To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
From which Italian Western came the song "Lonesome Billy"?
George Grimes, Angel Rivera and Charles Gilbert knew that it was from LE PISTOLE NON DISCUTONO, aka BULLETS DON'T ARGUE.
From which Italian Western came the song "Ringo Came To Fight"?
George Grimes and Angel Rivera knew that it was from 100,000 DOLLARI PER RINGO, aka $100,000 FOR RINGO.
From which Italian Western came the song "Don't Lose Control"?
George Grimes and Angel Rivera knew that it was from E POI LO CHIAMARONO IL MAGNIFICO, aka MAN OF THE EAST.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Which Italian actress, born in 1941, worked with directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Damiano Damiani, before making seven Westerns, followed by working with Federico Fellini and Sergio Corbucci?
Which Italian Western featured American actors Gregory Walcott and Harry Carey Jr.?
Which Italian stuntman born in 1934 Calabria, would become a supporting actor in over 71 movies?
Name the movies from which these images came.
George Grimes and Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo of Rod Cameron and Mimmo Palmara in LE PISTOLE NON DISCUTONO, aka BULLETS DON'T ARGUE.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes identified last week's photo from LA CORTIGIANA DI BABILONIA, aka THE QUEEN OF BABYLON.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes identified last week's photo of Kieran Canter in BUIO OMEGA, aka BEYOND THE DARKNESS.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Fu Sheng bashing Chia-Jen Liang in MARCO POLO, aka THE FOUR ASSASSINS.
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:
Lafayette: The Lost Hero (2010) - This hour long TV documentary on the aristocratic French teenager who decided to join the cause of the American Revolution and became one of General George Washington's closest friends is very good. Particularly, in explaining how Gilbert du Mortier, Marquis de Lafayette's attempts to bring the American Revolution to France led to him being called a traitor by both the aristocracy and the revolutionaries. The role played by his wife, Adrienne de Noailles, Marquise de Lafayette, is a remarkable story in itself. Writer/director Oren Jacoby does a fine job of using clips from various movies to illustrate the film.
LA FAYETTE (1961) - It is a shame that I can only find an 83 minute TV print of what was originally an 158 minute Epic film in Super Technirama 70. What I can see of the battle scenes, it must have been quite spectacular when it was brand new on the screen. Probably the screenplay by Jean Bernard-Luc, Francois Ponthier, Suzy Prim (aka Suzanne Arduini), Jacques Sigurd and producer/director Jean Dreville is lacking depth in an attempt to be a swashbuckler, but the story is told cleanly and clearly. Michel Le Royer plays the title role adequately, but his future work was mostly for French TV and so he is virtually unknown outside of his home country. Prior to making LA FAYETTE, director Dreville had a great success with NORMANDIE-NIEMEN, a French Soviet co-production about French fighter pilots who escaped to the U.S.S.R. rather than surrender to the Nazis. Some of the big battle scenes in LA FAYETTE look to have been filmed in the same valley in Yugoslavia (aka Serbia) that held the battle scenes in HANNIBAL and CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS. Possibly the same area when the 1956 WAR AND PEACE was shot. The first half of LA FAYETTE concerns our hero's attempt to leave France to join the American cause. Albert Remy plays Louis XVI while Liselotte Pulver plays Marie Antoinette. Orson Welles delivered another hammy performance as Benjamin Franklin while Howard St. John made an acceptable George Washington. It is nice that the filmmakers made room for Pascale Audret as Adrienne de La Fayette, who is depicted as winning Marie Antoinette over to the American cause. Jack Hawkins made an impressive General Cornwallis, and that sounds like his real voice on the English soundtrack. Also in the film is Wolfgang Preiss as another foreigner willing to help the Americans. Edmund Purdom, Folco Lulli and Vittorio De Sica are also in the cast. The IMDb also lists Georges Riviere and Rosanna Schiaffino, but their parts were probably cut out of the print I saw. There is no mention of what La Fayette did after returning to France - how he tried to inspire a French Revolution in a way similar to the American one - but was declared a traitor when he tried to prevent the execution of the King and Queen.
