House of Horrors - 1946

We're getting close to the end of our monster movie list, and this one started out super weird. We were introduced in the opening credits to the "Creeper," which started us making Scooby Doo references.

Alfred (Alan Napier) is an art critic who accompanies his friend to a sculptor's studio. While the pieces inside are super weird, Alfred is super rude and says demeaning things in front of the artist, preventing the sale. Heartbroken, Marcel heads to the river to jump in.

Before he can do it, he sees a perfect "Neanderthal Man" climb out of the river. Marcel saves him and decides he'll be the new inspiration for his art. Also, he figures out his new friend is a murderer, so he manipulates him into taking out critics who are harsh. In the end, he overplays his hand.

This movie was so boring. People were talking all the time. We kept shouting at the TV for them to stop talking and start murdering. A weird thing to do, but you have to consider what we're watching. I want to give a brief shoutout to Stella. She was my favorite character, even though she wasn't the brightest at times. "I didn't answer my phone, because I wasn't home," she says as she's answering the phone somewhere else. Ya don't say? Anyway, she was a model for hero-man, and she cracked me up every time he told her he was done. She would literally just drop her props where she stood and walk away. She even tried to run away when murder-man appeared. And she was killed by accident! So frustrating.

Heroine woman was annoying to the point where I wish someone could've pushed her hat pin into her head too far. She had the worst hats and an irritating voice. She was also stupid. "I work for the newspaper, but I had no idea the sketch I stole looked exactly like the Creeper!" Doofus woman.

And what was the House of Horrors? Only one person died at the sculptor's house, so were they referring to his art? If so, I can't argue with that. We were glad when this one ended.

Pride and Prejudice - 1940

Knowing there's a version of Pride and Prejudice out there I haven't seen is just wrong, so I tracked this down to remedy that. I won't go over the basic plot, it's a waste of time.

I can't give the movie a pass just because it's boiled down to two hours. There was a distinct lack of consistency in the characters in the movie. I'll preface this by saying I've always been of the opinion that both Lizzie and Darcy display pride and prejudice at certain times, so we'll put that out there.

Lizzie is mostly proud, but she has moments of stupidity in this movie. She's supposed to be the reasonable, intelligent one, and she fails to take that role at times. She also hangs on to her initial prejudice of Darcy, as expected, but she shows her emotions at odd times. I don't feel she'd hold her cards close to her chest and then be all smiley and pleasant when confronted by Lady Catherine of all people.

Darcy was a rock for the most part, but at the end he's suddenly all smiles and passionate. It's a 180 and doesn't fit him at all. The whole interaction with him at Pemberley is removed from the story, so that evolution of their relationship is gone. Only at Pemberley does Lizzie start to see past her prejudice. Then, Lady Catherine is the one to tell Lizzie about the Wickham affair? Why would she know? It just didn't fit. And speaking of Lady Catherine...

She was inconsistent. She might "like" Lizzie's fiery nature, but there's no way she's going to approve a marriage between her nephew and Lizzie when there's been an arranged marriage she approved all along.

I might be a bit unfair. The 1995 version exists, and I've never seen anything to top it. The chemistry in that miniseries is amazing, and Jennifer Ehle doesn't get enough credit for her portrayal of Lizzie. Everyone raves about Colin Firth's Darcy (as do I), but they both did an excellent job. In my opinion, if you want to watch the best Pride and Prejudice, spend your time wisely, watch the one with the best acting, the best music, and the happiest ending. Hunt down the 1995 version or at least avoid this one. 

Akira - 1988

I found this one hiding on my laptop. I'm not sure where it's from, but I remembered watching the first part of it and then being interrupted.

Thirty years after a devastating event, Neo-Tokyo has been taken over by biker gangs. Protestors clog the streets and it's just not a happy time. While out on the streets, Tetsuo gets in an accident when he sees a "child" and wrecks his bike. What follows is some strange stuff I'm not sure how to explain. Just know there's supernatural powers, and Tetsuo's childhood friend Kaneda will try to save him. 

I found this movie fascinating. The "children" were strange, and I never understood why they looked like older folk. But the movie would reveal information bit by bit, and it was just so interesting.

I wish I knew what put this anime on my radar. I did a little bit of reading into it, and it looks like the manga is different plot-wise. I didn't want to read too much, because now I'm interested in the manga. I don't know what's got me hooked on these anime/manga titles recently, but I do know I'm not a fan of the super bright, poppy ones. I'm drawn to the darker themes for some reason.

