Movies I Want to See: The Crime Doctor series

The Crime Doctor, a criminal who suffers amnesia and subsequently becomes a criminal psychologist, was created by Max Marcin in 1940 for a radio series that ran on Sunday nights on CBS until 1947. In 1943, Columbia Pictures translated the character to the screen in a series of films, that would end up totaling ten in all, starring Warner Baxter. Baxter started his career in the silent film era, starring notably in The Awful Truth and The Great Gatsby, but it was his turn as the Cisco Kid in the western In Old Arizona, the first major talkie western and the first talkie to be filmed outdoors, that garnered him the second ever Best Actor Oscar. Baxter, when not acting, was also an inventor, creating a revolver searchlight to allow gunman to shoot in the dark and a radio device that allowed emergency crews to change traffic signals from up to two blocks away. In declining health, he only made three films after the Crime Doctor series ended in 1949. He died in 1951 from pneumonia. The only film of the series I have so far been able to find has been the second entry, The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case. The movie, which has some nice twists, turns and convolutions, makes me very interested in seeing what other adventures the Crime Doctor found himself embroiled in. Here is the list of the films in the series:

Crime Doctor (1943)

The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case (1943)

Shadows in the Night aka The Crime Doctor's Rendezvous (1944)

The Crime Doctor's Courage (1945)

The Crime Doctor's Warning (1945)

Just Before Dawn aka Exposed by the Crime Doctor (1946)

Crime Doctor's Man Hunt (1946)

The Millerson Case aka The Crime Doctor's Vacation (1947)

The Crime Doctor's Gamble (1947)

The Crime Doctor's Diary (1949)

Movies I Want to See: The Blue Elephant (2014)

The 2014 Egyptian film The Blue Elephant was released in its home country on July 28. Directed by Marwan Hamed and written by Ahmed Mourad based on his best selling novel of the same name, the movie stars Karim Abdel Aziz as Dr. Yehia Rashed, a psychotherapist who works with the criminally insane. After his best friend is admitted as a patient, Dr. Rashed gets pulled deeper and deeper into a terrifying new world. The book has been a bestseller in Egypt since its publication and the film is getting rave reviews in Egypt. I have no idea what's being said in the trailer but it looks like it could be pretty amazing.

Movies I Want to See: The Theory of Everything (2014)

The Theory of Everything is an upcoming British biopic based on the early life of world renowned physicist Stephen Hawking with his now ex-wife Jane. Written by Anthony McCarten using Jane's memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen as inspiration, it stars Eddie Redmayne as Hawking, Felicity Jones as Jane and is directed by Oscar winner James Marsh. The will movie recount their relationship, his development of ALS and his scientific challenges and breakthroughs. The film will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and is scheduled for release on November 7.

Movies I Want to See: Redirected (2014)

Redirected is a 2014 Lithuanian/British action film from writer/director Emilis Velyvis, co-written by Jonas Banys and starring Vinnie Jones, Scot Williams and Vytautas Šapranauskas in his final film role*. The movie holds an impressive 9.1 score on IMDb with nearly 11,000 votes as of this writing. The story is about a group of friends turned first time criminals who find themselves stranded in Lithuania through a series of misadventures and must find their way back home, all the while rediscovering what made them all friends in the first place. The synopsis and trailer seem reminiscent of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, both written and directed by Guy Ritchie and both also starring Jones. It premiered in Lithuania back in January of this year and it seems like it is scheduled for a winter release elsewhere (probably the UK). If the trailer below is any indication, I hope Americans are going to get to see this one soon, too.

*Vytautas Šapranauskas was a famous Lithuanian actor, comedian and television presenter known for, among other things, his dark humor. He worked in multiple mediums including film, theater and television, and had been called the most talented Lithuanian actor both in comedy and drama. Just before his 55th birthday, he committed suicide. Although he sent texts to several of his friends informing them of his intentions, no one believed him, thinking it was just another of his dark jokes. His body was found by his son.

Movies I Want to See: Coming Out Alive (1980)

A 1980 made-for-television Canadian thriller starring Helen Shaver and Michael Ironside, Coming Out Alive is the the story of woman whose son is kidnapped by her estranged husband. Frustrated with the lack of police action (since they are not divorced, they do not view the situation as a kidnapping), she becomes desperate to find her disabled child and eventually hires hitman Scott Hylands to find them. A plot twist at the end apparently lets Shaver know that not all is as it seems. Directed by Don McBrearty and written by John Kent Harrison, it was released on video in the US in 1984.

