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Actor, Musician and Philanthropist Jeremy Renner to serve as Grand Marshal for the 92nd Anniversary of The Hollywood Christmas Parade Supporting Marine Toys for Tots.

The live parade presented in association with The City of Los Angeles will take place on the streets of Hollywood, CA on Sunday, December 1, 2024 starting at 6:00 p.m. at Hollywood landmark Tcl Chinese Theatre.

Jeremy Renner is an award-winning actor and dedicated philanthropist whose commitment to giving back is as integral to his identity as his celebrated film roles. In 2023, he founded the RennerVation Foundation, a youth-focused nonprofit dedicated to creating meaningful opportunities for children in foster care and at-risk youth. The foundation’s mission is to foster joy, growth, and a strong sense of belonging, offering these young individuals experiences and resources that allow them to embrace the fullness of childhood. With memorable performances in films including The Hurt Locker and the Avengers series,...

Universal’s 1940 sequel to The Mummy is a breezy day in the park compared to the gloomy poetry of the 1932 original. The prolific Christy Cabanne directed in a quintessentially ‘40s style that thrived on easygoing humor and cut-to-the chase action scenes. Dick Foran plays the high-spirited hero, Wallace Ford provides the comedy relief and former cowboy star Tom Tyler, with his shark-like black eyes, makes for a particularly spooky mummy.

The post The Mummy’s Hand appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

The House of the Seven Gables

Blu ray

Kino Lorber

1940 / 1:33:1 / 89 Min.

Starring Margaret Lindsay, Vincent Price, George Sanders

Written by Lester Cole

Cinematography by Milton R. Krasner

Directed by Joe May

In 1940’s The House of the Seven Gables, Margaret Lindsay transforms from sunny romantic to stone-faced recluse in the blink of an eye – her startling performance gives a 20th century hot foot to Universal’s 19th century melodrama.

Published in 1851, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel is set during the new era of enlightenment – a superstitious few may resist but the wheels of change are turning – just not fast enough for the Pyncheon family, a seemingly cursed dynasty plagued by corruption and cruelty.

Lindsay plays Hepzibah Pyncheon whose lover Clifford has been framed by his brother Jaffrey for the death of their father. A cold-blooded fop maintaining the family’s avaricious tradition, Jaffrey covets the distinctly gabled ancestral home and its hidden treasures.

By John M. Whalen

John Payne was one of those “meat and potatoes” kind of actors. Nothing fancy. No complicated method acting style. He just gave good, solid, straight off-the-page performances in dozens of films and television shows over a span of nearly 40 years. I think of him primarily as the guy trapped and fighting for survival in old black and white film noirs of the 1950s-- films like “Kansas City Confidential,” “99 River Street,” and perhaps one of the best noirs ever—“The Crooked Way.”

He made a number of interesting westerns however, including “El Paso” (1949), the first of a several he made for the Pine-Thomas Productions B-movie unit of Paramount. It was notable for the fact that it was the first Pine-Thomas movie to have a decent budget-- $1 million. It was filmed partly in El Paso, but mostly on the Iverson Ranch, which, film historian Toby Roan explains in the audio commentary,...

The 2016 blu ray release of the Frankenstein and Wolf Man Legacy Collections was a moment of celebration for movie and monster lovers everywhere, bringing together all the golden age appearances of Frankenstein’s misbegotten creation and Larry Talbot’s hairy alter-ego. Universal Studios treated those dusty creature features to luminous restorations; from Bride of Frankenstein to She Wolf of London, these essential artifacts never looked less than impeccable and, at times, even ravishing. Colin Clive’s frenzied declaration, “It’s Alive!”, never felt more appropriate.

Now Universal has turned their attention to their other legendary franchise players, Dracula, the sharp-dressed but undead ladies’ man and Im-ho-tep, the cursed Egyptian priest who loved not wisely but too well.

Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection

Blu-ray

Universal Studios Home Entertainment

1931, ’36, ’43, ’44, ’45, ’48 / 449 min. / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date May 16, 2017

Starring: Actors: Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr. , Boris Karloff, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello

Cinematography: Karl Freund,...

The second of Universal’s cookie-cutter sequels to 1933’s The Mummy and the first to star Lon Chaney Jr. This is a direct follow-up to the somewhat more lavish The Mummy’s Hand (thanks in large part to its appropriation of sets from Green Hell). Dick Foran and Wallace Ford, the stars of Hand, reappear, this time older but not much wiser as their methods of out-running Chaney’s mummy fall painfully short, even though the bandaged one moves with the speed of a filing cabinet.

