RIP ARETHA FRANKLIN 1942-2018

The "Queen Of Soul" has passed away.

The first woman inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame passed away on Aug. 16th from Cancer. The same day The King Of Rock N' Roll, Elvis passed away in 1977. The King and Queen are now both gone.

Besides the Supremes, Aretha Franklin's music was and will always be some of my favorite. I grew up listening to her and many others, but her great voice and talent made her stand out.

She began her great career singing as a child in the New Bethel Baptist Choir. Her first hits included such giant tunes as "RESPECT", "(YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE) A NATURAL WOMAN" and "SPANISH HARLEM".

She proved many times she could sing anything. With other wonderful tunes like "ROCK STEADY", "FREEWAY OF LOVE", "WHO'S ZOOMING WHO", "CHAIN OF FOOLS" and "I KNEW YOU WERE WAITING FOR ME" she collected 18 Grammy awards and became one of the best selling musical artists of all time.

Her death marks one more nail in my childhood coffin, but I will ALWAYS love and cherish her music. It was powerful, moving, fun and it helped shape my love for soul and rock music.

Rest in Peace lovely lady, and yes you will always get RESPECT from this huge fan. She was 76.

THE DEADLY GAME 1954 (KIT PARKER)

As I continue my look at Hammer Film Noir I bring you a very interesting and fast moving crime film.

Lloyd Bridges stars as a songwriter named Philip Graham, who meets an old friend he hasn't seen in years named Tony Roscoe (Peter Dyneley).

Tony suddenly has to leave town quickly on "business" and Philip is puzzled. On his way back from driving Tony to the airport Philip is mugged. He discovers from the police and a man named Darius (Finlay Currie) that Tony has become mixed up in a nasty smuggling ring.

Tony returns to Spain and is killed. Philip is left with three mysterious rolls of microfilm that everyone seems to be after. Philip tries to elude the many people who are trying to kill him for the film.

There are a lot of neat little plot twists in the 63 minute feature directed by Daniel Birt. Bridges does very well in the lead role as a man thrown into something he cannot understand.

The rest of the cast includes Maureen Swanson, Ferdy Mayne, Mary Parker and the lovely Simone Silva. I can easily recommend this for any Noir fan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Julie Newmar is 85, Ann Blyth is 90, George Eastman is 76, Gary Clarke is 85, and Mirta Miller is 70.

THE BLACK GLOVE 1954 (KIT PARKER)

Probably the weakest of all the Hammer film noir's I have reviewed so far.

Alex Nicol stars as a musician new to London from America. His performances are selling out, but he is tired and needs a rest.

One night he meets a beautiful blues singer and goes to her apartment. Later that morning the police arrive at his apartment and he discovers he's been accused of her murder.

Nicol's character of James Bradley attempts to solve the murder himself. He narrows the suspects down one by one until he is ready to solve the crime.

To me this actually doesn't qualify as a Noir, as it's just not dark enough. Terence Fisher handled the directing chorse, but his direction also seems a little pedestrian. The rest of the cast includes Eleanor Summerfield, Paul Carpenter, Geoffrey Keen and Ann Hanslip.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Natasha Henstridge is 44, Barbara Bouchet is 75, Mike Henry is 82, Lori Nelson is 85, Pat Priest is 82, Abby Dalton is 86, Gaylen Ross is 68, and Uschi Digard is 70.

BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN 1962 (RETROMEDIA)

A very bizarre hybrid horror film.

This is a Filmgroup release of a re-edited version of a Russian science fiction film called Nebo Zovyot filmed in 1959.

Roger Corman bought several Russian films and re-edited them into several features, which I will be looking at over the next few days. I have reviewed a few of these long ago, but Retromedia has come out with a great new set.

This film concerns life after a nuclear war in the year 1997 and two separate societies that now inhabit the Earth. North Hemis and South Hemis. Both are trying to reach Mars. The race is one and only one can win.

The North Hemis ship gets stranded on a small planet and it's the South Hemis astronauts to the rescue. This is also the film in which Corman and Francis Ford Coppola shot inserts of a couple of bizarre space monsters that look very much like a vagina and a penis!! Yep, I kid you not.

I do admit I think the monsters look pretty cool, but everyone can tell what they are...lol. The re-edit of the film runs 64 minutes and it is interesting to see some great Russian footage. Now if I could only see the original version.

This film has been available for years in various PD forms and this is actually the best looking one I have seen. It will be interesting to see what the other films on this "Russian Science Fiction Set" look like. RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Halle Berry is 52, Antonio Fargas is 72, Lucinda Dickey is 58, Jim Wynorski is 68, and Candace Hilligoss is 83.

RIP JAMES NEIDHART 1955-2018

"The Anvil" has died.

One of the greatest stars of professional wrestling has died. Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart has passed away at the age of 63. The cause of death is only being listed as a "medical emergency" for now.

Neidhart was trained by Stu Hart in Calgary, Canada and became a driving force in the sport in the 80's and 90's. I first caught him at Stampede Wrestling in Canada. Soon he moved on to the WWF and became a huge name in the business.

He became a member of "The Hart Foundation" managed by Jimmy Hart and also featuring Brett Hart. Neidhart also appeared in ECW, WCW,and TNA. He was indeed a class act and a gentleman to boot.

