She's back...!

Here's our mystery actress in another provocative pose...

Can anyone "ID" her?*



*There's a big hint in the above question.

WHO IS THIS ACTRESS?

The Sultry look! If I were casting a film in Spain or anywhere she would be on my short list...

BFI's CFFP Filmo

[From the British Film Institute site. Anything missing? Hey, any company which produced JUDEX, THE 3 FANTASTIC SUPERMEN and THE PERVERSE COUNTESS can't be all bad!]


Filmography
Comptoir Français du Film Production


Production Company as C.F.F.P. JE BRULE DE PARTOUT (1978)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. LOLA 77 (1977)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. ELLES FONT TOUT (1977)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Les THEATRES EROTIQUES DE PARIS (1975)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Les GLOUTONNES (1975)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. ONZE MILLE VIERGES (1975)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Los AMANTES DE LA ISLA DEL DIABLO (1974)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. LORNA, L'EXORCISTE (1974)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. L' HOMME LE PLUS SEXY DU MONDE (1974)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Les CHATOUILLEUSES (1974)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. CELESTINE, BONNE À TOUT FAIRE (1974)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. TAROTS (1973)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. PLAISIR À TROIS (1973)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. La MALDICIÓN DE FRANKENSTEIN (1973)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. MACISTE CONTRE LA REINE DES AMAZONES (1973)

Sponsor as C.F.F.P. La COMTESSE PERVERSE (1973)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Un CAPITÁN DE 15 AÑOS (1973)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO (1973)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Les EBRANLÉES (1972)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Le JOURNAL INTIME D'UNE NYMPHOMANE (1972)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN (1972)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Los DEMONIOS (1972)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. ROBINSON CRUSOE UND SEINE WILDEN SKLAVINNEN (1971)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. La PHILOSOPHIE DANS LE BOUDOIR (1969)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. MEKTOUB (1969)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. AUX FRAIS DE LA PRINCESSE (1969)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. COPLAN SAUVE SA PEAU (1968)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. CON LA MUERTE EN LA ESPALDA (1968)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. MANDABI (1968)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. KOMMISSAR X DREI GRÜNE HUNDE (1967)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. I FANTASTICI 3 SUPERMEN (1967)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. ROGER LA HONTE (1966)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. MISSION SPÉCIALE A CARACAS (1965)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. JOHNNY WEST IL MANCINO (1965)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. L' HOMME DE MYKONOS (1965)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Les DEUX ORPHELINES (1965)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. COPLAN FX 18 CASSE TOUT (1965)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. La STRADA PER FORTE ALAMO (1964)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Die GOLDENE GÖTTIN VOM RIO BENI (1964)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. MACISTE E LA REGINA DI SAMAR (1964)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. CORIOLANO, EROE SENZA PATRIA (1964)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. COPLAN AGENT SECRET FX-18 (1964)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. L' AMOUR À LA CHAÎNE (1964)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. SANDOKAN, LA TIGRE DI MOMPRACEM (1963)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. I DIAVOLI DI SPARTIVENTO (1963)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Il VECCHIO TESTAMENTO (1963)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. La PORTEUSE DE PAIN (1963)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. ERCOLE CONTRO MOLOCH (1963)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. JUDEX (1963)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. FIGLIO DELLO SCEICCO (1962)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. COL FERRO E COL FUOCO (1962)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. Una REGINA PER CESARE (1962)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. ANNO 79 LA DISTRUZIONE DI ERCOLANO (1962)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. La VENGANZA DI MASCO DE FERRO (1961)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. URSUS E LA RAGAZZA TARTARA (1961)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. I PIANETI CONTRO DI NOI (1961)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. La FURIA DI ERCOLE (1961)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. VENDETTA DELLA MASCHERA DI FERRO (1961)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. ERCOLE ALLA CONQUISTA DI ATLANTIDE (1961)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. La VENDETTA DI ERCOLE (1960)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. La REGINA DEI TARTARI (1960)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. IMAGINATION (1959)

Production Company as C.F.F.P. NAVIRES (1952)

ENZO, QUENTIN & THE BASTARDS....

How to make an Enzo G. Castellari film: Enzo and his fan... and vice versa.


Enzo in 1967...


Tarantino's version of INGLORIOUS BASTARDS reportedly will begin filming this October...


Hell No, They Won't Go!

INGLORIOUS BASTARDS (1978) is a very entertaining Italian WWII action-adventure, especially when one experiences it via the new Severin DVD presentation. Sharing Disc 1 with the film itself is the featurette A CONVERSATION WITH QUENTIN TARANTINO AND ENZO G. CASTELLARI. Watching the wildly enthusiastic Tarantino gush over the film in the presence of the serene, subdued auteur (who admits he can't wait to see his famous fan's upcoming remake) brought a smile to my face, but not as big as the one Enzo wears. I can't imagine he ever thought his 30 year old knock-off of Robert Aldrich's THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967) would be getting this kind of deluxe digital treatment and be slated for updating by one of Hollywood's most high profile names.

It's endless Enzo on this 3 DISK "EXPLOSIVE" EDITION. Along with the Quentin-Enzo duet Disc 2 contains two documentaries: TRAIN-KEPT-A-ROLLIN', with Castellari, Fred Williamson, Bo Svenson, Massimo Vanni, FX artist Gino De Rossi, the producer and screenwriters, and BACK TO THE WAR ZONE, a locations featurette guided by the still bursting with energy Enzo. Disc 3 presents Francesco De Masi's bombastic soundtrack on a bonus CD. That's a lot, but there's even more... The extras, in this case, may surpass the feature, and the package offers several hours of bliss for the Euro genre gourmet, a delightful journey into a 1970's wonderland with the people who lived and made films there, painstakingly assembled by those who obviously care. The entire package adds up to one of the more impressive presentations of an obscure, decades-old Italian genre film. The feature itself has an audio commentary by Castellari, plus the Mono English track with optional English subtitles.

This is not a review, btw. I have a lot of watching and listening to do first. That will appear on my CINEMADROME DVD REVIEW FORUM when I have finally managed to make it through the feature with the commentary on, not to mention the three documentaries. Consider it a preliminary report...

Is it a great film? After an initial viewing of the feature last night [first time ever since I missed the old DEADLY MISSION and GI BRO video versions] I can immediately say that from its colorfully rotoscoped opening credits to its closing pyrotechnical display it's a helluva good ride, Pilgrim.

(c) 2008, Robert Monell

GEMIDOS DE PLACER: [Spanish DVD]

A female predator (Rocio Fexias) moves toward a fateful encounter in Jess Franco's GEMIDOS DE PLACER (1982), a remake of PLAISIR A TROIS (1973), credited as "based on the writings by the Marquis de Sade." The impressive villa where the action is set was owned by the film's producer, Golden Films Internacional S.A. founder/CEO, Emilio Larraga.

Franco has said there are approximately 20 shots in this film, but I have counted over 30 at various times based on my viewings of the old Caliente Video from Million Dollar Video Corporation (cropped at 1.33:1) Spanish language VHS and this 2006 Spanish DVD. This DVD version is part of the CINE EROTICO ESPANOL series- CLASIFICADA "S", licensed from VIDEO MERCURY FILMS S.A., Formato 4:3 [non-anamorphic, and it shows]; Mono; Multizona "0"; DVD5; aprox. 83 min. Genero: Erotica; Boutique Multimedia S.l. Grupo Edider 88, S.L. there's even a Madrid ground mail, and this web address www.internacionaldersa88.com

"REMASTERIZADA DIGTALMENTE CALIDAD"

"Una presumible orgia con un desenlace soprendenta" [or, as I said to Jess when we first met: "Lo siento, no hablo Espanol"]

Back copy: [Un liberal matrimonio quieren probar a realizar un trio sexual con una amiga de ambos. Pero en relaidad la utilizan para matarse el uno al otro con argucias y todo tipo de artimanas. El desenlace es sorpendente."]

