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The Lovecraft Investigations
The Lovecraft Investigations
Books
10
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Podcast Rating
Unique spin (2 more)
Brilliant writing
Actors are really good
One of the best podcasts I've ever listened to!
My dad introduced me to this podcast in November 2020 and since then I've listened to it about 3 times. I love both Parker and Eleanor Peck and hope they get their own spinoff!
  
Detective Story (1951)
Detective Story (1951)
1951 | Classics, Drama, Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Adapted from a stage play that he loved, Detective story typifies the kind of roles of a man under pressure that Douglas came to be indelibly identified with. This time it was his co-star Eleanor Parker who got the Academy Award nomination, but it was their chemistry that really drew the eye. The troubles of life, and the task of being a good man in the face of a bad world were the themes Douglas tackled here. The setting of crime fighting over one day in the 21st precinct is secondary to the personal fight of the “hard-nosed” Jim McLeod, who does his best but can never get ahead. There are shadows of such films as Miller’s Crossing, LA Confidential and even Blade Runner in here. Notable for some gorgeous film-noir photography, and the obligatory Douglas breakdown speech.
  
The Naked Jungle (1954)
The Naked Jungle (1954)
1954 | Action, Drama, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Nothing to do with Keith Chegwin, thank God. Slightly stodgy romance as plantation owner Charlton Heston sorts himself out with a mail-order bride and gets more than he bargained for in the form of Eleanor Parker. He is very stern and formal and calls her 'Madam' a lot; she is self-willed and feisty; sexual tension hangs in the air like the pong from a backed-up toilet but they seem stuck in an impasse until ferocious marabunta ants start swarming through the neighbourhood. (The ants only appear in the final act of the movie; one could wish they'd turn up sooner.)

Hard to say which is more awkward to watch nowadays, the depiction of the locals or the gender politics, but there is a certain camp fun to be had once the army ants finally show up: there are various scenes of people watching the ants through binoculars, while Heston's aargh-I'm-being-eaten-alive acting is as earnestly stoic as you might expect. Just about succeeds at what it sets out to do, and the structure of the story is solid, but very old-fashioned and corny.