Week of July 17 - 23, 2021

 

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

Brain Teasers:

Can you name two actors who made Italian Westerns who had daughters who made movies accused of being child pornography?

Walter Barnes daughter, Laura Wendel starred in MALADOLESCENZA when she was 11. William Berger's step-daughter Katya Berger starred in LITTLE LIPS when she was 12.

Which Italian director worked as an assistant to directors Silvio Amadio, Mario Amendola, Alberto De Martino and Mario Caiano before getting his first "un film de" credit in 1964?

Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Alfonso Brescia.

Which American actor, born in 1942, acted in films with Marie-Jose Nat, Aldo Sambrell, Rafael Albaicin, Vonetta McGee, Peter O'Toole, Claudia Cardinale and Harrison Muller?

George Grimes and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Richard Roundtree.

Which American actor had a seven year run of making movies in Italy from 1982 until 1989 while working  with Al Cliver, Sabrina Siani, Pia Zadora, Henry Silva and Carole Andre?

Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes knew that it was Harrison Muller.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which London born actress started her film career with director Sergio Corbucci and later made three comedy Westerns?

Which Spanish actress, who made a movie with the director of EL PRECIO DE UN HOMBRE, that later became known as "Reina de las Rancheras"?

Which French born actress worked for directors Sergio Sollima, Giuseppe Vari, Marco Ferreri, Adriano Bolzoni, Luchino Visconti and Lucio Fulci?

Name the movies from which these images came.

George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Ty Hardin, Christian Hay and Stan Cooper in SEI IELLATO, AMICO HAI INCONTRATO SACRAMENTO, aka YOU'RE JINXED, FRIEND YOU'VE MET SACRAMENTO.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

John Black, George Grimes and Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo of Mylene Demongeot in LA BATTAGLIA DI MARATONA, aka THE GIANT OF MARATHON.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

 John Black and Charles Gilbert identified last week's photo of Genevieve Grad, Rik Battaglia and Steve Reeves in SANDOKAN, LA TIGRE DI MOMPRACEM, aka SANDOKAN THE GREAT.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes and Charles Gilbert identified last week's frame grab of Bruce Lee in FIST OF FURY, aka THE CHINESE CONNECTION.

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:

BELLE EPOQUE (1992) - When Francisco Franco ran Spain, the cost of making movies was kept low. After the end of Franco and his Fascist rule, the cost of making a movie in Spain normalized, so director Fernando Trueba had to make this movie in Portugal with a crew that had become very professional having worked on so many French movies. Normally, the designation of "La Belle Epoque" refers to the time of the French Third Republic between 1871 and the beginning of World War I in 1914. For this film, the phrase refers to 1930s Spain just before the beginning of the Spanish Second Republic when the politics was divided between the Republicans and the Monarchists. Violence would break out about three years in the future, but this film isn't about the Spanish Civil War - however, I spent most of the running time fearing that, like many recent films set in Spain during those years, that the finale would feature everyone being killed. Thankfully that doesn't happen, though the film begins with a bizarre scene of violence, and ends with a shocking death. The director may feel that you can't make a movie celebrating life, food and sex without acknowledging death, but it is up to debate whether the filmmaker successfully wove all of the elements together well. Obviously, the voters for the Goya Awards were impressed giving the film 9 of the top honors for 1993. The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science soon followed, giving the film the Best Foreign Language Film award. I endorse the Goya award for Mejor Actriz Principal going to Ariadna Gil, who is mesmerizing. Equally impressive are Miriam Diaz-Aroca, Maribel Verdu and Penelope Cruz as the other three daughters of Fernando Fernan Gomez which enchant army deserter Jorge Sanz (who played the young Arnold Schwarzenegger in CONAN THE BARBARIAN). Mary Carmen Ramirez appears towards the end of the film as the mother with French actor Michel Galabru in toe as her lover.

The Wire season one (2002)

Mildly enjoyed:

Midsomer Murders "The Dogleg Murders" (2009)

OSOSHIKI, aka THE FUNERAL (1984) - Actor Juzo Itami's debut as a writer/director features some of the best ensemble acting ever captured on film. A gentle but satirical comedic look at modern Japanese society in the microcosm of a family funeral, Juzo's film is a moving contemplation of family relations, consumerism and death.

TAMPOPO, aka DANDELION (1985) - Writer/director Juzo Itami's second feature didn't have the cohesion of THE FUNERAL. While the main story line was enjoyable, it seemed like Itami decided that the film was too short and tossed in some unrelated bits to lengthen it. Roger Ebert felt this was similar to films by Jacques Tati, but it reminded me of SLACKER, which wasn't made until five years later. The film started with Koji Yakusho coming into a movie theater with an entourage who set up a table for him to have a full meal in the front row with his woman, Setsuko Shinoi. He complained about how he hates to hear the sound of rustling snacks while the movie was on, and acted like a yakuza by browbeating a patron into being quiet. He sat down as the movie started, and we saw a detailed report on how to cook ramen. This ramen instruction actually came from a book which Ken Watanabe was reading aloud as he and truck driver Tsutomu Yamazaki were driving in the night during a rainstorm. Yamazaki got hungry, so they stopped at a rundown ramen shop run by Nobuko Miyamoto (the director's wife). Before entering the shop, Yamazaki stopped three children from beating up on Miyamoto's little boy. Many compared this film to a Western, and it had a passing resemblence to SHANE, in that a stranger, Yamazaki, ended up helping to set things right and then quietly left - but there was no shootout involving the characters from the main plot. Mostly it was about how five men came together to turn Miyamoto's ramen shop into a thriving business without asking for anything in return. But all of the distracting stories were very unWestern like.

