PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO 1955 (OLIVE) BLU-RAY

My second favorite serial of all time finally gets the Blu-ray treatment.

Sexy Phyllis Coates is Jean Evans aka "Panther Girl" who is working for an international wildlife foundation and is in Africa to photograph the animals.

She and some members of a small tribe discover monsters living in the jungle. The creatures are actually giant craw fish developed by a scientist who is trying to scare Jean and the natives away.

Jean calls in Larry Sanders (Myron Healey) who helps her discover exactly what is going on. The scientist, Dr.Morgan (Arthur Space)has two thugs working for him that are constantly trying to get rid of Jean and Larry. Cass (John Day) and Rand (Mike Ragan) are unforgettable as two low life's who will try anything to help the Dr. Morgan.

The monsters are shown in every chapter and I think that is pretty cool. The effects aren't too bad for a production of this type, and that is because they were handled by the Lydecker brothers.

Phyllis Coates is beautiful, and I do mean beautiful. She has always been one of my favorite actresses and to see her in this makes it even better. Whether she is in her mini skirt outfit or her nice dress with heels, Coates makes a most fetching female on any occasion. She was the original Lois Lane on the TV show Superman and I always liked her the best.

Coates makes this chapter play well worth watching and it looks fabulous on the Blu-ray presentation from Olive. Another top release of the year so far. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Ali Larter is 41, Stephanie Beacham is 70, Mimsy Farmer is 72, Cristina Raines is 65, Frank Bonner is 75, and Richard Blood is 64.

THE TIGER WOMAN AKA PERILS OF THE DARKEST JUNGLE 1944 (ROAN)

A great Republic 12 chapter serial.

Linda Sterling is The Tiger Woman is her serial debut.She does an excellent job and does look quite fetching in her outfit. Sterling gets to do a lot of fighting which is not usually the case for a female in cliffhanger serials.

The Tiger Woman is trying to protect a tribe she rules from greedy oil speculators and their evil henchmen which include Morgan (George J. Lewis) who will stop at nothing to run the tribe off of the land.

The Tiger Woman is helped by Allen Saunders (Allen Lane) who works for an oil company. the two constantly face danger in 12 thrilling chapters that never disappoint in delivering the goods.

The fast paced adventure was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett and Wallace Grissell. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Duncan Renaldo, LeRoy Mason, Kenne Duncan, Tom Steele, Eddie Parker and Ken Terrell.

The presentation from Roan is very good and the sound will knock your socks off. If you like movie serials, then I highly recommend this little effort.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Rosanna Yanni is 79.

BACK PAGE 1934 (KINO) BLU-RAY

Neat little drama with Peggy Shannon.

This film is on the Blu-ray disc with "DELUGE" also starring Shannon.

In this little outing Peggy is a reporter on a paper who is fired from her job and then seeks employment on a small town California paper.

She encounters a few problems such as people not understanding a woman wanting to run a paper and advertisers who have the same feelings.

Finally, as she starts to get everything under control and the paper starts to grow people become more accepting. She uncovers another dark conspiracy concerning two prominent businessmen and once again everything is at stake.

This is not too bad of a time waster, and I found myself enjoying the story a hell of a lot. Give this little movie a try and I am sure you'll enjoy it like I did.

The Blu-ray presentation is beautiful from KIno.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Michele Carey is 74, Marta Kristen is 72, and Fats Domino is 89.

DELUGE 1933 (KINO) BLU-RAY

A long lost classic finally resurfaces and comes to Blu-ray.

This has got to be one of the five best releases of the entire year!. I had waited since 1974 when I first read about this film to finally see it. Well, the 43 year wait was worth it. Sometimes long lost films disappoint, but this one did not.

This 1933 sci-fi gem opens with unexplained droppage in the barometric pressure and strange storms going on everywhere. There is no explanation for what is happening, it just is.

