To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Why did Gordon Scott give up making movies except in Italy?
Angel Rivera knew that it was because Scott's wages from working in Italy wouldn't be docked to pay his alimony back in the U.S.
How was Gordon Scott making a living when he was discovered by a movie scout?
Rick Garibaldi, Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew that he was working as a life guard at Las Vegas' Sahara Hotel.
In which Western did our heroine shoot grenades from her handgun?
No one has answered this question yet.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which American bodybuilder was being considered to play Remus opposite Steve Reeves before the producers got Gordon Scott?
Which American producer working in Spain claimed that he turned down Sergio Leone's request to help on PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI?
Which American producer of low-budget films offered Gordon Scott a role in the 1980s, but Scott didn't show up on the set?
Name the movies from which these images came.
Rick Garibaldi and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Tomas Milian in CORRI UOMO CORRI, aka RUN MAN RUN.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes and Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo of Conrado San Martin and others admiring Linda Cristal in LE LEGIONI DI CLEOPATRA, aka LEGIONS OF THE NILE, aka LEGIONS OF CLEOPATRA.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes identified last week's photo of Roger Browne, Rosalba Neri and Fabienne Dali in SUPERSEVEN CHIAMA CAIRO, aka SUPERSEVEN CALLING CAIRO.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes and Angel Rivera identified last weeks' photo of Jackie Chan and Shih Kien in THE YOUNG MASTER.
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:
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (2022) - One of the things I like about the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe is that every movie or television series references or complements every other movie or television series. There is no "the Joker in this movie isn't the same Joker in that movie." Now that Disney owns 20th Century Fox, and has a cooperation deal with Sony, they can bring the non-Marvel Studios movies into the canon and variants can be explained by the Multiverse. Plus the shows have an enjoyable sense of humor. And I'll watch anything featuring Rachel McAdams.
EMMA (1996) - I guess CLUELESS was the first version of Jane Austin's EMMA that I saw, but the 1996 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow was the first period version I saw. I liked it then, and after watching two other period versions, I still like it. Writer/director Douglas McGrath does a better job of clarifying the story than writer Andrew Davies does and he includes just about everything the longer BBC four part version does. The BBC version perhaps better dramatizes the relationship between Emma and her father, but Jeremy Northam is an ideal Knightley. Interestingly, McGrath's version is the only one showing our heroine ministering to a poor and sick old woman. The supporting cast is stellar with Toni Collette, Alan Cumming, Ewan McGregor, Greta Scacchi, Juliet Stevenson and a criminally underused Polly Walker. The music score by Rachel Portman helps to make this the most romantic of the versions I've seen.
CLUELESS (1995) - In additon to being a fun rewatch, CLUELESS is a remarkable time capsule with which to reflect on changes in U.S. society. While in EMMA, the man who finally wins our heroine talks about having held her as a newborn baby, making him at least 21 years older than she - and her age is often remarked upon, here he is a college student while she is still in high school. So while he is still older, he's not that much older. However, it is suggested in the end that we "can guess what happened next", but she is only 16, and the "age of consent" has recently become a big issue again. Considering that writer/director Amy Heckerling started her feature career with FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, it is not surprising that "underage" sex is not a big deal for her. Most of the plot points from EMMA are there in CLUELESS, except that there is no Miss Taylor and no Jane Fairfax and no Mrs. Bates. In an interesting update to the material, Frank Churchill is now a gay man. Another aspect to rewatching CLUELESS is to reflect on how only Paul Rudd, Wallace Shawn and Jeremy Sisto are still appearing where I can see them. It also reopens the wound from Brittany Murphy's death. But it is great to see Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Donald Faison, Breckin Meyer, Twink Caplan, Julie Brown and Jace Alexander (who went on to direct 19 episodes of Rescue Me) in their prime.
CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS (1960) - By all the criteria I usually use to judge a movie, this flick is awful. Considering that most of the cast are "robots", the acting is mostly justifiably stilted, the dialog lacking in nuance and subtlety and the settings like a stage play. However, the color photography and the production design are enjoyable. The movie, though, isn't the usual science fiction actioner, it is a movie about ideas. Perhaps a better writer with a bigger budget could have imparted the same ideas that Jay Simms does, but what he provides is compelling under Wesley Barry's direction.
