“Daughter of the night…what music she makes!”

Yes, this tired Dracula pun is about the only enjoyment I got out of watching Daughter of the Night (1920), an edited version of a German film entitled Der Tanz Auf Dem Vulcan/Der Fluch der Menschheit (a.k.a. Dance on the Volcano).  The joke referencing the 1931 horror classic is appropriate (though your mileage may vary) because Daughter is one of the earliest films featuring Glen…

Buried Treasures: Gun Moll (Gang Smashers) (1938)

Harlem’s hottest night spot is The Cellar Cabaret, owned and operated by Gat Dalton (Laurence Criner).  (His mother was frightened by a gun when he was born, apparently.)  Dalton does all right with his nightclub business, but he really rakes in the big bucks with an enterprise known as the “Harlem Protective Association” …a fancy…

“He’s all speed…the fastest thing in horseflesh…”

In a booklet that was originally supposed to accompany the DVD collection Becoming Charley Chase (it’s still online—which was a tremendous relief because the copy I downloaded succumbed to the recent hard drive clusterfudge), Richard M. Roberts had this nice take on why the comedian didn’t do more feature film work: “He wasn’t particularly ambitious.  Chase never…

From the DVR: The Goddess (1958)

Before winning Academy Awards for the screenplays to such Thrilling Days of Yesteryear favorites as The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976—a movie that becomes more and more eerily prescient every time I watch it), Paddy Chayefsky was one of the small screen’s most respected scribes, with contributions to such live television presentations as “Marty” (later adapted for the movies and winning…

Buried Treasures: People are Funny (1946)

Radio producer John Guedel was a man who was in the right place at the right time.  In 1942, he was plying his trade on Red Skelton’s Raleigh cigarettes program when he spotted an article in one of the trades mentioning a show recently cancelled by NBC.  Getting in touch with the ad agency that…

Magic Carpet ride

Because I had some technical problems with the feature that was to be reviewed in this space today, I was forced to call an audible…and so, I made the decision to go with The Magic Carpet (1951), a cheesy fantasy-adventure produced by none other than “Jungle” Sam Katzman under the banner of Esskay Pictures.  (Esskay also gave…