Reviews

What I really enjoyed about the Hawaiians was the story of how Hawaii came to be such a cultural melting pot. The Polynesians were the aboriginal peoples of the Hawaiian novels. Next came the American and European whites mostly missionaries or seamen. Then came the Chinese followed by the Mediterranean European Portugese and then the Japanese and Filipinos. Hawaiians movie does a great job of covering the Chinese immigrants at the beginning of the story Tina Chen and Mako did a fine job in the film as a Chinese Man and his second wife whom by Chinese law at that time was considered in reality a concubine. The scenes at the leper colony was very close to the original in the book and the rape of the beautiful Hawaiian leper girl Kinau who did not show except for one sign of the disease is also graphically depicted in the film. In the novel the concubine has all sons.In the movie version the concubine has one daughter.A character that has been created from Japanese and Chinese characters in the book.The Japanese former comfort girl mistress of Charlton Heston was actually a made from several different females in the book. Charlton Heston did a great job in his part but in actuality and no fault of his own but of the screenwriter his Whip character did not remain faithful to the book portrayal and Geraldine Chaplin her character should have been left out entirely since it was another streamline of other female characters. People who viewed this movie couldn't relate to Geraldine's Purity's character. She apparently was unhappy in her marriage gave Whip a son but didn't want to return to the marriage bed.Frigid and emotionally detached. She kept going back to her full blooded Hawaiian relatives and the church. She was comfortable with the old ways and not the new and certainly not her husband's sex drive. John Phillip Law plays the son of Whip and Purity who later married a Chinese girl the daughter of the Chinese couple was told to keep his quarter Polynesian blood a secret by his father. There was racism by the so-called Pure white stock against Caucasians who had a little of the Polynesian ancestry. Pure Polynesian Hawaiians weren't too happy at first with their children intermarrying with Caucasians or mainland Asian Chinese then Koreans or other island Asiatic groups like Japanese and Filipinos but it happened. Bottom line on this sequel-Good Movie but not what one could call faithful to a James Michener's novel. The Chinese storyline pretty much stayed close to the depiction in the book. The James Michener novel Centennial was better adapted to the small screen than this epic sequel.

This is a hard to find sequel but it is worth having. Performances were well done. Julie Prescott dies in an assignment in Vietnam. Falconetti is released from prison and is out for revenge against the entire Jordache clan,Dwight Dwyer and the significant others of the Jordache men. Rudy wants Falconetti back in prison.Wesley wants Falconetti dead. Billy and his step-cousin Wesley have a great friendship until Billy sleeps with Wesley's girlfriend and becomes pregnant.Wesley then takes up with Diane daughter of his Uncle Rudy's main squeeze (after Julie) Maggie Porter.Rudy also enters into a one time only affair with his late brother's widow Kate who is now the mother of his niece who does not appear in the story but only mentioned. Falconetti is revengeful indeed he murders Dwyer,Kate leaves town to get away from the vengeful Falconetti,beats up Wesley so bad that he ends up in a coma,tries to rape Wesley's second girlfriend in the series Diane Porter and stabs Billy. The instigated murder of his brother Tom,the murder of good friend Dwyer,Kate's fleeing town,Wesley in a coma due to being badly beaten,the attempted rape of his girlfriend's daughter and lastly the stabbing of his stepson Billy throws Rudy into a physical showdown with Falconetti in an alley.Falconetti this time is dead and Rudy either dead or near death as far as Billy goes he might have made it.Wesley might not have made it it's hinted that he might have went the way of his father Tom. Most of the first Rich Man Poor Man fans were not too happy with this sequel and wrote letters to the network at that time "Please no Rich Man Poor Man Book III". Sadly, four years later another sequel an official sequel novel by Irwin Shaw to the original novel came out which was absolutely horrible called Beggarman,Thief. No one from either cast was in the sequel. This sequel begins right after the death of Tom. Wesley is after someone tied in to his father's death but not Falconetti.Billy is not the son of Julie but of Gretchen Tom and Rudy's older sister whose character was combined with two other characters in Rich Man Poor Man Books 1 and 2 was played by Jean Simmons. Jean Simmons is a wonderful actress but she is no Gretchen Abbot Burke.Kate was an English girl just like in the novel and played by Lynn Redgrave. Kay Lenz played Kate as an American girl. Kate in Beggarman Thief had a son by Tom called Tom and Kate unlike the Kate in Rich Man Poor Man 1 and 2 hated Rudy's wife whom she rightfully blamed for Tom's Death.Billy ends up having an affair with a beautiful German terrorist called Monika who ends up dying as a result of being terrorist. Watching the two sequels to Rich Man Poor Man 1 I would say Rich Man Poor Man 2 was the better. Another problem with Beggarman, Thief is that it was a sequel that should have followed a remake of Rich Man Poor Man. Beggarman, Thief is to Rich Man Poor Man what Scarlet was to Gone with the Wind- LOUSY. In order to have a good sequel to an original one needs to have the same cast. Good examples: The Godfather Saga,Richard Lester's Three Musketeers trilogy and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

