Posts by Archive Authors

How many films are lost and forgotten over the years? It would be interesting to know how many films have been made since the advent of the movie industry. It is probably in the millions, and yet most of us would probably have trouble thinking of a thousand.  The Red House is probably a film that could be considered lost or forgotten. It stars Edward G. Robinson, who is someone who everyone probably knows and would consider to be a classic American actor. There use to an old expression, “There are 8 million stories in the Naked City, and this is one of them.”  This film fits well into the tradition of small human dramas of mystery and murder. It’s part of a well known genre in the history of cinema called Film Noir. Robinson’s career was launched by the famous gangster film of the Thirties called Little Caesar, and his resume is full of scary and threatening characters. Sometimes he would tweaked people’s expectations by playing characters who were more humorous or weak or full of inherent goodness that would belie the image that Robinson’s reputation represented. As Robinson continued acting, it would be interesting to see what twists in character would occur in an Edward G. Robinson movie. Double Indemnity is that kind of movie and made that same year; The Red House is also that kind of movie.

The main setting is an isolated farm where Edward G. Robinson lives with his wife and teenage daughter. The daughter is pining after a boy at the high school and gets him to work for her father. A very young and enticing Julie London plays another girl with her sights on the young man. A local young stud played by Rory Calhoun figures he’s much better match for someone as pretty as Julie London. But the biggest question in the film is what secret is hidden in the woods that Edward G. Robinson wants no one to discover. It becomes more and more obvious that Robinson will stop at nothing to keep what is in the woods secret.  Oscar winning actress Judith Anderson (Rebecca) plays the supportive mother figure, and her subtle and controlled expressions reveal little. The secret is clearly making Robinson live two lives. He is both a loving father and husband and clearly someone who did something dark and disturbing that he must hide from nearly everyone. The one person who might know something more is Rory Calhoun, who Robinson has given hunting rights to the woods where the secret lies. He has been told that anyone who trespasses there should be warned to stay away in no uncertain terms including warning shots that can whiz by an intruder’s skull. At one point Calhoun takes numerous sniper shots at the daughter as she wanders close to the mysterious red house in the woods. Clearly the potential for disaster looms over the story. Will the daughter get the boy, or will it be the fetching but manipulative rival? Will the daughter find out what’s in the red house? Will the reckless stud kill someone with his rifle? What is the secret, and what will it mean for Robinson if it is revealed? Will his safe little world unravel as he becomes more and more unraveled?

“The man of virtue is invincible.”  -  Wong Fei-Hung

This is a reference to the eternal struggle between good and evil. It is war on an extremely personal level. Hand-to-hand warfare is best shown in intensely emotional films dealing with Asian martial arts. They are full of discipline and morality. Ric Meyers wrote a book that he has turned into a movie, and it is a thorough and passionate work.

Are you a very, very big fan of horror films? If you are, you are part of a small but passionate core of fans who live to gobble up anything that is gory and creepy and disgusting. Many people enjoy a good horror film from time to time, but that is not the same thing as thinking every day about what obscure monster or murder film you haven’t seen. If you read Fangoria or any number of websites or fanzines devoted to the subject, you know what I mean. There is a worldwide group of fans who have a bloodthirsty need for more and more and more horror.

The Theatre Bizarre is an example of just the kind of thing that horror fan is looking for. It is tailored specifically to those who want their movies evil and horrible and no-holds-barred. It is made by a small do-it-yourself horror boutique that you can find out more about at severine-films.com.

Miramax and Lionsgate have released two film collections starring American actresses who from time to time talk with British accents, Gwyneth Paltrow and Renee Zellweger. Lionsgate is flying high now with the gigantic success of The Hunger Games shooting its stock price through the roof. It’s time to visit the vault and relive some past successes. Renee Zellweger is one of those actresses that is hard to pin down. She seems award-ready coming out of the gate making a great splash in the movie Jerry Maguire. She had already starred in some low-budget films including Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation with college buddy Matthew McConeghy.  I mean you can’t get any more low-rent than that and films like Love and a .45. Then she could move to exquisite character pieces like The Whole Wide World and A Price Above Rubies, and she didn’t seem out of place in either milieu. I think she carries that quality throughout her career. She has an ordinary and real quality. Her career seems peppered with variety.

The films in this collection are Bridget Jones’s Diary, Chicago, Cold Mountain, and New In Town.

Miramax and Lionsgate have released film collections starring American actresses who from time to time talk with British accents, Gwyneth Paltrow and Renee Zellweger. Lionsgate is flying high now with the gigantic success of The Hunger Games shooting its stock price through the roof. It’s time to visit the vault and relive some past successes.

Gwyneth Paltrow had a big early rise to the top and was the golden girl for quite a while, basking in the glory of being Brad Pitts fianceé. It’s been a long time since those days, and now she is spending much of her time being a mom to Chris (Coldplay) Martin’s kids. She also has been doing more and more singing in movies like Country Strong and the TV show Glee. She has even been doing cooking shows with Mario Batali  (though there is some controversy about a cookbook she has written).