Dance, Girl, Dance - The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) by Tyler Foster Judy O'Brien (Maureen O'Hara) and Bubbles (Lucille Ball) are dancers in the same struggling troupe, and both have big ambitions: Judy wants to be a professional dancer, scripting her own ballerina routines in her spare time, and Bubbles is looking to land a rich suitor who can give her a more comfortable lifestyle. After the troupe loses their gig at the Palais Royale in Akron, Ohio when the cops raid the joint for illegal gambling, both women return to New York City looking for a new way to fulfill their dreams. The two women end up linked when Bubbles adopts the persona of the Tiger Lily at a burlesque club, and offers Judy a high-paying opportunity to do her ballet routine...as a stooge that the audience boos and jeers until Bubbles returns to the stage. Judy needs the money, but being the punchline to Bubbles' act weighs on her. When a rich suitor with a crumbling marriage named Jimmy Harris (Louis...Read the entire review »

Son of Ali Baba (Blu-ray) by Adam Tyner The houris can't help but fawn over Kashma Baba (Tony Curtis), and Kashma Baba sure can't get enough of those ladies. And this, of course, rankles Hussein (Hugh O'Brian). His father is the caliph (Victor Jory)! Where's his adoration? Where's his respect? And yet the son of a thief whose incalculable wealth bought him such power and privilege is seemingly beloved by all. Hussein would gladly seize upon any opportunity to expose Kashma for what he believes this undeserving fraud to be, and he may not have to wait long for it either. Kiki (Piper Laurie) has sought sanctuary in Kashma's home, having fled from the caliph's harem, and harboring a fugitive is an act of treason. And sure, whatever; it's not as if the son of a thief is all that...Read the entire review »

Pretty in Pink (Paramount Presents) (Blu-ray) by Tyler Foster Reassessing Pretty in Pink one year short of the film's 35th anniversary (now finally on Blu-ray for the first time), it's interesting what an outlier it is in screenwriter/producer John Hughes' oeuvre. Most of his films have a central plot point that frames the entire movie -- being stuck in detention (The Breakfast Club), an important birthday (Sixteen Candles), shirking responsibilities (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), sci-fi experimentation (Weird Science), the frustration of family (Home Alone). Pretty in Pink is simpler, less constructed, following Andie (Molly Ringwald) in the last few weeks before she graduates high school, figuring out what she wants, if anything, from a theoretically kind rich boy named Blane (Andrew McCarthy), or her longtime friend Duckie (Jon Cryer). The film has some thoughts on class, and the protagonists are clas...Read the entire review »

Kiss the Blood off My Hands (Blu-ray) by Ian Jane The Movie: Directed by Norman Foster in 1948, Kiss The Blood Off My Hands opens in a pub in London where a man named Bill Saunders (Burt Lancaster), a former soldier who clearly saw some stuff' during his time in the war, winds up getting into a scrap with a fellow patron and accidently killing the man. There are a couple of witnesses but Bill takes off and hides out in a small apartment nearby until the cops move on. It turns out that this apartment is inhabited by a hospital worker named Jane Warton (Joan Fontaine) and while she's frightened of the intruder, he makes it clear he won't hurt her if she keeps quiet. She does, and he keeps his word. She heads out for work the next morning and he splits, leaving with her lighter. The next day, when she gets off work, he accosts her in the street to return her lighter and thank her for her help. It's clear he's interested in h...Read the entire review »

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (Blu-ray) by Adam Tyner 37, 38, 39...yup, the math checks out. [click on the thumbnail to enlarge] With his dying breath, the caliph (Moroni Olsen) hides his son from the invading Mongol hordes and the traitorous Prince Cassim (Frank Puglia). Young Ali has lost everything: his best friend with whom he'd just exchanged a blood oath, his father, his home, and his country. But, after overhearing a seemingly magical command in the middle ...Read the entire review »