"THE HAND OF NIGHT" (US TV TITLE: "BEAST OF MOROCCO")
Years ago I wrote a piece on this film for a fanboy rag because it vanished from tv screens, working without a computer at the time and having part of the film on a grainey tv broadcast copy. At any rate, despite the shoddy production budget, it was actually a very intelligent movie starring William Sylvester, Diane Clare, Aliza Gur. A retelling the Persian story of Ormazd and Ahriman-Ahura Mazda-Light and Dark. Before they withdrew it, I managed to buy a copy from Sinister Cinema on vhs (later transferring it to DVD) and my opinion stood firm that this was a nice little almost forgotten gem! Nice location use of Morocco.
"DEVILS OF DARKNESS" not a bad little vampire flick starring William Sylvester and Hubert Noel and "WITCHCRAFT" with Lon Chaney jr. Both on DVD from the MGM MIdnite Movie series!
Years ago I wrote a piece on this film for a fanboy rag because it vanished from tv screens, working without a computer at the time and having part of the film on a grainey tv broadcast copy. At any rate, despite the shoddy production budget, it was actually a very intelligent movie starring William Sylvester, Diane Clare, Aliza Gur. A retelling the Persian story of Ormazd and Ahriman-Ahura Mazda-Light and Dark. Before they withdrew it, I managed to buy a copy from Sinister Cinema on vhs (later transferring it to DVD) and my opinion stood firm that this was a nice little almost forgotten gem! Nice location use of Morocco.
"DEVILS OF DARKNESS" not a bad little vampire flick starring William Sylvester and Hubert Noel and "WITCHCRAFT" with Lon Chaney jr. Both on DVD from the MGM MIdnite Movie series!
Films I watch whenever they're on are:
Citizen X (the one with Stephen Rea and Donald Sutherland)
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (the one with James Mason)
Forbidden Planet (can't leave this off. It was the first Sci-Fi film I was allowed to stay up and watch, back when I was five years old)
The Changling
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly / Fistful of Dollars / For a Few Dollars More
The Haunting (the original B/W version)
Jack the Giant Killer (another one from when I was a kid)
By the Light of the Silvery Moon / On Moonlight Bay
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Vertigo
Night of the Demon
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (yet another one from my childhood which, according to my wife, I haven't grown out of yet
)
Citizen X (the one with Stephen Rea and Donald Sutherland)
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (the one with James Mason)
Forbidden Planet (can't leave this off. It was the first Sci-Fi film I was allowed to stay up and watch, back when I was five years old)
The Changling
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly / Fistful of Dollars / For a Few Dollars More
The Haunting (the original B/W version)
Jack the Giant Killer (another one from when I was a kid)
By the Light of the Silvery Moon / On Moonlight Bay
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Vertigo
Night of the Demon
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (yet another one from my childhood which, according to my wife, I haven't grown out of yet
)
"THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN" John Wayne and Oliver Hardy!
"SANDS OF IWO JIMA"
"RIO GRANDE"
I have these (with "WAKE OF THE RED WITCH") colorized (which I put on DVD) and have to say they don't look too bad! In fact I'm watching as I type this "THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD" in color which actually looks pretty good as well (on this film I edited the original b/w footage they cut after the original release back in. The colorized version was a rerelease edit). I put this on dvd with the trailer and production info!
Ahhhh!!!! The joy of being a media buff!
"SANDS OF IWO JIMA"
"RIO GRANDE"
I have these (with "WAKE OF THE RED WITCH") colorized (which I put on DVD) and have to say they don't look too bad! In fact I'm watching as I type this "THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD" in color which actually looks pretty good as well (on this film I edited the original b/w footage they cut after the original release back in. The colorized version was a rerelease edit). I put this on dvd with the trailer and production info!
Ahhhh!!!! The joy of being a media buff!
