August 24 - August 30, 2024

 

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

Brain Teasers:

On what Western is Luigi Montefiori thought to be an uncredited writer?

No one has answered this question yet.

What film did Luigi Montefiori write that resulted in his co-starring with Giuliano Gemma?

George Grimes, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was AMICO, STAMMI LONTANO ALMENO UN PALMO, aka BEN AND CHARLIE.

In what film directed by Federico Fellini did Luigi Montefiori appear?

George Grimes, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was FELLINI SATYRICON.

What film is thought to be partly directed by Luigi Montefiori without credit?

Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was ANNO 2020, I GLADIATORI DEL FUTURO, aka 2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS.

And now for some new brain teasers:

What deal did Gordon Mitchell make with Demofilo Fidani regarding the use of the Cave Studios?

What was "Super Spaghetti"?

What was the excuse the Italian government used to close the Cave Studios?

Name the movies from which these images came.

George Grimes, Charles Gilbert, Angel Rivera and Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's photo of Catherine Spaak and Jim Kelly in TAKE A HARD RIDE.

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 Loredana Nusciak and Carl Mohner in IL CROLLO DI ROMA, aka ROME IN FLAMES, aka THE FALL OF ROME.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's frame grab of Luciano Pigozzi, Marianne Leibl, Joachim Fuchsberger, Claudio Camaso and Giuliano Raffaelli in CONTRONATURA, aka SCHREIE IN DER NACHT, aka THE UNNATURALS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes identified last week's photo of David Chiang in BLOOD BROTHERS.

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: 

Dark Side of the '90s "The Viper Room: Hollywood's Sanctuary" season one episode two (2021) - While the death of River Phoenix in 1993 hangs over this program like a dark cloud, a number of people, including Pleasant Gehman, remember very fondly the scene Johnny Depp created when he bought The Central on the Sunset Strip and renamed it The Viper Room. I had stopped going to see live music years before 1993, but I used to often visit its environs: the Whisky A GoGo and Tower Video. The odd moment in this program is a shot of Hollywood Blvd. while the narrator is talking about the Sunset Strip, featuring the old Security Pacific sign. When I first moved to Hollywood, I tried to open an account at the Bank of America on Hollywood Blvd., but I didn't have two picture IDs, so they rejected me. I walked a block east and opened an account at Security Pacific in the Guaranty Building where I worked at Alert Answering Service. Years later, BoA bought out Security Pacific, and suddenly I was a BoA customer. Scientology bought that building in 1988 and turned the old bank space into an L. Ron Hubbard museum.

Dark Side of the '90s "Tabloid TV" (2022) - Maury Povich, among others, talk about how Australian and U.K. tabloid publisher Rupert Murdoch bought The New York Post and then decided to bring that type of "journalism" to American TV. First came A Current Affair, which led to Hard Copy and Inside Edition being created by guys who used to work on A Current Affair. I was working at Radio and TV Reports when these programs first came on, so I witnessed their early success. This was back before Movietime became E! Entertainment Television, and was kind of like MTV: showing movie trailers instead of rock videos. 

Mildly enjoyed:

CON LUI CAVALCA LA MORTE, aka WITH HIM RIDES DEATH, aka DEATH RIDES ALONG (1967) - A more fun title for this would have been A HORSE FOR IDAHO JOE (or Kent according to the IMDb). Director Joseph Warren, aka Giuseppe Vari, delivers a breezy action Western running only 75 minutes despite its rather implausible premise. A rider gallops along a ridge while a telegraph operator pounds out a message. It is election time in Sacramento and Andrea Bosic is running for 

Senator. His gunmen murder three men that stand in his way, but no one seems to notice. The telegram reaches Bosic who gives it to his wife, Helene Chanel, to read. It says that pony express rider Mike Marshall is on his way from Washington with a letter that will put Bosic in jail. Bosic is counting on winning the election, which will give him immunity from prosecution, so he sends Paolo Giusti with a gang of men to stop Marshall. Why the information in the letter couldn't be sent by telegram is never addressed. And if the information was already in Washington, how could Bosic hope to gain his Senate seat? In any case, Marshall proves to be incredibly resilient against whatever is thrown against him. From where came the idea that killing a pony express rider would lead to too much trouble, so the bad guys are determined to only stop him? But it is okay to beat him up, drag him into the middle of nowhere and hope that coyotes and wolves will kill him? Luckily, a wagon rumbles by led by the strong willed Luisa Della Noce, who wants to find gold, even though she is told its all been found. He beautiful daughter, Carole Andre, takes a liking to Marshall as they nurse him back to health. Also with the two women are old man John McDouglas, aka Giuseppe Addobbati, and a young hot blooded Mexican. Needing to get to Sacramento before the election, Marshall steals an horse from the people on the wagon and gets back his mail bag, but the horse is killed in the action. On foot, Marshall is captured by Noce and company and she refuses to let him have another horse. Meanwhile, since Giusti has failed to stop Marshall, Chanel calls up on her old boyfriend Robert Hundar to do the job. Everything ends up as you would expect it, with the novelty of the final gunfight occurring after a player-piano finishes its tune. The humorous relationship between Noce and Marshall is fun and the romance between Marshall and Andre is also light and enjoyable. The music by Lallo Gori, aka Coriolano Gori, is good and bouncy and would be reused in a number of Westerns produced by Demofilo Fidani, aka Miles Deem.

JACKPOT! (2024) - While we await Marvel to do the sequel to SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, we can enjoy Simon Liu trying to kill Awkwafina in director Paul Feig's goofty action comedy with John Cena. Former child star Awkwafina returns to L.A. not knowing about the the new Grand Lottery in California. After the winner is announced, anyone can kill the winner in the next 24 hours and take the prize for themselves. Because a septic leak in the room she's rented has ruined all of her clothes, Awkwafina has to borrow an outfit from her landlady to go to an audition. Suddenly, there is a noise in her pocket and she finds that she it the winner of the lottery, and everyone in L.A. is trying to kill her. Free lance bodyguard John Cena shows up to offer to keep her alive for 24 hours for 10% of her winnings. What follows is a lot of action, mostly played for laughts but also sometimes gruesome, with Awkwafina making sarcastic comments almost non-stop.

AVENTURAS DEL OESTE, aka ADVENTURES IN THE WEST, aka SETTE ORE DI FUOCO, aka SEVEN HOURS OF GUNFIRE (1965) - I've got three versions of this movie, so I decided to watch the version which aired on Australia's late lamented SBS. They showed the Italian version, SETTE ORE DI FUOCO, with English subtitles, which ran about 84 minutes. Reportedly the screenplay by director Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent was based on a book by Angel de Zavala. I can find nothing about the source material, but the movie seems to have been intended to be a three hour epic, shortened for some unknown reason to under 90 minutes. Was it the intention to make a movie in the style of the French New Wave with just about no transitions, or did circumstances force the filmmakers to hack their movie to make it shorter? The film starts with a narrative legend to be read about the epic story of the Conquest of the Far West, with the courageous Buffalo Bill and Wild Billy Hitchcock bringing law to the land. (The Australian subtitles correct the name to be Wild Bill Hickock.) Then the film begins in Washington in 1860. A politician is congratulating a group of men on their help dealing with the Mormons. That is just a mention and there is no explanation about what the Mormon problem is. The problem at hand is that trouble is brewing with the Southern States and they need to come up with a faster system to relay news than the stagecoach. The solution: the Pony Express. Bill Hickok, played by Adrian Hoven (who would soon begin his career as a film producer), is suggested as one of the riders. In a Western outpost. little Bill Cody, played by Jaime Blanch, idolizes Hickok and tells his mother that he wants to be a Pony Express rider, too. When Hoven is wounded by some bandits who have taken over a relay station, Blanch shows up to continue Hoven's mission. The little boy succeeds and wins the admiration of his father, Rufino Ingles, his mother, Milagros Guijarro and the government. *Hard cut* to a grown up Bill, played by Clyde Rogers, aka Rick Van Nutter, leading a wagon train while news of Sioux Indians on the warpath is given. The wagon train is peopled by the usual characters to be found: including a bossy wife trying to keep her corpulent husband under control, a father seeking a new life with his growing daughter, and a pair of young lovers. Scouting ahead, Nutter comes up on a camp fire being tended by Native American Raf Baldassarre, who turns out to be the trusted companion of  Preacher Francisco Sanz and his niece Helga Sommerfeld. Sanz preaches peace and plans to bring his message to Sioux Chief Red Cloud, played by Ricardo Rodriquez. Nutter convinces Sanz and his people to join the wagon train, while in the camp of the peaceful Pawnee tribe, their "white" chief, Mariano Vidal Molina, accepts 500 rifles from gun runners Alvano de Luna and Lorenzo Robledo. He needs them because the same gun runners are supplying their long time enemy the Sioux. Getting his wagon train to the fort, Nutter is informed by Colonel Alfonso Rojas that they must find the gun runners supplying Indians with weapons. In the morning, Sanz, Sommerfeld and Baldassarre head off to talk peace with Rodriquez and Nutter heads to ask Molina for help in finding the gun runners. *Hard cut* to Nutter back at the fort when news comes in that Hoven and a troop of soldiers are being attacked by the Sioux. Nutter 

