Hitchcock pairs with writer Frederick Knott to bring his stage play, Dial M for Murder to the big screen in this captivating and thrilling adaptation. The film features a top-tier cast, the luminous Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings and John Williams. Everyone has secrets in this engaging film. Kelly is Margot Wendice, a wealthy…
Tag: stage play
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) – Alfred L. Werker
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the second Basil Rathbone Holmes film, and I ended up being more into this one than The Hound of the Baskervilles. Rathbone brings Arthur Conan Doyle’s character to wonderful life, making it his own, with Nigel Bruce’s Watson a perfect foil for him. This one feels like a bit…
Deathtrap (1982) – Sidney Lumet
Ira Levin’s whip-smart stage play, Deathtrap, was adapted for the big-screen and saw Michael Caine square-off against Christopher Reeve in this captivating cat-and-mouse, twisting thriller. Micheal Caine is playwright, Sidney Bruhl. He’s just had his latest stage thriller flop on opening night. It’s his latest failure in a string of them. Things are exacerbated, when…
Dracula (1931) – George Melford
Sometimes there’s a glowing hole in my film education. I had no idea that Universal, in 1931, released two versions of Dracula, there was the iconic Bela Lugosi version which cast a long bat-shaped shadow over the entire 20th century, setting the standard for reserved, charming and well-dressed nosferatu. At the same time George Melford,…
His Girl Friday (1940) – 4K Review
The first film in the Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection, Volume 4 is wonderful and fantastic, His Girl Friday, helmed by the incredible Howard Hawks, and starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, I was very eager to dig into the film to see how the upgraded image looked, as well as the chance to…
A Shot in the Dark (1964) – Blake Edwards
The second film in the Pink Panther series could be argued to be the best, it puts all the familiar players on the screen with Peter Sellers, returning as Inspector Jacques Closeau. Herbert Lom is his long-suffering boss, Dreyfus, Burt Kwok is Kato, Closeau’s manservant and sparring partner, and Hercule as played by Graham Stark….
Wyrd Sisters (1988) – Terry Practhett
It’s back to Discworld for this week’s book shelf, as I dig into the next titles in the humorous fantasy series from Terry Pratchett. This time around we spend some time with witches. We revisit Granny Weatherwax, and are introduced to Nanny Ogg, and Magrat, collectively christened Wryd Sisters. The trio are concerning themselves with…
Rope (1948) – Alfred Hitchcock
I dig into another classic Hitchcock today, and despite the fact that James Stewart gets top billing, he is almost a supporting role, not really taking centre stage until the final act of the film that was adapted from a stage play by Patrick Hamilton, partially adapted by Hume Cronyn. Brandon (John Dall) and Phillip…
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) – James Foley
The star-power in this film! Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris… love it! David Mamet adapts his award winning play to the big screen, and though I’ve never seen the stage version, I imagine the punch of it is very similar, as the dialogue are crisp and sharp as we dive…
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) – Mel Brooks
It was going to happen sooner or later. I was going to come across the first of the parody/comedy films that sprang up around vampires as I continue to work my way through the highly enjoyable Monsters in the Movies written by John Landis, and released through DK Canada. So it’s time to let Mel…
The Mind Reels 