Stone Pillow

Description

The great Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy, Stage Door, Yours, Mine and Ours) plays Florabelle, an elderly bag lady struggling to survive on the streets of New York City. She carries her most prized possessions in a shopping cart, and has staked out a Manhattan street corner as "home."

When approached by Carrie, a curious young social worker played by Daphne Zuniga (Melrose Place, Spaceballs), Florabelle introduces her to the underground of Grand Central Station and the details of daily survival. Together both women discover a new perspective on their lives.

Customer Reviews:

Somber and enlightening.......2007-03-27

I've waited almost 18 years for this movie to come out on DVD - and what a surprise when it did - I've missed it countless times on television (Computer literate - can't set my vcr) - but a friend recc'd it - and I can't believe it - I freaking cried like a baby at some of the stuff that the homeless go through -

Lucille Ball is a wonderful actress - and this just puts the cherry on top of her wonderful career sundae. She's both light-hearted but heartfelt in her portrayal - and most of all - she gives her character truth and depth.

You want a great movie that isn't just a "chick flick" or a "Dude's dream"? This is it - it will effect everyone - young and old - and give them a more compassionate look at the lives of AMERICA'S ignored population.

Norske.......2007-01-23

Lucille Ball gives an outstanding performance in the movie Stone Pillow. I highly recommend watching this movie.

Stone Pillow.......2007-01-19

This is for the true Lucy fan. She shows just how far her acting ability goes. She doesn't have to be funny to be fun to watch.

Brava Lucille.......2007-01-11

Not much of a movie, indifferently acted by most of the cast but Miss Ball is truly special. Daring, believable, brave, it's a helluva performance. After decades in tv sitcom land, Lucy gave a last hurrah performance and demonstrated that she was an actress to be reckoned with.

Excellent.......2007-01-10

Excellent movie, We're a big Lucille Ball fan, she showed your acting skills with this movie. To bad we've lost and are losing the classic movie stars,

Inner Sanctum Mysteries Complete Movie Collection (Calling Dr. Death / Weird Woman / The Frozen Ghost / Pillow of Death / Dead Man's Eyes / Strange Confession)

Average customer rating:

GREAT COLLECTION AND FUN TO WATCH!!!
Pleases all ages, from Grandma to kids.
Six with Chaney
Good reminscences
Not great cinema but fun

Inner Sanctum Mysteries Complete Movie Collection (Calling Dr. Death / Weird Woman / The Frozen Ghost / Pillow of Death / Dead Man's Eyes / Strange Confession)
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr. , Brenda Joyce , J. Carrol Naish , Milburn Stone , and Lloyd Bridges
Director: John Hoffman (II) , and Reginald Le Borg
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

( I ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000FWHW90
Release Date: 2006-09-19

Amazon.com

"This is the Inner Sanctum...." And this is the world of B-movies, where Hollywood studios churned out entertaining little numbers to fill out an evening back in the Golden Age. Universal's Inner Sanctum series, released in 1943-45, was inspired by the successful radio show of the same title. They're gathered on Inner Sanctum Mysteries: The Complete Movie Collection, a fun grouping of a minor cinematic achievement.

All six films star the phlegmatic Lon Chaney Jr., and most begin with a floating head in the crystal ball, welcoming us to the inner sanctum, "A strange, fantastic world, controlled by a mass of living, pulsating flesh... the mind." The vaguely supernatural promise of this grabby opening is rarely fulfilled by the movies, which tend to be acceptable murder mysteries with--despite the wacky titles--very little horror content. Chaney plays a man of some distinction (a professor in Weird Woman, famous mentalist in The Frozen Ghost, physician in Calling Dr. Death) who runs afoul of women (among them Evelyn Ankers and Patricia Morison) and murder. At some point in each movie he has some elaborate voice-over agony, making clear the connection to the radio series' interior monologue. The one-hour-and-change productions are handsome, considering their budget restrictions, and Universal's prints are well-preserved; the literacy of the writing is surprisingly high--although decent writing can't put much zip into the proceedings.

Weird Woman is probably the best of the bunch, an adaptation of Fritz Leiber's novel Conjure Wife (later filmed as Burn, Witch, Burn!). Chaney is an expert on superstition who marries a voodoo-obsessed woman, whose spells might be responsible for his rapid professional rise. The influence of Cat People is as strong as the source novel. Calling Dr. Death, the first in the series, is duller, with a hypnotism-minded Chaney bedeviled by a wanton wife who conveniently dies under mysterious circumstances. Dead Man's Eyes and the amazingly-titled Pillow of Death are more fun, the former a variation on the old eye-transplant story and the latter a whodunit with lawyer Chaney accused of his wife's murder (the supernatural touch this time: séances).

