AVENGER OF THE 7 SEAS 1962 (LOVING THE CLASSICS)

This is a fun and fast moving film that has somehow just seemed to disappear.

Richard Harrison stars as Lt. David Robinson who is serving in the service of the British Navy under the command of Capt. Redway (Roldano Lupi).

Robinson breaks away from Redway when his father's village is raided and he is forced to take sides. Redway wants the fishermen of the town to pay their taxes which is an enormous sum.

Robinson is arrested but soon rescued when a pirate named Bernard Van Artz (Walter Barnes) invades the town and defeats Redway and his men. Robinson strikes a bargain with Artz to steal a bounty of pearls from Redway which actually belong to the village his father lives in.

Things don't quite go as planned and things get out of hand in the war between Redway and Robinson. There are a lot of battles at sea and on land in this well made Italian action/adventure film.

This widescreen presentation should please any fan of the genre and I have to mention that the cast is exceptional..it includes Paul Muller, Michele Mercier, Marisa Belli, Italo Sain and Lilia Nguyen.

Beautiful women and almost non-stopaction make this a winner all the way. If you get a chance to see it do so.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Gary Busey is 80, Lita Milan is 91, and Alice Arno is 78.

THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR FACE 1971 (VIDEO DIMENSIONS)

Very rare and Unique Italian quasi/horror film.

A corporate office worker named Alberto Valle (Giuliano Esperati) gets an invitation from the owner of the auto company he works for to come to his mountain mansion and visit.

He takes up the offer from Giovanni Nosferatu (Adolfo Celi) and finds the castle hard to get to. Alberto stops for gas in a small town in which nobody talks to him and he runs into a topless woman named Laura (Francesca Modigliani).

She accompanies him on the rest of his journey. Alberto is more interested in moving up in his career than in having anything much to do with Laura. She decides to stay in his car and wait for him to finish his visit.

Upon entering the mansion Albert's whole world changes. He discovers many odd things and begins to suspect Nosferatu is not what he seems to be. Giovanni's secretary, Corinna (Geraldine Hooper) seduces Alberto and when he speaks to Giovanni, he is a little scared to accept any position from the man.

The movie moves along well and it gets very creepy. There are a lot of interesting things that happen and I don't want to give anything away so I will just say SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Bruce Davison is 78, and Pamela Rodgers is 81.

THREE SERGEANTS OF BENGAL 1964 (WAR SHOWS)

Umberto Lenzi directed this fun feature film.

Richard Harrison, Ugo Sasso and Nazzareno Zamperla star as three Sergeants who are given an almost impossible mission.

They are stationed in Malaysia and soon find themselves sent off to Fort Madras to help in the fight against an elusive bandit that is terrorizing the entire countryside and wanting to take over the entire Fort.

The three men have many adventures before arriving at their destination. They are involvced in a huge bar fight and later they have all of their provisions stolen as well as their horses.

After several days on foot they are captured by headhunters and must perform emergency surgery on the sick son of the Chief in order to gain their freedom.

After this they are captured by Indians and escape to Fort Madras to set up a defense. This is a somewhat light hearted film as there is a lot of comedy, but it works very well.

This is a colorful adventure film from Italy and the rest of the cast includes Wandisa Guida, Andrea Bosic, Luz Marquez and Dakar. Recommended little film.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Lorrie Morgan is 65.

MURDER IN THE RED BARN 1935 ( SINISTER CINEMA)

Another Tod Slaughter film that I enjoyed.

The plot for this film is very simple. A woman who has an affair with a squire named William Corder (Tod Slaughter) becomed pregnant and her father throws her out of his house.

The young woman, Maria Marten (Sophie Stewart) goes to Corder for help, but he decides to have nothing to do with her and he takes her to a red barn and kills her.

He buries her and then shifts the blame to a young gypsy man named Carlos (Eric Portman) who then must prove his innocents.

Everything comes to a head and Corder is found out and finally hung. This little 58 minute gem moves along nicely and Slaughtwer delivers another fine performance as a mad killer.

