Joe Dante has unearthed a rare find for his Trailers From Hell site: a 1949 half-hour adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol hosted by Vincent Price. The show's threadbare budget is all too apparent, but, hey- any project that combined the great talents of Charles Dickens and Vincent Price is worth a look. Click here to watch the entire broadcast.

One of our favorite retro movie web sites, Cinebeats, pays tribute to Jack Cardiff's offbeat and sexually steamy Girl on a Motorcycle (aka Naked Under Leather) starring Marianne Faithfull and Alain Delon. Click here to read

(See Cinema Retro issue #14 for cover story and in-depth coverage of the film)

In 1966, with Batmania sweeping the world, everyone was trying to get a piece of the action. Columbia Pictures came up with a novel idea. The studio rereleased the 1943 Batman and Robin serials collectively under the title An Evening with Batman and Robin. Naturally, this was more than twenty years before Adam West and Burt Ward slid down the Batpole for the first time. The gimmick turned a tidy profit, though some of the more naive fans may have been stunned to see the Dynamic Duo in black and white and attired in costumes that looked like they came in last place in the local school Halloween contest. This rare trade ad extolls the regional grosses the film event was scoring across America. Did you know that Lewis Wilson, who played Batman in these serials, was the father of James Bond producer Michael G. Wilson?

Not even the NRA would endorse this one!

The above photo of Steve McQueen in Bullitt presents the legendary actor after he was well-established as a screen superstar. However in 1963 he was yet to hit major stardom and was primarily known for his TV series Wanted: Dead or Alive. His success in the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven had yet to be fully capitalized on. That would change with the release of The Great Escape later in 1963. In the interim, Life magazine sent photographer John Dominis to spend some casual time with McQueen and his wife Neile at their home in California. The photos that Dominis captured offer some truly remarkable insights into the brash young actor, who would become increasingly private as his fame soared. There are photos of McQueen racing cars, working out, cuddling with his wife and hunting in the mountains. Click here to view

Writers Peter Enfantino and John Scoleri's addictive blog To the Batpoles offers in-depth insights into specific episodes of the Batman TV series- and provides some interesting clips. Click here to read

Empire, the long-running British film magazine, has compiled a list of the 100 greatest British films. Usually these lists are written by people whose frame of reference doesn't extend back beyond the 1980s, but this is an insightful compilation and includes so many worthy movies that you'll feel compelled to finally see those that have eluded you. Click here to read