Week of April 23 - 29, 2022

 

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

Brain Teasers:

Which Italian actor worked for directors Sergio Corbucci, Francis Ford Coppola, Bernardo Bertolucci and Andrea Barzini?

No one has answered this question yet.

Which Spanish actor, who appeared in an Italian Western, worked with director Pedro Almodovar, and in a later film, so did his grandson?

Angel Rivera knew that it was Francisco Rabal.

Which Italian actor, celebrated for his stage performance as Hamlet, did an Italian Western comedy with director Sergio Corbucci?

Bertrand van Wonterghem knew it was Vittorio Gassman in CHE C'ENTRIAMO NOI CON LA RIVOLUZIONE?, aka WHAT AM I DOING IN THE REVOLUTION?

Which Italian actress was also apart of the Orfei Circorama?

Angel Rivera knew that it was Liana Orfei. 

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which actor who appeared in Italian Sword & Sandal films as well as Italian Westerns was the son of a signatory of the 1918 Act of Independence of Lithuania?

Which actor who appeared in Italian Westerns survived the Allied bombing of Dresden in World War II?

Which actor kills Erno Crisa in MACISTE, L'EROE PIU GRANDE DEL MONDO?

Name the movies from which these images came.

Bertrand van Wonterghem identified last week's photo of Rafael Albaicin, Jose Canalejas, ?, Roberto Camardeil, ?, Dominique Boschero, Manolo Zarzo, ?, ?, ?, Simon Arriaga and Goyo Lebrero in UN TRENO PER DURANGO, aka A TRAIN FOR DURANGO.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem, Charles Gilbert and Angel Rivera identified last week's photo of Gordon Mitchell and Bella Cortez in IL GIGANTE DI METROPOLIS, aka THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Carla Gravina in L'ANTICRISTO, aka THE ANTICHRIST, aka THE TEMPTER.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

No one has yet identified the above frame grab. Here's a hint - the fellow covered in blood is actor Koji Tsuruta.

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:

MACISTE, L'EROE PIU GRANDE DEL MONDO, aka GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON (1963) - I first saw this when I was about six years old and it remains one of my favorite movies because of a great scene in which our hero is strapped to a table with harpoons (or spears) being dropped at him threatening death. This was director Michele Lupo's second film, and his second with Mark Forest as Maciste. While footage from director Riccardo Freda's TEODORA, IMPERATRICE DI BISANZIO (1954), and even some shots from Lupo's first film MACISTE, IL GLADIATORE PIU FORTE DEL MONDO, aka COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA (1962) - Dan Vadis can be seen in the background of one shot, help to give the film production value, it is Lupo's dynamic camerawork and dramatic staging that really gives the film a muscular feel. The screenplay credited to Roberto Gianviti and proudcer Francesco Scardamaglia is nothing special, and seems mostly designed to reuse footage from TEODORA, but there is plenty of original action choreographed by Alfio Caltabiano, who also plays one of the leading bad guys. Not surprisingly, Caltabiano gives himself one of the film's best sword fights against romantic lead Giuliano Gemma with a suitably dramatic moment of death. Surprisingly for an AIP "Goliath" movie, Les Baxter's theme from GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS is not used. In fact, original composer Francesco De Masi delivered such a strong score, that the AIP release changed little of it. Even so, the AIP version credits only Les Baxter with the music. In the original film, Goliath is the name given to "dwarf" Arnaldo Fabrizio, whose comedic antics seems to suggest that the film is designed for a children's audience. As with Lupo's first film, Jose Greci shows that she is one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the movie screen, and here she doesn't have to compete with Scilla Gabel. Among the other familiar faces here are Mimmo Palmara, Livio Lorenzon, Piero Lulli, Erno Crisa, Paul Muller, Eleonora Bianchi, Ugo Sasso, Harold Bradley, Nello Pazzafini, Lori Loddi, Joe Kamel and Jeff Cameron. While the bald headed guy who bangs the gong resembles Pietro Ceccarelli, it is not him no matter what the IMDb reports. Does anyone know the name of the stuntman who doubled Mark Forest?

THE TIME TRAVELERS (1964) - I first saw this at a weekday matinee with my mother when I was eight years old, and it still holds a nostalgic thrill for me. Sure, it's a pretty cheap production, but like many films written by Ib Melchior, it is filled with interesting ideas and surprising plot twists. ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS is better produced, but it isn't as much fun to rewatch as THE TIME TRAVELERS. I still think it's pretty clever to suggest futuristic engineering with present day magic tricks, and even include Forest J. Ackerman of Famous Monsters of Filmland "squaring" things away. 

Mildly enjoyed:

Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "Erin Burnett, Amy Carlson and Andre Leon Talley" (2022)

THE LION (1962) - 11 year old Pamela Franklin, in only her second screen appearance, gives an extraordinary performance in this drama about child-rearing. I saw this movie as a child, but got it mixed up with other movies of that time like A TIGER WALKS, also with Franklin, and CLARENCE, THE CROSS-EYED LION. In the 1950s, William Holden and two friends went on safari in Kenya, and in 1960 ended up buying an old inn and turning it into the Mount Kenya Safari Club. Holden later created the Mount Kenya Ranch as a wildlife preserve, so a romance with Africa was a real thing for him. Interestingly, in THE LION, he plays Franklin's absent father, who comes to the wildlife reserve run by Franklin's step-father Trevor Howard, whom she calls "Daddy". A big shot lawyer in the outside world, Holden knows nothing about Africa, and Howard tries his best to scare him away with wild jeep rides near rhinos, hippos and elephants. Holden regrets his ex-wife's decision that Franklin have nothing to do with him after the divorce, so as to avoid confusion with Howard's role as her new father. Capucine, his ex-wife, is now worried that growing up with a baby lion, who is Franklin's best friend, and among the local natives is limiting her education. The fact that Franklin approves a local tribe leaving their ailing chief to die in the bush, convinces Holden and Capucine that the girl needs to get a taste of civilization. Holden nursing the chief back to health unwittingly results in violence which settles the matter. Born in Argentina, but raised in France, author Joseph Kessel published the novel THE LION in 1958. He is perhaps best known as the author of BELLE DE JOUR and L'ARMEE DES OMBRES. Screenwriters Irene and Louis Kamp are credited with the screenplay, which introduces the romantic triangle to the story. Director Jack Cardiff would return to present a less romantic vision of Africa in 1968's DARK OF THE SUN.

