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30 November, 2009

HOMAGE TO THE CINEMA OF JESS FRANCO IN VENICE


Thanks to my friend and colleague Francesco Cesari for alerting me to the upcoming "Homage to Jess Franco" in Venice, Italy, which he helped organize. Three of the director's most unique titles will be screened, THE DIABOLICAL DR. Z (1965), A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD (1971) and EL SEXO ESTA LOCO (1980). These are three of the prolific filmmaker's most personal films and he appears as an actor in all three.

Here are some more details Francesco emailed me:

["2 december Franco-day at the "House of
Cinema" in Venezia is ready. Thanks to Ferran Herranz, Antonio Mayans will be the "Guest of Honor". The event is organized by the University of Venezia (Ca' Foscari). "]

Actor Antonio Mayans, who has appeared in dozens of Jess Franco films since the early 1970s right up to the present day, will be a Special Guest at the event, which will unfold on December 2nd and 3rd.



For Italian language readers this is from Francesco's FACEBOOK link:

[Omaggio al cinema di Jess Franco"Prismas del imaginario" (a cura di Francesco Cesari - coordinatore Alessandro Scarsella)
Type:
Music/Arts - Performance
Network:
Global
Start Time:
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 4:30pm
End Time:
Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 12:00am
Location:
Venezia
Street:
Casa del Cinema (Videoteca Pasinetti)
Description
Proiezione di 3 film e tavola rotonda:16,30: Miss Muerte (Le diabolique docteur Z, 1965) - in francese, con sottotitoli inglesi18,00: tavola rotonda "Il caso Jesús Franco"21,00: Une vierge chez les morts vivants (1971) - in francese, con sottotitoli italiani22.45: El sexo está loco (1981) - in spagnolo, con sottotitoli italianiTavola rotonda:Partecipano:Francesco Cesari, Roberto Ellero, Ferran Herranz, Teo Mora, Elide Pittarello, Alessandro ScarsellaInterviene:Antonio MayansSchede sui film:MISS MUERTEL’ultimo degli horror in bianco e nero diretti da Jesús Franconella prima metà degli anni '60 – a detta del regista il piùriuscito – è una rivisitazione della Sposa in nero di William Irishcon alcune significative varianti: la vendicatrice omicida non èsposa ma figlia, il dramma è calato nell’universo fantastico dellascience-fiction e l’esecutrice materiale dei delitti è una showgirl,appunto Miss Death, la cui mente è controllata da quelladella «figlia in nero». La sceneggiatura fu scritta a quattro manida Franco e Jean-Claude Carrière, collaboratore d'elezione diLuis Buñuel. Girato a regola d’arte e caratterizzato da unafotografia cupa, dai toni marcatamente espressionisti, il film èesemplare della fase “classica” del regista madrileno. Franco viappare nei panni di un ispettore di polizia perennementeassonnato, assistito da un collega di Scotland Yard a sua voltainterpretato dal compositore, e amico del regista, Daniel J.White, autore della suggestiva e raffinata colonna sonora. Il filmviene presentato nel formato originale, in lingua francese consottotitoli inglesi (la versione spagnola non è ancora uscita indvd ma è identica a quella francese).UNE VIERGE CHEZ LES MORTS-VIVANTSLa nuit des étoiles filantes – nelle intenzioni di Franco, questodoveva essere il titolo – è un film a basso costo, girato in assolutalibertà e, nella versione d’autore, rispondente in tutto e per tuttoalla personale concezione cinematografica del regista. Ilmontaggio originale è stato ripristinato solo in anni recenti, dopoche negli anni ’70 i diversi distributori avevano imposto il taglio didue sequenze e l’aggiunta di scene erotiche in alcune versioni(Christina, princesse de l’érotisme) e horror in altre (le sequenzecon gli zombie furono girate da Jean Rollin), allo scopo diomologare il film agli standard di questi due genericinematografici onde adattarlo ai rispettivi mercati. Al contrario,la versione di Franco punta su una spiazzante, imprevedibilealternanza di toni lirici, onirici, umoristici, grotteschi. Il film non silimita a raccontarci i sogni della protagonista Christina: ciintroduce in un universo nel quale anche il risveglio e la morte sirivelano ulteriori dimensioni del sogno, agganciandosi in tal