makes his way to join Hoven in the fight. *Hard cut* to Nutter and Hoven riding along with Nutter wanting to check on Sommerfeld in the camp of the Sioux. However, by Nutter showing up asking about the Preacher, our hero has convinced Rodriquez that he can't trust Sanz, and so he has Sommerfeld and and Baldassarre tied to stakes to be shot at with arrows to force the Preacher to reveal his devious plot. Luckily, Nutter shows up and agrees to single combat to gain the freedom of the prisoners. *Hard cut* to Nutter, Hoven, Sanz, Sommerfeld and Baldassarre coming upon a peddler from whom they get some beer. They soon come upon a cabin, where in Calamity Jane, played by Gloria Milland, is found wanting to beat up Hoven for continuing to run away from her. *Hard cut* to the settlement the settlers from the wagon train is being built which Nutter hopes will provide safety for Sanz and co. *Hard cut* to the leader of the gun runners, Antonio Molino Rojo, worrying that Molina will be able to identify de Luna and Robledo to Nutter. While trouble is brewing, Rojo doesn't want to leave until the last shipment of guns arrives by train. (While there are a number of conversations about waiting for the train to arrive, a train is never seen.) *Hard cut* to Rojo taking businessman Juan Cortes and his daughter Ester Vazquez to meet railroad surveyor Mario Morales in a saloon. Hoven takes an immediate interest in Vazquez and offers to  help fend off the unwanted advances to her from a very large drunken man. *Hard cut* to the morning when Sommerfeld is trying to convince Nutter to settle down, while Milland is noticably jealous of Hoven telling Vazquez that he'll see her in Custer. *Hard cut* to Nutter, Hoven and Molina arriving in Custer just as news breaks that gold has been found in the Black Hills. Rojo is also in town and he tells his people that they have to wait for the train to arrive. Molina has to leave to be with his tribe before the Sioux go on the war path again. Hoven finds Rojo talking to Vazquez, but she is happy to see Hoven inorder to say "goodbye" as she is leaving in the morning. In the morning, the Sioux attack the settlement and massacre all of the settlers from the wagon train. Baldassare is able to get Sanz and Sommerfeld on a wagon, along with Carlos Romero Marchent, to make a getaway. On the road, Sanz is killed by pursuing Indians. Soon after, Nutter arrives to find the settlement littered with bodies. *Hard cut* to Molina leading the remainder of his tribe into the fort saying that the Sioux massacred most of the Pawnee including his wife and child. *Hard cut* to Molina leading some soldiers into a skirmish with the Sioux. *Hard cut* to a man riding up on Milland as she is packing her wagon. He's got a letter from Hoven to her, which she can't read, so the man reads it for her. *Hard cut* to Nutter meeting with Colonel Rojas in which they plan a trap for Red Cloud in Custer. The rest of the movie flows pretty well without the jumps I've already indicated. So, I then check the Spanish language version that I have to see it differed at all. Most of the movie is identical, with only one change. During the saloon scene where Hoven sees Vazquez, Milland is upstairs getting one of the saloon girls to give her a fancy dress. When she comes downstairs and see the fight between Hoven and the drunk, she jumps in to help Hoven. When the fight is over, she is dismayed to see that Hoven is smitten with Vazquez. So it is time to see the German version that I have under the title Die letzte Kugel traf den Besten, aka THE LAST BULLET HIT THE BEST ONE. Perhaps as a way to deal with the problems I've previously noted, the German version is almost completely different. All of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino's music has been replaced by new music by John Cashell, which sounds very much like what Martin Bottcher writes for the WINNETOU movies. Extensive narration has been added as well as a lot of new footage, particularly of wagon trains. A scene of Milland and Hoven having a drinking session together is the first scene from Marchent's movie to appear in the German version, followed by Indians being attacked by White settlers with the narrator explaining why Red Cloud went on the warpath. The scene with the Washington politicians becomes a discussion about dealing with the Indian problem and then the film *dissolves* to a shot of Molina, Nutter and Hoven riding together. I don't speak German, but the bad Indians seem to now be Commanches instead of Sioux. In the scene between Hoven and little Jaime Blanch, Blanch is no longer the boyhood version of Nutter, but just an admirer of Hoven. The gun runners led by Rojo are introduced 30 minutes before they are in the Marchent film. The Germans don't use the scene in which Milland puts on a dress, and they add footage of a line of saloon girls dancing on the bar to the saloon scene before Hoven fights with the drunk. With all of the new footage and rearranging of the story elements, the German version ends up being only 74 minutes long. Watching this movie kept reminding me how Sergio Leone responded to the fact that he didn't feature Native Americans in his Westerns: In Europe they just didn't have the distinctive faces of Native Americans.

