The Story of Mankind

Perhaps no name is more associated with the disaster film genre of the 1970’s than Irwin Allen.  He was the man behind such films as “The Poseidon Adventure” and “The Towering Inferno,” but his first films were quite different.  His first two directorial efforts were documentaries, one of which won him an Academy Award, but...

The Buster Keaton Story

It’s not uncommon for Hollywood to slightly alter the events in a person’s life when it comes to making the biopic. For example, in the Andy Kaufman biopic “Man on the Moon,” Kaufman does his famous Carnegie Hall performance as a sort of farewell, after he has been diagnosed with cancer. In fact, that event...

Columbia Classics New Releases – December, 2011

I was wondering when the Columbia Classic titles for December were going to come down. Ten days into the month and nothing...until now. Here are this month's new releases...featuring titles starring Red Skelton, Peter Lorre, and even Mr. Magoo! - 1001 Arabian Nights (1959) - Island of Doomed Men (1940) - Town on Trial (1957)...

Mad Monster Party

When we think of the stop motion animation of Rankin/Bass, we usually think of Christmas.  They are the folks responsible for the likes of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and, of course, The Year Without a Santa Claus.  But we don’t usually think of them at Halloween time.  Unless...