Showing posts with label Netflix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Netflix. Show all posts

Monday, April 20, 2009

I Married a Monster From Outer Space

I Married a Monster From Outer Space
1958

Starring:
Tom Tryon as Bill Farrell
Gloria Talbot as Marge Farrell
Peter Baldwin as Officer Frank Swanson
Ken Lynch as Dr. Wayne

length: 78 minutes

After celebrating his last few hours of 'freedom' in the bar (he's getting married the next day), Bill Farrell takes leave of his buddies and heads home. As he drives along the dark country road, he nearly hits a body sprawled across his path. Jumping out to investigate, Bill sees a scary face (if you can call it a face) and a monster-like hand reaches slowly out towards him...
Marge, Bill's fiance, is nervously pacing the room in her wedding dress. Bill is late--quite late. Thankfully, Marge does not end up jilted, and they are married.
But Bill is not quite the same as he was before. He stands out on the balcony on their wedding night, wondering what the thunder is. Suddenly, lightning illuminates his face and (thank goodness Marge did not see this!) beneath it is that of an alien! (cue spooky music)

What happens next? Will Marge find out the truth about Bill?? Do aliens take over the Earth???
I guess you will find out when it plays again.
I found this movie quite interesting. The aliens were not as poorly-done as may be expected in a '50s sci-fi thriller, and part of it was rather....icky, shall we say? The acting was decent, and there were no nasty parts like you find in modern sci-fi movies.
According to my research, it's basically a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which I have not seen but is rather well-known.

TCM does not have this movie on DVD or VHS, but they are playing it on April 25th at 4:00 CST! If you have a chance, go ahead and watch it.It is available on:
Ebay
Amazon
Netflix
Happy movie watching!
~Kiwi~

Sunday, March 22, 2009

The More the Merrier

The More the Merrier
1943

Starring:
Jean Arthur as Constance 'Connie' Milligan
Joel McCrea as Joe Carter
Charles Coburn as Benjamin Dingle
Richard Gaines as Charles J. Pendergast

length: 101 minutes
The movie opens in WWII Washington D.C., when lodging is hard to get. Mr. Benjamin Dingle is searching for a room which, after much finagling, he is able to get from Constance Milligan. He rents half her apartment from her, and she sets up a very strict schedule. Which he immediately wreaks havoc on, to the point of head-on collisions in the hallway!
A day or two later, Mr. Dingle rents half of his half to a young man....without telling Miss Milligan!

The rest of this movie was mishap after misunderstanding after comedic confrontation! We found it hilarious, and very like a P.G. Wodehouse story.
I strongly suggest you check it out!
This movie was re-done in 1966 as Walk, Don't Run starring Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, and Jim Hutton, but I haven't seen that one yet.

The More The Merrier can be bought on DVD from TCM for $24.99, and you can watch it on their cable channel on April 19th....if you'll be up at 4:00 AM.
It's being sold on Ebay in VHS, DVD, and LaserDisc forms from $6.99 (on LD) to $24.99 on VHS.
Amazon has it, too. New starting at $17.97, used starting at $18.00.

You can rent it at Netflix, as well.

So go find it!
~Kiwi~

Monday, December 22, 2008

The Shop Around the Corner

The Shop Around the Corner
1940


Starring:
James Stewart as Alfred Kralik
Margaret Sullavan as Klara Novak
Frank Morgan as Hugo Matsuchek
Lesser roles:
Joseph Schildkraut as Ferencz Vadas
Sara Haden as Flora Kaczek
Felix Bressart as Pirovitch
William Tracy as Pepi Katona
Inez Courtney as Ilona Novotny

length: about 100 minutes

Alfred Kralik is the head clerk at Matuschek and Company in Budapest, Hungary. While the employees are waiting for Mr. Matsuchek to arrive at the shop and unlock it, Alfred reveals to Pirovitch, a coworker, that he is corresponding by mail with a young lady whom he has never met and only knows as 'Dear Friend'.
The first thing Mr. Matsuchek does when he opens the shop that day is to show Alfred his latest purchase for the store: a cigarette box that plays "Otche Tchorniye" (Russian, perhaps? Translated, it means "Dark Eyes") when you open it. Mr. Matsuchek loves this little invention, but when he asks Alfred's opinion he's rather annoyed. Alfred thinks it's ugly and cheep and there's no way they'll be able to sell them all.
Several days pass, and they sell no cigarette boxes, when in walks Klara Novak, looking for a job as a clerk. The head clerk, Alfred, tells her there is no opening, but she won't take 'no' for an answer. When a customer walks in, Klara takes over and sells one of those difficult cigarette boxes in five minutes flat. Mr. Matsuchek sees that and hires her on the spot, to Alfred's dismay.
These things are hard to end: I'd much rather just tell you all about everything that happens in the movie! But that would spoil it, so I'm stopping here before I give it all away.
I enjoyed The Shop Around The Corner immensely. It's a slightly comedic, slightly romantic movie, and I always like Jimmy Stewart.

FOR SALE:
TCM has it available HERE and they are also playing it on January 28, at 2:00 pm.
HERE is the EBAY page with many DVDs and VHS recordings from $2.99 to $24.99.
AMAZON is selling it HERE starting as low as $13.07.

And NETFLIX also has The Shop Around the Corner HERE.

