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Crimson Romance (1934) Flies High For Modest Mascot Mascot, generally spelled miserly, went whole hog from time to time, as with this special done to evoke memory of Hell's Angels , from which it borrowed aerial footage and lead man Ben Lyon. He's an American who enlists with German air service in solidarity with a lifelong pal branded disloyal for teuton origin, this just ahead of US  war declaration in 1917. Squad command is Erich von S troheim, as in otherwise why watch? Someone put most of Crimson Romance at You Tube , where quality compensates for parts missing. We think of Mascot, if at all, as purveyor of serials. This was lick at larger markets. Wish I knew how well, or not, it succeeded. Hell's Angels cast a long shadow, not only with content, but flying thrills that Howard Hughes let go to whoever henceforth would pay for its use. That stuff, spectacular as ever, turned up in B's both independent and studio-made for years to come. Did Hughes just not car...

First-Run Saturation For Los Angeles Black Sabbath (1964) Gets A GPS Revisit Gone over at length before , but fascination continues and is enhanced by Region Two release of Blu-Ray in both US and Italian versions. Mix/match these and you'll get a most satisfying so far Sabbath , but assemble with caution, as there are pieces to avoid. First The Telephone , a dud among three tales in this omnibus, but take the Italian's call if you must, as it retains lesbian subtext snipped when Jim/Sam brought Black Sabbath ashore for AIP release. The Telephone might be called a spaghetti Twilight Zone , staged all in one apartment and distinctly punk beside gothic companions. I dropped it altogether for a college run in 1975, tightening Black Sabbath to featurette length as campus combo with Brides Of Dracula . Scariest stuff by most accounts, that is, those lucky enough to have seen Black Sabbath in theatrical-1964, was The Drop Of Water and its hag of a revived corpse seeking payback f...

Code Two (1953) Shows a Different Out West World 69 hummer minutes from Metro's B unit, still out-putting in 1953, but soon to fold in deference to widened image and longer runs. It would  henceforth be less about volume and more about laser turned on handful of big pictures aimed at far fences. Studio chief Dore Schary put economies in motion from 1948 arrival, result humble pleasures like Code Two , which served well those still tolerant of black and white square screens. Code Two 's first half is near-docu recount of training for LA police recruits, noir flavor saved for latter portions where modern-day cattle rustlers (!) add cop killing to their resumes. A young cast was maybe hopeful of MGM stardom as bestowed in earlier day: Ralph Meeker (a hot dog patrolman who learns modesty), Elaine Stewart (that Bad and Beautiful girl, still beautiful but this time not bad), Robert Horton (greater success to come w/TV), Jeff Richards, an unbilled Chuck Connors. MGM was good at gritt...

Gilbert Evokes Chaney in The Phantom Of Paris (1931) Plenty of star dust clung to John Gilbert as he ventured into talkies, evidenced by dual-role-ing here, Jack as escape artist who beats a murder sentence to pose as the killed man and place guilt where it belongs. The opener reel grabs: Gilbert wriggling way from a water t rap like one that had doomed real-life Hou dini, then besting gendarme Lewis Stone a t handcuffs. You'd like to think The Phantom Of Paris would bring Jack back, hopeful trade ads having pointed to each of his and said  this one's the charm, but no, all of Gilberts after His Glorious Night lost money except Queen Christina , which was, of course, m ore a "Garbo" than a "Gilbert." JG does tricks with his voice to effect assumed identity, a conceit admittedly hard to accept as the fa ce is identical but for raffish goatee. Anyway, it scuttled (or should have) doubts of Jack's ability to talk with variety and conviction. If Chaney...

1947 Art House Encore To Trade On Ingrid Bergman's Then-Current Popularity Intermezzo (1939) Is Life Like Nobody Lived It Hollywood , as with much of business, government, and any number of other powerful institutions, had a "Don't Do As We Do, Do As We Say" policy. Movies were in virtually no way a reflection of real life. Ideals of behavior, seldom applied by members of the audience, saw Happy Endings in terms of sacrifice laid down where moral good was best served . There was, for example, no way Casablanca  could end other than how it did. What percent of actual men would forfeit Ingrid Bergman to furtherance of a cause, and incidentally, a husband she has expressed every desire to leave? Movies were always for virtue signaling, and I wonder how many Classic Era viewers confused that with daily struggle that made them oft-do un -virtuous things. Was it enough to at least recognize a difference between right and wrong, admiring films for good example they set and ...

Early 30's Obscurities Up From The Deep Universal's Vault has just released a number of early 30's titles to DVD. Buying any of their product amounts to dice throw for equal chance you'll get s omething nice, or a pack of dogs. Quality may vary from fresh transfers ( White Woman ) to wretchedly outdated ones ( Kitty ). I'm pl eased to report that this latest group, at least four I've seen, bats a thousand. These are for most part Paramount titles that haven't been accessible other than on bootleg discs, the films largely unknown because so few have had opportunity to see them. I won't argue for any as undiscovered classics, but all are curiosities worth a sit through short lengths (none over 75 minutes), and again --- the quality is excellent. Two feature Claudette Colbert, one has Carole Lombard and Miriam Hopkins, the trio falling in category of "pre-code" even if little happens to exploit greater license movies had before enforcement got ti...

Fun In Acapulco (1963) A Presley Postcard From Wallis What Better Combo Than Elvis and Lassie? Elvis Presley must overcome fear of heights so that his double may dive off the highest cliff in Acapulco . That and all other exteriors had to do without Elvis, who was loathe to plane-travel and so scorned the trip south. His stand-in is stunningly evident on High- Def rendition of Fun In Acapulco . Old Technicolor prints, rich and saturated as they were, did not tip the hand of faux Elvis taking up position every time cameras ventured outdoors. Scenery was a plus in Presley pics, especially those Hal Wallis produced, his certainly the most handsome of Presley's lot. In this instance, a second unit flew down for the balmy stuff --- hotels, cliff sites, all we expect of Acapulco --- while the first team, with principal cast, shoots the rest at Paramount facilities. To simulate his presence in Acapulco , Elvis literally spends half the pic before process screens. By 1963, he'd been...

The Phantom President Seeks 1932 Vote Getting George M. Cohan for talkies was heady stuff. He had starred in, produced, or otherwise ram-rodded 140 plays, written 500 songs, "all hits," said breathless press, and made a million off Over There , America 's anthem of the Great War. Cohan swept into Paramount with a multi-pic contract, was figured to do everything save perk the coffee and sweep off stages, a miracle-making jack of all talents. Cohan summit on Broadway was passed, but who knew but what he could recharge his battery with movies? Cohan didn't look the screen star type, but fast feet and quicker patter seemed a recipe for films arrived lately at sound. Jolson after all came of a same source, but 1932 wasn't 1927-28, and musicals had besides gone dim at turnstiles, as had Jolson. Would anyone remember Cohan minus Cagney's later immortalization of him? I admit to watching The Phantom President for compare of real and reel Cohan, thoughts fixed on how ...