SHOW PEOPLE (1928)

What a fun movie.

Marion Davies plays a naive young woman who travels to Hollywood to be a actress in serious movies, but instead ends up getting splashed in the face with seltzer water and chased around in slapstick comedies.  While making these films she makes a loyal group of friends, including William Haines who is secretly in love with her.  Soon though, she gets a chance at becoming a serious actress.  She does so and becomes a big star, which for some reason causes her to purse her lips up like a rabbit and turn her back on her friends.  You can probably guess what happens next.

King Vidor's SHOW PEOPLE is a treasure.  The story might sound serious, but it's actually very funny.  Marion Davies' performance is totally charming, the pace is quick, the story has a modern feel to it, the cameos are impressive and the behind-the-scenes feel to the whole thing is fascinating.  I enjoyed it so much that I actually watched it twice!  Although I do wish that the script had been beefed up a bit.  A longer time spent showing her working in the low-budget comedies would have helped.

But it is what it is and I was smiling from beginning to end.  And that scene where Marion Davies' character sees the real life Marion Davies is absolutely adorable.  Highly recommended for fans of silent movies.

Great scene where Marion Davies' character sees the real life Marion Davies and doesn't approve...

LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1974)

"You're all the same, the lot of you, with your long hair and faggot clothes. Drugs, sex…every sort of filth. And ya hate the police, don't ya?"

"You make it easy."

A young man is on his way out to the English countryside when a young woman hits his parked motorcycle at a gas station.  He catches a ride with her.  They get lost and end up in the middle of a zombie outbreak!  That might not sound like a lot of story, but it gets the job done. 

Although it's probably too slow for modern audiences, LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE is a great zombie film filled with creepy atmosphere, beautiful scenery, satisfying special effects, cool old buildings (the church/graveyard and the hospital were especially awesome), a tight script and a totally badass soundtrack.  I also enjoyed the political undertones: the hippie streaker, the experimental farming machinery causing the dead to come back to life, the fascist cop (played brilliantly by Hollywood legend Arthur Kennedy) versus the hippie protagonist, the various jabs at Christianity ("Look, it's not my fault Sergeant if Christ and the saints are out of fashion.", the one zombie who appears to be praying whenever he feeds, multiple references to Satanism, etc.) and so on.

LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE has been a cult movie for decades, so I would figure that all of the horror fans have seen it by now, but if you haven't then do yourself a favor and check it out.  That first attack at the stepping stones is legendary! Would make a fun double-feature with BURIAL GROUND.