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Briefly, Movies (19 November 2025)
Appointment with Murder (1948) D: Jack Bernhard. S: John Calvert, Catherine Craig, Jack Reitzen, Lyle Talbot, Peter Brocco, Ben Welden, Robert Conte. Better than last time “FALCON” entry has Calvert (sans cute dog and magic tricks) trying to unravel an art fraud deal gone wrong. Luckily for the film, director (and producer) Bernhard’s inventive on the shoestring budget, and Reitzen’s so bad as the villain, he makes Calvert seem competent. Supporting cast’s okay, and Craig’s good as the potentially fatale femme.
Dangerous Passage (1944) D: William Berke. S: Robert Lowery, Phyllis Brooks, Charles Arnt, Jack La Rue, John Eldredge, Victor Kilian, Alec Craig. Solid budget noir about newly wealthy Lowery finding himself in inheritance-related danger. He escapes on a seedy boat, finding romance with potential fatale Brooks and mystery with the weird crew. Except then there are further–and further–DANGEROUS developments. Lowery and Brooks have more chemistry than acting chops, but it’s good chemistry. Daniel Mainwaring’s script is crackerjack-paced.
Devil’s Cargo (1948) D: John F. Link Sr.. S: John Calvert, Rochelle Hudson, Roscoe Karns, Lyle Talbot, Theodore von Eltz, Michael Mark, Tom Kennedy. New take on the FALCON property (minus existing canon); non-actor, non-charmer, magician Calvert is the lead in this Poverty Row production. The new Falcon does magic tricks all the time and has replaced dames with his lovable dog. Dirt cheap, but L.A. location shooting’s interesting, and some of the supporting cast’s competent. Link’s direction’s no help, either.
The Falcon in Hollywood (1944) D: Gordon Douglas. S: Tom Conway, Barbara Hale, Veda Ann Borg, John Abbott, Sheldon Leonard, Konstantin Shayne, Emory Parnell. Middling entry has Conway stumbling across a corpse at a movie studio, wrecking his vacation. Complicating matters is an old foe, who just happens to have a fetching female associate (a rather good Hale). The big problems are the cops, who aren’t any good, and annoying cabbie Borg, who won’t leave Conway alone. Borg gets the racist bits, too.
The Falcon in San Francisco (1945) D: Joseph H. Lewis. S: Tom Conway, Rita Corday, Edward Brophy, Sharyn Moffett, Fay Helm, Robert Armstrong, Carl Kent. Conway, again with a sidekick (Brophy, who does better than he should with so little), helps out little kid Moffett, who’s got a fetching old sister (Corday, a series regular always playing a new character). Good mystery, great villain in Helm, who keeps easy pace with Sanders. Not particularly cheap in scale but the production cuts too many corners.
The Falcon’s Adventure (1946) D: William Berke. S: Tom Conway, Madge Meredith, Edward Brophy, Robert Warwick, Myrna Dell, Steve Brodie, Ian Wolfe. Conway and Brophy head to Miami to help out Meredith, who’s in possession of an industrial formula. A couple real, cheap laughs for Brophy, and the setting’s good, but the ADVENTURE’s off. Conway’s charm can do a lot, and he’s game for new ideas–a giant fisticuffs scene–but it’s got limits. Quite indistinct for the series finale.
The Falcon’s Alibi (1946) D: Ray McCarey. S: Tom Conway, Rita Corday, Vince Barnett, Jane Greer, Elisha Cook Jr., Emory Parnell, Al Bridge. Conway has a particularly good time this outing, which now has comely Corday as a secretary trying to find her boss’s missing pearls. The setup has the suspects all in lockdown at a hotel, but McCarey barely does anything with it. Lots of fun seeing Cook and Cook as young lovers. Parnell’s super blah. It’s lesser FALCON, but okay.
Frankenstein (2025) D: Guillermo del Toro. S: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, Charles Dance, David Bradley. Very fathers and sons adaptation blows the first half on Isaac’s one-note FRANKENSTEIN. One-note as far as writing, not acting; Isaac’s always chewing on the (elaborate but bland) CGI scenery. Elordi’s fantastic as the Creature, with lovely Wrightson-esque make-up. Del Toro tries in the wrong places, including a BRIDE nod. Shelley deserves a lot more.
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) D: Héctor Babenco. S: William Hurt, Raúl Juliá, Sônia Braga, José Lewgoy, Milton Gonçalves, Miriam Pires, Nuno Leal Maia. Beautifully acted almost-rumination on masculinity, love, gender, and avocados loses its way in the second half when it ceases pretending to be a character study. Hurt and Juliá–as cell mates with secrets who bond over Hurt’s recollections of an old movie–are phenomenal. Hurt gets a great hour, Juliá far less; neither get enough at the finish.