Groucho Marx in 'Duck Soup.' Groucho Marx movies: 'Duck Soup,' 'The Story of Mankind' and romancing Margaret Dumont on TCM Grouch Marx, the bespectacled, (painted) mustached, cigar-chomping Marx brother, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 14, '15. Marx Brothers fans will be delighted, as TCM is presenting no less than 11 of their comedies, in addition to a brotherly reunion in the 1957 all-star fantasy The Story of Mankind. Non-Marx Brothers fans should be delighted as well – as long as they're fans of Kay Francis, Thelma Todd, Ann Miller, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Allan Jones, affectionate, long-tongued giraffes, and/or that great, scene-stealing dowager, Margaret Dumont. Right now, TCM is showing Robert Florey and Joseph Santley's The Cocoanuts (1929), an early talkie notable as the first movie featuring the four Marx Brothers – Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo. Based on their hit Broadway...

Please Murder Me

Written by Donald Hyde and Al C. Ward

Directed by Peter Godfrey

U.S.A., 1956

*It should be noted that the following review contains spoilers pertaining to the film’s plot, including an important revelation on which most of the drama hinges. Readers have been forewarned.

Defence Attorney Craig Carlson (Raymond Burr) sits alone in his office late one night. Having turned on a recording machine he begins to narrate to a fellow lawyer that he is surely to be killed within the hour. At that moment the film flashbacks to some months ago when Craig approaches a dear old friend, Joe Leeds (Dick Foran) with terrible news: Joe’s wife and him have fallen in deeply in love. Joe appears visibly disappointed, but, curiously, less angry than one might expect. He implores Craig to give him time to mull over the situation. Shortly thereafter Joe returns home to see his wife,...

This week on Trailers from Hell, Joe Dante talks about Archie Mayo's controversial 1937 film "Black Legion," starring Humphrey Bogart. One of the more provocative entries in Warner Bros.' line of socially conscious potboilers, "Black Legion" is based on the real events surrounding a murderous splinter group of the Ku Klux Klan that, though numbering only around 30,000 members, still managed to rattle the nerves of a large portion of the populace in the late thirties. Humphrey Bogart stars as the ill-fated pawn of the black-hooded vigilantes and he's supported by Warner Bros.' favorite gum-cracking girlfriend, Ann Sheridan, along with future Universal contractor Dick Foran as his best friend. Directed by Archie Mayo with some uncredited help from Michael Curtiz. From the Believe It or Not Dept., the Ku Klux Klan sued Warners for using their patented logo in the film.

One of the more provocative entries in Warner Bros.’ line of socially conscious potboilers, Black Legion is based on the real events surrounding a murderous splinter group of the Ku Klux Klan that, though numbering only around 30,000 members, still managed to rattle the nerves of a large portion of the populace in the late thirties. Humphrey Bogart stars as the ill-fated pawn of the black-hooded vigilantes and he’s supported by Warner Bros.’ favorite gum-cracking girlfriend, Ann Sheridan, along with future Universal contractor Dick Foran as his best friend. Directed by Archie Mayo with some uncredited help from Michael Curtiz.

The post Black Legion appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Bette Davis movies: TCM schedule on August 14 (photo: Bette Davis in ‘Dangerous,’ with Franchot Tone) See previous post: “Bette Davis Eyes: They’re Watching You Tonight.” 3:00 Am Parachute Jumper (1933). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Harold Huber, Leo Carrillo, Thomas E. Jackson, Lyle Talbot, Leon Ames, Stanley Blystone, Reginald Barlow, George Chandler, Walter Brennan, Pat O’Malley, Paul Panzer, Nat Pendleton, Dewey Robinson, Tom Wilson, Sheila Terry. Bw-72 mins. 4:30 Am The Girl From 10th Avenue (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Ian Hunter, Colin Clive, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Phillip Reed, Katharine Alexander, Helen Jerome Eddy, Bill Elliott, Edward McWade, André Cheron, Wedgwood Nowell, John Quillan, Mary Treen. Bw-69 mins. 6:00 Am Dangerous (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green. Cast: Bette Davis, Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay, Alison Skipworth, John Eldredge, Dick Foran, Walter Walker, Richard Carle, George Irving, Pierre Watkin, Douglas Wood,...