HOLOCAUST 2000, aka THE CHOSEN, aka RAIN OF FIRE (1977) - I hate THE OMEN, so I was pleased that this so-called rip-off had little to do with it. I saw the American International Pictures version when it played U.S. theaters, which is the version on Vestron Video. When I stumbled upon the RAIN OF FIRE DVD, I didn't expect it to be different, but it is. Reportedly, this was the original version with an ambiguous ending. I'm guessing that AIP couldn't stand that and had to come up with something to suggest that the evil was stopped. In any case, this is one of the better films directed by Alberto De Martino, though the anti-nuclear message seems a bit heavy-handed. "What do we want our children to be when they grow up? Alive!" Well before THE WAR WAGON, Kirk Douglas showed that he had no qualms about appearing naked. Some may like the fact that he gets more screen time nude than co-star Agostina Belli, but I enjoyed her skin more than his. Ennio Morricone provides some good tunes and the supporting cast is filled with good people like Simon Ward, Anthony Quayle, Virginia McKenna, Alexander Knox, Adolfo Celi, Geoffrey Keen and Romolo Valli as a Monsignor willing to go along with a forced abortion in order to stop Satan's plans.
IDA (2013) - This is a movie that doesn't easily explain anything. Beautifully photographed in Black and White in the old Academy Ratio - often with the important information at the bottom of the frame so this would never work at 1.85:1, this film begins with novice Agata Trzebuchowska being ordered by Mother Superior Halina Skoczynska to visit with the aunt she never met before taking her vows. Aunt Agata Kulesza is a worldly woman, whom we later learn was an infamous Prosecutor during the Stanlist times, responsible for ordering the deaths of many people. We begin to understand that the film is set in Poland in the early 1960s. The aunt informs the neice who was raised as an orphan in a Catholic convent, that both her parents were Jewish and they died during World War II. Expectations of how the story will go from there are upended when it becomes apparent that the parents were not killed by the Nazis, but rather were killed by a peasant who wanted their farm. The niece wants to visit her parents' graves, which begins the mystery of where, how and why they were killed. With austere and quietly intense precision, director Pawel Pawlikowski lays out this story and his characters with spare dialogue that never seems inappropriate. First time actress Agata Trzebuchowska is wonderful to watch, and is well matched with veteran actress Agata Kulesza. Perhaps the most surprising thing in this movie is that one of the songs, "24 Mila Baci", had music written by Adriano Celentano, with lyrics by Piero Vivarelli and Lucio Fulci. And that among those receiving a "special thanks" are Agnieszka Holland and Jerzy Skolimowski.
ZIMNA WOJNA, aka COLD WAR (2018) - Like IDA, this film by director Pawel Pawlikowski doesn't announce where it is going at the beginning. Unlike IDA, it has on screen titles letting the viewer know where and when the events are taking place. It begins in "Poland, 1949", with musicologists Agata Kulesza (from IDA) and Tomasz Kot collecting on audio tape folk songs from rural communities. Later, they hold auditions to select singers and dancers from poor communities to form an ensemble to perform the folk songs. It is during these auditions that Kot notices Joanna Kulig (from IDA) and urges Kulesza to accept her because she "has something". By "Warsaw, 1951", the ensemble is ready to perform in public. After the show, Kot and Kulig become lovers. A little bit later, the Communist authorities strongly suggest that songs celebrating Stalin be added to the repertoire, over the objection of Kulesza who wants to maintain the purity of "authentic folk art". One afternoon, Kulig confesses to Kot that official Borys Szyc wants her to spy on Kot. Upset, Kot decides to defect when the ensemble performs in East Berlin, but Kulig fails to join him. The film goes from "Paris, 1954" to "Yugoslavia, 1955" to "Paris, 1957" to "Poland, 1959" to "1964" for the conclusion of this tortured love story. As with IDA, the style of this beautifully photographed B&W film is austere and thoughtful with compelling performances - this time with on-screen musical bits. Pawlikowski co-wrote the film with Janusz Glowacki and Piotr Borkowski which won best screenplay at the European Film Awards. In addition, COLD WAR won Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Editor and the People's Choice Award. Pawlikowski also won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the U.S. Academy Awards. Riccardo Freda/Mario Bava fans should note that during the Paris, 1957 segment, Kot is shown performing a film score to a clip from I VAMPIRI.
