Talk About Cinema

Recently, I came across a series of articles at the website, The Scribe Files, which described the relationship between Harry Langdon and Stan Laurel , two comedians who I've always thought had some similarities. The articles are definitely worth checking out, but one thing that really interested me was reading about Langdon's last two starring features: Double Trouble and House of Errors , both of which saw him in a pairing with Charley Rogers. Rogers, like Langdon, was a gag writer for Laurel and Hardy, although his direct association with the duo went back farther than Langdon's. He also had some bit roles in those films as well, but as far as I'm aware, this was the closest he got to being a star comic himself. The idea of these two Laurel and Hardy influences being paired together fascinated me, so I decided to check out Double Trouble , and...yeah, they actually are a pretty good pairing. Harry and Charley are Albert and Alfred Prattle, two men from London who are...

The 1957 version of 12 Angry Men is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's a small setting consisting of basically just 12 actors sitting and talking, which might not sound too engaging on paper, but is actually quite thought-provoking and exciting as it goes along. For those who don't know, they are discussing the fate of an 18-year-old boy who is on trial for allegedly killing his father. It's never revealed whether or not he was guilty of the act, but the point is that the jurors have to decide if there's enough of a reasonable doubt to declare him not guilty; otherwise, he will receive the death sentence. Rather than doing a review, today I thought I'd do something a little different. Each juror in this movie has a distinguishable personality and I've decided to rank the jurors on those personalities. I want to make it absolutely clear: this is not a ranking of the actors's performances, because, frankly, it's just impossible to do so give...

Remember how I said Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was a strange idea for a crossover? Well, that's a normal idea compared to the idea of Abbott and Costello's second and last color film, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd . At least the Universal Monsters were already part of a long-lasting franchise. Captain Kidd was a 1945 dramatic film featuring Charles Laughton in the role of the title character. They even managed to get Laughton on board to reprise his role for this film. Why they chose Captain Kidd specifically to make a crossover with, we may never know. Abbott and Costello play Rocky Stonebridge and Oliver Johnson, a pair of tavern workers who are entrusted by Lady Jane (Fran Warren) with the task of delivering a love note to their co-worker, Bruce Martingale (Bill Shirley). Captain Kidd (Laughton) and his crew are in town and while serving him, Oliver mixes up the letter with an important map belonging to Captain Kidd. Rocky seizes on this opportunity to ...

The Railrodder (top) and Buster Keaton Rides Again (bottom) After leaving Columbia Pictures in the early 1940s, Buster Keaton shifted his focus away from the field of short subjects and instead focused on other ventures, including gag writing at MGM and television appearances. However, he did do a few more short subjects during this later period in his life. Paradise for Buster (1952), which was an industrial short, did manage to maintain Keaton's style of humor, but was a bit long and wore out its welcome towards the end. The Scribe (1966) was a mediocre educational film for worker safety that basically involved Keaton running away from construction workers while also showing them a list of safety rules. Film (1965) was written by Samuel Beckett...and like Beckett's other works, I just flat out don't understand it. ...I don't get it. Then there's The Railrodder , also released in 1965. This short film was produced by the National Film Board of Can...