To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
In which Italian Western does the hero shoot the thumbs off of the men he takes prisoner?
It was IL GRANDE SILENZIO, aka GREAT SILENCE.
Which Italian Western has an English language version that ends with the line, "The red and the black"?
No one has answered this one yet.
Which Italian Western has in the English language version, "I'm scarier than you."?
No one has answered this one yet.
In which film did Gordon Mitchell appear with Charlton Heston?
Tom Betts, Angel Rivera, Charles Gilbert, George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Bertrand van Wonterghem also thought that Mitchell and Heston might have appeared together in THE BUCCANEER.
In which film did Gordon Mitchell appear with Elizabeth Taylor?
Tom Betts, Angel Rivera, Charles Gilbert, George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE.
In which film did Gordon Mitchell appear with Sandahl Bergman?
Tom Betts, Angel Rivera, Charles Gilbert, George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was SHE.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which Spanish actor was a professional soccer player in Mexico before returning to Spain to become an actor?
Which Italian actor wrote the screenplay for the best Western he made?
By what name is Kevin Mancuso better known?
Name the movies from which these images came.
No one identified the above photo.
It shows Richard Harrison shooting with his right hand in a flashback for LA DILIGENCIA DE LOS CONDENADOS, aka PRIMA TI PERDONO... POI D'AMMAZZO, aka STAGECOACH OF THE CONDEMNED.
Bertrand van Wonterghem, George Grimes and Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo of Rhonda Fleming and Lang Jeffries in LA RIVOLTA DEGLI SCHIAVI, aka REVOLT OF THE SLAVES.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's photo of Luciana Paluzzi in LA MORTE NON HA SESSO, aka A BLACK VEIL FOR LISA.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Tetsuro Tamba in GOYOKIN.
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:
Mildly enjoyed:
Astrid et Raphaelle, aka Astrid (2023) season four episode 4 "Immortal"
Did not enjoy:
CARJACKED - This film starts off promisingly with Maria Bello attending a group therapy session that is being run by Catherine Dent and includes Johanna Cassidy. Bello's big issue is that her ex-husband is trying to gain sole custody of their son. Then the film goes into an extended flashback about how, one night, Bello and her boy were carjacked at a gas station by Stephen Douriff. Most of the film is then conversations between Bello and Douriff as she tries to get him to let her and her boy go. After they stop at another gas station where a school bus filled with children is also filling the tank, Bello gets her boy to escape onto the school bus. Angry, Douriff puts Bello in the trunk of the car while he continues on to meet with his associate. Having punched an hole in the trunk's door, Bello sees Douriff kill his associate. Douriff then stuffs his dead associate in the trunk with Bello, pours gasoline all over the car and sets it on fire. Luckily, Bello finds a pistol on the dead man and uses it to blow open the trunk before the burning car explodes. Walking to a diner, Bello is trying to call the police when she sees Douriff carjack another family in the parking lot. She races outside, commandeers someone else's car, and chases Douriff until they both crash. Eventually, Bello and Douriff face off in a warehouse, where the film comes to a satisfactory conclusion. For an epilogue, the film goes to court where in the judge rules against Bello's ex-husband and our heroine gets to keep custody of her son. I lost count of how many executive producers are listed in the opening credits from so many different production companies, which just goes to show how difficult it is for even a modest film to raise financing.
MONSTERS AT LARGE (2018) - It is 2018 and Mischa Barton has gone from being a sexy bad girl to become a warm hearted mom in a kid's movie. After a night of telling ghost stories, Matthew Kosto's younger brother is convinced that there is a monster in his room. Kosto decides to form Monster Busters with his friends Auggie Pulliam and Alicia D. Del Aguila to chase away the imaginary monsters plaguing the little boys and girls in the neighborhood. As the children's parents are paying them, the Monster Busters prove to be very successful. Sciene teacher Stephen Tobolowsky criticizes the Busters for exploiting childhood fears. Naturally, a real monster shows up half way through the movie, but the adults refuse to accept the reports. Eventually, our heroes figure out that the monster means no harm and that he just wants to go home. The portal to his world has been blocked by some falling boulders, which the kids unblock with a massive fireworks explosion. In the end, Kosto wins the affection of his dream girl Tara McDonald, who ends up joining the Busters. I was half expecting that Kosto would shift his attention from McDonald to Del Aguila once she took off her glasses, but this isn't that kind of movie.
