Dracula, Taxi Drive, Youth v Gov and more

 HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945) — Dr. Edelman (Onslow Stevens) entertains uninvited guests Frankenstein, Dracula and Wolfman at his seaside mansion in this 1945 Universal bit of whimsy with creepy music, great photography and super special effects.  Dracula (John Carradine) lusts after the nurse (Martha O’Driscoll) while the gruesome trio drive the stressed out doctor to wild-eyed insanity and Frankenstein’s monster sets the mansion ablaze.  Recently available on DVD.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037793/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

SHAMPOO (1975) — In the 70s we were in a lather over Warren Beatty playing a Don Juan hairdresser,  possibly inspired by real life Hollywood hair stylist Jon Peters who became a film producer and Barbra Streisand’s boyfriend. In this film,  Beatty & company attend a fund raiser for Nixon who is on TV mouthing empty rhetoric about bringing the country together.  Coincidentally after watching Shampoo on tape I turned to Dick Cavett on Decades with Beatty offering support for Sen. George McGovern’s presidential candidacy. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073692/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

YOUTH V. GOV — Share, Connect, Act — that’s the message in the nearly 2-hour documentary (Netflix) on court cases brought by U.S. young people to prompt a government plan combatting climate change.  Yet another attempt to get this before the Supreme Court is underway by the young plaintiffs.  We need to know what are the actors in Minnesota who will advance this cause.  https://www.youthvgov.org

PLATOON (1986, US) — Director Oliver Stone in his autobiography wrote that his film told only a fragment of the true Vietnam war story.  Actor Charlie Sheen plays Stone who observes the disturbing actions of two non-commissioned officers. Stone’s script is based on his 1968 experiences when he drops out of Yale University and volunteers with the Army for frontline Vietnam warfare.  Stone’s manuscript for his biography could have benefited from heavy editing; his phrasing lacks polish throughout, but his recollections of Vietnam are well stated. 

RIDLEY ROAD (PBS)  four-episode drama set in a colorful but tumultuous time on Ridley Road, based on Jo Bloom’s acclaimed novel. Inspired by true events, Ridley Road is about a young Jewish hairdresser who fits right into London’s mod scene, while secretly infiltrating the British neo-Nazi hierarchy on behalf of Jewish antifascists,

The neo-nazi riots in London in 1958 are the subject of the 1986 film ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS featuring David Bowie, Sade and James Fox — a very stylish musical that wasn’t well received in the US but nevertheless is quite well done by director Julian Temple.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/shows/ridley-road/

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER AT THE GALLOP (1963 MGM UK) — Classic British comedy mystery with Margaret Rutherford, Robert Morley and Flora Robson.  Available on VHS tape. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057334/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1

THE RAZOR’S EDGE (1946) — A returning war veteran (Tyrone Power) is inspired by a holy man and forsakes the capitalist rat race for serenity which doesn’t set well with his shrewish girl friend (Gene Tierney).  I kept seeing Kathryn Hepburn as the Tierney character, but Bette Davis or Audrey Totter would have worked as well.  Excellent director, Edmund Goulding (Nightmare Alley.)  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038873/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

TAXI DRIVER (1976) — Martin Scorcese brought a new kind of cinema to the screens in the 70s — raw, violent and real.  Robert DeNiro plays a psychotic racist gun-toting vigilante roaming the Manhattan streets.  The film is relevant today.  Scorcese and DeNiro got their starts at poverty row studio American International where DeNiro was the drug addicted son of Ma Barker in “Bloody Mama” (1970).  In another  AIP Great Depression gangster story,  Scorcese directed David Carradine and Barbara Hershey in “Boxcar Bertha.”  Very unsettling cinema. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0