Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Post about classic films and films related to combat sports and history.
On November 1, 1931, Weiss Brothers Artclass Pictures released The Phantom (1931), a low-budget thriller. The film opens with a death row inmates escape from the prison on the day of his execution. After he jumps from the prison wall to the top of the train, a plane with a rope ladder picks up the prisoner. While the opening sounds
On March 4, 1922, F.W. Murnau released Nosferatu (1922). Nosferatu was Murnau’s adaptation of the Dracula novel by Bram Stoker. Murnau neglected to purchase the rights to film the story from Stoker’s estate, which almost led to this film being lost to film viewers. Stoker’s widow successfully sued Murnau and the German film company that produced the motion picture. The
On Thanksgiving Weekend 1944, Paramount Pictures released One Body Too Many, a comedy-mystery film starring Jack Haley. Haley famously played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (1939). The film also starred Jean Parker, Lyle Talbot, Douglas Fowley and Bela Lugosi in supporting roles. One Body Too Many begins with millionaire Cyrus J. Rutherford’s heirs gathered to hear the
Minor film company Conn Pictures Company released Tough to Handle (1937) on May 24, 1937. Director S. Roy Luby pairs “B” film stars Kane Richmond and Frankie Darro in this story of phony lottery tickets. Grandpa Sanford believe he won the lottery. Grandpa will be able to use the money to improve the circumstances of his grandchildren, Mike, played by
I wanted to write about one of my favorite movies, The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935). It is an adaptation of the novel by the same name, written by Baroness Orczy. The film (affiliate link) concerns an English peer, who risks his life by saving French aristocrats from the guillotine. The story is complicated by the fact the peer is married to
In one of the last films in the series, British authorites recruit Sherlock Holmes to protect the young heir to a European throne. Universal Pictures released Pursuit to Algiers (1945) on October 26, 1945. Basil Rathbone returns for the twelfth of fourteen times as Sherlock Holmes. Nigel Bruce again plays his assistant Dr. John Watson. As the film begins, Sherlock
On July 7, 1939, Twentieth Century-Fox Films released the final Mr. Moto “B” film starring Peter Lorre as Inspector Kentaro Moto. Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation finds Mr. Moto accompanying the Queen of Sheba’s Crown from its discovery in an Egyptian archaeological site to a San Francisco museum. Mr. Moto suspects the arch criminal Metaxess, who authorities believed was dead, intends
Monogram Pictures released So’s Your Aunt Emma! (1942) on April 17, 1942. Zasu Pitts stars as Aunt Emma Bates. In her youth, Aunt Emma was engaged to up-and-coming professional fighter Jim O’Banion. Her sister didn’t approve of the match, so they sent her on a trip to break up the couple. Aunt Emma regretted it and starts following the career
Twentieth Century – Fox Film Company released the fourth Mr. Moto film, Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938), on June 24, 1938. Lou Breslow and John Patrick set the film in Cambodia allowing Twentieth-Century Fox to use stock footage of the recently discovered ruins of Angkor Wat. The discovery of Angkor Wat captured the attention of the American public. Many
On August 19, 1943, Columbia Pictures released Passport to Suez (1943). Warren William plays Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf, for the final time in this film. The film opens in Alexandria, Egypt, where Lanyard has just arrived. Lanyard meets up with his old friend Johnny Booth, a successful cafe’ owner. However, Lanyard’s real purpose is a mission for British Intelligence.