DVD Collectors Online

King of the Pecos, a review by Rogmeister

King of the Pecos  (1936)  B&W  54m
Directed by Joseph Kane
Cast: John Wayne, Muriel Evans, Cy Kendall, Jack Clifford, Arthur Aylesworth, Herbert Heywood, Yakima Canutt

A boy escapes when his parents are murdered by a cattle baron. Years later that boy returns as a young lawyer (wayne) with a six-shooter and a deadly aim.

This picture was shot during John Wayne's "B" western period which pretty much lasted the entire decade of the 1930s and which was bookended by two big "A" pictures, The Big Trail and Stagecoach.  "B" pictures were films that were shot quickly (usualy in about a week) and which had short running times of about an hour.  Some were okay, some were pretty good...I don't know if any ever reached the "great" end of the scale, though.  This one would reach the "pretty good" end of the scale.  It has some good action scenes with a few nice stunts (which was telegraphed by the fact that Yakima Canutt, fine stuntman but not a very good good actor, was in the cast).  There's some good photography with some nice outdoor locations.  The plot is the usual staple mixing revenge with a badguy trying to keep the water rights he has no real...ahem..."right" to keep...heh heh.  But it's a decent kind of film kids ate up in that innocent time of the past.  There aren't a lot of DVDs that have nice quality prints of the "B" pictures and this is definitely one of those few so I'd recommend it if you're a fan of "B" westerns.   

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 28th, 2009)

The Castle of Fu Manchu, a review by GSyren

The Castle of Fu Manchu (827058-100892)

Spain 1969 | Released 2003-09-30 on DVD from Blue Underground

92 minutes | Aspect ratio Anamorphic 1.78:1 | Audio: English Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo

Directed by Jess Franco and starring Christopher Lee, Richard Greene, Tsai Chin, Maria Perschy, Howard Marion-Crawford

Christopher Lee returns as the diabolical super-villain who along with his sadistic daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin of THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU and THE JOY LUCK CLUB) creates a fiendish new chemical weapon that will turn the seas into a giant block of ice. But when his Archenemy Nayland Smith (Richard Greene of TALES FROM THE CRYPT) tracks the madman's trail of kidnapping, murder and massive global destruction, he himself becomes trapped in Fu's impenetrable lair of cruelty. Can any of the world's top secret agents (including a wild performance by Director Jess Franco) now stop the cold-blooded terror that lives in the CASTLE OF FU MANCHU? Maria Perschy (99 WOMEN) and Rosalba Neri (JUSTINE) co-star in this notorious sequel to THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU directed by Jess Franco (THE BLOODY JUDGE, VAMPYROS LESBOS) that marked Christopher Lee's final performance as the infamous Chinese madman. This definitive edition of THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU has been newly restored from it's original print and packed with exclusive new Extras for a disc full of Fu Manchu mayhem!

My thoughts about The Castle of Fu Manchu:

I recently got the idea that I should rewatch all five Fu Manchu movies starring Christopher Lee. And I did so in the span of three days. Producer Harry Alan Towers is supposed to have said that Jess Franco managed to do what no one else could - he killed Fu Manchu. And I'm rather inclined to agree, although I think that Towers must bear part of the responsibility. After all, he re-hired Franco for this second film! So, The Castle of Fu Manchu was the nail in the coffin for the Fu Manchu franchise. And when you watch all five films in close order, the start of Castle really makes no sense. But in order to explain why, I need to describe the ending of The Brides of Fu Manchu. In Brides, Fu Manchu has developed a weapon that transmits energy in the form of radio waves. When enough energy is transmitted, the receiver turns the radio waves back into energy with a force of a big bomb. And the explosion is supposed to level a large part of London. But the signal is being jammed, and Fu Manchu orders his henchmen to turn up the output beyond the safe level. Feng (played by Burt Kwouk) protests and tries to retract the lever. Fu Manchu shoots him, and when Feng falls on the lever he pushes it down to the point where Fu Manchu's entire lair is blown sky high. Now, at the beginning of Castle we see the exact same sequence. So is this a flashback? No, because this time the target is not London, but a passenger ship in the Caribbean. And this time the machinery somehow creates an iceberg. So, if this is not a flashback, what is it? Are we supposed to believe that Fu Manchu built a new lair just like the old one, and now commits the same fatal error as he did the last time, in exactly the same fashion? A genius like Fu Manchu? And since he already killed Feng, I guess that this time it's Feng's twin brother being shot? The fact that the sequence showing the stricken ship is actually lifted from the black-and-white movie A Night to Remember (about the sinking of Titanic) doesn't really make things any more believable. Later in the movie there is even more borrowed scenes, a dam collapse lifted from Campbell's Kingdom. I guess Franco (like many a b-movie director) is an acquired taste, and one that I never really have acquired. The only Franco film that I have really liked was The Bloody Judge, also with Christopher Lee. Christopher Lee adds something to any film that he appears in, but even he can't save The Castle of Fu Manchu from being a hopeless mess. Recommended only if you are a Christopher Lee, Jess Franco or Fu Manchu completist. Or if you are a masochist.

I rate this title

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on August 17th, 2015)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Full House
Take three little girls, their recently widowed father, and two of dad's best buddies, put them in the same household, and stand back for a Full House of laughs, love and warmth.

Enjoy all 22 Season One episodes (plus wonderful extras!) of the smash-hit series that ran from 1987 to 1995. Bob Saget plays Danny Tanner, the girls' doting dad. John Stamos is their rock-'n'-rollin' Uncle Jesse. Dave Coulier is Joey, a wannabe comic whose best audience is right at home. And the three Tanner youngsters are played by Candice Cameron, Jodie Sweetin and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who share the role of nine-month-old scene stealer Michelle. Their house is your house!

Our Very First Show
Joey and Jesse's very first day as dads includes that harrowing rite of passage: changing a diaper.

My Thoughts:
While not what I would call a favorite, this series is entertaining. A fun show with a few laughs. The show has a likable cast and is one of those type of shows where most all problems is solved in the one half hour show. It was kind of weird seeing this first episode again... and seeing how long Jesse's hair was at the time. And I must say it was hilarious to see Jesse and Joey trying to change a diaper. At this point I still only have the first season of the series... on of these days I will have to continue collecting this series. As I said... not a favorite but fun.... and I am sure I could get these sets fairly cheap.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on January 26th, 2010)