modoa una tradizione culturale che in Spagna risale fino a Calderón dela Barca. Alla definizione di questa atmosfera peculiarecontribuiscono in misura decisiva la vegetazione tropicale diCascais, sulla costa portoghese, dove il film fu girato, e lapartitura musicale di Bruno Nicolai, composta con lacollaborazione del regista e costellata di voci e suoni della natura.In alcune interviste il regista ha affermato che il soggetto diquesto «piccolo film» («C’est un petit film que j’aime beaucoup.Je n’aime pas mes films en général mais celui-ci est particulier. J’yai mis beaucoup de moi-même») sarebbe stato ricavato da unracconto di Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, ma si tratta soltanto di unideale punto di ispirazione per un soggetto originale, il cui germesi trova semmai in uno dei primi film dello stesso Franco, Elsecreto del Dr. Orloff (1964). In francese, per la prima volta consottotitoli italiani.EL SEXO ESTA LOCODopo la morte di Francisco Franco, il mercato cinematograficospagnolo si aprì con grande successo al genere erotico.All’apparenza, El sexo está loco è uno dei tanti soft-core a bassocosto girati in Spagna in quegli stessi anni; sennonché il veroatto di trasgressione – come lo stesso regista ha dichiarato –non è la prevedibile ostentazione di corpi nudi e situazionisessualmente esplicite, bensì lo smantellamento delleconvenzioni narrative: «Volevo per una volta sbarazzarmi dellaschiavitù di dover raccontare una storia per fare un film. Credodi esserci riuscito. Non avevo un vero copione, era una scaletta,uno schema di come una storia si convertiva in un’altra, e inun’altra…». Il modello filmico a cui Franco dichiaratamente siispirò è, proprio in quest’ottica, Il fantasma della libertà diBuñuel, ma rivisitato in chiave scanzonata e demenziale: dallafantascientifica scena iniziale, nell’astronave degli infoiatiabitanti del pianeta Argolios, fino alla messa satanica deifanatici di San Cucufate. Anche grazie ai consueti giochi dispecchi, regista, direttore della fotografia e camera da presairrompono più volte nell’inquadratura, a ribadire l’intentodemistificante da cui il film prese le mosse. Tra i protagonisti, lacoppia di attori che ha girato con Franco il maggior numero difilm: Lina Romay, moglie del regista, e Antonio Mayans, suo piùstretto collaboratore durante gli anni ‘80, anche nelle vesti didirettore di produzione. In spagnolo, per la prima volta consottotitoli italiani.Jesús Franco (Madrid, 12 maggio 1930) è una dellefigure più originali del panorama cinematograficocontemporaneo. Affermatosi all’inizio degli anni ’60come regista di film horror di impronta neogotica eneoespressionista, ha in seguito delineato la propriapersonalità artistica spostandosi ai margini del sistemaproduttivo. Le crescenti limitazioni pratiche – budget etempi di lavorazione ristrettissimi, cast semiprofessionali– l’hanno spinto sulla via della ricerca di un linguaggiopersonale e riconoscibile, de-stilizzato, basatosull’improvvisazione, la camera a mano e il ricorso adattori non professionisti. Non sorprende, pertanto,incontrare i nomi di Godard e Bresson in alcune suerecenti interviste. Le evidenti eccentricità della suaproduzione – la montagna di titoli (oltre 170, di qualitàovviamente diseguale ma idealmente strutturati comeun’opera unica), l’adesione al cinema di genere, specieerotico e fantastico, nonché gli sconfinamenti sistematiciverso gli universi paralleli del fumetto e della musica (trale altre cose, Franco ha studiato composizione ed è statopianista e trombettista jazz) – hanno tuttavia a lungoimpedito di riconoscere la tensione intellettuale e criticache ne ha segnato le scelte di fondo. Oggi ben 100 filmdiretti da Jess Franco – come preferisce farsi chiamare –sono accessibili sul mercato mondiale del dvd.Nell’estate 2008 la Cinémathèque française gli hadedicato una retrospettiva-fiume, proiettandone ben 69titoli, e nel febbraio 2009 il regista ha ricevuto il premioGoya de Honor, un premio alla carriera che costituisce ilprimo riconoscimento importante conferitogli nella suaSpagna («Nunca esperé ningún reconocimiento por micarrera. Estoy encantado y como, nunca me he creídomerecedor de nada, me parece un regalo precioso»). ]

