EYEWITNESS 1956 (TUBI)

Murder mystery would have better at one hour.

This 82 minute J. Arthur Rank production is ok, but it could have used some trimming as it lost my attention several times.

A woman witnesses a robbery at a theater and in fleeing from the crooks chasing her she is hit by a bus.

The resulting plot consists of the gangsters trying to get her out of the hospital after they discover that she is still alive. The woman, Lucy Church (Muriel Pavlow) is married and her husband spend the entire film trying to track down where she went.

The last 15 minutes or so are very well done as one of the gangsters turned killer is trying to get Lucy out of the way so there are no witnesses.

Those scenes are very well done with plenty of suspense, but some of the earlier scenes really needed to go, in my opinion. You might want to check this out, and you may like it more than I did.

FRIGHT 1956 (MILL CREEK)

A somewhat rare film from W. Lee Wilder.

Eric Fleming stars as Dr. James Hamilton, a psychiatrist who talks a killer off of a bridge, and is then thrust into the news headlines where he becomes a very reluctant "hero".

He stumbles across a young women who claims to be the reincarnation of a princess. The woman, Ann Summers (Nancy Malone) and James develope a close relationship as they work together to discover what is happening to her.

Soon there is indeed another personality trying to take over Ann's body and the good Doctor must take some drastic action to stop the other personality from winning.

Being a W. Lee Wilder production will tell youthere isn't much action, but there are a few good things, such as Malone's performance, which I liked a lot and I have always been a fan of Fleming.

There were better films made on this subject such as "The She Creature" and "The Undead" and maybe you should watch those instead. All kidding aside, you might want to check this out if you inclined to, but be warned..it is a slow film.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Elke Sommer is 84.

RIP JONATHAN HAZE 1929-2024

The actor who worked alongside Roger Dorman has passed away.

Jonathan Haze has been a part of my movie life since I was 5 or 6, and that was a long time ago. Haze acted in 41 films and many of them were for Corman.

His first film credit was in Corman's "Monster from The Ocean Floor". His movie list is too long to print it all, but here are just a few of the films he worked on..."Teenage Caveman", "Five Guns West", "Cell 2455 Death Row", "Apache Woman", "Day The World Ended", "Oklahoma Woman", "It Conquered The World", "Not Of This Earth", "Saga Of The Viking Women, and "The Terror".

His best known role was in the Corman film "Little Shop Of Horrors" in which he played the lead role of Seymour Krelborn, a total schlepp who grows a plant that turns into a man eating monster.

Haze passed away on November 2, 2024 at the age of 95.

NO ESCAPE 1953 (TUBI)

Well made but very obscure film noir.

Lew Ayres stars as a down and out musician named John Tracy.

One night at a local bar he meets a beautiful woman named Pat Peterson ( Majorie Steele) who is with a cop. His name is Simon (Sonny Tufts) and he has quite a temper when John or anyone comes near Pat.

Before too long John is accused of the murder of a shady character named Peter Hayden (James Griffith). We discover that Pat was the last person to be seen with him however, and Simon wants to cover it all up to protect Pat.

There are some interesting twists and turns in this little drama and the ending may come as a total non surprise, but it works no matter if you guessed it or not.

The actors are all very good in their respective roles. The rest of the cast includes Lewis Martin, Gertrude Michael, Charles Cane, Robert Bailey and Barbara Morrison.

A good little movie that film noir fans should re-discover.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Monique Parent is 59, and Irene Tsu is 80.

DATE WITH DISASTER 1957 (RENOWN)

A fast moving British crime film from the same director and producer who gave the world "The Woman Eater".

Tom Drake stars as Miles Harrington, a man who owns a small used car selling business in England. His employees, Don Redman (Maurice Kaufman) and Ken Prescott (Richard Shaw) are planning on stealing 600,000 pounds from a safe.

Miles knows nothing of this and life goes on pretty much as usual until the robbery and then the trouble starts. Don has a bad temper that eventually gets him killed by Ken.

Miles has a romantic interest in a young woman named Sue Miller (Shirley Eaton) and who can blame him. Shirley looks super hot in this film. Anyway, things soon get out of hand and ken finds himself on the run from the police.

There are no real surprises in this movie, but it does hold your attention and moves at a good pace. It's only 60 minutes and they try and pack as much as they can into the scant running time.

I would recommend this to mystery fans as wll as Eaton fans. Not too shabby.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Debbie Rochon is 58, and Tom Savini is 78.

I LOVE TROUBLE 1947 (REEL VAULT)

A great film noir thriller with a top notch cast.