Midsomer Murders "Till Death Do Us Part (2018) - Fiona Dolman got a larger role in this episode, which is always a plus.

PLENTY (1985) - It was no mystery why this project appealed to Meryl Streep; it was an opportunity to play a very dimensional character who was always at the center of the proceedings. It was a star vehicle and she never looked more luminous then she did in it. However, a play about post World War II disillusion - the idea that the post-war period would be a time of "plenty", did not fall into the "feel-good" category. Writer David Hare warned in his program notes that "...ambiguity is central to the idea of the play. The audience is asked to make its own mind up about each of the actions." So, confusion about the meaning of the piece and uncertainty about how to react was purposeful. An outstanding cast was assembled around Streep, including Charles Dance, Tracey Ullman, John Gielgud, Sting, Ian McKellen, Burt Kwouk and Sam Neill. David Hare may have "opened up" his play to include exterior scenes, but the structure was still very much one of a five act play - though without the curtain drop to let you know when one act ended and a new one begun. There was not even an on-screen notation to let you know where or when you suddenly were. If you've been itching to see a fully clothed Meryl Streep do a sex scene with a fully clothed Sam Neill and one with Sting, this is the movie for you.

REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES (1936) - It took four years, but Victor and Edward Halperin finally did a follow-up to WHITE ZOMBIE. Unfortunately, their production values did not improve, and the film doesn't even have the low-budget creepy atmosphere of WHITE. However, there is a certain charm in the script which is uncredited in which the audience feels more sympathy for the "bad guy" than the romantic leads. French soldier Dean Jagger (with hair!) brings with him to the European front of World War 1 a regiment of Cambodian zombies, referred to as "robots". However, these are not the "walking dead", but rather normal men under the mental control of Cambodian priest William Crowell. After Crowell proves the effectiveness of his subjects on a German trench in battle, the Allied generals fear this may end the dominance of the White race, and so order the priest arrested. Roy D'Arcy murders Crowell and steals a cloth featuring drawings which he hopes will give him the knowledge of how to create zombies. Fearing that the secret of how to create zombies lies in the ruins of Angkor, the Allies decide a team needs to go there to destroy the knowledge. Leading the team is George Cleveland, who brings along his daughter Dorothy Stone. Jagger is advised by his best friend Robert Noland to pursue what he wants ruthlessly, but Stone easily accepts Jagger's marriage proposal. Then, Stone reveals that she only accepted Jagger's proposal in order to make Noland jealous, for he was what she wanted all along. Realizing that both Noland and Stone were ruthless in their pursuit of each other, Jagger vows that he's learned  his lesson. Figuring out the secret to making zombies, Jagger uses the power to take control of everyone on the team as well as the local soldiers protecting them. He won't use the power on Stone, and promises to let Noland leave if she will marry Jagger. She agrees, but Jagger realizes that she will never love him. He asks if she will think kindly of him, if he renounces his power. She says yes, he renounces his power, and the former zombies revolt and kill him. Reportedly, the Halperins had wanted Bela Lugosi to be in the film and Roy D'Arcy does a credible imitation. The close-ups of Lugosi's eyes from WHITE ZOMBIE are reused in this film. Did he get a paycheck for this? Japanese American actor Teru Shimada plays a Cambodian servant in this.

Unsung "The Decades 90s" (2022)

Uncnsrd "Erica Campbell" (2022)

Did not enjoy:

Death & Nightingales (2021) - Eugene McCabe published the novel in 1992, and Allan Cubitt adapted it into a three hour TV mini-series. After not enjoying The Fall which Cubitt wrote and in which Jamie Dornan co-starred, I may never again watch something those two make together. I love what Ann Skelly brings to The Nevers, but she does not rise about this dour show.

Die Verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann, aka THE LOST HONOR OF KATHARINA BLUM, OR HOW VIOLENCE DEVELOPS AND WHERE IT CAN LEAD (1975) - Jurgen Prochnow arrives by ferry and is being surveilled. He goes into a bar and is picked up by two women who are going to a party. At the party, Prochnow and Angela Winkler see each other tenderly come to an unspoken understanding. The surveillers witness this and jump to the conclusion that the two previously knew each other. In the morning, armed police burst into Winkler's apartment but do not find Prochnow. Winkler is paraded before the press, accused of being a lover of a terrorist and taken in for interrogation. The news media, particularly newspaper man Dieter Laser, sensationalize the story leading to Winkler's apartment being vandalized and her getting death threats. Every aspect of Winkler's life is investigated, misconstrued and distorted by both the police and the press. Eventually, we learn that Winler is indeed aiding Prochnow's evasion, and inadvertently leads the police to him. With her life and reputation in ruins, Winkler accepts an offer to be interviewed by Laser. He expresses the belief that she should be grateful that he's made her famous and that they can exploit that fame to make money. She shoots him dead. The film ends with Laser's boss speechifying at the funeral about how an attack on freedom of the press is an attack on democracy itself. An on screen message reports that the film isn't a true story, and that the journalistic practices depicted are not intended to directly refer to the practicies of Bild-Zeitung, but such a resemblance is unavoidable. The movie is based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Boll, and was inspired by his own experience of being accused by Bild-Zeitung of being "the father of terrorism" because of his efforts to understand the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Co-directors and co-writers Volker Schlondorff and Margarethe von Trotta mount a compelling drama, but I could not sit through the story of such injustice being perpetrated on this woman, so I hit the fast-forward button. Mario Adorf and Herbert Fux are among the talented supporting cast.

