Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about classic films including many with a combat sports tie-in.
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.
In the sixth of eight Mr. Moto films released between 1937 and 1939, Interpol police officer Kentaro Moto pursues a group of international saboteurs. Twentieth Century – Fox Film Corporation released Mr. Moto’s Last Warning (1939) (affiliate link) on January 20, 1939. Peter Lorre returns as the cerebral but deadly Mr. Moto. Ricardo Cortez plays Fabian the Great, a ventriloquist,
Scrooge (1935) is Twickenham Studios version of the Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol. Seymour Hicks plays Ebenezer Scrooge, the miserly owner of a London business. He employs an assistant named Bob Cratchit. Scrooge will eventually meet three ghosts on Christmas Eve, who will cause a miraculous change in Scrooge’s attitude towards Christmas and his assistant. Seymour Hicks was born
I first heard about Chang Apana in a featurette on one of the Charlie Chan DVD sets. I knew a real life detective inspired Earl Derr Biggers to create Charlie Chan. I did not know who the man was. Chang Apana was that man. Chang Apana (born Ah Ping Chang) on December 26, 1871 on the island of Oahu was
The series of the Charlie Chan films starring Warner Oland were probably the strongest films in the Charlie Chan series. Sidney Toler made several good films also but eventually the series would become low-budget “B” films produced by Monogram Pictures. Charlie Chan’s Secret (1936) was one of the earlier Twentieth-Century Fox films about Charlie Chan. The production values are better
Chester Gould created the Dick Tracy comic strip in 1931. Originally published through the Detroit Metro, the strip moved to the Chicago Tribune where it made the paper and Gould rich through syndication. It was only a matter of time before Dick Tracy made his debut on the silver screen. Ralph Byrd played Dick Tracy in four 15 chapter serials
The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935) is an adaptation of one of the Ellery Queen novels. Two cousins, Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee, who wrote a number of detective novels under the pseudonym of the title character. In this film, Ellery Queen is taking a vacation to California with his friend Judge Macklin. Of course, they are not long into their
What happens is the first commercially successful art film. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) was released in January 1920 becoming a German and international sensation. It marked the beginning of the German film revival during the 1920s The German Expressionist Movement in German art strongly influenced this film. Expressionist painters drew buildings sloped at odd angles, oddly shaped furniture,