SALVATORE GIULIANO (1962) - This is not a biographical flim about the Sicilian bandit who joined the separatist movement before forming an alliance with the Mafia. Aside from the film opening with Pietro Cammarata portraying the title character as a dead man (and doing a remarkably convincing job of it), I didn't think that Giuliano was shown during the flashbacks. However, on the commentary track for the Criterion Collection DVD, Peter Cowie mentioned that Giuliano was known for wearing a long white coat, so he does appear, but he is never identified and only shown from a distance. The first half of the movie gives an impressionistic overview of Giuliano's career while intercutting the authorities giving a false report on the bandit's death. The second half of the film, and the real meat of it, concerns the tribunal investigating the Portella della Ginestra massacre. On May 1, 1947, a peaceful May Day celebration in the countryside was shot up with many fatalities. As Giuliano had sided with Anti-Communist politicians, he was blamed for the action. Many felt that Giuliano was able to avoid arrest for a while because he had a list of the important people who put him up to the attack. In any case, his best friend, Gaspare Pisciotta - played by Frank Wolff, killed Giuliano, but officers of the carabinieri - the Italian military police, moved the body to a vacant lot and then proceeded to make up the story about the bandit being killed by the authorities in a gun fight. How much did the Mafia play a part in getting to Giuliano is an open question. Was the Mafia in cahoots with Italian government officials for the Portella della Ginestra massacre? During the tribunal, Pisciotta said that he knew and would speak when the government opened an investigation into the murder of Giuliano, but he was poisoned with strychnine while in prison and the investigation into Giuliano's murder was closed with the official report. Director Francesco Rosi wanted to make as accurate a document of the case as possible, which was only ten years old. The usual avenue of getting funding by a Government program was denied him, but he and producer Franco Cristaldi were able to get backing by Lux Film and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. He determined to shoot most of the film in Sicily, in the actual villages and mountains where the history took place. He also determined to use mostly non-professionals, many of whom were witnesses or participants in the events. With assistance from writers Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Enzo Provenzale and Franco Solinas, Rosi was able to structure his film in an innovative way - which proved, at first, to be a little hard to follow as he made no visual notation when he went into or out of a flashback. But his film was compelling and thought-provoking with remarkable work from a mostly non-professional cast. In addition to Frank Wolff in the complex role of Pisciotta, another professional actor, Salvo Randone, is a pleasure to watch as the presiding judge at the tribunal.
Mildly enjoyed:
LA MANSION DE LA NIEBLA, aka THE MURDER MANSION (1972) - Curiously, Ida Galli's on-screen credit, which is usually Evelyn Stewart - as it is in the European version of this film, is misspelled Evelin Stewart on the U.S. Avco/Embassy version. A narcissistic sports car driving Franco Fantasia, a motorcycle drifting Andres Resino, an hitchhiking Anna Lisa Nardi, Lawyer Eduardo Fajardo and his wife Yiena Samarina, along with the wealthy Analia Gade, all end up lost in the fog and stumble into a spooky mansion, next to an abandoned cemetery, at night. The beautiful Evelyn Stewart is there to greet them and to tell them of a ghost story regarding the mansion. She also tells of a story about a vampire relative. Meanwhile, Gade tries to get to sleep but keeps having flashbacks to the night her father, Jorge Rigaud, supposedly had a fatal heart attack while sleeping with her college friend. That was also the night that Gade decided to marry Alberto Dalbes, who is now seeking comfort in the bed of another woman because Gade won't have sex anymore. So, is this a ghost story? Is it a Vampire story? Or is this another lame early 1970s thriller which turns out to be an overly complicated murder plot? Writers Antonio Troiso and Luis G. de Blain don't devise anything interesting, but first time director Francisco Lara Polop gets some nice atmospheric images with cinematographer Guglielmo Mancori and production designer Jaime Perez Cubero with the help of a lot of fog. Composer Marcello Giombini lays the music on a bit thick, though.
Did not enjoy:
THE CHRISTINE JORGENSEN STORY (1970) - I don't think anyone could have made a safer, more middle-of-the-road version of this story than what producer Edward Small came up with here. It could have been a TV movie except for the few scenes of topless female nudity. It seems an odd assignment for director Irving Rapper, who went from the Bette Davis vehicle NOW, VOYAGER, to THE GLASS MENAGERIE, to three made in Italy epics: CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS, JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN and PONTIUS PILATE. Now here's the story of the most famous sex change operation of the 1950s. Rapper ended his directing career with 1978's BORN AGAIN - an attempt at character resurrection for convicted Watergate conspirator Charles Colson, played by Dean Jones.
THE FULL TREATMENT, aka STOP ME BEFORE I KILL (1960) - Another completely unconvincing Hammer "Psycho" thriller that reminds one more of SPELLBOUND than LES DIABOLIQUES. The hints of nudity by Diane Cilento are the most interesting element of this film version of Ronald Scott Thorn's novel. Recovering from an automobile accident, Ronald Lewis goes to the South of France with his wife, Cilento, where he keeps having incidents of wanting to strangle her. They bump into Psychiatrist Claude Dauphin who forces himself on them supposedly to help Lewis' violent mood swings. Is giving CO2 gas to a patient a real psychiatric technique? Reportedly this is one of director Val Guest's longest films, and it feels like it.