Soon there is a series of earthquakes that wipe out the west coast followed by a bizarre eclipse of the sun. Finally the east coast is wiped out by massive earthquakes and huge floods. Millions die as the world comes to an apparent end.

Sidney Blackmer is a man who survives the ordeal, but looses his wife and children. Gorgeous Peggy Shannon is a champion swimmer who also survives. She happens along two men living in a shack. They take her in, but their intentions are far from kind. She escapes and swims away.

Martin Webster (Blackmer) finds her and the two become very close and depend on each other for survival. Trouble soon surfaces as a group of men try to steal Webster's supplies and take Shannon's character of Claire along with them. the two are rescued by another group of survivors who are slowly trying to rebuild what is left of civilization.

It is this small encampment that Webster finds his wife and children and Claire realizes she is loosing Webster back to his wife. The film has one of the most downbeat endings I have seen this side of film noir.

This is a truly great little film and it has a lot going for it. The two leads are perfect together and the special effects for the time are magnificent. Felix Feist directed this gem and he does an excellent job.

There are a lot of not so subtle hints at women being used only for sexual needs by the men and Peggy Shannon is always the target for the thugs, of course.

This film was thought lost for many decades until a print was finally unearthed in France in 1988. The English track has been restored and Kino has done a wonderful job bringing this long lost classic back for people to see.

If you get a chance to see this film...DO IT!!! I can safely say you will not be disappointed. It's what I would call a procurer to such films as "Panic In Year Zero" and many others like it in the years to come.

Peggy Shannon is a very, very beautiful woman and it is sad to know she died a mere 8 years after this film was made at the age of 34.

A great Blu-ray release that looks fantastic for it's age and one I can HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Ric Flair is 68, and Maria Kanellis is 35.

THE SHOP AT SLY CORNER 1947 (MILL CREEK)

This nifty little gem is also known as CODE OF SCOTLAND YARD.

Oskar Homolka steals the show as Desius, a former Devil's Island inmate who has two loves in life, a love for antiques and his beautiful daughter.

He will do anything for his daughter who is on her way to becoming a top violinist. Meanwhile Desius is being blackmailed by a former employee in his shop named Archie Fellows (Kenneth Griffith).

Fellows is a lazy, good for nothing sloth who sponges money out of Desius often. When Fellows goes too far in his blackmailing Desius has him killed and then soon finds his old friend at Scotland Yard investigating the crime.

Desius plays it real calm and collected, but he is aware that time is running out. He is trying to hide all this from his daughter who has a huge London concert hall performance coming up.

In fine film noir fashion this movie has a tragic end for Desius and a bittersweet one for his daughter Margaret (Muriel Pavlow).

This is a very well made thriller that keeps your attention to the very end, and as I said at the beginning, Homolka steals the show. A great example of film noir.

THE BLACK DAKOTAS 1954 (MILL CREEK)

Fine 50's western.

An emissary from Abe Lincoln is sent to the Sioux Indians with a peace treaty and a gift of $130,000 in Gold.

The emissary is killed in a hold up and replaced by Brock Marsh (Gary Merrill) who is helping the South to steal the money and keep the Civil War going. Brock arrives in town and starts his plan in motion.

Wandra Hendrix is Ruth Lawrence, a young woman who discovers that Marsh isn't what he says he is and this of course puts her life in danger.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this film and director Ray Nazarro handles it all very well. The action is hot and heavy and the cast handles their roles very well. it is odd to see Merrill in this kind of role, but he is very good.

Noah Beery, Jr. is "Gimpy" Joe Woods and he adds a lot of depth and change to a typical western character. This is included in the Mill Creek "7 Western Showdown" collection. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Peter Fonda is 77, and Linda Cristal is 83.

GUN FURY 1953 (MILL CREEK)

One of the best westerns I have seen in a long time.

Philip Carey is Frank Slayton who hijacks a stagecoach and in the process manages to kidnap a young woman named Jennifer Ballard (Donna Reed). Slayton leaves her fiancee Ben Warren (Rock Hudson) for dead as he and his gang take off.

