More Vintage Lugosi: One of my favorite scenes from Devil Bat (1940)

The Film: Devil Bat, a.k.a. Killer Bat, Devil Bats, etc. (Producers Releasing Corporation, 1940). Directed by Jean Yarbrough. Screenplay by John T. Neville. Starring Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O'Brien, Guy Usher, Donald Kerr. Running time: 68 minutes.

The Brief Lowdown: Hardcore Bela Lugosi fans, such as yours truly, savor this classic B-movie from the Golden Age of Bela's film career. Lugosi plays Dr. Paul Carruthers, who genetically engineers a gigantic mutant bat in his kick-ass secret laboratory (what the hell are those buzzing electrode thingies, anyhow, and what exactly do they do?). The bat goes after anybody wearing a special after-shave lotion invented by -- you guessed it -- the same Dr. Paul Carruthers responsible for the genetically-engineered giant mutant bat.  This film is one of my favorite poverty-row quickies (it's not quite as much of a masterpiece as Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 film noir Detour, which I'll also review here at some point -- but it's up there). Remember Dave O'Brien, from Reefer Madness? ("MAE! BRING ME SOME REEFERS!") He's in this sucker, as a newspaper journalist. O'Brien was one of Hollywood's great underrated B-actors. But Lugosi steals the show as the mad scientist living in an idyllic small town who gets unceremoniously screwed over by a local cosmetics firm. The people who tried to stick it to Lugosi get their comeuppance, thanks to his giant killer bat. Unfortunately, when O'Brien and his dopey photographer pal (Donald Kerr) come snooping around the town, it's the beginning of the end for Lugosi. The film is easily accessible on DVD. Here is a scene from it (below). Enjoy!!!

Memorable Moments: The Black Cat (1934)

Here is a classic scene from Edgar G. Ulmer's The Black Cat (1934). I guarantee that after you watch this scene, you'll want to watch the entire film.

"Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not."

The Film: The Black Cat (Universal Pictures, 1934). Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Screenplay by Peter Ruric (Screen Story by Edgar G. Ulmer, Peter Ruric). Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, David Manners, Jacqueline Wells. Running time: 65 minutes.

When I first saw it: Mmm... 1981. Shortly after we purchased our first VCR. 

A few words about it: This art deco horror film is dark as hell. And for a movie made in the depths of the Great Depression, it was way, way ahead of its time. This movie has the distinction of being the film that I've seen more than any other film ever made. I missed a lot of school when I was a teenager, and I spent a lot of that time with The Black Cat in the VCR, watching it over and over and over again. I memorized every scene and every line in this movie. Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Vitus Werdegast, a World War I veteran who is returning to settle an old score with evil Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff). Karloff gets top billing (by this time, Universal was simply referring to him by his last name -- KARLOFF). But make no mistake about it: This picture belongs to Lugosi. It's his finest moment. Better than Dracula. Better than White Zombie. Better than any of his other movies. Lugosi is sympathetic in this film. It's his most sympathetic role ever, in fact. He is sympathetic to the point of being heartbreaking. The poor guy has been in a prisoner of war camp for years (long after the war ended, he was still held captive there). During the war, Lugosi was ripped apart from his wife and daughter. By sharp contrast, Karloff's Poelzig, a war criminal who now owns a uber-high tech house on the ruins of notorious old Fort Marmorus. The movie opens with Lugosi on a train meeting a young couple on their honeymoon (played by Manners and Wells). After leaving the train, a bus accident leaves the couple, along with Lugosi and Lugosi's servant (a tall, spooky looking dude called "Thamal," played by character actor Harry Cording) stranded at Herr Poelzig's fancy house. The house is actually one of the stars of the film. It is cool as hell, in a funky, retro, art deco kind of way. Turns out that Poelzig is a Satanic high priest (!). There is also a dark secret involving Werdegast's wife and daughter that simply adds to the pathos of the film. Ultimately, Poelzig and Werdegast play a chess match that will decide the fate of the young married couple. If Werdegast loses, the cute young lady (played by Wells) will get sacrificed in a Satanic ritual! One other note: The film has an amazing classical music soundtrack; in fact, it probably utilizes more classical music than any other movie ever made, from Franz Lizst's Sonata in B Minor to Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) to Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture. The list goes on and on. 

