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Alfred Hitchcock was known as the "Master of Suspense," and his directorial career bears out the accuracy of that title. The director knew his way around suspense sequences, from the staging to the tight editing and, of course, the marrying of sound design and music to his iconic imagery. Hitch knew how to tighten the screws on an audience and leave them breathless before offering a tension release, either through a violent climax or even a darkly humorous punchline. There is absolutely no doubt within the film community that Alfred Hitchcock was a preeminent director of thrillers and mysteries.

From the brisk strains of Bernard Herrmann’s Antonin Dvorak-inspired opening theme to its concluding gag of a honeymoon train speeding into a tunnel, North by Northwest is the apotheosis of Alfred Hitchcock’s exploration of the wronged man on the run and functioned in 1959 as a summary of the Master of Suspense’s career to date.

Cary Grant, wearing his gray suit like natural skin, embodies smug New York ad executive Roger O. Thornhill, an aging, gin-swilling playboy whose swiftly established m.o. in romance and work is “expedient exaggeration.” Poetic justice strikes as he’s incredibly abducted from the Plaza Hotel bar by the henchmen of an urbane master spy, Phillip Vandamm, who’ve mistaken him for an undercover agent. Framed for a killing at the United Nations, Thornhill runs a cross-country gauntlet of lawmen and baddies, with time for a sleeping-car tryst with an ambiguously remote blonde,...

Guillermo del Toro is being the judge on the theatrical rollout for Clint Eastwood’s “Juror #2.”

The Academy Award-winning director took to social media to question why Warner Bros. only gave an extremely limited theatrical release to Eastwood’s critically acclaimed legal thriller. The film opened November 1 in merely 31 U.S. and Canadian theaters, as well as in six European countries; it expanded to a handful of additional U.S. cities for its second week in theaters.

Del Toro is now urging audiences to go to the theaters to support “Juror #2,” while also asking Warner Bros. to hopefully leave the feature in theaters for longer.

“Went to the theatre to see ‘Juror #2,’ Clint Eastwood’s latest film. We enjoyed it tremendously. It’s — in some ways — his ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors,'” Del Toro wrote, via World of Reel. “The film is precisely and assuredly filmed and it’s Nicolas Hoult’s to lead.

Mark Cousins has long established himself as one of film’s most thoughtful commentators, crafting illuminating documentaries that uncover new layers of understanding. In his latest, My Name is Alfred Hitchcock, the director works his analytical magic on one of cinema’s true legends. What makes this film especially fascinating is the innovative format—it plays like an evening spent chatting with Hitchcock himself.

Through the skilled vocal impersonation of Alistair McGowan, the droll yet perceptive Master of Suspense acts as our guide. He walks us through his own vast body of work, bringing a personal touch lacking in other analytical profiles.

Cousins has divided the film into thematic chapters, with Hitchcock pointing out recurring motifs and ingenious techniques. We cover topics like escape, desire, loneliness, and the tantalizing effects of suspended time.

By imagining this lively dialogue with Hitchcock across the ages, Cousins keeps the late director’s mystique alive while offering fresh insights.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Iconic Film Collection will collect six of the Master of Suspense’s classics on 4K Ultra HD + Digital: Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds.

Releasing on November 26 via Universal, the six-disc set is limited to 5,150. It’s housed in premium book-style packaging featuring artwork by Tristan Eaton along with photos, bios, and trivia.

In 1954’s Rear Window, “A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.”

It’s written by John Michael Hayes (To Catch a Thief), based on Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story “It Had to Be Murder.” James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and Raymond Burr star.

Rear Window special features:

Audio commentary by Hitchcock’s Rear Window: The Well-Made Film author John Fawell Rear Window Ethics – 2000 documentary Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael...

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the greatest directors of all time, captivating audiences with classics like Rebecca, Psycho, and North by Northwest. Known as the Master of Suspense, Hitchcock earned his legendary reputation by constantly defying the odds of traditional cinema with jaw-dropping twists and an unwavering level of intensity and psychological thrills. While he is known for his signature style and legendary cameos, Hitchcock is also known for having a keen eye for talented and ambitious blonde female stars.

In the captivating Season 1, Episode 365 of “Cellar Club with Caroline Munro,” titled “Outro Week 102,” viewers are in for a treat as the show airs at 10:40 Pm on Friday, August 30, 2024. This episode promises to bring suspense and intrigue as Caroline Munro takes audiences on a journey into the world of mystery.

The highlight of this episode is a sneak peek of next week’s thrilling feature from the iconic Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense. Caroline will tease a tremendous mystery that is sure to keep fans on the edge of their seats. Her engaging storytelling and passion for the genre make this preview an exciting lead-up to what is sure to be an unforgettable feature.

As the episode unfolds, viewers can expect Caroline’s charming presence to guide them through the twists and turns of the upcoming story. With her deep connection to the horror genre, she adds a...

