Buried Treasures: Fast Break (1979)

With the premiere of the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter on ABC-TV in the fall of 1975, comedian Gabriel “Gabe” Kaplan became a television star, effectively drawing from elements of his stand-up act (he did routines about his childhood days in Brooklyn, many of which were featured on Kaplan’s album Holes and Mello-Rolls) in a series about a former…

From the DVR: Ducks and Drakes (1921)

Back in November of 2016, I plugged a Kickstarter project instituted by author/silent film collector Edward Lorusso to restore the 1922 Marion Davies film Beauty’s Worth…and while I would have loved to throw a few coins into Ed’s guitar case to help with this worthy goal, I found myself woefully short of funds at the time. …

Movies I’ve stared at recently on from TCM #74 (John Litel Edition)

It’s back by popular demand!  (Spoiler alert: it’s not really…it’s not even that popular, to be honest.)  The last one of these I did was back in November of 2015, and since I have been availing myself of some of the splendid B-movie fare from The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ of late (if…

From the DVR: The Circle (1925)

A title card reads: “Hugh Porteous was the best man at Clive Cheney’s wedding – and he still was, as far as Lady Catherine was concerned.”  As such, Lady Catherine (Joan Crawford) decides to leave her husband (Derek Glynne) and run away with his pal Porteous (Frank Braidwood).  She pins a note to the PJ’s…

Where’s the Rest of Me: Accidents Will Happen (1938)

In March 2009, The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ decided to fete actor Ronald Reagan as their “Star of the Month.”  Unless you were in a coma throughout the 1980s (and if you were, I’m green with envy), you’re also aware that Reagan later cashed in on his after-show-business career in politics to become…

“I hate to break the news to ya…but I think you’re a vampire!”

There’s a straight-to-video feature film—released in 1996—entitled Star Hunter…which I will charitably describe as a homage (French for “rip-off”) to Star Wars and Predator.  The presence of Roddy McDowall and Stella Stevens does not mean that this is a good movie, but what may be of interest to the Thrilling Days of Yesteryear faithful is that the direction of this cheesy…

Buried Treasures: Big Town After Dark (1947)

Being a motion picture actor in Hollywood during the 1930s/1940s was a demanding job…but can you imagine committing yourself to the rigors of a live weekly radio show as well?  It wouldn’t be an easy task (which is why most of the big-name stars limited themselves to guest appearances on dramatic anthologies like The Lux Radio Theatre and the…

Buried Treasures: French Quarter (1978)

You’ll no doubt recall that in my Hopalong Cassidy post from last week I mentioned that the quality of the movies I downloaded from Epix’s “Vault on Demand” were a crapshoot at best.  Several of the Hoppy westerns, though watchable, were from prints beaten up for their lunch money (two of them in truncated 54-minute versions), and…