Enjoy the movie!
~Kiwifruit

Saturday, December 6, 2008

The Prisoner of Zenda

Prisoner of Zenda
1937


Starring:
Ronald Colman as Major Rudolf Rassendyll and King Rudolf V
Madeleine Carroll as Princess Flavia
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Rupert of Hentzau
Raymond Massey as Duke Michael

Lesser roles:
C. Aubrey Smith as Colonel Zapt
David Niven as Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim
Mary Astor as Antoinette de Mauban


Length: about 100 minutes


Major Rudolf Rassendyll is vacationing in 'Ruritania' (a fictional country in Europe), when he meets the soon-to-be king, Rudolf the Fifth while fishing. They find that they are distantly related, which explains their strikingly similar appearances.
Rudolf the Fifth invites Major Rudolf back to his hunting lodge, where they drink, drink, and are merry for some time on into the night. Rudolf the Fifth [this is hard, writing about two people with the same name!] tells the Major about how he rather dreads the coronation on the following day. He's sure his (evil) stepbrother, Michael, is going to do his best to keep Rudolf from being crowned King of Ruritania. They drink and drink, until Rudolf (the Major), Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim and Colonel Zapt, the King's guards, finally fall asleep. Rudolf the Fifth takes one last drink from a new bottle, then drops to the floor.
The next morning--Coronation Day--Major Rudolf is rudely awakened by a pitcher of water in the face. Captain von Tarlenheim and Colonel Zapt have found the king lying on the floor and are sure Michael is behind all this....which, of course, he is.
So what do they do? The man who is to be crowned that day has been drugged, who knows when he'll wake up. If Rudolf the Fifth doesn't arrive, Duke Michael will find a way to crown himself king.
Hmmm. I wonder....


I enjoyed this movie. It has good acting and the plot is easy to follow, most of the time, except when the Rudolfs get mixed up. No mushy love scenes. A lot of action and sword fighting, a few deaths (nothing gruesome).


TCM: This movie is for sale on TCM.com, but you have to buy it either with the 1952 version here, $16.99, or with The Three Musketeers (1948), Captain Horatio Hornblower, The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), and Madame Bovary (1949) right HERE, for $50.99.

Netflix: available HERE.

Ebay: you can buy the double-sided DVD with both the 1937 and the 1952 versions on it for between $10.99 and $17.75. There are also the same two movies on laserdisc for $21.21 to $40.00.

Amazon: Once again, there are the two versions being sold together for from $8.78 to $39.99, or the same five-DVD set offered by TCM.

Aparently you can't get one movie without the other. I have not seen the 1952 movie, and so can not recommend it to you at all.

Happy movie watching!
~Kiwifruit

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Boy of the Streets

Boy of the Streets
1938


Starring:
Jackie Cooper as Chuck Brennan
Maureen O'Connor as Norah
Kathleen Burke as Julie Stone
Bill Elliot as Dr. Allan


Lesser Roles:
Marjorie Main (Mrs. Mary Brennan)
Guy Usher (Fog Horn Brennan, aka 'Foggy')
Robert Emmett O'Connor (Police Officer Rourke)




Boy of the Streets takes place in the slums in New York (?) around 1938, when it was made.
Norah's mother is ill, and is sent away by the very nice Dr. Allan to recover in the country. Teenage Nora is afraid the child services will find her living alone and send her away from the place she has lived her whole life. Chuck (methinks he likes her ;-) tries to help her find a job, singing at a local cafe. She secures the job, but after the first song, the child protection services discover that she lied about her age and decide to send in an Investigator in the morning to talk to her parents and possibly take her away. But alas, Norah's father died years ago, and her mother's in the country!
In the mean time, Chuck finds that his father is not employed, like he said he was, and so falls in with bad company.
And now I'll leave it as a cliff hanger, as I always do. =D

I enjoyed this movie, except I thought the ending was rather...interesting. You had rising action, a great climax, and then I thought it fell rather flat at the end. But don't take my word for it. Go out and watch it! I think y'all'll like it.

This movie is available on tcm.com for $9.99 (link) or Ebay (link) for between $6.38 and $7.14. Netflix also has this movie.



Happy movie watching, peoples!

~Kiwifruit

Tomorrow We Live

Tomorrow We Live
1942

Starring:
Ricardo Cortez as The Ghost and Alexander Caesar Martin
Jean Parker as Julie Bronson

Lesser Roles:
Emmet Lynn (William 'Pop' Bronson)
William Marshall (Lt. Bob Lord)
Rose Anne Stevens (Melba)


At the beginning of this suspenseful romance, Julie Bronson, a college graduate, and her father, William Bronson, are arguing over the presence of 'The Ghost', a gangster who is renting some of Mr. Bronson's storage sheds for the purpose of storing stolen tires. Julie believes that The Ghost is no good and will only bring trouble.
Bent on the purpose of telling The Ghost what she thinks of him, Julie heads over to The Dunes, a dinner/dance club run by The Ghost. But she is warned beforehand by the hired help, who says that The Ghost is woman-crazy and it's a pretty stupid idea to go over there, as Julie is a beautiful girl.
Trouble ensues when Julie refuses to be kissed by him.
Later in the movie, Julie's old boyfriend, Bob, whom she hasn't seen in quite a while, re-appears in her life. Much happens between her, Bob, and The Ghost, but I won't tell you all of it. What would be the fun in that?

This movie is fairly well-done. I think it was a low-budget film (of course, it did come out during World War 2), as the film quality is really poor, but if you can ignore very dark outdoor scenes and blindingly bright faces when they're facing the sun, it's good. I watched it on good ol' TCM this morning. TCM is planning to play it again on December 5th at 8:15 am/7:15 central (? They didn't specify on the website whether the time listed was eastern, as it usually is, or central.)

You can buy it on DVD on tcm.com using this link for $8.99, but I'd like to warn you about the cover: it is rather indecent and I'm not sure why they chose that pic for it. There isn't anything like it in the movie! Or it's available in DVD form on Ebay for anything from $1.55 to $7.23.
This can be found on Netflix, also, if you use that service.

Happy movie watching!
~Kiwifruit