The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 28, 2022

AFTER THE DANCE, a 1935 Columbia film, is one of the most weirdly constructed movies I've ever seen. Nightclub entertainer Jerry Davis (George Murphy) is implicated in an accidental death. Jerry accepts a manslaughter conviction after he learns that the partner in his act, Mabel King (Thelma Todd)   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 27, 2022

SITTING PRETTY is a 1933 musical from Paramount, directed by Harry Joe Brown, and starring Jack Oakie, Jack Haley, Ginger Rogers, and Thelma Todd. Chick Parker (Jack Oakie) and Pete Pendleton (Jack Haley) are songwriters who travel to Hollywood, hoping to break into the movies. While there they bef   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 21, 2022

THE GREEN GIRL is a 2014 documentary on actress Susan Oliver, best known for her prolific work on American network television from the 1960s through the 1980s. The film was directed and produced by George A. Pappy Jr., and I viewed it on the Tubi streaming channel. The title THE...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 15, 2022

In 2017, I wrote a blog post on BATTLE OF THE WORLDS, a 1963 American version of a Italian science-fiction film directed by Antonio Margheriti (under the name Anthony Dawson). In that post I stated that the film needed a proper official Blu-ray release. It now has one, courtesy of...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 13, 2022

Warren William--The King of Pre-Code, the Captain of Cads--is back to his devious schemes again, this time at MGM instead of Warner Bros., in the 1932 production SKYSCRAPER SOULS. William plays bank president David Dwight, who has borrowed $30 million to build a spectacular skyscraper called, fitti   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 7, 2022

Last night I watched the 2021 documentary BORIS KARLOFF: THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTER on the Tubi streaming channel. The film was directed and co-written by Thomas Hamilton. It's a fine program, giving a fairly complete retrospective on Boris Karloff's acting career. What makes it a cut above is the   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 5, 2022

As you can tell by the name of this blog, I am a lifelong dedicated fan of the Chicago White Sox. But I'm also a dedicated baseball fan period, and there are several MLB players I've had great admiration over the years who never wore a White Sox uniform. One...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 31, 2022

The esteemed classic horror film historian Gregory William Mank has written his first novel. FRANKENSTEIN'S WITCH: ST. LIZZIE, PRAY FOR US (published by Bear Manor Media) spans two different eras in Hollywood--1931 and 1967. In the spring of 1967, a fire breaks out at Universal Studios. A bizarre-l   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 30, 2022

The excellent English actor David Warner passed away recently. While reading various internet tributes about him, I discovered that he played the Frankenstein monster in a 1984 British TV adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel. I was not aware of this production, and I was even more stunned to find out   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 24, 2022

Actor Warren William was the King of Pre-Code Cinema, and one of the best examples of this is the 1932 Warners melodrama THE MATCH KING. William plays Paul Kroll, who at the beginning of the film is a street sweeper in Chicago. To earn extra money Kroll comes up with...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 18, 2022

I finally caught up with one of the very, very few post-1957 Hammer films I had not seen. THE SCARLET BLADE (1963) is one of Hammer's colorful historical adventures, written & directed by John Gilling. (For whatever reason, the movie was titled THE CRIMSON BLADE in America.) England, 1648. Roya   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 17, 2022

It's Euro Western time again, with a 1970 Italian-German film called AND GOD SAID TO CAIN. The movie was co-written and directed by the legendary Antonio Margheriti (under his usual alias of Anthony Dawson). The big highlight in this entry is that long-time spaghetti western bad guy Klaus Kinski is   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 16, 2022

The latest issue of Richard Klemensen's wonderful LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS magazine, #48, has a feature article on British filmmakers Robert Baker and Monty Berman. The Baker/Berman team is best known for English Gothic films like THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS, JACK THE RIPPER, and BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE.   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 9, 2022

During the audio commentary for the new Blu-ray of THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, Tom Weaver mentioned that the stars of the film, John Agar and Joyce Meadows, had already appeared together in a low-budget Western called FLESH AND THE SPUR. That film was released by American International Pictures in   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 6, 2022

Like all original Star Wars fans, I had my own ideas about what Obi-Wan Kenobi was doing during his hiatus on Tatooine. I certainly didn't think he was sitting on his behind for twenty years. In my mind, he was staying alert, keeping ready, and maintaining contacts with the burgeoning...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 3, 2022

The 1957 science-fiction film THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS is one of my guilty pleasures. It's also one of the most notable (some would say notorious) examples of 1950s low-budget big-screen sci-fi. The Film Detective has now released it on Blu-ray, with all sorts of trimmings. Somewhere in the Amer   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 2, 2022

THE RETURN OF DR. FU MANCHU (1930) is a direct sequel to THE MYSTERIOUS DR. FU MANCHU. Both of these films, produced by Paramount, have been released on Blu-ray by Kino on one disc.I reviewed THE MYSTERIOUS DR. FU MANCHU on this blog a couple weeks ago. THE RETURN OF...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 30, 2022

Greg Mank travels down more dark alleys of classic horror cinema with ANGELS AND MINISTERS OF GRACE DEFEND US! This new book is something of a follow up to the author's THE VERY WITCHING TIME OF NIGHT. Like the earlier volume, this book contains 13 chapters, each focusing on a...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 20, 2022

Kino has released a true (and rare) treat on Blu-ray--the two Fu Manchu films made by Paramount during the early talkie period. THE MYSTERIOUS DR. FU MANCHU (1929) and THE RETURN OF FU MANCHU (1930) were both directed by Rowland V. Lee, and Warner Oland plays the nefarious doctor in...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 18, 2022

Included in Severin's THE EUROCRYPT OF CHRISTOPHER LEE COLLECTION 2 Blu-ray box set is the 1959 Italian horror spoof TEMPI DURI PER I VAMPIRI, known in English-speaking countries as UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE. I wrote a blog post on this movie a few years ago (dandayjr35.blogspot.com/2017/04/uncle-was-vam   read more