After years of hearing about the brilliance of Bava and his contemporaries and the influence they had on modern horror, particularly slasher films (which I'll admit to having a morbid interest in), I finally watched this film last weekend. All I can say is, "huh?" Before I get flamed: yes, I know that giallo films are supposed to be short on plot, long on style. But I didn't get ANY sense of danger or suspense at all during this movie, only of a desire for it to be over.

SPOILER AHEAD: Only the hanging death at the beginning was of any interest, mainly because every other murder in the entire movie looked as if it was doused in red tempera paint. There was almost no realism to any of the murders. The beheading was particularly ludicrous: there were holes in the back of the "neck" of the decapitated body! Sorry, giallo fans, but I just don't get what all the fuss is about.


I'm a big fan of giallo movies, and lately I have become a fan of director Bava, but this film is simply mediocre. This Bava slasher is best remembered for influencing other movies in the subgenre (the "Friday the 13th" movies in particular), but the truth is that it is almost unwatchable. I've been very pleased with all the films made by Bava that I've seen, but this one has to be his worst movie. It is a tepid, overcomplicated and downright silly horror film. Imaginative murder sequences aside, it is a real mess. It is confusing for no apparent reason. I'm not sure what Bava was trying to do here, but it is a real letdown from a filmmaker that should know better. The ridiculous ending is so bizarre that I wondered if Bava was responsible for it. It is just an awful movie, so you've been warned. The uncut version of the film is titled "Twitch of the Death Nerve", but I do not think a few minutes of extra gore can improve such a sloppy made movie.


Visually stunning, as Bava's work usually was, "Twitch of the Death Nerve" offers the blueprint that would be used for all types of gory body count movies, especially the slasher craze of the late 70s & early 80s. Although he'd made similar films before (such as "Blood and Black Lace" and even "Kill, Baby, Kill"), never before had he been this explicit in his violence. The emphasis here was not only on the violent murders, but the bloody details.

The rather loose plot is centered on a lovely bay belonging to a Countess. In a stunning opening, she is murdered, and then just as quickly, her murderer is murdered by an unseen third party. At stake is the ownership of the valuable bay property, and it's something that a number of people would kill for. In fact, apparently everybody would kill for it. A series of gruesome murders is set in motion, each one more outlandish than the last, to the point where when a simple strangulation takes place late in the film, the viewer is shocked at the restraint.

Bava's inventive camera tricks have never been more appealing than here, not to mention the detailed color schemes he gets going. I was shocked to learn that this movie was not shot in a wooded area, as Bava has made it appear, but rather the woods were simulated by clever camera angles and random branches held in front of the camera. No matter how, he created a convincing atmosphere of isolation. From the opening scene, which takes place in a secluded mansion on a stormy night, Bava's setting is both exotic and menacing. The murders are shocking enough, but even more disturbing is the way Bava lingers over the death throes of the victims in an almost pornographic way. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite so gruesome as a particular murder here that involves a character getting a machete embedded in his face. Even though it was duplicated in several other films (both "Dawn of the Dead" and "Friday the 13th Part 2"), never was it so gut wrenchingly realized.

Only a few things spoil the ride here, and admittedly they are rather major. The plot is quite convoluted, so much that I gave up trying to figure out what was going on. Unlike Jason's mindless rampages, these murders have multiple perpetrators and motivations driving them, not to mention the scheming and double-crossing that takes place here. Then there's the conclusion, which is somewhat unsatisfying. While none of the situations are especially realistic, Bava's wrap-up here is absolutely absurd and jokey, whereas the film's tone was not like this until the last few moments.

Overall though, I don't care about any of that. "Twitch of the Death Nerve" is outstanding enough to rise above it, and Bava gives us enough to go on that all I can remember is being overwhelmed by his visuals and the perverse spectacle of 13 bizarre death scenes all in one movie.


One of the original video nasties that was released in 1994 with 43 seconds cut. I cannot imagine what 43 seconds were cut out, as we are left with a slasher film that has 13 murders.

This film is hailed as the precursor to Halloween and Friday the 13th. It certainly spares no blood, and has a gratuitous decapitation to make it a true nasty.

Nudity is at a minimum, with just a skinny dip segment by one of the college kids that happened upon the cottage and set off the chain of murders.

It was funny to see the hand almost on the ass of the girl as the long dead body rises to the surface. her friends met a grisly death, with two of them dispatched at once in bed, with the guy on top still pumping away as he is dying.

What makes this film very interesting, and may be a distraction for some is the story line. It is minimalist, but there is a story. One man is trying to find out who killed his mother, One women is chasing down the death of her father. Revenge plays a part, but the main story is familiar to those of us here in Florida - greedy developers. Here they only kill wildlife in their quest for land, in this film anyone who gets in the way is dispatched. So, you have not one slasher, but several with different motives.

And, just when you think you have finally got everything just the way you want it, Bava throws in a twist that had me laughing my ass off.

The jungle music throughout irritated me mildly, but it did fit the scenery.


Without a doubt, Bava left his mark on popular cinema with "Twitch of the Death Nerve." It is one of the earliest 'slashers' I've ever seen. The best thing about Bava's classic is that it starts out in traditional Bava fashion as a sort of Gothic piece and then it generates into a much more modern-feeling horror film with kids at a lake being hunted by a psychopath.

The blood flows in this one, probably Bava's most gory. It's ashame that he didn't make more like this, but I think his talent was actually the old school horror pieces like "Blood and Black Lace," which was actually an even earlier slasher from Bava. The difference is that "Blood and Black Lace" lacks the theme that is now so popular, with kids being stalked and hunted. That is where "Twitch" wins the crown.

With all there is to love about this awesome flick, I still have to gripe a bit. The ending is a little vague. I am still not too sure what happened, but the twist only halfway works. Still though, "Twitch of the Death Nerve" is a must see! 8 out of 10, kids.


This is one of first real slasher films, and inspired the many films of the eighties. It is set in a bay, where the precious land is sought by many to be developed. The original and unique thing is there is no single killer, everyone is dispatching each other to gain control of the land. Also a group of young campers arrive, they are soon dispatched as well. The effects are very good for that era, especially the axe in the face scene. The film is shot with good style too by Bava, has his camera follows some diverse angles. You get the impression he made this film with his tongue firmly placed in his cheek. Especially the ending, which kind of fits in with the whole theme of the film, but with a difference. And the music at the end is amusing. An impressive film, that is still effective despite its age.


This movie is often considered to be one of Bava's best, and I can see why some would say that. Maybe there's something I just don't understand about the movie that makes me miss the point.

The plot revolves around the murder of an elderly woman and the subsequent inheritance grab that ensues. Possibly what is so off-putting about this film is that characters are introduced, and then killed off five minutes later. This isn't so much of a whodunit as much as a whokilledwho. And that's all the movie is: there's no mystery as to who the killer is, because it's everybody, so it's just a matter of who is left at the end. The murders themselves tend to be fairly original, particularly those that befall a precocious batch of horny teens who stumble onto the family estate (anyone who's seen Friday the 13th will see the inspiration for that movie right here). My one real complaint about this movie is the head-scratchingly odd ending, which really ties things up rather nicely, but leaves a rather questionable taste in your mouth. A must for Bava fans, but others may want to avoid.


Mario Bava was remarkably ahead of his time. Around seven years earlier, he had single handedly invented the Giallo thriller with "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" and the seminal "Blood and Black Lace". By 1970, the Giallo trend really began to take off with Dario Argento's initiation into the legendary subgenre with "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage". Does Bava continue to ride on the coattails of the genre when its achieving mass popularity? Hardly. Instead, he crafted this horror film filled to the brim with carnage and grisly murders. The brutality in "Twitch of the Death Nerve" goes far beyond what was being shown in the Giallo subgenre at the time.

Additionally, Bava introduced many interesting and unique plot devices with this film. There's a group of teenagers who stumble upon an abandoned cabin on a lake, have a lot of sex, and are systematically killed off one by one. Sound a bit familiar? Bava was laying the groundwork for the slasher film, a full nine years before the release of "Friday the 13th", which is often acknowledged as the movie that spearheaded the trend of slash-and-dice flicks all over the world and pretty much changed horror cinema for better or worse.

What elevates this above your normal slasher flick is Bava's direction. It's exquisite as usual. No other genre filmmaker showed such masterful technique and ability to create atmosphere. The murders themselves are shocking, yet Bava provides a bizarre sense of poetry to them. Sure, the film doesn't have much in the way of a plot and the acting is generally weak, but its still a shocking and beautifully made experience. A must-see for any horror fan. (8/10)


**SPOILERS** Probably the most influential of Mario Bava's Giallo thrillers "Bay of Blood" set the stage form the mid 1970's and beyond for scores of slasher movies that copied many of the scenes that Brava put into that film. Wheel-chair bound Countess Donari Fedenica is suddenly grabbed by the neck by a shadowy figure and pushed off her wheelchair where she's left suspended in the air to be garroted to death! The camera slowly moves upwards from the killers shoes to where we finally she his face who turns out to be the Contess' husband Count Donai Filippo! Before you can catch your breath the Count is run through from behind with a blade leaving him to bleed to death as his dead wife whom he just murdered is hanging suspended over him. This all happens in the first ten minutes of the film without a single world of dialog! The movie continues on it's gory way that when it's finally over practically everyone in it ends up brutally murdered.

The plot, if you can call it one, of "Bay of Blood" has to do with a valuable piece of land on a bay that a number of people what to convert into a vacation resort with the owner Countess Fedenica refusing to sell it to them. This is what leads to the orgy of murder in the movie with everyone trying to get a hold of the land and not at all caring just what they have to do to get it.

It's hard enough to follow the conniving and killing of those involved with the lake property but we have thrown into the mix, for what just seems to be a reason to jack-up the body count, a quartet of young people going down to the lake to have some fun. The first couple Brunhida and her boyfriend Robert separate from each other with Brunhida going skinny-dipping in the lake only to run, or bump, into the squid-eaten body of the murdered Count Filippo! Running buff naked to the cabin where the other couple, Denise & Duke, and Robert are staying Brunhida is hacked to death by an unknown killer who pops out of nowhere. Robert is then quickly chopped in half by the off-camera psycho as he opens the cabin door expecting to see Brunhilda. Later both Denise and Duke totally oblivious to what's happening, as their both in bed doing it, get run through like a shish kebab with a spear by the same unknown killer.