LOVELACE (2013) - Directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman are mostly known for their work in documentary films. They took a step towards using actors with HOWL with James Franco playing Allen Ginsberg, but LOVELACE is their first dramatic movie. Unfortunately, it is not compelling and for all of the recreations of scenes on television, it isn't convincing. Andy Bellin gets the credit for the screenplay but it feels like a watered-down version of what Linda Lovelace wrote about in ORDEAL. Whatever else, you can't fault producers Jason Weinberg, Jim Young, Heidi Jo Markel and Laura Rister for not going after well known actors: Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Sharon Stone, Juno Temple, Hank Azaria, Wes Bentley, Bobby Cannavale, James Franco, Debi Mazar, Chris Noth, Robert Patrick, Eric Roberts and Chloe Sevigny. I'm guessing that everyone thought that this portrait of the most famous person to make an X-Rated movie would be an important film. Unfortunately, it isn't. Even with nudity, this feels like a TV version of STAR 80. The final scene in which Linda is reconciled with her mother seems tacked on to give the movie an "happy" ending. It is interesting to see Amanda Seyfried made up to look like she has the "bad skin" which Lovelace often thought she had.
The Penguin (2024) - I didn't see the point of 2022's THE BATMAN in turning a comic book superhero into a costumed consulting detective, and I don't seen the point of turning a comic book super villain into a deformed gangster with plot elements taken from The Sopranos. And to take 8 hours to tell a rather obvious story. Still, Cristin Milioti is very attractive in a black cocktail dress.
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David Deal Enjoyed:
O'HORTEN (07)
THERE'S GOING TO BE A PARTY (61)
SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH (68)
THE MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (33) - I've decided this is the superior version of the story. The two-strip Technicolor gives it a dream-like veneer, and (I'm sorry Vinnie) Lionel Atwill gives his performance a depth that surpasses the remake.
PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (85)
THE RAVEN (63)
FLIPSIDE (23) - This is not what I expected, and that's not a bad thing. Christopher Wilcha patches together several of his unfinished documentaries in a therapeutic attempt to face what he feels are his greatest failings. This pretty much covers the gamut of emotions and manages to be funny too. If you're curious, go for it.
CASTLE OF BLOOD (64)
THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (39)
MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS (58)
KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (62)
Mildly Enjoyed
INN OF THE GRUESOME DOLLS (67) - AKA The Devil's Girls. Essy Persson and her lover Erik Schumann attempt a smash-and-grab jewelry robbery but things, of course, go wrong. He runs and she is captured and sent to the slammer. Eventually Essy escapes with several of her inmates and makes for her former lover to even things up. This is a curious film; it is a German production set in Scotland (not really) that veers from relying on the formulaic to embracing the unexpected. It reminded me of a late-cycle Edgar Wallace product with its mixture of adventure, humor, pathos, and, yes, revenge. It's not unlikeable but it's more of a curio for completionists.
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Angel Rivera Highly enjoyed:
"20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA" (1954)
I have been wanting to see this film for the longest time. Finally saw it on Disney plus and was not disappointed. James Mason while not a fan of his, admired his take on the enigmatic Captain Nemo. The other standout in the cast is Paul Lukas as Prof. Aronnax, , the man of science who is sometimes sympathetic to Nemo. The special effects are not too dated and the way the Nautilus destroys all those warships is well done. All in all a well worthwhile experience.
"SELENA Y LOS DINOS" (2025)
For those who enjoyed the movie and music of the murdered Tejano star, will be surprised and pleased. Using real footage of the Tejano star and her family shows you how charismatic a star she was. Very talented as a singer and performer one could see how she captivated her audiences. I had never heard of Selena before her tragic death, but I grew to enjoy her music and to see what a great talent she was. A very interesting Netflix documentary.
"THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE"(1966)
I had been wanting to see this movie since I was a kid, but I always missed it when it aired. I was finally able to catch it on TCM, of all places and was not disappointed. A spy spoof; Fred Flintstone is asked to take the place of lookalike spy, Rock Slag who is put out of commission by the minions of the villainous Green Goose. Fred's mission is to aid in the capture of the Green Goose. After some misunderstandings and alright musical interludes Fred emerges as the hero. Since "The Flintstones" is one of my favorite TV shows, I was sure glad at last to see this movie version of the show.
I have been wanting to see this film for the longest time. Finally saw it on Disney plus and was not disappointed. James Mason while not a fan of his, admired his take on the enigmatic Captain Nemo. The other standout in the cast is Paul Lukas as Prof. Aronnax, , the man of science who is sometimes sympathetic to Nemo. The special effects are not too dated and the way the Nautilus destroys all those warships is well done. All in all a well worthwhile experience.
