To answer these trivia questions, please email me at scinema@earthlink.net.
Brain Teasers:
Can you name two actors who made Italian Westerns who had daughters who made movies accused of being child pornography?
Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that Walter Barnes daughter, Laura Wendel starred in MALADOLESCENZA when she was 11.
The other actor was William Berger, whose step-daughter Katya Berger starred in LITTLE LIPS when she was 12.
Which Italian Western begins with Klaus Kinski breaking rocks in the hot sun?
Bertrand van Wonterghem, Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew that it was E DIO DISSE A CAINO..., aka AND GOD SAID TO CAIN
Which Italian Western has the villain say "Adios, gringo" before being shot dead by Anthony Steffen?
Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew that it was W DJANGO, aka A MAN CALLED DJANGO.
Who was Renzo Genta?
Angel Rivera and George Grimes knew that he was an Italian writer and assistant director. He was hired by producer Richard Harrison to direct JESSE & LESTER - DUE FRATELLI IN UN POSTO CHIAMATO TRINITA, until Harrison fired him and took over directing the film himself. When asked about JESSE, Harrison didn't mention the previous director and took full credit for directing the movie.
And now for some new brain teasers:
Complete the lyric, "Behold the man called _____. The meanest gun in the West."
Can you name two Italian Westerns in which, in the English language versions, the final last line is stopped before the character can complete a derogatory phrase?
In which Italian film based on Greek mythology did the same actress play both Penelope and Circe?
Name the movies from which these images came.
Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Klaus Kinski in E DIO DISSE A CAINO.... aka AND GOD SAID TO CAIN.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Charles Gilbert, Bertrand van Wonterghem, Angel Rivera and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Raf Baldassarre and Christopher Lee in ERCOLE AL CENTRO DELLA TERRA, aka HERCULES AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD, aka HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD.
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 frame grab of Mario Girotti, aka Terence Hill, in LE MERAVIGLIE DI ALADINO, aka THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?
Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's frame grab from THRONE OF BLOOD.
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:
Mildly enjoyed:
ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT, aka ICE AGE 4 (2012) - All of the films in this series are nonsensical, but usually have enough humor to keep them watchable. A talented vocal cast also helped. While none of the films in this series have much in the way of scientific information, this installment ventures into myth with appearances by Sirens and Atlantis - though an Atlantis populated by Skrats who worship acorns. Facing certain death, Sid, voiced by John Leguizamo, cries out, "Find me a wife and tell her that I love her." If the ape-like Captain Gutt, voiced by Peter Dinklage, can turn an iceberg into a pirate ship and whistle for help from sharks, why don't they help in the final fight? Two feature films followed the box office success of CONTINENTAL DRIFT, though BOILING POINT isn't scheduled to be released until 2027. There were also two TV specials.
RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (2009) - In 1968, Alexander Key published his novel ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, about a brother and sister from outer space, who have lost their memories. In 1975, the Walt Disney Company made a movie based on the book which featured Walter Barnes in a supporting role. The film was co-produced by Jerome Courtland with whom Barnes co-starred on the Tales of the Vikings TV series. ESCAPE was successful enough for Disney to produce a sequel, RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN. Key was hired by Disney to write the novelization of the sequel's screenplay credited to Malcolm Marmorstein. Both feature films were directed by John Hough, who gave the material a whimsical lightness in keeping with films rated "G" at the time. In 1982, Disney made Beyond Witch Mountain as a movie for CBS-TV. In 1995, Disney remade Escape To Witch Mountain for ABC-TV featuring child actress Elisabeth Moss. In 2009, Disney decided it was time for an updated remake of the Alexander Key story will all of the special effects and car chases which had become standard for Sci-Fi movies after films by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. When everyone ends up in a UFO convention in Las Vegas, those more recent film get referenced. The new film begins with Government Agent Ciaran Hinds investigating a UFO crash in Nevada. Meanwhile, ex-getaway driver, who now drives a taxi in Las Vegas, Dwanye Johnson is fending off efforts by thugs to get him to return to the criminal life. Soon after delivering failed astrophysicist Carla Gugino to the UFO convention, Johnson finds AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig in the back seat of his cab. He agrees to deliver them to where they want to go after Ludwig shows him a wad of cash. Where they want to go is a deserted looking house in the desert. Soon Hinds and his government goons, including Tom Everett Scott, appear to try and capture the children, while an extraterrestrial assassin also shows up to kill them. The child actors from the first two WITCH MOUNTAIN movies, Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, have cameo appearances. With the help of auto mechanic Cheech Marin and UFO expert Garry Marshall, our heroes set off to the top secret government base inside Witch Mountain where the children's space ship is being held. I first became aware of AnnaSophia Robb when I watched Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004) on the WB-TV, which was co-executive produced by Julia Roberts. But I became a fan from her performance in BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA. I first became a fan of Carla Gugino in the 2003 TV series Karen Sisco, and even put up with the 2005 series Threshold because of her. I have a prejudice against professional wrestlers becoming actors, but Dwayne Johnson's performance in this exciting film won me over. Andy Fickman directed.