On Friday 23 August 2024, Talking Pictures TV broadcasts Cellar Club with Caroline Munro!

Intro – Hammer House of Mystery Ep6 Season 1 Episode 362 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Cellar Club with Caroline Munro” promises to be an exciting one. Titled “Intro – Hammer House of Mystery Ep6,” this episode is set to air on Talking Pictures TV. Caroline Munro, known for her captivating storytelling, will guide viewers through a thrilling tale filled with themes of greed and betrayal.

This episode features the 1984 classic from the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense series, titled “Paint Me a Murder.” The story revolves around a crime that unravels in a world where art and deception collide. As the plot unfolds, viewers can expect to see how ambition can lead to dire consequences. The combination of suspenseful storytelling and intriguing characters makes this episode a must-watch for fans of mystery.

Caroline Munro’s introduction sets the stage...

Ever wanted to become The Creep to unleash your own morbid mayhem in macabre morality tales? Soon you'll get the chance, as Skybound Tabletop has entered into a licensing partnership with Cartel Entertainment and Greg Nicotero’s Monster Agency Productions to release Creepshow: The Suspense-Building Game. Based on Skybound's comic book anthology series inspired by Shudder's Creepshow TV series (which itself is based on the legendary 1982 film written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero), Creepshow: The Suspense-Building Game will arrive on September 18th (just in time for Halloween season game nights), and we have the official press release with images and details on the spooky story-building game:

From the Press Release: Los Angeles, CA; August 8, 2024 – Skybound Tabletop, a division of Skybound Entertainment, known for its blockbuster social party and light strategy games like Boo-ty Call, Trial by Trolley, Invincible: Escape from Mars, and more, today announced...

Donald Sutherland, the beloved actor who starred in scores of films from The Dirty Dozen, Mash and Klute to Animal House and Ordinary People to Pride & Prejudice and The Hunger Games franchise and won an Emmy for Citizen X, died Thursday in Miami after a long illness. He was 88.

The 2017 Honorary Oscar recipient also is the father of Emmy-winning 24 and Designated Survivor actor Kiefer Sutherland and veteran CAA Media Finance exec Roeg Sutherland. CAA confirmed the news to Deadline.

Related: Remembering Donald Sutherland: A Career In Photos

In some of his most well-known roles, he perfected a laconic, wry and dead-serious delivery. Such was the case for characters including the cool-headed amateur murder investigator John Klute, opposite Jane Fonda’s terrified and erratic call girl Bree Daniels in Klute; as Hawkeye Pierce in the film Mash, where he played opposite Elliott Gould’s cut-up Trapper John; and in Nicolas Roeg...

After Lucille Ball's spunky housewife Lucy signed off on the last episode of "I Love Lucy" but before Mary Tyler Moore did away with the nuclear family sitcom model with her own self-titled show, another actress was one of the faces of womanhood in comedy. Oscar-winning actress Donna Reed headlined "The Donna Reed Show" from 1958 to 1966, playing middle-class mother and housewife Donna Stone in the popular black-and-white series. Reed starred opposite Carl Betz, who played Donna's husband, pediatrician Dr. Alex Stone. In season 5, family friends Midge and Dave joined the fun, but for the most part, the show was all about the lighthearted hijinks of the Stone family.

Though "The Donna Reed Show" was popular upon release, it's now perhaps most often referenced as a pop cultural window into a time before second-wave feminism, when women were expected to spend their time cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing while men went to work.

There has certainly never been an easy way to become a “movie star,” especially during Hollywood’s Golden Age, which saw many prospective stars vying for the attention of audiences. While breaking out to a mass audience took a combination of smart career decisions, inherent charisma, and blind luck, working with the great “Master of Suspense” himself, Alfred Hitchcock, was usually a pretty great way to get exposure. Actors like James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Sean Connery, Peter Lorre, and certainly Cary Grant benefitted from working with Hitchcock, even if they had to acknowledge that they would always be secondary to the filmmaker himself. Often looming larger within a film’s marketing campaign than any of his stars, Hitchcock’s name was reason enough for an audience to invest in a film, as they had come to expect a memorable ending that would leave them talking far after the credits rolled.

Although he had a career in theatre, radio, and feature films, writer/producer Rod Serling's legacy is inexorably tied to the medium of television. That's for very good reason, of course: not only did Serling create multiple television series that has withstood the test of time (such as "Night Gallery"), but he also was responsible for shaping a good deal about television as we've come to know it. For instance, the teleplay he wrote for an episode of "Kraft Television Theatre" entitled "Patterns" was so popular that the series decided to rebroadcast it in its entirety, thereby creating the concept of the "rerun."

As such, Serling was deeply entrenched in the rise of television, and that meant having to deal with growing pains and emerging annoyances. In order to continue experimenting with the form of TV and pushing the envelope of what types of stories could feature there, Serling...