My summary sums up my opinion. Let's begin with Bram Stoker's Jewel of the Seven Stars about a resurrected evil female mummy. A novel that has been filmed several times first in the 1960's as a TV movie,then in 1970 as Blood on the Mummy's Tomb,then in 1980 as The Awakening,then in 1986 as the Tomb and then again in 1999 as Bram Stoker's The Mummy. Then you have Anne Rice's Mummy/Vampire Akasha from the novels Queen of the Damned and Vampire Lestat filmed in 2002 with the late singer Aaliyah in the title role. Next three influences: George A. Romero in this movie you get mummies tearing out spines not flesh eating zombies. Universal Mummy films of the 1940's the sets in this movie even though the locale is about an Egyptian tomb found in California(?) are almost as good as some of the Egyptian sets in the Mummy movies of the 1940's and the film had some thrills and chills. Explorer Thor Heyerdahl who wrote the books Kon-tiki, Island Civilizations of Polynesia in 1970 with his Ra II sea vessel made of papyrus reeds like Ancient Egyptian vessels could have reached the American hemisphere in Ancient times. The idea of the Egyptian traders and a banned from Egypt evil Priestess living and dying in ancient but primitive and barbaric California could something like that have happened? Archaeologists for the past century and a half have found Egyptian artifacts hieroglyphics and statues in strange places such as Ancient Native North and Ancient Central American excavation sites as well as Australia. Pyramids have been found in places other than Egypt and Central America-Italy,the Canary Islands and believe it or not Japan. The Pharoahs had seaworthy explorers and they had a lot of help from a maritime people known as the Phoenicians who came from the Lebanon area of the Middle East. Years ago they found traces of cocaine and tobacco plants whose origins are in the North and South American continents in the stomach of an Egyptian Mummy. Another fact most continental Asians did not have hooked or Roman noses something a lot of Aztecs,Mayas and Incas did have and some of their descendants still do have if you look at the codexes and read the Spanish explorers descriptions of the physical appearances of the so-called aboriginal peoples of parts of the United States,Central and South America. Sorry to report that it sounds like some other explorers other than the Norse,Spanish,Swedish,Dutch,French and English intermixed quite frequently with the so-called Ancient Asian origin Native peoples of North,Central and South America and the nearby islands of the Caribbean. Chieftains would give away some of their women as brides or mistresses to explorers and traders. Sex knows no color when men have been denied heterosexual sex for long periods of time. Now back to the movie both the heroines and the priestess mummy villainess did well in their roles. I think the villainess was well cast she looked like she could be a real Egyptian. If I were going to cast a movie about Ancient Egypt she would definitely be in it. The Egyptians racial origins go back to two racial groups East African Black and Southern Arabian Semitic. To do an accurate movie on Egypt choose East Africans and people of Middle Eastern descent because even in Ancient times caucasoid Europeans even if they were Greek or Roman were considered a minority even though both groups had conquered Ancient Egypt during Alexander the Great and Augustus Octavian Caesar. The acting in the movie was camp for sure but it was worth watching. I wish the writer would have left had the George Romero influence.

This movie was filmed in Hawaii and Hawaii beautiful as it is not exactly reminiscent of Mexico and Central America. The costumery of the Spanish conquistadors and male Aztecs is quite authentic but the female costumes are sorry to say not ethnically or historically correct. This movie aside from Caucasian actors being cast as Spaniards which is correct has with the exception of two main characters who are actors of Native American descent has Hawaiian actors cast as Aztecs. Hawaiians are descendants of Polynesians who came in ancient times from Malaysia and who within the past two and half centuries have mixed with several races and ethnic groups. Only a handful exist of pure Hawaiians. As for the Aztecs an Amerindian people possibly with Semitic or Pre-Spaniard European,Negro and Asian strains believed to have come from North America and settled in Central America namely Mexico during the 12th century A.D. The facts are the ancestors of the Polynesians and Mexican Tribes were not ethnically related and did not physically resembled each other and were far removed from each culturally and their multiracial descendants have little in common culturally,physically and ethnically today. If one is going to do a movie about any Native American tribe please use a cast of Native American descent. Mel Gibson in his film Apocalypto cast Native Americans and Hispanics the biracial modern day descendants of Spanish and Central American Aboriginal tribes. Ian Ziering did a pretty good job as Hernan Cortes I wouldn't have known it was him if I hadn't read the cast. The lead actress does a good job but one has to face it she looks nothing like an Aztec woman she's too tall and her facial features look more Polynesian or Asian. I wish they wouldn't have put dinosaurs in this movie I think than the writer of this movie was inspired by two dinosaurs films of the 1960s Valley of the Gwangi and Dinosaurus and any film having to do with the Aztecs. I did like the finale when Cortes top man falls in love and marries the Aztec princess and decides to stay with her and raise a family in an unknown valley of Mexico. Actually this story has a little factual basis.The myth no hidden valley in Mexico the Spanish Explorers didn't miss a trick.

The fact being that a captured Spaniard made slave in the Yucatan years before Cortes arrived decided to stay with his Native wife and family. He was tattooed like the natives and thought it was best to stay with them as he would never be accepted again by his Spanish countrymen. When Hernan Cortes came to Mexico this man refused to help him as an interpretor but his friend a captured fellow Spaniard and later a beautiful tribeswoman woman known as Malinche renamed in Spanish as Marina became his second interpretor.The story is recorded by Bernal Diaz writer and comrade of Hernan Cortes in his magnificent book the Conquest of New Spain. A must read for anyone interested in Aztec History from a Spanish perspective. The movie will be acceptable to anyone who likes adventure,dinosaurs,Spanish explorers/Conquistadors and ancient cultures.