EL NIDO, aka THE NEST (1980) - As a child, Ana Torrent had the perfect look for which adult male filmmakers could express their ambiguous feelings about young girls. But to call EL NIDO a "Spanish Lolita" is completely wrong. LOLITA is the story of a man who becomes so sexually obsessed with a girl that he marries her mother to be closer to the girl. Here, the girl seduces her way into an elderly widower's life but the relationship never becomes sexualized. This is more like LES DIMANCHES DE VILLE D'AVRAY, aka SUNDAYS AND CYBELE, where society at large misunderstands a friendship between an older man and a girl. Written and directed by Jaime de Arminan, the film is brightened by the charm of Torrent and Hector Alterio in their scenes together, but we never really understand if the girl's bad reputation is earned or not. When Alterio asks the friendly teacher Patricia Adriani why she cast Torrent as Lady MacBeth in the school play, she says that she felt the girl was wicked enough to understand the part. Even so, Torrent and Adriani exhibit a good relationship. As with many Spanish dramas, our atheistic hero has a best friend who is a priest, and the film ends with a shocking death. The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, but didn't win. It won all of the major Premios ACE awards in Spain.

Did not enjoy:

Another Way: D-Kikan-Joho (1988) - As Japan faces losing the Pacific War, Admiral Tatsuya Nakadai entrusts Koji Yakusho with a fortune in diamonds and the mission to go to Switzerland to obtain the uranium for Japan to make an atomic bomb. Based on a novel by Kyotaro Nishimira (or Ishikura Yasushi according to another source), director Kosaku Yamashita has fashioned a standard 1980's Toho production complete with two English language ballads, music by Giorgio Moroder, playing underneath dialogue scenes. The usual Toho miniatures give us a sea battle ending with a noble sacrifice. Things start to get complicated when a tire on Yakusho's car is shot out by an unknown sniper, and he accepts help from Udo Kier (speaking German) to cross the Swiss border. After they pick up an American woman needing a ride from the border, their car is attacked on the road by a gang using a grenade. When Yakusho recovers from the explosion, he finds Kier gone, the American woman dying and his diamonds missing. How Yakusho gets from this scene to the Japanese Legation is unshown, and we see no Swiss police investigation into this act of violence. Eventually, it becomes clear that there are three parties working to stop our hero's mission: 1) the gestapo, 2) the Soviets who are waiting for the fall of Berlin to declare war on Japan and seize as much of Asia as it can, and 3) American agent Robert Vaughn (speaking English) who informs our hero that America already has a super bomb and they will use it if a peace accord can't be made. When Yakusho decides to try and convince the military back home to negotiate for peace, an hardliner shows up and tries to kill him. In the end, our hero is recovering from his wounds before some spectacular Alpine scenery. Yakusho is able to speak convincingly in Japanese, German and English. Sydne Rome turns up as an assistant to Vaughn, and speaks well in German and English. It would seem that Toho expected this film to do some foreign box office, just as VIRUS had done in 1980, but that didn't happen.

BLUMHOUSE'S FANTASY ISLAND (2020) - It is nice to see Portia Doubleday in something other than Mr. Robot, Ryan Hansen in something else than Veronica Mars and Parisa Fitz-Henley in something other than Jessica Jones. But not in a Blumhouse Production.  

CESAR ET ROSALIE (1972) - Women just drive men crazy being unsatisfied and being unable to tell men what they want. This time it is Romy Schneider and Yves Montand. Five years ago, Sami Frey disappeared, so Romy married Umberto Orsini. The movie begins with Frey returning and asking Orsini what happened to Schneider. She divorced Orsini and now lives with Montand. Frey has been invited to the marriage of Schneider's mother to her third husband. Schneider is shaken seeing Frey again, and the mercurial Montand immediately over-reacts. Schneider runs off with Frey and seems happy. When Montand finds them, Schneider seems happy to spend time with him again, so Frey disappears again. Eventually, Montand tracks down Frey and begs him to come stay with Schneider and her whole family. Schneider is unhappy, so Montand hopes that Frey will fill the void he thinks she's feeling. Naturally, Schneider ends up leaving the both of them, and this time both men decide not to try and find her. Montand and Frey become buddies, but then Frey moves to the U.S. for work. After about a year, Frey returns to France and is staying with Montand when Schneider shows up in a taxi. At time, director Claude Sautet stages his film like a thriller, especially when Montand wears the same trench coat and hat from LE CERCLE ROUGE. It doesn't take long into the film to become irritated with all of the characters no matter how well played they are by the cast. Isabelle Huppert fans may enjoy seeing her as a teenage cousin of Schneider's, but she doesn't get to do much. Gisela Hahn makes a good impression getting to appear in a more prestigious production than most of what she was doing at the time.

