N o RT 111 ·: l{N l. I ( i 11 I'S Free Movie Night

"Nine killed her· NINE SHALL DIE!? ? so swears Doctor Anton Phibes, a true Renaissance Man: concert organist. physician, connoisseur of the finer things, and MASS MURDERER. Phi bes blames the death of his wife on the surgical team who operated on her following a catastrophic accident. In his own inimitable style he begins bumping them off one by one using the curses of Moses upon Egypt as a model. You'd think it would be easy for the law to apprehend such a flamboyant executioner, there· s just one hitch: Phi bes is DEAD. Killed in the same accident that char-broiled his beloved. Only Vincent Price could have played the abominable Dr. Phibes, it's easily his greatest role, and his most eccentric. He gets good support from a cast made up of grizzled old British comedians, the wonderful Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith, and an expatriate American, Joseph Cotton, whose early association with Orson Welles and CITIZEN KANE obviously didn't keep him out of B-movies in his later years. Robert Fuest directed, ladling on a good proportion of the visual flourishes and classy humor that he picked up directing episodes of THE A VEN GERS TV show. Real chills, morbid wit and a company that enjoys its work raises THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES well above the average cheapie thriller that its studio, American-International specialized in during the '60s and ' 70s.

Also on the bill: in MOVIE MANIACS: props get delivered to a film company along with three pieces of excess baggage named Larry, Moe and Curly. One of the funniest Stooge shorts ever, MOVIE MANIACS ranks a big four eye pokes at www.threestooges. net. Our cartoon this week is not amusing at all. In the early months of World War I the Germans attacked and sank the steamship LUSITANIA; outrage over the incident helped launch America into the war, and that outrage was fanned, in part, by this animated film by cartoonist Winsor McCay, whose hand drew THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA in painstaking, and depressing detail. Made in 1918, the film is technically decades ahead of its time, and caused a sensation when it was originally shown. All this and SPY SMASHER chapter 6: THE INVISIBLE WITNESS. Satisfaction guaranteed or double your money back!