The Paramount pre-code horror classic Island of Lost Souls has just been released on DVD as part of The Criterion Collection. Reflections on the film and DVD extras.
Devil and the Deep (1932) Starring Charles Laughton and Tallulah Bankhead
A detailed look at Paramount’s Devil and the Deep (1932) starring Tallulah Bankhead and Gary Cooper, with Cary Grant and introducing Charles Laughton to American audiences as the paranoid submarine commander.
Horrors! in Liberty Magazine, 1946, Looks at Val Lewton
A detailed look at the article “Horrors!” by Joseph Wechsberg in the August 24, 1946 edition of Liberty Magazine, particularly at the work of Val Lewton who is Wechsberg’s main focus.
Peggy Hopkins Joyce, W.C. Fields, et al., in Paramount’s International House (1933)
International House, billed in its day as The Grand Hotel of comedy, found Eddie Sutherland directing a cast headed by W.C. Fields, Burns and Allen, and Bela Lugosi, with top bill actually going to socialite Peggy Hopkins Joyce in what was the final film of her sporadic movie career. The films’ everyman is played by […]
Louise Brooks stars in William Wellman’s Beggars of Life (1928)
Louise Brooks and Richard Arlen star in William Wellman’s Beggars of Life (1928) based on the novel by Jim Tully. Also starring Wallace Beery, a pre-Depression tale of hobo life.
Search for Beauty (1934) starring Ida Lupino and Buster Crabbe
A review of Paramount’s Search for Beauty (1934) starring Buster Crabbe and Ida Lupino. One of six films featured in the Pre-Code Hollywood Collection, and the first one I chose to watch … a mistake.