Film Diary 2025

16.1

A true B movie affair, with some flat acting and even over-theatrics but there is some charm to it as with all movies even the worse ones. This one explores the lives of young actors in Hollywood trying to get their big break! and finding it hard to get ahead. The plot mostly follows a choleric young actor who upon getting his big break seems to be having an existential crisis and flirts with suicide through most of the movie. It’s interesting to see 1950’s Hollywood and how really much hasn’t changed over the decades. A lesser letter to itself, but Hollywood’s viciousness and the pursuit of fame is written all over this one.

11.1

A bit of a slow moving crime/film noir movie with some cheesy romance mixed in. Seems deliberately written to be low budget (though produced by Columbia) with most of the action taking place in one hotel room, that feels more like an apartment. In terms of plot this one is more on the legal side, convincing a female prisoner Ginger Rodgers) to testify against a big criminal(Lorne Greene). This is my first time seeing Ginger Rogers on film, I'll check out more of her earlier work as this probably came out towards the latter half of her career. I am used to only seeing Lorne Greenein Bonanza but he pays a convincing villian here though he has little screen time. I wouldn’t really recommend this flick, a subpar film noir. 5/10

9.1

This is a case of a good movie. Anne Bancroft is a great dame and captures the attention of the audience each time she is on screen. I think one of the things that stands out here is having a strong lead. I also like the mistress angle but that was a bit surface level, maybe could have beeen exploited a bit more. I like the efficiency of killing in this one, most of the killings are offscreen but it is still graphic, the implied as to what is happening. 6.7

7.1

So being off of school/work for a little, my first movie back on the grind is Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory (1961) which is a super campy, horror film. For 2025 I want to mix my more classic movies with these type of Youtube/ B movies, this is a great way for me to ease into my cinephile ways with the beautiful eye candy of this early sixties film. Of this eye candy, this one is set in a girls' boarding school in Europe but could be mistaken for anywhere in America.

The film starts with a professor being introduced and groundskeeper Luciano Pigozzi who has a striking resemblance to Peter Lorre.

Anyways, the plot revolves around, spoiler alert the licentious activities associated with certain girls and one of the directors of the reformatory school. One of the girls ends of dead and then the rest of the film is a mystery joint to find out who done it. One of the things I like about these 50s nd 60s B movie horror flicks is the lack of special effects and the reliance on atmosphere and truth be told the beauty of the actresses on screen in the tradition of Barbara Steele. The characters are mostly all one dimensional and any attempt at subtext with dialogue is awkward at best but there is some fascination associated with the filmmakers making due with what they had to make this horror film such as the make up for the werewolf. A couple more things of note is a line said in this movie about, this sickness needs satisfaction and also when the townspeople accuse and threaten the groundskeeper of being the killer because of a deformity which they link to an injury associated with the killer which really speaks to the monstrosity in humanity which is really what all horror movies get at in some way. Anyways’ that’s all I really have to say about this one, simple fun and not a bad way to spend a hour and a half. 5/10