Movies I Want to See: Foxy Lady (1971)

Ivan Reitman's directorial debut (which he also produced and edited), Foxy Lady, is another one of the those films that I just can't seem to find a whole lot of info on. The movie's IMDb and Wikipedia pages don't really help so I had to glean info from other sources, mainly a synopsis written by Clarke Fountain for Rovi (a company that provides metadata for cable and satellite providers among many other things) that I found on The New York Times website. It's a romantic comedy based on the myth of Hero and Leander where the gender roles are reversed. In the original Greek story, Hero is an Aphrodite priestess who lives in Sestos and Leander, a young man from Abydos who falls in love with her. They live on opposite sides of the Hellespont, a strait connecting the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea in northwest Turkey. Leander would swim across the strait every night to be with Hero and she would light a lamp in the top of the tower where she lived to guide his way. Eventually, Leander wooed his way into having sex with Hero and they enjoyed the remainder of the summer months in happiness. But on one stormy winter's night, the high winds blew out Hero's guiding light and Leander was lost in the waters and drowned. When Hero found Leander dead, she threw herself off the top her tower to the rocks below to join her beloved in death. In the film, Hero (Alan Gordon) is a super nice guy who can't help but to lend a hand to those in need and Leander (Sylvia Feigel) is the "richest girl in the world." Its a romantic comedy so guess what happens? They fall in love and get married! Written by Robert Sandler and Matt Seigel, this is Eugene Levy's first film appearance and he co-stars with Art Hindle and future fellow SCTV alum Andrea Martin. And how about this for obscure? I can't find any clips or a trailer for this movie anywhere on the internet!

Movies I Want to See: Altman (2014)

An upcoming documentary that looks at the life and work of legendary director Robert Altman, featuring interviews with a bevy of Hollywood stars including Bruce Willis, Robin Williams and many, many more. Written by Len Blum and directed by Ron Mann, no release date has yet been set.

UPDATE: The film was screened at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, Ontario, on August 1, 2014.

Movies I Want to See: W.E.I.R.D. World (1995)

There is very little information regarding W.E.I.R.D. World, a failed television pilot from 1995 directed by William Malone. With a creative team that consisted of writer/producer A.L. Katz, co-producer F.A. Miller, writer/co-producer Scott Nimerfro, writer/co-executive producer Gilbert Adler, and executive producers Richard Donner, David Giler, Walter Hill, Joel Silver, and Robert Zemeckis, it seemed like this project was destined to go places. Not sure exactly what happened but needless to say it was not picked up for a series and has pretty much disappeared entirely. You can't even find a bootleg on the internet of this thing. According to Christopher Smith (reviewer jellyneckr on IMDb, the only one to review the movie on that site), the pilot bears similarities to the live-action Tales from the Crypt series. This can't be all that surprising since everybody I named a few sentences back were all part of the creative team for that show, too. Hell, even Malone wrote and directed an episode or two. They even adapted a story from Bill Gaines, co-creator and writer of the Tales from the Crypt comic book series, and co-editor/publisher of EC Comics and Mad Magazine. It seems to me that what the team was trying to do was capture the success of the Tales from the Crypt formula using science fiction rather than horror stories. The pilot stars Dana Ashbrook (from Twin Peaks), character actor Marshall Bell (Kuato from Total Recall), Kathryn Morris (of Cold Case), Gina Ravara (of The Closer), Jim True-Frost (of The Wire), Tony Cox (Marcus from Bad Santa), and Ed O'Niell. By the way, W.E.I.R.D. stands for the Wilson Emery Institute for Research and Development. These three clips are all I can find on YouTube.

Movies I Want to See: Waar (2013)

Waar (an Urdu word which means "the strike"), is a 2013 Pakistani action film directed by Bilal Lashari, in his feature film debut, and written and produced by Hassan Waqas Rana. Lashari also served as cinematographer and editor as well as had a role in the movie. It is primarily an English language film, took approximately three years to make and is the highest grossing Pakistani film of all time, earning the equivalent of $1.2 million in the first thirteen days of release. I should point out that that the film was initially released only in Pakistan on 42 screens on the first day of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha. This is meager compared to American standards, which are generally in the thousands for wide-released films, but this is the widest release in Pakistani cinematic history. As of this writing, Waar holds an impressive 9.2/10 rating on IMDb based on 21,707 votes. A sequel, not surprisingly, is already in the works. Watch the mostly English trailer below.