The Real West: "Red Cloud" (1993) - Most everyone knows that Wild Bill Hickok did not die as portrayed in SEVEN HOURS OF GUNFIRE. Well, neither did Red Cloud.

The Real West "The U.S. Civil War Out West" (1992)

The Real West "The Royal Canadian Mounted Police" (1994)

The Dark Side of Comedy "Joan Rivers" (2023) - When Joan Rivers guest hosted The Tonight Show, she would order transcripts of her monologues from the company for which I worked; Radio and TV Reports. Sometimes the transcriber would ask me to help decipher what was said. One Christmas I received a present from her; an alarm clock from Tiffany.

The Dark Side of Comedy "Norm MacDonald" (2023) - I've never found Norm MacDonald funny, so I was curious to see if a program talking about his "genius" would enlighten me. It didn't.

The Dark Side of the '90s "SNL" (2024) - Unlike other episodes of this series, this one seemed to be only focused on the unpleasant aspects of the subject.

LO VOGLIO MORTO, aka I WANT HIM DEAD (1968) - Italian Westerns that try to portray American history usually come off unconvincing if not embarrassing. For example: UN DOLLARO BUCATO, aka ONE SILVER DOLLAR. Union soldiers did not return pistols to confederate soldiers with their barrells sawed off, and Colt .45s weren't issued until 1872, seven years after the U.S. Civil War. That handgun issue rears its head again with I WANT HIM DEAD, which takes place toward the end of the Civil War. Craig Hill is traveling in the desert with his sister, Cristina Businari, to buy a ranch. Hill leaves Businari in an hotel while he goes to see Jose Riesgo about the land deal. Hill has been working for the Confederacy for years to raise the money, which Max tells him is no good as Confederate money is now worthless. Meanwhile, Jose Manuel Martin and Andrea Scotti see Businari go into her hotel room, and decide to make mischief with her. When Hill arrives at the hotel, he finds his sister dead, and when he reports it to the barkeep, a drunk rebel ridicules him for caring. Hill slugs the drunk, the drunk pulls his gun and Hill kills him. Unfortunately, the drunk was Sheriff Remo De Angelis' brother, so instead of trying to help Hill find the killer of his sister, De Angelis attempts to kill Hill. A dropped tobacco pouch beside the dead woman is identified as belonging to Martin, who works for Andrea Bosic. Bosic is an arms dealer, who has about one million dollars tied up in weapons, so he needs the Civil War to continue. Bosic orders Martin to gather a team to blow up peace negotiators meeting to discuss the Confederacy's terms of surrender. Looking for Martin, Hill goes to Bosic's ranch and ends up saving Lea Massari from enslavement there. This is the only known credit for screenwriter Carlos Sarabia, and while it is ambitious, it isn't very convincing. This is one of those Westerns where our hero keeps shooting guns out of enemies' hands rather than killing them right away. And there are so many fist fights and torture scenes that it starts to feel repetitious. However, director Paolo Bianchini has a strong visual sense so the film is always great to look at, and Nico Fidenco delivers a splendid music score. Someone should have noticed that Almeria, Spain, does not look like Virginia.