Did not enjoy:
EL PUEBLO FANTASMA, aka GHOST TOWN (1965) - A Mexican version of CURSE OF THE UNDEAD (1959). Rodolfo de Anda is the son of a notorious bandit in Mexico, who wants to redeem his name from his father's reputation - of which he is often reminded by the many performers of a popular song about his father. Fernando Lujan is Rio Kid, who mysteriously appears every time some trigger happy gunman starts bragging about how they are the fastest. Oddly, the corpses of those killed by Rio Kid are soon missing from the cemeteries where they are laid to rest. As Rio Kid knew de Anda's father, our hero wants to talk to him and sets off to San Jose, where Rio is believed to live. After about an hour into the film, we see that Rio rises from his grave and has really long K-9 teeth. (His K-9s are ridiculously long - like the teeth of a walrus.) Many wonder about the fact that Rio has been around so long, but still looks like a kid. And how he is never hurt no matter how many bullets have been shot into him. De Anda finally faces off with Rio and is able to shoot him dead. Elsa Cardenas had given de Anda an holy medal made of silver, which de Anda fashioned into silver bullets. Everyone freaks when Rio's corpse decomposes to show his real age, which he had been able to fend off with the blood of his gunslinger victims. Alfredo Ruanova is the credited writer while Alfredo B. Crevenna is the credited director. In CURSE OF THE UNDEAD, Pastor Eric Fleming kills vampire Michael Pate with bullets that have tiny crosses etched on them.
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (2012) - In 2011, childrens book author William Joyce, who also worked on conceptual and art design on TOY STORY and A BUG'S LIFE, published the first novel in what came to be known as The Guardians of Childhood series. Work on an animated movie version of the story had begun in 2005, but Joyce had to drop out of working on the production when his teenage daughter Mary Katherine was diagnosed with brain cancer. She died at the age of 18 in 2010, and the movie is dedicated to her. The movie was based on a rather fanciful mythology which seemed to be dictated by the Man In the Moon, whom we never really hear or see. It starts as a mystery as a young man comes out of a frozen body of water and realizes that he is Jack Frost, but he has no memory of his life or his purpose. There is a group called The Guardians, consisting of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman. The group is informed by the Moon that Jack Frost must now join the Guardians because Pitch Black, aka the Boogeyman, has returned after being banished after the Dark Ages. The Guardians work at keeping children's dreams full of wonder and peace and are kept alive by children's belief in them. No one believes in Pitch Black, so he sets out to end children's belief in the Guardians, and to replace their wonderful dreams with nightmares. It turns out that the baby teeth collected by the Tooth Fairy holds children's earliest memories, including Jack's. Jack joins the Guardians in an effort to get back his stolen teeth so that he can remember his past. As to be expected in a DreamWorks Animation feature, it all ends with an epic special effects battle. The one bit that got a chuckle out of me, is when the Guardians are racing to secure children's belief in them, they sound off - "Happy Easter", "Merry Christmas" and "Don't forget to floss!"
