Public Domain Movie Of The Week: Santa Claus Conquers The Martians

by Furious
December 23rd, 2008

I’ve been wanting to get this up as the Movie of the Week for a while, but I had to force myself to wait until Christmas. Not only is this a great holiday movie, it’s also always near the top of worst movie ever made lists.

Nearly everything about the movie is bad. Odd story, bad acting, worse costumes, absent production values, and uncomfortable scenes between Santa and the kids. The only thing that could draw any compliments would be the inclusion of some stock footage. It doesn’t make the movie any better, but it doesn’t make it worse, either.

The children of Mars are looking for something to relieve the boredom of Martian life, where all the knowledge they’ll ever need is fed into their heads and they have no individuality. But parents notice the kids love watching Earth TV, where they

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Popularity: 23% [?]

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Public Domain Movie Of The Week: Captain Kidd

by Furious
December 15th, 2008

Once upon a time, pirate movies were all the rage. People used to love all the plundering and high seas hi-jinks. Pirate movies hit a huge lull until Pirates of the Caribbean, but there was a whole mess of them from the 20’s through the 50’s. One of the more interesting offerings is 1945’s Captain Kidd.

Charles Laughton plays the eponymous pirate who manages to trick the King into giving him a ship and a crew full of condemned pirates. Kidd is expected to complete his charge and the crew expects a pardon for faithful service, but Kidd has other plans. He hopes to have others blamed for his acts of piracy while he reclaims his treasure and kills the crew, and gain a Lordship in the process.

While Laughton is not the prototypical swashbuckler, he’s still a great actor.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

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Public Domain Movie Of The Week: My Man Godfrey

by Furious
December 9th, 2008

During the Great Depression, one of the most popular characters was the bum with a heart of gold. Nearly everyone could identify with a down on his luck, destitute guy that still held his head up high. The other sentiment that nearly everyone loved was that the rich were a bunch of self-concerned idiots. My Man Godfrey epitomizes both those ideals and connected with both audiences and critics. The story of a bum (formerly a member of a wealthy family) hired as the butler for a family of rich eccentrics and inadvertently gets the romantic attention of one of the daughters was able to capture the public’s imagination by using an anti-wealthy/pro-poor storyline.

My Man Godfrey was able to earn Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, but somehow failed to get a Best Picture nomination.

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Popularity: 16% [?]

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Public Domain Movie Of The Week: The Stranger

by Furious
December 1st, 2008

What do you get when an innovative, egomaniacal director who makes movies that don’t make any money sets out to prove to everyone that he can work within the Hollywood system? You get Orson Welles’ The Stranger. It’s generally regarded as Welles’ most conventional offering, but that doesn’t mean it’s just a run-of-the-mill thriller.

Welles plays Franz Kindler, a Nazi war criminal hiding out in a small Connecticut town. Rather than just lie low and keep to himself, Kindler works as a history teacher and is about to marry the daughter of a Supreme Court judge. UN war crimes investigator Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) scours the globe in search of Kindler, until finally releasing and following one of Kindler’s associates. An intense game of cat-and-mouse ensues as Kindler does all he can to conceal his identity.

Popularity: 22% [?]

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Public Domain Movie Of The Week: The Fast And The Furious

by Furious
November 24th, 2008

The first The Fast and the Furious is about a man named Frank Webster who escapes from prison after being convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. He kidnaps Connie, a race car driver, who was recently banned from a California to Mexico race because, like most exciting things in 1955, the race was deemed too dangerous for women.

Popularity: 22% [?]

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Public Domain Movie Of The Week: Night Of The Living Dead

by Furious
November 17th, 2008

The modern zombie, the mindless, shambling, flesh- and brain-eating undead ghoul, was born in Night of the Living Dead.

Popularity: 29% [?]

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Public Domain Movie Of The Week: The Kid

by Furious
November 10th, 2008

By 1920, Charlie Chaplin was one of the biggest movie stars in the world. The Tramp was, and arguably still is, the most recognizable character to ever grace the screen.

Popularity: 14% [?]

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Public Domain Movie Of The Week: M

by Furious
November 3rd, 2008

Fritz Lang’s M is the grandfather of serial killer movies. If you thought Psycho or The Silence of the Lambs were good, they’ve got nothing on M.

Popularity: 10% [?]

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Public Domain Movie Of The Week Double Feature

by Furious
October 28th, 2008

To get warmed up for Halloween, I present two of the most frightening horror movies you could ever want to see, Freaks and Nosferatu.

Popularity: 11% [?]

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