Did not enjoy:

DJANGO SFIDA SARTANA, aka DJANGO AGAINST SARTANA (1970) - This was the first feature film by writer/director Pasquale Squitieri, who used the name William Redford in the credits. Was the resulting film the product of a new talent who didn't know what he was doing? Was Squitieri working with such a small budget and a short schedule that he didn't get what he needed to get to tell the story properly? In any case, the resulting film just seems stupid. Westerns tend to be rather simple efforts - there is a good guy and a bad guy and the good guy's story moves from plot point to plot point until the good guy and the bad guy go into combat. This film has got a workable plot - bad guy frames good guy's brother for a bank robbery, linking him to another good guy. First stupid point - town immediately believes in brother's guilt and lynches him, even though the good guy is universally proclaimed to be an hero. One good guy goes after the other good guy on simple hearsay. The two good guys immediately start to fight without even saying "hi". Second stupid point - after nearly killing each other, the two good guys catch their breath and a diary is found exonerating the other framed good guy. Where the hell did that diary come from, and how come no one read it before the fight? This stupid point - the evil banker is supposedly shot dead by the second good guy and buried. Our heroes dig up the banker's coffin and find it empty. Was the banker just playing dead before the entire town and everyone believed it without checking to see if he was really dead? If there was a substitute dead body that came into town, where did that body go? Add to those stupid points, that the film jumps from scene to scene with little or no connection. How did the first good guy happen to know that a friend of the second good guy would be on a stagecoach that he stops in the middle of nowhere? And how come the guys running the stagecoach allow the first good guy to threaten murder for information? Perhaps if Squitieri was able to provide some well done action, these script problems wouldn't be so glaring, but he doesn't. And who made the decision to reuse the theme song "They Call Him Django" from IL FIGLIO DI DJANGO, aka SON OF DJANGO, aka VENGEACE IS A COLT .45 for this film? Here, the hero is Django, not the son of Django, so who thought having a song proclaiming "He was my father" would fit? Piero Umiliani gets the composer credit on both films. Was he also responsible for the inappropriate jazzy sounds that are heard whenever they weren't using the "The Call Him Django" music? While George Ardisson, Tony Kendall and Jose Torres are acceptable in their roles, John Alvar and Adler Grey are rather awful in their's. How come no one on the production noted that Ardisson fires his six-shooter twelve times just to make the villain walk down a staircase?

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David Deal Enjoyed:

ARABIAN NIGHTS (42)

WINNETOU AND THE CROSS BREED (66)

OUTLAW: BLACK DAGGER (68) - The fifth installment of the Outlaw series starring Tetsuya Watari as Goro the Assassin. Once again, Goro tries to go straight but gets caught between two warring yakuza gangs. This film is just as clever and fun - and violent - as the previous four; terrific knife fights in abandoned or industrial spaces, broken bodies and hearts, and plenty of vengeance. This time there is a flashback to fill in some of Goro's backstory, and a dual role for Chieko Matsubara.

