News

Denise Alexander, who performed in thousands of radio episodes and on The Twilight Zone as a youngster before starring in two long stints as Dr. Lesley Webber on General Hospital, has died. She was 85.

Alexander died March 5 of natural causes at the home of a nephew in Boulder, Colorado, her stepson, Anthony Colla, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The daughter of a talent agent, Alexander had spent more than six years playing Susan Hunter Martin on NBC’s Days of Our Lives — she began in 1966 while in college — when G.H. producers at ABC heard that her contract had lapsed and began an “offer you can’t refuse situation,” she recalled in a 2010 interview for the website I Love Soaps.

She moved to Port Charles as Dr. Lesley Williams in March 1973, and over the next 11 years, her tough yet compassionate character would twice marry Dr. Rick Webber (Michael Gregory and then...

Quentin Tarantino loves movies far more than most. He doesn’t just watch them. he eats, sleeps, and breathes cinema. Accordingly the writer/director is quite knowledgeable about noteworthy cinematic efforts from years past. In fact, you might say he wrote the book on it. Because he basically did.

Tarantino’s book Cinema Speculation chronicles a variety of standout historic offerings with which the director connected. Through the tome, he dives into a lot of his influences and serves up plenty of quality recommendations within.

One film Tarantino speaks especially fondly of through the pages of Cinema Speculation is an Edmund Goulding picture he thinks deserves even more acclaim than it tends to get.

The Pulp Fiction director has this to say about the motion picture in question: “While Nightmare Alley is rightly considered a classic, I still think it’s underrated. To me, Nightmare Alley is as good as studio filmmaking ever gets.

Writer/director Robert Eggers just dominated at the box office with Nosferatu, earning over $136 million at the worldwide box office thus far. The movie's eerie Gothic wintry setting was perfect for the holiday season, and it showed a trend towards electrifying new life into old, black-and-white Universal monster movies. Eggers is in good company since director Leigh Whannell, who already had a hit with his remake of The Invisible Man in 2020, is set to explore another Universal monster with Wolf Man.

While these movies have been undeniably successful, there are still many Universal monster movies that have gone unexplored. Time has seemed to have forgotten all about these classic Universal monsters. Almost everyone is familiar with Dracula, Frankenstein, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Creature From the Black Lagoon, but few know these underrated horror icons exist. It's time they got the respect and maybe even the reboot that they deserve.

The desert will again be a hotbed of deceit and larceny in luxurious black-and-white as the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival returns to Palm Springs this Thursday through Sunday, with the quintessential noir classics “The Killing” and “Double Indemnity” bookending a marathon weekend that otherwise tends toward more rarely screened ‘40s and ‘50s titles.

Several sons or daughters of the original actors or directors will be on hand, but of special interest to festival attendees will be the presence of one of the actual filmmakers: James B. Harris, 94, Stanley Kubrick’s producing partner for several of his best early films, who’ll be able to speak first-hand about the making of 1956’s “The Killing,” the crime drama that turned out to be Kubrick’s first real masterpiece.

“I’m just utterly thrilled that ‘The Killing’ will show and Jimmy will be the guest on opening night,” says the festival’s longtime guiding light,...

This picture looks as modern and radical as anything from Italy in the 1960s, yet it’s a tough-talking take on hardboiled crime caper fiction. In three pictures Stanley Kubrick went from amateur to contender: now he has a like-minded producer, a top-flight cast, and the help of the legendary pulp author Jim Thompson. Sterling Hayden, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards peg the cynical film noir style, and Kubrick maintains the source book’s splintered chronology for the tense racetrack heist. All Hollywood took notice — at least that part of the industry looking out for daring, progressive storytelling. Now in 4K, Kubrick’s superb B&w images look better than ever.

The Killing

4K Ultra HD

Kl Studio Classics

1956 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date July 26, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95

Starring: Sterling Hayden, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen,...

Antonio Campos, creator of the new HBO Max miniseries The Staircase, walks hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante through his favorite films noir.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Afterschool (2008)

The Devil All The Time (2020)

Rashomon (1950) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (1996)

Raw Deal (1948) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

T-Men (1947) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)

House of Bamboo (1955) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Pickup On South Street (1953) – Sam Hamm’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Naked Kiss (1964)

Reign of Terror (1949)

Detour (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Scarlet Street (1945)

The House on 92nd Street (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Barry Lyndon (1975) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Killing (1956) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary

Kiss of Death (1947) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Kiss of Death...