Why I dug it: The Black Cat is one of the most unique films ever made. It's a pioneering film noir -- a paleo-noir of sorts. It's almost impossible to believe that such an edgy and dark film could've been made in the 1930s. But here it is. The final scene in the film -- I WILL NOT GIVE IT AWAY (no spoilers here!) -- is still shocking, even after 75-plus years. Let's just say you will not forget the ending  -- or the rest of the nightmarish film, for that matter. 

Parting Shot: I will never see another film as many times as I've seen this one. This movie got me through my teen years. I love Lugosi in this film. He reveals in The Black Cat what an astonishing actor he is. The intensity in his eyes, the facial expressions, the range of emotions... There will never be another Lugosi. My favorite line from The Black Cat is when Lugosi tells David Manners' naive young character: "Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not." 

The best road movie from the 1970s...

The Film: Two-Lane Blacktop (Universal Pictures, 1971). Directed by Monte Hellman. Screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer and Will Corry. Starring James Taylor, Warren Oates, Laurie Bird, Dennis Wilson. Running time: 102 minutes.

When I first saw it: Oh God. Years ago. 

A Few Words About It: When I first saw director Monte (Ride the Whirlwind) Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop, I wanted to become James Taylor. Not the James Taylor who sang folksy soft rock in the Seventies. No, I wanted to be the James Taylor in this movie -- billed as "The Driver" -- who was totally badass (incidentally, he's the same James Taylor as the singer, but just way, way cooler). What's the plot? Hmm. There isn't much of a plot here. Two guys race around the country in their souped-up 1955 Chevy 150 (which was also an important performer in the film). The characters don't even have names, Taylor stars as "The Driver"; the great character actor Warren Oates of Wild Bunch fame played "GTO", so named for his car; Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys played "The Mechanic"; and Laurie Bird is The Girl. Taylor and Wilson agree to race Oates to Washington, D.C. and the winner gets the pink slips to both of the cars. The movie wanders aimlessly. At various points in the movie, The Girl sleeps with The Driver, The Mechanic and GTO. I won't tell you what happens to The Girl (or any of the other characters -- you really have to see the movie!); let's just say, The Girl has commitment issues. Two-Lane is a countercultural road movie masterpiece. It has all the ingredients of a classic Seventies movie: Overlapping and meandering dialogue; characters who are anti-heroes and can be pretty damn narcissistic sometimes; wide shots that abruptly zoom in; great hot rods, including old-school muscle cars, and a terrific 1970s' soundtrack. I saw the movie years ago on television and then it was abruptly yanked out of circulation (apparently, due to copyright issues having to do with the music used in the film). Two-Lane Blacktop has, thankfully, resurfaced. The film just played on Turner Movie Classics the other day. After watching it, yours truly decided I definitely have to purchase it on DVD. Apparently, the Criterion Collection released the film on DVD at the end of 2007. It is well worth having in your collection, as it remains a great existentialist road movie. It is better, IMHO, than Easy Rider. Sadly, there was a Two-Lane Blacktop curse of sorts. Except for James Taylor, all of the other performers died too young. Laurie Bird, who went on to become Art Garfunkel's girlfriend for a time (and took the photograph of Garfunkel on the cover of his 1978 Watermark album) committed suicide in 1979 when she wasn't quite 26. Dennis Wilson drowned in Marina Del Rey, California, in 1983 (at age 39). Warren Oates had a heart attack in 1982 at age 53. Too bad none of them lived to see Two-Lane Blacktop go on to become a cult movie. 

Why I dug it: I have a thing for road movies and TV shows. Route 66, starring George Maharis and Martin Milner as two buddies crisscrossing the country in a Corvette, is one of my favorite TV shows. I'm also a huge fan of The Fugitive, where David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble wanders from town to town across America. My love of road stories started with Two-Lane Blacktop. 

Parting Shot: A fine car movie, an even better road picture, Two Lane-Backdrop deserves its cult status. It has that gritty, naturalistic feel that so many films in the late 1960s and 1970s had. Watching it on TMC the other day brought back a flood of memories. The film gives us a glimpse of America in a very different time -- in the early 1970s -- before Watergate and defeat in Vietnam. Some people might view it as a countercultural relic, and it does seem dated at times. But it remains an edgy glimpse of a bygone era. Grade: B+. 

