Tuesdays with Lorre: The Big Circus (1959)
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Tuesdays with Lorre: The Big Circus (1959)

Universal Spoiler Alert: Didn’t think too much of this film, so warning, spoilers throughout. Having already provided me with a DVD-R of the Peter Lorre vehicle Mask of Dimitrios, long-time FoJ Roger H., then kindly volunteered to burn me a copy of another Lorre flick, The Big Circus. Sadly, while Mask of Dimitrios is…
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RIP Emi Itô
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RIP Emi Itô

This is getting seriously depressing. Emi Itô on the right. Miss Itô died nearly a month ago, on June 15th, but the news just filtered down to me. I'm sure many of you were already aware of it. For the rest of us, it's sad tidings of another old friend departing us. Ms. Itô…
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Monster of the Day #512
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Monster of the Day #512

A holdover from last week's Repurposed Monsters theme. Bonus: Here's the same guy playing Professor X in that Columbo / X-Men crossover. The '70s were a weird decade. Anyway, a more versatile actor than people gave him credit for.
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RIP Ernest Borgnine
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RIP Ernest Borgnine

Extremely sad news, as one of the very last of the greatest Hollywood character actors, Ernest Borgnine, has passed away. In this extremely long and busy career, Mr. Borgnine played it all. He specialized in great villains, but he also played some of the best lovable coots ever. Moreover, if you call up an…
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RIP Andy Griffith
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RIP Andy Griffith

Not just Andy Taylor (in what is probably one of the five greatest sitcoms of all time) or Mattlock, although either--especially the first--would be enough. I really loved his show Salvage 1, in which he played an entrepreneur who launched his own private space rocket to the moon despite government interference. Mr. Griffith also…
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Tuesdays with Lorre: Hell Ship Mutiny (1957)
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Tuesdays with Lorre: Hell Ship Mutiny (1957)

Well, I’ve been spoiled, so I was due for a comeuppance sooner or later. Lately I’ve been feasting on movies made during Peter Lorre’s best period, when he was a contract player at Warner Brothers. He didn’t star in many of these films; indeed, some of his roles were depressingly scant. Still, he was…
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