From TorontoFilm.Net, take a look at director Guillermo del Toro’s remake of "Nightmare Alley", based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen and David Strathairn:

"...an ambitious 'carny' (Cooper)...

"...with a talent for manipulating people...

"...with a few well-chosen words...

"...hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is..."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using a razor blade to slice...

From TorontoFilm.Net, take a look at director Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-nominated remake of "Nightmare Alley", based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen and David Strathairn, releasing in theaters December 17, 2021:

"...an ambitious 'carny' (Cooper)...

"...with a talent for manipulating people...

"...with a few well-chosen words...

"...hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is..."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek,...

The Oscar-nominated feature “Nightmare Alley", directed by Guillermo Del Toro, based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, stars Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara and Mary Steenburgen:

"...an ambitious 'carny' (Cooper)...

"...with a talent for manipulating people...

"...with a few well-chosen words...

"...hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is..."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using a razor blade to slice chickens' necks and then faking the drinking of the blood.

From TorontoFilm.Net, take a look at Oscar winning "The Shape of Water" director Guillermo del Toro's remake of the 1947 thriller "Nightmare Alley", based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Mary Steenburgen and David Strathairn, opening in theaters December 17, 2021:

"...an ambitious 'carny' (Cooper)...

"...with a talent for manipulating people...

"...with a few well-chosen words...

"...hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is..."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek,...

From TorontoFilm.Net, take a look at director Guillermo del Toro’s remake of "Nightmare Alley", based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Mary Steenburgen and David Strathairn, releasing in theaters December 17, 2021:

"...an ambitious 'carny' (Cooper)...

"...with a talent for manipulating people...

"...with a few well-chosen words...

"...hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is..."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using a razor...

From TorontoFilm.Net, take a look at director Guillermo del Toro’s remake of "Nightmare Alley", based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen and David Strathairn, releasing in theaters December 17, 2021:

"...an ambitious 'carny' (Cooper)...

"...with a talent for manipulating people...

"...with a few well-chosen words...

"...hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is..."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using...

Guillermo del Toro takes a walk on the noir side in his first film since winning the Oscar for directing the 2017 best picture winner “The Shape of Things.” “Nightmare Alley,’ based on the uncompromising 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, offers a bleak depiction of humanity including low-rent carnivals filled with has-beens, geeks and “rum-dums.” Searchlight Pictures is giving “Nightmare Alley,” which had to shut down production during the height of Covid in 2020, the “A” treatment, opening the film on Dec. 3 just in time for awards consideration.

The innovative Mexican filmmaker best known for his acclaimed fantasy, horror (“The Devil’s Backbone”) and sci-fi (‘Hellboy”) productions, co-wrote the screenplay with Kim Morgan. Bradley Cooper plays Stan Carlisle, a handsome manipulative carny worker who has a massive chip on his shoulder. Stan wants to hit the big time and with the help of carnival headliner Zeena (Toni Collette) resurrects her old mentalist act.

One of the most glamorous / unsavory films noir ever, this creepy tale of a master con-man undone by warped ambition was planned as a career-altering role for the big star Tyrone Power. Power plumbs the depths of personal degradation in terms that even today skew to the squeamish side of human experience. Almost as fascinating are the women Power uses, arrayed in dynamic contrast: Coleen Gray, Joan Blondell and Helen Walker. Yes, this is the movie about ‘The Geek’… Hollywood hadn’t been this intimate with the seamy underside of carnival life since Tod Browning’s Freaks. The disc extras include top contributions from James Ursini and Alain Silver, Imogen Sara Smith and even Coleen Gray.

Nightmare Alley

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1078

1947 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 25, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Tyrone Power, Coleen Gray, Joan Blondell, Helen Walker, Taylor Holmes, Mike Mazurki, Ian Keith,...

Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none

“Geek Love”

By Raymond Benson

One of the more unique entries in the film noir movement of the 1940s and 50s is the 1947 melodrama, Nightmare Alley. Based on a novel by William Lindsay Gresham, the picture was made only because Tyrone Power expressed the desire to star in it after reading the grim tale of a carnival barker who rises to the top of the charlatan world, only to ultimately fall hard to rock bottom.

While classified as film noir, the picture has little of the usual trappings of the movement. There is no central crime in the story, there are no cynical detectives, and one can argue that there are no femmes fatale. It is only in the visual presentation that one can consider Nightmare Alley an item of film noir—the high contrast black and white photography, the heavy light and shadows,...

