Arnold (1973)

When the wealthy and eccentric Lord Dwellyn (Norman Stuart) dies, his funeral also doubles as a wedding when he marries his mistress (Stella Stevens). But in order to inherit his wealth, she must live in his mansion along with his corpse for the rest of her life. However, when his relatives and friends start getting killed off, his bride fears she may be next! Directed by Georg Fenady (TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM). Horror comedies (CAT AND THE CANARY, GHOST BREAKERS) are usually fun but this one misses the boat. Its droll humor is amusing in fits and spurts but overall, the laughs just aren't there. One can't fault the cast who try their damnedest but other than Elsa Lanchester doing her specialty as the deceased's dotty sister, the actors flounder. It's not so much the script but Fenady's sluggish direction. The man doesn't seem to have a funny bone in his directorial body. With Roddy McDowall, Farley Granger, Shani Wallis, Patric Knowles, Victor Buono, Jamie Farr, John McGiver and Bernard Fox who wastes way too much screen time as an unfunny constable.

City Of Shadows (1955)

A racketeer (Victor McLaglen) pays for his protege (John Baer) to go to law school. But when he graduates, the young man has second thoughts about his mentor's business and this feeling is intensified when he falls in love with a girl (Kathleen Crowley) from a good family. Directed by William Witney (THE BONNIE PARKER STORY). A mundane crime potboiler with Victor McLaglen giving the same blustery performance he'd been giving for years. Equal measures of sentimentality and crime but none of it mounting to anything other than a B movie potboiler. Even with its brief running time of 70 minutes, it quickly becomes tedious. The film ends with a ludicrous shoot out on a ski lift and a wounded and dying McLaglen climbing the ski lift, taking falls and climbing snow covered slopes. With Anthony Caruso, June Vincent, Nicolas Coster, Richard Reeves and Edith Evanson.

Conclave (2024)

After the Pope (Bruno Novelli) dies of a heart attack, an English cardinal (Ralph Fiennes) leads a conclave which will elect a new Pope. But secrets and corruptions among the most popular candidates threaten to upend the election process. Based on the novel by Robert Harris and directed by Edward Berger (ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT). A first rate melodrama with excellent performances (Fiennes is brilliant)! The intricacies of the Roman Catholic papal election process are, for the most part, painstakingly adhering to accuracy although there are some dubious matters (like in pectore) that are questionable. The film works as a spellbinding mystery as layers are peeled, each revealing that the cardinals are just as prone to ambition or tempted by corruption as lesser mortals. It's gripping, amusing and filled with tension. Die hard Catholics may perceive an anti Catholic bias or resent the more progressive views of the film. With John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, Sergio Castellitto, Brian F. O'Byrne and Carlos Diehz.

The Resurrection Of Zachary Wheeler (1971)

An inquisitive television reporter (Leslie Nielsen) covers an automobile accident involving a U.S.  senator (Bradford Dillman) but when he goes to the hospital where the senator was taken, he is told no record of any such patient exists. When he investigates, deadly attempts are made to stop him. Directed by Bob Wynn (THE NURSE KILLER). Shot on videotape, it was transferred to film for its theatrical and TV release. Shot in 17 days, it was one of the earliest films to deal with cloning although the term is never used in the movie. Its potentially intriguing narrative is sabotaged by sloppy writing and the script is full of plot holes. The New Mexico lab is supposed to be a top secret institution with heavy security but doors are left unlocked allowing anyone to go in and Nielsen's character easily breaks into the place. With Angie Dickinson, James Daly, Jack Carter and Robert J. Wilke.

These Glamour Girls (1939)

A young  but feisty taxi dancer (Lana Turner) is invited by a drunken but wealthy college boy (Lew Ayres) to a swanky upper crust weekend at his ivy league school. When she shows up, he doesn't even remember her. Humiliated, she turns the tables on the snobby college set. Based on a short story by Jane Hall and directed by S. Sylvan Simon (THE FULLER BRUSH MAN). An entertaining programmer with an 18 year old Lana Turner on the cusp of stardom. It's always fun to see snooty snobs get their comeuppance but there's more to some of the characters than just that. Notably, Marsha Hunt as an aging debutante unable to face that's she's no longer young. The movie telegraphs her tragic fate rather unsubtly. With Anita Louise, Ann Rutherford, Richard Carlson, Jane Bryan, Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Beth Hughes, Tom Brown and Ernest Truex.

Fantasia (1940)

Produced by Walt Disney, eight animated segments are set to pieces of classical music with the renowned Leopold Stokowsi conducting the Philadelphia orchestra. A unique and daring concept for its day and if seen in one's childhood, the imagery is retained forever. Audacious for 1940, I suspect in today's reactionary atmosphere, some of the imagery would be attacked. Certainly in a Disney animated movie, one doesn't expect nude females practicing satanic rituals (Mussorgsky's NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN) or drunken orgies (Beethoven's PASTORAL SYMPHONY) and surely, the religious creationists would take offense at the suggestion that we evolved from lower creatures (Stravinsky's RITES OF SPRING). For me, the film's highlight has always been the charming comedic ballet of ostriches, elephants, hippos and alligators (Ponchielli's DANCE OF THE HOURS). The film is also the first use of stereophonic sound in a major motion picture. Considered a "longhair musical", the film was a surprise hit and ran in one theatre in New York City for almost a year. But the film's cost was prohibitive so FANTASIA didn't show a profit until many years later, notably in 1969 when it became popular with teenagers and college students because of its psychedelic features. When I saw the 1969 reissue, the aroma of marijuana  in the theatre was thick.

