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Quick LinksWhat is The Last of Sheila About?Sondheim and Perkins' Script Adds Layers to the Typical WhodunitThe Last of Sheila is An Absolute Must-Watch For Whodunit Fans

Whodunits have been a popular mystery subgenre for decades. From Clue to Knives Out, audiences love to follow the clues and find a killer for themselves. The Last of Sheila, produced and directed by Herbert Ross, is a '70s-era gem that unfortunately has been sorely underrated. The movie has all the makings of a classic whodunit, but one of the most interesting parts of the film is that it was co-written by one of cinema's greatest killers.

The Last of Sheila features Sheila (Yvonne Romain) and her husband, Clinton Greene (James Coburn) who are causing a scene at a party. Sheila leaves and a car pulls out of nowhere, ripping down the road. Sheila is killed, and the driver takes a...

One of the most influential auteurs in film history, Charlie Chaplin remains to this day the most well-known figure from cinema's silent era. Throughout most of his career, Chaplin played The Tramp, one of the most iconic characters of 20th-century cinema. An actor, writer, director, producer, editor, and composer, Chaplin created an instantly recognizable aesthetic that combined world-class slapstick comedy with pathos related to poverty, industrialization, and war.

Chaplin's film career began during the early days of Hollywood in 1914 and lasted through the sound era until his final directorial effort in 1967. Six of Chaplin's films, Kid Auto Races at Venice, The Immigrant, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator reside in the National Film Registry. Many of Chaplin's best works rank among cinema's most treasured films.

This article was updated on January 2, 2025, by Christopher Raley: The fact that Charlie Chaplin's name is still recognized 58 years after...

This piece contains mild spoilers for "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery."

The first time Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) appears on screen in Rian Johnson's latest installment to the "Knives Out" franchise, he is in a tub. From the looks of it, it's an average tub spruced up with a chic, wooden tub tray, a bottle of Ricard, and one lone but cheery-looking rubber ducky. Benoit indulges in a cigar as he struggles to understand the rules of the popular video game, "Among Us." Viewers quickly learn that he's in the midst of quarantining during the pandemic, which has forced him to seek out new intellectual pursuits to keep his mind busy while he waits to return to his true passion of detective work.

Of course, Benoit is not playing "Among Us" alone. He is tapped in to a Zoom call with four friends: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Natasha Lyonne, the late Angela Lansbury (i.

Bitchy, Bickering Bitches.

It’s been a pretty wild December, with us covering off-kilter films like the much-maligned Batman & Robin and the not-as-bad-as-you-think Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings. Now for a special holiday treat, we’re covering Herbert Ross‘ 1973 mystery The Last of Sheila, which not only inspired Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (review) and Glass Onion (review), but was also the only screenwriting collaboration between famous queers Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim!

In the film, movie producer Clinton Greene (James Coburn) invites a group of friends to spend a week on his yacht a year after his wife Sheila (Yvonne Romaine) was killed in a hit-and-run accident. While the plan is to have them play a scavenger hunt mystery game, it comes with a hidden agenda: exposing their worst secrets and possibly revealing one of them as Sheila’s killer. Is it Alice the actress (Raquel Welch), her...

Hello again, dear readers! We’re back with our weekly horror and sci-fi home media releases rundown, and tomorrow’s assortment of titles is an interesting bunch, to say the least. Blue Underground is showing some love to Lucio Fulci’s Manhattan Baby this Tuesday, and Scream Factory has put together a Special Edition Blu-ray for Night Creatures as well. And if you’re looking to catch up on some recent horror, V/H/S/94, Richard Bates Jr.’s King Knight, Bleed With Me, and The Exorcism of God are all being released this week as well.

Other titles headed home on April 19th include Alive, Snuff Tapes, and Ghosts of the Ozarks.

Alive

From director Ryuhei Kitamura For the brutal revenge killing of his girlfriend’s rapists, Tenshu is sentenced to die in the electric chair. Resigned to his fate and unremorseful for his crime, he amazingly survives his high voltage execution!

This April, Scream Factory is bring Night Creatures to Blu-ray as a Collector's Edition release! Here's a look at the special features and cover art for this 1962 Hammer cult classic:

"Brace yourself for the long-awaited Hammer cult film classic debuting on Blu-ray. On April 19, 2022, Scream Factory™ is excited to present the highly anticipated Hammer Fim cult classic Night Creatures Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. Directed by Peter Graham Scott (The Avengers) and produced by John Temple-Smith (The Island of Dr. Moreau), this chilling classic stars Peter Cushing (The Curse of Frankenstein), Yvonne Romain (Circus Of Horrors), Patrick Allen (When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth), and Oliver Reed (Quatermass And The Pitt). A must-have for movie collectors and loyal fans of Hammer Films, this definitive Blu-ray release contains special bonus content, including new 2K scan of the interpositive, new audio commentary with film historian Bruce Hallenbeck, new interviews with author and historian Kim Newman,...

