To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Which Italian actor, born in 1936, was killed in movies by Tony Anthony, Gordon Mitchell, Anthony Steffen and George Hilton?
Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Aldo Berti.
Which Italian born film director began his career in 1938 and ended it directing Klaus Kinski in a Western?
Bertrand van Wonterghem knew it was Mario Costa.
By what name is J.W. Fordson better known?
Bertrand van Wonterghem knew it was Mario Costa.
Which Italian actress worked with directors Damiano Damiani, Bernardo Bertolucci, Mario Monicelli, Sergio Bergonzelli, Luciano Salce, Florestano Vancini, Claude Lelouch and Peter Wood?
Bertrand van Wonterghem and Angel Rivera knew that it was Gabriella Giorgelli.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which London born actress who appeared in an Italian film about ancient Rome and a Western shot in Spain died on January 27, 2023?
Which film director, born in New Jersey, worked with Nina Foch, Anita Louise, Barbara Britton, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux, Pat Boone, Noelle Adam, Mario Girotti, Michele Mercier and Nicholetta Machiavelli?
Complete the lyric: "I have looked in the faces __ __ ___ _______."
Name the movies from which these images came.
Bertrand van Wonterghem and Rick Garibaldi identified last week's frame grab of Rosalba Neri in JOHNNY YUMA.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Bertrand van Wonterghem and Charles Gilbert identified last week's frame grab of Michael Lane in ULISSE CONTRO ERCOLE, aka ULYSSES AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES .
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Bertrand van Wonterghem, Angel Rivera and George Grimes identified last week's photo of John Richardson and Barbara Steele in LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO, aka BLACK SUNDAY.
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?
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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:
COUNT YORGA VAMPIRE (1970) - Yeah, I know it's a low-budget flick that seems dated now, but this is still my favorite vampires-in-modern-day movie.
Mildly enjoyed:
THE SAFECRACKER (1958) - This was the third feature film directed by Ray Milland and he showed no particular flair for the job.The film opened with the Deputy Director of Military Intelligence after World War II declassifying the Colley Dawson file. Milland starred as Dawson, who was a locksmith who grew tired of opening safes for rich snobs that horded pretty things. When art dealer Barry Jones was approached by Ferdy Mayne to acquire a priceless gem locked away in a rich man's safe, Jones knew just who to tempt into becoming a crook. The first half of the movie detailed Milland's crime career, adopting a false identity in order to spend his ill-gotten gains on the weekend - including dating movie star Melissa Stribling (who made HORROR OF DRACULA in the same year). Scotland Yard eventually caught Milland and sent him to prison. World War II broke out and Major Ernest Clark was informed by the Belgium underground that a list of Nazi spies in England was in a safe in a Belgian chateau. Of course, Milland was recruited and under goes paratrooper training before going on the mission. Not too surprising, Milland meets charming Belgian fighter Jeanette Sterke and seemed on the verge of not completing the mission. The main entertainment found in the film was watching family British actors like Victor Maddern (who made BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE in the same year), Percy Herbert (who made QUATERMASS 2 the previous year) and future Monty Python's Flying Circus director Ian MacNaughton. Future novelist Jackie Collins had a small role as a buxom secretary who was so appealing that I wished she had a bigger part. Lt. Col. Rhys Davies (Military Intelligence World War II) and Bruce Thomas were credited with coming up with the film's story - turned into a screenplay by Paul Monash, but there was no indication that the story was real. Richard Rodney Bennett composed the music, which was conducted by Muir Mathieson.