Present Tense: The Watchmen (2009)

The Film: Watchmen (Warner Brothers, 2009). Directed by Zack Snyder. Screenplay by David Hayter and Alex Tse (based on the limited run graphic novels by Alan Moore, illustraed by Dave Gibbons). Starring Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earl Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson. Running time: 162 minutes. 

The Quick and Dirty: A confused movie that bombards you with images, Watchmen is a sprawling buffet with just about every dish imaginable. It's a superhero movie. It's a love story. It's a feast for the eyes. It's a nihilistic urban drama. It takes recent American history and morphs it into an alternative universe where presidential term limits have been repealed, Richard Nixon is elected four or five times as president, the United States and the USSR are on the verge of annihilating one another, and Ronald Reagan is contemplating a run for the presidency in 1988. This alternate historical universe just adds to the confusion. It's set in New York City in 1985, where -- for some reason -- it is raining nearly all of the time. The superheroes -- all caricatures -- are more like psychological case studies than movie inhabitants. The film uses the jarring CGI pioneered by Sin City (and used again in director Zack Synder's overwrought Spartan epic 300). The superheroes are flat. Even the edgiest one, Jackie Earle Haley's bloodthirsty Rorschach, seems like the sort of role that Clint Eastwood might've been asked to play if he were 30 years younger. Rorschach talks in a guttural Eastwood whisper, but his vigilantism lacks the kick-assiness of Dirty Harry's urban outings. Sadly, he's the most compelling of the lot. The other superheroes are cardboard cutouts. And the confusing plot merely undermines the finished product. Still, after all that dissing, it is impossible to deny that there are some brilliant visuals and some masterfully handled scenes in Watchmen. 

Why I Didn't Dig It: Scanning the Blogosphere, the consensus among hardcore Watchmen fans is that the movie is not as good as the original 12-issue comic book series from 1986-87. There seems to be some agreement that it's a good idea to read those first. But it's hard to see how they could save this visually stunning but ultimately shallow movie. 

Parting Shot: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and Iron Man (2008) have raised the bar incredibly high for superhero movies. Watchmen can't possibly compete with that outstanding trio. But it sure beats the hell out of Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Catwoman, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and the list goes on and on and on... Grade: C+. 

Five Film Noirs (I know: the proper plural is films noirs, but screw it) that you probably haven't seen, but really should watch...

I love film noirs (or films noirs for you hardcore francophones). I saw my first noir, Double Indemnity (1944), when I was fifteen (I'll be blogging about it soon, I assure you) and I've been hooked ever since. I've seen most of the big enchiladas (Double Indemnity, The Asphalt Jungle, The Big Heat, etc. etc.). And I've also seen a lot of obscure noirs. What follows is my list of Five Noirs you probably haven't seen, but should watch at some point.

1. Shack Out on 101 (1955): Put Lee Marvin in a film and no matter how lousy the film is, he always has a way of partially redeeming it. This is a terrific B-movie set in seaside diner. The movie is brimming with Red Scare paranoia. Marvin plays a goon who cooks in the diner and hatches a scheme with Dr. Sam Bastion (Frank Lovejoy) to deliver secrets to the Reds. Bastion might be a good guy or he might be a bad guy (you'll find out). Terry Moore foils the plot. Throw in Keenan Wynn as the owner of the diner and you've got a forgotten noir full of unintentional laughs, truly tense moments and good old Lee Marvin.

2. The Hitch-Hiker (1953): Actress Ida Lupino directed this tight Fifties noir. This one also stars Frank Lovejoy. Along for the ride is another noir veteran, Edmond (White Heat, The Killers) O'Brien. They play buddies who make the mistake of picking up a psychotic hitch-hiker. I know what you're thinking: Not another psycho hitch-hiker movie... But this is the granddaddy of 'em. This one started it all. William Talman (right, who played Hamilton Burger on Perry Mason) plays one of the coolest psychopaths in any Old School Noir: a maniacal gunman with a dead eye who menaces Lovejoy and O'Brien. There's a great night scene in the desert, near a campfire, where you can't tell if Talman's character is asleep or awake (because of his dead eye). Truly chilling stuff. Lupino was not only an underrated actress. She was a gifted director, too.

