To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Which director, born in Moravia, made four features for Italian producers?
No one has answered this question yet.
Which French actress worked with directors Marco Vicario, Giorgio Simonelli, Riccardo Freda, Carmine Gallone, Mario Gariazzo, Giacomo Gentilomo and Alfonso Brescia?
Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Hélène Chanel.
In which Italian Western does Peter Lee Lawrence kill Alberto Dell'Acqua?
Bertrand van Wonterghem and Angel Rivera knew that it was KILLER CALIBRO 32, aka 32 CALIBER KILLER.
Which Italian Western was originally to be called A DOLLAR A HEAD?
Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was UN DOLLARO A TESTA, aka NAVAJO JOE.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which character of ancient Greece was played in movies by Gordon Mitchell, Arturo Dominici, Joe Montana and Piero Lulli?
Which character of ancient Greece was played by Andrea Bosic, Nerio Bernardi, Brian Cox, Rufus Sewell and Mario Petri?
Which American actor, born of Italian parents, made a Western in Spain playing a Native American?
Name the movies from which these images came.
No one identified the above frame grab.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's frame grab of Joe Robinson and Harry Baird in LE GLADIATRICI, aka THOR AND THE AMAZON WOMEN.
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?
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:
Enjoyed:
Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023)
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season four (2016 - 2017) - I forgot that the "Darkhold" was introduced in this series. I only became aware of it in the last few episodes of WandaVision five years later. I also forgot that the idea of tapping into "Quantum energy" was introduced here nine years before ANT-MAN.
TAKE HER, SHE'S MINE (1963) - I have a vague memory of seeing this as a kid, but seeing this now as an adult, it is a marvelous nostalgia trip to pre-JFK assassination American entertainment. Nora Ephron's parents, Henry and Phoebe Ephron, wrote a comedy for Broadway in 1961 about the trials of being parents to a daughter turning into a woman. Nunnally Johnson is credited with turning that play into a feature film produced and directed by Henry Koster. The film begins with James Stewart being faced with expulsion from the Board of Education due to public outrage at a number of newspaper articles suggesting outrageous behavior on his part. Stewart is allowed to explain, and states that the trouble began when his daughter, Sandra Dee, had become a "dish". It wasn't so much of a problem when she was in high school, but after she left for college, the father's anxiety really started. After getting a telegram delivered at 2:30 in the morning stating that the parents shouldn't worry because she's been released and that the charges have been dropped, Stewart hops on a plane to investigate. During a "sit-in" to protest the banning of Henry Miller's TROPIC OF CANCER, Stewart sticks up for his daughter's right to peaceful protest - and gets his picture in the paper being hauled off by the police for defending "dirty books". This first half of the movie works very well. For the last part of the movie, writer Johnson later complained that studio head Daryl F. Zanuck insisted that it take place in Paris, France, to give the film more "international" appeal. This resulted in some boorish gags about speeding taxi drivers and everyone insisting that everyone speaks English, but not understanding what Stewart says. Still, the movie survived these missteps thanks to the charm of the main cast. I doubt Johnson came up with the running gag of passersby mistaking Stewart for a "movie star" and asking for his autograph. This is topped by Robert Morley exclaiming that Stewart was the film star Henry Fonda. Reportedly, the film was released just nine days before the Kennedy assassination, which resulted in every release print being recalled to take out a reference to Jacqueline Kennedy. That scene has never been reinstated. Audrey Meadows plays Stewart's wife and Charla Doherty plays his younger daughter - who, of course, suddenly looks to become future trouble before the final fade-out. Shanghai born Irene Tsu had appeared as a dancer in director Koster's previous film, FLOWER DRUM SONG, and her small bit in TAKE HER, SHE'S MINE began her acting career. Also in the cast were Charles Robinson, Bob Denver (doing a variation of his character Maynard G. Krebs from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) and Josh Brolin.(7 years before Marcus Welby, M.D.). Another "inside" gag, was that just about every young woman at a costume party was dressed as Cleopatra, which was 20th Century Fox's big release at the time.
