Action
Rod Lott
Italians do it better.

Thriller
Rod Lott
As a showgirl, Mida King (Patricia Dane, Rio Rita) is likely used to lecherous comments and unwanted advances, but death threats are another story — this story, in fact.

Thriller
Rod Lott
Warner Archive's packaging pegs 1941's The Case of the Black Parrot as a “classic crime thriller,” but for such a lofty status, I've never heard it uttered in the same breath as, say, The Bat or And Then There Were None. In fact, I'd never heard of it, period. No matter; the fix was easy.

Thriller
Rod Lott
All the way back from 1935, While the Patient Slept begins with a logo stating it's a Clue Club Picture. Was that a regular picture-show "thing"? The Clue Club? Because if it was, I would've been a faithful follower, just based upon this good-natured mystery, recently released by Warner Archive.

Thriller
Rod Lott
As if Warner Archive hasn’t re-released enough murder mysteries on MOD DVD lately, here’s another helping, pairing 1949’s The House Across the Street and Homicide on one disc overflowing with film noir. I gladly made room for it.

Thriller
Rod Lott
Raquel Welch never quite landed on the A list, but not for a lack of trying. It's just that so many of her projects (Bedazzled, One Million Years B.C., Fathom, Myra Breckinridge, et al.) required little more of her than her assets. At least she shakes those with the best of them as a go-go girl on the go — and on the run — in 1969's Flareup, fresh from the MOD ovens of Warner Archive.

Drama
Rod Lott
From 1953, Knights of the Round Table proudly boasts the CinemaScope logo as it opens, trumpeting itself as an epic Hollywood costumed drama on a massive scale: no expense spared, no detail ignored. And no story engagement.

Horror
Rod Lott
As someone who loves mummy movies, I’ve long had The Awakening on my radar, but only now has the 1980 horror thriller come within reach, thanks to Warner Archive. While the film's rep isn't sterling by any stretch, I found it to be a nice surprise.

Drama
Rod Lott
It's fun to compare Lucky Devils — a 1933 RKO Picture about stuntmen — to something more contemporary, like 1980's The Stunt Man or even last year's Drive. According to this fun flick, safety was like an afterthought, with the guys who were risking their lives getting the scene explained to them once, quickly and just before the director called, “Action!”

Thriller
Rod Lott
From 1932, the mystery The Phantom of Crestwood may be one of Hollywood’s first gimmick flicks. That doesn’t make it any good, however.