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In the 1930s, Universal laid claim to the two biggest horror stars of the era, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and it was only a matter of time before the pair would meet on screen. In 1932, only months after each rocketed to stardom in Dracula and Frankenstein respectively, the two were dressed in tuxedoes and brought together for a genial photoshoot that simultaneously announced their partnership and implied a rivalry. Through a series of circumstances, it was another two years before the pair would star in a film together. As one might expect, it was in the most transgressive horror film of the era, 1934’s The Black Cat, a film that remains shocking not only for the early 1930s but even more surprising as a product overseen by the newly enforced Hays Code.

The Code had been established in 1927 as a self-censoring wing of the motion picture industry and an attempt to avoid government censorship.

The Film Noir Foundation puts across more impressive rescues in concert with the UCLA Film and Television Archive: a pair of independently-produced noirs released by Monogram in 1947, modest of budget but firmly rooted in the noir style. The Guilty is a Cornell Woolrich ‘ironic twist’ mini mystery involving troublemaking twins and a soldier suffering from Ptsd. High Tide is a hardboiled corruption tale starring the king of smart-talking newsmen, Lee Tracy. Especially rewarding disc extras give us long-form visual essays on Cornell Woolrich, actor Tracy, producer Jack Wrather and the ‘international’ director John Reinhardt.

The Guilty + High Tide

Blu-ray + DVD

Flicker Alley

1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 71 + 72 min. / Street Date June 10, 2022 / Available from Flicker Alley / 39.95

Starring: Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Regis Toomey, Wally Cassell; Lee Tracy, Don Castle, Julie Bishop, Anabel Shaw.

Shared Credits:

Cinematography: Henry Sharp

Original Music: Rudy Schrager

Screenplays by Robert Presnell Sr.

Produced by Jack Wrather

Directed...

Edgar G. Ulmer movies on TCM: 'The Black Cat' & 'Detour' Turner Classic Movies' June 2017 Star of the Month is Audrey Hepburn, but Edgar G. Ulmer is its film personality of the evening on June 6. TCM will be presenting seven Ulmer movies from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, including his two best-known efforts: The Black Cat (1934) and Detour (1945). The Black Cat was released shortly before the officialization of the Christian-inspired Production Code, which would castrate American filmmaking – with a few clever exceptions – for the next quarter of a century. Hence, audiences in spring 1934 were able to witness satanism in action, in addition to other bizarre happenings in an art deco mansion located in an isolated area of Hungary. Sporting a David Bowie hairdo, Boris Karloff is at his sinister best in The Black Cat (“Do you hear that, Vitus? The phone is dead. Even the phone is dead”), ailurophobic (a.

By 1934 Boris Karloff was certainly no stranger to great movie entrances. In 1931, under the direction of James Whale, he seared his image, and that of the monstrous creation of Dr. Henry Frankenstein, into the collective consciousness by shuffling on screen and staring down his creator, and of course the terrified audience, embodying and fulfilling unspeakable nightmares. Frankenstein, an instant phenomenon, was one of 16 pictures Karloff made that were released in 1931.

And in the following year, 1932, in addition of Howard Hawks’ Scarface, Whale’s The Old Dark House and Charles Brabin’s The Mask of Fu Manchu, Karloff had another terrifying entrance in cinematographer-turned-director Karl Freund’s horror landmark The Mummy. As the title fiend, Imhotep, Karloff is first glimpsed in full bandage, sarcophagus laid open behind an unfortunate archaeologist who, engrossed in the parchments he’s discovered, doesn’t notice the mummy’s arm slide down from its bound position.

Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and director Ridley Scott's next Alien film will both be made in Australia in 2016, after the Australian government offered $34.3 million (Aus$47 million) of investment to secure the shoots, the nation's foreign minister Julie Bishop announced Thursday. According to Bishop the two films will bring more than $216 million in offshore investment to Australia’s economy, provide over 3,000 jobs and use the services of thousands of Australian businesses. "Australia's creative industries are well placed to take advantage of a growing global economy, and I have been actively promoting Australia for the production of major international films,

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Eleanor Parker Now on TCM Palms Springs area resident Eleanor Parker, who turns 91 next June 26, is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June. One of the best actresses of Hollywood’s studio era, Parker isn’t nearly as well-remembered today as she should be despite three Best Actress Academy Award nominations (Caged, 1950; Detective Story, 1951; Interrupted Melody, 1955), a number of box-office and/or critical hits, and a key role in one of the biggest blockbusters of all time (The Sound of Music). Hopefully, the 34 Eleanor Parker movies TCM will be showing each Monday this month — beginning tonight — will help to introduce the actress to a broader 21st-century audience. Eleanor Parker movies "When I am spotted somewhere it means that my characterizations haven’t covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I prefer it the other way around," Parker once said. In fact, the title of Doug McClelland’s 1989 Eleanor Parker bio,...