According to TorontoFilm.Net, Oscar winning director Guillermo del Toro ("The Shape of Water") has wrapped his Searchlight Pictures feature "Nightmare Alley", based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, David Strathairn and Willem Dafoe, now preparing for a December 2021 release:

"...a corrupt con-man teams up with a female psychiatrist to trick people into giving them money."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using a razor blade to slice chickens' necks and then faking the drinking of the blood.

Production has wrapped on Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley,” the upcoming psychological thriller film led by a starry ensemble including Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Rooney Mara, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, and Ron Perlman. While Disney-owned distributor Searchlight Pictures has yet to reveal a release date, the film’s co-screenwriter Kim Morgan (writing with Del Toro) revealed the end of the film’s production on Instagram Saturday. Independently, Guillermo del Toro confirmed that shooting was completed to IndieWire. (See Morgan’s post below.)

Production was suspended on March 13 due to the pandemic, but resumed safely in September. The film shot mainly in Toronto. Based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham, the film centers on an ambitious young carny (Cooper) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words. He hooks-up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who, it turns out, is even more dangerous than he is.

Ride ’em, rope ’em, bite ’em? Is this ‘Dracula Goes West,’ or ‘Fangs of the High Chapparal?’ The fading Universal-International house of horrors squeaks out a bizarre horror item that one sits through just out of curiosity… are these people serious? We respect the professionalism of Michael Pate, Kathleen Crowley and Bruce Gordon as they give their all to a dead horse of a concept. A threadbare production stages us vampiric action so tame that it’s toothless, figuratively and literally. Critical snipers suggest that the whole thing might have been some kind of in-house joke — if so, where are the laughs?

Curse of the Undead

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1959 /B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date October 6, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Eric Fleming, Michael Pate, Kathleen Crowley, John Hoyt, Bruce Gordon, Edward Binns, Jimmy Murphy, Helen Kleeb, Jay Adler, Eddie Parker, Don Sullivan.

Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter

Film...

According to TorontoFilm.Net, Oscar winning director Guillermo del Toro ("The Shape of Water") will resume shooting September 16, 2020, in Toronto, "Nightmare Alley", based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, David Strathairn and Willem Dafoe:

"...a corrupt con-man teams up with a female psychiatrist to trick people into giving them money."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using a razor blade to slice chickens' necks and then faking the drinking of the blood. After a few weeks,...

Today’s noir forecast is vice, kidnapping, murder, suicide, narcotics and a sleazy stolen baby racket! Kino’s third volume of Universal-International pix contains two seldom-screened quality urban noirs. Expect genuine dark themes in these sizable-budget location noirs filmed before Universal pulled most production back onto its one-size-fits-all backlot sets. Barbara Stanwyck dominates one show, while noir stalwarts Richard Conte and Dennis O’Keefe anchor the other two dramas, with dynamic showings by Coleen Gray, Edith Barrett, Peggy Dow, Jeanette Nolan, Meg Randall and especially Gale Storm.

Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema III

Abandoned, The Lady Gambles, The Sleeping City

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1949-50 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 79,99,86 min. / Street Date June 9, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.99

Starring: Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Meg Randall, Raymond Burr, Marjorie Rambeau, Jeanette Nolan, Mike Mazurki, Will Kuluva, David Clarke; Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, Stephen McNally, Edith Barrett, John Hoyt,...

According to TorontoFilm.Net, Oscar winning director Guillermo del Toro ("The Shape of Water") has started shooting "Nightmare Alley", based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, David Strathairn and Willem Dafoe:

"...a corrupt con-man teams up with a female psychiatrist to trick people into giving them money."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using a razor blade to slice chickens' necks and then faking the drinking of the blood. After a few weeks,...

Why do we like horror and monster movies that routinely get labeled as ‘bad?’ Because many of them have great story ideas and look at the world from odd, warped viewpoints. Back when ‘warped’ wasn’t a prerequisite for All filmed entertainment (my exaggeration) this murderous rejuvenation tale could be appreciated as something unusual, even quirky. Jeez, the characters are even nastier than the people I know! Lovely Coleen Gray takes a chance on a downmarket Universal programmer and proves how well she can carry a movie, even through several dubious horror make-ups.

The Leech Woman

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1960 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 77 min. / Street Date August 27, 2019 / Available from Scream Factory

Starring: Coleen Gray, Grant Williams, Phillip Terry, Gloria Talbott, John Van Dreelen, Estelle Hemsley, Kim Hamilton, Arthur Batanides, Murray Alper, Paul Thompson.

Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter

Film Editor: Milton Carruth

Original Music: Irving Gertz

Written by David Duncan, story by Ben Pivar,...

Exclusive: Holt McCallany’s Christmas looks like it’s coming a little early this year

The Mindhunter star is already before the cameras on the other side of the Atlantic for Guy Ritchie’s Cash Truck with Jason Statham, as Deadline revealed last month. Now I hear that the actor is joining Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Willem Defoe and Bradley Cooper in Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley.

The deal for the Buchwald, Atlas Artists and attorney Rick Genow repped McCallany to get on board with the del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Tsg Entertainment produced drama just came together.

As a part of that cast, which also includes Toni Collette and David Strathairn, McCallany will play Anderson, a get-the-job-done bruiser with more going on that is first apparent from his tough guy persona.

Based on William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel revolving around an ex-carnival con-man turned spiritualist, played by Cooper,...

David Strathairn will have a role in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Nightmare Alley. Strathairn was nominated for his performance in 2005's Good Night, and Good Luck. Bradley Cooper is taking the lead role in the noir thriller while Toni Collette, Rooney Mara, and Cate Blanchett also star. The story is set in a "world of carnival hustlers and con men, telling the story of a mentalist (Cooper) who teams with a psychologist in order to swindle the rich." However, things don't go as planned.

David Strathairn is all set to play "the alcoholic husband of Toni Collette's character, a mentalist named Zeena who ends up mentoring Bradley Cooper's character." Michael Shannon was also supposed to have a role in Nightmare Alley but it appears he had to back out due to scheduling conflicts. Frequent Guillermo del Toro collaborators Ron Perlman and Richard Jenkins will have roles in the thriller too,...

Exclusive: Rooney Mara is set to star with Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett in Nightmare Alley, Guillermo del Toro’s first directorial outing since his Best Picture winning The Shape of Water. He’s making the film for Fox Searchlight under the deal he made at the studio after they collaborated on the Oscar winner.

Del Toro wrote the script with Kim Morgan. The film’s being produced by del Toro and J. Miles Dale with Tsg Entertainment, with Fox Searchlight acquiring worldwide distribution rights.

The film is based on William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel about a corrupt con-man who teams with a female psychiatrist to trick people into giving them money. Mara plays Molly, the closest thing to Stan’s true love. He meets her early on and they take the act they learned from the circus to Chicago. Cooper plays Stan.

Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray starred in...

Cate Blanchett is in talks to star in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming “Nightmare Alley,” starring alongside Bradley Cooper, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Del Toro is directing the film and wrote the script along with Kim Morgan, and Fox Searchlight is handling worldwide distribution rights. Del Toro is also producing along with J. Miles Dale of Tsg Entertainment, and he’s additionally financing the project.

“Nightmare Alley” is the story of a corrupt con man who teams up with a female psychiatrist to swindle people out of money, up until the point that they double cross one another.

The story is based on a novel by William Lindsay Gresham and was first adapted into a Fox film in 1947 directed by Edmund Golding and starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray. However, del Toro’s film will adhere more closely to the original novel.

Also Read: Cate Blanchett to Co-Create,...

Bradley Cooper is in early talks to star in Guillermo del Toro’s next film, “Nightmare Alley,” for Fox Searchlight, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Leonardo DiCaprio was previously attached to the project. Del Toro co-wrote the script with Kim Morgan. “Nightmare Alley” is being produced by del Toro and J. Miles Dale of Tsg Entertainment.

Fox previously made a “Nightmare Alley” film back in 1947, which starred Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray. It followed a young con-man who teamed up with a female psychiatrist. At first, it’s all fun and games, until they turn on each other. However, del Toro’s film will be more based on the novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham.

Also Read: Bradley Cooper Pitches 'A Star is Born' Live Reading With Lady Gaga (Video)

Production is set to start this fall.

Del Toro’s recent...

Back in April, Scream Factory heated up their summer release schedule with a bunch of new Blu-ray announcements for July, and now they're adding even more must-see scares to the calendar with a new wave of August Blu-ray announcements, including Horror of Frankenstein, Fear in the Night, The Leech Woman, Isle of the Dead, a Collector's Edition of Vice Squad, and Steelbook releases of Forbidden World and Galaxy of Terror.

Vice Squad Collector's Edition Blu-ray: "Hollywood, cops, hookers and killer pimps! Director Gary Sherman’s 1982 “neon-slime” cult classic Vice Squad is finally coming to Blu-ray this Summer!. We’re so excited! And if you’re a fan of movies like Savage Streets, 10 to Midnight or Class of 1984, this is a must have. Here’s the early details we have a current time to share.

