert (1964)

Other:
– Surveying the Red Desert (1964)
– My Melancholy Valentine: Dans Paris (2006)
– There Are No Safe Spaces: An Arturo Ripstein Double Feature
– Adventure in Istanbul: Topkapi (1964)
– Joan Bennett: Fritz Lang’s Muse
– Stranger Than Fiction: The Baron of Arizona (1949)
– Creative Collaboration: Jane B. par Agnès V. (1988)
– Adolescent Adventure: The World of Henry Orient (1964)
– The Search for Common Ground: A Separation (2011)
– Strokes of Genius: Moulin Rouge (1952)
– The Future is Now: Remembrance of Things to Come (2001)

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Six Months of Movie Morlocks: May – Oct. 2016

It’s been an interesting, busy and to be honest, an extremely stressful year due to some ongoing medical issues I’m dealing with that you can read more about here: Vertigo: Hitchcock was wrong.

In turn, I’ve been terribly lax about updating the blog but due to looming work related developments that I’ll be sharing soon, I thought it was time to finally play catch up with Cinebeats’ readers. What follows are links to some of the most interesting (in my estimation) writing I’ve done for TCM’s Movie Morlocks blog during the past six months.

– Spotlight on AIP with Roger Corman
– Mistress of Menace: Barbara Steele in The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
– Sexual Revolution on Campus – Three in the Attic (1968)
– Robert Fuest & His Abominable Creations
– Revisiting The Terror (1963) on Blu-ray
– TCM Star of the Month: Olivia de Havilland @ 100
– Summer Reading Suggestions

– The Whole World is Watching: Medium Cool (1969)
– Poster Gallery: Remembering Jack Davis 1924-2016
– Fay Wray: The Clairvoyant (1934)
– Roddy McDowall: Celebrity Photographer
– Angie Dickinson in Cry Terror! (1958)
– A Grand & Moving Thing: The King and I (1956)

– Offbeat Otto: Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970)
– 52 Films By Women: #52FilmsByWomen
– Out of the Closet: Tab Hunter Confidential (2015)
– My Visit to the Francis Ford Coppola Winery
– Paranormal Police Procedural: Nothing But the Night (1972)
– The Amazing, Amazing Mr. X (1948)

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March & April at TCM’s Movie Morlocks

Links to some of the writing I did for TCM’s Movie Morlocks blog in March & April 2016.

Warning! TCM’s Condemned Film Festival is Here
Excerpt: “It’s probably not surprising that TCM’s Condemned Film Festival has come under scrutiny from some sources and individuals who find the programming objectionable and Sister Rose Pacatte’s involvement unacceptable, particularly during Lent and the run-up to Easter Sunday. To provide more insight on this upcoming series I decided to contact TCM programmer Millie De Chirico, who kindly answered my questions and Director of Program Production Scott McGee, who allowed me to quote from an insightful interview he did with Sister Rose. I hope it might encourage viewers of all types and stripes to tune in, no matter what their religious affiliation may or may not be.”

Beware of Birds: Crow Hollow (1952)
Excerpt: “Crow Hollow (1952) is a little seen low-budget British B-movie typically categorized as Film Noir in the few books where I’ve seen it mentioned. After catching up with it recently I discovered that it had much more in common with Gothic mysteries, Gaslight (1940) inspired thrillers and classic “Old Dark House” movies. Directed economically by Michael McCarthy, who excelled in television and made a number of suspenseful WW2 dramas such as The Accursed (1957) and Operation Amsterdam (1959), the film lacks the stylish flourishes and sophisticated set pieces that the material cries out for. But it is held together by some sharp performances and a twisty plot based on a book by Dorothy Eden and it’s Eden’s involvement that drove me to watch Crow Hollow.”

Six Irish Tales of Terror & Imagination
Excerpt: “To celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day I thought I would share a collection of outstanding short Irish horror and dark fantasy films that readers can view online free of charge. The six films I’ve selected showcase the talents of some up-and-coming Irish filmmakers who frequently incorporate Irish folklore and legends into their work. These films also demonstrate how potent a succinct shock to the system can be when it is thoughtfully executed by creative writers and directors. In fact, some of these short films are so accomplished and effective that you might find yourself wishing that they were full-length features.”

