The world awakens on another Where Eagles Dare Wednesday. Let’s begin the day with something about my favorite movie.
Here we have Richard Burton, an unidentified actor and director Brian G. Hutton shooting on location. Is Hutton giving some sort of direction or praying everything goes OK with the next take?
Directed by W. Lee Wilder
Starring Paul Langton, Leslie Denison, Teru Shimada, Rollin Moriyama
Billy Wilder’s brother directs a cheap little picture about the Yeti that plays like a remake of King Kong (1933). Count me in!
The Snow Creature (1954) is coming to Blu-Ray from the folks at Vinegar Syndrome Labs — and you can bet that it’s gonna be gorgeous (scanned in 4K from 35mm fine grain material).
I’m a fan of almost all Yeti/Bigfoot movies, and this is one of my favorites.
Filed under 1954, DVD/Blu-ray News, United Artists, Vinegar Syndrome Labs
Directed by Lesley Selander
Starring John Hodiak, Barbara Britton, Bruce Bennett, Jess Barker, Gerald Mohr, Chuck Connors, Frank Ferguson, Fess Parker, James Wong
Lesley Selander’s Dragonfly Squadron (1954) is a pretty solid Korean War picture from Allied Artists — based on the Unites States’ role in training the South Korean Air Force pilots. It was shot in 3-D in 1953, but released flat in early 1954.
The fine folks at the 3-D Film Archive have tracked down and restored the 3-D elements for this deluxe Blu-Ray edition, coming soon from BayView Entertainment. Dragonfly Squadron is accompanied by a slew of bonus 3-D rarities and extras. (Mike Ballew and I team up for a commentary on Dragonfly Squadron.) This is gonna be cool.
That’s right, folk! It’s another Where Eagles Dare Wednesday, so let’s take a look at something with my favorite movie.
Here’s a cool production shot of the scene where the team jumps from the cable car into the cold stream below — as part of their escape.
Filed under Where Eagles Dare Wednesday
Vinegar Syndrome has a new sub label, Iconoscope, focused on TV. They’ve just announced a Blu-Ray set of the never-aired series The Veil, hosted by none other than Boris Karloff.
12 episodes were produced in 1958, directed by folks like Arthur Hiller, George Waggner and Herbert L. Strock — and starring Patrick Macnee, Katharine Squire, Torin Thatcher, Whit Bissell, George Hamilton and others.
The Veil has been scanned in 4K from rare archival film elements, all 12 episodes, and as you can expect from Vinegar Syndrome, there will be a slew of extras. This series has never seen a nice-looking release, or a complete one (as far as I’m aware). Vinegar Syndrome does wonderful work, and I know this thing’s gonna be terrific. Highly, highly recommended.
Here’s the last Where Eagles Dare Wednesday of 2025. Without further ado, here’s a little something about my favorite movie.
Darren Nesbitt’s turn as Major von Hapen of the SS in Where Eagles Dare is a memorable one, though he certainly suffered for his art.
He came out OK, thank goodness, and Mr. Nesbitt is still with us at 90.
Filed under 1968, Where Eagles Dare Wednesday
All good stuff, all night long. And I’m all bummed out that I wasn’t at Tampa’s Hillsboro 2 Drive-In 54 years ago.
Not sure what you’re doing tonight, but I hope it’s fun, safe and involves The Green Slime (1970). Catch you in 2026!
Filed under 1966, 1968, 1970, 1971, AIP, Barry Sullivan, Eiji Tsuburaya, Ishirō Honda, John Agar, Luciana Paluzzi, Mario Bava, Merry Anders, MGM, Nick Adams, Time Machine Film Festival, Toho, Wendell Corey
Directed by Sam Newfield
Starring George Zucco, Wanda McKay, Robert Livingston, Charles B. Middleton, Glenn Strange, I. Stanford Jolley
OK, so 2026 is officially shaping up to be something. Film Masters has just announced an upcoming Blu-Ray of PRC’s cheap mystery The Black Raven (1943).
Directed by Sam Newfield and with a cast that includes George Zucco, Glenn Strange and the lovely Wanda McKay from Bowery At Midnight (1942) and Voodoo Man (1944), The Black Raven is 61 minutes of Poverty Row perfection.
This is the kinda stuff so many of us are dying to get ahold of, and we can count on Film Masters to come through with something nice to look at. Recommended!
Filed under DVD/Blu-ray News, Film Masters, George Zucco, Glenn Strange, Poverty Row, PRC, Sam Newfield, Wanda McKay
The purist/obsessive/weirdo in me loves it when a two-for Blu-Ray recreates a double feature that actually played “in the wild.” And here we have one: The Crawling Hand and The Slime People (both 1963), coming from VCI in April.
The Crawling Hand
Directed by Herbert L. Strock
Starring Peter Breck, Kent Taylor, Rod Lauren, Alan Hale, Allison Hayes, Richard Arlen
An astronaut’s disembodied hand is found near a crash site. It’s found by a young medical student who is quickly possessed by an alien “inhabiting” the hand — and begins the usual murderous rampage.
The Slime People
Directed by Robert Hutton
Starring Robert Hutton, Les Tremayne, Robert Burton, Susan Hart
After being disturbed by underground atomic tests, the slime people decide to come to the surface and invade Los Angeles. A small group of survivors try to find a way through the slime people’s wall of fog to stop their reign of terror.
These ultra-cheap movies aren’t any good, but they’re a real hoot. VCI has a nice stack of commentaries and extras planned for this one. The old DVD of these looked pretty nice, so I’m excited about this one.
Filed under 1963, Allison Hayes, DVD/Blu-ray News, VCI
The Forest Park Drive-In took the words right out of my mouth. Merry Christmas, y’all!
Filed under Uncategorized
The Hannibal 8 