Wanna See Some Great Movies?

For the month of February, Turner Classic Movies puts together perhaps one of the best themed film marathons, in my personal opinion. From February 1st until March 3rd, they put on their 31 Days of Oscar Marathon, saluting some of the most award-winning films, actors, and directors to grace the silver screen.

Rather than dividing the films up into Oscar category, such as Best Director or Best Cinematographer, TCM has come up with a more creative approach. The films are divided into themed or genre segments. For example, the segemnt called "The Southwestern United States" features the films Tulsa, Oklahoma!, and Cimarron. Each day is divided up into "departments", like a college, and the various departments have name like "The Education Department", "The Law Department", and "The Philosophy Department" and each "department" is subdivided from there.

For example, "The Foriegn Language" Department features segments entitled "Introduction to Italian" and "Intermediate French", including foriegn movies like The Four Days of Naples and Mr. Hulot's Holiday whereas the "Dance Department" features segements like "Advanced Tap" and "Introduction to Choreography", featuring various musical and dance films like Royal Wedding and 42nd Street. I'm not sure if this schedule will be better than the old standby, but it may help group together movies that will attract viewers with common interests in all of them.

For more information about what to expect with this year's 31 Days of Oscar, you can read this article twitchfilm.com did with Robert Osborne, who will be emceeing the majority of the event. Monstersandcritics.com has more on the set up of the marathon along with a schedule that will be more easy to access than downloading the pdf schedule from the TCM website. For those of you interested, here is TCM's press release about the event.

So, crack open those schedules and cancel all your plans for the rest of the month because some great films are coming to a television near you!

Mother/Daughter Murder Mystery

A great film noir, the story of Mildred Pierce has everything from romance, intrigue, betrayal, and a family with scores to settle. Based on a novel of the same name by James M. Cain, the drama unfolds over a course of four years and is almost a deadly soap opera in movie form.

The film starts showing Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford ) talking to police about the murder of her husband. It then flashbacks to her life as an unhappy housewife, raising her two daughters Veda (Ann Blyth ) and Kay (Jo Ann Marlowe ) with her unemployed husband Bert (Bruce Bennett ). When Mildred discovers Bert is having an affair with Maggie Biederhof (Lee Patrick ), she divorces him and keeps custody of the two girls. Her eldest daughter, Veda, complains about how they now do not have the financial security her father once provided and Mildred works as a waitress. Veda discovers this and after telling her mother waitressing is beneath her, Mildred opens up a small restaurant. As her restaurant empire grows, real estate agent Wally Fay (Jack Carson ) gives her advice and makes unsuccessful attempts for her affects. Wally introduces her to Monte Baragon (Zachary Scott ) who sells her property help the restaurant chain grow.

Kay, Mildred's sweet daughter, dies of pneumonia, leaving her crushed. Meanwhile, Veda pretends to be having the baby of wealthy Ted Forrester to extort money out of him. Mildred tears up the check and after a fight with Veda, the girl runs off to be a singer in a nightclub. Veda will only return to her mother if Mildred can give her life in the absolute lap of luxury so Mildred marries Monte in exchange for handing over a third of her businesses to him. Monte sells the third of Mildred's business, leaving her bankrupt and it becomes apparent to Mildred that her daughter has seduced her husband. When Mildred confronts Monte and Veda at his beach house, a shot is fired, but who is the killer?

Butterfly McQueen and Eve Arden both appear in the film, adding to the stellar cast. Shirley Temple was one of the actresses considered for the part of Veda Pierce Forrester and the part of Mildred Pierce was offered to Bette Davis, Rosalind Russell and Barbara Stanwyck before given to Joan Crawford. She won the Academy Award for her performance in this film. You can read more about the film itself using this reference guide from filmreference.com, here at filmsite.org, or this article from a website devoted to Joan Crawford.

There are several different reviews of this film, but as with Witness for the Prosecution , I wouldn't read them until after watching the film because they may contain spoilers. There is a great article on the film written by Slate magazine. Other reviews can be read here, thanks to classicmoviefavorites, and here from moviezeal.com. A few other opinions on the film come from The Film Noir Net and the Movie Setal Blogspot. All in all, Mildred Pierce is a great noir film with tons of supsense, thrill, and a whodunnit that will keep you guessing.

