cult film freak: ray milland

Showing posts with label ray milland. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 12/20/2021 / No comments / comedy , con man , heist , james cagney , joan blondell , louis calhern , noel francis , ray milland , roy del ruth , thirties

JAMES CAGNEY AND PARTNER JOAN BLONDELL IN 'BLONDE CRAZY'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhN5Bpb1dQXmDQPASd7wD4Qe_2UUlosNEf8pJuiOWTKciobBdvw7n4keimFu6dsf-2Fa8DvDbqUflUGkzkAFJG30wbRKhvco4vJqNRn3iq7ZJB0QrmVucIS_uWWuANIAD3Q4dmBMzz24BCA1tQLzTCrmQrsOyTfVugbE1iAXrsOQ6dAkremzoOKGB4qcg=s778" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhN5Bpb1dQXmDQPASd7wD4Qe_2UUlosNEf8pJuiOWTKciobBdvw7n4keimFu6dsf-2Fa8DvDbqUflUGkzkAFJG30wbRKhvco4vJqNRn3iq7ZJB0QrmVucIS_uWWuANIAD3Q4dmBMzz24BCA1tQLzTCrmQrsOyTfVugbE1iAXrsOQ6dAkremzoOKGB4qcg=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BLONDE CRAZY Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell Year: 1931 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Something about James Cagney, especially in his youthful early-1930's energetic programmers, and how he brings out the best, and worst, from his 
leading ladies — as in the best performances and the worst attitudes...<br>
<br>
Enter Joan
 Blondell dealing with Cagney’s conniving Bert Harris, half the 
fun of this con-game comedy/drama centering on Harris, a suave hotel 
employee who sees the right girl is hired: and it’s the blonde cutie
 Joan, as Anne Roberts, who fits the bill since men simply melt at her feet...<br></p><p></p><span></span>

comedy, con man, heist, james cagney, joan blondell, louis calhern, noel francis, ray milland, roy del ruth, thirties

JAMES CAGNEY AND PARTNER JOAN BLONDELL IN 'BLONDE CRAZY'

Title: BLONDE CRAZY Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell Year: 1931 Rating: **** Something about James Cagney, especially in his youthful early...

DIRECTOR RAY MILLAND AVOIDS A BOMB IN 'PANIC IN YEAR ZERO'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Panic in Year Zero YEAR: 1962</u></td></tr>
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I don't need your helping hand...<br>
I can't be no savage...<br>
I can't be no highwayman</blockquote>
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Lyrics from <i>King of the World </i>by Steely Dan, a band with a handful of great musicians and only two songwriters, the latter reportedly influenced by a particular b-movie for their song about, basically, the end of the road, and yet the lyrics seem influenced against the dire, desperate situation on screen: An American International mid-sixties' B&W super low budget thriller with a consistently jazzy soundtrack befitting Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's own musical tastes. And anyone knows, bad movies can be the greatest time-filler, except when they are, surprisingly, quite good, solid and entertaining despite having been made for what feels like a straight-to-drive-in crowd: who usually watches everything but the movie itself... Enter PANIC IN YEAR ZERO starring a great actor who could pull off bad movies with ease, Ray Milland...<br>

action, adventure, cult, indie, jazz-score, mary mitchel, post-apocalyptic, ray milland, rex holman, richard bakalyan, road movie, russ bender, shary marshall, sixties, steely dan

DIRECTOR RAY MILLAND AVOIDS A BOMB IN 'PANIC IN YEAR ZERO'

Panic in Year Zero YEAR: 1962 I don't need your helping hand... I can't be no savage... I can't be no highwayman L...

LYNN BORDEN INTERVIEW: 'FROGS' & EXPLOITATION CINEMA

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Original Artwork</td></tr>
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A lovely and talented actress has left us, and her name was Lynn Borden… Known by some as the suburban wife from the last season of HAZEL, cult cinema fans remember her as Jenny Crockett, the beautifully bitter wife of Adam Roarke’s mischievous Clint in the eco-horror FROGS, which, made in 1972, is actually pretty great...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lynn Borden... and a Frog</td></tr>
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Taking place at a rural mansion within the murky swamps, Ray Milland stars as a greedy capitalist who isn’t very environmentally conscious...<br>
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And so, long story short, a magazine photographer, played by Sam Elliott, winds up amongst the bickering clan, experiencing their eccentric behavior as a horde of reptiles slowly move in.<br>
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So here's a transcribed interview from a Cult Film Freak/Skull Island Surfer archive with actress Lynn Borden, who also shares about appearing with the late cult actor Adam Roarke in two other motion pictures, THIS IS A HIJACK and DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY...</div>

adam roarke, eco-horror, exploitation, lynn borden, ray milland, sam elliott

LYNN BORDEN INTERVIEW: 'FROGS' & EXPLOITATION CINEMA

Original Artwork A lovely and talented actress has left us, and her name was Lynn Borden… Known by some as the suburban wife from the...

