Notizie

Twenty-six years ago, DreamWorks released the starry animated musical “The Prince of Egypt,” which chronicles the life of biblical figure Moses, to both critical and commercial success. The film, featuring music by eventual “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz and the voices of Val Kilmer and Ralph Fiennes, is widely regarded as a masterpiece — yet the biblical animated film genre was seemingly abandoned after the turn of the millennium.

Enter “The King of Kings,” Angel Studios’ effort to revive the faith-based children’s movie in theaters. The film, which stars Oscar Isaac as Jesus, Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, Mark Hamill as King Herod, Forest Whitaker as Peter and Ben Kingsley as High Priest Caiaphas, is cleverly framed as famed author Charles Dickens (Kenneth Branagh) and his wife Catherine (Uma Thurman) seek to teach their King Arthur-obsessed son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis) about the greatest king of all.

Loosely based on...

Warning: This article discusses topics of racism, violence, and death.

The 1960s is a great era for murder mystery movies. The decade is remembered for several classic movies everyone must watch in their lifetime, and while the earliest murder mystery films are typically from the ‘40s and ‘50s, the subgenre truly blooms in the ‘60s. Plenty of classic 1960s movies were ahead of their time, and to this day, audiences are still enthralled by these old titles.

No murder mystery is the same. Although audiences nowadays are treated to the complex narratives of movies like Knives Out, for example, these ‘60s titles prove that an old-fashioned murder investigation is a timeless concept. From secret villainous protagonists to strained and exhausted detectives, murder mystery movies from the ‘60s are like no other, and they play a significant part in how the titles we see today are formed.

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte...

Feud: Part 2

We kicked off December with a look at the vastly underseen 2019 gem I See You (listen) before heading to Paris for Joel Schumacher’s 2004 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera (listen). For our third episode of the month, Trace and I are headed to Louisiana for Robert Aldrich‘s unofficial Hagsploitation sequel, Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964).

In the film, Bette Davis plays Charlotte, the “mad woman” recluse who purportedly killed her lover John Mayhew (Bruce Dern) with an axe at a party thirty years earlier. In the interim, she’s been shunned by society and she’s on the cusp of eviction so a new highway can be built on her property.

Enter cousin Miriam (Olivia de Havilland), who arrives to help pack, much to the chagrin of Charlotte’s maid, Velma (Agnes Moorhead in an Oscar-nominated performance) and to the delight of Miriam’s former flame,...

It’s no secret that the 1960s gave us some of the finest horror movies ever made. Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby, Night of the Living Dead, and The Birds are just a few that come to mind, yet in the midst of all those came a psychological horror-thriller in 1962 that has gone on to be regarded as a classic of the genre, despite its campy elements. Now, more than 60 years later, the Academy Award-nominated film is a streaming hit on Tubi that’s being rediscovered by a ton of new viewers.

Per Tubi, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? sits at number five on the streaming platform’s Top 10 list at the time of this writing, sandwiched in between Queen of the Damned and the Robin Williams hit Mrs. Doubtfire. Released on Halloween, 1962, the film stars incomparable actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as two former child star sisters tormenting one...

If you’ve been anywhere near a television in the last couple of years, odds are you’re already familiar with Dominic Burgess. The British actor broke through in 2017’s “Feud: Bette and Joan” as actor Victor Buono, before popping up in a number of memorable appearances — playing everything from serial killer John Wayne Gacy in “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” to an accident-prone man on “The Good Place” whose hideous red boots create an existential crisis for Chidi.

Most recently, the actor has been stealing scenes as Grayman, the stylist to the grande dames (including Kristen Wiig and Allison Janney) on Apple TV’s “Palm Royale” — and as Hamish Moss, a director on the rise on “American Horror Story: Delicate.” That is, he was on the rise before the April 3 episode, in which Moss met a gruesome death at the hands of Kim Kardashian’s devilish publicist.

Janet Landgard, who starred in 1968’s “The Swimmer” alongside Burt Lancaster and played Paul Petersen’s love interest for three seasons on “The Donna Reed Show,” has died. She was 75.

Petersen shared the news of co-star Landgard’s death on Facebook, noting that cancer “took her life earlier this week.” He added that Landgard was “the best TV girlfriend my alternate ego, Jeff Stone, ever had on the last three years of ‘The Donna Reed Show.’ Janet was gorgeous, inside and out… We were always close no matter the time or distance.”

Landgard was born on Dec. 2, 1947, in Pasadena, Calif. She made her onscreen debut in 1963 on “The Donna Reed Show,” playing a girl named Sabrina in one episode of the sitcom’s fifth season. She also guested on ABC’s “My Three Sons” that year.