New on Blu-ray: Roger Corman’s The Trip (1967)
Excerpt: “Conceived by Corman and written by cohort Jack Nicholson, who had appeared in five of the director’s previous films (The Cry Baby Killer; 1958, The Little Shop of Horrors; 1960, The Raven; 1963, The Terror; 1963 and The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre; 1967), The Trip was one of the first movies to explicitly deal with drug use without moralizing the act. Intentionally or not, it also acted as a sort of road map for anyone considering taking their own drug induced ‘trip.’ At the time, LSD was infiltrating L.A. cocktail parties and Hollywood thrill seekers such as Cary Grant, John Huston, Rita Moreno, Steve McQueen and James Coburn reportedly experimented with hallucinogenics. Jack Nicholson also enjoyed using LSD and his personal ‘happenings’ embellish the script but he wasn’t the only one involved with the film who had dabbled with drugs. The movie’s stars, including Peter Fonda, Susan Strasberg and Dennis Hopper, had all experimented with psychedelics and Roger Corman took his own ‘trip’ before shooting started so he’d have a deeper understanding of the material.”

Bob Peak: Poster Artist
Excerpt:”One of the best movie posters I own is a U.S. design for Joseph Losey’s Modesty Blaise (1966) featuring a gorgeous eye-popping illustration by Bob Peak. Recently I decided to do some research into Peak and was surprised and delighted to discover that he had illustrated many of my favorite movie posters made during the 1960s and 1970s. I also learned that the artist’s son, Tom Peak, had been keeping his father’s memory alive by maintaining a website celebrating Bob Peak’s artistic achievements and publishing books that feature his work. Today I thought I would share some of what I’ve learned about Peak with our blog readers and showcase some of his best movie poster designs.”

Death Walks Twice: A Giallo Double Feature
Excerpt: “Both films were directed by Luciano Ercoli and feature Ercoli’s wife, actress Susan Scott (a.k.a. Nieves Navarro). Like many of the best Italian thrillers, these two budget conscious productions look more luxurious than their American counterparts thanks to the creative direction, exotic European settings (Milan, Paris, London and Catalonia) and their innovative use of period specific aesthetics and attitudes including the music, architecture, fashions, and shifting sexual mores of the times. Comprised of labyrinth-like plots inspired by classic Alfred Hitchcock movies and the best Film Noir, Arrow’s new Death Walks Twice box set should appeal to genre novices as well as seasoned giallo fans.”

Barrymore Best: The Spiral Staircase (1946)
Excerpt: “Merging various genres and subgenres including gothic horror, classic Old Dark House mysteries and atypical Film Noir, Siodmak was able to concoct a potent cinematic cocktail that has inspired countless imitators and admirers in the U.S. and abroad. Films such as Alfred Hitchock’s The Lodger (1927), Fritz Lang’s M (1931) and Richard Thorpe’s Night Must Fall (1937) had explored the sordid world of serial killers before and incorporated some of the same visual motifs. But The Spiral Staircase with its gloved killer, POV photography, violent depictions of death, obsession with dead animals, unrelenting suspense, atmospheric score, compelling use of location and the unabashed use of dream logic that’s integral to the narrative, became a sort of prototype for giallo.”

On the Waterfront (1954): A Poster Gallery
Excerpt:”If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience this powerful and provocative movie on the big screen I highly recommend doing so. You might think you understand what made Marlon Brando such a commanding screen presence but until you’ve had the opportunity to see him strut and fret for more than an hour on the big screen, I don’t think you can fully appreciate what made him a Hollywood trailblazer and acting heavyweight. But don’t just come to watch Brando at his best. There are many more reasons to see On the Waterfront including Elia Kazan’s outstanding direction, Boris Kaufman’s moody black and white cinematography, Budd Schulberg’s potent script, Leonard Bernstein’s compelling score and a top-notch cast of supporting players that include Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger and Lee J. Cobb firing on all-cylinders while delivering some of their finest screen work.”

Star Scents: A Pictorial of Classic Film Star Fragrances
Excerpt:”I decided to try and track down as many movie star scents as I could and what I discovered genuinely surprised me. What follows is a select pictorial of perfumes made famous by the actors who inspired, promoted and occasionally played a part in creating them.”

The Return of Modern Mondays

I’ve been inspired to write brief bits about some of the new films I’ve seen recently. I normally post my thoughts on Letterboxd but thought I’d start compiling them here every month or so depending on how much I write and if I have anything worthwhile to say.