RichE Wrote:"THE HAND OF NIGHT" (US TV TITLE: "BEAST OF MOROCCO")
Years ago I wrote a piece on this film for a fanboy rag because it vanished from tv screens, working without a computer at the time and having part of the film on a grainey tv broadcast copy. At any rate, despite the shoddy production budget, it was actually a very intelligent movie starring William Sylvester, Diane Clare, Aliza Gur. A retelling the Persian story of Ormazd and Ahriman-Ahura Mazda-Light and Dark. Before they withdrew it, I managed to buy a copy from Sinister Cinema on vhs (later transferring it to DVD) and my opinion stood firm that this was a nice little almost forgotten gem! Nice location use of Morocco.
"DEVILS OF DARKNESS" not a bad little vampire flick starring William Sylvester and Hubert Noel and "WITCHCRAFT" with Lon Chaney jr. Both on DVD from the MGM MIdnite Movie series!
Friday morning, I was shelving books. And one of them was CASABLANCA--THE SCREENPLAY. I played some scenes back in me moind, and asked me roight hand mon, Grady, who knows =all= about film, "There are films as =good= as CASABLANCA, but is there one =better=?" Grady said, "No. It's perfect."
The Nazis were playing WACHT AM RHEIN. Victor Laszlo commands, "Play THE MARSEILLAISE--PLAY IT!" And the bandleader looks up to Rick, who nods...
As powerful a scene, in its way, as the matchless last scene of Charles Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS.
RichE Wrote:When I started this thread I wanted to include as many old favorites that aren't horror/scifi. My tastes run from not only to fantasy related but serious dramas to comedies to docudramas.
Apologies, RichE. I wasn't trying to hijack the thread.
As a movie collector with over 1,100 films, my tastes could be described as eclectic. My collection spans most genres except for the recent trend of horror toward torture-porn...I find no redeeming value in that genre.
Non-horror movies that my spouse and I re-watch regularly are:
Lord of the Rings Extended Edtions series
Dragonheart
Indiana Jones series
Pirates of the Caribbean series
Star Wars, Episodes 4-6
Die Hard series
Lethal Weapon series
Romancing the Stone
Finding Nemo
Monsters Inc.
Toy Story and Toy Story 2
Ice Age and Ice Age 2
Six Days, Seven Nights
Big Trouble in Little China
Sahara
Mummy and Mummy Returns
Jurassic Park series
The Postman
50 First Dates
How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Braveheart
Conspiracy Theory
Tomb Raider series
Con-Air
The Rock
Gone in 60 Seconds (remake)
Sin City
Transporter series
Silence of the Lambs
The Fugitive (remake) and US Marshals
Tears of the Sun
True Lies
Ghostbusters
The Jackal
Mr & Mrs Smith
Austin Powers series
Jack Ryan series (Tom Clancy)
Entrapment
Bond (Connery run)
Bond (Brosnan run)
Casino Royale (remake)
3000 Miles to Graceland
Swordfish
Enemy of the State
Bad Boys
Beverly Hills Cop and BHC2
SWAT
The Recruit
Running Scared (Cystal and Hines)
My Cousin Vinny
Wedding Singer
Waterboy
Pretty Woman
Notting Hill
Coyote Ugly
Mrs. Doubtfire
Plane, Trains & Automobiles
What Dreams May Come
Erin Brokovich
The Holiday
Working Girl
The Truth About Cats and Dogs
Must Love Dogs
The American President
For the Love of the Game
Notebook
Message in a Bottle
High Fidelity
Sabrina (remake)
Sleepless in Seattle
JFK
Sound of Music
Perfect Storm
Rockstar
The Commitments
League of Their Own
Scent of A Woman
Blood of Heroes
Fifth Element
Firefly (TV series) and Serenity
Terminator and Terminator II
Equilibrium
Matrix series
Riddick series
The Day After Tomorrow
Volcano
Twister
Independance Day
Gladiator
Last Samuria
Cutthroat Island
A Knight's Tale
Highlander
Robin Hood (Costner)
Three Musketeers (remake)
Man in the Iron mask
Count of Monte Cristo (remake)
Name of the Rose
Batman Begins
X-Men & X-2
Daredevil: Director's Cut (almost a completely different movie)
-WapitiKev
This post was last modified: 03-30-2008, 11:01 PM by Wapitikev.
