We are back, back at it! Women in Horror Month 2024 is upon us. Come joing us and get to know creative women of the genre. Today, we start with Monster Performer Samathan Rodes.
The Bootleg Files: The Strollin’ ’20s
BOOTLEG FILES 856: “The Strollin’ 20s” (1966 all-star television special).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There is most likely a rights clearance issue.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
Black entertainers have been part of the American television experience since the medium’s beginning, with no less a figure than the legendary Ethel Waters starring in an eponymous special in 1939 when television was still mostly experimental and extremely limited in its reach. Once television became more prominent in American living rooms, Hazel Scott and Billy Daniels briefly had their own programs, while in the mid-1950s NBC’s decision to have Nat King Cole host his own variety show created unexpected controversy when no national sponsor was willing to back the program. Harry Belafonte headlined a 1959 special that was sponsored by Revlon, but he rejected further productions backed by the company when he was ordered not to integrate his song and dance ensemble.
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Five Underrated Full Moon Movies
Full Moon is still trotting out films to this day and while they haven’t released a bonafide classic in literal years, they’re at least embracing their history and still give classic Full Moon fans their rewards and due. Being a fan of Full Moon since the old days when me and my family were at the mom and pop video store every Friday scowering the shelves for that evening’s entertainment, I thought I’d list five underrated titles from the whole Full Moon umbrella. This also includes Moonbeam, Pulse Pounders, and Monster Island, et al.
Many of these films can be found on their official streaming service, as well as Tubi TV.
Allonsanfan (1974) [RADIANCE FILMS LIMITED EDITION]
Available on Blu-ray from Radiance Films
Fluvio has led a group of anarchists for a while and is having a hard time leaving them for a different life. Every time he leaves, either something or someone pulls him back in.
Black Tight Killers (1966) [RADIANCE FILMS LIMITED EDITION]
Available on Blu-ray from Radiance Films
Following a quick first date, a war photographer finds himself in love and both in love and on the run as she gets kidnapped. While he tries to resolve this, he meets an interesting team of ladies.
Cuckoo on a Choo Choo (1952)
One of the most polarizing films ever made was the 1952 Three Stooges short “Cuckoo on a Choo Choo.” You cannot be indifferent to this work – either you love it as an avant-garde excursion into daffiness or you loathe it as a misguided work of cinematic excrement.
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A Time Out of War (1954)
Academy Award trivia buffs will know the 1954 production “A Time Out of War” was the first student film to win the Oscar – in the Short Subject (Two-Reel) category, beating out competition from the Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and Disney studios. And when you experience the film, you’ll understand how a small no-budget student project could one-up the major Hollywood players.
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