Murder Trials Agatha Christie Style

With an all-star cast, based on a play written by legendary Queen of Crime Agatha Christie, and directed by the famed Billy Wilder, the 1957 film Witness for the Prosecution is a film you know is going to be good before you even watch scene one. This is a film so filled with suspense, drama, and surprise after surprise that it even tells you at the film not to spoil the ending for others. Even the Royal Family was sworn to secrecy not to reveal the plot after being screened the film.

After being kicked out of the hospital for bad behavior, barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) returns to London after suffering a heart attack, pestering, badgering nurse Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester) in tow. A fellow lawyer convinces the ailing Sir Wilfrid to take on the case of Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power), a hapless inventor who is accused of murdering wealthy widow Emily French (Norma Varden), who he befriended and may have sent mixed signals to. After French was brutally murdered, it was revealed that she left the majority of her money to Vole, making him look even more suspicious. Vole hopes that his wife Christine (Marlene Dietrich), a German immigrant who he met and married during WWII will help him out of his jam and places all of the hope he has on evading the charges on her. Sir Wilfrid doesn't trust Christine or her testimony. The trial begins and everything you think you knew about the case goes out the window as one shock after another are revealed, leading to a resolution that will have you on the edge of your seat.

It is often mistakenly assumed that Alfred Hitchcock directed the film, since it seems to be just the right plot for the Master of Supsense. Hitch commented on this mix-up, saying that Billy Wilder was often given credit for Hitch's film The Paradine Case. The on-screen camaraderie between Laughton and Lancaster was easy for them to create because they were husband and wife. This was Tyrone Powers' last feature film as he died of a heart attack the following year. Una O'Connor is the only cast member from the original Broadway play to reprise her role in the film. She played Janet McKenzie and also had starred in Bride of Frankenstein with Elsa Lancaster. This was O'Connor's last film as well.

You can watch the film yourself as it is divided into segments on YouTube and can be found here. Afterward, there are some reviews you can check out of the film. I wouldn't do so before because some of them give away spoilers. This review comes from crazy4cinema.com and is a good, brief review. Another review comes from classic film at about.com and is a good overview of the film. The review from apolloguide.com focuses a lot on the directorial side of the film, whereas this review from Marquette University of Law comes at the film from a legal aspect. Finally, this all encompassing review comes from allwatchers.com. So, have fun with all of the twists and turns in this rollercoaster ride of a film.

Hitchcock, Psychosis, Romance and Suspense

Another one of Alfred Hitchcock amazingly filmed psychological thrillers is the 1964 film Marnie . Based off of a book of the same name by author Winston Graham, the set of the film reportedly had tons of stress and problems yet remains a classic film and the professed favorite of leading actress Tippi Hedren. The film uses elements of sex, drama, mystery, and cinematic effects to create the thrilling atmosphere Hitchcock is known for.

The film is about Marnie Edgar (Hedren), a psychologically distressed woman who has many unnatural fears including thunderstorms, the color red, and close relationships and the trusting of men. She is also a compulsive thief and has a long history of stealing from the businesses she works for. She persuades Sidney Strutt (Martin Gabel) to give her a job and then ultimately steals everything out of his company safe and leaves. One of Strutt's best customers is Mark Rutland (Sean Connery), a widower who owns a printing company and remembers the young woman who Strutt reports stole the money from him. When Marnie comes to work for Rutland's company, he keeps watch over her and when she steals from him, he tracks her down and blackmails her into marrying him. Living with the Rutlands is Lil Mainwaring (Diane Baker), the young sister of Mark's late wife who is jealous that Marnie married Mark instead of her. She connives to expose Marnie to Mark and to everyone else, which Mark has to keep under wraps. Throughout their strained marriage, Mark is determined to discover what is the reason behind Marnie's deep psychological problems. He tracks down Marnie's mother (Louise Latham), a former prostitute, and at last, a long kept, dreadful tale of murder and intrigue is revealed with Marnie at it's center.

