Posted in 1954, Burt Lancaster, Gary Cooper, Robert Aldrich on November 2, 2020| 2 Comments »
Burton Stephen “Burt” Lancaster
(November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994)
This would’ve been the 107th birthday of one of my favorite movie stars, Mr. Burt Lancaster.
Here his is with Gary Cooper in Vera Cruz (1954), which his production company produced. It’s terrific, it was a huge hit and its ultimate influence on the spaghetti western can’t be overstated.
Posted in 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, Anthony Mann, Arthur Kennedy, Audie Murphy, Chuck Connors, Jane Russell, Jimmy Stewart, John Agar, Julie Adams, Roger Corman, Universal (International) on September 1, 2020| 17 Comments »
Lori Nelson
(August 15, 1933 – August 23, 2020)
Lori Nelson, has passed away at 87. She was born Dixie Kay Nelson. Her family moved to Hollywood when she was four. Soon after, she was crowned Little Miss America.
In 1950, Ms. Nelson signed a seven-year contract with Universal-International. Her first film was Bend Of The River, followed by Ma And Pa Kettle At The Fair and Francis Goes To West Point (all 1952). In 1953, U-I put her in Douglas Sirk’s All I Desire. She appeared in two Audie Murphy pictures, Tumbleweed (1953) and Destry (1954).
In 1955, she did Ma And Pa Kettle At Waikiki, Revenge of the Creature, Roger Corman’s Day The World Ended and I Died A Thousand Times, a remake of High Sierra (1941) — which has already been remake as Colorado Territory (1949). Underwater! was released in 1955, though it’d been shot some time earlier. She was loaned to Howard Hughes and RKO for that one. She’s also in Pardners (1956), one of the last Martin and Lewis pictures, Hot Rod Girl (1956) co-starring Chuck Connors and Howard W. Koch’s Untamed Youth (1957) with Mamie Van Doren. What a great batch of 1950s cinema.
Posted in 1954, Burt Lancaster, Charles Bronson, DVD/Blu-Ray News, John Dehner, John McIntire, Robert Aldrich, United Artists on August 31, 2020| 26 Comments »
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Starring Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, John McIntire, Charles Buchinsky, John Dehner, Paul Guilfoyle, Ian MacDonald, Walter Sande, Morris Ankrum, Monte Blue
Kino Lorber has announced that a Blu-Ray of Robert Aldrich’s Apache (1954) will be available later this year.
It’s a solid little picture with a great cast. The downbeat ending was changed to something United Artists felt audiences would like. Apache was a big hit, so maybe UA was right. But Lancaster and Aldrich were not. The success of this one landed Aldrich the chance to director Lancaster and Gary Cooper in Vera Cruz (1954), a much bigger picture.
Posted in 1950, 1954, Andre de Toth, Andy Devine, Brian Donlevy, Charles McGraw, Coleen Gray, DVD/Blu-Ray News, Edgar Buchanan, George Marshall, Hugo Fregonese, James H. Griffith, Joanne Dru, Kino Lorber, Randolph Scott, Stephen McNally, Universal (International) on April 14, 2020| 31 Comments »
There’s a lot going on these days, which is probably a huge understatement. At the same time, within the confines of each of our homes, there’s not much going on at all. I hope everyone is safe, healthy and watching a lot of movies. Thought I’d bring up a few things.
Apache Drums (1951) is coming to Blu-Ray from Sidonis out of France. This is very good news. It’s a terrific picture.
RIP, James Drury.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been asked for quite a few movie recommendations, and it’s been a blast to suggest Westerns and crime/noir movies to my homebound friends. It makes me feel good to know that yet another person has come to appreciate Man In The Saddle (1951) or Armored Car Robbery (1950).
Saw Day Of Triumph (1954), a low-budget, heartfelt, but talky story of Christ. It had a great cast — Lee J. Cobb, James H. Griffith (as Judas!), Joanne Dru (as a lovely Mary Magdalene), Burt Mustin, Robert Cornthwaite, Barbara Billingsley, Mike “Touch” Connors and Ralph Moody. The minimal sets are pretty effective, but Burbank is a long way from the Holy Land, in about every possible way.
Completed the commentary for Kino Lorber’s When The Daltons Rode (1940) last week. Due to coronavirus closings and stuff, we recorded it at the engineer’s home. We had to take a break when a train came through town — the tracks run behind his house. Ironically, it was the train robbery sequence.
Hang in there, folks!
Posted in 1954, 3-D, Columbia, James H. Griffith, Mill Creek Entertainment, Sam Katzman, William Castle on March 26, 2020| 26 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.
