Category Archives: Classics Movie Reviews
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
To me, old black and white horror movies are much more entertaining than the majority of the horror movies that get made in this day and age. What I like most about the classics is that they rely mostly on the story, how it is told, and where it is taking place in order to try to frighten the viewers. Special effects hardly existed in the days of black and white movies, so filmmakers had to get their thrills with a chilling storyline instead of just blood and guts. House on Haunted Hill is a perfect example of what I’m talking about.
The film is about an eccentric millionaire (Vincent Price) who invites 5 people to a spooky overnight party with him and his wife in a rented mansion that is rumored to be haunted. He offers each person ten thousand dollars if they can live through the night in the locked house.
The movie was directed by William Castle and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Carolyn Craig, Alan Marshal, Elisha Cook Jr., and Julie Mitchum.
The film sets the mood nicely with a creepy character introduction and narration by Price as the guests are headed to the haunted party on the hill.
It is movies like this one that helped to start the horror movie genre. This is one of the classics. It is one of the originals. How many hundreds of movies have been released in recent years that take place in a haunted house? There are too many to count. Movies like House on Haunted Hill helped to pave the way for what a haunted house movie should be.
The film is full of spooky music, mysterious characters, and wonderful dialogue. There are excellent shadow affects in the movie that you can only get in a black and white film. There are slamming doors, falling chandeliers, and creaky floor boards. There are horrifying visuals and people screaming. The picture is painted so well for us that you can almost smell death in the air. All of these little attributes contribute to making House on Haunted Hill a true horror classic.
The entertainment is in the storytelling. If you enjoy classic films and you like a good ghost story, then this is the movie for you. For its time, it is a great movie.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Midnight Cowboy is a supposed classic that I figured was about time that I watched to see for myself.
The film is about a wannabe cowboy named Joe Buck (Jon Voight) from Texas who moves to New York City to become a gigolo. Joe becomes friends with a sick and crippled con man named Ratso Rizzo. Both men struggle for survival living on the streets.
The film was directed by John Schlesinger and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Sylvia Miles, Bob Balaban, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Ruth White, and Jennifer Salt.
This movie did not really seem like it would appeal to me. The only reason I wanted to watch it was to see Hoffman and Voight before they were really famous. It didn’t look good and the storyline didn’t interest me at all.
I hated this movie. It was terrible. That might annoy some people because somehow Midnight Cowboy managed to win 3 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. But, I don’t care. Midnight Cowboy was a joke.
The only decent things about the film were Dustin Hoffman’s performance, the scenery of New York City in the 1960s, and the movie’s theme song “Everybody’s Talking at me” by Harry Nilsson.
The rest of the film was stupid, messed up, a little disturbing, and most of all, pointless. It is the misadventures of two low-life wannabe hustlers. An uneducated man travels across the country on a bus to prostitute himself. It does not sound good and it is not good, plain and simple.
True Grit (1969) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) were both far more deserving of an Academy Award for Best Picture that year. The fact that Midnight Cowboy won is a travesty.
I rate this movie a 1 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? RUN!
The Dark Corner (1946)
The Dark Corner (1946)
The Dark Corner is a black and white film about a private detective (Mark Stevens) who becomes entangled in a web of deceit and murder. His secretary (Lucille Ball) goes outside of the boundaries of her job description to fight to try to help him survive.
This movie was much better than I anticipated. Even though the film is 67 years old, it can still pack a punch. It was all beautifully filmed. The story had some creative twists and turns and was told at a reasonable pace. I was thrilled at how exciting this movie was. It’s classic storytelling at its best. It was a little slower at times, but just enough to build up the suspense and keep your attention.
The characters were thoroughly developed which made them super fun to watch. But what made the characters even better were the actors playing them.
It’s my favorite Lucille Ball performance that I have seen so far. Obviously she isn’t making any more movies, but there are still plenty of her films that I have yet to see. She brought a level of class to her character that most women are not capable of. It was one of the stronger performances that I have seen from an actress in a classic film in a long time.
Mark Stevens and William Bendix both played their parts well, but Clifton Webb went above and beyond. He carried himself with a great deal of charm and energy. His words were not only heard, but felt. The powerful force that he brought to the film made it that much more enjoyable.
The movie was directed by Henry Hathaway and also starred Kurt Kreuger, Cathy Downs, Reed Hadley, Constance Collier, and Ellen Corby.
If you are looking for a classic film noir picture to watch, look no further than The Dark Corner. If you like older movies, this one should not disappoint.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
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