BEST OF MARCH 2025

Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end of year retrospective continues with this look at March’s best.

SEAN FLYNN: ERROL’S SON IN MOVIES – The son of swashbuckler Errol Flynn and Lili Damita starred in several overlooked films, among them The Son of Captain Blood, The Sign of Zorro, and Temple of the White Elephant (think Indiana Jones adventures).

He was also the star of a few Spaghetti Westerns and a few Swinging 60s spy movies, too. Click HERE.

FAILED PREDICTIONS FROM PSYCHICS AND SCIENTISTS: SUPERCUT – Dozens of wildly inaccurate predictions from psychics and scientists over the decades. Click HERE.

CUBA’S SILENT FILMS FROM 1897 to 1907 – Click HERE.

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION – The Blue Palace (1974-1976): A German sci-fi series that was like a cross between Doomwatch and The X-Files. Click HERE.   Beacon Hill (1975): A drama about wealthy Irish Americans and very poor Irish Americans in Boston right after World War One. Click HERE.   Amy Prentiss (1974-1975): Long before she was Archer’s mother, Jessica Walter played Chief of Detectives Amy Prentiss in San Francisco. Click HERE.   

MARIE WALCAMP: THE DAREDEVIL OF SILENT MOVIES – Forgotten by everybody except us Silent Film geeks, Marie did most of her own stunts and from 1913 to 1920 starred in adventure serials like The Lion’s Claws, Liberty: A Daughter of the USA, and the Fu Manchu-inspired The Dragon’s Net.   She also did jungle adventures like The Jungle Queen, A Daughter of the Jungle, and Cast Adrift in the South Seas.  Plus westerns like The Red Ace and her 9 flicks as female gunslinger Tempest Cody. Click HERE. 

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – Omegon (1915), about a high-tech war between America on one side and China, Mexico and Japan on the other. Click HERE.   A Prophetic Romance (1896), about a Martian ambassador to Earth of “the future” (1990s). Click HERE.   A Trip to the North Pole (1903) – Mormon explorers discover the Lost Tribes of Israel running a futuristic civilization at the North Pole. Dinosaurs and high-tech weaponry are there, too. Click HERE.   

I WAS A TEENAGE TIME LORD – Young me and Bad Movies like Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, From Hell It Came, The Creeping Terror, Robot Monster, Teenagers from Outer Space and more HERE.

BLACK RAIN (1977) – A neglected horror/ sci-fi hybrid film starring Richard Chamberlin as a lawyer in Australia who gets caught up in supernatural events leading to the end of the world. Click HERE.

CAPTAIN MORS THE AIR PIRATE (1908-1911) – For three years this German publication featured text stories about Kapitan Mors and his sci-fi/ pulp/ dime novel adventures. He flew around the Earth and into space in his futuristic vessels. Click HERE.

ST. PATRICK MEETS CUCHULAINN – From the ancient Book of the Dun Cow comes this Pagan/ Christian mix about God letting the Irish demigod Cuchulainn out of Hell to help St. Patrick spread Christianity throughout Ireland. Click HERE.

BEHOLD!!! THE PROTONG (1930s onward) – Stanislav Szukalski’s bizarre obsession with his alternate history of Earth in which we are all caught in a war between a surviving ancient civilization and evil Yetis who plot humanity’s doom. One of the weirdest topics I’ve ever covered. Includes a photo of Szukalski with a very young Leonardo DiCaprio!? Click HERE.

THE MYSTERY OF DR. FU MANCHU (1923) – Silent movie serial about Sax Rohmer’s villain Fu Manchu and his archenemy Sir Denis Nayland Smith. Click HERE.

MARVEL’S 1940s SUPERHEROINE MISS AMERICA – Madelyne Joyce was secretly Miss America, a flying, super-strong woman with vision that could penetrate walls. During the 1970s, Marvel retconned her as the mother of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, but that was later retconned itself. Click HERE.  

HITTITE GODS AND GODDESSES – My examination of their major deities and intercultural sharing in the distant past. Click HERE.

MARVEL SUPERTEAMS OF THE 1960s and 1970s – Not just the big names like the X-Men, Avengers and the Fantastic Four, but also the Defenders, Guardians of the Galaxy, the Micronauts, the Freemen and the Champions. In addition, the two-person teams like Captain America and the Falcon, Daredevil and the Black Widow & Power Man and Iron Fist. Click HERE.

GIANT MAN AND THE WASP – A look at the 1960s stories featuring Giant Man (Hank Pym) and the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) taking on foes like Whirlwind (Human Top), Madam Macabre, Hulk, the Eraser, Porcupine, El Toro and their archenemy Egghead. Click HERE.

SUN GIRL – Marvel’s 1948-1950 superheroine. Click HERE.

ALL OF MARVEL’S MAY 1966 ISSUES – I looked at Spider-Man vs Meteor Man, Iron Man vs the Mandarin and Ultimo, Hulk vs Hercules, Dr. Strange vs Dormammu, the Avengers vs the Collector and the Fantastic Four vs Galactus. Click HERE.