Anyway, I was caught up in what was going on with this one. At times, there was something different going on with the music, and I know I missed some things. I want to watch it again, and I also would like to read the manga to see what goes on in it. Good Movie!

Harriet Craig - 1950

Decided to sift through the Leaving Soon on Tubi this morning and came across this movie.

Harriet is the definition of a control freak. Her husband doesn't realize she's manipulating everything until it all starts to slowly unravel one day when she goes to visit her mother. She isn't able to reach him on the phone, so she rushes back to see what happened. She finds the house a mess, and her husband has had a party without her! GASP!

Now starts the lies. She has a cousin that lives with her and acts as a kind of secretary, right-hand woman. The cousin has been dating someone for a while, and when Harriet's husband mentions it's getting serious, Harriet immediately puts a stop to it with some extreme lies.

She controls his job, who he socializes with, what he eats, and basically every aspect of his life. Eventually, the truth is going to come out, and no amount of lying will cover her tracks.

I found this one a bit disturbing. Harriet is infuriating, and you just want to trip her on the stairs or give her a hurtz donut. I was getting nervous that she wasn't going to get caught, but I was satisfied with the ending. The twist at the end, the ultimate betrayal of her husband, was just gross. It's a Good Movie!, but she's so frustrating!!

House of Dracula - 1945

Next up in our Universal Monster torture, I mean movies, was this film. We didn't have high hopes going into it.

Dracula just wanders into this doctor's house hoping to find a cure for being a vampire. The doctor doesn't believe in superstitious nonsense, but he knows all the lore somehow. While waiting for his cure, Dracula decides it will be a good idea to hypnotize one of the live-in nurses of the castle. I guess you can't blame him too much, they do dress up nice for no reason. Except for the hunchback one.

For some reason, Wolfman shows up, also wanting a cure. I'm not sure why he's there, he's supposed to be dead. Last I saw, he was murdered by true love's bullet. And we can't say the movies aren't connected, because they find Frankenstein's monster underneath this castle. Apparently, the swamp mud carried the corpse of the monster and his doctor friend wherever we are in this movie.

So we use some mold spores to make a plaster to soften Wolfman's skull and heal him (or something), and then Dracula (who is also supposed to be dead - a few times now) reverses his transfusion and infects the doctor. I was kidding at one point when I said the Invisible Man was going to show up, but then the doctor was disappearing. It was just from the mirror, and it was the vampire stuff, but it was still pretty funny.

Big shout out to my guy Lionel Atwill. This was one of his very last movies, since he died soon after. I've enjoyed him in these films, and I'm sad he won't be around anymore.

This movie was ridiculous. The hunch on the woman's back changed shape all the time, and everything Dracula did made no sense. The very first thing he did was land as a bat on a balcony and walk down the steps. Just land on the back porch! Geez. Okay, so we should be done with Wolfman. He's been cured by mold. I think our next one is another House of...something. Oh my.

RIP Lionel!

 

Three Days of the Condor - 1975

I'd read an article mentioning this movie as one of the better espionage films. I was intrigued and got it on sale from Amazon when I was picking up another movie. It's based on a book called Six Days of the Condor by James Grady. I'm not sure why he has less days in the movie, but maybe one day I'll read the book and find out.

A covert CIA section is reading random books and looking for patterns and networks hiding within other countries. One day, while Condor is picking up lunch, someone comes in and murders everyone inside. He calls HQ, but something seems off, so he doesn't come in. Now, people are trying to kill him, and he doesn't know who to trust.

This movie was really good. I liked Robert Redford's acting, but the weird love interactions were a bit strange. The jazz musical interlude, and the whole love scene was just weird. Putting that aside, I liked the twists and turns. The zinger at the end was really cool, and this was much cooler than I was expecting.

It's still eerie to me to see the Twin Towers in movies. It looked like they were trying to suggest the CIA had offices in there, but when I tried to look that up, it seemed like the CIA only had a clandestine office in Tower 7, which was revealed after 9/11. I went down a whole rabbit hole with that. I didn't realize there were so many towers in the WTC complex, and I certainly don't remember it collapsing on the 11th. So much was going on that day, since it wasn't part of the attacks, maybe there wasn't as much attention on it.

