February 26 - March 4:

Satan in High Heels (1962)
Meg Myles, Grayson Hall, Sabrina
A burlesque dancer steals her newly-released from prison junkie ex-husband's $900 and hightails it to New York, where she gets a job singing in a higher class strip joint. Good old Stacy uses men up and throws them away like a bag of moldy tangerines. She doesn't exactly get her comeuppance in the end, but she does get kicked back to the street, which is pretty satisfying.

Honeymoon in Bali (1939)
Fred MacMurray, Madeleine Carroll, Carolyn Lee
Paul picked this DVD up for $2 at Duane Reade so we'd have something to watch on the train. Turns out it was a good choice--I loved it, especially Carolyn Lee as the impossibly cute toddler. It also featured cruise ships and trips to Nassau and Bali, so I was in heaven with all the vintage tropical scenery and atmosphere.

Honey West (1965) (Episode: "Invitation to Limbo")
Anne Francis, John Ericson
Viewed at the Museum of Television and Radio. This episode of one of my new favorite shows centered around a nightclub act, featuring a hypnotist, who'd hypnotize businessmen during the show, then would later instruct them to steal their companies' secrets and give them to her to sell. Naturally Honey cracks the case and kicks a few butts while she's at it.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) (Episode: "The Zombie")
Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland
Viewed at MT&R and another of my happy new discoveries. I watched in tribute to Darren McGavin and realized that I have indeed become a fan of his. I love the grittiness of the show, combined with humor, and I also enjoy John Fiedler as the slightly crooked coroner. This episode featured Antonio Fargas as "Sweetstick Weldon" and Scatman Crothers as "Uncle Filemon" in a showdown between numbers runners and organized crime, with a zombie thrown in for good measure.

The Brady Bunch (1972) (Episodes: "Hawaii Bound," "Pass the Tabu," "The Tiki Caves")
Florence Henderson, Robert Reed, et al
It had been a while since we'd seen this three-parter, in which the Bradys travel to Hawaii and meet with all sorts of minor mishaps, which the boys blame on the little tiki Bobby finds at a construction site. You've never seen such credulous kids. I was particularly bothered this time by the fact that Vincent Price, old compared to the three boys, manages to tie them all up. Three healthy teenage boys easily could overtake an old-ish man, except these three dummies. Made me deeply want to go to Hawaii, particularly since it's snowing outside right now.

Monstrosity (1964)
Frank Gerstle, Erika Peters, Marjorie Eaton
AKA The Atomic Brain, which is the title on our DVD box. This ditty, about a scientist obsessed with transplanting brains into freshly dead bodies, seems to have killed the careers of all three starlets involved (it was the last credit of each). It's fun to see cat brains implanted into humans and vice versa and the fact that the characters are, by and large, so unappealing means you don't care too much when they're eventually bumped off.

The Wild and the Naked (1962)
Tana French, Deen Gatis, The Nudie Cuties
This is another one that seems to have killed the careers of all involved (even the Nudie Cuties!). Cheap exploitation flick about a nude model from France who regularly loses her clothes while escaping from various perverts. SPOILER: in the end you learn IT WAS ALL A DREAM. This was one of the special features on our Satan in High Heels DVD and I have to give a shout out here to Something Weird Video. Every DVD we have from them is chock full of trailers, featurettes and crap like this, which you just won't find anywhere else. I love seeing the ridiculous films of the past along with the sublime.

February 19 - February 25:

The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Myrna Loy, William Powell
Nick's on the wagon to impress his father, who disapproves of his being a detective, in this Thin Man outing. He manages to solve the mystery in his old hometown in spite of his sobriety!

The Million Dollar Kid (1944)
Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall
We found this East Side Kids feature in the $1 DVD bin. It's the second film I've seen starring the Kids and I have to admit they crack me up, particularly Leo Gorcey. In this one they save a millionaire from a mugging and he takes a shine to them. There is a sad part, when the millionaire's good son (the plot of the film centers around the bad son) dies in the war, but the film is largely a laff riot.

Honey West (1965) (Episode: "The Swingin' Mrs. Jones" (series premiere))
Anne Francis, John Ericson
Viewed at the Museum of Television and Radio. This is another of those "why am I only learning about this now?" shows that I'm discovering at MT&R. Honey West, stylish gal detective, fights bad guys while not messing up her fabulous mid-'60s wardrobe. She even has an ocelot named Bruce! This episode finds Honey and her partner Sam at a ritzy resort, swilling martinis poolside as they figure out whodunit in a blackmail and murder case. Sheer viewing bliss!

Laverne & Shirley (1976) (Episode: "The Society Party" (series premiere))
Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams
Viewed at MT&R. This is one of my favorite shows and in my humble opinion it doesn't get its due. Like so many shows of its era it was really good early on. The premiere finds our gals invited to a fancy society party at the Shotz mansion. They have no appropriate dresses to wear and hire Lenny and Squiggy to find them some they can borrow. They do, but lie about their provenance, sending the girls to the party in stolen gowns. Yes, zany mayhem ensues. Best exchange: Shirley: "I can marry anyone I please." Laverne: "You don't please that many people, Shirl."