Rescue Me season three (2006)
Mildly enjoyed:
EMMA (1996) - Having recently enjoyed the four part BBC version, I find the ITV movie version way too short. I wonder if I would have picked up on many of the story points if this was the first version I saw. I usually find writer Andrew Davies' adaptions satisfying, but this seemed rushed. I enjoyed this version's portrait of how servants cater to the rich, and the idea of a final scene in which all of the main couples join in a celebration dance works well. The relationship between Knightley and the Woodhouses isn't well established, and Mark Strong is so stern the viewer may be confused as to whether to like him or not. However, it is hard to fault a production featuring Kate Beckinsale, Samantha Morton and Olivia Williams. Diarmuid Lawrence directs.
Did not enjoy:
THE MAD MONSTER (1942) - So why does George Zucco want to experiment on handyman Glenn Strange with a serium based on the blood from a wolf? Because he thinks the War. Dept. would want invincible Wolfman soldiers to unleash on the enemy. Now why Strange would single out a little girl to kill from inside her bedroom is never explained. Nor how Strange could take a blast from a shotgun without even messing up his clothes. Just like he did in THE MUMMY'S HAND, Zucco wants to use his creature to get revenge, this time on the scientists who ridiculed his research. Naturally, as in DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, Strange starts to change into the Wolfman without a new injection, but, luckily, newsman Johnny Downs is on hand to rescue Zucco's daughter, Anne Nagel, from the creepy old house which gets set on fire from a lightning strike. Veteran screenwriter Fred Myton is able to shape the material so as to not seem too stupid, and director Sam Newfield (who would travel to the U.K.to helm two Hammer productions in 1952) actually provides a couple of suspenseful sequences. This studio bound film from Producers Releasing Corporation reportedly only took five days to shoot.
NECROPOLIS (1986) - Back when this hit video store shelves, I knew that something from Empire Pictures wouldn't be worth the price of a rental. Nowadays, when something like this pops up on MGM-HD, I give it a look-see just to see if it will surprise me. Well, this does have some weird stuff in it, but is amazingly poor and ugly. Writer/director Bruce Hickey exhibits the ability of a film student, and I wonder how he came to Charles Band's attention to have his film's post production completed at Cinecitta in Italy. LeeAnne Baker is a witch in 17th century New Amsterdam who does something like a modern interpretive dance to invoke Satan. This summons nice girl Jacquie Fitz to leave her wedding ceremony to become the sacrifice at Baker's Satanic ceremony. African American Christian William K. Reed knows what's going on and stabs Baker with his cross. She swears vengeance, but waits about 300 years to show up as a punk rock styled motorcycle rider demanding "the devil's ring" from an occult store owner who advertised it for sale. It turns out that the ring is in the safe of Reed's descendant who runs a charity. Bending Andrew Bausili's will to her own, Baker gets him to open the safe (which we never see) and then to kill himself. With the ring, Baker resurrects her old cult members as zombies and feeds them ectoplasm from the six breasts she suddenly develops. She acquires the ectoplasm from a number of people she murders and brands with her "devil's ring". Reporter Jacquie Fitz and Cop Michael Conte are on the case, but ignore Reed's knowledge of supernatural evil. Eventually, Baker kidnaps Fitz to make a new sacrifice, and Conte teams with Reed for the rescue. It turns out the zombies are impervious to bullets, but die when stabbed by two sticks tied together to make a cross. It turns out that the two stick apparatus can even decapitate a zombie, who continues screaming after his head has been removed. Our heroes succeed in rescuing Fitz before Baker can kill her, and Reed stabs her with a cross again. Reed is preparing to set the unholy place to flame, when Baker suddenly grabs him by the throat. Conte chops off her hand with the sacrificial knife, and drags Reed to safety before setting the place alight. Reed wants to go back to get the ring, but Conte convinces him not to brave the flames. Needless to say, the next morning, Conte finds that the severed hand with the ring has crawled into Fitz's bed, taken possession of her and is soon back out on the street, in Fitz's body, seeking new victims. Some on-line reviewers found this movie fun and LeeAnne Baker sexy, neither with which I agree. Thankfully, most everyone connected with this movie did not continue making movies. One exception is "Special Effects Make-up" creator Ed French whose most recent credit involves make-up on the HBO/Max series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.
