BQ's MOVIES BY THE AUTUMN FIREPLACE.....OR ANY COMFY, WARM ROOM!

With the nights turning chilly, nothing's better than curling up with a bowl of popcorn and cinematic comfort food....(followed by a good book, of course). Mysteries always seem uniquely Fall-like to me....so here's my first batch to highly recommend.....cook up the corn, turn up the thermostat and snuggle under your Snuggie with some of these gems....

THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER (1963)  A deliciously Agatha Christie-ish puzzler with the added gimmick of five superstars (Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas) popping up in cameos, all heavily disguised. George C. Scott (rolling his tongue through a perfectly plummy British accent) unravels a diabolic murder plot, linking up connections between a series of seemingly unrelated accidental deaths.....and gets to the bottom of things at a potentially lethal fox hunt. Flavorful score by the brilliant Jerry Goldsmith. Directed by John Huston, who also pops up for a cameo....and no, it isn't Col. Mustard,in the library with a candlestick. By jove,we give it 5 full Tally-Ho's...... 

THE HOUSE OF CARROLL STREET (1988) Bittersweet brew of nostalgic romantic suspense, blending  l950's communist witch-hunts with unnerving thrills 'n chills. Young NYC woman (Kelly McGillis), unjustly blacklisted by a slimy unctuous HUAC lawyer (Mandy Patinkin) appeals (in more ways than one)to a stalwart FBI guy (Jeff Daniels) when she stumbles upon Patinkin's loathsome conspiracy to smuggle in Nazi war criminals. Subdued and restrained in its evocation of l950's New York City.....but works up a generous share of dangerous and tender moments for its two sympathetic leads....and heads steadily for its memorable, blatantly Hitchcockian showdown sequence The BQ hand out 4 1/2 ledges to dangle from....                                                                                                          

THE PRIZE (1963)  Glossy, colorful-the-max MGM thriller, taken from an Irving Wallace best seller. As scripted by Ernest Lehman, it's more or less a remake of Lehman's original script for Hitchcock's classic "North By Northwest" Drunk, cynical, wisecracking novelist (Paul Newman), bemused by his Nobel Prize award for Literature, dodges assassins in Stockholm when he uncovers a sinister East German plot to replace a fellow Nobel recipient (Edward G. Robinson) with an imposter. You'll recognize the re-cycled "North By Northwest" sequences but it's still loads of fun...with a take-your-breath-away gorgeous Elke Sommer and a tingling, propulsive Jerry Goldsmith score. Newman has way more fun in this faux-Hitch thriller than he had 3 years later starring in an actual Hitchcock film, "Torn Curtain".....he and Julie Andrews glumly trudged through that one as if they were undergoing joint root canal. "The Prize" (like "Charade", which I'm sure I'll get around to) stands as one of the best, most entertaining imitation Hitchcocks.  BQ bequeaths it 4 Nobel Prize gift shop replicas.....