Mildly enjoyed:
JUST IMAGINE (1930) - Billed as "El Brendel", Elmer Goodfellow was an American vaudeville performer who began his career in 1913 as a German dialect comedian. As anti-German sentiment grew in the U.S., he changed his character to become a Swedish immigrant and began making movies in 1926. JUST IMAGINE begins with a portrait of life in New York in 1880, and then changes to the present - i.e. 1930. Speculating that life in 50 years might see as many changes as New York saw in the past 50, the film jumps to 1980, where New York looks very much like the city in director Fritz Lang's 1927 film METROPOLIS. In the future, people have numbers not names and the state must approve all marriages. J-21, played by John Garrick, loves LN-18, played by Maureen O'Sullivan, but it looks like the tribunal will accept the marriage application from MT-3, played by Kenneth Thomson, because he has a higher societal status. Garrick is ordered to have no contact with O'Sullivan until his appeal is heard in four months. Meanwhle, a dead man from 1930, played by El Brendel, will be revived as a scientific experiment. The experiment is successful, but the scientists have no plans for what the revived man will do now, so Garrick and his friend RT-42, played by Frank Albertson, decide to take care of him. Giving him the name Single O, Garrick and Albertson tell him to wait outside while they sneak in to see O'Sullivan and Albertson's girlfriend D-6, played by Marjorie White. Thomson catches Garrick with O'Sullivan and threatens to tell the authorities, but O'Sullivan pleads for him to keep quiet, to which he agrees if she tells Garrick that "this will never happen again" and "Get out". Dispondent, Garrick wanders over to the river, where a creepy associate of scientist Z-4, played by Hobart Bosworth, bids him to meet with the scientist. Bosworth convinces Garrick to fly his new rocket plane to Mars. It'll take four months to go and return with the result that Garrick will be able to show the tribunal that his status is now above Thomson's. Garrick blasts off with Albertson as co-pilot, and El Brendel as stowaway. They land on Mars which turns out to be a jungle-like planet inhabited by warring tribes of twins: a good tribe and a bad tribe. The "muscle" of the good tribe is Loko, played by Ivan Linow, who obviously is infatuated with El Brendel. Linow ends up helping to free the trio from Earth after they are captured by the bad tribe. Will our heroes be able to return to New York in time to prevent the tribunal approving of the marriage of O'Sullivan to Thomson? How many songs by Buddy G. DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson will there be the final fade out? Is the lab equipment made by Kenneth Strickfaden, who would provide similar stuff for 1931's FRANKENSTEIN? Did the Universal serials Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers reuse footage from this movie? Former actor David Butler began his directing career in 1927, and while JUST IMAGINE isn't really a good film, it is a fun watch.
Scott Turow's Reversible Errors (2004) - Scottish writer Alan Sharp penned the screenplays for a number of films I love: THE LAST RUN, THE HIRED HAND, ULZANA'S RAID and NIGHT MOVES. In common with novelist Scott Turow, Sharp tends to write characters who are guilty of something so determining justice is problematical. Here, married homicide detective Tom Selleck is having an affair with Monica Potter (looking and sounding more than usual like a plump Julia Roberts), who works in the D.A.'s office. When Selleck is summoned to the scene of a triple homicide, Potter asks to go along hoping that she'll get the case to further her career. Selleck brings together the evidence against Glenn Plummer, which Potter takes before Judge Felicity Huffman, for which the judge hands down a death sentence. 7 years later, corporate lawyer William H. Macy is told to take the pro-bono final appeal case for Plummer before his execution, and slowly begins to see that justice has not been served. In addition to the legal stuff, Sharp and director Mike Robe successfully create two compelling love stories, of which the one featuring married actors Macy and Huffman is quite charming. This was done as a two-part CBS mini-series.
