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Rudy A Loser at Love in Cobra (1925) Rudolph Valentino as apostle of gloom, just the way viewers in 1925 didn’t want to see him, so Cobra flopped, massively it’s said. This was an independent project for Rudy, but money wasn’t his, for he had little of that, being debt-ridden as was case for most of time he’d been a star. RV stood for extravagance we associate with idols of yore, buying antiquity on oversea jaunts like he was C.F. Kane, indulging expansive tastes of anchor wife Natasha Rambova. They were kaput by time Valentino did final few that were maybe his best, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik . UA chief Joe Schenck fronted costs for Falcon Lair just to cinch the deal (RV retreat and final address). Cobra and weaker ones before put Rudy’s boxoffice in hazard. He played against type and eschewed action plus smolder his legions liked. They’d been burnt on frankly peculiar stuff Rambova cooked up. She was perceived no good as creative mentor, and what misdirected him to wear a sla

Laff Till You Hurt at The Invisible Woman (1940) Line Up, Guys and Ghouls --- The Invisible Woman Can Be Yours To Home-View Way goofy comedy that Realart sold as a straight thriller when they reissued it, The Invisible Woman was obscure to horror-watchers for being kept out of Screen Gems' TV "Shock" packages. My awareness was restricted to an 8mm highlight reel sold by Castle Films and available on back pages of monster magazines. Art had the transparent woman, visible only in outline, kicking someone in the backside, not promising for chill shoppers, let alone where shipping/handling ran the tab past $6. Query to then-Screen Gems: Why put Chinatown Squad in your Shock group and leave The Invisible Woman off? Maybe they thought we'd resent comedy, but then The Boogie Man Will Get You went in, plus others more foolish than scary. Now there is all of what was In visible for Universal in a "Legacy" box, from which I sampled Woman and a wartime offshoot

Mascot On Mystery Mountain (1934) With Maynard Look at the six-sheet above and tell me it's not good as a circus coming to town. And I submit it's art , too. Just think: displays like this were once hung outdoors, left to mercy of rain or punishing sun, then peeled down, tossed out, so another could fill the billboard. Here, then, is why so few survive. Was Ken Maynard doing a serial news? For boys of action age, the biggest. Ken took saddle chances no one else dared. He was Superman before there was such a character. Maynard was no actor. In fact, I'll bet he never memorized a stitch of dialogue, vague ad-lib of tissue narratives getting a job done nicely. Give me Ken in conversation with miracle horse Tarzan over Method improvisation anytime, KM addressing T as "old man" (so indeed, what age was Tarzan, and how long did he live?). Mystery Mountain was for cheapest-of-serial-makers Nat Levine of Mascot Pictures. How cheap? I read once he made players change co

Heed Italian Poster Warning: Communists May Be Watching You ! Walk East On Beacon! (1952) Raises Red Alarm Cold warriors for the FBI track communist moles down Boston and other New England-locationed streets, all under producer baton of Louis De Rochemont, whose nod to realism keeps us happily outdoors for much of action. I like how Soviet agents are to large extent trapped rats compromised since 30's mislead into radical groups. Many want out, but dare not for fear of liquidation. Were spies snuffed for switching sides? You wonder how many actual ones were silenced in this way, with no one ever knowing whys of their demise. A lot of what goes here is surveillance: cars followed, houses bugged ... all to joyful lo w-tech 50's accompaniment. How did we get goods on disloyals at such primitive and plodding pace? The big brains on so-called "Falcon Project" lack smarts as to surveillance in their midst --- she's parked right outside their meetings. Feds grab conceal

GA Delightful Again as The Millionaire (1931) George Arliss never was misguided in all the pictures he made. At least I never observed him so. Audiences wouldn't have stood him making a wrong move. I enjoy Arliss because he al ways takes the smart turn, has always the ideal retort, with never less than a grand scheme to put  situations right. And he's divinely funny in the doing. Not ha-ha or falling down, but understated in ways that flatter our intelligence. I think the secret of Arliss popular ity was that he made viewers feel good about themselves. H e elevated the mob rather than letting them pull him down. Control of vehicles increased as each came back with profit, Arliss as sure a grossing thing as Warners had during the early 30's, and not just among hoi-polloi and carriage trade --- you'd not imagine so watching today, but his stuff clicked in the sticks. Arliss was down-to-earth enough to remind everyone of Granddad or whatever font of local wisdom they kn

Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) Is Now A Big Broadcast Some months back, Greenbriar looked at Little Lord Fauntleroy , beloved novel source for ada ptation right to present day. Cousin to LLF was Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm , published in 1903 and basis for multiple films both silent and talking. Hardship of farm life was keynote, but movies never sat well with that, and besides, Rebecca was for cheering fans of whatever child idol played her. First was not unexpectedly Mary Pickford, her own good will among a public meshing nicely with the book's. A first sound treatment (1932) was by Fox and reasonably faithful, though tough to locate now. Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm was by then purest soap for many who were fed up with grubbier precode, as illu strated by ad below that puts blunt one showman's outreach to clean entertainment, " --- escape from ruthless rackets and sordid crook s ... tinseled women and beady-eyed gigolos ... " Promotion like this was proof that n

A British Way To Scare: Dead Of Night (1946) In case you haven't watched, please do, as this is an abiding classic of chiller type where quiet UK countryside becomes stuff of nightmare thanks to five tales of terror wrapped round bucolic setting. US distribution by Universal played havoc, a couple of stories shorn altogether and doing damage to the rest (Universal oddly issued stills of the missing segments along with publicity for the film). Dead Of Night is carefully calibrated, so it's got to be seen com plete. William K. Everson was a champion, naturally, him having been raised on the Isles, and he'd write eloquently about the omnibus in his Classics Of the Horror Film (published 1974), which made us long to see Dead Of Night , even as it remained difficult-to-catch until video came to the rescue. Dedicated enough horror fans generally h ave Dead Of Night on their Halloween plates, and evangelize on its behalf the rest of the year. Arguments tend to revolve around wh