Giants have been in every mythology of every culture. This particular story takes place in Ancient Sumeria right before the flood of Noah. The story is based on the Biblical passages from Genesis and the passages from the non-Biblical Book of Enoch and the eventual return of the fallen angels and more matings with the daughters of Men as mentioned in the New Testament in the end times. The basis of this story starts with Genesis chapter 6 The matings of the Sons of God (Angels) and the Daughters of Men and their gigantic (more physically like the Titans of Greek Mythology in height anyways)cannibalistic (reference the Book of Enoch) offspring the Nephilim. The Angel Ammon knowing of the flood plans to have his hybrid son Aramis(?,the writer of this piece could have come up with a better name than this the origin of the name is Greek and is most associated with the Musketeer Aramis of Three Musketeers fame and mens cologne. He could have picked any mythological god or giant of Middle Eastern or Greek mythology)drugged and put in a deep sleep and mummified to call forth in the end times. The Sumerian priests sacrifice then mummify (Egyptian influence?The Egyptian civilization wasn't around during the flood)several male slaves and one female who are to serve Aramis when he is resurrected in the end times. The drug given by the priests to Aramis causes Aramis to become an insane mummy which causes his father Ammon to magically put him to sleep. After Noah's flood Ammon arrives during the time of Lot (Genesis Chapter 19)to destroy the city of Sodom and to start a new race of Nephilim with the youngest daughter of Lot. After Ammon destroys the city of Sodom (There are three theories as to why the citizens of Sodom were destroyed the first being homosexuality,second inhospitality to strangers and the third lusting after "strange flesh" flesh not of the human persuasion such as Humans having sex with fallen angels which also gave rise to the legends of the succubi,incubi and demon lovers)and possibly humans having sex with certain animals like apes Yeti and Sasquatch hybrids and then if you look at some of the half human gods in different mythologies maybe there was a reason why those myths were created. Ammon destroys the wife of Lot and persuades the two surviving daughters of Lot to get their own father drunk and commit incest with him and become pregnant. The younger daughter of Lot is also the lover of the fallen angel Ammon she has relations with Ammon and her father Lot the same night. She names her son after her fallen angel lover Ammon Ben-Ammi unfortunately for Ammon Ben-Ammi is the son of Lot and is human not giant. So skip over to thousands of years and Ammon is back to start another race of hybrid Nephilim in the 21st century and out of love resurrect his brain damaged giant of a son who's body is found not in Iraq (Ancient Sumeria) but in the United States in what was once Native American territory. The acting was decent considering some of the script they had to work with. This film could have left out the metal mummy machine and the idiotic chant of the followers of Ammon "Ammon Naamah".Strange chant. Naamah by the way was a descendant of Cain and one of the first women to mate with a fallen angel named Shamdon and their son was a half-demon known as Asmodai or Asmodeus and another descendant of Cain was a Naamah who was the wife of Noah of the flood fame. Anyone who loves mythology,the Bible,B-Movies reminiscent of the 1940's and 1960's mummy or Ray Harryhausen flicks will enjoy this film.

I enjoyed this movie. Archaeologists stumble on a lost Aztec civilization. In Aztec legend the Aztecs came from a land North of Mexico possible Archaeological locales have been Arizona,New Mexico,Texas and California and even a remote possibility of being related to the Mound builders and the Aztec language Nahuatl are part of the Ute-Aztecan languages of the United States. Quetzacoatl was a human looking God and this Quetzacoatl in the movie was far from it as was the personality's character. Costumes and sets were well done. Attention could have been paid more to the hairstyles of some of the Aztec warriors. The human heart sacrifices were well depicted as was the head rack (Aztec and Maya Indians used head racks for the skulls of enemies and warriors). In my humble opinion the person who directed this movie was strongly influenced by Mel Gibson's Apocalypto and Nova's documentary Aztec Massacre and possibly the Sci-Fi made in Hawaii feature Aztec Rex. This movie is for anyone who likes any story based on Mesoamerican cultures.