ELIZABETH OF LADYMEAD (1948) - In 1946, Hugh Williams returns from service in World War 2 to his home at Ladymead, to find that wife Anna Neagle is not the same woman he left behind. She and her mother have decided that Williams should go into politics, which Williams is against. As they argue, Neagle walks into a wall where she remembers a door should be. She passes out on the bed, and seems to remember 1854 when she welcomed her husband Nicholas Phippes back from the Crimean War. Since he was away, she has become more independent, which he doesn't like. In their argument, Neagle walks into her dressing room - the door to which isn't there in 1946. As their argument seems to be the end of their marriage, the scene shifts to Neagle welcoming home husband Bernard Lee from the Boer War in 1903. Again conflict erupts within the couple as she's become a suffragette. Next, in 1919, Neagle doesn't welcome her husband Michael Laurence home from the World War 1 because she is dancing on a table at a New Year's Eve celebration for 1920. When the two meet at home, Neagle proclaims her liberated independence, so Laurence leaves the room to shoot himself. Awakening in 1946, Neagle is happy to see Williams by her side. Later, as Williams give in and declares his run for Parliament, Neagle remembers the lives of the previous Elizabeths and tells her husband that she is better now. Anna Neagle was the third wife of producer/director Herbert Wilcox. They married in 1943 and remained so until his death in 1977. Together they made over 20 films together.

THE GLORY STOMPERS (1967) - Reportedly Dennis Hopper's behavior during the making of this flick caused director Anthony M. Lanza to have a nervous breakdown, so Hopper took over the director's job for a bit. Someone is obviously a fan of "fish eye" and extreme wide angle lenses as well as hand held anamorphic camerawork. This image distortion has an interesting effect when a woman with an ample bosom held in a black brassiere is gyrating into the camera lens. It's less pleasant when a sweaty Robert Tessier is trying to convince Chris Noel to be his girlfriend. Feeling slighted when the leader of the Glory Stompers motorcycle club, a rather cleancut Jody McCrea, objects to his putting the moves on Chris Noel at a party, the leader of the Black Souls, Dennis Hopper, clobbers McCrea over the head and kidnaps Noel. McCrea recovers and is joined by an older biker, Jock Mahoney, in the search for Noel. Eventually the Black Souls falls apart when members fight over who is going to rape Noel, and the good guys finally catch up with them. The music is blamed on Sidwalk Productions, Inc. under the musical supervision of Al Simms, though some sources blame Mike Curb, who is credited as one of the three associate producers - with Casey Kasem and Paul Stevenson. Producer John Lawrence is blamed for the script along with James Gordon White, though the film is credited as A Norman T. Herman Production, An American International Release. Curb provided better tunes for THE WILD ANGELS and BORN LOSERS.

DEVIL'S ANGELS (1967) - For a little bit at the end, "Blues' Theme" by Dave Allen and the Arrows from THE WILD ANGELS can be heard, which just highlights how "blah" the music credited to "Sidewalk Productions, Inc. Written by Mike Curb" is - especially "Title Song 'DEVIL'S ANGEL'S' Written by Mike Curb, Guy Hemric, Jerry Steiner Performed by Jerry and the Portraits". Basically this is a remake of THE WILD ANGELS, also scripted by Charles B. Griffith, but without the reported rewrites by Peter Bogdanovich. As with most Griffith's scripts, there is a lot of wacky dialogue like: "Are you a mama?" "No, I'm just pregnant." Interestingly, this script brings up the story of Butch Cassidy and the "Hole In the Wall" gang at least a year before BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID made the story world famous. After one of the gang runs over a "citizen", John Cassavetes decides it is time to leave San Pedro. Another of the gang tells about Cassidy and "Hole In the Wall", so Cassavetes decides that's where they'll go. After various unrelated incidents on the road, they pull into a small town, played by Patagonia, Arizona. Sheriff Leo Gordon allows the gang to bed down on the beach and Cassavetes promises that there will be no trouble. Unfortunately, local girl Mimsy Farmer agrees to party with the gang and runs away after getting a little roughed up. Accusing the bikers of rape, the town runs the gang out of town while throwing Cassavetes into jail. Farmer convinces Gordon that she wasn't raped, so he releases Cassavetes. Cassavetes just wants to leave, but in his absence the gang has devised a plan to get revenge on the town and have even invited the larger gang The Stompers to participate. Unable to control the chaos, Cassavetes drops his "colors" and leaves alone. Shortly after this, Mimsy Farmer moved to Europe to have a more fulfilling career. Beverly Adams would soon marry Vidal Sassoon and retire from acting to raise four children. Production Designer Daniel Haller started his career as a director with DIE MONSTER DIE. DEVIL'S ANGELS was his second film, which he followed with THE WILD RACERS also featuring Mimsy Farmer. 

TORMENT (2013) - Here's another movie which illustrates that when you knock a psychopathic killer down, you have to smash or chop them into little pieces or they will get up and kill again. It also illustrates that Katharine Isabelle needs to be given better opportunities to work so she doesn't have to make stuff like this again. Psycho family kills Amy Forsyth's parents and takes her into their "family". Widower Robin Dunn moves into the house with son Peter DaCunha and new wife Isabelle. Psycho family decides to "adopt" DaCunha and sets about stalking and torturing his parents. Isabelle and DaCunha survive, but they only kill the "mother" of the Psycho family, so it would appear that director Jordan Barker was hoping for a franchise. Thankfully he didn't get it. Stephen McHattie appears but doesn't get much to do.

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David Deal enjoyed:

THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY (69) - In France, Marlon Brando, Rita Moreno, Richard Boone, and Jess Hahn kidnap the daughter (Pamela Franklin) of a wealthy man and for a short time, it seems their plan will actually work.  Hubert Cornfield's film noir feels very much like Jean-Pierre Melville until the end which takes on the proportions of the spaghetti western.  Recommended.