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“Murder Mystery Parlor Game”

By Raymond Benson

The genius of Stephen Sondheim is usually reserved for the Broadway stage as the creator or co-creator of multiple award-winning and classic musicals. The presence of Anthony Perkins is usually earmarked for screen and stage appearances as an actor. So, who would have thought that these two would team up to write a murder mystery screenplay—with no musical numbers within earshot—that would be filmed by director Herbert Ross, and then win an Edgar Allan Poe Award from Mystery Writers of America for the script?

The Last of Sheila, released in early summer 1973, seems to be a precursor to the series of Agatha Christie all-star-cast pictures that launched in the mid-70s. It’s an original story, though, concocted by Sondheim and Perkins, allegedly inspired by real “scavenger hunt” party games that were thrown by their friends in those days.

To mark the release of The Frightened City, out now, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

A cool British noir set in 1960s gangland London, The Frightened City follows the story of a low-level criminal (Sean Connery) who gets embroiled in a dangerous racketeering syndicate when he accepts a job from local mobster Harry Foulcher (Alfred Marks). A year before he was thrust into stardom as James Bond in “Dr. No”, Sean Connery gave a spell-binding performance as the brooding, muscular Irish enforcer Paddy Damion with a streak of rakish charm, with electrifying support from Yvonne Romain as the beautiful gangster’s moll Anya and from Herbert Lom as criminal mastermind Waldo Zhernikov.

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only

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Open to UK residents only The competition will close 26th April 2021 at 23.59 GMT The winner will be...

Rip-roaring Oliver Reed’s silver-coated were-beast is one of Hammer Films’ very best screen monsters, which is more than enough reason to sample this colorful 1961 shocker. It was apparently ripped to shreds by the U.K. censors, a horror-crime spared us lucky Americans. The movie has been released more than once on Blu-ray but Shout’s new 4K scan restores it to prime condition. Numerous extras trace its stormy path through the slights and deletions of The Curse of the BBFC.

The Curse of the Werewolf

Blu-ray

Shout! Scream Factory

1961 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date April 21, 2020 / Collector’s Edition / Available from Scream Factory

Starring: Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, Catherine Feller, Anthony Dawson.

Cinematography: Arthur Grant

Film Editor: Alfred Cox

Original Music: Benjamin Frankel

Written by John Elder (Anthony Hinds) from The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore

Produced by Michael Carreras, Anthony Hinds

Directed by Terence Fisher

When stab comes to gouge,...

Van Johnson steps into adventure-guy shoes more suitable for Humphrey Bogart in this European-shot thriller. Daring Martine Carol provides the sex appeal as the mystery dame who entices Johnson to smuggle a man out of Red Albania. The movie is practically a proto- James Bond film: it’s directed by Terence Young, includes Sean Connery and Anthony Dawson in the cast list, and features a fight in a gypsy camp. But Herbert Lom steals the show from them all as a monocle-wearing, oversexed gypsy bandit who can’t abide Commies. Oh, and the disc has special treat in store for discerning, high-toned art-movie intellectuals: this is the film’s hotter Continental version.

Action of the Tiger

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date April 14, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Van Johnson, Martine Carol, Herbert Lom, Gustavo Rojo, José Nieto, Helen Haye, Anna Gerber, Anthony Dawson, Sean Connery,...

Directed by Terence Fisher (The Curse Of Frankenstein) starring Oliver Reed (Burnt Offerings), and based on Guy Endore's novel The Werewolf of Paris, the 1961 Hammer horror film The Curse of the Werewolf is coming to Blu-ray like never before in a new Collector's Edition from Scream Factory, and ahead of its April 21st release, we've been provided with the full list of bonus features and technical specs, including two new audio commentaries and a "4K scan from the interpositive."

We have the official press release with full details on The Curse of the Werewolf Collector's Edition Blu-ray, and to learn more, visit Scream Factory's official website.

Press Release: His beast-blood demanded him Kill ... Kill ... Kill! On April 21, 2020, Scream Factory™ is excited to present the highly sought-after Hammer Film cult classic The Curse Of The Werewolf Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. Directed by legendary horror filmmaker Terence Fisher, this horror classic stars...

