SUGAR COLT, Franco Giraldi's 1966 Spaghetti Western will be shown as one of 40 films in a sidebar tribute to that once popular genre; some of the films have been restored and will be projected in 35mm, at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. Soledad Miranda, the smoldering Jess Franco object of attraction in EL CONDE DRACULA, EUGENIE DE SADE and VAMPYROS LESBOS, is second billed with US actor Hunt Powers. She appeared in several mid 1960s shot-in-Spain westerns. I haven't seen this one. Any comments?
Another Jess Franco actress, Emma Cohen, can also be seen at the festival's big screen projection of CUT THROATS NINE, a 1972 ultra violent Spanish western directed by former Jess Franco colleague Joaquin Romero Marchent (1955's EL COYOTE was co written and co directed by JF, along with its follow up). In 1973 Cohen gave an award winning, haunting performance as a woman lost AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO, Franco's essential 1973 occult thriller. Numerous other actors seen in JF films of that era also appear in CUT THROATS NINE, including Alberto Dalbes and Jose Manuel Martin. Marchent was Spain's most prolific and vital Eurowestern specialist. It's a very powerful film and highly recommended.
Jess Franco admirer Quentin Tarantino will be on hand to introduce some of the Eurowesterns.
(C) Robert Monell, 2007