FINAL APPOINTMENT (54) - Three men who served on a military court marshal are killed on July 10th in successive years.  With July 10th coming up, reporter Mike Billings (John Bently) focuses on the fourth.  British thriller is a cracking mystery with some atmosphere.

RUNAWAY BUS (53) - Stolen gold bullion ends up in the boot of an airline bus taking a few stranded passengers through a fog as thick as the proverbial pea soup.  Just who on the bus is part of the robbery gang?  A British comedy thriller is equal parts intriguing mystery, existential landscape, and annoying comedy.  Still, enjoyable.

OPERATION DIPLOMAT (53) - Dr. Guy Rolfe is whisked away to tend to a mysterious, wealthy patient and finds himself involved in an international conspiracy.  British thriller leads us by the nose and through some atmospheric environments before we find out exactly who is who. Fast-paced and satisfying.

THE LATE EDWINA BLACK (50) - Once wealthy Edwina Black dies, circular accusations of poisoning begin between her long-time maid, her young companion (Geraldine Fitzgerald), and her widower (David Farrar), the latter two in the throes of an affair.  This British Victorian Gothic has loads of atmosphere and will keep the viewer guessing until the end.

DO YOU KNOW THIS VOICE? (64) - Dan Duryea kidnaps a kid for ransom and then accidentally kills him.  He talks his girlfriend into calling in the demand for the money but the cops are onto them and a neighbor sees a fleeting glimpse of the caller.  Soon all is unraveling in this British noir that features the great Duryea in a tour-de-force role.

Mildly enjoyed:

SHADOW OF A MAN (54) - Paul Carpenter looks into the case of his friend's murder, who was killed by the injection of an air bubble into his bloodstream.  British thriller is a not-so-thrilling soap opera. 

IMPACT (63) - Reporter Conrad Phillips, investigating crime lord George Pastell, is framed for a violent crime to slow down his work.  This only makes Phillips more determined.  Pretty good rough-and-tumble British thriller that features a jazzy soundtrack.

HIGHWAY RACER (77) - Maurizio Merli is an unorthodox cop who specializes in capturing criminals in high speed chases.  When he kills his partner in an accident, Merli is kicked off the force but given another chance by his boss to track down a particularly talented bank robber.  Lots of car chases and wrecks in this crime flick (coordinated by the famous Remy Julienne) but this isn't top drawer Merli who still had a couple of classics in front of him.

LADY VAMPIRE (59)

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Charles Gilbert watched:

Kelly Johnson and Lockheed. Founder of Skunk Works helmed the production of many planes that have served in national defense. His successor was Ben Rich who designed the F-117.

Law &Crime: Pike County Massacre. 2016 - Eight members of the Rhoden family in Ohio east of Cincinnati are shot to death as they slept. It took several years for Attorney General Mike De Wine to bring indictment against four members of the Wagner family who engineered the massacre for reason of a child custody battle. De Wine has since become governor, and one of the accused has broken ranks with the family perpetrators by confessing, thereby avoiding the death sentence.

THE TRAIN (1964) B&W. Lengthy war drama about prized Gallic paintings being confiscated by Nazi occupation forces. French resistance fighters led by Paul Labiche (Burt Lancaster) thwart the German efforts to remove them from France by train. First time viewing its' entirety. One time is enough.

ROMULUS AND THE SABINES (1961) Mylene Demongeot and Roger Moore.

GIANT OF MARATHON (1959) Mylene Demongeot and Steve Reeves.

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Bertrand van Wonterghem Highly enjoyed:

S.O.S. Noronha (1957, Georges Rouquier)

Enjoyed:

Yi guyeokui michin X / Mad for each other – season 2 - episodes 1 to 3

Phänomen Blade runner (doc) (2021, Boris Hars-Tschachotin)

Carambolages (1963, Marcel Bluwal)

Afghanistan : das verwundete Land (doc) (2020, Mayte Carrasco & Marcel Mettelsiefen)

Maeumui sori : reboot / The sound of your heart : reboot – season 2 – episodes 1 & 3

Le drôle de drame de Marcel Carné (doc) (2021, François Aymé)

Hashoter hatov – season 1 – episodes 1 to 3

Le papillon meurtri (1919, Maurice Touneur)

I think you should leave – season 1 – episodes 1 to 3

Diablero – season 1 – episode 5

Mildly enjoy:

Comment je suis devenu super-héros (2020, Douglas Attal)

L’honneur d’un capitaine (1982, Pierre Schoendoerffer)

Playland USA (doc) (2019, Benjamin Schindler)

Did not enjoy:

The tomorrow war (2020, Chris McKay)

La vendetta è un piatto che si serve freddo (1971, Pasquale Squitieri)

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Week of July 10 - 16, 2021

 

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

Brain Teasers:

Can you name two Westerns directed by Sergio Corbucci in which the hero uses a Mauser semi-automatic pistol?

Bertrand van Wonterghem knew of one: IL GRANDE SILENZIO, aka GREAT SILENCE.

Tom Betts knew that the other film was IL MERCENARIO, aka THE MERCENARY, aka A PROFESSIONAL GUN.

Which American actor who made Italian Westerns committed suicide at the Airport Hilton in Rome, 1971?

