last movie you watched

[keninlincs]

Of course Rob,they are movies after all!

[pmp]

I attempted to watch The Irregulars tonight on Netflix, but put it aside very quickly. Either I was in the wrong mood or it is as awful as it seems - poor acting, writing and CGI. I'll have another run at it later, but it doesn't bode well.

[pmp]

I attempted to watch The Irregulars tonight on Netflix, but put it aside very quickly. Either I was in the wrong mood or it is as awful as it seems - poor acting, writing and CGI. I'll have another run at it later, but it doesn't bode well.

That was my plan for after work -- along with episode two of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I have to say, that it hasn't struck me as something very intriguing, despite my interest in Holmes. This said, it actually had gone out of my mind until I read your post.

I'll start with an episode at least -- or its back to Italian horror and giallo. Which I've turned to this week, after my foray into animal attack films.

Meanwhile I'm still trawling through Dutschland 89. Finally, after six episodes, it has got where it's going to and it's rather good, but rather like Deutschland 86, it's rather disorganised mess, unfortunately. They really should have stopped after the first series.

I was rather looking forward to Irregulars, although the video game look of the trailer was a bit off-putting. But there has been some nice dramas made out of the Baker Street Irregulars in the past, including the Baker Street Boys back when I was a kid, and Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars with Jonathan Pryce as Holmes from about 2005 I think. Reviews of the new series have been rather mixed, although the colour blind casting that some are objecting to seem to be the least of its problems from the little I saw. I will give it another go, though.

I see Eureka and Arrow have given us details of their June releases, although only The Hands of Orlac really appeals to me - not that this is a bad thing as I have quite a lot to wade through on my shelves already, and there's quite a bit coming in April that I need to get my hands on. Hands of Orlac is great to see, though, although it's fair to say that at nearly two hours it seriously outstays its welcome.

[pmp]

I attempted to watch The Irregulars tonight on Netflix, but put it aside very quickly. Either I was in the wrong mood or it is as awful as it seems - poor acting, writing and CGI. I'll have another run at it later, but it doesn't bode well.

That was my plan for after work -- along with episode two of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I have to say, that it hasn't struck me as something very intriguing, despite my interest in Holmes. This said, it actually had gone out of my mind until I read your post.

I'll start with an episode at least -- or its back to Italian horror and giallo. Which I've turned to this week, after my foray into animal attack films.

Meanwhile I'm still trawling through Dutschland 89. Finally, after six episodes, it has got where it's going to and it's rather good, but rather like Deutschland 86, it's rather disorganised mess, unfortunately. They really should have stopped after the first series.

I was rather looking forward to Irregulars, although the video game look of the trailer was a bit off-putting. But there has been some nice dramas made out of the Baker Street Irregulars in the past, including the Baker Street Boys back when I was a kid, and Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars with Jonathan Pryce as Holmes from about 2005 I think. Reviews of the new series have been rather mixed, although the colour blind casting that some are objecting to seem to be the least of its problems from the little I saw. I will give it another go, though.

I see Eureka and Arrow have given us details of their June releases, although only The Hands of Orlac really appeals to me - not that this is a bad thing as I have quite a lot to wade through on my shelves already, and there's quite a bit coming in April that I need to get my hands on. Hands of Orlac is great to see, though, although it's fair to say that at nearly two hours it seriously outstays its welcome.

The Hands of Orlac is on my list, too, although it's the UHD release of The Bird With the Crystal Plumage and Major Dundee that I'll pre-order. This said, I'll have to double-check the bonus material on the former and whether it's the same as their previous Blu-ray release. If so, I'll probably wait for a regular edition. Although it does seem as though Arrow are dipping into their back catalogue to reissue previous titles -- great as some of them were in any case, e.g., Oldboy. I expect The Thing and An American Werewolf in London will be on the cards.

I'll also get hold of Irezumi, but I won't pre-order that one, either. But I'm really elated to see Encounters of the Spooky Kind finally being released on Blu-ray by Eureka. I also see Mill Creek have announced a new Randolph Scott Blu-ray set, which, I'm thinking may see a U.K. release via Indicator/Powerhouse.

I might land up doing a double dip myself, as Mill Creek are doing a double bill of Toy Soldiers and December. I already have Toy Soldiers, but would very much like to see December again, which I haven't seen since heaven knows when and had forgotten about. It doesn't seem five minutes since Mill Creek were little more than a PD company.

