Friday, October 4, 2024

October 5 - 11, 2024

 


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

Brain Teasers:

Which Italian actor regrets turning down the role Gian Maria Volonte got for PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI because the money was too little?
This confession was made by George Ardisson in an interview featured on the Wild East DVD for MAY GOD FORGIVE YOU, I WON'T & MASSACRE AT CANYON GRANDE.

By what name is Terence Hathaway better known?
Tom Betts, George Grimes, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it is Sergio Grieco.

By what name is Enzo Girolami better known?
By what name is E.G. Rowland better known?
Tom Betts, George Grimes, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it is Enzo G. Castellari.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which actress, born in Poland, worked with directors Quentin Lawrence, Fernando Cerchio, Giorgio Stegani, Giulio Petroni and Val Guest?
What was the eventual title for the failed pilot to a TV series called Hercules in 1965?
What historical character was portrayed in Italian movies by Gordon Scott and Rik Van Nutter?

Name the movies from which these images came.


Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?


No one identified the above photo yet.
Can you name from what movie it came?


George Grimes identified last week's photo from FRANKENSTEIN 80.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?


Bertrand van Wonterghem, Charles Gilbert, Angel Rivera and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Bolo Yeung and John Saxon in ENTER THE DRAGON.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?

**********************************************************************
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:

Did not enjoy:

DRACULA RISING (1993) - Did New Horizons ever make a good movie, even by accident? Just about every low budget movie company that made Horror films did - except for Blumhouse, but they're still young I suppose. When an Horror movie opens with a love song like "Be My Angel", you know you're not going to have a intense experience filled with suspense. One could get into an arguement about whether "Be My Angel" or "Here In My Arms" is worse than "Strange Love" from LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, and I would opinion that it is not since it comes at the beginning of the movie and not in the middle of an odd sex scene. In any case, DRACULA RISING wants to be another romantic vampire movie with another tale of an undead boy waiting hundreds of years for his lost love to be reincarnated. Just as in SHE, the couple is not destined to live happily ever after. Stacey Travis is an artist who makes a living restoring old paintings. She meets Christopher Atkins at a show, and feels a mysterious connection to him. However, after an odd optical effect (suggesting that Atkins wants to feed on Travis), Atkins disappears. Later, our heroine gets an offer of a job in Bulgaria to restore a painting held in an monastery. Creepy Doug Wert greets her when she arrives, and, surprise! surprise! Atkins also lives there. Eventually, we are informed in flashbacks that Atkins and Wert were fellow priests hundreds of years ago. As Atkins was the son of an evil father who is rumored to have become one of the undead (possibly Dracula?), Wert takes to flogging Atkins to make certain he resists all temptation. Enters village girl Travis, with whom Atkins falls in love and has watery sex. (The long sequence of two fully naked people cavorting underwater was probably accomplished with body doubles and may have been inspired by Atkins' role in THE BLUE LAGOON.) Wert is incensed that Atkins broke his vow of celibacy and convinces the villagers to burn Travis as a witch. In despair, Atkins is open to a visit by his father. The father (wearing a very odd face mask) tells his son that Travis' soul will return, and that he has the means to insure that his son will live long enough to see her reincarnation. So, the father turns Atkins into a vampire. Ravenous with a new hunger, Atkins feeds on Wert, who is then also turned into a vampire by daddy. In the present, Wert wants Atkins to turn Travis into a vampire, thus rejecting love and embracing his evil nature. Atkins refuses. Eventually, Wert, Atkins and Travis end up in an Hellscape where Wert and Atkins zap each other with cartoony effects. Suddenly, it becomes apparent that someone saw KISS OF THE VAMPIRE and Wert is graphically dispatched by bats. Atkins then sacrifices himself to the rising sun to protect Travis. The hair and makeup department did Stacey Travis no favor on this film, and she did the audience no favor with her performance. Writers Rodman Flender and Daniella Purcell did director Fred Gallo no favor with their script and we can only hope that producer Roger Corman found this whole exercise worthwhile.

XIBALABA, aka CURSE OF THE MAYANS (2017) - Steve Wilcox gathers a team to explore an ancient Mayan Temple, which includes diving into submerged underground caves. After an incident with bandits in the jungle, the team reach the site, where they unwittingly release ancient alien creatures that were imprisoned in tombs. The final shot of an INDEPENDENCE DAY-like spaceship appearing over the temple is a bit confusing. The voice-over suggests that they are here to help, but they sure look ominous. That final shot is not only spoiled by the poster, but also by the trailer. Co-writer (with Alberto Haggar) and director Joaquin Rodriguez delivers a good looking Mexican production, but it fails to be compelling or very original. On the plus side, I now want to look for more opportunies to watch Olga Fonda. I may ever look for old episodes of The Vampire Diaries.

****************************************************************

Bertrand van Wonterghem Highly enjoyed:

Hundreds of beavers (2022, Mike Cheslik)

Enjoyed:

They drive by night (1940, Raoul Walsh)

Twilight's last gleaming (1977, Robert Aldrich)

Le soupirant (1962, Pierre Etaix)

Gangmaegang / Seoul busters – season 1 – episodes 5 to 8

DC’s legends of tomorrow – season 6 – episodes 14 & 15 / season 7 - episodes 1 to 3

Son-hae Bo-ji silh-eo-seo / No gain, no love – season 1 – episodes 7 to 12

South of Panama (1941, Jean Yarbrough)

Mildly enjoyed:

Swingtime in the movies (short) (1938, Crane Wilbur)

Distant trumpet (1952, Terence Fisher)

A gunman has escaped (1948, Richard M. Grey)

****************************************************************

Angel Rivera  Highly enjoyed:

"IN COLD BLOOD" (1967)
I don't know if using the word "enjoyed" is appropriate, but this film is engrossing and  mesmerizing. Based on the non-fiction novel by Truman Capote, the film captures in Black and White, and in a documentary style, the real life murders of four members of a Kansas farming family, the Clutters by two ex-cons and the apprehension and execution of the two.

Mildly enjoyed:

"THE GIANT CLAW" (1957)
Having seen the special effect for the giant bird with the giant claw of the title, I was curious to see this film. While the title creature is somewhat ridiculous looking, for lack of a better word; the film plays like some of the other giant creature films of the fifties and is worth a viewing. At least for a goof.

******************************************************************

Charles Gilbert watched:

DEAD OF NIGHT (1977) Another Dan Curtis trilogy: 'Second Chance' Ed Begley, Jr. A young car enthusiast gets a trip to the past after restoring a classic Playboy automobile. 'No Such Thing As a Vampire' Patrick MacNee An aristocratic man gets vengeance on his perfidious wife and her paramour physician. 'Bobby' Joan Hackett A woman practicing the occult has her dead son return with terrifying results. 

GOD MAY FORGIVE YOU, BUT I WON'T (1968) Giorgio Ardisson plays Cjamango McDonald seeking revenge against the Smart brothers gang who slaughtered his siblings over a land dispute. A horde of his foes bite the dust in the end when he employs a "machine" gun on them. Peter Martell in a rather brief appearance plays Jack Smart.

******************************************************************

No comments:

Post a Comment