The next action recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following the fantastic Raiders of the Lost Ark is this 1937 adaptation of H. Rider Haggard’s classic adventure novel. Cedric Hardwicke leads the way as adventurer Allan Quartermain who is persuaded by Kathy (Anna Lee) to help search for her father,…
Tag: guide
The Twilight Zone (1960) – A Nice Place to Visit, Nightmare as a Child and A Stop at Willoughby
It’s time. Paramount Pictures guides me deeper into The Zone this week, as I explore another trio of episodes from The Complete Series Collection. First up is A Nice Place to Visit. Written by Charles Beaumont this story aired on 15 April, 1960, and tells a rather entertaining tale. Henry Frances Valentine (Larry Blyden) is…
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005) -Garth Jennings
Grab your towel and Don’t Panic! Douglas Adam’s classic tale gets a big screen adaptation, of his book/screenplay, which had previously been so well used by the BBC as a miniseries, and before that a radio programme. There are things that work in this version, and things that don’t, but the effort is there to…
The Guns of Navarone (1961) – J. Lee Thompson
Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn bring World War II excitement to the big screen in The Guns of Navarone, a recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of The Dam Busters. Based on the novel by Alistair MacLean, and adapted by Carl Foreman, the story follows…
X-Men: First Class (2011) – Matthew Vaughn
Sometimes to go forward, you need to go back, as we learn in the next X-Men film as I journey through the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Continuing its cue of using great actors, Vaughn recasts the characters we’ve already been introduced to as we go back to 1962 and the height of the Cuban Missile…
A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) – Jules Verne
I received a huge tome of Jules Verne novels and stories when I was very young, and I remember having difficulty with some of it as I plunged through the tales, but with my digging into the Sci-Fi Chronicles book, I thought it was high-time that I went back and enjoyed them properly. Let…
Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) – Eric Brevig
Jules Verne, his writing, and the films inspired by his creations is next up in the Sci-Fi Chronicles (I’m loving this book so far, and I’ve barely started it). I’ve previously covered the definitive cinematic version of Journey to the Center of the Earth, the 1959 version starring James Mason and Pat Boone. The only other…
An Astronaut’s Guide To Life On Earth – Chris Hadfield
Usually when I read a book, I am transported to some faraway land and introduced to characters and situations which ignite my imagination and leave me breathless in anticipation of what might come next. The really good ones have had me scrambling for more from the moment I read the final few lines. I…
The Mind Reels 