But not for 2024: we may have had only 50 blog
entries, of which only 37 were actual film reviews, but our "Runners
Up" list nevertheless came to a full 11 titles. Of those 11, ten were made
prior to the 21st century — so, for the sake of continuity, we have taken the
only contemporary film off the list. (Reverse ageism, you might say.) To read our full,always overly verbose review of any given film, click on the linked titles.
And so,
here they are, in no particular order: the Ten Best films that we here at a wasted life watched in 2024
that we bothered to write about — oddly enough, for a change many of them are actually
"respected" films. And Sherlock Holmes also comes out well: three of the movies we've chosen
come from Universal's classic Holmes and Watson series of the 1940s. About the
only truly WTF film on our Top Ten List — the truly crappy film that makes the
list only because it haunted our mind long after we watched it — would be...
(Planet Texas, 1961/64)
"Buchanan's The Naked Witch is not
exactly the most exciting film out there, and it seems almost impossible that
it took two people to put together a snoozer as dull and terrible as this
turkey, but as crappy as this lump of extremely low-budget flotsam is, the
movie does have an oddly surreal appeal, providing you are of a forgiving
nature."
Trailer to
The Naked Witch:
(USA, 1948)
"Beautifully filmed and tightly
scripted, Cry of the City quickly grabs onto the viewer and doesn't let go
until the final frames. The movie has no flab, and the twists are not always
expected. The acting varies from excellent (Conte and most secondary
characters) to uneven (Mature and Paget), and but for the expedient (if tensely
staged) breakout and magic bullet, the events on screen remain firmly grounded
in reality. The city of the film is a cruel one, one in which looking out for
number one is the main rule and all that which is decent — family, love,
friendship — has barely a chance to survive or remain uncorrupted."
Trailer to
Cry of the City:
(USA, 1945)
"Fans of yesteryear's horror cannot
go wrong with The Body Snatcher: it is an enthralling, well-made horror film
that keeps you watching from the start until the end, ably assisted by some
great direction and a fantastic Boris Karloff."
Trailer to
The Body Snatcher:
(Germany/USA, 1976)
"The Swiss Conspiracy is not, of
course, a masterpiece of originality; indeed, much of what occurs in the movie
occurs in other, similar movies. Still, it deserves some respect: the narrative
is not lazy and there are clues along the way that allow an intrepid viewer to
put together the twist."
Trailer to
The Swiss Conspiracy:
(Italy, 1971)
"Without doubt, The Price of Death is
a flawed (possibly even fumbled) movie, but it does stand out as an interesting
anomaly: detective western flicks are even rarer than western horrors. As such,
it remains, despite its unevenness and flaws, mildly intriguing and enjoyable.
While hardly imperative viewing, fans of the genre could do far worse..."
Some music from
The Price of Death:
(Brexitland, 1969)
(Poster created by Richard
Littler)
"It is perhaps rather aside the
point to argue whether The London Nobody Knows 'works' as a documentary or not,
for whatever flaws it might have, age has given the visual time capsule an
amazing, eye-catching patina that makes it an absolutely absorbing watch."
(USA, 1943/44)
"Overlook [the] obvious but minor
flaws and the obviously dated film is rather entertaining minor classic of
arguably quality, the last especially when compared to some of the later films
in the series. Regardless of whatever flaws, however, Sherlock Holmes & the
Spider Woman is well worth watching."
Trailer to
The Spider Woman:
(1944, USA)
"In general, this installment of
the classic Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson series, The
Scarlet Claw, is commonly cited as one of the best of the series, if not the
best. And, indeed, the programmer truly does live up to its reputation — with
the caveat, of course, that you are one of the continually dwindling population
that have a penchant (and the patience) for old movies of the prior century."
Trailer to
The Scarlet Claw:
(USA, 1932)
"This independently produced 1932
pre-Code horror film, eight years shy of a century old at the time of the
writing of this entry, is a flawed but wonderful little gem that is unarguably
of greater importance historically than it is watchable for those who are not
partial to films of such age."
Trailer to
White Zombie:
(USA, 1944)
"While most aficionados tend to
hold The
Scarlet Claw (1944) high as the best of the Rathbone/Bruce series of
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson movies, we here at a wasted life tend to bestow that
honor to this entry here, the ninth of the grand total of fourteen movies Basil Rathbone
and Nigel Bruce
were to make together as the bromance duo. It just has too much going for it,
including an excellent supporting cast of favorites."
Trailer to
The Pearl of Death:
Turd of the Year*:
* Beating out the runners up, The
First Myth: The Clash of Gods (China, 2021) & Force
of Nature (2020).
(Planet Texas, 1967)
"[...] Although this public-domain
movie is easy enough to find all over the net, there is really no need to
search Night Fright out, for there is no reason to bother watching it. (Unless,
of course, you happen to be John Agar completionist.) Night Fright is 100%
non-imperative viewing."
Trailer to
Night Fright:
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