BEST OF JANUARY 2024

Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end of year retrospective begins with this look at January’s Best.

DICK TURPIN (1925) – My review of this silent movie which starred American cowboy star Tom Mix trading in his rifle and six-guns for a sword and pistols in an exciting film about England’s real-life outlaw Dick Turpin. It’s HERE.

SAM SPADE – I take a look at Dashiell Hammett’s four overlooked 1932 short stories about his hard-boiled detective from The Maltese Falcon. Read it HERE.

SCARFOLK: LIKE MY MILWAUKEE CROSSED WITH LOCAL 58 TV – Richard Littler’s eerie, dark-humored presentations of the lore behind his fictional English town of Scarfolk has been presented as a website and then as a few books. Experience 1984 and Twin Peaks wrapped into one HERE.

SHIRLEY TEMPLE’S STORYBOOK (1958-1961) – This bit of Forgotten Television featured Temple starring alongside some of the biggest celebrities of the day in child-safe dramatizations of classics from children’s literature. Click HERE.

BRITISH-MADE SUPERHEROES OF THE 1940s – My look at forgotten characters like Streamline, Electro-Girl, Captain Magnet, Acromaid, Tiger-Man and over twenty more HERE.

DESERT CRUSADER (1968-1969) – A French tv series about Thibaud (tee-bow), a French knight who has adventures along the road to the Holy Land in between the 1st and 2nd Crusades. My review is HERE.

THE FLASHING BLADE (1967) – A similar French tv series. Dumas meets Sabatini in this swashbuckling tale of Francois, Chevalier de Recci, from 1628-1631. HERE.

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) – A novel about the title character finding an island of giant-sized birds, odd plant-life, bear-sized beavers and strange human beings, both “normal” and ape-like. It’s HERE.

JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS – Marvel Comics’ 1970s adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 1911 creation John Carter of Mars. The series made a point of focusing on several-part original stories like Air-Pirates of Mars and Master Assassin of Mars. HERE.

ALL MARVEL COMICS THAT WERE PUBLISHED – In January 1967 HERE, and in January 1968 HERE. 

THE DOORS: THEIR DEBUT ALBUM – My review of it HERE.

FRIGHTMARE THEATER (2015-2022) – My obsession with Movie Host shows continued with this examination of another of Joel Stephens’ creations. Scarlet Ryan hosted, backed up by Original Cyn and Monalisa DaVinci. The program covered the usual menu of Golden Turkeys from the past, like Attack of the Crab Monsters, Dracula vs Frankenstein, Devil Girl from Mars, Teenagers from Outer Space and many more. HERE. 

THE ELUSIVE AVENGERS (Neulovimye Mstitele) 1967 – A controversial landmark in global cinema. The premier “Eastern Western” from the Soviet Union features gunslinging, horse-riding young fighters during the Russian Civil War. We get three teen males and a teen female outmaneuvering brutal opponents. HERE.