(Image courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome.) By Lee Pfeiffer Vinegar Syndrome has released a special edition of the 1968 whodunnit Western "5 Card Stud". It's an unusual title for the company, which generally specializes in releasing first rate special editions of obscure cult films and vintage erotica. The film was a follow-up project between veteran producer Hal Wallis and director Henry Hathaway, who had great success with their 1965 Western "The Sons of Katie Elder" which top-lined John Wayne and Dean Martin, who were reunited six years after co-starring in Howard Hawks' classic "Rio Bravo ..read more

By Lee Pfeiffer "Sweet November", released in 1968, came and went without generating much enthusiasm from critics or the public. Produced the estimable team of Jerry Gershwin and Elliott Kastner, who would go on to make "Where Eagles Dare", the film is a romantic comedy set in Brooklyn Heights, just across the river from Manhattan decades before the area was deemed to be hip. Anthony Newley is Charlie Blake, a stuffy British import to Gotham who is the workaholic president of a company that manufactures cardboard boxes. You know the type: no time for love or laughs and just perfect to be taug ..read more

In this appearance on "The Dick Cavett Show", director Blake Edwards shows some of his prized bloopers from the set of "A Shot in the Dark" starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. Even the normally dour George Sanders can't resist cracking up ..read more

Dan Blocker, who played the gentle giant Hoss Cartwright on "Bonanza", rarely gave personal interviews but he made an exception in 1971, sitting down with entertainment journalist Bobby Wygant. Blocker discusses his travels, his prediction for the show's future and family aspects of life Tragically, he would die the very next year at age 43 ..read more

By  Fred Blosser In “Man-Eater of Kumaon,” a 1948 feature now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, Dr. John Collins (Wendell Corey) undertakes an ill-fated big-game hunt in the distant land of the movie’s title—an actual region of India in the Himalayan foothills, not a fantasy world orbiting somewhere between planets Coruscant and Dune as the exotic name might suggest nowadays. Stalking a tiger in the underbrush, Collins inflicts an agonizing but not fatal injury as his bullet severs one of the tiger’s toes. His Indian guides warn that the wounded tiger will begin atta ..read more

"RETRO-ACTIVE: ARTICLES FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVE" By Lee Pfeiffer We must admit that when it comes to showcasing bad movies, Cinema Retro is a bit provincial in that we tend to concentrate on misfires from English language cinema. But why not spread the wealth? After all, there are bad movies being made in every language. The good reaction we got from running the 1959 Mexican "Santa Claus" film has now inspired us to honor a bad Turkish flick, the 1972 crime thriller "Kareteci Kiz", of which we have only seen the death scene depicted here. If there is a worse scene showing the demise of ..read more

British advertisement for the 1961 double feature of "Gold of the Seven Saints" starring Clint Walker and Roger Moore and "The White Warrior" starring Steve Reeves.  ..read more

Illustrated by Illan Sheady Published by Electric Dreamhouse April 2023 Hardback 266 pages ISBN 978-1-78636-816-4 RRP: £25 Review by Adrian Smith A dissatisfied housewife brings home a stranded alien and gradually falls in love, high school students live in fear after a beautiful student is found dead, her back snapped across the gymnasium balance beam, a young teen dates the enigmatic daughter of a mad scientist, in one town aliens have actually become part of the community and started attending the local school, a late-night DJ picks up signals from across space which appear to be from his ..read more

Simpson publicity photo for the "Naked Gun" film series. (Photo: Paramount.) By Lee Pfeiffer O.J. Simpson, the American football Hall of Fame honoree who went on to develop a successful acting career, has died of cancer at age 76. In 1994, Simpson became the key suspect in the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman. The resulting trial became one of the most riveting of the modern era with TV audiences following every aspect of his case. The ensuing mania involving Simpson's fate elevated some people associated with the case to prominence while destroying the reputations of ..read more

Simpson publicity photo for the "Naked Gun" film series. (Photo: Paramount.) By Lee Pfeiffer O.J. Simpson, the American football Hall of Fame honoree who went on to develop a successful acting career, has died of cancer at age 76. In 1994, Simpson became the key suspect in the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman. The resulting trial became one of the most riveting of the modern era with TV audiences following every aspect of his case. The ensuing mania involving Simpson's fate elevated some people associated with the case to prominence while destroying the reputations of ..read more