The Madness of King George (1994) D: Nicholas Hytner. S: Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, Anthony Calf, Amanda Donohoe, Rupert Graves, Geoffrey Palmer. Thoughtful, deliberate account of King George III’s inexplicable dissent into debilitating mental illness. Hawthorne’s mesmerizing in the lead; director Hytner gets great performances–no small parts-style–from everyone. Everyone’s great; loyal queen Mirren, scheming prince Everett, and unorthodox doctor Holm are obvious standouts. Strong script from Alan Bennett (based on his play). Third act bumps, but not excessively.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) D: Rupert Julian. S: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Mary Philbin, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, Snitz Edwards, John St. Polis. Handsome adaptation of Gaston Leroux novel successfully casts Chaney’s PHANTOM in a monstrous, fascinating but never sympathetic light. Unfortunately, damsel-in-distress Philbin’s performance is so affected and histronic, she’s not really able to convey terror (reliably). Kerry’s a little better as her beau. Chaney’s great, though. Okay overall, but the first act really shouldn’t be the most compelling.
Queens of the Dead (2025) D: Tina Romero. S: Katy O’Brian, Jaquel Spivey, Nina West, Tómas Matos, Margaret Cho, Jack Haven, Quincy Dunn-Baker. Ground zero for the zombie invasion is at a drag show where the headliner has bailed and there’s endless (amusing) drama about the show. Good performances but not enough character work for anyone; Spivey’s excellent, O’Brian seems poised for a good lead eventually, and Cho’s hilarious. Unfortunately, QUEENS doesn’t do anything with them or anyone else. But not bad.
Search for Danger (1949) D: Jack Bernhard. S: John Calvert, Albert Dekker, Myrna Dell, Ben Welden, Douglas Fowley, Michael Mark, James Griffith. Thanks again to director Bernhard (who loves that L.A. location shooting even more this time) and the supporting cast (particularly Dell, Dekker, Welden, and Fowley), the final “FALCON” picture survives Calvert’s wanting lead performance. This time he’s trying to unravel a complicated double homicide with too many suspects. The conclusion, complete with an “ah ha” moment, ties everything nicely.
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The Spirit (March 16, 1941) “Introducing Silk Satin”
Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks)
Joe Kubert (colors)
Sam Rosen (letters)
Satin is an incredible strip. It’s a mostly action strip, with three master thieves planning a team-up heist in Central City. They’re all displaced from Europe: Cedric’s British, Anton’s French, and Satin’s… Satin. They’ve also got an American sidekick monikered “Asphalt,” who doesn’t figure in much except during the setup.
The strip opens with men all waiting for Satin to arrive; she shows up with a bullet wound. They all get excited watching her dig it out before getting down to the heist planning.
The main action takes place at a ball; the thieves are going to do a switch on a famous medal, only the Spirit’s wise to them. He interrupts Satin dropping off the goods, and they get into a multi-page fight scene. By the second page, it’s clear they’re both enjoying it, which is a vibe from the weekly newspaper comic strip for the whole family. To be clear–Introducing Silk Satin is neither sexy nor horny, but Spirit and Satin clearly think rolling around with one another is sexy. And Eisner knows how to visualize it, which is accomplished, albeit arguably unnecessary. Though without Spirit’s pent-up frustration at loving to wrestle with the lady criminal but knowing it’s wrong, there’s not much to the strip.
The setup seems another of The Spirit’s WWII-aware but not directly referenced strips, but once the rolling around starts, it’s all about flexed muscles, exposed flesh, and unexpected lust. Spirit and Satin’s first rumble seemingly leaves him addled and vulnerable, which she exploits, only to discover she too is unable to dismiss her feelings.
It’s the most human Spirit’s been in ages, partially because he’s clearly losing control.
Art’s great, the comic bits are awesome—their tussle gets interrupted, leading to a turning point but also a good comedic beat amid the action—and the other thieves are always mugging out at the reader to emphasize the humorous potential in one moment or another. Again, it’s accomplished, but it’s accomplished at being about the good guy and the bad girl getting horny for each other.
And it’s infinitely impressive how well Eisner and studio pull it off.
Ebony pops in for the last few panels to give the story a postscript but also wonder why Spirit’s not in a friendly mood. Will Satin return? Perhaps… and it’ll be interesting to see if Eisner’s able to find a narrative more “Sunday Funnies” than late-night cable.
Magnificent comics.
