The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 14, 2020

Kino has recently released a "Carole Lombard Collection I" Blu-ray box set, featuring three of the actress' early films, when she was under contract to Paramount. Two of the movies included, MAN OF THE WORLD and NO MAN OF HER OWN, had already been available on DVD, but the one...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 10, 2020

The title for this one doesn't lie. There is a white woman, in the luxurious form of Carole Lombard. WHITE WOMAN is a 1933 potboiler produced by Paramount and set in Malaya, although the shooting locations are strictly indoor studio jungles. In Larry Swindell's excellent biography of Lombard, SCREW   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 4, 2020

RINGO FROM NEBRASKA (also known as SAVAGE GRINGO, NEBRASKA JIM, RINGO DEL NEBRASKA, and a few other titles) is a 1966 Italian-Spanish Western. The movie's direction is credited to Antonio Roman, but according to Troy Howarth's book THE HAUNTED WORLD OF MARIO BAVA, Roman was removed from the producti   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 2, 2020

Director Jacques Tourneur is best known for making film noirish black & white thrillers such as CAT PEOPLE and NIGHT OF THE DEMON, but he also worked on a number of colorful Westerns. Tourneur directed genre star Joel McCrea multiple times, and one of their collaborations was WICHITA, a 1955...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 26, 2020

In my post on the new Shout Factory Blu-ray of THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, I mentioned that the disc includes a version of the film prepared by Universal for American network television. This TV version not only has added scenes (to lengthen the film to fit into a two-hour...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 25, 2020

The latest Hammer film to be released by Shout Factory on Region A Blu-ray is THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE. This 1963 color Gothic is one of Hammer's best productions. THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE was not directed by Terence Fisher, and it does not star either Peter Cushing or...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 19, 2020

There have been many filmed adaptations of the historical events concerning the notorious murderers Burke & Hare, but the best by far is the 1959 British film THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS. The movie was produced by Robert Baker and Monty Berman (who also did the cinematography), and co-written and...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 18, 2020

Al Adamson (1929-1995) was the son of a B movie cowboy who appeared on screen under the name of Denver Dixon. The young Adamson tried a number of ways to break into the movie business, but his career really got going when he teamed up with producer Sam Sherman. Under...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 12, 2020

THE LAST VALLEY is a somewhat obscure historical drama released in 1971. The movie was produced, written, and directed by James Clavell. It has been recently released on home video by Kino Studio Classics. The story is set during the Thirty Years' War, a time of religious persecution and cruelty....   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 6, 2020

How does one even attempt to define the majestic genius of Ennio Morricone?? Even declaring him the greatest and most prolific film composer of all time barely scratches the surface. Morricone's impact on popular culture--heck, modern society--is immeasurable. Morricone didn't just produce scores   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 4, 2020

Pandemics, social unrest, a screwed-up baseball season....none of that is going to stop me from buying cheap DVDs or Blu-rays whenever I can. My latest discount purchase is THE PLAINSMAN, a 1936 Western saga from the legendary Cecil B. DeMille. THE PLAINSMAN deals with three legends of the Old West   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 3, 2020

Regular readers of this blog know very well that Peter Cushing is my favorite actor of all time. Last night I finally viewed one of his most notable TV guest-starring roles--an appearance on an episode of the science-fiction series SPACE: 1999. The episode was titled "Missing Link", and it was...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 29, 2020

On this day 100 years ago, Ray Harryhausen was born. Such an occasion deserves a tribute...but being the ordinary guy that I am, how can I properly articulate his greatness and legacy?? Ray Harryahusen was more than just an exemplary special effects artist. He was a creator, a man who...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 25, 2020

June 29 of this year will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ray Harryhausen. I've spent some time thinking about putting together a tribute post for the occasion....but what sort of tribute post? A list of my favorite Harryhausen films? Or a list of my favorite Harryhausen stop-motion...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 21, 2020

EERIE TALES (also known as UNCANNY TALES, or the original German title UNHEIMLICHE GESCHICHTEN) is a 1919 silent German anthology film, comprising five tales. All five of the stories feature the same three actors playing the lead roles in each: Conrad Veidt, Reinhold Schunzel, and Anita Berber. I'v   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 20, 2020

STREET PEOPLE isn't a film detailing the problems of the homeless....it's a Italian production from 1976 dealing with the Sicilian mob and stolen drugs. What makes it notable are its two English-speaking stars--Roger Moore and Stacy Keach. A Sicilian-born mob boss, now based in San Francisco, has a   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 14, 2020

I have long maintained that the greatest film director of them all was John Ford. I've seen nearly every one of his films that are available--but it wasn't until this weekend that I was able to watch his final theatrical feature, 7 WOMEN, released by MGM in 1966. The decade...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 13, 2020

The 1966 British science fiction film THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE has been released on Region A Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. It is an Amicus production, directed by Freddie Francis with a script by Milton Subotsky. Somewhere in England, a group of meteorites, flying in a perfect "V" formation, land...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 7, 2020

I recently discovered on the Tubi streaming channel a 1956 British TV production called THE ANATOMIST. The program is based on a play by James Bridie, which deals with the infamous Dr. Knox and his connection with the legendary murderers and body snatchers Burke & Hare in early 19th Century...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 6, 2020

The book IN SEARCH OF DRACULA, by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu, was one I checked out of school libraries multiple times. The book proposed a link between the character of Dracula created by author Bram Stoker and the real-life Transylvanian historical figure Vlad Tepes. In the early 1970s...   read more