Son of a bitch! George Brent and other Warner Bros. stars forget their lines (photo: George Brent ca. 1940) The Warner Bros. outtakes from the studio’s 1939 and 1940 productions (see below) feature a whole array of movie stars and supporting players not getting things quite right while the cameras were rolling. Perhaps the biggest "star" — i.e., the one featured the most — in the montage is George Brent, who curses right and left after not getting his lines right in several scenes. But not to worry; "son of a bitch" is the strongest exclamation we get to hear. (I’m assuming stronger fare is to be found in the outtakes’ outtakes.) Besides George Brent, the Warner Bros. bloopers montage has Paul Muni joking around while forgetting his lines during the making of We Are Not Alone; Miriam Hopkins having her dramatic moment in The Old Maid ruined by a young maid...

The Mummy’s Hand

Directed by Christy Cabanne

Written by Griffin Jay

Starring Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, and Tom Tyler

USA, 67 min – 1940.

“You are very beautiful…so beautiful I’m going to make you immortal. Like Kharis, you will live forever. What I can do for you I can do for myself. Neither time nor death can touch us. You and I together for eternity here in the Temple of Karnak. You shall be my high priestess.”

In The Mummy’s Hand, the first sequel to the 1933 Mummy film, two out of work archaeologists in Cairo, Steve Banning and Babe Jenson (Dick Foran and Wallace Ford) are sold an ancient vase that they believe will lead them to the tomb of Princess Ananka. The two embark on a mission to uncover her final resting place. Helped financially by the magician ‘The Great Solvani’ (Cecil Kellaway) and his beautiful daughter, Marta...

Mark Bessenger Hey horror fans. Remember how we've all been complaining about an array of lifeless horror film remakes and bland horror film concepts? So when something comes along that tries to give us something different, something edgy, we should be out there supporting it, right? ....Well Bite Marks starring Windham Beacham, Benjamin Lutz, David Alanson and Stephen Geoffreys, is that film! Bite Marks deals with a truck driver and a gay couple who must fight off a pack of blood thirsty vampires after their truck breaks down in the middle of a lumber yard and it turns out their cargo is a coffin carrying vamps. What makes Bite Marks different is its humor, the way that its characters develop, the merger of horror/comedy/gay indie film, etc. You're probably saying to yourself though "but that's the gay vampire film?". Gay, straight, black, white, low budget, big budget -...

Given the success of Warner’s Archive program, we’re thrilled to see other studios scouring their vaults for content aimed at the discerning cinephile. Here’s a release showcasing the latest coming from MGM via Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Los Angeles (April 14, 2011) – Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is bringing even more classics to DVD in April through its unique “manufacturing on demand” (“Mod”). The newest group of films will be part of the MGM Limited Edition Collection and available through online retailers. The vast catalog ranges from 1980’s Defiance to 1965’s four-time Academy Award® nominated A Thousand Clowns.

Enjoy your favorite movies from across the decades including:

1950′s

● Davey Crockett, Scout (1950): A U.S. military scout is assigned to stop Indian attacks on a defenseless group of wagon trains making their way West. Stars George Montgomery, Ellen Drew, Noah Beery Jr. Directed by Lew Landers.

● Cloudburst...

Almost every DVD features a blooper reel, containing all the outtakes from a particular film. Before DVD. Recently, Tropic Thunder released three full 10-minute mags of outtakes on DVD. But it wasn't always this way. I remember that in the age of VHS, ABC would host television specials a couple times a year featuring all the Hollywood bloopers. Back in the 1930's, Warner Bros would release a yearly collection of "Breakdowns," which would air between double features. A while ago, Go Into The Story posted a Warner Bros Blooper Reel from 1937. It's amazing how different bloopers were back in the earlier days of Hollywood. The "Breakdowns of 1936" features Humphrey Bogart, George Brent, Bette Davis, Glenda Farrell, Errol Flynn, Dick Foran, Kay Francis, Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, Boris Karloff, Barton MacLane, Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell, and Claude Rains. Watch the clip after the jump.

It’s been some twenty years now or so since hardcover collected archive editions of classic comic books came into vogue. Some of these titles did easily deserve the archive treatment…others, not so much. Just because it’s old doesn’t make it good. There is no debate when if comes to Warren’s classic horror magazines of the 1960s and 70s. Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella are three of the most influential horror magazines ever produced. They not only gave a forum to some of the most talented artists in the business, but without them, we’d have had little more than comics code-watered down books to read back then.

Dark Horse continues to republish Creepy magazine in its entirety with letter columns and advertisements included. This fourth volume collects issues #16 – 20 of the series. It all starts with a fantastic cover by Gray Morrow (doing his best Frazetta take). The opening story,...