Breathe (2015)
The worst bullies I’ve encountered in my life have all been women and some of them started out as friends. Cold, calculating, flat out vicious and mean spirited women who get their power (or attempt to reclaim it) by isolating, manipulating and emotionally abusing vulnerable fellow females. Apparently French director and actress Mélanie Laurent has also experienced this phenomenon firsthand and she does an excellent job of illustrating the complexities between so-called “frenemies” – a cute term that too often masks the genuine ugliness found in aggressive or passive aggressive relationships shared between women and girls.

The film is beautifully composed making creative use of the cloistered environment it builds while maintaining a mournful tone throughout as the girl’s burgeoning friendship blossoms, thrives and finally dies on the vine. We follow them through exhausting school terms, lazy summer days, late night parties and awkward encounters with boys who make poor replacements for missing (or abusive) fathers while Laurent’s intimate camera work invites us to care deeply about their predicament. This intimacy, as well as the young lead’s (Joséphine Japy & Lou de Laâge) shared commitment to their roles, makes the shocking finale particularly brutal and heartbreaking. A dark, dark film and an impressive directorial debut that should have gotten a hell of a lot more press coverage last year.

The Invitation (2015)
The Invitation is one of the best films I’ve seen this year with an impressive central performance from Logan Marshall-Green. Grief and malaise run rampant in the Hollywood Hills turning a dinner party among old friends into a incredibly unnerving and flat out creepy affair.The atmosphere of dread and unease that permeate the proceedings is so thick you can cut it with a serving knife thanks to Karyn Kusama’s taught direction & Theodore Shapiro’s eerie score. A great slow-burn horror feast that didn’t get a wide release so you’ll probably have to catch it streaming online if you want to see it. Best to go into the movie blind with as little info as possible if you want to get the most bang for your buck.

Pee-wee’s Big Holiday (2016)
I was prepared to hate Pee-wee’s Big Holiday when I spotted Judd Apatow’s name in the opening credits but I was pleasantly surprised by this romantic comedy that has our hero finding true love with the muscular, motorcycle riding Joe Manganiello. The film is surprisingly sweet and gently subversive. It also references some classic movies such as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Christopher Strong, which will delight observant film buffs. This might be the first gay love story aimed at kids of all ages and it’s adorable!

The Witch (2016)
Spent Oscar night watching The Witch with a small but enthusiastic crowd at a local theater that politely clapped after the credits rolled. I liked the film a lot, particularly the way it creatively weaved folklore elements into the narrative. With all the hoopla surrounding the film I wasn’t expecting much but I was impressed by the adult nature of The Witch and some of the unusually grim twists and turns the film took. Surprised this got a wide release but I hope that’s a sign of good things to come. So many of the best horror films I’ve seen in recent years (such as last years Aleluia, Cub and Naciye) never make it out of New York or the small festivals they’re shown at. Don’t know how The Witch has managed to get so many breaks and such wide acclaim but it makes my black heart happy.

Jan. & Feb. 2016 at TCM’s Movie Morlocks

Links to some of the writing I did for TCM’s Movie Morlocks blog in Jan. & Feb.

Jan. 7: William Cameron Menzies: Chandu the Magician (1932)

Excerpt: “In recent weeks, you might have heard about the upcoming Doctor Strange film currently scheduled for release in November of 2016. The news caught my attention because I’ve always liked the comic book character and the cast, which includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor, is impressive. I mention all this because tonight TCM is launching their month-long spotlight on legendary production designer and director, William Cameron Menzies. Some classic film fans might balk at the idea of mentioning the upcoming Doctor Strange movie and William Cameron Menzies in the same paragraph but there are slender threads that connect the two thanks to Menzies’s creative contributions to Chandu the Magician (1932)”

Jan. 14: 15 Favorite Films of 2015

Excerpt: “Many of the best performances I saw last year were given by actors who were 65-years old or older suggesting younger generations of performers could still learn a lot from actors like Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Ian McKellen, Richard Jenkins and Kurt Russell (who will be turning 65 in March!). I hope it also encourages future filmmakers to create roles that allow these veteran actors to strut their stuff.”