J-OK' EL (2006) - Born Deanna Bowers, Dee got the Wallace from her first husband and kept it after their divorce. In 1980 she married Christopher Stone, but didn't start putting his last name on her's until 1984. He died in 1995, but she kept the "Wallace-Stone" until this movie in 2006. She looks good in this movie. Too bad the movie isn't better. The story of La Llorona, aka The Weeping Woman, has been a mainstay in Spanish speaking America, though many think that the tale originated before Spain arrived in the "New World". Co-writer and director Benjamin Williams has a character in this movie say that "J-ok'el" was what the Mayans called her, giving him a way to differentiate his movie from the slew of La Llorona films which began in Mexico in 1935. The North Americans got into the act with 2019's THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA, which was tied into the "Conjuring Universe". In J-OK' EL, Tom Parker arrives in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, hoping to find his half sister who has gone missing. He is estranged from his mother, Dee Wallace, who was recently abandoned by her Mexican husband, and she doesn't want anything to do with her wayward son. It soon becomes obvious that Parker completely discounts the idea that there is a supernatural cause for so many children disappearing, so tedium quickly sets in as he investigates the idea that local criminals are behind the disappearances. Eventually, with the help of Ana Patricia Rojo, he realizes that there is a link between the disappearances and the legend, which leads to a shocking revelation. This remains Mexican born Benjamin Williams only feature credit. Why it was originally called THE CURSE OF THE CREEPS is a mystery. Aside from the presence of Dee Wallace, the most notable element of the film is the orchestral score by George Shaw, which sounds incredibly rich for such a low-budget film.

THE MAN FROM PLANET X (1951) - Director Edgar G. Ulmer is known for being able to deliver a decent movie for less money than anyone else. He almost does that with this one, until the screenplay gets tiresome in the last half. The first half of the film is fun, with atmospheric photography by John L. Russell of obviously painted backdrops partially obscure by heavy fog, and a game cast headed by Robert Clarke and Margaret Field (the mother of Sally Field). I'm sure that no one who worked on this movie would have predicted that the actor who played the villain, William Schallert, would go on to have the best career - even becoming the president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1979. I guess that back in 1951, it wasn't unbelievable that a lone astronomer would be the only one to notice an errant planet entering our solar system heading for Earth. And that an island near Scotland would be the closest place on Earth for it to pass. The miniature of the bawn on the moor isn't convincing, but it is fun, as is the spaceship. 

MOVE (1970) - If you are tired of Jewish writers complaining about their lives, MOVE is not the movie for you. Joel Lieber published the novel in 1968, but 20th Century Fox had bought the screen rights even before publication. Eventually Stanley Hart came in to collaborate on the screenplay which concerns a married man freaking out over moving a few blocks in New York City to a new apartment. Obviously intended to appeal to "hip" movie-goers, the film mixes a mundane story with surreal fantasy elements. Perhaps it was director Stuart Rosenberg who decided to not give any clues to the audience about what is intended to be real and what is intended to be fantasy, but trying to make sense of it all is tiring. Plus, I guess that much of this is supposed to be funny, but it isn't. Veteran producer Pandro S. Berman, who was 65 when this movie was made, can't be faulted in casting. This was Elliot Gould's second film after M*A*S*H, with Paula Prentiss as his wife, John Larch, Graham Jarvis and Ron O'Neal. I'm uncertain if the bed scenes with Genevieve Waite are meant to be real or not. On May 3, 1971, Lieber died after a fall from his apartment window at the age of 35. As he left a note, the death was ruled as a suicide, so the problems his hero had may have mirrored his own.  

THE PLEASURE SEEKERS (1964) - Can you really call a movie featuring only four songs a "musical"? And two of the songs are done as part of stage performances by Ann-Margret. I guess I was 8 years old when I saw this theatrically, and none of it stuck with me. At that age, I would have been offended if I had realized how much pre-martial sex was going on, but at the time the subtlety put it right over my head. Three young American women are in Madrid, Spain, seeking romance. Carol Lynley and Ann-Margaret tease Pamela Tiffin over her lack of experience, especially with rich playboy Tony Franciosa, who sets his sights on Tiffin. Lynley has her sights on her news bureau boss Brian Keith, who is married to Gene Tierney. Ann-Margaret is a singer/dancer who gets hit by doctor on a motorcycle Andre Lawrence. Gardner McKay is the young upstart reporter at the news bureau who warns Lynley about chasing a married man, while he seems to have a revolving door of young lovers. After Keith takes Lynley to a party for married men who have women on the side, Tierney crashes to tell Lynley that she will never have her husband. Lawrence tells Ann-Margaret that he is too poor to get married, and Franciosa's mother, Isobel Elsom, tells Tiffin that her son's marriage proposal is false. Our three heroines decide to go back to America, but Keith throws a new party and resolves everyone's romantic problems - though details are not given. Screenwriter Edith Sommer does the update on COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN by John H. Secondari, changing the locale from Rome to Madrid. Jean Negulesco directed this rather unsexy sex comedy that serves as a tourist advertisement for Madrid. Having seen a number of movies by director Pedro Almodovar, all of which are set in Madrid, THE PLEASURE SEEKERS has no sense of Spain. Sure there is a bullfight and Antonio Gades appears to help Ann-Margaret look like she knows how to flamenco, but the fact that Italian American actors like Franciosa and Vito Scotti, Canadian actor Andre Lawrence, French actor Maurice Marsac, and English actress Isobel Elsom were hired to play Spaniards shows the sense of authenticity for which the filmmakers were going. The highlight of the movie occurs very close to the beginning as Carol Lynley is racing to the airport in a taxi driven by uncredited Spanish actor Jose Calvo, who made PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI and 7 other movies, as well as appeared in two TV series, that same year.

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Charles Gilbert watched:

Outer Limits SO2E10 The Inheritors. With Robert Duval, Steve Ihnat, and Ted de Corsia. Convoluted premise about disabled children selected by benevolent extraterrestrials to inherit their dying race upon being made physically whole. Four reluctant ex soldiers having suffered common head wounds are being inhabited by the alien intelkect to prepare a starship  in which to transport the 'Inheritors'. Two part presentation with no monsters and nil special effects. An adolescent Morgan Brittany appears as a blind girl anxious to make the trip. I prefer the second season Harry Lubin score to Dominic Frontiere from the first season.

