The Film Detective

Anna Neagel's first Hollywood performance! Featuring a star-making performance from then largely unknown actress Anna Neagel as the eponymous Cavell, Nurse Edith Cavell is a thrilling and heartbreaking biography of a woman who made an indelible mark on World War I history. Directed by frequent Neagel collaborator Herbert Wilcox, and with a supporting cast composed of Hollywood legends like Oscar Nominee Edna May Oliver (Little Women) and Oscar Winner George Sanders (All About Eve), this film...

Tim McCoy, one of the unsung heroes of 1930s western pictures, stars in a dual role. First, he's 'Slim' Braddock, a miner who turns to robbing stagecoaches after being swindled by a banker. When Slim is murdered, his son Tim, also played by McCoy, seeks vengeance. Directed by B-movie legend Sam Newfield for Excelsior Pictures, this film is a showcase for McCoy, who appeared in more than 90 movies and in 1960 earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and Doc Holliday ride again in Howard Hughes' epic 1943 western, but the character you'll remember most is sultry country vixen Rio McDonald. Hughes' nationwide search for an actress to play Rio resulted in the film debut of Jane Russell, whose natural assets were allegedly helped by a special bra designed by Hughes. When The Outlaw finally received a nationwide release in 1946, its success vindicated Hughes and made Russell a star. As for Hughes' infamous bra,...

Written and directed by a 24-year-old Francis Ford Coppola, Dementia 13 centers on the dysfunctional Haloran family, who have converged at Haloran Castle to enact a morbid ritual in remembrance of Lady Haloran's (Ethne Dunn) deceased daughter, Kathleen (Barbara Dowling). Secrets shroud Kathleen's demise, and soon there is a mysterious interloper prowling the grounds with a big axe to grind. Genuinely engaging and well-photographed, Dementia 13 is a bone-chilling horror classic sure to thrill...

Based on the story "Triple Cross for Danger" by the widely lauded Western author Walter J. Coburn, Fighting Fury is a thrilling take on the Western revenge drama. Portraying both a father and his son, star of silent and sound cowboy adventure films, Jack Hoxie (Trouble Busters, Law and Lawless) exudes the classic American rustic charm that still defines the genre. The film spins the yarn of Clay Hill Jr. (Hoxie), a Spanish-American boy raised by a Mexican servant who vows bloody vengeance on...

Be happy and go wacky! The classic fairy tale gets a comical workover from comedy legends Abbott and Costello! Lou plays Jack, while former heavyweight boxer Buddy Baer plays the giant who lives in the sky. Meanwhile, renowned voice artist Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny!) lends his familiar sound to various animals in the story. There's even a talking harp! This is one film that will make you think twice the next time someone offers you some magic beans...

Maybe they're just dogs wearing fake snouts and tails, in a low budget movie filmed in Texas by the same group that gave us The Giant Gila Monster. But suspend your disbelief, and they'll become mutant, killer shrews, created by a mad scientist. Starring James Best (TV's The Dukes of Hazzard), this howler has some good things going for it, namely a creepy musical score by Harry Bluestone and Emil Cadkin, and some solid direction by Ray Kellogg. If nothing else, this slice of schlock heaven may...

What could possibly happen when one woman leaves her job? When gangsters and $50,000 are on the line, a lot! In a release from Pine Thomas Productions, mobster gambling rackets and family betrayal is only the beginning of the story! Phillip Reed, Ann Gillis, and Hillary Brooke star is this dramatic feature from 1947.

A millionaire offers ten thousand dollars to five people if they agree to stay overnight in a large, spooky, rented house. When you consider that the millionaire is Vincent Price, and the film is directed by Schlock master William Castle, you can bet the five guests are in for a long, bumpy night. This "super shocker of the century" was a smash hit upon its 1959 release. For architecture buffs, the home used for the exteriors of the haunted house was actually designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and...

HE'S TERRIFIC! Your favorite crime crusader is back! The second installment of the Dick Tracy film series released by RKO Radio Pictures, "Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball" stars Morgan Conway as the famously unstoppable detective based on the eponymous 1930s comic strip character. When ex-convict Cueball steals valuable diamonds and embarks on a gory killing spree, Dick Tracy allows his girlfriend Tess to act as a buyer for the gems, only to see his plan backfire when the homicidal Cueball captures...

This short documentary depicts the American assault on the Japanese held island of Iwo Jima. Producer Milton Sperling would later go on to helm such Hollywood war classics as The Battle of the Bulge, Merrill's Marauders, and The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell, for which he and writing partner Emmet Lavery earned an Oscar nomination for best screenplay.

Robert Armstrong and Carol Lombard star in this early talkie about a reporter who is dealing with alcoholism and a crumbling marriage, not to mention being accused of a murder he didn't commit! Directed by two-time Oscar nominee Gregory La Cava (My Man Godfrey, Stage Door).