Jan. 21: ’60s Spy Stories: Gila Golan

Excerpt: “Femme fatales are as important to ‘60s spy films as they are to Film Noir but one of the most frequent criticisms of the genre is its questionable depiction of women. While it’s true that they’re often treated as mere sexual objects in these espionage romps and are regularly introduced into the paper-thin plots to give the male leads something to ogle, the particulars are a bit more complex than that. If you watch enough of these panache productions you begin to notice how subversive many of them are. Sure, the women might dress in sexually suggestive clothing and use their feminine wiles to lure men to their doom, but they are frequently put in positions of power. They’re also regularly portrayed as being smarter or at least as capable as the men they encounter and occasionally save the day. If and when they decide to fall into the hero’s arms they’re often the ones initiating the relationship and control much of the action.”

Jan. 29: A Minor Picture Compendium of Classic Movie Nurses

Excerpt:”Movie nurses come in all stripes. They can be mean and cruel like Nurse Ratched or gentle as doves like Audrey Hepburn’s character in The Nun’s Story. They can also be sexy, smart, compassionate, laugh-out-loud funny and ruthless blood thirsty monsters. What follows is a picture gallery featuring some of my favorite movie nurses.”

Feb. 4: Melvin Van Peebles: The Story of A Three-Day Pass (1967)

Excerpt: “Seemingly Influenced by both the French and British New Wave, including the early films of Godard and John Schlesinger, Melvin Van Peebles first full-length feature film subverts conventional narrative methods to delve deeper into its characters conflicted psyches. The Story of A Three-Day Pass bounces, pops and glides like a musical composition and the innovative freewheeling nature of the film mirrors its jazz inspired score. Van Peebles uses a number of experimental film techniques including dolly shots, freeze frames, jump cuts, jarring dissolves, split-screen and lengthy POV shots that impart the film with an intimacy and immediacy that immediately draws you in and demands your attention. We’re encouraged to see the world through Turner’s eyes and we experience the bigotry he faces in a very direct way. It was refreshingly straightforward and progressive stuff in 1967 that retains its power to shock and provoke audiences today.”

Feb. 11: Jean-Claude Killy in Snow Job (1972)

Excerpt: “Snow Job was filmed on location in the Italian and Swiss Alps by American director George Englund (The Ugly American; 1963, Zachariah; 1971, etc.) and Hungarian cinematographer Gábor Pogány (Two Women; 1960, Bluebeard; 1972, Night Train Murders; 1975, etc.). According to interviews, they used helicopters extensively throughout the shoot, which allowed them to capture all the action on the slopes. The camerawork is occasionally breathtaking as we watch Jean-Claude Killy jump and drift across the alpine landscape like an agile bird while risking serious injury or even death. Killy insisted on doing all his own stunts and it’s remarkable that he got through filming unscathed. If you appreciate seventies heist films with dynamic action sequences or the kind of risky professional skiing typically reserved for Warren Miller documentaries, you should find Snow Job a particularly rewarding and enjoyable watch.”

Feb. 18: Jack Palance: Horror Star

Excerpt: “I first saw the tall, broad featured and chiseled actor in Man in the Attic (1953) where he played Jack the Ripper in this fourth film adaptation of Marie Belloc Lowndes’s 1913 novel, The Lodger. I was only a kid at the time but Palance’s quietly seething performance impressed me due to the sympathy he was able to generate for his unlikable character. Jack the Ripper is typically portrayed as a cold-blooded maniac or sexually motivated monster but Palance, despite his menacing presence, was able to imbue his Ripper with a complex psychology that was thought provoking and surprisingly contemporary. As a seemingly harmless killer with an unmanageable Oedipus complex, Palance’s Ripper prefigures the often-cited character of Norman Bates in Hitchcock’s Psycho.”

Feb. 25: Douglas Slocombe: A Tribute

Excerpt: “What follows is a gallery of some of my favorite screen shots from Douglas Slocombe’s distinguished oeuvre. They demonstrate that the accomplished cinematographer was much more than an artless journeyman or technician who simply took orders from a director. The images I’ve gathered are linked together by a unique creative vision that spans the length of his 50-year career in film.”

Regular visitors to Cinebeats over the years might recall my affection for many of the films Slocombe worked on, which I’ve written about here including The Third Secret, Boom! and The Servant. An image from The Servant even graces my “testimonials” page.

RIP Mr. Slocombe.

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 month and I refer to her again in my first October post about the neglected Gothic thriller, THE LOST MOMENT (1947). As usual, I spent the rest of “Shocktober” focusing on darker fare including horror films and morbid mysteries. Follow the links to read more.

September:
– Susan Hayward in Her Own Words
“I didn’t know much about TCM’s current Star of the Month so I decided to delve into her past recently and was somewhat surprised by the way Susan Hayward had been portrayed (and ignored) by the media since her death in 1975. Nicknamed the “Divine Bitch” following the release of a similarly titled biography, the four-time Academy Award nominated actress didn’t make a lot of friends in Hollywood and is rarely described in flattering terms by studio executives and costars so the general picture we have of her seems somewhat skewed. I’m a firm believer that there are usually two-sides to every story so I decided to explore newspaper and movie magazine archives in an effort to learn more about the redheaded screen siren in her own words without the opinions of her biographers and colleagues getting in the way. In the process I discovered a complex woman whose turbulent real life was often more sensational than the fictional lives of the characters she portrayed.”

– Alberto Vargas in Hollywood
“If you love vintage pin-up art as much as I do you’ll probably recognize Alberto Vargas’s name. Between 1920 and 1975 the Peruvian artist created some of the most celebrated and recognizable pin-up art in America while working for the Ziegfeld Follies as well as Esquire magazine and Playboy . . . What classic movie fans might not know is that Alberto Vargas also had a brief but lucrative career in Hollywood painting celebrity portraits, working for film industry magazines and creating movie posters. I enjoy playing detective so I decided to dig through various archives and books in search of Vargas’s film related work and what I found surprised me. The Latin artist made a much bigger impact on Hollywood than I’d previously been led to believe.”

– Every Dog Must Have His Day
“The film is weighted with biting social commentary as well as religious and political allegory but at its heart, WHITE GOD is a rather simple and profoundly sad story about a helpless dog that learns he must rely on himself and rebel against authority if he wants to survive in a dog-eat-dog world. It also doubles as a sensitive coming-of-age story about the young dog owner who learns a similar lesson although the perils and circumstances she faces are much more privileged and forgiving . . . While watching WHITE GOD I was reminded of a few other films I admire that center around dogs like Hagen who were forced to take similar journeys while suffering the consequences of man’s inhumanity to man and animal alike”

– The Power of the Pantsuit
“The entire scene, between the time Hayward enters the bathroom and leaves it, only lasts about 2 minutes but she and her paisley pantsuit completely own it. It’s a spectacular exit and although plenty of people like to point out the campy elements in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, Hayward’s sincerity is undeniable in that moment. She was living in Helen Lawson’s skin and it’s evident that she deeply related to the character’s desperation and disappointments as well as her success. And that dazzling suit she wears represents her achievements.”

October:
– Nameless Fear: The Lost Moment (1947)
“The film is wrapped in a shimmery fog and lit mostly by candles that dance off dusty walls. And the house at the center of all the drama, with its spectacular canal-side setting, long twisting hallways, dark balconies, spiraling stairs and decomposing garden, evokes plenty of ghosts. It may not be a typical horror film but this Gothic romance about conflicted characters, doomed romance and ever-shifting identities will haunt you . . . It’s a terrible shame that The Lost Moment was neglected for so long. If critics had been kinder and audiences more receptive, there’s a high probability that director Martin Gabel would have continued making movies and he might have been remembered alongside some of the more interesting filmmakers who were working at Universal in the late forties and fifties. But when he died at age 73 in 1986 after suffering a massive heart attack the New York Times didn’t bother to mention his singular directing credit in their obituary.”

– Fatal Charm: Cast a Dark Shadow (1955)
“The picture opens with a striking scene shot inside a funhouse ride at a carnival. Dirk Bogarde’s character is sharing his seat with his wife and future murder victim (Mona Washbourne) when the camera focuses in on his face hidden by shadows while his pupils appear to light-up. It’s a startling effect that makes Bogarde look like a hungry demon with hellfire in his eyes. In this clever title sequence, director Lewis Gilbert and cinematographer Jack Asher signal to film audiences that their male protagonist is a monster before he ever opens his mouth.”