Adventures of Superman D02E10 B&W. 'The Face and the Voice'. George Reeves seizes the opportunity to display his acting chops as he plays Clark Kent, Superman, and a hood with exaggerated patois who's being used to commit crimes posing as Superman..

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Highly enjoyed:

Les aventuriers (1967, Robert Enrico)

Enjoyed:

The unknown (1927, Todd Browning)

Naeil / Tomorrow – season 1 – episodes 1 to 4

The treasure of Ruby Hills (1955, Frank McDonald)

Monta in sella, figlio di… ! (1972, Tonino Ricci)

Vai avanti tu che mi vien a ridere (1982, Giorgio Capitani)

Jeanne Moreau, l’affranchie (doc) (2017, Virginie Lenhart)

Ultraman (anime) – season 2 – episode « the man from NY »

Choose or die (2021, Toby Meakins)

Mildly enjoyed:

The mad genius (1931, Michael Curtiz)

The revenge of Robert (2018, Andrew Jones)

Le marginal (1983, Jacques Deray)

Murderville – season 1 – episodes 4 & 5

Due once di piombo (1966, Maurizio Lucidi)

Did not enjoy:

The bubble (2021, Judd Apatow)

Mission pays basque (2017, Ludovic Bernard)

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Angel Rivera watched:

THE BATMAN (2022)  It was a dark movie. At almost three hours I was a little reluctant to watch it, but my curiosity got the better of me. The story and how they adapted the different comic book story lines is slightly interesting. The Batman is almost invincible in his many battles as he manages to overcome amazing odds, almost none the worse for wear. Zoe Kravitz is very sexy as Selina Kyle. (She is never  referred to as Catwoman, only as "a cat burglar" and briefly as "The Cat".)   The influence of elements from the "Gotham" TV series are apparent to any one who watched the series. The action scenes are good and the changes to established Batman lore is palatable to those who know the comic book. The movie plays out like a mystery and this is a welcome manner to tell the story.

The other movie I saw was HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (1964) It has enough of the elements of a good sword and sandal film to satisfy and entertain fans of the genre. Alan Steel makes an admirable hero. The beautiful Jany Clair (who met an unfortunate, but memorable end in PLANETS AGAINST US (1962) is the evil queen who sides with the Moon Men in the conquest  of Earth with their promise of power, but here also receives an unfortunate end. All in all a mildly entertaining movie.

I also watched the latest episode of Doctor Who with Jodie Whittaker. I believe the end of her time as the Doctor is coming near, but this episode titled, "Legend of the Sea Devils" proved as entertaining as any previous episodes, if you are a Who fan.

Found your review of HONDO interesting. It's been awhile since I watched the film, so my memory of it is very hazy. I do seem to remember a scene where John Wayne's character says something like the "Indians' way of life is a good way, Too bad it has to end." Sort of justifying Manifest Destiny, I think.

It reminds me of a scene in RED RIVER where Wayne is staking his claim for land for his ranch and some Mexicans come along and tell him the land he is claiming already belongs to their patron. To which Wayne responds "That's too much land for one man!" and if memory serves, he shoots them down. 

UPDATE: As for the scene from RED RIVER I was able to see it on YouTube as there was a colorized version of the complete movie. My memory of the film has played tricks on me. It was Walter Brennan who says the line, "That's too much land for one man!" Then Wayne kills one of the Mexicans in a shootout. The Mexican did draw first according to the dialogue in the scene. Then Wayne takes care of burying the dead Mexican and reads over him from a bible. I should have known that no film with Wayne in it  is going to make it seem he killed someone in cold blood unless he has to.

As for the scene in HONDO, my memory there was also faulty. Thanks again to YouTube which features the scene under the heading "Hondo--Too bad.mp4.

First a wounded army officer , Lt McKay, states that within a month Gen Cook will be there with a large force. Then Ward Bond says, "That will be the end of the Apache." To which Wayne says, "Yep! End of a way of life. Too bad, It's a good way." Then he leads the wagon train away.

The film seems to proclaim that it was a shame that the Native Americans got in the way of Manifest Destiny--The idea that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.  I'm reminded of a scene in BILLY JACK (I think it was BILLY JACK) when Tom Laughlin speaks about the treaties the Native Americans entered into with the U.S. Government where the only promise the white man kept was that he promised to take their land and they did.

Any way I think I will ask my friend who is a full blooded Shinnecock, if she has seen HONDO and what is her opinion of it. She did like the Winnetou movies when I showed them to her.

BTW, don't know if you ever watched the show, "Married with Children", but HONDO happens to be Al Bundy's favorite movie.

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Mike Eustace watched:

THE FURY OF ACHILLES Blu-ray: "It finally arrived. DVD picture quality on a BluRay, but that's nothing new. It looks just like the German DVD that I edited, But I had to add extra scenes from a TV version whereas this one is very much intact. I will check that out by watching my DVD soon.

"There's a nasty music cut in the opening titles, and occasional silent moments that a bit of atmosphere could have fixed, and since the guy says he put it together from different versions, I thought he might have tried harder on the soundtrack.

"I tried to watch the film with the commentary track, but he starts out by saying he was never interested in Peplum and then goes on to tell us why he thinks other people aren't interested in Peplum. Consequently there's little connection between what he's telling us and what we're watching on screen. I had to give up. His bubbling enthusiasm over giallos and Westerns and every other genre that he did talk about, just wore me out.

"As I've said before the idea of a Trojan War film without a Helen is really weird, so the odd couple of close-ups of Paris sets him up as a Billy-no-mates; not even with a Helen. I mean, what's he doing there? No Trojan Horse either. But then the film doesn't show Achilles death, so that's all to come after the film ends. What we have is a film that is basically centered on Achilles sulking because Agamemnon took away his girlfriend. What I find hard to stomach is all this stuff about Hector being a coward if he doesn't go out to fight a demi-God, who is invulnerable to wounds, and has just had a new suit of armour and weapons made for him by the God Vulcan. Pretty bad odds, I would say. Although I do like the bit where a Trojan soldier hurls a spear from the ramparts that lands about 9 inches away from Achilles' heel. Close, but no cigar.