• Blu-ray debut!

• National street date for North America (Region A) is August 13th.

• This...

Roger and Gene Corman’s first ‘The Filmgroup’ production is a slick little programmer that belies its drive-in monster movie heritage: the trim tale is no minimalist effort, but a well-developed drama sourced in the twin drives to succeed and stay young. This deluxe edition contains both the Theatrical and TV versions, plus a Tom Weaver commentary that tells the incredible true-crime tale of Corman’s impressive leading lady Susan Cabot.

The Wasp Woman

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1959 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 63 min. / Street Date October 30, 2019 / 27.99

Starring: Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Barboura Morris, William Roerick, Michael Mark, Lynn Cartwright, Frank Gerstle, Bruno VeSota, Roy Gordon, Carolyn Hughes, Frank Wolff, Philip Barry, Gene Corman, Roger Corman, Lani Mars (Kinta Zertuche).

Cinematography: Harry Neumann

Film Editor: Carlo Lodato

Art Direction: Daniel Haller

Original Music: Fred Katz

Written by Leo Gordon, Kinta Zertuche

Produced and Directed by Roger Corman

Roger Corman is much more than an exploitation specialist.

1969: Bright Promise premiered on NBC.

1978: The final episode of For Richer, For Poorer aired on NBC.

1986: Another World's Marley and Jake were married.

1989: Terry Lester debuted as Mason Capwell on Santa Barbara."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1947: Radio soap opera Claudia premiered. Due in large part to the success of the two Claudia movies, the D'Arcy advertising agency decided to bring the characters to radio in a five-a-week quarter-hour serial on behalf of its client, Coca-Cola. Kathryn Bard was cast as Claudia and Paul Crabtree as David, with Joe King announcing.

1969: Bright...

CineSavant reaches back one year to pick up a notable low-key horror from the team of Levy-Gardner-Laven and good old United Artists. They have a respected actor, a workable concept and a horror screenplay from an unusual source for the 1950s . . . a (gasp) woman. More civilized monster movies just aren’t out there, although this one could have used a more creative title.

The Vampire

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1957 / B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 75 min. / Street Date April 11, 2017 / 27.99

Starring: John Beal, Coleen Gray, Kenneth Tobey, Lydia Reed, Dabbs Greer, Herb Vigran, Paul Brinegar, Ann Staunton, James Griffith.

Cinematography: Jack MacKenzie

Film Editor: John Faure

Original Music: Gerald Fried

Written and story by Pat Fielder

Produced by Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules V. Levy

Directed by Paul Landres

I long ago gave up keeping track of all the aberrant vampire movies that were produced after horror became a direct-to-video staple and finally a streaming staple.

One of the best Hollywood historical epics takes Technicolor to Mexico for a Production Code version of La conquista: the Inquisition is still bad, but the Church is exonerated. Likewise with the invasion — Cesar Romero embodies a marvelous Hernán Cortés, substantially less murderous than the one we now know from accurate history books. Tyrone Power is the heartthrob hero and newcomer Jean Peters the lowborn girl who loves him. The magnificent scenery is matched by the music score of Alfred Newman.

Captain from Castile

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1947 / Color / 137 Academy / 141 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, Cesar Romero, Lee J. Cobb, John Sutton, Antonio Moreno, Thomas Gomez, Alan Mowbray, Barbara Lawrence, George Zucco, Roy Roberts, Marc Lawrence, Reed Hadley, Robert Karnes, Estela Inda, Chris-Pin Martin, Jay Silverheels, Gilberto González.

Cinematography: Arthur Arling, Charles G. Clarke, Joseph Lashelle

Film Editor: Barbara McLean...

This is the ultimate in screen sadism circa 1947, and it’s all in the debut film performance of Richard Widmark as a too-nasty-for-words hood who likes to shoot people in the stomach. Actually, Victor Mature is not bad in a grim story of a stool pigeon that tries to square himself with the law, and finds himself a target for mob murder.

Kiss of Death

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1947 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 98 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark, Taylor Holmes, Karl Malden, Mildred Dunnock

Cinematography: Norbert Brodine

Art Direction: Leland Fuller, Lyle Wheeler

Film Editor: J. Watson Webb Jr.

Original Music: David Buttolph

Written by Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer, Eleazar Lipsky

Produced by Fred Kohlmar

Directed by Henry Hathaway

The older they get, the better they look. Henry Hathaway’s Kiss of Death is...

