Moose And The Movies

I stumbled across this double-feature Blu-ray from Kino Lorber recently while doing a little window shopping. I had never seen a Vincent Price movie beyond his short appearance in Edward Scissorhands shortly before his death. But this looked interesting, and it was at a great price point for an impulse blind buy. So I let my curiosity take control. These two titles from the British arm of B-movie factory American International Pictures were released in 1971 and 1972. Both were hits in America with the drive-in and midnight-movie crowds. The first one in particular -- The Abominable Dr. Phibes -- was highly regarded in its day and has become known as a horror-comedy classic. Both were directed by an Englishman named Robert Fuest, chiefly known in the industry as a production designer and screenwriter. His highest-profile work were the two Dr. Phibes movies and the British TV series The Avengers. OK. That's enough background. I'm off to watch The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phi...

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, 1982, directed by Carl Reiner, Kino Lorber blu-ray (2021), 3.5 stars. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. As a matter of fact, they never even made 'em like this before. What a refreshingly unique concept. Carl Reiner and screenwriter George Gipe spent months culling short clips from old movies. With Steve Martin, they outlined a plot and a lot of jokes and sight gags around all those old clips. The result was this black-and-white film noir parody in which Martin plays scenes with people like Cary Grant, Vincent Price, Bette Davis, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart et. al. It's really clever and pretty funny in that Steve Martin way. This movie definitely keeps you on your toes -- you don't want to tune out at any point so as not to miss something. I had a good time with it. If you're a big fan of those old noir films (which I am not), I'm certain you'd love this. I did not appreciate this much when I first saw it on a ...