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This past week, we watched the three films in Kino Lorber's Dark Side of Cinema XVI collection: The Mystery of Marie Roget (1942) Chicago Deadline (1949) Iron Man (1951) The Mystery of Marie Roget is a fun film, but at only 61 minutes there isn't much time for complexities. A healthy dose of...

Completely agree both on the quality of the film and the heartbreaking ending. I have to prepare myself before watching it again.

Our last western in March: 12. Westward the Women (1951) Neither my wife nor I remember seeing this William Wellman directed western before, but we both recently read Westering Women by Sandra Dallas which tells a similar story. Robert Taylor stars as a wagon master leading a large group of...

We got in two that we haven't seen before, and might have time for one more today. 10. One More Train to Rob (1971) — We had high hopes for this Victor McLaglin western. George Peppard stars as a bank robber ably assisted by Diana Muldaur and John Vernon. While there were some fine scenes and...

I quite liked Posse from Hell which we watched last month. For me, at least, it was the standout on that third Audie Murphy collection.

For our tenth western of the month, we went with another old favorite: Jeremiah Johnson (1972) I love the mythic quality to this film. Although there are hints, we never fully understand what led Robert Redford's character to move to the mountains. And while we get glimpses into the...

9. True Grit (1969) This is one of my favorite movies and one I've watched many times. Favorite is not the same as best, of course. There are better westerns, but True Grit is one that I first saw at exactly the right age to fall in love with it. The Coen Brothers version is excellent and...

Continuing our recent theme of not quite a western: 8. Untamed (1955) Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward star in a sort of South African western complete with wagon train and hostile natives. There are some spectacular scenes, but the story is just too cliched. I remembered this as being better...

This week, we watched two films from 1982. Are they westerns? I say close enough and both are very good. 6. The Grey Fox (1982) 7. The Man from Snowy River (1982) The Grey Fox features Richard Farnsworth as a stagecoach robber released from prison in the early 1900s. With no more...

4. Monte Walsh (1970) My wife and I both thought we'd seen this before, but nothing seemed familiar when we started watching. Maybe we had it confused with something else. Lee Marvin and Jack Palance play aging cowboys at the closing of the western frontier. Land is being bought up and...

An unexpected change of plans gave us the chance to rewatch one of my all time favorite westerns. 3. Ride the High Country (1962) The older I get, the more I appreciate westerns which address the the dying of the old west and the emergence of a new west often symbolized by the automobile as...

El Dorado (1967) For my second western of the month, I thought it might be fun to watch this Howard Hawks/John Wayne film while Rio Bravo was fresh in my mind. In hindsight, that was probably a mistake. El Dorado is a solid film, but it pales in comparison to Rio Bravo of which it is a near...

I don't know how many westerns we'll get to this month -- there's a lot going on -- but we started with: Rio Bravo (1959) John Wayne and Howard Hawks hated the premise of High Noon, and Rio Bravo was their response. While this one doesn't rank quite as high as that 1952 classic on my personal...

Yes! Night Passage is excellent.

I'm in!

Continuing to focus on westerns this month, we watched the three movies in Kino Lorber's third Audie Murphy Collection: Hell Bent for Leather (1960) Posse from Hell (1961) Showdown (1963) Posse from Hell is the standout here. Murphy plays a haunted loner tasked with leading a misfit posse...

We're focusing on westerns in February and just finished going through Kino Lorber's Audie Murphy Collection II. Sierra (1950) Kansas Raiders (1950) Destry (1954) Destry was a surprising favorite here. I don't remember ever seeing this remake of Destry Rides Again before and wasn't expecting...

19, Appointment with a Shadow (1957) NEW — This was my favorite from the Dark Side of Cinema XIV collection. George Nader is excellent as an alcoholic reporter given one last chance if only he can stay sober long enough. Joanna Moore is his long-suffering girlfriend and Brian Keith is her...

18, One Way Street (1950) NEW —James Mason stars as a dissolute doctor who steals from a gang led by Dan Duryea and runs off with Duryea’s girlfriend played by Marta Toren. The gang includes William Conrad, King Donovan, and Jack Elam. It’s a bit odd for a noir in that the noir elements largely...

17. Undercover Girl (1950) NEW — We’re going to try to get through Kino Lorber’s Dark Side of Cinema XIV before the end of Noirvember. This one stars Alexis Smith as a young, female police officer trying to bust the gang responsible for her father’s death and Scott Brady as the seasoned officer...

I haven't watched Eddie's comments yet, but I rather liked Storm Fear when I watched it awhile ago. I should revisit it.

16. Detective Story (1951) — An excellent noir directed by William Wyler and featuring Kirk Douglas, William Bendix, and Eleanor Parker. It’s based on a play, but it doesn’t feel stage bound despite the fact that almost all the action takes place within the detective room of a NYC police...

15. Woman in Hiding (1950) — There are a lot of things to like about this film with Ida Lupino on the run fleeing her new husband (Stephen McNally) and Howard Duff as the drifter who takes an interest in her. Unfortunately, McNally’s character is underdeveloped which hurts the entire premise of...

14. Road House (1948) NEW — How is it possible I’ve never seen this before? Richard Widmark owns a lodge somewhere near the Canadian border which he inherited from his father. Cornel Wilde is his life-long friend who manages the place and cleans up Widmark’s messes. Celeste Holm is the...

12. Step Down to Terror (1958) NEW — The third volume in Kino-Lorber’s Dark Side of Cinema XIII is this pale imitation of Shadow of a Doubt. It’s a game effort, but lacks the heart of the Hitchcock classic. Neither of us thought much of this one. * * 13. Shadow of a Doubt (1943) — After Step...

11. The Night Runner (1957) NEW — We both enjoyed this selection from Kino-Lorber’s Dark Side of Cinema XIII. Ray Danton plays a man prematurely released from an underfunded state mental health hospital. What follows might be predictable were it not for the fact that mental illness is handled...

10. Spy Hunt (1950) NEW — This Cold War espionage drama starts off with a wonderful sequence that clearly communicates we’re in a high stakes crime story. Things get a little hard to swallow fairly quickly once the black panthers, being transported by train from Milan to Paris, get involved...

9. Cry Terror (1958) NEW — I didn’t particularly care for this Noir Alley presentation. There’s a fine cast, an intriguing story idea, and some nice location footage in NYC. But it never quite came together for me. In particular, I disliked the scenes where we had extended internal monologues...

8. I Wake Up Screaming (1941) — I quite like this early noir starring Betty Grable, Carole Landis, Victor Mature, and Laird Kregar along with a host of other familiar faces. The story is told largely in flashbacks which are handled expertly to slowly and steadily unfold the story. Victor Mature...

7. The File on Thelma Jordon (1950) — We watched this not long ago but decided to watch it again because it had been referenced in the commentary tracks for the last two movies we watched. Wendell Corey plays an assistant district attorney who gets involved with the mysterious Thelma Jordon...