Randolph Scott fights to let the railroad go through in this old-fashioned rip-snorting action adventure movie, the kind where shooting bad guys means never having to say you're sorry. Jane Wyatt gets top billing but the big burner on this prairie is newcomer Nancy Olson, who puts more sex appeal into her homegrown heroine than all of her later roles combined. Canadian Pacific Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1949 / Color /1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date August 9, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Randolph Scott, Jane Wyatt, J. Carrol Nash, Victor Jory, Nancy Olson, Robert Barrat, Walter Sande, Don Haggerty, Grandon Rhodes, John Hamilton, George Chandler, Holmes Herbert, Norman Jewison, Chief Yowlachie. Cinematography Fred Jackman, Jr., Film Editor Philip Martin Art Direction Ernst Fegeé Original Music Dimitri Tiomkin Written by Jack DeWitt, Kenneth Gamet story by Jack DeWitt Produced by Nat Holt Directed by Edwin L. Marin Reviewed by Glenn Erickson All Randolph Scott movies aren't created equal,...

Horror in the ‘50s tended to lean towards the sci-fi end of the spectrum. And why wouldn’t it? This was the atomic age, and hiding under your school desk during a bomb drill (the safest place to be!) was scarier than any monster Hollywood could muster. So as a form of social moralizing (or an excuse to display giant, mutated lizards on screen), filmmakers merged the fear of nuclear annihilation with the need for entertainment. Most filmmakers, that is. Paul Landres’ The Vampire (1957) is a deliberate ride through the (mostly) human condition, small in scope but surprisingly big on emotion. Just don’t expect any vampires, radioactive, sparkly, or otherwise.

What you do get is a story much closer to Stevenson than Stoker, a simple riff on Jekyll and Hyde shot through a cautionary tale about America’s then growing concern with pill poppin’. The Vampire is more concerned...

After falling into the public domain, Phil Karlson’s 1952 film noir Kansas City Confidential became unfairly lumped into B-grade bracket, a disservice considering the title’s odd narrative and eventual influence on contemporary filmmakers. Karlson, who would eventually turn to mainstream efforts starring the likes of Dean Martin and Elvis Presley in the 1960s and 1970s, contributed several enjoyable minor noir efforts in the 1950s. These would include 1952’s Scandal Sheet with Donna Reed and Broderick Crawford, Kim Novak casino heist effort 5 Against the House, and that same year’s Tight Spot with a peculiar role for Ginger Rogers. But none have enjoyed the staying power of this particular heist drama, now restored with its most accomplished transfer yet.

Kansas City delivery man Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is at the wrong place at the wrong time when he’s nabbed by the cops as the driver of a heist involving...

Marjorie Lord actress ca. early 1950s. Actress Marjorie Lord dead at 97: Best remembered for TV series 'Make Room for Daddy' Stage, film, and television actress Marjorie Lord, best remembered as Danny Thomas' second wife in Make Room for Daddy, died Nov. 28, '15, at her home in Beverly Hills. Lord (born Marjorie Wollenberg on July 26, 1918, in San Francisco) was 97. Marjorie Lord movies After moving with her family to New York, Marjorie Lord made her Broadway debut at age 17 in Zoe Akins' Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel The Old Maid (1935). Lord replaced Margaret Anderson in the role of Tina, played by Jane Bryan – as Bette Davis' out-of-wedlock daughter – in Warner Bros.' 1939 movie version directed by Edmund Goulding. Hollywood offers ensued, resulting in film appearances in a string of low-budget movies in the late 1930s and throughout much of the 1940s, initially (and...

Coleen Gray in 'The Sleeping City' with Richard Conte. Coleen Gray after Fox: B Westerns and films noirs (See previous post: “Coleen Gray Actress: From Red River to Film Noir 'Good Girls'.”) Regarding the demise of her Fox career (the year after her divorce from Rod Amateau), Coleen Gray would recall for Confessions of a Scream Queen author Matt Beckoff: I thought that was the end of the world and that I was a total failure. I was a mass of insecurity and depended on agents. … Whether it was an 'A' picture or a 'B' picture didn't bother me. It could be a Western movie, a sci-fi film. A job was a job. You did the best with the script that you had. Fox had dropped Gray at a time of dramatic upheavals in the American film industry: fast-dwindling box office receipts as a result of competition from television,...