Everyone that were introduced to in the film get's brutally murdered in some of the most grizzly scenes even put into a movie, American or foreign, up until that time. There's scenes of strangling impaling knifing slashing and decapitating that by the time the final act of murder happens, a good old fashion shot-gun massacre, your just left too numb and dazed to even react to it! The film "Bay of Blood" is so blood-splattered and off-the-wall that there's not even a mysterious killer that the audience could try to identify and figure out who he, or she, is. In that the killer finally reveals himself, due to process of elimination, since almost everyone who were murdered in the film had earlier ended up murdering somebody else making the point of the film being a whodunit totally moot.

You really have to have both a strong ,as well as empty, stomach to be able to sit through and watch "Bay of Blood". The movie that more then any other horror film opened up the door to the wave of horror/slashers and Giallo horror/thrillers like "Deep Red" and "Tenabre" in Italy and "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th". As well as their many sequels and imitations that were soon to follow and are still with up even today.


The crippled Countess Federica Donati (Isa Miranda) sits in her wheelchair at a window in her house, looking out at the bay that she owns. Moments later she is murdered, hanged from a door frame. The camera, starting at their feet moves up the murderers body and he is revealed immediately as her husband Count Filippo Donati (Giovanni Nuvoletti). He puts a suicide note on a nearby table. It's obvious what will happen next, and indeed it does. Filippo himself is murdered, stabbed to death and then dragged off. The film then introduces us to various characters who all want something from the bay, or the abandoned run down leisure complex. Simon (Claudio Comaso), a local fisherman who lives close to the bay in a wooden cabin. Paolo Fosatti (Leopoldo Trieste), who is studying local insects he collects from the bay, and his Tarot card reading wife Anna (Laura Betti). Renata Donati (Claudine Auger), her husband Albert (Luigi Pistilli) and their two children arrive at the bay in a camper, Renata is supposedly looking for her Father, Filippo who has disappeared. Upon hearing Of the Countess's death Frank Ventura (Cristea Avram) and his wife Laura (the rather attractive looking Anna Maria Rosati) also both travel to the bay to try and buy it so he can begin to a build long planned development that the Countess was so opposed to. Four teenagers also turn up, George (Guido Boccaccini), Bobby (Roberto Bonanni), Patty (Paola Rubens) and Brunhilda (Brigitte Skay) all looking for somewhere to party. Soon the inevitable starts to happen, person or persons want the bay so badly they are prepared to kill for it, and so begins a tale of murder, mystery and double cross with the ultimate prize of the bay and the Countess's fortune at stake! Directed by Mario Bava this isn't really a straight horror film, more of a mystery film. It will keep you guessing right up to the final twist at the end. The music by Stilvio Capriani seems a bit out of place at times. The photography is a bit shaky and dated at times, but stylish. The acting is fine. But it's the entertaining script by Bava where the film shines. Very complex and thought provoking, you will need to concentrate or you may miss something important. Almost everyone is a suspect, they all seem to want something from the bay. Many of them are portrayed both as predator and prey. But the ending is a bit strange and didn't make a whole lot of sense. One more part of the script thats less successful is the insertion of the teenagers, who are there solely to be murdered in various gory ways. Speaking of the gore, there's a reasonable amount, and whats there is pretty cool, a machete in someones face, impaling on spears, a slit throat, a decapitation and various stabbings among other acts of gratuitous violence! A great film, well made and cleverly thought out to keep you guessing. However, I'm not sure about repeat viewings as once you know about the twists and turns they, and the film as a consequence will lose their impact. Still, I certainly recommend it to horror and slasher fans. I liked it.


It's interesting to see this movie for only two reasons: 1) the fun of spotting scenes directly ripped off in later movies like Friday the 13th Part 2; 2) the ending, which comes out of left field and manages to be both shocking and funny. However, merely being "the first" slasher movie does not make you the best. Maybe if there was a shred of character development this wouldn't be such a yawner. Oh, and if you are going to see this movie, PLEASE get a subtitled copy...the dubbing is so bad you literally can't hear half the dialogue.


Mario Bava directed the first giallo film in 1963 with The Girl Who Knew Too Much. He codified the genre a year later in Blood and Black Lace. Almost a decade on, after the success of Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, he released his final two gialli, namely Five Dolls For An August Moon and Bay of Blood. In these latter two films it seems to me that Bava displayed a certain reluctance in re-visiting this newly popularized genre that he had created all those years ago. In Dolls he showed his indifference by underplaying the murders, while in Bay of Blood he took the opposite approach by amplifying the violent homicides almost to parody level, in the process relegating the story and characters to even less importance than was customary for the genre. The resulting film could therefore be described as being simply about 13 violent murders. As the credits roll after the final act of homicide, the viewer is left in little doubt that the film they have just witnessed has a very black humour at its core. With Bay of Blood it feels like Bava is subverting the giallo genre. Right from the outset the movie doggedly goes against convention. After the first murder Bava's camera pans up from the feet of the killer to his black gloved hands in a typically clichéd giallo shot, however, Bava then carries on up to reveal the killers face in a move that goes completely against the sub-genre's rulebook. The violence is so extreme in Bay of Blood that is seems like the director has decided to amplify the most well-known convention of the giallo  the murders  to a delirious level. He populates his story with a cast of human ciphers that are deeply unsympathetic and/or ruthless killers. It's a giallo turned up to level 11, so over-the-top it's simply impossible to take seriously. Bava's tongue was clearly in his cheek when he made this one.

The story is about a bay whose ownership is up for grabs. Some characters are prepared to fight violently for this bit of real estate, while others are opposed to the potential environmental nightmare that could ensue if either of the warring parties have their way. Then there are some youngsters who get caught in the cross-fire

Irrespective of the director's intentions, Bay of Blood remains a thrilling ride. It's the original body-count movie. There are 13 murders crammed into its 84 minute running time. Each killing is carried out with a different method to the last. And mostly they are incredibly violent. This giallo in particular would go on to influence the American slasher genre. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, because of it's inventive and bloody murders. Secondly, it downplays the mystery element in favour of increasingly outlandish violence. And thirdly, it introduces the teenagers-in-peril theme. This latter factor is because of the section of the movie where four youngsters turn up at an empty villa to party. They are then killed in quick succession by an unseen assailant. Not only are these murders extremely violent but they also set in motion the soon-to-be-standard slasher motive where teenage sex must result in gory death. A German girl is chased by the killer while her clothes are literally falling off and her subsequent death throws are presented with an undeniable erotic charge. While this combination of eroticism and violence is common in gialli, the subsequent double-murder of the teenagers impaled by a spear while having sex is very much slasher territory. Superficially, this killing links the idea of teenagers-having-sex with death that was to become so prevalent in slasher movies of the 80's. But really Bava cannot be blamed for his American imitators only taking one element of his movie and creating a whole genre out of it. The teenager section is just a small, admittedly memorable, part of the film and Bay of Blood for the most part concerns itself with the more traditional older adults found in other gialli and at no other time suggests sex = death. Within the context of the movie the teenager murders are just one other ritual in this extended dance of death, it just happens to be the section that has proved to be so influential to subsequent horror film-makers across the Atlantic who magnified it and based whole series of films around the concept.

In the early 70's Bava's films had an undeniable nihilism. Bay of Blood, Five Dolls for an August Moon and Rabid Dogs all either present us with no redeeming characters or display a deeply cynical view of human nature. Bava's giallo killers never have as an impulse the psychological imbalance favoured by Argento for example, no Bava's characters kill out of greed but always with a clear mind. He doesn't seem to have had a very good opinion of mankind, and it shows here.

Despite being atypical of the genre, Bay of Blood is technically and artistically superior. As is usual with Bava it's photographed very well, although the mainly outdoor setting limits the application of his usual gorgeous colour schemes. The score by Stelvio Cipriani with its insistent drumming is very good and helps maintain the ominous atmosphere. And although the characters are all fairly cardboard, the cast is good and I did particularly like Claudine Auger's super-bitch Renata. And as for the teenagers, they're hilarious, especially the bloke with the mullet.

Though not as disturbing as Rabid Dogs, this is undoubtedly Mario Bava's most violent offering. It went by a host of AKA names, some such as 'Bloodbath' and 'Carnage' were indeed accurate descriptions, but whatever the title, it comes highly recommended as arguably the most influential film from one of the most important horror film-makers ever.


An old woman sits alone in a castle like house and stares longingly at the window. After some beautiful images and music, she is killed by somebody strangling her with the rope. One of the most popular Mario Bava's movies, Bay of blood starts in this fashion with a lengthy strangling scene. There are much more violent murder scenes to look forward to in this movie so gore fans may not be disappointed. The twist here is that the killer of the old woman is revealed right at that time, bucking movie convention. Then at the same time, the killer is killed by another person! The Count also disappears after this murder.

The scene then shifts to a man called Frank Ventura and his secretary(providing some interesting nudity!). He is supposedly keen on negotiating a contract to inherit the Bay owned by the Countess(now revealed to be the old woman who was killed). After this the scene then shifts to the other characters involved in this grisly tale, a man named Fossati and simone. Later it is also revealed that Fossati is married to a fortune teller named Anna fossati. Thus when suspicion shifts from character to character, as is the case with most giallo movies, there enter more characters in the form of a bunch of youngsters branching into more familiar slasher territory. Later, the daughter of the Count, Renata arrives at the Bay along with her husband Alberto to investigate the disappearance of her father. Revealing more about the movie may spoil the whole movie for those reading this blog.

The most interesting fact about this movie is that it bucks the trend of most giallo movies in the sense that it doesn't have a fixed formula and the plot may be confusing to even seasoned giallo enthusiasts. The truth is many giallo/slasher fans may not be ready for the ending which is so innovative and somewhat absurd that this movie may not satisfy giallo/slasher fans who expect a straightforward giallo. This movie serves as the precursor to the American slasher movie genre and many slasher movies have adopted the atmosphere, the style of Bay of blood and some movies have even exactly copied some scenes of the movie. Also gore fans may also be satisfied by the violence which is incredible for a movie of the early 70's. It is quite fast paced so is quite accessible to most audiences.