3. Quicksand (1950): Mickey Rooney had recently stopped playing 17-year-olds when he took the role of Dan Brady, a two-bit grease monkey who wants to impress looker Jeanne Cagney by taking her out for a night on the town. Problem is, Brady's broke, so he lifts a $20 out of the cash register, thinking, "What's the worst that can happen?" Mayhem ensues. How, you wonder, can a stolen twenty dollar bill snowball into a noir full of twists and turns where even Peter Lorre makes a small appearance? To find out, you have to watch Quicksand. Actor/director Irving (Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid) Pichel directs this taut B-thriller.

4. Red Rock West (1992): Looking for a truly great modern noir? Look no further than Red Rock West. Nicolas Cage (right), back before he won the Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and then made the leap into all these lame action movies, stars as Michael Williams, a fundamentally honest guy who is down on his luck and looking for work. The late, great J.T. Walsh plays a wealthy married man who mistakes Cage for the hitman he planned to hire to kill his wife (Lara Flynn Boyle). Cage takes the big bucks from Walsh and then goes to warn femme fatale Boyle that hubby wants to bump her off. Add to the mix the real hitman (played in the usual over-the-top fashion by Dennis Hopper) and the pure noir mayhem ensues. Director John Dahl is the neo-noir director who also gave us The Last Seduction (1994) and Rounders (1998). He also co-wrote the script with his brother Rick. The end result is a tight, well-made Western noir with plenty of atmosphere, fine performances, and a really cool ending (I won't give it away).

5. He Walked By Night (1948): Richard Basehart stars in this noirish police procedural as Roy Morgan, a genius psycho who shoots and kills a patrolman in the middle of a burglary attempt. Morgan is pursued by two police detectives, but he stays one step ahead of the police by monitoring their movements on a radio that picks up police frequencies. Roy actually has a past with the Police Department (I won't give it away, but you find out his connection -- and the experience he gained from it helps him outwit the police at every turn). Scott Brady and James Caldwell are the police detectives who relentlessly pursue every tiny lead, every dead end and twist and turn, in the search for Morgan. The real treat in this film is a pre-Dragnet Jack Webb, who actually has a pretty decent role as a police forensics specialist. The pseudo-documentary Los Angeles street scenes remind me of the same year's Naked City, set in New York City. Alfred Werker, who built a whole career around directing now-mostly forgotten B-movies, handles this one superbly. It will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Movie Mavens: Leslie Halliwell

Who: Leslie Robert James Halliwell (1929-1989).

What: British film critic, author of numerous books, including The Filmgoer's Companion (originally published in 1965, but revised countless times), Halliwell's Film Guide (originally published in 1977, also revised too many times to count), Double Take and Fade Away: Halliwell on Comedians (1987), the list goes on. 

His influence on me: Halliwell's film writings were among the first film criticisms I've ever read. Halliwell taught me a lot about watching films. When I was about 11, I read him for the first time (my then-stepfather was a huge fan). Turns out, Halliwell was extremely picky. He hated a lot more movies than he loved. He definitely was NOT a movie slut. He panned a lot of movies, and when he went after a film, he could be very caustic. Sometimes, I thought he was hard on movies. For instance, he hated Abbott and Costello movies and at the time, I worshipped Abbott and Costello (I still love Bud and Lou, for the record -- Halliwell failed to convince me on that one). Halliwell was especially fond of movies made in the 1930s and 1940s. The farther you get beyond the '40s, the more likely he is to hate the movie. By the time you get to the 1970s, he loathes most of the cinema. He wrote a column on film for The Daily Mirror. He rated films up to four stars -- a four-star film being a masterpiece -- and I think the very most recent film ever made to get a four-star rating from Halliwell was Bonnie and Clyde (1967). When he loved a film, which was rare, he heaped praise on it. For instance, he wrote of The Grapes of Wrath (1940): "A superb film which could scarcely be improved upon. Though the ending is softened from the book, there was too much here for filmgoers to chew on. Acting, photography, direction combine to make this unforgettable experience, a poem of a film." Halliwell was a gifted writer with a keen eye for great cinema. I didn't always agree with him, especially his refusal to accept more modern motion pictures. But he challenged me to defend why I liked certain movies and disliked others. He taught me about the language of film. And he deepened my appreciation, in general, of the art. 

