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25 June, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LINA ROMAY

                              Lina Romay as Countess ...      


Lina Romay was born Rosa Maria Alrmirall Martinez on June 25, 1954 (some sources give June 23) in Barcelona, Cataluna, Spain. She has acted in over 100 Jess Franco films since 1973. She is also a director in her own right and has been editor/assistant director on many Jess Franco productions. 

Above is a screengrab of her in FEMALE VAMPIRE (1973) [LA COMTESSE NOIRE) my favorite of her performances.


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22 June, 2010

MIRRORS: LA CASA DE LAS MUJERES PERDIDAS


Thanks to firirinabe for this screencap from Jess Franco's ultra rare 1982 melodrama LA CASA DE LAS MUJERES PERDIDAS. It once again illustrates the director's strategic deployment of mirrors as a way of opening out a film into three or more dimensions and evidences his use of a cubist style as a way of representing a complex character matrix.

Go to http://www.cinemadrome.yuku.com for more images and a brief review.

21 June, 2010

APOCALIPSIS SEXUAL (1982) Poster




This poster for the 1982 Ajita Wilson-Lina Romay Spanish hardcore item directed by Carlos Aured (HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB)[and, according to the IMDB, Sergio Bergonzelli (IN THE FOLDS OF THE FLESH, BLOOD DELIRIUM)] is on Amazon.com.

If you haven't seen this, it's a way, way, way, way out hardcore crime roughie very loosely based on the Patty Hearst case. Only this time it's in Spain. A group of criminals led by Ricardo Diaz (CUTTHROATS NINE) break into a vacant villa where they hold an heiress for ransom.

It's actually a pretty interesting oddity with good performances by Diaz, Romay and the late, great Wilson. One steamy interlude involves the two stars of MACUMBA SEXUAL getting involved with a candle! There's plenty of group sex and offensive sexual violence. The film has a somewhat droll sense of humor and a philosophical twist.

Our Spanish correspondent Nzoog has reported that the IMDB is incorrect {wouldn't be the first time!) re Bergonzelli's involvement. I've got a composite from VSOM, so you know how THAT looks! It's fullscreen (Spanish softcore scenes) and letterboxed for the hardcore sequences. But at least it's English subtitled.

The sequence where the ransom is collected is surprisingly well shot and edited by Aured, considering this was obviously a quickie job. It's downloadable from several sources.

Thanks to Nzoog for the additional information.



19 June, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROSALBA NERI!

Rosalba Neri Picture Gallery
Rosalba Neri as the prisoner Zoe in Jess Franco's 99 WOMEN (1969)

The sensual and multi-talented Italian actress Rosalba Neri was born June 19, 1939. She was a most fascinating, and often scene stealing, performer in Italian genre films from the early 1960s through the 1970s. She was a striking presence and proved she had solid dramatic credentials in such films as AMUCK (1972), THE SEDUCERS (1970), SLAUGHTER HOTEL (1971), JOHNNY YUMA (1968), LADY FRANKENSTEIN (1971) and THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT (1973).. 

Besides 99 WOMEN she also had memorable roles in Jess Franco's JUSTINE (1968), THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU (1969) and showed she could do comedy as well as drama with her amusing performance as the Albanian security officer in LUCKY, THE INSCRUTABLE (1967).


What is your favorite Rosalba Neri performance? I think for me it's a toss up between her nymphomaniacal mental patient in SLAUGHTER HOTEL and her vampire Queen in THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT.

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12 June, 2010

LORNA THE EXORCIST DVD NEWS & SCREENGRABS


The release date for the DVD of LORNA, THE EXORCIST will be delayed for at least a month, according to the Mondo Macabro site. Amazon.com has it available in August but we'll keep our eyes open.  It will have French and English language tracks with Eng. subtitles, a Franco documentary, poster galleries and more. Runtime is being listed at approx. 84m. and it looks that the "scene" is in there!

Video quality looks terrific considering all we've had for decades are dark, fuzzy, censored, grainy dubs.

ADULTS ONLY may go to my CINEMADROME site to see a screengrab of this legendary, notorious scene. Go to the LORNA THE EXORICST DVD news caps featured thread.http://www.cinemadrome.yuku.com















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09 June, 2010

Jess Franco Films I haven't seen...





Any comments on this 1974 period sex comedy produced by Robert De Nesle?



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07 June, 2010

ALDO SANBRELL news

                               
Aldo Sanbrell aka Sambrell in my favorite of his movies, M. Cano's VUDU SANGRIENTO aka VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST (1972). The 79 year old Spanish actor also appeared in several Jess Franco films, KILLER BARBYS, TENDER FLESH and KILLER BARBYS VS. DRACULA, each time as a villain.

Of course, he is most well known for his supporting roles in dozens of Euro westerns from the 1960s onward including THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, NAVAJO ROLE (one of his most memorable villain roles), ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL, REQUIEM FOR A GRINGO, HANDS UP DEAD MAN-YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!, ARIZONA COLT RETURNS and many, many more. I had some email contact with him when I was working on an article about the director Manuel Cano. He gave me some valuable information and I want to belatedly thank him and wish him well. He was always a memorable face and presence, a dependable, prolific actor. Thanks for the movie memories, Aldo. 