"Very good quality PERSEUS on the BluRay. Picture comes from the Italian DVD with Sons-of-Hercules opening and closing music, plus the English audio. It is missing the close-up of the head of Zeus on the statue to which Perseus' mother is appealing. It also has that terrible cut from the end of the tournament to Perseus having a romantic chat with Andromeda in the garden at night. Perhaps that's where the Fine Primo Tempo moment came. Often that was superimposed on the movie action, so could explain the abrupt ending of the tournament, and the sudden 'in media res' of the garden scene in the second half.

"The film is properly graded too, so night scenes look like night scenes are supposed to. Achilles was very bad in that department.

"Perseus is a great action film. De Martino did a top job and Rambaldi's monsters and Nathanson's mattes are superb. It was a pleasure to watch again."

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Week of April 16 - 22, 2022

 

 

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

Brain Teasers:

Which Italian actor worked for directors Sergio Corbucci, Francis Ford Coppola, Bernardo Bertolucci and Andrea Barzini?

No one has answered this question yet.

Which Swiss born actor worked with directors Sergio Corbucci, Sam Peckinpah, Seth Holt, Harald Reinl and Mickail K. Kalatozov?

Angel Rivera knew that it was Mario Adorf.

Which Spanish actress worked with directors Ferdinando Baldi, Richard Lester, Tonino Ricci, Jean-Jacques Beineix and Pedro Almodovar?

Angel Rivera knew that it was Victoria Abril.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which Spanish actor, who appeared in an Italian Western, worked with director Pedro Almodovar, and in a later film, so did his grandson?

Which Italian actor, celebrated for his stage performance as Hamlet, did an Italian Western comedy with director Sergio Corbucci?

Which Italian actress was also apart of the Orfei Circorama?

Name the movies from which these images came.

No one has identified the above frame grab yet.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Angel Rivera identified last week's photo of Louis Jourdan and Sylvia Syms from LE VERGINI DI ROMA, aka AMAZONS OF ROME.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

No one has yet identified the above frame grab.

Can you name from what movie it came?

No one has yet identified the above frame grab. Here's a hint - the fellow covered in blood is actor Koji Tsuruta.

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:

EL MISTERIO GALINDEZ, aka THE GALINDEZ FILE (2003) - In 1990, Spanish writer Manuel Vazquez Montalban published the novel GALINDEZ; a fiction inspired by the 1956 disappearance of Jesus de Galindez, a Basque nationalist living in exile. At first Galindez moved to the Dominican Republic, but after witnessing the corruption of Dictator Rafael Trujillo, he moved to the United States. He became a lecturer at Columbia University and wrote about Trujillo's rule. On March, 12, 1956, he disappeared from New York City. His whereabouts were never discovered. Before Montalban's novel, this story inspired Polish novelist Andrzej Wydrzynski to write CIUDAD TRUJILLO in 1961. Galindez was mentioned in the 1994 novel IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES by American Julia Alvarez, which was made into a movie in 2001. In 2000, Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa wrote LA FIESTA DEL CHIVO, aka THE FEAST OF THE GOAT, which mentioned Galindez while mainly focusing on the assassination of Trujillo. Filmmaker Ana Diez made the documentary GALINDEZ in 2002. A movie version of THE FEAST OF THE GOAT came out about the same time as the movie of THE GALINDEZ FILE. In THE GALINDEZ FILE, Saffron Burrows played an American history student, in 1988, inspired to do her thesis on Galindez. Her previous boyfriend was "disappeared" in Chile, so trying to find the truth about an historic person who "disappeared" became a mission. Harvey Keitel played a shadowy operative determined to stop her investigation. Director Gerardo Herrero took the story from Spain, to the Dominican Republic (played by Cuba) and to the United States. Like the film Z, fact and fiction were mingled in a case that still remains unresolved. 

Mildly enjoyed:

CRACKED NUTS (1931) - Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey met during the stage show RIO RITA in 1927, and came to Hollywood when RIO RITA became a movie in 1929. By 1931, they were a team. The script for this film seems to be a precurser to DUCK SOUP with Wheeler and Woolsey vying to be the ruler of a small kingdom. Still having a $100,000 of his inheritance remaining,  Wheeler advertises in the paper for investment ideas. Boris Karloff and Frank Thornton show up to suggest that he invest in their revolution, which would make Wheeler king. Hoping that becoming a king would impress his girlfriend's aunt Edna May Oliver, Wheeler agrees, not knowing that becoming the new king means that he has to assassinate the present king. Knowing this, the present king uses loaded dice to lose his kingdom to gambler Woolsey. Wheeler and Woolsey are old buddies and don't want any part of an assassination plot. However, the revolutionaries insist. Luckily they hire cross-eyed Ben Turpin to fly the plane to drop the bombs. Wheeler's girlfriend is played by the lovely Dorothy Lee (also from RIO RITA), while Woolsey is being seduced by the gorgeous Leni Stengel. I don't think the Marx Brothers were ever surrounded by such beautiful women.

HONDO (1953) - This film has some of the most impressive horse stunts ever seen on film. Unfortunately, like many films intended for 3D presentation, HONDO features a lot of stuff being thrust into the camera lens, which looks silly in a flat screen presentation. It also has a lot of fade outs, which gets distracting - like too many periods in a single paragraph. With so much of the movie shot on spectacular locations, every cut away to something shot in the studio leaves the impression that trouble occurred during post production. In any case, the film is Geraldine Page's cinematic introduction, even though she had a bit part in TAXI (1953). She got an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her performance, even though she is the female lead. Shortly thereafter, her association with New York acting teacher Uta Hagen, got her blacklisted from Hollywood for almost ten years - but it didn't hurt her stage or TV career. The fourth release from John Wayne's Batjac Productions, HONDO was based on a short story Louis L'Amour wrote for Collier's magazine called "The Gift of Cochise". James Edward Grant wrote the screenplay, which L'Amour later adapted into a best-selling novel. John Wayne's character talks about how he lived with the Apache for many years and admired them. That fact that Michael Pate (of MAJOR DUNDEE) is on the war path is blamed solely on the White man. I wonder how Native Americans view this movie, in which Pate's Apache Chief is shown to be honorable. Luckily for the action fans, Pate gets killed off-screen and is replaced by Rodolfo Acosta (of FLAMING STAR), whom the audience doesn't like because he kills Wayne's dog. Naturally, good intentions come to nothing and the film ends with an extended battle - which director John Farrow reportedly was unable to film because he was contracted to start work on another project. Reportedly, Wayne asked John Ford to finish directing the movie, to which he agreed for no credit. Ultimately, the movie is a love story, and it moves along well but very predictably. Among the supporting players are Ward Bond, James Arness, Leo Gordon, Paul Fix, Chuck Roberson and Frank McGrath.