The movie is not considered a financial success though its expressionist style and the cinematic techniques it used are generally considered to be ahead of their time, perhaps the reason the movie was not widely positively received. Diane Baker was not allowed to read the script before signing on to the film, but instead was merely told it was a Hitchcock film with Tippi Hedren in the lead role. Hitchcock wanted Grace Kelly to be the leading lady for this film, but the citizens of her new homeland Monaco were outraged at the thought of their princess playing a psychologically disturbed kleptomaniac. Hitchock then went with Hedren who he had previously directed in The Birds but during shooting, Hedren and Hitchcock had a major falling out which lead to the end of their friendship.

For more opinions on this film, there are a variety of sources you can access. Turner Classic Movies has a synopsis and tons of goodies that can be found here on the film's homepage. Web site thedistractedglobe.com has this article, which reviews, analysis, and gives a brief history of the film. Frank's Movie Log has this short, to the point review. The Movies and Frontier's blog has this review about the lasting quality of the film, and finally, dearcinema.com has this article about how Marnie differs from Hitchcock's other films.

Murderous Marijuana

The 1937 film Marijuana, Assassin of Youth follows in the tradition of the previous exploitation films we have talked about, including the "good girl gone bad" plotline and the rip-off of the Reefer Madness plot and themes. In fact, Reefer Madness actress Dorothy Short appears in this film was well. The film was written and directed by Elmer Clifton, who also wrote and directed westerns and worked with famous early directed D.W. Griffith and even appeared in Griffith's infamous Birth of a Nation.

The story begins when matron Elizabeth Barry is killed in a car crash by a driver who is smoking marijuana. Reporter Artie Brighton (Arthur Gardner) goes undercover as a soda jerk to get the scoop on who is running the marijuana ring in the small town. In a parallel storyline, good Joan Barry (Luana Walters) and her sister Marjorie (Dorothy Short) stand to inherit their aunt Elizabeth's fortune if they can fulfill a "morality clause" in the will. This leads their cousin, Linda Clayton (Fay McKenzie) and her husband Jack Howard (Michael Owen) to conspire to prove that Joan and Marjorie aren't moral girls at all. While Jack and Linda try to corrupt Joan and Marjorie with drugs and alcohol, it is up to Art to get the story and save the day before the marijuana problem in town gets even more out of hand.

Naturally, the pot in this movie leads to all sorts of implausible behaviors that don't really exists, such as pot being addictive, leading to murder, sexually promiscuous behavior, and causing smokers to call into comas and die. Of course, the propaganda in this film as widely believed at the time, due to the hysteria created in order to pass the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, and is still believed today by those who do not know better.

There are several rescources I have found that can help educate you about the film, exploitation films, the Marijuana Tax Act, and all of the hyseria and hubbub surrounding this area of time, leading us to treat drugs the way we do. A typical propanda story with the same name as the film can be found here, thanks to Redhouse Books, which was originally published in American Magazine in 1937. Cannabis.net has the famous drug tsar Henry J. Anslinger's article entitled, what else, Marijuana, Assassin of Youth, which can be read here and a simliar article can be found here, thanks to cannabisuk.com.

Here is a preview of the film that you can watch to further get what its all about

Vincent Price Double Feature: Part Two

The second part of my Vincent Price Double Feature, is the second in the series of films Roger Corman and Vincent Price made in their series of films based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. The Pit and the Pendelum was made in response to the widespread success of The Fall of the House of Usher and grossed even more than the previous film had. Those of you who are true Edgar Allen Poe fans will come to realize that this film version really has nothing in common with the original story, which can be read here. However, it truly is a remarkable film and a fitting sequel to House of Usher.

The story begins when Englishman Francis Barnard (John Kerr) comes to a castle in Spain, owned by his brother-in-law Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price). It was here that Francis's sister Elizabeth (scream queen Barbara Steele) died under mysterious circumstances and Francis blames Nicholas for his sister's death. In residence of the castle is currently Nicholas's sister Catherine (Luana Anders) who is worried for her brother's crazy behavior after the loss of his beloved wife. A frequent visitor is friend Doctor Leon (Anthony Carbone) who pronounced Elizabeth Medina dead. It is revealed that Nicholas and Catherine's father Sebastian Medina was in fact a torturer during the Spanish Inquisition and killed his own wife and brother for adultery against him. It seems that Elizabeth is still alive and her spirit is haunting the house. Those staying in it must find out what is causing Elizabeth's reappearance after her death. A few twists at the end provide for a wonderful climax.