Although plenty of spooky movies and shows would do a twist where the main character turns out to be dead the whole time, none of them handled it quite as gracefully as "The Twilight Zone" did back in 1960. The season 1 episode follows Nan (Inger Stevens), a young woman driving alone across the country who finds herself being stalked by a strange, unsettling stranger. The guy teleports from place to place, defying all known laws of physics, and it doesn't seem like his intentions are good. 

It's only at the very end, when Nan tries to call her mother, that we figure out what's going on: Nan actually died right before the start of the episode from the minor car accident we saw her brushing off. She was told in that first scene she was lucky she hadn't died in the incident; at the end when Nan hears about her mother...

Head Count is a neo-Western thriller with a unique structure, centered around a protagonist trying to remember how many bullets are left in a gun. The film is directed by Jacob and Ben Burghart and stars Aaron Jakubenko, Melanie Zanetti, Ryan Kwanten, and more. The Head Count trailer and poster promise a thrilling and fun ride, featuring eccentric characters and high-stakes situations. The film releases on September 29th.

Head Count is a new neo-Western thriller with a unique structure. The film is built around a moment in which its protagonist—Kat, played by Aaron Jakubenko--stares down the barrel of a gun, trying to remember how many bullets are left. The only way for Kat to determine his odds of survival is to remember where and when the gun’s other bullets were fired, which takes viewers back to Kat’s escape from a chain gang, run-ins with an ex-lover, a police officer,...

Arnold Schulman, who landed Oscar nominations for his screenplays for Love With the Proper Stranger and Goodbye, Columbus and found success with several incarnations of his Broadway hit A Hole in the Head, has died. He was 97.

Schulman died Saturday of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica, his son, Peter Schulman, told The Hollywood Reporter.

In two late-career triumphs, Schulman was recruited by Francis Ford Coppola to write the biopic Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), and he scored an Emmy nomination and a Humanitas Prize in 1994 for his teleplay for HBO’s And the Band Played On, an adaptation of Randy Shilts’ nonfiction book about the onset of AIDS.

An original member of the Actors Studio, Schulman in the 1950s worked alongside the likes of James Dean and Paul Newman on live television. In 1962, he quit as the original screenwriter on the never-completed Marilyn Monroe movie Something’s Got to Give,...

Christmas is truly the gift that keeps on giving for the television business and for viewers.

Dating back to the 1940s, there have been nearly 2,500 TV episodes and specials with Christmas themes according to a list on Wikipedia. Sitcoms have provided the most content with 813 episodes dating back to 1952.

For the variety show treatment, Perry Como got things rolling with the first of his The Perry Como Chesterfield Supper Club — Christmas Special in 1948. Old Blue Eyes himself joined the party in 1950 with The Frank Sinatra Show: Christmas Show in 1950. The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show’s Gracie’s Christmas dropped that same year.

Sitcoms and dramas followed soon thereafter. CBS crime drama Suspense (“Dancing Dan’s Christmas”) aired in 1950. NBC’s Dragnet (“The Big .22 Rifle for Christmas”) and CBS’ Racket Squad (“The Christmas Caper”) followed in 1952. Amos ‘n Andy (“The Christmas Story”) and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet...

Here’s a film documentary that feels like a time-travel machine. But we’re not escaping into the past — the past is coming to us.

In “My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock,” film-besotted documentarian Mark Cousins hopscotches through the Master of Suspense’s body of work based on ideas and images, not your typical film-by-film chronological approach. He’s made hyperlinked connections throughout Hitchcock’s whole filmography (clips from almost every one of his films appear) to show that these works are not of the past: They remain eternally present tense.

To do that, Cousins presents us with a magnificent trick: making it seem as if Hitchcock is narrating the documentary and guiding you through his work and through the themes you might not otherwise notice. Impressionist Alistair McGowan portrays Hitch in the voiceover and has him down completely, from the sharp intake of breath to the almost-snort that precedes him...

Let’s take a trip back to Bronson Caverns, but with new and better photos! Once you visit this hiding-in-plain-sight Hollywood location, you’ll start seeing it every time you tune into an old movie.

CineSavant Article

The most frequent ‘unknown’ location in film history?

Part of what was cool about moving to Los Angeles in 1970 was realizing that, since the majority of Hollywood movies were filmed locally, just about every interesting sight in the city has been used as a movie location. You don’t have to be ga-ga about movie stars to see the ‘historicity’ in famous locations, or feel saddened when a special place is torn down. The art deco Pan-Pacific Auditorium was one such example. It featured prominently in the King Bros. movie Suspense (1946) and can be glimpsed briefly in the opening of Steve De Jarnatt’s Miracle Mile (1989), which was filmed just before it burned...

Joseph Campanella, a prolific character actor whose career on the big and small screens spanned more than a half-century, died today at his home in Sherman Oaks, CA. He was 92.