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The Spirit (March 9, 1941) “Toy Planes”
Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks)
Joe Kubert (colors)
Sam Rosen (letters)
Spirit and Ebony are on the job for the G-men, trying to crack a spy ring planning on destroying munitions factories with “robot planes.” The robot planes, as the Spirit will later explain, are really aerial torpedoes. The villains launch them from Europe with such precision, they don’t need adjustment until they near their target, when a light signal can aim them.
And, so, when it comes time for the Spirit to counter these intercontinental missiles, he will utilize Toy Planes. And Eisner and studio get away with any potential silliness because the art is moody and gorgeous. Turns out the Eisner studio’s really good at dramatic silhouettes and vehicles. Even the fisticuffs are outstanding. Right up until the last page, Planes is a recent art standout. It’s still a recent art standout with the poorly conceived finish, where Spirit has to make his report; that scene just doesn’t deliver narratively or visually.
Not to mention portraying the G-men as flakes, which is a tad odd for such an otherwise jingoist strip (and recurring plot line). Eisner’s still staying coy about the home nation of the baddies, with one named Hogh—is it supposed to be Danish because Denmark was occupied, or is Hogh just a European name?
Still, the strip is getting much bolder about the Nazi threat. These villains aren’t fifth columnists; they’re actual Nazis who fly over in their superior, silent airplanes. They’re planning an invasion. It’s approximately nine months before Pearl Harbor, and the Nazis have flying torpedo planes and silent running. Despite their disbelief at the autoplane, they’ve got better technology, and it might be enough to beat us.
While it’s an action strip, with beautiful art, fantastic action, and the Spirit unveiling his gliding suit, it’s also a comic strip in newspapers telling readers to be on the lookout. Report those potential Nazi invaders. So, you know, it’s like a public service announcement, really.
But they’re still not saying Germany.
Ebony’s around almost the entire strip, helping capture the bad guys, and he’s got a bunch during the toy plane sequence. He’s the Greek chorus for some of the toy vs. robot plane battle, which would be fantastic if not for the (racist) caricaturing. With the caricature… well, there’s a lot going on with Spirit this strip. Lot to think about, lot to enjoy, lot to appreciate, some to question, some to regret.
Well, right up until the end, when it doesn’t go anywhere. Not with the art, not with the alarm-raising, not with anything. Dolan’s been absent before, but his absence has perhaps never been felt more greatly than on this last page. Still a great strip, just got that off finish.
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All-Star Comics (1976) #70
Paul Levitz (script)
Joe Staton (pencils)
Bob Layton (inks)
Jerry Serpe (colors)
Ben Oda (letters)
Joe Orlando (editor)
Last issue, writer Paul Levitz found a Hallmark moment amid the chaotic infighting of quinquagenarian white male superheroes and their surrogate daughter (Power Girl), whom they all berate or dismiss. Sole exception: Dr. Fate; respect. Though maybe not once we get to the end of this issue, but then, grace.
Anyway.
It was a watershed moment for the series. It was a good comic and not because it was Wally Wood doing Flash Gordon-esque Justice Society. So it’s unfortunate this issue features villains out of a toy commercial. They’re an elite team of super-criminals in tactical gear with laser guns, and they’re also elitist. They mock the cops for being poors. They are… the Strike Force.
If it were campy or corny, it’d be better, because then there’d be something to talk about. Instead, there’s not. Levitz is either checked out or trying to be condescending to fourth graders in a comic book aimed at a thirty-something (or older) audience? It’s bewildering. And not the progression one would hope after last issue.
But it’s All-Star, so it’s been worse.
The issue opens with a direct continuation of last issue, but instead of having soul-searching monologues, the assorted heroes—after pummeling one another for most of last issue—are having a Justice Society guest-star get-together. There’s too much with Superman (he’s oddly charmless without that Golden Age face) and not enough with Wonder Woman. It’s like there was a Wonder Woman editor yelling at her to get out of the comic. But after the cool kids leave (in addition to the Trinity, this means (yet again twerpy) Robin, Starman, Hourman, and Dr. Mid-Nite, who should not be the cool kids), the regular cast decides it’s time to take a week off. Hawkman hasn’t been there for his recently kidnapped wife, Dr. Fate’s got to Dr. Fate, Green Lantern needs a new job, which Flash is giving him before taking Joan on vacation.
They leave Power Girl, Star-Spangled Kid, and Wildcat in charge because none of them have any lives outside superheroing. Kid immediately takes their assignment to mean turning off the monitors and having a day off to play board games. Wildcat’s already been whining about bad life decisions, so Power Girl leaves. She’ll go actively superhero instead of mope, taking with her a follow-up to last issue. But go read Showcase.