Again, color is very prominent in this film and you can see the beginning of Sixties experimentation in film through the colorful flashback sequences in this film. A 40 mm wide angle lens was used to make the sets look larger than normal because they budget was too low to afford very elaborate sets. Another low budget trick was using 20 gallons of fake spiderwebs to create an eerie atmosphere throughout the castle set. The shots of the sea near which the castle is supposed to be located are actually shots of the Palos Verdes coast in the South Bay near Los Angeles. To make the movement of the pendulum even more horrifying, Corman took out every second shot to make it look as though the pendulum was moving twice as fast.

This film is even better than the previous one, though the two of them are obviously connected. Price is at the top of his game in the genre he does so well. Themes of alive entombment, torture, and madness abound in this film as well, but work in a completely different way as in the previous. Want a second opinion? Excellent source for this genre, the blog Horror Movie a Day has also reviewed this film and talked about it in depth, which you can read here. I really recommend that you watch not only this film but also the rest of Roger Corman's Poe films, which will surely give you a night of fright.

Vincent Price Double Feature: Part One

A copy of MGM Midnite Movies came into my possession recently, a double feature of two Vincent Price movies. I plan to talk about both, but in this post I want to focus on the first of the movies, The House of Usher. Price is perhaps best known for his terrifying feature films based on the works of revered American literary genius Edgar Allan Poe. It was Poe who wrote stories of mystery, the macabre, was involved in the Romantic literary movement and pioneered the short story, detective-fiction, and science-fiction genres. The frightening natures of these stories are brought fully into life by King of Horror Vincent Price in these many films. The House of Usher was the first of eight films directed by Roger Corman based around Poe works, many of which star Vincent Price.

The story Poe wrote was changed up a lot for the film. The film version follows the path of wealthy Bostonian Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) who comes to visit his fiancée, Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey). When he arrives, the butler (Harry Ellerbe) does not wish to let him into the house, but Philip persuades his way in and then encounters the extremely sensitive to noise, light, and sound Roderick Usher (Vincent Price), older brother and ward of his beloved. Roderick tells him Madeline is ill, though she seems perfectly fine to Philip. Roderick begins to warn Philip of the horrible history of their family and the curse that lays over the house. Philip thinks it is all in Roderick's head, until he discovers that Roderick is not the only thing who is possessed.

For a low budget, early Sixties horror film, the effects are pretty decent. The use of color in the film is remarkable. The color red is extremely noticeable and focused on for dramatic effect but several monochromatic scenes throughout also help create a sense of eeriness and fear. Corman usually directed B-movie black and white double features, but he was allowed to film this movie and consequently others in color and CinemaScope.

This film and the other Poe/Price/Corman collaborations have gained considerable cult status, especially among horror fans. A review on eccentric-cinema.com praises how well the film was made with such a low budget. Another review and analysis can be found here, thanks to classic-horror.com. I do highly recommend watching not only this film but the other ones in Corman's Poe series. And stay tuned. The second part of this double feature is coming up soon.

Aliens, Zombies, and Vampires, Oh my!

Widely considered the worst movie ever made and in one of those so bad it's almost good categories is Ed Wood's masterpiece and perhaps the most famous B-Movie of all time is the classic Plan 9 From Outer Space. This film has everything a horror movie could want: aliens, zombies, vampires, flying saucers, grave robbery, a creepy cemetery and human heros. The problem?

Well, where do we begin?

The film was grossly underfunded and most of the funding it did have came from a Baptist Church in exchange for baptisms of the cast members. Bela Lugosi, one of the stars of the film, died during filming and was replaced by Wood's chiropractor, who was thinner, taller, and had a different accent. The film has a list of goofs longer than the script itself. Most of these goofs are because the budget was so small, the film only took one take to film each scene with no retakes or do-overs. The script, acting, and special effects of the movie really don't seem particularly talented, however. Wood actually earned a posthmous Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director because of this film.