Four out of five psychologists agree that something rotten is alive and well between the sawdust and the high wire in the delirious Circus of Horrors. Lame big-top horror pix are common enough, but this fiendishly entertaining delight would inspire the voyeur-sadist in MisterRogers. Anton Diffring is the steely-eyed medical maniac with a mission to populate an insane circus exclusively with cosmetically-enhanced prostitutes and criminals. And I won’t turn that into a White House joke.

Circus of Horrors

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1960 / Color / 1:78 anamorphic 16:9 / 88/92m. / Phantom of the Circus / Street Date September 10, 2019 / 29.95

Starring: Anton Diffring, Jane Hylton, Kenneth Griffith, Erika Remberg, Conrad Phillips, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Colette Wilde, Vanda Hudson, Yvonne Romain, John Merivale, Carla Challoner.

Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe

Film Editor: Reginald Mills

Makeup: Trevor Crole-Rees

Art Direction: Jack Shampan

Original Music: Muir Mathieson, Franz Reizenstein

Written by George Baxt

Produced by Leslie Parkyn, Julian Wintle

Directed...

The Barefoot Contessa

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1954 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 130 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Marius Goring, Rossano Brazzi, Valentina Cortese, Elizabeth Sellars, Warren Stevens, Enzo Staiola, Mari Aldon, Bessie Love.

Cinematography: Jack Cardiff

Original Music: Mario Nascimbene

Written, Produced and Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

As a teenager, many of my first and strongest movie impressions came not from the movies, but from certain critics. I memorized Robin Wood’s analysis before getting a look at Hitchcock’s Psycho. Raymond Durgnat introduced me to Georges Franju and Luis Buñuel, and I first learned to appreciate a number of great movies including The Barefoot Contessa from Richard Corliss, a terrific critic who championed writers over director-auteurs.

The Barefoot Contessa is a classically structured story, in that it could work as a novel; it’s told from several points of view.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

London Film Convention

The 80th Anniversary of Hammer!

Saturday November the 8th ( 10am – 6pm )

Venue : Central Hall Westminster.

Storey’s Gate, Westminster, London SW1H 9Nh

Celebrates in a one-off special event one of the worlds longest running film production companies Hammer’s 80th anniversary.

Founded by William Hindes and James Carerras in November 1934!

The company very much dominated the world market from the 1950’s to the 1970’s in comedies but above all their now classic horror films.

Now very much back in production with several successful films over the past years.

With a sequel to their film version of the play “ Woman In Black “ that starred Daniel Radcliff due for release in 2015 “ Woman In Black : Angel Of Death “ .

The show is also a celebration of the British film industry and of the past and present creative film making in...

It’s that wonderful, frightful, cool and creepy time of year again, when everything including the leaves on the trees are dying and our taste buds are craving sugary sweets and pies made from the guts of our jack-o-lanterns. It’s October, which means Halloween is nearly upon us! Get you costumes completed, your home haunts constructed and your candy collected for trick’r treaters, because you have to make time to watch some of the scariest movies this time of year.

In an effort to assist you in your cinematic scare-fest, we’ve come up with a list of the scariest movies to watch on Halloween… with one caveat. We have excluded virtually all “slasher” flicks. Why? Well, let’s just say we all know them, we all love them on some level, but really… don’t we all want something more in our scary movies? In honor of...

The Hollywoodland Channel brings classic movie fans their favorite vintage films. It’s a great channel for those of us who love films in general, but also those who love film history. One of the films airing today is 1961′s “The Frightened City,” starring Herbert Lom, John Gregson, Sean Connery, Alfred Marks and Yvonne Romain. Here’s more about the film: “In London’s East End, a violent gang wrecks a small pub after the landlord refuses to pay his protection money. When Police Inspector Sayers arrives on the scene the landlord denies everything and puts the damage down to a few rowdy customers. Nightclub owner Harry Foulcher is one of the mobsters [ Read More ]

The post View Film Classics for Free on FilmOn’s The Hollywoodland Channel! appeared first on Shockya.com.

New Line Cinema is planning to develop a remake of director Herbert Ross's 1973 classic The Last of Sheila.

The murder mystery followed a rich Hollywood producer who invites a group of friends to his yacht for a mysterious scavenger hunt. The party takes place one year after his wife's death, who passed at a previous party from a hit and run accident. The vacation turns from a joyful experience to a deadly game of cat and mouse, with many secrets revealed as the night unfolds.

The original starred James Coburn, Raquel Welch, James Mason, Ian McShane and Dyan Cannon.

Beau Flynn is producing the project. He is best known for his work on Journey to the Center of the Earth, which grossed over $300 million worldwide, and this year's sequel, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. The studio is currently searching for a writer.

The Last of Sheila was released June 14th,...