795 thoughts on “Site Index”

1. HI STEVE
   1 Charlie Chan’s prolonged period of big-screen popularity was I think over the near quarter century 1926-1949 and we used to get reruns of some of the later ones as supporting features in the minor cinemas during the early 1950s.

   2 About 4 dozen Charlie Cahn movies were made as I understand it and you have therefore included over 60% of them which is some going considering their age so well done. As I didn’t see the earlier Chan movies I am in your hands regarding most of the ratings but my goodness many of the posters are so artistically beautiful that lack of familiarity with those early movies doesn’t matter that much.

   3 It was hard to choose so I’ll take a deep breath and highlight at random Jade Mask, Black Magic, Shanghai Cobra, City in Darkness, The Black Camel and Wax Museum. I actually admired all of the stills and was pleased to see Charlie in separate ones with each of the Old Firm of Karloff and “Bala”; naturally one with Caesar Romero has to be mentioned; and in the closing one I presume that leaning over Charlie was Keye Luke as “Number One Son”? Keye continued acting until 1990 the year before his death at 86 and I saw him recently in a 1977 episode of the TV series Quincy and he was also in Gremlins and Gremlins 2.

   4 Nice to see an ‘intellectual’ screen hero being profiled again and the artistic evenness of quality throughout the presentation screams out for a 9.5/10 but whom do you regard as the better Charlie Chan, Warner Oland or Sidney Toler?

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   1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review and rating on my Chinese Detective video, much appreciated.

      Tha was indeed Keye Luke as ‘Number One Son’ in the last photo with Warner Oland. Luke was one of the most famous ‘genuinely Chinese’ actors in Hollywood. In old age he became well known as blind master Po in the 1970s Kung Fu series starring David Carradine.

      I suppose I like Oland more than Sidney Toler, I remember seeing his Chan more as kid. I was especially interested in Charlie Chan at the Opera which co-starred one of my old movie idols, William Henry Pratt aka Boris Karloff. But both actors have their ardent fans and they both played the part very well.

      There was another actor who took over as Chan after Toler’s death from cancer in 1947 – Roland Winters – he starred in six Chan movies, I didn’t include any of his because the ratings were too low.

      In the 1970s Peter Ustinov played Chan in the movie Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen, it had the lowest rating of the 45 Chan movies in my database.

      Reply

2. Steve

   Just watched your Steve Reeves video. Again, terrific posters. A couple of points–I have seen Reeves as “Tarzan” although I think his character had a different name–made for TV in 1949. Reeves apparently was seriously considered for Samson by DeMille in 1949, but in the end DeMille went with the established Victor Mature, supposedly under pressure from the higher ups. Reeves had to wait a few years for his big break. My take is that Reeves was a pretty stiff actor, but obviously had a fabulous weightlifter’s build. He certainly looked the part of Hercules.
   As for your ratings, I was somewhat surprised that Hercules wasn’t rated his top film.
   Anyway another fun video.
   *just a recommendation–what about a video on Chelo Alonso? She was the Queen of the Peplums, but the reason to do it would be the posters and the great stills. Chelo came to fame as a sexy dancer at the Follies Bergere (sp.), billed as the Cuban H-bomb. They managed to work in dancing in quite a number of her roles. Anyway, give her consideration.

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   1. Hey John….thanks for this comment. Your knowledge is very impressive. I was also surprised Hercules was not rated higher. Good review on Reeves and Steve’s video.

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   2. Thanks for reviewing my Steve Reeves video John, always appreciated.

      Both Hercules and it’s sequel Hercules Unchained had lower than expected ratings from my sources. They were originally further down on the chart and I gave each a slight boost. Hercules did not get more than 6 from my sources and Hercules Unchained did even worse with 5.2 being the highest score I could find for it.

      The Trojan Horse (1961) had the single highest rating from any of my sources and that was 8 out of 10 which is a higher score than many big Hollywood productions in the same genre. In comparison the 1956 epic Helen of Troy, directed by Robert Wise had a ratings average of just 5.65 on my database, a lower score than any of Steve Reeve’s top 5.

      The only explanation I can think of is that the peplum genre has a smaller and more fervent fan base which is more likely to give inflated ratings to those films.

      I’ve never heard of Chelo Alonso, queen of peplums eh? I’ll add her to the list.

