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Universal adaptation of Charles Dickens' unfinished novel. It's not a horror film but Universal usually lumps it in with them. It does feature some actors from their horror pictures as well as some of the same ambience. Claude Rains stars and he's terrific as always. Great turn from Zeffie Tilbury as the crazy lady running the opium den. Douglass Montgomery's brownface makeup is distracting. I'm also not sure why he's made up that way while his character's sister (Valerie Hobson in a largely pointless role) is not. Perhaps to make the later plot twist less obvious. If that was the case, I doubt it worked on anyone. All in all, this is a decent picture that fans of Rains or the period's horror thrillers should enjoy. I'm surprised no one thought to throw in a guy in a gorilla costume, though.

Documentary program about real-life disasters and tragedies. I'm not sure of the backstory for this. It has all the markings of a pilot for a TV series that never happened. It's hosted by husband and wife Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland, both ill-suited for the job. Bronson appears most, and even narrates and interviews survivors of the various events discussed. Ireland reads her cue cards like she's an unwilling hostage. Bronson is, of course, a legendary actor but here he's just unassuming and quiet and lacking the kind of outgoing personality and energy one typically expects from a host. The most obvious comparison for this show is In Search Of with Leonard Nimoy, which shares the same production company as this. The use of narration over stock footage and synthy musical choices are similar to that series, but this fails to match that show in atmosphere or quality. It's not even sensational or ghoulish as later shows about real tragedies would be. This is a curiosity piece at best for fans of Bronson or history buffs who might be interested in the interviews.

Red Skelton plays a small town movie fan with dreams of being a star. He gets his opportunity, albeit not as he would have hoped. He wanted to be a romantic leading man and instead he becomes a (unintentional) comedy sensation. Along the way he's helped by a stuntwoman who falls for him. Rare leading lady role for Virginia O'Brien, a wonderful comic actress known for singing songs in a deadpan style. No singing here, but she does get lots of Eve Arden-esque lines opposite Skelton's clueless hero. This was basically and sadly the end of her movie career. She was done with MGM and essentially the business shortly after. Gloria Grahame is great in a fun part as the vampy Hollywood star Skelton's character is in love with. This story had been filmed at least twice before, the best of which was the 1932 version with Stuart Erwin and Joan Blondell. Skelton puts his own touch on things, for better or worse. I think he was fairly dialed back here, maybe too much so. Still, I enjoyed the picture.