Third of three sets of 8 movies from September. (Almost done!)

167. (474.) Three Ages (1923)
Buster Keaton's first movie as writer/director/producer/actor. It's pretty darn funny. This Buster Keaton guy might have a career.

168. (475.) The Maiden Heist (2009)
Sometimes movies don't try to be anything more than a polite diversion from reality for a couple of hours. This is one of those. Let's call it a "gentle caper film." Charming in its own way.

169. (476.) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Widely called the first horror film, this movie isn't so horror-able as it is just plain weird. If you've never seen it, give it a look. I think you'll be satisfied.

170. (477.) Vampyr (1932)
This is another early silent horror film. Story is sacrificed for atmosphere, but why weigh down visuals this creepy with complicated plot? Again, if you haven't seen it, you might want to take a look.

171. (478.) Lifeboat (1944)
I debated whether to put this movie on my list. I was convinced that I had never seen this Hitchcock film, but while watching it I began to wonder otherwise. It was familiar and predictable. Did I see it and forget about it? That seems unlikely. Maybe I half watched it while doing something else. Maybe I'd seen parts of it. In any event, I'm sure I've never given it my full attention all the way through, so I decided to add it to the list of "new" movies. As for whether I liked it, yes, I did.

172. (479.) Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)
Midway through this noirish crime story involving Frankenstein-ian physics, the protagonist police chemist comes home and gripes that his wife should be giving him a drink, not some lip about how his daughter misbehaved that day. I found this super amusing, in part because the protagonist had exactly the same job as DC Comics' Flash character who debuted in 1956. Is that how Flash (Barry Allen) would have treated his fiancee Iris after a hard day of detective work? Probably, yes.

173. (480.) Detective Kitty O'Day (1944)
Kitty O'Day is no Nancy Drew. After all other suspects are murdered, Kitty turns to the one surviving suspect for help. Guess which suspect is the murderer? If you can imaging a 30-minute I Love Lucy episode drawn out for over an hour, you've already seen this movie.

174. (481.) The Farmer's Wife (1928)
It must have been evident to everyone that the director of this silent comedy — some nobody named Alfred Hitchcock — would go on to great things. The shots are held too long (typical of the silent era), but the blocking, pacing, editing, and camera work are otherwise all impressive for a movie of the era.

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