The cast features some seasoned actors like Luigi Pistilli and Claudine Auger. Claudine auger(as Renata), in particular, has impressed with her portrayal of a strong and single minded woman who dominates her husband, Alberto(Luigi Pistilli). The performances of Laura betti as the fortune teller who foresees doom and Leopoldo Trieste as her husband who dislikes Frank Ventura for attempting to damage the beauty of the bay, are also noteworthy. The score is also quite excellent giving a mysterious feel to the whole movie. So the atmosphere is not hindered because of a cheesy score as is the case of most giallos.

One factor that places it in the elite list of giallos and horror movies in general is that it is also a fascinating character study and greed is a common factor throughout the movie. Almost all the characters are quite unlikeable so there are no heroes or people who we can root for. At the same time the characters don't seem like caricatures and thus they seem like real people who have been overcome by greed. The complex plot is also quite an achievement because at the end the pieces fall into place quite perfectly. But the ending seems somewhat of a rushed job but I feel it also has a symbolism.

Finally this movie is a winner because of the existence of the standard giallo characteristics which will definitely please the giallo purists. Anna Marie Rosati, especially, is noticeable as one of the most beautiful women in a giallo movie ever. Unfortunately there is no full frontal nudity involving her! The need for such gratuitous nudity is satisfied by the four youngsters who travel to the Bay looking to have some fun. Gore fans may not be disappointed because of the existence of a scene where a character is sliced in the face. Also there is also another scene where two people are killed at once by a single spear when they are in bed together. The scenes are quite violent even for the 70s! As for me, I have watched the movie about 5 times and it has ended up on my top 5 list. This is one of the must see movies for giallo fans and horror fans in general.

Rating : 10/10


An elderly heiress gets bumped off by her husband, who in turn gets bagged by another mystery assailant. This sparks a rash of brutal butchery with various friends, relatives and total strangers all being randomly massacred in order to determine who's got exclusive dibs on some valuable lakeside property. Celebrated Italian horror maestro Mario Bava delivers a bleak, dark, and blithely nihilistic meditation on how greed literally kills. Bava does an expert job of creating and maintaining an unsparingly harsh no-holds-barred tone; he even has four fun-loving teenagers serve as innocent lambs to the slaughter to further underline his grim central theme. Moreover, Bava stages the gruesome murder set pieces with his customary stylish panache: grisly highlights include a throat slashing, a hatchet to the face, a juicy decapitation, and, of course, the infamous impalement of two amorous adolescents in the middle of making love. In addition, Bava injects a mean'n'nasty streak of pitch-black gallows humor that runs throughout the entire picture and culminates in a marvelously twisted surprise shock ending that's the perfect startling punchline to what's essentially an extremely vicious cinematic shaggy dog joke. The cast are all up to speed. Former Bond babe Claudine Auger gives a genuinely chilling performance as the ruthless Renata; she receives fine support from Luigi Pistilli as her weakling husband Albert, Claudio Camaso as the reticent Simon, Leopoldo Trieste as the weird Paolo Fossati, and Lauri Betti as Paolo's bitchy wife Anna. The absolutely ravishing Brigitte Skay as the delectably voluptuous German vamp Brunhilda wears the shortest skirt imaginable and bares her beautiful body for a much-appreciated skinny-dipping scene. Evil brat child actress Nicoletta Elmi has a nice small role as Renata's daughter. Stelvio Cipriani's score neatly alternates between funky, primal, throbbing prog-rock and lush, melodic orchestral music. Bava's handsome and agile cinematography offers a wealth of stunning visuals. This film is wholly deserving of its substantial classic status.


Bravo Bava! This is cinematographer/director Mario at his excessive peak in this brilliantly fast and furious slasher classic. From the chilling outset to the "knock you out of your seat" closing, Bava handles the breaknet speed of plot development and the whirlwind body count escalation with masterly finesse. This is all served up with his trademark excesses of color, cinematic camera techniques, diametric mood shifts and glorious ghastly gore at there pinnacle, as well as with the slyest Italian tongue-in-cheek. The definitive slasher flick. God Bless Bava!


Apart from being one of the goriest films ever to garner an R rating, REAZIONE A CATENA is also something of a record holder when it comes to alternate titles. At least one of these alternate titles is insulting in its implications. In the mid 1970s, Bava's film was re-titled LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT PART 2 for certain US drive in markets. Not only was the Bava film made before Wes Craven's 1972 shocker LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, but such retitlings imply that this film is yet another Italian rip-off of an American hit. Such is not the case. In fact, REAZIONE A CATENA is one of Bava's most groundbreaking films, and one that has been copied endlessly by filmmakers of lesser talent. A firm believer in minimalist plotting, Bava here pits thirteen amoral characters against one another, as they grasp for a piece of desirable property. Rather than ask the viewer to sympathize with their plight, Bava derives great pleasure from encouraging us to sit back and rock with macabre laughter as they all meet well-deserved demises. Made in response to the trend towards graphic gore in thrillers -- a trend exemplified by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci -- the film's tongue-in-cheek excesses leave one in little doubt about Bava's feelings on graphic violence in the cinema. Bava once again makes expert use of fluid camera movements, the cast is superb (Leopoldo Trieste is a delight as an unbalanced entomologist), and Stelvio Cipriani contributes a great score. One of Bava's best. . . and watch out for that ending! ***1/2 out of ****


So you pay to subscribe to cable television, and you can't expect too much. Perhaps the odd decent movie and some classic reruns of your favourite old series... but overall, generally speaking you don't expect too much.

I came across this movie late one night on cable, and began to watch. Interesting idea... two no hoping kids get an opportunity to go to Africa with some other no hoping political army to fight some war bla bla bla, let's see how we go (and if they get to go).

To cut a long story short...

Thirty minutes in, not much happening.

An hour in, are they going or what?

The organisers want five hundred from both of them... Let's go and mug people for the money! Why didn't I think of that earlier!

Finally, the day before departure. Oh, I don't want to go anymore. What? I've killed someone to get this money! Still, I'm not going anymore, I said God damn it!

Well my mate's not going, so I'll just jump in the Yarra and go for a swim.

Is this movie supposed to have some hidden, subtle message? Is it supposed to be deep and complex? What the hell does this movie mean, if anything? Poor old Claudia Karvan... at least she makes an attempt to envoe some kind of meaning (just).

So as I was saying, you don't expect too much from cable television movie channels, but you'd expect more than this!


This could possibly be the worst Australian Movie ever made. Claudia Karvan has come a long way from this sad excuse for a movie. The storyline is unbelievable (unless you think a pleasure boat could actully travel from Melb to Sth Africa (which it clearly could not). The characters are shallow and the dialogue is very "dumb aussie".

Avoid this one people.


In 1951, Rosa Parks had not yet declined to move to the back of the bus, the schools had yet to be desegregated, and pleas for racial equality were generally spurned as part of a `pinko' agenda. So It must have taken some measure of courage to make this movie, for one of its two themes is racism. Its second theme  and the one that ultimately trumps the first  involves the rescue of a little black girl (and parallels, minus the cynicism, Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole/The Big Carnival of the same year).

The trouble starts with the girl's disappearance. Rumors start to fly: A stranger was seen buying her a clump of posies. Is a child-killer on the loose? Will he get away with it because he's white? Soon fist-fights, beatings and acts of arson, all committed on racial grounds, tear the down apart. The drifter (Harry Morgan), when found, proves to be related to a town big-wheel who, when his construction company is set afire, becomes the chief rabble-rouser. The townsfolk of color, meanwhile, clamor for Morgan's hide. It falls to the sheriff (Richard Rober) first to locate the girl then to stem the violence before a lynch mob coalesces. Suddenly, by chance, the girl is discovered deep down an abandoned well....

Probably, in 1951, there was no way out of the story than the one taken. But it's pure Hollywood  which is to say, a harp concerto played on the heart strings. The whole town, black and white, joins together in a tense, all-night rescue effort helmed by the construction magnate and Morgan, who luckily happens to be a mining engineer. (Here, something curious occurs. The digging of a parallel shaft, with monstrous drill-bits assaulting the earth to Dimitri Tiomkin's pounding score, becomes all but abstract  and primitively, uncomfortably sexual.)

The minor but ever interesting Russell Rouse wrote and, in his first go, directed The Well (though he shares that credit with producer Leo Popkin). It features a large (and largely unknown) cast who bring authenticity and occasionally depth to their roles. The story holds attention  despite a glaring break in the middle, when the focus shifts from racism to rescue. And again, for its era, it was bold and topical (brutal race riots plagued post-war America). But from a modern perspective, it just ends too soon. The uplifting rescue will be the talk of the town for three days, while the ugliness that flared up will linger on. There's not a hint of that at the conclusion, with Tiomkin outdoing even John Williams in gaudy triumphalism.


I can remember seeing this film twice. Once, when it was first released on TV in the late 50s or early 60s; and a second time, in the early 70s. And yet, my memories of it are crystal clear. And it's impact on me as strong as ever. I must admit to being quite surprised to find out that it had actually been nominated for two Academy Awards. Given the racial and political climate of that era, that recognition is remarkable. A wonderful "little" film, that uses strong, clearly drawn characters to tell a powerful story. And not a single computer-generated special effect in sight. Perhaps, the finest "B" picture ever made.


This lean, low-budget "B" movie is a perfect example of what excellent independent film making should be about. Take a thesis that involves elements a bit too controversial for mainstream Hollywood. Draw your characters three-dimensionally. Film it as it is actually seen through the townspeople's eyes. And find as many people as you can who are perfect for the roles as written, regardless of acting experiences.

This tale of a five-year-old "Negro" (by the vernacular of the time) girl who disappears and is believed kidnapped. A lot of groupthink, projections, assumptions and ventings of anger follow until the town finally mobilizes to locate and rescue the girl. As fresh and taut today as it was fifty years ago, the Well should be a staple requirement for everyone who wishes to get into independent films.