Of course, the awfulness of the film has lead to a strange and unique cult following of its own, leading many people to appreciate the film for its heightened terribleness. In fact, the film currently as 67% in its review on Rotten Tomatoes. The site, badmovies.org does a review of the film, highlighting exactly what is so terrible about it. This article, by Gary Morris, talks about the warped genius of Ed Wood, particularly this film but also about his others. Despite the badness of this film, it still retains a large cult following, especially after the release of Tim Burton's film Ed Wood, and continues to have a significant cultural impact.

For those of you who are particularly brave or just want a good laugh at a horrible film, you can watch Plan 9 here and feel free to tell me what you think.

Not A Pond For Skinny Dipping

Want a movie that has all the elemts of a b-movie, psycho-thriller, suspense, mystery, horror, independent and black and white film? The 1963 horror flick Dementia 13 is a good film for you to watch. The film was the first "mainstream" film written and directed by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola, for those of you who admire his work. It the first film I can't really tell you that this film is bad or good since it is highly subjective. Everyone has their own opinion, but we will get to that later. The film is public domain and can be watched here, but first you might like to know a little more about it.

The film begins with John (William Campbell) and Louise Haloran (Luana Anders) taking a midnight boat ride to the sound of an upbeat rockability song on the transistor radio. Just as he is telling her that if he dies before his mother (Eithne Dunne), Louise will inherit nothing, he has a heart attack in their boat without his pills to help him through the incident. She disposes of the body and intends to travel to his mother's gloomy Irish castle to convince her to change the will, not letting the family know that her husband's body is in a lake somewhere. Louise goes "in place" of her husband for the memorial service of a mysterious person known as Kathleen (Barbara Dowling). Louise finds out that Kathleen is her husband's baby sister who died in a weird drowning accident back in Ireland, which the family still keeps shrouded in mystery. When she arrives there, Louise discovers that her late husband's family is a lot stranger than she counted on and is keeping some terrible secrets.And whatever you do, stay away from that pond.

The film is widely considered a b-movie, especially being produced by Roger Corman who was a famous b-filmmaker. Opinions are pretty much split on the movie. Some love it, some hate it, and others really can't make up their mind. Coppola fans say this early film gives insight into his future works. Slasher film fans say this film is a natural ancestor to the subgenre. Hitchcock fans say that this film is a blatant rip-off of Psycho, from the low-budget style to the black and white to the script. The best way to figure out what is true is to watch the film for yourself, but some reviews might also be helpful.

As I said, a lot of Hitchcock fans believe the film is a Psycho wannabe, such as the review here. Classic-horror.com did a sort of mixed review here, which might be helpful to some. There are some who believe the film is a waste of time, like those at 100misspenthours.com, whose review is here. Contemporary critics universally panned the film, but it is gained considerable cult popularity over the years. Also, the message board at IMDB for the film is a good place to get info on the film.

This is a very dark film and since it is an ancestor of slasher films, there is a good deal of blood and violence. There are tons of twists, turns, and creep outs, but its all worth it for a good scare.

"It's the end of the world..."

My introduction to Hitchcock came around middle school and the first movie of his I watched, with my parents in the room, was The Birds. I later read the short story in one of my English classes, and though the story was scary, the image of Hitch's film was what struck the most fear into me. Like Rebecca, it is based on the writing of Daphne du Maurier, though The Birds is a short story, which those of you who are interested can read here in its entirety. To this day, I cannot see large groups of birds together without wondering if they are plotting something. As you can imagine, the migration season is horrible on my nerves.

The begins in San Francisco where beautiful blonde socialite Melanie Daniels, played by Tippi Hedren, who meets the handsome Mitch Brenner, played by Rod Taylor, in a bird shop. The two grow more interested in each other all the while, the birds around them seem to be up to something. When Melanie arrives in Mitch's peaceful seaside town on the Pacific Coast, their meeting is interrupted when she is attacked by sea gulls. Melanie meets Mitch's family, consisting of his sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright) and his mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy). She also discovers Mitch's past lover affair with Cathy's school teacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette). As these relationships progress, the bird attacks become more serious and deadly until it comes to the point the birds seem to be bringing forth the apocalypse and taking over the world.