Strange Confession has Chaney as an honest chemist battling an evil pharmaceutical tycoon (J. Carrol Naish), and The Frozen Ghost combines two horror staples, the unstable mentalist and the wax museum. It's just crazy enough to be entertaining, even if there's no ghost (and hardly any freezing). All in all, the DVD set is a good look at Universal's second-tier output of the era. And then there's Chaney, whose jowly steadfastness can become weirdly fascinating if you watch a few of these close together. Universal put him hard to work after the success of 1941's The Wolf Man, and alongside his monster-movie excursions and his singular triumph in Of Mice and Men, the Inner Sanctum pictures represent Chaney's best moment as a leading man. Despite his limitations, he'll always have his spot in the Universal galaxy. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

GREAT COLLECTION AND FUN TO WATCH!!!.......2007-09-15

On Sunday afternoons when I was growing up, our local station used to have a program called "Horror Theater". I remember every one of these movies popping up once in a while. The one that stood out for me back then was "Weird Woman". When VHS released this set a few years ago I nabbed it immediately. Imagine my elation when I saw this for sale on DVD! I didn't even know they were releasing them. This films are moody, funny and sometimes even a little creepy with top-notch production values the only way Universal could do them. Sure they're B films, each only over an hour in length but they move along at such a brisk pace that they are fun to watch! I'll pull these out on a late Sunday afternoon (right before dark of course)and have a ball. Highly entertaining and worth getting. They are all good but I'll rank them in order of my preference:
1. Weird Woman 2. Pillow of Death 3. Dead Man's Eyes 4. The Frozen Ghost 5) Dead Man's Eyes and 6) Strange Confession. Enjoy!!

Pleases all ages, from Grandma to kids........2007-09-09

Can't beat this movie collection if you are like me and like the old B/W campy "scary" movies. Ones that really deals with the implied rather than showing the gory stuff.
And the movies can be watched together as a family. Get out the popcorn and drinks and settle back some rainy night. Enjoy.

Six with Chaney.......2007-05-14

In the days before television really took over, the rough equivalent of TV series were put out by movie studios. Churned out quickly by "B" movie units, these movies tended to be produced every few months and short (like TV shows, they would all run around the same length). For example, Universal put out a whole series of Sherlock Holmes and Abbott and Costello movies. Another example from Universal Pictures was the Inner Sanctum Mysteries, a series of six mystery movies all starring Lon Chaney, Jr. The Inner Sanctum of the title was the mind, which as the Spirit of the Inner Sanctum would warn us at the beginning of every movie (but the last one) was capable of plotting murder.

The earlier Inner Sanctum movies would provide voice-over "thoughts" from Chaney to demonstrate his inner turmoil, a gimmick which diminishes as the series goes on. In general, the movies also are plotted similarly, with Chaney accused of a murder and his attempts to vindicate himself. Even this storyline would eventually get a little more variety in the final movies.

The first disc in this two disc set features three movies: Calling Dr. Death, Weird Woman and Dead Man's Eyes. In Calling Dr. Death, Chaney is a neurologist accuses of killing his wife while having an affair with his nurse. It also features Patricia Morison, most notable in Dressed to Kill as the villainess who matches wits with Sherlock Holmes in the final Rathbone movie. (Since these movies all featured contract players, actors repeatedly show up in all sorts of Universal movies).

Weird Woman has Chaney as an anthropologist who marries a woman who believes in witchcraft. When he destroys her magic charms, bad things begin to happen. This movie also stars Evelyn Ankers, a frequent Chaney costar (including The Wolf Man and Son of Dracula). In Dead Man's Eyes, Chaney is an artist accidentally blinded; a corneal transplant provides a possible chance at sight, but he is accused of killing the donor.

Frozen Ghost (the first of three movies on the second disc) has Chaney as a hypnotist who believes he can kill with his gaze. Much of this movie takes place in a wax museum, where death and intrigue occur, and once again, Evelyn Ankers costars. The last two movies have Brenda Joyce as the female lead. Strange Confession has Chaney as a chemist developing an influenza cure, only to be derailed by his duplicitous boss. And while Pillow of Death may have the weakest title in the bunch, it offers a bit of a different plot, with Chaney - as in Calling Dr. Death - accused of murdering his wife to be with his assistant. This is also the longest of the movies, at 67 minutes.

Unlike the two actors Chaney is often associated with, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, Chaney comes off as relatively normal, which is why he is often given normal romances; relationships featuring Karloff or Lugosi tend to be either sexless or warped. As an actor, however, Chaney is just average and these movies are only passable. There are more than a few cliches in the writing and even at just an hour, the films can sometimes drag. They're not awful movies and at least they look reasonably good. On the other hand, with no extras, I can only give the set a low three stars. If you are a fan of these old movies, there will be some value to getting this set, but there are also a lot better movies available; this set should only be for either novelty value or for completists.

Good reminscences.......2007-04-06

The movies in the DVD's are really great in the drama department, and the suspense theme is rated way high despite the times' difference. Lon Chaney Jr. did terrific in all roles down to the final movie. I wish that I could see more films starring him from that post-WWII period!

Not great cinema but fun.......2007-04-04

It's about time Universal got these on DVD. These are 6 VERY low budget movies all starring Lon Chaney Jr. They're quick (most run only about an hour) move quickly and have some neat twists. There are plot loopholes and some bad acting but this is still fun. "Weird Woman" is definetely the highlight of this collection. Worth getting especially for Universal horror fans.

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