DVD Collectors Online

Ghost Ship, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Ghost Ship
Year: 1943
Director: Mark Robson
Rating: NR
Length: 69 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Richard Dix
Russell Wade
Edith Barrett
Ben Bard
Edmund Glover

Plot:
There's danger dead ahead when director Mark Robson (Bedlam) helms The Ghost Ship. Richard Dix (Cimarron, The Whistler series) plays the sinister captain whose port of call may be madness. All aboard!

Extras:
Scene Access

My Thoughts:
I decided to start my marathon with a classic. One of the Val Lewton movies I bought this past October. After watching the movie I am a little disappointed that it has nothing to do with ghosts... but it is a good movie. It has some great atmosphere in it. I found that when we heard the mute sailor's thoughts it was quite eerie. It was well done. While I did enjoy this movie quite a bit... I must say that so far it is my least favorite of the Val Lewton movies that I have watched.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on December 18th, 2009)

Midnight Lace, a review by GSyren

Title	Midnight Lace (5-050582-409635)
Director	David Miller
Actors	Doris Day, Rex Harrison, John Gavin, Myrna Loy, Roddy McDowall
Produced	1960 in United States
Runtime	104 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles	English
Overview	Who would want to kill Doris Day? That's the tension-packed question in this highly-charged thriller set in modern day London. As a newly-wed heiress, Doris is slowly being driven mad by life-threatening phone calls and near-fatal "accidents". Although Rex Harrison, her suave industrialist husband, is sceptical of his wife's story, there is a gallery of would-be suspects, including construction gang foreman John Gavin, her adoring next-door neighbour Roddy McDowall and Harrison's troubled treasurer, Herbert Marshall. The glitzy Ross Hunter production also featured Myrna Loy, Hermione Baddeley, and a suspense laden shock ending that will surprise even the most die-hard movie buffs.
My thoughts	Sometimes I have a hard time explaining even to myself why I rate a film the way that I do. Midnight Lace is a perfect example. It has a lot going against it. It's reminicent of both Gaslight and Dial M for Murder
My rating	4 out of 5

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on December 8th, 2013)

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Cordelia is invited to a fraternity party by senior college students and she accepts of course. Buffy is invited, too, but refuses until Cordelia convinces her. Since it seems to be a demon-free time, she agrees. Only a bracelet with small amounts of blood on it hints to new trouble in town.

My Opinion: I knew it all along! All rich people are in league with the Devil! Or a demon in this case. I liked this episode because it showed that Humans can be as evil as demons and that the former have no problem dealing with or using the latter to achieve their goals. And Buffy's bad luck streak with guys continues, although the pattern will emerge only later (nice guy who turns into a monster/asshole once he has what he wanted).

Synopsis: Halloween is coming up and that means Vampires will stay at home. Unfortunately Snyder isn't a Vampire and he makes Buffy, Willow and Xander "volunteers" to escort children around the blocks on Halloween. But something is wrong with the costumes: Everybody seem to turn into what they are wearing: soldier, vamp (not -ire!) ghost, 18th century lady and a whole lot of monsters. Spike is delighted! And the Slayer faints.

My Opinion: I love this episode. The introduction of Ethan Rayne as an old friend of Giles's/Ripper's was a great idea and I love the episodes he's in, because there will always be some weird side effect and Giles will behave unusually. I also liked that Xander was allowed to be the protector of the ladies and I loved how Buffy had no idea what who and what she was. My favourite line was when Willow said (in regard to Buffy): "Couldn't she dress up like Xena?".
I noticed though that there was an uninvited Vampire in Buffy's house. But they never explained how exactly this magic works and since Joyce seemed to be out of town and Buffy wasn't really Buffy, maybe the house was deemed "deserted" and thus unprotected.

Synopsis: An old friend of Buffy's, Ford, has moved to Sunnydale and she's excited about it. They went to school together for seven years and as it turns out he's found out that she's the Slayer. Neither Xander nor Angel are very thrilled about this development, but Buffy loves spending time with him and catching up on old stories. There's one catch though: Ford has joined a cult that reveres Vampires, calling them "the lonely ones". They have no idea about the true nature of these creatures and their knowledge is bade upon old Dracula movies. And they want to become Vampires themselves.

My Opinion: He committed suicide because he was afraid of death. But he deserved what he got. I would have understood it if he had made that choice only for himself even though he didn't really understand the consequences. But to sacrifice all these naive teenagers and even Buffy to get his wish granted, was over the line. But it was also one of the rare occurrences where Buffy has to dust a Vampire that she and we knew as Humans (e.g. Jesse in Welcome to the Hellmouth / The Harvest [OK, that was Xander]) and/or that she knew before he became a Vampire (Conversations with Dead People).

Synopsis: A man tries to get to Giles but gets killed by a female demon in school grounds. When the police informs him of that he can identify the man as an old friend of his. From there on Giles behaves unGilesish and he has to learn that more friends of his have died recently. As it turns out, Giles wasn't always the virtuous librarian. Many years ago a group including the dead people, him and Ethan Rayne have summoned a demon and now he's killing them all.

My Opinion: After Halloween this was the second time we see a glimpse of Giles's darker side and especially his past. In just two episodes they managed to break his facade and to make him into just an imperfect human being as everyone else. I also liked how Willow established herself as "third-in-command" when Giles and Buffy were gone. She's already developed a lot since the pilot. But it doesn't appear to be fully serious yet, more like giving orders with a .

(From "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marathon on April 18th, 2009)