I admit, it is a little unbelievable to think of the world descending into a chaotic swarm of feathers and talons, but Hitch takes it in a way that makes it not only completely believable but downright frightening. Again, there are several Hitchcock trademarks in the film, such as the use of multiple shots from many angles to create feels of chaos and loss of control. Color is used in this film, though most people associate Hitch with more black and white films. The color green is also used prominently throughout the course of the film, including the same green suit Tippi is wearing in every shot of the film. The film also has no musical score to it.

The town of Bodega Bay has features on the filming of the movie in the town where the movie is set, which you can read here. The website filminamerica.com has great resources for you to find the locations of the film and explore them for yourself, which you can see here. Though Hitchcock enjoyed shooting in the studio more than on location, a lot of the location shots are still there and many people like to go visit them, on a sort of creepy Hitchcock/Birds Tour, if you will. The TCM blog Movie Morlocks has also

done this article on the trailers for the film.

The Birds is an essential film for any horror, suspense, thriller, Hitchcock, or just movie buff in general.

Plan Your Own Night of Fright

Want to plan your own classic horror movie marathon and don't know where to start? I've found a few good resources you can use to set up your scary movie night and ensure that everyone leaves with a good fright. Each of these websites helps rate and discuss horror movies so you can plan which films are the ones for you.

At lovetoknow.com they have a constant rating systems of all of the best horror movies, new and old, which you can find here. They have the title, a very brief summary and an explanation as to why this is the "best" film in the genre. The list is pretty short, but its a great place to begin when looking for what type of film you want to show.

One of my favorite sites, film-site.org, also has a good introduction to classic horror films. Here under their little intro to what makes a horror film, you can find a list of the best horror movies of the early days. This page on the gives you a brief history of the beginnings of horror film, showing you some of the best and well-known horror films as well as some of the best but not so well known ones.

Don't want your movie marathon to show some classics? Want to have a more original style? Well, here are a list of some good sites for your B Horror Movie Marathon. First and foremost, I would go to B-Horror.com and use all of the links they have. I've found another page here with a list of some great b-horror movies from the Fifties and Sixties. A site where you can learn about and preview the B's is at bmovies.com. And here is a forum that might be helpful where people have come online to discuss their favorite B's and what would make a good horror marathon. 

The site best-horror-movies.com does just that. Here is there homepage and from that you can access tons of lists, databases and resources to find the cream of the crop where horror films are concerned. There is a list for everyone who wants to watch a scary movie here, from gift shops, to video rentals, to zombies to DVD purchases. Just about anything and everything can be found on this site.

The site classicmovies.com has done a list of the scariest movies for Halloween that you can access here. The movies are listed alphabetically with links to the analysis, synopsis and reviews of the movies themselves. This is the perfect site for planning your classic horror movie night.

Perhaps the best of the best, you can go onto the American Film Institute's website and get their list of 100 YEARS...100 THRILLS for the Institute's top picks of horror movies. These films were picked by the actors, directors, critics, and film experts who spent long hard hours voting and analyzing each film. So, if you're an academic or just want the tough stuff done for you, I would really recommend using the films from this list.

For those of you who want a humorous, modern look at film, I would recommend looking through the annals of slashfilm.com. The horror section of their site, which you can find here, allows you to leaf through the past blog entries on their site. They have updates on upcoming horror films, trailers, articles on past films, reviews, and so many good resources for those of you who want a more recent approach to horror. 

I hope I've been helpful in your quest to put together the perfect night of fright for this Halloween. 

Poster Design: The Art of Horror

Before you go into a movie theatre, what is usually the first thing you see as you go in? The movie posters lining the walls, which are supposed to attract you inside, of course. In today's world, computers have made graphic design such an easy task, but before you could make art with a few clicks of a mouse, most of these posters were hand-drawn, completely created by the designers from scratch to make beautiful works of art. Since horror is the topic of the month, I'm going to focus on two horror artists in particular: Reynold Brown and Saul Bass.

Saul Bass is probably most famous for the designing of several Hitchcock movie posters including Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho. He also worked on two drama posters for The Man with the Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder. Bass did some famous non-horror posters as well, such as the ones for Carmen Jones, Around the World in Eighty Days, The Seven Year Itch and The Big Country. Bass's career spanned forty years and in addition to posters, he also did film title sequences and company logos. Bass worked for such legendary directors as Hitchcock, Kubrick, Sorcsese and Preminger. His posters all have a unique style to them.