Good Work and Good Luck, Francesco!

28 November, 2009

FRANCO 70 -THE DE NESLE YEARS: Vol. 1-3

MONDO MACABRO has announced on their TWITTER and FACEBOOK accounts the upcoming release of titles from the Jess Franco-Robert De Nesle collection in 2010.

Great News!

We should be looking forward to some of the director's most sought-after titles finally appearing on DVD.

More information will follow. Keep an eye on the MONDO MACABRO blog for futher news.

www.mondomacabrodvd.blogspot.com/






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27 November, 2009

JESS FRANCO AND THE BALCAZARS

The Men From Balcazar....


My Black Friday shopping included a pick-up of THE MAN FROM OKLAHOMA DVD from Dorado Films, who have released a number of very obscure, interesting Eurowestern/Eurospy titles. They deserve to be supported. I can't resist obscure Eurowesterns so I quickly snapped it up.

This little know Spanish-German-Italian hybrid was co-directed by Jaime Jesus Balcazar, who was one of the notorious Balcazar dynasty who built a studio near Barcelona, Spain where a number of Jess Franco films were shot. Below are some interesting comments and information on those Franco films and the studio by our Spanish friend, Nzoog. He is citing the Spanish language book BALCAZAR PRODUCCIONES CINEMATOGRAFICAS: Mas alla de Espulgas City, about the Balcazar empire started by the brothers Jaime Jesus and Alfonso. The text suggests that Jess Franco may have shot more films at the studio than any other single director.


More information is available on the JESS FRANCO AND BALCAZAR thread now featured on www.cinemadrome.yuku.com

{"The Castle of Fu Manchu is included in the list of Balcázar films proper, appearing as a coproduction between Spain, Liechtenstein, West Germany and Italy: "No credit is given to the contribution of Balcázar in the Spanish version of 1971. It appears that the Italian version was not premiered in its day". The Spanish company cited is Tilma Film.

The list of Franco films shot at Balcázar is the following (whenever known, the month in which the shooting at Balcázar took place is given):

Justine (June 1968)

Venus in Furs (September 1968)

Count Dracula (March 1969)

Devil's Island Lovers(1971)

The Curse of Frankenstein(June 1973)"}


I'm hoping for an English language edition of this information rich publication at some point in the future.

Thanks to Nzoog.


24 November, 2009

The Jess Franco Online Video Guide: SHINING SEX -Toei Video


Another entry into THE JESS FRANCO ONLINE HOME VIDEO GUIDE, an ongoing project for the last year based on my CINEMADROME site. Go to http://www.cinemadrome.yuku.com/ THE WORLD OF JESS FRANCO FORUM to read previous entries.


SHINING SEX {onscreen title}
[aka Shining Sex-La Fille au Sexe Brillant]

Released by TOEI VIDEO/ TOHOKUSHINSHA HOME VIDEO-Japan *
100m
AR 1.33:1
Language options: English with Japanese subtitles

Directed by Dan L. Simon [Jess Franco]
PC: Eurocine [France]; Brux Interfilm [Belgium]
Cast: Cynthia (Lina Romay), Alpha (Evelyne Scott); Andros (Ramon Ardid), Ms Pecame (Monica Swinn), Dr. Kallman/Van Helsing (Olivier Mathot), Simon Berger (Boris), Jess Franco (Dr. Seward).