Other Odds & Ends: According to the Website on Leslie Halliwell, LeslieHalliwell.com, Michael M. Binder is at work on a biography of Halliwell. If he ever publishes it, I'll be the first to read it. Here was Halliwell's Top 10 (his 10 favorite films of all time):

1. Citizen Kane
   
2. Trouble in Paradise
   
3. The Bride of Frankenstein
   
4. Le Million
   
5. A Matter of Life and Death
   
6. Lost Horizon (1937)
   
7. Sons of the Desert
   
8. The Philadelphia Story
   
9. The Maltese Falcon
   
10. The Lady Vanishes

Hunt's verdict: One of the greatest film critics of all time. A gentleman who simply loved movies and helped countless readers -- including me -- appreciate them as art. 

This muthah is the Citizen Kane of two-headed monster movies...

The Film: The Manster (Lopert Pictures Corporation, 1959? 1962? The date varies. Internet Movie Database lists it as 1959; Rotten Tomatoes also has a '59 release date; Wikipedia insists it was '62; AllMovie claims it was 1961. My DVD copy says '59; so far, '59 seems to be winning.) Directed by George P. Breakston and Kenneth G. Crane. Screenplay by William J. Sheldon, George P. Breakston. Starring Peter Dyneley, Jane Hylton, Tetsu Nakamura, Terri Zimmern. Running time: 72 minutes.

When I first saw it: Late 1970s, probably 1978 or 1979. 

A few words about it: The Manster kicks some major-league, jiggling booty. And you can take that to the bank, mister. An American foreign news correspondent in Tokyo named Larry Stanford (Peter Dyneley) interviews a reclusive Japanese scientist, Dr. Robert Suzuki (Tetsu Nakamura). Suzuki is a total nut. He has a big Mad Doctor Lab and he keeps his mutant wife in a cage (she's totally cool -- sort of like a female Japanese Hunchback of Notre Dame, and she drools and grunts... in short, this lady rules). The reclusive scientist injects correspondent with strange potion (after drugging his drink and knocking him out). Reclusive scientist instructs sultry babe (Terri Zimmern) to wine and dine Stanford. Sultry babe monitors correspondent as he becomes grouchier and grouchier. Soon, an eye appears on Stanford's shoulder, and eventually he sprouts a cocoanut-like head from his shoulder. Stanford also grows facial hair and looks like a two headed werewolf. He goes on a murderous rampage all over Tokyo. At a certain point, Larry splits into two people. Cocoanut Head gets his own body. Larry and Cocoanut Head battle it out. Cocoanut Head grabs the sultry babe and jumps in a nearby, conveniently located volcano. Larry knocks off Suzuki (unfortunately, he does this after Suzuki knocks off his caged mutant wife, the coolest character in the whole damn film). Larry's estranged wife arrives to pick up her hubby. In other words, it's a tired old plot that has been rehashed in movies a thousand times (not!). 

Why I dug it: I was about 10 or 11 when I saw The Manster. It was the movie of the week on Saturday night Creature Features. This movie had everything: Monsters, mutants, volcanoes, a mad scientist, a babe, a suave reporter. I watched it with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins (The Manster was my reward for enduring The Love Boat and Fantasy Island). The film came on TV late, around 11 or 11:30 p.m. By the time it was over, I was the only one awake! Everybody else had gone to bed. I was on the edge of the couch. I loved this movie! I spent the next twenty years searching for this sucker on VHS. Now, I own not one, not two, but three DVD copies of it!

Parting Shot: While it's the Citizen Kane of two-headed monster movies, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll like it. It's not a movie for everybody. It's a joint Japanese-American production, and you can tell it was filmed for about a thousand bucks and a bucket of chicken. The film is still loads of fun to watch and you really should see it, if you get a chance. It was the beginning of my love of low-budget schlock films. It's actually pretty well acted and the screenplay isn't half bad. I still watch it whenever I want to take a wonderful trip down Memory Lane... Grade: B. 

A film I savored with my father...

The Film: The Sting (Universal, 1973). Directed by George Roy Hill. Screenplay by David S. Ward. Starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan. Running time: 129 minutes. 

When I first saw it: First in 1973 (at the ripe old age of 5), then about 10 years later for the second time. 