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (39)

THE MOLE MEN AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES (61)

ENNIO (21) - Excellent documentary on maestro Morricone. HIGHLY recommended,

PASSPORT TO HELL (65) - Please refer to the Eurospy Guide.

THE PINK PANTHER (63)

THE VAMPIRE BAT (33)

Mildly enjoyed:

THE LONE RANGER (56)

THE EVIL (78)

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Angel Rivera  Highly enjoyed:

"TARZAN: THE EPIC ADVENTURES" Pilot Episode: "Tarzan"s Return"(1996)
In 1996, in the hopes of gaining some of the success of the series, "Hercules: the Legendary Journeys" (1995-1999)
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. licensed "Tarzan" to a series loosely patterned after the Hercules series, but emphasizing the novels of ERB including his non-Tarzan sci-fi novels. The story takes place in the middle of the second Tarzan novel, "The Return of Tarzan" with Tarzan living in Europe and visiting a Paris casino with his friend D'Arnot portrayed by Dennis Christopher of "Breaking Away"(1979) fame and meeting several characters from the novel appearing in varied forms. There Tarzan, played by Joe Lara (who also portrayed Tarzan in a CBS TV movie, "Tarzan in Manhattan" (1989) meets Countess Colette de Coude portrayed by Lydie Denier who had portrayed Jane Porter in the 1991-1994 "Tarzan" series. The sexy Denier/Colette de Coude is involved with a Nikolas Rokoff played extremely well by Andrew Divoff, (an actor known for playing villains in such movies as "Air Force One" (1997) and "Another 48 Hours" (1990), who makes an enemy of Tarzan. Tarzan is trying to recover an amulet that Rokoff has stolen along with the countess. Tarzan comes to the rescue of the Countess de Coude, but Rokoff eludes Tarzan. Tarzan must now pursue Rokoff to Africa and stop him from gaining power from the amulet. The amulet opens a portal to the center of the Earth, Pellucidar, where live the Mahars, a race of winged creatures which rule Pellucidar and want to conquer the human race. Tarzan saves the day and continues to travel Africa having adventures in various types of fantastic places; all loosely based on other ERB fantasy places. While the series was moderately successful, (a second season was to be produced, but the company making the series went bankrupt.), the series became a guilty pleasure for ERB fans like me.

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:

Plunkett & Macleane (1999, Jake Scott)

Monsieur le curé fait sa crise (tv play) (2022, Ybao Benedetti)

Duels à Davidéjonatown (tv play) (2022, Julien Faustino)

Ryusei ningen zen / Zone fighter – episode «Destroy the terror – Beast missile !» (1973, Jun Fukuda)

Sikeurit gadeun / Secret garden – season 1 – episodes 1 to 3

Mildly enjoyed:

Horizon: an american saga - chapter 1 (2023, Kevin Costner)

Visitors – season 1 (8 epis) (2023, Simon Astier)

Did not enjoy:

Jackpot! (2023, Paul Feig)

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Charles Gilbert watched:

The Wild, Wild West "Night of the Big Blast" S2E4. Ida Lupino plays a mad scientist on the order of Frankenstein. She duplicates West and Gordon figures to infiltrate high level meetings in order ⁹to set off bombs. Ross Martin and Mala Powers got to practice their real life romance on screen in this episode.

THE NAKED EDGE (1961) B&W. Another Yank in London film, this time with Gary Cooper being suspected of murder by his wife Deborah Kerr after they've become fabulously wealthy. Muir Matheson score a bit overly operatic, and Coop's performance unconvincing, but it is somewhat difficult to take one's eyes off Ms. Kerr.  Peter Cushing can be seen grilling Cooper in a court room scene.

THE BACCHANTES (1961) A dearth of fecundity from drought plagues the ancient city of Thebes whose ruler Pentheus (Alberto Lupi) scepters a human sacrifice to appease the god Demeter.  European pulchritude on display in the form of Taina Elg and Alessandra Panera. Giorgio Ferroni was director. Looks like some catacombs scenes were later used in CONQUEST OF MYCENAE.

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