Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end of year retrospective continues with this look at August’s best.
THEDA BARA: SILENT FILM STARLET – My examination of this big-screen femme fatale, her surviving films and what little is known about her movies that have not survived. A Fool There Was, Cleopatra, The Vixen, An Unchastened Woman, Sin, Madame Mystery and more. Click HERE.
HEIMSKRINGLA! OR THE STONED ANGELS (1969) – Forgotten television dramatization of old Norse lore, presented in the experimental new “Videospace” format. Click HERE.
LIFE IN A THOUSAND WORLDS (1905) – “Ancient” science fiction story about life on other planets in our solar system AND around distant stars. Click HERE.
MARVEL’S JANUARY OF 1975 ISSUES – Iron Fist vs Batroc, Hulk vs Zzzax, the Avengers vs Kang the Conqueror for the Celestial Madonna and more HERE.
LONG HENRY THOMPSON – Neglected gunslinger. Click HERE.
PETER PAN (1976) – My review of this forgotten musical version of the Peter Pan story, starring Mia Farrow as Peter, Danny Kaye as Captain Hook and Paula Kelly as Princess Tiger Lily. Click HERE.
BARACK OBAMA’S BROTHER ENDORSES TRUMP AGAIN – Plus more HERE.
COOL-NAMED SPORTS TEAMS – Western Texas College HERE, Luna College HERE, Quincy College HERE.
DENVER DOLL DIME NOVELS – My look at the four Dime Novels starring the fictional female gunslinger the Denver Doll during the 1880s. Click HERE.
JUSTICE SOCIETY: 1949 STORIES – The JSA takes on the X-Criminals, Mr. Alpha, the Fire People, and the Invisible Band HERE.
THE FOURTH REICH (1990) – Movie about the true story of a South African agent working to thwart a Nazi attempt to assassinate South Africa’s national leader. Click HERE. Continue reading
SENILE JOE BIDEN BLITHERS AGAIN – Even Bernie Bros were disgusted with the creepy Joe Biden, who embodied the corruption of career politicians in the U.S. Click 
DEMOCRAT BIGOTS ATTACK COURAGEOUS MAN OF COLOR VERNON JONES FOR REFUSING TO OBEY THEM. Among Jones’ remarks: “A generation of African American families have been devastated by draconian policies that Joe Biden supported and voted for when he served in the U.S. Senate,” Jones said in a statement to CBS 46. “A change was needed and President Trump took action.” “Turn the lights off, I have left the plantation.” Click 
MORE DEMOCRATS REBEL AGAINST PRIVILEGED WHITE ONE-PERCENTERS LIKE NANCY PELOSI AND CHUCK SCHUMER’S ATTACKS ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FDR-STYLE PAYROLL PROTECTION PROGRAM. Can we stop acting like this is the same Democrat Party that it was long ago? Click 
COURAGEOUS DEMOCRAT KAREN WHITSETT PRAISES PRESIDENT TRUMP – It’s 
DETECTIVE COMICS Vol 1 #437 (November 1973) Later reprinted multiple times in Trade Paperback collections of the entire new Manhunter saga. 
Christine travels to Nepal to investigate this new Manhunter’s recent actions which saved the life of a wealthy philanthropist. Via flashbacks from her informant, she learns that the new Manhunter has been battling an organization which made several clones of Paul Kirk and has been using them to carry out the assassinations that Manhunter is blamed for because the clones wear blue costumes like his red one. 
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)
NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association)
RIVERBOAT (1959-1961) – My review of this neglected television series about Darren McGavin and a young Burt Reynolds as partners who run a riverboat along the Mississippi and its tributaries during the 1830s and 1840s. Burt and Darren help Texas rebels fight Mexican tyrants, assist historical figures like Zachary Taylor and Abe Lincoln, and clash with river pirates, gunrunners and fugitives. Click 
THOMASINE & BUSHROD (1974) – A western about a pair of fictional outlaws who become folk heroes from 1911-1915 as the Wild West is fading away. Vonetta McGee plays Thomasine, a female bounty hunter who winds up robbing banks alongside her true love J.P. Bushrod (Max Julien). The pair give away most of their illegal proceeds to the poor of all colors. This movie is like The Wild Bunch crossed with Bonnie & Clyde, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid and more. Click 
JANUARY 1972 MARVEL PUBLICATIONS – Black Bolt and the Inhumans take on Magneto, Spider-Man fights Kraven the Hunter in the Savage Land, Daredevil and the Black Widow face MK-9, Conan the Barbarian meets Omm the Spider-God and much more. Click 
HURRICANE NELL – One of the first Dime Novel heroines created by Edward L. Wheeler in 1877. This tale follows the daring young lady sharpshooter on her revenge quest against a gang of outlaws. Click 
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog will remember my review of three neglected swashbuckler novels by Alexandre Dumas. (For those three – Georges, Captain Pamphile and La Dame de Monsoreau click 
When I was a little boy thrilled with the Musketeers, Monte Cristo and Iron Mask I excitedly grabbed The Black Tulip to read, assuming it, too would feature derring-do and swordplay. Much to my disappointment the novel instead dealt with attempts to cultivate a black tulip, the mob-slaying of Netherlands politicians Johann and Cornelius de Witt, romance and the redemption of personal honor. 
TOP DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS SWASHBUCKLER MOVIES – My review of the eight spectacular, milestone silent movies starring Fairbanks in the forerunners of today’s action blockbusters. (1920-1929) Click 
AMPHIBIAN MAN (1962) – Review of this bad Russian movie. Odd science fiction piece. Click 
JANUARY 1970 AT MARVEL – Brief reviews of Marvel’s January ’70 releases – Avengers vs the supervillain team called Zodiac, X-Men vs Sunfire, Spider-Man vs the Chameleon, Hulk vs the Leader, Iron Man vs the Crimson Dynamo, plus the very first appearance of Agatha Harkness as the Fantastic Four take on the Frightful Four. Click 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL – A GHOST STORY FOR CHRISTMAS (1995) – Remember Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater? Switch it to another name for that deity and you get Quicksilver Radio Theater. QRT went to great pains to treat listeners to as authentic a simulation of old-time radio dramas as possible. 
BUGS BUNNY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1979) – When is an adaptation of A Christmas Carol NOT an adaptation of A Christmas Carol? When it features Warner Brothers cartoon characters. Nearly thirty years later WB would inflict on the world another version of the Carol that was just as soulless and joyless as this 1979 effort. 
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