Slayton hates everyone and the members of his gang are reluctant to have a woman along, but Slayton has other ideas. Tom Burgess (Leo Gordon) is so against the idea that he and Slayton split up and Burgess is left for dead as the gang again takes off on the run.

Ben turns up alive and is in hot pursuit of the kidnappers. The only one he can find to help him is the near dead Burgess whom he helps get better and then both men are driven to kill Slayton.

The action in this film never lets up, but it is the excellent acting ability that carries the film. Hudson is great as Warren, a man who doesn't like to use guns, but ends up using them for just abut everything.

Top acting kudos goes to Phil Carey as Slayton. Carey imbues real hatred into the role and you almost get the idea he is like this is real life. Donna Reed is very good as the woman who must always fight off Slayton's unwanted advances.

The rest of the cast for this top notch film includes Neville Brand, Lee Marvin, Roberta Haynes, and Forrest Lewis. This is a highly recommended film for any western fan!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

James Hong is 88, and Karin Dor is 80.

ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. 1966 (KINO) BLU-RAY

A simply amazing release!

The prehistoric classic with special effects by Ray Harryhausen finally makes it to blu-ray and what a great presentation it is.

Raquel Welch is Luana, probably the sexiest cavewoman on the entire planet who befriends a brutish caveman named Tumak played by John Richardson.

He is kicked out of his tribe and wonders the desert until he runs into Raquel's tribe and after a bit his behavior leads him to be kicked out of that tribe as well, but this time Luana goes with him.

The many dinosaurs except a lizard and a huge spider are the work of Harryhausen. The Allosaurus is his best creation for this film and the scene where it attacks Luana's tribe is a standout in film history.

What is really great about this release is it is a 2 disc set which also contain the International Version of the film which runs about 10 minutes longer than any version we have seen so far. Both the US Version and the International version are remastered and look beautiful.

There are plenty of extras including a poster gallery, interviews with Raquel Welch (which is interesting and amusing), Martine Beswick (who plays Nupondi) and then an archive interview with Harryhausen himself. And just wait until you see the reversible sleeve for this one!!

A huge thanks to Kino for putting out one of the best releases of the year so far.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

William Petersen is 64, and Gary Lockwood is 80. Today Sam Peckinpah would be 92. Sam was a very good friend and my mothers employer for many years. Miss you Sam.

GUEST IN THE HOUSE 1944 (MILL CREEK)

Rather interesting character study of insanity.

Anne Baxter is Evelyn Heath, a mentally unstable woman who moves in with her fiances family and slowly but surely things start to spiral out of control.

She is almost immediately smitten with Doug Proctor (Ralph Bellamy) the brother of her intended. Doug's career and marriage are both pushed to the limit and almost ruined by the sly and sometimes very cruel Anne, who even uses a little girl to get her ways with the family.

This story takes a while to start, but once it does it just gets darker and darker. For some reason I had never heard of this film before.

It's an excellent film noir that is extremely well acted by a great cast. The print is fairly good from Mill Creek, and I don't know if there is a better one out there.

Anyway, the film is very well made and the idea of an entire happy family being turned on itself by one evil woman is clever and handled well by director John Brahm. If you get a chance to see this little gem, you won't be disappointed. It's rather hard to find, even though it is in the public domain.

The rest of the cast includes Percy Kilbride, Margaret Hamilton, Marie McDonald, and Ruth Warrick.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Jennifer O'Neill is 69, and Gail Kim is 41.

J.W.COOP 1971 (MILL CREEK)

Interesting and off beat modern western.

Cliff Robertson directed and stars as J.W. Coop, a man recently released from nine years in prison who tries to again get on top of the rodeo world one last time.

He finds that the world has changed a lot in those nine years and he is determined to be number one in the sport he loves. He manages to climb to number 2 behind a young man who jets from arena to arena and barely works hard to keep his number one spot.

