The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on August 2, 2023

LADY FOR A NIGHT is a 1942 Republic production starring two of my favorites, Joan Blondell and John Wayne. With the film being set in post-Civil War Memphis, I assumed it was going to be a rollicking period adventure--but it actually is more of a Southern Gothic with a few...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 29, 2023

The best way I can sum up Christopher Nolan's OPPENHEIMER is to call it a thinking person's historical epic. It's a three-hour film filled with all sorts of technical wizardry, but it's really more of an intimate drama than a big-budget spectacle. Despite what the trailers and advertising make you   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 24, 2023

Another Poverty Row zombie flick? Yes, it's Monogram's 1943 REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES, which has a lot of similarities with the company's earlier KING OF THE ZOMBIES. REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES starts right out with the "good stuff". On a stormy, windswept night, a mysterious fellow holding a lantern (Jam   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 22, 2023

The latest volume in Frank Dello Stritto's series of books combining classic horror film characters with historical fiction is PATRON SAINTS OF THE LIVING DEAD, from Cult Movie Press. Like the other three books in the series (A WEREWOLF REMEMBERS, CARL DENHAM'S GIANT MONSTERS, and THE PASSION OF TH   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 16, 2023

Another low-budget zombie tale. This time it's the 1941 Monogram production KING OF THE ZOMBIES. Three Americans (John Archer, Dick Purcell, and Mantan Moreland) are flying in a storm somewhere between Cuba and Puerto Rico. The trio crash land on an island, and find it to be inhabited by a...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 15, 2023

I'm currently reading Frank Dello Stritto's new book PATRON SAINTS OF THE LIVING DEAD. It's the latest volume in what I call the "Strittoverse", where the author takes various classic movies, TV episodes, and characters and weaves fantastic tales of his own. In PATRON SAINTS, Frank takes on the num   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 9, 2023

Charlton Heston considered WILL PENNY to be his favorite film role. This unique 1967 Western gets a nice Blu-ray treatment courtesy of Kino Lorber. Heston's Will Penny isn't a larger-than-life legend of the Old West. He's an ordinary man, a true working cowboy, and he's spent his entire life on...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 8, 2023

Esteemed classic Hollywood historian Gregory William Mank brings back his private eye Porter Down in the new novel PLATINUM WIDOW: Who Killed Jean Harlow's Husband?, published by Bear Manor Media. PLATINUM WIDOW is a follow-up to last year's FRANKENSTEIN'S WITCH, the book that introduced Porter Dow   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 6, 2023

After I first saw INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, I wondered if the movie needed to be made in the first place. When INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY was first announced, I wondered the same thing....but a company like Disney isn't going to buy...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on July 2, 2023

MINNESOTA CLAY is the second Euro Western directed by Sergio Corbucci. First released in Italy in late 1964, it stars Cameron Mitchell in the title role (by this time Mitchell had plenty of experience working on productions made in Italy and Spain). The story is set in 1883, and Minnesota...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 29, 2023

When THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES debuted on the ABC TV network in March, 1992, it had a huge amount of hype attached to it. One must remember that the early 1990s were the "In-between years" for Lucasfilm--the early Star Wars and Indy theatrical films had come and gone, and...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 26, 2023

THE LAST CHANCE is a 1968 Italian spy film, originally titled SACCO INTERNAZIONALE. It happens to be the very last film that Eurospy queen Daniela Bianchi starred in--and I doubt after this movie she missed the acting business very much. The MacGuffin in this espionage tale is an Albanian freighter   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 25, 2023

Last Friday night I attended a White Sox-Red Sox game in Chicago. The White Sox lost (what did you expect?), but I got home in time to view an episode of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR on MeTV. What made this particular episode special is that it guest starred Christopher Lee,...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 20, 2023

WOMEN IN WAR is a 1940 picture made by Republic, concerning the trials and tribulations of a group of Englishwomen who become nurses at the beginning of Britain's entry into WWII. The movie features several actors familiar to classic horror films fans, including Peter Cushing. Wendy Barrie plays Pa   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 19, 2023

PUSSYCAT, PUSSYCAT, I LOVE YOU (1970) is something of a follow-up to the popular 60s comedy WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT. It attempts to be sexy and funny, but it's just plain weird. The main reason I watched it was due to the fact that Veronica Carlson makes an appearance in it....   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 13, 2023

With the new Indiana Jones movie coming out at the end of this month, I've decided to write a few Indy-centric posts this June. Today I'll be looking at what is probably the most controversial Indy film--a movie that still gets fans going on the internet 15 years after its...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 12, 2023

This is a really obscure film, made in 1933 by Majestic Pictures. It's a mystery story with a theatrical setting, and it has one of the strangest solutions to a murder one will ever see. Wylie Thornton (Paul Cavanagh) is a popular leading man on the stage, and a notorious...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 11, 2023

My last entry in this blog concerned a low-budget 1932 mystery-comedy called THE THIRTEENTH GUEST. Now I'll be discussing A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT (1933), which is something of a follow-up to THE THIRTEENTH GUEST. Both movies have the same director (Albert Ray), the same screenwriter (Francis Hyland),   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on June 5, 2023

THE THIRTEENTH GUEST, a 1932 mystery story from Monogram, has long been a public domain fixture on the internet and home video. It's been available in so many ways and forms that I'm sort of embarrassed to say that it wasn't until recently that I actually saw it for the...   read more

The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog Posted by Dan Day, Jr. on May 29, 2023

BOTTOMS UP is a 1934 comedy-musical produced by Fox, starring Spencer Tracy (before he went over to MGM and became a major star). Tracy plays con man Smoothie King, who arrives in Hollywood with all sorts of big plans. He gets together with his pals Limey (Herbert Mundin) and Spud...   read more