Axioms Jack seems to live by (inadvertantly or not):
Why he does what he does: "I chose this life. I know what I'm doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn't that day. And tomorrow won't be either." Bruce Wayne, Identity Crisis
On Rasalom: "Water's wet, the sky is blue...and good old Satan Claus, Jimmy...he's out there...and he's just gettin' stronger." Joe Hallenbeck, The Last Boyscout
Bluesman Mike Lindner Wrote:Friday morning, I was shelving books. And one of them was CASABLANCA--THE SCREENPLAY. I played some scenes back in me moind, and asked me roight hand mon, Grady, who knows =all= about film, "There are films as =good= as CASABLANCA, but is there one =better=?" Grady said, "No. It's perfect."
The Nazis were playing WACHT AM RHEIN. Victor Laszlo commands, "Play THE MARSEILLAISE--PLAY IT!" And the bandleader looks up to Rick, who nods...
As powerful a scene, in its way, as the matchless last scene of Charles Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS.
I'm going have to pull out the laserdisc in the near future-with "THE BIG SLEEP"!
"ILYA MUROMETS" and "THE VIY"
Two wonderful Russian films, fully restored here on DVD and put out on Image.
Worth Viewing!!!!
"INCUBUS" William Shatner speaking Esperanto! A really good film out of the Ingmar Bergman mold.
"TWO LOST WORLDS" James Arness starring in an entertaining movie built around stockfootage.
"A NAME FOR EVIL" Robert Culp's infamous acid trip/ghost story! 'Wiggle While You Jiggle' takes on a real meaning with this one!!!!!
Two wonderful Russian films, fully restored here on DVD and put out on Image.
Worth Viewing!!!!
"INCUBUS" William Shatner speaking Esperanto! A really good film out of the Ingmar Bergman mold.
"TWO LOST WORLDS" James Arness starring in an entertaining movie built around stockfootage.
"A NAME FOR EVIL" Robert Culp's infamous acid trip/ghost story! 'Wiggle While You Jiggle' takes on a real meaning with this one!!!!!
ImDeranged Wrote:The Great Dictator - Chaplin always was great at physical but in this one his word play alone is worth it for repeated viewings. Bacteria & Tomania invade Osterlich
Dr Strangelove :Or..... again wordplay make this a repeat viewing classic. The names of the characters alone can make me laugh : Merkin Muffley, Col. 'Bat' Guano, Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson
Brazil : I see something new each time I see it... then again each time I see it seems to be a new edit or alternate version.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels : each time I see it it's like visiting an old friend. But then again you should meet my old friends.
The Godfather (all)- I even include 3. They are some of the ONLY films that get better w/ each viewing. After 10 + times of watching I still end up seeing something new in them each time I watch.
Jean de Florette / Manon of the Springs - French movies that blew my mind the first time I saw them. 5 viewings later they're still great.
The Hudsucker Proxy - The Coen Brothers movie that nobody ever talks about. Yet the one that I've seen the most- ok Big Lewboski is close and I include that in the list too. But HP has so many great moments. If anyone hasn't seen it run and get it. BTW if you watch it imagine Bruce Campbell as Clark Kent next to Jennifer Jason Leighs' Lois Lane. It's also a tribute to Frank Capra and Preston Sturges films.
They Live- I'd call it a guilty pleasure if it wasn't so cool.
This is Spinal Tap- One of the few movies I can jump in at any scene and watch from that point. Almost every other movie even if I've seen it a dozen times I'll want to watch from the beginning.
Sid & Nancy - Not accurate but a great movie.
Natural Born Killers - Every actor in this movie gives a career highlighting performance.
There are dozens more but that's a good stopping point (for now at least)
Ah...THE GREAT DICTATOR...the dance with the globe...
Chaplin said
"I've been told Hitler had a private showing of the film. I'd give anything to know what he thought of it."
"If I'd known what was really happening in Germany, I never would have made the film."