April 6 - 12, 2024

 

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

Brain Teasers:

Bertrand van Wonterghem asks, "Which Italian Western actor made five films with his biological son and two with his adopted son?"

Tom Betts knew that it was Terence Hill.

The step-daughter of which Italian Western star performed nude at the age of 12 in an Italian movie?

No one has answered this question yet.

The English version of which Italian Western ends with the line "The Red and the Black"?

No one has answered this question yet.

Complete the lyric: "She talks about a night without a ____."

No one has answered this one yet.

Which Italian/Spanish Western ends with our "hero" riding away from two kids playing at screaming?

Tom Betts knew that it was SE SEI VIVO SPARA, aka IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, SHOOT, aka DJANGO KILL!

Which Italian/Spanish Western begins with someone trying to pry a gold tooth out of a dead man's mouth?

No one has answered this question yet.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which Italian Western featured two actors who were born in Cuba?

Which Italian Western star, born in France in 1930, claimed Irish nationality?

By what name is Franco Martinelli better known?

Name the movies from which these images came.

Tom Betts identified last week's frame grab of Gianni Garko and Claudio Camaso in PER 1000,000 DOLLARI T'AMMAZZO, aka VENGEANCE IS MINE.

Above a new photo.

Can you identify from what movie it came?

No one identified the above frame grab yet.

Can you identify from what movie it came?

No one identified the above frame grab yet.

Can you name from what movie it came?

No one has identified the above photo yet.

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:

Enjoyed:

Moses The Lawgiver (1975) - When I was a kid, going to see director Cecil B. DeMille's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS in a theater seemed almost a religious duty - like going to church. As a teenager, I became offended by DeMille's vulgar spectacle when I saw it during a theatrical revival. Now, as an adult atheist, I can enjoy THE TEN COMMANDMENTS as a vulgar spectacle, but I find the six-hour TV mini-series Moses The Lawgiver a much more satisfying drama. Now, Ennio Morricone provides the TV production with a more spiritual sounding music score - which occasionally is reminiscent to what he wrote for director Gillo Pontecorvo's QUEIMADA, aka BURN, than the booming majestic score DeMille got from Elmer Bernstein, but that fits the more realistic and human scale director Gianfranco De Bosio brought to the material. Anthony Burgess, of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, fashioned, along with Vittorio Bonicelli, Bernardino Zapponi and director De Bosio, a script which does not slam home a religious message, but rather delineates the different perspectives involved in trying to create a new culture based on an absolute law. For every miracle, there is someone bringing a more modern scientific explanation to it. And this version doesn't shy away from showing the sins of the Children of Israel which led to their having to wander in the desert for 40 years. And this version doesn't shy away for the murderous combat the Israelites had to commit to take "the Promised Land" from the people who already lived there. Lord Lew Grade produced this series in Israel and Italy, and stuffed the cast with marvelous performers like Burt Lancaster (whose younger self was played by his son Bill), Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Ingrid Thulin (as the adult Miriam, whose younger self was played by the gorgeous Galia Kohn, who seems to have never made another film), Marina Berti, Mariangela Melato, Laurent Terzieff, Paul Muller, Umberto Raho, Michele Placido and Paul L. Smith. Richard Johnson provided the narration. Mario Bava was responsible for the Special Visual Effects. 

Mildly enjoyed:

 Unsung "Daniel Lawrence" (2024)

Uncnsrd "Tamela Mann" (2024)

 

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

David Deal Enjoyed:

A COLT IS MY PASSPORT (67) - Jo Shishido and his partner go on the lam after completing a hit on a mob boss. Soon, they figure out they are a bargaining chip in the gang war they were hoping to avoid. Another first class Japanese crime flick with the prime film noir anti-hero Shishido. Stylish in an alienated, almost other-worldly way, this is one of the top offerings from Nikkatsu. Highly recommended.

UFO: EXCLUSIVE (78) - Another classic UFO documentary, this time directed by Wheeler Dixon. Sidney Paul narrates this mix of UFO footage, animation and lots of baseless conjecture with a rockin' soundtrack. No interviews with "experts" to get in the way of the trippy goings on either. Also see the truly delirious Dixon concoction The Amazing World of Ghosts, again narrated by Paul.

FRIDA (02)

CASTLE OF BLOOD (64)

APOCALYPSE NOW (79) - The 4K is impressive.

CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE (64)

Mildly Enjoyed

SUPER-SLEUTH (37) - Jack Oakey is a self-absorbed movie sleuth who becomes involved with a real serial killer. This RKO comedy-mystery has an interesting cast (Ann Sothern, Eduardo Ciannelli, Edgar Kennedy, Joan Woodbury, Paul Guilfoyle, and Willie Best) but little else to recommend it. The comedy isn't funny, and the Willie Best sequences are unfortunate. There are a few horror elements but it's not enough to save this programmer from its deserved obscurity.

