Peyton Place: "Everything in this town happens behind brown wrappers"

In a 1956 interview with journalist Hal Boyle, Peyton Place author Grace Metalious said: "To a tourist, these towns look as peaceful as...

Snack-sized Film Reviews: "Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick" and "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy"

Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick  (1952). This Paramount Pictures musical was a last attempt to turn popular singer Dinah Shore into a movie st...

Universal's Mummy Movies of the 1940s

Jack Pierce's make-up, shown in shadows here, is impressive. The Mummy's Hand (1940) - Perhaps surprisingly, this reboot of Universa...

A Double Case of Murder on the Orient Express

Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot. The 1974 adaptation of Agatha Christie's controversial mystery Murder on the Orient Express spawned a ...

Abbott & Costello Meet the Frankenstein Monster...and Dracula...and the Wolf Man*

Lou sits on the Frankenstein Monster. Ask a classic movie fan to name their favorite comedians and I suspect only a few would list Bud Abbot...

Snack-sized Film Reviews: "Horror at 37,000 Feet" and "Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You"

Hey, something's wrong with this plane! The Horror at 37,000 Feet . What can you say about a movie in which William Shatner gives the mo...

To Sir, With Love: The Feel-Good Side of the Sixties

During my formative teenage years, I developed a fondness for the British cinema of the mid-to-late 1960s. These films spanned several genre...