Landgard returned to portray Jeff’s (Petersen) girlfriend Karen on 11 episodes of “The Donna Reed Show...

Janet Landgard, who played Paul Petersen’s love interest for three seasons on The Donna Reed Show and later costarred with Burt Lancaster in film drama The Swimmer, died Nov. 6 at age 75 of brain cancer, according to several friends on social media.

On Facebook, actor Petersen called her “The best TV girlfriend my alternate ego, Jeff Stone, ever had. Janet was gorgeous, inside and out … a flawless Scandinavian beauty that literally stunned jaded Hollywood types into silence. We were always close no matter the time or distance.”

Born on Dec. 2, 1947, Landgard was raised in Pasadena and worked for the William Adrian Modeling Agency. She made her onscreen debut in 1963 on The Donna Reed Show while still in high school, playing a girl named Sabrina on a fifth-season episode. She also appeared on ABC’s My Three Sons that year.

That led to a recurring role as Petersen’s girlfriend, Karen,...

Janet Landgard, who accompanied Burt Lancaster on a portion of his bizarre tour of backyard swimming pools in the acclaimed 1968 drama The Swimmer, has died. She was 75.

Landgard died this week after a very brief bout with brain cancer, actor Paul Petersen told The Hollywood Reporter. She recurred as his love interest on the final three seasons of the ABC family comedy The Donna Reed Show.

On Facebook, Petersen called her “the best TV girlfriend my alternate ego, Jeff Stone, ever had. Janet was gorgeous, inside and out … a flawless Scandinavian beauty that literally stunned jaded Hollywood types into silence. We were always close no matter the time or distance.”

In Columbia Pictures’ The Swimmer — directed by Frank Perry and adapted by his then-wife, Eleanor Perry, from a John Cheever short story in The New Yorker — Landgard was memorable as Julie Ann Hooper, who used to babysit Ned Merrill’s...

Adam West's Batman has faced the most villains in live-action adaptations due to the sheer quantity of episodes produced for the '60s Batman TV series, which ran for three seasons and included 120 episodes. The Batman TV series also created several original villains, such as Egghead, King Tut, and Clock King, which contributed to Adam West's high villain count. Many of these original villains have since become part of the Batman comics and other media. While every live-action Batman has made a significant impact on the Batman mythos, Adam West's Batman stands out for his superhero career, battling the most villains over the course of his iconic portrayal.

Every live-action version of Batman has battled numerous villains, but one variation of the Dark Knight has taken on far more villains than any other. Batman's career in movies and television stretches all the way back to the Batman film serials of the '40s,...

Cloche

Following the double bill of vampire films with The Hunger and Ganja & Hess, Trace and I jumped into genre hodge podge last week with Fred Dekker’s delightful sci-fi homage, Night of the Creeps.

This week we’re veering gently into camp territory with the birth of hagsploitation in Robert Aldrich‘s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The film follows Blanche and Jane as sisters and former vaudeville stars, played by real-life rivals Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. The sisters live together and Jane takes care of (read: abuses) her older sister Blanche after she lost her ability to walk following a car accident.

As Blanche plots to escape her sister’s torment, Jane hires pianist Edwin Flagg (gay actor Victor Buono) to assist with her delusional plans to mount a comeback. As Jane spirals, she directs her madness toward her sister in increasingly malicious and dangerous ways.

The story of the infamous serial-killer case nicknamed the Boston Strangler involved 13 sexual assaults and murders in the Boston area between 1962 and 1964. Officially, 12 of them have never been solved. The 13th, decades later, was proven through DNA techniques to be the chief suspect, and self-confessed “Boston Strangler” Albert DeSalvo. He was famously represented by F. Lee Bailey, who later would write a book about the case.

Related Story ‘Boston Strangler’ Trailer: Keira Knightley Leads 20th’s True-Crime Thriller For Hulu Related Story Demi Lovato Making Directorial Debut With 'Child Star' Documentary at Hulu Related Story Criminologist Docuseries 'The Lesson Is Murder' Set At Hulu From ABC News Studios The Boston Strangler, 1968 20th Century Fox

The fact that there were, and still are, so many questions about it all did not deter Hollywood and others from exploiting the case to various degrees — most famously in the 1968 20th Century Fox...

Wally Campo, the Roger Corman regular who did his best Det. Joe Friday impersonation as Sgt. Joe Fink — and also served as the narrator — in the original The Little Shop of Horrors, has died. He was 99.

Campo died Jan. 14 of natural causes in Studio City, his son, musician Tony Campodonico, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Campo also played a goofball in Monte Hellman‘s Beast From Haunted Cave (1959) and appeared for director Burt Topper in Hell Squad (1958), Tank Commandos (1959) — where he was top-billed — and the Victor Buono-starring The Strangler (1964).