Did not enjoy:
CAPTIVE (2015) - While this movie is based on the true life story UNLIKELY ANGEL by Ashley Smith with Stacy Mattingly, and ends with Ashley Smith's appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, it plays like a 97 minute commercial for THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE by Pastor Rick Warren. Kate Mara plays Smith, who addiction to crystal meth has resulted in her losing custody of her little daughter to her Aunt Mimi Rogers. David Oyelowo plays Brian Nichols, who escapes from holding at the Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on March 11, 2005. During his escape, Nichols causes severe brain injury to a deputy and murders the presiding judge, the court reporter and a police sergeant. Later on, he murders a Custom's agent who is working on repairing his home. Eventually, he seeks shelter in a stranger's house, which just happens to be where Smith is trying to clean up her act in order to spend time with her child. Knowing that Nichols has taken a police radio, Detectives Michael K. Williams and Leonor Varela try to talk Nichols into surrendering, knowing that he wants to see his newborn son. Being held as an hostage by someone identified on TV as a murderer, Smith tries to calm the situation by reading aloud THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, a book given to her to help her with her drug addiction. Eventually, Smith gets Nichols' trust, so that she can leave his side to see her daughter at a fashion show. Perhaps knowing that Smith will call the cops, Nichols gives up the SIM card for Smith's cell phone. After the police surround her apartment, Smith helps to convince Nichols to peacefully surrender. Also in the cast is Jessica Oyelowo - David's real life wife. Obviously, the intention of the filmmakers is to make a "Christian" movie based on a real life event, but despite being well made, it isn't compelling and is rather flat footed in its execution. This is the last known credit for director Jerry Jameson, who has mostly worked in television after AIRPORT 77 and RAISE THE TITANIC.
X (2022) - I've not liked anything made by director Ti West and this film did not ruin that record. I am guessing that people who love this movie do so because they have a nostalgic fondness for 1970s slasher movies. I don't - so my hope to see something fresh was quickly dashed. The film starts off with police officials arriving at a grisly crime scene at a house in the country. They are appalled by something they find in the cellar, so the audience is expected to be curious to see what they found as the film jumps back a day and the main story begins. It is 1979, and a group leaves a strip joint in Texas to go to a rented house where they plan to make a pornographic movie. Filmed in New Zealand, these movie makers do a good job of duplicating the look of TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE to suggest Texas, though that film avoided graphic gore. The obvious set-up is the mystery of who killed whom. Is it the old man who rented the guest house on his farm to the young people? Is it the man's old wife, who quickly becomes jealous of the sexual vitality of the strangers? Is it the rather prudish girlfriend of the director who is operating the sound boom? Is it the quiet young woman having sex with the producer, who he thinks is "special" and who feels she deserves to be a star? Is it the director who is convinced that it is possible to make a good porno movie? Ti West seems to take his cue from BOOGIE NIGHTS on how to make a porno film - which means he seems to think that it is just someone capturing two people having sex on film. There is no concern about "money shots" or staging the act in order to see penetration. It isn't until halfway through the film that the violence starts, and from then the film becomes a rather standard walk around in the dark night until someone is suddenly killed. Perhaps the creepiest scene in the movie is when the old woman gets into bed with the sleeping "special" woman to caress her. The scene is all the more striking when you find out in the closing credits, that both roles are played by Mia Goth - who wears special prosthetic make-up from Weta Workshop to play the old woman. Unfortunately, this film turns out to be the middle film of a trilogy. PEARL is a prequel, while MAXXXINE will be a sequel.
PEARL (2022) - This is the first film for which I saw the credit for "Intimacy Coordinator". I was curious what Ti West and Mia Goth had in mind for a prequel to X, and West's record for making movies I hate remains solid. While the plot mechanics aren't like anything else I've seen, the cinematic style, meant to evoke Douglas Sirk movies, didn't work for a slasher movie. It comes off like an elaborate joke. At times the almost wall-to-wall music by Tyler Bates and Tim Williams sounds similar to something that Bernard Herrmann would write, but isn't particularly effective. The story of how the movie ended up getting made in New Zealand during the Covid epidemic, and the attempt to make a parallel to the Spanish Influenza of 1919 is more interesting that this tale of a serial killing young woman who longs to be the biggest star in the world.
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Charles Gilbert watched:
KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1963) When Gerald took a swing at the cult leader I had to laugh at Dr. Ravna's remark: "Marquis of Queensbury won't do you any good here.". Was also smitten by the purple velvet gown worn by Jacquie Wallis. And Jennifer Daniel fetching in red. With Isobel Black.