Synopsis: Cynthia, an exotic dancer in a upscale resort in Southern France, is seduced by a strange couple, Alpha, a being from another dimension and her human slave, Andros. Alpha places highly toxic matter (which also has hypnotic powers) into Cynthia's sex during love-making. From then on she will be a helpless pawn in a plot to destroy a psychic and a biologist who have become aware of the alien invasion and pose a threat to the plan.

Commentary: "A superior force obliges me to love you and then to kill you," Cynthia tells one of her victims. That could be a plot description of dozens of films and the love/death theme is central to his . No-budget SF-SEX [as a pre-feature onscreen title card added by Toei Video announces] esoterica with a very effective performance by Lina as the tragic Cynthia. This film has very little dialogue and an outre ambiance supported by a soundtrack which includes strange, industrial type sounds [SHINING SEX is also the name of an Industrial-Experimental music group], minimalist locations [the hotel in Southern France where this was lensed was also used for the equally no-budget Franco spy-comedy THE MIDNIGHT PARTY, another 1975 item which utilized virtually the same cast, crew and was shot back-to-back with this film], and, in this longer version, a weird extended boat ride down a river with white horses and exotic animals on its banks.


This could be termed as Fantastique cinema and almost seems like a Jean Rollin film at times. Very under appreciated and one of the director's rare excursions into science fiction (cf EL SEXO ESTA LOCO). This version is approximately 15 minutes [!] longer than the hardcore French version, which will be discussed in another entry in the JESS FRANCO ONLINE VIDEO GUIDE. This version is highly recommended over the hardcore, which subtracts even more footage for the scenes.

Franco's telezoom [he acted as his own DP] is, once again, relentless, but, in this context, an appropriate tool used to explore sexual/emotional/spatial/architectural/geometrical patterns while arranging them into cubist compositions.

Jess Franco is quite convincing as the paralyzed, occultist-psychiatrist, Dr. Seward, who attempts to save Cynthia from the alien plot. This before-the-fact, unintended AIDS allegory, is powerful stuff seen from a contemporary perspective. It's poetic sexploitation of a high order. Franco would remake this film in 1986, exploiting the then-recent suddenly blooming awareness of the disease, as SIDA, LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX, for Golden Films Internacional, with Francoise Blanchard in the Lina Romay role. OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO reports Franco's claims that a dispute between Emilio Larraga and Eurocine halted the release of the film.

RATINGS
Film: *** [good]
Video: ** [acceptable video quality but the 1.33:1 cropping of a scope film is unfortunate]
Audio: *** [for once an intelligently written and voice-cast English dubbed version of a JF film]

*There have been no US-R1 presentations of this film on any video format so far.
Thanks to Eric Cotenas.


21 November, 2009

THE MILLION EYES OF SUMURU (1967)

George Nader is a hoot in Lindsay Shonteff's 1967 Sumuru misadventure...




Jess Franco's 1968 Sumuru flick featured terrific costumes, a wasted George Sanders and numerous eye-catching posters.



"I have a million eyes, for I am Sumuru."


After finally getting a chance to see this 1967 Lindsay Shonteff (CURSE OF THE VOODOO) directed Sax Rohmer adaptation I can report that it's more entertaining and visually stylish (even in a cropped 1.33:1 poor quality print) than Jess Franco's 1968 Sumuru adaptation THE GIRL FROM RIO but has less interest in terms outre fashion design and codified genre commentary.* Both films were produced by Harry Alan Towers and bombed at the box office.

THE MILLION EYES opens with CIA Agent Nick West (George ROBOT MONSTER Nader) hijacked by British intelligence (in the person of the avuncular Wilfrid-Hyde White) and ordered to Hong Kong where he will infiltrate the world of female super-criminal Sumuru (Shirley Eaton), who owns an island undermined with high explosives and populated by a crack army of female assassins dressed in black tights. We see plenty of bare midriffs but no nudity. Boot and leather fetishists will have no complaints and watching Eaton whip a chained up Nader is camp fun of the highest order. Sumuru's dream is a world dominated by women where Love is a capital offense. That seems just fine with Nader as he takes every chance to get into a hot clutch with every Sumuru operative in reach.

