This week I am going to high light five classic movie alternatives to the usual Halloween classics of Frankenstein (1931) and Psycho (1960).
Dangerous Crossing (1953)–Based on the work of locked room who done it master John Dickson Carr, a young woman and her newly married husband board an ocean liner for their honeymoon. The husband disappears just after the ship leaves port and no one aboard has any memory of him. Is the the young woman crazy or is something more sinister at work?
The Jade Mask (1946)–A fast paced old dark house Charlie Chan mystery from Monogram. The great sleuth is called in to investigate the murder of a scientist working on a formula to make wood as hard as steel. Things get complicated when a dead man is seen walking around.
Narrow Margin (1952)–One of the all time great nail biter B programmers from RKO. Cynical cop Charles McGraw has to transport an important murder witness on a train filled with hit men searching for the hidden woman. Things take a dramatic turn when he discovers the woman he has been guarding is a decoy and he has inadvertently fingered the real one for the killers. Ten times better than the Gene Hackman remake.
Panic in the Streets (1950)–Its a race against time for Richard Widmark when Jack Palance and Zero Mostel kill a man infected with a plague virus and unknowingly become carriers themselves. While Widmark desperately tries to find them to keep an epidemic from erupting, Palance, a three time loser, is just as determined not to be caught.
Strange Illusion (1945)–Cult fave Edgar Ulmer reworks Hamlet in this low budget PRC noir thriller. A post Henry Aldrich Jimmy Lydon suffers from strange nightmares showing his father didn’t die in an accident but was murdered. Things take a dark and eerie turn when Lydon finally meets his mother’s new boyfriend, who turns out to be the man in his dream.