Racial tensions are already at a fever pitch, when a tiny black girl disappears. A white traveler, passing thru is suspected. This is a grim, gripping tale of bigotry and redemption. Morgan is outstanding as the sympathetic white traveler who ultimately is the town's salvation. Without a doubt, Morgan should have received the Oscar for this one!


As a boy growing up in the 1950's South being surrounded by racial and religious prejudices (My father made Archie Bunker seem like a bleeding-heart liberal.) I remember being impressed and educated by seeing two great little films. The Well was one and Storm Warning was the other. Both were made in 1951. I guess you could say that Storm Warning was an A-movie as it featured Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, and Doris Day as the stars.

The Well was definitely a B-movie, but its subject matter gave it a step-up on most of the B-movies of the time. Keep in mind that this was a period in time in which people went to double features and the local movie house and drive-ins as television was just an infant and not available except to a few. B-movies were generally low-budget films cranked out for more or less mindless entertainment.

The plot is pretty standard. A little Black girl is on her way to school and wanders into a field to pick some flowers where she falls into an abandoned well. The search for the little girl is begun. A man in town to visit his uncle - a rich and powerful businessman - who was seen talking to the girl comes under suspicion. As he is "grilled" by the police, the uncle storms into the station and demands his release to no avail. As the uncle is leaving the station, he is questioned by the little girl's father who has heard of the nephew. There is a scuffle, and the uncle falls and is injured. As news of the incident is spread and embellished with false rumors, all hell breaks loose. Just as the town is on the verge of an all-out racial riot, a boy rushes in to announce that he has discovered the little girl's things next to the well. From that point on, all the town's energies are concentrated upon saving the little girl. The uncle provides heavy equipment from his business, and the nephew - who just happens to be a mining expert - is convinced to save the day.

All of this is carried out in over-the-top B-movie melodramatic fashion supported by just about every '50's cliché character including the strong lawman leader; his sensible love interest; the businessman who runs the town; the pleading, helpless mother; the racially biased beat cop; and young people of both races who run rampant destroying property and beating on each other.

So why the eight stars? The time. The content. The message. Since the beginning of film, movie makers have strived to bring education to their audiences through entertainment. This film surely deserves recognition for demonstrating the evils of racial prejudice and rumor in an effective and entertaining fashion.


"The Well" is a terrific little movie, and a bold one for 1951. It takes one of the very earliest looks at racism and how it can ... and did in real life in the next decade ... tear apart a community and ultimately a nation. Obviously made on a shoestring budget by mostly unknowns. Some of those involved in the making of this film, I believe, later were blacklisted in Hollywood during the Red-baiting McCarthy era that soon followed. The suspense is relentless and some scenes are heartbreaking. An obscure, near-masterpiece. It deserves to be seen on any level and judged, for the most part, by the standards of its day. Using that yardstick, perhaps it actually deserves a 10. Unfortunately, I doubt many people have seen or heard of this film. HEY, I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A COPY OF THIS MOVIE!


A little black girl falls down a well. Police search for her to no avail. Soon it is discovered she was seen with an older white man that same day. All of this leads up to the man being arrested and racial tensions rising and eventually spinning out of control. Entirely believable for the time and era.

This terrific films studies the make-up of a small town and displays both the town at its ugliest(when the town so easily and realistically descends into a mob) and at its finest(when they discover the little girl's real whereabouts and set out to try and rescue her). The actors/actresses in this film are well-chosen as they look and act like real townfolk.


I remember first seeing this movie in the 50's on TV as a kid and I enjoyed it then as a social commentary and just a reasonably good story. Yeah, some of it is outdated now but the movie held up as I recall when I've seen it in subsequent years. I haven't seen it in at least 15 years though. I thought the way everything escalated from just the innocent bump by an excited father to the race riot was presented well. As the situation develops, you get involved with the two sides. The telling moment comes when black and white mobs are about to slug it out with boards and guns and whatever, a child runs up to the leader of the white mob and says, "They found the kid", and he says, "What kid?" And then you realize you too are caught up in the action of mob violence. The mobs existed, not to right some perceived wrong, but were the people's justifications for their lives at that moment.


This is a normal small American town, for years the mixed race inhabitants have lived in total harmony as one community. But when little black girl Carolyn Crawford falls down a well, she's feared to have been kidnapped, and this after having last being seen with a white man in town. This town becomes something completely different....

The Well, a B budgeted movie with a cast consisting largely of unknowns. Dually directed by two equally unheralded men. Boasting a DVD cover that has nothing to do with the theme of the film, and shunted out of conscious by the release the same year of Billy Wilder's bigger produced, "person in underground peril," Ace In The Hole.

It's a crime in itself that this B movie gem has had the odds stacked against it getting wider and more productive exposure. For thematically, which is three fold, it's a film that desperately deserves more people to take it on and appraise it in the modern age. Released in 1951, before racial tensions were to explode into American history, The Well is a brave offering from co-writer's Russell Rouse {also co-director} and Clarence Greene. Not content to just offer up a one dimensional rescue piece concerning mixed races, they take the ugly racial aggression here and sit it next to the ugliness of human wild fire ignorance. From a dubiously casted assumption, this town implodes, and it's an ugliness that paints the human race in a dim and unflattering light. Even the police, on who this town depends on, are pulled along by the tide of insanity. Five burly officers interrogating one bemused and frightened suspect, they have their man regardless of facts. Something that over the course of history we know has reared its ugly head. It very much reminded me of a Rod Serling Twilight Zone episode called "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street". Anyone familiar with that particular piece will have some idea of what drives The Well forward.

Possibly part inspired by the sad and tragic case of little Kathy Fiscus, who in 1949 fell down a San Marino well, Rouse's picture shifts to an equally, and engrossing gear for its final third. After having been caught up in the town coming apart, we, as well as the town, suddenly get a jolt back to earth. There is after all a little girl missing here. Now we get the inevitable tonal shift that most viewers would have expected, but it's no less dramatic for it. And it's now when the film well and truly makes its point, a point of reference that should be heeded as long as we all shall live.

Having a cast of relative no names, tho Barry Kelley as Sam Packard and Harry Morgan as Claude Packard will be names to some {ie:me!} really gives the film a grounded in reality feel. It's not hard to accept these people as small town residents, and thus the film is far better for it. The story is further aided by the score from Dimitri Tiomkin, at times funereal, at others a booming bombastic character itself. Sadly the print of the film is desperately in need of a remaster, which as it's unlikely to get one, means that the cinematography work of Ernest Laszlo struggles to come thru. But don't let the print put you off, if you get the chance to see this film then don't pass up the chance, for you may find yourself better off for the experience. 9/10


I saw this film a few times as a kid back in the 60s or 70s. I remember it as pretty good for its time. I also remember Harry Morgan from "Dragnet" as being the only cast member I recognized then or now. I was mostly caught up in watching how supposedly reasonable people in the grip of panic, impatience, and uncertainty make assumptions, point fingers, cast blame, and jump to conclusions. Misunderstandings pile up on top of each like a 10-car highway accident and push the town closer and closer to a dreaded race riot while the actual victim's plight seems all but forgotten.

For its time, I'm sure this movie was a bold move. It's a shame it hasn't been broadcast again recently. It's definitely worth a look.


This episode marks the re-disappearance of Mulder after David Duchovny decided to take his toys and go home. It's also the point when I began warming up to the Doggett and Reyes characters.

You see, originally John Doggett was written as a hard-nosed, old school cop who doesn't buy any of the supernatural theories of his predecessor, Mulder. That concept clashed in a big way with Scully's original character foundation, and most of the episodes featuring these two entailed a lot of unnecessary exposition and backtracking. (I swear, if I hear one more Scully monologue about an alien virus that attacked her body, I'm going to vomit.) Reyes seemed to be a fluffy, spineless, "Sensitive" that only managed to get in the way up to this point.

BUT....With Mulder out of the way, and Scully's baby in jeopardy, Doggett and Reyes are left with no choice but to be pro-active and face the impending dangers on their own. They're actually given breathing room to flesh out their characters instincts better.

Trust me. I'm a die-hard fan of the X-Files, and initially, I felt that the latter two seasons were totally useless. However, after seeing these installments over and over again in reruns, they've found a soft spot in my heart. I almost wished that Doggett and Reyes had their own spin-off show, instead of the X-Files producers running this series aground.

It's definitely worth a look.


Yep. Mulder is gone from the x-files for an entire season. Nothing Important Happened Today begins the post-Mulder era of the X-Files. A conspiracy is covering all the evidence up from the season 8 finale and Doggett is mad about it.

To start off, I found it very interesting that we get shots of both Doggett and Reyes waking up topless in their respective beds. If there is supposed to be some symbolism there, I'm missing it.

Cary Elwes, a favorite actor of mine from "The Princess Bride", comes to the show for a few guest appearances. He does a fine job as the sneaky, slimy, A.D. Brad Follmer.

I feel sorry for Doggett in this episode. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is telling Doggett to drop his case of investigating Kersh and trying to find Mulder. They just treat him badly and he doesn't deserve it. He's just doing his job. It's a very abrupt about-face by everyone, and it leaves Doggett confused.

Reyes finally agrees to go along with Doggett so that he's not completely alone. Then Skinner, who appears to be the most adamant about Doggett dropping this case, surprisingly goes along with Doggett to the plant. He can't seem to make up his mind.

There is a scene of Reyes finding Mulder's pencils in the ceiling of the x-files office. It's a nice tribute. Also, Scully needs to get a new mobile for William. That thing squeaks too much when it turns.

Overall, Nothing Important Happened Today is a good episode with the new x-files team, and Scully kind of tagging along. However, the new Super Soldier angle doesn't do it for me, and prevents this episode from being something extra special.


So, I married an Axe murderer is not the sort of Mike Myers comedy that people have become used to over the years. Myers will, undoubtedly, be most remembered most for his Austin Powers series, but this is a film that certainly should not be forgotten; Myers was never funnier than he is in this movie.

