Richard Burton: In From the Cold? (1988)

 

RICHARD BURTON: IN FROM THE COLD?

    D: Tony Palmer                                (1988)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

A documentary on the acting career and tabloid life of Richard Burton, from a coal-mining town in Wales to Hollywood, "Cleopatra", seven Oscar nominations and marriage to what's-'er-name. The witnesses are mostly relatives and admirers (plus a refreshingly candid Lauren Bacall), and if the movie doesn't quite capture what drove Burton, it does get at some of his contradictions. Clips from his films help tell the story, but titles letting you know what movies you're looking at would've helped.

The Untold Story (1993)

 

THE UNTOLD STORY  (1993)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Danny Lee, Herman Yau

    Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Danny Lee, Emily Kwan,

    Julie Lee, Erik Kei, King-Kong Lam, Parkman Wong

Extreme exploitation from Hong Kong about a serial killer whose victims end up as a key ingredient in the pork dumplings he then serves to (among others) the cops investigating the case. It's mostly played for laughs, but any time this guy reaches for a meat cleaver, brace yourself. The blood-and-guts quotient is sick.

The Play House (1921)

 

THE PLAY HOUSE  (1921)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton

    Buster Keaton, Virginia Fox, Joe Roberts

In a sort of prelude to "Sherlock Jr.", Buster Keaton plays a stagehand who dreams about a concert in which all the musicians and members of the audience are played by Buster Keaton. The gag was reprised in "An American In Paris" (1951), with all the parts played by Oscar Levant.

Tower of Evil (1972)

 

TOWER OF EVIL  (1972)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Jim O'Connolly

    Bryant Haliday, Jill Haworth, Jack Watson

    Anna Palk, Mark Edwards, Candace Glendenning,

    Derek Fowlds, Seretta Wilson, Gary Hamilton,

    Dennis Price, Robin Askwith, George Coulouris,

    John Hamill, Anthony Valentine, Marianne Stone

When some young backpackers are brutally murdered on an island the locals won't go near, a team of mod archeologists go there to investigate and look for an ancient Phoenician treasure. A kind of proto-slasher movie that starts out in the fog and ends with some decent pyrotechnics. Notable for its blatantly suggestive language, a fair amount of nudity and costumes that look like vintage Carnaby Street. Alternate titles: "Horror of Snape Island", "Beyond the Fog".

Street of Chance (1930)

 

STREET OF CHANCE  (1930)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: John Cromwell

    William Powell, Kay Francis, Regis Toomey,

    Jean Arthur, Bruce Benedict, Stanley Fields

William Powell plays a gambler whose wife (Kay Francis) wants him to go straight, which he promises to do, as soon as he settles some unfinished business. She's heard that before, and says so, but he says he means it this time, he just has one more thing to take care of and they'll get out of town. Will he really be back in time to catch the noon train? Will she be waiting when he gets there? Two things you can take away from this movie: 1) Don't gamble, and 2) If you do, bet the percentages. 

Sundown (2021)

SUNDOWN  (2021)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Michel Franco 

    Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios,

    Samuel Bottomley, Albertine Kotting McMillan

Tim Roth, looking a bit weathered, plays a Brit on vacation at a luxury resort in Mexico with his sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her two grown children. When a family emergency calls them back to London, he decides not to go, claims he's lost his passport, and checks into a hotel in a part of Acapulco where wealthy gringos don't normally go. He seems out of it - a functioning zombie - and you don't really find out why till close to the end. More puzzling is why he's being such an asshole. He's rich - the family owns slaughterhouses - so maybe that's part of it, like, if you've got enough pesos and you're feeling disaffected, the rules don't apply. Keep an eye out for the pigs.

When Knighthood Was In Flower (1922)

WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER 

    D: Robert G. Vignola                   (1922)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    Marion Davies, Lyn Harding, William Norris,

    William Powell, Forrest Stanley, Flora Finch

A silent costume adventure starring William Randolph Hearst's girlfriend as Mary Queen of Scots. In this account of her early life, Mary's just turned 16 and her big brother, Henry VIII, wants to marry her off to the doddering king of France, when Mary breaks with royal protocol by falling in love with a commoner. Hearst liked seeing Davies in period pieces, and this is one of them. It looks like a million bucks, and it should: It cost a million and a half to produce. There are swordfights and chases on horseback, treachery and romance, daring rescues and narrow escapes, but at two hours, it feels kind of long. Skinny, young William H. Powell, in his second film and still more than a decade away from "The Thin Man", plays a knave who wants to deflower the queen.