Among his nearly 200 credits were a regular in the role in first season of the 1967-75 CBS cop drama Mannix, for which he earned an Emmy nom, and a Daytime Emmy-nominated late-’80s/early-’90s role as Harper Deveraux in the long-running NBC soap Days of Our Lives (right). He also appeared as Jonathan Young in nearly 100 episodes of CBS’ soap The Bold and the Beautiful from 1996-2005.

With a face known to most fans of TV from the latter half of the 20th century, Campanella started his career in 1950s television, guesting on such classic series of that decade and the next as Suspense, Route 66, The Big Valley, The Wild Wild West, The Fugitive and Mission: Impossible. After...

Recently completing one of the longest shoots of his career with The Irishman, most other directors would consider that an accomplishment enough, but in between takes, Martin Scorsese somehow found time to construct a new curriculum as part of his “The Story of Movies” film course, produced with his company Film Foundation. This latest edition is “Portraits of America: Democracy on Film” and is free for students. However, if one would just like to follow along with their own personal screenings, the full list is available.

“We all need to make sense of what we’re seeing. For young people born into this world now, it’s absolutely crucial that they get guided,” Scorsese says (via IndieWire). “They have to learn how to sort the differences between art and pure commerce, between cinema and content, between the secrets of images that are individually crafted and the secrets of images that are mass-produced.

Martin Scorsese and his nonprofit organization The Film Foundation have announced their brand-new film curriculum, “Portraits of America: Democracy on Film.” The curriculum is the latest addition to the group’s ongoing film course “The Story of Movies,” which aims to teach students how to read the language of film and place motion pictures in the context of history, art, and society. Both “Democracy on Film” and the course are completely free for schools and universities.

“Portraits of America: Democracy on Film” is broken down into eight different sections, all of which include in-depth looks at some of the most important American films ever made, from Chaplin to Ford, Coppola, Spielberg, and ultimately Scorsese himself. The program is presented in partnership with Afscme. Scorsese announced the curriculum at a March 27 press conference in New York City.

“We all need to make sense of what we’re seeing,” Scorsese explained. “For...

The best things in life are Free – even in the world of horror! From distributor #SinningWorks comes another slay-cation to remember with Axeman 2: Overkill, which is available Today on Amazon Prime and Ad-supported Amazon Video!

The second installment in the 80′s throwback slasher series features MTV Teen Mom Farrah Abraham, CBS’ Big Brother Rachel Reilly, Baywatch star Angelica Bridges and WWE/WCW star Bryan Clark in a blood-soaked romp that reviewers are calling “Flat-Out Amazing” and “High On Tension and Suspense!”

Axeman 2: Overkill marks the blood-soaked return of the Axeman at Cutter’s Creek. When a crazed evangelical christians, murderous bank robbers and revenge-seeking vigilantes clash in the quaint town of Cutter’s Creek, there’s only one axe-wielding local legend who can separate them… and dismember them!

Axeman 2: Overkill is unrated and available now on Amazon Prime and Ad-support Amazon Video.

Author: Luke Walpole

We’ve all had nights which we wish we could forget. Or, to put it more prosaically, nights which we’ve completely forgotten (nothing to do with that last shot, of course). But when an evening heads south on the big screen, the characters often have more than an impending hangover to worry about.

Except in The Hangover, of course, but that’s a law unto itself.

Lucia Aniello’s debut feature Rough Night reunites a group of college friends ten years after graduation for a raucous hen night. Ten years older, but perhaps not ten years wiser, the group seize the opportunity to reclaim their youth and the bachelorette party begins in full swing. Then a stripper is called, things get our of hand and suddenly the group are in for a very different night out.

Scarlett Johansson, Zoë Kravitz, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer,...

There’s too much detail, not enough thought, in this analysis of the infamous shower scene

This documentary about the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho begins with an Edgar Allan Poe quote (already a bad sign). “The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world,” it begins, desperate to locate lyricism in the Master of Suspense’s enduring fascination with dead blondes. But the film simplistically explains “the female body under assault” in the horror genre as a backlash to a changing postwar world, not daring to question Hitch’s personal brand of misogyny. More pretension abounds – like Psycho, the film is shot in black and white, calling on a celebrity cast of talking heads that range from Elijah Wood to Eli Roth to vainly analyse the iconic scene. To witness the sequence broken down in forensic detail is to appreciate its economy of storytelling anew,...

Justice League, Lady Bird, Bad Moms Christmas and all of the movies you need to see this November!Justice League, Lady Bird, Bad Moms Christmas and all of the movies you need to see this November!Adriana Floridia11/1/2017 10:00:00 Am

November might just be the most exciting month of the year thus far when it comes to going to the movies. Finally all of those highly anticipated blockbusters, awards-buzzed indies, and holiday season films are hitting the big screen.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the fall season, a good way to take a break from your early Christmas shopping is to chill out with a great movie—and November offers plenty that we’d whole-heartedly recommend.