The plot centres around Charlie Mackenzie (Myers), a man who can never have a girlfriend without finding a flaw with her which always leads him to end the relationship. That is until he meets Harriet Michaels. She seems perfect, but the flaw that Charlie finds with this woman, may cost him his neck...

What follows is a tour-de-force of comedy. It is true that a few of the jokes don't really work, but the ones that do REALLY work, and it 's easy to forgive the movie for the ones that don't. In fact, I haven't seen this movie in over a year, but I'm laughing as I type this. This movie features some positively brilliant moments, from Myers' poetry sessions ("Woman! Woah-man, wooaaaaaahhhhh-man"), to the very Scottish father, played to perfection by Myers who has a duel role("Head! Move! Now!") to Charlie's police man friend, who is definitely the man with the most comedy; his conversations with Charlie regarding the song "Only You", the moments with his police chief (a memorable performance by Alan Arkin) and most notably, the parts with the commandeered driver ("No, it's one of my favourite things") are positively hilarious. The entire cast of this movie delivers their lines with a great comic timing; a lot of the quotes I mentioned aren't funny out of the context of the film, but due to the way they are delivered and the context of the movie, the dialogue is side splitting.

There isn't a lot of plot or heart to chew on with this movie, which accounts for the lot of the reason that this is a short review; but when a film is this funny, who cares what it's about? In the face of Myers' more commercially successful movies, such as Wayne's World, Austin Powers and Shrek; So, I Married an Axe Murderer isn't going to win a lot of fans as it's not as outgoing as the other three and a lot of the humour is very wry. However, this is Myers finest hour and this little comedy gem should definitely not be forgotten.


Probably one of Mike Myers' finest films. The film is the story of Charlie MacKenzie, a commitment phobic who performs in a coffeehouse as a poet. Charlie is looking for the right girl of which he finds in Harriet, an attractive butcher whom Charlie falls head over heels for. The two begin to date but Charlie begins questioning his relationship when clues pointing to an serial killer show up and point directly to Harriet. Funny performances from Mike Myers pulling double duty as sarcastic Charlie and his Scottish dad Stuart MacKenzie, Brenda Fricker as Charlie's horny mother who's got the hots for Tony, Anthony LaPaglia as best friend Tony, and Nancy Travis as girlfriend Harriet. Look for a few surprise cameos from the likes of late great Phil Hartman, Michael Richards, Alan Arkin, Charles Grodin, Steven Wright, and Debi Mazar. Definitely a good rent on a Saturday night.


This movie is an unexpected delight. It has the love story aspect most women like, the mystery component that should please the watchers of thrillers and some action sequences that males are sure to enjoy. There was even a nudity scene so this has something for everybody.

Mike Myers is at his talented best playing both Charlie and his father. In fact, it's his father's role that steals the show in both the Harriet meets Parents scene with his comments about his younger brother's "Heed" and also at the wedding with his shouting out "Lets get P*seed" at the end of the ceremony.

Nancy Travis does a great job of looking slightly suspicious throughout the movie. I especially like her appearance in the scene where Charlie drives past whilst she is rolling out the awning wearing Dutch national costume.

Anthony LaPaglia's portrayal of the frustrated undercover policeman is a real hoot. You can't help but love the part where his Captain comes into his office, kicks his feet off the desk and gets stuck into him for nosing into a case belonging to Homicide, particularly, since when he comes back into the office and tells him how much he loved that outburst.

The other winner is Brenda Fricker who portray's Charlie's mother with the hots for his friend (LaPaglia). I loved the way she explained the story of Mrs X from her favorite paper "News of the World" totally ignoring Charlie's depiction of it as a sensationalist rag.

Although there were some dead parts in the movie, they were easy to ignore and more than made up for with the pace of the script. This is a movie you can watch repeatedly, especially when you've seen everything else in your DVD library, it's fun, not meant to be taken serious, the hero gets the girl (somewhat) and nobody get's hurt except the drunken bagpiper at the wedding reception.


In this greatly under-rated film, Mike Myers plays a man scared of commitment, until that is he meets Harriet and they fall in love, but does she have a rather macabre secret?

This film flows wonderfully, carrying you along before you realise it, right until the end.

Some of the better comedic moments, though, come from the cameos, especially by Steven Wright and Charles Grodin, who is always wonderful, whatever film he is in, although the poetry scenes are quite funny too.

For some reason this film was not as successful as other Mike Myers' efforts such as the Wayne's Worlds, and it does appear that audiences prefer Myers in character than as himself, and indeed you will come out liking Myers better as his father than as his main role, but nevertheless a great movie!


For a first (and I know it's not his absolute first but close to it) this movie was fantastic. The more I watched, the funnier it got and the best are the small nuances.

After following his work and being a fan of his other films I appreciate the humour he's written into this movie even more.

If there's any doubt that this is a masterpiece, bring up the scene where he visits his parents in any crowd and watch the quotables start flying.

When asked what my favorite movie of all time is (a supremely tough question for a movie buff) this one always pops out first. It's cute, smart, hilarious, and no body gets hurt! Watch it! Love it!


"So I Married an Axe Murderer" is a delightfully offbeat, inventive comedy I can see again and again, and laugh every time.

Mike Myers, in a dual role as the neurotic but romantic Charlie McKenzie and Charlie's cantankerous father, gives the best performance I've seen from him so far (I've yet to see the "Austin Powers" movies but I didn't especially care for "Wayne's World," maybe because I couldn't stand Dana Carvey or his character). Nancy Travis is quite good as Harriet, the seemingly perfect girlfriend who's got a secret. The supporting cast also does excellent work, especially Anthony LaPaglia as Charlie's policeman buddy Tony.

What makes this movie truly special isn't the principal story line -- the romance-mystery-suspense -- but the many wonderful bits of inspired lunacy/hilarity along the way. Among them: every scene involving the hero's cantankerous dad; Harriet's sister Rose persuading Charlie to stay for breakfast; Phil Hartman's cameo as a very intense tour guide at Alcatraz (this scene gets butchered when the movie is edited for TV, even non-premium cable; make sure you see the uncut version!); Charles Grodin as the surly driver of a vehicle commandeered by a cop; an episode involving a guy who works on the obituary page of a newspaper; the side-splitting scenes between Tony and his precinct captain (a very funny Alan Arkin). There are many such moments throughout the film, turning up in the most unexpected places. The dialogue is witty, and the humor is completely unpredictable and fresh.


Charlie Mackenzie (Myers) is a San Francisco coffee house poet whose poems are about all of his failed relationships with women and he's scared of commitment. Things change when Charlie meets Harriet Michaels (Travis) a local butcher who isn't just beautiful but has a heart of gold, their relationship is going great until he suspects Harriet of being Mrs. X a woman who kills her husbands on their wedding night. His friend Tony (Lapaglia) thinks he's just being paranoid but the story reaches a climax when the real murderer is revealed and tries to kill Charlie. The cast includes Brenda Fricker, Amanda Plummer, Alan Arkin and a cameo appearance by Charles Grodin. So I Married An Axe Murderer is one of the funniest yet scary romantic comedies of 1993. Mike Myers also plays the role of Stuart Mackenzie Charlie's father. 8/10 Stars


Mike Myers stars in his best movie ever, So I married an axe murderer. I really wish I had this movie on DVD. Mike Myers has done some great movies, but none have ever lived up to So I married an axe murderer. This is a Mike Myers comedy that doesn't have all that many fart jokes. Not much obvious humor. This is a Mike Myers comedy I would like to see more of in the future.

The movie is about a guy named Charlie(Mike Myers). One day he meets a butcher named Harriet(Nancy Travis) and they eventually get married. But while they are dating he has suspicions about her. All of her past lovers have been murdered.

This movie is so good for many reason. I really wish Mike Myers can go back to doing comedies like this because after seeing The Love Guru, I lost all hope in Mike Myers. But I saw this movie for the first time in years recently, and I thought"These were the days when Mike Myers actually did good stuff".

So I married an axe murderer:****/****


I saw this film on cable not long after its release and remember enjoying it. But like most films, it didn't leave a lasting impression. For some reason I have had a DVD copy of the film in my collection for some time now, probably a b-day gift or some such, and I never watch itLast night, sixteen years after it first appeared, I watched it again.

Sometimes, a piece of art takes time and multiple exposures for its audience to fully appreciate its quality. This is definitely the case with this film. For me, a film should show me new characters or new settings or give me a new way of looking at a recognizable situation. So often films just give their audience the same tired stereotypical content; Characters that differ in name only from other films and plot lines that so closely follow previous successful productions that I'm surprised there aren't more lawsuits between artists. Such is not the case with "So I Married an Axe Murderer". With the tiny exception of the girlfriend of the chief supporting character, every role can accurately be described as unique. A butcher shop owner/operator (Nancy Travis) for a leading lady that may be wielding her cleaver in the off hours plus her curiously flighty sister (Amanda Plummer). A suburban San Francisco family of intensely Scottish decent that includes the youngest son with an enormous head and a Mother (Brenda Fricker) who has no qualms about French kissing her eldest son's best friend just to assure herself he's good at it. There's a light aircraft charter pilot (Steven Wright) that probably shouldn't have been awarded a license and a slightly embittered, slightly maniacal former Alcatraz guard/now tour guide (Phil Hartman) who makes me laugh just to look at him on screen. There's an undercover cop best friend (Anthony LaPaglia) that wanted to be Starsky or Hutch but instead learns the job really entails filling out a lot of forms and his boss (Alan Arkin) who, if it wasn't for Mike Myer's performance, would have stolen the movie with his portrayal of a Police Chief that can only be described as the antithesis of that character that we've seen so many times in films and TV.

About Mike Myers: Intensely likable. Free and easy on film at a young age he creates two wonderful characters that make us laugh hard throughout. As the lead Charlie McKenzie and as his father Stuart, Myers keeps the film moving with his paranoid yet irresistible charm from Charlie and his Robin Williamsesque quips that flow from his two characters accomplishing the most difficult task for such a performance; namely, entertain without distracting from the story.

I've added this film to my "Favorites" list and recommend it highly. If you liked "You Can't Take it With You" you'll love this more contemporary yet equally quirky film of love and family.


