Friday, December 13, 2019

December 14-20, 2019



To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.

Brain Teasers:

Which actor who made Westerns in Spain was once billed as "MGM's new Latin star sensation"?
It was Gustavo Rojo in the trailer for IT STARTED WITH A KISS, co-starring Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds.

Which movie featuring Gordon  Mitchell is a sequel to a Romanian film?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which American actor who made an Italian Western appeared in an American crime flick in which he pretends to be an hobo in order to trick a college student into murdering a young woman's uncle?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which Italian actor, celebrated for his Hamlet, starred in a  movie set during the Mexican revolution?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which Italian actor opinioned in an interview that Richard Harrison ruined himself with women?
No one has answered this question yet.

In which Italian Spy movie did an assassin use a pipe with a gunsite to project a poison dart?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which French actor worked with directors Sergio Leone, Robert Enrico, Philippe Setbon, Federico Fellini and Giuseppe Colizzi?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which Italian director died at the age of 53 on August 23, 1978?
George Grimes knew that it was Giuseppe Colizzi.

Which Italian producer was the first to offer Woody Strode as much money as he would to a White actor?
George Grimes knew that it was Giuseppe Colizzi.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which Italian actor worked with directors Luchino Visconti, Mario Amendola, Viktor Tourjansky, Duilio Coletti, Fernando Cerchio and Cesare Canevari?
Which Italian director was once credited as Berwang Ross?
Can you name an Italian Western in which a villain uses a bola?

Name the movies from which these images came.


George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Nello Pazzafini in VIVO PER LA TUA MORTE, aka A LONG RIDE FROM HELL.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?


George Grimes identified last week's photo from LE FATICHE DI ERCOLE, aka HERCLES.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came? 


George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Emmanuelle Riva in KAPO.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?


No one has identified that above photo.
It shows Oscar winner Haing S. Ngor in director Sammo Hung's EASTERN CONDORS.

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I am interested in knowing what movies you have watched and what you enjoyed or not. So please send me an email at scinema@earthlink.net if you'd like to share. Here's what I watched last week:

Highly enjoyed:

BROTHERS IN ARMS The Making of Platoon A Documentary (2018) - So howcome Forest Whitaker didn't participate?

RBG (2018)

Enjoyed:

Mama Laura's Boys (2003) - Russell Brown's short film about Babe's and Ricky's Inn, a blues club in Los Angeles, is charming.

Mildly enjoyed:

The Blues #1 "Feeling Like Going Home" (2003)

The Blues #2 "The Soul of A Man" (2003)

Did not enjoy:

CATCH 22 (2019) - I loved the 1970 film so much that I read the Joseph Heller novel. The novel was so rich that the movie could only approximate it, but it did an excellent job of doing it - even if it had to invent an inverted structure to justify the dream-like material. Hearing that Grant Heslov and George Clooney's company was going to produce a six-part mini-series sounded like a great idea - but this gets just about everything wrong from the start with the decision to play out the story in a linear fashion and with a realistic style that almost completely ruins the intent of the material.

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David Deal enjoyed:

REVENGE OF THE CRUSADER (64) - Knight Alberto Lupo leaves his bride with Stephen Forsyth while he's off fighting the crusades. Bad idea.  Riccardo Freda's fingerprints are all over this sadistic swashbuckler with horrific overtones and a crazed Forsyth auditioning for Bava's Hatchet For the Honeymoon.

THE LAST CROOKED MILE (46) - Wise-cracking private eye Don "Red" Barry is on the trail of missing robbery money as murders pile up.  Fun, snappy mystery with Ann (Detour) Savage as one of the suspects and Adele Mara as Barry's long-suffering girlfriend.

FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (65)

SECRET OF THE RED ORCHID (61)

LA VIE DE BOHEME (92) - An uncanny blend of realism and artificiality typical of our brilliant concierge, Aki Kaurismaki.

IKARIE XB 1 (63) - From 2010: "Very cool Czech sci-fi based on a Stanislaw Lem story has long term community of astronauts encountering ancient, abandoned spacecraft, and fending off mass hypnosis and other socio-political themes.  Great sets and noir-ish photography.  Recommended for those with a taste for this stuff."

NAKED ALIBI (54) - Cop Sterling Hayden believes Gene Barry to be a cop killer but can't prove it.  After he's thrown off the force, Hayden follows Barry to a Mexican border town where Barry meets up with his girlfriend, Gloria Graham and the truth comes out.  Hard-boiled crime thriller is not as perfunctory as some contemporary reviews said and in the end, is another better than average specimen.

SEVEN BLOODSTAINED ORCHIDS (72)

BYLETH (72)

Mildly enjoyed:

H-8... (58) - Based on a true story that happened only a year earlier, this docudrama tells the story of a fatal accident between a truck and a bus caused by an unidentified hit-and-run driver.  We get to know the lives of those involved without knowing who will die until the end. Clever, earnest telling that wins with ensemble acting and creative photography.

THE SCORPIO LETTERS (67) - Ex-cop Alex Cord temps for British Intelligence in London becoming involved in the blackmailing of high government officials.  TV-level spy shenanigans unfold on MGM's backlot with TV supporters sprouting Briitsh accents.  Innocuous.

STAKEOUT! (62) - Bing Russell is an ex-con with his son on the road trying to go straight with no luck.  Russell carries this agreeable no-budget noir.

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Charles Gilbert watched:

VALLEY OF THE DRAGONS (1961) B&W. Cesare Danova and Sean McClory initially in a duel are wisked to a prehistoric world thanks to a meteoric collision with earth, to encounter giant lizards and a couple of cave gals Joan Staley and Daniele De Metz. Borrows footage from ONE MILLION B.C. and RODAN (?). Look for big Mike Lane and stuntman Gil Perkins as cavemen.

REVOLT OF THE SEVEN aka THE SPARTAN GLADIATORS (1964) Tony Russell leads gladiators in rebellion against tyrant Nando Gazzolo. Rehash of humor from TEN GLADIATORS series. Massimo Serato, Livio Lorezon, and Piero Lulli are among the good guys (?).

THE MAN CALLED NOON (1973) Outlaw Stephen Boyd partners with amnesiac gunslinger Rubel Noon (Richard Crenna) to help him recovery his identity. He develops an eye for Rosanna Shiaffino, and brawls with Howard 'Red' Ross. Farley Granger appears in the last half of the film. Patty Shephard is a villainess. I discovered she was born in Greenvile, S.C. and is older sister to actress Judith Chapman.

THE DESERTER (1971) Serbian-born Bekim Fehmui playing a Serbian-born U. S. army officer leads a large cast of American actors in this compelling Italian Dino de Laurentis production about a U. S. Cavalry officer who deserts command when his wife is slaughtered by Apaches. Intense the entire hour and thirty five minutes run time. Mimmo Palmara plays the Apache chief.

The History Guy on YouTube:
   Sinking of the Sultana. Steamboat built in Cincinnati explodes on the Mississippi River near Memphis Tennessee killing nearly 1000, mostly Civil War soldiers. Wonder why no one has ever made a movie about this tragedy.
   B25 Crash into the Empire State Building 1945. Fourteen die.


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