If this is your cup of tea then I say if you haven't seen it goe for it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Robert Davi is 73, and Terri Nunn is 65.

AIRBORNE 2013 (IMAGE)

Not a bad film at all and it has a strange mixture of genres.

A flight from England to New York is allowed to leave with very few passengers in order to avoid a huge storm coming in.

After a while into the flight some of the passengers notice that other people have disappeared. Things become more frantic as more passengers and some of the crew also vanish.

The plot takes an even more bizarre turn when we discover that a vase from China that is in the cargo hold contains an evil spirit that is hopping from body to body in the plane.

The movie has a lot of foul language, which is something you never need to put in a movie, but it is such a waste of dialogue. Anyway, this movie entertained me and I found it pretty damned good.

The cast includes Mark Hamill, Craig Conway, gorgeous Gemma Atkinson, Fiona Ryand and Julian Glover.

I recommend this and there are a few twists and turns you might not see coming, and the end was pretty odd as well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

June Lockhart is 99.

HAWK OF THE CARIBBEAN 1962 (RARE FILMS)

A great Italian pirate movie with an interesting cast and bizarre production history.

Johnny Desmond who was a top crooner in the 40's and 50's with the likes of Bob Crosby, Glenn Miller and Gene Krupa stars as Juan Rodrigo Olivares, a pirate who along with several others escapse from a sinking ship and lands on an island.

He and the others were prisoners on a ship headed for a penal colony. They manage to eventually take a ship and supplies and become respectable enough to be asked to defend the Spanish crown against the English.

This film has tons of action and plenty of very well staged sword fights as well as many other things not expected in a movie such as this. The cast, as I mentioned is very interesting. You not only have Johnny Desmond you have Yvonne Monlaur, a beautiful French actress you may remember from "Brides Of Dracula".

The cast also features some other gorgeous Italian actresses such as Franca Parisi, Elvi Lissiak, Susan Terry and the drop dead beauty of Graziella Granata. The men include Walter Brandi, Armando Francioli, Piero Lulli and Vincenzo Musolino.

There are many time scenes just end and move to the next with no explanation and that is partly because the film stopped production several times due to contract disputes and Monlaur only has one outfit for the entire movie due to budget limitations.

However, despite all this,the film turns out to be very entertaining and well directed by Piero Regnoli who also worked with actor Walter Brandi on the classic "Playgirls And The Vampire".

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Michele Lee is 82, and Georg Stanford Brown is 81.

MITCHELL 1976 (WARNER ARCHIVE)

I just don't understand all the negative things that get thrown at this movie.

Joe Don Baker is an honest cop named Mitchell who is a very different character than what you see in most movies. He likes his malt liquor and porn magazines, and he even has a high class prostitute as a girlfriend.

That may be why people don't like it..I don't know. Anyway the plot is a simple one involving Mitchell trying to take down a wealthy crime lord and a gang of heroin snugglers.

His ways are unconventional but Mitchell manages to strike a nerve with James Arthur Cummings (Martin Balsam) who is in charge of the smuggling operation and Walter Deaney (John Saxon) who killed a young man invading his home and who works with Cummings.

Some of the plot is confusing, but it's not as bad as everyone says. There are a couple of very violent scenes that may surprise you, I know they did me.

This film is really no worse or better than hundreds of others just like it. The rest of the cast includes Linda Evans who is very sexy in this film, Merlin Olsen, Morgan Paull, Harold J. Stone and Rayford Barnes.

Ignore all the negative things and check it out for yourself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

John Amplas is 75, and Brandi Rhodes is 41.

ATLAS AGAINST THE CZAR 1964 (RARE FILMS)

Standard Italian muscle popper with a strange twist.

Czar Nicolas (Massimo Serato) sends a group of people on a secret mission to find hidden treasures and bring them back to his kingdom.

One group finds a lot of treasure and then they discover a tomb with a very well preserved corpse inside. He comes back to life and they find he is Maciste (Kirk Morris).

Nicolas doesn't take this too well as Maciste fights for the oppressed people. After this bizarre opening we get the usual adventure of a muascleman attempting to stop a tyrant.