They simply don't make men like Jim anymore.

PAID TO KILL 1954 (KIT PARKER)

Another interesting film noir as I continue to look at these wonderful little films from Hammer.

Dane Clark is James Nevill, a man who runs a business that is somewhat successful. However after a failed business proposal falls thru it threatens to destroy the entire mini empire Nevill has set up.

Nevill loves his wife and will not let her suffer for lack of funds so he convinces his cowardly friend Paul Kirby (Peter Carpenter) to kill him so his wife, Andrea (Thea Gregory)can collect the insurance money and live well.

Nevill gives his friend 3 days to do the deed. Things suddenly turn around when Nevill's business partner, Cyrus McGowan (Howard Marion Crawford) returns from world travels. Nevill is elated and tries to cancel the plans to have himself killed by his friend.

However Paul has disappeared and there are several attempts on Nevill's life. It is only then that James realizes that there may be someone else behind the attempted murders.

I liked this film a lot. It's much darker in tone than more of the others in the series, and it really comes close to American noir. Clark is aided by very capable British actors and actresses such as Anthony Forwood, Arthur Young and Cecile Chevreau.

I can easily recommend this for Noir fans.

THE GLASS TOMB 1955 (KIT PARKER)

Short and bizarre little crime thriller.

John Ireland stars as Pel Pelham, a carnival barker who has a loving family. He works hard and just barley makes living.

Pel borrows money from a good friend named Tony Lewis (Sidney James) and tries to get a carnival act called "The Starving Man" started. He manages to get it started successfully and all seems to be going well until a couple of murders occur.

When Henri Sapolio (Eric Pohlmann), the "starving man" is killed during his performance, Pelham sets out to find the killer with the help of the police and several close friends.

This is a fast moving little film running just under an hour and once it starts in never stops. Ireland is excellent as usual in the lead role. His wife is played by beautiful Honor Blackman, and she really has very little to do which is a shame.

Montgomery Tully directed and the rest of the cast includes many faces you'll recognize such as Sam Kydd, Geoffrey Keen, Liam Redmond and Ferdy Mayne.

Again, a very fast moving film noir and one of the best in the series from Hammer Studios.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

George Hamilton is 79, and Jennifer Bishop is 77.

DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE 1961 (ANCHOR BAY)

It has been 7 years since saw this or reviewed it, so I figured it was time to do it all again.

As I write this the temp is well over 100 degrees and so this is a fitting film.

Edward Judd stars as a reporter on a small English newspaper named Peter Stenning. He's divorced and enjoys spending time with his small son when he gets the time. While working for the paper he and his co-workers are informed that both the US and Russia have set off nuclear bombs on opposite poles of the earth.

Soon after stories come in of powerful earthquakes, cyclones and heat from around the world. Stennings meets a beautiful switchboard operator named Jeannie Craig and the spend a lot of time together. As Peter and Jeannie get serious more and more reports come in and London is hit with a mysterious fog that stops all traffic on the ground and in the air and that is followed by a cyclone.

It is discovered thru Jeannie that scientists have discovered that the Earth has been titled off it's axis by 11 degrees and it's heading towards the sun. Riots and other problems break out world wide and everyone finds themselves praying and hoping Earth will survive. Scientists are going to set off blasts at both poles again in the hopes of correcting the issue.

The movie starts at the end and we see what has happened via flashbacks. The movie ends with the viewer not knowing if the final plan is going to work or not. It's a bleak film, but very well done and acted. Val Guest handles the directing chores in his usual perfect style.

I did realize that the film really has no music track to speak of, and that helps a lot, much like in "The Birds". Judd gets an "introducing" credit even though he'd been acting for about 13 years before this film came out. Gorgeous Janet Munro is always a pleasure to watch and she does an excellent job while at the same time looking quite fetching in her attire.

The rest of the cast includes Leo McKern as the newspaper science reporter, Michael Goodliffe and Austin Trevor. This came out on DVD in 2001 and has never had a re-issue or an upgrade. Hopefully soon. RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Arlene Dahl is 93, Terry Bollea is 65, Stuart Gordon is 71, and Judy Brown is 74.

WINGS OF DANGER 1952 (KIT PARKER)

Zachary Scott stars as Richard Van Ness in this unique crime thriller.

After his girlfriend's brother disappears and is apparently killed in an airplane crash, Van Ness discovers that things just don't add up.

As he digs deeper into the mystery surrounding the crash he finds himself in a web of smuggling, blackmail and murder. Van Ness is literally being forced by the police to help them because smuggling and blackmail have been tired to Van Ness's business.

Naomi Chance plays Avril Talbot, the girlfriend of Van Ness who finds herself also pulled into the web. It's discovered that her brother Nick is actually alive and well after being paid to fake his own death. Van Ness finds him living in a small cabin in a wooded area with a beautiful woman named Jeannette (Diane Cilento).

The plot thickens from there as everyone starts a downward spiral. Terence Fisher directed this with his usual flair and Scott turns in a great performance, as he always did in his movies.

A fine early Hammer film and one of many that Hammer made for Robert Lippert in the early 50's. Sadly these have been almost forgotten over the years and Kit Parker has put them all out and has brought them back into the public eye via DVD. If you get a chance seek out this rarity.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Rhonda Fleming is 95.