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Gay Flowers.

March featured a variety of conversations, including the Kristen Stewart vehicle Personal Shopper (listen), Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (listen), and Raja Gosnell‘s live-action cartoon sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (listen here).

After previously covering The Old Dark House and Bride of Frankenstein, we wrapped the month up with another James Whale classic, The Invisible Man (1933).

In the film, Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) is an egomaniac with plans to sell his invisibility formula for a fortune, but first he has to “find a way back” from invisibility with the help of scientist/love interest, Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan). Alas, Griffin’s serum has also turned him insane and murderous, and he embarks on a killing spree that will claim the highest body count of any Universal Monster title.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts,...

The Best Picture win at the Oscars is the highest prize in the film industry. However, some films manage to take home the top award, yet they still don’t manage to stand the test of time. There are some Best Picture winners that no one talks about, even though they’ll always be a part of Academy Award history.

‘The Broadway Melody’ (1929) L-r: Charles King as Eddie Kearns, Bessie Love as Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney, Mary Doran as Flo, Anita Page as Queen Mahoney, and Nacio Herb Brown as Pianist | John Springer Collection/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Harriet ‘Hank’ Mahoney (Bessie Love) and Queenie Mahoney (Anita Page) are vaudeville sister performers looking to break into the Broadway scene. However, romantic melodrama quickly overshadows their attempt to pursue fame as a duo.

The Broadway Melody is the second film to win the Best Picture Oscar, with only Wings coming before it.

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Celebrate Nine Decades Of Your Favorite Monsters On 4K For The Very First Time In Collectible Packaging

Available On 4K, Blu-ray™ And Digital On October 5, 2021

From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Synopsis: From the era of silent movies through present day, Universal Pictures has been regarded as the home of the monsters. Universal Classic Monsters Icons of Horror Collection showcases four of the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man. Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains in the roles that they made famous, these original films set the standard for a new horror genre with revolutionary makeup, mood-altering cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.

Classic Monster Films Included:

Dracula (90th Anniversary) Frankenstein (90th Anniversary) The Invisible Man The Wolf Man (80th Anniversary)

Hours Of Bonus Content, Including:

The Road to...

“The spider spinning his web for the unwary fly… The blood is the life, Mr. Renfield.”

Celebrate Nine Decades Of Your Favorite Monsters On 4K For The Very First Time In Collectible Packaging. Available On 4K, Blu-ray And Digital On October 5th

From the era of silent movies through present day, Universal Pictures has been regarded as the home of the monsters. Universal Classic Monsters Icons of Horror Collection showcases four of the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man. Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains in the roles that they made famous, these original films set the standard for a new horror genre with revolutionary makeup, mood-altering cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.

Classic Monster Films Included:

Dracula (90th Anniversary)Frankenstein (90th Anniversary)The Invisible ManThe Wolf Man (80th Anniversary)

Hours Of Bonus Content, Including:...

Only a few days short of January’s end, 2021 has seen the loss of its first Oscar winner. Here’s how the Associated Press broke the news:

Cloris Leachman, an Oscar-winner for her portrayal of a lonely housewife in “The Last Picture Show” and a comedic delight as the fearsome Frau Blücher in “Young Frankenstein” and self-absorbed neighbor Phyllis on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has died. She was 94.

Leachman died in her sleep of natural causes at her home in Encinitas, California, publicist Monique Moss said Wednesday. Her daughter Dinah Englund was at her side, Moss said.

Remarkably those 94 years encompassed nine decades of work on the big and small(er) screen. A truly versatile actress, her knack for comedy wasn’t really showcased until nearly twenty years into her astounding career. As a tribute we offer a fond look back at the work of a true cinema “scene-stealer...

This January, NBCUniversal is offering fans the chance to dive into some of Universal Pictures’ most gruesome classic films ever made on one of the world’s biggest horror YouTube channels, ‘Fear: The Home of Horror.’

Starting January 15th 2021 horror fans will have the opportunity to scare away the January blues and take a step back in time to watch an incredible array of classic re-mastered cult films for Free including Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), The Wolf Man (1941), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

Each film will premiere individually and be available to watch for seven days on the Fear: The Home of Horror YouTube channel. Additionally, during each film’s premiere week, fans will have the opportunity to add these films to their digital collection at a discounted price, allowing them to watch whenever they want, for as many times as they want!

by Jason Adams

What better time than now, what with the latest iteration of The Invisible Man hitting movie theaters this week, to celebrate one of the cinema's greatest character actresses -- I speak of ye Irish spitfire Una O'Connor, who was once described as having "the body of a scarecrow, the contemptuous stare of a house detective, and the voice of an air-raid siren." Said with affection, no doubt.

She certainly brought all of those awesome qualities to bear on James Whale's 1933 adaptation of The Invisible Man, which had her playing the mistress of the pub that the villain-scientist Claude Rains rents an upstairs room from...

One of America’s favorite holiday movies plays strangely today, and despite being one of the most popular pictures of its year, really should have disturbed people when it was new as well. Director Leo McCarey and his glowing stars Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman do remarkable work, and the show has its heart in the right place… but the values built into the story are painfully wrong-headed. We don’t expect ’40s films to adhere to today’s so-called enlightened PC values, but some of the attitudes in this one make us want to throw things at the screen. Taken from a beautifully remastered new restoration, Olive’s Signature Edition is flawless.

The Bells of St. Mary’s

Blu-ray

Olive Signature

1945 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 126 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through the Olive Signature website / 39.95

Starring: Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Travers, William Gargan, Ruth Donnelly, Joan Carroll, Martha Sleeper,...

Frank Tuttle, the man who made a star of Alan Ladd with the twisted film noir This Gun for Hire (1942), began as a comedy specialist, churning out three or more films a year as vehicles for Eddie Cantor, Edgar Bergen and his knee-pal Charlie McCarthy, Burns & Allen et cetera. Pleasure Cruise (1933) is a pre-Code farce centered on improbably couple Roland Young and Genevieve Tobin.Young plays a penniless author working as house-husband to the gainfully employed Tobin, while seething with jealousy at the thought of the young blades romancing her in the office. In one of many unusual stylistic touches, we see her portrait come to life and watch as she mingles with the staff, none of whom looks to be under sixty, and they're not exactly silver foxes. The stage is set for a film mocking male paranoia and jealousy and questioning notions of fidelity, virtue, and honesty.Young is his usual self,...

By 1933, Universal Studios had become a veritable fear factory, thanks to the efforts of production head Carl Laemmle Jr. After the amazing profits earned from Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy, he was eager to find Universal's next horror property, and fast.

Carl Junior had been trying to get a Frankenstein sequel off the ground, but director James Whale, who had been so instrumental to the original film's success, had been resistant to the idea. Whale was a true artist who did not like to repeat himself, so the idea of a sequel was distasteful at best, even if it was guaranteed to be a hit.

In an effort to mollify Carl Junior and satisfy his desire for something in the realm of the fantastic, Whale expressed interest in filming The Invisible Man, based on H. G. Wells' 1897 sci-fi novella. It presented some special challenges and was just different enough from...