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You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 3: House of Mystery
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 16, 2018
It’s another action-packed episode. The action is atrociously executed, but there is definitely a lot of it. After a perfunctory cliffhanger resolution, the Clutching Hand sends more thugs after detective Jack Mulhall and his sidekick, reporter Rex Lease (Lease’s professional makes no difference read more
He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 15, 2018
He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown opens with Snoopy terrorizing the kids. He’s indiscriminately vicious, leading to the kids complaining to Charlie Brown about it. Charlie Brown’s solution is to send Snoopy off to the puppy farm for reeducation. Snoopy is Dog’s draw. His worst moments read more
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995, Joe Chappelle)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 14, 2018
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers doesn’t even run ninety minutes and gets boring fast; the last twenty minutes are completely mind-numbing. Nothing makes sense, characters act without motive, cults cult without purpose, it just goes on and on. At least Donald Pleasence is lucky enough to get read more
The Cheap Detective (1978, Robert Moore)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 13, 2018
It was until after The Cheap Detective was over I realized there’s never anything about Peter Falk’s fee. It’s not clear whether he’s cheap or not. It’s never addressed. It’s one of the many things Neil Simon’s screenplay never gets around to addressing, like if the third act is all a read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 2: Shadows
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 12, 2018
There are some amusing moments in Shadows; not good moments, but amusing ones. Like when reporter turned detective sidekick Rex Lease trespasses on a boat and assaults the crew members. It’s a perplexing action sequence–the second fistfight in the (very long) chapter–and incompetently cut together. read more
Charlie Brown's All Stars! (1966, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 11, 2018
Despite being all about baseball–specifically baseball games–“Charlie Brown’s All Stars!” barely has any logic to how its baseball works. It’s summertime and Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins) loses the kids’ first game of baseball for them. Although, really, no one else on the team is any read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 1: Who Is the Clutching Hand?
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 10, 2018
Who Is the Clutching Hand? opens with Robert Walker getting out of prison. The warden warns him not to be a recidivist; Walker tells him he’s going to keep being a crook, he’s just not going to get caught. Is Walker the Clutching Hand? Who knows. The action then moves to a boring board room meeting read more
It’s Dental Flossophy, Charlie Brown (1980, Bill Melendez and Phil Roman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 9, 2018
There’s an adorable moment when Woodstock makes a nest out of dental floss in It’s Dental Flossophy, Charlie Brown, but otherwise it’s a hard going five and a half minutes. Charlie Brown needs to floss and Lucy’s going to teach him. She wants to get all that plaque out before she goes to Schroeder’ read more
Charlie Brown Clears the Air (1979, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 8, 2018
Charlie Brown Clears the Air opens with a deceptively funny gag. Snoopy messing with Linus. It’s the only funny thing in the cartoon, produced for American Lung Association with the apparent purpose of boring children into environmentally responsible behavior. See, Snoopy’s in a mood because his read more
Tooth Brushing (1978, Bill Melendez)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 7, 2018
It’s incredible Tooth Brushing only runs five minutes. The cartoon (an educational short produced for the American Dental Association) starts innocuously enough. Charlie Brown gets out of the dentist, heads home to try out his new brush and other dentist goodies–he’s also got fresh instructions read more
Secret Agent (1943, Seymour Kneitel)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 6, 2018
Secret Agent opens with this really exciting car chase. Clark (Bud Collyer) has just called in and been told to get to work on the right story, only then a car crashes through the drug store he’s in and so he hops on the back of it as it chases another car. Then the cops start chasing the car Clark read more
Bigger Than Life (1956, Nicholas Ray)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 5, 2018
Despite producing the film himself, top-billed James Mason doesn’t have the best part in Bigger Than Life. Instead, Barbara Rush–as his suffering wife–gets it. Mason’s a man with a life threatening chronic illness who has to take special medication. Slowly–though not too slowly–that medication read more
Jungle Drums (1943, Dan Gordon)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 4, 2018
Sitting through the first third of Jungle Drums, I kept hoping the cartoon would keep the African natives in silhouette. I had zero confidence they wouldn’t do some racist caricature and, at least in silhouette, there would be specifics. The natives do get out of silhouette and they are racist cari read more
The Mummy Strikes (1943, Izzy Sparber)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 3, 2018
If it weren’t for the needlessly racist finish from Lois (Joan Alexander), The Mummy Strikes would probably get a pass. Maybe. The action isn’t particularly impressive, but the Egyptian history lesson is pretty cool. Even if it’s all about young King Tush. Jay Morton’s script is (mostly) strong–it, read more
Destruction Inc. (1942, Izzy Sparber)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 2, 2018
Destruction Inc. is nearly a success. It’s frustratingly not, particularly because the only thing holding it back is the animation itself. Thomas Moore and Dave Tendlar lack detail on the action, lack detail on the background, and don’t composite the two well. But Sparber’s direction is fantastic. read more
Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938, Ford Beebe and Robert F. Hill)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 1, 2018
Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars is far from the ultimate trip. It’s not even a very good trip. It’s the kind of trip where you go somewhere, go somewhere else, then somewhere else, then go back to the second place, then go back to the first place, then go back to the third place, then go back to the read more
Separate Tables (1958, Delbert Mann)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 30, 2018
Despite taking place in a very English hotel with very English residents–all of them long-term residents, not temporary guests–Separate Tables hinges almost entirely on the Americans. Burt Lancaster is one such American. He’s a regular resident (even ostensibly engaged to manager Wendy Hiller; read more
Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938, Ford Beebe and Robert F. Hill), Chapter 15: An Eye for an Eye
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 29, 2018
An Eye for an Eye is a disappointing finish for Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars but maybe not an unexpected one, not given the serial’s trajectory. The cliffhanger resolution is quick–Buster Crabbe gets away from Charles Middleton due to Middleton’s lack of observational prowess. They’re fitting read more
Eleventh Hour (1942, Dan Gordon)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 28, 2018
While Eleventh Hour posits Superman as some kind of American war hero–he’s in Yokohama doing all sorts of damage, usually to ships–the cartoon actually portrays him as a big doofus who’s more lucky than anything else. Clark (Bud Collyer) and Lois (Joan Alexander) are under house arrest. In a read more
Showdown (1942, Izzy Sparber)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 27, 2018
The showdown in Showdown is… not much of a showdown. A hapless–if nimble-fingered–thief dresses up like Superman and commits a bunch of crimes. He doesn’t do it on his own, he does it because his boss commands it. His boss looks a little like Edward G. Robinson. No, there’s no showdown between read more