The Fall of J. D. Hall. (2022) Christian critic Jason Chavez of YouTube title Servus Christi exposes renowned Reformed category pastor Jordan Hall (pen name Gideon Knox for emagazines Pulpit and Pen, and Protestia) who shepherded Fellowship Baptist Church in remote Sidney, Montana until being defrocked. DUI and domestic violence charges were levied against him, plus a link to teen Braxton Caner's suicide while pastoral counceling, His traffic arrest was due to impairment from Xanax addiction, all leading to his dismissal by a reluctant elder board at FBC. Over three hours presentation with witness interviews.
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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:
The blue dahlia (1946, George Marshall)
The pale blue eye (2022, Scott Cooper)
Inside n° 9 – season 6 – episode 1
Terror on the prairie (2022, Michael Polish)
Mildly enjoyed:
Young Sheldon – season 6 – episodes 9 & 10
Ilya Muromets / The sword and the dragon (1956, Alexander Ptouchko)
Did not enjoy:
Il merlo maschio (1971, Pasquale Festa Campanile)
Camille redouble (2012, Noémie Lvovsky)
The eye creatures (1967, Larry Buchanan)
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David Deal Enjoyed:
END OF THE LINE (57)
LEGIONS OF THE NILE (59) - Linda Cristal is Cleopatra and she falls for centurion Ettore Manni, who was sent by Caesar to find out what Marc Antony (Georges Marchal) is up to in Egypt. Pretty well-mounted version of the tale from director Vittorio Cottafavi. 20th Century Fox bought it and shelved it so it wouldn't complete with their Taylor/Burton version.
MY NAME IS PECOS (66)
SINATRA IN PALM SPRINGS (18) - Documentary on Sinatra and his compound in Palm Springs where he lived for decades. Thumbs up.
TORSO (73)
THE LOVE WAR (70) - Representatives of three alien races take human form on Earth to fight it out for ownership of the planet. Lloyd Bridges is one of the aliens who meets up with Angie Dickinson during this intimate battle, and she predictably complicates things. Small-scale TV movie plays it smart, gets out of LA, and becomes more dreamlike as it unfolds. Enjoyable but not top tier for this fruitful time for the genre and the medium.
SCORE A FILM MUSIC DOCUMENTARY (17)
PORTRAIT IN TERROR (62)
THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (55)
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (22)
THE POWER (67)
Mildly enjoyed:
THE LEGACY (78) - Katherine Ross and Sam Elliot are offered a mysterious job in England. After they arrive at a fabulous country house, they slowly realize they have been lured by a Satanic cult, and other guests begin dying in horrific ways. Okay time killer but not terribly satisfying. Features Charles Gray and Roger Daltry!
THE RINGER (52)
LONDON BY NIGHT (37) - Intrepid reporter George Murphy becomes involved in solving the "Umbrella Man" murder spree with pal and Scotland Yard man George Zucco. Adequate entertainment from MGM - quite the foggy milieu - but nothing to write home about.
LOGAN'S RUN (76)
THE LONE WOLF KEEPS A DATE (40) - Warren William (the Lone Wolf) becomes embroiled in a mystery involving $100,000 bail money, a fake kidnapping, and a missing stamp collection, all in the 65 minute running time. One of a string of Lone Wolf programmers trying to capture the magic of the Saint or Falcon franchises but generally failing to do so. Eric Blore is always a highlight.
THE LONE WOLF STRIKES (40) - Warren William (LW himself) is brought in to help when a valuable necklace is swapped and the owner is killed trying to retrieve it. LW has to outwit the original owner's girlfriend and the boyfriend of the owner's daughter, who both want the real necklace. It's complicated. Moves at a good pace and Eric Blore is a treat, but this Columbia series never had the panache of those of other gentlemen thieves.
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Angel Rivera Enjoyed:
Various episodes of the sitcom, "The Facts of Life" The girls are fun to watch and their comic timing is impeccable. The episodes with Emmy and Oscar winner Cloris Leachman, are interesting as well.
Episode of TattleTales game show from 1983 which features as one of the celebrity couples; Michael J. Fox and then girlfriend, Nancy McKeon. Interesting in watching Nancy McKeon slightly squirm as she answers questions of an intimate nature.(According to bio-sources McKeon was only 17 at the time. Michael J. Fox was 22.)
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