My name is Michael Barnum and I am a writer for several film and television related periodicals including CLASSIC IMAGES, FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE, VIDEO WATCHDOG, FILMFAX and SCARLET: THE FILM MAGAZINE where my interviews with yesteryear Hollywood performers have been frequently featured.
I first became a fan of Indian popular cinema around 2003 after seeing the Shilpa Shetty/Akshay Kumar/Sunil Shetty melodrama DHADKAN. Over time, watching these wonderful Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, and Kannada films has become an addiction…but a delightful one from which I hope to never recover!
My love of America (and Japanese, Italian, Mexican, etc.) B-movies began when I was just a child sitting in front of the Tv watching Dialing for Dollars, Chiller Diller Matinee and of course, the late, late show. Roger Corman, Bert I. Gordon, Inoshiro Honda, and Fred F. Sears were the filmmakers I admired most as I sat mesmerized by films with titles like Hercules Unchained, 12 to the Moon, Lure of the Swamp, Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster and Murder in the Blue Room. I was fortunate to have a father who passed down a love for B westerns and good childhood pals who enjoyed the vintage sci-fi and horror stuff and just as much as I did. As a teenager my interest branched out to silent films and obscurities from various genres, of which I am today still seeking out.
(here I am with a 1940s Fearless Nadia filmi poster from my collection)
You can contact me at: aopp@aol.com, and be sure to check out my official website at www.mikebarnum.wordpress.com . Take care!
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August 11, 2010 at 5:01 am08
Surjit
Wonderful work….very complete and lucid.
Where could I get Old premnath films of cd or dvd……Saqi, Sagai, Badal etc.etc.
thanks
August 12, 2010 at 5:01 am08
MBarnum
Hi Surjit, thanks for stopping by. If you are in the US then Nehaflix.com is a great place to get old Bollywood movies, if you are in India then try http://www.induna.com. Both have a wonderful selection and you can find lots of old Premnath films including Sagai and Badal.
June 15, 2012 at 5:01 pm06
cinematters
Hi Michael,
Reached here via Richard’s Blog. Pedro also has a Malayalam connection, in fact, he along with Bheem the elephant played a pivotal part in the box-office success of probably the first successful “jungle” film in Malayalam. That blog address had me smiling. Have dedicated a whole post on the movie here.http://oldmalayalamcinema.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/malayalam-films-1960-1970-aana-valarthiya-vanambadi-1960/
Thank you for this fabulous adda and yet another great source of info for sepia junkies..Thanks..cinematters
July 3, 2012 at 5:01 pm07
MBarnum
Hello Cinemaatters, and thanks for visiting my blog. I have spent all week looking around Oldmalayalamcinema and am astonished and thrilled! I have watched a number of current Malayalam films, but I know next to nothing of the classics…and now you tell me there is a jungle film with Pedro in it! Wow! That made my day ten times over! Thank you so much for alerting me to the film, you can be assured that I will be buying the VCD of that and others! What a shame they aren’t on DVD with subtitles, though.
Hope you will stop by often, and again, your blog is absolutely wonderful; so very glad to have it brought to my attention! Malayalam cinema history will survive thanks to your efforts!