This version will be liked by anyone who appreciates Musketeer comedy musicals or both. The story is generally faithful to the first half of the novel. Gino Cervi wonderful actor but miscast in the part of Cardinal Richelieu even though he did make a great Porthos in a serious French version of Three Musketeers and a great Jean Valjean in an Italian version of Les Miserables.Several characters were miscast in this TV version but who really cares because it is a musical comedy. Story starts out as most D'Artagnan leaves Gascony has a confrontation with Rochefort who is at a tavern with Milady de Winter (original novel Rochefort is outside the tavern and Milady pulls up in her carriage).Then proceeds to Paris where he ruffles the feathers of Athos,Porthos and Aramis and they all become best friends after defeating Jussac and the Cardinals Guards. Constance,the Queen's servant enlists D'Artagnan and the Musketeers to retrieve the Queen's diamond necklace that she gave to her English lover the Duke of Buckingham. The Queen meets with the 4 Musketeers and sends them to England. The Three Musketeers meet Milady de Winter who has one broken carriage wheel and try to help her. A departure from the novel Athos doesn't know Milady who in the novel is his evil opportunistic beautiful ex-wife. Milady has them ambushed by the Cardinal's Guards. D'Artagnan in the meantime goes to look for his companions and finds Milady's friend Kitty (In the novel Kitty is her maid who is seduced by D'Artagnan.)who at Milady's orders tries to seduce D'Artagnan it doesn't work. The Musketeers and D'Artagnan reach Buckingham and get the jewels. The Musketeers and D'Artagnan knock out some priests on the way back to France and take their frocks and board safely to France and return the jewels to the Queen upsetting the plans of Cardinal Richelieu,Milady de Winter,Count de Rochefort and Jussac. The Jussac character plays a larger part in this adaptation his character was combined with the Dumas character of Bernajoux. This was a definite spoof of earlier Musketeer films like scene of the Cardinal's love of cats (reference 1948 MGM film with Vincent Price).This version also used as background instrumental music the song the Saints go marching in plus instrumental background music from Oklahoma,West Side Story,Damn Yankees and 19th century waltzes that were popular 250 years later. Other positives for a 1964 Italian TV adaptation this production had good sets and authentic 17th century type costumes for both citizens of France and England. This by the way is not available or dubbed in English If you know a smattering of Italian or any romance language you might have some luck translating. This version I think is a keeper for any Musketeer fan especially a fan who likes musical or comical adaptations of the novel (examples:1939 Don Ameche musical comedy with the Ritz Brothers,1943 Cantiflas comedy Los Tres Mosqueteros and Tin Tan's 1957 Mexican comedy Three and a half Musketeers).

This was extremely hard to sit through. This TV production was inferior to the 1964 comedy musical. Like the 1964 musical which used the background music of popular 1950's and 1960's musicals and music some 250 years ahead of its time this version uses popular background rock music of the 70's and 80's. Productions values poor. Sets look like they could have been done by a high school drama class. The male costumes a little too colorful and the womens costumes were something that looked like you could buy at a seasonal Halloween costume store.For Musketeer fans only view only once because this is not a keeper but if you liked Musketeer comedy films then by all means watch or rent.

The Musketeers and D'Artagnan are well cast. Sebastian Cabot (star of TV's Family Affair and the movies Miracle on 34th Street(1973) and the 1952 Ivanhoe put in a fine performance as Porthos. Jeffrey Stone the husband of French actress Corinne Calvert was an acceptable D'Artagnan. Dawn Addams was a mischievous though lovely Spanish countess who did not want to be returned to Spain at the order of King Louis XIII and D'Artagnan and the Musketeers are forced to make sure she complies with the King's order. Dawn Addams who had been in another Musketeer film played a relative by marriage of Milady de Winter in the Musketeer sequel Le Vicomte de Bragelonne aka Last Musketeer in a 1950's French-Italian production. With a blonde wig and those beautiful blue eyes she would have made a great Milady de Winter if she had been given the chance. She did a great job of playing Henry Jekyll's unfaithful wife in the 1960 Hammer Film Two Faces of Dr.Jekyll. Sadly to say this film has decent performances but is not one of the best musketeer sequels. Only a true Musketeer enthusiast will watch it which unfortunately I am.

I've watched this movie twice so far and it isn't bad. For those who don't know the brother and sister in the film are the children of the late Michael and Star Emerson from the first film which makes Sam their Uncle who have come to rent a place from an Aunt of Star's named Jillian. Angus Sutherland does a fine job as the head vampire but he could have been given a little more dialogue and you can't compare his character with his brother Kiefer Sutherland's David from the first film. Angus' character Shane brings some class to the movie but he nowhere has the menacing behavior of his brother's character from the first film. Angus resembles and sounds like his father Donald Sutherland. When seeing the preview for Lost Boys:The Tribe the Beach Babe Massacre scene I thought possibly the character who told his victim "We're vampires" was the Shane character because he resembled Kiefer Sutherland and later when I saw the film found out that the actor I thought would be Shane was no Sutherland at all but instead was playing Shane's number one sidekick John. I was glad to see Corey Feldman back as Edgar Frog he doesn't even look two decades older but Corey Haim he has aged terribly and looks dissipated. Here comes the spoiler at the end of the cast credits it looks like Corey Haim is one of the undead or he could be a half-vampire because twice in the movie it is mentioned that Edgar's brother Allan Frog (Jason Newlander) from the first film and second film is now a vampire and in the alternative endings it shows the vampire Allan and vampiress friend racing to Luna Bay to settle a score with his brother and hinted at in the second alternative ending put the bite on Corey Haim's character Sam. Lost Boys: The Tribe is worth the DVD rental price but it would have to have a better script and special effects to be box office material.Now with talk of Lost Boys 3 about Frog versus Frog or Frog saving friend Sam from being one of the undead or Frog versus both his vampire brother Allan and old friend but new vampire Sam it will be worth the wait as to what Warner Brothers decides the story will be. I hope it will be better than Lost Boys II:The Tribe. Lost Boys II:The Tribe in my opinion was good sequel that could have been a little better and the Cry Little Sister song remake was just as good as the original!

The Mummy:Tomb of the Dragon Emperor though not as good as the Mummy 1 and 2 I enjoyed it more than the prequel The Scorpion King. The story I thought wasn't bad. The script could have been better. The special effects were decent. I really enjoyed the Yetis (Asia's equivalent to Bigfoot) and the Himalayas Shangri La immortality issue (Shangri La immortality concept was actually based on centenarian plus inhabitants of the Himalayas,Georgian peoples of the Caucasus and the Hunza People of West Pakistan.). Once again the story has an ancient love triangle. The first and second films we have midlife crisis Pharoah Seti,his twenty something treacherous unwilling mistress Ancksunamun and her virile handsome high priest lover Imhotep who is Seti's "supposed trusted friend". This film has the sorceress Michelle Yeoh who is two timing the Dragon Emperor with the Commander of his armies Russell Wong. Second thing in common with the first two films the Dragon Emperor and Imhotep are both placed under curses. I'm glad John Hannah was back in the series. This movie could have been worse if the screenplay writer decided write the Medjai leader played by the gorgeous Oded Fehr into this film. Nothing against Oded Fehr he was wonderful in the Mummy 1 and 2. With the writing of this screenplay I really wouldn't have been surprised if they had added Oded Fehr luckily the screenwriter did not. For lovers of the Mummy genre this film was better than some of the 1950's and 1960's Aztec Maya mummy movies from Mexico which were ripoffs of the Universal and Hammer Egyptian Mummy movie series. All they did was change Kharis and Ananka and Imhotep and Anckesenamon to some Aztec priest and princess/priestess. Forbidden love.Priestess dies in human sacrifice ritual (in Egyptian mummies princess dies of illness or like Ancksunamun suicide).Priest is buried alive for sacrilege for having loved a princess or priestess (Aztec and Maya Movie) and trying to save her from sacrifice. Egyptian mummy movies the High priests Kharis and Imhotep try to raise their beloveds with Tana Leaves embalming (1940 to 1945 universal films)fluid,Scroll of Thoth (1932 and 1959 Mummy)and Egyptian Magic Books (1999 and 2001 movies)and the Mummies love interests in all the films are reincarnated and the Mummy faithful to his one true love does admire the beauty of other women. He carried off other women in enough films (usually at the command of a lusty lecherous High Priest)before he is reunited with his one true love. I did enjoy this movie and I hope that the Mummy movies will travel to the Western Hemisphere for some action. Mexico or Guatemala would be perfect. O'Connell Junior goes on archaeological dig in Aztec or Mayan ruins falls in love with beautiful girl of Mestizan(Central American Indian and Spanish)descent with nightmares of a horrible past life and through hypnosis finds out that she is the reincarnation of Aztec or Mayan princess or priestess who had her beating heart torn out by Priests and lover was drugged and buried alive as punishment for trying to stop the sacrifice and is to guard the temple or pyramid from desecraters till the end of time. Peru and the Andes would be a great setting to. Lots of mummies of all ages and walks of life in Peru and the Andes mountains. I'm glad I subscribe to archaeological magazines and groups. I would love to see at least two more Mummy films with Fraser and company and Central and South America would be the perfect locations. Universal had four Kharis the Mummy movies The Mummy's Hand,The Mummy's Tomb,The Mummy's Ghost and the Mummy's Curse. All solid movies. This current crop of mummy films could go for at least two more films and then call it quits. So this film got some bad reviews if this series continues and takes the story to Mexico and they recreate the Aztec or Maya civilization (example Mel Gibson's Apocalypto Maya city scenes) and use the ancient Mayan or Aztec (Nahuatl)language as was done with Coptic language in the millennium Egyptian mummy movies. Universal could have box office appeal once again and also popularity with the Hispanic populations who are descendants of these past cultures.

This movie is available through several video companies in France including the French Ebay. The costumes and sets are good. Performances are good even those who were miscast in the parts particularly two of the main characters Porthos and Aramis. Jean Paul Belmondo was a wonderful D'Artagnan reminiscent of Gene Kelly's performance. He looked like he had a good time with role of D'Artagnan. The film follows book closely not perfectly though.A great thing that could be said for this film is that it didn't cut or streamline any of the characters from the novel. In my humble opinion this version was a little more faithful to the novel than the Borderie two part film with Gerard Barray and Mylene Demongeot made two years later. I enjoyed this TV movie a lot more than I did D'Artagnan et Les Trois Mousquetaires (2005) with Emmanuelle Beart and Vincent Elbaz. As far as TV adaptations of the Three Musketeers nothing beats the 1969 French film D'Artagnan and the 1966 BBC miniseries with Jeremy Brett and Mary Peach. For anyone who doesn't wish to buy this adaptation or order from overseas. You can view a small clip on YouTube just put in Les Trois Mousquetaires or Jean Paul Belmondo or Belmondou.