At War With the Army (1950)
Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis
Essentially plotless film about a ragtag battalion during The Big One, plucked from the $1 DVD bin. Basically an excuse for Dino to sing and Lewis to mug and fall down. Jerry Lewis is the weirdest performer. He can be incredibly irritating, yet I sometimes find myself laughing in spite of myself.

Teenage Strangler (1964)
Jo Canterbury, Bill Bloom
Perennial Lounge favorite about a town in West Virginia with a mad murderer running loose, strangling teenage girls. The teens are so stupid (both boys and girls) that their strangulation seems inevitable. In fact, you find yourself amazed they don't strangle themselves! A masterpiece of awfulness, featuring a bunch of actors who, not surprisingly, never worked again. I adore it!

February 12 - February 18:

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Kenneth Tobey
I LOVED this movie, which was a Christmas gift from Zach! Ray Harryhausen's cranky, Godzilla-like, sea and land-dwelling monster destroys Wall Street, Coney Island and several ships after being unearthed from his icy, prehistoric slumber during an atomic testing blast in the Arctic. Naturally no one believes scientist Tom Nesbitt (Christian) saw the monster and everyone patronizingly assures him he's merely "in shock" after being caught in an avalanche. You can bet they wished later they'd listened!

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) (Episode: "The Ripper" (series premiere))
Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland
Viewed at the Museum of Television and Radio. I didn't know whether or not I'd like this show, but decided to try it, since Paul and I had just discussed The Twilight Zone and similar shows. Turns out I liked it a lot. I pretty much only knew Darren McGavin from A Christmas Story, but he was a lot of fun in this and I enjoyed the fact that all the law enforcement in Chicago was powerless against the supernatural forces at work. Only Kolchak could stop the Ripper.

Our Miss Brooks (1952)
Eve Arden, Robert Rockwell, Richard Crenna
Viewed at MT&R. One of those '50s sitcoms I'd heard a lot about but never seen. Eve Arden was hysterical as the schoolteacher who, in this episode, decides to pick a fight with her boyfriend to simply get his attention. It backfires, of course, but all ends happily.

Fernwood Tonight (1977)
Martin Mull, Fred Willard, Frank DeVol
Viewed at MT&R. My all-time favorite episode, which Paul and I finally got to see together. This one features five year old Baby Irene singing "I Didn't Know the Gun was Loaded," while tap dancing among giant stuffed dolls. She later dances while accompanied by the Iron Lung Pianist, who plays upside down in his iron lung. Apparently we were laughing so hard the staff actually felt compelled to shush us! I've said it before and I'll say it again until I get a satisfactory answer: WHY aren't these on DVD?

The Thrill of it All (1963)
Doris Day, James Garner
One of those Doris Day films I love in spite of myself. She's married to the sexist jerk (Garner) in this one, which centers around how she stumbles into a career hawking soap on TV. He can't handle having a successful wife, so he messes with her mind, seventh grade style. All ends happily when she realizes there is no greater calling in life than to have babies. Nauseating yes, but this IS Doris Day. Only she can pull this stuff off.

UHF (1989)
"Weird Al" Yankovic, Victoria Jackson, Michael Richards
I love this goofy film about how a misfit and his friend make a success out of a falling down UHF TV station. It's hard to pick a favorite part, but the Spatula City commercial and "Uncle Nutsy's Clubhouse" are two strong contenders.

February 5 - February 11:

Carnival of Souls (1962)
Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist
Creepy tale about a young woman who survives a car accident she really should have died in (the car went into a river and was under for a long time before she surfaced). But did she really survive? Trapped between the living and undead worlds has her tortured and she's forced to do things like play "profane" carnival music, which makes her lose her church organist job and date the scuzbag next door because she's so scared to be alone.

The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966) (Episode: "The Mother Muffin Affair")
Stefanie Powers, Robert Vaughn
Viewed at the Museum of Television and Radio. Boris Karloff guest stars as Mother Muffin, the female head of a murderous, tam-o'-shanter-wearing gang o' thugs, who wants to add April (Powers) and Napoleon Solo (Vaughn) to her art collection, which is made up of embalmed bodies in artistic poses. They also have to transport a mafioso-type's daughter, whom Mother Muffin also wants dead, back to the states. My favorite part was when Mother Muffin called April a "retarded little sparrow." They just don't write 'em like that anymore.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas
Yeah, we watch this one a lot, I know. You can't go wrong with the classics. I read on IMDB that they're remaking this gem with Ice Cube, which, nothing personal against Mr. Cube, makes me shudder. I'm sure he's a very talented individual, but Cary Grant and/or Melvyn Douglas he ain't.

Click here to see what we watched in January and early February...