Coop also meets a young woman named Bean (Cristina Ferrare) and they have a short but rewarding relationship. Geraldine Page is Coop's mentally unhinged mother.

The rodeo sequences were shot at many actual rodeos and some of the actors are greats from the sport such as Larry Mahan. Robertson handles the directing chores just fine and he manages to get solid performances out of the entire cast.

This is an interesting character study of a man who tries to regain what he has missed in his life and all I can say is it was a good film and the ending is brutal and somewhat sad.

The cast is rounded out by R.G. Armstrong, John Crawford and Wade Crosby.

RIP IVAN KOLOFF 1942-2017

One of the classic wrestling villains ever to step into the squared circle has died.

Ivan was a Canadian wrestler who hit the big time in the 1980's as one of a team of Russian wrestlers who were here to take out every American they could.

I watched "The Russian Bear" and his tag team partner Ole Anderson rule Georgia wrestling in the 70's and 80's. Koloff was involved in one of the greatest swerves in wrestling history against Dusty "The American Dream" Rhodes.

Koloff was 74 and died from Liver cancer. This news came one day after the news of George Steele made headlines. Damn, my wrestling past in falling rapidly.

RIP GEORGE "THE ANIMAL" STEELE 1937-2017

William James Myers has passed away.

The man who had one of the most unusual gimmicks in the history of pro wrestling has died at the age of 79.

I grew up watching George eat turnbuckles and flail around in a most bizarre manner. It is easily something I will never forget. He passed away from kidney failure and has been in hospice care for almost a year.

Steel has a very long career in the WWF and other promotions around the world, but everyone will always remember him from WWF. george was also and author and an actor in a few movies as well. Yep, another chunk of childhood gone.

WHISTLE STOP 1946 (MILL CREEK)

Another interesting Film Noir I had never seen before.

When a young woman returns to her small town she finds things start going awry almost from the start.

Ava Gardner is Mary, a beautiful woman who, when she arrives in her home town rekindles friendships with two men she used to know and this causes friction between the men, of course.

George Raft is Kenny Veech, a loafer and a gambler who has nothing to his name while Lew Lentz (Tom Conway)is pretty well to do and debonair. It is these two very different men that clash over Mary.

Kenny and his bartender friend plan to steal $15,000 from Lew, and Lew, in turn tries to frame both men for murder.

Lew ends up dead and Kenny and his friend find themselves on the run. Kenny is shot, but both men escape and lay low for a while.

This is a very convoluted plot an there is a lot going on. The ending is a neat little twist and more upbeat than most film noir I have seen. Gardner is beautiful and I found it rather odd that she preferred the Raft character, but then again this is what makes film noir so damned interesting.

I had never heard of this film until I ran across it on a MIll Creek set. It's a pretty good little thriller.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Lisa Comshaw is 53.

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE 1953 (UNIVERSAL) BLU-RAY

The classic 50's sci-fi gem finally comes to Blu-ray.

Richard Carlson stars as John Putnam, an astronomer who lives in the desert just outside a small town. One night at his home with his beautiful girl friend Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush) they witness a huge meteor crashing in the desert.

Thus begins this great tale about aliens accidentally crashing here on Earth and wanting to leave as soon as possible. Putnam wants to make contact with the aliens, and does. The sheriff Matt Warren (Charles Drake) is both hostile towards Putnam and the invaders, whom he has never met but will never understand anyway.

In order to get the repairs on their ship done quicker the aliens adopt the identities of several townspeople. Putnam fights to keep the sheriff and angry townspeople away while the aliens repair their ship.

This is an all time classic sci-fi film that I first saw as a child of 10 and it has always remained a favorite. Jack Arnold directed this gem and Ray Bradbury wrote the story. With that combo you just cannot lose.

The Blu-ray has the film looking fantastic an it includes the original 3-D version as well as the 2-D version. I am unable to view the 3-D version, but the other one is better looking than I have ever seen it before.