SAM ELLIOTT & RAY MILLAND IN 'FROGS' WITH LYNN BORDEN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1972 cast: Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Lynn Borden rating: ****</td></tr>
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"We’d all be scared," according to the late actress Lynn Borden in an interview about her work on FROGS, and the director, George McCowan.<br />
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"We didn’t know exactly how we were going to die… We knew we were going to somehow, but he would scare us." And though more suspenseful and creative than scary, this underrated 1970’s eco-horror has somewhat of a misleading title...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Lynn Borden & Adam Roarke</td></tr>
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While the frogs are the instigating generals who take their time to become formidable aggressors, there're also a bevy of lizards, snakes, and gators that encroach upon a mansion in New Orleans owned by greedy industrialist Ray Milland, countered by a young Sam Elliott as a nature-friendly photographer, who happens upon Ray and his pompous clan, including cute and helpful daughter Joan Van Ark, most of whom get picked-off during a traditional holiday gathering.<br />
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Adam Roarke is a standout as Milland's playboy/jock son, as is Lynn Borden as his frustrated wife (both worked together on THIS IS A HIJACK and DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY). Overall, FROGS is a very well photographed film that, lacking in expensive special effects, shows the reptiles in their natural poses and then, with creatively strategic editing, makes it seem like their curiosity's aimed towards the doomed humans: With a Tennessee Williams aura of the snobby Southern rich given their comeuppance, FROGS is loaded with terrific dialog, fantastic acting, and a first half setting up the characters so when they <span style="font-style: italic;">croak</span>, it matters. This isn’t the cheesy B-movie as the trailers and posters imply, but it'll work either way.

adam roarke, creature, eco-horror, horror, lynn borden, ray milland, sam elliott

SAM ELLIOTT & RAY MILLAND IN 'FROGS' WITH LYNN BORDEN

year: 1972 cast: Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Lynn Borden rating: **** "We’d all be scared," according to the late actress Lynn B...

Written by James M. Tate / 1/18/2012 / No comments / classic gangster , james cagney , joan blondell , louis calhern , ray milland , thirties

BLONDE CRAZY

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA2zJ_KtuwoDG8eRkuVsQKzxJXPinqWp8Vb3ZxTkkcmHijumn7FHTtCDHTpQjR9qqDKiIunugiSFSRLdSd0K-nA-oermPt1S-ZFRmGyeBeOToO4gmV1LTeTScVHnjqxEr7dZ4UxMbJy_EW/s1600/blonde+crazy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA2zJ_KtuwoDG8eRkuVsQKzxJXPinqWp8Vb3ZxTkkcmHijumn7FHTtCDHTpQjR9qqDKiIunugiSFSRLdSd0K-nA-oermPt1S-ZFRmGyeBeOToO4gmV1LTeTScVHnjqxEr7dZ4UxMbJy_EW/s320/blonde+crazy.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><b>title:</b> BLONDE CRAZY<br />
<b>year: </b>1931<br />
<b>cast:</b> James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern<br />
<b>rating:</b> ***1/2<br />
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What is it about James Cagney – he brings out the best, and worst, of his leading ladies: the best performances and the worst attitudes – and Joan Blondell’s dealing with Cagney’s conniving “Bert Harris” is half the fun of this 1930’s comedy/melodrama dealing with Harris, a suave hotel employee who sees the right girl is hired: and it’s the blonde bombshell Joan, as “Anne Roberts,” who fits the bill. She’s not only sought after by Harris, but seedy rich guys melt at her feet. Here’s where our climbing antihero sees his future planned out: and together this made-in-heaven match goes from one sucker till the next, swindling relativity small time cash till meeting Louis Calhern, a successful con artist with a big apple for the duo: and a bigger worm inside. One scene involving a horse race and revenge against Calhern is confusing, and not all the con games are too clever, but the chemistry between the Cagney and Blondell, and the hidden desire for his platonic partner that slowly comes to light, is what makes this really shine. A very young Ray Milland plays Joan’s sophisticated new gent – making Cagney realize what, or rather, whom his drive’s been centered. And while a tacked-on “crime will pay” ending is a letdown, the rest works just fine: Especially a pre-Code bathtub scene with Blondell that’s quite… revealing.

classic gangster, james cagney, joan blondell, louis calhern, ray milland, thirties

BLONDE CRAZY

title: BLONDE CRAZY year: 1931 cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern rating: ***1/2 What is it about James Cagney – he br...

Written by James M. Tate / 8/04/2010 / No comments / alfred hitchcock , anthony dawson , crime , fifties , film noir or melodrama , grace kelly , perfect murder , ray milland , robert cummings , suspense

DIAL M FOR MURDER

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year: </b>1954 <b> rating: </b>***</td></tr>
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Perhaps it's Alfred Hitchcock's fault. He made his villain so likable that the third act of this classic melodrama becomes a let-down when the somewhat one-dimensional good guys, including a cop and a crime novelist, hone in on the wrathfully delightful Ray Milland...<br />
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The always-intense actor deliciously plots a "perfect murder" of his rich wife during a gloriously long scene (with Anthony Dawson) in that sublimely <i>executed</i> second act, thus leading to the pivotal "homocide" that still packs a wallop.<br />
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What Hitchcock and his actors do with few locations, and tons of dialogue, is amazing.<br />
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alfred hitchcock, anthony dawson, crime, fifties, film noir or melodrama, grace kelly, perfect murder, ray milland, robert cummings, suspense