65/2635. Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery (2026)
Hallmark Mysteries have never recovered from the pandemic disruption, and maybe they never will. I'm sure many of the decisions behind the scenes about which actors are available and which aren't must significantly hamper development of this series, but at this point, with the films being reduced to completely formulaic exercises in exploitable familiarity, even Mom is losing enthusiasm for this series.

66/2636. International House (1933)
The frame story of this madcap comedy, in which a convention of international buyers assemble in China to compete for rights to an improbable television-like device, is only an excuse for a bunch of famous comedy vaudeville acts to do their thing. It's actually quite amusing.

67/2637. Gumshoe (1971)
Critical guides as a comedy, though it's neither really cynical enough to be a black comedy nor does it exactly match the Shakespearean sense of the word. Though it does begin as a case of mistaken identity, and Albert Finney lends it his usual world-weary humor, the film is executed as a serious neo noir, in a style typical of its era, about a novice hardboiled detective learning on the fly. I liked it a lot.

68/2638. The Last Voyage (1960)
This disaster picture, presented in an almost documentary matter-of-fact style, squeezes a lot of drama out of the real-time sinking of an ocean liner following a boiler accident. Very suspenseful.

69/2639. Target (1952)
Actor Tim Holt plays cowboy Tim Holt, the only competent man in a West populated by misogynists, racists, and murderers. I watched it because John Hamilton, television's Perry White, plays the rancher who hires — and fires — Holt. The best thing I can say about it is that its short run time keeps it from wearing out its welcome.

More to come.

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