Another famous artist who did several horror posters is Reynold Brown. Brown's posters were wide range from different genres, ages, and success levels. Many of his beautifully done posters are b-movies, though the posters themselves are Grade A. His posters include ones done for Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Pit and the Pendulum, House on Haunted Hill, Tarantula, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and The Time Machine. Some of his famous non-horror posters include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Spartacus, Ben-Hur, King of Kinds, How the West Was Won, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Alamo.

In the past few decades, collecting vintage film memorabilia, especially these posters, has become an incredibly competitive commercial market. Many such

posters are extremely rare and it is common for people to screen printer illegal or unlicensed copies of them to sell. To date, the most expensive movie poster sold on record was the one made for Fritz Lang's Metropolis, which sold to a collector for $690,000. Serious collectors are willing to drop some major cash in order to add to their collection, but that doesn't mean you can't see these beautiful works of art for yourself.

I have found several websites that have excellent online galleries and stores for you to buy posters (both actual and replicas), if any of you are interested. Cinemacom.com has a wonderful collection of beautiful posters that you can view for free in their online galleries.

Cinemasterpieces.com buys, sells, and auctions posters, but you can look at them online for free. The site Hammerhorrorposters.com has several horror posters for you to view, histories of the posters, and is a great resource if you want to know more about the posters or collecting them. Movie posters even have their own awards, the Key Art Awards sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter on the internet is the Internet Movie Poster Awards (IMP Awards) and here you can view several award nominated and revered poster artists.

Portrait of a Mama's Boy: Norman Bates

One of the essential Hitchcock films is the frightening psychological thriller Psycho. The film itself is extremely iconic and everyone, even those who have not seen the film, know the suspense and terror connected to Janet Leigh's famous shower scene. I watched the movie this evening on Turner Classic Movies, and even almost fifty years after the film was initially released, Psycho is still as terrifying as ever.

The film is almost two stories in one. At the beginning, secretary Marion Crane (Leigh) wants nothing more than to marry out-of-town secret boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin). When her boss gives her $40,000 to put in the bank, Marion battles with her conscience and finally decides to leave with the money and join Sam so they can start their life together. Suddenly, Marion gets the feeling that she is being followed, that the her boss has turned her in and the police are on her tale. She buys a new car to throw them off her track and then, after a raining night of driving on the highway, Marion finds herself at the out of the way Bates Motel. There she meets the shy Norman (Anthony Perkins), a strange young man with an interesting relationship with his mother. There the film diverges and we are plunged into following the crimes of a deeply disturbed murderer.

Hitch's last black and white film, Psycho was shot so because black and white was inexpensive and blood looks more gory in color. Hitchcock used a variety of camera angles, lighting effects, and shifts to create the eerie atmosphere in Psycho. In order to make his audience feel like voyeurs, a 50 mm lens was used on a 33 mm camera to give it the same appearance as looking through a person's eyes. Hitch is also famous for using tons of different angles and shots to make one scene. The shower scene alone uses somewhere between 70 and 90 different shots spliced together to make the same scene, a scene lasting only 45 seconds. Another little bit of trivia, this is the first movie to have a scene where the audience actually sees a flushing toilet.

The film was #1 on AFI's 100 Thrills list and #14 on the 100 Movies. The quote "A boy's best friend is his mother" was ranked #56 on AFI's top movie quotes. Of course, this film does have those who dislike in. In fact, Walt Disney would never allow Hitch to make a film for him or use any sets at Disneyland because Hitch was the one who made "that disgusting movie" Psycho.

Still, Psycho remains incredibly popular with audiences to this day. For those of you who want to know more about the movie, you can get some more information from these sites. Filmsite.org has a great analysis and review of the movie you can read here. Another website, House of Horrors, offers up a great analysis, review, and some fun and behind the scenes facts about the movie any film buff would be interested in, which you can find here. For those of you who love this movie so much you want to memorize every word, here you can find online a complete transcript of the entire movie. Psycho is a movie that will terrify but it might also become one of your new favorites. I highly recommend watching it, with the lights on of course.