Campo showed up in the Corman-directed Machine-Gun Kelly (1958), Ski Troop Attack (1960) and Tales of Terror (1962) and in the Corman-produced Devil’s Angels (1967). Many of his movies were made at the filmmaker’s low-budget American International Pictures.

His acting credits also included Edward Dmytryk’s Warlock (1959), the Vincent Price-starring Master of the World (1961) and Shock Corridor (1963), directed by Sam Fuller.

Born...

William Dozier's 1966 TV adaptation of "Batman" remains, even at this late date, the high water mark for all Batman media. 

Colorful, whimsical, surreal, and borderline kinky, "Batman" served as an arch satire of the conservative underpinnings of most mainstream comic book heroes. Batman and Robin, played by the legendary Adam West and Burt Ward, were depicted as simultaneously heroic and terminally square, eschewing vice and indecency in favor of painfully wholesome, all-American activities such as camping, chess, drinking milk, birdwatching, and engaging in proper hygiene. Batman and Robin were walking 1950s classroom scare films, living in a bizarre universe of costumed vigilantes and horny criminals. The brilliance of the show came largely from West and Ward, who were able to deliver some of the strangest dialogue ever written without once ever winking or cracking a smile. "Batman" is a comedy masterpiece. 

Of course, the most appealing aspect of "Batman" were its villains.

Click here to read the full article.

Joe E. Tata, who portrayed the endearing Peach Pit diner owner Nat Bussichio on all 10 seasons of the original Beverly Hills, 90210, has died. He was 85.

Tata died Wednesday night, his daughter, Kelly Katharine Tata, announced on a GoFundMe page. Earlier, she wrote that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2018 and that he had been moved in April to the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills.

In what has to be some kind of record, Tata played henchmen to three supervillains — Frank Gorshin’s the Riddler, Burgess Meredith’s the Penguin and Victor Buono’s King Tut — on the 1966-68 ABC series Batman.

He also appeared in the ’60s on a trio of Irwin Allen-produced sci-fi shows — ABC’s The Time Tunnel (once as Napoleon) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and CBS’ Lost in Space...

Horror icon Barbara Crampton discusses a few of her favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Re-Animator (1985)

Body Double (1984)

Jakob’s Wife (2021)

The Court Jester (1955) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938)

The Three Musketeers (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Matrix (1999)

Bound (1996)

Eyes Without A Face (1962) – Sam Hamm’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Halloween (1978) Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing, Alex Kirschenbaum’s film power rankings, Alex Kirschenbaum’s timeline power rankings

All About Eve (1950)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Alien (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Relic (2020)

Anything For Jackson (2020)

The Haunting (1963) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary

Strait-Jacket (1964) – David DeCoteau’s trailer commentary

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary,...

When Dominic Burgess is not stealing scenes as a guest star, he’s getting raves as Jerry Summers in Dr. Death, Ember in The Magicians, and Victor Buono in the Ryan Murphy miniseries Feud. On this episode, he talks about why the vibe on a set is a big factor in his work, his struggles lately gauging what exactly “gay” means as a descriptor in heteronormative projects, why he appreciates when actors don’t let their unsettling methods infect others on the set, and how nearly every golden opportunity he’s had recently can be traced back to something that will forever force […]

The post Back to One, Episode 169: Dominic Burgess first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Psycho and Peeping Tom (both 1960) scorched the horror landscape and proffered new skin for the ceremony; these films looked at the monster within, the one unaffected by nuclear power yet obliterated by the implosion of the nuclear family. In their wake came numerous “tributes” including The Strangler (1964), a lurid tale given wings by a knockout performance from Victor Buono as the titular villain; you simply can’t avert your eyes from him. Even if you dare to.

Released April 1st by Allied Artists Pictures, The Strangler did receive a notice from Variety that reads in part, “There’s always a place on the screen for a fat man who can act”. Oh ‘64, you really weren’t that long ago, were you? Obnoxious, tone-deaf reviews aside, it is a compact little thriller that doesn’t necessarily deepen the discussion around mental illness, but offers a longer look for the viewer invested...

Issue #46

Highlights Of Issue #46 (2020) Include:

John Wayne and Rock Hudson are "The Undefeated"

Unpublished 1974 interview with Albert Finney

Don Siegel's "Madigan" starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda

Interview with writer/director Michael Armstrong

The making of the epic film "Waterloo" starring Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer

Hammer Films Actor John Richardson interview Part II

Vietnam Before and After: "Go Tell the Spartans" and "Rolling Thunder"

Brian Keith in "The McKenzie Break"

Plus review of DVDs, soundtracks and film books.

USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 $12.00 Usd UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £8.50 Gbp Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £10.50 Gbp Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £12.00 Gbp

Issue #47

Nick Anez covers "Flaming Star", the Elvis Presley drama that remains an overlooked gem.

Director John Stevenson's tribute to...

When Jimmy Fallon comes back to Los Angeles, he often flashes back to the lean early days of his career, when he wondered whether he’d ever make it.

“I just don’t miss those things,” Fallon said of awkward auditions and soul-crushing rejections.

“There was a Carl’s Jr. parking lot by Universal that I remember crying in,” he recently recounted to Variety‘s “My Favorite Episode” podcast. “‘This is over, I’m not gonna make it. I can’t crack it. I have no money, I don’t even know if I have a future.'”

Of course, Fallon eventually made it back east on “Saturday Night Live,” and now, “I have my own ride at Universal! How cool is that?”

Even back then, Fallon would relish visiting studio lots like Paramount, where he’d go on auditions but also geek out on pop culture history. Now, he gets...

“Avengers: Endgame” might have surpassed 2009’s “Avatar” when it comes to its domestic box-office — besting James Cameron’s sci-fi fantasy’s $750 million handily by taking in $816 million since its opening on April 26. But it is still a far cry from 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” still the champ with $937 million in domestic ticket sales.

But on social media, there has been some discussion beyond the big bucks about whether “Endgame” with its multitudes of Marvel-ous superhero actors might have the most Oscar winners and nominees ever for a cast of a feature film. I know there is an ongoing thread in the forums about just this topic with various permutations on who counts or not. But for my purposes, actors who won or were nominated in categories other than acting do not qualify. Same with honorary trophies.

By that measure, I count seven winners among the names: Brie Larson,...

This article marks Part 2 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on Horror Films at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at the spine-tingling movies that earned Academy Awards nominations, including the following films from the 1960s and 1970s.

Alfred Hitchcock‘s “Psycho” (1960) was met with enormous critical and commercial success upon release emerging the second-highest grossing film of the year, just behind Stanley Kubrick‘s “Spartacus.” Alas, the film was also greeted to a somewhat cool reception at the Oscars. “Psycho” did muster four nominations, in Best Director (Hitchcock’s fifth and final career bid), Best Supporting Actress (Janet Leigh), Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. Notably absent was Anthony Perkins, unforgettable as Norman Bates. Leigh, who won the Golden Globe for her performance, was ultimately defeated by Shirley Jones (“Elmer Gantry”). The film also failed to win on any of its other three nominations.

The following year,...

September 18th is definitely a phan-tastic day to be a genre lover, as we’re finally getting individual Blu-ray releases for both Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead and Phantasm IV: Oblivion this week, courtesy of Well Go USA. Scream Factory has given two classic horrors an HD overhaul—Scream for Help and The Evil—that cult film enthusiasts should definitely check out, and there is a pair of Special Edition Blu-rays arriving on Tuesday from Arrow Video to boot: Horrors of Malformed Men and The Pyjama Girl Case.

Other notable Blu-ray and DVD releases for September 18th include Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The X-Files: Season 11, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, Impulse, and 666: Seance Hour.

The Evil

A psychologist (Richard Crenna) and his wife (Joanna Pettet) buy a dilapidated historical mansion with a dark past in this terrifying chiller. Hoping to restore the estate and turn it into a drug rehabilitation clinic,...

Home restoration takes a hellish turn in The Evil, and with the 1978 horror film coming to Blu-ray on September 18th from Scream Factory, we've been provided with three high-def copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers!

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of The Evil.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “The Evil Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on September 24th. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

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The Los Angeles Comic Book And Science Fiction Convention features Author Susan E. Kesler, who will be signing The Wild Wild West, The Series, a new book on the popular 1965-1969 CBS-TV Series. Robert Conrad stars as James West and Ross Martin as master of disguise Artemus Gordon, Secret Service Agents during the 1870’s. Featuring Science Fiction and Horror themed storylines, spy gadgets, kung fu and steampunk, Wild Wild West was conceived as James Bond on horseback. Wild Wild West is known for it’s many distinctive villains such as Dr. Miguelito Loveless, a brilliant megalomaniacal dwarf, played by Michael Dunn, and Count Manzeppi played by Victor Buono. Every episode had a title with the word Night such as: The Night of the Puppeteer, The Night of the Inferno and The Night of the Steel Assassin.

From a haunted house to a doomed romance, Scream Factory has been giving horror fans several reasons to mark their calendars for high-def home media releases this September, including new Blu-rays of The Evil, The Seventh Sign, and The Bride.