Fun is the key word here. Nader, in full flight from Hollywood, was already involved in Euro espionage in his German-produced Jerry Cotton series [THE TRAP SNAPS SHUT AT MIDNIGHT] lets it all hang out here [everyone knew he was gay, but friend Rock Hudson was still deep in the Hollywood closet] as the fey, wise cracking secret agent who quips he had better in High School after getting kissed by Shirley Eaton! It's fun to watch George having a ball at Harry Alan Towers' expense. He's certainly more engaging than Richard Wyler in Franco's take. On the other hand there's the unavoidable presence of top-billed Frankie Avalon who can't act, isn't funny and looks like he needs to be back in a BEACH BLANKET BINGO movie or the Mickey Mouse club. He shouldn't be in the film at all, but I guess it wouldn't have gotten made without a "name" to sell it in the US. It didn't sell there or anywhere else, though.

No film featuring the legendary Klaus Kinski can't be without interest and here he matches Nader in tacky goofball antics by playing a double role, wearing a fright wig, smirking broadly and generally flailing wildly about as the sex-addicted Sindonesian President Boong.

Maria Rohm as cult- inductee Helga is no more necessary to the plot here as she in the Franco Sumuru film while her presence is certainly understandable given her relationship with the producer. She proved to be actress in her later Franco films, especially as Madame St. Ange in EUGENIE...THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION (1970). She's just a pretty blonde here. More to the point are Sumuru's guard, who engage in all sorts of erotic tortures, including one who strangles a prisoner to death with her thighs. So, yes it's also more erotic than Franco's 1968 film. Of course Franco's 1987 Sumuru inspired ESCLAVAS DEL CRIMEN is another story.

John Von Kotze's compositions are quite well-arranged considering this is basically a silly spy spoof attempting to be sophisticated, a typical set-up features amazons on either side of the frame sporting Mauser machine pistols, which, conveniently enough for the prop department budget, the Hong Kong police also use during the final assault. The Shaw Brothers Hong Kong sets look interesting but their scale can't be appreciated in this presentation and it's impossible to fully evaluate a 2.35:1 Techniscope film cropped to fullscreen. I can't say that I've ever been a fan of the Canadian born Lindsay Shonteff but this does deserve an OAR DVD presentation for curiosity value if nothing else. At least it all ends with a bang as Sumuru self-destructs her island empire. No such apotheosis graced Franco's THE GIRL FROM RIO.

It should also be noted that Nader also played the hero in the 1967 Vincent Price vehicle THE HOUSE OF 1000 DOLLS, also produced by Towers.

My favorite Sumuru movie scenes are those oddly angled and lit inserts in Jess Franco's BLOOD OF FU MANCHU (1968), about which Ms. Eaton is understandably still miffed since she filmed them during THE GIRL FROM RIO shoot only to have them appear in BLOOD, for which she got no remuneration. I admit to not having read the Rohmer Sumuru novels, but I would very much like to at some point.

There is also a reportedly alternate German version of this film which I haven't seen.

*Thanks to Bill Connolly and Robert Guest for providing me with videos of this rarity.



16 November, 2009

DVDs in question


Are these DVDs worth 20 dollars a pop?




I've been unable to secure review copies of the R1 DVDs of Jess Franco's 1980 erotic-sci fi-comedy EL SEXO ESTA LOCO and the musical comedy LAS CHICAS DE COPACABANA (1979). I'm very much in the dark about the companies who have released these discs and am curious about the audio-visual quality. I also continue to wonder where these were sourced from.