Now, I am not saying this is a bad film by any means. I enjoyed it a lot because I likeMorris and I like the beautiful women even more. These kinds of movie never fail to satisfy in that regard.

This is a rare film in this genre as it hasn't been seen much. Sometimes these just fall thru the cracks of the celluloid world. The rest of the cast for this epic includes beautiful Ombretta Colli, Gloria Milland, Dada Gallotti and Tom Felleghy.

On a quick note, in America they released the film with the hero named Atlas and in the ads it said Samson!! Americans wer not familiar with Maciste I guess.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Lindsay Wagner is 75, Bruce Campbell is 66, and Kris Kristofferson is 88.

BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS 1969 (LOVING THE CLASSICS)

Very well made Italian WW2 film starring Jack Palance.

Palance is Col. Charley McPherson whom we are introduced to at the beginning of the film as he chews out his superior for sending him on a suicide mission that killed all 28 of his men.

His new assignment is to wipe out a German tank gun and this time he take a squad of criminals and an American bomb expert. There is a lot of tension between the men and McPherson as they slowly make thier way into enemy lines.

A German called Col. Ackerman (Wolfgang Preiss) knows McPherson very well as the two have met before and he is always hounding Charley makes his mission just that much more dangerous.

This soon turns into a very interesting cat and mouse game that leads to the ultimate battle for the huge gun. I like this movie. It has a lot ging for it.

It was directed by Umberto Lenzi and co-written by Dario Argento which is always a plus. Also I worked with Jack Palance on several films, but never knew about this one. Lastly, but not least is Diana Lorys who when we first see her character of Janine she is wearing a very sexy black negligee! I've said it many times before....this woman is one of the sexiest ever.

If you're a fan of WW2 films I know you'd like this well made effort. The rest of the cast includes Thomas Hunter, Guido Lollobrigida, Curd Jergens and Mirko Ellis.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Mariette Hartley is 84, Annalisa Cochrane is 28, and Ron Ely is 86.

RIP DONALD SUTHERLAND 1935-2024

Wow, this actor was a huge part of movie going life.

Sutherland had over 200 acting credits in a career that spanned over 60 years.

I was first introduced to Sutherland when I was about 8 when I saw him in "Castle Of The Living Dead" on Bob Wilkins Creature Feature. Later I saw him in hundreds of movies.

Some of his credits include "M.A.S.H", "Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors", Die Die My Darling", "The Dirty Dozen", "The Split", "Klute", "Kelly's Heroes", "invasion Of The Body Snatchers", "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", "Puppet Masters" and "The Hunger Games" just to name a few.

Talent like his is no longer alive in modern movie making. Donald Sutherland passed away on June 20th, 2024 at the age of 88.

DAGGER EYES 1983 (TUBI)

Solid and entertaining Italian Giallo.

Drop dead Gorgeous Carole Bouquet stars as a prostitute named Mystere who is hired along with a friend of hers to engage in a threesome with a very rich German man.

This man we recognize as a photographer who took pictures of an assassin at the beginning of the movie. Mystere's friend Pamela steals a solid gold lighter from the man and hides it in Mystere's purse.

After the women leave a man whose face we don't see comes to visit and kills the German because he lost his lighter which contained the negatives. The assassins begin stalking and killing anyone who has come in contact with the lighter and this sets the tone for the entire movie.

Mystere goes to the police after her life is almost taken by a would be killer and she forms an uneasy alliance with Inspector Colt (Phil Coccioletti).

I won't give too much away, but there are a lot of interesting twists and turns in this well developed film. I don't understand why this movie isn't better known amongst fans, but I do very highly recommend it.

I don't think this is available on Disc here in the US, or anywhere else for that matter. Don't miss this one.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Candy Clark is 77, and Brett Halsey is 91.

CHARGE OF THE BLACK LANCERS 1962 (LOVING THE CLASSICS)

A good action/adventure movie.

