Thanks for the memories!

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Another rousing swashbuckling adventure from the pen of Alexandre Dumas. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. stars as the storied Corsican Brothers.The story opens with Count Franchi (Henry Wilcoxen) awaiting the imminent birth of his first born and heir. Twin boys are delivered to Countess Franchi (Gloria Holden). Dr. Paoli (H.B. Warner) delivers the news that the twins are in fact Siamese twins joined at the hip. The Count has prepared a celebration nonetheless, however the evil Baron Colonna (Akim Tamiroff) and his men have infiltrated the gathering and attack the Franchi household burning the estate to the ground killing all inside.Dr. Paoli and dedicated servant Lorenzo (J. Carroll Naish) manage to escape through a secret passage with the twins. The doctor manages to separate the babies in an operation. They are named Lucien and Mario respectively. They then decide that to protect the twins, they should be raised separately. Trusted Franchi friends, the Dupres (Walter Kingsford, Nana Bryant) agree to raise Mario in Paris while Lorenzo takes Lucien to be raised deep within the Corsican forest.Twenty years later, the boys have grown. Lucien has become a bandit praying upon Colonna's men. Mario meanwhile, has been living the good life in Paris. When they turn twenty-one they are re-united in the forest camp of Lucien and Lorenzo. The two lead separate raids on Colonna and his men, popping up in two separate places to confuse Colonna and his cousin Tomasso (John Emery) in the process.Countess Isabelle Gravini (Ruth Warrick) whom Mario had met in Paris arrives on the scene having been forced to listen to Colonna's proposal of marriage following the latter's murder of her father. Isabelle is abducted and taken to the Corsican Brothers camp. Since each twin experiences the feelings and pain of the other, they of course both fall in love with her.Isabelle prefers Mario which causes feelings of jealousy and vengeance within Lucien. Fearing that she has come between the two, she returns to Colonna's house. Mario impersonating a jewel salesman attempts to rescue her. His ruse is discovered and he is arrested by Colonna. As Mario is being tortured, Lucien feels his pain. Will he ride to save his brother? Will the evil Baron be defeated? Who will win the hand of the lovely Isabelle? And, there's a great sword fight at the story's climax, not to be missed.Douglas Fairbanks Jr. had been in films since his childhood. Although he tried not to emulate his famous father, he was always at his best in adventure films. This was his final film before entering WWII after which (six years later) his career never regained its momentum. Akim Tamiroff makes a suitably distasteful and slimy villain. J. Carroll Naish turns in another of his solid supporting roles. Henry Wilcoxen's role is all but too brief, but he does get in a little sword play before his exit. Ruth Warwick makes a fetching Countess worthy of the brothers competition.Other recognizable faces in the cast include William Farnum (who had worked with Doug Sr.), Henry Brandon. Ric Vallin, Anthony Carouso and Charlie Stevens.An exciting adventure in the tradition of The Three Musketeers.

It always amazes me that some critics will give a movie a rave review and then reward it with a score of seven out of ten. When I went to school, seven was the lowest mark you could achieve without being punished. It is not a good mark at all. But I would give this movie only five. Despite good acting and pleasing photography, it's something of a bore - thanks mostly to Gregory Ratoff's plodding direction of an equally uninspired script by George Bruce that was worked up by Bruce himself and Howard Estabrook from the once-very-popular Dumas novel. Drastic cutting would have helped considerably, but neither the supervising editor, Grant Whytock, nor his offsider, William Claxton, took that measure. A disappointingly banal music score by Dimitri Tiomkin doesn't help either.

As their parents are murdered by a ferocious Akim Tamiroff, twin boys are separated at birth and grow up separately only to reunite to extract revenge in this 1941 thriller.As young adults, the boys, each played by Douglas Fairbanks, are able to feel each other's pain.When reunited, not only do they seek revenge but of course they fall for the same woman.The film becomes one of love, extracting revenge and the brothers becoming almost foes as they vie for the love of a woman.Tamiroff steals the show here for his performance as the irascible tyrant, ready to kill all to gain his objectives.

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. are "The Corsican Brothers" in this 1941 film also starring Ruth Warrick, H.B. Warner, Akim Tamiroff, Henry Wilcoxin and Gloria Holden. Based on the Dumas novel, it's the story of Siamese twins born to the Franchi family (incorrectly pronounced frahnchee instead of frahnkey throughout the movie) just as the Baron Colonna arrives to wipe out the family and take over Corsica. He believes the twins perished in the fire that destroyed their home and the rest of their family; however, the doctor who delivered them (Warner) escapes with them. He is able to separate them, and it is decided that for their own safety, he will raise one, Lucien, and the other boy, Mario, will be raised in Paris. Lucien, however, is the empathic twin, experiencing all of his brother's emotions before he even learns he has one. They meet when they are 21 and vow to get revenge on Baron Colonna (Tamiroff).This is a very good movie, but the beginning scenes at Colonna's house contain some of the worst acting ever put on film. Apparently the guests at Colonna's house were extras found wandering the set that day and were given lines. Pretty appalling.Fortunately, the rest of the film isn't like that. It's fast-moving, exciting, and brilliantly acted by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. who should today be regarded as a much bigger star. Unfortunately, unlike his father, he was working at a time when there was just too much competition, and, like Brian Aherne, he just didn't get to appear in enough of the films remembered today. Handsome, athletic, with magnificent acting technique, Fairbanks creates two completely different characters in Mario and Lucien and has, of course, genetic ability with a sword. Whenever one reads about swordfights, the Tyrone Power-Basil Rathbone swordfight at the end of "The Mark of Zorro" is said to be the best. It's dear to my heart also, but Fairbanks and Tamiroff do a bang-up swordfight in this film. Tamiroff is a real buffoon as the villain - it's a great characterization - he doesn't seem to know he's an idiot. Ruth Warrick, Phoebe Tyler of "All My Children" is lovely as Isabelle, the object of Mario, Lucien and the Baron's affections.Very enjoyable, if a little awkwardly filmed with dated effects.