[pmp]

I watched the first two episodes of The Irregulars on Netflix, and, much like yourself, Shane, I wasn't impressed. To be frank, the first episode is a preposterous muddle that finds the writers and the director, throwing a multiple ideas at the wall. And with a sledgehammer approach.

I do like the premise and have enjoyed some of the forays of the Baker Street Irregulars in the past, and I do like how they feature in the Holmes stories, and some of the films. And certainly, with a young adult approach and the potential found in the likes of Stranger Things, this could have worked. But it doesn't. Or at least, I'm not convinced on the back of what has been - so far - essentially, A Nightmare on Elm Street by way of Stranger Things, The Cell, and Guy Richie’s Holmes as a touch-point.

I think Thaddea Graham is fine in what's playing out as the central role of Bea -- a smart, tough, streetwise character that has some substance. Unlike the two boys, and her sister, who is cipher for the time being. Anybody that may not have figured out that it's her sister, can thank the clanger of a line in a cemetery, where Bea exclaims “sister!”, for no reason other than hearing a noise after talking about - you guessed it - her sister.

This, however, is matched by one of the most heavy-handed axial cuts I can recall when, just so we know where we're at, the camera cuts in on the address of 221b Baker Street. Although, if this was necessary for anybody watching, for them, it probably doesn't mean anything. The soundtrack is just as jarring, in fact. With there being no idea what this wants to say or express.

The acting isn't especially good, and neither is the direction -- and it isn't edited sharply in some places, for that matter. One scene, in which a baby is snatched, finds the Irregulars watching on and stating their position almost as an afterthought. The writing doesn't help matters either, especially when things just happen -- climbing into the right room of a house they've never visited. Or turning up at a destination that nobody knew the other characters were going to in the first place.

I do think supernatural elements, or the suggestion of such, and the occult, can work well in this world and in the era, whilst I like that Holmes isn't really seen. And, that he seems to be at a low ebb. But Watson is poorly established and isn't well acted into the bargain. Whilst there hasn't really been enough intrigue for want of absolutely no explanation as to what's going on with the supernatural powers that are at play. This said, episode two is at least more coherent to a point, whilst the young prince seems squandered at what potentially have been a surrogate Holmes in the group.

Glad it wasn't just me! Yes, I noticed the fact that Bea shouted "sister" during one of the early sequences in the opening episodes, too. And some of the writing in general just seemed slightly strange and clunky. The whole "put a shirt on" dialogue once the boxing match is aborted was like something out of a school play.

Meanwhile, I noticed today (and don't think you've mentioned it) that the 4 Matt Helm films are being released in a set on April 5th.

[pmp]

Episode three of The Irregulars is as far as I'm going with this series. It hasn't improved or found its footing, although there is a dynamic that's building between the central characters, and whilst I don't have any issues with liberties being taken with the characters and stories this series is based around, it's gotten to the stage where it's actually pointless. With the group doing things and going places other characters could be doing or going. And them suddenly being a team of investigators, with no sense of value or reputation to support this. They just are because they say they are.

The failure of the series will be a blow to Netflix, who have been trumpeting it for some time - especially with so many other series delayed by Covid.

[pmp]

Episode three of The Irregulars is as far as I'm going with this series. It hasn't improved or found its footing, although there is a dynamic that's building between the central characters, and whilst I don't have any issues with liberties being taken with the characters and stories this series is based around, it's gotten to the stage where it's actually pointless. With the group doing things and going places other characters could be doing or going. And them suddenly being a team of investigators, with no sense of value or reputation to support this. They just are because they say they are.

The failure of the series will be a blow to Netflix, who have been trumpeting it for some time - especially with so many other series delayed by Covid.

[Mister Mike]

It's 93 minutes long. That's all I'm gonna say about this.

[pmp]

Episode three of The Irregulars is as far as I'm going with this series. It hasn't improved or found its footing, although there is a dynamic that's building between the central characters, and whilst I don't have any issues with liberties being taken with the characters and stories this series is based around, it's gotten to the stage where it's actually pointless. With the group doing things and going places other characters could be doing or going. And them suddenly being a team of investigators, with no sense of value or reputation to support this. They just are because they say they are.

The failure of the series will be a blow to Netflix, who have been trumpeting it for some time - especially with so many other series delayed by Covid.

I also think they will be looking for a series to fill the gap left by Stranger Things when it comes to its conclusion, and The Irregulars may have been something that had potential over numerous seasons.

I've finally started on Condor, though, which I remember you speaking highly of. This series came back to my attention this week when it was announced that its creators and writers, Jason Smilovic and Todd Katzberg, are adapting Isabella Maldonado’s crime novel, The Cipher, for Jennifer Lopez. Which she's developing in conjunction with Netflix.

