Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Post about classic films and films related to combat sports and history.
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) is the first of twelve Sherlock Holmes films made by Universal Pictures. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce reprise their roles as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson respectively. Universal set the series in the 1940s despite the fact that the literary Sherlock Holmes was 60 years old in 1914. In a good deal
The Trap (1946) is the last Charlie Chan film starring Sidney Toler as Inspector Chan. The eleventh of eleven Charlie Chan films that Toler made for Monogram Pictures, it marks the return of Victor Sen Yung as “No. 2 Son Jimmy”. Toler was deathly ill during the filming, so Jimmy and Birmingham Brown, played by Mantan Moreland, handle most of
The Canary Murder Case (1929) was originally shot as a silent film. However, the Paramount Studio executive thought it would be better as a talking picture. The studio delayed the release until they could add sound to the film. The addition of sound was not without its challenges. Unfortunately, one of the main stars of the film, Louise Brooks, had
Since the beginning of commercial film making, production companies are always looking for new content. Film companies have always used popular books as a source of content and inspiration. Since the 1950s, popular television shows provided film adaptations and inspiration. In the early days of talking films, popular radio shows led to many film adaptations. Lum and Abner, Jack Benny,
Murder Over New York (1940) is one of the later editions of the Charlie Chan series for Twentieth-Century Fox Productions. In this film, Inspector Chan is assisting his old friend from Scotland Yard, Inspector Drake, find a group of saboteurs. The spies intend to sabotage some test air craft in New York. Inspector Drake is tracing Paul Narvo, who leads
H.G. Wells wrote the story of Things to Come, which was turned into a film in 1936. The film opens during Christmas 1940 in Everytown (obviously London) right before the outbreak of war. The war lasts almost thirty years before “the Airmen” led by John Cabal, a former resident of Everytown, leads the survivors to victory over the remaining war
The first Mr. Moto film starring Peter Lorre as Japanese jujitsu expert Kentaro Moto sees Mr. Moto tracking down a smuggling ring leader. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation released Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937) on July 27, 1937. Peter Lorre would play Mr. Moto seven more times for Twentieth Century – Fox. Mr. Moto disguises himself as a peddler and
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy star in one of my favorite holiday films, Babe in Toyland (affiliate link) or March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934). It is normally shown around Thanksgiving. This film features Stan Laurel as Stannie Dum and Oliver Hardy as Ollie Dee, who are trying to help Mother Peep, the little old women in the shoe. Barnaby, the wicked
On October 14, 1938, 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation released the fifth of eight Mr. Moto Films starring Peter Lorre as Interpol Policeman Kentaro Moto. In Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938), Mr. Moto infiltrates a prison and helps a prisoner escape to discover the plans of his criminal organization. Mr. Moto breaks international criminal Paul Brissac, played by Leon Ames, out of
In the first of the three Shadow films from Monogram Pictures starring Kane Richomond, a number of citizens have fallen from windows to their death. Two of the men seemingly commit suicide in front of Lamont Cranston, the Shadow, and Inspector Cordonna played by Joseph Crehan. Crehan was a character actor who often played policeman in films such as The