Once this movie started it never lost my attention. Mel Ferrer stars as Andrea Di Tula a man who loves his country and is in love with a beautiful woman named Mascia (Leticia Roman).

His brother Sergio (Jean Claudio) is a go getter and very hot tempered. He is slowly seduced by a sadistic woman named Jassa (Yvonne Furneaux) who turns him against the King Of Poland after he selects Andrea to lead his people.

Jassa also has Mascia kidnapped and chained in the torture chamber where she enjoys making her suffer. Andrea and his army battle with Jassa and Sergio and their army in a huge battle for Poland.

The action scenes are very well done and all of the leads give great performances. I had never seen Furneaux in this kind of role and enjoyed the change of pace for her.

The rest of the cast includes Lorella De Luca, Annibale Ninchi, Franco Silva and Claudio Biava.

If you get a chance to see this and like this genre of movies, then I would say do so. You won't be disappointed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Paula Abdul is 62, and Rosalba Neri is 85.

SECRET OF THE BLACK FALCON 1962 (LOVING THE CLASSICS)

I really tried to like this movie.

This movie couldn't decide if it was a comedy or a straight adventure film. The plot concerns a secret document that has fallen into the hands of pirates.

It also seems both Spain and England are interested in this document and so they send a commissioned pirate from England and the Spaniards send one of their best officers named Carlos de Herrera (Lex Barker) to retrieve it.

There isn't much action, but there is a ton of wannabe comedy and lightheartedness which just does not work. I prefer my films like this to be straight adventure, not a mix because it never seems to work, and I have seen enough of these to know.

You might like this, but I didn't. It never kept my attention. The rest of the cast includes Livio Lorenzon, Nadia Marlowa, Germano Longo, and Pina Cornel.

TERROR OF THE RED MASK 1960 (LOVING THE CLASSICS)

Another great Italian adventure film.

Lex Barker stars as Marco, a 16th century traveling soldier who receives an offer to protect an evil ruler named Astolfo (Livio Lorenzon) who is both cruel and unjust to the peoples in the area.

His reign is beng challenged by a masked man known as "The Red Mask" and he has hired Marco to rid the country of the would be hero. Marco sees the way Astolfo runs things and decides not to help him at all.

This, of course puts Marco on the outs but he is trying to get to know Jolanda (Liana Orfei) the woman who also trying to rule the countryside, but in a much better way.

Marco is also interested in a beautiful gypsy woman called Karima (Chelo Alonso) but she double crosses him and he ends up almost executed, and this is when the true identity of "The Red Mask" is revealed, and it's quite a twist indeed.

This is a fun film with a lot of action and of course a lot of Chelo Alonso!! Every film she appears in is made better just by her alone. What a babe!.

Any fan of this genre will no doubt like this movie, so I highly recommend it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Peter Lupus is 92 and Barry Manilow is 81.

THE BLACK DUKE 1963 (INTERNET ARCHIVE)

Italian adventure film starring Cameron Mitchell as Cesare Borgia.

Cesare is at war with Catalina Sforza (Gloria Milland) who has formed an organization called "the red flower" to kill him.

Cesare also has many other personal and political troubles, but that doesn't keep him from living life to it's fullest and fighting and winning many battles.

This is a fast moving movie and it never seems to lose the viewers attention. However, it is very different than what I expected and doesn't quite fit in with all of the other Italian sword and sandal films I have seen.

Mitchell does a great job in the lead role, but his voice has been dubbed by someone else. The rest of the cast includes Conrado San Martin, Maria Grazia Spina, Franco Fantasia, and Dina De Santis.

If you're a fan of this genre of cinema I would recommend you see it and judge for yourself. I kept most of the info about this movie out of the review as it's best seen without me giving too much away.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Joan Van Ark is 81, and Dagmar Lassander is 81.

FRIGHT 1972 (SHOUT FACTORY) BLU-RAY

This is how a horror film should be done.

A young woman named Amanda (Susan George) arrives at a somewhat secluded house to babysit for a couple who are going out to get some dinner and relax.