"SELENA Y LOS DINOS" (2025)
For those who enjoyed the movie and music of the murdered Tejano star, will be surprised and pleased. Using real footage of the Tejano star and her family shows you how charismatic a star she was. Very talented as a singer and performer one could see how she captivated her audiences. I had never heard of Selena before her tragic death, but I grew to enjoy her music and to see what a great talent she was. A very interesting Netflix documentary.
"THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE"(1966)
I had been wanting to see this movie since I was a kid, but I always missed it when it aired. I was finally able to catch it on TCM, of all places and was not disappointed. A spy spoof; Fred Flintstone is asked to take the place of lookalike spy, Rock Slag who is put out of commission by the minions of the villainous Green Goose. Fred's mission is to aid in the capture of the Green Goose. After some misunderstandings and alright musical interludes Fred emerges as the hero. Since "The Flintstones" is one of my favorite TV shows, I was sure glad at last to see this movie version of the show.
Enjoyed:
GHIDORAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER" (1964)
Originally released in an English dubbed version in the US, under the title, "Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster" I was curious to see the original Japanese version with its English subtitles. (Most of the "Godzila" films of the sixties and/or the Toho Studios' monster movies are now being shown on Cable TV in their original movie's forms with English subtitles.) The story is still the same. The only difference is the princess who was taken over apparently by benevolent Venusians, (In the English dubbed version she was supposed to be from Mars.) Also gone is a scene where Mothra's little "fairies" are translating "monster talk" to their Japanese friends and at one point exclaim, "Oh Godzilla, what language?" Little touches like that aside, the film is still basically the same as the English dubbed version that was released back in the sixties.
Originally released in an English dubbed version in the US, under the title, "Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster" I was curious to see the original Japanese version with its English subtitles. (Most of the "Godzila" films of the sixties and/or the Toho Studios' monster movies are now being shown on Cable TV in their original movie's forms with English subtitles.) The story is still the same. The only difference is the princess who was taken over apparently by benevolent Venusians, (In the English dubbed version she was supposed to be from Mars.) Also gone is a scene where Mothra's little "fairies" are translating "monster talk" to their Japanese friends and at one point exclaim, "Oh Godzilla, what language?" Little touches like that aside, the film is still basically the same as the English dubbed version that was released back in the sixties.
Mildly enjoyed:
"THE KARATE KILLERS" (1966) Addendum"
Last time I forgot to mention that Joan Crawford was playing the wife of the scientist who can turn sea water into gold and that she helped kill him as she was having an affair with THRUSH agent Herbert Lom. When she is unable to tell Lom where the formula is Lom has her killed. Solo and Kuryakin, then come across her corpse. She is also the stepmother of Km Darby and the mother of her step-sisters. Diane McBain (Step-sister #1) is naked because her husband, Telly Savalas, who is a temperamental count has hidden her clothing. Jill Ireland (Step-sister #2) who "shakes" for a living, dancing at a "discotek" in nothing more than a two piece bikini which reveals her sexy and curvy body. She was arrested by Constable Terry-Thomas for indecent exposure. Step-sister #3 is Danielle de Metz, whose boyfriend is Curt Jurgens.There was supposed to be a fourth step-sister, but we never meet her as the photograph of her step-father which each was supposed to have a piece of the formula is shown in a magazine. The pop group, "Every Mother's Son" performs their hit, "Come On Down to My Boat" in a scene at the discotek where Ireland "shakes".
Last time I forgot to mention that Joan Crawford was playing the wife of the scientist who can turn sea water into gold and that she helped kill him as she was having an affair with THRUSH agent Herbert Lom. When she is unable to tell Lom where the formula is Lom has her killed. Solo and Kuryakin, then come across her corpse. She is also the stepmother of Km Darby and the mother of her step-sisters. Diane McBain (Step-sister #1) is naked because her husband, Telly Savalas, who is a temperamental count has hidden her clothing. Jill Ireland (Step-sister #2) who "shakes" for a living, dancing at a "discotek" in nothing more than a two piece bikini which reveals her sexy and curvy body. She was arrested by Constable Terry-Thomas for indecent exposure. Step-sister #3 is Danielle de Metz, whose boyfriend is Curt Jurgens.There was supposed to be a fourth step-sister, but we never meet her as the photograph of her step-father which each was supposed to have a piece of the formula is shown in a magazine. The pop group, "Every Mother's Son" performs their hit, "Come On Down to My Boat" in a scene at the discotek where Ireland "shakes".