Check out our list of the movies you need to see in theatres this month!

Thor: Ragnarok

Release Date: November 3rd, 2017

For fans of: Marvel, Neon, Evil Cate Blanchett

See it in:...

This isn’t the only Alfred Hitchcock film for which the love does not flow freely, but his 1947 final spin on the David O. Selznick-go-round is more a subject for study than Hitch’s usual fun suspense ride. Gregory Peck looks unhappy opposite Selznick ‘discovery’ Alida Valli, while an utterly top-flight cast tries to bring life to mostly irrelevant characters. Who comes off best? Young Louis Jourdan, that’s who.

The Paradine Case

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1947 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 125 min. / Street Date May 30, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton, Louis Jourdan, Ethel Barrymore, Joan Tetzel.

Cinematography Lee Garmes

Production Designer J. McMillan Johnson

Film Editors John Faure, Hal C. Kern

Original Music Franz Waxman

Writing credits James Bridie, Alma Reville, David O. Selznick from the novel by Robert Hichens

Produced by David O. Selznick

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

There...

By Jeremy Carr

There is an immediate appeal in the very premise of Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1944), a curiosity that stems from how exactly this story will play out and how the Master of Suspense is going to keep the narrative taut and technically stimulating. It was a gimmick he would repeat with Rope (1948), Dial M for Murder (1954), and Rear Window (1954), similar films where the drama is contained to a single setting. But here, the approach is amplified by having the entirety of its plot limited to the eponymous lifeboat, an extremely confined location that is at once anxiously restricting and, at the same time, placed in a vast expanse of threatening openness.

Following a German U-boat attack that sinks an allied freighter and creates the cramped, confrontational condition, a cast of nine diverse, necessarily distinctive characters are steadily assembled aboard the small vessel (and their variety is indeed necessary...

Jean-Pierre Melville in his own film, Two Men in Manhattan“A man isn't tiny or giant enough to defeat anything”—Yukio MishimaA voracious cinephile in his early youth, Jean-Pierre Grumbach's daily intake of films was interrupted by the Second World War when he enlisted in the Ffl (Forces Français Libres) and adopted the nom de guerre by which he's still known to these days: Jean-Pierre Melville. A tribute to his literary hero, Hermann Melville, and his novel Pierre: or the Ambiguities, the director would have his name officially changed after the war. The latter was to shape and inform many of his films and arguably all of his world-view, characterized by a sort of ethical cynicism where anti-fascism is understood as a moral duty rather than an act of heroic courage. Profoundly anti-rhetoric and filled with a terse dignity, his films about the Resistance, Army of Shadows (1969) above all,...

Chamber of Horrors

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber

1940 / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date March 21, 2017

Starring: Lilli Palmer, Leslie Banks.

Cinematography: Alex Bryce, Ernest Palmer

Film Editor: Ted Richards

Written by Gilbert Gunn, Norman Lee

Produced by John Argyle

Directed by Norman Lee

Near the turn of the century a struggling war correspondent named Edgar Wallace began churning out detective stories for British monthlies like Detective Story Magazine to help make the rent. Creative to a fault, his preposterously prolific output (exacerbated by ongoing gambling debts) soon earned him a legion of fans along with a pointedly ambiguous sobriquet, “The Man Who Wrote Too Much.”

A reader new to Wallace’s work could be excused for thinking the busy writer was making it up as he went along… because that’s pretty much what he did. He dictated his narratives, unedited, into a dictaphone for transcription by his secretary where they would then...

In the middle of the 20th century, Alfred Hitchcock made a career out of generating fear from the mundane. Psycho made us afraid to shower. The Birds had us looking toward the skies for more than just the pigeons looking to crap on our heads. And I’ll be damned if Rear Window didn’t get me to stop spying on my neighbors with a telescopic camera.

Those familiar with Hitchcock’s work likely know that his ability to instill dread stems from his knowledge about the difference between surprise and suspense. According to Hitchcock, to surprise, you simply need to set off a bomb in the middle of a scene. To create suspense, however, the audience needs to know the bomb is there. Suspense is the knowledge that two people are living their lives blissfully unaware that each moment could be their last. That’s why many of Hitchcock...

Face front, true believers! Class is in session! Let’s call this “Doctor Strange 101”, an introduction to the newest member of the “Marvel movie-verse”, although, as you’ll soon learn, the sorcerer supreme is one of the oldest heroes. So, to get you up to speed before heading to the multiplex, we’re giving you a top ten list of facts about the “master of mystic arts”. First, a look at his lineage….

1. Doctor Strange Has Lots Of “Magic Hero” Predecessors Let’s go back over a 100 years, when magicians where a popular part of live entertainment. Many real-life stage performers like Houdini and Blackstone branched out into the printed page, starring in fictional exploits via booklets called “penny dreadfuls” which became the lurid pulp novels. In 1931 a radio show presented the adventures of the mysterious “Chandu the Magician” (one big fan was young Stan Lee). Edmund Lowe battled master...

