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SMB Film Thread 2025

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Black Friday (1940)

A professor is knocked down by a fleeing gangster. The former has life threatening brain injuries and the latter is all mashed up. The professor’s friend, Boris Karloff, transfers the gangster’s brain into the professor’s head.

A strange sci-fi drama which is utterly stupid in terms of plausibility, but isn’t half bad as long as you accept the crazy premise. The crux is that some of the professor remains, so there’s a battle for dominance in his head. Although, it doesn’t seem a conscious battle - they switch mostly due to exterior stimuli. Stanley Ridges plays the dual role well.

The whole thing comes off as a curious novelty. There’s a subplot about the gangster’s loot involving Bela Lugosi, so the clash of personalities inside the head of the main character never really gets going in a Jekyll and Hyde way.

6/10


Pier 23 (1951)

This was marketed as a film, but I don’t know why. It’s like two episodes of a tv show glued together. Both feature the characters of Hugh Beaumont (a boat business owner who keeps getting offered dodgy cash-in-hand jobs), Richard Travis (a police detective always trying to collar Beaumont for a job) and Edward Brophy (a pissed-up wordsmith who helps Beaumont out).

The first half is about Beaumont picking up an Alcatraz escapee before he can do any damage. Ann Savage features in this section. The second half is about wrestling match-fixing and payoffs.

As individual stories they’re alright. The dialogue is often sharp and occasionally amusing. As a cohesive film it doesn’t really work. The stories are totally unrelated and it feels like you’re watching a tv show with the credits stripped out.

5/10 for what’s shown, but 3/10 as a film.
Doogie, I have noticed you post a fair few Talking Pictures films, along with YouTube films. I was wondering, do you find the the YouTube films randomly or do you subscribe to channels on there for recommendations?
 
Doogie, I have noticed you post a fair few Talking Pictures films, along with YouTube films. I was wondering, do you find the the YouTube films randomly or do you subscribe to channels on there for recommendations?
Mostly randomly. I tend to just type in ‘Film noir’ or ‘British crime films’ as the search criteria and various people have long playlists of links - sometimes into the thousands.

One I’ve noticed who has a lot of good stuff is Full Moon Matinee, though you have to tolerate the uploader for a few minutes beforehand going on about the film. He’s not bad to be honest, and has some good insights, but most of the time I just want to get on with the film! He’s has by far the best print of that film I watched the other week, Behind Locked Doors.

DK Classics, Broken Trout, PizzaFlix, Donald P Borchers, brucster99b and Flick Vault are the other channels that crop up the most.

If I start to watch a film, often when I press ‘down’ on the controller, it goes to a load of films linked via the algorithm, which is a bit of a rabbit hole but a good way to explore what’s out there.
 
Mostly randomly. I tend to just type in ‘Film noir’ or ‘British crime films’ as the search criteria and various people have long playlists of links - sometimes into the thousands.

One I’ve noticed who has a lot of good stuff is Full Moon Matinee, though you have to tolerate the uploader for a few minutes beforehand going on about the film. He’s not bad to be honest, and has some good insights, but most of the time I just want to get on with the film! He’s has by far the best print of that film I watched the other week, Behind Locked Doors.

DK Classics, Broken Trout, PizzaFlix, Donald P Borchers, brucster99b and Flick Vault are the other channels that crop up the most.

If I start to watch a film, often when I press ‘down’ on the controller, it goes to a load of films linked via the algorithm, which is a bit of a rabbit hole but a good way to explore what’s out there.
Yep, I think I'm subscribed to all of those. Full moon matinee certainly gets into character😊 check out Dubjax also, he's had to start his channel again due to frivolous copyright strikes but he was always spot on.
 
Yep, I think I'm subscribed to all of those. Full moon matinee certainly gets into character😊 check out Dubjax also, he's had to start his channel again due to frivolous copyright strikes but he was always spot on.
I think I’ve possibly come across that channel because it vaguely rings a bell, but I’ll make a concerted effort to look for it now, thanks! There’s quite a few things on Prime to watch, but you’ve really got to search deep into it.
I’ve been buying a lot of old Network DVDs recently, as they usually have good prints and most are still reasonably priced.

Tonight’s viewing…

Onibaba (1964) - Prime

I’ve been meaning to watch this for years and years, mainly thanks to the iconic mask. It is absolutely nothing like I thought it would be.

It’s set in the barren marshes of feudal Japan. A deserter returns to his hut. His fallen comrade has left behind a wife and mother. The deserter sets his sights on the wife, causing the mother to feel frustrated, neglected, resentful and worried that they will abandon her.

The mask sequences don’t start until about half an hour before the end. The rest is a study of isolation, and societal and moral collapse. The tone is suffocating and claustrophobic, hemmed in by the tall reeds and the fear of venturing too close to the civil war. The small cast do a fantastic job in portraying the desperation of near post-apocalyptic survival, where murdering stragglers is fair game, and base needs are the only function of daily life.

The cinematography is bleak and moody. The angles and use of light is very expressive. A rain-soaked scene is very well done. The supernatural horror angle is very brief, but effective. I spent most of the film marvelling at the tightness of everything, and the other fraction slightly frustrated that the mask part wasn’t elaborated on more.

I can appreciate how to some this would be a very boring film. Not a lot happens. However, I really liked the characterisations, images and themes. It’s a depressing, fascinating film which still had me thinking hours later.

8/10
 
One battle after another
Di caprio - one of the best of his generation, Shirley?
Penn - good but doesn’t half ham
It up like.

Very good film, very well paced. Good story like.interetsing.
Get a cobra score of 7.5/10
Would be 8.5 or 9 out of ten but I found the constant non stop score/music distracting and overpowering at times. Particularly the jazz piano shit! Fuck me.
 
