April 27 - May 3, 2024

 

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

Brain Teasers:

Complete the lyric: "She talks about a night without a ____."

"Moon". From "A Man Alone", the theme song for UN DOLLARO BUCATO, aka ONE SILVER DOLLAR.

Which Italian/Spanish Western begins with someone trying to pry a gold tooth out of a dead man's mouth?

No one has answered this question yet.

Complete the lyric: "You left to find a ___ __ ____."

Tom Betts knew that it was "pot of gold" from "Back Home Someday", the theme song for LE COLT CANTARONO LA MORTE E FU... TEMPO DI MASSACRO, aka MASSACRE TIME, aka THE BRUTE AND THE BEAST.

Ennio Morricone's orchestration for which Woody Guthrie song more or less inspired the sound of the Italian Western?

Tom Betts, Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew it was "Pastures of Plenty" for singer Peter Tevis.

In which Italian produced Western does Chuck Connors play a chaplain who also happens to be the best dynamiter in the Army?

Tom Betts, Angel Rivera, Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes knew that it was THE DESERTER.

Can you name three movies in which Mimmo Palmara played a Native Amercian?

Tom Betts came up with four: JOHNNY WEST IL MANCINO, BLACK JACK, THE DESERTER and ...E LO CHIAMARONO SPIRITO SANTO. George Grimes, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem got three without JOHNNY WEST.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which British actress, known for making movies in Italy, died on April 24,2024?

Which British actress made her feature film debut in a movie starring Reg Lewis?

Which British actress, who considered Klaus Kinski a friend, was angry that he suggested, in his sutobiography, that they had had sex?

Name the movies from which these images came.

George Grimes,  and Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's frame grab of Evelyn Stewart, Giuliano Gemma and Roberto Carmardiel in ADIOS, GRINGO.

Above a new photo.

Can you identify from what movie it came?

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Robert Middleton, Bud Spencer and Giuliano Gemma in ANCHE GLI ANGELI MANGIANO FAGIOLI, aka EVEN ANGELS EAT BEANS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes identified last week's frame grab from BRAVE ARCHER PART II.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

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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:

Enjoyed:

Midsomer Murders "Dark Secrets" Season 14 Episode 2 (2011) - The beautiful Fiona Dolman had appeared, uncredited, in "Death of a Hollow Man" back in the first season 1998, episode 3. Here she comes in as a series regular playing the wife of the new DCI Barnaby, Neil Dudgeon. This episode is notable for the higher number of attractive women in it aside from Dolman - Phyllida Law, Beth Goddard, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Haydn Gwynne and Laura Rogers. Among the male supporting cast, there's the always reliable Barry Jackson and Edward Fox.

Neal Brennan "3 Mics" (2017) - A Netflix comedy show.

Neal Brennan "Blocks" (2022)

Neal Brennan "Crazy Good" (2024)

Shogun (2024) - I very much enjoyed this 10 part mini-series from FX. I only have two quibbles: 1) The entire story is building up to a war, but we don't get to see it. 2) The mini-series can give the impression to some people that Japan never has a sunny day.

Mildly enjoyed:

THE BAND WAGON (1953) - I was ten years old when I became aware of Cyd Charisse as she did a strip tease while singing the theme song for THE SILENCERS. This was a memorable moment in my young life. I saw clips of her in the MGM compilation film THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, but I didn't know that that song originated with this movie. I am not a fan of movies directed by Vincente Minnelli, but this movie was a backstage story written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and was a lot of fun. Seemingly washed-up movie hoofer Fred Astaire was lured to New York with the promise of a new Broadway show written by Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray. They wanted hit director Jack Buchanan to guide the show, but he wanted to turn the light musical comedy THE BAND WAGON into a modern-day FAUST. Young ballet dancer Cyd Charisse was wanted for the female lead, and she immediately began to butt heads with Astaire as he worried that she thought he was too old and and she worried that he thought she was too inexperienced. During the rehearsal period, the two finally realized that they could work together, and after a disastrous out-of-town opening, they decided that they could return the show to the original script and have an hit. I would have prefered that they not fall in love in the end, but I guess that was not they way these movies worked. Charisse was given a nice showcase to exhibit her talent, with Michael Kidd's choreography. Ava Gardner had a nice cameo as herself, while Julie Newmar briefly appeared in one number and Steve Forrest had a line while getting off the train. Most of the musical performances might have actually been able to be presented on stage, but the final "Girl Hunt Ballet" couldn't. It was rather silly but fun.

Midsomer Murders "Left For Dead" Season 11 Episode 3 (2008) - The story here is just like a Horror film. Four children, two boys and two girls, think that they've killed another boy, so they dump his body in a disused well. When the boy comes to, he climbs out of the well and is found by an couple that is still aching from the death of their son a year earlier. They decide to tell the boy that he is their son and that he must live in their cellar to protect him from the "outers". Things start to unravel decades later when the boy finds the woman he wrongly thinks is his mother dead and he accidentally kills the man he wrongly thinks is his father. So our police heroes start to investigate when the boy's memories of his childhood trauma leads to murder.

