Post by mikef6 on Sept 10, 2018 13:59:40 GMT
The only one I've seen of yours is The Thomas Crown Affair and that was in a theater the year it was released. Don't remember much about it except the ending and that great score you mention. Have to see it again sometime.
MINE
The Shadow Strikes / Lynn Shores (1937). The Shadow was a very popular radio adventure program that ran from the early 1930s until 1954. It’s catch phrase, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” is still famous. The best that movies could do for The Shadow was a series of very low budget films cranked out of Poverty Row studios. This one is from Grand National whose productions, going by this one, used outdated technology that makes their films seem like very early sound from the late 1920s. There is almost nothing to recommend in “The Shadow Strikes.” The catchphrase is not used; neither does The Shadow “cloud men's minds” – he just wears a wrap around cape with a wide-brimmed fedora and gets the drop on criminals. Neither is anything about him is explained. Apparently, the script writers just assumed the audience would already be Shadow fans. The Shadow only shows up for a few seconds at the beginning and at the end. In fact, this didn’t even have to be a “Shadow” movie. The Shadow is so incidental that it could have served just as well as a Saint, Falcon, or Lone Wolf mystery. Silent film leading man Rod La Rocque stars as The Shadow and his everyday identity, Lamont Cranston (Granston in “Strikes” for some unknown reason).
Strange Impersonation / Anthony Mann (1946). Nora Goodrich (Brenda Marshall) is first seen briefing a room of physicians on a new anesthetic that she has just created, but the final trials have not been completed. Nora is not a doctor (not in 1946), but the movie lets her be an accomplished chemist. She is engaged to Dr. Stephen Lindstrom (a dull William Gargan) but keeps putting off the marriage because of her work. Nora decides to skip the red tape required for medical testing and try the anesthetic on herself at home with only her lab assistant, Arline (Hillary Brooke) present as a witness. I thought this was going to lead up to yet another Jekyll/Hyde mad scientist rip-off movie where the good doctor tries the serum on himself and changes into something. Right at the last second the film quite suddenly – and delightfully – switches into noir territory. To say more would be telling but I can say that this far-out movie doesn’t just take twists and turns but giant leaps into startling narrative shifts that will keep you laughing in amazement – not at the movie but with it. The run time is brief, only sixty eight minutes, but Mann and his writers pack about two hours of plot into that time. The only other major player is George Chandler as an ambulance chasing lawyer. This is one wild and crazy movie that you won’t want to miss.
Undertow / William Castle (1949). Tony Reagan (Scott Brady) is in love with Sally Lee (Dorothy Lee) but her Chicago mobster uncle, Big Jim, disapproves. Tony has stayed away from Chi Town for seven years serving in the military. Now, he has plans to go back and talk Big Jim into giving his consent. But when he arrives, he is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, he finds out the cops are after him for Big Jim’s murder. Director William Castle is better known for his ‘60s cheesy fun fright films that he himself sometimes introduced. But before that, he was a busy director of low budget crime and mystery thrillers to which he often added some cinematic class and “Undertow” is one of his best. Notable is some actual location footage in Reno, Nevada and Buckingham Fountain in Chicago. There is a very good print of “Undertow” on YouTube. Also in the cast is Peggy Dow, Bruce Bennett, and John Russell. Another point of interest is Rock Hudson in his first credited role. Hudson (his first name appears as “Roc” in the opening titles and closing credits) has a role of exactly 38 seconds.
Terminator Genisys / Alan Taylor (2015). I guess all Terminator fans are supposed to hate this movie because it contradicts what happened in the previous Terminator movie, or something like that, but since I have only seen the first two – from 1984 which I love, and 1991 which was OK – I wasn’t bothered by this except that it is a dreaded “reboot.” Anyway, there are other reasons not to like it. It begins like the 1984 original: Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent back in time to stop a Terminator from killing Sarah Connor, the mother of the leader of the resistance against the Machines (if you are not up on the Terminator story, it is useless to ask questions). But at that point, history changes. Sarah (Emilia Clarke) doesn’t need protecting. She is already fully aware of the coming apocalypse and, furthermore, she is being helped by the Protector (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from “Terminator 2.” With me so far? Kyle has found himself in an alternate time line. It is actually good to see Ah-nold again. He repeats some of his catchphrases, which are amusing, but tries out a new one (“old but not obsolete”) which is said three times but doesn’t quite work. The film is repetitious as well. No scene can be played to completion because someone will always turn out to be a shape-shifting Terminator and set off yet another fight, gunfight, and/or vehicle chase. For action/sci-fi movie fanatics only.
Xia Dao Lian Meng (The Adventurers) / Stephen Fung (2017). Dan Zhang (Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau) is just getting out of a French prison after a 5 year sentence when the film opens. He is greeted by the detective who arrested him, Inspector Pierre Bissette (Jean Reno). Zhang had been a master jewel thief who pulls off impossible heists, but now claims he is retired. Bissette believes that Zhang is after the most valuable necklace in the world, a creation called “Gaia.” Bissette is correct. Zhang gathers a small group of partners including his protégé, Po (Tony Yo-ning Yang) and Red (Qi Shu, Millennium Mambo). The film then immediately leaps into the first caper, the theft during an auction at Cannes of the second part of Gaia. This exciting and clever set-piece launches the story with a few bangs, but there is a second, even more complicated caper for the latter half. Meanwhile Bissette has joined with someone himself: Amber Li (Jingchu Zhang, Mission: Impossible-Rouge Nation), Dan Zhang’s ex-girlfriend. The thrilling film score is by Finnish composer Tuomas Kantelinen and adds immeasurably to the excitement. A pulse-pounding good time. Again, I am set to wondering what it is exactly that puts Asian action (especially from China) so far above the Hollywood output even when they share so many of the caper/heist tropes that we all know and love so well.