THE SINGING NUN (1966) - As I've been reading the two memoirs by Debbie Reynolds, I felt that this movie showing up on Turner Classic Movies was a good reason to see it again. I saw this when it hit theaters when I was about ten years old. Back then, it seemed that going to a movie about nuns was akin to going to church, and I was a practicing Roman Catholic. My sister, Betsy, had the original soundtrack album, so I knew the music pretty well. I also remember seeing Soeur Sourire, aka Sister Luc Gabriel, aka Jeanne-Paul Marie Deickers, when she performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Her recording of "Dominique" was heard seemingly everywhere, in between Beatles songs. Written by John Furia Jr. and Sally Benson, this movie is a complete fiction even though it pretended to be based on fact. Henry Koster directed and had no problem with playing the film for melodrama. While the film flirted with a romantic connection between Debbie Reynolds and record company executive Chad Everett, the real record company, Philips, cheated the real nun out of the money her recording made. Around the time this movie came out, Sister Luc was forced out of her convent due to a personality conflict with her superiors. Unable to use the name which Philips Records had given her, Sister Luc failed to have much success when she tried to continue her music career - partly because no one knew who she had been. On March 29, 1985, Sister Luc and the woman with whom she was living committed suicide. Needless to say, none of this was in this MGM musical and the ending in which Reynolds lived an happy life as a missionary in Africa was bullshit. Ricardo Montalban and Greer Garson played the authority figures in the convent, with Agnes Moorehead as a grouchy sister. I wonder if Michael Pate was relieved to not be playing an American Indian here. This was an early role for Katharine Ross, who played Pate's wayward daughter. I used to work for a company called Roundtable Films, which made management training films, and rarely did I think that the actors who appeared in these films were top professionals. Charles Robinson appeared in Welcome Aboard with Marianna Hill playing his wife. When I started to see him pop up in films like THE SAND PEBBLES and THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN, I realized that Roundtable was hiring actors with credits. Of course I knew Hill from EL CONDOR and HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER. In THE SINGING NUN, Reynolds' character was called "Sister Anne", and every time she was called that, I kept wondering if that's where the MC5 got the inspiration for their song.
THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE (1967) - Amicus co-producer Milton Subotsky is credited with the screenplay for this adaptation of Joseph Millard's 1941 novel THE GODS HATE KANSAS, and he seemed to have followed the book closely. The only real change was setting the story in England rather than Kansas. And in picking a title that is stupid. Where is "beyond space"? The plot was similar to INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and QUATERMASS 2, aka ENEMY FROM SPACE. A formation of meteorites falls on a farm. When scientists inspect the rocks, an alien life form inhabits them. The aliens can't take over our hero, Robert Hutton, because he's had a silver plate put in his head due to an automobile accident. Eventually, he and fellow scientist Zia Mohyeddin, figure out how to force the aliens from humans, starting with Hutton's lover Jennifer Jayne. They storm the alien compound and end up inside the alien rocket ship heading to the moon. On the moon, our heroes hear from the alien leader, Michael Gough, that they needed human slaves in order to build a new space ship hoping to return to their original planet - from which they left because it was dying. They are now dying, too, and they want to die on their original planet. Hutton tells the aliens that they didn't need to enslave humans. All they had to do was ask for help, and humans would help them. That's a pretty dull ending considering everything that Hutton had to do to get there. Freddie Francis was the director and the film really looks to have been a cheap effort. Why did they choose to have our hero drive around in what looks to be the same green vintage automobile used in Hammer's THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, aka THE DEVIL'S BRIDE? Was it because Special Effects man Les Bowie already had the green screen setup from DEVIL and they could save money if Hutton drove the same vehicle? Or is the opposite true because DEVIL came out in 1968? Fans of Katy Wild of THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964) will be disappointed that her role here is even smaller then her part in that Hammer film. If you, like me, thought that David Whitaker's music for the Amicus production of SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN was wrong for an Horror movie (though I've come to love it over the years), then you'll loath what James Stevens provides for this Amicus Science Fiction flick. Sometimes it is just a drum beat over a fight scene.
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Angel Rivera Highly enjoyed:
"FIREFLY" (2002) S1, E3; "Bushwhacked"
S1. E4: "Shindig"
S1: E5 "Safe"
S1: E6 "Our Mrs. Reynolds
S1: E7 "Jaynestown"
S1, E8 "Out of Gas"
All episodes are fun to watch. Recommended if you have not seen this series. Streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu.
"THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940)
Starring Tyrone Power as El Senior Zorro. Classic.
"THE BLACK SWAN: (1942)
A colorful tongue in cheek pirate film starring Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, George Sanders, Anthony Quinn and Laird Cregar with a wonderful score by Alfred Newman. And direction by Henry King.