CARNE TREMULA, aka LIVE FLESH (1997) - Inspired by the novel LIVE FLESH by Ruth Rendell, director Pedro Almodovar decided that his twelfth film would be an outrageous melodrama and brought in Jorge Guerricaechevarria and Ray Loriga to help with the writing. For the most part, this film doesn't have many of the humorous bits that have enlivened Almodovar's earlier films, though there is a moment where Javier Bardem and Liberto Rabal are distracted from their fight because of a spectacular goal being scored on a televised soccer game. The film starts in January 1970 Madrid after the government of Francesco Franco has declared a state of emergency, suspending all civil liberties. A man taking down a holiday decoration is startled by a woman screaming. The woman is pregnant prostitute Penelope Cruz who is having contractions. The madam of the house, Pilar Bardem (mother of Javier), rushes Cruz down to the street but fails to get a taxi. Kneeling in front of a bus, Bardem commandeers a vehicle to get to the hospital, but the baby can't wait and is delivered on the bus. Because of this, the baby is awarded a layette by the Mayor and a lifetime bus pass by the director of the City Transport Company. Twenty years later, the boy, Liberto Rabal (grandson of Francisco Rabal of ATAME!), is a Pizza Hut delivery boy. He is excited because a woman took his virginity in the bathroom of a night club and gave him her phone number on a coaster for a second date. Unfortunately, the woman, Francesca Neri, tries to blow him off over the phone as she is only interested in scoring some heroin. Dejected, Rabal catches a bus which takes him around and around the city. From the bus, Rabal catches sight of Neri standing on the balcony of her apartment. He gets off the bus and rings to be let into the building. Thinking that it is her connection, Neri lets him in. Rabal demands an explanation, but Neri pulls a gun, tells him to get out, and says that it wasn't the "great fuck" he thought it was. While the TV set plays director Luis Bunuel's 1955 film ENSAYO DE UN CRIMEN, Rabal shoves Neri, who drops the gun which then goes off. Cops Jose Sancho and Javier Bardem (of HIGH HEELS) get a call to investigate a "shot fired" incident, after Sancho confesses to Bardem that he is certain that his wife, Angela Molina, is cheating on him and he is thinking of killing her. Seeing Rabal and Neri wrestling on her balcony, the cops race inside thinking they are preventing a rape and murder. Rabal and Neri stop fighting and Rabal is about to leave the apartment when the cops rush in with guns drawn. Panicking, Rabal grabs Neri as a shield and her gun. Bardem, knowing that Sancho is drunk and ready to fight, tries to defuse the situation, by disarming Sancho and getting Rabal to free Neri. Winning Neri's admiration, Bardem gets the woman out of the apartment, but Sancho jumps Rabal and the gun goes off. It is now 1992 and while Rabal is in prison, he sees on TV that Bardem has become a star player for the Paralympics wheelchair basketball team. He also sees that Bardem has married Neri. Rabal exchanges letters with his mother learning that she will probably die of cancer before he gets out, and he assures her that he taking classes and keeping well. Four years later, Rabal's sentence has ended and he visits his mother's grave. Coincidentally, while he's in the cemetery, he sees Bardem and Neri attending the funeral of Neri's father. Neri is shocked when Bardem joins the line of condolence givers and kisses her on the cheek. Later, as Bardem takes some of the flowers from Neri's father's grave to put on his mother's, Molina rushes up asking if the funeral is over. She has lousy direction and got lost in the cemetery. Eventually, Molina and Rabal become lovers, with him asking her to teach him to please a woman. Fearing that Rabal is stalking his wife, Bardem stalks Rabal and discovers the affair between the ex-con and his former police partner's wife. From the condolence card on the flowers from the cemetery, Rabal discovers that Neri is helping to run a children's charity. When Neri next stops by the charity, she is shocked to discover that they have hired Rabal as a volunteer and that he has already won over the affection of the children. Needless to day, when Bardem discovers this, he and Rabal have another scuffle resulting in a revelation about the shooting that put Bardem in a wheelchair. Things get more complicated when Rabal informs Neri of the revenge plan he developed in prison - a plan that sounds a bit like the plot of ATAME! Will Neri succumb to the attraction and guilt she feels towards Rabal? Will Bardem reveal the affair between Rabal and Molina to Sancho? What will Molina do when Rabal announces that their affair is over? What will Sancho do when Molina decides to finally leave him? In any case, the film ends six years later, after the end of the Franco government, with a new birth in a modern Spain. I mostly find melodramas to be a drag, but I kept going with this film, mostly to see where Almodovar was taking these characters.