To celebrate the release of the classic horror The Black Cat on May 27th, we are offering you the chance to win one of three copies of the DVD.

The first pairing of horror greats Lugosi and Karloff, The Black Cat is a dark and macabre film.

A young couple, Peter (David Manners) and Joan Allison (Julie Bishop) are honeymooning in Hungary. Traveling by train they share a compartment with Dr Werdegast (Lugosi), a freed Pow who seeks news of his wife and daughter and vengeance on Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff), the man whose betrayal lead to his imprisonment.

When the trio’s bus from the station gets into an accident, the young couple accompany Werdegast to Poelzig’s futuristic mansion, built on top of an old graveyard.

Poelzig’s attention to Joan, and her uncharacteristic behaviour, compels the couple to pack their bags until they learn they are being held captive.

Warner Archive Collection 4th anniversary DVD / Blu-ray releases The Warner Archive Collection (aka Wac), which currently has a DVD / Blu-ray library consisting of approximately 1,500 titles, has just turned four. In celebration of its fourth anniversary, Wac is releasing with movies featuring the likes of Jane Powell, Eleanor Parker, and many more stars and filmmakers of yesteryear. (Pictured above: Greer Garson, Debbie Reynolds, Ricardo Montalban in the sentimental 1966 comedy / drama with music The Singing Nun.) For starters, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds play siblings in Richard Thorpe's Athena (1954), whose supporting cast includes Edmund Purdom, Vic Damone, frequent Jerry Lewis foil Kathleen Freeman, Citizen Kane's Ray Collins, Tyrone Power's then-wife Linda Christian, former Mr. Universe and future Hercules Steve Reeves, veteran Louis Calhern, not to mention numerology, astrology, and vegetarianism. As per Wac's newsletter, the score by Hugh Martin and Martin Blane "gets a first ever Stereophonic Sound remix for this disc,...

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat is a monthly newspaper run by Steve DeBellis, a well know St. Louis historian, and it’s the largest one-man newspaper in the world. The concept of The Globe is that there is an old historic headline, then all the articles in that issue are written as though it’s the year that the headline is from. It’s an unusual concept but the paper is now in its 25th successful year! Steve and I collaborated last year on an all-Vincent Price issue of The Globe and I’ve been writing a regular movie-related column since. Since there is no on-line version of The Globe, I post all of my articles here at We Are Movie Geeks as well. When Steve informed me that this month’s St. Louis Globe-Democrat is written as if it’s 1934, I jumped at the chance to write about the...

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat is a monthly newspaper run by Steve DeBellis, a well know St. Louis historian, and it’s the largest one-man newspaper in the world. The concept of The Globe is that there is an old historic headline, then all the articles in that issue are written as though it’s the year that the headline is from. It’s an unusual concept but the paper is now in its 25th successful year! Steve and I collaborated last year on an all-Vincent Price issue of The Globe and I’ve been writing a regular movie-related column since. Since there is no on-line version of The Globe, I post all of my articles here at We Are Movie Geeks as well. When Steve informed me that this month’s St. Louis Globe-Democrat is written as if it’s 1934, I jumped at the oppurtunity to write about the...

This Week’s Must Read is Wired4Film’s interview with an ol’ Bad Lit fave: Chris Hansen, who has just wrapped up his 3rd feature film, Where We Started. The chat gets into detail on the challenges of filming a heavy dialogue indie film with just two actors that takes place mostly at night using a mostly student crew. Plus, there’s talk of the Christian themes that run through Hansen’s films, but don’t bonk you over the head, even considering he made a film with the word “Messiah” in the title.Another interview that’s not really film related, but I dig donna k.’s chats with artists, is her talk with sculptor Karyn Olivier. The photos of Olivier are also really worth clicking over for.This image from 1934′s The Black Cat starring Jacqueline Wells and Boris Karloff is also stunning to look at.Now...