– 10 Trailblazing Horror Films Directed by Women
“All month long TCM has been airing films made by women on Tuesday and Thursday night as part of their groundbreaking Trailblazing Women series hosted by Illeana Douglas. According to Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM, the goal of Trailblazing Women is to “Highlight the impact of female filmmakers throughout history and encourage future female filmmakers.” The response has been overwhelmingly positive and it’s heartening to see TCM’s resources used to educate, inform and inspire viewers . . . I’ve been enjoying a lot of the Trailblazing Women programming myself but since we’re in the middle of Schocktober, I thought I’d set aside some time to highlight some of my favorite horror films and thrillers directed by women who have left their macabre mark on a genre that many mistakenly assume is not very female friendly.”

– Double Your Pleasure with a Dracula Double Feature
“Tod Browning’s DRACULA is rightly hailed as a horror classic while the Spanish version directed by George Melford was assumed lost and went largely unseen by modern audiences following its initial release until it was restored and distributed on home video in 1992. Both films were shot at the same time using the same sets but with different casts, which was a typical practice by studios in the early 1930s. Their goal was to appeal to international audiences eager to see new-fangled sound films in their own language. The idea quickly went out of favor due to the high cost of producing multiple movies but the Spanish language version of DRACULA is one of best examples we have of this popular practice.”

– Wine & Wolves: The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
“This unique Gothic horror from Hammer is part love story, part social allegory and part monster movie. John Elder aka Anthony Hinds’s script was loosely based on a book by Guy Endor (The Werewolf of Paris) and it takes a grim but very modern view of life by stressing that the werewolf is a product of his environment and circumstance instead of just a supernatural beast. The impressive sets, which were borrowed from previous Hammer productions, still look fresh and are accentuated by Terrence Fisher’s direction. This is somewhat of a staid film for Fisher and lacks the abundant style that the director brought to The Brides of Dracula (1961) made the same year. Instead, the film becomes a creative showcase for Oliver Reed’s performance and he’s spectacular as well as deeply moving as the cursed werewolf. The film also provides a nice backdrop for some of the studio’s best make-up effects designed by Roy Ashton. Reed’s transformation from a handsome young man (he was just 21-years-old at the time) into a ferocious wolf is particularly startling but it’s matched by the makeup used to age and disfigure the beggar and the Marquis. The two men are not typical monsters but as their souls seemingly wither and die; their decaying faces illustrate the ravages of time and the darkness that has suffocated their hearts.”

Admission is Free at The Phantom Playhouse!

To celebrate Shocktober & the upcoming 10th anniversary of this blog I decided to create an extension of Cinebeats called The Phantom Playhouse devoted exclusively to horror cinema and all things dark, dreary, decadent and delightful.

Horror has always been my favorite film genre and I write about it more than any other subject so I’ve collected 10 years of horror focused writing and organized it in one easy to navigate site.

I’m also working on a sleek new redesign of Cinebeats that will follow its lead so both sites will soon share a similar look.

Please stop by and visit The Phantom Playhouse. Tickets are free and the doors are always open!

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 in the last 6 months. You might notice that the topics I cover have gotten a little “lighter” in content and that’s by design. TCM’s blog readers generally prefer light reading about familiar topics so I’ve been trying to accommodate them more often.

March, 2015:
– Superhero Saturdays on TCM: BATMAN (1943)
– Bold! Noble! Daring! BATWOMAN (1968)
– William Mortensen in Hollywood
– Hammer Noir: A Poster Gallery
April, 2015:
– “Robbery & Murder Were Their Code of Living!” – THE CATS (1968)
– A Troy Donahue Top 10
– Cooking with Sophia Loren
– Orson Welles at One Hundred
May, 2015:
– Think Pink: The Enduring Appeal of Lady Penelope
– Two on the Run: DEADLY STRANGERS (1975)
– The Hollywood Style
June, 2015:
– Hollywood Comes to Hearst Castle: Memories & Musings
– Men Among Monsters: Remembering Christopher Lee & Richard Johnson
– Bugging Out! A Poster Gallery
– Classic Hollywood Actors Discuss Women, Beauty & Femininity with Arlene Dahl
July, 2015:
– Underrated ’65
– Elisabeth Lutyens: Horror Queen of Film Composers
– Midsummer Reading Suggestions
– Q&A: Michael Kronenberg From the Film Noir Foundation
– Birdwatching in Bodega Bay
August, 2015:
– A Few Fun Facts About Michael Caine
– The Kitten & The Cowboy: When Ann-Margret Met The Duke
– Mae Clarke: Frankenstein’s First Bride
– Closing Act: Shelley Winters

Celebrating Gay Pride

As a film journalist I have often tried to focus my attention on underappreciated films, actors and directors. Unsurprisingly, this has led me to write about a number of gay/LGBT films as well as gay/LGBT filmmakers and actors. So in celebration of Gay Pride weekend and the Supreme Court decision that now makes gay-marriage a constitutional right (as it always should have been) I decided to collect some of the film writing I’ve done under the banner of “Gay Interest” to share in one post.