The NoHo 7, the Playhouse 7, and the Royal in Los Angeles will all be showing a double feature of two of Doris Day’s best-known films on Monday, August 29, 2016. At 7:00 pm The Man Who Knew Too Much, the classic 1956 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, will be screened as part of its 60th anniversary. At 4:30 pm and again at 9:30 pm, 1961’s Lover Come Back, directed by Delbert Mann, will be screened as part of its 55th anniversary.

From the press release:

Doris Day Double Feature

Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.

Click here to buy tickets to the 4:30Pm Lover Come Back (includes admission to the 7Pm The Man Who Knew Too Much).

Click here to buy tickets to the 7Pm The Man Who Knew Too Much (includes admission to the 9:30Pm Lover Come Back).

Laemmle’s Anniversary Classics presents a tribute to Doris Day,...

It's in glorious Technicolor Metrocolor, CinemaScope and StereoPhonic Sound! Fred Astaire's final MGM musical gives him Cyd Charisse and a Cole Porter score, plus some nice Hermes Pan choreography. The script and Rouben Mamoulian's direction aren't the best, but the combined magic of the musical and dancing talent saves the day. Silk Stockings Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1957 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date July 12, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Janis Paige, Peter Lorre, George Tobias, Jules Munshin, Joseph Buloff, Wim Sonneveld Cinematography Robert Bronner Art Direction Randall Duell, William A. Horning Film Editor Harold F. Kress Original Music Cole Porter Written by Abe Burrows, Leonard Gershe, George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, and Leonard Spigelgass Produced by Arthur Freed Directed by Rouben Mamoulian

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

On the Town?  The Pajama Game?  Damn Yankees?   The Warner Archive Collection's next musical up for the...

Brian De Palma‘s shocking exploitation gut-punch, Sisters, is a perfectly orchestrated exercise in style, a staging of some of the finest suspense sequences since Alfred Hitchcock was above ground. Channeling the Master of Suspense’s gleeful enjoyment of audience manipulation, De Palma remarkably employs a trashy genre aesthetic to satirically explore issues of race and social alienation. It’s a film about outsiders — a starkly disturbing reminder that looks and appearances can be dangerously deceiving — that’s nevertheless less interested in soap-box statements than inducing audiences to squeal and squirm. Grim in its contemporary relevance, De Palma and co-writer Louisa Rose‘s political satire is ever-present but far from overt, quietly bubbling in the background. This is a film in which police officers respond to learning of the stabbing of an African-American man by hatefully grumbling, “Those people are always stabbing each other.”

The film’s opening scene launches...

It's a different Bogart -- a character performance in a Nicholas Ray noir about distrust anxiety in romance. Gloria Grahame is the independent woman who must withhold her commitment... until a murder can be sorted out. Which will crack first, the murder case or the relationship? In A Lonely Place Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 810 1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 93 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 10, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Carl Benton Reid, Art Smith, Jeff Donnell, Martha Stewart, Robert Warwick, Morris Ankrum, William Ching, Steven Geray, Hadda Brooks. Cinematography Burnett Guffey Film Editor Viola Lawrence Original Music George Antheil Written by Andrew Solt, Edmund H. North from a story by Dorothy B. Hughes Produced by Robert Lord Directed by Nicholas Ray

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Which Humphrey Bogart do you like best? By 1950 he had his own production company, Santana, with a contract for release through Columbia pictures.

[caption id="attachment_47663" align="aligncenter" width="384"] Angela George at flickr.com/photos/sharongraphics/. Permission (Reusing this file.) Otrs Wikimedia./caption]

Actress Doris Roberts has died at the age of 90. An accomplished performer with a C.V. longer than your arm, Roberts assumed her best-known TV role as Marie Barone, on CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond TV series, from 1996 to 2005.

Born Doris May Green, November 4, 1925, in St. Louis, Missouri, the actress took her step-father's surname. Her earliest TV series roles, in the 1950s, were in properties such as Starlight Theatre, Studio One in Hollywood, Suspense, Look Up and Live, 'Way Out, Ben Casey, Naked City, The Defenders, and The Doctors and the Nurses.

Read More…...

What's it all about, Alfie? The master of suspense goes in an unusual direction with this murder mystery with a Catholic background. And foreground. Actually, it's a regular guidebook for proper priest deportment, and it's so complex that we wonder if Hitchcock himself had a full grip on it. Montgomery Clift is extremely good atop a top-rank cast that includes Anne Baxter and Karl Malden. Rated less exciting by audiences, this is really one of Hitch's best. I Confess Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1953 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 94 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 17.95 Starring Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne, Roger Dann, Dolly Haas, Charles Andre, O.E. Hasse. Cinematography Robert Burks Art Direction Edward S. Haworth Film Editor Rudi Fehr Original Music Dimitri Tiomkin Written by George Tabori, William Archibald from a play by Paul Anthelme Produced and Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...