I'm two episodes in and it's certainly well-written, and gripping, with genuine narrative scope and an avoidance of cliches. It's smart and well-acted and Max Irons actually reminds me of a young Brendan Fraser. And Fraser is good here, very much underplaying his role as a nefarious military contractor.

I think Irons is really well cast, as is William Hurt, in a role that needs the kind of authority and experience he has in spades. It moves at a fine pace too, and has depth enough to be consequential, even at this stage. Although the hit at the end of episode one wasn't brilliantly orchestrated. But it hasn't really put a foot wrong. Whilst, anyone who has seen Out of Sight and Three Days of the Condor, will recall the trunk scene with Lopez and George Clooney in which they discuss how the way in which Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway’s characters get together in the film, doesn't really make sense.

In Condor, the writers find a smart way around that, and it works really well and it's certainly going to be interesting to see how their relationship develops. The scene in the bed at the end of episode two, in fact, reminded me of the aforementioned trunk scene. Smilovic was also the creator and writer behind the short-lived series, Karen Sisco, which was based on Lopez’s character from Out of Sight.

I'll certainly watch episode three tonight, and possibly part four, and whilst anything would have been worth a look after The Irregulars, Condor has managed to establish an identity of its own away from the film. Whether that's sustainable over two seasons is something I'll soon find out, but I'm getting notions of The Fugitive, too.

..

Yes, I enjoyed the first series of Condor, but never really got into the second one - which is fine as the first does actually finish well enough. But it may just be that I didn't get involved into the second as I knew there wasn't a third, which is often the case with me. Sadly, the series got caught up in some problems due to its home channel in America having some major changes.

Irons is particularly good, though, especially as I have been rather sniffy about his acting in the past, when I have seen him in major roles in the likes of Tutankhamen, The Riot Club and Crooked House. But Condor is somewhat perfect for him, and I do wonder if he's helped by the fact he has to be something other than an upper-class Brit in it. Hurt, as you mention, is also very good.

I did finally finish Deutschland 89 last night, which got better as it went on, but I probably wouldn't have made it to the end if it wasn't for the fact I'd invested time into the previous series and this is the last of them. It's not that 86 and 89 were bad, but they were remarkably complex, and rely somewhat on a knowledge of German history of the period. Deutschland 83 was done so well, though, that it was always going to be difficult to live up to it. And Deutschland 83 works well as a stand alone, and is a very fine piece of work that isn't all that different to Condor, as it happens.

[pmp]

Tonight I watched The Ghost (or The Ghost Writer, has it can't make up its mind about the title). Pierce Brosnan plays Tony Blair - sorry, Adam Lang - a former UK Prime Minister who is writing his memoirs at the same time that a controversy comes out about him. Ewan McGregor plays the ghost writer, hired to make something useful out of Lang's long and tedious attempt at an autobiography. As he does so, he believes he is one the trail of something much darker going on.

Directed by Polanski and co-written by him and Robert Harris, the film starts off well and looks as if it is going to go down a Hitchcockian thriller route, but then it gets so far and stalls somewhat when we find out that the dark secret isn't really going to be that shocking anyway. And it isn't. And that's the problem here. The big reveal of what McGregor's character is uncovering isn't really all that big, and is something of an anti-climax after the first ninety minutes of unsettling atmosphere that that Polanski has managed to generate. This is something of a shame considering everything that comes before. There are so many reveals that could have worked. That said the acting and direction (and writing for much of it) are very good indeed, and it's certainly an entertaining two hours or so, but the climax, or lack of it, is the problem.

[pmp]

I see Death on the Nile has been put back yet again, to February 2022. I'm not quite sure what this is set to achieve given the problems the film has with Armie Hammer as one of the stars. His problems aren't going to be over by February 2022, even if he is found innocent. They are too great for that. So, as far as I see it, they have two options - reshoot his scenes with someone else or send it straight to streaming and take a big hit on the film. My guess is that Hammer will be cut out. I can't see any way in the current climate, and after #metoo, that a major film can be released with him in it. And of course, we know it can be done as it was with All the Money in the World and the BBC Agatha Christie adaptation, Ordeal by Innocence a couple of years back. Luckily Hammer's role doesn't involve a great many scenes of his with large groups of the rest of the cast. Of course there are some, but he literally doesn't move very far from about halfway through the story. On the downside, reshooting in Egypt isn't going to be cheap - and there is no getting around that for the first half hour or so of the story, even if they could avoid it when the film settles down on the cruise.

