Foster on Film

Lyricist Lorenz Hart (Mickey Rooney) was deeply, tragically upset about being short, which is a little odd since he was actually an alcoholic homosexual, but since no one was either of those things in 1940s cinema, it’s being short that bothered him. He teams up with the composer Richard Rodgers (Tom Drake), who is too

Dr. Henryk Savaard (Boris Karloff) is one of the greatest scientists in the world. He has created a technique to restore a dead body to life which will progress the art of surgery by a thousand year (or maybe a few decades). With the aid of his protégé Lang (Byron Foulger), he finishes the first

Thirteen years ago a dinner party is interrupted when the master of the house, John Morgan, dies. Only 12 of the expected 13 guests had arrived and his Last Will and Testament leaves the bulk of the estate to the missing 13th guest. Now Marie Morgan (Ginger Rogers), on her 21st birthday, has been sent

Sir Lionel Barton (Lawrence Grant), who is the definition of an Englishman, has discovered the tomb of Genghis Khan. This news worries the always-worried but also stiff upper-lipped Nayland Smith (Lewis Stone) of the British secret service. He knows that Dr. Fu Manchu (Boris Karloff) wants the mask and sword of Genghis Khan to make

Dolly Levi (Barbra Steisand), an elderly widow who for some reason looks twenty-five and stunning, decides to give up her matchmaking career and find herself a match. Her target is wealthy Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau). On her path to getting him, she fixes up the relationships of his niece Ermengarde (Joyce Ames), who she sends

Peter Foley (Rex Lease) is deeply in dept to G.W. Parker (Sam Hardy), and needs his inheritance to pay him off. His problem is that he needs a wife to get it, and his intended bride Alice Blake (Vera Reynolds) has been delayed. So Parker supplies him with a fake wife for the night, Julia

Brian Smith (Colin Firth), an angry writer, murders Cesar Valentine (Peter O’Toole), an egotistical actor, and then is killed by a falling light. Both end up in a hotel on a small island, filled with dead celebrities. As people become less famous on Earth, they are moved to smaller and smaller rooms, until they are

[This is not my picks for the best of the year—I’ll do the FOSCARs later—but just how I’d vote based on the options presented. And I will be skipping the animated shorts as I have not seen enough of them]   ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE CILLIAN MURPHY (Oppenheimer) [I’d have given it to Barry

Small-town cowboy-wannabe Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) picks up pixie-girl Mae (Jenny Wright) sometime late in the evening (it’s hard to say when as time doesn’t work in this film). That’s a problem as she’s a vampire (the “V” word is never used) who converts him. He’s now stuck with her vampire family: angry man in

I’ve always thought of the The Prisoner of Zenda as a “smart” Swashbuckler, and it is, in dialog, character, and structure, if not in story.  The action is first rate, but secondary to the film, for in this case, it is all about words—superbly crafted words—and the voices that pronounce them.  While fun to watch, the true joy

Things are just not right at the cemetery. Jody and Mike attend the funeral of their friend, only for Jody’s compulsively spying little brother, Mike, to spot the undertaker lifting the 500 lb coffin with ease. Soon, hooded dwarves are coming after Mike and a living amputated finger persuades Jody that there is evil that

Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward), in full ‘60s TV-era form must face off against Catwoman (Julie Newmar), The Joker, The Riddler, and The Penguin and their plot which involves a duplication ray. The daring duo follows them, even into space, to stop their dastardly scheme, but fails to take into account Catwoman’s plan