The only reason I gave this an 8 was because it was silent and no English subtitles at least the version I saw had no English subtitles. This 1921 version follows the book unlike it's entertaining but loosely adapted 1921 American rival film with Douglas Fairbanks.The Fairbanks version did keep the character of Bernajoux the greatest swordsman of the Cardinal's Guard who went to avenge his fellow Cardinal's guards and ended up being defeated D'Artagnan and was well acted and had wonderful sets and costumes.99% of Three Musketeers adaptations don't keep the character and sometimes when they do they combine Bernajoux character with Monsieur Bonancieux. Sorry to get sidetracked. This 1921 French version follows the book very faithfully has wonderful performances and great looking sets and authentic recreations of 17th century costumes. Milady in this version looks like a brunette to me. This version has all the characters including minor characters such as Lord de Winter,Duchess de Chevreuse and the Executioner of Lille. It also shows in flashbacks Athos courtship of the beautiful but treacherous woman the supposed priest's sister who later resurfaces as Milady de Winter. The priest and Milady are both shown in the flashbacks. If it is one thing I appreciate it is faithful adaptations of classical novels and this one is definitely one of them. This was followed by a sequel that was based on latter half of Three Musketeers novel and the Twenty Years After. What a shame the sequel hasn't been released on video. It had the same cast as this movie. This film is a big improvement over some of the recent French and English remakes of the novel. All true Three Musketeers fans need this version for their collection.

D.G unknown to herself is of the royal house of Oz and the namesake of her grandmother Dorothy Gale from the story the Wizard of Oz who had married into Ozian royalty. Azkadelia the villainess of this story is Dorothy's long lost sister who has been possessed since childhood by a relative of the Wicked Witches of the East and West and Mombi.The Tin Man is what cops are referred to in this story.Raw is a human/lion hybrid and Toto is a shape shifter.Glitch is a zipper-headed lobotomized human equivalent to the scarecrow. D.G's adopted family are cyborgs. The wizard in this sequel is a druggie. The winged Monkeys are called called Mombats half monkey and half bat. Azkadelia's top man visits prostitutes in the O.Z - OuterZone the new name for OZ. D.G like her ancestress arrives in OZ or O.Z thanks again to another cyclone. This is surprisingly good and has a happy ending that will click with families though there are a few tragedies in between. For people like way out or updated versions or sequels to Oz this is a keeper.

The ballet is well choreographed and the story is faithful to Stoker's novel. Beautiful cinematography reminiscent of the silent films of the 1920's and talkies of the 1930's. The Chinese actor in the lead does a fine job of acting and ballet if one forgets that he's Chinese and not Caucasian like most actors who have played the part but then in Dracula Istanbul Dracula was played by a middle eastern Turkish actor and in a university stage play video tape version that is showed part by part on YouTube Dracula is played by an exotic actor of African descent and in the American version of the musical The Three Musketeers Athos was played by a Black American.It's the performance that matters not the race. I appreciate this version because it didn't streamline the characters like so many other Dracula adaptations. They didn't combine the characters of Arthur and Quincy together like some of the other versions have done and it didn't leave characters out either. They're all here in this production Dracula,Van Helsing,Dr.Seward,Arthur Holmwood,Quincy Morris,Jonathan Harker,Mina Murray,Lucy Westenra,Renfield,Mrs.Westenra and the vampire Brides. In my humble opinion this is one of the best versions of Dracula and should be in any Dracula film fanatics collection.I do regret that it wasn't longer in running time because it sure was enjoyable to watch!

"My Family were Karnsteins!" Lady Durward reveals to her shocked children.In 1970 Hammer Films did the Vampire Lovers based on Joseph Sheridan LeFanu's novella Carmilla about the Austrian Vampire Noblewoman Carmilla Karnstein played superbly by German Actress Ingrid Pitt and her evil vampiric Satanic witchcraft loving family.Then in 1971 Carmilla is resurrected by the blood of a female human sacrifice played by Scandinavian Actress Yutte Stensgaard in the sequel To Love a Vampire to raise cain in a boarding finishing school and in 1972 Carmilla is briefly back again and makes a vampire out of a descendant in the film Twins of Evil and the descendant in turn makes one of his antagonist's twin nieces a vampire. In 1974 Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter now deals with Lady Durward nee Lady Karnstein who along with her late husband Lord Durward whom she made a vampire to keep their love alive drain the blood of young village girls. The vampires had two children when they were non-undead.The young two young adult children and the Doctor who was an admirer of the "once beautiful"Lady Durward and is the person who sends for Kronos are unaware that Lady Durward is responsible for all of it. This film is well acted (with the exception of Caroline Munro who was no great actress but a beautiful woman and a great scream queen of Hammer films)has great swordplay,dark hidden family secrets,great sets and witty double entendre. Ingrid Pitt by the way would have been perfect for Lady Karnstein Durward but Wanda Ventham was just as good in the role.This movie I recommend to anyone who is a vampire movie fan or a fan of Hammer films adaptation and sequels of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu's Carmilla.

