Many people consider the 1961 version of Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island to be no more than an excuse for Ray Harryhausen to do his special effects magic. And the special effects are wonderful, but there’s actually more that makes the movie very enjoyable.
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Editorial Reviews of Jerry Lewis’ The Ladies Man (1961), courtesy of Amazon.com Jerry Lewis conjured up one of his simplest concepts for this 1961 hit, but… Read More »The Ladies Man
I have to admit, I recently enjoyed Bachelor in Paradise on TCM, and found myself enjoying it very much. Bob Hope plays Adam J. Niles, author of a series of books detailing the romantic life of the bachelor in a variety of foreign locales. As the movie begins, he’s working on his latest volume in Italy. When he’s unexpectedly brought home, to deal with the issue of back taxes to the IRS.
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I am a large fan of Laurel and Hardy’s March of the Wooden Soldier. It’s a wonderful children’s story for adults. Which, among other things, had a live-action version of Mickey Mouse appear. This was done with Walt Disney’s permission, since he and producer Hal Roach were close friends. In the same way, Walt Disney’s version of the story, Babes in Toyland had a comedy team impersonating Laurel and Hardy. And although I saw it many years ago as a child, I was eager to see it again as an adult.
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Some people have described The Flight that Disappeared as being like an episode of the Twilight Zone. And that’s somewhat accurate, although it’s more than that. For example, unlike the relatively short Twilight Zone episodes, The Flight that Disappeared actually takes time to flesh out the secondary characters, so that the audience can care about them. For example, on board the propeller-driven airplane, this is the captain’s final flight. He’s going to be flying jets in the future. In the same way, his second in command is going to be promoted, and marry one of the stewardesses. And these are the secondary characters …
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In Konga – a doctor returns from Uganda with a carnivorous plant that he can use to enlarge animals – Konga, the chimpanzee, that he turns into a gorilla — and his own personal tool for murder.
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