The rest of the cast for this classic includes Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson and sexy Kathleen Hughes.

I can't see any 50's sci-fi fan not having this blu-ray in their collection. One of the best films of it's kind and one of the top releases of the year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO.....

Hal Holbrook is 92, Paris Hilton is 36, Jim Brown is 81, Don Coscarelli is 63, Yvonne Romain is 79.

MAN FROM COLORADO 1948 (MILL CREEK)

A top notch western.

Owen Devereaux (Glenn Ford) and Del Stewart (William Holden) have survived the Civil War together and it's obvious that Owen is slipping over the edge into insanity.

The viewer is shown this right off the bat because the first scene in the film is a massacre that Devereaux could have avoided. From that point on it gets even better.

The town council wants to elect Devereaux as a Judge and the leader Big Ed Carter (Ray Collins) makes that a reality. Devereaux wants to keep Stewart as his deputy and Stewart agrees only to try and keep his friend in line with the law.

There are many, many elements in this film including a man's inability to let go of the anger from war, returning soldiers treated as outlaws by the law and big business, the sanctity of marriage and much more.

Ellen Drew is Caroline Emmet, the young woman that Ford's Devereaux eventually marries. The relationship is strained to the max by the growing insanity inside of Devereaux. It gets to the point where even the bug business men who wanted Devereaux in office begin to doubt their own choice.

This western gem will hold your attention from start to finish and the direction by Henry Levin is right on the money. The rest of the cast includes Edgar Buchanan, Jerome Courtland and Jim Bannon.

The print from Mill Creek is beautiful and is simply a MUST for all western fans.

COMING ATTRACTIONS.....

2017 is looking to be a very good year for Blu-ray releases.

Warner Archive has announce "VALLEY OF GWANGI" will appear on Blu-ray as well as "DEMON SEED" and the one I mentioned just a couple of days ago "WORLD WITHOUT END".

These should be available in March and will retail for 20 bucks or less.

On April 11th Severin has announced the long, and I mean long awaited release of the 70's shocker "CATHY'S CURSE". It will be transferred to 2K from recently found film elements and the results will be astonishing.

This and the others listed above are almost certainly going to make my list of favorites for the year.

BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT 1942 (MILL CREEK)

Nice little Bela Lugosi flick.

Lugosi is Prof. Brenner, a kindly soup kitchen owner who lives a secret double life. He is also known as Karl Wagner.

Wagner uses the soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang that is operating with the city. Wagner plans and carries pout several robberies and murders and to keep things quiet, he has those within his own gang killed if he feels they will talk to police at some point.

Wanda McKay is a pretty nurse named Judy Malvern who works with Wagner when he is Brenner. She slowly falls in love with a man named Richard Dennison (John Archer) after he comes from Prof. Brenner's class to investigate the murders.

This is a fun little film that Lugosi is having a lot of fun with, you can tell. Tom Neal is Frankie, a psucho killer who enjoys his work way too much.

This is, of course, available on many labels and the print from Mill Creek was ok. Watch out for the cellar!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Jane Seymour is 66, Sherry Jackson is 75, Marie Liljedahl is 67, and Erika Remberg is 85.

BLAZING ACROSS THE PECOS 1948 (MILL CREEK)

This is a fun little Columbia programmer.

Charles Starrett is The Durango Kid and in this little film we find him trying to stop Indians from going to war with settlers.

This is happening because a gambling house owner is trying to take over a town.

The Durango Kid in his other life is known as Steve Blake and Steve finds himself falling in love with a young lady named Lola Carter (Patricia Barry).

The plot is pretty standard and straightforward, but this is a good little time waster. I was glad to see this included in the set from Mill Creek and I hope they bring more of these to DVD.

I can highly recommend this for western fans and those who remember when cinema was a fun thing to attend.

The rest of the cast is rounded out by Paul Campbell, Red Arnall, The Western Aces and Smiley Burnett.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Andrew Prine is 81.