“Voyeurs And Victims”

By Raymond Benson

Just when everyone thought director Brian De Palma’s work couldn’t get more controversial than 1983’s Scarface, out came 1984’s Body Double, which was simultaneously praised and reviled. Just as they had with 1980’s Dressed to Kill, feminist groups protested Double with even more vitriol due to the picture’s perceived violence against women. Many critics and audiences dismissed the movie as merely a small step above porn, given the fact that much of the plot does deal with Hollywood’s “other industry” that was soaring to new heights in the mid-80s thanks to the rise of home video and VHS. And yet, Body Double is now a certified cult classic, a De Palma fan favorite, and, frankly, in this reviewer’s opinion, one of his most accomplished and stylish efforts.

Still working in full Hitchcock Homage Mode, De Palma borrowed some of the plot of Vertigo,...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone and welcome to Daily Dead’s third annual Holiday Gift Guide! Once again, we want to help you guys navigate your way through the shopping season with our tips on unique gift ideas and hopefully help you save a few bucks along the way too.

This year’s Holiday Gift Guide is being sponsored by Rlj Entertainment and their recent terrifying yuletide release, A Christmas Horror Story. To help you guys get into the spirit of the season, we’ve put together 10 amazing prize packs filled with goodies, a t-shirt and your very own copy of A Christmas Horror Story to get you ready for the holiday season.

For a chance to win one of our 2015 Holiday Gift Guide prize packs, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with “Holiday Gift Guide” in the subject line and be sure to include your full name and mailing address as well.

Brian De Palma has become the directorial litmus test of cinephiles everywhere. To supporters, he stands as a startling visual genius with a penchant for set pieces and lurid subject matter. To naysayers, he remains a lowbrow imitator who spends his studio budgets chasing the ghosts of Alfred Hitchcock and Jean-Luc Godard. Great director or high class hack? Inconsistent misogynist or Master of the Macabre? Much like his fractured narratives, the answer is never an easy one to attain.

Both sides provide ample support for their case. De Palma’s resume is riddled with enough hollow imitations (Sisters [1973], Raising Cain [1992]) and bloated commercial flops (The Bonfire of the Vanities [1990], The Black Dahlia [2006]) to sink any director. But even in misfires such as these, an undeniable attention to detail remains.

The split screen cover-up of Sisters or the heartbreaking screen tests of The Black Dahlia are breathtaking in scope and execution,...

Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo, restored and presented in 70mm, will be shown at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland on July 17, 18, and 19. I’ll be there, because this film has a special place in my heart. In 1959 we lived in the small English village of Odiham in Hampshire. 3000 people, 7 pubs, one picture palace—The Regal. I was 13 years old, and for the first time I was allowed to go to the movies on a winter’s night by myself. (My mother was a little over-protective, hence my later flirtation with stunts.) To get to the Regal on the outskirts of town, I had to walk through the cemetery of the Norman-era church. Dark shadows. Wisps of fog. Knowing I was going to see a film crafted by a director dubbed the Master of Suspense made the graveyard all the spookier. Vertigo was on its re-release, making its way through the...

We’ve covered quite a bit of Twilight Zone here on Theliberaldead, mostly thanks to the nice folks at Image that sent over the entire series for consideration. Now, it seems that they will be releasing the entire Eighties Twilight Zone series onto DVD, and I can’t wait. Nothing tops the O.G. Twilight Zone, but man, do I love the Eighties run of the show as well. I’m fairly certain they aren’t planning on sending a copy over for review this time around, so I’s say this will be the last word you hear about the set on this site, but I felt as if it were an important enough home video release that I needed to alert you of its existence. The set will street on August 26th, and the pre-order is already live on Amazon. Check out the press release below, and pick a copy up for yourself.

The following is a list of all comic books, graphic novels and specialty items that will be available this week and shipped to comic book stores who have placed orders for them.

Adhouse Books

Bad-Ventures Bobo Backslack Gn, $14.95

Antarctic Press

Gold Digger #211, $3.99

Archie Comic Publications

Archie Double Digest #251, $3.99

Sonic The Hedgehog #261 (Ben Bates Regular Cover), $2.99

Sonic The Hedgehog #261 (Tracy Yardley Is It Summer Yet Variant Cover), $2.99

Avatar Press

Caliban #3 (Facundo Percio Dark Matter Cover), $9.99

Crossed Badlands #55 (Christian Zanier Regular Cover), $3.99

Crossed Badlands #55 (Matt Martin Fatal Fantasy Cover), $3.99

Crossed Badlands #55 (Christian Zanier Red Crossed Incentive Cover), Ar

Crossed Badlands #55 (Christian Zanier Torture Cover), $3.99

Crossed Badlands #55 (Gabriel Andrade Wraparound Cover), $3.99

Crossed Volume 9 Hc, $27.99

Crossed Volume 9 Tp, $19.99

Dicks End Of Time #1 (John McCrea Regular Cover), $3.99

Dicks End Of Time #1 (John McCrea Classic Moment Incentive Cover), Ar

Dicks End Of Time #1 (John McCrea Offensive Cover), $3.99

God Is Dead #14 (Jacen Burrows Regular Cover), $3.99

God Is...

