A dueling Pianist and Mystery Letters

• Upcoming show: Letter from an Unknown Woman
  
• Genre/Keywords: Drama, Romance
  
• Google Description: A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember, who may hold the key to his downfall.
• Trivia: In 1992, Letter from an Unknown Woman was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
• Time: 4 pm EST Wednesday May 27th
  
• Website link: Kast Room link
  

Exciting news before I get into the review! Kast, the company that bought out my previous favorite hosting site, has officially upped their game and I will be sticking with it for the foreseeable future. This is just easier on everyone now. It's a single link that you can bookmark and will work for all movies, the platform is user friendly, and officially lets me stream specific applications. It's a miracle! Also, I initially wrote this up to show Friday, but I'm so damn excited to test it, I said 'fuck it, today's the day.'

Dead of Night was everything I expected it to be. I love unsettling physiological thriller type deals, the kind you're not sure what happened at the ending. It was like mini Twilight Zone episodes within a Twilight Zone movie.

For this, I'm venturing outside of my normal genres with a Drama/Romance type deal. I don't have much experience with romance in particular, as the genre has never called out to me in any entertainment format, but this one is so highly praised, I have high hopes.

Ventriloquist dolls and Ghost stories

• Upcoming show: Dead of Night
  
• Genre/Keywords: Horror, Drama
  
• Description: Architect Walter Craig senses impending doom as his half-remembered recurring dream turns into reality. The guests at the country house encourage him to stay as they take turns telling supernatural tales.
• Trivia: The first tale is "The Hearse Driver", which is based on "The Bus Conductor" by E.F. Benso. A variation of this story was featured on The Twilight Zone.
• Time: Tuesday, May 12th at 2 pm EST.
  
• Website link: twoseven (dead link)

Abbott and Costello was a riot along with many other things. There are so many elements to that movie; something still tricky to pull off without confusion to the plot, but they succeeded. After that viewing, I'm not sure if I should start with the House of Dracula movies or Abbott and Costello movies. Either way, I'm excited to dive into both in the future. For the next film, I really don't know much about it aside from the fact that in one article, this movie is said to set up the psychological thriller style of Alfred Hitchcock. As a giant Hitchcock fan, that's enough to get my full attention. Hope you can make it!

It's alive!!!

• Upcoming show: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
  
• Genre/Keywords: Spoof, comedy
  
• Description: Two hapless freight handlers find themselves encountering Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster and the Wolf Man.
• Trivia: Quentin Tarantino has cited this film as a big influence on him on how to blend different genres.
• Time: May 9th at 12 pm
  
• Website link: twoseven (dead link)

It's been a while, hasn't it? (Like how I tied my absence in with Frankie in the title?) I doubt anyone noticed, but I sorely missed showing these movies while I was drowning in school work. Now that it's summer break, I'm thrilled to be picking these back up. The next movie is the only kind of Frankenstein movie I ever hold any hope for; one that knows its making an abomination out of the original material. I feel as if these movies almost hold a closer message to Mary Shelley's work; usually having the scientists or townspeople as the goofs while the Monster merely stumbles around, looking for food. 

The last move I showed was The Mysterious Island (1929). While it was a rushed attempt at making a talkie, it was a great Sci-Fi, comedy, romance, whatever it was for its time. I don't think I'll ever forget the 'merpeople' or the their giant monster (aka a crocodile? with spikes stuck to its back).

Mystery, mermen, mayhem, oh my!

• Upcoming show: The Mysterious Island (1929) directed by Lucien Hubbard
• Plot Keywords: adventure, Sci-Fi, Romance
• IMDB Description: On a volcanic island near the kingdom of Hetvia rules Count Dakkar, a benevolent leader and scientist has eliminated class distinction among the island's inhabitants. Dakkar, his daughter Sonia and her fiance, engineer Nicolai Roget have designed a submarine which Roget pilots on its initial voyage just before the island is overrun by Baron Falon, despotic ruler of Hetvia. Falon sets out after Roget in a second submarine and the two craft, diving to the ocean's floor, discover a strange land populated by dragons, giant squid and an eerie undiscovered humanoid race.
• Trivia: Although the entire film has always been available in black and white prints, film historians long believed that no complete color print of the film had survived - until 2013 when experts from the George Eastman House in the US discovered that such a print had been preserved in the Czech National Archive. Until this discovery, it was thought that the only surviving Technicolor fragment of the film was a ten-minute reel reposing in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
• Website link: twoseven (dead link)  
• Time: 3pm EST Wednesday (04/01)

