Thriller & Mystery > Universal Thriller & Mystery

Thirty Nine Steps Strikes Again

Advantages: Now in Multi-Colour
Disadvantages: Not directed by Hitchcock

With the 'Thirty Nine Steps' you are spoilt for choice - there is the Robert Donat version from the 1930's this Kenneth More film from the 50's and then the Robert Powell cover from the 70's. Although all three are based on the John Buchan novel, written around 1915, they all vary in the way it is portrayed, but all are equally enjoyable and available on DVD. There is much debate about the various merits of each one, but the 1935 original with Robert ...
...of that film down to the sets and individual shots but has adopted the use of colour not readily available in the 1930s. Arguably, the the latest version is said my some to lack the wit and charm of its p In any case, this is a classic British spy mystery set in 1914 and Europe is on the brink of war. Richard Hannay gets more than he bargained for when he brings home a mysterious woman who confesses to be a British agent on the hot trail of a dangerous ...

WayWizard 07.05.2007 · Read full review
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Review of The Thirty Nine Steps (DVD)

A BAD Night At The Opera

Advantages: One of the best in the Charlie Chan series, Boris Karloff, great characters, fun
Disadvantages: None

Starring: Warner Oland as Charlie Chan Keye Luke as Lee Chan (Number One Son) Boris Karloff as Gravelle William Demarest as Sergeant Kelly I really L*O*V*E the old Charlie Chan films! These wonderful classics are so cute and funny, yet have such gripping and clever stories as well. This 1936 offering is a particularly good one, noted on IMDb as 'Regarded by many as the best of the Charlie Chan series', and I wholeheartedly agree with that opinion. ...
...local police station, in comes Charlie Chan together with his catchphrase 'Thank you so much.' The police captain shows Charlie the discarded newspaper that Boris, who we now learn is a once-famous opera singer called Gravelle, had been reading. The page containing the article about Madame Lilli has been torn and displays a heel mark across her photo. 'Heel mark on face of beautiful lady most significant,' Charlie remarks sagely. 'Heel on picture ...

thereddragon 13.08.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Charlie Chan - At The Opera (DVD)

Shame he came back…

Advantages: Erm…
Disadvantages: Not very exciting storyline, much over-acting

Introduction I love Sherlock Holmes - I was brought up by my father reading Conan Doyle to me - and still enjoy the stories as an adult. It is a hard role to portray successfully on TV, but some actors have done it, particularly Jeremy Brett, whom I adore as Holmes, and Basil Rathbone. Rathbone starred in 14 films as Sherlock Holmes and was particularly good in The Hound of the Baskervilles; unfortunately the directors/screen-writers saw fit to ...
...the original stories. One up-rooted Sherlock Holmes and Watson from the late 19th century to the middle of the Second World War - something that can only be partially explained by the fact that it is a propaganda film with the aim of rousing the British public to victory. This particular film is again based on a non-Conan Doyle story. The director William Neill was born in a ship off the coast of Ireland in 1887. He directed a number of Sherlock ...

sunmeilan 27.01.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Sherlock Holmes - Pursuit To Algiers (DVD)

The 39 Steps - Unmissable Hitchcock Thriller

Advantages: Robert Donat, one of Hitchcock's favourites in action
Disadvantages: None

Alfred Hitchcock's adaptation of the John Buchan novel"The 39 Steps" produced in 1935 was the 24th film that he directed. Voted into the British Film Institute's top 5 British Films. It runs for 106 minutes and is in black and white. A classic Hitchcock thriller based upon the mistaken identity theme, starts with Richard Hannay, brilliantly portrayed by Robert Donat) meeting the exotic "icy blonde" (Lucie Mannheim) at music hall show presenting ...
...she is being followed. In the night she appears to him with a knife in her back, clutching a map and muttering something about the "39 Steps", telling him the leader has a portion of his little finger missing. Fleeing to Scotland as he is wanted by the police he meets Pamela (Madeleine Carrol) who acts as his accomplice after they are handcuffed together, something Hitchcock did hours before the filming started, and the first time Donat and Carrol ...

jackwilliams86 03.05.2007 · Read full review
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Review of The 39 Steps (DVD)

Murder at the mansion

Advantages: Great little mystery
Disadvantages: very old and looks it in places

...series of novels written in the mid to late 1930’s by Hugh Wiley and appeared in a magazine called Colliers. They were popular enough amongst the magazines readers that it wasn’t too long before the character was taken up by Monogram, who were looking for the own oriental detective to put onto the movie screens. They wanted someone to compete with Mr Moto and, especially, Charlie Chan two popular screen detectives at the time. In the usual way of ...
...for the part instead picking on Boris Karloff. He soon agreed, seeing the intelligent and suave Chinaman as a promising part. Mr. Wong never had any official capacity in his crime solving endeavours, not even as a Private Detective, but was often asked to help by individuals in trouble or by his fellow Chinese immigrants in San Francisco. The Mystery of Mr. Wong is a clever little mystery movie starring Boris Karloff as the highly educated and extremely ...

Ailran 01.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Mystery Of Mr Wong (DVD)