MINE
The Shadow Strikes / Lynn Shores (1937). The Shadow was a very popular radio adventure program that ran from the early 1930s until 1954. It’s catch phrase, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” is still famous. The best that movies could do for The Shadow was a series of very low budget films cranked out of Poverty Row studios. This one is from Grand National whose productions, going by this one, used outdated technology that makes their films seem like very early sound from the late 1920s. There is almost nothing to recommend in “The Shadow Strikes.” The catchphrase is not used; neither does The Shadow “cloud men's minds” – he just wears a wrap around cape with a wide-brimmed fedora and gets the drop on criminals. Neither is anything about him is explained. Apparently, the script writers just assumed the audience would already be Shadow fans. The Shadow only shows up for a few seconds at the beginning and at the end. In fact, this didn’t even have to be a “Shadow” movie. The Shadow is so incidental that it could have served just as well as a Saint, Falcon, or Lone Wolf mystery. Silent film leading man Rod La Rocque stars as The Shadow and his everyday identity, Lamont Cranston (Granston in “Strikes” for some unknown reason).
Strange Impersonation / Anthony Mann (1946). Nora Goodrich (Brenda Marshall) is first seen briefing a room of physicians on a new anesthetic that she has just created, but the final trials have not been completed. Nora is not a doctor (not in 1946), but the movie lets her be an accomplished chemist. She is engaged to Dr. Stephen Lindstrom (a dull William Gargan) but keeps putting off the marriage because of her work. Nora decides to skip the red tape required for medical testing and try the anesthetic on herself at home with only her lab assistant, Arline (Hillary Brooke) present as a witness. I thought this was going to lead up to yet another Jekyll/Hyde mad scientist rip-off movie where the good doctor tries the serum on himself and changes into something. Right at the last second the film quite suddenly – and delightfully – switches into noir territory. To say more would be telling but I can say that this far-out movie doesn’t just take twists and turns but giant leaps into startling narrative shifts that will keep you laughing in amazement – not at the movie but with it. The run time is brief, only sixty eight minutes, but Mann and his writers pack about two hours of plot into that time. The only other major player is George Chandler as an ambulance chasing lawyer. This is one wild and crazy movie that you won’t want to miss.
Undertow / William Castle (1949). Tony Reagan (Scott Brady) is in love with Sally Lee (Dorothy Lee) but her Chicago mobster uncle, Big Jim, disapproves. Tony has stayed away from Chi Town for seven years serving in the military. Now, he has plans to go back and talk Big Jim into giving his consent. But when he arrives, he is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, he finds out the cops are after him for Big Jim’s murder. Director William Castle is better known for his ‘60s cheesy fun fright films that he himself sometimes introduced. But before that, he was a busy director of low budget crime and mystery thrillers to which he often added some cinematic class and “Undertow” is one of his best. Notable is some actual location footage in Reno, Nevada and Buckingham Fountain in Chicago. There is a very good print of “Undertow” on YouTube. Also in the cast is Peggy Dow, Bruce Bennett, and John Russell. Another point of interest is Rock Hudson in his first credited role. Hudson (his first name appears as “Roc” in the opening titles and closing credits) has a role of exactly 38 seconds.
Terminator Genisys / Alan Taylor (2015). I guess all Terminator fans are supposed to hate this movie because it contradicts what happened in the previous Terminator movie, or something like that, but since I have only seen the first two – from 1984 which I love, and 1991 which was OK – I wasn’t bothered by this except that it is a dreaded “reboot.” Anyway, there are other reasons not to like it. It begins like the 1984 original: Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent back in time to stop a Terminator from killing Sarah Connor, the mother of the leader of the resistance against the Machines (if you are not up on the Terminator story, it is useless to ask questions). But at that point, history changes. Sarah (Emilia Clarke) doesn’t need protecting. She is already fully aware of the coming apocalypse and, furthermore, she is being helped by the Protector (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from “Terminator 2.” With me so far? Kyle has found himself in an alternate time line. It is actually good to see Ah-nold again. He repeats some of his catchphrases, which are amusing, but tries out a new one (“old but not obsolete”) which is said three times but doesn’t quite work. The film is repetitious as well. No scene can be played to completion because someone will always turn out to be a shape-shifting Terminator and set off yet another fight, gunfight, and/or vehicle chase. For action/sci-fi movie fanatics only.
Xia Dao Lian Meng (The Adventurers) / Stephen Fung (2017). Dan Zhang (Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau) is just getting out of a French prison after a 5 year sentence when the film opens. He is greeted by the detective who arrested him, Inspector Pierre Bissette (Jean Reno). Zhang had been a master jewel thief who pulls off impossible heists, but now claims he is retired. Bissette believes that Zhang is after the most valuable necklace in the world, a creation called “Gaia.” Bissette is correct. Zhang gathers a small group of partners including his protégé, Po (Tony Yo-ning Yang) and Red (Qi Shu, Millennium Mambo). The film then immediately leaps into the first caper, the theft during an auction at Cannes of the second part of Gaia. This exciting and clever set-piece launches the story with a few bangs, but there is a second, even more complicated caper for the latter half. Meanwhile Bissette has joined with someone himself: Amber Li (Jingchu Zhang, Mission: Impossible-Rouge Nation), Dan Zhang’s ex-girlfriend. The thrilling film score is by Finnish composer Tuomas Kantelinen and adds immeasurably to the excitement. A pulse-pounding good time. Again, I am set to wondering what it is exactly that puts Asian action (especially from China) so far above the Hollywood output even when they share so many of the caper/heist tropes that we all know and love so well.