Unsung "Das Efx" (2022)

Uncnsrd "Ceelo Green" (2022)

Did not enjoy:

DAI NIPPON TEIKOKU, aka THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE EMPIRE (1982) - The copy that I saw was a 108 minute English dub of what is reported to be an 180 minute Japanese movie from Toei Films. So, I can't really say that I've seen the movie as intended, but from what I saw it confirmed my worst prejudice about Toei Films about World War II. After a number of Japanese films about WW2, made by "leftist" directors  - such as Kon Ichikawa's FIRES ON THE PLAINS and THE HARP OF BURMA, and Masaki Kobayashi's epic 9 hour trilogy of NINGEN NO JOKEN, aka THE HUMAN CONDITION, that were celebrated around the world, the relatively "right-wing" producers at Toei made more popular action films on the subject. THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE EMPIRE attempts to tell the story of the entire Pacific War, using a lot of lousy looking documentary footage with narration intercut with three melodramatic "personal" stories. No attempt is given in the movie to justify Japan's military action in China, but the American reaction of imposing "full-blooded financial warfare against Japan" and the resulting "Outline of Proposed Basis for Agreement Between the United States and Japan", aka "The Hull Note" from U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, is blamed for Japan deciding to go ahead with the attack on Pearl Harbor. The narrator also states that the U.S. intended "The Hull Note" to provoke Japan into war so that it would look to be Japan's fault. Interestingly, the film begins with Japanese Emperor Hirohito requesting Tetsuro Tanba as Hideki Tojo to form a government cabinet and to find a way to avoid war with America. After "The Hull Note", Tojo informs the Emperor that he has failed and that war is inevitable. At an "Imperial Consultation", the Emperor traditionally doesn't speak, which the cabinet takes a "go-ahead" for war. The film has some poorly shot scenes of pilots preparing to attack Pearl Harbor, and a laughably bad sequence of pilots during the attack - mostly shown with documentary footage but also using some miniature planes. One of the three personal stories involves a Christian college boy, studying French literature, and his art student girlfriend, who is bullied because he hasn't joined the military yet. After he learns that a friend who became a soldier was killed in combat, he volunteers to become a Naval officer. Later, during the defeat in the Philippines, he doesn't stop a sergeant from executing locals. His guilt over this inaction results in his pleading guilty to war crimes, and even though his girlfriend pleads with him, he accepts death by firing squad. The second story involves a graduate of the Military Academy. He runs afoul of other officers who feels that his efforts to keep his men alive shows fear of dying. Eventually, he freaks out while attempting to accept the American offer of a safe surrender in Saipan and is killed after murdering an American man and woman frolicking naked in the surf. The third story involves a barber who marries just before being drafted. When he is sent back to Japan to recover from a wound in the leg, he finds that he has a son. When he feels that he should rejoin his unit still in action, his wife exposes her breasts, and as he suckles, he decides to leave the service. Later, he has to close his barber shop when he is called back into service. At the end of the war, Tojo tries to kill himself, but is saved by American doctors so that he can be executed as a war criminal. Only the barber survives to return to his wife and child. For the  most part, Japanese atrocities during the war aren't mentioned. A brave Japanese sergeant can pick up a machine gun and mow down attacking Americans allowing his men to retreat. Three British soldiers pretend to surrender in order to trick the Japanese into an ambush. A Japanese officer tries to convince civilians not to commit suicide. As usual for a Toei Film, the extras hired to play American soldiers are poorly directed and look buffoonish. (As an American who worked as an extra on a Toei Film, I can attest to this.) Curiously, the film only mentions one atomic bomb, and doesn't mention the young officers' attempt to stop Hirohito from announcing the surrender. This is the only film I've seen that could be called "Sympathy for Tojo" and the Battle of Okinawa is barely mentioned. What little action is staged is very unconvincing and the dramatic scenes aren't very convincing either. Toshio Masuda (who had collaborated on TORA, TORA, TORA) directed from a script credited to Kazuo Kasahara (who was also credited with writing FATHER OF THE KAMIKAZE in 1974).

KILLER PARTY (1986) - I guess director William Fruet and writer Barney Cohen thought this was funny, but I didn't. The films starts with a funeral scene. After the funeral, a woman walks back to the casket to curse the deceased to hell, but then the casket opens and the unseen corpse drags the woman inside. The casket lowers to the crematorium and just as it seems that the woman and the casket are burning, the film shows us that what we have been watching was a drive-in movie. The young woman in the car puts off the young man by saying she wants some popcorn. Soon, the drive-in is filled with zombies trying to get the young woman, but it's okay because it is just a music video by White Sister for "You're No Fool". So, having filled ten minutes with nonsense, the filmmakers proceed with more nonsense in the college hijinks style of ANIMAL HOUSE and REVENGE OF THE NERDS, except that the main characters are three young women worried about pledging to a sorority. The college hijinks get interrupted by a Darth Vader sounding POV killer, which later is seen wearing a deep sea diver outfit, explaining the heavy breathing. It all climaxes with a party in an haunted house, where it turns out that a demon was unleashed by the sorority hazing ritual. The demon takes possession of one of our heroines, but then, as in THE POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY, jumps to another young woman when the first host is killed. Martin Hewitt gets top billing, but doesn't get to do much. Joanna Johnson is the actual lead, but really only has her attractiveness to offer the viewer. She would soon move behind the camera to become a TV producer. Elaine Wilkes and Sherry Willis-Burch are the other two heroines. Burch seems to have decided to leave the acting professional after this movie. As a college professor, Paul Bartel does his usual schtick.

Killing Eve season four (2022)

THE LOST SQUADRON (1932) - Novelist Dick Grace was a pilot during World War 1 and became a stunt pilot for the movies specializing in crashing planes on camera. He wrote the novel upon which this movie was based. It told the story of three pilots, Richard Dix, Joel McCrea and Robert Armstrong, and a mechanic, Hugh Herbert, who survived the War only to find that their country did not fulfill the promise to take care of veterans. Armstong got a job as a stunt pilot for psychotic film director Erich von Stroheim, and he got jobs for his three buddies as well. It turned out that Dix's old girlfriend, Mary Astor, now regretted throwing Dix over for von Stroheim, and the jealous director plots to kill Dix by using acid on a plane's control wires. However, Armstrong decided to use that plane instead of Dix and is killed. McCrea confronted von Stroheim, found the acid bottle in the director's pocket, and tied him up. Dix, Armstong and Herbert argued about what to do with the villain, but when von Stroheim tried to run away, someone shot him in the back. The police arrived, but didn't find the covered-up body. Dix and Herbert sneak the dead man into the back seat of a plane, with Dix saying that he'll fly a loop - dropping von Stroheim to the ground after accidentally not putting on his seat belt. However, Dix decided to crash the plane killing himself as well. At the cemetery, McCrea set off to make a new life with Dorothy Jordan, while Herbert imagined seeing Dix and Armstrong as ghosts piloting their planes into the clouds. It was with this picture that David O. Selznick took over as production chief at RKO. As would become a pattern with Selznick, he fired the original director, Paul Sloane, replaced him with George Archainbaud, changed the budget and the script including a new ending. Dick Grace was one of the stunt pilots on the picture based on his novel and would go on to join the Army Air Force in World War II. He was acknowledged to be one of the few stunt pilots to die of natural causes at the old age of 66 in 1965. Additional dialogue writer Herman J. Mankiewicz would later co-write CITIZEN KANE.