One battle after another
Di caprio - one of the best of his generation, Shirley?
Penn - good but doesn’t half ham
It up like.

Very good film, very well paced. Good story like.interetsing.
Get a cobra score of 7.5/10
Would be 8.5 or 9 out of ten but I found the constant non stop score/music distracting and overpowering at times. Particularly the jazz piano shit! Fuck me.

I gave it 8.5.

Agree about Penn, more ham than a bacon buttie.

Didn't mind the music tbf, and I usually hate jazz.

I'd have gone for a score of 9 or 9.5, but while it was all action, there was no real depth to the storyline.

Entertaining movie though 👍
 
One battle after another
Di caprio - one of the best of his generation, Shirley?
Penn - good but doesn’t half ham
It up like.

Very good film, very well paced. Good story like.interetsing.
Get a cobra score of 7.5/10
Would be 8.5 or 9 out of ten but I found the constant non stop score/music distracting and overpowering at times. Particularly the jazz piano shit! Fuck me.
Interesting. I've seen it twice now and I couldn't imagine the film without that jangly, anarchic score underpinning it all. It's an intrinsic part of the film's uniqueness for me.
 
Interesting. I've seen it twice now and I couldn't imagine the film without that jangly, anarchic score underpinning it all. It's an intrinsic part of the film's uniqueness for me.
It’s terribly annoying jazz piano music that’s too loud for a straight 15 mins. Rest is okay. Don’t see it as unique at all, interesting at best.
 
Railroaded! (1947)

Directed by Anthony Mann (Winchester 73, El Cid, Heroes of Telemark), this features a bodged heist of a gambling den, with Hugh Beaumont trying to track down a cop killer. All fingers point to a man who is framed, while the real villain, John Ireland, tries to control the narrative.

There’s a reasonable level of sophistication here that surprised me. It’s tightly filmed and paced, with fine performances, particularly Ireland, who plays a total bastard. Jane Randolph is very good as a moll who feels like her days are numbered. A minor entry that’s a solid noir.

7/10
 
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1979) 9/10
Probably the most beloved film of the Soviet era. Three women share a Moscow dormitory in the 1950s, full of optimism for the future. Twenty years later, both they and the USSR are dealing with harsh realities. Full movie here:
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Repentance (1984) 10/10
Georgian absurdist tragi-comedy about the legacy of a tyrannical dictator. Definitely not for everyone, but if you get on its wavelength you'll understand why many critics rate it as the greatest Soviet film. It was actually banned in the USSR until the latter part of the Gorbachev era. Full movie here:
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Going in Style (1979) 8/10
Three pensioners from Queens decide to rob a Manhattan bank. Smart script. George Burns is great. Also features Lee Strasberg - the legendary acting coach - in a rare film role.
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28 Years Later (2025)

Mainland Europe has seen an eradication of the rage virus. Only Lindisfarne is untouched. Now fiercely defended by a huge wall of posts and the causeway. Spike is out on a “coming of age” hunt with his father. His mother is very poorly. He hears about Dr Kelso who he believes may help his mother. He leaves the island with her on search of the doctor. They however have to fight through a group of evolved “infected” including the powerful Alfa. They meet Erik, a Swedish Navy seaman who is the only survivor of his group. They come across an abandoned train with a pregnant infected female who gives birth to an uninflected baby girl. He shoots the infected woman but is hauled up by the Alfa and decapitated. The Doctor arrives to save Spike, his mother and the newborn baby which they call Isla. His mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer and is euthanised. Like Erik her head is cleaned and mounted on a tower of skulls which is a memorial to every person killed since the virus broke. Spike returns the baby to Lindisfarne and goes back to the mainland. He leaves a note saying he will return when he’s ready. He is now at Cheddar Gorge and is perused by some infected but is rescued by a group of new people.

This last 5-6 mins is laughably bad. The new group of people are a cross between The Power Rangers and Jimmy Saville impersonators.

Otherwise a brilliant movie
 
You're meant to review it. You're like Arnie when he did dvd commentary and would just tell the audience what was happening.
28 Years Later (2025)

Mainland Europe has seen an eradication of the rage virus. Only Lindisfarne is untouched. Now fiercely defended by a huge wall of posts and the causeway. Spike is out on a “coming of age” hunt with his father. His mother is very poorly. He hears about Dr Kelso who he believes may help his mother. He leaves the island with her on search of the doctor. They however have to fight through a group of evolved “infected” including the powerful Alfa. They meet Erik, a Swedish Navy seaman who is the only survivor of his group. They come across an abandoned train with a pregnant infected female who gives birth to an uninflected baby girl. He shoots the infected woman but is hauled up by the Alfa and decapitated. The Doctor arrives to save Spike, his mother and the newborn baby which they call Isla. His mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer and is euthanised. Like Erik her head is cleaned and mounted on a tower of skulls which is a memorial to every person killed since the virus broke. Spike returns the baby to Lindisfarne and goes back to the mainland. He leaves a note saying he will return when he’s ready. He is now at Cheddar Gorge and is perused by some infected but is rescued by a group of new people.

This last 5-6 mins is laughably bad. The new group of people are a cross between The Power Rangers and Jimmy Saville impersonators.

Otherwise a brilliant movie
 
To be honest when I heard that Emma Stone was in another Lanthimos film and this time she's completely shaven, I expected the worst
I dunno about completely shaven but it’s bizarre to say the least. MrsRaff nodded off for ten mins or so half way through! I’ll not be watching it again unless I take up hallucinogens when retired.
 
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