Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
Apr 8, 2001Idiots in a Sinister House
Comedy where the East Side Kids/Bowery Boys encounter Bela Lugosi running a Nazi fifth column operation from a haunted house, although the ghosts part eventually proves misleading
Ava Gardner
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
May 7, 2011Immortally Cursed Sea Captain/Romantic Fantasy
Exquisitely shot Technicolor fantasy in which Ava Gardner is romanced by James Mason as the Flying Dutchman, cursed to eternally sail the seas
On the Beach (1959)
Jul 27, 2001The Nuclear Holocaust
The first major film confronting nuclear war full on with the world's last survivors gathered in Australia. Slightly ponderous today but nevertheless full of potent imagery
Seven Days in May (1964)
Feb 14, 2001Political Thriller/Presidential Overthrow Plot
Stark black-and-white thriller from John Frankenheimer about a military coup in the US. Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling delivers a superb script
Tam-Lin (1971)
Apr 27, 2016Modern-Day Queen of the Fairies
The only film ever directed by actor Roddy McDowall. Based on a folktale, it is the story of two lovers trying to escape when one is in thrall to the Queen of the Fairies. McDowall creates a lush film that is oddly ponderous and non-fantastical but what a cast he assembles
Earthquake (1974)
Jun 10, 2002L.A. Devastated/Disaster Movie
Disaster movie in which Los Angeles is devastated by an earthquake Size 7 on the Richter scale. Despite a script by Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, this is the usual soap opera melodramatics
The Blue Bird (1976)
Oct 28, 2014Fairy-Tale
A ghastly fairytale adaptation. Classic Hollywood director George Cukor took several stars to shoot in the Soviet Union and the results look like a badly choreographed amateur pantomime, lacking in any essential whimsy
The Cassandra Crossing (1976)
Apr 8, 2001Plague-Infected Train/Disaster Movie
From the heyday of the disaster movie, an all-star cast head up a big scale drama about a train where a passenger is carrying a deadly plague, only for the train to be shunted all across Europe
The Sentinel (1977)
Feb 15, 2000Haunted Apartment/Gateway to Hell
Michael Winner directs a film about a sinister apartment building but his typical crude and heavy-handed style fails to conjure anything remotely scary