Anyone who has seen it knows it's a great film, one of Franco's most personal and experimental works. It unfolds in flashback, narrated by mentally challenged guitar player, Funol (DP Juan Soler Cozar, dubbed by Jess Franco himself]. The extended takes suggest a link to Hitchcock's ROPE, also a story of murderers and their victim. The opening take, zooming slowly back from a yacht in Alicante Bay to pan over the villa, its swimming pool and a floating dead body (cf SUNSET BOULEVARD), is a tour de force.  A tale told by an idiot signifying the corruption of its four main characters, two of whom will die in paroxysms of sexual violence during the course of the film.

This opening immediately recalls the stunning plan sequence which opens Orson Welles' noir masterpiece TOUCH OF EVIL. The constantly probing camera here is as much of a character as the occupants of the villa. Like Hitchcock and Welles, the director wants to make us complicit in the following action, which is a study in casual amorality. The camera is always a voyeur in any film, but Franco takes this concept to its absolute limit here. With very little dialogue and an overwhelmingly toxic ambiance, offset by Funol's wandering guitar improvisations, the film becomes a kind of Sadean daydream ending in death, decay and a silent scream recorded from a final God's-eye camera angle.

 I find this DVD to be lacking in the kind of sharpness, detail, luminosity and color I prefer (cf. Severin's glowing releases of MACUMBA SEXUAL; LA MANSION DE LOS MUERTOS VIVENTES). The opening reel is plagued with visible print damage involving specs, which recurs at reel changes, but it's not very distracting, but it IS there. Also, this doesn't seem to me to be a full 2.35:1 presentation. Maybe closer to 2.20:1. I don't measure these things, but that's my approximation. The only extra is a scene access.

Still, it looks very good compared to the DVD-R's and videos going around, it's acceptable, but not ideal, and, of course, there are no English options of any kind.

So, let's see if there's any interest in a new anamorphic 2.35:1 OAR R1 release w/English subtitles available.

I wish for a new, HD transfer of this. That's why I keep bringing it up here.

Thanks to Francesco Cesari for sending this DVD and the screenshot.

(C) Robert Monell, 2008-2016 [Updated]

LES GRANDES EMMERDEUSES (1974): Part 1

Lina Romay and Pamela Stanford up to no good in LES GRANDES EMMERDEUSES...

[This is Part 1 of a planned multi-blog on this 1974 sexy-comedy-spy adventure-Eurocrime tidbit. Updated in 2008 from Robert Monell's Jess Franco Archives]

LES GRANDES EMMERDEUSES
82 MINUTES (NTSC conversion runtime)
[VHS availability: European Trash Cinema (French language tape, U.S. import)]
No known DVD/HD release anywhere.

PRODUCED BY ROBERT DE NESLE/C.F.F.P. PARIS-1974
DIRECTED BY CLIFFORD BROWN [JESS FRANCO] WITH: LINA ROMAY, PAMELA SANFORD, WILLY BRAQUE, RAYMOND HARDY (RAMÓN ARDID), MONICA SWINN, LISA FRANVAL [Lisa Ferrara], BIGOTINI, FRED WILLIAMS, JESS FRANCO

(a.k.a. LES EMMERDEUSES; LES PETITES VICIEUSES FONT LES GRANDES EMMERDEUSES)

Tina and Pina, a couple of air headed diamond smugglers (guess where they hide the diamonds?!) travel to Istanbul to fence the jewels, as two secret agents track them. The women are captured by a criminal gang also on the trail of the diamonds. The women manage to elude their pursuers through the use of the oldest trick in the book: sex.

This minor spy/sex comedy-adventure (cf the LABIOS ROJOS series 1960-1967) starts as a semi- hardcore romp with the camera locked in close-up on the private parts of Lina and Pamela as they talk directly to the camera and explain how they eluded ruthless international criminals and got away with a stash of diamonds. Yes, this is yet another interactive, self parodying, no-budget mid 70s Jess Franco sex film with thriller elements thrown in which is very much in the style of THE MIDNIGHT PARTY (1975).

The film is amusing, mainly due to the charms of Lina Romay and the immortal Pamela Stanford (Monique Delaunay), who really ham it up. Franco's telezoom is as active as ever, zooming in on everything from jets passing overhead to more intimate places. Romay spends most the time nude (except for black gloves pulled up to her elbows), while Stanford dons an outrageous wrap-around cat mask and leopard skin tights in order to distract the enemy.

The Eurospy element is confined to the presence of two bumbling agents, played by Franco regulars Bigotini [Richard De Conninck] and Ramón Ardid, who both look like they had a few before each take. Franco recycles the Andre Benichou score from his sexy peplum LES GLOUTONNES (1973). Curiously enough, the music is credited to Robert Viger in that film while here Benichou is listed as the composer. The same haunting theme can also be heard in several other Franco titles from that period, including LE MIROIR OBSCENE (1974), the French version of AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO (1973). It's a delirous round of electric guitar-jazz piano improvisations which delight the ear.

It's fast and doesn't give you a hangover. What more can one ask for? Some would say... a lot more.

A few updated comments on this 1999 review:

Seeing this nearly a decade later made me appreciate Franco's sheer creativity in the face of dire poverty all the more. It looks like this was shot in Super 8mm, or maybe just regular old 8mm! I highly doubt there was a script and most of it takes place in cheap looking hotel rooms (hmmm... where I have seen those rooms before?).

There's even a "monster" who shows up in this. The "thing" is created by yet another evil "Radeck" who uses it to threaten our heroines. It's really just a very ugly guy (I hesitate to use the word "actor").

Jess Franco (who may or may not be playing Dr. Radeck [hey, it's in French and there's a lot of talk and utter confusion throughout!] looks really spaced out or hyped up on something, pacing around yet another sleazy hotel room somewhere in the South of France.

Willy Braque (Guy Peraud), a familiar face from a number of Jean Rollin films (DEMONIACS; LIPS OF BLOOD), is even stranger looking than Jess Franco! This guy looks like he hasn't had a decent meal in his life. In other words, he's perfectly credible as the "connection" Kashfi.

Jess Franco's "Istanbul/Turkey" is a hotel room in France.

Above: Pamela Stanford in LES GRANDES EMMERDEUSES (from poor quality video)

Lina Romay and Pamela Standford seem a lot more comfortable nude than most actresses do fully clothed, having a ball running around like hopped-up sprites, playing sexy tricks on the villains and donning bizarre disguises (Stanford has an outrageous wrap-around cat mask which she puts on before going into action). Franco provides a circular, interactive structure by beginning and ending with the ladies assuming sexy poses, teasing the viewer by looking directly into the camera and telling us of how their latest adventure went down. I was particularly amused by a scene of the elephantine Radeck (Victor Mendes) attempting a melancholy tune at the piano in his castle.* This is a typically obscure in-joke which only those thoroughly immersed in Franco's alternate universe will catch on to. Others will stare in wordless amazement that this bleary trifle has even survived. I just kick back and enjoy

*This piece will be familiar to Jess Franco archaeologists. It's also heard under the credits of LE MIROIR OBSCENE and in LES GLOUTONNES (both 1973) and other Jess Franco related titles.

Don't expect to see this on R1 DVD or Blu-rayanytime soon [But you never know...]

And over 20 years on I still can't get over Pamela Stanford's cat mask....

(c) Robert Monell 1999-2017

Jess Franco at his CINEMATHEQUE FRANCAISE Retrospective

Thanks to the ever vigilant Latarnia Forum's THE FRANCO LOUNGE for putting up a link to the CINEMATHEQUE FRANCAISE website from which I copied this suite of stills of Jess Franco and Lina Romay being honored by the institution and his fans in June.

It's about time for this well deserved, major retrospective by one of the world's leading film archives.

Jess may need a wheelchair to get around but he looks younger than ever to me!

THE SKULL OF EDGAR ALLAN POE

THE SKULL OF THE MARQUIS DE SADE!


THE SKULL OF JESS FRANCO!

I put on an interesting double bill recently: the new DVD of Freddie Francis' THE SKULL (1965) and the Image DVD of Jess Franco's THE NIGHT OF THE SKULLS [LA NOCHE DE LOS ASESINOS] (1973, the 1976 date on the box is incorrect). I guess I was in the mood for skulls that evening. More to the point, it's interesting how the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe hangs over both films, but in quite different ways.