ULYSSES (1954) - I was born too late to see this film in a theater, but I was a big fan of the films which came after it - the Steve Reeves Hercules movies, SPARTACUS etc. It wasn't until home video that I was finally able to see ULYSSES, and, unfortunately, I was disappointed. By then I was familiar with the story of the Greek hero, and was enamored of its part in two of my favorite Westerns: IL RITORNO DI RINGO and IL MIO NOME E NESSUNO. Six writers were credited with the screenplay for this film, and one can't help but wonder at the choices they made. Instead of starting the film with our hero beginning his voyage from the ruins of Troy, the script opens with Ulysses' queen, Silvana Mangano, trying to fend off an house full of suitors vying to take the place of her presumed dead husband. It seems an odd choice for a film entitled ULYSSES that Penelope should be the main character with which to start. (Does it have something to do with the fact that the actress was the wife of co-producer Dino De Laurentiis?) When the title character, played by Kirk Douglas, is introduced, it is toward the end of his story, as he is found washed ashore in Phaeacia with amnesia. Princess Rossana Podesta finds Douglas over the protests of her hand maidens. ("Don't touch him. He's dead." "He's alive." "That's worse.") While having no knowledge of his name or his past deeds, Douglas regains his health and soon finds that he has "muscle memory" in action - such as winning a wrestling match against Umberto Silvestri. On the day of his wedding to Podesta, Douglas suddenly finds his memories stirred and we get a long flashback showing us the stories of the Trojan Horse, the encounter with the Cyclops (for which the writers did not use the famous "I am nobody" line), the voyage past the Sirens and being trapped by Circe - also played by Mangano. Meanwhile, Anthony Quinn joins the suitors vying for Mangano's favors, and seems to be the frontrunner. Eventually, Douglas arrives home and we get the climactic blood bath. Was Irwin Shaw responsible for all of the philosophical dialogues? This movie is awfully talky for an adventure film filled with magic and gods and sword fights. Writer Ennio De Concini would go on to write over 100 scripts, including, most importantly, LE FATICHI DI ERCOLE. Reportedly, director Mario Camerini replaced G.W. Pabst, and Mario Bava assisted on the scene with the Cyclops. ULYSSES co-producer Carlo Ponti would eventually co-produce the movie LE MEPRIS, aka CONTEMPT, which was based on a novel by Alberto Moravia that was inspired by the making of ULYSSES.
THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1959) - I love "end of the world" movies, but this one just doesn't think it through. If some sort of radioactive material kills everyone in New York, where did the bodies go? How ever you may feel about the racial issue in the U.S., at least we no longer think it is reasonable that the last man on Earth would reject the advances of the last woman on Earth just because he is black and she is white. At the very least, THE OMEGA MAN tossed that issue aside. Writer/director Ranald MacDougal tosses in a second man who is white, which the black man thinks is more suitable for the white woman, but she obviously prefers the black man, which he won't accept. Even in 1959 this must have seemed unreasonable except to segregationists. Still, MacDougal decides to have the two men engage in a gun fight, until the black man sees the inscription at the United Nations about ending war. The woman keeps insisting that no one is asking her what she wants, but at the climax she refuses to reject either man. So aside from a possible "peace in our time" message, is the movie suggesting a menage-a-trois? That seems reasonable to me. Strangely, no one in the film talks about restarting the human race by procreation. It is striking that as Mel Ferrer and Harry Belafonte stalk each other with rifles, both are wearing suits - though Belafonte doesn't have a tie. And, as the last two men in New York City, both men keep themselves clean shaven.
Did not enjoy:
AMULET (2020) - As an actress, Romola Garai starred in my favorite version of Jane Austin's EMMA for the BBC. This is her first feature film as a writer/director and it is thought of as a "slow burn feminist horror film". Some people admire this film because it doesn't really explain itself, but I found the "revelation" at the end to be rather a confusing let down.
BLOOD LANDS, aka WHITE SETTLERS (2014) - A married couple from England decide to buy a farm in Scotland, only to be chased and kidnapped and dumped back in England. Some want to say this is a relevant statement about the relationship between Scotland and England. Some want to say this is a tense and atmospheric home invasion drama. Me I want to ask why Ian Fenton thought this was a good idea to write a script, and why Simeon Halligan wanted to direct it. Being a citizen of the United States, I was unable to identify a train bearing the sign "Altrincham", so the film's punch line was rather limp. So, did the Scotish assholes that retook the farm get to keep it? How bad were the injuries inflicted by Pollyanna McIntosh on the pig masked assholes that they were able to laugh it off? Did the couple return to the farm with armed police men to retrieve their belongings? Did the couple get their money back from the purchase of the property? Was this movie financed by an anti-tourism group in Scotland? Or by an anti-Scotish tourism group in England?
THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN (1971) - When the filmography for actor Thomas Hunter is mentioned, this film never comes up because he's not listed in the credits. This is odd because he has a speaking role, but there he is on the screen but not in the credits. The more interesting story is that actors L.Q. Jones and Alvy Moore decided to take a more active role in their careers, so they started the LQ/JAF production company. Their first film was directed by William O. Brown and was called THE WITCHMAKER. THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN was their second film and was directed by Bernard McEveety. For their third film, L.Q. took the director's chair and created the marvelous movie A BOY AND HIS DOG. Unfortunately, BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN is not a marvelous movie - but then neither was THE WITCHMAKER. Widower Charles Bateman, his girlfriend Ahna Capri and his daughter (introducing) Geri Reischi are driving through the desert when they come upon a car wreck. When they drive into the nearest town, they are attacked by the locals for they are the first people to be able to get in or out of the town for three days. Naturally, when the family try to leave the town, they see a little girl in the road causing them to veer off the road and crash. It turns out that the town is plagued with a coven of senior citizen witches, led by Strother Martin, who need 13 children to transfer their souls into so that they can live another life in "The Brotherhood of Satan". Sean MacGregor is credited with the original story with William Welch coming in to help with the screenplay. The film opens with the suggestion that a toy tank was responsible for becoming a real tank and crushing the car that Bateman finds later. In fact, all of the murders in the film are committed by children's toys, though the film never attempts to animate the toys, a la CHILD'S PLAY. Rather than scary, the film becomes annoying as it slowly reveals the menace and Bateman proves to be a less than compelling lead actor. Also in the film is Charles Robinson, whom I always remember for being in the Roundtable management training film "Welcome Aboard" co-starring Marianna Hill.
JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA .5 (2014) - Candid Camera with obscenities is not my kind of entertainment. I didn't see the original BAD GRANDPA, but this program plays like a behind the scenes DVD extra with production interviews and a review of the old age make-up put on Johnny Knoxville which resulted in Stephen Prouty getting an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. He lost to Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews for DALLAS BUYERS CLUB.
THE JAUNDICED EYE (1999) - There is no doubt regarding the worth of Nonny de la Pena's documentary about how two men's lives are destroyed when they are accused of child molestation. However, the film is a drag to watch as it goes over how an ex-wife and her new boyfriend accused the child's father of sexually abusing a five year old boy, partly because the father has come out of the closet as a gay man. Naturally, after the accusation, the boy is sent to a child services specialist who probes the child's story for details eventually convincing the boy that not only did the abuse occur, but suggesting details of the abuse that had never before occurred to the boy. Police investigators proceed with a "guilty until proven innocent" attitude and soon the father is charged along with his father and his mother. After spending four years in prison, the two men get a new lawyer who gets the case re-opened because of the inadequacy of the police investigation. While the prosecution decides to not re-prosecute the case due to a lack of sufficient evidence, the stigma will forever be attached to the accused.
KEEPING COMPANY (2021) - I guess this horror-comedy is intended to comment on insurance companies, drawing a parallel with an homicidal man and woman who kidnap people off the streets inorder to turn them into the meat they sell from their home based business. This is also supposed to relate to a "clean the streets" D.A. running for re-election whose campaign is to get the homeless off the streets. Devin Das and Ahmed Bharoocha are two insurance salesmen who fear losing their jobs with Gillian Vigman if their numbers don't improve. You see Vigman is a CEO and a CEO should have a yacht but accountant Rex Lee reports that she has already spent too much money on luxury items to be able to afford a yacht. After accidentally crashing into Jacob Grodnik's car, Das and Bharoocha decide to try and sell policies to the young man. Naturally, he kidnaps them on behalf of Grandma Suzanne Savoy and chains them in her basement. When Das' father, Bernard White, goes to the insurance company to find out where his son has gone, the company sends two employees to break into his house to investigate him. As a comedy, this film from writers Devin Das and director Josh Wallace isn't funny. As a horror film, it certainly has a lot of blood and guts but no chills and thrills.
THE SNOW QUEEN (2002) - I saw an animated version of this story when I was very young, but I can't identify which one. I remember being moved to tears when the heroine cries near the end which releases the boy from enslavement to the Snow Queen. Was it the 1957 Russian version? I don't know. In any case, none of the various versions of the story that I've seen as an adult has affected me as that version did when I was a child. Here I've just watched the two-part Hallmark Entertainment TV version, and found it mostly annoying. I've always been fond of Bridget Fonda, but she brings no power to her performance as the Snow Queen. Perhaps she realized her short comings, which is why she retired from acting after this job. Chelsea Hobbs is very appealing as the heroine, and it is a treat to see a story about a girl rescuing a boy, but with a total running time of over three hours this production is too long for writer Simon Moore and director David Wu to sustain interest.