Coleen Gray actress ca. 1950. Coleen Gray: Actress in early Stanley Kubrick film noir, destroyer of men in cult horror 'classic' Actress Coleen Gray, best known as the leading lady in Stanley Kubrick's film noir The Killing and – as far as B horror movie aficionados are concerned – for playing the title role in The Leech Woman, died at age 92 in Aug. 2015. This two-part article, which focuses on Gray's film career, is a revised and expanded version of the original post published at the time of her death. Born Doris Bernice Jensen on Oct. 23, 1922, in Staplehurst, Nebraska, at a young age she moved with her parents, strict Lutheran Danish farmers, to Minnesota. After getting a degree from St. Paul's Hamline University, she relocated to Southern California to be with her then fiancé, an army private. At first, she eked out a living as a waitress at a La Jolla hotel...

Coleen Gray actress ca. 1950. Coleen Gray: Actress in early Stanley Kubrick film noir, destroyer of men in cult horror 'classic' Actress Coleen Gray, best known as the leading lady in Stanley Kubrick's film noir The Killing and – as far as B horror movie aficionados are concerned – for playing the title role in The Leech Woman, died at age 92 in Aug. 2015. This two-part article, which focuses on Gray's film career, is a revised and expanded version of the original post published at the time of her death. Born Doris Bernice Jensen on Oct. 23, 1922, in Staplehurst, Nebraska, at a young age she moved with her parents, strict Lutheran Danish farmers, to Minnesota. After getting a degree from St. Paul's Hamline University, she relocated to Southern California to be with her then fiancé, an army private. At first, she eked out a living as a waitress at a La Jolla hotel...

Kansas City Confidential

Written by George Bruce and Harry Essex

Directed by Phil Karlson

U.S.A., 1952

From across the street in a quiet hotel room, a man (Preston Foster) attentively observes the coming and goings of security guards that transport hundreds of thousands of dollars to and from the bank across the street. A plan is brewing in his mind, a plan that will require the assistance of three pawns, all known criminals. They are: small time gambler Pete Harris (Jack Elam), cop killer Boyd Kane (Neville Brand) and Tony Romano (a young, moustache-free Lee Van Cleef). Each is invited to the man’s room on separate occasions, presented a plan to steal the doe from the guards and make a getaway. Everyone is to wear masks so that no one participant can rat on any other in the event that things go awry. For the masked convicts themselves,...

Actor who flourished during the 40s in films like Kiss of Death and Nightmare Alley, as well as Kubrick’s celebrated heist movie, has died

One of the last links to the glory years of the Hollywood film noir, Coleen Gray, has died at the age of 92. Gray was best known for her roles in the 1940s thrillers Kiss of Death and Nightmare Alley, both released in 1947 by 20th Century Fox for whom she was a contracted player, and for Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing, almost a decade later.

Related: Coleen Gray obituary

Continue reading...

Actor who was often cast as the understanding girlfriend or steadfast wife in film noirs of the 1940s and 50s such as Kiss of Death and The Killing

The 2001 book Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir contained interviews with six female stars of the genre who were at their peak in the 1940s and 50s. One surprising inclusion was Coleen Gray, who has died aged 92. Surprising because she was seldom cast as a femme fatale in the classic film noirs in which she appeared.

In fact, Gray, with her pretty features, slightly pointed nose and wide eyes, was often the only ethical or innocent element in the dark, doom-laden crime dramas. In Kiss of Death (1947), she is the understanding girlfriend of an ex-con (Victor Mature), helping him to make a new life. In Nightmare Alley (1947), she is the steadfast wife and partner of Stan (Tyrone Power) in a carnival mind-reading act,...

Coleen Gray ca. 1950. Coleen Gray dead at 92: Leading lady in early Stanley Kubrick film noir classic Actress Coleen Gray, best known for Stanley Kubrick's crime drama The Killing, has died. Her death was announced by Classic Images contributor Laura Wagner on Facebook's “Film Noir” group. Wagner's source was David Schecter, who had been friends with the actress for quite some time. Via private message, he has confirmed Gray's death of natural causes earlier today, Aug. 3, '15, at her home in Bel Air, on the Los Angeles Westside. Gray (born on Oct. 23, 1922, in Staplehurst, Nebraska) was 92. Coleen Gray movies As found on the IMDb, Coleen Gray made her film debut as an extra in the 20th Century Fox musical State Fair (1945), starring Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews. Her association with film noir began in 1947, with the release of Henry Hathaway's Kiss of Death (1947), notable for showing Richard Widmark...