Tom Betts, George Grimes, Charles Gilbert and Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Frank Wolff.

Which American actress worked in movies featuring Renzo Montagnani, Klaus Kinski, Sidney Poitier, Tony Kendall and Clint Eastwood?

Bertrand van Wonterghem knew that it was Vonetta McGee.

Can you name two actors who made Italian Westerns who had daughters who made movies accused of being child pornography?

No one has answered this question yet.

And now for some new brain teasers:

Which Italian director worked as an assistant to directors Silvio Amadio, Mario Amendola, Alberto De Martino and Mario Caiano before getting his first "un film de" credit in 1964?

Which American actor, born in 1942, acted in films with Marie-Jose Nat, Aldo Sambrell, Rafael Albaicin, Vonetta McGee, Peter O'Toole, Claudia Cardinale and Harrison Muller?

Which American actor had a seven year run of making movies in Italy from 1982 until 1989 while working  with Al Cliver, Sabrina Siani, Pia Zadora, Henry Silva and Carole Andre?

Name the movies from which these images came.

Bertrand van Wonterghem and George Grimes identified last week's photo of Lou Castel in REQUIESCANT, aka KILL AND PRAY.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

Charles Gilbert identified last week's frame grab of Luciana Gilli in IL CONQUISTATORE DI ATLANTIDE, aka THE CONQUEROR OF ATLANTIS.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

 George Grimes identified last week's photo of Luciana Paluzzi and Brett Halsey in RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE.

Above is a new photo.

Can you name from what movie it came?

George Grimes identified last week's frame grab of Gordon Liu and Conan Lee in TIGER ON BEAT.

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:

ODD THOMAS (2013) - I am not a fan of films directed by Stephen Sommers, but I really enjoyed this one - though I could have done without the poignant ending. Based on a novel by Dean Koontz, which became a series of novels, ODD THOMAS feels more like SCOTT PILGRIM AGAINST THE WORLD than VAN HELSING, and that's a good thing. Addison Timlin is adorable and so is Anton Yelchin. 

Mildly enjoyed:

KUROI AME, aka BLACK RAIN (1988) - In 1965, Japanese writer Masuji Ibuse published his novel serially in the magazine Shincho. Over twenty years later, director Shohei Imamura adapted it to film. The film starts right before the atomic bomb blast in Hiroshima. Young woman Yoshiko Tanaka is helping to get valued family items out of the city to her Uncle's mother's home in the country. Uncle Kazuo Kitamura boards a tram to get to work as the bomb explodes. While most around him are dead, or painfully dying, Kitamura is able to get home to find his wife, Etsuko Ichihara, seemingly unhurt. Tanaka rushes back to the city to be pelted by a mysterious black rain. In 1950, the three live peacefully together in the country. Kitamura has been diagnosed with radiation disease, as are most of his male friends. The uncle and aunt copy their diaries in order to dispel rumors that Tanaka will soon fall ill to radiation disease. The rumors have prevented her from getting married. While the flashbacks to Hiroshima are done in a realistic manner, when a soldier suffering from battle fatigue tells of his experience, the film suddenly adopts a theatrical lighting effect as he speaks a monologue. Imamura chooses to present his story in a slow and quiet fashion, keeping the sense of horror at a distance. The black and white cinematography of Takashi Kawamata surrounds the cast with lovely pastoral imagery, highlighting how what is killing these people can't be seen. Ultraman fans might have trouble recognizing a fifty year old Akiji Kobayashi as one of Kitamura's friends. Future director Takashi Miike was an assistant on this film. Toru Takemitsu delivered another effective music score.

KEETJE TIPPEL, aka KATIE TIPPEL (1975) - Director Howard Hawks once complained about doing LAND OF THE PHAROAHS saying that he had no idea how people went to the toilet in those times. Well, director Paul Verhoeven not only knows how they did it in 1881 Amsterdam, he shows us. Based on the memoirs of Neel Doff, Verhoeven and screenwriter Gerard Soeteman, who co-wrote Verhoeven's TURKISH DELIGHT, give us a blunt view of how a young woman from a poor family finds that being young and pretty is her only collateral in a capitalist society. Future director Jan de Bont returns as Verhoeven's cinematographer from TURKISH DELIGHT as do actors Monique van de Ven and Rutger Hauer. Originally, Verhoeven wanted the film to also show the rise of Socialism in the Netherlands, but the budget prevented that. Our heroine's comment that "money turns people into rats" was supposed to pay off when, in the end, she is living with a rich man and closes the window so as not to hear the pleas of those starving outside.

Midsomer Murders "The Curse of the Ninth" (2016)