This movie was skewered by the critics as unfunny and unoriginal. I love this movie. It is not laugh out loud but it has it's moments. We see flashes of Mike Myer's brilliance in it. To see Myers play his father with that pompous ethnocentric Scottish lilt is worth the dvd alone. The funniest scene is when the father relates his conspiracy theory.

The best lines in this movie are when Myer's and his cop buddy discuss Mrs. X (which should have been the title of the movie; it would have played out better). Tony says "Charlie, does Harriet even know the lines of "Only You"? Charlie replies, I don't know we haven't reached the all too critical only you phase of our relationship, so I'm afraid I can't be much help." You have to appreciate context to appreciate the deadpan delivery of these lines. Nancy Travis is sooo cute. She has the Sandra Bullock effect. Travis makes you think, h'm she could actually be my girlfriend. It is that fresh genuineness that very, very few actresses have. Anthony Lapaglia's interactions with Alan Arkin are hilarious.

I have to give a thumb way up for this movie. Give it a chance, it will grow on you.

A 7/10 movie.


I adore this movie. Mike Myers is a comic genius. I pretty much love all his movies but this one is one of the best. Even before it was hysterical for Eddie Murphy to play his whole family, we had Mike playing his own father. And doing a darn good job of it too.


To my mind "...Ax Murderer" is one of those films like "Clerks" or "Swingers". Its plot is fairly pointless but you watch it over and over for the few really cleaver sight gags and one liners it contains.

Anthony LaPaglia is excellent as an undercover police detective who wants his life to be like that of Starsky and Hutch. He constantly begs his mild mannered supervisor, Alan Arkin, to scream and yell at him like their boss did. When he shows up disguised as Huggy Bear I laughed my insides out.

The sequence where Mike Myers introduces Nancy Travis to his family (Myers also plays his own father) is riotous. The sexual undertones of the "big heed (head)" insults to Myers' little brother are great. It takes a little while to grasp the point of why the the old man keeps insulting the boy for his over-sized head as well as to develop the mental image of Dad telling his wife to show Travis the family photo album..."show her the one where he **** his pants in Niagara Falls!" The whole idea of such a photo is so absurd and pointless that its pointlessness becomes humor, like jokes about passing gas in a space suit or a pay toilet in a hospital diarrhea ward. Duh. This scene would make the 3 Stooges proud.

Best seen with the guys, after having a few beers.


With all due respect to the Wayne's World and Austin Powers series, this is by far Mike Myers best movie.

I have never understood why this movie didn't make it big at the box office. I remember sitting in a theatre watching the trailer for this movie and the audiencewas in hysterics. I thought for sure that this was going to be a big hit. Unfortunately initial reviews were not good and the movie failed to take off. But thanks to DVD this movie has become a cult classic.

Myers is brilliant in the dual roles of Charlie and Charlie's father. The movie also has a number of cameo's of gifted character actors who while only on the screen no more two minutes, deliver some classic comedic bits.

I have introduced this movie to several of my friends and without exception all have loved it. For those who haven't seen it go out and rent it you will not be disappointed.


this is definately one of my favourite movies and in my opinion, Mike Myers' best movie ever made. I just about know every line off by heart now thanks to DVD.

This movie doesn't rely on bodily function jokes (ie Austin Powers ), but on a very clever script.

The casting was great and I loved and laughed at Alan Arkin, Michael Richards, Phil Hartman and Charles Grodin in their small, but effective roles.

I found it funny and enjoyed the twist at the end. Do yourself a favour, please rent this one out.


A lot of people have forgotten how to have a good time over the years. This movie brings it all back with its witty humour and an original plot.

Before Mike Myers began completely embarrassing himself with the third instalment of Austin Powers, he played many a great character. This movie is not to be missed. A 9/10 in my books.


I must say, this is a great movie. Mike Myers is the most talented individual that I know of, and he just further proved this in So I Married an Axe Murderer. The movie had me reeling and dancing, wishing I was in his place. Everything about this movie has me wanting to watch it repeatedly, and I just can't seem to get enough of it. Bits of it were a tad stereotypical, but Mike, Thomas, and the rest of the gang proved to put an interesting enough twist on it to make it unique in its own way. This is most definitely the single best movie that is available out there (however in a close second, check out Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Gene Wilder is astounding).


My favorite B-movie. If you're a referential person you'll be quoting lines from this movie into your golden years. "Head! Pants now!" I also love the cameos of Allan Arkin, Steven Wright, Phil Hartman and especially Charles Grodin. I can't tell you how many people don't realize Mike Myers plays the role of the Father in addition.


This light-hearted comedy is amongst other things a p*** take of all things Scottish and a chance for Mr Myers to show off his much used Scottish accent. While this could all have gone horribly wrong I genuinely love this film. It is wickedly funny in places but it is its overall warmness that makes it a success (unfortunately not at the box office anywhere near as much as it should have been). A real feel good movie.

Being Scottish I appreciate the films stance. Whilst mocking all those terrible tartan images which are so cringeworthy at the best of times it never takes it too far and it feels like it is an affectionate laugh at us and our 'culture' rather than an out and out pisstake. Besides Myers is genuinely funny whatever he does and well San Francisco's never looked better has it.

Charlie - light a


An early Mike Myers film, but I think better than the far more successful Austin Powers series, though not as good as Waynes World.

Cameos are used to great effect in this scene. Phil Hartman gets only a couple of minutes screen time but his Alcatraz tour guide, Vicki, serves up a hilarious anecdote about Machine Gun Kelly and his romantic endeavours. Alan Arkin, Michael Richards and Charles Grodin also provide the laughs in their cameos.

The plot is not the best, but it does not take from the gags which the film is really all about. In case you were worried Nancy Travis plays quite a straight character leaving the humour to Myers et al, which is for the best. Sorry Ms Travis.


I can't even count how many people I have gotten hooked on this movie because I made them watch it with me once. There are a few movies I have purchased over the years that I can watch over and over and over again, and this is one of them. I have probably seen it 25 times, and even know the whole movie script by heart. Do yourself a favor and watch this movie, and if you have already, watch it again. Mike Meyers is one of the funniest guys that ever lived.


This is the best of Mike Myers's films to date. I know that it's not the most popular but it represents the intelligent humor that Myers is capable of but chooses not to explore for apparent commercial reasons. It is a pity that SNL's "movie stars" have all become "Sandlered" by releasing teen targeted movies with few genuinely funny moments. I only hope that with future success Mike Myers will take over Woody Allen's throne. Hollywood could do worse than release films with integrity by artists whose following grows yearly rather than the current dustbin classics of late. An artist is young only once; but can remain immature indefinitely.


Mike Myers, as his own father Stuart, is quite possibly one of the funniest characters I have every seen, and it is worth it to watch if only for those moments. The rest is strong as well, with excellent comedic performances from Anthony LaPaglia, Alan Arkin, and the late great Phil Hartman. Not the tightest script around, So I Married an Axe Murderer makes up for any lags with its hearty and frequent laughs, coming mostly from the excellent acting of Myers and the aforementioned performers. I guarantee that anyone who watches this movie will be quoting from it.


This movie is a must-rent and a sleeper phenom! The very best cast has come together to create a memorable romantic comedy with some of the best quotes in movie-dom! Of course, Mike Myers has that gift! His blurbs get repeated at the water cooler the next day... His portrayal as son AND Father is precious, and Brenda Fricker is a marvelous mum, giving the willies and the grins as she leers at Mike's buddy (Anthony LaPaglia)! My favorite scenes are LaPaglia with Alan Arkin as his Police Boss, doing the Serpico stuff! Wonderful!


"Betty.. Judy... Josie and those hot Pussycats! They make me horny... Saturday morn'y! ...."

"Jane, get me off this crazy thing... called 'love.'"

My God! May all seven rings of Dante's Inferno fall upon those heads which have clicked "6" as a rating! TO HELL I CAST THEE! What an amazing catharsis for Mike Meyers' true talent. "Wayne's World"? Sure, it was good... part 2 proved to be just as good if not better. (And, if you didn't laugh your ass off to the mere SOUND of: "weird naked Indian guy"... you have problems.) But, damn... What a great movie Axe Murderer is.

The opening sequence just sets the tone. We follow what seems to be a TUB of cafe-whatever. Low and behold, it lands right into the hands of one Charlie MacKenzie, a 2nd generation Irishman turned wiseass. He delicately holds the robuste cup and says to us-- the waitress: "Um, excuse me, but I think I order the LARGE cappuccino... HELLO!... Jeez, look at this thing... It looks like Cambell's Cup-O-Cino...." And the facial expressions, body guestures... oh my! Comedic genius, flat out.

Mike Meyers, if you are reading this, you are a great, great comedian/actor. You've done a HELLUVA job with "So I Married..." and your powerhouse movies, both "Austin Powers...." Good stuff, my friend. Keep it up, and tell Dana (Carvey) I said to get well. Hey, it's never too late to do a part 3-- of WAYNE'S WORLD! WAYNE'S WORLD! IT'S PARTY-TIME! EXCELLENT! WAYNE'S WORLD!.... Mike, you're a 10! Behave?! Oh, I shan't!....


I love all of the quirky parts in this movie! One of the best scenes is when Charlie (Meyers) is watching "A Current Affair" while using a theighmaster! Charlie's dad (also Meyers) is hilarious with his outrageous Scottish accent and rude personality. And Rose, Harriet's strange sister, is funny when she offers to make a wonderful breakfast for Charlie. The last 20 min aren't quite up to par with the rest of the film IMO, but over all I gave it 8/10 stars.


"So I Married an Axe Murderer", may not have been as great as "Austin Powers", or "Wayne's World", but I still loved it. This movie is quite different from his major movies, that everyone loves, but If you're a big Mike Myers' fan like me and you haven't seen it yet, go ahead and rent it.


