FIND THE BLACKMAILER 1943 (WARNER ARCHIVES)

Nifty little B programmer.

Jerome Cowan stars as a detective named D.L. Trees who is hired by a politician named John Rhodes (Gene Lockhart) to find out who is blackmailing him just before an election.

The case leads him to many suspects including a murdered gangster and his knocked out sidekick named Ray Hickey (John Harmon). Soon the police are involved and both Hickey and Tress are questioned by Detective Cramer (Wade Boteler). As the case gets more difficult, Trees finds himself up against more than he bargained for.

This is a finely crafted little film that runs a mere 55 minutes and moves at lightning speed. Cowan was a character actor who finally got to star in a film like this because WW2 had taken it's toll on most Hollywood leading men and most of them were off serving this country.

The dialogue is snappy and well done, and it almost seems like a remake of "The Maltese Falcon" but with much less money. John Harmon is always a welcome actor in movies, at least as far as I am concerned. He made a huge impact on many of us with his role as the lighthouse keeper in the 1959 shocker "Monster of Piedras Blancas".

The is included on the Warner Archives set entitled "Horror/Mystery" which contains six films from the 30's and 40's and of the same ilk. It's a great set with excellent film print quality and it is a must for every mystery fan.

The rest of the cast for this film includes Majorie Hoshelle, Robert Kent, Lou Lubin and beautiful Faye Emerson. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Halle Berry is 54, Nehemiah Persoff is 101, Antonio Fargas is 74, Jim Wynorski is 70, and Candace Hilligoss is 85.

THE NAKED ROAD 1959 (SOMETHING WEIRD)

A very strange and interesting film noir from SWV.

This film opens with a beautiful young woman arguing in a car with a man. The woman, Gay Andrews (Jeannie Rainer) is having moves put on her by an ad executive named Bob Walker (Paul Judson). She wants nothing to do with a married man and so Bob decides to take her home.

He is stopped for speeding by a local policeman and he is brought in front of a judge played by Ken Montroy. The judge fines him and Bob discovers that he doesn't have enough money to pay the fine so he leaves Gay with the Judge!!

Soon another man comes along and the Judge we discover, is involved in a white slave racket so he gives Gay to the other man named Mark Gallo (Art Koulias) who drugs her and takes her to a house where he and a friend lock her up and keep her captive until she decides to work for them.

Bob is concerned about her whereabouts but cannot finds her. Mark and his friend have no luck in forcing Gay to work for them, and soon their plans begin to fall apart.

This is a very interesting film and the cast does very well with the material, Rainer is a very beautiful woman and seeing her in this predicament is not a good thing at all, and that is what makes the film work so well.

The sleazy underbelly to the entire film is kept in an even balance and in typical film noir style the films ends as everyone's life has been tragically changed for the worse.

This is included on SWV's disc called "Weird Noir" and it comes highly recommended. The quality is very, very good and I suggest you see this film if you're a fan of Noir.

FALL GUY 1962 (SOMETHING WEIRD)

Very odd little noir.

A young man named Sonny Martin (Ed Dugan) is driving home one night and is almost forced off of the road by two cars. He sees one car shoot at the other. The other car crashes off of the road and Sonny races to help the driver.

The driver pulls out a gun and forces Sonny to help him to a home where Doctor Sam Johnson (Don Alderette) lives.

This starts Sonny on a dangerous and very dark road as the man is killed by the doctor and he barely escapes with his life. Soon Sonny is arrested and charged with the murder of a drug kingpin. The arresting officer is also in the pocket of the mob and he tries his hardest to make Sonny the fall guy for the crime.

This film runs only an hour, but it is very grim and has almost a documentary feel to it. It moves along very quickly and you really feel for Sonny as he fights to prove he is an innocent victim in a world of corruption and mob money.

The ending is somewhat bleak, as it should be with this kind of film. Every life in the film has been altered for the worse by the depicted events, especially Sonny's. Films like this are very interesting to watch and study.

I liked this movie a lot and recommend it to any noir fan. It's a rare one that I had never heard of, which is becoming a regular saying since this is included on the SWV "Weird Noir".

The rest of the cast includes George Mitchell, Madeline Francis, Wes Carlson and Fabian Dean.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Hulk Hogan is 67, Arlene Dahl is 95, and Judith Brown is 76.

DIARY OF AN EROTIC MURDERESS 1975 (SINISTER CINEMA)

An exceptional Giallo film.

The beautiful Marisa Mell stars in this thriller about a beautiful woman named Gina who works her way into the household of a very wealthy man by taking care of his mute son.

Slowly she seduces the multi millionaire named Alexander (Richard Conte) and finds a diary from his ex-wife. As she reads it she realizes it tells how to kill him, and Gina follows it play by play until she murders Alex in the bathroom with drugs and a mysterious gas leak.