I have the Spanish DVD of EL SEXO..., which is 1.33:1, in Spanish language only. The video quality is fair to good, but could be much better in terms of color, sharpness, definition and general luminosity. It's certainly an improvement over the old VSOM sixth generation dubs I've had for the last two decades! The film itself is one of Franco's most original, satiric, idiosyncratic journeys into genre hyperspace.

I would like to hear any reports from blog readers on these. Please post any comments below. Also, if anyone already has these/is interested in contributing a guest review, please contact me asap.*

The covers have an amusingly tacky quality but I wonder if they properly represent the films. They look like typical bargain bin material in your local Adult Shop.



renegovar@yahoo.com *






11 November, 2009

More Robert Siodmak!



One of three visually spectacular German produced westerns Robert Siodmak directed based on the popular [in Germany] adventure novels of Karl May.*


I just watched the vintage trailer [in 2.35:1] for DER SCHATZ DER AZTEKEN on the excellent UFA R2 DVD of Jess Franco's DER TODESRACHER VON SOHO (1972). DER TODESRACHER... was produced by Artur Brauner's CCC company as were the Siodmak Karl May adaptations. There were a series of CCC Karl May films in the 1960s which did quite well in Germany, including Harald Reinl's APACHE GOLD aka TREASURE OF SILVER LAKE (1962).


I'll have a review up soon of DER SCHATZ..., along with its companion film, Siodmak's PYRAMID OF THE SUN GOD. Both were released in 1965 and starred former Tarzan Lex Barker. Lensed in Spain and Germany these films have a quite different look and feel compared to the Italian Spaghetti westerns of the same era. They're an acquired taste.


*Karl May was one of Adolf Hitler's favorite writers!


Thanks to Bruno.




03 November, 2009

FRANCO OF THE WEST


I had the chance to do an extensive (still unpublished) interview with Jess Franco in which we discussed many topics. I quickly learned to expect the unexpected when interviewing the man. When he suddenly told me that he had been involved with a film I had seen at the drive-in decades earlier I was at a loss for words. Franco has been indirectly and directly involved with several European westerns in his career, from co-writing and assistant-directing Joaquin Romero Marchent's EL COYOTE and LA JUSTICIA DEL COYOTE in 1954 to his own EL LLANERO (1963), a sort of South American western set in 1863 Venezuela. Such later films as LES CHATOUILLEUSES (1974) and the "bandido" semi-western SCARLET (1983) [anyone want to see a print of that?] and VAMPIRE JUNCTION (2000) also have "western" elements.

He had offers to direct "spaghetti westerns" when they were popular but they didn't pan out. One of the episodes in his long career which he remains most proud is his self-described stint as "personal" assistant to one of his favorite directors, Robert Siodmak. Franco recounted to me at some length how he put his own career on hold in to work for the veteran director of PHANTOM LADY (one of Franco's favorite films) on the CINERAMA western CUSTER OF THE WEST (1967). This is not one of Siodmak's best or most personal films but it is a very interesting semi-revisionist take on the legendary character and, of course, ends with Custer's one-way journey into the Little Big Horn. It's a visually impressive, dramatically and historically muddled film, but I got the sense that Jess enjoyed working with one of his inspirations and he seemed more interested in talking about it than his own films.

I saw CUSTER OF THE WEST at the drive-in during the summer of 1968, hardly the best venue for a CINERAMA production. I also have it on DVD, but the film probably needs to be seen in its OAR for full impact.

Here are the somewhat complicated technical specs on the filming ratios and release history taken from the IMDB. I also didn't realize until after I had interviewed Jess that Jack Taylor was in CUSTER... . At least he's listed in the cast. But I can't find him in the film!

Film negative format (mm/video inches)
35 mm (horizontal)


Cinematographic process
Super Technirama 70


Printed film format
35 mm
70 mm (Super-Cinerama)



Film negative format (mm/video inches)
35 mm (horizontal)


Cinematographic process
Super Technirama 70


Printed film format
35 mm
70 mm (Super-Cinerama)

In any case, it was a pleasure to hear the excitement in his voice while describing the experiences of working with one of his masters.