Here's an article I copied from Bill Connolly's SPAGHETTI CINEMA blog about the current hospitalization of prolific Spanish genre actor Aldo Sanbrell after suffering several strokes. Thanks to Bill for posting this. 

rom: http://www.levante-emv.com/
La tumba del pistolero (THE TOMB OF A GUNMAN)
by Andres Valdes

"I have been dying in scores of Westerns." Today, at 79, Aldo Sanbrell lies at the General Hospital of Alicante in guarded condition.

As it dawned on Almeria in 1975 Spain, Sean Connery was eating with Aldo Sanbrell. They were filming THE WIND AND THE LION and the Almeria coast surrendered to the charms of two famous actors who left the night together. In the desert of Tabernas were friends, admirers and former colleagues from the Western side of Europe, the heartless evil in the films of Sergio Leone and Mario Camus; a loved and respected actor. Even today there are many tributes to Sanbrell, black like the back of an insect, as he challenged Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Lee Van Cleef and Charles Bronson holding a revolver in the dust made epic by Ennio Morricone. They have applauded his death, had shot down evil; the cruel gringo traveling to hell with his skull split by a Navajo tomahawk. Now, 40 years after the decline of the Spaghetti Western, his life now far from the stage and warmed only by the most faithful: his wife and his representative. 79 year old Aldo Sanbrell, after suffering three strokes, is in a room at the General Hospital of Alicante, a city where he consummated his disappointment with the same industry that took him to its heights. An actor in more than 170 films since his debut as an extra in KING OF KINGS in 1961, he has known more recognition in his country and a modest mention in the festival of short films by Sax in 2007.
Jose Portoles, manager and close friend of the actor since he moved to Alicante in 2006, reported on May 25 that the veteran actor was admitted after getting a poor prognosis. "Today, neither AISGE or the Spanish Film Academy have shown interest in his condition. He is the great desert of Tabernas. The movie 800 BULLETS, by the president of the Academy Alex de la Iglesia, was inspired by his personal friendship with Clint Eastwood. Sanbrell agonises today alone, forgotten by the industry in an Alicante hospital. That's how Rome re-pays its Generals," Portoles laments.
Sanbrell happened in Madrid during the Civil War and its aftermath, until at age 18 he was called up by the regime for military service. "He said he was not going to work for an army maintained by a hated regime. He was very athletic and went to Mexico to make a living as a singer and football player, after a time with Rayo Vallecano in Madrid. In the land of Pancho Villa, he sang flamenco, learned English, emulated Sinatra under the stage name of Alfredo de Ronda and played football in Puebla and Monterrey. "Each day of filming became a party. Eastwood twisted cigars and the Dollars trilogy came from his cigarette. Eli Wallach, 'the ugly' of THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, confessed that the first thing he learned in Spanish was 'tapas, drinks and shrimp' from Sanbrell during filming."
One year after participating in the culmination of the Leone Western saga, he played alongside Burt Reynolds as a young NAVAJO JOE. His performance was indelible as seen in his recent participation in the TV series The Commissioner.
Bedridden, Aldo smiles and says that he can not speak because he is sedated, not because he his weak. In the room, there are his wife and Portoles. And Burt Reynolds, who, from the cover of NAVAJO JOE, reminds him.


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01 June, 2010

SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY, 40 years later....


 
2010 is the 40th anniversary of Jess Franco's SIE TOTETE IN EKSTASE aka SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY. It was confirmed during my conversation with Paul Muller that the film was in production during June-July 1970, following VAMPYROS LESBOS and immediately preceding the final Jess Franco-Soledad Miranda film, THE DEVIL CAME FROM AKASAVA.
 
Rewatching this again recently I was struck by the overwhelming mood of grief and rage telegraphed by the actress as the avenging wife of the tormented scientist (Fred Williams).
The eroticism oftens veers off into the perverse-grotesque during the kill scenes. It's kind of a reworking of themes and characters from MISS MUERTE (1965) but this time the emphasis is much more on dark sexuality.
 
I also really appreciate the unique visual style. The director often shoots through reflective surfaces, furniture and strategically placed objects, like the wine glass Soledad sets right in front of the lens in the scene where she seduces Ewa Stroemberg.
 
It shares catchy music cues heard in both VAMPYROS LESBOS and DER TEUFEL KAM AUS AKASAVA by Hubler, Schwab and Bruno Nicolai.
 
Franco appears as a hypocritical member of the Medical Board who suffers a fate worse than death at the hands of the enraged Mrs. Johnson.
 
Soledad Miranda was always a striking presence and her performance here is one of her very best. She is, as usual in her Franco appearances, credited as Susann Korda. The direction is credited to "Frank Hollman."
 
The approximately 73 m IMAGE DVD is missing some transitional footage seen in other versions. Thanks to Mirek Lipinski for that information.
 


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