Special features have yet to be announced for this trio of horror Blu-rays, but we'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated on further details. In the meantime, you can read the initial announcements and check out the cover art (via Facebook) for all three releases below:

The Evil Blu-ray: "The often-requested 70s haunted house film The Evil is finally coming to Blu-ray for the first time!

A psychologist (Richard Crenna) and his wife (Joanna Pettet) buy a dilapidated historical mansion with a dark past in this terrifying chiller. Hoping to restore the estate and turn it into a drug rehabilitation clinic, he accepts the help of some of his students and current patients.

Adam West, who was beloved for generations as the man under the crimefighting cowl in the 1960s Batman TV series, passed away yesterday at the age of 88. West had an acting career going back to the 1950s. Today, Cinelinx pays homage to a gentleman who loved his fans, as we say goodbye to Adam West

Adam West loved playing Batman. Beginning with the Batman Tv show (1966-1969), he continued being involved with DC Batman projects, including Batman: the Movie (1966), The Super Friends (or Super Powers Team), the New Adventures of Batman, Tarzan and the Super Seven, The Legends of the Super heroes, Batman: the Animated Series, the Batman: New Times video game, The 2004-2006 Batman cartoon, Batman: the Brave & the Bold, Robot Chicken, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, and the upcoming Batman vs. Two-Face. Through all these projects, for over five decades, West voiced either the Batman or one of his supporting cast.

Previously

Ch. 1 "Pilot"

Ch. 2 "The Other Woman" 

Feud's writing team is nothing if not devoted to playing to a single theme per episode. All but a couple of scenes in chapter 3 of Feud are devoted to the notion of mothering (though Victor Buono's more generous notion of "legacy" might have been a smarter move for retroactive potency). Or at least the show spends this hour playing with our pre-conceptions of the mothering skills of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. That's evident in the way it pulls the episode title from the infamous Christina Crawford memoir that damned Joan forever in the public eye as a psychopath and child abuser. In one of the earliest scenes we even get a potent reminder of this memoir as Joan pretends she's not going to send Christina a card congratulating her on the opening of a play until she reads reviews, but then signs the card "Mommie Dearest,...

In Sunday’s Feud: Bette and Joan, Davis and Crawford did the unthinkable and called a truce. The end.

No, obviously, that wasn’t the end. In fact, the cease-fire only lasted about as long as it took either actress to finish off a vodka rocks. What brought the curtain down on the Baby Jane co-stars’ detente? Read on…

RelatedFeud Season 2 to Focus on Charles and Diana’s Royal Estrangement

‘Pack The Bags Of The Girl Next Door’ | As “The Other Woman” began, Joan noticed that the ingenue who’d been cast as the Hudson sisters’ neighbor was turning heads on the set.

One of my most anticipated new series of 2017 is FX Network's Feud: Bette and Joan. It's a limited series that retells the story of the famous dispute between legendary actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and it focuses on their work on the classic thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

The rivalry between Davis and Crawford is the stuff legends are made of. It's one of the craziest Hollywood rivalries ever, and their story is going to make for one hell of an entertaining series!

The series was created by Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story), and it stars Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis and Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford. You can get your first look at the actresses in their roles above on the cover of the latest issue of EW. We also have the first promo teaser for you to enjoy. I love the old-school 1960s...

Longtime Ryan Murphy Repertory Company member Kathy Bates has signed up for the auteur’s newest FX anthology series Feud, TVLine has learned exclusively.

Season 1 of Feud will chronicle Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) and Bette Davis’ (Susan Sarandon) combative collaboration on the big-screen classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.

RelatedAmerican Horror Story: Ryan Murphy Hints at Next Season’s Freak Show Tie-In

Bates, who has appeared in four seasons of Murphy’s American Horror Story (including current edition Roanoke), will recur as Oscar-nominated actress and Davis confidante Joan Blondell in the eight-episode drama. During her five-decade career,...

Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland and Agnes Moorehead play it nasty, chop-chopping their way through a Grand Dame Guignol epic of 'sixties Hag Horror. Ace director Robert Aldrich's big success handed the deserving Davis a big role, and it looks better than ever on this razor-sharp remastered edition. With good original film promos as well as a lively new commentary. Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte Blu-ray Twilight Time 1964 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 133 min. / Street Date October 11, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store29.95 Starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Cecil Kellaway, Victor Buono, Mary Astor. Cinematography Joseph F. Biroc Art Direction William Glasgow Film Editor Michael Luciano Original Music Frank De Vol Written by Lukas Heller from a novel by Henry Farrell Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Good horror pictures featuring big stars were once fairly rare; this month Twilight Time...