IL GIORNO DEL FURORE, aka ONE RUSSIAN SUMMER, aka FURY (1973) - One of the remarkable elements of this adaption of Mikhail Lermontov's unfinished 1832 novel VADIM is that it does not include any opening narration to establish the time and place of the story. For an American audience, this would be bewildering unless they independently knew of the 1773 peasant uprising led by Yemelyan Pugachev. Or, perhaps, they read Alexander Pushkin's 1936 novella The Captain's Daughter or saw the 1958 film version called TEMPEST in the U.S. (which is how I was informed). The film starts with John McEnery seeing a crowd of peasants assembled outside the monstary (though we don't know it is such) hoping to get some of the coins that rich landowner Oliver Reed tosses out as he leaves church. McEnery begs Reed to employ him, which Reed does because it amuses him. At home, we see that Reed is a tyrant who mistreats his wife, Zora Velcova, while lusting after his ward, Carole Andre. McEnery soon begins a program of subversion, stirring up dissatisfaction among the peasants and telling Andre that she shouldn't think as Reed of being like a father to her. It isn't until about the half hour mark that McEnery shares with Andre that he is her brother and that Reed murdered their parents. McEnery is counting on help from Pugachev's revolt to get his revenge on Reed. Things get complicated with Reed's son, Ray Lovelock, returns after being away for six years. Andre and Lovelock grew up together, but they no longer feel like siblings. Andre does not explain that Reed had tried to rape her, which is why she deflects Lovelock's romantic efforts. As Reed leaves to go on an hunting trip, but is actually visiting his mistress Claudia Cardinale, Andre accepts Lovelock's love in a wheat field. Even though McEnery is told to wait two days before some men from Pugachev will arrive, the peasants are stirred up to violence. All of the rich landlords, including Velcova, are murdered leaving church, and so are the priests. Lovelock and Andre were away and so escape. Joining Reed, the young couple warn him to hide. Lovelock leaves Andre in the care of his father as he sets off to find the Czar's soldiers. Knowing that his wife is dead, Reed feels that promising to marry Andre justifies finally raping her. Lovelock finds the Czar's soldiers dead after an attack by Pugachev, and so he returns to find that Andre is now insane. McEnery arrives to watch Reed fight with his son and laughs when Reed inadvertently kills Lovelock. McEnery ignores Andre as he humiliates Reed, while Pugachev's men abuse and then finally shoot Andre to death. While McEnery suddenly remembers to check on his sister, Pugachev's men kill Reed. The film ends with McEnery wailing that Reed's death was to be by his hand. This was the only feature film written and directed by Antonio Calenda who finished his short career working in TV. The storytelling is unclear, which makes me wonder if there was material cut out to keep the running time under two hours. An Italian/British coproduction, the film starts with the credit "Marcello Danon and Harry Saltzman presents". While Danon is credited as the producer, Saltzman isn't. The film sounds to have been shot with everyone speaking English, and Riz Ortolani delivers another stirring music score.

ROCK ALL NIGHT (1957) - I never knew that Roger Corman produced and directed a "jukebox musical". He didn't. Even though The Platters appear and sing a couple of numbers, and there are contributions from The Blockbusters, this is actually a small drama that was originally a 25 minute episode of The Jane Wyman Show from 1955 called "The Little Guy". That TV episode won the future director of PAJAMA PARTY Don Weis a Directors Guild Award for Best Director of a TV Play. Corman bought the rights to the TV Play and had writer Charles B. Griffith add about 36 minutes of new material. With Dick Miller as a wise-ass short man and Mel Welles as a hip talking promoter, this can be seen as a precursor to 1959's A BUCKET OF BLOOD - without the horror aspect. Naturally, Griffith injects enough of his odd humor to make this TV drama into a weird stew that hardly works as a drama, but is too melodramatic to be a comedy. In addition to Miller and Welles, other Corman actors appear like Abby Dalton, Russell Johnson, Richard Cutting, Jonathan Haze, Barboura Morris, Bruno VeSota and Ed Nelson.

TAKEN extended version (2007) - This film is a simple, straight-forward thriller that makes THE TRANSPORTER seem complex. Producer Luc Besson gathered together many of his former collaborators to make another movie, but casting Liam Neeson in a role turned down by Jeff Bridges seems to have changed everything. Suddenly, Neeson is considered an "action star" and two sequels and a tv series followed. Having his ex-wife, Famke Janssen, being bitchy while his daughter, Maggie Grace, being loving but distracted, sets the audience completely on Neeson's side. Of course, we know from the beginning that Neeson is a super hero, and having Grace's singing idol, Holly Valance, recognize that helps to set up Neeson's eventual explosion. So, the lessons to be learned from this film include: 1) female tourists should not agree to share a cab ride with an handsome young man at Orly Airport, 2) Vice in Paris is run by Albanians, 3) Parisian authorities are on the take from Albanians, 4) Albanaians are supplying women to Arab shieks and 5) kidnapped young women are all very attractive and immediately tied to beds in order to turn them into heroin addicts. The one surprise in this film is that Neeson doesn't fly his car onto the escaping yacht. The big disappointment in this film is that unlike PRIME CUT our hero doesn't liberate all of the enslaved women. 

TAKEN 2 (2012) - Olivier Megaton takes over the director's chair, but nothing really changes from the first film, except this time Neeson and Janssen are taken while visiting Istanbul and Grace has to help rescue them. Croatian actor Rade Serbedzija plays the Albanian father of a man Neeson killed in the first film who wants revenge. I kept waiting for Neeson to say, "Thank you for sending more Albanians for me to kill", but he doesn't. I also kept waiting for someone to suggest calling in an airstrike on the bad guy's home town of Tropoje, but no one does. It's nice to know that the filmmakers seem to feel that the police in Istanbul are just as corrupt as those in Paris. Neither film seems to have been commissioned by a tourist bureau. Thankfully the villain charged with cutting Janssen into little pieces is sadistically enjoying the moment so much that he takes his time so that he never actually gets farther than cutting up some of her clothes. The real mystery is why did D.B. Sweeney replace David Warshofsky as Neeson's drinking buddy Bernie only to have Warshofsky return to the role in TAKEN 3?