> I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Apparently the movie did so poorly > at the box office that it was not at theaters for very long. I first saw the > movie on cable and found it to be a very funny movie. Mike Myers is funnier > in this movie that in any of his more successful movies. Mike Myers also > plays the character of his scottish, immigrant father who is hilarious. > Nancy Travis is incredibly irresistible as the love interest/suspected axe > murderer. There are some great cameos by Phil Hartman and Steven Wright. >


This is vintage Mike Myers (has there ever been a bad Mike Myers movie?). Mike Myer's characters, Charlie McKenzie and Charlie's eccentric Scottish father, carry this movie which would otherwise be pretty ordinary.

The best moments in the movie occur in the McKenzie household where Charlie's father steals the show. His brutal bagging of William (head) is among the funniest movie moments I have seen. The songs (women women, "if you want my body") provide material for many drunken sing-a-longs. I thought Stevie Wright was also very funny, but the ending was pretty lame.


This is a very under-rated Mike Myers film. I have found myself watching this again and again, simply because it is so darn funny! There is really not a dull moment in it and to top it all off there is a scene with Mike (as his father) an elderly bag-piper, and a microphone which will leave you gasping for air as you laugh!


This is definitely one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and, like other Mike Myers movies, becomes even better with repeated viewings. If you liked Austin Powers or Wayne's World, you will like this, although the humor is sometimes on a somewhat different level -- not always more elevated, but more subtle. But many parts will be funny even if you don't pick up on the subtleties.

This movie gets a lot of flak from critics for its ending and its structure, but nitpicking about these aspects (which don't seem to me to be flaws at all) is missing the point of the whole thing. Go into it expecting only to laugh and you will be extremely impressed.


I thought this a better than average legal drama, and while a previous review called this something like "cliché city," I thought there were some fresh twists on familiar themes.

1. Often people of color or the disabled are presented as saints or sinners in this type of film (e.g., blacks are either street thugs or have advanced degrees) and these characters exist here as well. But the brother-in-law and the disabled prosecutor struck me as good but seriously flawed individuals. Yes, this too can be a Hollywood cliché, but these characters struck me as bringing something new to the table.

2. The prosecutor who lost her husband to senseless violence is another cliché, and there were times that the sad weepy children and mom were written in a way that could have been mailed in. And the presentation of the "perfect" marriage that ends tragically was nothing new. (once again, we could develop sympathy for a widow who had a more realistic marriage.) But even when the dialog was clichéd, the actors manages to sell it.


An average courtroom drama that's made watchable by the always superb Stockard Channing. Who plays a chain-smoking, wheelchair using lawyer filled with angst. It's not often you see such a strong, disabled female character, Stockard Channing is a master stroke in casting, she plays the role with inteligence and a intuitive subtlety. Class stuff one one of the finest ever actresses.


We did not catch the start of this but were gripped to the end, mainly by the superb acting of the two principal women. They are both lawyers on the same side, the husband of one of them has been murdered in a supermarket robbery. The film shows the process of bringing the accused to justice. Much of the detail escapes me now, but I was captivated by the way in which the principals hammered out their working relationship, which was not without its problems. The acting was first-rate, controlled and very realistic - the scene in which the widowed woman reaches the end of her tether after maintaining steely control of herself for so long, and bursts into unstoppable tears, had my wife and I weeping in sympathy.

It is rare that a story which starts as a million nondescript thrillers have started, goes on to involve its people in such a realistic and well-thought-out series of events. I am surprised that only one other reviewer seems to echo our sentiments.


Briefly, this movie should be retitled Cliche City.

Not awful, but predictable, with all the tension of a courtroom confrontation vaporized.

Too bad.


I'm a huge Tom and Jerry fan, and this is probably my all-time favorite Tom and Jerry cartoon. I always root for Tom, so in the rare case he actually lays some punishment on that bratty mouse, I love it. There's a really funny instance in this one where Tom gives Jerry an unwanted bath in the golf ball cleaner, hilarious! Of course, Jerry gets the best of Tom by the end, by making Tom eat some bees and then Jerry golfs a ball at Tom's head, I sure wish Tom would have won more of these battles!


This is a golf story that begins show a golf course being ruined with divots the size of craters. Of course Tom is the guilty party, hacking away - literally. When he finally sinks a putt, the ball pops back up out of the hole! That signals of arrival of Jerry who is underneath in the hole shoving the ball back out.

Once out, Tom captures and for awhile the reverse that usually happens occurs: Jerry takes a beating. He gets roughed up in the ball washer, gets used as a tee and as a ball.

Finally Tom is the one that gets physically abuse on the course through various means, including bees and a woodpecker!

It's typical Tom-and-Jerry trying to kill each other, usually in clever and humorous ways. Golfers will get a bigger kick out of this than others, but everyone should get a fair share of laughs out of it.


Tom the cat is golfing quite horrible, in my humble opinion, and when he finally does manage to miraculously actually get the ball in the hole Jerry the mouse is there to continually pop it out again. This of course infuriates the poor cat. So Tom captures him and uses him as a tee hoping to improve his game. Of course wacky madcap hijinx ensue. This was a fairly amusing short and it was great to see Tom getting some rather good hits in on Jerry, which it seems seldom happened. This great short cartoon can be found on disc one of the Spotlight collection DVD of "Tom & Jerry"

My Grade: A-


The cartoon begins with Tom in the middle of a VERY bad game of golf. Already about 86 over par he, for some reason, uses Jerry as a Tee. Not taking kindly to this Jerry turns the table and plays tricks on Tom. And that's pretty much it for the rest of the cartoon. This one has quite a thin premise but gets enough mileage out of it I guess. The visual jokes are all rather amusing but I do feel sorry for Tom when he's victimized in such a way. Whether it's being stung by a hoard of bees or having his teeth smashed out by a rogue ball, Tom seems to get more than his usual share of pain in Tee for Two. Does that make me a bad person for thinking that it's funny?


"Tee for Two", despite being so simple and predictable, is different at the same time because it is one of those Tom & Jerry's cartoons all about sports (in this case, golf). There aren't many of these cartoons that deal with sports.

Good or not? For me, yes, although not one of their best. Anyway, it's entertaining and great fun. The story is a little uninspiring, but the cartoon is alright. As for the artwork, it is simplistic yet acceptable. The golf course, however, is reasonably drawn and looks quite a pleasant and relaxing place to play golf, enjoy silence (no major noises in there), pure air, pure nature and a blue and sunny sky.

Among the funniest gags, already in the beginning there is a good one: whenever Tom tries to make the ball go into the hole, it bounces out. This happens some 3 or 4 times until we realize that Jerry lives in that hole and is the responsible for the bounced out ball. This is followed by another funny gag, when the last ball comes out lodging into Tom's eye and Jerry draws an eyeball on it. Another one of the funniest parts is when Tom is trying to locate the ball far off into the distance and Jerry whistles to him after a while only to reveal he had the ball the whole time. Tom responds by washing Jerry in the ball cleaner. Jerry then responds by spitting water in Tom's face.

The gag of Tom with the fur like a French Poodle is silly, but the only gag I hate is when Tom gets an explosive reception by the bees under the water. It is almost brutal to see.

Nevertheless, with Tom and Jerry it's always like this: on one hand, they can't stand each other - but on the other hand, they can't live without each other.


Gillian Armstrong's valentine to Miles Franklin's classic novel is one of the most beautiful movies ever made, and my personal favorite to watch over and over again. The photography is brilliant and Judy Davis delivers and unforgettable performance. She really takes you inside the head and soul of a very complex character who is alienated, fascinated, and bemused by the role she has been given to play in life. Every mother should show this movie to her teenage daughter. It may be the last chance you have to laugh together.


Judy Davis is Sybylla, a girl of the Australian outback around 1909. As portrayed by Davis, in her breakthrough role, Sybylla is a font of boundless energy wanting desperately to escape the backwardness of her young life. Sam Neill, also in one of the significant early roles of his career, is likewise charming as the young man who presents her with a tempting alternative to her ambition to become a writer and escape the frontier life forever.

This is not a great or epic story, certainly, but it is a quiet, rewarding story of a young woman's quest for a better life. A worthy entry among the films that marked the ascendancy of the "Australian Renaissance" in film-making during the 1970s; director Armstrong would go on to make such films as "Mrs. Soffel" and the 1994 "Little Women."


My mother took me to see this film when I was ten, the year before she died. It changed my entire perspective on the world, set me free from the constraints of fairy tales and inspired me to do something worthwhile with my life (write). I've seen it a few times since then, and found it improved in pace with my understanding.

Apparently Judy Davis didn't like this character or sympathize with her. All I can say is that I'm glad she went ahead and took the role anyway. Sybylla is like Cinderella with a twist worthy of M. Night Shymalan.

The film is sometimes beautiful and lyrical, sometimes depressing and ugly. At all times it is believable because the forces driving Sybylla transcend time and place: creativity and independence. This film taught me that a gilded cage is still a cage.

Even twenty odd years after I first saw it, this film makes me want to cheer. Gillian Armstrong, if you're out there, thank you!


A nobleman vows vengeance on the cutthroats responsible for his father's death. Becoming THE BLACK PIRATE, he joins their scurvy crew and quickly becomes their leader. But his plans for revenge become more complicated when he meets his first captive - a beautiful Spanish princess.

Roistering, robust & richly detailed, this was one of Douglas Fairbanks' greatest films. With enough excitement to satisfy any lover of adventure, one needs only read the film's prologue to get an idea of its delights: 'A page from the History and Lives of the most Bloodthirsty PIRATES who ever infested THE SOUTHERN SEAS. Being an account of BUCCANEERS & the Spanish MAIN, the Jolly Roger, Golden Galleons, bleached skulls, BURIED TREASURE, the Plank, dirks & cutlasses, SCUTTLED SHIPS, marooning, DESPERATE DEEDS, DESPERATE MEN, and - even on this dark soil - ROMANCE.' Aside from the bleached skulls, everything else is there as promised

Fairbanks is a joy to behold, exulting in his physical prowess, becoming a legend of the screen before the delighted eyes of the viewer. Can any other swashbuckler top the flair or élan of the sequence where Doug captures a merchantman single-handed, climbing up the forecastle & sliding down the slit sails on his dagger, light as any sprite? No one else would have even dared.