Amanda notices that the couple, Helen Lloyd (Honor Blackman) and Jim (George Cole) act rather uptight, but she shrugs it off. When the couple leave Amanda's boyfriend arrives and after a while they fight and she throws him out.

He is attacked by an unknown person and almost beat to death. When Amanda finds him she screams and then a man runs in and helps her. He is kind and friendly to her and finds out the phone is dead and they cannot call the police.

It turns out this man is the ex-husband of Helen and he has escaped from a mental hospital and is seeking revenge. He proceeds to terrorize Amanda and all leads to a final that is both compelling and shocking, depending on your point of view.

Susan George looks fantastic as always and is good in this role as the violated victim. However it is Ian Bannen who steals the entire show with an over the top chilling performance as the ciminally insane Brian.

Great top notch British horror that shouldn't be missed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Joy Bang is 79, Judy Pace is 82, and Pamela Martinez is 35.

SWORD IN THE SHADOWS 1961 (TUBI)

Well made Italian swashbuckler/adventure film.

This film opens pretty wildly as the della Rocca family completely wipes out another family named Altavila and takes over their castle and thier lands.

Flash forward to 15 years later and the della Rocca's still rule with an iron fist. In a bit of irony, the Countessa Ottavia della Rocca (Tamara Lees) took in an abandoned child as her family's victory and the child has now grown up amongst the gypsies.

The irony is that this now young man will prove to be her downfall. He starts by stealing the horses of the dell Rocca family and hiding them so the soldiers cannot find them.

This small act sets into motion many other things that lead to a final war. There is a lot of action, adventure and beautiful women which makes me wonder why this film isn't better known.

If you like adventure films like this, the I suggest you check it out on streaming. The print quality is very good and it begs for a Blu-ray release.

The rest of the cast includes Livio Lorenzon, Germano Longo, Mario Valdemarin, Pina Cornel, and Gabriella Farinon.

DICK SMART 2.007 1967 (LOVING THE CLASSICS)

Now this was fun.

I really liked this movie. It's an Italian spy film that doesn't take itself too seriously, but didn't get too comedic, as some of these often do.

Richard Stapley stars as Smart who works for "Super Secret Agency" and is so good he gets one million dollars for every job. This time he is called in to find a super criminal who is stealing the parts needed for an atom bomb.

We see that Lady Lister (Margaret Lee) is the master mind behind the crimes, but her reasons are much different than we are first led to believe. She has discovered a way to turn coal into diamonds using a small, controlled nuclear explosion. She wants to make billions with this scheme, but she does have enemies as well.

This film moves along very well and it is never boring. Because it's an Italian production all of the women are drop dead gorgeous. Margaret Lee is simply stunning as Lister. I think I'd let her get away with any crime.

The movie drips of 60's style and fashion and Smart has some pretty dandy spy devices, and you're never sure where this plot is taking you until you arrive. It's not very well known, and it should be. If you get the chance to see it, do so.

The rest of the cast includes Rosana Tapajos, Flavia Balbi, and Elio Guerriero.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Malcolm McDowell is 81.

BATTLE OF THE LAST PANZER 1969 (GOODTIMES)

Obscure WW2 film.

Spanish WW2 film that seems to have been lost in the pages of film history. It's a passable effort about a rag tag group of German soldiers who are fighting for thier lives in a tank and trying to get back to their lines.

Stelvio Rosi stars as Lt. Hunter, a German soldier who is in charge of the small group, and who seems to be losing his grip on sanity as the war rages on and on.

He and his men invade a small French town after the American forces led by a soldier named Lofty (Guy Madison) leave. He decides to pursue the soldier and takes three hostages. A bartender, a doctor and the bartenders sexy wife played by Erna Schurer.

Things get a little complicated when she falls for Hunter and that starts more trouble. I did like this movie and was very pleased to see one of my top Euro Goddesses in it. That always makes a movie better.

There is no nudity in this movie, but Schurer shows enough to perk a mans interest and she looks great in every scene she is in. They just don;t make women like this anymore.

If you're a fan of WW2 films I suggest you check it out. It's no classic, but it's good and a bit different.