I watched 47 movies in August, 38 of which were new to me. Thirty of those were made before I was born. There was no real theme this month, although I did periodically try to watch a new to me movie made in my lifetime and I watched those in chronological order.

I spent a week at my in-laws and so I mostly watched movies I knew they would enjoy, which means movies that I’ve seen before and loved, or films I knew wouldn’t offend anybody.

I watched a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s silent film The Lodger. It starred Laird Cregar as the Jack the Ripper-esque killer and George Sanders as the inspector. It was pretty good.

I also watched two adaptations of Daniel Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon that did not star Humphrey Bogart. They were both pretty good too, but not nearly as good as the Bogart version.

I watched an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s incredible novel The Handmaid’s Tale that was recently adapted into a very good TV series (at least the first season is great, I haven’t seen the others). The movie is from 1990 and it is weird.

All in all a very good month.

My favorite films were Red River, The Warriors, Roadhouse (yes the one with Patrick Swayze – it’s terrifically fun 1980s cheese), and The Wonderful Country.

Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Allred entered my top five actors of the year list with six films both to their names. All of their films are from classic Doctor Who episodes. Apparently, I’ve been watching a lot of their era stories. Peter Foster punched his way into my director’s list with four films watched. All of those were from the Mr. Motto series with Peter Lorre.

Here’s the full list.

An Inspector Calls (1954)
Lady of Burlesque (1943)
The Warriors (1979)
The Man with Two Faces (1934)
Night Key (1937)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 1947
The Clouded Yellow (1950)
Maggie Moore(s) 2023
Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938)
The Third Secret (1964)
The Raven 1963
Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric (1989)
The Scorpion with Two Tails 1982
The Stuff (1985)
Satan Met a Lady (1936)
Whirlpool 1950
The Maltese Falcon (1931)
The Handmaid’s Tale 1990
Cobra Woman (1944)
Bitter Moon (1992)
The Breakfast Club 1985
Jungle Fever (1991)
Blue Steel 1990
Road House 1989
Slaxx (2020)
Grabbers (2012)
The Doll of Satan (1969)
The Lodger 1944
Strangers in the House 1942
A Study in Scarlet (1933)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
The Birds (1963)
The Guns of Navarone 1961
Two Rode Together 1961
The Wonderful Country (1959)
The Lusty Men (1952)
Bigger Than Life (1956)
Born to Be Bad (1950)
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
Appointment with Death (1988)
House of Usher (1960)
Doctor Who: Ghost Light (1989)
Popcorn (1989)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Red River (1948)
Jamaica Inn (1939)