"THE HAUNTING" (1963)
One of the scariest films I have ever seen. After many viewings it still gives me chills.
"SPARTACUS" (1960)
Don't know if I have ever seen the movie before, but viewing it recently I can see why it is considered a classic. Great performances by the entire cast. With direction by the late Stanley Kubrick.
Enjoyed:
"FINGERS AT THE WINDOW" (1942)
Mystery with Lew Ayres of the "Dr. Kildare" film series (1939-1942) playing an unemployed actor trying to solve a series of ax murders that lead us to the door of surgeon Basil Rathbone. Fun little film.
"BORN TO KILL" (1947)
Lawrence Tierney, probably best known today as the leader of the gang in "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) plays one of his best roles as a murderer who thinks he can get away with the crimes. Great cast headed by Claire Trevor, and featuring Walter Slezak and Elisha Cook Jr.
Mildly enjoyed:
"THE COCOANUTS" (1929)
The first of the Marx Brothers movies with the original four brothers based on their Broadway show with music by Irving Berlin.
"LOOK IN ANY WINDOW" (1961)
Paul Anka in a non-singing role plays a youth with a need to wear a full head mask and prowl the neighborhood peeking in windows like a "peeping tom". His parents are portrayed by Ruth Roman and Alex Nicol. Interesting little film with Jack Cassidy as a philandering husband out to make it with Ruth Roman. Anka sings the title song at the beginning of the film.
"LANTERNS" (2026) S1, E3 & 4
While I still have to get used to how they are fouling up the history of Green Lantern, the show still has some interesting moments and has not fouled up as much as the Ryan Reynold movie did.
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David Deal Enjoyed:
THE FALCON IN SAN FRANCISCO (45)
TALL MAN RIDING (55)
STOP-OVER FOREVER (64) - A flight attendant is shot dead in her hotel room in Sicily. Her friend (Ann Bell), another flight attendant, had swapped flights with the victim, and now she's convinced she was the intended target. A fun exercise in mystery and paranoia, this British thriller boasts interesting locations and a score by Edwin Astley.
SNAKE EYES (98) - Corrupt Atlantic City cop Nicholas Cage gets involved in a political assassination that happens during a boxing match. Brian de Palma's first-rate political thriller is an impressive cinematic experience worth seeking out.
THE SICILIAN CLAN (69)
THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS (11) - A scholar of ancient legends discovers an alien plot to invade Earth. Impressive low-budget adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's tale. Definitely worth a watch.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (59)
NIGHTMARE CASTLE (65)
Mildly enjoyed:
STARCRASH (78) - Caroline Munro stars in 90 minutes of garish 70's space silliness from Luigi Cozzi. It's bizarre to see Joe Spinell in this universe.
THE SUN NEVER SETS (39) - Colonial soldier Basil Rathbone and his brother Douglas Fairbanks Jr. are sent to the Gold Coast of Africa because of suspicions that scientist Lionel Atwill is setting up a Nazi radio station. It's true, he is. Roland V. Lee (who directed Rathbone in The Son of Frankenstein the same year) helmed this odd exotic, war time soap opera that skewers the British Empire but is most satisfying when Rathbone or Atwill are on the screen.
TEXAS RANGER (31) - Texas Ranger Buck Jones infiltrates the gang of Carmelita Geraghty. She's gone revengin' after local tycoon Harry Woods had her father killed and stole their ranch. This oater was only Jones' seventh starring talkie and despite some good photography, it's a real creaker. Strictly for Buck fans.
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Bertrand van Wonterghem Enjoyed:
Circonstances atténuantes (1939, Jean Boyer)
Naeildo chulgeun / See you at work tomorrow ! (2025, Jo Eun-sol) – episode 4
Mildly enjoyed:
The outer limits – episodes 'the invisible enemy' (1964, Byron Haskin) – 'wolf 359' (1964, Laslo Benedek)
Annette et la dame blonde (1942, Jean Dréville)
The blind waiter (short) (1980, Josh Becker)
Le château des quatre obèses (1939, Yvan Noé)
Did not enjoy:
Detour (1945, Edgar G. Ulmer)
Alien apocalypse (2005, Josh Becker)
Oedipus rex (short) (1972, Josh Becker)
Retour à l'aube (1938, Henri Decoin)
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