VOULEZ-VOU DANSER AVEC MOI?, aka DO YOU WANT TO DANCE WITH ME?, aka COME DANCE WITH ME (1959) - Henri Vidal is a dentist who runs his practice in his apartment. Brigitte Bardot telephones asking him to allow her father, Noel Roquevert, to make an after hours visit because of a painful tooth. This interrupts Vidal's poker game, but one look at Bardot and he agrees to help. Over her father's objections, Bardon falls in love with Vidal and they soon marry. Shortly after, they have an huge fight and she stomps out. Desolate, he goes to a night club, where he meets dance studio owner Dawn Addams. Addams invites Vidal into her apartment for a night cap, where she begins to seduce him. Serge Gainsbourg sneaks in and takes photos, before Vidal comes to his senses and leaves. Addams and Gainsbourg plan to blackmail Vidal, but Vidal is an hot-head who goes over to Addams' studio and threatens her. Meanwhile, Vidal and Bardot make up, but she becomes suspicious when she overhears Vidal on another phone call with Addams. Staking out Addams' studio, Bardot sees her husband arrive to a meet with Addams, and then bursts into the room to confront them. There she finds Vidal with a pistol in his hand standing over a dead Addams. After he convinces Bardot that he didn't kill Addams, Vidal and his wife make a getaway as the police arrive. To solve the murder, Bardot gets a job as a dance instructor at the studio, giving her ample opportunity to show off the sexy dance moves which helped to make ET DIEU... CREA LA FEMME an international hit. This was Bardot's second sexy comedy with director Michel Boisrond, but this is also a murder mystery. There are attempts to create suspenseful moments, but the film is mostly interested in sexy bits, including a bare female breast or two. There are also some openly homosexual men among the suspects, one being an on-stage female impersonator - which would not have been allowed in a 1959 Hollywood movie. As none of the characters are engaging, the situations only fitfully amusing and the mystery rather dull, COME DANCE WITH ME isn't much fun. Francois Chaumette as the Inspector frustrated by Bardot's efforts to help is the most enjoyable part of the movie.
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Charles Gilbert watched:
THE FALL OF ROME (1963) Rome is persecuting Christians including soldiers practicing the faith. Tribune Marcus (Carl Mohner) and wife (Evelyn Stewart billed as Ida Galli) are arrested and imprisoned then escape, with help from comrades, into the wilderness where she is mortally struck by an arrow. Gauls led by Rako (Andre Aureli) on defense nearby take note with curiosity about the infighting of their perennial enemy A friendship is formed with the fleeing Christians and refuge is provided. Word gets to Marcus from Rome of a deal to spare the incarcerated believers from the lions if he agrees to return and fight as a gladiator. The barbarian woman (Loredana Nusciak) he befriended is now his companion, and victories in the arena offer hope, but Rome is doomed when they lose in a war against the barbarian hordes and an earthquake finishes them off. Uncredited Milton Reid appears as a mustachioed gladiator.
REVOLT OF THE BARBARIANS (1964) No barbarians around but two centurions Darius and Marcus (Roland Carey and Gabriele Antonini) pose as merchants to investigate gold thefts slated for soldier remuneration. The conspiracy involves governor Domicias (Mario Feliciani), Praetorian henchman Brutus (Andre Aureli), and Lydia's aunt Augusta, who is billed as Susan Sullivan but the IMDb biography describes the younger American actress who played on tv Falconcrest. Not the same woman. Lydia is played by Grazia Maria Spina, rearranging her name in the credits.
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David Deal Enjoyed:
INCUBUS (65)
THE UNTOUCHABLES (87)
LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE (67)
THE DARK CORNER (46) - From 2006: "The unexceptional story was simply a framework from which to string outstanding photography, lots of superior noir slang, and a solid cast including Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, and William Bendix."
SANTO VS. FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (72)
THE DIABOLICAL DR. Z (66)
Mildly enjoyed:
IMAGES IN A CONVENT (79)
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Angel Rivera Mildly enjoyed:
"The Accidental President" a 2020 documentary about, in my opinion, an American tragedy which occurred on November 8, 2016.
"The Lost City" (2022) a rom-com starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe and Brad Pitt. Mildly amusing; has elements of "Romancing the Stone". Bullock is an author of schlock romantic adventure novels with Channing Tatum as the physical embodiment of her main character who appears on the covers of her books which Tatum poses for. They go off on an adventure precipitated by Radcliffe looking for "the Lost City" and its treasure.
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