Midsomer Murders "Schooled In Murder" Season 15 Episode 6 (2012) - This also has something of a Horror movie premise with a traumatic childhood experience inspiring a series of murders.

Midsomer Murders "The Scarecrow Murders" Season 22 Episode 4 (2022) - Who is committing murder during the Annual Scarecrow Festival, that is a fundraiser for the local church? Is it linked to the on-line gambling business they support?

THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION (1957) - Author C.S. Forester is best known for his 12-book series about Horatio Hornblower, an officer in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, with the first book published in 1937. Before that, he wrote two novels dealing with the Peninsular War - the fight against Napoleon's forces in Spain. In 1932 came DEATH TO THE FRENCH and in 1933 came THE GUN. THE GUN is the novel upon which THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION is loosely based. Fleeing from the invading French Army, the leader of the Spanish Army orders his huge cannon - possibly the largest cannon in the world - to be dropped off a cliff because it is slowing down his retreat. Finding that cannon is deemed important to French General Theodore Bikel as he's heard that a British naval officer, Cary Grant, has been ordered to get it. Grant is expecting to be dealing with the General of the Spanish Army, but the General has retreated and he must deal with guerrillero leader Frank Sinatra. Sinatra agrees to help Grant get the cannon to the British after Grant helps him to use the cannon to destroy the French garrison at Avila. Luckily, Sinatra's girlfriend, Sophia Loren, is there to convince the two men to cooperate, and to provided the screenwriters with an unengaging romantic triangle. Reportedly married screenwriters Edna and Edward Anhalt were close to separating at this time, but that doesn't explain the poor quality of the script, which is filled with cliches and a surprising lack of characterizations. Spectacle seems to be the main reason for this movie, and director Stanley Kramer delivers that with thousands of extras on real locations in Spain. Unfortunately, this tends to make the stars look unimportant, but if the intention was to celebrate the heroism of the Spanish masses, it succeeded. A big question for me is why such a famous "liberal" filmmaker like Stanley Kramer decided to make a film in Fascist Spain with a story that lionizes the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion? If you are interested in dramatizations of the British fighting the French in Spain during the Peninsular War, may I suggest the Sharpe novels written by Bernard Cornwell beginning int 1981, and turned into TV films beginning in 1993.

RAVENOUS (1999) - Reportedly writer Ted Griffin was inspired by the stories of cannibalism by the Donner Party and by Alfred E. Packer to invent a Native American legend in which eating another human endows the eater with the dead person's strength as well as supernatural healing powers. It also seems to spread like a virus. Some dialogue seems to indicate that Griffin intended this tale of ravenous cannibalism to be an analogy for Manifest Destiny and American consumerism. So, it starts off as a wilderness drama, becomes an Horror film and then a gory black comedy. Produced by American and British companies, the film was partly shot in Durango, Mexico - I guess for the opening scenes during the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, but mostly in the snowy mountains of Slovakia, doubling for the Sierra Nevada of California. Macedonian born filmmaker Milcho Manchevski won great acclaim with his first feature, BEFORE THE RAIN, and was hired to direct this film. After three weeks of production, Manchevski was fired by executive producer Laura Ziskin and replaced by Raja Gosnell, who had made NEVER BEEN KISSED. Reportedly, the cast didn't approve of Gosnell, so actor Robert Carlyle suggested director Antonia Bird, with whom he had just made FACE. Bird got final directing credit, and there are no reports on which parts of the film can be blamed on which director. The film started well, with Captain Guy Pearce throwing up at the idea that he took heroic action during the Mexican-American War. Assigned to a remote fort in the Sierra Nevada, Pearce found himself surrounded by a group of distinct characters played by David Arquette, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, Stephen Spinella, Neal McDonough, Joseph Running Fox and Sheila Tousey. Suddenly Robert Carlyle appeared with a tale of how he escaped from a group that had become cannibals. As Carlyle suggested that a female member of the group might still be alive, Many members of the fort set off on a rescue mission. Up to this point, the film worked well, but then came twist after twist and the film became irritating. To top it all off, the film had a non-ending. Reportedly Bird was unhappy with changes the studio made to the film without her input.

Unsung "Chingy" (2024)

Did not enjoy:

THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER (1965) - After his acting career seemed at an end, Jon Hall teamed with chlidren's TV producer Edward Janis to make an attempt to appeal to fans of BEACH PARTY and Monster movies. Janis' wife, Joan Gardner, wrote the screenplay, which could have been used on a daytime TV drama. Hall directed, did the camerawork and starred in a film which showed no feel for either teen frolicking or suspense. Ultimately, the "Monster" angle is bogus, and the plot reveals itself to be a unconvincing murder mystery. Reportedly, the dancing girls from the Whisky A Go Go were recruited to jiggle on the beach in bikinis to music played on a battery operated reel-to-reel tape recorder. At night, everyone hung out around a fire on the beach where hero Arnold Lessing sang a song he actually wrote called "More Than Wanting You", which was followed by girlfriend Elaine DuPont joining with Walker Edmiston of the L.A. children's TV show The Walker Edmiston Show singing "There's A Monster In the Surf". If there were more silly moments like this, the film wouldn't be as boring as it was. There was much publicity about Frank Sintra Jr. writing the music for this movie, but he only helped Joan Gardner, aka Joan Janis, write the song "Dance Baby Dance" which was quite unexceptional. The authors of POP SURF CULTURE, Brian Chidester and Domenic Priore, celebrate this movie for having "no fewer than 13 different sections of full-bore, deep-reverb tank surf instrumentals" performed by members of The Hustlers, arranged and conducted by Chuck Sagle. That may be, but nothing really comfortably fits the movie, and nothing I heard was a patch on Dick Dale and the Deltones doing "Secret Surfin' Spot" in BEACH PARTY. Reportedly, Radley Metzger was the uncredited film editor on this project.