TAK3N (2014) - I suppose if you're going to do a third film, you'll feel compelled to do something different, but turning what had been an action thriller into a murder mystery didn't work for me. Olivier Megaton returns as director, but this time Liam Neeson is making a mess of Los Angeles. In some ways, it feels like the filmmakers were hoping to start a new franchise with Forest Whitaker as a rubber band spinning detective. Albanians are given a pass this time with the gangsters being Russian. Dougray Scott takes over the role of Famke Janssen's second husband from Xander Berkeley from the first film.

Did not enjoy:

Angst essen Seele auf, aka FEAR EAT SOUL UP, aka ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (1974) - An older German woman, Brigitte Mira, meets a Morroccan man, El Hedi ben Salem, in a German bar who is about twenty years younger than she. Everyone is shocked that the couple gets along and they don't approve. Reportedly this was inspired by director Douglas Sirk's 1955 film ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, though that film was about class prejudice not racial. German racism seems the theme of the movie for the first hour, and then, as her neighbors and family begin to accept her new husband, the Moroccan decides to move out, seeming to accept the behavior many expected of him. She forgives him, and they seem to reconcile when he falls to the floor. The doctor tells her that he has a perforated stomach ulcer, not uncommon among immigrants because of their unique stresses. The doctor tells her that her husband will get better, but will be back in the hospital in six months. She declares that she will take care of him to prevent that happening. Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's use of non professional actors doesn't help his effort to make an engrossing drama.

EAT A BOWL OF TEA (1989) - After a narrator fills us in on the difficulties of Chinese males in the first half of the 20th century, being forbidden by law to bring women to the U.S., we are told that World War 2 changed everything. Russell Wong finishes his stint in the U.S. Army and is allowed to go to China to find a bride. He comes back with Cora Miao and faces the pressure of the entire community eagerly awaiting their first born. Naturally, Wong is rendered impotent by the pressure, so "buddy" Eric Tsang puts the moves on Miao and she becomes pregnant. Wong's father, Victor Wong, and Miao's father, Sau-Kei Lee, are elated, until the rumor goes around that Tsang is the real father. Eventually, Wong Sr. cuts off Tsang's left ear and Miao gets a packet of tea from her mother back in China which is guaranteed to solve Wong Jr.'s problem. The film ends with the family reunited in San Francisco having an American style BBQ with multiple children and Miao pregnant again. Based on the novel by Louis Chu, the film suffers from obvious plotting and some poor performances. The most interesting aspect of the film is the number of Hong Kong film veterans playing Chinese-Americans: including Miao (who married director Wayne Wang), Tsang, Lee and Philip Chan. A special note should be made for Jessica Harper's uncredited cameo appearance.

GLORIFYING THE AMERICAN GIRL (1929) - Getting in a Broadway show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld was considered the height of success in the 1920s, so it was not surprising that Adolph Zukor of Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation made a deal to capture part of his show on motion picture film. Of course, since this was a movie there had to be a story, which was concocted by J.P. McEvoy and Millard Webb. Webb also directed. Mary Eaton dreamed of being in a Ziegfeld show while singing at a sheet music counter in a New York store. Eventually, she catches the eye of an horny Dan Healy, whose previous partner Kaye Renard quit. With money hungry mother Sarah Edwards pushing her, Eaton finally gets the attention of a Ziegfeld talent scout and gets on the Broadway stage. But will she be able to shuffle off Healy and his contract which grants him 50% of her earnings? While Eaton gets the applause, mousy Gloria Shea wins Edward Crandall hand in marriage. It was surprising that a movie celebrating a Ziegfeld show would actually be a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of wanting a showbiz career. Our heroine ends the film triumphant on stage, but still stuck with a manipulative mother, a greedy ex-partner and with no romantic prospects. The Ziegfeld show looked like a girlie show with expensive costumes and speciality acts like Rudy Vallee, Helen Morgan and Eddie Cantor that exhibit nothing to explain their popularity. Cantor would be a lot more fun in ROMAN SCANDALS (1933) and the backstage story better told in 42nd STREET (1933). 

13 EERIE (2013) - It seems to me that if you're going to make another "flesh eating undead" movie, you should figure out something different for the "flesh eating undead" to do - not just figure out a different reason for there to be "flesh eating undead". The film begins with a group of college types on a boat heading up a river. This is intercut with shots of dead bodies being laid out. So, I figure the "zombie apocalypse" must have already happened. It takes a while before I learned that these guys are studying to become forensic scientists, and Professor Michael Shanks has picked a remote former prison called Eerie Strait for where these guys will carry out a field exam using three corpses borrowed from a morgue. Naturally, it turns out that the prison lifers had been experimented on by the government with 28 DAYS like results. The prison had been closed, but some of those on whom were experimented had been left behind. The students become concerned when instead of three bodies, they find four. And then the fourth gets up and tries to eat them. Two more show up and everyone is running around screaming, with irritating idiots like the Professor refusing to listen to the warnings until they are almost bitten. Of the students, Katharine Isabelle turns out to be the most resourceful, but even she does a "whoops" by shooting Brendan Fehr in the back accidentally. On the DVD commentary, director Lowell Dean and producer Mark Montague talk about how this film came to be when executive producer Roger Christian found himself unable to make the movie he wanted to make because the financing didn't came together. And so Dean got to make his feature film debut, which he would follow with WOLFCOP featuring Sarah Lind. All hail moviemaking in Saskatchewan.