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993)

 

EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES  (1993)  ¢ 1/2

    D: Gus Van Sant

    Uma Thurman, John Hurt, Rain Phoenix, 

    Lorraine Bracco, Pat Morita, Angie Dickinson,

    Keanu Reeves, Ed Begley Jr., Carol Kane,

    Sean Young, Crispin Glover, Buck Henry,

    Heather Graham, Udo Kier, Eliza Butterfly

Gus Van Sant tries to make something out of Tom Robbins' bestselling cult novel about a posse of lesbian ranch hands (a literal "pussy posse") and a woman with oversized thumbs. Robbins' books generally are loose on plot and long on whimsy and wordplay, which works fine on the page sometimes, but can be hard to translate to the screen. The movie's broadly played and heavy-handed, and while some of the language is fun, the rhetorical posturing wears thin real quick, whether it's John Hurt as a flaming queen who's made a fortune in the feminine hygiene business, or Rain Phoenix as the gun-totin' leader of an all-dyke cowgirl gang. Robbins narrates. Ken Kesey and William S. Burroughs make cameo appearances. The music's by k.d. lang.

Tom Robbins

(1932-2o25)

Venom (1981)

 

VENOM  (1981)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Piers Haggard

    Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, Nicol Williamson

    Sterling Hayden, Sarah Miles, Susan George,

    Lance Holcomb, Cornelia Sharpe, Michael Gough

Three bungling criminals - a maid, a chauffeur and an alleged mastermind - kidnap a ten-year-old boy and hold him for ransom. Sadly, one of the many things they've failed to anticipate is the kid's newest pet, a black mamba, which (of course) escapes from its crate and could be lurking anywhere, ready to strike. You can imagine Hitchcock having some fun checking off all the ways a carefully worked-out crime can go wrong, and the movie does an okay job of that, despite an insane conclusion and a few too many shots inside heating ducts from the snake's point of view. It was what's called a troubled shoot. Klaus Kinski and Oliver Reed hated each other, and Tobe Hooper, the original director, quit after clashing with Kinski. Sterling Hayden's last theatrical film. 

Zenobia (1939)

 

ZENOBIA  (1939)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Gordon Douglas 

    Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke,

    Jean Parker, James Ellison, Alice Brady, 

    June Lang, Olin Howland, J. Farrell MacDonald,

    Stepin Fetchit, Hattie McDaniel, Philip Hurlic

Oliver Hardy, in one of the few sound films he made without Stan Laurel, plays a small-town doctor in post-Civil War Mississippi. Harry Langdon, years beyond his heyday as one of the silent era's great comedy stars, plays a medicine-show impresario whose main attraction is an elephant. That could be an interesting pairing, but the material's not up to it, and Langdon's not Laurel when it comes to chemistry with Ollie. The racial stereotyping is awkward at best, and excruciating whenever Stepin Fetchit is on screen. Good performance by the elephant, though.

Renfield (2023)

 

RENFIELD  (2023)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Chris McKay

    Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina,

    Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghashloo, Bess Rous

    Brandon Scott Jones, Camille Chen, Jenna Kanell

Crazed action/horror mayhem starring Nicolas Cage as a maniacally unhinged Dracula. Mountains of corpses. Oceans of blood. A guilty pleasure. Cage's performance is gonzo, even for Nicolas Cage. 

The Woman In Green (1945)

 

THE WOMAN IN GREEN  (1945)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Roy William Neill

    Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Hillary Brooke,

    Henry Daniell, Paul Cavanagh, Matthew Boulton

Somebody's been murdering women all over London and leaving them with their right index fingers cut off. Who would do something like that? And why? Could Professor Moriarty be involved? And isn't he supposed to be dead? Better call Sherlock Holmes.

Thirteen Woman (1932)

 

THIRTEEN WOMEN  (1932)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: George Archainbaud

    Irene Dunne, Ricardo Cotez, Myrna Loy, 

    Jill Esmond, Mary Duncan, Kay Johnson,

    Florence Eldridge, C. Henry Gordon, Peg Entwistle

Women who attended the same finishing school together start getting horoscopes in the mail from an astrologer, telling them they're going to die. When the predictions start to come true, the surviving women become concerned. Myrna Loy, still typecast as Asian vamps, plays the astrologer's devious assistant. Nora Charles she's not. Tabloid footnote: Peg Entwistle, who made her only movie appearance as one of the thirteen women, committed suicide by jumping off the HOLLYWOOD sign two days after the film's release.