A private detective named Stuart Bailey (Franchot Tone) is hired by a man to find our more about his wife's past.

This gets Stuart into more trouble than he ever imagined. The wife of the man was a dancer who ran off with an actor and hasn't been seen since.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this great story written by Roy Huggins. Tone is perfect for the role of Bailey, and he gives it his best shot.

There are plenty of suspects and Stuart even finds himself on the wrong end of a beating by three thugs. The movie uses the "fade out" and "Blurry picture" techniques used in "Murder My Sweet: in 1944.

Any fan of film noir will love this film. The rest of the cast incudes Janet Blair, Janis Carter, Adele Jergens, Glenda Farrell, Steven Geray, Tom Powers, John Ireland, Donald Curtis, Raymond Burr and Eduardo Ciannelli plut too many more to mention.

With a cast like this and an excellent plot, this film is a can't miss for fans. I stumbled onto it by accident and will never regret that. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Stefanie Powers is 82, Charlotte Austin is 91, and Michael Buffer is 80.

RIP GIOVANNI CIANFRIGLIA 1935-2024

The Italian actor and stuntman has passed away.

Giovanni used the name Ked Woods when appearing in many films that made it to the USA.

His two most famouse films here among fans of sci-fi and horror are "Castle Of Blood" and "Superargo and the Faceless Giants". The latter always has been a favorite.

He also starred in may westerns and was Steve Reeves stunt double for a number of years. Cianfriglia passed away on October 30, 2024 at the age of 89.

BRUTE AND THE BEAST 1966 (WILD EAST)

This Lucio Fulci western is also known as "Massacre Time".

Franco Nero stars as a prospector named Tom Corbett who returns to his home only to find his brother Jeff (George Hilton) is a drunk and the family estate has been sold to a mysterious man named Mr. Scott (Giuseppe Addobbati).

There are a lot of twists and turns in this movie and some excellent set pieces including where Tom fights Scott's son Jason (Nino Castelnuovo) in which Tom is half killed by a whip.

Fulci shows his directing skills here and one just knew he was bound for greatness. The cast is excellent with Castelnuovo stealing the show as the insane son Jason.

There are tons of shootouts and Nero and Hilton play off of each other quite well, especially in the scenes where they are fighting Scott's army of men.

If you like Spaghetti westerns, you'll no doubt want to see this undiscovered early gem from a director who was destined for much greater things in the coming years.

I will say the movie opens with a bang and never stops. I won't give away anything else. Just see it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Jo Morrow is 85.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 31: VALLEY OF THE ZOMBIES 1947 (KINO) BLU-RAY

This is a very fun movie.

The story revolves around a cloaked killer named Ormand Murks (Ian Keith). It seems he was sent to an asylum by Dr. Rufus Maynard (Charles Trowbridge) and died there.

He has come back to life and needs a lot of blood to survive. He claims he learned this in the "Valley Of The Zombies" where voodoo rites are practiced.

Keith chews up every scene he is in. This is probably the most interesting villian ever to appear n a Republic production. Murks kills Maynard and frames Maynards assistant, Dr. Terry Evans (Robert Livingston) and his girlfriend Susan Drake (Lorna Gray) for the crime.

Terry and Susan must try to prove their innocence. This is a very short film running only 56 minutes, and once it starts it never has time to slow down and neither does the viewer.

The presentation from Kino is simply beautiful for a movie this age and I hope there are more of these low budget horrors coming to Blu-ray.

The rest of the cast for this highly recommended movie includes Thomas Jackson, LeRoy Mason, Wilton Graff and Charles Kane. See this movie!! After all you have sexy Lorna Gray and a villian named Ormand Murks...what's not to like?

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 30: THE BAT WHISPERS 1930 (VCI)

Creaky but somewhat entertaining "old dark house" thriller from 1930.

I heard a lot about this movie and decided to finally check it out. Chester Morris stars as Detective Anderson, a man called to investigate a murder at an old mansion that may have been committed by criminal mastermind "The Bat".

This is a standard thriller from the day with a bit of comedy thrown in. The maid, named Lizzie who screams and carries on so much gets very annoying and it way too over the top.

The story plods along and there are some very obvious minitures shown here, but I can forgive that. The ending is a good twist for the time the movie came out.

Morris is very good in this early role and it's always good to see him in anything. This is also the movie that, according to legend, gave Bob Kane the inspiration for "Batman".

If you get the chance you might want to check this out. Director Roland west does the best he can with the material he has.