Nightmare Alley

Written by Jules Furthman

Directed by Edmund Goulding

U.S.A., 1947

A carny cons his way up to high society through cold-reading and (un)timely circumstance. Based on that one-liner, who would you cast? If you say Tyrone Power, I’d say that my friend Stan Carlisle is on his way (The name Stan Carlisle being a con-industry handshake of sorts, informing one con-artist that he’s stepping in on another man’s con, or at least according to Eddie “The Czar of Noir” Muller’s introduction of this film at Tcmff). In Nightmare Alley, Tyrone Power, the 20th Century Fox matinee idol, plays a lowlife con man, who lies and cheats his way from a podunk carnival to becoming a spiritualist amongst the more gullible of Chicago’s upper crust. His character is also the namesake of the above con slang.

And any which way, yes, Tyrone Power...

Stars: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen, Ted de Corsia, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Joe Sawyer, Timothy Carey, Kola Kwariani, Dorothy Adams | Written and Directed by Stanley Kubrick

It goes without saying that film fans know that Stanley Kubrick was a master of his art. All masters though have a starting point where they were learning and in some respects were yet to evolve into the legends that they would become. With the Arrow Academy release of The Killing on Blu-ray, which also includes Killer’s Kiss we get to see a director who had a vision, but was yet to perfect his style.

The Killing is a heist movie that when it was first released didn’t make that much of an impact, but not surprisingly when it comes to Kubrick’s work has grown to be respected and revered as a true classic of the genre.

The Conversation is a new feature at Sound on Sight bringing together Drew Morton and Landon Palmer in a passionate debate about cinema new and old. For their second piece, they will discuss Stanley Kubrick’s film The Killing (1956).

Drew’s Take

Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956) is not my favorite work by the visionary director. In fact, the film probably wouldn’t even make it onto a list of my top five Kubrick films. Yet, with a career that included such amazing films as Paths of Glory (1957),Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964),2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Barry Lyndon (1975), and The Shining (1980), that’s not an indication that The Killing is a film of poor quality but an indication that Kubrick’s body of work comes the closest to cinematic perfection than any director I can think of. Thus, while The Killing...

Love the Sinner: Miller & Rodriguez Bring Back Hyperstylized Noir with Mixed Results

It has been almost a decade since the visually innovative Sin City thrummed into theaters, cloaked in lascivious shades of film noir nightmares. In between now and then, co-director and creator Frank Miller stepped out on his own in 2008 with The Spirit, an abysmal record of why perhaps Robert Rodriguez was a necessary cohort to return on the sequel, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Suffering from the regular pitfalls of the overly ambitious sequel, this chapter will surely disappoint those hoping to experience the same level of creative vicissitudes because this go round is a brittle, wearied tethering of varied storylines. But, imperfect their latest creation may be, it isn’t without significant entertainment value. As cheaply as it tends to favor its multitudinous women, doling out an equal helping of misogyny with its crackpot male fantasy version of empowered females,...

"Funny how different you feel," cattleman Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan) relates near the end of "Red River," "when you know you're going somewheres." He's right, but his is a sojourner's satisfaction, marking the conclusion of a long expedition. For viewers of Howard Hawks' mythic 1948 Western, the foremost pleasure is in the odyssey itself.  Adapted by Borden Chase and Charles Schnee from Chase's novel "Blazing Guns on the Chisholm Trail," first serialized in The Saturday Evening Post and included in The Criterion Collection's new dual-format boxed set, the film opens on a westbound wagon train passing through North Texas in August, 1851. Ambitious, stubborn rancher Tom Dunson (John Wayne) -- "a mighty set man," Groot explains -- possesses an unshakeable conviction that land further south is the keystone of his imagined empire, and even the love of a good woman (Coleen Gray) cannot slow his pursuit. He leaves her with his mother's bracelet,...

Red River

Written by Borden Chase and Charles Schnee

Directed by Howard Hawks

USA, 1948

Howard Hawks’ Red River is supposedly the film that convinced John Ford of John Wayne’s talent (apparently opposed to his abilities to simply perform or suggest a powerful screen presence). Ford had, of course, worked with Wayne previously, and Wayne had appeared in dozens of other films prior to this point, but when Ford saw what Wayne did in the role of the aged, bitter, driven, and obsessive Thomas Dunson, it led him to comment to his friend Hawks, “I didn’t know the big son of a bitch could act.” If it were only for Wayne’s performance, which is excellent, Red River would be a vital entry into the Western genre. But there is more, much more to this extraordinary picture. That’s why it’s not only one of the greatest Westerns ever made,...