ROMASANTA, aka ROMASANTA LA CASA DE LA BESTIA, aka ROMASANTA: THE WEREWOLF HUNT, aka WEREWOLF HUNTER: THE LEGEND OF ROMASANTA (2004) - In the early 2000s, American producer Brian Yuzna, best known for producing such films by director Stuart Gordon as RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND, started a company in Spain called Fantastic Factory with Julio Fernandez within the Barcelona based company Filmax. Alfredo Conde wrote a novel THE UNCERTAIN MEMOIRS OF A GALICIAN WOLFMAN: ROMASANTA, based on the 1851 true story of Manuel Blanco Romasanta, Spain's first documented serial killer who was defended in court as suffering from clinical lycanthropy. The case had already inspired the 1968 Spanish film EL BOSQUE DEL LOBO. With director Paco Plaza, Yuzna and Fernandez fashioned an English language feature with Julian Sands playing Romasanta. A question that is not addressed - if Romasanta killed because he was a "wolf man", why did he take way the fat from his victims to make and sell soap? Plaza tells his story in a slow and atmospheric way, with Sands appearing in the lives of his victims as someone wanting to help them. We only see him transform during testimony by a man claiming to be under Sands' control, so it is shown in an hallucinatory manner. The real story of the film involves Elsa Pataky as a woman who falls in love with Sands, and he with her, but seeks revenge after she realizes that he killed her sisters. Unfortunately, the film is never compelling and the pacing becomes irritating. Pataky would go on to appear in 4 installments of the FAST & FURIOUS series, while Plaza would score big with REC in 2007.
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Charles Gilbert Watched:
FORT YUMA GOLD (1966) Guiliano Gemma plays Confederate agent Gary Diamond (sounds like Gary Hammond in some of the dialogue) who must warn comrades of a pending gold heist at the Union fort. Civilian cutthroats parcel to the scheme capture him and submit him to a torture of exposing his eyes to the searing sun. He's blinded, and later stoned, but recovers to finish his mission. Dan Vadis plays crooked town boss Nelson Riggs displaying little action.
The Untouchables 'The Torpedo' S4E28 B&W.Charles McGraw is an aging enforcer losing his nerve serving mob boss John Anderson, who is having booze disputes with foe James Griffith. Ida Lupino was the director.
Highway Patrol 'Harbor Story' S1E19 B&W. Stuart Whitman in his first of 13 appearances but this time as a skin diver overcome on the beach by three bank robbers posing as fishermen. Guy Williams makes an appearance as a patrolman.
Beverly Hillbillies 'Mr. Universe' S6E08. Golden era bodybuilder Dave Draper poses as an arranged date for Elly, but the preening playboy Troy Apollo (John Ashley) groomed by another banker (Roy Roberts), tries to muscle in.
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Angel Rivera Highly enjoyed:
"Stand and Deliver"(1988) Classic film about a Hispanic Los Angeles High School teacher who teaches his Hispanic students calculus, so they can get college credit. When they all pass the calculus exam, the students meet with discrimination. Edward James Olmos as the teacher Jaime Escalante stands up for his students and helps them prove themselves.
"The Outer Limits"(1963-1965) Season One, episode one, "The Galaxy Being"
My favorite science fiction TV series. In this episode, Cliff Robertson is a radio station owner who accidentally brings an other dimensional being to Earth with serious consequences. In my opinion one of the best television science fiction shows ever.
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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:
Ok-tab-bang wang-se-ja / Rooftop prince (2012) – episodes 1 & 2
Mildly enjoyed:
Barbie (2023, Greta Gerwing)
Carry on spying (1964, Gerald Thomas)
Honoré de Marseille (1956, Maurice Régamey)
A time for killing (1967, Phil Karlson)
Miracle workers: end times – 10 episodes
The wheel of time – season 2 – episodes 1 to 3
Did not enjoy:
Contorted (2022, Kang Dong-hu)
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David Deal Enjoyed:
THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE (47)
BAD LANDS (39) - In 1875, Arizona sheriff Robert Barrat and his posse are hunting down a killer in the unforgiving desert. After 100 miles, the men are pinned down by Apache warriors, and one by one picked off by the invisible enemy. A body count western from Lew Landers, with a literate script and good performances, especially from Barrat. Noah Beery Jr and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams are among the posse. Recommended.
LAKE OF DRACULA (71)
QUEEN OF BLOOD (66)
THE FALCON TAKES OVER (42)
Mildly Enjoyed
SAGUARO (68) - After Kirk Morris' family is killed by Mexican bandido Alan Steel, he takes a sheriff job in order to get revenge. Curious western featuring three musclemen (Gordon Mitchell plays a no nonsense, black-clad saloon owner) and Larry Ward plays a suspicious doctor named Saguaro. This spaghetti never rises above the average, but Alan Steel does shows charisma as the badass bandido.
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