Dr. FrankenLarry
@frankenlawrence
Still watching until the end. Movies (horror, SF, fantasy, noir, silents, exploitation, grindhouse, psychotronic) some vid-games, TV, bronze-age comics, animals, history, science
Patrick Kilpatrick! See if you can grab him and use his diamond tooth to cut through glass, just like in REMO WILLIAMS!
JW: One Touch of Venus (1948) - Fantasy romance/musical with Robert Walker as a dept. store worker who inadvertently brings a statue of Venus to life. The goddess (Ava Gardner) causes mild romantic mischief. With Eve Arden, Dick Haymes, Tom Conway, Olga San Juan, and Sara Allgood.
This was later released in the US, with added footage of strippers, as "The Amorous Sex". That one has to be a little more interesting.
JW: Sweet Beat (1959) - Awful British pop musical about a beauty contest winner who gets a singing career. The acting is bad, the writing is worse, but there are a couple of good musical acts (Billy Myles does "The Joker", and the 5 Satins do "In the Still of the Nite").
JW: The Listeners (2024) - British mini-series about a schoolteacher (Rebecca Hall) who begins hearing a mysterious hum that others around her cannot. She eventually finds a group of people who can, but more troubles ensue. An intriguing premise doesn't really go anywhere, despite good performances.
JW: The Adventures of Jane (1949) - Comedy based on a British comic strip about a showgirl who gets into various perils, usually resulting in her losing her clothing. Never saw the comic strip, but this movie was atrocious.
JW: The Choirboys (1977) - Director Robert Aldrich adapts Joseph Wambaugh's book as a slob-comedy takedown of cops. I found it tedious, but maybe if I'd seen it in 1977, and was 16 or younger. The big cast includes Charles Durning, Lou Gossett Jr, James Woods, Don Stroud, Randy Quaid, Perry King...
JW: The Black Windmill (1974) - Michael Caine is a secret agent whose son gets kidnapped in a diamond heist scheme. With Donald Pleasance, Clive Revill, Joss Ackland, John Vernon, Janet Suzman, and Delphine Seyrig. Decent, if unexceptional.
JW: Seven Days to Noon (1950) - A mentally unbalanced nuclear scientist threatens to destroy London with a suitcase bomb. This has a sort of Neorealist quality with excellent B&W cinematography and lots of good character bits by a cast of thousands.
Got my @kinolorber.com order! 1 Blu upgrade from DVD 4 I've seen but didn't have and 7 I haven't seen (I have seen some Maya Deren shorts but not all on this collection)
JW: Girls of the Big House (1945) - Women-in-prison flick with an unjustly-sent-up dame falling in with a bad crowd. This was hokey, but seeing Virginia Christine ('Mrs. Olson' from countless Folgers TV ads) at 25 playing a cute, tough-talking career crook was a treat.
JW: Dark Waters (1944) - After surviving a U-boat attack, a mentally-fragile woman travels to rural Louisiana to stay with relatives, only for her sanity to weaken even more. With Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone, Thomas Mitchell, Fay Bainter, Elisha Cook, and Rex Ingram. Pretty good.
Post a random picture or else everything will go bad in July.
Favorite first watches of June 2026 (I watched a lot less this month) Project: Hail Mary (2026) Keeper (2025) Nocturne (1946)
JW: Gallant Lady (1942) - Rose Hobart stars as a doctor in prison for a crime she didn't commit. She's unwillingly included in a prison break, and eventually hides out with country doctor Sidney Blackmer. Low-budget melodrama is a tiny bit better than others of its' ilk.