It kept most of the characters of the novel accept they did change the names of the supporting characters for Turkish audiences. This is the first Dracula film to show Dracula climbing down the walls. The Mina character was given a different name and a dancing career. The male characters with the exception of Dracula were given a name change. The story takes place in the 1950's instead of the 1890's. Film starts out with the renamed Harker character being taken by a cab driver to the Borgo pass equivalent and picked up by the Count disguised as a coach driver. Then he goes to the castle where he meets Dracula who rather forcibly insists that he stays and he is almost attacked by Dracula's one wife (3 in the novel)and then Dracula intervenes. The one wife was used later on in the fine 1958 Hammer film with Christopher Lee.This version has its Whitby and Dracula's repeated vampiric attacks on the Lucy character. Lucy becomes a vampire is forced by the equivalents of Harker,Seward,Van Helsing,Holmwood and Morris down and staked. A real weird Renfield character and Lucy's Mother are also in this.I also appreciate that this version kept in the fact that Lucy was a brunette and Mina a blonde.The women are rather exotic. This is a wonderful version I liked it a lot better than the German versions of 1922 and 1979 called Nosferatu which also used Bremen and Weimar as locations for the Dracula story. The 1922 version of Dracula changed Dracula to Count Orlock, Harker becomes Hutter,Mina becomes Ellen and Lucy becomes Annie and Renfield Knock. The 1931 Spanish version of Dracula based on the Broadway play and the Stoker changed the Mina character's name to Eva. The 1980 Showtime TV teleplay Passion of Dracula with soap opera veteran Christopher Bernau as Dracula changed the Arthur character's name to Gordon.The 2002 Italian version with Patrick Bergen as Dracula changed the Van Helsing character's name. What I am getting at is this isn't the first time that characters in a Dracula movie have been given a name or location change. For any real fan of Dracula films this version is a keeper and enjoyable to watch. It is hard to find sometimes Ebay or Amazon will have it available. For fans who can't find it on either it can be viewed on You Tube in 11 parts. Come to think of it I don't think Romanians would be very fond of this version the real Dracula Prince Vlad Tepes Dracul was a Christian Romanian national Hero who hated and fought and protected his country from the invading Turks of the Ottoman empire. Dracula as a young man and royal hostage of the Turks picked up a few cruel torture habits from the Turks such as impalement which Drac used to full advantage.One minus about the film it isn't dubbed in English at least the version I have isn't but if one of you film lovers has a friend who is Turkish or is of Armenian,Bulgarian or Kurdish and is bilingual please ask them if they would translate this into English for you. Enjoy the film.

I gave this a nine for faithfulness to the novel. The scenery and costumery and sets were good.No poor performances. Jeremy Brett is a fine actor and did his best in the role of D'Artagnan but alas he is no D'Artagnan.Jeremy's performances gets better as the story moves on.Brian Blessed was perfectly cast as Porthos. Mary Peach turned in an excellent performance as Milady but physically speaking against type. I really appreciate that this version includes Musketeers 4 servants and not just one and Lord de Winter,Milady's brother-in-law .This is faithful to the novel more so than Richard Lester's and George Sidney's versions which were pretty darn close as was Bernard Borderie's 1961 and the 1978 Russian version. This fine 1966 version had an equally faithful 1967 sequel called The Further Adventures of the Three Musketeers with almost the same cast as its predecessor which was based on Alexandre Dumas Three Musketeers sequel The Twenty Years After. A little Musketeer trivia to end this comment Richard Lester remade the Twenty Years After as The Return of the Musketeers in 1989 with the same cast as his Three and Four Musketeer films and the Russians also remade the Twenty Years After as Musketeers:20 Years After and followed with a version of the Man in the Iron Mask with the same cast as the 1978 D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers. This is the Musketeer production that should be shown in a literature class.It follows the novel.

Someone mistakenly has said Alexandre Dumas' Twenty Years After had been only made once as the Return of the Musketeers in 1989-WRONG! The French did two movie versions in the 1920's and 1930's. The Italians once in the 1960's unfortunately it wasn't faithful to the story. The Russians once and it was a faithful and excellent version. This fine 1967 series is a sequel to the fine faithful BBC 1966 version of The Three Musketeers. Has most of the same cast as 1966 Three Musketeers except that Joss Ackland took over for Jeremy Brett as D'Artagnan. Michael Gothard does an excellent job as Mordaunt nee John de Winter the vengeful son of Milady de Winter. YES,MILADY DE WINTER HAD A SON not a daughter Justine de Winter like the sex change Richard Lester gave the character in his adaptation of the Twenty Years After known as the Return of the Musketeers 1989 the sequel to his Three and Four Musketeer films of the 1970's.The Return of the Musketeers and The Three and Four Musketeers were also excellent films. Michael Gothard always is cast as a villain or a fool in movies.Joss Akland I don't think could ever give a bad performance.Fine performances by both actors.As far as filmizations of the Twenty Years After the three best in my book are this version which is number 1, 2nd the Russian version which had the same cast as it's Russian 1978 Three Musketeers and 3rd Richard Lester's 1989 version which also had the same cast as his Three and Four Musketeers. Faithful this version sure is. Hopefully BBC will find this and rerelease it on DVD. A little Musketeer trivia. Michael Gothard who plays Mordaunt played Milady de Winter's(Faye Dunaway)fanatical Protestant lover John Felton the assassin of the Duke of Buckingham in Richard Lester's The Four Musketeers and Joss Ackland who played D'Artagnan in this version played D'Artagnan's father in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers.99% of the time you can count on the BBC to put out faithful adaptations of the classics and this definitely is one of them!