Enjoy!
– James Fox – Subverting Sexual Identity & Social Class in British Cinema (2007)
– At Home With Dirk Bogarde (2007)
– Massimo Dallamano’s Dorian Gray (2007)
– Kerwin Mathews (1926-2007) (2007)
– Introducing Jason King (2007)
– The decadent world of the Black Lizard (2008)
– David Bowie is The Image (1967) (2008)
– A few thoughts about Anthony Perkins (2008)
– 10 Questions with Shane Briant (2009)
– Modern Mondays: Love Songs (2007) (2009)
– Spend Your Day With Dirk Bogarde (2009)
– The Fool Killer (1965) (2009)
– Modern Mondays: Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy” 2002-2005 (2009)
– Old Rubber Lips (2010)
– Seduced by Pierre Clementi (2011)
– Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971) (2011)
– In Search of Sascha Brastoff (2011)
– Velvet Goldmine: Celluloid Pictures of Living (2011)
– Reinventing Lolita (2011)
– Remember My Name (1976) (2011)
– The House That Screamed… “Murder!” (2011)
– Derek Jarman: An Appreciation (2011)
– Girls Will Be Boys (2012)
– “A film is a petrified fountain of thought.” – Jean Cocteau (2012)
– Dirk Bogarde – The Reluctant International Man of Mystery (2012)
– Summer Reading – including a brief look at Tab Hunter’s autobiography (2012)
– Telefilm Time Machine: That Certain Summer (1972) (2013)
– In the Trenches with James Whale (2013)
– Oh Dear! What Can the Matter Be? (2013)
– Telefilm Time Machine – Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) (2013)

Like Father, Like Son – Doppelgangers

One of my most interesting recent discoveries is a short film made by director Julien Landais. It’s titled DER DOPPELGANGER (2014) and stars Alain Delon’s youngest son, Alain-Fabien Delon Jr. who was just 20-years-old at the time. What fascinates me about Landais’s film is that it seems to borrow some visual motifs from my favorite horror anthology, SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (1968), which featured Alain Delon in a segment directed by Louis Malle as well as Rene Clement’s magnificent PURPLE NOON (1960). Similarities with Malle’s film include titles that change from orange to red and the use of white and black costumes to represent good and evil or the shadow of the “other.” I was also struck by Landais’ use of a mirror to frame Alain-Fabian and the intense close-ups of his eyes and neck that was reminiscent of the erotic way Clement shot his star in PURPLE NOON. Father and son look eerily alike in a number of scenes and the meta nature of DER DOPPELGANER makes it a fascinating companion to Malle’s original film. Landais has said that his own short was inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “The Double” and Alfred de Musset’s narrative poem “December Nights” while Malle’s film was based on Edgar Allen Poe’s “William Wilson” and PURPLE NOON is based on Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” The first three tales all involve narcissistic men haunted by doppelgangers who are eventually driven mad by their doubles. And Highmith’s crime thriller explores the very nature of identity.

Young Alain-Fabien obviously takes after his father and has inherited his good looks but he also manages to maintain a smoldering intensity throughout DER DOPPELGANGER that suggests he may have also inherited some of his father’s acting skills. Landais short film is beautifully shot and composed and contains one particularly stunning moment where Alain-Fabien suddenly seems to develop fangs and bites his double on the neck. I’ve always wished that Alain Delon had made a vampire film when he was younger and that brief moment in DER DOPPELGANGER gives me hope that I’ll eventually get to see his son vamp it up in a French horror film.

Following a selection of stills I’ve posted Landais’ short film below for your viewing pleasure (and mine) followed by Malle’s original WILLIAM WILSON. Watching them back to back is a real treat, especially if you’re a Delon fan.