As always, a review from the previous movie; Singin' in the Rain. I was truly surprised by this movie. Within the first 10 minutes I'd heard some of the most relatable dialogue and sickest roasts. The Make 'em Laugh number? OUTSTANDING. Only at one point did I think it was starting to drag, at the Broadway Melody, but then they cut to that veil scene and I was living for it. One thing I wasn't expecting was the light history lesson of the evolution of silent films to talkies and how it affected the film industry across the board.
I had already picked The Mysterious Island for the next movie, then realized it fell into the transition period and had to do some research. Production of this movie started in 1926 but faced a myriad of problems. After many doubts, they started filming in the Bahamas, they got hit with not one, but THREE hurricanes, destroying sets and equipment. Then came along talking pictures. Like many silent films that were being produced during this period, they decided to change gears and add talking in the film instead of facing a huge flop. The studio also thought it would be best to add color, making this one of the FIRST in color and talking science fiction novels, even if half of the movie is silent and only ONE copy of the in color version exists. My question is, who do I have to sell my soul to for me to see this version?

Quaransingin' in the Rain

• Upcoming show:Singin' in the Rain
• Genre/Keywords: Musical/Comedy
• Google Description: When the transition is being made from silent films to `talkies', everyone has trouble adapting. Don and Lina have been cast repeatedly as a romantic couple, but when their latest film is remade into a musical, only Don has the voice for the new singing part. After a lot of practise with a diction coach, Lina still sounds terrible, and Kathy, a bright young aspiring actress, is hired to record over her voice.
• Trivia: After finishing filming the "Make 'em Laugh' dance sequence, Donald O'Connor found the effort so taxing that he went to bed for three days.
• Website link: twoseven (dead link)  
• Time: March 29th at 12 pm.

I swear, one day I WILL stop with the quarantine puns. The last showing, Godzilla, was spectacular. Just as someone said, knowing the amount of work that went into the visual effects added an incredible admiration for the film. I will definitely be re-watching it in the future.
The next show is a slight wild card for me, a musical. While I've always enjoyed them, I almost never seek them out. I'm actually eager to watch this, possibly because it has the Halloweentown bad bitch herself, Debbie Reynolds, maybe because this chaotic climate could use a good tune. Hope to see you there!

King of the Monsters!

• Upcoming show: Gojira/Godzilla (1954) directed by Ishiro Honda
• Genre/Keywords: Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
• Google Description: A fire-breathing behemoth terrorizes Japan after an atomic bomb awakens it from its centuries-old sleep.
• Trivia: George Lucas cites this film's miniatures as an inspiration for his effects in the Star Wars films.
• Website link: twoseven (dead link)  
• Time: 2 pm EST

To briefly touch on the last film showed, Duck Soup, I absolutely loved it. The amount of creativity and unrestricted thinking it takes to come up with some of their gags is astounding. I'm only two films deep into the Marx Brothers, but I understand how the Groucho Marx look became ICONIC.
Now about today's show. I've never seen a single Godzilla movie. The closest I've come is Austin Powers ("It looks like Godzilla, but due to international copyright laws, it's not."). I honestly don't know how I've come this far without catching one, but I so ready. There were a ton of interesting trivia to choose from, I'd recommend checking them out!

Comedy for the Quarantine

• Upcoming show: Duck Soup (1933) directed by Leo McCarey, starring the Marx Brothers
• Plot Keywords: absurd comedy, political satire, slapstick comedy.
• IMDB Description: The country of Freedonia is in the middle of a financial crisis and on the brink of revolution. In order to gain a bail-out from the wealthy Mrs Teasdale, the government appoints Rufus T Firefly as its president. However, Mr Firefly shuns the pomp and pretentiousness of government; along with the prudence and rationality of it too. Meanwhile, the neighbouring country of Sylvania is plotting to overthrow Freedonia and sends Pinky and Chicolini to spy on Firefly. War seems inevitable.
• Trivia: "Duck soup" was American English slang at that time; it meant something easy to do.The opening scene of ducks swimming in a kettle is the only scene in the movie relating to ducks or soup.
  
• Website link: twoseven (dead link)  
• Time: 2 pm EST

What better time to start this thing when I'm on spring break and most of the world is quarantined to their houses? But in all honesty, I hope everyone is staying safe and taking proper precautions. In this time, morale is pretty low for understandable reasons. Many people are afraid for their elderly and immunocompromised loved ones, many are without jobs (I'm right there with you, service industry), and some are facing both.
There's not much I can do in my position, but I can try to bring people together and provide a hopefully effective distractions. The first Marx Brother movie I watched was A Night at the Opera and I've wanted to watch more ever since! It was hilarious and I'm very excited to watch this one. I hope to see you there.