SCORPIO (73) - Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon are CIA hitmen who complete a mission in Paris. Upon their return, we learn that Delon was supposed to kill Lancaster on the job but didn't. What transpires is a cat-and-mouse game that divides loyalties and requires sacrifices up the chain of command and from the friends who can never have friends. Michael Winner's late cycle espionage tale is deeply cynical, of course, but it lacks the spark to ignite any passion in the play. This is not to say the film doesn't have considerable merit. The deep cast is a pleasure and the locations and photography are tops. It's fun watching the leads but Lancaster appears tired but Delon's insincere persona fits the bill as the ambiguous, ambitious partner. Worth a watch for fans of espionage in the age of civilized savagery.

UFO SYNDROME (80) - A classic speculative documentary narrated by Anthony Eisley (Lightning Bolt). If you enjoy the "alien visitation" documentary subgenre (and I do) it's is a pretty fun one. This curious and persistent strand of documentary shows no sign of abating, but the classics are classics for a reason.

CORIOLANUS, HERO WITHOUT A COUNTRY (64) - Gordon Scott stars as a conflicted Roman hero in this overwritten and underwhelming peplum. Giorgio Ferroni's cheap and dull epic uses stock footage in a failed attempt to liven things up. Pass.

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

Angel Rivera Enjoyed:

"THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA" (2006) This one I also caught in its initial release. I enjoyed it then and now. The story of "no fashion sense" Anne Hathaway getting the job of assistant to the overbearing Meryl Streep, the editor-in-chief of High Fashion magazine, "Runway". The vivacious Emily Blunt is also in this one as the senior assistant.

[Side bar: Both Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway as award presenters at the most recent SAG awards get a "little revenge" against Meryl Streep as she joins them  to present an award. They give Streep a little bit of the treatment her character gave their characters in "TDWP"!] A pleasant little comedy-drama.

"SON OF A CRITCH" (2024) S3 E13 I found this Canadian coming of age sitcom very pleasant and amusing.

"YOUNG SHELDON" (2024) S E7 I also find this sitcom endearing, especially after the hot blonde, Emily Osment joined the cast.

"NOT DEAD YET" (2024) S2 E6 This sitcom stars the sexy Gina Rodriguez as a writer of obits who sees "dead people". Not great but it has its moments.

Mildly enjoyed:

"GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE" (2024) This one reminded me of those Godzilla films from the seventies where Godzilla appeared to be part of the Wrestle Mania franchise Kong seems to get more screen time as Kong searches his new home and finds a new enemy. This is where Godzilla is tagged in. Spoiler Alert: Mothra is also thrown in for good measure.  Not a bad movie, but just an alright one. I give it  a 6 out of 10.(10 being the higher score.)

"VALLEY GIRL" (1983) "THE CUTTING EDGE" (1992) While "channel surfing" I came across these two movies as both were ending."Valley Girl" has the comely Deborah Foreman and a young Nicholas Cage, when he could have been considered a heartthrob. "The Cutting Edge" has D. B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly as a mismatched Olympic figure skating team. I had seen both films during their initial releases and found them cute.

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

Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:

Au service du Tzar (1936, Pierre Billon)

Valley of the dragons (1961, Edward Bernds)

Le roi (1936, Pierre Colombier)

Branding in Seongsu-dong / Branding in Seongsu (2023, Jung Heon Soo) (tv serie) episodes 1 to 14

Mildly enjoyed:

Mulgoe / Monstrum (2017, Huh Jong-ho)

Onueldo sarangseureobgae / A good day to be a dog (2023, Kim Dae-woong) (tv serie) episodes 10 to 14

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

Charles Gilbert watched:

SHE WOLF OF LONDON (1946) B&W. June Lockhart plays an heiress about to marry Don Porter, but is peculiarly distressed living in a mansion with three other women, and no men. The Allenby curse has got her worried that she is the one committing grisly murders nearby. 

SCORCHY (1976) Connie Stevens is an undercover narc who follows a deal from Rome to Seattle. Courier William Smith leads her clandestinely to a wealthy couple she knows serving as facilitators to the final delivery.

BUFFALO BILL, HERO OF THE FAR WEST (1965) Gordon Scott in buckskin is commissioned by President Grant to keep peace with the Sioux and other American tribes encountering mischief from pale-face scoundrels. Regulars in the cast from the peplum era include Piero Lulli, Ugo Sasso, Franco Fantasia, Mirko Ellis,, Andrea Scotti, and Roldano Lupi. 

MAD DOG COLL (1961) B&W. Exceptional bio of gangster Vincent Coll. John David Chandler in the role essays a memorable performance with Brooke Hayward, Telly Savalas , and Jerry Orbach. Looks like, but isn't  a Roger Corman film. Clu Gulager played Coll less effectively in an episode of The Untouchables.

THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET (1943) B&W. Presented as sequel to MURDERS OF THE RUE MORGUE, a doctor and local prefect (Patric Knowles and Lloyd Corrigan) set out to solve the murder of a vaunted chanteuse (Marie Montez).

BULLET SCARS (1942) B&W. Bank robbers led by Frank Dillon (Howard de Silva) seek a country doctor's (Regis Toomey) help when one of the gang is critically wounded with a gunshot to the head. The patient happens to be the nurse's brother. Ben Weldon is on hand for comic relief.

 

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