After his death she starts making the movies on his son. However she is also being blackmailed by her husband, played by Anthony Steffen. Soon her plans start to come unraveled as several complications arise.

The ending is one of those that satisfies the audience but you know the character of Gina is in for real problems.

This is a widescreen print and is looks ok. If you're not picky it will do just fine, but it is missing several nude scenes of the gorgeous Mell, and that is sad. I'm sure an uncut print is available somewhere.

The Sinister print, as I said above is fine but I do wish it was uncut. Mell is such a beautiful woman and she carries the entire film. Her most famous role was in the movie "Danger Diabolik" but she really stands out here as well.

If you're a fan of Giallo movies you simply must check this out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Rhonda Fleming is 97.

SHADOW OF SILK LENNOX 1935 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Lightweight crime film starring Lon Chaney, Jr.

Released by Commodore Pictures in 1935, this film has the simple plot about a crooked nightclub owner who pretends to go straight, but then must kill one of his own henchmen when he tries to steal money from him.

That pretty much sums up the entire plot of this obscure little film. It only runs an hour and it does keep moving, but this film isn;t for everyone, of course.

Chaney Jr. turns in a great performance as Silk Lennox and it's hard to believe this was six years before he became a household name with "The Wolfman" in 1941. The rest of the cast includes Dean Benton, Marie Burton, Jack Mulhall and Allen Greer.

This isn't too bad of movie, but it isn't the best and it shows. If you're curious about early Chaney films, then check this out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Rhona Mitra is 44, Sam Elliot is 76, and Lexi Kaufman is 29.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Connie Stevens is 82, Nita Talbot is 90, and Rena Mero is 56.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Evi Marandi is 79.

CURSE OF NOSTRADAMUS 1960 (SINISTER CINEMA)

This is the first of 4 movies featuring the vampire son of Nostradamus from South of the Border.

German Robles stars as the evil vampire and in this, the first one he warns a scientist that he will kill 13 people until the scientist starts believing in the supernatural.

There are some creepy moments in this film including a man being buried alive and nobody can hear his pleas. The plot is simple and straight forward but it does move at a very good clip.

There were twelve 25 minute chapters to the original serial which played in Mexican theaters. K. Gordon Murray took the chapters and edited them into 4 films which played in theaters and later on TV syndication packages.

This is by no means a classic, but it is a fun little film that will keep your interest. It all ends rather abruptly, but no worries, the others films start right back up again, but it can be a disjointing experience for people not familiar with this.

The other films are "The Monster Demolisher", "Genie Of Darkness" and "Blood Of Nostradamus". All are fun so check them out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Catherine Hicks is 69, Lisa Boyle is 56, and Sarah Lawson is 92.

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT 1961 (SOMETHING WEIRD)

One of the darkest film noir movies I have ever seen.

I have loved this genre of film since way back in the day and this film and the 1946 Edgar Ulmer classic entitled "Detour" are two of the best ever made.

This was directed by Irving Berwick, the same man who brought us the 1959 head ripping "Monster Of Piedras Blancas". The story is about a young man named Ted Mathews (Jonathan Kidd) who, during a moment of passion with Terry James (Lyn Statten) while driving have a head on collision.

Ted wanders away from the wreck and sees the other driver dead and drifts into amnesia. He wanders into a man travelling the country named Rev. Noah Turnbull (Frank Arvidson). Flash forward a few years and Matthews is a very successful preacher named Tad Morgan.

One night while giving a sermon, he spots Terry in the crowd and suddenly his memory comes crashing back as to who he really is and what happened. This shatters Matthews, and Terry has some vicious plans of her own.

Terry is now married to an abusive drunk named Pete (John Harmon) and she decides to blackmail Matthews. To get her off of his back he writes her a check for 1000 dollars. However, Terry and Pete spend it like water and Terry steps up her game. She forces Matthews to marry her, and his life is in a very steep downward spiral.

Things get so bad Ted decides to kill Terry by pushing her off of a bridge. This bitch does not die easily and she comes back and attempts to shoot Ted but instead ends up killing Pete by mistake.

Needless to say it gets worse. I won't give it away, but my God what a film!! Statten is a beautiful woman and she plays the part of an evil female to perfection.

Kidd is also very, very good in his role as a sap who has gotten mixed up with the wrong woman. The cast is solid and the performances are all very good. This is included on the SWV DVD called "Weird Noir" and it probably the best one of the set of 6 films.

This gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from me, and if you're a noir fan you shouldn't miss this one.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tawny Kitaen is 59, Wanda Ventham is 85, and Joan Weldon is 90.