Kenneth Hodges

This film is rightly cited as one of the best anthology films ever made! As with all films of this type though, some of the stories are better than others. The Ventriloquists Dummy is the stand out and the Haunted Mirror runs it a close second. The worst of all though is the long suffering appearance of Naughton & Wayne in the Golfers Story. This ill attempt to introduce some comedy into the proceedings was ill judged and spoilt the proceedings unnecessarily for me, hence my giving a four star rating instead of a 5. It was so unbearable,that I plan as a project, to re-record this film and edit out this particular segment!

I feel I must strike a note of dissent here! The best thing about this film is the memorable performance by Humphrey Bogart, but sadly, it's the ending that badly lets the film down! If ever there was a situation where a mutiny was justifiable, this was it, yet the ending trashed this notion, by having you believe it should not have happened. This felt all wrong to me at the time, so it was no surprise, to later learn in an interview given by director Stanley Kramer, that he came under pressure by the US Navy, who simply would not tolerate the idea that any mutiny was justified, no matter what the circumstances! Stanley Kramer is one of my favourite film makers! He was always one to tackle subjects that were difficult and controversial, and he made groundbreaking films for their time! On this occasion though, he was forced to change his mind, which he said was something he regretted. Had things been different, this could have been a five star movie, but sadly it lost credibility towards the end!

The best thing about this film is it's title, and I for one, am glad that 'Halloween Ends' right here. It's an object lesson in that If you go on squeezing an orange, in the end all you are left with is the pips! Suffice to say, that the very first 'Halloween' movie was a landmark, leading to a series of sequels which got progressively worse! Then with 'Halloween 20' there was a resurgence of interest and a film that was a cut above some of the rest. This made me think that would be a fitting time to put everything to bed, but no they had to come back for more! What we have here is a film that is so bad!, that it should never have been made!

This film should have been called 'Death by Numbers' because in essence that is all it is, and although the film is reasonably well made, there are other house invasion films that are much better. The 'Desperate Hours' for example with Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March is more subtle and far more effective as a result! However, this is an older movie, and will not appeal those who are prejudiced about watching Black & White films!

This film like good wine, matures with age! It bombed initially at the Box Office causing Humphrey Bogart's Production Company to lose a lot of money! Bogart was not best pleased!. The film however, has rightfully grown in stature and is now considered a classic! I never tire of watching this movie! It's my favourite Humphrey Bogart film, and the rest of the cast including Gloria Grahame, are all excellent! In short it's my favourite 'Film Noir', and benefits enormously by having Nicholas Ray as it's Director! Need I say more!

I would really like to have known what Olivia de Havilland thought of this thoroughly unpleasant film. Good though she is, she is worthy of far better things than this! I have always thought that the most important person involved in any film is the Director. Good actors are not able to perform well without one, and Walter Grauman isn't in the same league as Alfred Hitchcock. It would be interesting to know whether Hitch would have been flattered, appalled or amused that 'Psycho' inspired so many other films in this idiom to be made, but inspiration alone is not enough, you also need ability. Even the opening credits of this film resemble 'Psycho' but I doubt whether Hitch would have unnecessarily thrown in a dead dog! No,Hitchcock had flair and class, and both of these ingredients are completely lacking in this drab film! Two stars for Olivia but none for the rest, even the music got on my nerves, but I don't think Bernard Hermann would have wasted his time on this one!