[keninlincs]

There's a good quality upload of Satan's Triangle on YouTube, and given that I hadn't seen this movie in a while, it was good to revisit tonight. Although the concept is far more interesting than the execution, and whilst it's limited in being made for television in respect to production values, a keener hand could have done more.

Doug McClure stars in one of his few roles as a more romantic lead, here, playing a member of the coastguard who is called to a rescue signal in the notorious Satan's Triangle. Once there, he finds a boat with dead crew members and one survivor, played by Kim Novak in one of her later roles. McClure never had much depth or range, and the same is true of Novak, who was always effective at playing cool and aloof. That helps somewhat here, although there's a lengthy flashback from her perspective, explaining what happened, but not how. It's worth spending 75 minutes or so on.

..

I shall certainly add Satan's triangle to my watch list,i remember it vaguely from years ago!

[jetblack]

The thriller 'The Little Things' was a slow burner. Two cops played by Denzel Washington and Rami Malek on the trail of a serial killer. It doesn't play out the way one expects but was satisfying to this viewer. Jared Leto steals the movie with an excellent performance.



I also enjoyed 'Alone' the 2020 movie starring Tyler Posey (whom I was unaware of). He plays a man trapped in his apartment after a virus turns people into 'zombies'. He carries the film and does a commendable job.

Andy

[pmp]

I see Death on the Nile has been put back yet again, to February 2022. I'm not quite sure what this is set to achieve given the problems the film has with Armie Hammer as one of the stars. His problems aren't going to be over by February 2022, even if he is found innocent. They are too great for that. So, as far as I see it, they have two options - reshoot his scenes with someone else or send it straight to streaming and take a big hit on the film. My guess is that Hammer will be cut out. I can't see any way in the current climate, and after #metoo, that a major film can be released with him in it. And of course, we know it can be done as it was with All the Money in the World and the BBC Agatha Christie adaptation, Ordeal by Innocence a couple of years back. Luckily Hammer's role doesn't involve a great many scenes of his with large groups of the rest of the cast. Of course there are some, but he literally doesn't move very far from about halfway through the story. On the downside, reshooting in Egypt isn't going to be cheap - and there is no getting around that for the first half hour or so of the story, even if they could avoid it when the film settles down on the cruise.

Accusations against Hammer have only intensified, and this appears to be one of the reasons Death on the Nile has been pushed back again, along with the hope of more cinemas being open in 2022. I do think this film would or could do well on streaming platforms, but I don't think any company will want to touch it with his name attached -- which does make me think that reshoots are inevitable.

And certainly the film he was prepping for when accusations broke, Shotgun Wedding, which is also being produced by Jennifer Lopez, quite literally dodged a bullet here. Because a month later, he would have been on set and part of a $65 million project in the Dominican Republic which had already been pre-sold before cameras started rolling.

He won't even be an afterthought on that one, which has gone smoothly from what I can gather, even in finding a replacement at short notice. And it's possible that reshoots for Death on the Nile won't require a return to Egypt -- although this will be a costly venture in any regard. The budget here was $90 million as it stands. But I can't imagine the film being released without this happening.

I think if Hammer's character was only present on board the boat, then a return to Egypt could be avoided, but because the first third of the story is about him touring Egypt with his new wife, I'm not sure how avoiding it would be possible.

Tonight I saw John Carpenter's The Fog on blu ray - which looks very good, I might add. I had forgotten how simple the story is for the film - and how effective it is because of that simplicity. I confess I quite like the remake, too (although not many do), but it's a different kind of movie, which goes for traditional mainstream horror thrills and screams of the 2000s rather than the creepy build up of tension that Carpenter manages to instil his film with from the very beginning until the very end.

[pmp]

Billion Dollar Spy appears to have been the last project Armie Hammer was attached to, which now leaves him with no prospects and no attachments to any film.

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/03/armie-hammer-billion-dollar-spy-rape-accusation-1234626765/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Yes, I was then about to mention this. Disney are still saying they are not going to reshoot Death on the Nile, but I don't really think they have a choice if they want a cinema release. Not least because this is Disney we are talking about. There's also the issue of the co-stars, too, of course. How tainted would someone like Gal Gadot be in appearing in a film with Armie Hammer that was released after these allegations. I wouldn't be shocked if we see a Woody Allen situation here where the film goes to streaming and the stars give their wages to charity. I rather feel sorry for Timothee Chalamet. First Woody Allen and now his most famous co-star. He'll be getting a complex.

