Cinema - Reviews by George Slv

Cinema - Reviews by George Slv

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
George Slv 18th Dec 2015		Cinema Vampire Circus (1972) (1972)	Rated 10/10 This was the common situation of an outside producer making the film for Hammer Films. It turns out to be one of their best. It's the 1970s so there is nudity. A fascinating tale of a travelling circus that consists mainly of vampires, who can change into animals at will. They come to this town to avenge the killing years ago of the head local vampire, the typical local baron who takes local children as blood sacrifices. The usual crowd scene at the start of angry villagers with pitchforks and shovels marching on the castle and burning it down. At night with torches. What to do with these evil nobles ... that's feudalism for you. There was a problem with time and finances in filming, and some scenes were incomplete, leaving questions about the story. It may be those have been restored now, it seems fine. I don't know. The full UK edition was 1:27, the US censored edition was 1:24. Really colorful and appealing sensually and visually. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 5th Dec 2015		Cinema These Are The Damned (1963) (1963)	Review A fascinating science-fiction film that turned out far different from what Hammer studio first envisaged. The basic original story involves English characters like Oliver Reed, who explore this island off England, where they discover that a group of young children are being raised in a radioactive underground environment. They are not harmed by it, and it is planned that after a nuclear war they would emerge and continue the human race. These intruders create dangerous consequences. Joseph Losey, on the run from the US for being a communist, was hired to finish it. Well he does it in his style. Adds a character and brings his Jewish American friend Macdonald Carey to play the major role. More story elements are added involving him, which could be viewed as distracting and extraneous. In the US it was renamed The Damned and shortened. I've never seen that edit available, and would like to. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 30th Nov 2015		Cinema Carnival Rock (1957) (1957)	Review Another excuse for some interesting rock and roll performances. But everyone agrees that the drama aspect turns out miserable. There's this Greek concession owner in this New York carnival (Coney Island?), see, who provides music acts and a dance floor. He's an old guy who falls for one of his young female singers. He gets all broken up because she thinks he's too old for her. Then there's this group of Jewish guys who are out to screw him and take over his business. They cause him to lose in some set up gambling games, and he forfeits his joint to them. He's in a miserable state, so it's a "Greek tragedy". At least check Youtube for some music performances like by Bob Luman. A DVD can be found on the web. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 21st Nov 2015		Cinema Creatures The World Forgot (1971) (1971)	Review A Hammer Film followup to their previous successful prehistoric fantasies. This one is simpler. A tribe wanders around and goes thru various incidents. Two brothers fight for the leadership. Julie Ege is the fairest maiden and ends up in jeopardy. She had been Miss Norway. They hoped to make her sexy. A freak incident with a cameraman somewhat sabotaged that. The guy got a grudge against her, thinking she was standoffish. The next day of filming he did not capture her in the frame when she was to be featured in a sexy vest. Headquarters got incensed. So did I. There are no dinosaurs here. There is some topless female nudity, but not by Ege. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 21st Nov 2015		Cinema Back From Eternity (1956) (1956)	Review Eleven people are stranded in headhunter territory. The plane can be fixed but will only be able to fly five people. From my recollection of seeing this in the early days: It's a low budget black and white production which never gets out of its small Hollywood fake jungle set. For a supposedly exciting theme, it was rather uninteresting. Ends up being mainly dialog drama among the passengers. There are dangerous headhunters nearby, we hear their drums, but they never show. A plane flies over and doesn't notice them. Anita Ekberg is an attraction. She first shows up when her breasts walk into the airport -- I mean when she walks into the airport (that's how she was). In the jungle her blouse is ripped in a couple places. Slight uplifts in a dull movie. One IMDB reviewer made the interesting comment that it does "the one thing so many movies of today fail at their core to pull off - TELL A GOOD STORY." See what you think yourself. The title was one of the variations of the day on travelling to or from Hell or Eternity etc. I thi-i-i-nk there was some message in the drama somewhere. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 19th Nov 2015		Cinema Wolfman (1979) (1979)	Rated 6/10 Americans get very ornery. The reviews are wrong. Talk about hyperbole. It's not a top notch production but for its level it is a satisfactory tale. It was immensely popular in its time, which says more than a bunch of crabapple amateur critics. There haven't been any good serious werewolf movies since Hammer's 1961. This one is a good interesting effort, a satisfying story. (Oh hi Twistin. But your other comments have been good.) I rate it one more than 5, because it turns out interesting. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 2nd Nov 2015		Cinema The Turn Of The Screw (1992) (1992) (1992)	Review I would say this is the favorite filming of this supernatural story that I've seen. The drama and horror suspense are good, and so is the photography and production. It's the famous American novella of Henry James filmed many times, including as The Haunting of Helen Walker, and as an excellent episode of TV's Nightmare Classics. The new governess for two young children finds that there are evil spirits influencing this country manor [old dark house]. That most famous 1961 version titled The Innocents with Deborah Kerr gets a zero from me, based on the effect and atmosphere. There's one problem to get past in this 1992 film. Kensit's initial job interview is filmed in such an oddball manner, that on TV I turned it off without continuing, not knowing what I missed. The story is told in flashback fashion with Marianne Faithful recounting it, and we realize later what her role had been. So it's one of those most excellent intense British productions. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 29th Oct 2015		Cinema The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (1962)	Rated 1/10 A film about nothing. I saw it in 1962 and left not knowing what it was about. Look at what the title promised, with a poster showing four ominous horsemen flying thru the sky. But MGM had decided not to make a film about war or against war. What was left was a meaningless bunch of personal situations of family members while the World War 2 events were progressing. So MGM must have been content just to show some background Nazi history one one more more time. After Louis Mayer was forced to leave (for being anti-communist?) the studio went to the dogs. This is at the very bottom of the barrel of movie history. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 19th Oct 2015		Cinema Cleopatra (1963)	Review I'd say the problem with this movie was that it was written for the Shakespearean crowd. Wow, what a bunch of long serious dialog drama. The film turned out 6 hours, and they cut it down to four. That created holes in the screenplay. Then there was the hole created when America cut out the scene of Cleo in the lounge room because her fabric was too filmy. That's where Burton goes in and discusses the attack on Alexandria and the burning of the library with her. Audiences missed that entire point. A 40 million cost. They put a brave face on it, saying that Liz's attraction made it profitable. Was that a false claim? It made $16 million box office (not sure if that's US or worldwide). Has it made it up since then? But Elizabeth Taylor's career and the fabric of western society would not be complete if she hadn't made this film. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 28th Sep 2015		Cinema Jack The Ripper (1959) (1959)	Review A fictional account based on the true story of the London Jack The Ripper of 1888, who brutally killed several prostitutes in the Whitechapel district. Story written by Peter Hammond and Colin Craig. A well-done film in black and white, the writing, acting and photography are all good, creating an atmospheric foggy London mystery. No one knows for sure who the real Ripper was, but this story identifies him in the end, fictionally. He gets his just deserts, and the US release even added red color to one shot that showed his blood. Lee Patterson as Sam Lowry is the American detective who helps on the case. Eddie Byrne as Inspector O'Neill is in charge from Scotland Yard. This actor is apparently Jewish, has a rough and unserious manner, and does not add positively to the atmosphere of the film. Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman produced a series of good films at the time including Blood Of The Vampire and The Flesh And The Fiends. Then they moved on to television series production such as The Saint with Roger Moore. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 6th Sep 2015		Cinema The Court Jester (1956) (1956)	Rated 10/10 Danny Kaye plays a junior member of Robin Hood's merry band. Glynis John is an eyeful as his female sidekick. He gets the assignment to infiltrate the king's palace as a court jester, from where he can help restore the throne to the rightful heir, who happens to still be a baby. This is one of the funniest films in history. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 18th Aug 2015		Cinema The Crimson Pirate (1952) (1952)	Review What a fantastic rollicking adventure. Lancaster and Cravat had both in real life been trapeze partners. Watch Burt swing gloriously on the ship yardarms right at the opening. Throughout the movie they do acrobatics escaping the villains. An excellent story with tongue in cheek with plenty of humour, where his pirate crew help a group of democratic revolutionaries on a Caribbean island. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 18th Aug 2015		Cinema Run Silent Run Deep (1958) (1958)	Review Another production of Harold Hecht. But he did not conceive this movie, it was United Artists who called on his company to produce it. It does not have the caliber of his other film classics. This comes off more as a drama among the crew. What a tired theme already - a stern captain creates friction with his crew. It was not satisfying enough as an adventure movie. It was black and white by the way. To me the most successful submarine movie was Up Periscope. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
George Slv 26th Jul 2015		Cinema Shake, Rattle & Rock! (Shake, Rattle And Rock! ) (1956) (1956)	Review Connors plays a host of a TV teen dance party show, where he has brought in city gang members who have now been influenced to reform their lives.Throughout the film Fats Domino sings three songs. Big Joe Turner sings two and his band plays a couple more as dance background. A group of old fogies including Margaret Dumont insist on getting the show and R&R banned. It leads to a trial that is telecast, played for humour. There are still plenty of "useful idiot" liberals who disdain the "McCarthy era" and all these kinds of subjects, and make clever comments against it. That's not my approach. The movie was the third produced by the new American-International studio formed by Samuel Arkoff and John (Jack) Nicholson, and it was successful. It is categorized as public domain now, which suggests that it was never even formally copyrighted at the time. There are DVDs available from private sellers. Mike Connors starred in the TV detective series Tightrope ~1959 and later Mannix. He used the name Touch Connors in a couple of movies. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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