As the princess, Billie Dove is beautiful, but has very little to do except look frightened. Donald Crisp, in a change of pace role, is very enjoyable as a gruff one-armed Scots pirate who befriends Fairbanks. Anders Randolf & Sam De Grasse are the black-hearted pirate captain & lieutenant whom Doug must contend with and they are nasty indeed.

A milestone in cinematic history, this was one of the first movies to be filmed entirely in Technicolor. In its restored version, it is very pleasant to the eyes, its antique hues perfectly complementing the richly textured art design, costumes & sets.

For those interested in such things, there are explanations for the various special effects (the underwater attack, for instance), but the reader will need to look elsewhere for them. Sometimes too many facts can spoil the illusion of daydreams so necessary for the enjoyment of silent cinema. Find this fabulous film & dream on.

Too bad about the bleached skulls, though...


This was an excellent pirate movie and was better than many sound pirate films. However, it's really hard to rate the movie---compared to other silent pirate films, it might just be the best. But, compared to THE SEA HAWK, CAPTAIN BLOOD or THE BLACK SWAN (all wonderful sound pirate films from the 30s and 40s), it isn't as good a film.

So what does the movie do that worked so well for me? First, being a Douglas Fairbanks film, it had wonderful stunts and impeccable production values--something he was known for in his silent films. Second, this film had excellent sets and was the best film money could buy in its day. In fact, it was such a lavish production that it was supposedly the first full-length film made in 2-color Technicolor--an early and somewhat crude way of producing a color movie. Because the film was dyed with green-blue and orange-red dyes, the film mostly looks reddish-green--definitely NOT true color. But, it doesn't look that bad--certainly much better than the horrid colorized films destroyed in the 1980s. Plus, if it hadn't been for films like this, the infinitely better 3-color system might never have been developed by Technicolor. And, finally, the plot is pretty good for a silent film--not the most complex when compared to later films, it's not nearly as simplistic as most other silents.

This video was produced by KINO FILMS. Some of their silent films in the past were less than wonderful (especially some of their Buster Keaton videotapes), but this videotape is top quality and has nice extras at the end of the tape. Some cheaper prints apparently are only black and white, not color. Nice job for the restoration, KINO! However, despite what the video box said, it was apparently NOT the first full-length two-color Technicolor film. I recently saw a restored print from TOLL OF THE SEA (1922) and it was in fact made using this process four years earlier than THE BLACK PIRATE.


This restoration of the original 1926 production almost seems like an anachronism. We feel somewhat creepy watching a silent film in color. Although color entered the realm of silent film around 1923, over 95% of the silent films in color are lost. This is a rare treat (even though we only see browns, reds and blues and even though the water is sometimes red, sometimes blue) and along with the original score re-recorded and 19 minutes of outtakes following the 90 minute feature, it is somewhat of an event. The content is the usual formulaic action film, a real swashbuckler in the Errol Flynn sense of the word. Fairbanks, Billie Dove and Donald Crisp all perform well. Not a great film by any means but lovely to look at in this early color process' infancy. (For great two-strip Technicolor see Michael Curtiz' back to back horror films of the early thirties - DOCTOR X and MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM.


I knew little of this film before watching it, but am glad I found it. It's an excellent early film about a group of cutthroats. The thing that surprised me the most was that it was in color. It was filmed using the experimental two-color technicolor process. After watching the "Making of", apparently Douglas fairbanks was a real pioneer in that area and did much research on color film. This was my first Fairbanks film and I was quite impressed with not only his screen presence, but his ability to do impressive stuntwork, including the infamous sliding down a sail on a knife. This film had all the requirements of a pirate movie... Swordplay, torture, murder, robbery, kidnapping, romance, and even walking the plank. As well as the infamous quote, "Dead men tell no tales!". It had a decent score by Mortimer Wilson that was mostly fitting. One scene I found amusing, was when the pirates drew lots for the monkey. If you're a fan of pirate movies, this is a must see. I found it quite enjoyable.

*** (out of 4)


Although there were a handful of Technicolor films before this one (as early as 1922), this is the one that EVERYONE saw and so truly introduced the process to the nation. The reds and blues are quite lovely and photograph far better outside under natural lighting than inside the studio where I had mistakenly assumed the controlled lighting would have made these shots superior to the exterior ones. It's a non-stop swashbuckler and a lot of fun to watch. One almost feels wicked seeing a silent film in color - as if we're being allowed to see something we ought not to be. Fairbanks is in top form and Sam de Grasse is a suave pirate villain. Quite worth adding to your video library.


Douglas Fairbanks Snr., can quite fairly be given credit for the first movie action star. 'The Black Pirate' has a number of sequences which highlight his magnificent athletic ability. I found myself marveling at the extended sequence where he seizes a merchant ship singlehandedly. What strength and skill, what agility and courage! I loved watching him scale the stern of the ship and was extremely impressed by his cutting open of the sails from top to bottom with a knife. Some of the work was quite funny and you could tell that the filmed footage was being shown in reverse but that doesn't stop the stunts themselves from being extremely entertaining. He's got more guts than me, I'll say that much!

'The Black Pirate' is difficult to evaluate. Do we grade a film based upon:

a) other pirate films b) silent films c) on a general level of enjoyment against all films

As a silent film, and for that matter a two strip Technicolor silent film, 'The Black Pirate' is a landmark for innovation. Fairbanks had misgivings about the use of colour but felt a pirate film MUST be shown in colour. He gets great benefit. There is a great deal of implied violence (duh, a pirate film!) and the bright red colour of blood is almost shocking to see. There's a scene where a captive tries to hide a ring he's wearing by swallowing it. Unfortunately for him he's seen. After a little off camera ... searching... for the ring, a pirate presents a bloodied ring in bloodied hands as he wipes a bloodied dagger on his tunic to the captain. Pretty thrilling stuff for the 1920's. This was also a film where very serious philosophy and training were put to great effect with the fencing. You can see how it out-steps a lot of earlier swordplay films and influenced the style in films that would follow. According to film historian Rudy Behlmer on an excellent commentary track with the Kino DVD, the fencing master hired by Fairbanks became a staple of the industry. Many of the great sword fight movies from the next 25 years were his handiwork -- including 'The Adventures of Robin Hood,' and 'Captain Blood.'

Against other pirate films, 'The Black Pirate' has perhaps more value as a curiosity. Even by the late 1930's and 40's it was being outdistanced by Errol Flynn films like 'Captain Blood' and 'The Seahawk,' Tyrone Power in 'The Black Swan,' or Burt Lancaster in 'The Crimson Pirate.' Today it gets totally wiped off the board by the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series. Though still fun to watch, these later films are better and more enjoyable.

This is definitely worth tracking down on the Kino DVD if you can find it. Rudy Behlmer has an excellent commentary track that is of great value to people who are interested in early Hollywood and Douglas Fairbanks. I recommend it highly for the student or the general enthusiast based upon that reason. And it is a good movie to! 'The Black Pirate' has a great sense of adventure to it with thrilling stunt work. Silent movie fans shouldn't be disappointed. Fans of pirate movies should give it a try to see what helped popularize the genre.


I generally have some reservations about tuning in to a silent film, but once I do, they usually turn out pretty well. "The Black Pirate" was no exception, my first encounter with the legendary silent action-adventure hero Douglas Fairbanks (Sr.). His swashbuckling feats of dynamic swordplay and athletic scaling of ship's rigging were genuine sit up and take notice moments, especially since he was doing all of his own stunt work. It wouldn't be too far off to say he does it all here, including the obligatory 'walk the plank' as a result of trying to help a captive Princess escape her pirate captors.

One downside of my experience of this film based on other reviewers - the print I saw was in black and white. Even so, there was enough going on to maintain one's interest, not the least of which was all the cutthroat pirate chicanery. I was surprised how the film intimated how a poor crewman was slit open to retrieve a ring he swallowed to prevent it's becoming booty. That was a nasty piece of business.

The one scene that played out amazingly well both visually and the way it was choreographed was the underwater swim by the seamen who arrived by longboat to help Fairbanks' character defeat the pirates. One thing though, once on board the Merchantman, didn't it seem like there was a whole lot more of them than could have arrived in the first place?

One curiosity, the pirate crew liked the idea of holding the Merchantman ransom for fifty thousand pieces-of-eight, suggested by Fairbanks' character. However if you freeze the frame on the first part of the ransom note to the Governor, the amount demanded in Roman numerals is XXVII (assuming that what looks like a 'C' is actually a parenthesis). That would only represent twenty seven, as the word 'thousand' is written out.

As much fun as the film is, if you're really paying attention, a couple of plot points just don't make much sense. After Fairbanks defeats the Pirate Captain (Anders Randolf) in a sword fight challenge, the Captain falls on a sword and dies. Just like that, the rest of the pirate crew have no trouble accepting Fairbanks as part of their crew. So much for loyalty! Another occurs at the end of the film when Fairbanks and The Princess (Billie Dove) declare their love and announce their wedding. MacTavish (Donald Crisp) suggests digging up the earlier buried treasure for a wedding gift. I don't think so.

But let's not get too critical. This is a neatly done sea tale with a lot of well paced action and drama. A surprise in reviewing the cast list reveals Mary Pickford as a stand-in for Billie Dove in the 'final embrace' scene at the end of the story. There really doesn't seem to be any reason for that, other than a chance for Mr. Fairbanks to get Mrs. Fairbanks into the picture. Trivia fans take note.


Douglas Fairbanks Sr. stars in this exciting, action-packed swashbuckling pirate adventure yarn, as a young man seeking revenge on a band of pirates after they ransacked and destroyed his ship, killing his father. In trying to achieve his goal, he tricks the pirates into thinking he wants to join their band. Will this ruse work?

This delivers all the thrills and cutthroat pirate action anyone could ever hope for and even more. It has all the elements one looks for and wants from today's big blockbusters: impressive stunts mostly performed by Fairbanks himself, sword fights, pirate treachery, explosions, daring underwater scenes, a damsel in distress, the works. There's a few plot holes and questionable plot twists here and there but it all holds up incredibly well after all these years although in today's world lead actress Billie Dove would have been given more to do. That's a minor nitpick at best. If you like pirate yarns, check this out. Believe me, they just don't get much better than this.