Tonight I went back to the Inner Sanctum box as I didn't have time for a full-length movie. Weird Woman is one of the best of the series, I think. It has a good creepy atmosphere, but isn't so good as its remake, Night of the Eagle, made by Hammer in the early 1960s. It was remade again as Witches Brew in 1980.

[keninlincs]

I am currently suffering from terrible chemotherapy side effects and bed bound so watching plenty of movies ,yesterday i revisited 2 Hammer films.The first was "Dracula" from 1958 in te restored BFI cut from 2007.One of my favorite Hammer films ever,Christopher Lee i magnificent and he owns every scene he is in,Cushing is also quite superb,a brilliant effort from Hammer.
Second up was a real oddity from Hammer"Die,die my darling" or "Fanatic" starring Tallula Bankhead ,Stephanie Powers and a wasted Donald Sutherland,about a deranged mother of a man that committed suicide,meeting his ex fiance,strangly entertaining but very poor film on the whole!

[jetblack]

I am currently suffering from terrible chemotherapy side effects and bed bound so watching plenty of movies ,yesterday i revisited 2 Hammer films.The first was "Dracula" from 1958 in te restored BFI cut from 2007.One of my favorite Hammer films ever,Christopher Lee i magnificent and he owns every scene he is in,Cushing is also quite superb,a brilliant effort from Hammer.

Christopher Lee as 'Dracula' is unbeatable in my book.

I love those movies.

Andy

[pmp]

I am currently suffering from terrible chemotherapy side effects and bed bound so watching plenty of movies ,yesterday i revisited 2 Hammer films.The first was "Dracula" from 1958 in te restored BFI cut from 2007.One of my favorite Hammer films ever,Christopher Lee i magnificent and he owns every scene he is in,Cushing is also quite superb,a brilliant effort from Hammer.
Second up was a real oddity from Hammer"Die,die my darling" or "Fanatic" starring Tallula Bankhead ,Stephanie Powers and a wasted Donald Sutherland,about a deranged mother of a man that committed suicide,meeting his ex fiance,strangly entertaining but very poor film on the whole!

Hope you feel better soon, Ken

[keninlincs]

I am currently suffering from terrible chemotherapy side effects and bed bound so watching plenty of movies ,yesterday i revisited 2 Hammer films.The first was "Dracula" from 1958 in te restored BFI cut from 2007.One of my favorite Hammer films ever,Christopher Lee i magnificent and he owns every scene he is in,Cushing is also quite superb,a brilliant effort from Hammer.
Second up was a real oddity from Hammer"Die,die my darling" or "Fanatic" starring Tallula Bankhead ,Stephanie Powers and a wasted Donald Sutherland,about a deranged mother of a man that committed suicide,meeting his ex fiance,strangly entertaining but very poor film on the whole!

Hope you feel better soon, Ken

Thanks Shane!

[ForeverElvis]

I am currently suffering from terrible chemotherapy side effects and bed bound so watching plenty of movies ,yesterday i revisited 2 Hammer films.The first was "Dracula" from 1958 in te restored BFI cut from 2007.One of my favorite Hammer films ever,Christopher Lee i magnificent and he owns every scene he is in,Cushing is also quite superb,a brilliant effort from Hammer.
Second up was a real oddity from Hammer"Die,die my darling" or "Fanatic" starring Tallula Bankhead ,Stephanie Powers and a wasted Donald Sutherland,about a deranged mother of a man that committed suicide,meeting his ex fiance,strangly entertaining but very poor film on the whole!

Hang in there Ken!

[Tang Lungs side kick]

Crime comedies :

Olsenbandens aller siste kupp (Last exploits of Olsen Gang) 4.5/6 , the gangs leader Egon no longer wants to go to jail.....something about insurance co selling illegal weapons to african countries but thats just a side plot. Wesenlund as the "me too" hotel groping guy and KBG (Kristoffersens Body Guards , lol)

Men Olsenbanden var ikke død (But Olsen Gang wasnt dead) 4.5/6 , Kjells wife Valborg starts painting and Benny comes up with a new caper. Sadly Kjell , police chief Hermansen & his side kick Holm last appearance - as well as the danish brute rent-a-thug , Biffen. It would be 15 yrs before the absolute final Olsen film came out.....