PITFALL (1962) - Kobo Abe originally wrote Otoshiana as Rengoku, aka Purgatory, as a television play. First time film director Hiroshi Teshigahara took on the production, which did well enough for Teshigahara to collaborate on three more films with Abe, most notably WOMAN IN THE DUNES. Hisashi Igawa escapes a mining camp with his little boy and a friend only to find himself working in another miserable mining camp. Hearing of possible work in another town, Igawa and his boy go there only to find a town deserted but for one lonely female shopkeeper, Sumie Sasaki. She tells him that there was a cave-in at the mine, so everyone left. The boy wanders off, so when the father looks for him, he encounters a stranger in a white suit - Kunie Tanaka who is best known of his appearances in Yakuza movies. Tanaka stabs Igawa to death. Igawa's spirit isn't certain that he is dead and seeks out Sasaki to tell her what happened. But the living can't see or hear the spirits of the dead. Tanaka himself visits Sasaki to bribe her with money to give the police a false description of the murderer. It turns out that Tanaka intended to murder a union leader to which Igawa bore a striking resemblance. Tanaka hoped to implicate a rival union leader as the killer. Hearing of the murder, both union leaders converge on the shopkeeper's business only to find that she, too has been murdered. An argument over who is responsible leads to a fatal fight between the two union leaders, which Tanaka is able to photograph from a distance. In the end, Igawa's son takes what he can from the two bodies and the shopkeeper's store and sets off on the road alone. While certainly unique both in story and atmosphere, PITFALL is a bit of a drag to sit through and ultimately unsatisfying dramatically.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE RULEZ (2018) - Having scored big with SHAUN OF THE DEAD, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost started their own production company, Stolen Picture. In partnership with Catalyst Global Media and Sony Pictures International, Pegg and Frost decided to give writer/director Crispian Mills his chance at a solo directing gig - after he starred Pegg in A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING, which Mills co-directed with Chris Hopewell. The son of Haley Mills and Roy Boulting, Mills is perhaps even better known as the leader of the band Kula Shaker. Once again we citizens of the United States are treated to evidence that the British have an uneasy relationship with their "public school" system. Working class Finn Cole gets the opportunity to attend the exclusive Slaughterhouse Academy. With scenes echoing TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS and IF..., Cole finds life there harsh. Things get worse when Headmaster Michael Sheen approves a Fracking operation on the school grounds. An huge sinkhole forms and out pop subterranean monsters that begin to ravage the student body. Luckily, Finn joins forces with other students, including the lovely Hermione Corfield, who fight back. Both Frost and Pegg appear, but neither can help the film achieve the balance of humor and horror for which Mills seems to be aiming. Reportedly Margot Robbie also appears in this movie, but I didn't recognize her.
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Angel Rivera Highly enjoyed:
"COOLEY HIGH" (1975)
TCM had an interesting double feature the other night: "American Graffiti" (1973) with "Cooleu High" (1975)..While the former told about White kids in a small town in California in 1962; the latter told of growing up in an African-American community in Chicago in !964. With a great cast headed by a young Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs ,Glynn Thomas and Garrett Morris, we learn the trials and tribulations of growing up Black in an urban setting in the sixties. With great music and performances, it is a must see film.
Mildly enjoy:
"MILDRED PIERCE" (1945)
Its unfortunate that when one thinks of Joan Crawford today, they think of that God-awful film with the over-rated Faye Dunaway. "Mildred Pierce" (1945) is an interesting film-noir from the novel by James M. Cain. (The same author of "The Post Always Rings Twice") with an Academy award winning performance from Crawford, that tells one what a good actress Crawford was. (And "beautiful!" Not that caricature presented in "Mommie Dearest" (1981). Well worth watching for Crawford's performance.
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Charles Gilbert watched:
FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974) The final entry into the Hammer series. The monster makeup was laughable even for the cast.
FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1964) Probably the least impressive of Harryhausen's projects. The dry British humor is too much.
NAKED ROAD (1959) B&W. A young model is abducted via a scam traffic court, and groomed for white slavery. British actor Ronald Long is the only actor recognizable.
THE MONSTER MAKER (1944) B&W. In the same year J. Carroll Naish and Glenn Strange are together again, but at a different studio. The other was HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN for Universal Pictures, and this for PRC. Naish here plays a bogus doctor, smitten with the daughter of a classical pianist as they attend one of father's concerts. The mad pill pusher injects acromegaly serum into him, promising to reverse the infection only if daughter consents to marry him.
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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:
They go boom ! (short) (1934, James Parrott)
Leave'em laughing (short) (1928, Clyde Bruckman)
Geunyeoui Sasaenghwal / Her private life (2018, Hong Jong-chan) – episodes 12 to 15
Mildly enjoyed:
Action immédiate (1957, Maurice Labro)
Schulmeister – episode « Le petit matelot » (1971, Jean-Pierre Decourt)
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David Deal Enjoyed:
THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL (41) - Phillip Terry is framed for murder by slimy Paul Lukas and his crew, and for this he is sentenced to death. Terry was about to go revengin' for the spoiling of his sister Ellen Drew at the hand of Lukas who runs a prostitution racket. Luckily, mad doctor George Zucco claims Terry's body and transplants his brain into that of a gorilla! The Terry/gorilla then escapes and continues the revenge plot. Not your normal Paramount picture, this noirish sci-fi would seem more at home at Monogram but for the top notch shadowy photography and deep, solid cast. Supporters include Robert Paige, Joseph Calleia, Onslow Stevens, Rod Cameron, Marc Lawrence, Gerald Mohr, and even an unbilled Edward Van Sloan who gets one line. This ain't no classic but I've seen worse.
DISNEYLAND HANDCRAFET (26) - Fascinating documentary on the building of Disneyland. I'm not a super Disney fan but this is definitely worth seeing. For the record, it was made by cartoonist Ub Iwerks granddaughter, the fellow credited with creating Mickey Mouse.
SIGNALS: A SPACE ADVENTURE (70) - A spaceship on a scientific mission is sent to investigate another ship that has stopped transmitting. The previous discoveries of the rescue ship seem to point to possible survivors although chances are slim. This entertaining entry in the Cold War subgenre of science fiction while definitely influenced by 2001 but saddled with stock characters, manages to continue the vibe of its brethren like In the Dust of the Stars.
DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS (54)
Mildly enjoyed:
MUSEO DEL HORROR (63) - A masked man is abducting women and turning them into wax statues for a gallery. There is also a man who is having corpses dug up so he can experiment on them. Finally, another man has an unhealthy enthusiasm for taxidermy. This Mexican take on The Mystery of the Wax Museum and House of Wax plays heavily on the mystery angle even though the culprit is obvious. There is plenty of Gothic atmosphere to wallow in, something this film shares with the Mexican vampire pictures produced around this time but I would consider this a curio at best if one is interested in seeing it.
JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN (69)
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