      My next video features a legendary Hollywood “scream queen” who could it be? 🙂

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      1. Steve

         Barbara Steele was not a “Hollywood” scream queen, so my guess is Fay Wray?

         As for the absurdly sexy Chelo Alonso, check the posters on the internet and you’ll see what the fuss was about. I am very happy to learn that a video could be in the pipeline. The movies might be blah except for Chelo, but the posters should be worth it.

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         1. John, the clue is in the big new movie opening across the USA and UK this weekend, purely a coincidence of course. 🙂

            I will check out the ‘absurdly sexy’ Chelo… hang on a minute…

            ooh and I’ve found an absurdly interesting and naughty poster –

            http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/310257504873-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

            🙂

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      2. Hey Steve….sorry I do not have a better place to put the reviews and comments on your latest videos.

         Your most recent subjects have not even reached my request lists.

         Great comments to read.

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3. STEVE
   1 I always got the impression that Reg Park was the heaviest of the musclemen/action heroes both old and new and certainly at 220 lbs he was heavier that Weissmuller who was 190 lbs. I haven’t been able to locate the weights of the others but here are their heights in descending order with lifespan in brackets of those who have sadly passed away:

   Jock Mahoney 6ft 4 [70]
   Lex Barker 6ft 4 [53]
   Gordon Scott 6ft 3 [80]
   Weissmuller 6ft 3 [79]
   Arnie 6ft 2 – 69 at present
   Buster Crabbe 6ft 1 [75]
   Reg Park 6ft 1 [79]
   Steve Reeves 6ft 1 [74]
   Willis 6ft exactly – 61 at present
   Stallone 5ft 9 and half – 70 at present

   2 So among those who have passed on Scott had the longest life span and Barker the shortest but with an average lifespan of 73 none of that group got anywhere near the longevity of those constitutional strongmen Centurions Hope and George Burns. Cogerson’s swoon magnets Willis and Stallone are obviously the Alan Ladds of the entire company

   3 Thanks for additional info on Tarzan and the Trappers which interested me.

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   1. Hey Bob….thanks for doing the research on the heights, weight and other stats. So Bruce and Sly are the tiny ones….think that does not hurt Willis but it does Stallone…especially when people meet him in person. You forgot Tom Cruise…he is 3 feet 11 inches…lol. 🙂

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      1. HI BRUCE
         1 I’m probably wrong but despite Mission Impossible I did not consider 5ft 7 Cruise to be within the bracket of he-men we were discussing but rather with his flashing teeth and boyish smile as having the screen image that young Joe Yul Jr might have had if he had taken up action movies rather that musical comedies. Alternatively Cruise had HE been given musical talents might have comfortably developed into another Gower Champion but at the very most to paraphrase Louis B Mayer “Tom as Ladd but not as Arnie”.

         2 However let’s leave the defining word on Cruise to 5ft 11 Nicole Kidman who as I mentioned before said at the steps of the courthouse following her divorce from Tom “Now I can wear high heels again.” [Ouch!]

         3 That said I always loved the response of 5ft 10 Patrick Swayze’s Dalton in Road House (1989) when people often say in first meeting Dalton legendary in the film as the toughest nightclub bouncer In America “You know always I thought you’d be bigger,” and Dalton replies “Gee where have I heard that before?”

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         1. Hey Bob….I agree to a certain degree….but Tom Cruise has spent most of his career playing massive action heroes. His two Jack Reacher movies, the 42 M.I. movies, The Last Samurai and so many other action movies. So even you are right that he does match the others…he is in the same neighborhood.

            I imagine he and Ladd were about the same height….could Cruise be the new Ladd?

            Good quotes from Kidman and Swayze. 🙂

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            1. HI BRUCE

               1 Thanks for your additional observations. You could maybe extend the list indefinitely with for example mentioning 5ft 9 and 3/4 Gibson with Mad Max, Braveheart, Lethal Weapon, Expendables 3, Ransom etc in his CV. However I took my cue from your 1980s Heroes page which declared Sly, Arnie and Mr Moore to be the definitive action/adventure stars of modern times so they were my yardstick for inclusions and comparisons with Steve’s group of brawny chaps.

               2 Anyway I am in the middle of preparing a post in response to your Mickey Rooney update and my post will not be ready for a few days so in the meantime
               can you clarify the position regarding Operation Mad Ball which you give an adjusted domestic gross of $79.6 million and worldwide one of just $61.5 – the other way round? Enjoyable film by the way despite its lukewarm reception in your critic/audience column.

