Son of Dracula (1943), Robert Siodmak.

Southern Gothic version of the story, with plantation owner's daughter bringing "Count Alucard" to the US in her search for immortality. Dracula, for all you anagram whizzes out there, is not referred to as the "Son of" in the movie anywhere, but who cares. He's played by Lon Chaney (Jr.), who I was always curious about but who has little effect here - he's more plot device than character. I thought he could at least put on an accent, considering the Old World/ New World contrasts even the characters are talking about. It's possible he took a completely different approach to distance himself from Bela Lugosi's portrayal as anything else would look like an effort to imitate. Plot would have entertained me even if it had none of the vampire shtick - Louise Allbriton's scheming was enough fun. Would you believe Dracula comes off as a bit of a cuckold in this one?

In this quest to understand "B's" I must confess I had no idea that all these Universal monster movies were being made as early as the 30s and through the war years - I always associated them with the 50s for some reason.

Dracula's Daughter (1936), Lambert Hillyer.

Lovely little follow up to the 1931 Dracula, this picks up right where we left off with Renfield having just fallen down the stairs and broken his neck. Kind of a weird, intriguing film - with tall, dramatic Gloria Holden as a conflicted victim of her own desires. (Tall? Or was it all the worm's eye shots?). Apparently seven years on, psychotherapy is considered a possible remedy to vampirism/lesbianism. Magic versus science! Bizarro henchman "Sandor" has American midwestern accent, making him sound a lot like Peter Graves (ok, that would make Graves 128 years old which seems a tad old even for him). Holden is costumed by Brymer, whose designs allude to original film. The tone of the film is classy and Holden and her hypnotic ring and not a bad match for Mr Lugosi and his mesmerizing performance.

Barbary Coast (1935), Howard Hawks.

Basically an Edward G Robinson gangster flick transplanted in the wild west - San Francisco during the gold rush. Claustrophobic, packed with all kinds of nuts including the prerequisite unshaven old coot found in every western. A heavily made up Edward G, sporting a single dangly earring and sideburns, wants the only non whore in town but she's after a chiseled WASP miner. Pretty entertaining. I love how Robinson continually threatens to set fire to San Francisco!

Performers at the Bella Donna are startled by a white woman walking into the joint.

The Face Behind the Mask (1941), Robert Florey.

Lorre's character Janos is lost in thought and isolated though surrounded by his criminal gang.

A little gem and a considered by many film historians to be one of the best B-movies, this one remains compelling because of Peter Lorre's wonderful performance. Lorre begins as a bright-eyed immigrant eager to work hard in America, so he can bring his Hungarian sweetheart to the new country. Caught in a hotel fire, which burns his face, he becomes demoralized and turns to crime in hopes that he can gather enough money to pay for facial reconstruction. Biographer Stephen D Youngkin saw the movie as a portent of "a sort of grim, apocalyptic vision of [Lorre's] future in Hollywood," (The Lost One, 2005). As it did for Janos, the American dream went sour for the talented actor who became unable to escape his creepster roles.

By the way, that biography is highly recommended. It's exceptionally well-researched, and details the story of Lorre's experiences in the provocative Weimar theatre scene as well as delving into his Hollywood years. It is, however, uncompromisingly depressing. Interesting tidbit I learned: Lorre's first wife played the high priestess of Vulcan in the original series!

The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God! (2007), Joe Eszterhas.

OK, so is Joe Eszterhas insane? This book is nothing but a string of quotations and crude but rarely amusing anecdotes. If you took out all the quotes from Zsa Zsa Gabor, you'd be left with a pamphlet.

I don't even know why I am reviewing this, because there's a far more hilarious review of it on Amazon already: http://www.amazon.com/review/R273SWO14F8AJR/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Andrew Dominic.

Length can kill an ego-driven project but not this one. This movie is languorous, thoughtful. I never wanted it to hurry. Reminded me very much of Peter Carey's novel The True History of the Kelly Gang (this one is based on a novel too, one by Ron Hansen which I haven't read). For the most part an examination of the fear and tension caused by a faltering Jesse James as he "says goodbye to the gang," the film's last moments shed light on James' afterlife as an icon as it springs from new mass media: photography, newspaper. Breathtaking cinematography by Roger Deakins, who often works with the Coen Brothers. Now I can put a name to a man who so gorgeously captures both winter and summer desert landscapes (Fargo, No Country For Old Men). Casey Affleck is immensely likable.

Fiasco (2006), James Robert Parish.

Not a bad concept - Parish takes 15 Hollywood flops and examines them chronologically from the breakup of the studio system to the present. I have to say I would have preferred more in-depth examinations of fewer fiascos. I was turned off by the lazy writing and at one point even wondered if Parish was using a thesaurus to find suitable words that were synonymous with "flop". Sweeping generalizations - such as the one made in a single sentence in which Parish claims that "the recent Gulf War" was the motivation behind a mid-90s trend towards less onscreen violence - made it hard to take him too seriously. According to Parish, every fiasco just about blacklists every actor involved- but I couldn't buy that either -- isn't that just the way Hollywood works? You make a stinker, you dust yourself off and get back on that horse?  (Well, maybe not if you are Elizabeth Berkley...) Final complaint: if you are going to use Hudson Hawk as a baseline against which all disasters are compared - write about Hudson Hawk, dammit!

Pepe Le Moko (1937), Julien Duvivier.

Nobody in Algiers can get Paris out of their minds and Pepe is trapped in the Casbah. Gorgeous movie. So this is where Pepe Le Pew comes from!