The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1963)

NASA successfully lands a robotic surveyor on Mars but it is almost immediately destroyed by some unknown energy. Meanwhile, the scientist (Kent Taylor) in charge of the project returns to his home in California where strange occurrences suggest that Martians have duplicated doppelgangers of his family. Directed by Maury Dexter (HOUSE OF THE DAMNED). This low budget slice of B&W sci-fi Cinemascope cheese is a bore! Not much happens other than the cast walking or running around the large mansion (the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills) that serves as the location for the majority of the movie's brief (although it doesn't seem brief) running time. The movie was relegated to the lower half of a double feature, in this case an Elvis Presley movie. The film's cardinal sin is wasting the wonderful Marie Windsor as Taylor's constantly fretting wife. With William Mims and Betty Beall.

Strange Darling (2024)

Set in rural Oregon, a one night stand between a kinky woman identified as the lady (Willa Fitzgerald) and a man identified as the demon (Kyle Gallner) so eager to get laid that he'll try anything turns into a deadly cat and mouse game. Written and directed by JT Mollner (OUTLAWS AND ANGELS). Billed as "a thriller in six chapters" the film is told in a nonlinear order beginning with chapter three rather than chapter one. It's a wild ride although what should have been a surprise revelation midway through the film is obvious rather early in the movie. There are many twists and turns but if you hang in there long enough, it pays off in the end. Fitzgerald is terrific here and Gallner is good, too. The body count is pretty high which should please those who like a lot of blood in their thrillers (some may even consider it a horror movie). Actor Giovanni Ribisi is one of the movie's producers and impressively makes his debut as a cinematographer with this film. With Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr.

Hot Millions (1968)

Just released from prison for embezzlement, a con artist (Peter Ustinov) uses another man's identity to get a job with a major corporation and then proceeds to use their mainframe computer to issue checks to bogus companies, then proceeds to cash the checks! Directed by Eric Till (IMPROPER CHANNELS). The screenplay of this British comedy caper film was inexplicably nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay! It's modestly entertaining but far from fresh or original. Ustinov's corporate thief isn't very likable so we're not rooting for him to get away with the money and the corporation he's embezzling from isn't particularly odious so we don't have a grudge against them. There's no tension or suspense which is deadly for a heist film, comedy or drama. Two performances stand out: Maggie Smith (a last minute substitute for Lynn Redgrave) as an incompetent secretary, who ends up as Ustinov's love interest and Bob Newhart as Ustinov's company rival. With Karl Malden, Robert Morley and Cesar Romero.

We Were Dancing (1942)

An impoverished Polish princess (Norma Shearer) falls in love with a ne'er-do-well penniless baron (Melvyn Douglas) who makes his living as a professional guest in the homes of awe struck Americans who are impressed with titled nobility. Loosely based on a play by Noel Coward (part of his TONIGHT AT 8:30 plays) and directed by Robert Z. Leonard (ZIEGFELD GIRL). This high drawing room comedy needs some champagne sparkle in order to succeed  but it's more like stale beer. Shearer was nearing the end of her reign as the queen of MGM and it's movies like this that hastened her retirement. Melvyn Douglas who's usually adept at comedy stumbles but given the flat material and uninspired direction, he's forgiven. To their credit, they do try but they try too hard as if they realize the material is weak and overcompensate. There's a courtroom scene that's supposed to be hilarious but it's painfully unfunny. The supporting cast is good: Marjorie Main, Gail Patrick, Lee Bowman, Florence Bates, Connie Gilchrist and Alan Mowbray.

東方三俠 (aka The Heroic Trio) (1993)

Hong Kong police are perplexed by a series of infant kidnappings. 18 babies have been kidnapped so far and they are clueless as to the perpetrator. Their only hope is a trio of women: the wife (Anita Mui) of a police inspector (Damian Lau), a bounty hunter (Maggie Cheung) and a woman (Michelle Yeoh), who knows why the babies are being kidnapped. Directed by Johnnie To (BREAKING NEWS). I'm not a big fan of Hong Kong martial arts movies and the fantastic plot of this martial arts mayhem is bonkers! And a bit distasteful what with kidnapping and killing babies, cannibal children, decapitations and mutilations etc. Fortunately, the three leading actresses are very appealing and Michelle Yeoh's storyline has the strongest emotional connection which resonates just enough to make you care. The film's setting has a noir-ish big city feel to it. Totally absurd but there's a certain appeal to its nonsensical nuttiness. With Yen Shi Kwan and Anthony Wong.

The Yellow Cab Man (1950)

An accident prone inventor (Red Skelton) of safety gadgets winds up driving a cab to prove the worth of his latest brainchild, an unbreakable windshield he calls Elastiglass. Meanwhile, a crooked lawyer (Edward Arnold) and a phony psychiatrist (Walter Slezak) plot to steal his secret formula. Directed by Jack Donohue (ASSAULT ON A QUEEN). Red Skelton is a problematic comic actor. You either love him or hate him. I'm rather indifferent toward him myself and I've enjoyed him as much as I've disliked him. This film is a mixed bag, full of slapstick and pratfalls and the chuckles tended to be few and far between. I think I laughed twice. It's not horrible, just tedious. The 1950 public apparently liked it enough to make it a hit. With Gloria DeHaven, James Gleason, Jay C. Flippen and Herbert Anderson.