SHADOWCHASER, aka PROJECT SHADOWCHASER (1992) - This started out like FRANKENSTEIN with an android being awakened and killing the technicians that started him. Frank Zagarino played the android, who soon started up a DIE HARD scenario, taking over an hospital tower to hold Meg Foster, the daughter of the U.S. President as hostage for a five hundred million dollar ransom. Now a DEMOLITION MAN plot twist was thrown in: convicted murderers serve their time in deep freeze. The F.B.I. wanted the architect of the hospital out of the cryogenic prison, but, instead, got Martin Kove, a football player convicted of murder for killing a redneck in a barroom brawl. With the promise of a full pardon, Kove didn't correct the mistake, but soon found himself trapped in the hospital when the rest of his team was killed by a boobytrap. So, the expected DIE HARD cat and mouse game began. Things got more complicated when Joss Ackland showed up saying that Zagarino was his creation as part of a super secret government project, and that only he could control him. At first it seemed that the story was taking a BLADE RUNNER twist with Zagarino wanting the money as money=freedom, but then the story became a Presidential assassination plot. If screenwriter Stephen Lister hadn't decided to toss in a romantic angle with Kove and Foster doing a lot of cute bickering in their efforts to escape, this might have played well enough, but every actor here suffered with poor dialogue. On the plus side, the F.B.I. agent, played by Paul Koslo, wasn't made to be stupid, as his counterpart in DIE HARD was. Reportedly, much of this movie was shot at Pinewood Studios in the U.K. on sets left over from ALIEN 3. Director of Photography Alan M. Trow seemed to have decided that really dark images would sell the story best, though sometimes it was hard to figure out what was happening. Released on home video by Prism, SHADOWCHASER did well enough to warrant three sequels - PROJECT SHADOWCHASER II, PROJECT SHADOWCHASER III, and PROJECT SHADOWCHASER IV. All four films starred Frank Zagarino, but only the first three were directed by John Eyres and only the first two had cinematography by Trow.

Uncnsrd "Raz B" (2024)

 

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David Deal Enjoyed:

ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES (44)

ANGEL HEART (87)

FRONTIER MARSHAL (39)

OUTLAW: GANGSTER VIP (68) - Tokyo Drifter's Tetsuya Watari had a rough childhood and ends up in a yakuza gang. When he stabs a member of a rival gang (his brother), he's sent to prison. Upon his release, Watari tries to put his life together but he's pulled back into the criminal life and his challenges continue. This also stars Chieko Matsubara, Watari's love interest in Tokyo Drifter. The milieu these characters move around in is quite interesting; it is a stylized environment that evokes a past and present in equal measures and neither seems exactly real. An excellent Japanese crime film from Nikkatsu studios that kicked off an "Outlaw" series of six films and I'm looking forward to the next one.

THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN (61)

THE FALCON AND THE CO-EDS (43)

DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (71)

Mildly Enjoyed

ASSASSINATION IN ROME (67)

THREE WEIRD SISTERS (48) - Three spinster sisters wish to rebuild some collapsed cottages in the Welsh mining village their father established. Trouble is their brother holds the purse strings and he's tired of them draining the coffers. He and his secretary visit his sisters to lay down the law, but soon it appears someone wants him dead. This Gothic British mystery is rather talky but sports plenty of Poe-esque atmosphere and some interesting locations.

DOUBLE FACE (69)

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Angel Rivera Mildly enjoyed:

"Vulcan--the Son of Jupiter" (1962) A Joseph E. Levine presentation. The best thing about this picture is the female lead whose name appears above the title, "Bella Cortez".
Her dance in the film is most entertaining and most provocative.

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:

Qui comencia l'vavventura (1975, Carlo di Palma)

The leopard man (1943, Jacques Tourneur)

Cat people (1942, Jacques Tourneur)

Sajanggnimeul jamgeumhaeje / Unlock my boss (2022, Lee Cheol Ha) (tv serie) episodes 1 to 6

Siete minutos para morir (1968, Ramon Fernandez)

Mildly enjoyed:

Les aventures de Gil Blas de Santillane (1956, René Jolivet)

Maximum overdrive (1986, Stephen King)

Did not enjoy:

Star Trek episode “Operatio annihilate” (1966, Herschel Daugherty)

Scream 6 (2023, Tyler Gillett & Matt Bettinelli-Olpin)

 

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