Hey everyone! Starting this week, Daily Dead is going to be bringing you a weekly DVD & Blu-ray release recap so that you guys and gals can better keep up on all the great home horror entertainment coming at you each and every week. Considering the amount of titles being announced these days, we figured this would be a handy reminder of just some of the awesome movies you can to add to your own DVD and Blu-ray collections.

Here’s a rundown on what’s coming your way this week including a ton of amazing classic titles in hi-def from Universal Studios, a handful of Godzilla sequels being released on Blu-ray, and more.

Spotlight Titles:

Rear Window (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & Digital HD with UltraViolet)

None of Hitchcock’s films has ever given a clearer view of his genius for suspense than Rear Window. When professional photographer J.B.

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes details on zombie-themed charities working to fight Cancer, DVD release details for Raze, first details on Autumn Moon and The Infected, and much more:

The Walking Hope Charity Details: “Do you Relay like I do? Are you a supporter of Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society? Are you a fan of the AMC Show “The Walking Dead?” Yes…Yes…and Yes!! This shirt is for you! All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society via Rfl!

The Walking Hope has broad support of fans and cast and crew of the show like Melissa Mcbride, Norman Reedus, Addy Miller, Kyla Kenedy, Jon Bernthal, Steven Yeun, Emily Kinney, Lauren Cohan, Brighton Sharbino, Chad Coleman and more!

Each year, millions of people in 21 countries take place in Relay For Life events.

Transcendence is a good film that aspires to greatness and falls a bit short. Jack Paglen’s screenplay grapples with the always-relevant question of how far science can, or should, go toward creating artificial intelligence. Yet despite the modern setting and visual effects it’s reminiscent of cautionary tales dating back to Mary Shelley and Robert Louis Stevenson. The ultimate lesson: there are some things man was not meant to know. Suspense is muted by the movie’s flashback framework, which reveals the overall ending in the opening scene. Knowing this undercuts the narrative impact of everything that follows, to some degree; it’s just a matter of learning the particulars....

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...

It has been dismissed over the years as cheesy, cheap and laughable but, as has been the case on many occasions, Hammer Films have had the last laugh. They boast a back-catalogue that is to horror movies what The Rolling Stones’ discography is to rock music. Fifty-nine years after the release of their first horror movie proper (The Quatermass Xperiment), Hammer’s films have survived scrutiny and re-evaluation and have now attained National Treasure status. Moreover, in terms of sheer importance, the Hammer films were some of the most influential of the past half-century. The ripple-effect of their imitators cashing in on their success would beget the careers of some of the biggest names in Hollywood today.

And yet since 1984 Hammer has been a dormant entity, existing only in the memory: a pile of ashes, a cape and a signet ring waiting to be reanimated by the crimson, jugular discharge of some poor,...

If you’ve never listened to horror radio, I wouldn’t blame ya. Most old radio shows are hokey, musty relics of forgotten times, only chilling to housewives in 1942. But there are exceptions, recordings from long ago with strange powers that have only grown over the passing decades. If you can look past the sometimes-dated presentation and put yourself in the right mindset, the best horror radio is like listening to the distant cries of ancient ghosts. Collected below are my ten favorite old-timey radio horror broadcasts. Turn off the lights and listen! [You can hear each episode by clicking on the title.] 1) Suspense: "Ghost Hunt" Forget The Blair Witch Project; this episode of Suspense marks the real beginning of found-footage horror. Recorded way back in 1949, the story is told through audiotapes “discovered” after wacky radio disc jockey Smiley Smith goes mad in a haunted house. Smiley starts off treating his visit like a goofy radio stunt, but before long,...

Well, the big day is finally here! After leading the Avengers in stopping an alien invasion Summer before last, our favorite shield-slinger returns to the multiplexes in an all new solo adventure (well, he’s got some help from the Black Widow and the high-flyin’ Falcon)! Before you head out, you may want to brush up on all things Steve Rogers (don’t worry, this won’t be on the final!)! Have fun and buy bonds!

Read my original review of Captain America Here.

Here’s my original article that ran on Wamg before Captain America: The First Avenger was released in 2011.

The very first appearance of the sentinel of liberty.

Okay fellow movie geeks! Ready for a bit of pop culture history? Before you head out to the multiplex this weekend to see Paramount’s Captain America: The First Avenger, let’s get better acquainted with the story of this star-spangled superhero.