A few words about it: The Sting takes more twists and turns than Lombard Street in San Francisco. It is not a movie for kids. Not that there's anything gruesome or graphic about it. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre it ain't. But it's a movie about con men and their art. And these con men are damn good at what they do. It's also a movie about good, old-fashioned, All-American payback. Revenge. It's about Johnny Hooker's (Robert Redford) effort to avenge the death of his beloved friend, Luther (played by James Earl Jones's father, Robert Earl Jones -- the two men look different but sound identical). Luther is murdered by gangsters working for underworld kingpin Doyle Lonnegan (brilliantly played by Robert Shaw, a tremendously gifted actor who died much too young of a heart attack in Ireland in 1978 at age 51). Hooker enlists in the aid of his fellow con man Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), a burned-out, old-school scam artist who believes in going big when he schemes. Hooker and Gondorff plan a massive and intricate plot to con Lonnegan. In order for it to work, everything has to come together just so.... The real tension in the film comes in when you wonder whether this Mount Everest of con jobs is actually going to work. I won't give away any spoilers. Like the con job it depicts, the film is seamless. It's beautifully made, with a screenplay by David S. Ward that speaks the language of the 1930s with authenticity. Director George Roy Hill (who teamed Redford and Newman together for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid four years earlier) is in top form. Too bad Hill would never direct another masterpiece to equal The Sting or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (although fans of Hill's 1977 hockey comedy-drama Slap Shot --and there are plenty of 'em here in Canada -- might beg to differ). Backing the powerful trio of Redford, Newman and Shaw are great character actors Charles Durning, Eileen Brennan and Ray Walston and Harold Gould, who all seem like they've been plucked out of a fast-talking, Depression-era movie. 

Why I dug it: The Sting is one of the first films I actually recall seeing in the movie theater. I didn't understand it at age 5. It was far too intricate. A decade later, I saw it with my father. We watched it on VHS. He would stop it every few minutes and explain the con job to me and make sure I was following it. It was a wonderful bonding experience between the two of us. I'll never forget it. 

Parting Shot: The Sting still packs a punch. It's not a perfect film. The Scott Joplin music seems curiously out of place in it. Ragtime was out of fashion in the 1930s. The story is complicated -- not the sort of film you can start and stop, start and stop. It isn't always a delightful romp. But it's a film with heart and soul. And nothing can quite beat having your father dissect it for you. Grade: A- (but an "A" for sentimentality). 

The Movie that Started it All...

The Film: King Kong (RKO, 1933). Directed by Merian C. Cooper, Ernest Schoedsack. Screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman, Ruth Rose (based on the story by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace). Starring Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot. Running time: 105 minutes. 

When I first saw it: Circa 1972. I was about four. 

A Few Words About It: There isn't much I can add about this film that hasn't already been written. Entire books have been published on King Kong and its influence. It's an amazing film that holds up incredibly well today, three-quarters of a century after it was made. It has inspired numerous remakes, sequels, rip-offs and pale counterfeits. What can I say that you don't already know about the movie? One of the screenwriters, James Ashmore Creelman, committed suicide by leaping off a tall building in 1941. Co-creator Edgar Wallace wrote more than 150 novels, numerous plays and too many articles to count. It's difficult to say which figure involved in this making of this film had the greatest influence on its timeless, enduring style. Several King Kong experts have given credit to stop-motion-animation guru Willis O'Brien. Like Creelman, O'Brien's life contained some tragedy. He married Hazel Collette in 1925, divorced her in 1930, and the year Kong was released, Hazel murdered their two sons and then attempted to shoot herself. Her suicide attempt failed, but she later died of tuberculosis. O'Brien's Kong was more human than human: Filmgoers could see the happiness, pathos, anger and frustration in his face. He was far more sympathetic than any of the human characters in the film. Even in our Age of CGI, the special effects are still amazingly fresh in the film. You can almost feel the steam in the jungle sequences. And the airplanes strafing Kong atop the Empire State Building are astonishing. O'Brien's techniques improved even more later in the year with Son of Kong (1933) and 1949's giant ape film, Mighty Joe Young. The end of King Kong -- I won't give it away here if you're one of the three or four people in the world who hasn't actually seen it -- is still haunting after all these years. King Kong remains influential to this day, ranking number 41 on the latest list of the American Film Institute's Top 100. 

Why I dug it: There's something magical about the first film you've ever watched from start to finish. I I laughed, hid under my cushion and ultimately wept in Kong. The memories are still vivid. 

Parting Shot: The film looms large, not only in the popular imagination, but in my memory. I had to pick a Mount Everest of a film for my first entry. But you've got to start somewhere. Grade: A+.