By Richard von Busack
THE SUBJECT of the 75-minute animated film The Secret of Kells is Christendom’s greatest illuminated manuscript. It was, said one chronicler, the work of angels disguised as men. The Book of Kells …

by Richard von Busack
How I love low comedy. In moments of exaltation, it seems to celebrate the freedom of humans from the will of God and the requirements of nature that the base clown will …

by Richard von Busack
It’s not clear what holds the new André Téchiné film together besides craft and velocity. The Girl On the Train is about a pretty, shallow young girl and the national scandal she …

by Richard von Busack
Despite the opening shot—a splotch of menstrual blood on a hot San Fernando Valley pavement—in The Runaways, director Floria Sigismondi cuts back on the blood, sweat and tears of rock & roll. …

Ray Harryhausen occupies a unique position in motion picture history. Although neither a director nor a scriptwriter, he has exerted far more control over his films than most of the directors and writers with whom …

Willis O’Brien
Willis O’Brien inhabited two distinct, virtually incompatible worlds. As a technician, he mastered the intricacies of model construction, animation, and composite photography. Success for him depended on meticulous planning and the careful execution of …

 
James Whale directed four of the most intelligent, witty, and visually striking horror films ever made: Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). With this quartet …

by Richard von Busack
Aiming to pound away resistance to the Iraq War movie, Green Zone is Paul Greengrass’ most visually lucid, yet dully scripted, film. He intends to hook an audience sick of the war …

DRACULA
1931; Universal Pictures (B&W); Producer: Carl Laemmle, Jr.; Director: Tod Browning; Screenwriters: Garrett Fort & Dudley Murphy from the play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston and from the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker; …