CD-Charts Position 1
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The Big Sleep [1946]

starring: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone
directed by: Howard Hawks

Release Date June 01, 2006
I enjoy all sorts of films and have this on both DVD and video and always try to catch it when it's on the TV as you can guess it is my most favourite film. It is flawed and can be confusing on the first few watches. It also suffers from having to deviate from the book (maybe to get it past the censors) which along with The Lady In The Lake is my favourite Chandler story.
For £5 you get a piece of cinematic folk law with both Bogart and Bacall paying off each other perfectly and some great one liners.
Bogart has been it better films but pound for pound I don't think he's been in a more enjoyable one. PS I know Casablanca fans will hate me for saying that!

CD-Charts Position 2
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The Champ [1979] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

starring: Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway, Rick Schroder, Jack Warden, Arthur Hill
directed by: Franco Zeffirelli

Release Date July 09, 2002
This film has got to be an all time classic and also the biggest tear jerker ever to be made. Ive seen this film hundreds of times and it still makes me cry. The actors are amazing and the little boy gave such an award winning performance. I think its one of the best films EVER!!!

CD-Charts Position 3
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Rosemary's Baby [1968]

starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans
directed by: Roman Polanski

Release Date November 05, 2001
'Rosemary's Baby' is without doubt Roman Polanski's best movie.
Still after fourty years this film scares me. Not in the kind of gruesome (torture-porn) kind of way that the Saw franchise do, but in a deeply psychological way, in the spirit of all the great twentieth century horror films. Rosemary (Mia Farrow) is the young married woman who's just moving into an upstate New York appartment block with her husband, actor Guy (John Cassavetes). The pair soon get to know their neighbours (mainly) Minnie Castevet & her husband Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer).
Rosemary's baby is a very scary film, not gruesome (sometimes mildly explicit) but it has that claustrophobic eery feeling & after the first half of the film the feeling ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
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The Killing [1956]

starring: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen, Elisha Cook Jr.
directed by: Stanley Kubrick

Release Date July 15, 2002
One of Kubrick's early films, and the first to show the world that here was a film director who would never produce run of the mill movies. Its essentially a heist movie set a horse race track, but made in a film noir style complete with narration and a multitude of interesting characters, who are virtually all up to no good.

For the 1950's this is a highly original film. Events are not neccessarily seen chronologically, so we get to see an event and then get to see in detail how one of the major players affected the event. Think how Pulp Fiction played with time. Well this does it on a smaller scale but more often.

As films go this one is pretty much perfect. I was only going to give this 4 stars but when I tried to justify ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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Shane [1953]

starring: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde, Jack Palance
directed by: George Stevens

Release Date October 06, 2003
I shall always remember the thrill as a small boy when my parents took me to a local cinema to watch a western. Randolph Scott and particularly Joen McCrea were the order of the day at the time. But Shane was such a hard act to follow regular westerns were just not the same after. Shane played by Alan Ladd, was so good that even with the enhanced photography of today there are not many westerns that can hold a candle to this thoughtful film.

It is interesting that the original intended casting was for Montgomery Clift to play the part of Shane and for William Holden to portray Joe Starrett. Whilst I can see the logic of these selections, Katharine Hepburn as the Mrs. Starrett just does not seem right somehow.

For me however, the character ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Kolchak: The Night Stalker - The Complete Series [1974]

starring: Darren McGavin, Stanley Adams, Edward Faulkner, Barry Atwater, Virginia Gregg

Release Date August 21, 2006
THE NIGHT STALKER was the TV film that started it all, followed by THE NIGHT STRANGLER, but the first film was head and shoulders above all sequels.

Why? THE NIGHT STALKER was directed by Dan Curtis and he had nothing to do with the series. A TV series dies when it becomes so formulaic the viewer can predict what's going to happen, how it will be resolved and how it will be presented even before it goes on the air.

KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER TV series was a predictable formula from day 1. And most of the directors were workaday directors in 1970s television: Don Weiss and Vincent McEveety were among those who directed segments of the Planet of the Apes TV series, another show that was suffocated by its own predictable formula.

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CD-Charts Position 7
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House On Haunted Hill [1959]

starring: Vincent Price, Carolyn Craig, Richard Long, Elisha Cook Jr., Carol Ohmart
directed by: William Castle

Release Date October 25, 2004
Another great film to watch late night with all the lights turned out. I love this film, its my joint favorite Vincent Price film with the "Fall of the House of Usher" being the other. Look out for the head in the wardrobe and the old women skateboarding out of the wine cellar!!!

CD-Charts Position 8
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Shane [1953] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

starring: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde, Jack Palance
directed by: George Stevens

Release Date August 15, 2000
I shall always remember the thrill as a small boy when my parents took me to a local cinema to watch a western. Randolph Scott and particularly Joen McCrea were the order of the day at the time. But Shane was such a hard act to follow regular westerns were just not the same after. Shane played by Alan Ladd, was so good that even with the enhanced photography of today there are not many westerns that can hold a candle to this thoughtful film.

It is interesting that the original intended casting was for Montgomery Clift to play the part of Shane and for William Holden to portray Joe Starrett. Whilst I can see the logic of these selections, Katharine Hepburn as the Mrs. Starrett just does not seem right somehow.

For me however, the character of Wilson played ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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The Haunted Palace/Tower of London [1966] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

starring: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney Jr., Frank Maxwell, Leo Gordon
directed by: Roger Corman

Release Date August 26, 2003
This is a super buy since you get two films from the Horror team of Vincent Price and Roger Corman.

King of the Quickies, Roger Corman and Price made a good stab working their way through the stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe, making one film right after another based on horror tales. Near the end, they tossed in one loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward".

Price plays the lead in duo as Charles Dexter Ward his is distant relative, Joseph Curwen, a warlock.

The movie opens, in a small misty shrouded town with a girl going to the castle of Curwen. She is followed there by the villagers, but Curwen claims she came to visit of her own free will. However, the girl can only answer in barest of replies, so they know she is under ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler (REGION 1) (NTSC)

starring: Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Jo Ann Pflug, Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker
directed by: Dan Curtis, John Llewellyn Moxey

Release Date August 24, 2004
I watched a run of the 20 part series around 29 years ago age 10 or 11 on bbc2, today was the first time I'd seen the films and they built a good foundation to follow them up with another viewing of the series.
As well as the scary and the tense moments there's a lot of comedy, the banter bewteen kolchak and the rest of the office staff is great to watch especially vincenzo and the characters really grow on you. If your into hammer or any monster/ghost type films you'll enjoy these and the series.
It was great to be taken back 29 years to the good old days, and have the pleasure of watching them with my own 11 year old son who thought they were brilliant. Darren McGavin's acting is first rate and if you don't mind real acting and the odd bit of dodgy make up instead of cgi you'll believe ... Read More: