Friday, December 11, 2020

Week of December 12 - 18, 2020

 

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

Brain Teasers:

Which American actor married an Italian woman he demanded producer Dino De Laurentiis work for the actor?
It was Anthony Quinn during the production of BARABBAS.

Which American producer bought Dinocitta after it was abandoned by Dino de Laurentiis?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which Italian actor, whose first film role was in an Italian Western, appeared in a big budget movie version of a hit Broadway musical?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which Spanish actor, who appeared in movies about ancient Rome and in Westerns, was born to a Puerto Rican father and a Spanish mother?
No one has answered this question yet.

What Mexican actor went from playing a fictional Mexican revolutionary general in an Italian film to portraying Emiliano Zapata's brother in a Mexican film?
No one has answered this one yet.

What automobile company has an ad on TV using the theme music from I GIORNI DELL'IRA? 
No one has answered this one yet.

Charles Gilbert asks, "What former Italian model turned actor was born Luciano Stella?
Bertrand Van Wonterghem and George Grimes knew that it was Tony Kendall.

Which actress born in Bavaria worked with directors Lucio Fulci, Gianfranco Parolini, Sidney Pink, Tonino Valerii and Rene Cardona Jr.?
Bertrand Van Wonterghem and George Grimes knew that it was Christa Linder.

In what Western does Tomas Milian play O'Hara the Albino?
Bertrand Van Wonterghem, George Grimes and Rick Garibaldi knew that it was SENTENZA DI MORTE, aka DEATH SENTENCE.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which German born actress who worked with Giuliano Gemma and Jorge Mistral was in a movie where she was shot to death by Rodolfo de Anda?
Which Italian actress who worked with Dario Argento, Luchino Visconti and Mario Bava was once under contract in the U.S. to David O. Selznick?
Which American actor started his screen career in an Italian Western before continuing his career on American TV shows like Police Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Emergency! and Dallas?

Name the movies from which these images came.


Bertrand Van Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Thomas Hunter in UN FIUME DI DOLLARI, aka THE HILLS RUN RED.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?


Bertrand Van Wonterghem and Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo from IL TERRORE DEI BARBARI, aka GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?


Bertrand Van Wonterghem and Charles Gilbert identified last week's frame grab of Daniele Vargas in IL LADRO DI BAGDAD, aka THE THIEF OF BAGDAD.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?


George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Pat Ha in AN AMOROUS WOMAN OF TANG DYNASTY.
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:

THE COTTON CLUB ENCORE (2019) - I saw THE COTTON CLUB when it first opened in 1984 and didn't like it much. Over the decades since I've rewatched it and still don't like it much. I'm not familiar enough with the theatrical release to know what director Francis Coppola changed for this "encore" edition, but it is glorious. For the first time, the drama works. Scenes follow each other in a logical way and there is a satisfying payoff. I wonder how I would react to this edition if I hadn't already been exposed to the many faults in the material and now take them for granted. In any case, I like this encore.

DRINKING BUDDIES (2013) - At first, this film seems to be another romantic comedy about two couples that make the mistake of spending so much time together that it becomes apparent that they are mismatched. However, improvising from an outline, the cast and director Joe Swanberg, decide not to give us the expected ending. But they have invested the situations with such warmth and freshness that it is a joy to watch Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston. If you have an interest in the workings of a brewery, this is the movie for you.

Mildly enjoyed:

GHOST TRAIN (1941) - Similar to director Alfred Hitchcock's hit 1932 film NUMBER SEVENTEEN, GHOST TRAIN is based on a "famous" play by Arnold Ridley that mostly takes place on a single interior set before an exciting finale involving miniature trains and buses. Your enjoyment of this film depends on how amusing you find arch comedian Arthur Askey. Director Walter Forde is no Alfred Hitchcock, but he keeps the splendid cast from bumping into the furniture and moving at a good pace. Once you realize that the tale is set during World War 2 and that there are no spooks to be had, it isn't hard to figure out what's going on, but that doesn't take away the fun. 

Nate -  A One Man Show (2020) - Lily Tomlin used to portray a male character called Tommy Velour with a fake hairy chest exposed by a partly opened shirt. Natalie Palamides wrote and performed this show as a man with a fully opened shirt exposing a chest of fake male hair. During a scene in which she/he challenges a man to wrestle, she/he takes off her/his shirt and Palamides creates a situation which is just about impossible to report. The wrestling reminds one of Andy Kaufmann, but Kaufmann used the bit to ridicule women and never let on whether he meant it to be funny or to be taken seriously. Palamides obviously intends it to be funny and it never comes off as mean spirited. When Palamides rants about an ex-girlfriend being a whore, it reminds one of Sam Kinison, but Palamides is obviously playing a character. The fact that a member of the audience is the target of the abuse is uncomfortable, but not offensive. When Palamides strips down to reveal a huge phallus while taking a shower on stage, the uncomfortability factor gets more intense. There is so much audience interaction with this performance, it really shouldn't be billed as "A One Man Show". One can't help but wonder who different the show is when there is a different audience in attendance.

9 (2009) - While at the UCLA Animation Workshop in 2005, Shane Acker created a short film which was nominated for an Academy Award. Tim Burton was one of the Hollywood producers that decided that feature film based on the short was a good idea. Aside from an odd premise, the feature ended up being pretty much your standard action flick. Young man, or rag doll, discovered that he had to lead a band against an overwhelming villain. There was a lot of running ahead of explosions or fire balls. There was even a female with which he bonded who started off being more capable in action than was he. Now the odd premise was that a scientist created a machine that destroyed all life on Earth. Before he died, the scientist divided his soul into 9 parts and injected them into 9 rag dolls who don't know why they were created. All they knew was that a machine they call "the Beast" was trying to catch them. When he gained consciousness, our hero finds a spherical device which he ended up plugging into a large machine which made things worse. Finally, he figured out how to get the device back and used it to destroy the large machine. He then used the device to free the souls of the rag dolls that were drained of their souls, which allowed the souls to ascend and create rain. Visually striking, the film depicted a destroyed world that looked like a World War I battlefield. The plot synopsis on Wikipedia gave alot more narrative information then can be found in the actual movie.

24 EXPOSURES (2013) - If it wasn't for Anna Kendrick, I probably would have never watched this movie. Kendrick isn't in this movie, but she was in HAPPY CHRISTMAS, which I enjoyed so much I checked out director Joe Swanberg's other offerings on Netflix. Kendrick was also in DRINKING BUDDIES which I also enjoyed. Kendrick wasn't in ALEXANDER THE LAST and I liked that too. So that brings us to 24 EXPOSURES, which was made between BUDDIES and CHRISTMAS. On the basis of 24 EXPOSURES and his segment in V/H/S, Swanberg shouldn't make thrillers. Reportedly, Swanberg's style relies alot on improvisation, and the best thrillers are carefully crafted - which this movie certainly isn't. Having worked with professional actors, Swanberg's use of seemingly amateur actors is disappointing. However, there are a number of attractive females here that are willing to get undressed so I wished that Swanberg had just made an hardcore sex movie with a detective plot. At least then the cheap production values wouldn't seem so jarring.

Did not enjoy:

THE CAPTIVE NANNY (2020) - Lifetime Movie Network movies like this do nothing to convince male chavinists that they are wrong to think that women are over-emotional crazies. Karynn Moore, who played Alicia Silverstone in THE BRITTANY MURPHY MOVIE, will hopefully get a role in a good movie someday.

LA GRAN AVENTURA DEL ZORRO, aka THE GREAT ADVENTURE OF ZORRO (1974) - Is there any other version of Zorro in which he has a purple lining on the inside of his black cape? That cape becomes quite an hindrance when two Zorros are slugging it out on top of a speeding stagecoach. It gets even worse when two Zorros are slugging it out in a river. El Zorro is wanted by the local soldiers, led by Captain Jorge Russek (of THE WILD BUNCH), because he keeps freeing the Indians who are being made into slaves. There is no explanation for why every time Zorro, played by Rodolfo de Anda (who has aged well after 1965's EL PUEBLO FANTASMA), speaks, his voice has an echo chamber effect. But when he is Diego De La Vega, his voice sounds normal. In any case, the real plot of the movie doesn't kick in until about halfway through the running time, when Pedro Armendariz Jr. (of GUNS FOR SAN SEBASTIAN) shows up as a bandit who puts the blame for his crimes on Zorro by carving a "Z" everywhere. When robbing Carlos Lopez Moctezuma and Ricardo Carrion, Armendariz thinks that he's killed both of them, but Carrion isn't dead. He's in a coma. Knowing that Carrion can identify him, Armendariz makes various attempts to murder him, but is foiled by de Anda, or by Zorro's faithful Chinese servant Kimo, played by Jorge Arvizu. Kimo is also giving de Anda instruction in Asian martial arts as well as running the Bat-cave like home base for our hero, which has a phony cliff face that lifts open when Zorro makes his ride. De Anda sets for a trap for Armendariz by having Carrion transported by coach. The effort is nearly foiled by Russek, who arrives to arrest de Anda on suspicion of being Zorro. Luckily, Arvizu shows up in a spare Zorro costume to convince Russek that de Anda isn't our hero, so our hero is able to suit up to spring the trap. For the finale, Armendariz also dons a Zorro costume, so we get the two Zorro combat previously mentioned. After his coach crashes, Carrion comes out of his coma and Armendariz is arrested. The film ends with de Anda riding around what looks to be the same locations used for MAJOR DUNDEE and GUNS FOR SAN SEBASTIAN hoping for a sequel, which never happened. Reportedly, this is the first movie in which a Mexican actor played Zorro. Made around the time of the U.S. TV movie THE MARK OF ZORRO with Frank Langella, director Raul de Anda Jr.'s film may have been inspired by the continuing spate of Zorro films coming out of Europe. As annoying as the theme song for the 1975 version starring Alain Delon is, I kept trying to replace the annoying theme for this movie by Ricardo Carrion - who also worked on this film as an actor - with it. Antonio de Anda is the film's executive producer, while credited writer X. Randa is reportedly actually star Raul de Anda, director Rodolfo de Anda and the star's son Raul de Anda Jr. Howcome we don't know more about the de Anda cinematic dynasty?

HONEY 2 (2010) - I know that I am not the intended audience for this film, but it has attractive young women in it and I like looking at attractive young women. The plot here reminds me of an old kung fu movie, with a troubled youth, Kat Graham, working at cleaning the dance studio. Eventually, she becomes the champion of the studio. This doesn't have the humor of BRING IT ON or the gushing blood of THE BASTARD SWORDSMAN, but it must have reached its intended audience because Universal Studios Home Entertainment did two more sequels. I still haven't watched the first HONEY, but if Bille Woodruff also directed it, then I probably won't like it any better - though I like looking at Jessica Alba. It is good to see Lonetta McKee still working.

MARTIN FIERRO (1968) - José Hernández's "Martín Fierro" is considered to be the national poem of Argentina. A poem in two parts, the unknown author on Wikipedia writes,  "Set in the Argentine Pampa, a Gaucho named Martín Fierro lives a simple life on his ranch with his family. One of his great talents is singing at the Pulperia. He sings about how the Gauchos are discriminated against and mistreated. One day when he is singing at the Pulperia, there is a raid to recruit for the army. The Judge hates Fierro because Martín never voted, and then he is sent to the border to a small fort. At the fort, he is forced to work hard and fight against the Indians. He escapes during an Indian raid on an horse, but ends up returning to the fort when more Indians attack. Later  Fierro escapes on an horse again and returns to his ranch. Three years have passed and he finds his house burned and his family gone. Drunk, Fierro picks a fight and kills an Black man. A fugitive, Fierro is attack by another Gaucho and kills him. Sergeant Cruz reluctantly joins a posse to capture our hero. After Fierro kills most of the posse in hand to hand combat, Cruz decides to join him. They round up some horses as a present with which they hope to be accepted into an Indian tribe. Part two is called 'La Vuelta de Martín Fierro' and the two are allowed to live among the Indians as slaves. After a period of time, during which Fierro's sons grow up separately, the Indians allow Fierro and Cruz their freedom. Later, hearing screams of pain, the two return to find the Indian camp dying from an epidemic. Cruz also succumbs to the disease. Alone, Fierro wanders off and finds an Indian attempting to beat a woman accused of witchcraft to death. Fierro attacks with a knife, while the Indian fights with a bolo. After the Indian is dead, Fierro helps to bury the woman's dead child and they head back towards the White world. After Fierro leaves the woman, he goes on to an encounter that raises the story from the level of the mildly naturalistic to the mythic. He encounters his two surviving sons (one has been a prisoner, the other the ward of the vile and wily Vizcacha), and the son of Cruz (who has become a gambler). He has a night-long payada (singing duel) with a black payador (singer), who turns out to be the younger brother of the man Fierro murdered in a duel. At the end, Fierro speaks of changing his name and living in peace, but it is not entirely clear that the duel has been avoided." The Indians in this film whoop just like the Indians seen in American Westerns, but mostly carry very long lances. The Gauchos all fight with long knives and there are very few guns on view. With cinematography by Anibal Di Salvo, this Argentine film has a striking look, but director Leopoldo Torre Nilsson isn't very good with action. Star Alfredo Alcon is regarded as one of the most important actors in Argentina and he frequently worked with Nilsson as director. 

RAINTREE COUNTY (1957) - It would seem that the producers were hoping for a Northern version of GONE WITH THE WIND, but they seem to have no understanding of what made GONE so memorable. Boy, I wasn't aware the Elizabeth Taylor made so many movies in which she was mentally unstable. But my perception may be colored because I just recently watched SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER. This film is mostly famous because it was during its production that star Montgomery Cliff had his disfiguring automobile accident. Considering the production problems, the fact that the film was finished may be counted as a victory. That the film is rather long and dull is unfortunate. It also seems unfortunate that Rod Taylor plays such an unlikable character. On the other hand, Lee Marvin possibly gives the film's best performance before he's killed by DeForest Kelley. 

Ratched season one (2020) - This has nothing to do with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. This is just a variation on American Horror Story done with Netflix and away from FX. I gave up on shows from Ryan Murphy about midway through Nip/Tuck. though I suffered through the first season of AHS. I really like the music by Bernard Herrmann but prefer the music on the movies for which he wrote them: CAPE FEAR (1962) and PSYCHO (1960). 

LA SANGRE DE UN VALIENTE (EL HOMBRE DE HIERRO) (1992) - In March of 1916, the Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army, invaded Mexico looking for Pancho Villa in retaliation for his attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico. In addition to Villa's forces, the U.S. Army faced opposition from the federal troops of President Carranza. This film begins with newsreel footage of the Punitive Expedition and then shows Pepe Aguilar helping to hide a wounded Villa, played by Pepe's father Antonio, in a mountain cave. With his friend Ernesto Gomez Cruz, Pepe goes in search of a doctor. Meanwhile, the gringo soldiers torture the locals trying to get information about Villa's location. The doctor for the U.S. forces is charged with not letting any of the tortured prisoners die. At first Pepe and Cruz try to enlist a local doctor, but he's under guard by both American and Mexican soldiers. Cruz gets captured and begins to be tortured for information. In a tavern, the American soldiers begin singing "The Yellow Rose of Texas" which inspires the Mexican soldiers to sing "La Cucaracha". This, naturally, leads to a brawl into which Pepe jumps inorder to be taken prisoner. Figuring that he is unconscious, the soldiers put Pepe in a room where the tortured Cruz is being attended by the American doctor. Pepe grabs a knife and puts Cruz out of his misery, grabs a rifle and takes the doctor prisoner before dropping a lantern on a stack of boxes marked "explosives". Pepe gets the doctor to Villa before dying. The film ends with newsreel footage of the American soldiers leaving Mexico and the narrator eulogizing the unknown heroes of the Mexican Revolution. Produced by Antonio Aguilar and directed by his frequent collaborator Mario Hernandez, LA SANGRE DE UN VALIENTE has a noticeably lower budget than 1970's EMILIANO ZAPATA and features no battle scenes. It is Antonio Aguilar's second time playing Pancho Villa and is his last movie role. 

SANTA CLAUS (1959) - I am pretty sure that this is the movie which used to play at the Army & Air Force Motion Picture Service theaters on Okinawa when I was a kid. I've been wanting to see it again for decades, and was frustrated when SANTA CLAUS VS. THE MARTIANS was offered to me instead. Thanks to "Off-Beat Theater" on cable I was finally able to see it and it is pretty bad. The incredibly cute Lupita Quezadas is the little girl who rejects the temptations of Lucifer's minion José Luis Aguirre to steal a doll, hoping that José Elías Moreno as Santa will bring her one on Christmas. Aguirre succeeds in getting some kids to behave badly and tries very hard to thwart Santa's toy giving effort. While the English language narration keeps telling us that Santa travels around the world, we only see him work in Mexico. There Aguirre robs Santa of the flower which allows him to disappear and the powder given to him by Armando Arriola as Merlin to put everyone to sleep. Aguirre also lets loose a vicious dog that corners Santa in a tree. Will Santa be able to get out of this trap and get the doll to Lupita? René Cardona Sr. directed this in the middle of his 100 plus film career. Is it just a coincidence that Santa's observatory and Merlin's workshop look like where the wizards hang out in The Beatles TV Movie The Magic Mystery Tour - and where Ringo as Merlin hangs out in SON OF DRACULA?

EL SIETE LEGUAS, aka EL CABALLO DE PANCHO VILLA (1955) - 7 leguas is the name of Pancho Villa's horse. Luis Aguilar is given 7 leguas and ordered to investigate the goings-on in the town of Paredones. He arrives and sings a song while the horse does circus tricks. (Roy Rogers and Trigger never did anything as impressive.) Linda Cristal is married to the local tyrant, General Arturo Martinez, but entertains Colonel Luis Aldas in her bedroom where he gives her a diamond bracelet. Cristal also turns out to be an old girlfriend of Aguilar's, but won't help him try and stop her husband's daily firing squad. Virtuous Yolanda Varela is willing to help as is her boyfriend Fernando Casanova. A troupe of actors are also willing to help, but their performance is stopped by Martinez when he receives a telegram. Martinez says that the telegram reports the death of Pancho Villa. Mayor Jose Elias Moreno (who would go on to play Santa Claus) doesn't believe the news, and many patriots to the revolution stand up in solidarity. Martinez reveals that the telegram is a trick, and all those who stood up are arrested. Martinez wants to lure Villa into a trap by announcing that he will shoot all of the prisoners. After a few more songs, Aguilar and his men stage a mock attack to lure Martinez and his soldiers out of the fort. Sneaking inside, the revolutionaries free the prisoners, take over the fort and stand off the soldiers when they return. Just when the overwhelming military force seems on the verge of winning, Villa and his army gallop to the rescue. Martinez and Aldas are killed in the fight, and Villa, portrayed by Victor Alcocer, convinces the captured soldiers to join his army. Not surprisingly, Aguilar leads the revolutionaries in a song as they ride away. This movie gets alot of points just for having people wearing bandoleros while carrying the correct rifles for their ammunition. Director Raul de Anda is not particularly good at staging action, but with cinematographer Ignacio Torres he creates attractive color photography. This is a "clean shaven" Western, as were most of those being made in Hollywood in 1955. 

SI VOLVIERAS A MI, aka IF YOU CAME BACK TO ME (1954) - Libertad Lamarque was an Argentinan singer and actress, who was proclaimed the "Queen of the Tango" in 1934. In 1945, she had a fight with co-star Eva Duarte during the making of LA CABALGATA DEL CIRCO which led to her leaving Argentina for Mexico when Miss Duarte took up with Juan Peron. She later said that her exile from Argentina turned her into "The Bride of America", whereas if she had stayed in her home country she would have been forgotten. One of her first films in Mexico was directed by Luis Bunuel - GRAN CASINO. Lamarque became "the queen of melodramas" by playing single mothers or wronged women, which is the role she has in SI VOLVIERAS. The film begins with movers emptying a country estate. Coming down the stairs, Lamarque remembers life with her father who was a doctor. She also remembers the young doctor, Miguel Torruco, who came into the house. She and Torruco fall in love and marry, giving birth to daughter. After the death of her father, Lamarque and grown daughter Maricrus Olivier move to Mexico City where Torruco runs a successful clinic. Arriving, it quickly becomes apparent that Torruco has taken up with his business partner Silvia Pinal. As Pinal is close to the daughter's age, she quickly takes the young woman under her wing. Lamarque objects to Torruco allowing Pinal to steal the affections of her child. When Lamarque discovers that Olivier has a boyfriend, Fernando Casanova, from a picture in the newspaper, the mother falls ill. She soon suspects that the medicine her daughter is feeding her is killing her. After her mother tells her that she forgives her, Olivier investigates and finds the the medicine is indeed killing her mother. She calls in another doctor to care for her mother, and then confronts her father. He refuses to believe that Pinal would do such a thing, so Olivier takes a pistol out of Pinal's office desk. Going to Pinal's home, she confronts the "other woman", who confesses. When asked what she's going to do about it, Olivier shoots Pinal. Getting a phone call from her daughter, Lamarque rises from her sick bed and rushes to Pinal's home. The mother and daughter telephone the father, who takes care of Pinal's wound before the police arrive, having been called by Pinal's maid. The maid says that Olivier shot Pinal, but, humiliated, Pinal tells the cops that she accidentally shot herself. Lamarque and Olivier return to the country estate, where, eventually, Torruco joins them for an happy ending. Director Alfredo B. Crevenna gives this film a polish look and Pinal looks ravishing. The song "Si volvieras a mi" performed by Josh Groban is unrelated to this movie and its songs.

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Charles Gilbert watched:

HONG KONG CONFIDENTIAL (1958) B&W. Gene Barry plays a Cold War operative undercover as night club performer Casey Reed who is assigned the stately task of locating a kidnapped boy Arabian prince. The communist plot involves assuming Middle Eastern territory for Soviet dominance. With Allison Hayes and Michael Pate.

 FIVE BOLD WOMEN (1959) Faded color. Marshal Kirk Reed (Jeff Morrow) and the buckskin clad stage coach driver (Guinn Williams) escort five women convicts across Comanche infested desert. One of the women, Ellen Downs aka 'the Missouri Lady' (Merry Anders) is married to outlaw Missouri Kid (Jim Ross) who attempts to spring her from the procession, but the marshal captures him. As she begins a change of heart, the marshal falls for her romantically while the other gals overtake and commandeer the stage coach, running smack dab into an indian attack. A cavalry unit quickly wards them off but as the marshal approaches to recovery his prisoners the star-crossed married couple shoot each other in the fray. 

19 Bond movies are available on You Tube free.  I'd never seen these before now. 

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963)

GOLDFINGER (1964)

THUNDERBALL (1965)

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967)

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971)
 
FACE OF TERROR (1962) B&W. Plastic surgeon Dr. Charles Taylor (Fernando Rey) 'south of the border' develops a serum he believes will work wonders on disfigured patients, but he is disapproved for practice before a panel of medical professionals headed by Dr. Chambers (Gerard Tichy). Shortly thereafter escaped mental patient Norma Borden (Lisa Gaye) visits him uninvited one evening pleading for treatment. The entire left side of her face is hideously marred, and she threatens suicide if he refuses. Leaping at the opportunity to test his 'miracle cure'  the auspicious 'sawbones' obliges her with astounding success, albeit with constant followup maintenance.  But upon discovering she is a ward of the state, he recants his care and subsequently suffers a crash from a blunt object on his noggin at her hand. She absconds, and with a newly found but fleeting confidence, takes on a different identity as a waitress as the police begin searching for her. A playboy with an eye for beauty pursues her proposing marriage; and her employer with the same thing in mind except short term. The latter forced encounter led to a scuffle breaking her bottle of maintenance elixir, and her pushing him down an elevator shaft.  After repeatedly rejecting the playboy she realizes her escape from the law via Paris get away with acceptance of the playboy's offer. But her crusty face reappears, and she winds up in a huff running him over in his car. The desperate murderess now returns to visit the good doctor, now wheelchair bound. She refuses to return to the sanitarium at his insistance, thrashes about the lab breaking glass, and dies by falling on a shard. Command performance by Ms. Gaye.

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David Deal enjoyed:

GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON (60)

TIP NOT INCLUDED (66) - See The Eurospy Guide book for a full review of this Jerry Cotton entry.

CONVOY BUSTERS (78)

TRUMBO (07) - Documentary on the Oscar-winning screenwriter and the effects of the blacklist in Hollywood.

TOUCH OF EVIL (58)

THE BIG SLEEP (46)

Mildly enjoyed:

THREE HOURS TO KILL (54)

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Bertrand Van Wonterghem Highly enjoyed:

Black books – season 1 – episode 6

Enjoyed:

Supernatural – season 15 – episode 18 to 20 (THE END…)

The hustler (1961, Robert Rossen)

The hustler, the inside story (doc) (2001, David Naylor)
March or die (1977, Dick Richards)

The golden compass (2007, Chris Weitz)

Blow the man down (2019, Danielle Krudy & Bridget Savage Cole)

Mildly enjoyed:

The time tunnel – episode « The day the sky fell in » (1966, William Hale)

La nouvelle malle des Indes – episode 2 (1981, Christian-Jaque)

Did not enjoy:

A cock and bull story (2005, Michael Winterbottom)

The turning (2019, Floria Sigismondi)

Tales from the loop – season 1 – episodes 1 & 2

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Friday, December 4, 2020

Week of December 5 - 11, 2020

 

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

Brain Teasers:

Which Italian actress, who did a Western, appeared in a British spy comedy frequently sipping out of a Coke bottle with a straw?
It was Marisa Mell in MASQUERADE.

Which American actor married an Italian woman he demanded producer Dino De Laurentiis work for the actor?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which American producer bought Dinocitta after it was abandoned by Dino de Laurentiis?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which Italian actor, whose first film role was in an Italian Western, appeared in a big budget movie version of a hit Broadway musical?
No one has answered this question yet.

Which Italian actor turned down an offer to make an Italian Western inorder to appear in a big budget movie version of a hit Broadway musical?
George Grimes knew that it was Franco Nero who turned down PREPARATI LA BARA! to make CAMELOT.

Which Spanish actor, who appeared in movies about ancient Rome and in Westerns, was born to a Puerto Rican father and a Spanish mother?
No one has answered this question yet.

What Mexican actor went from playing a fictional Mexican revolutionary general in an Italian film to portraying Emiliano Zapata's brother in a Mexican film?
No one has answered this one yet.

What automobile company has an ad on TV using the theme music from I GIORNI DELL'IRA? 
No one has answered this one yet.

Which American actor who appeared in Italian Westerns got eaten by a shark in a Mexican disaster movie?
Bertrand Van Wonterghem knew it was Lionel Stander in CICLON, aka CYCLONE.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Charles Gilbert asks, "What former Italian model turned actor was born Luciano Stella?
Which actress born in Bavaria worked with directors Lucio Fulci, Gianfranco Parolini, Sidney Pink, Tonino Valerii and Rene Cardona Jr.?
In what Western does Tomas Milian play O'Hara the Albino?

Name the movies from which these images came.


Bertrand Van Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Alberto dell’Acqua and Franco Nero in TEXAS ADDIO, aka TEXAS GOODBYE.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?


Bertrand Van Wonterghem, George Grimes and Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo of Mylène Demongeot and Roger Moore in IL RATTO DELLE SABINE, aka THE RAPE OF THE SABINES, aka ROMULUS AND THE SABINES.
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 of the late Daria Nicolodi in SHOCK.
Above is a new photo.
Can you name from what movie it came?


George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Angela Mao in HAPKIDO, aka LADY KUNG FU.
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:

BELUSHI (2020) - There was so much publicity about the woman who reportedly gave John Belushi the fatal injection on March 5, 1982, that I wasn't aware that he was married. This documentary, by R.J. Cutler, gives his widow, Judith, and others who knew him a chance to create an oral history of his life, his career and his death - with no mention of the woman who capitalized on his death. There are lots of rare footage including a show during which he played drums for The Dead Boys. There is no mention of his getting Fear on Saturday Night Live, nor of his sharing cocaine with The Go-Gos.

BLACK '47 - Possibly the first action film set during the Irish Famine of 1847, BLACK '47 may seem to some to trivialize an historic tragedy, but the weight of that tragedy is solemnly presented while the movie uses it as a plot device to justify our hero's quest for revenge.

MY PSYCHEDELIC LOVE STORY (2020) - After writing her book TRIPPING THE BARDO WITH TIMOTHY LEARY: MY PSYCHEDELIC LOVE STORY, Joanna Harcourt-Smith collaborated with filmmaker Errol Morris on a documentary based on her book prior to her death on 11 October, 2020. She felt there was a mystery still surrounding her, particularly regarding Leary's decision to cooperate with the D.E.A. in 1974.

EL SECRETO DE SUE OJOS, aka THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES (2009) - Director Juan Jose Campanella delivered a movie worthy of winning the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for 2010. A Spanish-Argentinian coproduction set in Argentina, the film starts with a retired judiciary employee considering writing a novel based on a past case. The first half of the movie seems to be a crime thriller, but the second half becomes something more complex. Headed by Ricardo Darin and Soledad Villamil, the cast delivers powerful performances captured by Felix Monti's camerawork.

SENTENZA DI MORTE, aka DEATH SENTENCE (1968) - Director Mario Lafrancia's Western is a bit demented, which can put off viewers wanting a straight-forward action flick. It is pretty straight-forward in its plot - our hero wants revenge on four bad guys for the murder of his brother, but the presentation of that plot gets weird. American actor Robin Clarke only made one Western in Europe, and he looks good. The four villains are all stars - Richard Conte, Enrico Maria Salerno, Adolfo Celli and Tomas Milian. How Clarke gets his revenge never seems like the most reasonable way to get it done, but it plays well. This movie shows the stupidity of emptying a revolver and then tossing it away. It also shows that pulling the lead off of a bullet cartridge with one hand may be impressive, but it provides ammunition to someone willing to dig the lead out of a bullet wound in his leg. Whomever was in charge of continuity on this film failed to keep track of the guns. Our hero seems to have a different pistol in every scene.

Mildly enjoyed:

CORALINE (2009) - Based on the novella by Neil Gaiman, writer/director Henry Selick's stop-motion animated feature is visually inventive but not emotionally involving. 

FROZEN (2013) - When I first saw this movie, I did not enjoy it. But it has become such a popular success I felt the need to give it another chance. Well, now I can point to the moment when I hated this movie - Elsa's throwing out Anna and creating the snow monster at around the 58 minute mark. Visiting with the Trolls is okay, but Elsa's stupidity colors my enjoyment until the 87 minute mark when the conflict is resolved. The audience is supposed to forgive Elsa at this point, but I still want her to be smacked down hard.

Did not enjoy:

ARENA (2011) - The question which probably occurs to everyone watching this is "Why did Samuel L. Jackson agree to be in this movie?" This isn't that big of a come-down for James Remar and Daniel Dae Kim, but surely the money couldn't have been that good for Jackson? Was this a favor for someone? After proving himself in HBO's Generation Kill and the TWILIGHT movies, Kellan Lutz gets the lead role here and shows off his physique alot. Also showing off her physique is Swedish born Katia Winter, which is a plus for the movie even if she's not as buff as Lutz. The film starts with Lutz losing his pregnant wife, Bulgarian born Nina Dobrev, in a car crash. We next see Lutz in a Mexican bar getting drunk and exhibiting fighting skills. Winter picks him up, and at first the movie looks to be a variation on HOSTEL. However, rather than people being kidnapped to be tortured to death, Lutz is kidnapped to fight to the death in an underground internet Death Game. Jackson runs the game from a secret location in Mexico, which I am certain thrills the Mexican Tourist Association. Jackson's partner, Johnny Messner, uses the name The Executioner as he is the guy who carries out the on-line voting sentence of whether the losing combatant is allowed to live or has to die. Lutz proves to be a winner and works to get ten wins inorder to personally combat The Executioner. Winter comes to regret putting Lutz in this situation, and telephones Remar. It turns out that Lutz deliberately went undercover to be a part of Death Game inorder to take it down. Lutz gets to kill Messner, but is stopped from killing Jackson when the special agents arrive - seemingly allowing the filmmakers to hope for a sequel. Special effects man Jonah Loop made his directorial debut with this ugly looking direct to video feature which doesn't overcome its dull scripting with any exciting fight choreography. I do hope to see more of Katia Winter in the future.

THE 'BURBS (1989) - Hey, what do ya know? I was right to have avoided this movie for over thirty years.

La Cigarette (1919) - There is no disputing the historic importance of director Germaine Dulac, but this short film about an elderly Egyptologist suspecting his younger wife of having an affair isn't very interesting. The idea of poisoning a cigarette to commit suicide is a bit odd. Why did Turner Classic Movies play this film without putting English subtitles on the many intertitles? If the filmmaker didn't feel that they served a narrative purpose, I certain she wouldn't have put so many on her film.

HOLLY DAY (2018) - Are you interested in a predominately black female cast version of A Christmas Carol set in modern day L.A.? If yes, then BET Her has what you're looking for. Robinne Lee is a very successful event planner who doesn't want to do her court ordered community service. She won't give her assistant Latarsha Rose time off to spend Christmas with her family and she's given up on romance after her groom left her on her wedding day to run off with the marriage planner. After twisting her ankle on a piece of candy on the floor, Lee meets a sexy doctor who tells her take it easy and let him know if she has hallucinations. First she's visited by the ghost of her dead business partner who is suffering in Hell dressed in thirft store clothing and sleeping on a 60 count bed sheet. Then she's visited by her younger self, who takes her to her mother's death bed and we discover that she was named Holly Day because she was born on Christmas. Next we see her father, who is living with his mother, regretting the alcoholic spiral he fell into after the death of his wife and the neglect which led to Lee running away. Later she meets Rose's dead grandmother who shows her how Rose's family spends Christmas missing her. Eventually she sees her future in which all of her wealth is taken away because of all of the lawsuits caused by her abusive behavior and how she ends up alone in an old folk's home celebrating her "birthmass" by herself. With Rose's help, Lee organizes a successful charity fundraiser that keeps a care facility for the elderly open. She also sparks a romantic feeling with the sexy doctor, gives an hardworking employee a chance to take Rose on a vaction, and rewards Rose by flying in her brother on leave from the military. Rick Walls directed.

MICHAEL TODD JR.'S HOLIDAY IN SPAIN, aka SCENT OF MYSTERY (1960) - Was this originally shown "in Glorious Smell-O-Vision!"? If you want a travelogue of Spain in the guise of a thriller, I recommend A SPANISH AFFAIR, directed by Don Siegel. If nothing else, the Siegel film features Spanish actors. HOLIDAY features a country populated mostly by Brits and Americans. The most interesting thing about HOLIDAY is its presentation on Turner Classic Movies. The CINERAMA company had this film transferred to video to replicate the experience of seeing the film at the Cinerama Dome with the overture playing over the image of the curtained screen at the theater. As the overture ends, the curtains start to pull open as the film begins. You see the curtains moving over the opening of the film - which is how you would see it in that theater if the film was being projected. The curvature of the Cinerama screen is duplicated instead of the usual "letterboxed" image. When the intermission comes, we see the curtain close over the projected image, and it remains closed as the intermission music plays. When the film starts up again, we see the curtain being pulled open. Needless to say, when the film ends, we see the curtain close and we see the curtained front of the theater as the exit music is played. I wish the actual movie was as interesting as the presentation. Perhaps for the only time in his career, Denholm Elliot plays a character referred to as "an attractive young man". He's a British ex-service man turned writer of detective fiction on vacation in Spain. He becomes aware of a conspiracy to murder a woman on the eve of her inheritance and with the assistance of taxi driver Peter Lorre, comically thwarts the effort. Perhaps because he was one of the best cinematographers in the business, Jack Cardiff got the job to direct the 70mm feature, but John Von Kotze gets the credit as director of photography. Mario Nascimbene contributed the music, which is filled with "mickey mouse" comedy bits. Not surprising, producer Michael Todd Sr.'s best friend Eddie Fisher gets to sing the song, and Todd's widow and Fisher's next wife Elizabeth Taylor, makes a cameo appearance under the name Liz Rolyat. Among the supporting players are Beverly Bentley, Paul Lukas, Liam Redmond, Leo McKern, Peter Arne and Diana Dors. Redmond is killed when a cask of wine is rolled down on him. Did this inspire Mario Brega's death in PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI?

SIMON BLANCO (1975) - Five years after his big budget film about EMILIANO ZAPATA, Antonio Aguilar returns to the Mexican Revolution with a much smaller budget with less ambition. Antonio Aguilar is in love with Jacqueline Andere, but her father, Mario Almada, is a land owner and hates out hero. If you thought Gene Autry sang alot in his movies, you will be astounded by the number of songs Aguilar and co. pack into this flick. Eventually, Almada threatens to kill the son of Aguilar's friend, so our hero is invited to a baptism and assassinated. At least, Aguilar gets off a shot before he dies and kills Almada. Frequent Aguilar collaborator Mario Hernandez directs this.

THE WARPED ONES, aka THE WEIRD LOVE MAKERS, aka SEASON OF HEAT (1960) - Many Japanese melodramas model themselves after the German expressionist films of the 1930s. Mix in a plot involving juvenile deliquents and you get the kind of overheated stuff that director Koreyoshi Kurahara serves here. The film was such a success in Japan that they made a sequel, BLACK SUN, in 1964. The film is of interest because of the influence of jazz music on the main characters and how the filmmakers use the soundtrack to propel the action. This was the film debut of Chico Roland, aka Chico Lourant, who had married a Japanese woman and became a go-to Black man in Japanese films, especially from Nikkatsu Studios. He returned for BLACK SUN, and comes off better under Kurahara's direction than he does under Kazui Nihonmatsu in 1968's GENOCIDE.

Women Make Film (2020) 38. Death 39. Endings. 40. Song and Dance.

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Charles Gilbert watched:

FIGHTERS OF AVE MARIA (1970) The travelling 'Circus Splendor' is staffed by athletic performing brothers Tony Kendall, Pietro Torrisi, and Alberto del 'Aqua, who moonlight as crusaders against corrupt leading citizen of Goldfield and interim sheriff John Parker (Alberto Farnese). With ambitions toward a local mine, he's responsible for the shooting death of the former sheriff, and awaiting arrival of replacement (Attilio Dottesio).

GUNMAN OF AVE MARIA (1969) Boyhood friends Sebastian Carrasco and Rafael Garcia (Leonard Mann -reminds me of Eric Trump-and Peter Martell) unite again as adults after many years. He learns that sister Isabella (Pilar Velasquez) had witnesssed the murder of their father army general Carrasco by their mother (Luciana Paluzza) and her lover Thomas (Alberto de Mendoza). With a backdrop of mom's palacial estate afire in the finale, she reveals in her dying breath that she is not their real mother, but they are the offspring of a servant girl. Much darker tone than 'FIGHTERS OF AVE MARIA'.

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951) B&W. Is it typical Howard Hawks filming for the actors to talk over each other? It's pervasive in this film. Imperturbably pragmatic Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) overrides scientist (Robert Cornthwaite) on the disposition of an alien (James Arness) they discovered in the Arctic ice.

THE CONTENDER (1944) B&W. Truck driver Gary Farrel (Buster Crabbe) realizes he cannot continue paying for his son's military school tuition on his meager salary, so he hatches the notion to enter the trucking company's boxing tournament for the prize money. Success leads to full time as a professional, but his victories compromise his integrity. 

RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1964) B&W. Expert diver Ken Scott plans to rob a Catalina bank. His unwitting wife Merry Anders only wants him to boot his voyeuristic younger brother out of the house, but he's part of the gang of four, along with Booth Coleman and Russ Bender. Rather misleading title.

NIGHT OF EVIL (1962) B&W. Foster teen girl (Lisa Gaye) grows to a fetching twenty something and becomes caught up in a whirlwind of success as a beauty contestant who meets suave Chuck Logan (William Campbell) that she secretly marries. While she campaigns her advertising contracts, oblivious to his perverse ways, he's masterminding a kidnapping for ransom of a police officer. He is summarily captured.  Suddenly she is thrust into a maelstrom of depression upon investigation of her relationship with the escaped convict. She descends into activities of  the red light district becoming object of abuse, hawks for a gun, considers suicide, and robs a drug store for survival. Upon arrest she stands trial but is granted clemency for her life's hard luck.

DR. NO (1962) First time viewing. Title villain doesn't apoear until 1 hour 27 minutes into run time. That "dragon" contraption on the island must have been inspiration for the menace in the episode of The Wild, Wild West "The Night of the Juggernaut" with guest star Floyd Patterson. Joseph Wiseman and Jack Lord were high school classmates in New York.

THE PURPLE MASK (1955) Tony Curtis and Collen Miller are teamed again (THE RAWHIDE YEARS) with him in the title role of the dashingly insouciant Frenchman championing royalists opposed to Napoleanic (Robert Cornthwaite) 'republic' rule. Socially he pretends to be inept, but in the end defeats all with the rapier. With Angela Lansbury and Gene Barry.

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David Deal enjoyed:

JOY HOUSE (64)

THE DIRTY GAME (65)

OPERATION TITIAN (63)

LAST OF THE MOHICANS (92)

THE PASSENGER (75) - Antonioni's mysterious adventure is underrated in my view.  It has the casual devastation of his earlier films.

THE PIRATES OF CAPRI (49)

SWING TIME (36)

DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (71)

Mildly enjoyed:

BLACK DICE (51)

THE SWEET SOUND OF DEATH (65)

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Bertrand Van Wonterghem Highly enjoyed:

Black books – season 1 – episodes 2 to 5

Enjoyed:

Supernatural – season 15 – episode 17

Ku Klux Klan, une histoire américaine – résurrections (David Korn-Brzoza)

DC’s legends of tomorrow – season 4 – episodes « Miss me, kiss me, love me » (2018, David Geddes)

Boyz in the wood (2019, Ninian Doff)

Mildly enjoyed:

Code 404 – season 1 – episode 1

The last posse (1953, Alfred L. Werker)

The flight attendant -  season 1 - episode 1

Ildan Ddeugeobge Chungsohara / Clean for passion for now – season 1 – episode 8

Did not enjoy:

Pierre Richard, le discret (doc) (2018, Gregory Monro)

Légitime défense (2011, Pierre Lacan)

Drums in the deep south (1951, William Cameron Menzies)

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