Since I was a child and being partially of Northern European descent p and being a descendant of a few ancestors who were into mythology and lite occult practices (astrology,numerology,fortune telling,Druidism-Wiccan)I have always loved almost anything mythological. I really appreciated this version of the Nibelungied. This combines the mythological treatments of both the Scandinavian and Germanic versions of the myth. The story is incomplete.Kriemhilde (aka Chriemhild)is somewhat based on the historical Princess Ildico who was forced to marry Attila the Hun who in reality hated Attila for killing her family and may have poisoned him on the dreaded wedding night.In the mythological version she marries Etzel, King of the Huns (based on Attila the Hun)so she could have vengeance against her brothers and other relatives for the murder of her beloved husband Siegfried (aka Sigurd). In this version of the story Brunhilde (aka Brynhild) takes vengeance on Hagen and his men alone. What this version did get right was the love potion Kriemhilde used on Siegfried to love her and forget about his one true love Brunhilde (Brynhild)The Queen (In some of the myths she is no Queen but a Valkyrie a Norse equivalent to a Greco-Roman Amazon and the daughter of the God Wotan (Odin) and the Earth Goddess Erda (Nertha).The second thing correct is the shapeshifting of Siegfied to appear as Gunther (Gunter).The suicide of Brunhilde on Siegfried's death. I recommend this miniseries for anyone who is interested in Germano-Norse mythology and classical literature.

I loved this show. It was similar to shows like In Search Of? and Mysteries of the Unexplained. To me these shows were documentaries and I sure liked them a lot better than tabloid TV. I used to tape this show weekly I'm going to have to see what I have left from this wonderful series. The show covered topics such as Bigfoot,the Loch Ness Monster,Ogopogo,UFOS,Ghosts,Psychic Phenomena,Apparitions. Series that should be released in their complete form on DVD or available for download should be Sightings,In Search of? both the 1970's show and the remake,Mysteries of the Unexplained, Arthur C. Clarke's paranormal series and Ancient Prophecies 1-4 and Lost Civilizations. Must not forget Ripley's Believe it or Not 70's and 80's show and the remake.I think fans or people who are interested in the paranormal should band together and get these series in complete form released on DVD.

I loved this show when I was a teenager and I looked forward every Sunday to viewing it. One hour long was not enough. Jack Palance was the perfect host for the series and what a great sense of humor. The show topics were about unusual people and animals,strange eating habits around the world and some famous and infamous people - Joan of Arc-was she really an uneducated farm girl who had saintly visions or was she secretly the illegitimate daughter of Isabelle of Bavaria,the Queen of France and was an innocent heretic burned at the stake in her place? and Prince Vlad Tepes of Rumania,one of the inspirations for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Jack Palance's daughter Holly was his co-host at the beginning of the series and Marie Osmond at the end of series and both ladies did an excellent job. I loved this show and I also enjoy the remake of this series with Dean Cain of Lois and Clark fame. I hope both series will be released uncut on DVD.

This isn't the greatest movie but it is good! This story is supposedly inspired by a Dumas novel. Well Anthony Hope the writer of the Prisoner of Zenda apparently was also. All the characters in the Zenda novel are here too with a name change or slight change of character. The King of Mandoora (a mythical country on the Iberian peninsula near Spain,Portugal and Northern Africa and not far from France)and his look-a-like half commoner cousin Captain de Largo (Anthony Dexter)are much like the Zenda characters King Rudolf of Ruritania (a country in Western Europe bordering Germanic speaking countries)and his half English commoner cousin Rudolph Rassendyll. Ramon the evil royal cousin (Anthony Quinn) is the equivalent of King Rudolf of Ruritania's half-brother the ambitious and with a chip on his shoulder Prince Michael and Prince Michael's disloyal rogue of a friend Rupert of Hentzau. The countess and the princess were probably the inspirations for Prisoner of Zenda's Antoinette,mistress of Prince Michael and Princess Flavia,the betrothed of King Rudolf and loved by his cousin Rudolph. The two closest friends of the King also inspired the characters of Colonel Sapt and Fritz Von Tarlenheim in the Zenda story. Many similarities between the stories too many to list. I recommend this film to anyone who loves classic adventure and the works of Alexandre Dumas and Anthony Hope.

I read the story when I was in my sophomore year of high school. A year later I saw this wonderful adaptation on television. The film compares favorably with the Julie Harris film and in my opinion is superior to the remake with Anna Paquin. The late Dana Hill turned in a wonderful performance as Frankie. Dana was not only intune with the character but also the right age which unfortunately Julie Harris was a woman in her late twenties playing a junior high aged character. Not meaning to criticize the Julie Harris film. Julie Harris turned in a fine acting performance but come on physically speaking Julie didn't look like some juvenile girl which Dana who at the time was and did. Dana's Frankie was the perfect immature loudmouthed uncouth tomboy adolescent and does she have problems. Her Father ignores her.The family maid in a wonderful performance by Pearl Bailey is her confidante who has some remote understanding of how Frankie thinks and her little cousin is what you would call a frenemy. She can't deal with approaching adulthood and she is so bored that she wants to go and live with her brother and his fiancé after they get married. Every good story has a lesson.What can be learned from this story: Most adolescent girls have it rough except if they were beauties since birth like Elizabeth Taylor or Brooke Shields.Parents not all the time but sometimes ignore their offspring. All women no matter what the age need a female confidante for advice or support. No matter how bad things are don't rely on moving in with a relative as an alternative for happiness. I hope this version will be released in the near future.