Back to the movie. There are people in it that I wasn't sure how I felt about them at the end. During certain points of the movie, it seemed like there were "good guys" and "bad guys," but at the end, the waters were a lot muddier. This one easily earns a Good Movie! review.

Merlin - 1998

This isn't a new watch for me. I've seen it a couple times in the past, but it's been a while.

This miniseries is a different take on the character of Merlin. The wizard is created to be a pawn to bring the humans back to the old ways. Without people believing in magic, Queen Maab, the Lady of the Lake, and others will fade from history. What Maab didn't expect was that Merlin wouldn't comply with her wishes. He vows not to do magic, but Maab will force his hand on occasion. Merlin finds love, but Maab interferes with that as well. It will all come down to a showdown when their "sons," Arthur and Mordred, both die.

I really like this show. Are the effects really dated? Yes. Are some of them super bad? Well, yeah. But I think the story is unique, and the thing that has really stuck with me over the years is the music. I have the soundtrack, and I listen to it at least once a year. There's just something about the sweeping music that gets me every time. The acting was good, and even with the rough effects, I'm all about the characters and give it a Good Show! review.

Dead Ringer - 1964

I was scrolling through the classics on Tubi and saw this one was leaving soon. It had an interesting premise, so I decided to put it on.

Edith goes to see her sister, Margaret, after 18 years. Margaret stole the man Edith loved, and now he's dead. Edith has a new man, but she's about to lose her bar. She comes up with a plan to change her life, but she doesn't really know what she's signing up for when she gives up one life for her sister's.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side, and Edith found that out fairly quickly. I had an idea of where it was going even before Tony popped up. Even if Edith wanted to come clean, she was in a position where her fate would be the same no matter what. She may as well leave Jim with his rose colored glasses about the woman he loved.

I liked the movie. They were doing the bare minimum when the twins were on the screen together, and I can't blame them, It was 1964 after all. The story was slightly predictable to me, but maybe in 1964, it would have been surprising and new. Henry and Duke were the real heroes and of this movie, and I believe Duke was taken in by a loving family and lived a long, happy life. He rid the world of a smarmy, wretched cretin that would've gotten a death sentence anyway.

Anywho, it was unfortunate Edith made the decision that she did. Margaret was a poo and Edith could've just carried on with her life and married Jim. She just had to reach for more...Good Movie!

The House in Marsh Road - 1960

Another blind pick. For me, it was something of a gamble, since the summary mentioned the house taking a role, and I'm watching at nighttime, and I'm a sensitive soul. To say it plainly, I frighten easily. It doesn't matter if it's black and white or if it's an old movie, I can find a way to get freaked out.

A couple is having money trouble. The wife works, but her author husband is drinking too much to make any headway with his hypothetical novel. One day, Jean gets a letter informing her that her aunt has died and left her a house. It seems like the answer to all their problems.

After settling in, Jean realizes there's someone else living in the house. It's a poltergeist named Patrick. He protects Jean, and he gets mad when husband, David, is a lout. David doesn't like that he doesn't have any money, and Jean won't sell the house. He uses his novel to find a woman on the side and plots to rid himself of the obstacle.

I thought Jean looked familiar, and it's because she is the same actress, Patricia Dainton, that was in the last movie I watched, The Third Alibi. She needs to be more discerning choosing men. This is the second husband in a row that's tried to kill her so he could be with another woman! 

I liked how Patrick looked out for Jean. Once David would get up to his tricks, I was waiting to see what Patrick would do. Because I knew he would do something. I'm not sure how much more proof David needed or why he would try to do anything nefarious while inside the house, but you can't really reason with stupid.

This movie is based on a story by Laurence Meynell. It doesn't look easy to find, but I'd like to find it in some form eventually. The reception for this movie was mixed, and I guess I'm not as picky as the critics. I was entertained, and I'll gladly give it a Good Movie! review.

The Third Alibi - 1961

Last up in my tripleheader was this movie. It was a little over an hour, and I wasn't expecting much. 

Norman is having an affair with his wife, Helen's, half sister. Not only that, but he says he doesn't want to hurt her, yet he treats her like garbage. When the sister, Peggy, becomes pregnant, he can't wait any longer and asks for a divorce. Helen won't give him one, so he's going to have to come up with a murderous alternative.

