I SAW WHAT YOU DID (1965)

Three young girls (who are as naive as they are stupid) spend an evening prank calling random people. One of their calls triggers a psychotic guy (John Ireland) into murdering his wife and then later on, when they call back saying "I know what you did and I know who you are." he flips out again and murders his nosy neighbor (Joan Crawford)!  Now the only thing he needs to do is silence the person on the phone.

Logic and reality are thrown far, far out the window, but it doesn't matter because I SAW WHAT YOU DID is so campy that I don't see how anybody could watch it and not laugh themselves silly. On the one hand, it tries to pass itself off as a thriller, while at the same time the music would be more suited for a Scooby-Doo cartoon and the teenage girls are just so carefree it's hilarious. Especially towards the end. Holy shit, I don't think I've seen anybody so carefree about nearly getting murdered since THE YOUNG GRADUATES!

John Ireland does a great job as the unhinged killer, Joan Crawford is Joan Crawford and the two actresses playing the teenage girls...well, they're not very good, but their goofy acting actually adds to the charm of the movie. If you're looking for a real horror movie then you'll be disappointed, but if you're just looking for something funny to giggle at then I SAW WHAT YOU DID should fit the bill.

It was kinda interesting to see how this film turned the tables on the infamous PSYCHO shower scene (with the killer being in the shower and the victim being outside) and how the feel and look (especially towards the end) of the movie actually foreshadowed many of the Slasher films that would follow in the coming decades.

Remake - I Saw What You Did (1988)

GRAND HOTEL (1932)

Produced by Irving Thalberg from the novel to Broadway and eventually this film GRAND HOTEL is, to my knowledge, one of the earliest full length films that not only had an all star cast (and what a cast it is!) but also employed the storytelling technique of having multiple smaller stories centered around a central theme.  The theme here is the luxurious Grand Hotel in Berlin where, as the doctor at in the opening scene says "People come and go. Nothing ever happens."  Of course that's bullshit cause tons of stuff happens.

One of the people that come and go is Greta Garbo as a famous dancer who's career has seen better days.  She still has wealth though and part of that wealth (a pearl necklace) is the object of desire for hotel thief John Barrymore.  He gains access to the necklace, but at the same time falls in love with Garbo.  I mean who wouldn't?!  The same day industrialist Wallace Beery hires a stenographer (Joan Crawford)  who herself falls in love with John Barrymore.  At the same time Lionel Barrymore, who is a employee of Beery's, is spending his life's savings on an extravagant vacation at the Grand Hotel because he knows that he's going to die very soon.

That's just a bare outline, you should really watch it for yourself. The sets live up to the description of "grand", the story is fun and the acting is fantastic.  Required viewing for all classic Hollywood fans.

Also GRAND HOTEL holds the odd distinction of being the only film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture without it or its participants being nominated in any other category.  But then again back in 1932 the Oscars were still in their infancy and only had like 12 categories.

Double-feature with DINNER AT EIGHT.

IMDb lists Allen Jenkins as "Hotel Meat Packer (uncredited)". As best I can tell this is him.