Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Post about classic films and films related to combat sports and history.
On December 1, 1944, Universal Pictures released the latest horror film in the Frankenstein series, House of Frankenstein, with an all-star cast. Boris Karloff, who originally played Frankenstein’s monster, returns to the series as the mad scientist Dr. Niemann. An earthquake releases him and his hunchbacked assistant Daniel from prison. Dr. Niemann intends to exact revenge on the men who
On January 10, 1927, Universum Film (UFA) released Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The German film company produced a science fiction class, which still holds up today. On the Internet Movie Database website (IMDB), users rate it 8.3 out of 10 stars. It is #104 on the Top 250. In a theme society has wrestled with since the beginning of the
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) released After The Thin Man (1936), the sequel to the popular Thin Man (1934), on Christmas Day 1936. The film is one of 14 films William Powell and Myrna Loy made together. Powell and Loy play Dashiell Hammet’s characters Nick and Nora Charles respectively. Nick Charles formerly worked as a private detective before marrying the wealthy heiress Nora.
Fritz Lang made one of his early crime films in 1922. He directed Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922), which ran approximately four hours and thirty minutes. It tells the story of Dr. Mabuse, a professor of psychoanalysis. He is also the leader of a criminal ring in the mold of Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes series. In his multiple
Midnight Manhunt (1945) is set in a wax museum, where a thief has died after being shot in his apartment. Making his way to the wax museum, the man was the subject of a police manhunt for stolen diamonds. Two reporters are vying for the story and trying to solve the case before the police do. A secret agent played
On May 11, 1931, Fritz Lang’s classic film M (affiliate link) was released in Berlin, Germany. Besides being on most lists for the top 100 films of all time, Fritz Lang believed his finest film was M (1931). The film is the story of a series of child murders that are occurring in Berlin. The police are determined to catch the killer
During the Golden Age of Radio, the Shadow was a crusading crime fighter named Lamont Cranston. In this 1933 English film produced by Real Arts Productions, the Shadow is a villainous murderer and blackmailer. The film opens up with the Shadow demanding payment from a famous lawyer. The Shadow promises to expose the lawyer who can’t pay. Facing exposure and
Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940) starring Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan is my favorite Charlie Chan film. Charlie Chan is searching for a murderer in a wax museum. The wax museum is a front for a plastic surgeon, who changes the appearance of wanted criminals for a price. The surgeon Dr. Cream, played by C. Henry Gordon, also
On January 10, 1940, Rowland V. Lee released his low-budget feature film The Son of Monte Cristo (1940) through United Artists. Rowland V. Lee started directing films in 1920 and would make 59 films before retiring in 1945. In this film, Louis Hayward plays The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmund Dantes, Jr. The Count inherits his father’s money and the
The Gorilla (1939) is a comedy-mystery “B” film starring the Ritz Brothers, Joseph Calleia, Bela Lugosi and Lionell Atwill. The film was produced by Twentieth-Century Fox before they quit making “B” films, the first film on a double bill. The Ritz Brothers were active between 1925 and the 1960s, when Al Ritz the oldest brother passed away. The brothers made