THE SKULL was based on a Robert Bloch's story "The Skull of the Marquis de Sade", but plays like a Poe adaptation (I haven't read the story which may indeed have been heavily influenced by Poe) while Franco's elegant knock-off (made during a year in which he directed twelve features!) is actually credited as an adaptation of "EL GATO Y EL CANARIO" by Edgar Allan Poe! Of course, that story was written by John Willard, who isn't credited at all onscreen.

THE SKULL concerns the struggles of occult collector Christopher Maitland (Peter Cushing) to gain possession of the titular object which he learns from a sleazy antiques dealer (Patrick Wymark) is the skull of Sade. This is confirmed by his fellow collector Sir Matthew (Christopher Lee), from whom the dealer has stolen the item. Sir Matthew feels well rid of it and warns Maitland to discard it as soon as possible.

This is a tightly plotted (Amicus executive Milton Subotsky's script is a model of economy) Gothic tale which shears off into surrealism as in runs its course. Francis shows, rather than telegraphs, the ominous effect of the skull through a judicious use of voyeuristic set-ups from the first image of the 18th Century grave robbing seen through the bars of a cemetery gate to the last shots showing the police officials investigating Maitland's fate seen through the eye holes of the haunted skull.

Objects gradually take control of the characters in Francis' subverting mise en scene. Consciousness is a prize for a structuring absence of unseen cults operating through the inanimate. Finally being able to see this in 2.35:1 Techniscope reveals a parallel universe which is constantly visually oppressed by antique daggers, candelabra, sculpture, books, fussily arranged displays over which the skull, now able to move on its own, gradually asserts dominion. Francis (a two time Oscar winning DP) and his lighting cameraman John Wilcox really master their scope format arranging eerie compositions with the use of just a colored gel here and a modest special effect there. It's the kind of professional craftsmanship within limited resources which seems rather effortless. The results are equal to the best work that Mario Bava was doing at the same time in Italy.

Francis isn't as well regarded as a director as he was as the cinematographer of THE INNOCENTS and THE ELEPHANT MAN, but his best work, including 1965's HYSTERIA, TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS and THE CREEPING FLESH (both 1973), and this film, suggest that he was a carefully guarded surrealist who knew how to make nightmares look and feel alarmingly real. Two sequences, Maitland's ad-hoc "trial" and his long, final psychic duel with the skull, play almost dialogue free and are all the more effective as pure cinema.

Cushing is in top form, carefully charting the spiritual deterioration of his character, commanding our focus amidst the impressive supporting cast including Lee, Patrick Wymark (REPULSION), Nigel Green (COUNTESS DRACULA), Patrick Magee (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE).





"Earth to bury us...
Wind to scourge us...
Water to drown us...
Fire to burn us..."

Commencing with a reading of the above quote from The Book of the Apocalypse, LA NOCHE DE LOS ASESINO allows Jess Franco the chance to actually stage those Biblical phrases. His camera watches from a distance as a man is buried alive, a woman is tied to a rock on the ocean's shore, another woman is drowned while bathing, yet another is tied up and burned alive. It's all very atmospherically rendered in gas lit period locations.

THE NIGHT OF THE SKULLS is, like THE SKULL, a Gothic thriller, but that's where the similarities end. If THE SKULL captures Poe's feverish subjectivity, Franco's film in unusually dispassionate and impersonal, except for his trademark cameo. It's of one of the director's least delirious films and shows him working in a totally different style than the much more famous films he made in the same year, LA COMTESSE NOIRE and LA COMTESSE PERVERSE. There are few zoom shots and Javier Perez Zofio's camerawork is always in sharp focus, at least for a Jess Franco film. Willard's inheritance thriller provides him a chance to step back and frame his ensemble, including William Berger, Lina Romay, Antonio Mayans, Dan Van Husen, Luis Barboo and the always compelling Alberto Dalbes as they play cat and mouse with each other on a dark and stormy night inside the manse of the late Lord Marian.

The 19th Century settings, carefully composed in Techniscope, demonstrate that the director could make a well dressed commercial product when the need arose. Carlo Savina's score is lifted intact from Antonio Margheriti's superior CONTRONATURA (1969), a film in dire need of a proper DVD presentation.

The IMAGE DVD presentation of THE NIGHT OF THE SKULLS looks fine but I wish they had used the vintage Jano artwork for the cover.

(C) Robert Monell, 2008

PAPAYA: LOVE GODDESS OF THE CANNIBALS

Sun, sand, surf, and sexploitation from the master, Joe D'Amato...Severin's new DVD of Joe D'Amato's rarely seen 1978 Dominican Republic lensed voodoo thriller laced with huge helpings of sex, violence and anti-nuke sentiment!

For more information about PAPAYA DEI CARAIBI:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078055catalog/papaya-caraibi-p-1060.html


After delivering his successful Black Emaneulle entries (EMANUELLE IN AMERICA, EMANUELLE AND THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE, EMANUELLE IN BANGKOK, etc) Joe D'Amato was the king of Italian sexploitation. But he decided to the extra mile, to the Caribbean to be specific, and make a series of delirious, low budget collages of graphic cannibal/zombie horror, local voodoo rituals and long sequences of softcore/hardcore sexual encounters. With titles like EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD, PORNO HOLOCAUST, VOODOO BABY, he probably thought he was hitting all the bases, and had successfully combined cannibal gore and softcore sex in the topics with GLI ULTIMI CANNIBALI (1977)


Preceding all the titles was PAPAYA DEI CARAIBI (1978) aka PAPAYA, LOVE GODDESS OF THE CANNIBALS, a pioneering Joe D'Amato attempt to merge gore, mid 1970's softcore sex antics [with some mild S&M thrown in for good measure], elaborate Caribbean voodoo rites, and a surprising dose of Third World politics, all tied up with the rough and ready cinematography in which the DP/Director specialized. It anticipates the symbolic dialectic represented by the paradigm shifting of Fulci's ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS (1979) where the North-South dichotomy of powerful exploiters vs the magic practicing sub proletariat native population gets it ultimate identification package, and also borrows George A. Romero's "when there's no more room in hell..." tagline from his international hit DAWN OF THE DEAD (NOT the remake, please!).

The Ruthless White Capitalists[that's they way the film depicts them] nuclear energy promoting interests who are contracted to displace the local [dirt poor] population to make way for a reactor. This was the era of Three Mile Island and THE CHINA SYNDROME, of course.

Maurice Poli delivers his usual solid performance as Vincent, the hedonistic, smug geologist working as a "company man" and ending up getting seduced to death by our anti-heroine Papaya rather than change like other main white character, Sara (Finnish sex star Sirpa Lane) to a more earth friendly, sympathetic to the plight of the natives agent. The late Ms. Lane does a nicely understated turn around as the action progresses and takes her sex scenes quite seriously.

As the titular PAPAYA DEI CARAIBI, Melissa Chementi is quite hot in the already humid locale, strangely ambiguous and emotionally layered. The only other of her five listed exploitation films on the IMDB I've seen her in is Renato Polselli's ultra-bizarre hardcore mondo Rivelazioni di uno psichiatra sul mondo perverso del sesso (1973), which I dare anyone reading this to retain their sanity while watching (and don't plan to EVER see it on a US DVD!). For a film which begins with our Caribbean princess biting off a visiting nuclear engineer's sex and then spitting it out on the dirt floor of a beach hut as he screams and bleeds to death this is a surprisingly engaging presentation both intellectually and politically. D'Amato was both literally and figuratively Green before Green was the thing to be. The seeming morale, stated by the now radicalized journalist played by Lane, that righteous violence is sometimes necessary to survive might not go down well considering the paranoid age we now live in.

This film has a lot in common with another Italian film featuring Signor Poli as a Capitalist exploiter stuck on a hostile island, Mario Bava's comparatively mild mannered FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON (1970). An excellent electric guitar, sax and percussion driven score with samba and funk elements and a catchy vocal line by Maestro Stelvio Cipriani is alone worth the price, too bad they didn't feature it as an isolated option.

Severin's widescreen 1.85:1/16:9 presentation of CARIBBEAN PAPAYA [onscreen title] is fine considering the low budget soft focus lensing where D'Amato's blend of zip zooms, rapid focal changes, hand held interludes provide both suspense and cost savings. The journey to the secret voodoo ritual chamber makes terrific use of such basic props as an empty rocking chair, a horse drawn carriage and a doll to establish an uncanny sense of dread.

This is one I'll tend to prefer sometimes over the extended hardcore scenes in the later, similar EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD and PORNO HOLOCAUST, which D'Amato shot (competently, as always) on some of the same locations in 1980.

The Ceremony of the Round Stone chapter is worth replaying, merging nudity, gore, ritual dancing and voodoo rites, it exemplifies D'Amato at his very best and you get to see ZOMBIE's Dakar perform the film's only act of cannibalism, it happens quickly but it really makes you jump.

The English language theatrical trailer is included.

Kudos to Severin Films for finding a decent English language print of this obscure title and giving fans of Joe D'Amato and Italian Cannibal/Gore/Sexploitation from the the 70's something to satisfy their "appetites." Having seen an incomplete German
language version which omits the evocative opening with our anti-heroine emerging from the ocean to bask in the Caribbean sunlight in a nonlinear precredit sequence it was a nice surprise to see it restored in this print.

The 1.85:1/16:9 transfer features the best possible [considering the low budget filmmaking on difficult locations] representation of D'Amato's soft focus tropical palette, featuring numerous floral shades, sensuous aquamarine romps and the occasional flash of arterial splatter. Cipriani's memorable soundtrack is well rendered in stereo Dolby Surround.

www.severin-films.com

(c) Robert Monell, 2008

CANNIBAL TERROR is coming, PAPAYA is here!

The German "Red Edition" DVD of CANNIBAL TERROR. The upcoming Severin DVD [Jul. 29 is the new street date] should be definitive and hopefully make these previous versions obsolete.


Frequent Jess Franco actor-production manager Antonio Mayans aka Robert Foster takes Pamela Stanford (LORNA, THE EXORCIST) out for a walk in the jungle and then things get complicated! No wonder it was banned in the UK! A screenshot from another European DVD, see cover below.


Previous R2 DVD. See footage from Jess Franco's MONDO CANNIBALE aka CANNIBALS (1980) recycled in the jaw dropping, gut munching European Trash
Cinema [this film really defines that term] epic TERREUR CANNIBALE aka CANNIBAL TERROR! And yes, it was a Video Nasty.



I received a notice from Severin Films that their DVD of Alain Deruelle's (as Allan W. Steeve) CANNIBAL TERROR, the 1981 Eurocine backed excursion into Le Bad Cinema Cannibal terrain, has been rescheduled for release on July 29th. This will be the first US DVD presentation of this title.

In the meantime I have watched Severin's new DVD of Joe D'Amato's intriguing 1978 melange of tropical voodoo rites, gore, late 70's style soft core interludes and Third World politics, PAPAYA: LOVE GODDESS OF THE CANNIBALS. I will post my review as soon as possible.

(C) Robert Monell, 2008

New JOHN PHILLIP LAW Book!

I found this email from Carlos Aguilar in my inbox today. His new book, co-authored by Anita Haas, on the recently deceased American actor John Phillip Law, looks like a must-have. Carlos is a friend and one of Spain's eminent film historians with numerous published articles and books [including one on Jess Franco, with whom he worked on several of the director's 1980's Golden Films Productions] to his credit.

John Phillip Law had a long, compelling career as an actor and I look forward to reading and reviewing this book which has arrived just at the right time.

Thanks, Carlos. [Robert Monell]


John Phillip Law's Book‏
From: carlos aguilar


Hello everybody,



One month after the death of our dear friend John Phillip Law, our book on him finally exists. Almost 300 pages, nearly 600 images (photos, posters, lobbycards, etc), filmography and bibliography, prologue by Ray Harryhausen... in a beautiful bilingual Spanish/English edition, called "John Phillip Law. Diabolik Angel".

The cover is attached.

Information and orders: www.scifiworld.es/diabolikangel/

Thanks a lot, and may John live on in our memory.



www.carlosaguilar.net


Enviado desde Correo Yahoo!
La bandeja de entrada más inteligente.

HAS EUROTRASH/CULT GONE MAINSTREAM?

Ask Macho Jim...


I have come to a conclusion recently. In a sense Euro-cult, or as I like to term it, EUROPEAN TRASH CINEMA, has come to be accepted by the Mainstream [mainstream culture, discourse, even academia] as a classification. I mean mainstream thought/discourse in contemporary America, Europe and even the Third World.

I have recently noted that I now get regular visits here from Hanoi, developing Africa, Iran, Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories besides New York, London, Paris, Russia, Brazil, Korea, Japan, you name it. It seems the entire world is interested in the topic of Jess Franco, even outposts I wouldn't have imagined.

I really think that Jess Franco, who is a brand name which is synonymous with European Trash/Cult cinema, has come to be, if not embraced, then accepted and known among Mainstream culture in many parts of the world. With the emergence of DVD and the internet there are no longer cultural boundaries as there were in the past.

Franco started wanting to be a mainstream director and his first films were musicals [LA REINA DEL TABARIN; VAMPIRESAS 1930] aimed at general audiences in Spain and Europe in 1960. Franco returned to making mainstream fare in the mid 1980s [in between bouts of hardcore, which was also finally accepted by the Spanish mainstream].

Now with regular books, periodicals, and retrospectives like the one starting June 18th at the Cinematheque Francaise it seems to me that Jess Franco has been repositioned very far from where he was when I first heard his name in 1969 and regularly started watching/collecting his films over twenty years ago.

In any case, here's a review of his 1983 proto-punk obscurity LOS BLUES DE LA CALLE POP, which is both mainstream and experimental in signification/intent. In a way, Jess Franco may be one of the pioneers of Punk Cinema, if there is such a thing.

I made a short, multi format film in the early 1970s which I carried around in a briefcase for a decade and showed to whomever I could corner. I once showed it to a fellow filmmaker who exclaimed, "it's the first Punk film!" I'm still trying to get it on my IMDB page! Punk isn't mainstream yet, is it? Maybe that's why I became obsessed with Jess Franco...


[AVENTURAS DE FELIPE MALBORO, VOLUMEN 8]

1983- 80 MINUTES Galan Video

DIRECTED BY JESUS FRANCO WITH: ROBERT FOSTER[Antonio Mayans], CANDY COSTER[Lina Romay], TRINO TRIVES, ANALIA IVARS, MARY SAD [Maria de la mar Sanchez], JOSE LLAMAS, Augustin Garcia, Jesus Franco, Juana de la Morena.



SHIT CITY (actually, Benidorm):
Felipe Marlboro, capably incarnated by Antonio Mayans ("Robert Foster"), is a seedy private investigator who takes up a missing person case at the behest of the girl friend of "Macho Jim" (Jose Llamas) in the punk infested coastal resort. It's a sinister, retro place reminding us at times of the mise en scene of BLADE RUNNER, only without sets, just the bright, tropical, tacky reality of Benidorm, a tourist trap on the Spain's east coast which seems to situated in a time warp where all the men seem to hang out in a smoky bar decorated with posters of Bogart and Mae West, waiting for trouble to erupt.

The residents of this corrupt town all look like they base their fashion sense on 1980's MTV punk rock videos. The men look like either Sid Vicious or a member of A Flock of Seagulls, and the women sport the slutty attire and pouty sexuality of the late Robert Palmer's back-up vocalists in the music video of "Addicted to Love." Likewise, (as the visual style of the film is comic strip array of primary colors and weird camera angles.
The plot has Marlboro enlisting the aid of piano player Sam Chesterfield (played by Jess Franco himself) in an all out effort to bust the town's drug and dirty money kingpin Saul Winston (Trino Trives).

This witty and visually striking neo-noir parody is one of Franco's personal favorites, and it's easy to see why. Almost every shot in the film is a loving homage to 1940s private eye cinema (such as THE MALTESE FALCON and THE BIG SLEEP) filtered through a 1980s MTV-style lens.

Franco has stated that he attempted to create a sustained comic strip look, and he has totally succeeded in that while creating his most light-hearted film since his amusing 1967 spy spoof LUCKY, THE INSCRUTABLE. NOTHING is taken seriously, but it is a very serious hommage to a certain look. Antonio Mayans is the perfect fall guy in Franco's off balance world of pimps, whores, killers, and thugs. He's a brother to Al Periera in such films as BOTAS NEGRAS LATIGO DE CUERO, although the tone here is much lighter. Analia Ivars in leather, sporting an electric coiffure, is a perfect lean, mean femme fatale.

Franco stages all the standard private eye cliches in his usual off-kilter fashion. For instance, when Marlboro gets a beating for asking too many questions, the gangster who kicks the living daylights out of him (Augustin Garcia) is a flashy flamenco dancer who performs his dance steps in between each punch and kick. Most amusing of all is the twisted ending, where sex wins out over sentiment. It's also reminiscent of the FATAL ATTRACTION finale of BOTAS NEGRAS... .

Franco has filtered this personal project through red and blue filters, the tacky, brightly colored locations shot through diffusion lenses (his comment on the garish, tourista architecture of Benidorm) and a rousing New Orleans style jazz score by Fernando G. Morcillo. LA BLUES DE LA CALLE POP is a busy fiesta for the eyes and ear. It's his candy colored 1980s update 1940s Film Noir techniques. In a crucial casting decision Franco himself plays the piano man who "PLAYS IT AGAIN, SAM" for Mayan's update on Bogart's cynic in the classic CASABLANCA, that film's poster of Bogart is the generative image which adorns the wall of Sam's saloon.

Franco's experimental deployment of colored filters is especially interesting (as in the similar ESCLAVAS DEL CRIMEN) and makes me wonder why he didn't continue in this style. Instead, his next several films, such as DARK MISSION (1987) and DOWNTOWN HEAT (1990) were made in a much more "realistic" mode.

It should be noted that some of the eclectic cues composed by Fernando Garcia Morcillo can also be heard in his score for Raul Artigot's 1972, THE WITCHES MOUNTAIN.

This film is also very much in the satiric spirit of Robert Altman's THE LONG GOODBYE (1973), which also continually undercuts the Raymond Chandler mythology.

It's also the only film of I know of in which all the main male characters are named after popular American cigarette brands. Keep smoking, Jess! In this day and age, where smoking cigarettes is generally considered uncouth, filthy and dangerous to the smoker and those around him/her it's the ultimate example of cultural incorrectness. Jean Pierre Melville would have understood...

(c) 2007-2008 Robert Monell

Jess Franco to discuss NECRONOMICON this Wednesday...

Lorna Green (Janine Reynaud) loves everything which reflects.... Lorna Green. See more of Lorna, maybe, in the promised 84m version of NECRONOMICON to be projected in 35mm this coming Wednesday at the Cinematheque Francaise. Jess Franco is scheduled to be in attendance. Of course, what will actually unspool all depends on what print they have in hand.



NECRONOMICON - JESS FRANCO - 1967 - 84'
Mercredi 18 Juin 2008 - 20h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VASTF - 35mm

The Cinematheque Francaise Jess Franco Retrospective will commence in high style this coming Wednesday, June 18th with the director himself on hand [along with Lina Romay] to present and discuss a 35mm showing of his 1967 NECRONOMICON [US title: SUCCUBUS]. This is reportedly not the familiar 79m US cut, released by Blue Underground on DVD, but the longer 84m European [perhaps the German language] version.

A longer German version did play in the US in 1969 in New York City at the same time as the dubbed, shortened SUCCUBUS was getting good reviews from the likes of Vincent Canby in the NEW YORK TIMES.

I have some hope this longer version can eventually be released on R1 DVD, perhaps this event might enable that to happen.

I sure wish I could be there in Paris to see this showing and ask Jess what he recalls about the various versions of this legendary title.

In any case, it's a very appropriate way to begin such this exciting retrospective.

A Tranquil Scene Study...

This idyllic natural location makes an appearance in at least two Jess Franco films.

Can you identify them?

Certified JF scholars will be able to add the name of the country where this location can be found.

Two films have been correctly named: this location in Sintra, Portugal appears in A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD (1971) and CECILIA (1981). I also think it may appear in the escape scene near the end of WOMEN IN CELLBLOCK 9 (1977). Congratulations to the posters who were correct and thanks to everyone who participated.

And thanks to Eric Cotenas for the screengrab...


(c) 2008 Robert Monell

JERRY COTTON MEETS JESS FRANCO

Jerry Cotton (George Nader) saves Manhattan from the dastardly extortionist Larry Link (Horst Frank) in Harald Philipp's Um Null Uhr schnappt die Falle zu set to the unique sonic environments of....


...German composer Peter Thomas


Some of which ended up on the soundtrack heard under this scene in Jess Franco's...



Actually it should be prolific composer Peter Thomas meets prolific director Jess Franco, probably without either's knowledge. Someone, probably the sound editing team hired by the US distributors, placed an ethereal female vocal cue from Thomas' jazzy soundtrack for the 1966 Jerry Cotton item Um Null Uhr schnappt die Falle zu into the compiled music track [credited to Manfred Mann and Mike Hugg] of VENUS IN FURS (1969).

This scat style interlude is repeated throughout Um Null Uhr schnappt die Falle zu but heard in VENUS IN FURS during the scene where Maria Rohm seduces Margaret Lee in the latter's photography studio. Once you hear it, you won't forget it.

Obviously Manfred Mann and Hugg composed some of the music they are seen playing, but there remain numerous other mysterious cues in the final mix, including one later heard on the soundtrack of the WEREWOLF VS THE VAMPIRE WOMAN, the US version of Leon Klimovsky's LA NOCHE DE WALPURGIS (1970).

The fact that Thomas wasn't credited in VENUS IN FURS indicates that his composition was culled from library tracks.


I recently made the connection when I picked up a DVD-R of the Cotton title at a fan convention, Um Null Uhr schnappt die Falle zu is a wonderfully entertaining item which I'll be reviewing in an upcoming EUROSPY FILES blog.

(c) Robert Monell, 2008

Jess Franco-Frank Sinatra Quiz

This is the last day of May 2008, the month which marked the 10th anniversary of the death of the legendary singer/actor Frank Sinatra in May 1998. I'm reminded of a tribute paid to him by Jess Franco in one of his films where a character is heard singing one of his biggest hits.

What Frank Sinatra song was this and what was the name of the film? Extra points if you can name the performer who sang the song in the film and the name of the character that performer played.

Hint: both the song and the movie are vintage mid-1960s.

Pre-order Jess Franco's DON QUIXOTE!

At this point IMAGE doesn't appear to have a set cover. Here are some previous DVD covers: Seen above is the previously released All Region DVD.


The cover for the R2 Spanish DVD of Jess Franco's DON QUIJOTE DE ORSON WELLES

The new IMAGE DVD can now be pre-ordered: http://www.amazon.com/Orson-Welles-Don-Quixote/dp/B0019M7KRY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1211931804&sr=1-4


The specs as they stand so far:

Don Quixote (B&W) (2008)

Starring: Welles, Reiguera Rating
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This title will be released on August 19, 2008.
Pre-order now
Product Details

Actors: Welles, Reiguera, Tamiroff
Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Language: English
Region: All Regions
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating:
Studio: Image Entertainment
DVD Release Date: August 19, 2008
Run Time: 115 minutes


[Jess Franco's much maligned 1992 edit of the Welles project finally has an US DVD release in sight and can now be pre-ordered. Hopefully this release will actually happen this coming August 19th, barring any legal rights complications. I'll be especially interested in the video/sound quality, which on Spanish R2 DVD is very poor. The Spanish DVD is titled DON QUIJOTE DE ORSON WELLES, which is the onscreen title. Robert Monell]




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LE JOUISSEUR (1974)

Fred Williams as Roland, the World's Sexiest Man.

1974 104 MINUTES European Trash Cinema (U.S. import) DIRECTED BY CLIFFORD BROWN (JESUS FRANCO) WITH: FRED WILLIAMS, LINA ROMAY, BIGOTINI, WILLY BRAQUE, OLIVIER MATHOT, PAMELA SANFORD, MONICA SWINN, ANNA GLADYSEK, RAMÓN ARDID, VICTOR COSTA, VICTOR MENDÉS, SUZUKI, CAROLINE RIVIÊRE.

*An archived review which I've recently updated.

(a.k.a. ROLAND, L'HOMME LE PLUS SEXY DU MONDE; LE JOUISSEUR; DER SEX PLAYBOY)
A wealthy ex-playboy, Count Roland (Fred Williams) tires of married life to the sex guide magnate Barbara and decides to return to his old ways. He poses as a butler and becomes a servant to rich and beautiful women, but many complications ensue.

The title of this sly comedy of manners indicates Franco wanted to infuse this amusing trifle with a sense of irony. Roland may be handsome but as played by Williams behaves like a run-of-the-mill male model, albeit with a little more humor and liveliness than this usually dull actor musters in his other Francos roles from this period. Franco aims for the tone of a Howard Hawks screwball comedy, but verbal humor, not physical comedy, is more his forté. And as the only available videos on the U.S. mail-order circuit are in French, those unfamiliar with that language will miss the satiric barbs at male chauvinism and bourgeois arrogance.

As Roland's pudgy, mischievous manservant Malou, Bigotini, a familiar Franco actor who often worked as his assistant, just about steals the show from Williams. Most of the footage follows Roland as he seduces and is seduced by various women, and in an especially amusing scene, tries to avoid the advances of one husband who also happens to like men.

The cinematography looks unfocused, under lit and out of control (it may be my print)and the lack of any action other than sexual may bore those who are not Franco enthusiasts. One long sequence endlessly inter cuts Roland taking a literal roll-in-the-hay with Lina Romay. As usual, Franco does manage to find some interesting cubist/impressionist influenced compositions amidst the reckless mise en scene, like the opening credits sequence which examines the leafy canopy overlooking the boulevards of Paris from a skewed angle.

Reading the above after nearly a decade I will comment that although this film is very carelessly made and obviously done without adequate planning or budget, it does have its merits for the dedicated: a jazzy, catchy score by Andre Benichou gives the action a much needed boost; Harrison is just fine in the lead, imparting the right ironic tone and the handheld camerawork (the entire film appears to have been made without benefit of a tripod!) does manage a few coups amid the flurry of non-stop telezooms, like the sudden zoom into a Parisian movie marquee for Franco's 1972 LES ERANLESS (see the review here by typing the title into the blog's search engine) during a delirious tour of the Paris red light district shot from a moving car! And Bigotini flying over the rooftops of Paris checking out female sunbathers in his helicopter is priceless as is the ending in which a scruffy looking film crew suddenly appears, complete with cheap looking equipment and portable camera, shooting Roland and his wife as they take another roll in the way before zooming into the slate "A PHALLUS PRODUCTION: THE WORLD'S SEXIEST COUPLE"!

Although we don't want to take the comparison too far, LE JOUISSEUR can be seen as a way down-market anticipation of Francois Truffaut's THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN and certain Woody Allen films of that era.


(c) Robert Monell, 2008

CINEMATHEQUE FRANCAISE JESS FRANCO RETROSPECTIVE!

JESS FRANCO
Du 18 juin au 31 juillet

Considéré comme un des maîtres du cinéma d'épouvante espagnol, Jesús Franco a réalisé près de 200 films, souvent avec des budgets dérisoires, destinés essentiellement aux salles de quartier à partir du début des années 1960. Poète érotomane, c'est un expérimentateur fou et inspiré, volontiers libre adaptateur de Sade, qui adore aligner de longues et fascinantes séquences érotiques détachées de tout récit, tels de longs chorus mélodiques. [

Thanks to the Latarnia Forum Franco Lounge for posting the link to this.]

077 - OPERATION SEXY - JESS FRANCO - 1962 - 93’
Samedi 28 Juin 2008 - 15h00 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
LES AMAZONES DE LA LUXURE (MACISTE CONTRE LA REINE DES AMAZONES) - CLIFFORD BROWN (JESS FRANCO) - 1973 - 84’
Jeudi 10 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU - JESS FRANCO - 1967 - 82’
Dimanche 13 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - Version Allemande STF - 35mm
BLUE RITA (LE CABARET DES FILLES PERVERSES) - JESS FRANCO - 1977 - 77’
Mercredi 2 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
LES BRULANTES - JESS FRANCO - 1968 - 84’
Mercredi 9 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
CAMP EROTIQUE (CAMP D'AMOUR POUR MERCENAIRES) - JESS FRANCO - 1977 - 71’
Lundi 7 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
CARTES SUR TABLE - JESS FRANCO - 1966 - 94’
Lundi 7 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
THE CASTLE OF FU-MANCHU - JESS FRANCO - 1968 - 85’
Dimanche 13 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - Version Allemande STF - 35mm
LES CAUCHEMARS NAISSENT LA NUIT - JESS FRANCO - 1970 - 85’
Samedi 19 Juillet 2008 - 19h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VF - 35mm
CHASSE A LA MAFIA - JESUS FRANCO (JESS FRANCO) - 1963 - 101’
Dimanche 29 Juin 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
CHRISTINA PRINCESSE DE L'EROTISME / UNE VIERGE CHEZ LES MORTS-VIVANTS - JESS FRANCO - 1971 - 73’
CHRISTINA PRINCESSE DE L'EROTISME (UNE VIERGE CHEZ LES MORTS-VIVANTS)
Jeudi 24 Juillet 2008 - 19h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VF - 35mm
LA COMTESSE AUX SEINS NUS / LES AVALEUSES - J.P. JOHNSON (JESS FRANCO) - 1973 - 84’
LA COMTESSE AUX SEINS NUS (LES AVALEUSES)
Samedi 21 Juin 2008 - 14h30 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
LA COMTESSE PERVERSE / LES CROQUEUSES - CLIFFORD BROWN (JESS FRANCO) - 1973 - 72’
LA COMTESSE PERVERSE (LES CROQUEUSES)
Mercredi 23 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - 35mm
LE CRI D'AMOUR DE LA DEESSE BLONDE - JESS FRANCO - 1977 - 83’
Mercredi 23 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
CRIMES DANS L'EXTASE - FRANK HOLLMANN (JESS FRANCO) - 1970 - 73’
Vendredi 27 Juin 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
LA CRYPTE DES FEMMES MAUDITES - JESS FRANCO - 2008 - 180’
Samedi 26 Juillet 2008 - 20h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - Vidéo
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
CUADECUC - PERE PORTABELLA - 1969 - 91’
Lundi 30 Juin 2008 - 17h00 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
ÇA BARDE CHEZ LES MIGNONNES - JESS FRANCO - 1967 - 90’
Jeudi 10 Juillet 2008 - 17h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VF - 35mm
DANS LES GRIFFES DU MANIAQUE - JESS FRANCO - 1965 - 87’
Jeudi 19 Juin 2008 - 19h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
LES DEMONS DU SEXE - CLIFFORD BROWN (JESS FRANCO) - 1972 - 104’
Jeudi 17 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
DES FRISSONS SUR LA PEAU (TENDRE ET PERVERSE EMMANUELLE) - J.P. JOHNSON (JESS FRANCO) - 1973 - 68’
Dimanche 27 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
DEUX SOEURS VICIEUSES - JESS FRANCO - 1977 - 84’
Samedi 19 Juillet 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
DON QUIJOTE PAR ORSON WELLES - JESS FRANCO - 1992 - 116’
Lundi 30 Juin 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
DR. WONG'S VIRTUAL HELL - JESS FRANCO - 1998 - 97’
Dimanche 20 Juillet 2008 - 15h00 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - Vidéo
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
DRACULA PRISONNIER DE FRANKENSTEIN - JESS FRANCO - 1972 - 82’
Mercredi 9 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
LES EBRANLEES / LA MAISON DU VICE - CLIFFORD BROWN (JESS FRANCO) - 1972 - 80’
LES EBRANLEES (LA MAISON DU VICE)
Dimanche 27 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - 35mm
ESCLAVES DE L'AMOUR / FRAUEN FÜR ZELLENBLOCK 9 - JESS FRANCO - 1977 - 75’
ESCLAVES DE L'AMOUR (FRAUEN FÜR ZELLENBLOCK 9)
Mercredi 30 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
EUGENIE - JESS FRANCO - 1970 - 84’
Lundi 23 Juin 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
LES EXPERIENCES EROTIQUES DE FRANKENSTEIN - JESS FRANCO - 1972 - 90’
Jeudi 10 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
FALSTAFF - JESS FRANCO, ORSON WELLES - 1965 - 114’
Mercredi 20 Février 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
Mercredi 9 Juillet 2008 - 17h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
FEMMES EN CAGE (FRANCO) - JESUS FRANCO (JESS FRANCO) - 1975 - 81’
Dimanche 22 Juin 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
LA FILLE DE DRACULA - JESS FRANCO - 1972 - 81’
Samedi 28 Juin 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
LES GLOUTONNES / LES EXPLOITS EROTIQUES DE MACISTE DANS L'ATLANTIDE - CLIFFORD BROWN (JESS FRANCO) - 1973 - 87’
LES GLOUTONNES (LES EXPLOITS EROTIQUES DE MACISTE DANS L'ATLANTIDE)
Lundi 21 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
L'HORRIBLE DOCTEUR ORLOF - JESS FRANCO - 1961 - 86’
Jeudi 7 Décembre 2006 - 17h30 - SALLE JEAN EPSTEIN - VF - 35mm
Vendredi 20 Juin 2008 - 19h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VF - 35mm
LES INASSOUVIES - JESS FRANCO - 1969 - 81’
Jeudi 19 Juin 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VF - 35mm
LES INFORTUNES DE LA VERTU - JESUS FRANCO (JESS FRANCO) - 1968 - 105’
Samedi 12 Juillet 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
JACK L'EVENTREUR - JESUS FRANCO (JESS FRANCO) - 1976 - 95’
Vendredi 20 Juin 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
LE JAGUAR - JESS FRANCO - 1963 - 90’
Mercredi 2 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
KILLER BARBYS VS. DRACULA - JESS FRANCO - 2002 - 90’
Vendredi 25 Juillet 2008 - 17h00 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - Vidéo
KISS ME MONSTER - JESS FRANCO - 1967 - 83’
Mercredi 16 Juillet 2008 - 19h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
LETTRES D'AMOUR D'UNE NONNE PORTUGAISE - JESS FRANCO - 1976 - 82’
Jeudi 26 Juin 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
LOS OJOS SINIESTROS DEL DR ORLOFF - JESS FRANCO - 1972 - 82’
Lundi 21 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
LES MAITRESSES DU DR. JEKYLL - JESS FRANCK (JESS FRANCO) - 1964 - 92’
Vendredi 27 Juin 2008 - 19h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
MARIQUITA, FILLE DDE TABARIN / LA BELLE DE TABARIN - JESS FRANCO - 1960 - 83’
MARIQUITA, FILLE DDE TABARIN (LA BELLE DE TABARIN)
Lundi 30 Juin 2008 - 19h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VF - 35mm
MIDNIGHT PARTY / LA PARTOUZE DE MINUIT - JESS FRANCO - 1976 - 75’
MIDNIGHT PARTY (LA PARTOUZE DE MINUIT)
Mercredi 16 Juillet 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
LE MIROIR OBSCENE - JESS FRANCO - 1974 - 84’
Dimanche 20 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
NECRONOMICON - JESS FRANCO - 1967 - 84’
Mercredi 18 Juin 2008 - 20h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VASTF - 35mm
NEVROSE / LA CHUTE DE LA MAISON USHER - JESS FRANCO - 1983 - 92’
NEVROSE (LA CHUTE DE LA MAISON USHER)
Dimanche 22 Juin 2008 - 17h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VF - 35mm
LES NUITS BRULANTES DE LINDA / MAIS QUI DONC A VIOLE LINDA? - J.P. JOHNSON (JESS FRANCO) - 1973 - 70’
LES NUITS BRULANTES DE LINDA (MAIS QUI DONC A VIOLE LINDA?)
Lundi 28 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
LES NUITS DE DRACULA - JESS FRANCO - 1969 - 96’
Samedi 28 Juin 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
OPERATION LEVRES ROUGES - JESS FRANCO - 1960 - 96’
Dimanche 22 Juin 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
LE PENITENCIER DES FEMMES PERVERSES - JESS FRANCO - 1977 - 90’
Dimanche 29 Juin 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
PLAISIR A TROIS - CLIFFORD BROWN (JESS FRANCO) - 1974 - 76’
Mercredi 25 Juin 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - 35mm
LE PORTRAIT DE DORIANA GRAY - JESS FRANCO - 1976 - 76’
Jeudi 24 Juillet 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
LES PREDATEURS DE LA NUIT - JESS FRANCO - 1988 - 99’
Samedi 12 Juillet 2008 - 17h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - 35mm
LES PUTAINS DE LA VILLE BASSE - WOLFGANG FRANK (JESS FRANCO) - 1975 - 83’
Mercredi 30 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
QUARTIER DE FEMMES - JESS FRANCO - 1972 - 91’
Dimanche 20 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
ROTE LIPPEN, SADISTEROTICA - JESS FRANCO - 1967 - 92’
Samedi 12 Juillet 2008 - 19h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
LE SADIQUE BARON VON KLAUS / LE SADIQUE - JESS FRANCO - 1962 - 95’
LE SADIQUE BARON VON KLAUS (LE SADIQUE)
Jeudi 26 Juin 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
LE SADIQUE DE NOTRE DAME - J.P. JOHNSON (JESS FRANCO) - 99’
Lundi 23 Juin 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
SHINING SEX / LA FILLE AU SEXE BRILLANT - DAN L. SIMON (JESS FRANCO) - 1975 - 92’
SHINING SEX (LA FILLE AU SEXE BRILLANT)
Lundi 28 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
SNAKEWOMAN - JESUS FRANCO (JESS FRANCO) - 2005 - 98’
Samedi 19 Juillet 2008 - 15h00 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
TENEMOS 18 ANOS - JESS FRANCO - 1959 - 91’
Mercredi 25 Juin 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - 35mm
LE TRONE DE FEU - FRANCO MANERA (JESS FRANCO) - 1969 - 95’
Jeudi 17 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VF - 35mm
VAMPIRE BLUES - JESS FRANCO - 1999 - 91’
Jeudi 31 Juillet 2008 - 19h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - Vidéo
Film interdit aux moins de 16 ans.
VAMPIRE JUNCTION - JESS FRANCO - 2001 - 94’
Jeudi 31 Juillet 2008 - 21h30 - SALLE GEORGES FRANJU - VOSTF - Vidéo
VAMPIROS LESBOS / SEXUALITE SPECIALE - FRANCO MANERA (JESS FRANCO) - 1971 - 89’
VAMPIROS LESBOS (SEXUALITE SPECIALE)
Samedi 21 Juin 2008 - 19h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 35mm
VENUS IN FURS - JESS FRANCO - 1969 - 87’
Samedi 21 Juin 2008 - 21h00 - SALLE HENRI LANGLOIS - VOSTF - 16mm




Here is the schedule from their site. Most of the titles will be projected in 35mm if all goes as planned. I'm especially interested in the run times for such titles as LA COMTESSE PERVERSE (72m; that would make it the shortest version, possibly Franco's original before Robert De Nesle forced him to add the comic framing scenes with Lina Romay and Caroline Riviere and some hardcore scenes; Alain Petit told me that this is the best version and a rarity, and 90m for EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN, the longest listed run time of which I'm aware.) Hopefully, there will be some revelations here and it should be an interesting way to spend this coming June and July. See you in Paris!

