Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are deep in it again this week as the take on The Pearl of Death. Using Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Six Napoleons as its basis, this tale ends up being a lot of fun. After Holmes foils Naomi Drake’s (Evelyn Ankers) attempt to steal the famous Borgia…
Tag: runtime
The Scarlet Claw (1944) – Roy William Neill
Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) find themselves in Quebec, Canada (read as the Universal backlot) for their next adventure, The Scarlet Claw. An original story, this adventure sees the dogged duo working to solve a murder that may or may not have paranormal trappings. While Watson is played up for humor again,…
The Spider Woman (1944) – Roy William Neill
Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is back! By his side, the redoubtable Watson (Nigel Bruce)! Despite the (once again) short runtime, I really liked this one. It got the series back on track to solving mysteries and while the War was still going on I liked the fact that it decided to be more escapism than…
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) – John Rawlins
Nazis, I hate these guys. Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes leaves behind the trappings of the 19th century for this 1940s adventure, based loosely on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tale His Last Bow. A radio broadcast from Germany is threatening destruction on England, and it gleefully predicts and calls out each moment of destruction with eerie…
Lucy (2014) – Luc Besson
I like Luc Besson’s work. His films tend to be slick, pretty to look at, throw in some fun effects, and usually attract solid actors to the project. Lucy is no different, and lets Scarlett Johansson take the titular role in a science fiction-tinged action movie. Lucy (Johansson) is betrayed into being a drug mule…
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) – Mark L. Lester
Brandon Lee and Dolph Lundgren are mismatched cops in this goofy, but undeniably fun 90s action flick, Showdown in Little Tokyo. Filled with silly stunts; Lundgren jumps over a car, goofy banter, tons of nudity and martial arts, it’s just a hoot. They are joined in the cast by Tia Carrere and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, it’s…
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017) – Trish Sie
There’s, arguably, a good film and story in Pitch Perfect 3, something about the family we’re from and the family we find, but from the opening sequence, which involves an exploding yacht, I knew this one was going to be a mess. There’s some wonderful ideas, casting John Lithgow in the role of Fat Amy’s…
The Mummy’s Curse (1944) – Leslie Goodwins
The Mummy’s Curse feels like a wasted opportunity. Once again Lon Chaney Jr. seems to get short shrift without much to do in this installment of the Universal Monsters series. I have a couple of problems with this one. My first issue, this entry barely runs an hour and a good quarter of it is…
The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) – Harold Young
Working as a direct sequel to The Mummy’s Hand, The Mummy’s Tomb is supposed to take place some thirty years after the previous film as Karis the Mummy (now played by Lon Chaney JR.) is used to hunt down the members of the party that defiled the tomb in the previous film. That means archeologist…
The Mummy’s Hand (1940) – Christy Cabanne
I dig into more Universal monsters this week to the first sequel to The Mummy. Released in 1940, The Mummy’s Hand features Tom Tyler as the Mummy. It’s hard to come down on anyone’s side on this one nowadays. The ‘heroes’ are led by an archeologist, Steve Banning (Dick Foran) who is a snappily-dressed American…
The Mind Reels 