cult film freak: william schallert

Written by James M. Tate / 2/06/2025 / No comments / action , adventure , booth colman , creature , edmund gwenn , FBI , fifties , gordon douglas , james arness , james whitmore , joan weldon , leonard nimoy , science-fiction , sean mcclory , thriller , william schallert

JAMES ARNESS, JAMES WHITMORE AND EDMUND GWENN IN 'THEM!'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSn5L2SfKtN5IGuJic2rKKzr7oJtyqEDDeodGxMzSOFBXiBMstCwfKJwq7aKUY0NbF10QsNdmPOULxEjDXsUYB298saCHrSixYx1KjcV56rgGNyviQYlDRuDVMFlMp6tJn3EQ7b2PCDGjTxzyLwYzWvnljnNCLlPU8UDpEUKfWbrjRGr0M9PFg8lXRCH4O/s2058/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-06%20at%206.41.21%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1284" data-original-width="2058" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSn5L2SfKtN5IGuJic2rKKzr7oJtyqEDDeodGxMzSOFBXiBMstCwfKJwq7aKUY0NbF10QsNdmPOULxEjDXsUYB298saCHrSixYx1KjcV56rgGNyviQYlDRuDVMFlMp6tJn3EQ7b2PCDGjTxzyLwYzWvnljnNCLlPU8UDpEUKfWbrjRGr0M9PFg8lXRCH4O/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-06%20at%206.41.21%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THEM! Year: 1954 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Director Gordon Douglas's THEM could have had three different lead perspectives: the investigation of FBI agent James Arness, not used to working in the scorching desert; scientist father and daughter in extremely quirky Edmund Gwenn and pretty yet resolute Joan Weldon; and workaday, everyman local desert cop James Whitmore investigating random deaths, including his own partner, wherein the story begins... Almost like a film noir (with many stylistic-auteur touches by the underrated Douglas)... then adding layers with the aforementioned characters developed from their occupation: Arness and Whitman acquire a government-agent-to-local-lawmen bond as Edmund Gwenn spouts the kind of scientific expository information that only he and his daughter (with a semi-attraction to Arness) understand, and that the law (and military) eventually have to defeat...

action, adventure, booth colman, creature, edmund gwenn, FBI, fifties, gordon douglas, james arness, james whitmore, joan weldon, leonard nimoy, science-fiction, sean mcclory, thriller, william schallert

JAMES ARNESS, JAMES WHITMORE AND EDMUND GWENN IN 'THEM!'

Title: THEM! Year: 1954 Rating: **** Director Gordon Douglas's THEM could have had three different lead perspectives: the investigation ...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/07/2023 / No comments / action , adventure , april kent , cult , fifties , grant williams , jack arnold , randy stuart , richard matheson , science-fiction , universal monsters , william schallert

DIRECTOR JACK ARNOLD'S 'THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCUHeMWsRUW3dtJlfai-AxDU4bPUnHAyKs8Op64ifJi6GEJdx1nxy2p3kc07dbC5jn0kyw0Ak74mlG6rjs8X6ljsGnQqavpk6FVvDGra_vP7uW1LGNtZB00TNnDD7UycfOgNYubxkqS4gawEjTJqOPmMN0RQ8UHGcSxtjA_H8vSzhgM-JZ-UAqCKbcZA/s995/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-07%20at%207.36.52%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="995" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCUHeMWsRUW3dtJlfai-AxDU4bPUnHAyKs8Op64ifJi6GEJdx1nxy2p3kc07dbC5jn0kyw0Ak74mlG6rjs8X6ljsGnQqavpk6FVvDGra_vP7uW1LGNtZB00TNnDD7UycfOgNYubxkqS4gawEjTJqOPmMN0RQ8UHGcSxtjA_H8vSzhgM-JZ-UAqCKbcZA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-07%20at%207.36.52%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Director Jack Arnold had a way of taking the most fantastical stories and making them seem completely grounded, even normal... from aliens landing in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/10/IT.html">IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE</a>, a giant arachnid attack for <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/09/TARANTULAlland.html">TARANTULA</a>, or in this case, a grown man shrinking as THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN...In the first act, when Grant Williams goes from doctor to doctor, trying to figure out why his work-clothes keep outgrowing him, it's like a separate movie... a kind of intentionally uncomfortable melodrama told in a slow-burn, semi-nightmarish, page-turning fashion... much different than the suspenseful action-packed survival-tale involving a comparably gigantic cat and spider the movie's most famous for...

action, adventure, april kent, cult, fifties, grant williams, jack arnold, randy stuart, richard matheson, science-fiction, universal monsters, william schallert

DIRECTOR JACK ARNOLD'S 'THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN'

Title: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2 Director Jack Arnold had a way of taking the most fantastical stories and maki...

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)THE BREAK 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)FALLEN ANGEL 20)THUNDER ISLAND 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER