Dennis Seuling

Child movie actors such as Elizabeth Taylor (National Velvet), Roddy McDowall (Lassie Come Home), and Dean Stockwell (The Boy With Green Hair) were at their heyday during the Golden Age of Hollywood, when minorities were seldom cast as leads. Made in 1994, Fresh stars a very different kind of child, an African-American boy who makes money working for drug dealers and endures an existence no child should.

Universal’s classic horror films Dracula, The Mummy, and Murders in the Rue Morgue relied on Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake for their ominous credit sequences. Perhaps in a nod to this history, Universal uses this same music throughout its latest horror film, Abigail. Combining genres in a high-energy, R-rated creep fest, Abigail starts as a heist flick, then draws upon horror tropes like demon child, haunted house, claustrophobia, and vampire lore.

Some films are very good at using assorted cinematic techniques to create a dreamlike atmosphere. White Room abounds with gauzy effects and visual metaphors, and features an elusive central character. The performances, the director’s choices, and the mysterious images grab you from the outset and keep you involved.

One of the biggest controversies in Academy Award history is the Best Actress Oscar won by Grace Kelly for The Country Girl over Judy Garland’s comeback triumph in A Star Is Born. It was interesting to revisit this 70-year-old film to check out Kelly’s performance and try to figure why the film lacks the enduring profile of many of its contemporaries.

The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), based on the short story The Strange Case of Mr. Pelham by Anthony Armstrong, stars Roger Moore (The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker) as Harold Pelham, a conservative executive with a frustrated wife (Hildegarde Neil), two young children, and a bland suburban life. After he recovers from a serious car accident, Pelham’s life becomes unsettling as coworkers, friends, and family start referring to actions, behaviors, and comments of his that he absolutely can’t recall. It soon becomes clear that another version of himself is out there—more caustic, riskier, sexier—who seems determined to throw his carefully constructed world into utter chaos. What remains unclear for most of the film is whether there’s a real, physical doppelganger, or if it’s a figment of Pelham’s imagination.

Twisted is a police procedural/thriller set in San Francisco, with an unusual premise that keeps us guessing. A serial murderer is on the loose and a recently promoted female detective is assigned to the case. This dark drama deals with a crucial connection between the detective and the victims.

The Omen is the 1976 horror classic that starred Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as the parents of the Antichrist. It’s one of the best horror films of the late 20th century. With its strong cast, intelligent script, escalating suspense, and gruesome set pieces, it stands head and shoulders above many of its contemporaries. Subsequent films in the franchise attempted to recapture those elements, some more successfully than others. It was inevitable that there would be a prequel—The First Omen.

Robert E. Sherwood won the Pulitzer prize for his allegory satire Idiot’s Delight. MGM purchased the film rights and hired Sherwood to adapt it for the screen. The film was released in 1939, the year World War II began in Europe and before the United States entered the war. At the time, it was impossible to know how long the war would last, whether America would send troops, or that millions would die, including innocent civilians targeted by Hitler.

The Shining Hour is a 1930s melodrama, based on a play by Keith Winter, that boasts a roster of stars and a sumptuous production. The film is an example of how MGM, in its heyday, assembled its vast resources to turn a soap opera into a major release.

Northwest Passage is based on the actual events as recounted by Kenneth Roberts in the first part of his 1936 novel of that name. Set during the French and Indian Wars in Colonial America, the film focuses on a 1759 event, when the British ordered an American unit known as Rogers’ Rangers to destroy the Abenaki Indian settlement of Saint-Francis in Quebec that had been the base for raids on British settlements.