VOODOO WOMAN (1957) - Here's a movie that needs a disclaimer about "cultural insensitivities". Because of his theories about changing people into invulnerable creatures, mad scientist Tom Conway has taken up with a voodoo tribe deep in the jungle. While their voodoo magic can transform young women into monsters during a spell, Conway hopes to make the change permanent and then control the monster with the power of his will. Needless to say Conway's wife, Mary Ellen Kay, becomes convinced that her husband plans to kill her, but he has big Emmett Smith constantly guarding her to keep her inside their house. Meanwhile, at Paul Dubov's jungle bar, Marla English and Lance Fuller are trying to get Norman Willis to let them know what is the treasure they're going after. Ransacking Willis' room, they find a voodoo doll with gold in it, so they kill Willis and plan to use the arriving guide, Touch Connors, to take them into the jungle. English is used to being able to manipulate men to do her bidding, but Connors won't. In the night, Fuller bumps into Jean Davis, who has been the subject of Conway's experiments. Fuller tries to rape Davis, but after she bites him, he kills her. The natives want justice, so English kills Fuller. English then volunteers to be Conway's new subject after he promises her gold. Eventually, Connors decides to rescue Kay, a transformed English kills Conway and voodoo witch doctor Martin Wilkins trips and falls into the bubbling pit next to his gold idol. English transforms back to her human self in time to slip into that same bubbling pit. Connors and Kay make it back to the bar, but Dubov seems correct when he says that he's certain that English isn't dead. Her monster self, played by Paul Blaisdell, is seen crawling out of the pit as "The ? End" appears on the screen. An Alex Gordon production for Carmel Productions and American International, this film was directed by Edward L. Cahn, who did much better with IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE. This movie seems to have convinced Marla English to stop acting.

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David Deal enjoyed:

THE BLACK RAVEN (43)

GUNSLINGER (56)

CROW HOLLOW (51) - Young bride Natasha Parry moves with her husband to his ancestral estate to live with his three eccentric aunts.  It isn't long before attempts on Natasha's life begin.  British Gothic mystery is slow to get going but has a good ending and loads of atmosphere.

THE THIRD ALIBI (61) - Pressured composer Laurence Payne runs down a man in a hit and run while with his wife's stepsister, with whom he's having an affair.  When Laurence can't get a divorce, the couple plan to kill his wife using an elaborate plan that his wife overhears.  British film noir with a good build up and a nice twisty ending as Laurence's alibis fall apart.

GORDON LIGHTFOOT: IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND (20) - Excellent documentary on Canada's poet laureate.

SMOKESCREEN (54) - When a burning car flies off a cliff into the sea but no body is found, insurance investigator Peter Vaughn (Straw Dogs) is called in to determine if a scam is in the works.  Highly entertaining British thriller that contains smart levity and neat plotting.  Recommended.

MURDER, SHE SAID (62)

Mildly enjoyed:

THE MAD DOCTOR OF MARKET STREET (41)

SIGN OF THE GLADIATOR (59)

WITNESS IN THE DARK (59) - Thief Nigel Green murders an old woman but fails to find her valuable brooch.  On his way out he brushes past Patricia Dainton, a blind tenant in the building.  When the papers report that Patricia inherited the brooch, Nigel comes back.  British blind-girl-in-peril flick has a few tense moments before the satisfactory ending.

THE SPIDER (31)

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Charles Gilbert watched:

KILL SWITCH (2009) Policeman Steven Seagal and coroner Isaac Hayes investigate a manical serial killer. Ultra choppy action sequences. One could never learn Seagal's moves with such editing.

SHIELD FOR MURDER (1954) B&W. Edmond O'Brien co-directs and stars as rogue cop Barney Nolan who pockets $125 K after shooting a hood in the back. A witness proves troublesome even though he is deaf and dumb, so he must be eliminated. Precinct pal John Agar begins to suspect his buddy has gone sour after 16 years on the force and attempts to arrest him, but us overtaken. A dragnet lpins him down at a model subdivision home in the suburbs where he stowed the cash, and where he wanted to settle down with babe Marla English. Caroline Jones is a brief diversion for him on the lam.

THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD (1959) B&W. It's just a subterranean cavern that two men and two women discover when their diving bell separates from its cable. John Carradine, Robert Clarke, and Phyllis Coates.

D.O.A. (1949) B&W. Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) heads to San Francisco for a brief business break  and winds up at a bar where someone slips him a concoction that, according to the doctors, gives him only a day or two to finish his life. In that time he embarks on an odyssey to find out who had it in for him.

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Bertrand van Wonterghem enjoyed:

Willy’s wonderland (2020, Kevin Lewis)

Yi guyeokui michin X / Mad for each other – season 1 (2020) - episodes 5 to 13

Paranormal – season 1 (2020) – episodes 4 to 6

The high commissioner / Nobody runs forever (1968, Ralph Thomas)

Gojira tai Megaro / Godzilla vs Megalon (1973, Jun Fukuda)

Journal 64 (2018, Christoffer Boe)

Mildly enjoy:

Last woman on earth (1960, Roger Corman)

Wartezimmer zum Jenseits (1964, Alfred Vohrer)

Did not enjoy:

Jupiter’s legacy – season 1 – episodes 6 to 8

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