Bear with me once again as we step into the “borrowed” Wabac machine to visit another era – one fraught with its own cultural peccadillos, its own world-view, and its own sensibilities.

You’ve probably heard that WB is extending their never-ending line of direct-to-disc DC-based animated features this fall to include a new, original, and undoubtedly awesome story set in the world of the 1966 Batman teevee show. In order to do this effectively they needed to procure the services of the sadly few surviving series stars, so they wisely put Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar in a recording studio to belt out their performances as Batman, Robin and Catwoman-the-first, respectively.

None found this a new experience. West has been voicing all sorts of stuff – most notably, Family Guy, although he returned to Gotham City in several of the subsequent animated Batman teevee series. Ward voiced Robin in numerous animated shows,...

Ryan Murphy, the creator of anthology series such as American Horror Story and American Crime Story, has created a third anthology series he’s producing alongside Brad Pitt called Feud, which sounds absolutely fascinating.

The series will explore the stories of famous feuds between people. The first season will focus on the legendary rivalry between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Jessica Lange will be taking on the role of Crawford, and Susan Sarandon will play Davis. That’s perfect casting!

It will tell the story of how Crawford and Davis came together in 1962 “to collaborate on a picture each hoped would revive their careers. The result, the critically acclaimed and box office smash What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? ultimately received five Academy Awards nominations and became a cult classic. But for its leads, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, the real horror was working together.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?...

Ryan Murphy, the prolific, Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning producer who pioneered the modern limited series form with the award-winning anthology American Horror Story and whose American Crime Story has been a critical and ratings triumph with its first installment The People v. O.J. Simpson, is launching a new FX limited series. Today FX has placed an order for Murphy's latest anthology franchise, Feud, an 8-episode series that will explore the bouts and blows of epic conflicts, it was announced by John Landgraf, CEO, FX Networks and FX Productions. Fox 21 Television Studios will produce the series for FX.

The first installment of Feud stars Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon and tells the story of the legendary rivalry between two of the greatest movie stars of all time - Joan Crawford (Lange) and Bette Davis (Sarandon), and how they came together in 1962 to collaborate on a picture each hoped would revive their careers.

Not content with just FX's award-winning "American Horror Story" and this year's highly acclaimed "American Crime Story," producer Ryan Murphy is setting up a third anthology series at the network entitled "Feud".

Scoring a straight-to-series eight-episode order, each season of the anthology will center around a different epic battle between two major personalities. For this first season he's picked a juicy one - the legendary backstage battle between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis and how the rivalry came to a crescendo with the making of 1962's "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?".

Murphy has enlisted Jessica Lange to play Crawford and Susan Sarandon to play Davis in the series which also stars Alfred Molina as director Robert Aldrich, Stanley Tucci as studio mogul Jack Warner, Judy Davis as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, and Dominic Burgess as 'Jane' co-star Victor Buono.

Murphy, Sarandon, Lange, Dede Gardener and Brad Pitt will all...

In the days before Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearing in 1991, he was known chiefly as a black conservative who didn't support affirmative action. That his actual legal and judicial record otherwise yielded slim pickings was also known, and was indeed the whole point: The country had recently embarked on an era in which court nominees (and their backers) were terrified of a newly coined term - a verb that in common usage took the past participle, "borked." The term nowadays implies a vicious campaign to discredit a nominee before and during the confirmation process, but more particularly - as...

In the days before Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearing in 1991, he was known chiefly as a black conservative who didn't support affirmative action. That his actual legal and judicial record otherwise yielded slim pickings was also known, and was indeed the whole point: The country had recently embarked on an era in which court nominees (and their backers) were terrified of a newly coined term - a verb that in common usage took the past participle, "borked." The term nowadays implies a vicious campaign to discredit a nominee before and during the confirmation process, but more particularly - as...

Lock your doors! Hulking menace Victor Buono gets the full-on psycho treatment, based (very) roughly on early reports of The Boston Strangler. The 'baby doll' killer also prefigures the fiendish Richard Speck. Burt Topper's film is routine but ex- Baby Jane star Victor Buono's performance is decidedly not. The Strangler DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1964 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 10, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Victor Buono, Diane Sayer, Davey Davison, Jeanne Bates, Ellen Corby, Mimi Dillard, Selette Cole, David McLean, Baynes Barron, Michael Ryan, Russ Bender, Wally Campo, Byron Morrow, John Yates, James Sikking, Robert Cranford. Cinematography Jacques R. Marquette Film Editor Robert S. Eisen Original Music Martin Skiles Written by Bill S. Ballinger Produced by Samuel Bischoff, David Diamond Directed by Burt Topper

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The old-time independent producer Edward Small gravitated to United Artists in the 1950s, while his counterpart...

