Happy Birthday Jess!

The legendary filmmaker (seen here in Pere Portabella's poetic Cuadecuc) would have been 85 years old today.We´ve decided to write a few words about his Midnight Party on this occasion:

Midnight Party aka Lady Porno

Sloppily shot in Cinemascope and semi-plotless, this Eurociné presentation opens with Lina Romay addressing the viewer (foreshadowing similar 'interactive' moments in Franco's final digital films Paula-Paula and Crypt of the Condemned) while writhing naked in a hotel bedroom bathed in crimson light.

Gorgeous Lina Romay is the film's main attraction, here allowed to shine in a comic part. Eurociné regulars Pierre Boisson, Olivier Mathot and Pierre Taylou are at hand, taking turns frolicking in bed with Lina Romay, all set to Daniel White's mild score. Midnight Party was later  chopped up (together with Shining Sex) and re-scored by Joe D'Amato to make the hard-to-see Justine de Sade film.

Olivier Mathot (1924-2011)

Real Name: Claude Albert Plaut 
Born: June 22, 1924 in Paris, France

 

Olivier Mathot as the member of a gang of criminals which includes Paul Naschy, in CRIMSON (1973).

I've just been informed by the actress Monika Swinn that the prolific French actor/director Olivier Mathot (Claude Plaut) died in December, 2011. She had no further details on the cause, place or exact time/date of his demise.

A familiar face in numerous Eurocine coproductions from CRIMSON,  (1973), in which he played alongside Paul Naschy, to DEVIL KISS (1975), a Spanish French Eurocine coproduction in which he appeared with the late Silvia Solar, MANIAC KILLER (1988) with Chuck Connors, to numerous Jess Franco directed-Eurocine produced thrillers such as EXORCISM (1974) and its reedited 1979 version (EL SADICO DE NOTRE DAME), KISS ME KILLER and SHINING SEX (1975) (in which he appeared with Ms. Swinn). He also appeared in Michel Lemoine's DESIRE UNDER THE SUN, Franco's THE MIDNIGHT PARTY and CONVOY OF WOMEN, among many other titles. His acting career began in 1945 and his last listed role, according to the IMDb, was in the rarely seen Jess Franco/Jean Rollin crime/kidnapping adventure CHASING BARBARA (1991), also featuring the late Peter Martell. [BTW, if anyone reading this has a VHS/DVD copy of CHASING BARBARA please contact me here of by PM. 

Mathot also directed a number of films as well as scenes in alternate [French] Eurocine versions of Jess Franco films, such as CECILIA (1980) and THE DIAMONDS OF KILIMANDJARO (1983). A reliable actor with a distinguished appearance he could effectively play criminals, mad scientists, police offiers and comedy.

Also known as Oliver Mathews, Oliver Matthau, Claude Plaud,