Velvet Fog

Taking years as he reveled in the eccentric, outlandish neo-noir mystery thriller landscape he was writing, David Lynch then went on to direct his violent, erotic, drug infused crime caper, calling it Blue Velvet (1986) – with the 1963 song of the same name sung by Bobby Vinton being a big influence on the picture. Though set in the time it was made, the suburban Lumberton feels like it is stuck in the 1950s. Airing a vibe that is more than a touch off-putting, there is no semblance of things being in the right – all seemingly out of time and place. The billboards resemble another era, most of the cars are thirty years old, and lounge singers are popular again.

A slightly more obscure giallo released during the heyday of the craze, co-writer/director Silvio Amadio’s Smile Before Death (1972) is a psychological mystery thriller that certainly pushes the boundaries of the already boundary-pushing Italian genre. Amadio starts with a wild opener, as wealthy Dorothy Emerson (Zora Gheorgieva) is found brutally murdered by an unknown assailant... with it promptly being classified as a suicide by the incompetent police, this then turns into a slow burner of sorts.

Leaning heavily into advertising their latest picture as a horror film, Hammer promptly used its trailers and advertising posters to highlight those spooky aspects, going so far as to name it Night Creatures (1962) for the United States market, while in England, they went with the more accurate title of Captain Clegg – focusing on the swashbuckling action adventure elements that revolve around pirates, smugglers, and the Royal Navy. Set in the eighteenth century, the story follows the supposed death of the infamous titular pirate Captain Clegg in 1776, who has been hanged to death by the Royal Navy for his long list of crimes... but not before Clegg maroons one of his men (Milton Reid) and cuts out his tongue for assaulting his beloved wife.

One of the major films to challenge the Hays Code before it finally failed in 1968 (to be replaced with our modern rating system) was also one of the first to usher in what is called New Hollywood (putting an end to the traditional Hollywood System), namely, the biographical crime drama Bonnie and Clyde (1967), directed by Arthur Penn. Based upon the real life bank robbers, Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) is a bored amateur poet and waitress in her early twenties looking for any adventure to come her way during the crippling Great Depression... Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty – McCabe & Mrs. Miller) just so happens to be a recently released convict that she spots and becomes infatuated with.

Nestled between two of Cecil B. DeMille’s massively successful historical epics (that he is so well known for), namely The Sign of the Cross (1932) and Cleopatra (1934), he directed two box office failures, This Day and Age (1933) and the movie reviewed here today, Four Frightened People (1934). Released just prior to the end of the Pre-Code era, DeMille’s early dramatic jungle adventure was reworked on the fly – which is partially why it is one of the iconic director’s middling efforts.

If you’re a huge fan of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, then this one will be a bit of a weird watch for you... as it is the only film the latter star appears in without his iconic straight man (the pair had dissolved their partnership in 1957). Also away from their typical Universal Studios, this one comes from Columbia. A clear take on 1958's Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, the director Sidney Miller promptly brought forward the sci-fi comedy parody The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959).