[pmp]

Last night I started watching Topsy-Turvy, and I finished it this afternoon. This Mike Leigh's period piece about the writing and production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. Last month I rewatched The Gilbert and Sullivan Story, which managed to tell the story of their twenty-year partnership in 110 minutes. Topsy-Turvy takes 160 minutes to cover a year. It is, though, an excellent film that, despite its setting, still manages to be a critique of British society. One actor is a morphine addict, one actress is a single mother and alcoholic, Gilbert's marriage is sexless, and Sullivan's singledom is not. Despite this, it is, of course, an atypical Mike Leigh film.

Despite its wonders (and there are many), it is self-indulgent with regards to its unwieldly length. One rehearsal sequence that really adds nothing to the film in terms of narrative or humour, is a very long ten minutes. And while the excerpts from the lesser known operas The Sorcerer and Princess Ida in the first half are well staged and beautifully sung, there is really very little need for them dramatically. Even so, it's a film which it is impossible not to admire.

Strangely, there are very few films of the operas themselves - although there are plenty of TV versions. But I feel as if I should complete a G&S trilogy by revisiting the 1937 film of The Mikado which, with its early use of colour, is really rather special. This has appeared on Criterion in the USA, but not here in the UK. I must see if I can pick it up at some point.

Quite what we are to make of The Mikado as a whole given the recent changes in society, I'm not quite sure. 35 years ago, I was in a production at school, and nobody was remotely bothered by 50 Caucasian kids becoming Japanese for a couple of hours. And a few years later, 20 became Puerto Rican for West Side Story. But I do wonder how The Mikado will be dealt with in modern productions - and certainly there seems to be more and more productions using the ENO's famous production with Eric Idle as their starting point, and setting the opera in a kind of British no-man's-land - which, of course, is where it is set anyway.

[Tang Lungs side kick]

007 LALD 4.5/6 , watched it to remember mr Kotto , underrated performance from him

Cool boat chase and Seymour was only 21 when she did this , her acting experience seems above her age

[pmp]

A couple of weeks ago, discussions here touched on Twice Told Tales, that I haven't seen for a very long time. I hunted down a decent priced copy of the Kino blu ray and watched it tonight.

I believe my thoughts are rather like when I saw it previously, many moons ago. It looks like Poe/Corman, it's written like Poe/Corman, and it has the star of Poe/Corman, but there are significant differences. Much of the problem lies with the pedestrian pacing of what are some rather thin tales. Sidney Salkow is a director I only know through the Lone Wolf series of B-movies in the 1940s, and I don't like those much. There's very little sense of style here, just a rather straightforward, no-frills direction. And where the Corman/Poe films only seem creepier because of the studio sets, Twice Told Tales just looks a bit shoddy - particularly the awful miniature build of the House of Seven Gables, which looks like something out a British Hitchcock movie of the early 1930s.

The writing is very much like the Poe films, in that it aims to be intelligent, even intellectual, but it only succeeds this through its ponderous nature, with these three tales clocking in at 120 minutes - compare that to the 90 minutes of the superior (and much more fun) Tales of Terror. What these Nathanial Hawthorne stories most lack, though, is the sense of dread that the Poe stories had on the screen. Yes, they are somewhat macabre, I suppose, but not once are we chilled to the bone by either the narrative or Price - although, as usual, he is superb. The first story covers some of the same ground as Lenora, which was filmed for Tales of Terror the previous year. And it's probably the best segment here. The second should, perhaps, have been considerably darker than it is for it to work - as it is, it just seems a trifle dull and flat. As for the The House of Seven Gables, it's the only section that doesn't feel stretched almost to breaking point - and Price had also played in the 1940 screen version. But it's let down by that awful miniature, which seems more like House of the Seven Lego Bricks instead.

While this film is often spoken of in the same breath as the Poe films, it isn't in that class. And it's not that it doesn't try to be. But there's nothing spooky here, nothing to chill us, and nothing to fill us with horror, despite burying people alive, lots of very bright blood, and killer plants, no less. And the lighting throughout is too bright and has none of the fog and shadows that allowed Corman to turn the obvious studio sets to his advantage. Yes, there is blood pouring from the house in the final segment, but it's not filmed in such a way as to be frightening. All of that doesn't mean it's a bad film, but anyone expecting the dread of Usher or Pendulum are going to be very disappointed. In short, it's all decidedly average, and probably best watched in three separate instalments as, by the end, there is simply a feeling of boredom.

[pmp]

I should perhaps have mentioned as an aside that Twice-Told Tales was the film in which Vincent Price "removed" some of the items on loan to decorate the set and added them to his own collection! He told the story many years later on a UK interview, although I can't remember which one. It's floating around on YouTube somewhere.