Posted in 1954, 3-D, Columbia, James H. Griffith, Mill Creek Entertainment, Sam Katzman, William Castle on March 26, 2020| 9 Comments »
I recently had the extreme pleasure of being a guest on Todd Liebenow’s terrific podcast Forgotten Filmcast. Our subject was William Castle’s Jesse James Vs. The Daltons (1954). It’s up now — just click the ad above. It’s a good way to spend an hour of your “stay at home” time.
It’s a picture I’ve written about before, and it’s available in Mill Creek’s terrific set The Fastest Guns Of The West: The William Castle Western Collection.
Posted in 1954, Ben Cooper, Royal Dano, Scott Brady on February 26, 2020| 15 Comments »
Ben Cooper
(September 30, 1933 – February 24, 2020)
Got word this morning that Ben Cooper has passed away at 86.
He did a lot of pictures for Republic, from Woman They Almost Lynched (1953) to Johnny Guitar (1954, above, on the right) to A Strange Adventure (1956) — and he kept at it in movies and TV (mostly Westerns) into the 1990s.
Posted in 1954, George Montgomery, James H. Griffith, William Castle on February 13, 2020| 11 Comments »
James H. Griffith
(February 13, 1916 – September 17, 1993)
Here’s to one of my favorite character actors on his birthday. James Griffith is seen here with George Montgomery in William Castle’s Masterson Of Kansas (1954). Griffith is Doc Holliday.
Griffith is in a ton of stuff, and he’s always terrific. One of my favorites of his many parts is his yellow witness in the Dragnet feature (1954).
Thanks for the reminder, Paula!
Posted in 1953, 1954, Budd Boetticher, Jack Arnold, Julie Adams on January 1, 2020| 1 Comment »
Here’s Julie Adams ringing in 1954. Well, if it was good enough then, it’s good enough 66 years later. This would’ve been around the time she’d done Wings Of The Hawk (1953) and Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954).
Hope you’re having a great time ushering in a new decade.
Posted in 1954, 1956, 1959, Audie Murphy, Columbia, Jack Arnold, Monogram/Allied Artists, Phyllis Coates, Sam Katzman, Tim Holt, United Artists, Universal (-International), Whip Wilson, William Castle on December 20, 2019| 2 Comments »
Came upon this the other day and thought it was worth sharing.
The Morningside Theatre in New York City has quite a lineup on Saturday, April 16, 1959. First, there was Tim Holt in The Monster That Challenged The World (1957), then Audie Murphy in Jack Arnold’s No Name On The Bullet (1959) and finally Running Target from 1956, starring Doris Dowling, Arthur Franz and Myron Healey. Tossed into the mix were a few cartoons and Marshall Reed in a chapter of the Columbia serial Riding With Buffalo Bill (1954), produced by Sam Katzman.
Of course, the stuff coming up after it — William Castle’s The Tingler (1959), The Warrior And The Slave Girl (1958) and Whip Wilson, Fuzzy Knight and Phyllis Coates in Monogram’s Canyon Riders (1951) — sounds pretty good, too.
Posted in 1954, Anthony Mann, Arrow Academy, Chubby Johnson, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Harry Morgan, Jack Elam, Jay C. Flippen, Jimmy Stewart, John McIntire, Robert J. Wilke, Royal Dano, Ruth Roman, Universal (-International), Walter Brennan on August 20, 2019| 4 Comments »
Directed by Anthony Mann
Starring James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet, Walter Brennan, John McIntire, Jay C. Flippen, Henry Morgan, Steve Brodie
It’s always a good day when another James Stewart/Anthony Mann movie makes its way to Blu-Ray. Arrow Academy has announced The Far Country (1954) for release this November.
The Far Country was Mann and Stewart’s fourth Western together, and it’s a good one. The cast and crew were well-acquainted and the movie feels like a well-oiled machine. Set in Alaska, though shot in Canada, the picture lets Mann and DP William H. Daniels make the most of the locale in widescreen. Speaking of widescreen, Arrow has promised to give us the movie two ways, in both 1.85 and 2.0 aspect ratios. Universal-International at this time was often using 2.0 — Man Without A Star (1955), Mole People (1956), etc.
Like the other Mann/Stewart Westerns, this one’s essential, folks.
Posted in 1954, Lee Van Cleef, Lesley Selander, Noah Beery Jr., Peggie Castle, Rory Calhoun on August 8, 2019| 7 Comments »
Rory Calhoun
(Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922 – April 28, 1999)
Rory Calhoun was born 99 years ago today. Here he is with Peggie Castle in The Yellow Tomahawk (1954).
The Yellow Tomahawk is a pretty good picture. It’s not on DVD or Blu-Ray — and when you find it somewhere, it’s never in color.