The interesting thing is that Helen is sick. She has something wrong with her heart that neither Norman nor Peggy know about. Realizing she has little time left has Helen reconsidering until she overhears the plot to take her out of the picture. The question is: what will she do with the information? 

I really liked this movie. The way Helen dealt with the information in the small amount of time she had was impressive, and I liked what she did. Sure, she didn't leave the situation with clean hands, but it was a satisfying ending. Apparently, this was labeled a "B" movie. That means it was made cheaply and the lesser picture of a double feature. I would argue that for what it was, this was really good. And the little forgotten detail coming back at the end? Chef's kiss! I mean, you could have removed the whole unnecessary musical number. That was weird, and I didn't like it, but other than that, Good Movie! for sure!

Strange Illusion - 1945

Next up in my tripleheader was this movie, apparently loosely based on Hamlet.

Paul is a college student dealing with the death of his father. People have tried to tell him it was an accident, but he believes it was murder. He's had a dream about the killer trying to marry his mother. When he returns home, he finds a man hanging around.

At first, I thought this was going to be one of those "he's mentally ill" kind of movies. But I was surprised to find that when things were lining up with Paul's dream, he was finding allies, and more than that, evidence!

It's revealed that his dream was actually a warning. The killer really was hiding in plain sight and trying to marry into the family. I'm not really sure why he killed the father in the first place. I'm guessing because he was a crime fighter-ish person, he was involved in the demise of the criminal. I probably missed that part.

Anyway, I found this movie to be really interesting. I thought Paul was resourceful and bright. I liked how they were using scientific methods to verify what his dream had led him to think and not dismiss him offhand. But then...the end. What the heck happened at the end?

I was watching. I promise. I thought the criminal and the sister were going for a boat ride. But Paul and everyone else find them in the boathouse on a couch? Then, they fight, and Paul hits his head. He then has a dream, much like in the beginning, where his friend takes his mom away and tells her not to look back. Then Paul meets up with a shadow and keeps walking. And unless his dad got a dress and some wavy hair, I'm guessing it's his girlfriend?

What the heck does that mean? His mom wasn't at the boathouse, and is Paul dead? The movie just ends there, so I have no idea. Why did the woman come up and start walking with Paul in the dream? And why is he talking about fog at the train station? Ugh. The end of this sucks, and I have no idea what happened. It was all great until then. The main criminal escapes justice by getting shot, and Paul is dead or alive. Who knows?

Too Late for Tears - 1949

I did a mini movie marathon yesterday where I watched three new noir films. I made sure I hadn't seen them before and settled in for an afternoon black and white bonanza.

First up was this movie. I picked all three movies because of their summaries and knew nothing about them beforehand. This movie was from a story by Roy Huggins, and he wrote the screenplay for it as well, so I suspect the main story is similar. I saw a paperback version of the book, but it said it was published in 2022, and that's just odd. Side note: The poster for this movie is crazy!

A couple is bickering in the car when the woman grabs the wheel. The car begins to swerve around, and it alerts a car coming the other way. A bag of money ends up being thrown into their back seat, and the story begins. The husband wants to turn in the cash, but the wife isn't letting it go. And she'll do anything to keep it. Including murdering anyone who gets in her way.

When her husband goes "missing," one of his old military buddies shows up and offers to help look for him. The husband's sister is all for it, but the wife is feeling a noose tighten around her neck. Will she be able to get away with murder and the money?

I liked this one. The reveal at the end was pretty nifty (the "friend") and I liked the story overall. It wasn't too long, and I liked the little twists and turns along the way. Good Movie!

RIP Alan - you were a good man!

 

Jigsaw - 1962

I thought I'd seen this one, but when I looked back through my reviews, it appeared I was wrong! It's one of those older murder mysteries I like watching, so I settled in and pressed play.

A woman is found murdered in a rented house, but the clues aren't leading anywhere. The body can't even be identified. It takes a lot of digging and finding puzzle pieces to unravel the truth and identify the killer.

This movie was entertaining! I liked the main character, Fred. I was sorry he missed his football (soccer) match, but the plot was interesting. All the little twists and turns were really cool. The movie was almost two hours, which is on the longer side for this era, but I didn't really feel it.

This is based on a book called Sleep Long, My Love by Hillary Waugh. I tried to find the book, but the author's books aren't widely available, and I only saw one available digitally. I'll keep an eye on it, because I'm curious. This one easily earns a Good Movie! review.