Los Angeles, California (x17online) - Just days before the 30th anniversary of Natalie Wood's death, the investigation, which was reopened in November, is still ongoing. Wood's death was ruled an accident, as she drowned off the coast of Catalina Island while boating with her husband Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken at age 43. This ongoing investigation has come as a surprise, considering that, William McSweeney, chief of detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, had told the Los Angeles Times in January that there was no new evidence suggesting that her death was foul play. There has been no confirmation on whether the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office changed the cause of Wood's death to undetermined. "We have no information on whether that has happened or not," said forensic attendant Julie Bishop of the L.A. coroner's office when asked July 6 about the potential change in the stated cause of Wood's death.

Errol Flynn Movies: The Charge Of The Light Brigade Errol Flynn Movie line-up on Turner Classic Movies 3:30 Am Green Light (1937) An idealistic doctor sacrifices his career to protect an elderly surgeon. Dir: Frank Borzage Cast: Errol Flynn, Anita Louise, Margaret Lindsay. Bw-85 mins. 5:00 Am Northern Pursuit (1943) A Mountie tracks a downed Nazi flyer through the Canadian wilderness. Dir: Raoul Walsh Cast: Errol Flynn, Julie Bishop, Helmut Dantine. Bw-93 mins. 6:45 Am The Dawn Patrol (1938) A flight commander in France almost cracks under the pressure of sending men to their deaths. Dir: Edmund Goulding Cast: Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven, [...]...

Errol Flynn Movies TCM: The Charge Of The Light Brigade 3:30 Am Green Light (1937) An idealistic doctor sacrifices his career to protect an elderly surgeon. Dir: Frank Borzage Cast: Errol Flynn, Anita Louise, Margaret Lindsay. Bw-85 mins. 5:00 Am Northern Pursuit (1943) A Mountie tracks a downed Nazi flyer through the Canadian wilderness. Dir: Raoul Walsh Cast: Errol Flynn, Julie Bishop, Helmut Dantine. Bw-93 mins. 6:45 Am The Dawn Patrol (1938) A flight commander in France almost cracks under the pressure of sending men to their deaths. Dir: Edmund Goulding Cast: Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven. Bw-103 mins. [...]...

Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres in George Melford's The Sheik Long before they became Hollywood's favorite terrorists, Arabs were generally portrayed as lusty, uncouth, infantile beings in myriad Hollywood movies. Turner Classic Movies returns this month with their annual "Race & Hollywood" film series. The "race" this time around: Arabs. Frank Lloyd's long but generally entertaining 1924 epic The Sea Hawk is almost over. TCM has shown this one before a few times; long-thought lost, The Sea Hawk was restored about a decade ago. Popular leading man Milton Sills stars. Next are two silents starring movie idols of the 1920s: The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and The Sheik (1921). One of Douglas Fairbanks' biggest hits, The Thief of Bagdad was directed by Raoul Walsh; this Arabian Nights romp is probably Fairbanks' most enjoyable vehicle of that era. Quite possibly, it's Fairbanks best movie, period. Starring Rudolph Valentino, who set as many hearts aflutter as Justin Bieber,...

“Just give him a sword and let him do his thing,” was the way Errol Flynn described the studio executive’s opinions of him. In his heyday, Flynn was known as the king of Hollywood Swashbucklers. He’s still best remembered today for his tights-and-fights adventures, such as Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, Don Juan, The Prince & the Pauper and most notably The Adventures of Robin Hood. But there was more to Flynn’s career than that.

From the late 1930s through the mid 1940s, the dashing Flynn was one of the two biggest action film stars in the world (the other being John Wayne). Aside from costumed adventures, he also made Westerns (Dodge City; They Died With Their Boots On) and War movies (Dawn Patrol). Although he may have seemed miscast as a cowboy, people accepted it because it was the beloved Flynn in the white hat. And when it came to war films,...

By George D. Allen

Recently, I wrote an article for the Movies Unlimited home blog, MovieFanFare, offering my quickly selected picks for 10 “desert island” movies, those films which, were I forced to choose, I felt (in those moments writing the article, anyway) I would be carting along with me to enjoy during my eternal vacation/banishment on said remote locale.

Now, monsterfans, wipe those memories of Stephen King’s gruesome short story “Survivor Type” from your mind and assume all of your other creature comforts are as normal as they could possibly be (so that you don’t have to worry about minor concerns like hacking off your own body parts for food!), and pick those 10 masterworks of the horror genre you’re going to be forced to live with for the rest of your days. I completed my own “Rorschach test” in this regard below. It was tough. I...