Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) and Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) are Aboard the Orient Express. It seems a number of CONTROL couriers have been murdered on the iconic train trip and it is up to this pair of agents to find out what is going on. Written by Robert C. Dennis and Earl Barret, this episode…
Tag: universal monsters
The House of Fear (1945) – Roy William Neill
Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are back for their tenth outing together in The House of Fear. Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Five Orange Pips, this one leans into using the Universal Monsters sets and, consequently has a very gothic feel to it. When a gathering of gentlemen, known as the…
TIFF 25: Frankenstein dir. Guillermo del Toro
I’ve been a fan of Guillermo del Toro since I took home the film Chronos one night from my video store. Since then, I haven’t missed anything he’s done, and look forward eagerly to each new project. When I heard that he was taking on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, I was delighted. The classic monsters have…
Northern Exposure (1995) – Let’s Dance, and Tranquility Base
Let’s Dance is the penultimate episode of Northern Exposure. It’s almost over, so they must be wrapping up character and narrative arcs. After a fashion, anyway. Written by Sam Egan, this episode was first broadcast on 19 July, 1995. It gets underway with Cal (Simon Templeman), you remember the violinist with mental issues?, who has…
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943) – Roy William Neill
Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are back, and this time out, their story takes its inspiration from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual.’ They left behind some of the World War II storylines, though it still has an influence. Watson is voluneering at a convalescence home housed on the…
The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) – John Sherwood
And just like that, my time with the Universal Monsters comes to an end. The final film to round out my viewing was The Creature Walks Among Us. Unlike some of the other Universal Monster movies this one actually works as a sequel to the previous films, picking up the narrative thread from Revenge of…
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) – Charles Lamont
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello make their final Universal Monster movie with Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. I’m not sure if I think this one is better, worse or equal to Meet the Invisible Man. I do know that Meet Frankenstein is their best. This time out, the pair are a couple of would-be…
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) – Charles Lamont
We’re now moving into the later years of the Universal Monsters and that means they tried to revitalize it and inject some new life into the series by leaning into the addition of the comedy team Bud Abbott and Lou Costello to the series. This time out, the classic comedians are a pair of newly…
The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944) – Ford Beebe
John Carradine plays a scientist, Drury, who has perfected an invisible serum, though it has no relation to the work that the Griffin family was working on in previous films. We are introduced to him when an escaped psychotic murderer, Robert Griffin (Jon Hall) – no relation escapes to the U.K. It seems that he’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 Mind Reels 