Midsomer Murders "The Lions of Causton" (2018)

REDNECK (1973) - Canadian Silvio Narizzano became a film director in England, but based this British-Italian co-production in Italy. One can't help but wonder what it was about this project that appealed to him, and to the other participants. Was it the odd mixture of slapstick humor with unexpected brutal violence? Was it the idea of portraying a kidnapping victim exhibiting something like Stockholm syndrome? Or was the final film quite different from what they had intended it to be? The title seems intended to refer to the character of Memphis, played by Telly Savalas. This character seems to have been, at least partly, inspired by the character Savalas played in THE DIRTY DOZEN. In that film, he played a Bible quoting rapist and murderer. Here he gives a broad performance as a murderous psychopath with a bad Southern accent who blames everybody else for whatever cruel thing he does. The film begins when he and Franco Nero, as Mosquito, rob a jewelry store and everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. Nero's girlfriend, Ely Galleani, is the getaway driver, and she smashes up the car so badly that they quickly have to carjack another. While they throw driver Beatrice Clary onto the street, they fail to notice her son, Mark Lester, hiding in the backseat. Lester turns out to be the neglected son of an important member of the U.N., so while the police can follow their escape, they are reluctant to close-in for fear of harming the boy. Out of sight of the police for a little while, the escapees carjack another vehicle and end up in the countryside. Slowly, but surely, Lester comes to depend on Nero to protect him from Savalas, who has killed Galleani and a number of other people, plus a dog, who were unlucky to meet him. When pushing a caravan, filled with a family of German campers, into a river, Savalas is severly injured - and blames the deaths of the family on Lester. Savalas is determined to get across the border to France, and threatens to kill Lester if Nero doesn't help him. (The border crossing looks to the same border crossing used in 1962's PASSPORT FOR A CORPSE.) Not surprisingly, the Carabineri has caught up by this time and prevents Savalas from killing Lester. Nero takes off running for the border - looking very much like he does at the end of L'UOMO, L'ORGOLIO, LA VENDETTA - with Lester trailing behind. When police bullets drop Nero, Lester picks up Nero's pistol and shoots into the camera. No matter how Savalas tries to sound like he is from the Southern United States, he is completely unconvincing as a "redneck". If you were looking for a movie in which you get to see Nero's naked backside, you'll get that here - plus you get to see Lester's naked backside, too. American actor Walter Barnes' ex-wife Britta appears as the mother of the German family, with her two children Michel and Daniela playing her children. Daniela Barnes would change her name to Lara Wendel before making the scandalous MALADOLESCENZA in 1977. Spanish writer Rafael Sanchez Campoy is credited with the "original idea" while the director's "longtime companion" Win Wells is credited with the screenplay. An highlight of the film is when the escapees stop their car in a tunnel and a poster for the Orfei Circorama "Liana-Nando-Rinaldo" can be seen. On YouTube, an Italian language version of the film with the title SENZA RAGIONE (REDNECK) can be found that opens with a scene showing Franco Nero's character working as a male prostitute, seeing the time, and leaving the woman unsatisfied because he is late - for what we will know is the jewelry store robbery. The scene is splicy, but suggests even more Nero nudity was intended. Also, in the Italian version, Lester's father is said to be the British Consul in Rome.

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Charles Gilbert watched:

Spaghetti Westerns Podcast # 54 William Connolly interview. Immensely enjoyed the interview Tom Betts made with affable chap Mr. Connolly Sept 25, 2021. 

Spine Chilling Theatre presents THE BRAINIAC (1963) B&W. Kitsch Mexican horror hosted by slow witted Oliver 'The Caretaker' Collins. An heretical baron from 1661 is tried and burned at the stake, but is spirited away by a comet. 300 years later a group of astronomers watch its' return, soon to discover the Luciferian baron is back for revenge on descendents of the Inquisition that condemned him.. His forked tongue when transformed into a hideous beast is handy for puncturing holes in the base of the brain for cerebral extraction.

FLESH AND BLOOD (1979) Three hour made for tv movie about a promising young boxer representing the next 'white hope'. Subplot involves his Oedipal complex. Promoted as a Denzel Washington film although he gets tertiary billing.

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Angel Rivera watched:

"The Farewell" (2019) starring Awkwafina which is about a Chinese family whose matriarch is diagnosed with a terminal illness, but no one wants to let her know.  So in order to ease her feelings the family lets her think her condition is not so severe and they  hold a fake wedding party so that the entire family can get together to be with her, but let her think that the wedding party is genuine.

Then Turner Classics is showing Science Fiction classics which they will be showing each Thursday evenings in April, so I watched the original "Planet of the Apes" (1968) and the 1965 version of "Doctor Who and the Daleks" starring the late, great Peter Cushing as the Doctor and its 1966 sequel, "Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D."

I also watched on YouTube, the French version of "Mighty Ursus" (1961)  which was in wide screen. As I do not understand French I hit upon the idea of playing my DVD copy of the the English TV version of "Mighty Ursus" (which has the title credit as "Ursus,  Son of Hercules") and syncing up the two, when I discovered that the English TV version is missing some scenes that are in the French version. So I ordered the DVD English  version which was also in wide-screen. Unfortunately the DVD version was missing the opening prologue scene included  in the French and TV version of the film.

I also watched on Turner Classics "Time After Time"(1979).

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