IMAGE DVD: Franco's cut of Welles' DON QUIXOTE

From the IMAGE site:




Orson Welles' Don Quixote
ACTORS/ARTISTS: Francisco Reiguera, Akim Tamiroff
DIRECTOR(S): Orson Welles






SUB-GENRE: Drama
Year: 1992
Rating: Not Rated
CAT#: ID4150JQDVD
Country: Spain SRP: $24.98
Release Date: 08/19/08



LENGTH: 115 minutes
LANGUAGE: English
AUDIO FORMAT: Dolby Digital 1.0 L/R
DISCS: 1
FORMAT: DVD
ASPECT RATIO: 1.33:1

[It looks like Jess Franco's controversial version of Orson Welles' legendary unfinished project is finally going to get a US DVD presentation. No word on any extras but there has been some speculation on the wellesnet forum where I've been involved in a discussion about Franco and his involvement with Welles' CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (1965) and DON QUIXOTE. Some fans and most Welles scholars are very unhappy about what Franco did in post-production with the footage. But I think it's more good news than bad that it's getting a DVD release here. The footage Franco was given to work with was in very poor condition and I don't know if anything has been done to improve the results.]

John Phillip Law's Eurotrash Masterpiece...

John Phillip Law had a special talent for projecting a youthful masculinity with an other-worldly edge, especially in his roles as the blind angel in Vadim's BARBARELLA and the mysterious costumed fumetti super villain in Mario Bava's DIABOLIK. I remember first seeing him in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING during its initial 1966 theatrical run when my parents took me to it because it seemed like a clean-cut comedy alternative to the horror movies I had been obsessively seeking out. Several years later I managed to catch BARBARELLA at the drive-in (definitely not a "family values" movie) and and he seemed to be sprinkled with superstar dust as he flew away with Jane Fonda. If he never achieved that status he was certainly what could probably be called a "cult" actor whose striking presence would front European genre films during the 70s and 80s in between supporting roles in mainstream US films.

I'm choosing to salute him on his passing last Tuesday with this brief appreciation and lurid video cover box for my favorite of his film performances, his out-of-the-park hit as the demented Van Gogh-obsessed painter Charles Saint-Simone in Sergio Bergonzelli's 1988 BLOOD DELIRIUM (DELIRIO SANGUE). This is a jaw dropping blending of LUST FOR LIFE, COLOR ME BLOOD RED with such value-added extras as necrophilia, human-flesh eating dogs, ghosts and Gordon Mitchell doing things you've never seen him do in his other European roles. Law is joyously over-the-top and you just can't keep from smiling while watching him let it rip as the mad artist who daubs human blood on his canvases with a lusty passion. He really seems to be enjoying himself in this classic of European Trash cinema. I wonder if he would want it to be remembered. But I remember it and how much I enjoyed him in it and always enjoyed his committed intensity in whatever film he happened to be in.

If you ever get a chance to catch BLOOD DELIRIUM (outside of grey market videos/DVD-Rs it has had a legit release on any US video format as far as I know, although there was a Greek video around) don't hesitate to indulge yourself. It's the kind of outre, under the radar Italian horror film which bobbed to the surface decades after it was made to the delight of connoisseurs of the truly bizarre.

I would also like to see another obscure JPL film, the 1977 Italian thriller L'OCCHIO DIETRO LA PARETE, which also doesn't seem to be out on US video. If anyone knows of any English language video versions available of this please note it in the comment area.

(c) Robert Monell, 2008

WANTED: ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS DVD!

The immortal Eddie Constantine in his signature role of Secret Agent Lemmy Caution pursues Anna Karina in Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 science fiction/noir/Eurospy classic, ALPHAVILLE. One of the templates for ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS...

Here's one of my archived reviews of Jess Franco's delightful 1966 Europsy spoof CARTES SUR TABLE, a French-Spanish co production featuring the legendary singer-actor Eddie Constantine. I've only seen it via a dub of a Video Yesteryear video (from an ancient, battered 16mm source) in its US English language export version, ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS. That version seems to be cut and the English language translation omits/obscures numerous Franco homages and in-jokes.



Here's hoping for a deluxe Eurospy double bill DVD of the two Eddie Constantine Eurospy adventures Franco made in 1966, CARTAS BOCCA ARRIBA and the more serious, sober RESEDENCIA PARA ESPIAS, in OAR, from good original elements and with multiple language track options.

(a.k.a. CARTAS BOCA ARRIBA; CARTES SUR TABLE; KARTEN AUF DEN TISCH; JAMES CLINT SFIDA INTERPOL)
Retired secret agent Al Pereria (Eddie Constantine) is called to action by his former employers to investigate the worldwide disappearance of people who share the Rhesus-0 blood type. One of the victims, musician Yves Barriel, is subsequently spotted on a beach in Alicante, Spain. Pereria arrives there as unsuspecting bait for the kidnappers, having been used by both his employers and Chinese agents as a means to infiltrate and destroy a secret group of politicians, scientists, and killers. Pereria learns these terrorists use an army of brainwashed assassins, controlled by radio signals via electronic receivers implanted in eyeglasses.
Pereria finds Barriel. A fight ensues and Al ends up with the glasses, which leads him to a seaside villa which is the headquarters of the scientist (Fernando Rey) who created the robots. Lady Cecilia Addington (Franciose Brion) attempts to seduce Al, but is killed by Rey. Then all hell breaks loose, as the robots turn on their creator as the Chinese attack the villa.



ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS is a Spanish-French co-production made by the same creative team responsible for THE DIABOLICIAL DR Z (1965). Both movies were given a tremendous boost by the imaginative screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere (who had worked for the great Luis Bunuel on many of his French productions). This perhaps explains the sarcastic French-style humor in ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS, which differentiates this from the more slapstick orientation of Franco's later Eurospy efforts (such as LUCKY THE INSCRUTABLE and KISS ME MONSTER). For instance, the opening assassination scenes include the murder of an ambassador and then a high church official, scenes that are staged with a slightly absurd, surreal touch which anticipates similar scenes found in future Carriere-Bunuel projects, THE MILKY WAY (1968) and THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972).



ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS, though, is not an art house film in any sense of the term. It was Franco's attempt to establish himself as a commercial contender in the action-picture sweepstakes. The results are charmingly naive by today's standards, and the film was probably too dingy-looking (the low budget really shows) to make a dent in the international exploitation market, which was already glutted with spy movies.
Franco's producers apparently prevented him from making the action more sexy and violent, and the US ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS edits out some tame nudity. Also, the undistinguished black-and-white cinematography gives the film a flat, unappealing look (or it must may be the video of old 16mm print I've seen). Compare it to the bright, comic book-style frames of the eye-popping LUCKY THE INSCRUTABLE, filmed the following year.




Despite its flaws, ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS is one of the director's most consistently entertaining romps, due to the always droll Eddie Constantine, as well as above-average performances by Fernando Rey and Franciose Brion as the villains. They are enormously helpful in maintaining suspension of disbelief in light of the sometimes tacky sets and awkward action scenes. (Al's escape from Lee Wee's opium den is a typical, clumsily-filmed example. But it's a Jess Franco film and we expect confusion and technical mistakes, don't we.)


There are some neat science fiction sequences, briskly staged on obviously cut-rate but imaginative sets, involving the creation of the robots using a giant test tube thing charged with electricity. This device proves especially handy to our hero during the hecticly rendered final showdown. Jazz fans will find the big-band style score of Paul Misraki a warm bath of nostalgia.



RESENDENCIA PARA ESPIAS, another 1966 Eddie Constantine vehicle, which brought Franco to Istanbul for location shooting for the first, but not last, time, is also highly recommended. It's out on a watchable Spanish language DVD from DIVISA.

(c) Robert Monell, 1998-2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESS FRANCO!

The Way We Were: Forever Young in 1967...



Walking the lonely path as "El Sadico" in 1979...



Still at work in the 21st Century!




The mask...



The legendary smoker enjoying a cigarette...



With submarine friends in 1980...



The man in the mirror: as "the writer" in EXORCISM (1974)...



At Prayer in 1970...



What's he thinking?




The Professional...




Discoursing in the Golden Years....



As secret agent Tino Celli in 1970...



Interrogating Lina in 1977...


Many happy returns to Jess Franco on his birthday and may he have many more and give us many more of his special movies. After over 200 films, counting alternate versions, he's still in the midst of intensive production activities in his native Spain. Thanks for the memories, Jess. Here's a look at him and his films over the years...


(c) Robert Monell, 2008