            2. Hey Bob….you are right that list could go on and on. Hmmmm…..Operation Mad Ball….let me see….ok….that was not the worldwide number….that was the original domestic gross I had before the updates…..so the only number I have is adjusted domestic box office….which is $79.60 million. It was a Columbia movie…and they are pretty stingy when it comes to box office numbers. In the end…the Rooney page is down to 43 Worldwide Grosses. Thanks for catching that.

            3. Jack Reacher fans were not happy when Tom Cruise was first cast in the role. What was distinctive about Reacher was his imposing height – 6ft 5ins – and glaring down at the bad guys. So who do they cast in the role? Tom Cruise, all 5ft 7ins of him.

               I’m not a big fan of the two Jack Reacher films but I do like Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible films, particularly the last two entries in the series.

            4. Hey Steve….yep….die hard Jack Reacher fans have never forgiven Cruise for playing Reacher…but even though Cruise is barely five and feet tall…his acting skills make him a giant….lol. Based on the low box office of Jack Reacher 2….not thinking there will ever be a Jack Reacher 3. Thanks for the comment and the visit.

4. 1 STEVE I wonder how the older films of Tarzan and the other brawny heroes of the classic era resonate with modern audiences – too tame? My 11 year grandson was enthralled by the 2004 Phantom of the Opera staring Gerard Butler but afterwards my daughter showed him a U Tube clip of Lon Chaney being unmasked as the horrific Phantom in the 1925 version of the movie and my grandson couldn’t stop laughing.

   2 However regardless the current taste for the movies of Steve Reeves [the 12th “sexiest man in the last 100 years” and apparently sexier than even Alex Leach or Joe Micklewhite] anybody who admires graphic art could not fail to be impressed by the magnificent run of posters many raunchy in your video-Long Ride from Hell, Morgan the Pirate, The Last Days of Pompeii, The Giant of Marathon illustrating how lovely the young Mylene Demongeot was and Goliath and the Barbarians which created Star Wars type queues when it appeared in Belfast. I could almost list them all but instead will highlight the stills of Reeves with sexy companion in Hercules Unchained, him competing with the two horses in Goliath & the Barbarians and the one of Steve with chains.

   3 I am not immediately able to detect any of Reeves’ movies in El Commandant’s pages that would enable me to make the usual comparisons showing you trouncing his ratings but although I am familiar with just about one third of Reeves’ movies overall I rate your video as 9.4/10 because of the compelling graphics.

   4 Next to Arnie Steve Reeves and Reg Park** were the bodybuilding heroes of Belfast in the old days and this unusual ‘musclemen’ series of yours is proving great fun and a refreshing change from accolades about El Commandant’s boring action heroes such as Willis and Stallone. Indeed to paraphrase Steve opening quote I don’t think that Bruce’s Bunch would have as many “male hormones” as your current set of subjects had.
   **Reg made just 5 full length movies, in 4 of which he played Hercules and in the other one he was Angela Lansbury’s former boyfriend the biblical Samson. He was the narrator of Arnie’s TV documentary movie Pumping Iron

   Reply

   1. Hi Bob, thanks for checking out my latest video featuring half-naked men, it’s a dirty job but someone has to do it. 🙂 The review and rating appreciated as always.

      Steve Reeves was too too big even for Tarzan, though he did play pirates and even a detective in his first film role. I was going to include the movie Athena (1954) starring Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds, he had a small role in that but decided at the last minute to take it off the video. It looked odd placed between Goliath and Hercules.

      https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/a4/fa/73/a4fa73bf6b83308f8ed63f8aa24e04d2.jpg

      Btw England’s Hercules, Reg Park, starred in one of my favorite ‘sword and sandal’ epics – Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) directed by Mario Bava and co-starring Christopher Lee.

      Reply

      1. A link to my Steve Reeves video –

         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp1E4eEoK8c

         More b-movies coming up next, maybe the last in this series of videos, starring the very un-Herculean Warner Oland and Sidney Toler. 🙂

         Reply

         1. Thanks for the link to your latest video.

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5. Forgot to mention: I think that #96 on the list, Dateline USA, should read Deadline USA –

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   1. Thanks Phil….wow that error has been out there awhile….fixed it here….on my Bogart page and in my database….thanks for the headsup.

      Reply

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