A haunted house film is a tough sell. No masked stalker, no creatures that eviscerate and certainly no zombies lurching down those shadowed halls. A single setting, a dark secret, a group of people terrified by something is usually your standard template, and even the best haunted house flick doth not stray from the formula. So the trick is to convince the viewers once you get them inside – something that the low on budget, high on conviction, and seldom talked about The Evil (1978) accomplishes admirably.

Barely distributed in May of ‘78 by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, The Evil was made for $700,000 Us and came and went very quickly. The filmmakers complained about the paltry distribution, but I’m sure Corman turned a profit somewhere down the line – he usually did. So from the modest budget, to the generic sounding title (why not just call it Horror Movie?) to the not exactly topical sub genre,...

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Batman TV show (1966-68) starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and his teen partner Robin the Boy Wonder. The show was a huge hit when first released and still has a loyal following today. The show was a clever satire, not only on super heroes but also on 1960s pop-culture in general. Cinelinx celebrates ABC’s Batman at 50.

In January of 1996, a mid-season replacement show debuted on ABC and became an unexpected hit. It was originally planned to be produced for the fall ’66 season but it was moved up to January. ABC’s Batman was part of its 1966 “second wave” programming, being one of 4 shows that debuted during the mid-season. (Along with The Double Life of Henry Phyfe, Blue Light and The Baron.) While the other three are mostly forgotten, Batman became the sensation of the season—airing twice each week,...

'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' 2015: Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' movie is a domestic box office bomb: Will it be saved by international filmgoers? Directed by Sherlock Holmes' Guy Ritchie and toplining Man of Steel star Henry Cavill and The Lone Ranger costar Armie Hammer, the Warner Bros. release The Man from U.N.C.L.E. has been a domestic box office disaster, performing about 25 percent below – already quite modest – expectations. (See also: “'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' Movie: Bigger Box Office Flop Than Expected.”) This past weekend, the $80 million-budget The Man from U.N.C.L.E. collected a meager $13.42 million from 3,638 North American theaters, averaging $3,689 per site. After five days out, the big-screen reboot of the popular 1960s television series starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum has taken in a mere $16.77 million. For comparison's sake:...

Joan Crawford Movie Star Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her work, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades after her death, Crawford, the star to end all stars, remains one of the iconic performers of the 20th century. Deservedly so, once you choose to bypass the Mommie Dearest inanity and focus on her film work. From the get-go, she was a capable actress; look for the hard-to-find silents The Understanding Heart (1927) and The Taxi Dancer (1927), and check her out in the more easily accessible The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). By the early '30s, Joan Crawford had become a first-rate film actress, far more naturalistic than...

Burbank, CA (March 18, 2015) – The iconic high-camp cleverness of “Pow!,” “Thwack!” and “Zap!” graphics leap off the pages as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (Wbhe) releases Batman: The Second Season, Part 2 to own on DVD on July 14, 2015 for $39.98 Srp. As the #7 best-selling TV title in 2014, the iconic series continues to prove enduringly popular for fans young and old. Batman: The Second Season, Part 2 features the final 30 episodes from the second season of the 1966 Original Batman Series, and includes over 12 hours of content! This is a collection you won’t want to miss!

Batman: The Second Season, Part 2 will bring more rollicking and mysterious mayhem designed to defeat our Caped Crusaders! With felonious foes lined up for revenge, like the venomous Black Widow, chilling Mr. Freeze and cagey Penguin, Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) must match wits with the wiliest. Sit back and tune into the double-crosses and conundrums that confound our calm,...

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Batman: The Television Series: Season 2 Part One DVD Review

You can own this DVD today

Synopsis: These first 30 episodes of Batman's second season will take you on more perilous plots with fiendish foes trying to undo our undaunted heroes! From the torturous King Tut (Victor Buono) to a straying Catwoman to the provoking Joker (Cesar Romero), Batman and his Boy Wonder sidekick come face to face with a cape-full of criminal calamity.

Review: Fans of the classic Batman television show have waited impatiently for decades to get our beloved series on DVD and Blu-Ray.  Finally, we have the full series release, but if you can't afford that WB is doing you the service of releasing the seasons in volumes.  This latest release, season two, part one, features the first 30 episodes of the second season of the show.  Its hard...

Opening Batman: The Complete Series, I said, “This is my childhood in a box.” When the ABC series debuted in January 1966, I was seven, the exact perfect age to be utterly captivated by seeing a comic book faithfully adapted to the small screen. Without fail, I was glued to the television set on Wednesday and Thursday evenings right until the final episode aired in March 1968, leaving indelible images in my mind. These were reinforced just a few years later when local syndicated reruns burned the stories, sounds, and characters deeper into my psyche.