"THE HELICOPTER SPIES" (1968)
The seventh "Man from U.N.C.L.E.' movie has our heroes surveying the damage to a small African village that has been wiped out by a super Laser-like weapon in a helicopter. Thus becoming "the Helicopter spies" of the title. In order to stop the super weapon by stealing the "thermal prism" that powers it; they enlist the aid of Bradford Dillman, a master thief. While Dillman is successful in acquiring the "prism", he decides to keep it for himself to aid him in his own desire to rule the world with his Third Way cult. The men from U.N.C.L.E. are able to stop Dillman by locking him in the rocket he was going to use to put the prism into orbit over the Earth and destroying it with him in it.
"HOW TO STEAL THE WORLD" (1968)
The last of the "U.N.C.L.E.movies, made from the two part episode that happened to also be the last two episodes of the series. Former U.N.C.L.E. agent, Barry Sullivan has kidnapped several scientists in order to help make a gas that will make everyone compliant to his orders for "peace" and make a new world order.The U.N.C.L.E. agents thwart his plans and the world is saved again.
The seventh "Man from U.N.C.L.E.' movie has our heroes surveying the damage to a small African village that has been wiped out by a super Laser-like weapon in a helicopter. Thus becoming "the Helicopter spies" of the title. In order to stop the super weapon by stealing the "thermal prism" that powers it; they enlist the aid of Bradford Dillman, a master thief. While Dillman is successful in acquiring the "prism", he decides to keep it for himself to aid him in his own desire to rule the world with his Third Way cult. The men from U.N.C.L.E. are able to stop Dillman by locking him in the rocket he was going to use to put the prism into orbit over the Earth and destroying it with him in it.
"HOW TO STEAL THE WORLD" (1968)
The last of the "U.N.C.L.E.movies, made from the two part episode that happened to also be the last two episodes of the series. Former U.N.C.L.E. agent, Barry Sullivan has kidnapped several scientists in order to help make a gas that will make everyone compliant to his orders for "peace" and make a new world order.The U.N.C.L.E. agents thwart his plans and the world is saved again.
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Charles Gilbert watched:
THE APE MAN (1943) Colorized. Bela Lugosi (my favorite Mary Shelley monster over at Universal the same year) moonlighting at Monogram. As a mad doctor he's been experimenting on himself with ape serum, and is now partially bent over and transformed with heavy facial hair. But he's seeking reversal, and needs human spinal fluid, even if it means murder to get it.
THE CORPSE VANISHES (1942) Colorized. Quite entertaining bit of pulp fiction again with Lugosi. Pernicious Dr. Lorenz is abducting youthful brides just as they pass out at the alter from a whiff of his tainted orchids. (they're not really corpses, just hypnotized into a deathless cataleptic trance). His baleful wife needs their bodily fluids to stay young looking. He is stabbed in the end by his elder assistant seeking revenge for the slaying of her two sons (one an oafish creatin, the other a dwarf who had helped in the abductions) at the hands of the perfidious doctor.
THE SHORTEST DAY (1966) B&W. The numerous actors appearing in this agreed to offer their talents for free to help avert bankruptcy at Titanus productions. I spotted Gordon Scott at about 33 minutes yelling out from a foxhole "Remember the Alamo." But I didn't see where Steve Reeves appeared.
THE THING (1982) The alien manifests as a an infectional threat that hideously morphs into likenesses of most of the Antarctic crew, rather than as a monolithic brute as in the Howard Hawks version.
THREE RUTHLESS ONES (1963) Three lads witness the murder of their father at the homestead. As the years go by one of them (Chet/Robert Hundar) becomes excessively bitter and aggressive, while Jeff (Richard Harrison) and Brad (Miguel Palenzuela) not so much. The leader of the gang responsible for their loss has become the leading citizen in another town. Gloria Milland plays the boys' mother.
THE THING (1982) The alien manifests as a an infectional threat that hideously morphs into likenesses of most of the Antarctic crew, rather than as a monolithic brute as in the Howard Hawks version.
THREE RUTHLESS ONES (1963) Three lads witness the murder of their father at the homestead. As the years go by one of them (Chet/Robert Hundar) becomes excessively bitter and aggressive, while Jeff (Richard Harrison) and Brad (Miguel Palenzuela) not so much. The leader of the gang responsible for their loss has become the leading citizen in another town. Gloria Milland plays the boys' mother.
FIRE OVER ROME (1965) Neurotic Nero is persecuting Chrstians via his Pretorian guard, but soldiers of the tenth legion led by Marcus Valerius (Lange Jeffries) are objecting.
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