Walter Wanger’s Arabian Adventures
Reviews of two Arabian adventure-romance mini-epics from producer Walter Wanger: The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954) on Blu from Twilight Time + Arabian Nights (1942) from Universal.
Author Archive: Mark R. Hasan
BR: Adventures of Hajji Baba, The (1954)
When Monogram Pictures morphed into Allied Artists around 1953, the poverty row studio took several cracks at B+ and the odd A-level picture during the mid-1950s, including their first foray into CinemaScope…
DVD: Arabian Nights (1942)
Inspired by the success of Rank’s Technicolor extravaganza The Thief of Bagdad (1940), producer Walter Wanger set up a sweet deal to produce films for Universal, and the first production to benefit from the studio’s talent and cash pool was Arabian Nights…
Stinkers of 2018: Mile 22 + Peppermint
Two of 2018’s action stinkers are reviewed this week: Peter Berg’s Mile 22 + Pierre Morel’s Peppermint.
BR: Mile 22 (2018)
Action dramas about characters struggling to get from point A to B within a set time frame aren’t new – Richard Donner tackled one in 13 Blocks, although it helped shutter his lengthy, box office-friendly career after 2006 – but they’re rarely successful when the script fails…
BR: Peppermint (2018)
Peppermint is the latest revenge thriller in which a mature actor plays a character whose family is either endangered (Taken) or dead, or whose own life is part of a larger scheme to hush an opponent permanently (The Gunman)…
Sunshine (1973) + R.I.P. Nick Redman (1955-2019)
Review of the touching docu-drama Sunshine (1973) + R.I.P. Twilight Time’s Nick Redman (1955-2019).
BR: Sunshine (1973)
Based on the published journals by Jacquelyn Helton, Carol Sobieski’s adaptation follows the basic chronology of a young mother diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, and her decision to dictate personal thoughts, articulate feelings, and provide advice for the daughter and husband destined to lose her at age 20…
Trick Films I: Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) + The Hateful Eight (2015)
Reviews of Drew Goddard’s Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) + Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight (2015), films that converge towards tricky finales.
BR: Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
As a producer (TV’s Alias, Lost) and writer (The Martian, World War Z), Drew Goddard’s had strong success, but as a writer-director, his attempts to have fun and scramble genres have been less satisfying, if not more than a bit infuriating…
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