I was too young to understand the context of the show and its impact on popular culture, DC Comics, or the world of licensing. I didn’t get the wry jokes, it’s knowing pop camp approach to storytelling, or how it cleverly worked on multiple levels (a rare occurrence on prime time back then). Instead,...

Next week, fans can finally revisit the entire original Batman TV series in a new Blu-ray and DVD set from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. To get ready for this upcoming release, a new featurette has been released where series star Adam West reveals which of the 120 episodes is his favorite.

This preview also includes a short scene from the pilot episode that features Batman creating the new "dance craze" that swept the nation, the "Batusi," alongside Jill St. John's Molly. If that wasn't enough, we also have six new photos from this classic series, featuring Batgirl (Yvonne Craig), King Tut (Victor Buono), Louie the Lilac (Milton Berle), Mr. Freeze (George Sanders) and, of course, Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward).

Check out the video and images before picking up Batman: The Original Television Series on Blu-ray and DVD on November 11.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will officially unveil the details of its highly-anticipated November 2014 release of "Batman: The Complete Television Series" at a Comic-Con International panel -- featuring special guests Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar -- on Thursday, July 24 from 6:00-7:00pm in Hall H. Starring Adam West, Burt Ward, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, John Astin, Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, Alan Napier, Neil Hamilton, Stafford Repp, Madge Blake and Yvonne Craig with special guest appearances by George Sanders, Otto Preminger, Victor Buono, David Wayne, Eli Wallach, Cliff Robertson, Carolyn Jones, Milton Berle and Vincent Price, 1960s series was known for its comic camp, upbeat theme music and overt moral lessons geared towards children. The actors...

Here is a list of May's additions to Warner Archive Instant's streaming video service. If you aren't a subscriber, you can sign up for a free two week trial at instant.WarnerArchive.com.

Man From Atlantis (1976-78) 

It all begins with a storm and a man washed up on shore. A man with gills... Before he shot to superstardom in Dallas playing Bobby Ewing, Patrick Duffy donned swim trunks for a super-heroic turn as Mark Harris, Man from Atlantis. Debuting in a series of Sci-Fi movies-of-the-week, the adventures of the amnesiac Atlantean so captivated audiences that the movies spawned a weekly TV series. Eschewing the TV movies' more cerebral approach for more light-hearted action fare, the series took a more campy turn only to sink into the depths of TV history (but not before becoming the first American TV import to Communist China!). Now's your chance to explore below the...

Miscasting in films has always been a problem. A producer hires an actor thinking that he or she is perfect for a movie role only to find the opposite is true. Other times a star is hired for his box office draw but ruins an otherwise good movie because he looks completely out of place.

There have been many humdinger miscastings. You only have to laugh at John Wayne’s Genghis Khan (with Mongol moustache and gun-belt) in The Conqueror (1956), giggle at Marlon Brando’s woeful upper class twang as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and cringe at Dick Van Dyke’s misbegotten cockney accent in Mary Poppins (1964). But as hilarious as these miscastings are, producers at the time didn’t think the same way, until after the event. At least they add a bit of camp value to a mediocre or downright awful movie.

In rare cases,...

Gregory Peck from ‘Duel in the Sun’ to ‘How the West Was Won’: TCM schedule (Pt) on August 15 (photo: Gregory Peck in ‘Duel in the Sun’) See previous post: “Gregory Peck Movies: Memorable Miscasting Tonight on Turner Classic Movies.” 3:00 Am Days Of Glory (1944). Director: Jacques Tourneur. Cast: Gregory Peck, Lowell Gilmore, Maria Palmer. Bw-86 mins. 4:30 Am Pork Chop Hill (1959). Director: Lewis Milestone. Cast: Gregory Peck, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn. Bw-98 mins. Letterbox Format. 6:15 Am The Valley Of Decision (1945). Director: Tay Garnett. Cast: Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Donald Crisp. Bw-119 mins. 8:15 Am Spellbound (1945). Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov, Leo G. Carroll, Rhonda Fleming, Bill Goodwin, Norman Lloyd, Steve Geray, John Emery, Donald Curtis, Art Baker, Wallace Ford, Regis Toomey, Paul Harvey, Jean Acker, Irving Bacon, Jacqueline deWit, Edward Fielding, Matt Moore, Addison Richards, Erskine Sanford, Constance Purdy. Bw-111 mins. 10:15 Am Designing Woman (1957). Director: Vincente Minnelli.