Levitz is falling right back into what made the comic so annoying—they’re either actively jerks or, at least, wanting company. Kid and Wildcat go to the bar, leaving Huntress to come in—still in shadow but with a boot visible now. They’re going to go get in trouble at a bar, then go fight the bad guys. They were on the monitor just as Kid turned it off, but Huntress has seen them. So we’re going to get the regular cast with Huntress in for Power Girl (but in her own thread), along with a check-in with Dr. Fate, who has been unintentionally imprisoning his wife for almost forty years—more next issue on that one (sort of).
But the main plot is the Strike Force wreaking havoc, because apparently, Police Commissioner Bruce Wayne is also taking the day off and doesn’t deploy the cops with the Kryptonian killers. And it’s all pretty bad stuff. The Huntress stuff is the best, but it’s also not the Strike Force or the regular cast, meaning it’s a little unfair to compare.
Disappointing after last issue.
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Briefly, TV (26 October 2025)
All Creatures Great & Small (2020) s06e03 “Captain Farnon?” [2025] D: Stewart Svaasand. S: Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Rachel Shenton. The show feels comfortable enough after the season jump ahead–with Shenton finally getting down to the village for a bit–it’s a surprise when the episode slows down in real time. Ralph’s got the Tricki Woo breeding subplot, West and Woodhouse have the bickering because West’s not communicating one. Sublimely goes from busied to precise. Madeley’s awesome.
All Creatures Great & Small (2020) s06e04 “Jenny Wren” [2025] D: Brian Percival. S: Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Rachel Shenton. Heartstring-pulling–in all the best ways–episode about Imogen Clawson’s future potential. Meanwhile, Woodhouse has a culture clash with his paramour’s family, and West still can’t figure out how to communicate. Excellent episode for Shenton, Woodhouse, Clawson, and Tony Pitts, with some delightfully unexpected character interactions. It quickly gets emotionally intense and stays there. Great vet cases, too.
Only Murders in the Building (2021) s05e07 “Silver Alert” [2025] D: Jessica Yu. S: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Creighton, Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz, Renée Zellweger. The gang heads out to the country to Waltz’s weird mansion, thinking they’ll catch the billionaires plotting. Instead they find them playing board games for the future of the MacGuffin. Only then everyone figures out it’s a MacGuffin. Maybe they’ll pull this off? Like, Short and Gomez are really good this episode, and Waltz’s fun. But it’s still iffy.
Only Murders in the Building (2021) s05e08 “Cuckoo Chicks” [2025] D: Jessica Yu. S: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Meryl Streep, Richard Kind, Renée Zellweger. Did they just save the season? It’s a big turnaround episode, thanks mostly to Streep getting every morsel off the scenery. It’s kind of cruel Zellweger’s one note Martha Stewart is opposite her. The circles Streep runs are something. Really nice character moments, lots of laughs, and a genuine surprise at the end. Great balance of guest stars too.
Only Murders in the Building (2021) s05e09 “LESTR” [2025] D: Jamie Babbit. S: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Creighton, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Richard Kind, Jermaine Fowler. The penultimate episode puts everything on the line with the case and the building. Then it (initially) inexplicably messes with the stakes (with Gomez nicely getting the good scene if not arc), before a dynamite second half. Returning supporting cast members make for a fun time. And Short and Martin eventually do get to their moments, too. Real good.
Slow Horses (2022) s05e03 “Tall Tales” [2025] D: Saul Metzstein. S: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards. Brilliantly done bridging episode has Scott Thomas and Oldman simultaneously figuring out what the season villains are plotting. Oldman’s in lockdown with the team while Scott Thomas is interrogating Chung, who gets to show some actual range for the first time. There’s also a lot of saboteur intrigue and reveals, though special guest star Nick Mohammed isn’t really delivering.
Slow Horses (2022) s05e04 “Missiles” [2025] D: Saul Metzstein. S: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards. Excellent direction, acting, and a surprise ending cap the episode, which opens with Oldman thinking through a part of the mystery and showing off. The second half is Lowden and Edwards trying to investigate and potentially protect assassination targets, with varying levels of success. Once again, Nick Mohammed is over his head, but James Callis finally gets to flex.
Slow Horses (2022) s05e05 “Circus” [2025] D: Saul Metzstein. S: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards. Excellent setup for the finale has little fallout from last time, instead showcasing supporting players Ruth Bradley and James Callis. It’s (presumably) to get the board in shape for the HORSES to come through and save the day next episode; superbly executed. Though not enough for still regular Scott Thomas. And there’s some concerning repetition from last season’s wrap.